Eastern Mount Yue.
Mu Jiaoman lay on his bed, tormented by a burning sensation swirling in his mouth. His heart was cramping painfully, leaving him dry-mouthed and unable to speak.
"Great King! Oh...Great King!"
His wives and concubines wailed around him, their cries irritating him. He bit his lip and shouted with all his might.
"Shut up!"
Yet, his voice was so faint it came out sounding only like a murmur, and no one paid him any attention. They continued wailing, plunging him into further despair.
Under his rule, Eastern Mount Yue—though not flourishing—had improved significantly from the chaotic times in the past. The territory of Eastern Mount Yue had been expanding, with villages surrendering to them from time to time.
Mu Jiaoman, knowing Li Tongya was a cautious man, pretended that they had the support of Mount Wu to prevent Li Tongya from invading their territory. In a compromise, he opened the trade routes, allowing the Li Family to exchange some novel luxury items for the massive amount of food and materials in the hands of the mountain tribes' families.
By using the hundreds of thousands of mountain tribes as labor to support over a hundred thousand humans, they have managed to secure a lifeline.
Just as everything seemed to be improving, a demon wolf of the sixth heavenly layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm invaded the town. It had mysteriously traversed hundreds of miles of mountains and rivers without making a sound, appearing at the foot of his city.
Mu Jiaoman had no choice but to fight. Over the years, a few Qi Cultivators had emerged in Eastern Mount Yue, though they were nowhere near the level of those immortal cultivators since they had consumed various unrefined qi. Despite this, they were considered combat forces. However, since they were being stationed on the western front, reinforcements were too slow to arrive.
Hoping to hold out for a short while until reinforcement arrived, he did not expect the demon to possess several innate spells that left him in a bad position. In desperation, he sacrificed his blood qi and cast an ancient shamanic spell to call upon Mount Wu.
"Why is there no response..." Mu Jiaoman's mind went blank, his heart sinking into silence. Years of honed intuition led him to a grave realization.
"There's trouble on Mount Wu... This demon is definitely a probing pawn sent by a certain immortal cultivator!"
Using a shamanic spell to drain his life force, Mu Jiaoman finally repelled the demon. Now that he was lying on his luxurious jade bed, he realized his time had come.
As his wives and concubines wept, a roar interrupted them, "Out of the way!"
A burly Mount Yue tribesman, covered in talismanic tattoos, barged into the palace anxiously. The bone and jade he wore as jewelry clattered loudly.
Mu Jiaoman mustered his strength and muttered weakly, "You..."
"Sorry I'm late!" the man cried out. Upon seeing him, Mu Jiaoman suddenly became spirited, clutching his hand and murmuring, "Pass my position to Qimu... and kill all other sons and daughters! Make sure there are no survivors."
"Yes..." The Mount Yue tribesman answered.
"You must remember!", Mu Jiaoman emphasized as tears streamed down his face.
"Ensure all other children are killed... Do not let them fall under the Li Family's control! Our tribe is silently enduring them, not submitting. Do you understand? Do you?!"
The burly man looked up with tears brimming in his eyes, tears that refused to fall. Mu Jiaoman's grip loosened, falling back onto the jade bed... lifeless. The Mount Yue tribesman wiped away his tears, lamenting loudly, "Your Majesty... Until we meet again!"
The city's bells tolled loudly, and Mount Yue soldiers scurried through the streets. Screams of killing and agony rose as the once high and mighty lords were dragged out and beheaded cleanly.
However, a dark gray ox cart had already left the city, making its way on the rugged Guli Road. Several figures jumped off the cart hastily and darted toward the woods to the east.
"That old man truly loved Qimu... Thankfully, we had informants in the palace, or we would have been slaughtered like pigs and dogs!" one of the men said.
"What should we do now, my lord?" voiced out another man. These men were clearly guards or advisors, and they closely followed their leader.
The man replied, "I heard that my aunt is also a concubine in the eastern lands. Our only option now is to flee east and seek refuge with her!"
They oriented themselves by the stars and plunged into the dense woods, vanishing from sight.
