Chapter 577: Scandal

Pen and Ink Literature, Profound Mirror Immortal Clan!

“Poof.”

After only a quarter of an hour, Li Qinghong and Xi Chang grew increasingly ruthless. Thunder and moonlight clashed in the sea, exploding into endless waves, while Li Quantao's face turned ashen, his life hanging by a thread.

He had been fighting continuously, long exhausted, and had sustained injuries from an earlier assault by two demonic cultivators. His condition worsened with every blow, and a moment of carelessness allowed a demonic cultivator to strike him directly in the chest.

“Hiss…”

His magic robe, its enchantment depleted and tattered, still offered some protection, preventing him from immediately plummeting to the seabed. However, his flesh was corroded by white energy, revealing bare bones beneath.

Li Xizhi frequently glanced over. Li Quantao took several more spells, his robe drenched in blood he had spewed. Li Xizhi prepared to offer aid, despite the incoming spells, when he saw several more figures flying from the distance.

“My lord! Your subordinate is late!”

Li Xizhi’s heart immediately sank. He looked up to see two more cultivators approaching on the wind, the leader white-haired and seemingly powerful.

“The enemy has reinforcements again…”

“Sigh…”

Li Xizhi’s heart lurched. He heard Yu Yuwei, not far away, sigh deeply and gently raise his hand, from which intense purple flames erupted.

Li Xizhi remembered that when the elder fought Tuoba Zhongyuan, he had dug a talisman from his palm, leaving a wound that had yet to heal. Now, he once again took out a jade knife and stabbed the palm of his other hand.

“Clink…”

A crisp, resonant sound emerged. A small, luminous, snow-white talisman sprang from his palm, and the elder sternly shouted:

“Hah!”

Two streams of purple flame, like flood dragons, burst forth, covered in shimmering incantations, dazzling and brilliant. The elder visibly aged, yet he did not direct the fire dragons at the people in front of him. Instead, he changed their direction, sweeping them to both sides.

These two fire dragons each blocked the demonic cultivators in front of Li Xizhi and Li Quantao. The elder took a pill, his face flushed scarlet, and raised the great cauldron in his hand high, unleashing dense purplish-red flames.

“Go!”

He shouted. Li Qinghong, who had been waiting, finally seized the moment and unleashed her last Profound Thunder. A blinding white light instantly flared.

“Boom!”

A spherical white light exploded in the sea. The thunderclap was like a landslide, shaking the water into surging waves and raising countless wisps of steam, which immediately transformed into a dense, purple lightning waterfall, spreading outwards and momentarily blurring everyone’s vision.

“Go!”

Li Xizhi quickly embraced Li Quantao and moved through the water, showing no lingering concern for the two behind them, and flew into the distance without looking back.

Li Qinghong had been monitoring the situation and used a Profound Thunder to force the enemy back. She, too, withdrew. The azure feathers on her body instantly emitted a bluish-white light, empowered by purple lightning, as she ascended and vanished from sight.

“My lord!”

Xi Chang emerged from the purple-white lightning, coughed twice, spitting some blood foam into his palm. His eyes were exceptionally bright as he watched Li Qinghong disappear as lightning in the distance, sighing:

“What exquisite Profound Thunder… It seems to be the Art of Guiding Thunder and Moored Clouds!”

“My lord! Are we still pursuing them?”

“Pursue?” Xi Chang chuckled.

“Can we catch them?!”

He broke through the sea surface and flew up, gazing into the distance as he softly said:

“Jiangnan, after all, was once the location of an immortal manor; there are still many righteous cultivators here.”

The subordinate followed his gaze and asked:

“My lord, I heard that the Taiyin lineage no longer exists in Jiangnan… Even though it was once the site of the Moon Radiance Primal Manor…”

“Hahahah!” Xi Chang chuckled softly after hearing this, and replied:

“Do you know why?”

