Chapter 75: Xiang Ping Returns

Seeing Li Xuanxuan with his head bowed, Li Tongya's tone softened. He said gently, "It's fortunate that this is your first time managing the household, and you haven't made any major mistakes."

After pondering for a few moments, Li Tongya lowered his gaze, looked at him, and said softly, "Go to the Mei Chi Mountain cave dwelling and reflect thoroughly. Don't come out until you've broken through to the fourth layer of the Fetal Breath realm, the Azure Yuan Wheel."

"Thank you, Uncle!" Li Xuanxuan cupped his hands, then respectfully withdrew, appearing as if a weight had been lifted from him.

Li Tongya went to the back courtyard to change his clothes. Sitting in the main seat, he flipped through the various matters Li Xuanxuan had recorded. He frowned and said in a deep voice, "Tell Ye Sheng to come in."

A clan soldier outside naturally went to summon him. Li Yesheng hurried into the main courtyard, bowing, and saw Li Tongya looking down at a bamboo slip, not raising his head to look at him.

Li Yesheng's heart skipped a beat. He thought to himself, "Oh no, it backfired." Although Li Xiangping and Li Tongya had raised Li Xuanxuan as the future patriarch since childhood, Li Xuanfeng and Li Xuanling had not yet been born back then. Who knew what these two brothers thought now? Li Yesheng had watched Li Xuanxuan make mistakes without acting, using it as a test of their attitudes.

Seeing Li Tongya remain silent, he immediately understood that his little scheme had been seen through. He quickly knelt down to confess his wrongdoing. Li Tongya frowned, waved his hand to cut him off, and said in a low voice, "When the patriarch returns, you can explain yourself to him."

After speaking, he put away the bamboo slip in his hand and said in a deep voice, "Beat the drums and mobilize the troops."

***

Li Xiangping stumbled along for a while, found a large tree, and leaned against it to rest and regulate his breath. Once his spiritual power had recovered by about twenty to thirty percent, he stood up, slapped a "Divine Travel" spell onto his leg, and continued walking south, pushing through his exhaustion.

After walking for an hour and a half, Li Xiangping finally dared to relax. He climbed a large banyan tree and lay half-asleep for several hours, only then feeling his physical strength somewhat improve. This was a desolate wilderness, with no signs of human habitation. Li Xiangping caught a wild rabbit, roasted and ate it. He spent several days absorbing spiritual energy and regulating his meridians before continuing his journey south.

His external injuries had mostly healed, but internal injuries were not so easy to treat; his internal organs still throbbed faintly. His strength had only recovered to about seventy or eighty percent. Fearing an encounter with some monster, Li Xiangping walked cautiously, and more than a month had passed by the time he returned to his own territory.

As soon as he entered his territory, Li Xiangping saw several groups of clan soldiers patrolling the woods. He thought to himself, "It seems the family is still stable; the Ji family hasn't moved west." Although those clan soldiers were wearing their own uniforms, Li Xiangping, out of caution, still bypassed them. He quietly made his way to Lijing Village, and only after seeing everything was normal and there were no signs of disturbance did he feel relieved enough to go up the mountain.

Li Tongya was frowning as he wiped his sword when he heard footsteps. He looked up, startled, then saw Li Xiangping, disheveled but smiling, standing at the door. The corners of his mouth immediately curved upward as he chuckled, "I knew you were a slippery one; you were bound to survive."

Li Xiangping pursed his lips, sat down by the table, picked up the tea, and gulped down a bowl. Only then did he exclaim, "What kind of mess was that! Chased for a day and two nights by a Qi Cultivation realm cultivator, I nearly got killed with a single palm strike!"

After recounting the pursuit and escape of the past twenty-odd days, Li Xiangping unfastened his outer robe and gently placed the spell mirror on the table. Watching the blue-grey mirror slowly float up, he then pulled out a brocade pouch and a light blue metal block, saying with a smile, "Take a look?"

