Li Tongya spent several days in the prefecture before he finally heard that the Tang Gold Gate men had withdrawn. Burning with impatience, he bid farewell to the Xiao family, hitched his oxcart, and set off from the Ancient Li Road across the Xunlin Plain toward home.
Li Tongya had no driver. Born a farmer, he had never learned to ride a horse, though he could manage an oxcart. He drove alone, and after an hour on the Ancient Li Road, he found himself covering his nose.
"So thick with the stench of rotting corpses."
It had rained the day before. The bodies piled along the roadside had swollen from the soaking, their skin bloated into great dark-greenish balloons, flesh rotting inside, oozing foulness. After a morning of baking sun, the stench was suffocating.
"What a catastrophe."
Li Tongya had to stop frequently to drag the piled corpses off the road. The oxcart, too, kept listing on the scattered limbs strewn across the path. Finally even the ox refused to work, stunned by the reek, and Li Tongya abandoned the cart and continued on foot.
Holding his nose and mouth, he had to stop every so often to wipe the tears forced out by the stench. A strange, fierce emotion swelled in his chest. He had not eaten in a day and a night, trudging alone over countless bodies.
"How will the Qingchi Sect record this?"
The thought surfaced in his mind. Mimicking a cold tone, he muttered to himself:
"Summer, fourth month. The Tang Gold Gate invaded the Xunlin Plain and withdrew after a few days."
He dragged aside a heap of tangled corpses and sat for a while on a bloodstained green stone, laughing bitterly.
He saw the living, too — village men crawling out of the corpse piles, as if they had forgotten how to speak. They met in pairs, clutched each other's heads, and wept. When they finished crying, they picked through the ruins for food.
Li Tongya's clothes were still fairly clean, and he carried a long blade with no blood on it. He looked like a passing merchant crossing the Xunlin Plain. Soon, a few children trailed behind him — mostly five or six years old — gazing at him with pitiful eyes.
He walked in silence through the mountain paths, killed the occasional boar or wolf, and tossed it to the children behind him. They roasted it half-raw over a fire and devoured it. One stumbling step after another, he finally reached the Wan territory.
The few Wan family villages were now completely empty — no one living there, no one watching. Just more blood and rotting corpses.
"Xuanfeng?!"
Li Tongya was walking when he spotted a small figure moving among the piles of corpses. He squinted and recognized Li Xiangping's eldest son, Li Xuanfeng, his hair loose, rummaging through the bodies, his clothes smeared with dried blood.
"What are you doing?! Where is your father? Why are you burrowing through this mound of dead? What if you catch a disease?"
Li Tongya's brow furrowed. His heart lurched. He lifted the boy and looked at his cracked, grayish lips, growing more uneasy.
Li Xuanfeng pouted, kicked at a severed hand on the ground, and said in a low voice:
"I'm looking for my father!"
"Xiangping... your father never came home?"
Li Tongya had a bad feeling. He asked softly.
"Xuanxuan won't tell me, but Father must have gone to help the Wan family. I don't know where he is now."
Li Tongya listened to the answer, thought for a moment, and said firmly:
"Come home with me first."
"Oh..."
Li Xuanfeng answered, then mumbled in a low voice:
"This Ji family is vicious. They wiped out all five of the Wan villages, every last one. Why?"
"The Tang Gold Gate and the Qingchi Sect did the killing."
Li Tongya said it flatly, almost to himself. Li Xuanfeng blinked, then muttered silently in his heart:
"That Tang Gold Gate and their young master are no better than dogs. When I grow up, I'll slaughter every last one of them and shoot that young master's head off to kick around like a ball!"
---
Li Xuanxuan sat alone in the courtyard, his mind in turmoil. For the past few days he had quietly searched the area around Lidaokou, but found no sign of a fight — let alone any trace of his uncle Li Xiangping.
"Feng'er has disappeared too... I sent men to look for him all day, and he's nowhere to be found."
Li Xuanxuan's head ached. Li Xuanfeng had only just received his Fu Seed and immediately vanished off the mountain the moment he descended. He kept coming back to demand news of Li Xiangping, and Li Xuanxuan had to think of ways to placate him.
But the boy was sharp. He had overheard the adults talking and guessed most of the truth about the Wan family. Before anyone could stop him, he dashed out the door.
As the eldest legitimate heir of the Li family, Li Xuanxuan could not charge recklessly into Ji territory like Li Xuanfeng. Though burning with anxiety, he had to keep a calm face, smile, and manage the stewards in the village, steadying the situation until Li Tongya returned. It was a bitter burden.
"Young Patriarch!"
Li Xuanxuan was deep in thought when he heard footsteps outside the courtyard. Li Yesheng entered with a smile, his expression turning serious as he said:
"The immortal has returned!"
Li Xuanxuan's eyes widened. The weight on his shoulders seemed to lift. Overjoyed, he hurried down the mountain to greet him.
Li Tongya had settled the children he had brought along. Dusty and travel-worn, he climbed the mountain and met Li Yesheng and Li Xuanxuan. His face showed nothing. He patted Li Xuanfeng on the shoulder and said quietly:
"Go wash up properly and get some sleep."
Li Xuanfeng nodded and went inside. Li Tongya entered the courtyard with Li Xuanxuan, waved Li Yesheng away, and said in a low voice:
"Tell me. What's happened?"
Li Xuanxuan gloomily recounted the events of the past days. Li Tongya listened carefully, then said coldly:
"Did you scout the Wan territory?"
Li Xuanxuan shook his head. "I only ordered the men at Lidaokou not to reveal our movements to the east. I did not send anyone across the border."
Li Tongya gave a cold laugh. "The Wan family was wiped out over a month ago, and you did not even know that Huagan Mountain was empty. Your uncle has been missing for over a month, and you are still playing games with those stewards! You gathered no information, and you let Feng'er slip into Ji territory alone!"
"Li Xuanxuan! You have done a fine job!"
Li Xuanxuan felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He dropped to his knees in the courtyard, his eyes stinging. He opened his mouth, but no words came.
"What were you afraid of?!"
Li Tongya shook his head. "Even if Xiangping has met with misfortune, I am still here, and your third uncle is still cultivating on the mountain. Who would dare to make a single crooked move against you? If your uncle did not return even after a single night, you should have sent out the clan soldiers to patrol the woods immediately. You should have sent Li Qiuyang to guard Lidaokou. Hold your weapons steady, and who would dare to look down on you? Even if someone guessed that Li Xiangping was in trouble, who would dare to speak up?"
He let out a long sigh. "Stop probing and testing with those stewards. They are nothing but dogs of our Li family. When you are in a good mood, throw them a bone. If they start dragging their feet, cut them down!"
"Our Li family's power comes from the blade and from cultivation. You must be decisive. You must be ruthless. You must dare to kill. Our Li family does not need a patriarch who merely defends the holdings. We need a sovereign who hunts like a wolf and advances like a tiger!"