The *Profound Pearl Sacrificial Spirit Art* was far longer than the *Lunar Breathing Wheel-Nurturing Art*. Its core teaching was this: the mirror could draw down lunar essence and condense it into Profound Pearl Talisman Seeds.
Implant one of these seeds into a person's dantian, and it would accelerate their cultivation. When that person achieved mastery — or died — the seed would flow back into the mirror, refining into Profound Lunar Radiance...
The art also contained an auxiliary rite: the *Attraction Method*. This taught the recipient how to call a Profound Pearl Talisman Seed forth from the mirror and settle it into their own dantian.
Lu Jiangxian paused. The art felt... sinister, like something from a demonic scripture. He went over it carefully, line by line, until he was certain: the seed did no harm to its host. It brought only benefits.
The Profound Pearl Sacrificial Spirit Art was the mirror's innate art, its birthright. The number of talisman seeds he could condense was limited by his divine sense. At present, he could manage only six.
With that settled, he swept his divine sense across the Li household inside and out — and caught his breath.
*What a transformation.*
He had slept for three years. The Li family had built a pond, raised a great compound. Li Changhu had taken a wife, grown a beard, and now looked every inch the heir apparent.
He channeled his art and scanned the Li family one by one. What he found was both expected and crushing: not a single one of them possessed a spiritual aperture.
Barring a miracle, the Li family would never touch the world of immortals. They would live and die among mortals — seventy years if fortune smiled, then dust.
Lu Jiangxian sighed and activated the art.
"Father, look!" Li Chijing, whose eyes missed nothing, was the first to cry out.
The family crowded in. Li Mutian stared at the mirror's face as tiny script, brushstroke by brushstroke, bloomed across its surface in white light. He smacked his youngest on the shoulder. "Cloth and brush and ink — now!"
The brothers scattered to gather supplies. The Li household had a study, stocked with the teacher's castoff writing tools. Otherwise they would have had to run to the village head.
Soon Li Changhu returned with cloth, and Li Tongya — absurdly — hauled in the whole writing desk, ink-slab and all. Li Chijing had already stationed himself beside the mirror, committing each line of text to memory as it appeared and vanished.
Of the four brothers, Li Chijing was the youngest but had studied the most. Li Mutian set him to brush duty, copying down the text. Li Tongya stood ready to take over.
The *Attraction Method* was long. Li Chijing's wrist cramped after one stick of incense, and he traded places with Li Tongya. They rotated like this for a full hour, everyone hovering nearby, terrified of a single wrong character.
Lu Jiangxian, anxious that they might train incorrectly, caused the text to appear three full times. He added detailed annotations for every obscure Daoist phrase, along with diagrams of the qi-circulation pathways. Only after the family checked everything twice did he let the light fade.
"'The Attraction Method,'" Li Xiangping read aloud from the cloth. "'The Profound Pearl is the true elixir. At the first revolution, the elixir descends into the Heart Meridian, thus it is said: the Elixir Cavern lies within the Central Palace. Once the elixir has descended, hold the breath for nine counts as one cycle — nine cycles of nine counts makes eighty-one — hence the name: the Double Nine Numbers...'"
"This is immortal art!" Li Changhu was beside himself. He looked ready to kiss the mirror.
The family passed the cloth around, reading fervently, memorizing the commentary.
Li Xiangping's eyes skimmed to the closing lines:
*"When one has mastered the Attraction Method, await an auspicious day — the jiazi or gengshen day, the day of one's own birth stem, the days of the Three Origins or Three Assemblies, the Eight Solar Terms, or the last and first days of the lunar month. On such a day, the qi of heaven quickens into life, and the bright yang drives out darkness."*
*"Set the Dharma Mirror beneath the moonlight. Burn incense and bathe. Bow low and declare: 'I, disciple So-and-so of the Li clan, humbly beseech the Profound and Illumined Dharma. May it govern my fate and settle my spirit. In devotion I walk the path of cultivation.'"*
*"'When the season comes, I shall report my merit. I shall not betray this trust. As the talisman burns, so my body yields to the Supreme Yin.' Conclude by swallowing the qi three times."*
*"In devotion I walk the path of cultivation. As the talisman burns, so my body yields to the Supreme Yin."*
Li Xiangping repeated the words under his breath.
Li Mutian watched his silent sons, laid a comforting hand on Xiangping's head, and said, calm as still water: "May it govern my fate and settle my spirit. In devotion I walk the path of cultivation."
---
Morning. Smoke rose from the rooftops. A thin gauze of mist hung in the air.
"Uncle Li! Good news today?" a voice called from the fields as Li Mutian strolled past, humming.
He looked down. His nephew, Ye Chengfu — an honest, round-faced boy with a flattering tongue.
"The green ears on this grain are a joy to see!" Li Mutian laughed back.
Lijing Village had four great surnames: Ye, Tian, Li, and Liu. The Ye clan was the largest — three in ten villagers carried the name. If they ever united, that would be a force to reckon with.
"Ha, that's just the glow from Brother Changhu's good fortune!" Ye Chengfu leaned on his hoe and grinned.
"You've got a silver tongue, boy!"
The old man knew Chengfu was referring to Li Changhu's recent wedding. Lady Ren was adorable, sweet-natured, and utterly devoted to Changhu. Li Mutian planned to tell her a little more once she bore a child. She was the sort who could hold her tongue, and too much secrecy under one roof would breed suspicion anyway.
"Tongya, though — he won't marry. And Xiangping is coming of age." Li Mutian stroked his beard, ticking through the village households in his mind.
"That old brother of mine raised a good daughter — Tian Yun. Right age, too. I'll ask Xiangping when I get back. If it's favorable, we'll carry a goose to her door for the name-asking."
He smiled at the thought.
Li Tongya and his brothers were in the courtyard, deep in study of the *Attraction Method*. Li Changhu had done his morning rounds of the fields and hurried back to join them.
Only the old man had excused himself, judging his mind too slow for immortal arts. He went to the fields instead.
For one thing, someone still had to manage the worldly affairs — food, clothes, daily needs would not manage themselves. For another, he was the lookout. No one would be creeping up to the courtyard wall with him posted on the ridge.
Li Mutian was in a fine mood. He settled onto the field's edge and traded idle talk with the village elders.
---
Inside the Li compound, Lu Jiangxian's divine sense fell upon the four brothers, seated cross-legged with their eyes closed.
A faint white glow rose above each of their heads.
Li Chijing's was the longest — about eight inches, bright and steady. Li Tongya and Li Xiangping measured six and five inches. Li Changhu managed barely three.
The white light that appeared during the first training of the *Attraction Method* revealed a person's compatibility with the Profound Pearl Talisman Seed. One full chi marked a perfect match — such a person, once seeded, would cultivate as though born with a spiritual aperture.
Li Chijing, at eight-tenths of a chi, could reach eighty percent of a natural cultivator's speed. Li Changhu, at barely three-tenths, would cultivate at thirty percent.
That meant a full day of Li Changhu's training would not match four hours of someone else's.