Chapter 43: Slaying

In the small courtyard atop Mount Lijing, a grayish-blue mirror was glowing brilliantly with white light, as if boiling white moonlight were erupting from its surface like a surging tide.

When Wan Xiaohua appeared, Li Xiangping and the others had already entered his spiritual sense range. The lunar essence within the mirror was already eager to strike. Lu Jiangxian suppressed the urge to intervene, wanting to see what kind of trump card this Yujing Wheel cultivator possessed.

"It seems... not that impressive?"

Watching Wan Xiaohua suffer repeated setbacks and narrowly escape danger—eventually being forced by that demon to expend a pale blue talisman and fleeing toward the foot of Mount Lijing behind a water shield—Lu Jiangxian lost interest in spectating. He silently activated a hand seal, thinking to himself

"I'll use this demon to test the waters!"

With a thought from Lu Jiangxian, the twelve seal talismans around the edge of the mirror lit up one by one. The grayish-blue mirror, enveloped in milky-white moonlight, slowly levitated from the stone platform, adjusting its angle bit by bit.

"Father..."

Under the shocked gazes of Li Tongya and Li Mutian, the white moonlight suddenly erupted, shattering the skylight of the small cottage. It streaked through the air like a brilliant meteor, leaving behind a mess of broken stones and scattered gray tiles.

After launching the lunar essence, the grayish-blue mirror slowly settled, the white moonlight dissipated, and it descended back onto the stone platform.

Looking at the floor covered in broken tiles and dust, Li Tongya was momentarily at a loss for words. Li Mutian coughed twice from the dust and waved a hand at him, saying

"It likely has something to do with that demon... go quickly and see how your brother is doing!"

As if waking from a dream, Li Tongya bolted, thinking to himself

"How could he be doing anything else? With such a massive commotion, let alone a Fetal Breathing stage demon, even a Qi Refining stage demon would have been ground into mincemeat."

————

Wan Xiaohua slapped a Divine Speed Technique talisman on his leg, sprinting toward the direction Li Xiangping had previously pointed out toward Mount Lijing, while feeling immense regret in his heart

"What a massive loss. One water shield talisman, and another half a spirit stone gone."

A harsh wind whipped past his ears. As Wan Xiaohua's spiritual sense swept the area, a small white shield materialized behind him, using the force of the impact to once again widen the distance between him and the demon.

"This..."

Wan Xiaohua looked at the mountain ahead, intending to estimate the distance, but unexpectedly saw a brilliant white light suddenly rise from the mountaintop. It curved through the air, trailing a long tail of light as it headed straight for him.

"Motherf—!"

Wan Xiaohua nearly spat out a mouthful of blood. He hurriedly threw himself to the side to dodge, but the white light ignored him entirely as it soared past.

Terrified, he collapsed onto the ground. He watched as the white light passed over the demon's neck, moving as effortlessly as if it were slicing through a thin sheet of paper, leaving behind the corpse of a high-leaping, headless wolf.

"Boom!"

The giant wolf's corpse fell heavily to the ground. The white light continued behind it, toppling a grove of large trees before vanishing into the distance. The shockwave caused the snow in the entire dense forest to fall all at once, nearly burying Wan Xiaohua.

"Cough, cough, cough."

Wan Xiaohua wretchedly spat out several mouthfuls of dust-filled snow, staring wide-eyed at the mountain-sized demon corpse.

"Patriarch! Patriarch?!"

Wan Tiancang's shouts approached from a distance. He rushed from the snow to scoop up Wan Xiaohua, asking urgently

"Patriarch! Are you alright!"

Wan Xiaohua stared blankly at Wan Tiancang, muttering to himself

"Why use a sledgehammer to crack a nut..."

Wan Tiancang's face was covered in sweat. He pulled a rattan whip, still clinging to bits of residual snow, from his robe and said solemnly

"Tiancang was terrified of losing the treasure, so I stayed hidden in the snow. Once the wolf demon went after you, I retrieved this dharma tool."

"Good, good."

Seeing the dharma tool, Wan Xiaohua snapped out of it. He pulled himself together, tucked the treasure into his robe, scrambled up, and rushed toward the wolf corpse.

