Mu Jiaofan and his men chased Li Tongya for a dozen breaths, cursing the whole way, before finally giving up and retreating with muttered imprecations.
Li Tongya even had the leisure to turn and watch them depart, the corner of his mouth quirking upward. The minor discomfort from the curse had already vanished after a single circulation of his spiritual power. He puzzled over it for a moment, then could only attribute it to the Mountain Yue chief's clumsy technique — embarrassing and nothing more.
Restoring his spiritual power, Li Tongya flew back low along the ground. The river clear qi he had swallowed churned in his Qi Sea, making him float weightlessly, his feet never touching the earth.
"Let me circle back and see if I can find the two children. If not, I'll have to infiltrate the camp again."
He skimmed the ground, searching carefully. After half an hour of slow flight, his expression eased — at last, within his spiritual sense's range, he spotted the filthy Li Xuanling and Li Jingtian.
Li Xuanling was carrying Li Jingtian, his legs suffused with a pale white glow from a technique he had cast. He moved through the forest undergrowth as if it were flat ground, but in his haste, his body was caked in mud and water.
The boy had not headed east toward Lijing Mountain — afraid of running into Mu Jiaofan's party returning from their failed chase of Li Tongya, he had deliberately taken a longer route. That was why Li Tongya had searched for so long before finding them.
Li Tongya landed lightly before Li Xuanling, and looked at them both with a warm smile. Li Xuanling stared blankly for a moment, his eyes rimming red.
These days of fleeing as a slave — at one point facing the question of life and death — had left Li Xuanling carrying a heavy burden of grievance. He set down the weeping Li Jingtian and called out with a choked voice:
"Father!"
Li Tongya's heart tightened. He swept the boy into his arms and said gently:
"It's alright now… it's alright…"
"Our elders failed you. You've suffered because of us."
Li Tongya sighed softly, picked up one child in each arm, and rose into the air. He said gently:
"Ganixo is indeed a formidable opponent. He has driven our family into a desperate corner. Your Third Uncle has been cut off and forced westward — we have had no word of him since."
Recalling the cold words "Endure for now" stamped on the Qingchi Sect's jade seal, Li Tongya looked up at the darkening sky and murmured:
"We must become stronger."
"Father — I heard the Patriarch has gone deep into Mountain Yue territory. Have you received any news?"
Li Xuanling wiped his tears, but remembered the intelligence he had gathered, and hurried to relay it.
Li Tongya paused, then soothed him:
"Don't worry. Your Third Uncle will find a way."
---
When Li Tongya returned to Lijing Mountain, Li Xuanfeng was still in seclusion. Li Xuanxuan had already organized the village affairs and assembled two to three hundred clan soldiers to maintain order.
The moment Li Tongya set them down, Li Xuanling excused himself to the back courtyard to return the magic mirror. Li Jingtian, exhausted from days of captivity, went to the side courtyard to report her safety to her mother, Lady Tian, before washing up and resting.
Li Xuanxuan was relieved to see them both, and immediately asked about Li Xiangping. Li Xuanling relayed what he had learned, leaving both Li Tongya and Li Xuanxuan silent.
Li Tongya suddenly recalled the register qi boon — "Dodge Death, Extend Life" — that Li Xiangping had received, and felt slightly reassured. He asked gravely:
"Don't worry about Xiangping for now. The Mist Illusion Formation was broken — were the formation flags recovered?"
Li Xuanxuan produced three formation flags and said respectfully:
"When the great formation fell, six flags materialized and scattered across the mountainside. I recovered only three. The rest were likely taken by the Mountain Yue."
"This time, five spirit fields were raided. We lost over three hundred jin of spirit rice and more than a dozen spirit fruits. The raided fields have been replanted. A careful accounting puts the total losses at roughly twenty spirit stones."
Li Tongya nodded. Then Li Xuanxuan added with a worried expression:
"But with the Mist Illusion Formation broken by Ganixo, Lijing Mountain has lost its defenses. The family has no other formations."
"What does Wan Tianchou say?"
Li Tongya lifted the three formation flags with a gesture and stored them in his storage pouch, asking softly.
"He's poorly trained. Of the many formation techniques the Wan family possesses, he's only mastered two — a Concealment Formation and a Guarding Formation. Both are minor Embryonic Breathing formations. They cannot serve as a mountain-protecting array."
Li Xuanxuan shook his head, disappointment in his voice.
Li Tongya considered for a few breaths, then said gravely:
"The raid on Lijing Mountain exposed the weakness of our formations. Set up some minor formations for now — to keep ordinary folk from wandering up. In a few years, I will gather another portion of river clear qi. If Xiangping still hasn't returned, I'll sell it and commission the Xiao family in the prefecture to see if they can erect a Qi Refining–level formation."
"That…"
Li Xuanxuan looked troubled:
"But that would waste Second Uncle's cultivation time to condense the qi…"
"It's no matter."
Li Tongya shook his head and replied:
"You have not yet broken through to the fifth layer of Embryonic Breathing and awakened spiritual sense — you cannot gather this qi. Even with spiritual sense, an Embryonic Breathing cultivator gathers it terribly slowly — eight to ten years, perhaps, which would waste even more time."
"Besides, the qi of heaven and earth is stingy. An entire reed marsh of this size produces only one portion every five years."
Seeing Li Xuanxuan nod, Li Tongya continued:
"Furthermore, if someone in our Li family breaks through to Qi Refining, the Qingchi Sect should issue higher-grade spirit seeds and revise our tribute quota."
Li Xuanxuan hesitated, then asked:
"Wouldn't that mean our family has to pay more tribute? Could we conceal it…?"
"There's no need."
Li Tongya shook his head and replied:
"It would only delay matters by twenty or thirty years. In battle against demons, it would be exposed sooner or later — and we'd offend the Qingchi Sect for nothing. Though the Qingchi Sect seems to neglect the families under its watch, we must still be cautious. Their ways are strange, and we must keep our guard up."
"The Qingchi Sect merely raises us like cattle!"
A spirited young voice cut in. Li Xuanfeng strode through the doorway, his face bright with a smile. Li Tongya swept him with his spiritual sense and grinned:
"You broke through?"
Li Xuanfeng nodded:
"I've broken through to the fifth layer of Embryonic Breathing and formed the Jade Capital Wheel! This spiritual sense is truly remarkable."
Li Xuanxuan laughed in spite of himself, glancing at Li Xuanfeng with envy, and offered his congratulations.
Li Xuanfeng shook his head, still preoccupied with worry for Li Xiangping, so his joy was muted. He lifted the longbow in his hand and said:
"I'll go hunt some demon beasts nearby — it'll help supply the household."
"Don't go too deep."
Li Tongya admonished. Li Xuanfeng's strength was more than enough to handle a few beasts in the outer reaches of Greater Li Mountain, but Li Tongya still worried about him being injured.
Watching Li Xuanfeng nod and depart, Li Tongya turned his gaze to Li Xuanxuan and said gently:
"Don't neglect your own cultivation. The sooner you achieve Qi Refining, the sooner I can rest easy."
"Understood!"
Li Xuanxuan nodded firmly. Just then, a shout came from outside the courtyard:
"Young Patriarch! A visitor from the east — the Tiaoyun Lu family has come calling!"