Li Xiangping closed his eyes and sensed for a while. His face turned pale, and through gritted teeth he cursed low:
"Ten Qi Refining cultivators, damn it all? How the hell is anyone supposed to rescue them? Just where did this Ji family get so many Qi Refining cultivators!"
Within the mirror, Lu Jiangxian kept driving the magical artifact to transmit information. Looking at the seven auras guarding the one at the very center, he thought to himself:
"What is this? If it weren't for Li Xiangping's extreme caution, anyone else rushing recklessly into that would have been dead on the spot."
Lu Jiangxian finally let out a breath of relief — only to notice that another aura, cultivated to the Qi Refining stage, had risen above Moonview Lake.
Li Xiangping closed his eyes and checked again, sensing from afar a ferocious presence rising from the direction of Moonview Lake, drifting lightly in the air, and coming straight west.
Alarms blared in Lu Jiangxian's mind. Feeling the intense familiarity and pull emanating from that aura, he almost cursed aloud:
"Damn it! That's clearly the same aura from Moonview Lake I sensed years ago — the one that could repair the magic mirror's dharma!"
The naked greed and malice within that Qi Refining aura blazed like a red electric light bulb within his perception range. Countless thoughts shot through Lu Jiangxian's mind in a flash.
"This one is surely coming for me. He must have lurked in Moonview Lake for over a decade!"
Li Xiangping froze too. Seeing that aura hurtling toward him like a meteor, his hair stood on end. He slapped a Spirit-Walking Art onto his leg and veered north.
"Who in the world is this?! How can he zero in on me so precisely from this distance?! Blast it — this time the Wan family has done me in!"
As he ran for his life, thoughts churned through Li Xiangping's mind.
"This one flies through the air, so he must be a Qi Refining cultivator. I absolutely cannot head back home to the west! If I die, that's a small matter. But if I lead this man back to our household, no amount of deaths could atone for it."
"The magic mirror is still in my hands. I must not lose it."
---
Wan Xiaohua stared at Ji Dengqi standing silently outside the formation. The hatred in his eyes almost flew out. Beside him stood a man cloaked in a slate-blue embroidered cape, with a broad forehead and an arrogant expression. The man spoke with displeasure:
"Brother Wan, why haven't the Li family attacked yet? Didn't we agree we'd strike once the Earth Lock Huagan Formation was raised?"
"Brother Pingyuan, calm yourself. Wait a little longer!"
This man was none other than the newly-advanced Qi Refining cultivator of the Lu family whom Li Tongya had seen at Crown Cloud Peak. Now, the Wan family had paid a heavy price to invite him to lend his aid, determined to slay Ji Dengqi.
Wan Xiaohua smiled bitterly, doubt churning in his heart. He thought privately:
"This Li Xiangping is a clever man. How could he not grasp the truth that when the lips are gone the teeth feel the cold? Once my Wan family is destroyed, the Ji family will border the Li and Lu families directly. Even that fool Lu Pingyuan can see he ought to help my Wan family hold on to our last breath. How could Li Xiangping not understand?"
Heaving a deep sigh, Wan Xiaohua felt a growing unease.
Another incense stick's time passed. Cursing under his breath, Lu Pingyuan rose to his feet. Ignoring Wan Xiaohua's protests, he mounted his flying shuttle, left the formation, and called out to Ji Dengqi below the mountain:
"You there — head of the Ji family!"
"You can't break through this tortoise shell anyway. What good is it wasting your time encircling this mountain? The Wan family is under the protection of my Lu family. Scram, quickly, and save us both the trouble of coming to blows."
As soon as he finished speaking, both Wan Xiaohua in the mountain and Ji Dengqi below were struck speechless. Wan Xiaohua felt choked with frustration, thinking viciously:
"A fool like this can also reach Qi Refining?! Truly unjust!"
As for Ji Dengqi, he narrowed his eyes, his heart filled with contempt. He murmured low:
"Even my old underpants have two more ounces of brains than this buffoon."
So saying, he raised his blade and was about to leap forward when a burst of laughter rang out from the void. As if an invisible curtain had been pulled away, the golden-robed man finally revealed himself, surrounded by a host of cultivators. Clutching his belly, he pointed down at Lu Pingyuan and laughed loudly:
"Ha ha ha, this is amusing. I never thought there'd be someone even more arrogant than this young master."
Wan Xiaohua looked up at the sky and saw the group of cultivators hovering in the air suddenly appear. His face turned pale, his mind buzzing with a blank emptiness.
"One, two, three... eight. Qi Refining... all of them Qi Refining... Impossible!"
A suffocating tightness rose in his chest, nearly making him spit blood. He forced himself to call out:
"Yuankai! Wan Yuankai!"
Wan Yuankai was equally panic-stricken. He rushed forward to steady the patriarch, his eyes slightly red, and said in a low voice:
"Patriarch, Yuankai is here."
Wan Xiaohua caught his breath and said coldly:
"Today, I fear our Wan family is doomed. Li Xiangping is nowhere to be seen, and he is probably in danger himself."
"Gather all the children of the direct bloodline. Once the formation collapses, flee in small groups in different directions across the mountain — toward the Li and Lu families."
Wan Xiaohua's face was pale, but his mind was unusually clear. He dashed a hard slap across his own face and said grimly:
"No. Ji Dengqi will never let my Wan family off so easily."
"Pass my order: only direct-line descendants of three generations who have opened their spiritual apertures and are between the ages of seven and fifteen may head west. The rest, the common branch, and my own direct line will hold position on the mountain. When the formation breaks, scatter in all directions. Ji Dengqi won't leave my Wan family alone until he's killed every last one of them."
"As for the bastard-born children..."
Wan Xiaohua was still giving his orders when the formation began to shake. A rain of blood fell from the sky. Lu Pingyuan, denied his plea for mercy, had been torn to pieces with a laugh by the golden-robed man in a single exchange.
The golden-robed man flicked his hands, casually snatching up Lu Pingyuan's storage pouch. His spiritual consciousness probed inside for a careful inspection, and he frowned, cursing low.
"Penniless pauper."
Turning to look at the golden-glowing Earth Lock Huagan Formation, the golden-robed man brought out a long blade wreathed in crimson flames. He smiled:
"Let me have a try at this Wan Huakun's handiwork."
---
Li Xiangping had only run a short distance when fierce winds began to rise all around him. An old man in a daoist robe, riding a flying shuttle, had already come to a slow halt ahead. With a light flick of the fly-whisk in his hand, he spoke with a smile:
"My good fellow, where are you hurrying off to in such a rush?"
Lu Jiangxian within the mirror immediately tensed. He felt waves of attraction radiating from the old man, as though an invisible thread connected to him. His heart stirred, and he thought to himself:
"This one has reached the middle stage of Qi Refining — perhaps the fifth or sixth layer. This is trouble."
Li Xiangping gritted his teeth and said in a low voice:
"And who might you be, to block my path?"
The old man laughed heartily and said, unhurried:
"This old Daoist has kept watch over Moonview Lake for nearly thirty years. At last I have waited for you, good fellow."
With a light twist of his hand, he produced a pure-white jade pendant. It glimmered faintly with white light, and its tail seemed pulled by an invisible thread, pointing directly at Li Xiangping.
"My good fellow, if you hand over the thing, this old Daoist may yet leave you a whole corpse."