"Ancestor... Is that you? Have you come to see his child again?" It was as if she had sensed the Spirit Tablet flare with light; Li Yaowen's eyelashes quivered, and a soft murmur escaped her lips.
[YES]
A thousand sentiments, ten thousand words welled up in Li Wei's heart, yet ultimately, his conveyed response was but that single, stark affirmation.
After five years of desolate silence, neither he nor any of his surviving kin truly wished to relive, or even speak of, the horrors of that day five years past.
"Ancestor," Li Yaowen's ethereal voice conveyed a deep longing, "I have yearned for this day for what seems an eternity. I wish to borrow a measure of your strength, to allow our scattered kin to meet one another, if only for a moment."
"Arrange for the clansmen to meet?" Li Wei was momentarily stunned.
Sensing his unspoken question, Li Yaowen elaborated, "Old Ancestor, this humble child cultivates the Way of Words, taking all under Heaven as my sacred text. Through it, I am now able to perceive the faintest glimpse of your immense power. Should you manifest your tribulation power, Ancestor, this child believes she could trace the subtle threads of destiny connected to it, and thereby allow the spirits of our scattered kin to converge, if only for a time. It is a meager offering, all this humble one can accomplish."
"This..." Li Wei began, clearly taken aback by the proposal.
Li Wei was visibly astonished. So this was Yaowen – always so quiet, so reserved! Even in her current ethereal condition, she was evidently far from helpless, possessing hidden depths he hadn't fathomed! Though he couldn't fully grasp the profundity of her current cultivation state, Li Wei didn't hesitate for even a heartbeat. He immediately unleashed the requested ability!
[System: You are activating Skill – Ancestor's Heavenly Punishment!]
In that very instant, the Ancestral Spirit Tablet throbbed with intense light. Mere moments passed, and Li Wei found, to his astonishment, that his surroundings had shifted.
He was abruptly transported to a boundless, ethereal void – a realm filled with a dense tapestry of stars, strikingly reminiscent of Li Yunlin's Skyveil Hall as it once appeared!
The celestial bodies within this void began to swirl and flow. Swiftly, one by one, the spiritual forms of the Li family members materialized, appearing disoriented in this strange new space.
"Is that... the children?! You are safe! Hahaha!" Li Dalong exclaimed, seeing them.
"Father, what's wrong? Why is your beard so overgrown?" Li Yaowen asked, noticing his appearance.
"From the Tian Xing Abode... why did only Li Yunlin come forth? What about the others who were with him? Don't tell me..." another voice questioned with dread.
"Where in the world are we...?" yet another Li member murmured in confusion.
Within this ethereal space, the core Li family members were ecstatic; the survivors were finally reunited. However, Li Xinghuo, along with Li Chang'an and Li Xingchen from their remote fishing hamlet, remained utterly bewildered, still struggling to comprehend the sudden turn of events.
This was the very first time this 'lost' branch of the family had ever laid eyes upon these senior Li figures. It felt like a dream as they stared, transfixed, at these powerful, unfamiliar kin.
They listened, still dazed, as the other Li family members shared stories, recounting all the trials they had endured in the intervening years, and the harrowing details of their flight from the clan's destruction long ago.
Finally, Li Xingchen, looking utterly bewildered, turned to Li Chang'an. "Dad, where on earth are we? Have you gone and picked a fight with some powerful foe out there, and now we're trapped in some kind of illusion? And that Ancestral Spirit Tablet... why did everything go like this the moment it appeared, and I barely even touched it?"
"Nonsense!" Li Chang'an aimed a light kick at his son.
"Your father is but a simple fisherman! I've lived an honest, quiet life – what enemies would I possibly have? More like it's you!" Li Chang'an retorted. "Didn't you learn some tricks from that old beggar of a senior who hangs around the village gate? Bet you're the one who went and stirred up a hornet's nest somewhere!"
Li Xingchen rolled his eyes. "You're some father, you are," he muttered under his breath, "Always making me take the fall for everything!"
"Ahem." Seeing the father and son squabbling, Li Xinghuo cast a quick look at the assembled 'bigwigs' – the other Li family elders who were deep in their own discussions and paying this minor spat no mind whatsoever.
Deciding to take the initiative, he walked over to Li Chang'an and Li Xingchen. In a respectful, serious tone, he said, "Greetings, you two. This humble one is named Li Xinghuo. Might I inquire as to your generational standing within the clan?"
"Hm?" Upon hearing the name and the question, Li Xingchen froze.
"Li Xinghuo..." he echoed, then trailed off, "Generational standing...?"
In that split second, Li Chang'an and his son exchanged a look, then glanced towards the other Li family members huddled together, tears glistening in all their eyes. A bolt of realization struck Li Chang'an. For decades, he had lived in ignorance of his true origins. But now, in this moment, it felt as though he was finally laying eyes upon his own kin!
