Three months had slipped away quietly, and Li Qinghong, clad in jade armor, arrived borne aloft on the wind.

She still retained the appearance of a woman in her early twenties; the spear in her hand was sharp, and the jade armor on her body shone with crystalline brightness, adorned with intricate patterns—a Fetal Breathing Magical Instrument.

Armor as a type of magic artifact was expensive and scarcely less rare than a pill furnace. This set was found when they breached Jade Court Mountain. Tongya sent it to Li Qinghong, who then passed it to Li Yuanping’s hands.

Li Yuanping wouldn’t hear of it and had Li Xihong take it back to Jade Court Mountain for Li Qinghong, much to the pity of Xihong, who ran back and forth until he was out of breath.

Li Qinghong took two steps into the great hall; Li Yuanping raised his head as the spirited woman stood before him with her spear, her jade armor particularly eye-catching. He quickly rose to his feet, smiling as he said,

"Qinghong,"

Li Qinghong returned the smile with one of her own and strode forward, her eyes shimmering with a violet hue, she sized up Li Yuanping for a moment before speaking crisply,

"Your cultivation level is almost caught up by Xizhi!"

Li Yuanping chuckled softly as Li Ximing approached with a bow,

"Ximing greets his aunt!"

"Here comes my family’s alchemist."

Li Ximing smiled sheepishly at the comment, and Li Xiping, noting Li Qinghong’s refined state of cultivation and that she had been at the Fifth Layer of Qi Training for a while, sighed and said,

"Your and Yuanjiao’s cultivation speed is truly astonishing. Back in the day, Yu Mujian was considered highly talented for reaching Qi Cultivation by the age of thirty. Both of you are not yet thirty, one at the Fifth Layer, the other at the Sixth Layer of Qi Cultivation; it is remarkable."

Li Qinghong laughed lightly and said seriously,

"And there’s An Jingming, who reached the Eighth Layer of Qi Training by the age of twenty, so it’s not something we can compare to."

Li Yuanping nodded and recounted recent events. Li Qinghong listened carefully, pondered for a while, and then spoke,

"I have spent some time with the Fei Clan and am familiar with the brothers Fei Tongyu and Fei Tongxiao."

With purple light swirling in her eyes, she spoke softly,

"Fei Tongyu is handsome and refined, gentle and amicable, yet lacks decisiveness. He can follow the situation but cannot survive against odds; Fei Tongxiao has courage and strength but adheres faithfully to his heart and will not fail to repay our family’s kindness."

Li Yuanping rarely heard about these two and listened as if receiving a treasure, memorizing as he listened. Then he saw Li Qinghong smile and say,

"If people of the Fei Clan indeed join the sect, even these two would find it difficult to decide against our family. At most, they would be indecisive and try to please both sides. There’s no need to worry!"

After some exchange, remembering the day’s events, they all looked solemn. Li Yuanjiao and Li Xuanxuan were just entering the hall, with Xuanxuan returning hastily from the market.

He was over fifty, with hair graying at the temples, and was not one for frivolous talk. The younger members hurried to greet him, all four changing into white, exchanging a look as Yuanjiao said,

"To the mountain."

————

The Cave Mansion at Meichi Peak was discovered by Li Xiangping who, along with Tongya, had broken it open with Taiyin Profound Light. It had been repaired many times since, with the bluestone smoothed and the formation patterns intricate, flanked by imposing stone lions.

Upon stepping onto the platform before the entrance of the Cave Mansion, Li Yuanjiao began casting a spell, but the door to the mansion remained unmoved. He frowned slightly and said,

"It’s sealed from the inside."

Seeing this, the three turned their gaze to Li Qinghong. She was proficient in spear techniques and had mastered thunderbolt-like cultivation techniques, especially adept at destruction. Li Yuanping clasped his hands and said,

"I must trouble you, elder sister."

Hearing this and silently asking forgiveness in her heart, Li Qinghong brandished her spear forward, charging it against the stone gate. Thunder surged forth from the weapon, streaming continuously and gathering at its tip.

"Ha!"

Li Qinghong braced herself and swung the spear in a full circle, lashing out with her body’s momentum, the blade revealing a rich purple hue that morphed into the form of a ferocious flood dragon, bearing its fangs and claws as it crashed against the stone door.

This was "Swimming Dragon Shadow" which Fei Clan had sent five years ago, a technique well-suited to breaking formations and slaying enemies. Li Qinghong, who had been practicing this technique for years and had already mastered the basics, found this a fitting application.

"Boom!"

