"It appears they are requesting a talisman," Lu Jiangxian muttered before pausing for a moment. His divine sense reverberated from within him, enveloping the entire Li Residence. By now, his divine sense coverage had greatly expanded, allowing him to clearly oversee not only the surrounding Mount Yue but also the Lu Family.
The ritual of sacrifice was a major event for the people of the four towns. It had existed even before the Li Family rose to prominence, though it was conducted at different times.
Under the Li Family's rule, the timing was unified, elevating the status of sacrifice to the highest level. Even children by the roadside knew how to recite a few lines from it: "The weight of all matters lies in sacrifice and military affairs."
The townsfolk each brought fruits to their courtyards and erected wooden poles, hanging paper lanterns in anticipation of the sacrificial hour.
Now that the residents of the four towns had become more prosperous, ordinary families could now afford to lay out a few dishes of sugared fruits and pastries and burn leftover medicines from the past years outside their doors in a ritual called "Discarding a Hundred Illnesses," symbolizing good health.
Below Mount Lijing, the crowd was surging as townspeople craned their necks to look at the scene on the platform. The giant Qi Cultivation Realm deer, tightly bound by iron chains and kneeling on a stone platform, was a bloody and fearsome sight.
"So this is the infamous demon deer!" exclaimed the townspeople.
Though they said such things, they were not too frightened of the beast before them. Having witnessed numerous demonic beasts of the Embryonic Breathing Realm invade their towns over the nearly forty years since the spirit vein of Mount Dali was restored, they had long grown accustomed to seeing subdued demons and were not easily scared by them.
At its front were several symbolic wooden and clay puppets, with the descendants of the Li Family's Xuan and Jing generations standing behind Li Tongya.
Li Xuanxuan was standing one step behind Li Tongya while Li Xuanfeng and Li Xuanling were positioned a step lower by the round platform.
"...Through the smoke of our offerings and the blood of our sacrifice, we call upon the gods, seeking their blessings."
After reciting the prayer for the sacrifice, the surrounding townspeople immediately kneeled down in unison. Crowds on the streets and bridges bowed down in devout prayer, enveloping the town in a terrifying silence.
"So this is the Li Family's sacrifice..." Wan Tianchou whispered softly in awe. He had witnessed sacrifices more than once, but each time he could not help but be deeply moved.
Standing respectfully below the platform, he was shaken to his core by the thick scent of incense and the solemn atmosphere, thinking to himself, This doesn't seem like an immortal cultivator family that rose only forty years ago; it's more akin to a four centuries-old prominent immortal cultivator clan!
Wan Tianchou had also participated in some ancestral ceremonies during his time with the Wan Family, yet they could not compare to the solemn and dignified nature of the Li Family's ceremonies.
Looking at the Li Family's strict management of their disciples, Wan Tianchou sighed softly to himself.
The rapid rise of the Li Family over the past forty years is not without reason…
On the platform, Li Xuanxuan's ritual knife had already pierced straight into the brain of the large deer at the center of the platform.
The creature let out a mournful cry but was held firmly in place on the platform by Li Tongya, unable to move and dying instantly.
Under the guidance of Lu Jiangxian's divine sense, streams of essence qi rose from the body of the large deer. This was accompanied by wisps of its dispersing deer-shaped soul, gushing out through the opening of its wound made by the ritual knife like a cloud of vital energy.
Faint golden mists that go unseen by ordinary human eyes rose from everyone below the platform and from every household's sky lantern, converging into the cloud of smoke and tinting it a faint golden hue.
The cloud of smoke ascended for a few moments, dispersing into countless gray specks invisible to the naked eye. It floated up toward Mount Lijing.
Instantly, divine light twinkled on the mirror's surface. An invisible and formless circle of light spread out, and everyone below felt a sense of weightlessness.
Lu Jiangxian conjured a gray talisman and glanced over at it before casting it toward Li Xuanfeng.
The gray talisman circled once and flew into his Shenyang Mansion. Lu Jiangxian's vision momentarily blurred, revealing several lines of large characters.
At the very top were inscribed words that were drawn in deep red strokes that seemed to emanate a fierce and aggressive aura—Strength to Move Mountains.
This talisman qi, like Li Xiangping's before, could elevate the recipient's physical condition to an extremely high level, with vitality like smoke and strength that could move mountains. It was akin to that of a demonic beast.
The second line, in light blue strokes, revealed a touch of agility—Chasing Clouds and Moon.
This talisman qi would grant the recipient the talent to ride the wind at several times its speed, which would prove to be of utmost practicality.
The last one— Prolong Life and Increase Longevity— offered forty years of life to the recipient, and was the first that Lu Jiangxian chose to discard.
After all, the path of immortal cultivation was fraught with danger, and it was not certain that Li Xuanfeng would be able to use up his own lifespan. If he could not even survive, then prolonging life was pointless.
Lu Jiangxian hesitated between Strength to Move Mountains and Chasing Clouds and Moon for a while. With a light flick of his finger, the light spot entered Li Xuanfeng's spiritual sense.
"Let him choose for himself... The population of the four towns has now increased significantly, and the incense energy has not only condensed into a single gray talisman but also left a small portion unused."
After pondering for a few moments, Lu Jiangxian suddenly remembered a secret technique that had never been used since the reparation of the mirror. Now, with the surplus of talisman qi from the incense which was barely enough to condense another gray talisman, he realized it was just the right time to apply it.
Li Xiangping once killed an old Qi Cultivator and obtained a jade pendant from him. This jade pendant restored the mirror's ability to condense talisman pills, which involved combining the surplus talisman qi with the Supreme Yin Moonlight to form a talisman pill.
A cultivator could only consume one of these pills per major cultivation realm to achieve a breakthrough in their cultivation. The extent of its effectiveness hinges on the talisman qi in the pill; it could work wonders on even cultivators of the Foundation Establishment or Purple Mansion Realms.
Consuming this pill also secretly left a talisman seal in the host's Shenyang Mansion, enhancing the speed of absorbing spiritual qi. When the host died, all their essence qi would then be transformed into talisman qi and returned to the mirror.
Although the efficiency of the talisman pill was not nearly as high as that of Profound Pearls or Talisman Pearls, it could still extract two to three-tenths of the cultivator's cultivation.
However, because the Li Family was weak back then, this secret technique was never utilized… not until today, when it can finally be put to good use.
It would be best to condense a few more of these talisman pills to greatly accelerate the speed of mana enhancement… If they could be circulated in the market for cultivators of the Foundation Establishment Realm and Purple Mansion Realm to consume, and then reclaimed after their death, wouldn't that be wonderful?!
Pleased with the thought for a while, Lu Jiangxian then became cautious, murmuring, "But… I wonder if the talisman pill could be recognized and attract enemies to our doorstep, causing trouble. Well, let's first use it for these few children of the Li Family…"
With the secret technique activated, the mirror shone brightly. Bright moonlight surged out of it instantly, encircling and converging on the platform. It gathered into three glowing pills that had mysterious and intricate patterns on their surfaces, looking quite beautiful.
After condensing the talisman pills, Lu Jiangxian returned to the mirror to continue his study of shamanic spells.