The Mirror Legacy - Chapter 1443: Meeting Again (II)
Chapter 1443: Meeting Again (II)
Zhijing Mountain.
Li Zhouwei descended on a streak of light. The climate here was utterly different from the cold desolation of Glacial Cloud Peak. Bright Light blazed, and gardenia flowers spread in rolling waves, giving the place a vibrant, heated atmosphere.
The man in white golden Daoist robes paced anxiously beside the table. When he saw Li Zhouwei enter, a smile appeared in his eyes. He seemed relieved, yet a trace of worry remained. Li Zhouwei brought his hands together in greeting.
“My lord!”
Li Ximing picked up the teapot. The fatigue on his face, brought on by his injuries, eased somewhat. Although he had managed to retrieve his damaged body from Helian Wujiang in time, Baleful Qi still churned within him. His injuries from a clash with a Daoist Master possessing three divine abilities were clearly far from light.
When I go to Mount Tangdao, I must get some medicine from them… I really risked my life this time.
His return from the north had truly shaken him. He had sensed Helian Wumeng stationed at White River Stream from afar. If the man had truly moved south to slaughter, it would have been risky for Li Ximing to intervene. But Li Zhouwei’s appearance had allowed him to relax and observe silently through the great void before returning ahead of time.
He now asked, “When did you return?”
Li Zhouwei loosened his grip, and [Da Sheng] vanished. He bowed deeply, stepped to the table, accepted the tea Li Ximing poured, and replied respectfully, “The timing was actually quite ample, but the phenomenon was concealed and cut off by the Dragon Clan, and the stone talisman I left for you lost its effect, so no one knew.
“After breaking through, I made a trip to the Dragon Palace. By the time I returned, several days had already passed. I then saw Mount Xiaoshi collapse, and the situation only worsened, threatening the lakeshore. I stationed myself on the northern bank. I ask that you forgive me for not going to Timber Mountain to assist…”
“That is nothing.” Li Ximing let out a short laugh, set down the jade teapot, and said seriously, “I knew you would succeed, but I did not expect it to be so soon. It seems that fate truly favors you in ways others can only envy.”
Under normal circumstances, Li Ximing would have been overjoyed and eager to hold a grand banquet to celebrate for three days. But the situation was far from clear, and his injuries were not light. A shadow lay over his joy, and worry returned before long.
He sighed, the smile fading as he said softly, “I cannot control this situation. I can only go along with the tide. I have already drawn too close to the Supreme Yang Dao lineage. From what I see now, this conflict between north and south is entirely different from past years. Kuiqi has treated me well. I can no longer withdraw so easily.”
“I returned in haste to save people and happened to meet you. I had planned to head to Mount Tangdao…”
Li Zhouwei shook his head, about to speak further, but Li Ximing continued, “You need not go with me. At a time like this, everyone is looking out for themselves. You can play the moderate role and remain at home. If we’re both too agreeable, there will be things we cannot refuse.”
Li Zhouwei naturally understood this, though his expression grew slightly complicated as he replied, “I made a trip to the Dragon Palace, and the timing of my departure and return happened to fall right here. Their words were full of hints, but the meaning was simple enough. They did not want me involved in the great battle of Lower Luo. It seems all sides had long since reached an understanding about how this war would end.”
Li Ximing felt his heart tighten at those words and asked, “What else did the Dragon Clan say?”
Li Zhouwei first fell silent and shook his head before answering, “Dingjiao is in seclusion. He only left something for me in the Dragon Palace within the Water Mansion and instructed me to take it away no matter what. It was another white dragon who met with me, and we only exchanged a few words.”
He raised a hand and took a jade box from his sleeve. When he opened the lid, it revealed two bright little rings.
“Spirit treasures, the [Dry Yang Bangles]!”
Since Li Zhouwei had dared to face Helian Wumeng and four Merciful Ones above the river, he naturally had a trump card. Li Ximing had once used the [Surging Yang Star Command Treasure Disk], so he knew full well how formidable such treasures were. His eyes lit up at once, and he asked in startled delight, “Spirit treasures? They gave them to you?”
Li Zhouwei looked a little awkward as he replied, “That is right… I could not refuse. They were worried about troubles at home, which is why they specifically gave me the [Dry Yang Bangles]. So I brought them back.”