The formation initially on the stone door was primarily for confining breath and gathering spirits, but it suddenly lit up and then exploded with a bang. Li Yuanjiao and Li Xuanxuan, who were already prepared, placed their hands on the wall, dispelling the aftereffects and using mana to protect the stone door itself.

Only after the last thread of purple lightning vanished did Li Yuanjiao let out a breath and slowly pushed open the stone door.

"Huff—"

An icy cold blast swept past the entrance of the stone door, scattering and flying towards the horizon. The three of them cautiously stepped onto the staircase and entered together.

Atop the stone bed lay a young man in white, propping his chin with a hand, a sword resting on his knees. His eyes were tightly shut, black hair strewn about, the floor awash in luminescent cyan water, while dew dripped sparkling from the stone table by the door.

All four stared transfixed at the young man on the bed, bowed to him, and then saw the white-clad youth suddenly transform into luminescent cyan spirit water, leaving behind a scatter of corals, colored glazes, mica, and black rock and such like.

Li Yuanjiao stepped forward to see that there was writing on the stone table, engraved deep into the stone, the calligraphy capturing the power of dragons and grace of phoenixes:

"Five years since my death, my eyes have become colored glaze. Place them in a box and bury them on my behalf. My flesh and bone have turned to mica and black rock, which I hope my descendants will discard in the mountain streams, so craftsmen might find them and use them for foundations, for beams."

"My five viscera have transformed into the waters of cyan clarity. Cast them into the Great Rivers, so that I may behold the world’s landscapes. The rest has turned into corals and talc, to scatter through the forests, to be used in medicines, for painting, or in a lady’s cosmetics."

"Li Clan’s offspring, Tongya, ends his writing here."

Inside the room, all four were speechlessly solemn, each showing different expressions. Li Xuanxuan simply reached out to stroke the stone table, while Li Yuanjiao took out the Jade Box, carefully picking up the two pieces of colored glaze and placing them inside.

He then took down the Green Ruler Sword from the bed, holding it close to his chest, and turned to Li Qinghong, saying:

"Please, little sister, gather up this black rock and mica, collect the spirit water, and find a mountain stream and the Great River. I will first take our granduncle back to the ancestral hall."

Li Qinghong bowed her head, knelt in front of the bed, lost in a daze, seemingly deep in thought. After several moments, she replied:

"Alright."

She took out the Jade Box and picked up the scattered shiny black and white spiritual objects one by one, then cast a spell to gather the abundant luminescent cyan spirit water into a sphere, cradling it in her hands before she flew off on the wind.

Leaving Lijing Mountain with a fluttering motion, Li Qinghong flew silently for a while, searching around until she finally found a mountain stream.

With the sound of a mountain spring ’ding-dong’ and orchids all around, a mundane village was not far away, which seemed to fit with Li Tongya’s wishes. Therefore, she took out the mica and black rock from the Jade Box and dropped them into the spring water, one by one.

Having done all this, Li Qinghong finally sat down nearby, resting her chin in her hand and gazing thoughtfully.

"Woof woof... Woof woof..."

She was startled for a moment, then looked around with reddened eyes. She eventually saw a red-furred fox sitting by the stream, wailing loudly.

Li Qinghong hesitated slightly, then cautiously stood up and said respectfully:

"Junior Li Qinghong, greets the senior!"

"Damn it."

The fox cursed and glanced up at Li Qinghong, then spat out a spirit grass, complaining:

"Li Tongya sealed the mark I left on him, and just now I found out that the guy died, and I’ve been searching the mountains for medicinal herbs for him for nothing, what a waste!"

Though cursing, the fox hung its head, listlessly giving her a glance, picked up a piece of mica from the river, threw the herb back into its mouth, and yelled:

"I came to look for Li Tongya, and accidentally ran into you burying him, so I thought I’d have a look while passing by."

Then it rode the demon wind up into the air, vanishing into the horizon like a gust of black wind, heading to the depths of Da Li Mountain.

Li Qinghong paused in place, then bowed slowly in the direction it had gone, and rode the wind to search for the Great River.

The chilly mountain stream returned to its peaceful state, dew tinkling down drop by drop and the spring water ’ding-ding dong-dong’ as it flowed. After quite some time, a figure slowly materialized out of The Great Void.

This person was clad in white, with loose garments and a sash, wearing a green jade pendant, with an indistinct face, swaying a sword at his waist, standing with arms behind his back.

He looked down at the mica and black rock in the creek, lifted up his white cloth shoes, and gently kicked a stone, which tumbled ’gurgle gurgle’ into the stream.

"Li Tongya."