Li Xiangping was a year older than Li Yesheng, but as a cultivator he wore his years more lightly and looked even younger. He sat propped against a stone chair, a bamboo slip of dharma scripture held up close to his face as he read in silence.
Li Yesheng and his son stood a little apart, heads bowed, eyes fixed on the ground.
"So Xuanxuan is to do as he pleases," Li Xiangping said after scanning several lines. "Old Xu counts as a benefactor to our Li family; he may stir things up as much as he likes."
He set the slip down and looked up. "Anything else?"
"The Young Patriarch has broken through, and Li Qiuyang has come up the mountain to pay his respects," Li Yesheng replied, keeping his head low. Behind him, Li Xiewen kept his gaze on the polished floor, not daring to lift his eyes to survey the furnishings around them.
"Good."
Li Xiangping raised a brow, a trace of a smile touching his face, and asked in a casual tone that belied the question's weight: "How long has Li Qiuyang been stuck at the third layer of Embryonic Breathing — the Orbital Wheel?"
"Three years now, without a breakthrough," Li Yesheng answered at once, having done his homework before coming.
Li Xiangping looked up and smiled. "Well done. Tell Li Qiuyang to cultivate with all his heart and not to let himself be distracted."
"Yes."
Li Yesheng nodded, and added: "The Wan family sent word again this month asking for aid — they're even requesting grain and medicine for wounds now."
"Oh?"
Li Xiangping frowned, speaking softly: "Just before the new year they said Wan Xiaohua had broken through to the Spirit-Initial Wheel and reached the peak of Embryonic Breathing, and still they fare so poorly? This Ji Dengqi is no simple man."
"As long as he doesn't push too hard, give him what he asks for."
Li Xiewen had been straining to catch every word. Li Xiangping glanced at him sidelong and murmured: "Xiewen has grown up now."
Li Xiewen hurriedly bowed. "The family head is well."
"Tomorrow you'll go to Lidaokou to lend a hand under Xu Wenshan," Li Xiangping said to Li Yesheng with a smile. "Lazing about the village day after day serves no one."
"It is my fault for being too lenient with him," Li Yesheng quickly confessed. Seeing Li Xiangping wave a hand in dismissal, he led Li Xiewen away.
Father and son walked in silence down the mountain path, past Meichi Mountain, until Li Yesheng finally spoke: "You and Xuanxuan are close, and the family head is willing to use you. Study well under Xu Wenshan, and don't pick quarrels with the man. Xu Wenshan is clever; he won't make trouble for you."
Li Xiewen answered with a sullen murmur, then asked: "By sending me out, is the family head appointing me as a steward?"
Li Yesheng shook his head. "Five years at the shortest, seven at the longest. When your father can no longer do the work and Li Xuanxuan takes charge of the family, he'll bring you back here. Don't be impatient — train yourself well."
"Yes. Thank you, Father, for the guidance."
In the cave dwelling on Meichi Mountain, Li Xiangping frowned, a measure of vexation settling over him. For five years he had remained at the fourth layer of Embryonic Breathing, the Azure Origin Wheel, polishing it again and again without ever touching the threshold of the Jade Capital Wheel. Li Tongya had tried to find him a dose of Clarifying Spirit Powder, only to be told by Wan Tiancang that a single pill cost twenty spirit stones, and that the moment such pills appeared on the market they were snapped up at once — without the right connections there was no getting hold of one. He had fallen silent, shrugged, and left.
"Family head!"
As Li Xiangping was brooding, a cry of announcement came from outside the cave, and a child of eleven or twelve stepped in — Chen Donghe, Chen Erniu's youngest son. Some years ago the boy had been found to possess a spiritual aperture, and now he trained under Li Xiangping in the cave dwelling on Meichi Mountain.
Li Xiangping looked at this child — the only one found to possess a spiritual aperture in the last decade — and asked with a smile: "What is it?"
"Wan Tiancang of the Wan family seeks an audience."
"Let him in."
