"Lijing's Li Family, Li Tongya!"
"Ziyan Sect's Ziqi Peak's Ling Yanzi."
Ling Yanzi finally reached Lijing Mountain and entered the courtyard to see Li Xuanling greeting him with a beaming smile, and he opened his mouth to laugh and say,
"I've seen the senior!"
Ling Yanzi nodded reservedly, but did not expect Li Xuanling to laugh softly and say,
"I have already summoned the clan mbers, ready to witness the senior's marvelous techniques!"
Ling Yanzi choked for a mont, then rembered that in the rush of his escape, he had rashly promised spells and Spiritual Objects. Li Tongya and Li Xuanfeng could hardly contain their amusent and secretly praised him in their hearts, although Li Xuanfeng spoke with sternness on his face,
"Ling'er! Do not be disrespectful. Senior Ling Yanzi is a high-ranking cultivator of the Three Sects and Seven Doors, you needn't worry about him breaking his promise."
Ling Yanzi sighed softly and, taking his seat, said with a bitter smile,
"Stop talking about being a high-ranking cultivator of the Three Sects and Seven Doors. Being hunted and in a sorry state, my despicable appearance earlier is not only known to you but probably witnessed by tens of thousands of ordinary people below the mountain. Where's the high-ranking cultivator there? I'm nothing more than a common man who fears death!"
After taking a sip of tea, Ling Yanzi savored it carefully, his expression calm, and continued,
"Regardless, I have survived. Those two from the Changxiao Sect perished at my hand. You don't know... being alive,"
At this point, he paused abruptly as if breathing deeply in the hard-won Spiritual Energy of survival that lingered in the mountain air, and then Ling Yanzi said with a brimming smile,
"Is better than anything else!"
With these words spoken, Li Tongya took a higher regard for him. mbers of the Li Family's generation with the character 'Xuan' in their nas paused slightly. Ling Yanzi chuckled and said,
"All the Mana in cos from my Sect, and I've made a Xuanjing Spirit Oath that I cannot share it with you. The Spirit Stones and Elixirs I had were already used up on the way, and many of the Cultivation Techniques and Secret Manuals I've obtained from my travels are mostly useless to you. But, there is this one Secret Technique, nad 'Purple Thunder Secret Essence Technique,' a remarkable Third Grade technique that still holds so value. What do you think, Brother Tongya?"
"Senior, please continue."
Li Tongya finally heard the fellow willing to speak, so he listened carefully.
"This technique was originally a Fourth Grade technique of the ancient Thundercloud Temple. Back then, cultivators consud Purple Gold Thunder Liquid for Qi Cultivation and upon reaching Foundation Establishnt, they ford an Immortal Foundation known as 'Winter Thunder Sound.' After the fall of the Thundercloud Temple and the disappearance of the Purple Gold Thunder Liquid, it was changed to Xuanyin Thunder Liquid, and the technique was downgraded to Third Grade. The Immortal Foundation ford was thus called 'Mysterious Thunder Berth,' but it still surpassed other ordinary Third Grade techniques by far."
"Oh?"
Li Tongya frowned slightly and countered,
"Since it is a Secret Technique, I fear there must be so side effects, right?"
"They are very mild... rely the inability to have offspring and a reduction of a few years of lifespan..."
Li Tongya's expression, which had been quite interested, suddenly turned sour. If it was a Sect's technique, that would be one thing, but as a family Cultivation Technique, if it prevented offspring, would it not be undermining the very foundations of the Li Family?
Seeing his reaction, Ling Yanzi also felt quite awkward and quickly said,
"There's more! I also have the thod for collecting Xuanyin Thunder Liquid. I will give it to you along with the technique."
Li Tongya looked at him and shook his head helplessly,
"Then many thanks, senior."
"As for this brocade pouch..."
