“It’s been more than ten years since I’ve seen you! How have you been, fellow Daoist?” Li Tongya inquired, though secretly puzzled as to why she had approached him.
The female cultivator wore a conflicted look on her face as she remarked, “It’s only been a little over ten years, yet you’re already a Qi Cultivator...”
“It’s just luck,” Li Tongya responded with a chuckle.
“I’m Lin Jingyu, my husband is a Qi Cultivator named Xu Yangping,” said the female cultivator as she introduced herself.
“Li Tongya,” he replied politely, nodding his head.
“We actually have found a cave dwelling... are you interested in exploring it with us, Senior?” Lin Jingyi asked in a soft voice.
“A cave dwelling...?” Li Tongya narrowed his eyes, suspicious of the offer.
How can there be such a good thing? We’re pretty much strangers to each other... can I really trust her? This person could not possibly be here to swindle me or kill me...
“Oh? That sounds like incredible luck,” Li Tongya commented with a chuckle.
Lin Jingyi quickly sensed his skepticism and whispered, “We’ve already checked the cave dwelling. It belonged to a cultivator of the Foundation Establishment Realm from at least two hundred years ago... we have the means to enter, but we lack one cultivator of the Qi Cultivation Realm...”
Li Tongya laughed.
“You’re seeking my help... because a group of cultivators of the Embryonic Breathing Realm like you can’t break the formation of the cave dwelling?” he asked, amused.
He merely stared at her in silence and was ready to walk away.
“Not exactly...” Lin Jingyi replied with an awkward smile before continuing. “We already have two cultivators of the Qi Cultivation Realm... we’re just one short of entering this cave dwelling,” she explained.
After hearing that statement, Li Tongya was slightly more convinced and agreed to sit down with Lin Jingyi to further discuss the matter.
They found a bamboo building and ordered a cup of tea before continuing their discussion. Lin Jingyi then explained, “My husband and I have been active in the Mushroom Forest Plain and some years ago, it was invaded by the Golden Tang Gate. Since then, that area has been deserted, and the market there is no longer operating. Since my husband has attained the Qi Cultivation Realm, we decided to venture westward to explore Moongaze Lake... ”
“We didn’t expect that the drought would hit Moongaze Lake when we arrived. The water had receded a few miles, which exposed a cave dwelling in the lake. After being submerged for hundreds of years, the cave dwelling showed some defects that allowed my husband and I to notice it. We’ve cast a concealment spell there before coming here to seek help from others,” she elaborated.
“I see.” Li Tongya nodded slowly in understanding.
“Why me?” he asked doubt in his eyes.
Lin Jingyi hesitated before responding. “Because of your relatively low cultivation level... my husband is only at the second heavenly layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm, and the person we found a few days ago was only at the third heavenly layer. We’ve witnessed enough ugly sides of cultivators, so we hope to find someone with a similar cultivation background...”
“I see,” Li Tongya replied, taking a sip of his tea. “Is that your husband waiting outside?”
Li Tongya had already noticed someone waiting outside and decided to point it out. Lin Jingyi nodded, then called out to the man.
The person then entered as he was summoned, cupping his fist as soon as he approached.
“I’m Xu Yangping. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Brother Tongya!” he greeted respectfully.
The man was quite good-looking and seemed to be in his fifties. Li Tongya returned the gesture.
“No need for such formalities.”
Xu Yangping nodded and straightened up before speaking.
“We’ve been waiting here for over ten days... if Brother Tongya hadn’t shown up, we would have had no choice but to seek help from nearby clans.”
“The mountain gate formations of those clans are tightly guarded, who knows how many Qi Cultivators there are... we’re reluctant to approach them unless absolutely necessary,” Lin Jingyi added.
Li Tongya decided to waste no time.
“Take a Profound Scenery Spiritual Oath,” he demanded.
Xu Yangping nodded before performing a series of hand seals and repeated what Lin Jingyi had said earlier.
As he performed the final hand seal, he muttered solemnly, “In the name of the Profound Scenery, I swear that all that was said is true.”
Li Tongya listened to every word carefully. Upon detecting no omissions in the details and seeing that Xu Yangping’s powerful aura remained unchanged, some of his doubt had dissipated.