Seeing that a thick layer of frost hung from the corpse's neck and not a single drop of wolf blood had spilled, Wan Xiaohua hurriedly performed hand seals and tapped the wolf's joints and several major acupoints to seal its spiritual essence.

"This wolf corpse is a fine thing; we must not let its spiritual essence leak away."

Wan Xiaohua smiled as he stroked the wolf's back, which was as large as an ox, speaking with a grin.

"Patriarch, that demon... it likely belongs to someone else now."

Seeing Wan Xiaohua's overwhelming joy, Wan Tiancang reminded him cautiously.

Wan Xiaohua's joy instantly froze. He shot a low glance at Wan Tiancang and said deeply

"I know."

"Patriarch Wan!"

As Wan Tiancang and Wan Xiaohua stood staring at each other, a loud shout rang out. They both turned to see Li Xiangping and Li Tongya arriving with Chen Erniu and a group of villagers.

"Thank you, Patriarch Wan, for coming to our aid!"

Li Xiangping smiled and cupped his hands. Seeing the look in his eyes, Chen Erniu quickly signaled the villagers to go move the corpse.

"It is quite an embarrassment."

Wan Xiaohua smiled bitterly as he shook the snow off his clothes, then inquired

"I wonder, that white light that saved Xiaohua..."

Hearing this, Li Tongya stepped forward and said

"My father still keeps a few talismans he made himself years ago. Since the Immortal Master came from afar to help, the old man feared the demon would harm you, so he commanded us to use them."

"So that was it!"

Wan Xiaohua breathed a sigh of relief. Li Tongya's answer was close to what he had estimated. He said with some gratitude

"I must thank your father."

"It is we who should thank the Wan family!"

After a few polite exchanges, Wan Xiaohua pointed at the demon's corpse and smiled

"I wonder how your clan intends to handle this. This wolf demon's corpse is not easy to preserve, yet it is full of treasures. Its bones and blood can be used to make ink and medicine, and its fur can be used for talismans and clothing. It is truly a fine item."

Li Tongya and Li Xiangping exchanged a glance, and Li Tongya said with a wry smile

"Our family's roots are shallow; we find it difficult even to make talismans or medicine, and we have little use for such things. Since Patriarch Wan frequents the markets, perhaps it would be better to entrust it to your clan for sale."

"This wolf demon is quite large and somewhat extraordinary; it likely consumed some precious medicinal herbs. I will not deceive you—in the markets, it could fetch roughly two or three spirit stones in pieces."

Wan Xiaohua pondered for a few moments, glanced at the two men who were listening intently, and continued

"I have one and a half spirit stones on me. I will give them to you first, and the rest can be compensated with other items."

"Do you happen to have read the *Essentials of Miscellaneous Cultivation*?"

Seeing Li Xiangping and the other shake their heads, Wan Xiaohua was momentarily stunned, thinking to himself

*Is this Li Mutian truly a Foundation Establishment cultivator? There must be more to the story...*

However, he smiled and said

"This manual records the key points and cultivation insights of several spells used by a rogue cultivator of the Spirit Initial Stage. I picked it up in the market for one or two spirit stones. It contains several minor techniques like the Divine Speed Technique and the Spirit Sealing Technique. How about I trade it along with the stones to your clan?"

Looking at Wan Xiaohua's smiling face, Li Xiangping rubbed his chin and thought

*We have no use for this wolf demon's corpse either, and it is said to be hard to preserve. It might as well be exchanged with Wan Xiaohua. It's a bit of a loss, but we are both getting what we need.*

Thus, Li Xiangping smiled and said

"We leave the decision to Patriarch Wan."

"Good, good!"

Wan Xiaohua was overjoyed and continued

"Please have your people transport the corpse to the border between our two families, and I will send someone to collect it."

"Very well."

After a few more words, Li Xiangping looked at the sky and cupped his hands

"Would Patriarch Wan care to sit for a while on our Mount Lijing?"

"No need. My clan has many urgent matters; I shall head back first. If anything happens in the future, just have Tiancang send a letter!"

Wan Xiaohua declined quickly. Mount Lijing was protected by formations; although the atmosphere between the two families seemed harmonious now, who knew if one could get out once they went in? Realizing that Li Xiangping was seeing him off, he exchanged a few more pleasantries before taking his leave.

(End of Chapter)