“Supreme Yin Moonlight, white as frost and fluid as water, shining bright when full and dim when not. I knew it!” Li Chejing exclaimed in awe.
“For centuries, the cultivators in Yue State have coveted it… Over three hundred years, only five have been discovered. Each was carefully collected by cultivators in the Foundation Establishment and even Purple Mansion Realms…”
“One elevated the Master of Moon Lake Peak to Purple Mansion Realm centuries ago, another was refined into the Azure Pond Sect Master’s Frosty Absolute Sword. Two were secured in the treasure reserves after a battle involving three gates, while the last nearly wiped out the Snow Ji Gate, one of the seven gates, due to intense competition for its possession.”
Li Chejing gulped and then whispered, his voice barely above a murmur. “It’s such a precious Supreme Yin Moonlight, yet my family used it to condense the Profound Scenery Chakra?!”
He paused, pondering deeply, before bursting into a hearty laugh.
Lu Jiangxian listened intently to Li Chejing, his unease growing.
The Moonlight Origin Mansion has vanished from the secular world for years. These Supreme Yin Moonlights have been extolled and coveted, while immortal cultivators claiming to be disciples from that immortal mansion were ambushed and killed by cultivators from the three sects and seven gates at Moongaze Lake. This mirror I’m in is linked to the Supreme Yin Moonlight. This is surely part of a greater conspiracy!
As the conviction in his heart grew stronger, Lu Jiangxian resolved to stay hidden in the mountains since an artifact spirit like himself would not succumb to old age. He was going to continue observing the situation while waiting for the cultivators in the Li Family to become stronger until he almost completed his own repairs.
“Time passes swiftly. A month feels like a mere blink of an eye. I’ll survive for five hundred years without fail and continue to rely on the Li family, using them as my eyes and ears to gather information about the Moonlight Origin Mansion while I simply focus on survival!”
After Li Chejing explained the bloody conflicts sparked by the Supreme Yin Moonlight’s appearances over the centuries, his family finally grasped the true value of the Supreme Yin Moonlight.
A delighted smile spread across Li Xuanxuan’s face before it turned into a frown.
“If the Supreme Yin Moonlight is as precious as what Youngest Uncle says, and the cultivators of the Foundation Establishment and Purple Mansion Realms are after it, we must guard this secret closely. We shouldn’t reveal it, let alone consider selling it,” he said in his youthful voice.
“That’s right.” Li Xiangping nodded proudly when he heard Li Xuanxuan’s wise suggestion.
With a hint of concern evident in his voice, he said, “We don’t possess any techniques to refine qi using the Supreme Yin Moonlight, so we can’t use it either. It’s like sitting on a mountain of treasure but being unable to benefit from it.”
The group was aware of the Supreme Yin Moonlight’s value, but only Li Chejing truly understood the potential turmoil their discovery could incite.
He frowned and replied, “Only a handful of qi cultivation methods can harness the Supreme Yin Moonlight, and they’re all closely guarded by the three sects and seven gates. I could attempt to learn the Moon Lake Autumn Reflection Technique, but I would be required to take a Profound Scenery Spiritual Oath to never reveal its secrets.”
Li Mutian, who had been silent, finally spoke up, his tone laced with skepticism. “Are you really going to learn that Moon Lake Autumn Reflection Technique?”
“It’s a Grade Five cultivation method…” Li Chejing’s face betrayed a mix of desire and hesitation. He opened his mouth again but then said nothing as he grappled with the implications of such a decision.
The room fell into a thoughtful silence, broken only by Li Xuanxuan's earnest voice. “That cultivation method sounds really impressive! Of course, you’re going to learn it!”
Li Mutian gently patted Li Xuanxuan’s head and asked, “Then how should Jing’er explain all this to the immortal sect?”
Li Xuanxuan tilted his head to the side, then mumbled, “Youngest Uncle can tell them that he got lucky at Moongaze Lake during his trip home this time. What can the immortal sect do? If five had appeared over the past centuries, why can’t he be the one who found the sixth?”
Li Xiangping crouched down and ruffled Li Xuanxuan’s hair, asking softly, “And why would Jing’er suddenly return right now when he’s on the verge of breaking through to the Qi Cultivation Realm, only to so conveniently find this opportunity at Moongaze Lake during his brief visit?”
“Xuan’er, dealing with the immortal sect isn’t like managing our villagers. Our villagers obey us because they don’t understand the complexities of immortal cultivation. They fear us, so they never question our orders.”
Holding Li Xuanxuan’s hand, Li Xiangping gazed intently into the boy’s eyes and continued,
“To the immortal sect, our family is insignificant, very much like ants. The slightest hint of suspicion from them can spell disaster for us. They have the power to upend our lives to seize what they desire and maybe even wipe out our entire family. Therefore, we must be extremely careful when we deal with them. We must think through every action and scenario. There’s no room for doubt or error.”
“As the head of a family, you must understand not only how to lead your people but also how to flatter those above while strategically balancing relationships for the family’s advantage.”
Li Xuanxuan absorbed the wisdom in Li Xiangping’s words, nodding thoughtfully.
Li Mutian withdrew his gaze from the two with a satisfied look on his face, then cleared his throat and said, “Tongya, you discovered a mysterious jade bottle in a cave, right? What if we swap the qi inside with the Supreme Yin Moonlight and tell them that our family had discovered this qi in that cave years ago, so we summoned you home to take a look at it? Do you think the immortal sect will believe this explanation?”
Li Chejing pondered deeply before responding, “There’s a good chance they will believe it, I’d say maybe seventy to eighty percent. The sect will likely send someone to investigate the cave. If it appears ancient, possibly over three hundred years old, our credibility could rise to eighty or ninety percent.”
Upon hearing this, Li Xiangping eagerly asked, “Would the Azure Pond Sect send a powerful cultivator of the Purple Mansion Realm over just to investigate the cave?”
“Absolutely not! There are only a handful of cultivators in the Purple Mansion Realm within the sect. Even when the Master of Moon Lake Peak first discovered Supreme Yin Moonlight when he was only a cultivator of the Embryonic Breathing Realm, the sect only sent a cultivator in the Qi Cultivation Realm to retrieve the remains of that immortal cultivator,” Li Chejing replied confidently.
After a moment of contemplation, he relaxed slightly and added, “No one would expect there to be a mirror capable of continuously condensing Supreme Yin Moonlight or that two Supreme Yin Moonlights could manifest simultaneously in one place. The sect will only send someone to conduct routine searches for any leads regarding the Moonlight Origin Mansion... In retrospect, perhaps we’re being too cautious.”
“It’s decided then.” Li Tongya nodded, retrieving the slender jade bottle from the shelf and passing it to Li Chejing.
Li Chejing inspected the bottle thoughtfully, comparing it against his mental catalog of spiritual qi of heaven and earth.
After a moment, he said, “This probably contains Fire Baleful Qi, usually harvested from volcanoes. It’s not particularly rare in Yue State and is often used to craft spiritual artifacts.”
Li Chejing retrieved the white jade bottle hanging at his waist, then performed a hand seal to extract the brownish-gray qi from the slender jade green bottle, transferring it to his own white jade bottle then passed it to Li Tongya for safekeeping.
Holding the empty jade green bottle, Li Chejing turned his attention to the Supreme Yin Moonlight on the mirror next.
He performed another hand seal to activate a qi absorbing technique. The Supreme Yin Moonlight flowed into the slender jade bottle like water. As the last of it filled the bottle, he sealed it with a Spirit Sealing Technique.
Observing the little sparkles of moonlight reconverging on the mirror, Li Chejing said, “Come, let’s visit the cave.”