Xu State.
The cultivators of Azure Pond Sect had gradually gathered, while in the north, only the occasional streaks of devilish and colorful light flashed by like flying shuttles, hidden deep in thick haze, making it impossible to see clearly.
But Li Xizhi had received word that both buddhist cultivators and devil cultivators from the north were gradually arriving in Xu State. Of the Seven Daos, three had already come, and even the Yan State had sent a group of devil cultivators, all silently surveying the surroundings.
Mount Bianyan was shrouded in mist. Li Xizhi had been stationed here for several days and had learned much. He and Li Xuanfeng were both guarding the eastern flank, not too far and not too close from their Moongaze Lake.
“We are stationed in this area. Those minor buddhist and devil cultivators coming down from the south are of little consequence. The main forces we must face are two.
“The Dao of Great Desire and the Tuoba Family of devil cultivators from Yan State...”
Li Xizhi’s strength was already quite formidable; ordinary cultivators couldn’t keep him in check. Only Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators from these two Immortal Sect could truly threaten his life, so he paid extra attention to them.
“The Baixiang Valley I’m heading to is often frequented by devil cultivators, and even direct descendants of the Tuoba Family have made appearances there...”
He checked the time, cultivators from the rear should be arriving soon. After landing in the formation, he watched the comings and goings of cultivators and, after a moment, found Yang Ruizao.
His brother-in-law was seated upright in the courtyard, holding a small letter in his hand, frowning deeply.
Seeing Li Xizhi approach, Yang Ruizao quickly flipped his hand to put the letter away, stepped forward, and said softly, “Xizhi... the assignments for each peak have been issued, and the cloudliners should have already arrived.”
“I wonder how things are at home...” Li Xizhi hurried to ask, and Yang Ruizao responded, “Moongaze Lake was assigned to the Moon Lake Peak of the Ning Family... Though it’s technically a return to its rightful owners, I heard the Ning Family pulled a lot of strings to force out several ambitious immortal peaks.”
As expected, it fell into the hands of Moon Lake Peak. Li Xizhi had somewhat anticipated this and instantly felt a headache coming on. He thought to himself, But the Ning Family already has their hands full with staffing Yuanxing Peak and Cave Spring Peak... and now they’ve added Moon Lake Peak on top of that... how will they have enough manpower...
The Ning Family is short on manpower. To guard all these territories... they’ll surely need to draw heavily from my family’s forces...
Li Xizhi gave it a brief thought, and quickly gained a clear grasp of the situation. It all became evident to him, Moon Lake Peak of the Ning Family got Moongaze Lake just as they wished. This must be Chi Zhiyun’s deliberate scheme... With the Ning Family short on manpower, they’ll inevitably offend my family by heavily demanding reinforcements...
If the Ning Family fails to defend the place and people die, they’ll be severely punished by the sect and secretly blame our family for not putting in enough effort. Meanwhile, if our dispatched members suffer casualties, the Ning Family will just come asking for more reinforcements. Resentment in our household will be inevitable...
He found the whole thing rather thorny as he thought, Shifting Azure Pond Sect’s internal conflict onto the families... What a troublesome move...
With Li Xijun at home, Li Xizhi wasn’t truly afraid of open conflict with Moon Lake Peak, He just needed to see how far they could compromise. After all, if the Ning Family couldn’t hold the land, his own family wouldn’t benefit either...
Li Xizhi understood this clearly and stayed silent for a moment. Yang Ruizao was still reading the letter with furrowed brows, speaking in a low voice, “As for the sect’s other territories... grievances are running high. And yet the Ning Family wants to send people here to borrow manpower from us... What kind of logic is that...”
Azure Pond Sect had divided territories among the peaks, allowing each to conscript people to head north. Initially, the command was to conscript forty to fifty percent. The peaks accepted the orders and set out by boat.
But upon arriving at the territories, they found vast stretches to defend. Except for a few peaks of major families from large commanderies, almost none had enough people. They had no choice but to increase conscription to sixty or seventy percent. Smaller families with no backing were pushed to the point of sending eighty to ninety percent of their cultivators, with some migrating entire families.
Li Xizhi was aware of these reports. He had seen much sorrow and hardship in the formations these past days. After a moment of silence, he quietly said, “The sect mainly values the Eastern Sea. Many fellow disciples are still guarding the islands there and haven’t been recalled. Naturally, there’s a shortage of manpower everywhere.”
Yang Ruizao understood what he meant and softly said, “In the past few days, many cultivators have voiced complaints, but this mountain simply must be held. If the buddhist and devil cultivators cross the Great River, they may not be able to breach Mount Azure Pond but the bloody storm will surely engulf most of Jiangnan.”
Li Xizhi nodded. He had gotten the information he needed and said simply, “I’ll head out for Baixiang Valley now. I came to say farewell.”
Yang Ruizao had been assigned elsewhere, and upon hearing this, he quickly stood up with a solemn expression and said softly, “I’ve already asked around about Baixiang Valley for you. It directly faces the Tuoba Family’s territory. That family has been orthodox devil cultivators since ancient times, and even produced a Golden Core Devil Monarch...
“Though they’ve declined terribly, even a broken ship still has iron. Be extremely careful. With your cultivation, as long as you stay cautious, you should avoid any serious harm.”
Li Xizhi had also made his own inquiries. He nodded silently, bid a peaceful farewell, and rode the wind into the skies, leaving Mount Yan behind and heading east.
After traveling a few hundred kilometers, the sky suddenly brightened, pouring glaring light across the land. Li Xizhi dimmed his rainbow light and flew over several cities to the south, slowly spotting a gorge ahead.
The gorge was filled with golden-yellow maple trees. Several escape lights drifted from north to south across the sky, and formations below glowed with light. Li Xizhi descended with a stream of Heavenly Glow, arriving just as a few devil cultivator-looking figures were snooping around the formation’s edge.
As Li Xizhi landed, his concealment techniques were superb. The group noticed nothing and continued moving through the grove below.
He simply flicked his sleeve, releasing several streams of Heavenly Glow. The glow had brilliantly colored, softly drifting through the forest, spiraling a few times before darting toward each of the men.
Those at the rear couldn’t react in time and were instantly bound tight, immobilized and tumbling to the ground. The ones in front turned back alertly, but with only Embryonic Breathing Realm cultivation, they couldn’t withstand it and fell one after another like rolling gourds.
Only the leader had mid-stage Qi Cultivation Realm cultivation. He reacted faster, drawing a dharma sword that shimmered with red light, blocking the oncoming glow with a reverse slash.
Clang!
With a crisp sound, the leading devil cultivator staggered from the impact. The rainbow light recoiled just an inch, then lunged forward again.
“What is this thing? Could it be spell art?”
This devil cultivator was from Zhao State and had spent the first half of his life dueling buddhist cultivators. He had never seen an immortal cultivator before and froze for a full breath, during which a figure stepped into view, treading on Heavenly Glow.
“Crap!”
The figure flashed before his eyes for only an instant, then his sword vanished from his hand and landed in the other’s. Just as fear struck him, his body was already tightly bound, unable to even activate his escape light.
Li Xizhi examined the dharma artifact he took. It was indeed unbearably crude, forged from blood qi and soul remnants. It emitted a faint bloody glow in his hand but had nothing worth praising.