————
Li Tongya was in his cave dwelling, reading through the Law of Celestial Moon , silently practicing the moves and occasionally praising the work.
"Wonderful! Truly the peak of perfection!"
When Li Chejing returned home and wrote down the Celestial Moon Slash technique, Li Tongya was just a novice in the way of the sword, never realizing the sophistication of his younger brother's sword technique.
As he progressed year by year, grounded on the Celestial Moon Slash technique explained personally by Li Chejing combined with his own decent talent in swordsmanship, his skill soared, quickly grasping the essence of sword qi and finally appreciating the depth of his younger brother's understanding of the sword.
The explanations in the Law of Celestial Moon were clear and ingenious, significantly accelerating Li Tongya's slow swordsmanship progress over the past few months. Many previously perplexing issues became clear, and he estimated that it would now take less than ten years before he would be able to grasp the next realm of swordsmanship—the Sword Essence.
The Celestial Moon Slash technique was merely the introductory form of this set of techniques, which included dozens of sophisticated combinations and variations that dazzled Li Tongya with admiration as he continued to practice diligently. Suddenly, there was a knock at the stone door.
"Who is it?" Li Tongya asked as he looked up, hearing his son Li Xuanling's familiar voice.
"Father, a Qi Cultivator from the Xiao Family has arrived. It seems we might need to host them."
"I understand," Li Tongya replied, pondering for a moment before standing up and leaving the cave dwelling with Li Xuanling waiting outside. Seeing his father emerge, Li Xuanling let out a sigh of relief.
Li Xuanling was in a difficult position. There was a significant status gap between the Qi Cultivation Realm and Embryonic Breathing Realm, and given the Xiao Family's favors toward the Li Family, not sending a Qi Cultivator to receive them could be seen as disrespectful.
Li Xuanfeng was in seclusion, and he could not afford to distract Li Xuanxuan, who was on the verge of a breakthrough to the Qi Cultivation Realm. Chen Donghe, though a Qi Cultivator, had no authority to make any decisions. It seemed that Li Tongya was the only remaining option as he was not in seclusion, hence the visit to the mountain to invite him.
Li Tongya put away the Law of Celestial Moon he was reading and, together with Li Xuanling, headed to the main courtyard atop Mount Lijing.
There, a man in his mid-twenties, dressed in a flowing robe and striking appearance, looked up at them. Surprised to see Li Tongya, he quickly stood up and cupped his fist before introducing himself.
"Xiao Ruyu from the Xiao Family! It's an honor to meet you."
Xiao Ruyu had expected Li Xuanfeng but was pleasantly surprised and slightly nervous to see Li Tongya.
Li Tongya is a peer of Clan Uncle Xiao Yongling and one of the most distinguished cultivators on the Guli Road...
With that in mind, Xiao Ruyu said with a smile, "Your reputation precedes you! My clan uncle often speaks highly of you and I've finally met you in person after hearing so much about you!"
His polite and dignified demeanor left a good impression on Li Tongya, who smiled graciously and replied softly, "Likewise, I've heard a lot about you from Xuanfeng... Your willingness to accompany him into dangerous territories shows bravery!"
"You're flattering me, Senior," he replied humbly.
After exchanging pleasantries, Xiao Ruyu decided to cut to the chase and stated the purpose of his visit.
"I've come for two main reasons... Firstly, with nine out of ten homes empty in the prefecture, we need to relocate people from other areas. The Li Family has the most people, and the Xiao Family is willing to pay a price..."
"That's hardly an issue," Li Tongya interrupted with a smile, "Our Li Family can provide up to a thousand male and female workers to your clan each year. There's no need for compensation between our families."
The Li Family was short on many things but definitely not people. The annual influx of refugees from Mount Yue posed a dilemma, complicating local settlements and risking cultural contamination. Sending them back seemed wasteful given their potential as a labor force.
In the seven years since the Li Family took over Mount Huaqian, the population soared from five thousand to almost twenty thousand, nearly reaching half the size of a prefecture city. Without the support from the several hundred thousand Mount Yue tribesmen to the west, the Li Family would indeed face challenges.