“When are we departing?” he asked.
“Right now!” the couple replied eagerly.
However, before they set off, Lin Jingyi turned to face Li Tongya.
“I’ll have to ask you to take an oath that you won’t harm us. Though the Profound Scenery Spiritual Oath is primarily for safeguarding secrets and confirming truths and might not be entirely foolproof, it would still offer us some peace of mind.”
“Fine.”
Li Tongya then took the oath as well, wasting no time.
Once that was done, they then rode the wind along with Xu Yangping. Observing the man’s slightly mottled true essence, Li Tongya could tell that Xu Yangping had absorbed various unrefined qi and felt slightly relieved.
Conversely, the couple also noticed Li Tongya’s clear and bright true essence. This prompted them to look at each other, exchanging a bitter smile.
————
Meanwhile in Lijing Town...
Chen Erniu was seventy this year, with a head full of gray hair. Having lived twice the age of most farmers, his eyes had turned cloudy from old age and everyone in Lijing Town called him Grandpa.
He sat restlessly in his chair, haunted by nightmares brought on by the dry weather that reminded him of the huge sparrow that descended upon his hometown on that fateful day.
When Lichuankou Village was successfully recovered, Chen Erniu went off to search for his son, Chen Sanshui.
He never found any sign of him, apart from a tooth and a puddle of blood. The locals all claimed that Chen Sanshui had been captured by those from Mount Yue and taken to the west.
Chen Erniu merely snorted coldly, but still... he followed the horse’s tracks and searched in the tall weeds by the road until he came across a puddle of dried blood.
Upon parting the tall weeds at the roadside, he discovered a heartbreaking scene before him and cried out in anguish.
His eldest son, Chen Sanshui... had met a tragic end.
The arid conditions proved challenging for Chen Sanshui’s children, leaving the old man to oversee the vigil beside his son’s body most of the time during the funeral.
“I wonder if Donghe will make it home safely...” Chen Erniu’s frown deepened as he worried about his other son.
As he pondered, a commotion outside the courtyard caught his attention. A clamorous crowd was making a racket, their loud cries and shouts causing him to shudder.
Moving to the entrance of the village with the support of his cane, Chen Erniu found a crowd gathered. In their midst, a group of wretched, mud-covered men kneeled on the ground, surrounded by mournful wails.
“He’s back...”
Chen Erniu tried his best to straighten up and finally caught a glimpse of Li Xuanxuan and Chen Donghe.
Li Xuanxuan, who had already grown a light beard, stared incredulously at the Mount Yue men in front of him.
“Say... that again?!”
“He’s been killed by a curse... we couldn’t even bring his body back...”
Li Xuanxuan froze for a few moments before tears flowed like streams from his eyes, leaving streaks all the way to his neck.
“Donghe... ascend the mountain with me. The rest of you go home first.”
Li Xuanxuan had covered his face for a long time in silence before he could finally squeeze the words out of his mouth.
Chen Donghe’s face was also stained with tears and had a pained expression. The crowd silently parted a way for them and watched them leave in silence.
“Family Head...” Chen Donghe addressed Li Xuanxuan softly, snapping him back to his senses.
Li Xuanxuan looked at the Ebony Bow in his hand and could not stop his tears.
“Call me Young Family Head...” Li Xuanxuan replied, choking back tears as he wiped them away, stepping onto the stone path and clutching the bow tightly.
The two of them walked in silence with their heads bowed for a while before they ran into Li Xuanfeng, who hurriedly descended down the mountain. Li Xuanfeng froze when he spotted the Ebony Bow in Li Xuanxuan’s hand.
“No! How can this be?!” he cried out as realization struck him. Tears quickly welled up in Li Xuanfeng’s eyes as he viciously snatched the bow and yelled, “WHO DID IT?”
Chen Donghe felt even worse at the sight of more members of the Li Family.
“He was killed by Mount Yue’s curse,” he whispered hoarsely.
Li Xuanfeng opened his mouth but could not utter a single word. He looked at Li Xuanxuan whose face was full of tears, and slumped on a rock, the strength seemingly gone from his legs.
“How despicable.”
Li Xuanfeng gritted his teeth as tears finally streamed down his face.