Family Cultivation: I Become a Mirror-Chapter 139 - 130: Learning the News

"Oh?"

Li Tongya looked up at Lu Sisi and saw him speaking with a face full of greed:

"The treasures of Lake Zhongzhou should rightfully belong to us families living around the lake! This is a profit without investment, how can we let these loose cultivators snatch it away for nothing!"

"I plan to call on the An Family nearby, to join us in wiping out this loose cultivator fleet, and take over this business! Whichever mortal enters the formation will belong to that family. What do you think, Brother Tongya?"

Sitting in the seat of honor, Li Tongya suddenly envisioned the mountain-like pile of corpses that blocked the road tight when he returned home from Lijing Mountain years ago. His teacup paused mid-air, and he glanced at Lu Sisi with a smile, saying:

"Does the Yu Family wish to engage in this investment without a cost? Do the various families across the lake wish to do the same? If Elder Lu cannot properly manage the families around the lake and secure this business for himself, it will only be like making wedding clothes for someone else."

Upon hearing this, Lu Sisi suddenly froze. He had rushed over excitedly after seeing that fleet on the lake and hadn't thought this through. Embarrassed, he laughed:

"Brother Tongya is more thorough! The old man was rash..."

Feeling disgruntled, Lu Sisi put down his teacup, racked his brains to find a few topics to discuss with Li Tongya but, having hit a wall, he left downtrodden.

"The old guy's death is near, and his mind isn't so sharp anymore... How many times has Lake Zhongzhou been scoured by all sorts from the Foundation Establishment crowd? I'm afraid even if you enter, you might not be able to bring out anything from the Fetal Breathing Realm. It's a pointless effort..."

After sending Lu Sisi away, Li Tongya was filled with melancholy. He lifted his teacup and then set it down again, smiling bitterly:

"You all look at these Zifu with a mix of awe and fear, their life and death at someone else's whim! But to these commoners, don't your families and sects also cause terror, to be slaughtered at someone else's mercy? The ugliness of the world always trickles down from the top, and it's all so meaningless!"

Having said this, Li Tongya shook his head and secretly questioned himself:

"If my family didn't have this magical treasure that gathers talisman Qi with the incense of the commoners, would the Li Family have been able to withstand the raging forces of Ganixi and hold on to the four towns back then..."

Startled by the thought, he shrugged off his feelings of the past. Li Tongya understood that the Li Family was still as insignificant as an ant in front of the many Zifu; it wasn't the time to dwell on these matters. He calculated the date according to the calculations in the "Sacrificial Method" and realized that the day to perform the ritual on the Dharma Mirror and gather talisman Qi was approaching—it was time to prepare for the younger generation to gather talisman Qi.

"I might as well go see that fox and inquire about some Qi-beasts without backgrounds to use for the sacrifice."

Li Tongya left his courtyard, riding the wind upwards. He wandered through the mountain's network until he found a large banyan tree with pale leaves, standing on the hillside according to his memory.

The White Banyan Fox was lying under the tree, lifting its paws, looking up at Li Tongya as he landed nearby, and lazily said:

"Brother Tongya, what wind has blown you over to my part of the woods? "

This fox had met Li Tongya many times over three years and was quite familiar with him. It took the Spirit Rice from Li Tongya and stuffed it into its mouth. Its fox eyes comfortably narrowed into slits as it routinely began to talk about what it had observed in the mountains over the past few months.

"I hear that Qing Sui Peak has produced a Sword Immortal, scaring that old boar so much he hasn't dared to leave his home for months. Si Yuanbai was so arrogant while in seclusion! Now he's gotten timid, afraid of becoming the whetstone left for his disciple."

Li Tongya was stunned and exclaimed in surprise:

"You're incredibly well-informed!"

"Haha, of course!"

The fox flicked its tail and said with an air of mystery:

"My nineteenth cousin's twenty-second uncle is an attendant to a Three-Ear White Fox in the Fox Cave on the southern slopes of Da Li Mountain. I learned about it from their casual conversations. That Three-Ear White Fox is really formidable; just lying near the border and listening, all talks from those in the Fetal Breathing Realm and Qi Cultivators reach his ears..."

"A Foundation Establishment demon fox?"

"Zifu!"

The fox shook its head and glared at him, saying:

"You think they're called Great Cultivators and Great Demons for nothing? Within the Zifu, a Divine Skill is condensed, not something that a common spell can compare with. Depending on an individual's Taoist Foundation, there are all sorts of wonderful transformations. Very formidable!"

