Family Cultivation: I Become a Mirror-Chapter 83: Rivers Merge into One Qi

Li Mutian’s funeral was overly grand, it looked less like the death of an ordinary old man and more like that of a Magistrate or Prefect. Long stretches of white cloth spanned across various villages, and the direct lineage of the Li Family, clad in white, held onto the funeral streamers, dragging the hearse through the flagstone path.

News swept through the villages like a gust of wind. Chen Erniu had just gotten out of bed, struck speechless by the news brought back by Chen Sanshui.

Setting down the willow twig in his hand, Chen Erniu rinsed his mouth and silently sat down at the table, a sense of inexplicable sorrow rising in his heart.

"No matter what kind of person one is, death is inescapable. Unless one becomes an immortal, we’re all just a mound of yellow soil after all."

Chen Sanshui, however, disagreed, curling his lip and saying,

"It’s simply because the three Li brothers practiced the Immortal Path. What grandeur for the death of an ordinary old man? That Li Mutian wasn’t anything special."

Chen Erniu narrowed his eyes, clenched the willow twig, and with a heavy lash on Chen Sanshui’s body, cursed with spit flying,

"Idiot! You damn fool will stupidly get yourself killed one of these days!"

"Yes, yes, the fourth brother is the best. Isn’t it just having a Spirit Aperture?"

Chen Sanshui muttered a few words, picked up his chopsticks, and left the table. He didn’t care about the gloomy face of Chen Erniu behind him and walked out of the yard on his own.

Lijing Mountain.

Lu Jiangxian looked at a courtyard draped in pure white. The place in the backyard where Li Mutian often sat was now desolately empty, which added a bit of bleakness to his heart. As he watched Li Mutian being buried, his Divine Sense suddenly stirred; he saw a flying shuttle’s light approaching swiftly in the sky, coming to a gentle halt outside the Great Formation of Lijing Mountain.

"Xiao Yuansi from the Xiao Family has come to visit! Please open the Mountain Gate."

Xiao Yuansi stopped outside the mountain. Though the Mountain Protection Array beneath his feet was practically nothing to him, having broken through to the Eighth Layer of Qi Cultivation, Xiao Yuansi still politely paused.

Shortly after, Li Xiangping and his brothers opened the Great Formation, allowing Xiao Yuansi to slowly descend into the courtyard. Seeing Li Xiangping and Li Tongya in white, with the courtyard draped in somber colors, he reined in his smile and said solemnly,

"Is it the elder...?"

Upon seeing the brothers nod, Xiao Yuansi sighed and offered his condolences, speaking softly,

"Jing’er and I will soon be heading to the Southern Border, and it may be decades without news. I have obtained the Orthodox Qi Cultivation Technique and Qi Gathering Method for you to use. Since I’m returning home for a visit, I’ve brought them to you."

"This is the Third Grade ’River Qi Decision.’ It absorbs River Essence Qi. You need to find places with dense river networks and where reeds and calamus grow in abundance. At dusk and dawn, when the clear Qi rises and the turbid Qi sinks, gather it from the surface of the river using the Qi Gathering Method. You can collect a strand of Qi in about six months, and ten strands make up one portion."

Xiao Yuansi slapped his brocade bag, took out a few Jade Slips, and continued,

"As for this Second Grade ’Pure Spirit Original Method,’ it uses the minor clear Spiritual Energy. Just gathering Spiritual Energy will suffice. Although not as profound as the ’River Qi Decision,’ it’s better than the usual cultivation techniques available on the market."

Li Tongya quickly took the Wooden Slips handed over by Xiao Yuansi and softly voiced his gratitude. He then saw Xiao Yuansi sighing lightly, his expression somewhat complicated as he spoke,

"The shelter of Qing Sui Peak is limited. With the winds of change and the surging waves, take care of yourselves."

The unexpected seclusion of their master, Si Yuanbai, and the fact that not a single disciple of Qing Sui Peak had seen him in person, along with the increasingly urgent voices within the sect urging some to go to the Southern Border, all made Xiao Yuansi sense something peculiarly amiss.

