Li Xiangping lowered his head with a smile, just about to answer, when Li Yesheng respectfully entered the cave estate. He turned his head. "What is it?"
Li Yesheng spoke quietly: "Patriarch, a dozen-odd children of the Wan family have come down the mountain. They say... that once they were allies and friends, but now their family has been destroyed, and they hope to borrow our household's protection."
The two of them started, setting down their teacups. Li Xiangping's expression grew complex. "Do any of these people possess spiritual apertures?"
"Qiuyang went to look. He said the leader holds the Profound Vision Wheel at the first layer of Embryonic Breathing; the rest are all mortals."
Li Yesheng replied in a low voice. Li Xiangping was silent for a few breaths before speaking heavily: "Scatter these Wan people and arrange them among the villages. Give the teenagers a plot of land each to become independent households. The children under ten are to be boarded at the academy first; any younger still, find households to foster them."
"As for the one at their head, bring him up to see me."
---
Wan Tianjing hid with the children in the mountains for a night. When he saw the great formation atop Huagan Mountain collapse in a thunderous shatter, he finally gave up all hope. Remembering the words his clan uncle had spoken when sending him down the mountain, he choked back tears and stumbled his way westward.
He walked in silence, his heart dead as ash. Behind him, the children had been instructed by their families before departing — they did not cry or make a fuss, each walking quietly, which only made the occasional sobs all the more mournful.
Wan Tianjing avoided the usual haunts of his old village, gathered fruit and caught wild rabbits to feed the children behind him, and stumbled his way into the Li family's territory. He asked for directions, and the Li cultivator stationed there hurried over.
The Li cultivator looked no older than twenty, a young man called Li Qiuyang — a cultivator of the Li family's cadet branch. He spoke courteously enough, and having heard of the Wan family's catastrophe, was sympathetic. He led Wan Tianjing toward Meichi Mountain while chatting quietly.
"Have any of you begun cultivation?" Li Qiuyang asked softly. He stood at the third layer of Embryonic Breathing, the Orbital Wheel, and had been stuck there for two or three years without any sign of breaking through. There were few cultivators in the family to compare against, so he was curious to gauge Wan Tianjing's cultivation.
"I have entered the immortal path; my cultivation is at the Profound Vision Wheel."
Looking at Wan Tianjing, who seemed only fourteen or fifteen, Li Qiuyang relaxed considerably, thinking to himself:
"Not everyone cultivates as swiftly as Li Xuanxuan, who reached the third layer of Embryonic Breathing at fourteen or fifteen after seven years of practice."
The Li family worked with great efficiency. Wan Tianjing had barely exchanged a few words with Li Qiuyang when a dignified middle-aged man arrived to escort him up the mountain. He kept his head lowered, climbing the stone steps, and saw the middle-aged man bow respectfully and lead him into a cave estate.
Wan Tianjing glanced up warily. At the center of the great hall sat a middle-aged man in a robe, head bowed, reading.
"Patriarch, this is the fellow."
The middle-aged man looked up at the sound, his narrow brows lifting slightly. A pair of eyes like those of a hawk slammed straight into Wan Tianjing's gaze, so startling him that he faltered and hurriedly knelt, his heart racing in terror. "This man is clearly no ordinary figure — most likely the very patriarch of the Li family."
Li Xiangping nodded, rose, and gently set down the wooden slip in his hand, quietly studying Wan Tianjing.
Wan Tianjing broke out in a sweat, until a warm voice drifted down from above: "Raise your head."
Wan Tianjing felt as if pardoned. Looking up, he found that beside the Li patriarch stood another man — mild and elegant, a sword at his waist and a green talisman brush in hand, beaming at him.
"What is your name?" the middle-aged man in the main seat finally spoke.
Wan Tianjing was silent for a few breaths. Grief and hatred surged together in his heart, and he ground his teeth together: "Wan Tianchou! My name is Wan Tianchou!"
Li Xiangping nodded, and questioned him for a while about the details of that night at Huagan Mountain, before dismissing both Wan Tianchou and Li Yesheng. Exchanging a glance with Li Tongya, he said flatly: "Weak-willed and lacking in cunning, but with a measure of loyalty — he can be used. Far inferior to that Wan Tiancang."
Li Tongya smiled and shook his head, speaking softly: "Among the Wan family, only Wan Xiaohua and Wan Tiancang were worth fearing. If either of those two had escaped, the Wan family might still have had a chance to rise again. A pity both died at Huagan Mountain."
Li Xiangping waved a hand, speaking heavily: "Unless their ancestor Wan Huagan can crawl out of the earth, the Wan family's downfall is already sealed. Better to think of what lies ahead!"
"Second Brother, have you prepared to break through the sixth layer of Embryonic Breathing?"
Li Tongya nodded in reply: "After a few days of regulating my qi, I can begin my seclusion."
Pouring a pot of clear tea, Li Xiangping swept aside the wooden slips on the table, took up his brush and made marks on a bolt of cloth. "Second Brother is about to break through to the sixth layer, the Spirit-Initial Wheel. I too have a chance to strike at the fifth wheel. As for the rest — Second Sister-in-law, Li Qiuyang, and Xuanxuan are all at the third layer of Embryonic Breathing. Wan Tianchou is at the first layer, and that is to say nothing of Xuanfeng and Chen Donghe, who have just set foot on the immortal path."
"Not counting Chijing, the strength of our Li family already rivals that of the Wan family in their prime."
"Right." Li Tongya nodded, then remembered another matter, speaking low: "A few days ago I heard the men below say that beasts in the western forests have been migrating for no apparent reason, and that one demonic beast even broke loose. Fortunately its cultivation was low; Qiuyang handled it with the village militia."
"That bodes ill." Li Xiangping thought for a few breaths and answered: "Though we have sent people and found no trace of the Mountain Yue, the west was once the haunt of Mountain Yue tribes. It may well be their doing. We must stay on our guard."
"I have ordered scouts to probe deeper. Perhaps we will receive some word." Li Tongya gathered up the talisman ink on the table and walked out of the estate with his brother, both of them chatting, heading toward Lijing Mountain.
---
Lu Jiangxian combed through the various pieces of information surfacing in his mind, then let his divine sense wander forth, finding the familiar stone dais and skylight.
The cracks on his mirror face had not changed much, but a ring of softly glowing whitish light had kindled along the rim. The white qi in the jade pendant had not nourished Profound Lunar Radiance; it had instead granted the magic mirror a new ability.
The mirror body could now amalgamate the talisman qi gained from the Art of Sacrificial Plundering of Primordial Elements with the Taiyin lunar essence to condense a talisman pill. A cultivator could consume only one such pill per great realm; it could shatter bottlenecks and refine one's cultivation, the effect determined by the abundance of talisman qi within. When rich, it even worked wonders on the Foundation Establishment and Purple Mansion stages.
Yet, just like the Profound Pearl Talisman Seed, consuming the pill would secretly leave a talisman mark within the soul-realm of the Ascending Yang Hall, quickening the host's absorption of spiritual qi. When the host died, the mark would exhaust his essence and convert it into talisman qi, feeding it back to the mirror body.
"The magic mirror's style is as ever — wasting nothing it owns..." Lu Jiangxian could not help but sigh, a trace of helplessness in his heart.
He had obtained the Art of Sacrificial Plundering of Primordial Elements years ago, but its conditions were so exacting that he could never extract its talisman qi. He could only wait until Li Tongya broke through to Qi Refining before attempting it again.