Family Cultivation: I Become a Mirror

Chapter 467 378: Waiting for the Hare

"Not only are my Xuan Yue's Four Branches involved—even the Sword Sect, Red Reef, Snow Ji and all the other Taoist lineages have set ambushes. Not a single Loose Cultivator will be allowed to escape."

Kong Tingyun spoke gently, then emphasized:

"The Dongli Sect left behind quite a few things, including Dongli Perfected Person Cuimu's Magical Treasure and Taoist inheritance. Even if they rot, they'll rot in Yue Country's belly; there's absolutely no chance they go to the East Sea!"

"Already, two groups have come, and both were dissuaded by our Xuan Yue…"

Li Yuanjiao listened to all this, smiled self-mockingly, and replied:

"Too many clever people in this world; makes one's own caution seem laughable in retrospect."

Kong Tingyun, seeing he felt neither shame nor anger, grew a few degrees fonder of him, gave a faint smile, and consoled:

"This matter is secret—Tingyun cannot disclose too much. Only, know that Dongli Cave Heaven is being watched by important figures; everything has been seen to, you may not know…"

"Back in Dongli, Green Pond already arranged the Mysterious Demonstration Verification Array. Don't be fooled by the noisy antics of Loose Cultivators and Devil Cultivators—anything they touch, anyone they meet, or any movement within three days of leaving Dongli, it's all crystal clear… Ordinary things won't be tracked, but not even the tiniest Zifu-level item will be allowed to slip through…"

At this, Li Yuanjiao felt a sudden chill, and nodded slightly. Kong Tingyun, thinking he already knew this, suddenly said:

"Ah, I'd forgotten about your friendship with Xiao Li—tried to show off a little cleverness!"

Li Yuanjiao hurried to reassure her. Kong Tingyun gave him a look, especially eyeing his Foundation Establishment Magic Artifact, then hesitated:

"There does happen to be a small matter, may I trouble you, Brother Jiao…"

"Please, speak…"

Li Yuanjiao responded, and Kong Tingyun continued:

"In earlier years, I guarded one of the river mouths to the sea, once discovering a Foundation Establishment beast in the Salty Lake at the mouth, but lacked the strength to deal with it myself… I'm the only Foundation Establishment in this Yun Yue Peak branch—could I perhaps hire Brother Jiao to assist…"

Li Yuanjiao grew suspicious, chuckled, and said:

"Your sect has no shortage of Foundation Establishment cultivators; why not…"

Kong Tingyun pursed her lips and answered:

"There are too many factions within the sect; it is awkward for me to say more… Surely your own nobles aren't perfectly harmonious either… I've always kept apart, unwilling to become anyone's follower…"

Li Yuanjiao's doubts eased somewhat. With Dharma Mirror in hand, feeling confident—and knowing Xuan Yue Sect had always had a good reputation—he asked:

"What kind of beast is it?"

Kong Tingyun replied:

"It's at the bottom of the Salty Lake—a hooked serpent. Defeated by the Bishui Jiao of Oceanic Wave Island, it crept secretly into the lake… I'm after the double hooks on its tail."

Li Yuanjiao nodded, then smiled and said:

"I do have some spare time, only I must first visit an old friend along the way, so it will have to wait a bit."

Kong Tingyun nodded softly and said warmly:

"As you please, Tingyun will await you in Xuan Yue."

Li Yuanjiao exchanged a few pleasantries with her, then rode the wind and departed. Kong Tingyun escorted him out of the Xuan Yue Territory, watching him disappear into the distance. She paused amidst the clouds and murmured with a smile:

"A most suspicious sort."

...

Li Yuanjiao left Xuan Yue Sect's Shankei County, found a remote barren hill in the wilderness, and, unwilling to use the Green Ruler Sword, used his mana to hastily dig out a Cave Mansion, set up a small Fetal Breathing formation, and began to cultivate in silence.

He had no old friends in northern Yue—he just wanted to put Kong Tingyun on her guard, make sure that if he died, there would at least be a trace to find. Having seated himself in the cave mansion, he mused:

'If the river mouth is occupied by Xuan Yue Sect, can't I waylay on the path? Even if it isn't as bustling as the mouth, picking off one or two is still worthwhile.'

"I'll cultivate for a while on this mountain path—if I run into stray Devil Cultivators fleeing through, I'll just slap them dead; Loose Cultivators, I'll reconsider."

One day passed. In the distance, Spiritual Energy surged and Spirit Mechanisms gathered—he knew the Cave Heaven had fallen. He calculated the route from Dongli Mountain, then closed his eyes to cultivate for over a day. Only then did he call forth the Immortal Mirror, activating its world-roaming power.

The Immortal Mirror's scanning range now was vast enough to cover an entire county; from Yu Fu County to Shankei County, it surveilled a broad swathe, even covering the border towns of Yu Fu County and nearly half of Shankei as clear as day.

With a simple sweep, Li Yuanjiao saw three streams of Dharma Light and seven of blood light sneaking through the wild mountains. Without hesitation, he broke through and headed first toward the nearest Devil Cultivator.

