Chapter 655 483: Retribution and Response

Li Xuanfeng lowered his head, knowing he ought not to make a sound, remained silent, and then saw Yuansu raise his hand, speaking offhandedly:

"Go to the East Sea once more and kill for me."

He grasped with his hand, drawing from his sleeve a strip of cloth, densely filled with names—not lacking for prominent surnames, though only a small number were Foundation Establishment Cultivators; most were unfamiliar and youthful names.

Li Xuanfeng nodded, received it lightly, and placed it inside his robe.

Yuansu drew out a jade talisman from his bosom, his voice low and hoarse; his usual lazy, careless manner now tinged with a trace of age:

"This is something gained from Buddhist Practitioners in the North. It can conceal destiny. Take it when you kill, lest the seekers find your door."

He watched Li Xuanfeng accept it, then waved his hand, listless and dour:

"Go. Finish cleanly within three years."

Li Xuanfeng bowed and withdrew, flying all the way to his own Cave Mansion before inspecting it carefully. He saw upon the list were names from Red Reef Island, Tang Jin Sect, Han Family, even Xuan Yue Sect, Hengzhu Toaism, Green Pond Sect… All the clans had people within.

Just the cultivators on the list would nearly earn enmity with all of Yue Country and the East Sea.

As Li Xuanfeng departed, a veil of clouds dispersed; on the other side of the jade dais, Ning Heyuan knelt, sweat beading his face.

Yuansu rose slowly, standing beside him, and spoke softly:

"Did you grasp it?"

Ning Heyuan lowered his brows, trembling as he replied:

"Perfected Person, must it be so…"

Ning Heyuan was not a fool; he saw clearly the Ning Family had nearly none who could restrain Li Xuanfeng. Should Yuansu die in a night and Ning Wan fail her breakthrough, the future would be dire indeed.

Yuansu cultivated to Perfected Person with a mind deep as the sea—impossible to tether Li Xuanfeng's loyalty to Ning Hemian alone. When both Li Xizhi and Li Xuanfeng, Foundation Establishment, are stationed in the sect, and the Li Family rising as the sun, who is vassal to whom would be hard to say.

Now, by sending Li Xuanfeng to murder these people in secret, the Ning Family holds his weakness; at any hint, enough to doom Li Xuanfeng without grave nor trace.

Likewise, once Li Xuanfeng shoulders these blood-debts, there will be no need for Yuansu to act—Li Xuanfeng himself will sever all ties with the Li Family… Truly, one arrow, three hawks.

Yet no matter how one controls Li Xuanfeng, the sense of safety is nothing compared to Yuansu being alive; Ning Heyuan's hands trembled, weeping as he said:

"Heyuan… Heyuan is unfit for great use, and still has much to ask of Perfected Person… How can… like this, I fear the clan will lose its pillar."

Yuansu Perfected Person paused, his features twisting for a time, the hand beneath his robe clenched fiercely as if restraining himself.

A Zifu Perfected Person is unlike common men of power; ordinary elders grow muddled in old age, frail and helpless, powerless to act on their desires.

Yet a Zifu, until the final moment of their lifespan, retains Divine Skills and might—watching, eyes clear, as death descends, wrapped in all the omens of their end. Such terror exceeds common men by ten thousandfold.

Hence there is no shortage of Zifu launching into frenzies before death, abusing kin and friend; Ning Heyuan had heard such things before. Seeing Yuansu's face darken, he hurried to silence himself.

After several breaths, Yuansu slowly opened his eyes, face sinister, stepped forward, and spat a single word:

"Leave."

Ning Heyuan hurriedly withdrew, his hurried clatter echoing out of the Cave Mansion; the stone doors ground shut, leaving Yuansu standing alone where he was.

Ning Tiaoxiao gritted his teeth and for a moment fell silent, letting out a deep breath. The mist in the Cave Mansion faded away, and layer upon layer of green fluorescence surfaced along the stone walls, manifesting a gallery of faces, lively and true to life.

Ning Tiaoxiao looked long upon those faces, counted their number, calculated with his fingers, and despair surfaced in his eyes. He said in a sunken voice:

"Book-Burning Scrolls, Name-Erasing Rosters, trading truth for falsehood, real for the fake—the world's people, henceforth, have no clear road left to walk."

"Brother Qun…"

"Chi Wei said, in an age where the righteous path is sealed, every crooked way becomes righteousness instead. Brother Qun… Tiaoxiao's lifespan nears its end. I never saw an Immortal arrive, only drank a hundred years of the people's blood and did a hundred years of evil. Now, I only wait for death."

The mist rose slowly, and his figure vanished within the white haze. As though in repentance, he lowered his head, and the spiritual water on the ground ceased to flow, drifting motionless in the air.

"Only thus, can we shelter our clan."

...

"Yuansu Perfected Person is planning for what comes after, and this is his token of allegiance."

Li Xuanfeng left the Cave Mansion, flying all the way back to his residence before removing the roster for careful viewing.

Narrowing his eyes, his hands shaking slightly, each name floated through his mind. As expected, nearly every family friendly with the Li Family had a name upon that list.

"…Yuansu… masterful indeed."

Li Xuanfeng uttered not a word, dazed and desolate, stepped into the residence. Ning Hemian was sitting in the courtyard, the sunlight genial, a child reading nearby. The man halted in his tracks, folding his arms blankly, almost as if caught in some hallucination.

It was just such gentle sunlight, the little courtyard quiet, and a scruffy goose missing feathers wandering noisily through the yard.

Only, Yi Shan City's majesty was overwhelming. The migrating geese flying south never passed over this city. The Ning Family's threshold was likewise formidable, etched with formation lines; any goose, flailing and struggling, was unlikely to fly in.

"Husband!"

Ning Hemian looked up in delight, her bright eyes full of joy, her gladness sending tremors through Li Xuanfeng's heart. He could not hear his wife's soft words—deep in his belly, mountains and seas warred, nearly making him retch.

Two faces flickered fiercely through his mind, making him grind his teeth to fragments.

Pale-faced, Li Xuanfeng stood in place, the scene of his wife and child's tragic death resurfacing before him, intertwining endlessly with the present—those things buried deep in memory, deliberately avoided, resurfaced layer upon layer.