Chapter 7

Early morning.

The eye-catching morning glow leaped out of Great Lishan, brushing over the golden Wangyue Lake. The wind swept across the layered, boundless reed marsh, bringing the sounds of children playing and fighting on the Meichi River.

Chen Erniu sat on the ridge of the field, looking at the crops in the field with worry, thinking of his wife lying sick in bed.

Chen Erniu was born in Lichuankou, east of Great Lishan. Ten years ago, Lichuankou suffered a severe drought for no reason. Not only did not a drop of water fall, but white smoke also puffed out of the ground, scaring the villagers into fleeing in all directions.

He was just a half-grown child at the time, and in a daze, he fled to Lijing Village. Under his bitter begging, the farmer Li Genshui took him in, and the following year he even rented him a mu of land to survive.

When he grew up, he rented another mu of paddy field, built a mud house, and married Li Genshui's daughter, taking root in the village in a glorious manner.

But his wife suddenly fell ill. Fortunately, he had some savings over the years, so he carried her to the village entrance to let Teacher Han take a look—it was just a minor illness, and a few doses of medicine would do. He settled his wife at the teacher's place, but the heart he had lifted couldn't be put down for a long time. A single illness can impoverish three generations!

"Cousin-in-law!" Chen Erniu was lost in thought when a hearty voice woke him up.

He saw a handsome young man walking at the courtyard entrance, with an eager smile on his face, greeting him.

"Eh, Changhu, I can't take it, I can't take it!"

Chen Erniu bent his waist repeatedly. He only married a daughter of the Li family born of a concubine, and was also someone else's tenant; he really couldn't afford such a title from the eldest son.

Li Genshui was shrewd and capable, but he was also very unfaithful. Marrying a wife wasn't enough; he also went to the road to take in two women as concubines. His wife gave birth to two sons for him, but the concubines gave birth to three sons and four daughters.

Back then, Li Genshui was old and dying, but his only legitimate son by his side died suddenly. Several sons born of concubines were young and strong, eyeing the more than ten mu of land in the family.

At this time, Li Mutian, who had run away from home, returned with a knife and people. This brutal old soldier killed the ungrateful steward with one slash, and the whole family of the wealthy man who poisoned his brother and prepared to annex the land was killed cleanly, not even letting go of a dog.

Li Mutian and his two brothers carried dripping knives and dragged the corpses with carts. The bloody traces were dragged from the end of the village to the beginning. Every household in the village closed their doors, and everyone was in danger. Li Mutian's brothers were scared out of their wits, thinking the main master had arrived and the land would definitely not be their share.

Who knew Li Mutian would summon several brothers, saying that the legitimate and collateral lines were of the same origin, and divided the wealthy man's land, two mu per person, and gave his own brothers four mu of land each. His brothers were so grateful that they called him the eldest brother of the main family repeatedly, and thus the status was set.

Looking at Li Changhu's gentle smile, he didn't know how it overlapped with Li Mutian's indifferent, blood-splattered face. Chen Erniu shivered under the big sun and asked respectfully:

"Changhu, what brings you here?"

"Eh, Cousin-in-law, you are too polite." Li Changhu smiled and said softly:

"I heard Aunt is sick. Father thought you couldn't spare your hands to cook, so he specifically asked me to invite you and Xiao Ze to the house to taste my mother's cooking."

"This... I'm too embarrassed." Chen Erniu smiled reluctantly, caught in a dilemma.

"It's settled! Mother has already prepared the meal." Li Changhu patted Chen Erniu on the shoulder and said goodbye.

"Okay." Chen Erniu shook his head with a smile and shouted into the house:

"Xiao Ze, pack up, we're going to your uncle's house for dinner tonight."

The Li family repaired their house the year before last, and the area expanded several times. The entire residence sat north and facing south, rectangular. The front courtyard was paved with stone bricks and placed with stone locks, looking like a place for practicing martial arts. Chen Erniu looked at the stone locks, which were quite heavy, and couldn't help but praise repeatedly:

"Does the Li family have martial arts techniques? What a stone lock."

Stepping on the stone bricks into the main courtyard, a pond was built in the center, with a few green fish inside. The main hall surrounded by bluestone was flanked by the rooms of Li Changhu and Li Tongya. The bottoms of the houses, corridors, front gate, and second gate were paved with stone strips or stone steps, looking extremely imposing.

Li Tongya greeted him as he entered the main courtyard. He was now eighteen years old but had not yet married. Li Changhu had married the second daughter of the Ren family and had already brought her into the house gloriously some time ago.

Chen Erniu ate dinner with the Li family and chatted aimlessly in the courtyard, but saw Li Chijing walk into the front courtyard in a hurry, whispering a few words in Li Mutian's ear.

Li Chijing was only nine years old, but he was handsome and looked intelligent, which made his uncles and brothers especially fond of him.

Li Mutian was leisurely watching the younger generation chat when he heard Li Chijing whisper in his ear:

"Father, that... mirror lit up!"

He remained calm, patted his legs, and said to the crowd:

"I'm old, but I can't sit still. I'll go rest, you guys chat." Saying this, he turned and went to the backyard. Everyone hurriedly agreed, and Chen Erniu bowed and wanted to say goodbye.

Several rooms were built in the back hall. Li Mutian entered the ancestral hall, which was located in the center and was the widest. Entering the ancestral hall, tablets were set up in front, with melons and fruits placed, sacrificing to the six generations of ancestors found by searching through the village annals.

Li Mutian pushed on the wall, revealing a compartment behind it.

The compartment had a skylight, and the moonlight spilled onto a stone platform made of bluestone inside.

A blue-gray bronze mirror was placed on the stone platform, and sure enough, it was shining with water-like white light.

"Three years... Jing'er, go call all your brothers."

Li Mutian looked at the blue-gray bronze mirror and frowned.

"Yes." Li Chijing nodded forcefully and went out to find his brothers.

————

When Lu Jiangxian woke up, his mind was filled with information. He took the time of a stick of incense to calm down and began to read the information on the jade.

"Taiyin Breathing and Wheel-Nurturing Scripture"!

This technique mainly teaches how to control the spiritual energy of heaven and earth through the "apertures" of the human body, hook the lunar radiance of Taiyin, and finally cultivate the six wheels of fetal breathing. With these six wheels, one can extend life and cultivate nature, and perform various magic arts. After the six wheels are nurtured like a full moon, one can enter the Qi Refining stage.

It also included several minor arts, such as Golden Light Art, Cleansing Art, Water-Avoiding Method, Evil-Driving Art, Heart-Link Art, etc. As long as the six wheels are cultivated, one can perform them by urging spiritual energy according to the technique.

At the same time, the technique mentioned that the six realms of immortal cultivation are divided into Fetal Breathing, Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Zifu, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul. And what this jade recorded was the Fetal Breathing Wheel-Nurturing Method of the Yue Kingdom's Immortal Mansion, Moon Radiance Yuan Mansion, distributed to Fetal Breathing disciples of the Moon Radiance Immortal Mansion for study and cultivation.

After devouring the jade, Lu Jiangxian only felt that he had realized many things invisibly. Not only did his spiritual sense range expand to twenty zhang, but the upper limit of lunar radiance power also increased by dozens of times. As long as the lunar radiance power was sufficient, the minor arts recorded in the "Taiyin Breathing and Wheel-Nurturing Scripture" could also be performed within one zhang of the mirror body.

Most importantly, a magic art appeared in the mirror's own memory, called:

"Mysterious Pearl Spirit-Sacrificing Art"!