Chapter 1043: Divine Split, Different Bodies

The light in the palace hall was dim.

The lamp of Dharma had been refilled three times, warming the entire hall like a furnace, yet the old man on the couch remained cold and damp. Having drifted in a half-awake, half-asleep state for three months, he suddenly remembered that his surname was not Li.

"Back then, Father was called Ye Ye Chengfu."

When Father was still called Ye Ye Chengfu, life was always a frantic rush. He seemed to be making a living at the village entrance, but there wasn't much work, so he had to do odd jobs at other people's homes. Occasionally, he would bring back a large sack of rice and beans, stepping into the house with pride, boasting that he was the third smartest man in Mount Lijing Village.

Li Ye Qiuyang couldn't remember clearly; if he himself could break through to Foundation Establishment, he should be able to recall more.

The old man lifted his head. Beside him, Sun Bai was applying medicine to his lips, using Horn-Wood spiritual essence and magic power to nourish the "lips"—the symbol of the combined fire that served as the gateway for appetite—hoping he would linger for a few more breaths. This was already a helpless act of drinking poison to quench thirst.

The old man stared blankly at the ceiling, asking in a weak, thin voice:

"Brother Xuan... Brother Xuan..."

Beside him, the white-haired old man coughed twice, his straight back hunching over. His drooping eyes were brimming with tears as he replied:

"Wait... just wait a little longer."

Li Ye Qiuyang indeed didn't remember much, but he still remembered kneeling before that old man when he was small, receiving the 【Green Origin Wheel-Nurturing Method】. Li Li Mutian had instructed him to honor the sect, serve the Dao, keep the kin close, and harmonize the clan, and so he began to use the surname Li.

From that moment on, his status as Li Ye Qiuyang had been exalted for one hundred and sixty-five years. Now, on Wangyue Lake, even Foundation Establishment cultivators had to treat him with great respect.

"Old Ancestor... the Lord is here, the Lord is here!"

In his hazy state, a gentle breeze blew to his bedside. Li Ye Qiuyang struggled to open his eyes. What met his gaze was also an old face. Li Brother Xuan's appearance was even older than Chen Donghe's beside him—it was simply a wreck—but at least his spirit remained, his face covered in tears.

"Ye Qiuyang... old friend, now you are leaving too..."

Li Ye Qiuyang struggled for a moment but couldn't turn over. If it weren't for a "Horn-Wood" Foundation Establishment cultivator hanging onto his life, he would have passed away long ago.

In his youth, Li Brother Xuan had run a shop in the Xiao family market and served as a manager. Li Ye Qiuyang and he had survived a demonic raid together. The current Li clan descendants could no longer comprehend the fear of those precarious times, of being alone and without support... Coupled with the withering of old friends, the two had leaned on each other for warmth, and their bond was deep.

The Li Ye Qiuyang of those years was no longer there; the old man lying on the bed seemed like a lump of rotting flesh. The combined fire had damaged his nature and life; that fire had burned away his body, and though it was later replenished, the damage to his foundation and lifespan could not be recovered. Li Brother Xuan could almost no longer recognize his features, seeing only two turbid pupils within the skin and flesh.

Li Brother Xuan felt a deep sorrow, a lonely fear surging into his heart. He lowered his head and said:

"Ye Qiuyang... Ye Qiuyang... is there anything you cannot let go of?"

The old man on the bed exhaled twice, showing no reaction.

Li Ye Qiuyang's talent had not been poor. That spiritual fruit back then had helped his cultivation progress rapidly, but it had also caused him to lose hope for Foundation Establishment, eventually forcing him to cultivate a miscellaneous Qi. Yet, among his many descendants, none had become talented. Over a hundred years later, surprisingly, no one had been able to surpass him.

Li Ye Qiuyang struggled to move his pupils, staring at Li Brother Xuan.

He actually knew that this brother of the main family had many secrets, and he also knew that he had never truly entered the upper echelons of the Li clan. Let alone him, Chen Yang had become a Foundation Establishment cultivator with extraordinary talent—could he have entered? The so-called Mount Qingdu bloodline was nothing but a joke.