Li Tongya nodded, his spiritual sense probing into the storage bag. A small pile of items clattered out. Apart from a pile of clothes, miscellaneous items, gold, and silver, the old Daoist's storage bag still contained twenty-five spirit stones, several Fetal Breath realm healing elixirs, a carefully sealed jade bottle labeled "Jade Sprout Elixir," a stack of yellowed talismans, and the white-glowing jade pendant. Finally, with a clink, a greyish-white longsword fell out.

As Li Xiangping picked up the jade pendant, Lu Jiangxian, who had been half-asleep in the mirror, suddenly perked up. Seeing the jade pendant just an inch away, he gently pulled it, following the connection between them. The jade pendant immediately leaped up like a joyful bird, soaring straight towards the blue-grey spell mirror.

"Hmm?" The incident was sudden, and Li Xiangping couldn't hold onto the jade pendant. He could only watch as it suddenly leaped up and gently adhered to the mirror's surface. Streams of white mist surged out, entering the mirror as if tired birds were returning to their forest nests. The twelve ancient characters along the mirror's edge lit up one by one. Lu Jiangxian felt utterly refreshed, his spiritual sense continuously expanding, and streams of information flowed out, which he then calmly began to sort through.

Li Xiangping and Li Tongya saw the white light on the jade pendant slowly recede, then it dropped back onto the tabletop with a gentle thud. They exchanged a glance, returned the spell mirror to its stone stand, and waited for the duration of an incense stick. Seeing nothing unusual, they returned to the main courtyard to continue inventorying the items.

The old Daoist had led a frugal life; even his healing elixirs were only for the Fetal Breath realm. Li Xiangping carefully put away these few bottles of healing elixirs along with the twenty-five spirit stones. He then gently opened the Jade Sprout Elixir, and immediately a refreshing medicinal fragrance emanated. Just by smelling it, both men felt the spiritual power within their bodies surge.

"The potency of this elixir surpasses the two remaining Snake Essence Elixirs in our home," Li Xiangping remarked. "It's said that Snake Essence Elixirs are suitable for both Fetal Breath and Qi Cultivation realms, so this Jade Sprout Elixir must be for the Qi Cultivation stage."

He quickly sealed the Jade Sprout Elixir back up, but then saw Li Tongya had already picked up the longsword, examining it with fascination. He immediately chuckled, "How's the sword?"

Li Tongya shook his head with a smile. "It should be the weapon that person used in the Fetal Breath realm. It seems to be worth only three to five spirit stones, but it's much better than common iron."

Hearing this, Li Xiangping immediately remembered his own Azure Crow Bow. It was a magic artifact Li Tongya had bought for two and a half spirit stones, and it was quite heavy. Earlier, he had planned to just unleash a Taiyin Profound Light and then withdraw, and since carrying the bow would hinder his movement, he had left it at home. Who knew he would encounter that old Daoist? During the fight, he had no suitable weapon. He thought, "You can't really say that. Perhaps if I had been carrying the bow, the old Daoist would have caught up to me even sooner."

As Li Xiangping was lost in thought, pondering his escape from the chase, Li Tongya quietly opened the stack of talismans and carefully compared them to the key points of the talisman techniques in the Spirit Medium. "It seems to be a Fetal Breath realm talisman for summoning a magical shield," Li Tongya said in a deep voice after comparing them for a while. He counted them; there were twenty-four in total, worth about eight spirit stones. "We could keep some for Xuanxuan and Xuanfeng for self-defense, especially Xuanfeng. That child has a mind of his own and loves to wander outside."

Li Xiangping recalled the large shield the old Daoist had conjured using twelve talismans. He muttered a low curse and chuckled, "That old geezer's most prized and hidden techniques were tricked out of him twice by me. No wonder he was so furious."

Li Tongya then picked up the light blue metal block and examined it, unable to identify it. He looked at Li Xiangping, frowned, and said, "Do you still have injuries? Take some medicine and rest first."