"My surname... is Li?"
Father and son exchanged a wide-eyed glance, momentarily overcome and unsure how to react. They turned their gaze to Qingyu. Tears coursed freely down her cheeks as she whispered brokenly, "They're alive... They're still alive..."
Li Chang'an froze again. For five long years, he had seen his mother grow increasingly haggard with worry. And it had all started back then, five years ago – the very time that inexplicable sense of dread had first taken root in his own heart. Now, in this instant, it all made sense. This was why his mother had suffered so.
He hesitated, torn. Should he step forward now, acknowledge these strangers as his kin? Or should he simply remain in the shadows, observing these clan elders whose power could seemingly shake the heavens and move the earth? Just as he wavered, he saw the group of elders turn, their collective gaze falling upon his own small family unit.
Then, the ethereally beautiful, white-robed woman Li Yaowen drifted closer.
Addressing Qingyu directly, she said, "Qingyu, please set your heart at ease. However difficult the circumstances, our Li family will always pull through. The reason we allowed you to see this for yourself was also to reassure you and the children that we are, for now, safe."
"Fourth Great-Grandaunt," Qingyu asked, biting her lip in resolve, "Is there any way at all that I might be of assistance?"
Ordinarily, if this had been in the past, she would never have countenanced her children Chang'an and Xingchen becoming entangled in such dangerous clan affairs. But faced with the stark news of the clan's near-destruction, she found herself unable to quell the burning hatred within. Indeed, over these last five years, she had already begun to push her 'children' to focus on their cultivation.
Li Yaowen simply offered Qingyu another gentle smile. "Your safety is what matters most," she said. "Return now. The children... they will forget the events of this day."
"Fourth Great-Grand..." Qingyu began, but was cut off.
...
Fishermen's Village.
Before her dressing table, Qingyu slowly opened her eyes. In the mirror, she saw her own face, etched now with fine lines around her eyes, her cheeks already stained with tears.
She gazed into the reflection, lost in a daze, replaying every detail of what she had just experienced in that ethereal, void-like realm. A soft whisper escaped her. "They're all still alive... Fourth Great-Grandaunt... she said I should be safe... but I..."
She thought for a long, long time. Finally, she went to the window and looked out into the courtyard. Her son and grandson were there, seated cross-legged, their eyes now open but vacant with a profound confusion.
They seemed completely disoriented. Clearly, Fourth Great-Grandaunt had already used her abilities to make them forget everything they had seen and heard within that spiritual meeting place.
"Should I let them know the truth?" Qingyu wondered.
"But even if they did know... this enemy, the one our entire clan couldn't withstand... what difference could they possibly make against it?" Qingyu wavered.
She didn't want her son and grandson to suffer the same fate as Kuangren. Yet, the once-mighty Li Clan... now reduced to just this handful of survivors...
Just at that moment, however, Li Chang'an abruptly raised his head, his gaze fixed on his mother by the window.
He didn't know why, but while he had been cultivating moments before, a strange sense of melancholy and loss had washed over him. It was as if he'd visited some other place, a place filled with countless people, a place that had stirred his heart in a way he'd never felt before – not even when facing down formidable sea demons during his fishing expeditions.
When he asked his son, Li Xingchen, he discovered Xingchen had experienced the exact same peculiar sensation.
Seeing his mother's troubled expression then, Li Chang'an could restrain himself no more. In a flash, he was before her, confronting her directly, the questions that had gnawed at him for years finally tumbling out: "Mother, where were Xingchen and I just now? For so many years, I've had this persistent feeling you've been concealing things from us. About my true birth... about that old beggar by the village entrance who never seems to get any older..."
Qingyu looked at her son, then her gaze drifted down to Li Xingchen in the courtyard below, his young face alight with anticipation. At last, with a deep, weary sigh, she seemed to relent.
A keen light suddenly flared in Qingyu's eyes. In that very moment, an immense pressure radiated from her, causing Li Chang'an's face to visibly alter.
He realized with a jolt, "His mother... she's a Nascent Soul expert!"
"Chang'an! Xingchen!" Qingyu commanded, her voice now firm. "Take up your Ancestral Tablets! Together with me, we will pay respects to our Ancestor!"
Ignoring the stunned looks on the faces of her son and grandson, Qingyu, already holding her own Spirit Tablet, turned and strode towards the Ancestral Hall.
For so long, she had feared her son and grandson might tread the same perilous road as Kuangren. But now, with the clan facing annihilation, she could not simply stand aside and watch.
"Surely," she resolved, "in this world, there are always things worth defending with one's very life. Even if her own small branch of the family was weak, as insignificant as motes of dust in the grand scheme."
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