Suddenly remembering the Mushroom Forest Plain, a subsidiary territory of Qing Sui Peak that had been quietly handed over to the Tang Jin Sect for looting, Xiao Yuansi felt a chill run down his spine, as if he, a small pawn, were held in the hands of those Zifu Monks. For a moment, he was lost in thought. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"The Immortal Sect has been increasingly active over the years, repeatedly relinquishing control over mortals. Could it be true, as the rumors say, that one of the Zifu within the sect is about to reach the end of their cultivation?"

Xiao Yuansi’s spine turned cold, and it took several cautious calls from Li Tongya and the others to bring him back to reality. He managed a forced smile and asked:

"What’s the matter?"

Li Tongya clasped his hands together and said:

"I wish to inquire if Immortal Master carries any River Essence Qi. We have some savings and would like to try and purchase some."

The worried look on Xiao Yuansi’s face and his cryptic words also made Li Tongya and his companion tense. The Shanyue in the west were becoming restless, and the Ji Family in the east were eyeing them like tigers stalking their prey. Li Tongya was also thinking about advancing his Qi Cultivation as soon as possible. If he spent five years collecting the River Essence Qi and another four or five years to break through in Qi Cultivation, it might be too late.

Fortunately, they had killed that old Taoist and obtained some wealth. The scattered bits should amount to thirty or forty Spirit Stones, and the Taoist’s storage bag, which was a full square zhang in size, could be exchanged for another eighty or ninety Spirit Stones—more than enough to purchase some River Essence Qi.

"I do have it."

Xiao Yuansi nodded, smiling as he took off the small jade bottle from his waist and said softly:

"There is still one portion inside the bottle. It’s usually sold for around fifty Spirit Stones. Do you have enough to afford it?"

Li Tongya nodded and, with a flip of his hand, took out from his Storage Bag the pale green metal that had been melted from the old Taoist, saying respectfully:

"May I ask how much this item is worth?"

Xiao Yuansi glanced at it, frowned, and weighed it in his hand for a moment before reflecting:

"This should be Green Striped Steel, a material for the Qi Refinement Realm. This piece is worth about twenty Spirit Stones."

Li Tongya exchanged glances with Li Xiangping, nodded his head, and then took out twenty-five Spirit Stones from the old Taoist’s Storage Bag, along with five Spirit Stones that had been saved up by their family over the past few years, handing them all to Xiao Yuansi in exchange for the River Essence Qi.

The old Taoist’s Storage Bag was a full square zhang in size, as tall as it was wide, equivalent to the size of a courtyard. Whether for marching or storage, it was extremely useful, so both of them were reluctant to sell it.

The pair used the jade bottle, which had previously held the Evil Qi from the fire, to store the River Essence Qi they had acquired. They then showed Xiao Yuansi the Jade Sprout Pill obtained from the old Taoist. Xiao Yuansi merely smelled it and laughed:

"This is good cultivator’s provisions, worth about seven or eight Spirit Stones."

They naturally thanked him, chatted with Xiao Yuansi for a while, and then he took his leave.

Only after Xiao Yuansi had flown far away did Li Tongya gently open the jade bottle, looking at the River Essence Qi that shone like sunlight reflecting on river water. The Fetal Breathing Six Wheels inside his body grew restless, filled with the urge to swallow this nature’s spiritual energy right away.

Li Xiangping gave a light smile and whispered:

"Once Second Brother breaks through in Qi Cultivation, we will have a place for that Qi-monster too, and we can even consecrate the Dharma Mirror and try out that Talisman Qi."

Li Tongya’s face showed an uncontrollable joy as he took out the Jade Slip with the River Qi Decision, his Spiritual Sense slowly probing into it.

These Qi Refinement Realm spells and Cultivation Techniques are often very lengthy; if they were recorded on Wooden Slips, they would likely pile up into a small mountain. Therefore, they use these Warm Jade-made Jade Slips to record them, allowing the information to be accessed simply by probing them with Spiritual Sense.

However, these Jade Slips are delicate and easily broken, usually only used to record Cultivation Techniques. For transmitting messages, more durable materials like Spiritual Fabric are preferred.

After carefully reading the Orthodox Law once, Li Tongya looked up, his expression radiant, and said solemnly:

"After a few days of adjusting my Qi, I can go into seclusion to break through in Qi Cultivation!"