Chapter 65: Two Foxes

Li Xuanfeng sobbed with uncontrollable hiccups. He lay on Old Man Xu’s corpse for a quarter of an hour, only slowly rising when his hiccups finally subsided.

He grabbed Old Man Xu’s left foot and dragged the body with effort towards a half-person-tall tombstone. Only then did he realize the old man’s body was as light as a pile of firewood, so light that even a child like him could move it.

He strained to lift the upper half of the body, propping it against the tombstone. Li Xuanfeng gently smoothed out the old man’s pained and twisted face, hoping to make him look more peaceful.

A sob escaped him.

Gazing at the old man’s wrinkled face, which seemed to be both weeping and smiling, Li Xuanfeng burst into tears. He quickly turned his head, wiping away his tears as he ran towards the mountain.

He walked for a while until he could see the courtyard bathed in golden sunlight. Li Xuanfeng quickly wiped his eyes dry, pursed his lips, and walked into the courtyard.

Upon entering, he stepped onto a green brick-paved ground. A small girl in a leather jacket sat quietly by a table, cradling a snow-white kitten in her arms and murmuring to it.

Sunlight fell upon her downcast eyes and brows, making her curved eyes look beautiful, inviting anyone who saw them to smile along with her.

This was Li Jing-tian, currently the only girl in the Li family. Liu Rou-xun had given birth to a son for Li Tongya, named Li Xuanling, who was currently studying at the academy, leaving Li Jing-tian alone in the courtyard.

“Feng’er.”

The girl looked up, placed the white kitten on the table, and said with a smile:

“Who bullied you?”

“Who would dare bully him? He’s always been the one bullying others.”

Just then, a young man walked out from the main courtyard. His eyebrows were long and gentle, his eyes soft, and there was a faint resemblance to Li Changhu in his features. He interjected with a smile.

“Brother Xuan, you’ve finished your seclusion?”

The girl’s eyes lit up. She hopped over with a smile, grabbed Li Xuanxuan’s hand, and asked with anticipation:

“Have you achieved the third level of the Embryonic Breathing Cycle?”

Li Xuanxuan smiled and nodded, but seeing Li Xuanfeng still quiet and downcast, he bent down to ask him.

“What’s wrong, Feng’er?”

Li Xuanfeng replied sullenly:

“Grandad Xu is dead.”

“What?!”

Li Xuanxuan froze instantly. The gentle smile vanished from his face, replaced by profound sorrow in his eyes. He opened his mouth but couldn’t speak.

Li Xuanxuan had lost his father at birth. Although his grandfather, Li Mutian, doted on him, the old man was stern and usually sat in silence. Li Xuanxuan himself wasn’t sure if he respected his grandfather more than he loved him.

As he grew older, Li Xiangping kept him by his side daily. Li Xuanxuan was extremely cautious every day, carefully pondering his uncle’s words and commands, not daring to relax for a moment.

During his more than ten years of childhood, only Old Man Xu would fold grass crickets for him, draw his portrait, and tell him stories about his father, Li Changhu…

Despite his overwhelming grief, Li Xuanxuan quickly composed himself. He patted Li Xuanfeng’s shoulder and said in a deep voice:

“Take me to see him.”

***

Li Chengfu, bending at the waist, stepped over the high threshold of the main hall. Inside, several stern-faced elders sat discussing matters. At the head of the table sat a dignified-looking middle-aged man in a grey wolf-skin coat, idly sipping tea with his head lowered.

“Steward, Old Man Xu is dead.”

Li Chengfu, though now grey at the temples, was still agile. He bent low as he approached the middle-aged man and whispered.

The middle-aged man raised an eyebrow, lowered his voice, and inquired:

“What did the Patriarch say?”

“Bury him on the mountain, the Young Patriarch’s order.”

The middle-aged man nodded, pondered for a few moments, then placed his teacup on the table, clapped his hands, and said in a low voice:

“Let’s conclude our discussion here for today. There are still important matters to attend to on Lijing Mountain, so I, Yesheng, won’t keep you any longer.”

Li Yesheng had been a steward for over ten years and was now thirty years old. He carried an air of authority in his demeanor, and in these mountains where the average lifespan was less than sixty and people married in their early teens, he was considered to be in the prime of his life. Even his eldest son, Li Xiewen, was already twelve or thirteen.

