Chapter 468: Leaving the Cave Heaven

Li Yueshang knelt in the front, sobbing uncontrollably, while Li Xijun stood in the courtyard, the 【Cold-Granary】 at his waist silently emitting light. His eyes were slightly red, and his gaze circled the broken jade on the ground.

A series of thoughts emerged in Li Xijun's mind, flowing through one by one, and what appeared before his eyes was actually Li Xuanxuan's old face.

The lamps in the ancestral hall flickered. Li Yueshang sobbed softly. A breeze blew, and Li Xijun revealed an extremely complex expression. He took a step back, turned, and left the ancestral hall. The heavy rain dripped, gathering into a stream at his feet.

Li Xijun first rode the wind and landed before the Alchemy Pavilion, his hands tucked into his sleeves, stepping onto the stone steps.

The courtyard was empty, gray and black. The only light was the bright fire of the alchemy furnace in the great hall, casting a shadow that jumped on the ground. Li Ximing was sitting upright before the furnace, his hands forming seals, raising his eyes to look at him.

Li Xijun waved his hand, saying nothing. He waited until he had finished refining the medicinal pills and put away the furnace before stepping forward.

"Uncle's life-jade has shattered."

Li Xijun said softly.

Li Ximing was still immersed in the study of the alchemy formula. He was stunned for a moment, raised his head in disbelief, and lost his voice:

"This... that... how!"

Li Xijun covered his face and retreated, listening to Li Ximing's distraught voice behind him. He raised his head slightly; the lamps on the Talisman Peak, the side peak, were still flickering.

The night was deep, and Li Xuanxuan was not resting. Li Xijun almost could not face Li Xuanxuan, to tell this old man that his last son had also died in clan affairs.

"Let's drag it out for now... drag it out for now... perhaps there is a turning point."

Green Pine Island.

Compared to the mostly restrained battles within the cave heaven, the slaughter on Green Pine Island appeared chaotic and disorderly. Loose cultivators fought together, forming a battlefield, killing and robbing each other.

Li Qinghong flew along the edge of the island holding her spear, radiance flowing on her jade armor, flicking away the splashing blood. Purple thunder echoed around her body, shaking the seawater to rise and turn into white mist.

The seawater before her shook, and an object fell suddenly from the void. It was a pitch-black, shiny pebble, no larger than a fingernail, floating quietly in the air, immediately attracting a crowd of cultivators.

Thunder erupted from Li Qinghong's hand, and she stepped forward first. She swept her long spear, forcing the few people beside her to retreat repeatedly, snatched the spirit object born before her into her hand, put it into her storage bag, and retreated quickly.

Li Qinghong had broken through to the middle stage of Foundation Establishment, and her strength could be considered superior among the crowd. She had made repeated gains, attracting much attention. Looking around, the few people nearby had intentions of joining forces.

Although Li Qinghong was not afraid, she understood the principle of knowing when to stop. She rode the thunder and retreated slowly, and only when she flew to the edge of the Green Pine Island sea area did the figures in the sky slowly decrease.

She had joined forces with the Han family of East Sulfur Island, and the original plan was well-conceived, but the winds and clouds in the world changed, the spirit opportunities were blurred, and various spirit objects were born. The crowd was scattered in an instant, each snatching spirit objects, and soon they lost sight of each other.

This place was where the cave heaven and the present world merged, and many strange gray clouds appeared, hindering spiritual sense, and she could not find the Han family members. Li Qinghong only saved a few Han family juniors within her power, quickly made a fortune, and went far away rapidly.

Being unable to join forces with the Han family was not a bad thing for Li Qinghong. After all, her strength was stronger, and she could make many gains relying on the Immortal Mirror alone, without having to share with others, which was quite free.

She tucked her hair and landed on a reef, her spiritual sense sinking into the mirror.

Before she could check the situation around her, she saw a cyan light swaying and coming from the illusion, wandering uncertainly in the mirror. It faded the cyan light and turned into an ordinary talisman seed, lingering within.

Li Qinghong's hand holding the spear tightened until it turned white. She stood blankly on the spot as if suffocating for a long time, then rode the wind in a hurry, flying toward the small island where Li Xuanfeng had entered the cave heaven.

The island was desolate, with no traces of figures, and no traces of fighting. Li Qinghong stood on the spot for a moment, wiped the corners of her eyes, and pondered:

"Since Brother has had an accident, Second Uncle must not be having an easy time either. I don't know what the situation in this cave heaven is. It is best to try to wait for him to come out here... if he is seriously injured, there can still be someone to look after him..."

With Li Yuanjiao's death and the dissipation of his Immortal Foundation, the power of that Zifu spirit treasure swept over rapidly. Li Yuanjiao's body gradually disappeared in Li Xuanfeng's hands, turning into cyan rain and falling.