Yet he had held Li Li Yuanxiu, led horses for Li Li Xiangping, drank tea with Li Li Xuanfeng, and walked through Li Xia with Chen Chen Mufeng. As the moon set and the sun rose, he had passed sixty-two thousand dusks on Wangyue Lake. For this land that gave birth to him and raised him, and for the clansmen on this land, he held a deep sorrow and love.

The old man seemed to use all his strength, opened his mouth, and whispered:

"Hu Jie Brother Xuan... they are too close..."

Li Brother Xuan's brows twitched, and he was slightly stunned. He reached out to support him. Sun Bai stood up in a panic, instructing the younger generation beside him to moisten the Old Ancestor's lips with medicinal soup, then quickly retreated. Li Brother Xuan seemed somewhat lost, confusedly saying:

"Who... who is too close..."

Li Ye Qiuyang struggled to sit up. He coughed violently twice, as if he wanted to cough out his own lungs. He groaned:

"Get out..."

Li Brother Xuan took the medicinal soup from the younger generation's hands and waved for the idle people to retreat. Chen Donghe lifted his brows to look at the dying old man on the couch, and seeing him staring straight at himself, he covered his tears, turned, and retreated.

Only Li Brother Xuan remained in the entire palace hall. Li Ye Qiuyang began to breathe heavily. His hands gained a bit of strength, gripping Li Brother Xuan's hand, gritting his teeth:

"They... and you... are too close... Jiang... Jiang family..."

Li Brother Xuan's lips trembled. The old man before him had chattering teeth and began to spit blood, murmuring:

"If he... were here, they would all be disposed of... only then would it be clean..."

Li Brother Xuan couldn't distinguish who the "he" the old man spoke of was. Was it Old Ancestor Li Li Mutian? Or Li Li Xiangping? He naturally knew what the Jiang family meant. Ever since Li Li Ximing had become a Early Zifu, he hadn't considered this matter for far too long...

"The Jiang family... that Jiang family predecessor was harmed to death by someone... but my family is currently flourishing. Not to mention the Wei King, Li Jiangqian and Li Que Wan are both Early Zifu seeds. If one day all Early Zifu are lost, we will surely perish; why worry about internal strife..."

He was silent for a moment, and the old man before him finally collapsed. Li Brother Xuan turned back, sitting on the stone steps. He first choked up, then immediately lowered his voice and wept. Outside the hall, there was a chaotic sound of footsteps. The first to rush in was actually an unknown man, who fell to his knees before Li Brother Xuan with a thud, wailing:

"Old Ancestor!"

The middle-aged man following closely behind was bumped by him, stumbling, but he didn't want to be outdone. He knelt on the ground and cried even harder, his voice howling like thunder.

Li Brother Xuan lifted his tear-filled old eyes, swept a glance at the people scrambling to enter, and confusedly pulled up the curtain on the couch, waving his sleeves to throw these people out.

The palace hall fell silent in an instant. Apart from Chen Donghe, who was closing his eyes and shedding tears, there was no one else. Li Brother Xuan cried for a while, realizing that the crying outside the hall was sparse, mostly consisting of whispers. He said weakly:

"Six generations apart, we are no longer close. We are just stupid."

Lulai Island.

The wind and rain on the sea subsided, and the sky revealed a strange, verdant green. All colors were blocked outside by the radiance of the cave dwelling. The blue-purple light on the walls flickered one by one, pushing all the spiritual energy surging into it.

The woman sitting cross-legged in the center was dressed in white, her willow brows curved, her face calm, her vermilion lips slightly parted, as if containing a hazy, colorful radiance. Her hands were forming seals at her abdomen, her divine light brilliant.

I don't know how much time passed, but she put away her divine arts. That colorful radiance retracted into the rising sun. She stood up, the light in her apricot eyes bright and then dim, exhaling and lifting her brows.

"The difficulty of 【Seated Color】 is much lower than imagined... I estimate it will take no more than two years..."