Li Tongya quickly took this to heart, feeling that the bag of Spirit Rice he offered today was well worth it. He stroked the fox's head, making it curl slightly in pleasure, and said:

"I'm just a Qi Cultivator; I may not be able to break through Foundation Establishment in this lifetime, no matter how formidable it is, it has nothing to do with me."

"It seems that my younger brother has already achieved Foundation Establishment. If he returns from the Southern Border, breaking through to the Zifu within a hundred years shouldn't be a problem,"

Having said that, a slight smile appeared on his face, and he gently laughed,

"If I'm lucky enough to live long enough, perhaps I'll even get to see the day he ascends to the Zifu."

The fox twitched its mouth, squeaking in protest,

"That would be good. Just don't end up like Yu Yuxie, who had a great Taoist Foundation from cultivating with the Taiyin Moonlight, only to end up as an ingredient for a great Jiao's elixir!"

As soon as these words were uttered, they struck Li Tongya's ears like a thunderbolt. His mind went blank as he leapt to his feet in alarm, shouting,

"What did you say?!"

The fox had never seen him like this, its fur on end as it backed away in a panic, stuttering,

"Yu... Yu... Yuxie…"

Li Tongya's expression panicked. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, slapped his storage bag, and tossed a large bag of Spirit Rice in front of him, speaking in as calm a voice as possible,

"Tell me about this Yu Yuxie."

The fox didn't dare to touch that Spirit Rice, squeaking twice before answering,

"When I...I was serving in front of our master, I heard that this person had acquired a Taiyin Moonlight over Wangyue Lake and formed a Taoist Foundation with the 'Jade Disk.' I've also seen him venture into these mountains, his pair of swords defeating many monsters one after another. Later, he died in the Southern Border."

"I later heard that it was because the Taoist Foundation formed by that Taiyin Moonlight was so exceptional that the Green Pond Sect offered it to a great Jiao in the Southern Border to be refined into an elixir... It seems that the Green Pond Sect has done this kind of thing more than once..."

Li Tongya's figure wavered, and he collapsed to the ground, his complexion pale, staring at the scattered Spirit Rice on the ground. When he heard this account, combined with the Green Pond Sect's usual behavior and the fact that Li Chijin had not sent a single letter in over a decade, the various suspicions in his heart grew alongside the implications made by the Xiao Family. He pursed his lips and remained silent.

The fox, however, panicked at seeing him hang his head in silence. It carefully collected a handful of Spirit Rice into its bag, licked its fur, and too stared at the ground, not daring to speak.

Li Tongya composed himself and looked at the frightened fox curled up into a ball, saying hoarsely,

"Thank you for telling me, Zhey. This Spirit Rice is your reward."

With that, he rose on the wind, streaking toward Lijing Mountain like a shooting star, not even bothering with the fox below calling and shouting, chasing after him for a few steps. It stood there dumbfounded, saying,

"This isn't worth so much Spirit Rice!"

When Li Tongya arrived at Lijing Mountain, he passed through the glittering Sunbeam Profound Light Formation and headed to the backyard compound. He pushed open the stone chamber's door, respectfully summoned the Dharma Mirror, and sank his Spiritual Sense into it. Indeed, he saw two round, shiny Talisman Seeds.

Lu Jiangxian's Divine Sense lingered out, watching him quietly. To prevent Li Tongya from growing suspicious, Lu Jiangxian hid the newly added three Talisman Seeds. He looked at the middle-aged man's pale complexion, his lips slightly pursed, his hands trembling incessantly.

After what felt like an eternity, Li Tongya finally recovered his strength. His face suddenly flushed with color, and only then did tears start flowing. He clenched the sword around his waist and wailed sorrowfully,

"Jing'er ah————"

Tears streamed down the cheeks of the middle-aged man. He cried out sharply, his fingers turning white from gripping so tight, as he wept,

"Good, good..."

His cautious nature brought him to an abrupt stop. Li Tongya cried for several tens of moments and coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood before he sobered up from the dizziness. He wiped away the blood and respectfully placed the Dharma Mirror back on the stone altar.

After kowtowing respectfully, Li Tongya wiped away his tears and walked out of the shrine. He took a deep breath and murmured,

"Jing'er... Jing'er ah... It was your father and brothers who misjudged that Si Yuanbai, pushing you into a pit of fire... Second Brother is sorry."

Clenching his longsword, he recalled how Li Chijin would send letters home and cultivate using the techniques he had obtained. He remembered the five Spirit Stones that Li Chijin had scrimped and saved, which filled his heart with deeper sorrow. In a low voice, he said,

"I remember this vengeance, Jing'er..."