Li Xiangping brought out his tea set and watched Wan Tiancang enter the cave with a furrowed brow; Chen Donghe quietly excused himself. "Brother Wan — what brings you here?"
"Only you could still smile in a time like this."
Wan Tiancang gave a bitter laugh and bowed deeply. "My family intends to spring an ambush, and shall deliver everything as agreed."
"Why so urgent? My second brother set out seven days ago for Crown Cloud Peak to deliver the tribute. Did your family send no one? Why spring the ambush now?" Li Xiangping knitted his brow, genuinely puzzled.
"This Ji Dengqi seems to have gotten wind from somewhere that these days are when Qingchi Sect's Moon Lake Peak collects its tribute. For three nights running he has struck at our Huagan Mountain, and if a single hour passes he withdraws at once, lest the Qi Refining cultivators rushing out from the prefecture catch him. He has worn my family ragged — killed hundreds of mortals, even two of our cultivators."
Wan Tiancang's eyes were bloodshot as he explained through gritted teeth: "My Wan family can't even scrape together the tribute anymore. We've reached the point of fighting with our backs to the wall. Over ten-odd years this feud has drained the very foundations of our house. If we don't stake everything on one desperate battle now, I fear we'll have no strength left to fight at all."
"Very well."
Li Xiangping clenched his own jaw. "Everything as agreed. Once your Huagan Mountain's great array is raised, I will activate my talisman and strike at Ji Dengqi from afar. Whether it succeeds or fails, the formation lineage must be delivered to my Li family!"
As he spoke, a faint unease crept into him. He frowned and went on gravely: "Moon Lake Peak's tributes come at irregular intervals every five years, and word is always sent by the pass. How would Ji Dengqi know the exact date of Moon Lake Peak's collection? Could Elder Xiaohua have spread the matter abroad? Brother Tiancang, there is something strange in this!"
Wan Tiancang too had been swept along by his family's frantic messages; now that he calmed himself and thought, he knitted his own brow and fell silent.
Li Xiangping was cautious by nature and could smell something wrong in the air. Seeing Wan Tiancang say nothing, he turned it over privately: *This Ji family must have some backing, some scheme to wipe out the Wan clan. Wan Xiaohua is no doubt frightened half to death and eager to drag my Li family down into the water with him. Yet my Li family and the Wan are bound tight as lips and teeth — how could I sit and watch the Wan clan be snuffed out...*
"Brother Li!"
All at once the color drained from Wan Tiancang's face, and he trembled as he spoke, whatever conclusion he had reached: "This Ji Dengqi must know my Wan family has aid behind it. He's pressing down bit by bit on purpose, trying to force that aid into the open. This — this is an open stratagem!"
Li Xiangping's face darkened. He stared coldly at Wan Tiancang and swore: "Hell. This isn't just Ji Dengqi's open stratagem — it's your own family head Wan Xiaohua's open stratagem too."
After seeing off the pleading Wan Tiancang, Li Xiangping let out a long breath, his mind churning with disquiet. When Li Xuanxuan drifted slowly into the cave, he lowered his voice and laid out everything Wan Tiancang had said.
"Either Ji Dengqi learned of these days as the tribute collection and besieged Huagan Mountain to keep the Wan, and so their tribute, from getting through — or he already has a way to finish them off, and has spent all this effort attacking for that reason," Li Xuanxuan reasoned. "And now to let your Wan family broadcast its pleas for aid — he must have some scheme to take in one sweep whoever comes to their rescue."
He pondered a moment longer, his expression turning worried. With a wry shake of his head he added: "Yet our family has no choice but to go to their aid. There's but the one road to the prefecture. If the Wan family falls, my Li family will be stranded among these mountains — cut off from everything, and at the mercy of the Ji family's harassment and oppression besides."
"We have to help."
Li Xiangping shook his head and said heavily: "Not to kill Ji Dengqi, mind you — only to lift the siege on the Wan family."
"Still, we had best see what sort of hand Ji Dengqi truly holds, to make him so bold."