Ling Yanzi nodded and raised two plain brocade pouches from the Changxiao Sect mbers, softly saying,
"This pouch can resonate with the techniques of Changxiao Sect mbers and must not be opened. Keeping it in your noble family would be inviting disaster. Better that I take it with . Next year, I'll send soone to exchange the items inside for Spirit Stones and deliver them to your noble family."
Li Tongya naturally didn't trust him, but there was nothing he could do at the mont, so he decided to do him a favor and said in a low voice:
"Take it then, senior."
Ling Yanzi took the storage bag, and the Dharma Swords and Flying Shuttles of the two Changxiao Sect cultivators naturally fell into the hands of the Li Family. These two Dharma Swords were sowhat better than Li Tongya's, but he was a little afraid to use them.
The two Flying Shuttles were rather ordinary, and since the Li Family had many uses for Spirit Stones, they had never bought one. Now that two had been sohow delivered to them, they were similarly afraid to use them openly. Li Tongya thought about finding a day to sell them off together.
After chatting for a while longer, Ling Yanzi rested on Lijing Mountain for a ti, bade farewell to the others, and rode his Flying Shuttle back to report. The people on Lijing Mountain finally settled down, and Li Xuanfeng joined Li Tongya in seclusion, while everyone else went about their own business.
————
Li Xia County.
The bustling streets teed with people of all sorts, and on both sides, many street vendors pushed carts selling cakes and rice porridge. Following the flow of people deeper in, the alleys thinned in crowd, growing sowhat desolate.
Inside a quiet alley with large courtyards paved with bluestone, crisp green vines were planted and rely a few clothes supported by wooden sticks fluttered under the setting sun.
"Mother!"
A crisp boy's voice rang out, and Jiang Yuanyu gently lifted her head. Her originally cute and plump face had thinned out a lot, making her look much leaner.
"Yuanyu,"
The boy was dressed in simple clothes that, although devoid of fancy patterns, were impeccably clean and obviously well washed, his small face plump and round, his eyes laughing as he gazed at Jiang Yuanyu,
"Mother, a beggar ca by asking for copper coins!"
Jiang Yuanyu raised an eyebrow and smiled warmly as she took out two coins from her bosom, handed them to him, and said in a low voice:
"Go on then, but be careful."
"Sure!"
Watching her child stumble out the door, Jiang Yuanyu's heart filled with worry, so she quickly stood up and followed, muttering through gritted teeth:
"Five whole years have gone by. Is that good-for-nothing addicted to seclusion, or did he get killed by soone during a Spell Battle? Not a single word in five years... If it weren't for being pregnant with Yuanyu before he left, those five years would have driven mad..."
Upon reaching the entrance of the courtyard, Jiang Yuanyu saw the beggar was a middle-aged man with all his limbs intact and still showing so color in his face, yet he shalessly lay on the ground, faking pain. Little Yuanyu was at his side, comforting him in a childish voice.
"Yuanyu!"
Fearing that the man was a child-snatcher, Jiang Yuanyu called out anxiously:
"Co back quickly!"
Li Yuanyu turned his head, looked at her, and quickly approached with a smile, saying childishly:
"Mother, this man is so strange. He not only refused my money but also thanked and told to move house. Instead, he gave a copper coin, so round and big…"
As he spoke, he took out a flat copper coin, of a dull gray hue, with four ancient characters carved on it, which he couldn't recognize. Jiang Yuanyu didn't pay much attention, but her eyes were still fixed on the beggar.
"There are bad people in the county abducting children; make sure you keep a good lookout."
After giving a caution, Jiang Yuanyu picked up the child and headed back, asking quietly:
"Shall I take you to the teacher's later this afternoon to study so characters?"
"Okay."
Li Yuanyu agreed in his childish voice, and the two of them stepped into the courtyard. However, the glorious morning sun suddenly dimd as thick, dark clouds swiftly covered the sky from the east, with several faint figures standing in the airspace above Li Xia County. Intermittent laughter echoed as the figures looked down upon the mortals below as if they were gazing at at on a plate.
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