In her early cultivation, Li Li Que Wan had spent a large amount of time on 【Mysterious Witch Dao Arts】. Her spiritual aperture was at her brow, and she had been able to visualize the rising sun very early on, and she had an extremely outstanding talent for witchcraft. Cultivating this art, however, was still like sailing against the current, difficult at every step.

Fortunately, these cultivations were not without results. When she turned to cultivate the secret arts, she had a feeling of unraveling silk and cocooning, seeing clearly as if observing fire. The time spent in her early years was repaid many times over, making her feel as if she had divine assistance!

"The 'Full Dan' is an extreme test of Dao practice. If 【Seated Color】 were cultivated by an ordinary person, it would be impossible to succeed without ten or twenty years... but in my hands, it is very easy..."

She secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but her heart began to worry:

"I heard that the clan uncle has been sealed as the Wei King... I don't know how much trouble there is. It's hateful that I can only be overseas and cannot help at all."

Her desire to achieve Early Zifu became more urgent day by day. Fortunately, she had patience; it was nothing more than diligent cultivation. Only when it was time for the family's reply did she always leave seclusion on time.

All the way out of the cave dwelling, the cultivators on both sides bowed one after another. Li Li Que Wan hurried out, and sure enough, she saw that the main hall of the cave dwelling was flowing with light and color. On the purple-gold desk, the pale blue patterns on the murals were reflected. In the center sat a man, draped in white fur, with precious pearls tied to his waist, and three vertical marks at his brow, staring at the scroll on the desk.

"Greetings, True Person!"

This person was none other than the Yuanbian True Person, Liu Liu Zhangdie.

Liu Liu Zhangdie appeared very steady. In these years, he hadn't spent much time in seclusion, just guarding this one island and not letting go. Earlier, he would still go out to stroll, but after that night of thunder and rain, he hadn't taken a single step off this island.

For no other reason than that he was truly afraid!

That night's thunder and rain were extremely abnormal; it was clearly driven by someone. Liu Liu Zhangdie suppressed his temper and didn't go out. After this matter passed, he secretly calculated, combined with the divine aspects of his own supernatural powers, and actually obtained quite a few clues.

"That night, a high-level cultivator must have made a move. It's not unlikely that they were plotting against me... It's just that they were wary of the great array, and since it was in the East Sea, they were blocked by the dragon kin, which is why they didn't succeed!"

It was not without reason that Liu Liu Zhangdie had been in the South Sea and East Sea for many years... Many of the things on his body were obtained by "chance" in the East and South Seas, and he had long suspected that the dragon kin had a secret need to protect him... This encounter confirmed all his previous suspicions.

"I'm hiding here in the East Sea, in this great array, and there are still people who want to harm me... If I went elsewhere, who knows what would happen!?"

Seeing Li Li Que Wan, Liu Liu Zhangdie appeared very happy. He nodded to her, stood up, and laughed:

"You are indeed punctual."

When Liu Liu Zhangdie arrived at this island, he had been instructed by Li Li Ximing that he must protect Li Li Que Wan well, so he kept it in mind. After a private exchange, he was shocked as a heaven-man. The Dao practice of this junior was so high, and her train of thought in performing arts was so clear, that she didn't look like a Foundation Establishment cultivator at all!

So he asked again, and only then did he know that Li Li Que Wan had been cultivating witchcraft for many years, which explained her relief.

"The longevity of the Witch Talisman Dao even surpasses the ancient Immortal Dao of 'taking in Qi, nourishing nature, and dining on rosy clouds and dew,' pointing directly to the root of the Great Dao..."

This ancient Immortal Dao of "taking in Qi, nourishing nature, and dining on rosy clouds and dew" usually refers to the Three Mysterious Dao lineages, originating from the Zhengshi and Two Rituals. One of the lineages continuously spread and developed, becoming the Three Mysterious Dao lineages that later spread throughout the world. But the Witch Talisman Dao was a Dao lineage that spread throughout the world in the same era as the Zhengshi and Two Rituals!

