Family Cultivation: I Become a Mirror-Chapter 73: Counter-Kill

Li Xiangping rode the wind for a while and soon came upon a small orchard, enclosed by a bamboo fence, with kumquat trees bearing fruit—clearly the property of a farming household.

"Judging by my steps, I’ve already entered deep into Ji Family territory. This household must be under the Ji Family’s jurisdiction," he mused.

Li Xiangping had been fleeing all night, his complexion was extremely pale, and the talisman in his hand had dimmed, indicating it was nearly exhausted.

He took out a greyish-blue Dharma Mirror from his bosom. Gently stroking it, he closed his eyes slightly to sense that the old Taoist’s presence was still far behind him, which made him swear under his breath.

However, inside the Mirror, Lu Jiangxian could see even more clearly. The old Taoist had forcefully suppressed his injuries, consumed several elixirs, and had forcefully stabilized his breath. His eyes were filled with ferocity as he stood on the flying shuttle, heading straight for Li Xiangping.

"As long as the old Taoist uses his spells to capture or attack my Mirror Body, I’ll pretend to counterattack naturally and finish him off," Li Xiangping planned.

Lu Jiangxian frowned as he looked on. He noticed that the old Taoist had lost his left arm, and with his mana flow hindered, the residual power of the Taiyin Profound Light continued to wreak havoc inside him. It forced the old man to close his eyes and regulate his breath from time to time, which naturally slowed him down, yet he was still faster than Li Xiangping.

"As long as I catch up, as long as I catch that boy, I will kill him with one palm and take the Mirror away," the old Taoist thought determinedly.

The old Taoist’s mind was torn between rage, greed, and reason as he viciously muttered to himself:

"In the hands of someone in the Fetal Breathing Realm, the Mirror is so powerful. In my hands, it will be even more so. This person only used it once and continued to flee rather than pursuing victory, so that attack must consume a lot, and he likely cannot use it again so soon."

The old Taoist rode the flying shuttle, gaining speed gradually, and a village appeared before him. In front of it was the orchard with kumquat trees, and that man was incessantly weaving through the orchard, lacking the breeze under his feet—it seemed his talismans were all spent.

Li Xiangping flipped his hand and pressed the last talisman against his palm. A Vajra Talisman—once cast, his skin and bones would become as tough as steel, hopefully withstanding a few hits from the old Taoist in a desperate bid for survival.

The old Taoist was slowly descending on the flying shuttle when he suddenly saw Li Xiangping turn around, lifting the greyish-blue Mirror once more.

"Again?" 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

The old Taoist almost spat out blood in frustration. Forcing the flying shuttle to turn, he awkwardly descended onto a branch, only to see Li Xiangping standing with a sneer leaning against a kumquat tree and watching him.

"Good lad."

Rather than getting angry, the old Taoist was pleased, slapping his storage bag to put away the flying shuttle and lightly landing on the ground. He then saw Li Xiangping had already rushed towards him.

The old Taoist didn’t waste words and squeezed out a dazzling burst of Golden Light, aiming it straight at Li Xiangping’s chest.

A rumbling sound came from Li Xiangping, his body emanating a white soft light, attempting to dissolve the incoming Golden Light. The old Taoist’s spell spun around in the soft light for a bit before still hitting Li Xiangping’s body with a bang.

"Puh."

Li Xiangping shook violently, expelling a mouthful of fresh blood, and the Mirror slipped from his hand, tumbling toward the ground.

The old Taoist, distracted, saw his chance. His horsetail whisk grew longer as its white bristles fluttered in the wind, reaching out like a giant hand toward the Dharma Mirror.

A fierce look flashed in Li Xiangping’s eyes, seizing the opportunity while the old Taoist was fixated on the Dharma Mirror, he clenched the Golden Light Technique with his left hand, preparing to strike the old man’s head.

Inside the Mirror, Lu Jiangxian watched the bristles reach toward him. For some reason, he felt an intense revulsion, as if an overconfident child had picked up chopsticks and was pointing them straight at his eye.

Meanwhile, he thought to himself:

"What a chance!"

