Fei Luoya raised an eyebrow. His eyes, made more terrifying by his special cultivation method, stared at Li Yuanjiao as he let out a strange laugh.
"Slaying a Maha with a sword must have left Daoist Tongya gravely injured..."
Li Yuanjiao narrowed his eyes slightly, but before he could respond, Fei Luoya added, "To provoke a Maha... He must have done that under someone's orders, right?"
Li Yuanjiao, sharp as ever, quickly pieced it together and thought to himself, Granduncle must have used some Purple Mansion Realm cultivator's name to protect himself back then!
His expression shifted as he said, "I see now that Senior shares a deep connection with my granduncle! I apologize for my earlier rudeness."
This comment made Fei Luoya pause in surprise while Li Yuanjiao continued, "Though we are protected from above, there are certain orders... we must follow."
Having spent years doing dirty work under Duanmu Kui, Fei Luoya naturally empathized with this. He had always harbored a favorable impression of Li Tongya and welcomed Li Yuanjiao's attempt to befriend him.
He then said, "Do you know when Li Tongya will leave seclusion? I have a business proposition for him."
Li Yuanjiao responded, "Please tell me, Senior."
"Naturally, it involves killing someone," Fei Luoya said as he paused, his voice turning serious, "I have a peer from the same faction named Fu Daimu, a late-stage Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator to my south. We have never gotten along. Recently, I heard that his Dao companion is about to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm. I sense that this spells trouble for me, and more likely than not, he will come to kill me."
Fei Luoya shook his head as he continued in a graver tone, "Since he might try to kill me, I might as well find someone to kill him first. I have already enlisted the help of another peer from the same faction, but it is still not enough. I was hoping Daoist Tongya could lend a hand; with his help, success would be almost certain."
Li Yuanjiao did not want to be inexplicably dragged into a conflict between Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators, so he gently shook his head.
However, Fei Luoya, with his crimson eyes glowing, waved his hand dismissively and said, "If Daoist Tongya does not act, I will have to abandon this place and leave. In the future, if there is a late-stage Foundation Establishment Realm shaman of Mount Yue lurking near your clan, life won't be easy for you either."
Li Yuanjiao raised his eyebrows and looked at the man. Fei Luoya's expression was somewhat indifferent as he slowly continued, "Fu Daimu has a dharma artifact, Mountain of Human Heads , that requires blood qi for sacrificial refinement."
Li Yuanjiao exhaled lightly and asked, "Do the high shamans still have any connection with Azure Pond Sect? I am afraid Fu Daimu might have backing."
Fei Luoya rasped, "How could I, a down-and-out Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, know such things? Your clan has deep connections, so naturally, it falls on your Li Family to investigate this."
Seeing Li Yuanjiao remain silent, Fei Luoya's expression grew serious as he continued, "I did not come here to provoke, but rather to urge your clan to prepare in advance. I, Fei Luoya, simply do not want to leave my homeland and swallow this bitter pill, but your clan cannot afford to relocate either!"
The Mount Yue cultivator paused and lowered his voice, saying, "I am sure you understand the way of the world—without the protection of a Purple Mansion Realm cultivator, even Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators are just pawns... I have had enough of being tossed around, living in darkness, unable even to step outside my own mountain gate!"
"I have practiced shamanic spells for many years and consider myself to be rather courageous. Please put in a good word for me with that person, fellow Daoist. If we can work together in the future, it'll indeed be a wonderful thing."
After leaving these words, Fei Luoya cupped his fist and took his leave, leaving Li Yuanjiao standing there in silence.
Inwardly smiling wryly, he thought to himself, You're not the only one—even my family is tired of being pawns too... We also long for the protection of a Purple Mansion Realm master of our own! "
————
Within the mirror world...
The jade slips piled high on Lu Jiangxian's desk had formed a small mountain, with the accompanying stone stool also overflowing with them. The floor beneath his white robe was similarly cluttered with various jade slips, rolling around and leaving no room to step.
"Li Yuanjiao's journey running all over the place this time has yielded quite a bounty!" Lu Jiangxian joyfully remarked.
Li Yuanjiao had truly ventured deep into the core of the Yuan Family's territory, even venturing into the regions of the Yue Cultivating Sect, rogue cultivators, Profound Peak Gate, and various prefectures. He even traveled upstream along the Great River, reaching the borders of the Shen Family, a Purple Mansion Realm immortal clan under the Yue Cultivating Sect's governance.