"A single Witch Talisman Dao occupies the earliest three positions of 'Bingxiu,' 'Shangwu,' and 'Yu Zhen' in the ancient laws, and they are the most important three positions of one-nine, three-nine, and six-nine, which shows its power."

"If one can achieve great things in the Witch Talisman Dao, controlling most of the arts of the Early Zifu and Jin Dandao is also very easy..."

Of course, the difficulty of achieving great things is not low. It is absolutely not something that can be done by just practicing some witchcraft and knowing some curses and hexes... At the very least, one must be an orthodox successor of this Dao! Senior Duanmu Kui of those years could suppress all heroes, and Jiang Jiang Boqing was proficient in both Immortal and Buddhist Daos, which came from this!

For this reason, Liu Liu Zhangdie thought highly of this Li clan junior, and even saw her future Early Zifu path. Vaguely, he treated her as another Early Zifu, laughing:

"Come! Take a look at this!"

Li Li Que Wan was even more respectful to him. She hurried forward and stood beside the table, and saw that on the desk was a gold scroll. The texture was soft, looking like it was made of some spiritual silk. The runes were mysterious, with several lines of colorful large characters.

【Mysterious Scroll of Divine Split and Different Bodies】.

Li Li Que Wan looked at it carefully, and Liu Liu Zhangdie laughed:

"This scroll was sent by your family. It was obtained from some Zhangxiao Sect. It is an ancient thing, so it was locked with a secret storage method, and I was asked to solve it... It took quite a bit of effort."

"Now that it's opened, it's a mysterious art of shifting shapes and changing bodies. It's quite brilliant. One can refine different bodies, used for saving one's life, cultivating the Dao, avoiding calamities, and dodging disasters. If one's Dao practice is high, and one has some good things on one's body, it's not unlikely that one can use this art to be reborn."

Li Li Que Wan's eyes were burning, staring at the gold characters in the scroll, sighing:

"It's actually so precious!"

Although Li Li Que Wan was not very clear about Li Li Zhouwei's current situation, she understood the principle that when one's supernatural powers are complete, one must either seek gold or be reborn. Thinking that it might be useful for her own True Person, she immediately beamed with joy and watched carefully.

This thing might not have counted for much in ancient times, but in the present age where rebirth and walking in the Grand Void are mostly lost, it is not too much to call it precious... Liu Liu Zhangdie nodded and sighed:

"Unfortunately, the main purpose is still the first four items, and the ability to be reborn is just a bonus... If one can refine that different body to the point where it can be used for rebirth... the resources consumed are unknown, enough to cultivate several Early Zifu, and expand how many supernatural powers for oneself... and it doesn't add much certainty, why bother?"

"Compared with those ancient demonic fetuses, ten-colored heart-uniting pearls... and even gold nature, the possibility of success for this art is too low, too low, and there are many sequelae. It can only be used as a retreat that one has to take."

He laughed:

"In short... it's still precious. I've taken advantage of it and had a few more looks."

Li Li Que Wan shook her head repeatedly and said respectfully:

"The Lord and my family's True Person are close friends, so it should have been sent to be shared... How can you say this... You can't let the Lord waste so much time solving the scroll in vain..."

Liu Liu Zhangdie shook his head and laughed. He had long since not felt that his time was anything precious. He just took a letter from his sleeve and said:

"Family letter... take a look."

Li Li Que Wan took it like a treasure and read it. Liu Liu Zhangdie looked at her profile and sighed secretly:

"I've long thought... if there were still children under my knees, I could match her with a pair, but now it seems... even if there really were descendants, they wouldn't be worthy of her."

Liu Liu Zhangdie was thinking, but saw a person hurry into the cave dwelling, bow before him, and say respectfully:

"Report to the True Person... there is a... there is a Demon King waiting outside the island! Wants to... see the True Person!"

"Demon King??!"

Liu Liu Zhangdie's first reaction was that it was the dragon kin, and his heart was shocked. But suddenly he sensed something, took a gold jade pendant from his sleeve, looked at it carefully, patted the desk in realization, and was slightly embarrassed:

"It's Senior Senior Fuxun who has come to the door!" ===== CHAPTER 1044 =====