Chapter 85: Avoiding Death and Extending Life

Li Tongya dragged the river crocodile back to Lijing Village. Naturally, villagers surrounded it to take over. The Li family's sacrifice had been prepared for several months, and many ritual vessels had been prepared. The preparation process had gone through seven or eight out of ten, just waiting for the orders of the direct descendants of the Li family.

"The taxes of the state are for the sacrifice."

Both the Great Clan and the Small Clan of the Li family had arrived. The Great Clan stood on the circular platform for the sacrifice, the Small Clan stood under the platform, and the branches knelt around.

The first platform before the case was Li Xiangping, the current head of the Li family, followed by Li Tongya one step behind. Counting Li Chijing, who was far away in the Southern Frontier, this was the second generation of the Li family in charge.

On the platform below, at the very front, was Li Xuanxuan, the Clan Head, followed by Li Xuanfeng and Li Xuanling.

The first dozen processes were complex and long. It wasn't until Li Xiangping inserted the incense into the case and pinched the magic formula of the "Sacrificial Method" to communicate with the magic mirror that Lu Jiangxian slowly woke up.

After speaking, he stepped forward a few steps, and the sacrificial knife in Li Xiangping's hand pierced straight into the brain of the river crocodile in the center of the circular platform. This monster was already dying, its limbs and meridians locked by river true energy, and it died immediately.

Under the guidance of Lu Jiangxian's spiritual sense, strands of essence energy gathered on the river crocodile, and together with the soul that was dissipating, they condensed and surged out along the wound made by the sacrificial knife, like a wolf smoke made of origin energy.

In a world that no one could perceive, strands of pale golden mist flowed out from everyone below, like swallows returning to their nests, merging into the wolf smoke, dyeing the smoke with a faint gold.

The smoke rose for a few breaths, scattering into countless gray light spots invisible to the naked eye, flowing toward Mount Lijing.

Lu Jiangxian gathered the energies and legally condensed a gray talisman, intending to bestow it. But in the dark, a strong sense of attraction arose, wanting to establish a connection with him across thousands of mountains and rivers.

The jade pendant of the old Daoist flashed in his mind. Lu Jiangxian was so frightened that he hurriedly restrained his aura, cut off the connection, and even withdrew his spiritual sense into the mirror.

That aura descended slowly, hovered around for a while, and finally retreated unwillingly.

————

Jin Yu Sect.

At the highest point of Jin Yu Peak, there was a cave dwelling where Zifu cultivators often practiced in seclusion. Brilliant purple smoke often drifted out, so the disciples called it the Purple Smoke Cave.

At this moment, the Purple Smoke Cave was in chaos. Three Zifu cultivators with immortal bones were each holding a pitch-black iron chain, locking a transparent fragment the size of a quail egg in the cave. The ground was full of collapsed furnaces and magic tool fragments, emitting a shimmering light.

"Why did this mirror fragment riot for no reason?!"

The transparent fragment collided several times in the formation. The Zifu cultivator's face was ugly, and he cursed in a low voice:

"I'm afraid the share of Xuanming energy this time won't be enough."

"Could it be that the Immortal Mirror has appeared?!"

Another Zifu cultivator muttered to himself:

"How is that possible? The cultivators of our three sects and seven gates are patrolling the entire Zhao State with magic tools. There is no trace at all. Could it have drifted outside the Zhao State?"

"What does the Qingchi Sect say?"

As soon as the cultivator asked, he heard the first Zifu cultivator curse:

"The whole sect is thinking about extending the life of Chi Wei, begging for spiritual medicine everywhere. How can they have time to manage this!"

"Forget it, forget it."

The questioning cultivator shook his head, his expression somewhat lonely.

"Although Chi Wei is a villain, he is at least a genius who was peerless for a time..."

"Bah!"

The irritable Zifu cultivator spat fiercely and shouted:

"I only wish he would die quickly. Good death! Bitch!"

Another person smiled and teased:

"Junior Brother, how clean is our Jin Yu Sect? There's no need to blame him."

The irritable cultivator suddenly lost his voice, and after a long time, he sighed slowly.

————

"Strengthen cultivation, lengthen the six senses, promote root bones, change aptitude, pull up the quality, supplement the missing... Truly a good talisman energy."

The gray talisman leaped out from the mirror surface. Lu Jiangxian's spiritual sense guided it, landing on Li Xiangping. The gray talisman circled around and flew into his Vitality Mansion.

Lu Jiangxian's eyes blurred, and several lines of large characters appeared.

At the very top was a deep red brush stroke, and a fierce aura rushed toward him.

"Power piercing through a thousand jun."

In the middle was a pale gray brush stroke, winding and twisting like a long snake.

"Prolonging life."

At the end was a pale cyan brush stroke, looking clean and neat.

"Avoiding death and extending life."

Lu Jiangxian immediately understood. This was to let him choose the power of the gray talisman to bestow. He fell into deep thought, thinking that Li Xiangping was the patriarch of the Li family, so he chose "Avoiding death and extending life."

This talisman energy could only be bestowed according to the talent of those who possessed the Xuanzhu Talisman Seed. Ordinary people could only lengthen their cultivation and change their root bones.

Li Xiangping below shuddered, his aura constantly rising. His cultivation, which had only reached the fifth level of Embryonic Breath the year before, went up a notch, reaching the peak of Embryonic Breath. A pale cyan large character suddenly appeared in his mind.

"Avoiding death and extending life."

Before he could react, Li Tongya had already looked over with concern, waved his hand to signal the end of the sacrifice, and Li Xiangping closed his eyes and pondered.

After everyone had dispersed, Li Xiangping came back to his senses, looked at Li Tongya, and said in a low voice:

"Let's talk on the mountain."

The two rushed up the mountain. Li Tongya's spiritual sense scanned, and he immediately discovered that Li Xiangping's cultivation had reached the peak of Embryonic Breath, and said in a low voice:

"Is it that talisman energy?"

Li Xiangping nodded and told Li Tongya everything he had seen and heard. The two were surprised, but heard clan soldiers report that more Shanyue were wandering east.

In recent years, with Jia Nixi's move east, many tribes had been broken. More and more Mountain Yue were fleeing east, ranging from dozens to hundreds. Li Xiangping had no choice but to station clan soldiers west of Lijingkou, sitting in command to prevent the wandering Mountain Yue from attacking the village.

"What's the situation?"

Li Xiangping asked, and saw the clan soldier answer:

"It is said there are hundreds of people, currently attacking the military formation."

Over the years, the population under the Li family's rule had reached more than 15,000, of which 2,000 were Shanyue who had wandered over. The number of clan soldiers had also reached 1,000, which was quite a lot.

"Go, to Lijingkou."

Li Xiangping nodded, looked at Li Tongya, and hurriedly went down the mountain. ===== CHAPTER 86 =====