Ren Ping’an had died of illness two years prior. Jingyang Village was now managed by their maternal uncle, Liu Linfeng. Upon hearing Li Yesheng’s words, the men immediately rose to take their leave, returning to their respective villages escorted by house servants.

Li Yesheng watched until everyone had left, then took a sip of tea and said in a deep voice:

“Go call Xiewen. He will come with me to Meichi Mountain to report to the Patriarch.”

Li Xiangping had now been managing affairs for over ten years, so naturally, the subordinates referred to him as the Patriarch.

Li Chengfu, seeing Li Xiewen hurry into the room, looked up at Li Yesheng, his face beaming with joy, and chuckled softly: “The Young Patriarch has finished his seclusion. My Qiuyang went up the mountain to pay his respects and returned saying that his strength is now comparable to the Young Patriarch’s.”

Thanks to Li Xiangping’s unsparing and generous guidance of Li Xuanxuan over the past decade, it was clear to anyone with discernment that Li Xiangping was truly grooming Li Changhu’s posthumous son to be the next Patriarch of the Li family. As such, all the stewards and village guards naturally referred to Li Xuanxuan as the Young Patriarch.

“Congratulations, Uncle Fu.”

Li Yesheng also smiled and cupped his hands in greeting towards Li Chengfu.

“Heh, heh.”

Li Chengfu chuckled twice, met Li Yesheng’s gaze for a few seconds, then nodded, bowed with cupped hands, and withdrew.

Watching Li Chengfu bow and exit, Li Yesheng let out a cold hmph and said to Li Xiewen in a deep voice:

“Do you know why I congratulated Li Chengfu?”

“I don’t know, Father…”

Li Xiewen scratched his head, looking at his father with a puzzled expression.

“Uncle Chengfu has been asking me about Brother Xuan’s cultivation level daily for years, and I never knew what to say…”

Li Yesheng sighed deeply, his brows furrowed tightly, and scolded:

“I told you to stop idling about every day! Spend more time with me and learn something, but you never listen!

“Currently, only Li Xuanxuan among the direct line has a spiritual aperture. We don’t know the talents of Li Xuanfeng or Li Xuanling. And your Li Qiuyang has been cultivating for a long time. If he cultivates faster than Li Xuanxuan, wouldn’t the Patriarch be wary?”

Li Xiewen suddenly understood. After pondering for a few moments, he replied:

“So that’s it! Father, you’re worried that when this generation passes, only Li Xuanxuan and Li Qiuyang will remain, and with the main line weak and the branch strong…”

“It’s still early.”

Li Yesheng waved his hand and said coldly:

“The Patriarch plans far ahead and may not necessarily be wary of him. However, we are all supporters of the main lineage, so we must be vigilant. If a day of drastic change truly comes, none of us will meet a good end! Fortunately, Xuan’er’s talent is good, so Li Qiuyang can also cultivate freely without us having to be wary of the Patriarch, and vice versa.”

As he spoke, Li Yesheng took a sip of tea and said in a deep voice:

“I’ll test you. If Li Xuanxuan truly cultivates slowly, do you know what to do?”

Li Xiewen lowered his head and pondered deeply for a while, then whispered:

“Investigate whether Li Qiuyang is falsely reporting his cultivation level?”

“Precisely. You are teachable. It’s truly commendable that you could think of that.”

Li Yesheng nodded and said seriously:

“If he were to falsely report his cultivation, how could the Patriarch not see through it? That old fox isn’t that foolish. He would simply have Li Qiuyang slow down his cultivation to observe the situation. You just need to arrange your men and await the Patriarch’s orders.

“Li Xiewen, you must remember, our branch has done too much for the Patriarch. And with no cultivators in our family, there’s no way out for us other than to depend on the Patriarch. Unless…”

“Unless what?”

Li Xiewen and Li Xuanxuan had grown up together and shared a deep bond. Hearing this, he frowned and countered:

A flicker of fear crossed Li Yesheng’s face, and he spoke with a slight tremble:

“Unless, a hundred years from now, all four branches of the main family wither, failing to produce a child with a spiritual aperture.”