Chapter 83: River One Qi Technique

Chapter 83: River One Qi Technique

Li Mutian’s funeral procession was a sight to behold, transforming the somber occasion into one that resembled the passing of a high-ranking official rather than a common elder.

The villages were decorated with long, white cloths, and the direct descendants of the Li Family, clad in white, solemnly pulled the hearse along the stone path.

News had spread rapidly through all the villages. Chen Erniu had just begun his day when Chen Sanshui relayed the news to him, leaving him shocked and speechless.

Chen Erniu set down the willow branch in his hands. He washed his face and sat by the table, engulfed by a wave of sadness that was difficult to put into words.

“Regardless of one’s status or power, it is impossible to escape death. Without attaining immortality, we’re all destined to return to mere yellow soil.”

Chen Sanshui, however, disagreed with him. He curled his lips and commented, “Only the three brothers of the Li Family are immortal cultivators. Do they have to cause such a scene over an old mortal’s death? It’s not like Li Mutian is someone important.”

Chen Erniu narrowed his eyes and proceeded to beat Chen Sanshui with a willow branch while scolding, “Fool! Your ignorance will be the death of you!”

“Fiiiiiine. Fourth Brother is the best for possessing a spiritual orifice,” Chen Sanshui muttered under his breath in response, dismissing Chen Erniu’s anger as he left the table and walked out of the courtyard.

Meanwhile, on Mount Lijing.

Lu Jiangxian gazed upon the courtyard, now draped in white, and the absence of Li Mutian from his usual spot on the wooden chair in the backyard, feeling a pang of melancholy.

As he watched Li Mutian’s burial, he was suddenly alerted by his divine sense to a stream of light darting across the sky, coming to a stop just outside Mount Lijing’s protective formation.

“It’s me, Xiao Yuansi from the Xiao Family! Kindly grant me entry to the mountain.”

Although the protective formation of the mountain was useless against him, a cultivator at the eighth heavenly layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm, the man waited respectfully at the foot of Mount Lijing.

Shortly after, Li Xiangping and Li Tongya deactivated the formation. Xiao Yuansi slowly walked into the courtyard on the mountain.

Upon noticing the courtyard draped in white and the two brothers dressed in white mourning attire, Xiao Yuansi’s smile faded as he solemnly asked, “Is your father...?”

Seeing the two brothers nodding in response, Xiao Yuansi sighed and offered his condolences.

Li Tongya nodded, then took out a block of pale green metal from the storage pouch that they acquired from the old Daoist.

“Can you appraise this item?” he requested respectfully.

Xiao Yuansi took a look at it and frowned, then weighed it in his hand. After a moment of silence, he said, “This is probably Green Patterned Steel, a material of the Qi Cultivation Realm. This should be worth about twenty Spirit Stones.”

After exchanging a glance, Li Tongya and Li Xiangping nodded to each other. They took out the twenty-five Spirit Stones from the old Daoist’s storage pouch and an additional five that were saved over the years by their family.

They handed this sum to Xiao Yuansi in exchange for the River Pure Qi.

The old Daoist’s storage pouch had a capacity of one cubic zhang[1], about the size of a courtyard. This made it extremely useful for both travel and storage, so the two brothers were reluctant to sell it.

They presented the jade bottle, which used to contain the Fire Baleful Qi, to hold the River Pure Qi, then showed Xiao Yuansi the old Daoist’s Jade Sprout Pill.

Xiao Yuansi took a whiff of it and then commented with a smile, “This is quite a decent item of the Qi Cultivation Realm. It’s worth about seven or eight Spirit Stones.”

The brothers expressed their gratitude and then conversed a little more with Xiao Yuansi before the man took his leave.

Once he had departed, Li Tongya carefully examined the jade bottle’s contents. Looking at the River Pure Qi which shimmered as though it was under the sunlight, Li Tongya felt the six chakras of the Embryonic Breathing Realm stirring within him, as well as the urge to consume this spiritual qi of heaven and earth right away.

Li Xiangping chuckled and said, “Once Second Brother attains the Qi Cultivation Realm and we find a demonic creature of the Qi Cultivation Realm, we’ll be able to perform that sacrificial ritual for the mirror and explore the potential of the talisman qi.”

Li Tongya’s face lit up with irrepressible joy as he carefully picked up the jade slip of the River One Qi Technique, allowing his spiritual sense to gently sift through its contents.

The complexity and length of spells and techniques of the Qi Cultivation Realm were extremely long. If transcribed onto wood, they would probably amass into a small mountain.

Hence, such spells and techniques were recorded in warm jade, a material that allowed one to access vast amounts of information through a mere touch of spiritual sense.

However, the fragility of jade meant that it was typically reserved for documenting techniques alone, while more robust materials like spirit silk fabrics were used for important information meant to be preserved.

After carefully reading the technique detailed in the jade slip, Li Tongya stood up in excitement and announced, “I’ll be ready to seclude myself and make a breakthrough to the Qi Cultivation Realm after a few days of meditation!”

1. 1 zhang = 3.3 meters ☜