Li Xuanfeng's hands were empty, leaving only a long sword, a jade bottle, and a simple black-patterned storage bag.

He hung these three items on his waist, took out a jade box from the storage bag, moved his lips, and the cyan rain in the sky immediately fell into the box one after another, gathering into a box of cyan-gray spirit water, swaying gently.

The strange phenomena in the cave heaven were light and thin. The light-cyan rainwater drifted for a while, then quickly scattered and disappeared, leaving only the gray clouds dissipating.

When a Foundation Establishment cultivator dies, they often return to heaven and earth. In Jiangnan, there is a custom of burying relatives, often using the spirit objects left behind as substitutes. Xiao Yongling stood to the side watching, his hands behind his back.

He watched silently as Li Xuanfeng put away the jade box. The blood on Li Xuanfeng's hands had already stopped. He hung the Green-Chi Sword on his waist and stayed on the spot for a while. Li Xuanfeng rode the wind down and saw Yu Muxian's corpse on a mountain head.

Yu Muxian had died when he was slashed. His corpse had fallen into two pieces, and sharp, fine little golden needles were flowing out from his meridians, the ground full of bright, pine-needle-like gold.

His once immortal-looking face had now become fish slices carved by a thousand knives, revealing fresh red flesh. In his reopened eyes remained incomprehension, his lips slightly parted, full of fresh blood.

Beside his wrist lay a white jade buckle quietly, shaped like a small boat, smooth and delicate, not stained by a drop of blood.

Yu Muxian's feather garment had been pierced twice during the battle, shattering into pieces. In the remaining sleeve of that feather garment, a pale purple circular object was clutched. It was unknown what kind of trump card it was, but it had not been unleashed even until death.

Li Xuanfeng waved his sleeve, collecting the shattered feather garment on his body along with the jade buckle in one breath, then used magic power to take his storage bag, probed it with his spiritual sense, and found it sealed tightly.

He took off the feather garment. Yu Muxian's lower abdomen was rising and falling slightly, full of bloodstains.

"Pop..."

A muffled sound came from Yu Muxian's abdomen. With the dissipation of the 'Gold-Melting Cave', various magic treasures flew out from his abdomen, jumping up one after another, shaking their heads and tails in the pool of blood.

Several magic treasures were all at the peak of Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment level, not very outstanding, only the six magic shields and eight golden shuttles were a set of magic treasures, which were very precious.

A clanging sound came from afar. Tu Longjian, in black clothes, landed slowly. The black-red token on the side was suppressing a golden ring, trembling constantly in the air, burning the ring until it was red-hot.

"【Cloud-Departing】 cannot be tracked; it has already run away."

He muttered. Li Xuanfeng's expression did not change much. He nodded and handed Yu Muxian's storage bag into his hand, saying hoarsely:

"Thank you, fellow Daoist, for your wholehearted help. This person's storage bag is here; it has not been opened."

Tu Longjian hesitated twice, opened the storage bag, and the 【Six-Ding Fire-Combining】 rose, casually wiping away the restrictions and hidden hands on the storage bag.

The wound on his abdomen was still there. Tu Longjian was not polite, but took out precious medicines and spirit pills from the storage bag to swallow, and took out several kinds of healing medicines to apply for Li Xuanfeng.

The things on Yu Muxian's body were indeed good things. Li Xuanfeng's flesh and skin grew at a speed visible to the naked eye. Although there were still injuries on his hands, they were no longer as shocking as before.

Tu Longjian found a jade box from his storage bag and put it into his pocket, took a few more items, and returned the storage bag. Li Xuanfeng handed it to Xiao Yongling again, saying softly:

"Thank you, Senior. Please pick some, Senior, as a slight compensation."

Xiao Yongling looked, said nothing more, hesitated and found two magic treasures on the ground, then looked into the storage bag. Tu Longjian said softly:

"Senior, there is still your thing in this golden ring."

He increased the flames. The two Zifu spirit treasures fought in the air for a few breaths. This Stop-Gong Dai Jinquan finally loosened its grip, spat out black smoke with a puff, and a golden bead flew out.

Li Xuanfeng glanced at it, only then remembering that the first arrow had been caught by the golden ring, and after being polished by the spirit treasure, tempered by the combined fire and mother fire, and even struck by various spells, it had been refined into this appearance.

He took it casually. Xiao Yongling pushed the storage bag over, took out a bright golden long halberd, offered it with both hands, and said softly:

"The long halberd that Tang Shedu took a fancy to just now... returning the object to its original owner."

This long halberd was an object of the ancient Wei Kingdom. It was not unreasonable to say it was returning the object to its original owner. Li Xuanfeng accepted it on behalf of the Li family, scanned the storage bag slightly, did not take anything out to keep, but revealed the pale purple circular object from just now and asked:

"Is this thing... a Zifu talisman?"

