The sky was dark when Li Xuanfeng landed in the courtyard. It was eerily silent, devoid of any sound except for the distant cries from far beyond the horizon.
The dimness seemed to bury all traces of bloodshed, yet Li Xuanfeng's cultivation allowed him to see everything clearly.
"My love... I've avenged you by slaying that young master..."
He dismantled a door to fashion a makeshift coffin and carefully arranged each piece of the dismembered body parts, using his mana to piece her back together.
It took him about an hour to restore her to a semblance of her once human form. As he dressed her in some clothes he found in the wardrobe, he stumbled upon several children's garments.
Upon closer inspection of them, he realized that they were all suitable for a child around four to five years old. Digging deeper, he found an array of children's items.
If his last visit had resulted in her pregnancy, their child would indeed be about this age by now.
Through his tears, Li Xuanfeng noticed the cuffs of one particular piece that bore the name "Yuanyu"[1]—a reminder of Jiang Yunu's origins from a prominent fishing family by the river. Despite later ending up in a brothel, she knew how to read to some extent.
He was not sure whether it was the complexity of the characters or the clumsy embroidery work, but the name "Yuanyu" appeared rather messy.
"Yuanyu..."
It was then that Li Xuanfeng realized that he had also lost his child whom he had never met in the city, which led to him feeling even more guilty and pained.
He crouched on the ground for a while before closing the coffin, murmuring to himself, "Considering the time, there's still no sign of him at home... Could he have been at school or out playing in the streets..?"
Gathering a few sets of the children's clothing, Li Xuanfeng carried the coffin and flew around the yard. Under the dim sky, he saw no corpse of a four or five-year-old child. Thus, this forced him to head toward a nearby school with tears brimming in his eyes.
There, the ground was littered with the remains of children. Li Xuanfeng searched blindly among the mountain of bloody flesh but failed to identify the child he was looking for.
He sighed sorrowfully, deciding to erect a tomb for the child with his clothes as a replacement for his lost body. Shaking off the blood from his hands, he went toward the Li Family's store.
Still carrying the coffin, he walked around the Li Family's shop and could faintly recognize the bodies of Wan Tianchou and a clan brother of his.
Biting his lip, Li Xuanfeng muttered angrily, "I've always told you not to slack off and practice diligently! Yet... you chose to indulge yourself in the city. Look at yourself now... you couldn't even withstand a single glow from a dharma artifact!"
He wanted to say more, but glancing at Wan Tianchou's despairing eyes, he could not bring himself to continue.
"Well, it's not your fault... It's the fault of this cruel world!" Li Xuanfeng said bitterly, casting his eyes downward.
"I guess I'll inform his family to recover his body..." Li Xuanfeng sighed softly. With that, he lifted the coffin once more and flew westward, crossing the blood-stained city walls.
Seeing him approaching with the coffin, Xiao Ruyu felt guilty and exclaimed, "Brother Xuanfeng, I've received word... the young master is indeed dead!"
"I know," Li Xuanfeng responded flatly without stopping, continuing his way toward the Li Residence.
He left Xiao Ruyu in his wake, still rather confused, who stood alone before returning to the mountain as the sky gradually brightened.
————
Meanwhile, on Mount Lijing...
Li Xuanxuan took Li Yuanxiu up the mountain with him. Now twelve, the child was quiet and polite. Having discovered his spiritual orifice a few years ago and already having started his cultivation, he had condensed the Profound Scenery Chakra and attained the first stage of the Embryonic Breathing Realm.
Li Xuanxuan planned to delegate some family responsibilities to the child and start preparing him to be a leader.
Li Yuanjiao was now eight years old, and likewise, was also blessed with a spiritual orifice. The news last year delighted Li Xuanxuan immensely.
Li Xuanling was not to be outdone, however. Lu Wanrong bore him two children—a daughter named Li Qinghong and a son named Li Yuanyun. Now four and three years old respectively, both children were extremely adorable, earning everyone's affection.
"Xuanling's children are also growing up... In another three years, when these kids have matured, we'll request a talisman seed before the mirror."
Li Xuanxuan glanced at Li Yuanxiu who was engrossed in reading a bamboo slip, and sighed to himself.
I feel sorry for Xiu'er. As the elder brother, he has to wait for his younger brother and cousins.
Setting down his tea bowl, Li Xuanxuan saw Li Tongya's expression change suddenly. He stood up and walked out of the courtyard, loudly demanding, "What's going on?!"
Li Xuanxuan followed him outside hurriedly and saw Li Xuanfeng covered in blood, his robe stained crimson red. He carried a huge and shabby bloodstained wooden box, looking very forlorn.
Although he had composed himself on the way, Li Xuanfeng, now seeing his uncle and brothers gather around him, felt mentally exhausted and forced himself to explain in a painful voice.
"The Azure Pond Sect and Golden Tang Gate have started another slaughter... Lixia Prefecture has hardly any survivors left. The Li Family members stationed there, including Wan Tianchou, are all dead. She... and the child I've never met, have both perished."
Such succinct words from him stunned everyone. Li Xiewen, standing behind Li Xuanxuan, almost cried out in shock.
His younger brother had been responsible for guarding Lixia Prefecture. He thought it would be a safe assignment... not expecting it to cost him his life like this.
Li Tongya opened his mouth but looking at the child's weary face, spoke in the softest voice he could muster.
"Let's bury them on the mountain first..."
Li Xuanfeng nodded and his voice trembled as he spoke.
"I couldn't find the child's remains... I only brought back a few clothes of his. We can only erect a cenotaph for him."
Tears welled up in Li Xuanxuan's eyes. After Li Xuanfeng excused himself to bury his wife and child in the mountain, Li Xuanxuan turned to Li Tongya and said bitterly, "Second Uncle... what's going on?!"
Li Tongya merely sighed.
"Such is life."
He could not recall how many times he had offered these words of comfort. While he had first heard this from Li Mutian, he had personally experienced it numerous times in his own life, gradually gaining a profound understanding of its meaning.
Li Xuanxuan sent people down the mountain to have the families of the deceased clan members recover the corpses. Watching Li Xiewen rush down the mountain, Li Xuanxuan entered the mountain quietly.
He watched Li Xuanfeng dig the graves himself and bury the blackwood coffin, watching also as he placed the children's clothes in another grave before carefully covering it up.
Li Xuanfeng lifted his head and looked at Li Xuanxuan. Forcing a smile on his face, he said softly, "I was the one who buried my father, and now my wife and son... When it's time for me to be buried, I'll have to trouble you."
"Nonsense!"
For the first time, Li Xuanxuan assumed the stance of an elder brother, staring at him fiercely.
He was about to say something when Li Xuanfeng waved to silence him and continued, "I won't let this defeat me, brother. I will cherish my life even more, now that I have a mission to avenge my father and family."
As they conversed, Li Tongya, Li Xuanling, and others had arrived. They listened as Li Xuanfeng recounted how he had used his bow intent to kill the young master from the Golden Tang Gate.
Li Tongya wanted to scold Li Xuanfeng for acting recklessly but feared upsetting him, so he could only sigh.
"Don't do such dangerous things again in the future."
Li Xuanfeng nodded but said nothing else while Li Xuanling, leaning against a rock and seeing that his father and brother remained silent, simply said, "Life is hard, and no family has it easy... We must look forward."
1. The character "yu" (渔) used in Li Yuanyu's name means "to catch a fish" or a "fisherman". This is also the same character in Jiang Yunu's name, where Yunu actually means "the fisherman's daughter". ☜