These two spirit treasures did not look especially remarkable. At first glance, they seemed to be nothing more than a pair of golden rings, sized just right to be worn on the wrist. But upon closer inspection, a faint white-gold glow flickered across them, appearing and vanishing.
Li Ximing examined them carefully. In the end, he closed the box again, returned it to Li Zhouwei, and instructed him, “With this in your hands, you will have more protection, and I can rest easier with you guarding the lake. I still need to make another trip.”
As he spoke, he took out a jade slip and a command token from his sleeve and said quietly, “The family’s grand formation was completed during the years you were in seclusion. This command token will allow you to enter and leave both the inner and outer formations.
“This jade slip contains the experience I have gained these past few years while struggling to cultivate the [Heaven-Venerating Gate]. Read it, then destroy it…”
He sorted through his storage pouch and immediately pulled out a whole pile of items. Pills, cultivation methods, spiritual qi, dharma artifacts; all of it was pressed into Li Zhouwei’s hands. The sight of it was so inauspicious that Li Zhouwei’s eyelids twitched.
After leaving the items behind, Li Ximing rose on a streak of light and fled into the great void, vanishing from sight. Li Zhouwei remained behind, taking in the things he had been given. He stared at the jade box on the table, silently sipped his tea, and his expression gradually darkened.
We are all pieces on the board… But what family is not? Those who refuse to be pieces, who refuse to bow their heads and serve like beasts of burden, how many are not carved up and bled dry, stripped to the bone? Even Purple Mansion Realm cultivators have their own burdens and constraints. Only by hardening one’s heart, abandoning everything in one stroke, and fleeing to the outer-sea can one preserve a few hundred years of freedom… As long as one still seeks to climb higher in this world, one cannot escape serving another’s will!
As for me… I am afraid I do not even have the right to leave their sight!
A trace of mocking laughter touched his face. Lowering his head, he picked up the jade slip in his hand and sent his spiritual sense into it. He read through it carefully. As expected, it was mostly discussion on the Bright Yang Dao. Yet when he read all the way to the end in one breath, he found that it unexpectedly contained an incantation as well.
Li Zhouwei glanced at it once, and his heart was shaken. Yet his expression remained calm as he crushed the jade slip in his hand. Light flashed in his eyes as he raised his head and said coldly, “Who is it?!”
The great void rang out, and two figures suddenly emerged onto Zhijing Mountain!
One of them was short, with horns on his forehead, an ugly face, and eyes set wide apart. He held a long brush like a pounding pestle. The moment he appeared, he bowed and said, “Dispatched from the Underworld’s judiciary… Wang Long greets you, Fellow Daoist! Congratulations on attaining divine ability! From this day on, your fate is your own, beyond life and death!”
The other held a large tome. Zhang Gui had been here before.
Both wore expressions of delight, their eyes bright with excitement as they looked at him. Li Zhouwei had long heard of them from Li Ximing and shook his head inwardly, They don’t dare say anything about helping me escape the great calamity and attain fruition first… only then becoming true…
Wang Long, unaware of his thoughts, said with a smile, “Forgive the intrusion, Fellow Daoist… We have been here before… but we did not expect to return so soon. You truly possess heaven-given talent. Few have broken through to the Purple Mansion Realm within ten years since ancient times. Now we have seen it for ourselves. The last time we were here… the last time…”
The time it took to break through to Purple Mansion Realm inevitably involved some luck. Wang Long was simply offering auspicious words. Zhang Gui slowly took over the conversation and said, “The last time was Jiang Boqing, a man of very high attainment.”
“Yes, indeed!”
Zhang Gui studied his expression carefully and added with delight, “Even the higher authorities praised him, saying he was ‘talent beyond convention, a fate fit to bear mountains.’ They held him in high regard. If not for his intervention, how would that Jiang have had any room to act? He would have long since been…”
He seemed to have spoken too freely and suddenly cut himself off, then forced a smile. “You must be a truly outstanding figure, one who will achieve the five divine abilities!”
Li Zhouwei caught the implication behind the words. Light flickered in his eyes as his fingers brushed lightly against the jade cup. He committed it to memory and replied with a smile, “After breaking through to the Purple Mansion Realm, I hurried back home in haste and forgot that the two of you would come to register my name. I have kept you waiting for so long. My apologies!”
