The bright moon over Merit City faded. The Old Ancestor, as elusive as a divine dragon whose head is seen but never its tail, sat amidst the scent of incense in the main seat of the Ancestral Hall.
The years had not changed his face, but he had, without realizing it, become far more composed.
He no longer sat casually with his legs crossed, but instead sat in a formal, cross-legged meditation pose.
As Li Wei himself would say, after several hundred years, his heart was now as steady as his seat.
The guests in the family residence were raising hell.
He knew every one of them intimately, but in truth, he had barely spoken to any of them. Even when he did, it was just a few casual words after descending into the world.
These guests all knew of the Li family's Old Ancestor, and they always maintained a heart full of reverence and awe. Little did they know that this Old Ancestor was also just an ordinary man who wanted to have a hearty drink with these strange and distant friends before the great war.
The senses of a Divinity Transformation expert are sharp.
Li Wei heard Elder Tianqing of the Azure Cloud Pavilion speaking with a drunken slur.
The old man said that the Azure Cloud Pavilion no longer needed to serve as a memory of the Azure Cloud Region's future, because he was going to follow the Li family to eradicate the threat lying beside their bed.
In this way, the predecessors would plant the trees so that the descendants could enjoy the shade for thousands of years to come.
When Li Dalong had stood before the Azure Cloud Pavilion in the past, he had seen Elder Tianqing as a decrepit old man on the verge of death.
But now, Li Wei felt that Elder Tianqing was truly old but vigorous.
He expanded his senses further.
Ancestor Tiangui, whose mouth had previously been full of nothing but foul language, was now sitting under the Old Tree, having sobered up.
In a rare moment of peace, he was playing a game of Go with Li Kuangren, who had just emerged from his secluded cultivation.
"Kuangren, I have been a disciple of the Black Tortoise Sect since I was a child. Back then, in my haste to contend for the position of Sect Master, I rushed my breakthrough with a Six-by-Nine Nascent Soul, and my foundation was weak.
Now, at the age of one thousand nine hundred, I have only reached the stage of Nascent Soul 'Leaving the Body' and have not seen even a shadow of the Divinity Transformation realm.
But things are better now. My Black Tortoise Sect has an elder who has become a Divinity Transformation expert, and we have another disciple whose aptitude is not weak."
Li Kuangren's hand, holding a game piece, paused.
Ancestor Tiangui glanced at Li Kuangren's hand and continued, "The cycle of the new replacing the old is inevitable in this world. I have never asked for anything from you, Li family members, before, but now that you are in charge of Hundred Treasures Mountain, I have a favor to ask of you."
"Senior, there is no need to say more."
Li Kuangren smiled and placed his game piece. "The family gave its orders before this began. When we go to the Duravia Trade Prefecture, for any sect or power in Azure Cloud, if they have no Divinity Transformation experts remaining, no other power may invade them. And if they have no Nascent Soul experts left, then as long as my Hundred Treasures Mountain stands, their lineage will not be extinguished."
The old man, whose lifespan was nearing its end, looked completely at peace.
Li Wei felt a stir in his heart. The night was too quiet, just like the hearts of these old family friends as they prepared to face the Duravia Trade Prefecture power.
He looked over at the base of the Old Tree.
Ancestor Tianye and Master Wushou were gazing intently at it.
Baimei's corpse was still entwined on the tree, his blood dripping down onto the Heaven-Piercing Coffin.
Li Yaoqing and Li Yaotie were being sheltered by the tree's radiant light.
The quiet conversation of the two old men, however, caused the slumbering Li Changsheng to open his eyes and eavesdrop on the whispers of his family's old friends.
It was impossible to tell whose voice was whose.
He could only hear them saying that Azure Cloud was growing more and more prosperous, its Qi Luck growing deeper and stronger.
The Azure Cloud Region was no longer the barbarian land that could not produce a Divinity Transformation expert.
The younger generation was beginning to show its talent, and so many outstanding young prodigies were starting to contend for supremacy.
"I've gotten old, too." Master Wushou said with a smile.
"Brother Tianye, even a few hundred years ago, I never would have imagined that we would now have so many choices."
"We could choose to grow old and pass away peacefully in meditation. In the past, I would have certainly chosen that path. But now, I want to choose to personally conquer a better future for my disciples."
Ancestor Tianye frowned slightly. "You old bastard, your schemes run deep. If you passed away in meditation, you'd be forgotten, your spirit tablet unseen among the past masters of your sect. But by dying on the battlefield, you could be revered on par with the founding ancestor himself."
"Hahaha, forget about a glorious reputation!" Heavenly Master Wushou laughed heartily. "Even if I had to slaughter every mortal in the world and be infamous for ten thousand years, if it would bring ten thousand years of prosperity to the disciples of my Longevity Mountain, that would be a wonderful thing indeed!"
The two of them then turned to the Old Tree, asking it to divine the future.
The Old Tree opened its eyes. Its gaze met theirs.
As the Li family had aged, so too had the tree. It had wisdom from its long and isolated life, but its emotional intelligence had been slow to develop. But in recent years, it had finally begun to understand the many joys and sorrows of the human world.
When it drank blood, the Old Tree felt true joy.
When the Li family's children messed about under its branches, it felt an irrepressible anger.
But on that day, after it had performed its divination and the children had left their home, one by one, never to return, it wished it had never happened, and they were still messing with its branches. What would it have mattered?
After that, it never again told the Li family what it saw in its divinations.
Its innate talent for seeing omens felt more like a curse, one that made it feel, even to this day, that it was responsible for the harm that had befallen the Li family's children.
Perhaps Li Dalong had been right all those years ago: the future was something the children of the Li family had to forge for themselves.
Looking at the two old men's expectant faces, the Old Tree's voice boomed.
"I have seen it. Duravia Trade Prefecture will be stained with blood, and Prince Qian's fate is sealed."
Content and satisfied, the two old men departed.
Li Changsheng, still resting upon the Old Tree, spoke. "Divine Tree, you didn't see anything at all, did you?"
The Old Tree remained silent.
"It was just like that prophecy you made up on the spot, back when you first reawakened in Merit City." Li Changsheng's voice was calm.
"Divine Tree, I've been lying here too long, leaving everything to my little sister. I feel like I can control a portion of the power from those eyes now. But I don't know what the consequences will be when the time comes to actually use it."
"I want you to see if I can take these eyes with me and finally venture out on my own."
A cool night breeze rustled past. The Old Tree looked uncanny, with three Li family members on its trunk and an old, carefree Flood Dragon winding through its branches.
As its red leaves swayed, the Old Tree remained silent, staring intently at the retreating figures of the two old men.
In truth, it was still seeing an omen.
It hadn't been lying. It had seen a path of blood, leading from the Eternal Sun Prefecture all the way to the Duravia Trade Prefecture.