Seeing the two nod, Li Xuanfeng said:

"I hope to obtain this thing to suppress the clan's fortune. I will not take the rest."

Pushing this storage bag out, he pointed to the storage bag itself and answered:

"This thing... I should not keep it."

This storage bag was truly hot to the touch. Tu Longjian nodded slightly and said softly:

"Give it to me."

The few divided the items, found a mountain peak to land on, and adjusted their breathing silently, waiting for the cave heaven to close before leaving.

Although the three were all sitting on the peak, their expressions were not calm. The development of events exceeded Tu Longjian's expectations, making him always want to speak but stopping. Until a rumbling change sounded in heaven and earth, and the clouds and mist rose and fell like tides, Tu Longjian said:

"Two Seniors, I still have important matters to attend to and cannot accompany you two out of the boundary. Please forgive me."

Li Xuanfeng and Xiao Yongling naturally knew that Tu Longjian would definitely fall into the hands of the Zifu if he went out so directly, so they both said goodbye. Tu Longjian hesitated for a while and answered:

Li Xuanfeng did not know what deep contact his family had with the Tujun Sect, so he just assumed this was the reason for Tu Longjian's help, answered on behalf of his family, and said in a deep voice:

"I do not know the details of this, perhaps it is Yuanjiao's own opportunity, but the juniors in the family should know the name in the future, and we will sweep the bed and wait."

Tu Longjian nodded, said two words of condolence, rode the fire-red stream of light, disappeared into the horizon like a whirlwind, sank into the deep sea of clouds, and disappeared.

The remaining two rode the wind and rose, but found that everything around them was slowly fading, and the stars in the sky were also moving away rapidly. Xiao Yongling waited for a moment, finally unable to restrain himself, and said softly:

"Condolences..."

Li Xuanfeng waved his hand, his grief only flashing in his eyes for an instant, then transforming into deep endurance. Xiao Yongling looked at his face carefully and said softly:

"In those years when Li Xia slaughtered the county, you and Ruyu chased after them together, righteously killing the people of the Situ family. It is still before my eyes. In the blink of an eye, decades have passed, and I only feel that you have become very different."

Li Xuanfeng lowered his eyes and said:

"The events of those years are like a bronze mirror sinking into water, polished by sand and stone, and when viewed again, it is hazy and unclear. Now that I think about it, it is like a past life, and it is hard to look forward to it again!"

Xiao Yongling paused, not knowing how to answer him, so he had to say softly:

"In those years, I only felt that you were sharp-edged and short-tempered, and would definitely suffer from it. I even thought about mentioning it to Tongya. Now it seems that you are better than Ruyu in every way. It was my short-sightedness that made a joke."

Li Xuanfeng shook his head deeply, not in the mood to pick up his topic. He wanted to say a few polite words, but Xiao Yongling beside him moved away abruptly, disappearing completely from head to toe. The stars, clouds, mist, and mountains all faded and moved away.

"The cave heaven has closed!"

Li Xuanfeng raised his eyebrows to look. The surroundings were already full of blue seawater.

At his feet was still the island and sand from the beginning. The great array laid down when entering was still flickering faintly. Lin Chensheng, in black clothes, stood beside him holding his chest, bright red fresh blood dripping from between his fingers.

And on the other side, Kan Ziyan sat down on the ground with a thud, sat cross-legged, and immediately adjusted his breathing to recover. Li Xuanfeng scanned the island with his spiritual sense and did not find Zhong Qian's traces. He understood in his heart that this person was mostly doomed. Even if he did not have an accident in the cave heaven, he had likely fallen into the hands of the Zifu.

Although he did not find Zhong Qian, he saw a familiar figure, wearing jade armor, holding a long spear, her eyes slightly red, staring at his hands.

"Qinghong!"

Li Qinghong nodded hard, but did not know the situation, so she did not dare to say much, only choked out a response. Li Xuanfeng had killed Yu Muxian and was even less willing to stay here. He bowed slightly to Lin Chensheng, rode the wind, and flew rapidly toward the Fenkuai Island market.

He had just ridden the wind and rose when he was suddenly stunned. The Great Void before him broke open, shaking unceasingly. A man in white-gold armor and helmet stepped out, a familiar long halberd pointing out of thin air, and behind him stood an old man in a cyan robe.

This old man had crane-like hair and a youthful face, a high-bridged nose, and eyes covered with golden patterns. A long object was attached to his back. He stood quietly in the air, and beside him, a golden short sword was buzzing, the tip pointing straight at Li Xuanfeng.

This sword clanged, seemingly identifying something, and in the old man's other hand, a familiar golden ring was circling slowly, emitting a whistling wind, as if aggrieved.

Tang Shedu's aura was weak, his armor shattered quite a bit, and even the long halberd had two scars. His face was like gold paper, looking much weaker than when he fled at that time. He said hoarsely:

"Report to the True Person! It is exactly this person!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 469 =====