Seeing his subordinate shake his head silently, Xi Chang smiled:

“Jiangnan was indeed where the Moon Radiance Primal Manor was located. Although their cultivation methods were the deepest of secrets, not to mention other things, Donghua passed down many Taiyin cultivation techniques. Do you know why they cannot be cultivated?”

He paused, then continued with a smile:

“Guess what the Moon Radiance Primal Manor used to cultivate Taiyin energy?”

The subordinate seemed to slowly realize something was amiss and replied:

“Could it be precious substances like 'Everpure Yin Qi' or 'Primal Radiance Essence'…?”

“Wrong.” Xi Chang laughed heartily, shaking his head. He gritted his teeth and said:

“They used Taiyin Moonlight, damn it!”

“Taiyin Moonlight!” The subordinate was too shocked to speak.

Xi Chang mumbled: “They all used Taiyin Moonlight for qi cultivation… How extravagant? How utterly extravagant! Isn't that like Mingyang cultivating qi with Bright Square Celestial Stones or Qingxuan cultivating qi with Primal Suppression Grand Secrets? After the Moon Manor went into hiding, what other cultivation method could possibly achieve that?”

“If only I could get my hands on some Taiyin Moonlight…” Xi Chang murmured.

“The Purple Manor would be within reach… That’s the Purple Manor…”

He sighed, then quickly composed himself and instructed:

“The old man was left behind. Capture him first and question him. That purple fire is quite interesting.”

Li Xizhi carried Li Quantao and fled for a while. Li Quantao was already semi-conscious, his vision blurred by blood. His arms dangled on Li Xizhi, and he gazed blankly.

Just moments before, as purple fire and lightning intertwined, and he was being rescued by Li Xizhi, the elder’s voice faintly echoed in his ears. The voice wasn’t loud, but it made him freeze:

“Li Encheng, that ungrateful man, dared not tell you much. My younger sister studied alchemy with him, but she secretly kept you… You should have called me your elder maternal uncle…”

“Although Li Xizhi is grateful to you, he is prone to suspicion. The Ning family father and son, whom he joined, are like wolves. Qingdu might harbor ulterior motives against the main sect. Drawing close to the Qingdu Li family is not a good idea…”

“You should have quickly kept your distance! Your gratitude drew you close, and sooner or later, you'll be implicated… It’s better to protect yourself soon!”

The elder’s voice was hoarse. Li Quantao listened, stunned. He uttered a few blood-tinged grunts from his throat. The thunder in the distance was still booming, but he suddenly understood something.

“Before, he dragged his feet during the demonic disaster, unwilling to give his full effort. It probably wasn't to harm me! He wanted to harm Brother Zhi… just to sever my ties with the Qingdu Li family!”

Li Quantao had never known his mother since childhood. He had asked his father and brothers about her multiple times but never received an answer. Now, understanding the full story, he realized it was indeed a shameful secret.

“No wonder they never told me… No wonder I could never find out anything.”

Yu Yuwei’s attitude had always struck him as strange. The strangeness lay here: when Tuoba Zhongyuan breached Baixiang Valley, Yu Yuwei had originally fled to Xian Lake. Yet, he traveled countless miles to see Li Xizhi. Now, Li Quantao realized, it was merely to see him.

Amid his sadness and resentment, he instantly grew deeply suspicious of what his father and brothers had instilled in him:

“How ruthless and heartless the Yu family members are… How selfish and cruel they are. What if Father was simply guilty, covered it up until his death, and then turned around to blame them, preventing me from discovering the truth?”

He lay quietly in Li Xizhi’s arms, his heart filled with indescribable complexity. After flying for nearly a quarter of an hour, he slowly recovered, hearing Li Xizhi’s concerned voice:

“Take the pill quickly? Can you still hold on?”

“I can hold on…” Li Quantao swallowed the blood foam, slowly opened his eyes. His hands were covered in blood. He murmured:

“I can hold on!”