At present, 668 Embryonic Breathing Realm techniques, 98 Qi Cultivation Realm techniques, 21 Foundation Establishment Realm techniques, and 15 miscellaneous arts had been recorded. Lu Jiangxian materialized them one by one, piling them up on the mountaintop.
Gazing at the vast collection of jade slips, Lu Jiangxian felt a deep sense of security. He slowly reached out, and a glowing blue jade slip materialized in his hand, the Six Dams Azure Cloud Technique Manual—a Grade Six cultivation method, directly leading to a Purple Mansion Realm immortal technique!
This was the first time Lu Jiangxian had acquired a Grade Six cultivation method, and it was also the first complete series of Purple Mansion Realm immortal techniques he had obtained.
This was a legacy that the Yuan Family had secretly safeguarded for 1,600 years, hidden beneath Mount Yuan in their territory, protected by seven layers of restrictive formations that even isolated the great void, making it inaccessible to even Purple Mansion Realm cultivators.
Of course, under Lu Jiangxian's divine sense, whether it was seven layers or seventy layers of formations, they were useless. The formations that could isolate the great void only caused him a slight pause before he effortlessly bypassed them.
As the Yuan Family's treasured legacy, the Six Dams Azure Cloud Technique Manual was naturally encrypted with secret methods. Unfortunately for them, the jade slip containing the encryption was hidden beneath a memorial tablet, which Lu Jiangxian had also discovered.
After carefully studying this Purple Mansion Realm cultivation technique for a while, Lu Jiangxian was lost in thought.
The Six Dams Azure Cloud Technique Manual centered around the Dao foundation known as Profound Goat , which could be cultivated all the way to form a Purple Mansion Realm divine ability.
This Grade Six cultivation method was the core, accompanied by four related immortal foundations for the Foundation Establishment Realm. Once these were cultivated after breaking through to the Purple Mansion Realm, they could lead one to the peak of the realm.
These primary immortal foundations were Azure Crest Manifestation , Sprawling Azure Mountain , Almighty Crag , Abyss Observer , and Profound Goat .
They were all aligned with a single metallic essence, known as Azure Dam Divine Mountain Sprawling Essence.
At the end of the manual, there was an appendix that included a supplementary method, cultivating an immortal foundation called Lower Yang Essence , specifically prepared for cases where a particular immortal foundation could not be cultivated. This could substitute one of the immortal foundations in Azure Dam's Metallic Essence to form the metallic essence.
"Indeed, this is a complete legacy; they even prepared a lower-level substitute Dao Partner... It seems the Yanyang Temple was once a decent Dao lineage..." Lu Jiangxian mumbled softly.
Yuan Huyuan had claimed that much of the legacy from Yanyang Temple had been lost, but now, seeing the completeness of the Six Dams Azure Cloud Technique Manual , it was clear that this was merely a lie to keep things under wraps.
"But the Yuan Family clearly possesses a Purple Mansion Realm immortal technique... so how could they fail to produce a single Purple Mansion Realm cultivator for over a thousand years?!"
Lu Jiangxian studied the technique for a while longer before identifying the issue: it lay in the core immortal foundation, Profound Goat , which required a specific form of Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth known as Variant Goat Profound Qi .
"Refined Yang Profound Qi had to be gathered from Azure Variant Mountain Stone exposed under the scorching sun. It took a year to gather a single wisp, and ten years to obtain a sufficient amount of Azure Variant Qi. Then, using a demon transformed from a sacrificial goat, the qi is repeatedly refined for ten years..."
Lu Jiangxian reviewed the refinement technique meticulously.
The method of gathering this Variant Goat Profound Qi was followed by a dense collection of attempts, all failed attempts to replace the required spiritual qi that were added by later generations.
"Ah, this explains everything... The Yuan Family, after migrating from the north, lost their source of Variant Goat Profound Qi long ago. Their stored spiritual qi gradually dwindled as one Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator after another failed to break through, leading to the decline of the technique...
"As a result, the supplementary Dao foundations became more commonly used by the Yuan Family... But no matter how much they practiced, they could only reach the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm, with no path forward," Lu Jiangxian concluded.
Holding this Purple Mansion Realm immortal technique in his hand, Lu Jiangxian carefully read through the section on divine abilities, feeling a sudden enlightenment. He now had some ideas for the Purple Mansion Realm section of his Golden Palace Radiant Origin Manual , which had been stalled.
"However, with so many cultivation methods, I cannot just hand them out freely. If the Li Family were to practice the Six Dams Azure Cloud Technique Manual , it might lead to a conflict with the Yuan Family and attract unwanted attention..."
Lu Jiangxian reconsidered his options.