He'd barely crossed a hill before two Devil Cultivators—cautious and hugging the ground as they flew—came into view. They'd hidden their forms and suppressed their auras, but before the Immortal Mirror, their tricks were useless.

'One late-stage Qi Cultivator; one early-stage.'

Li Yuanjiao wasted no courtesies, concealed his own aura, and sped close, sword in hand. Upon entering their spiritual sense, he burst into action, using the River Rapids Step to ram straight in.

The Devil Cultivator only managed to shout "Who?!" before Li Yuanjiao was upon him. He was middle-aged in appearance, clutching a skull Magic Artifact, and cried out in alarm:

"Foundation Establishment Cultivator?!"

From Li Yuanjiao's body, a blue-grey flood-dragon leaped savagely toward the young female cultivator, while in his hand, the Green Ruler Sword flashed out, striking forth a blue-white Sword Radiance, stunning her completely.

"Clang!"

The Moon Que Sword Manual, once unleashed, was immediately a killing blow. With the full might of a Foundation Establishment ambusher, not even a spell could be formed in time; perhaps there was a Magic Artifact in his Storage Bag, but it hadn't been drawn—head flew, body burst, all in an instant.

Amidst the rain of blood, Li Yuanjiao plucked the Storage Bag, stepped forward and kicked the man's head to pulp, casually tossing out a Fire Technique. Without ever having used a life-saving spell, the man was reduced to ashes.

Looking back, the female Devil Cultivator was already half-swallowed by the flood-dragon, face pale as a corpse; truly dead. Li Yuanjiao frowned, urged his Immortal Foundation, made the dragon-serpent cough up the woman, grabbed her Storage Bag, and erased all traces with a spell.

'These two looked alike—must be father and daughter.'

The Devil Cultivator's skull Magic Artifact had been sundered by one strike, evil and blood qi gushing forth. Li Yuanjiao pocketed it and, wasting no time, shot toward the next blood light.

Arriving by another blood light, he saw no one; yet under the Dharma Mirror, was certain a Devil Cultivator was present. Delighted, he said:

"A Concealment Magical Artifact?!"

This Devil Cultivator was crafty too. No sooner did Li Yuanjiao speak than he soared up, flinging a Mysterious Pattern Jade Bottle far away to smash on the ground; in the other sleeve, a Blood-Colored Charm Talisman flew out.

Li Yuanjiao gave a cold laugh. His own blue-grey flood-dragon darted out, snatched the jade bottle from the ground, while his sleeve shattered the Blood-Colored Charm Talisman in front of him; riding the wind, he gave chase.

The Devil Cultivator, terrified, produced another jade bottle and shouted:

"Senior! This is Xuanyang Separation Fire!"

He smashed the jade bottle immediately. Yaoyao was flung toward the ground, and with a flick, hurled his Storage Bag, not daring to let Li Yuanjiao draw his sword. With both hands, he formed a spell seal.

'Xuanyang Separation Fire!'

Li Yuanjiao grabbed the bottle in one hand and drew his sword with the other, but the Devil Cultivator had already deployed a secret technique—everything below his head dissolved into blood, while furious blood-flames engulfed a ghostly white, almost spherical head, flying at a speed beyond normal Qi Cultivation.

"Clang!"

The blue-white arc of the Moon Que Sword shrieked through the air, smashing the head, blood-flames splashing everywhere, but before they touched ground, they'd burned into black smoke, sizzling noisily.

'Quite ruthless… If this had been a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the early stage, you might really have gotten away!'

Even Li Yuanjiao couldn't help but mourn the man's string of decisive actions. If not for his own sword striking at its peak, he'd have narrowly let him run.

"Tch!"

This tussle had taken enough time that, under the Immortal Mirror's scrutiny, the other Devil and Loose Cultivators had already slipped away. Li Yuanjiao could only descend, collecting the man's Storage Bag and tucking it away.

No time to dawdle—he mounted the wind, following the earlier projected routes of the cultivators, and soon spotted a Loose Cultivator flying carefully by wind-light.

"Good."

Li Yuanjiao's heart lifted. His features immediately became shrouded in mist; he landed right ahead of the man, and demanded unceremoniously:

"Storage Bag!"

The Loose Cultivator jumped as if struck by lightning, then collapsed weakly to the ground as his spiritual sense scanned Li Yuanjiao. He immediately took off his Storage Bag and pleaded wretchedly:

"Mercy, Senior! Please spare my life! Everything I have is there!"

Li Yuanjiao noted his submissive tone, but also that the hand on the ground was steady. He snorted, took the Storage Bag and looked inside, rasping:

"To make it out from Dongli Mountain—could you really be a mediocre sort? Don't bother pretending. You're just scared I'll kill you."

The Loose Cultivator's heart dropped. He kowtowed constantly as Li Yuanjiao scrutinized the Storage Bag; the fellow had only taken the Runyang Method from Dongli Sect, one Fire Evil Qi, and otherwise nothing but loose odds and ends typical for a wandering cultivator.