Chapter 221: Initial Court

“Xiao Guilan.”

Li Yuanjiao, dressed in a black robe, walked along the moonlit stone path. He felt an indescribable mix of anticipation and unease. He was about to be married, yet he had never even met his future spouse. He remained silent, his lips pressed together.

Li Yuanjiao walked for a while until a small courtyard appeared before him. He gently removed his jade crown, and his dark hair scattered in the wind, dancing in the air. His black hair, just like his mother Mu Yalu’s, had a soft luster. With his hair casually unbound, he stepped forward and lightly knocked on the wooden door.

“Mother.”

Footsteps quickly approached, and the wooden gate of the courtyard creaked open. A maid welcomed him inside. Mu Yalu stood smiling in the courtyard and softly said, “Jiao’er.”

Li Yuanjiao entered the courtyard, sat down gently, took the tea bowl offered by the maid, dismissed the attendants, and asked in a low voice, “Mother... has she given you any trouble?”

“Mother” naturally referred to the main wife, Madam Dou. Although Li Yuanjiao had a deep affection for Li Yuanxiu, he worried that Madam Dou, having lost her son, might harbor resentment and cause trouble for Mu Yalu.

“No, she hasn’t.” Mu Yalu shook her head, a flicker of pity in her eyes. She whispered, “She knows about your adoption. Although she lost Yuanxiu, she still has Yuanping to care for, so she’s been quite good to me... She’s very clever. Yuanping might even have to rely on you in the future, so naturally, she has to treat me well.”

“That’s good then.” Li Yuanjiao nodded slightly and continued, “The family has arranged a marriage for me with a girl named Xiao Guilan... She is a concubine’s daughter from a prominent immortal clan, possesses spiritual apertures, and I hear she is also at the fourth level of Fetal Breath cultivation.”

“What? An immortal clan?” These words spun in Mu Yalu’s mind, immediately making her hands and feet tremble. After a long pause, she murmured, “This... this immortal clan woman, will she be overbearing? As her mother-in-law, how am I supposed to meet her...?”

“Your son doesn’t know,” Li Yuanjiao couldn’t help but chuckle at her reaction and teased her a bit. However, Mu Yalu calmed herself after a few breaths, then suddenly became serious and anxiously said, “Jiao’er... are you really not going to be the family head?! The situation is no longer what it was, you must consider this carefully... You are already the foremost among your generation, and Yuanping has an innate deficiency, he certainly can’t compare to you. Now that you’re marrying a woman from an immortal clan, if you don’t take the position of family head, what will others think?”

Li Yuanjiao shook his head and said in a low voice, “I have no interest in it. Let Yuanping take it.”

“As for what others think,” Li Yuanjiao chuckled, slammed the sword from his waist onto the table, and said in a low voice, “Once I break through to Qi Cultivation, I will find a place to cultivate on my own. If I don’t often descend the mountain, I’ll have fewer troubles.”

“As for Yuanping managing the family...” Li Yuanjiao smiled and shook his head, motioning for Mu Yalu to lean closer before whispering, “Mother, don’t forget my several half-brothers. They each control a town now. They fear most that I would manage the family, or that the family headship would fall to another branch. Yuanping managing the family is what they like best. With their support, who could cause any trouble?”

Mu Yalu nodded, sighing inwardly. She had many words suppressed, unsure how to begin. Her concern wasn’t that Li Yuanping couldn’t manage the family; with Li Xuanxuan and Li Yuanjiao there, Yuanping could hold the position even if he were a simpleton who only knew how to say ‘yes.’ She mused, “The biggest potential harm is actually my son. For now, the brothers are harmonious, so there’s no problem. But who can guarantee filial piety and fraternal respect for generations to come...? With one lineage exceptionally strong, three others weak, and a powerful maternal clan, it’s truly dangerous.”

Mu Yalu pondered, feeling deeply uneasy. She spoke softly, “Jiao’er... Yuanping certainly isn’t the issue. But Xiao Guilan has a powerful background, and you are the leader of the Yuanqing generation. With the three other lineages weak, and ours alone being strong, and yet having to hold the position of family head, what if future generations have designs...?”

“Mother!” Li Yuanjiao abruptly interrupted her, as if knowing what she was about to say. He smiled and said, “Our family doesn’t have such cowards.”

Xiao Chuting stood silently in the biting wind high in the sky, gazing wordlessly towards the Qingchi Sect. The divine powers of the Violet Mansion cultivators clashed in the air, emitting bursts of colorful light. He let out a soft breath, the divine abilities within him stirring restlessly.

“Three hundred years...” He looked into the distance. Qingchi Peak was faintly visible in the clouds, shrouded in a desolate autumn palette. Streams of spiritual power occasionally swirled back through the sky, and below, mortals moved about, hawking their wares. The five commandery families, countless commoners and descendants—three hundred years of their prosperity and lives, annually funneled to the Qingchi Sect, all to aid the cultivation of others.

When Xiao Chuting was twelve, he stood beside his uncle, Xiao Xianyou, in this very spot. Xiao Xianyou had meticulously explained to him how the Qingchi Demonic Sect, through various bloody means, preyed upon commoners, rogue cultivators, and noble families, drinking their blood. He had laughed and said, “I heard there’s an immortal foundation in Shanyue called ‘Drinking the People’s Blood,’ which is truly fitting. If that divine ability were to achieve its golden essence, escape those two, and witness this world’s scenery, it would surely laugh its head off, ashamed of itself!”

Xiao Chuting listened, somewhat confused, and asked, “I once heard there was a war between immortals and demons in this world, a great battle at Pingmingjin where many high immortals fell. Did that war break the order of heaven and earth...?”

Xiao Xianyou remained silent, took a swig from his gourd, and said despondently, “That’s just how things are.”

Xiao Chuting sounded somewhat indignant. He whispered, “Why? If I were to manage the family, I would support rogue cultivators externally and unite the clan internally. I would ensure that disciples personally cultivate the land and cultivators love the common people, overthrowing Qingchi and ushering in a new era.”

Xiao Xianyou smiled but said nothing. Xiao Chuting felt he had spoken presumptuously and was somewhat embarrassed. Later, after Xiao Xianyou’s death and Xiao Chuchou’s angry departure, the Xiao family declined sharply, and it was Xiao Chuting’s turn to manage it. He finally discovered that the Xiao family also sustained itself by “drinking the people’s blood,” though not as cruelly or openly.

If Xiao Chuting were to change all this, he would have to kill all his uncles and brothers, remove his aunts and sisters-in-law, and then watch the Xiao family crumble before him, only for new aristocratic families to emerge on this land, drinking blood even more cruelly and brazenly.

The mountains and rivers of Lixia Commandery undulated before his eyes. The bloody disaster seemed to have passed. People walked through the empty alleys, while outside the city, various jackals roamed, waiting with glowing green eyes. That disaster had sated them, which was why they still craved human flesh.

Colorful divine light gradually rose from Xiao Chuting, circulating continuously in the sky, like ripples spreading from a stone dropped into a lake. The sound from his mouth echoed repeatedly in the air, carried by the divine power in all directions.

“Xiao Chuting of the Lixia Xiao family has today attained the Violet Mansion realm! The Xiao family, as per custom, will secede from the Qingchi Sect and establish itself as a Violet Mansion Immortal Clan. Three months from now, a ceremony and sacrifice will be held. All fellow Daoists are welcome to attend and observe!”