As soon as the bristles touched the Mirror, they recoiled as if they had touched burning charcoal. The greyish-blue Mirror, as if insulted, suddenly levitated and stood a foot in the air, swallowing and spitting out Bai Mang with frequency.

The twelve seal characters around the edge of the Mirror Body flashed one by one, and the dazzling white light undulated on the mirror’s surface like ripples on water, making it impossible to keep one’s eyes open, as if a small sun was quietly suspended above the heads of the two people.

An intense sense of danger that made one tremble emerged in the hearts of the two, and the heavy oppressive force made Li Xiangping and the old Daoist freeze, unable to move, like actors in a paused opera, standing motionless in place.

"Oh no!"

A sudden pang of regret struck the old Daoist’s heart, and he thought to himself,

"I should not have used the horsetail whisk to try to catch the Mirror!"

The old Daoist had practiced for many years and had heard that some mysterious magical artifacts possessed a spiritual nature that must be respected and approached with care, with many taboos. For example, the Great Snow Absolute Blade of the Green Pond Sect wouldn’t budge for anyone not recognized by it, inert like a rock when operated by an outsider.

"This is bad, this is really bad, could this Mirror be so mystical? It seems I’ve violated a taboo of this greyish-green Mirror."

Li Xiangping was about to slap the old Daoist’s head with a Golden Light Technique, but the oppressive force left him immobile, and seeing the Mirror rise into the air enveloped in white light, similar to the encounter with the wolf demon as his father and older brother had described, he realized that the old Daoist had likely triggered the Mirror’s automatic attack, he let out a sigh of relief.

However, Li Xiangping didn’t know what method the old Daoist had used, but he could hear the old Daoist’s low voice in his ear:

"Young friend, this old Daoist is as foolish as a pig, unaware of which taboo has been transgressed, provoking this magic artifact’s retaliation against us. If you have any Ritual Incantation Technique that could help, please assist... Afterwards, there will be a generous reward..."

Li Xiangping inwardly rolled his eyes in annoyance, ignoring the old Daoist’s nonsensical babble.

Lu Jiangxian, watching the old Daoist who couldn’t move, silently reassessed his own strength, pondering,

"It turns out that by gathering the Taiyin Profound Light, as long as one is close enough, it’s even possible to intimidate a Qi Cultivator, rendering them unable to move."

With a sweep of his Divine Sense, Lu Jiangxian realized that someone in the farmhouse had woken up. A youth dressed in tattered hemp clothes was sneaking closer, crouching behind a tree and watching the two closely.

"Let’s wrap this up quickly."

With a thought, pure white Taiyin Profound Light poured down, and the old Daoist only had time to utter half a syllable from his throat before he, along with the horsetail whisk, were cleanly dissipated like melting snow.

"Plop."

A small brocade pouch fell to the ground, and the handle of the horsetail whisk, made of some spiritual object, had been reduced to a light green metallic blob, which quietly landed on the ground.

Afterward, Lu Jiangxian slowly extinguished the white light, quietly floating in the air.

Li Xiangping finally managed to move; he spat out another mouthful of blood and collapsed weakly onto the ground.

He was just about to regulate his breath when his head was struck hard, sending stars flying before his eyes. He struggled to turn around to look.

It was a youth in ragged hemp clothes, his face alight with greed and joy, straddling Li Xiangping and wielding a rock, raining down blows on Li Xiangping.

"Damn! Have you such gall, to pick on even an Immortal Cultivator’s misfortune?"

Li Xiangping gathered the last of his mana, extending his left hand to block the rock, and after fumbling on the ground with his right hand for a long time, dizzy and seeing stars from being hit, he finally found a tree branch and stabbed toward the youth with a branch imbued with the Golden Light Technique.

The branch infused with the Golden Light Technique was sharp beyond compare, penetrating straight through the youth’s neck. For a moment, the youth’s eyes glazed over, he spat out several mouthfuls of blood, and then began to struggle on the ground holding his throat.

Li Xiangping lay sprawled on the ground, watching the youth’s struggles, fearful of attracting more attention. He hastily grabbed the brocade pouch and the metallic blob and stuffed them into his chest, picked up the Dharma Mirror that hung in the air, and staggered to his feet, running towards the outskirts of the village.