"Taiyin lunar essence — white as frost, flowing like water. When the moon waxes it brightens, when it wanes it dims. So it truly is!"
"The entire cultivation world of Yue is mad for it..."
"In three hundred years, only five portions have appeared. Each one was carefully hoarded by Foundation Establishment cultivators or even Purple Mansion cultivators..."
"One portion created the former Moon Lake Peak Master, a Purple Mansion cultivator, centuries ago. One was forged into Qingchi Sect Master's Great Snow Absolute Edge. Two were silently absorbed into the treasury during the Three-Gate War. The last one nearly wiped out the Snow-Wing Gate among the Seven Gates in the scramble."
"Such precious Taiyin lunar essence."
Li Chijing swallowed silently and murmured:
"Our family will use it to cultivate the Profound Vision Wheel?!"
He tilted his head in thought, then burst out laughing.
Above him, Lu Jiangxian heard Li Chijing's muttering and felt a growing unease:
"The Moon Essence Primordial Palace has been in seclusion for years. This Taiyin lunar essence has provoked such a frenzy, and the cultivator who claimed to be the Palace's heir was hunted down and killed by the Three Sects and Seven Gates at Moonview Lake. And my mirror is intimately connected to this lunar essence. No matter how you look at it, there's a grand conspiracy behind this!"
His conviction hardened. He would hide deep in the mountains — what could a mirror spirit do, grow old and die? He would wait until his cultivators were strong enough, until his own repairs were nearly complete, and then watch how things unfolded.
"Open one eye, close one eye, and a month passes. Hold fast for five hundred years without wavering! Use the Li family as my hands and feet to gather intelligence on the Moon Essence Primordial Palace. I just need to stay hidden."
Li Chijing laughed a while longer, then noticed the circle of bewildered relatives around him and lowered his voice:
"This mirror can condense Taiyin lunar essence. It's one of the spiritual qi types that Qi Refining cultivators can consume — far more precious than that Pine-Grove North Wind or Golden Autumn in the Lake."
He described in detail the bloody conflicts that had erupted over the centuries each time a portion of Taiyin lunar essence had appeared publicly. Only then did Li Tongya and the others understand what this substance truly was.
"If it is really as Uncle says, and this Taiyin lunar essence is so precious that Foundation Establishment and Purple Mansion cultivators would fight over it, then our family absolutely must not let it leak. We cannot sell it either."
Li Xuanxuan's initial delight faded; his young brows knotted as he spoke in his boyish voice.
"Correct."
Li Xiangping nodded approvingly but felt his own unease. He said:
"Our family doesn't even have a cultivation method that uses Taiyin lunar essence. We can't use it ourselves — we'd only be sitting on a treasure that invites disaster."
The others knew only that the essence was valuable, but Li Chijing alone understood what scale of war this mirror could provoke. He replied with furrowed brows:
"Only a handful of Qi Refining methods can utilize Taiyin lunar essence, and all of them are controlled by the Three Sects and Seven Gates. I could borrow the Moon Lake Mirroring Autumn Art, but I would need to swear a Profound Vision Spirit Oath never to reveal it."
"Will you cultivate that Moon Lake Mirroring Autumn Art?"
Li Mutian, who had been sitting silently to one side, finally spoke up with a sudden question.
"A fifth-grade technique..."
A flash of longing and conflict crossed Li Chijing's face. He opened his mouth but could not form words, his heart a tangle of emotions.
Li Tongya and the others fell silent. Only Li Xuanxuan blurted out:
"If the technique is that powerful, of course he should practice it!"
Li Mutian patted Li Xuanxuan's head and asked in a deep voice:
"And how will you explain it to the Immortal Sect?"
"Just say Uncle gained an opportunity at Moonview Lake during his return. What can the sect say? If five portions have appeared over centuries, what's wrong with Uncle obtaining a sixth?"
Li Xuanxuan tilted his head and mumbled.
Li Xiangping slowly crouched down, stroked the boy's head, and said quietly:
"Then why is it that Li Chijing left at just the right time and returned at just the right moment — precisely when he was about to reach the Qi Refining stage? And in just a few short days, he happened to gain an opportunity at Moonview Lake?"
"Xuanxuan, dealing with the Immortal Sect is nothing like dealing with village militiamen. The militiamen can be commanded as long as you have a pretext. They don't understand cultivation, so they fear us, obey us, and don't even need explanations."
He took Li Xuanxuan's hand and looked steadily into his eyes, continuing:
"To the Immortal Sect, we are ants. The faintest suspicion would give them cause to overturn our entire family, take what they want, and erase the Li family in passing. We must be infinitely cautious with them — consider every possibility a hundred times over, and leave noloophole."
"As the patriarch who leads a clan, you must know how to command subordinates, how to pay tribute, and how to balance neighboring powers for your own benefit."
Watching Li Xuanxuan nod thoughtfully, Li Mutian withdrew his gaze with satisfaction, coughed, and said:
"Tongya found a cave dwelling, did he not? There was a jade bottle inside. Swap that qi for the Taiyin lunar essence — say our family discovered this qi at the cave dwelling years ago and had Li Chijing return to examine it. Would that fool the Immortal Sect?"
Li Chijing lowered his head and considered for several breaths before answering:
"Seventy to eighty percent credibility. The sect would likely send someone to investigate the cave dwelling. If the dwelling is over three hundred years old, credibility rises to eighty or ninety percent."
"Back then, even that Foundation Establishment cultivator Si Yuanbai failed to discover the mirror. A simple investigation — surely the Qingchi Sect wouldn't send a Purple Mansion cultivator?"
Li Xiangping asked eagerly upon hearing this.
"Absolutely not! How many Purple Mansion cultivators does the sect have? That Moon Lake Peak Master centuries ago was still at the Embryonic Breathing stage when he obtained the Taiyin lunar essence and cultivated the Moon Lake Mirroring Autumn Art. The sect only sent a Qi Refining cultivator to clean up the predecessor's remains!"
Li Chijing answered firmly. After another moment of thought, his expression relaxed somewhat as he continued:
"Who would imagine a mirror that endlessly condenses Taiyin lunar essence? They wouldn't even think that two portions could appear in the same place. The sect would only send someone as a routine check for clues about the Moon Essence Primordial Palace. We are simply being overcautious."
"Then it is decided."
Li Tongya nodded, retrieved the slender jade-green bottle from a nearby shelf, and handed it to Li Chijing.
Li Chijing accepted it and examined it carefully, comparing it against the hundreds of types of natural and spiritual qi he had memorized. After a moment of hesitation, he explained:
"This should be earthly fire miasma, mostly harvested from subterranean fire vents. Among the various qi, it is not particularly precious and is rarely circulated in the State of Yue — it is primarily used for forging and refining spirit tools."
He unfastened the white jade bottle at his waist, formed a qi-gathering seal, and drew a stream of reddish-brown qi from the slender jade-green bottle.
After transferring the earthly fire miasma into the white jade bottle for Li Tongya to keep, Li Chijing picked up the empty jade-green bottle and turned his attention to the Taiyin lunar essence on the mirror.
Forming a qi-capturing seal, he watched as the lunar essence flowed like water into the slender bottle. When the entire portion had been collected, he stoppered the neck and applied a Spirit-Sealing Art. As the mirror began to gather fresh specks of moonlight, he said softly:
"Let us go. Time to see that cave dwelling."