Seeking Aid

Li Xiangping was immediately taken aback. Seeing Wan Yuankai's beaming face, his thoughts turned over, and he secretly thought, The Wan Family is being far too enthusiastic. I'd better stay on guard.

The smile remained on his face as he cupped his hands to Wan Yuankai and repeatedly shook his head. "Your honored father is too courteous! I cannot accept this!"

Wan Yuankai shook his head and took a small pinewood box from Within the Sleeve. Opening its polished little lid, he revealed a blue-white fruit cushioned inside with silk cloth.

The fruit's surface was covered in a smooth, snake-scale-like layer of cuticle. Blue and white intermingled across it, reflecting a faint gleam beneath the sunlight. Its appearance was truly quite fine.

Yet Wan Yuankai wore an embarrassed expression as he said quietly:

"My Wan Family is beset by troubles within and without, our income falling short of our expenses year after year. This Pine Yue Fruit is somewhat beneficial for forming the Bearing Light Wheel. It is only a trifling gift, so please, Brother Li, you must accept it, so that I may return and report to my father."

Seeing Li Xiangping examining the fruit, Wan Yuankai suddenly understood and hastily explained, "Simply cut open the skin with a small knife and drink the juice within."

Li Xiangping looked at the fruit, but his mind was constantly weighing the matter. He secretly thought:

The Wan Family is beset by troubles within and without—why tell me that? Wouldn't that simply invite others to covet them?

Forget it! Whatever trick they are playing, I'll observe the situation first!

"Then I shall accept your kindness without further ceremony!"

Li Xiangping laughed heartily. Li Yesheng stepped forward, accepted the box, and carefully carried it away. Only then did Li Xiangping change the subject, his expression turning solemn. "There is one matter in which I must trouble Brother Wan."

"Just call me Yuankai. Please, speak!"

Wan Yuankai repeatedly waved his hand.

"Our Li Clan has only just arrived and knows nothing at all of the families in the surrounding area. Would Brother Wan be willing to clear up my confusion?"

"Of course."

Wan Yuankai nodded. Seeing Li Yesheng bring out paper and brush, he rolled up his sleeve and drew a thin line upon the paper, explaining, "This is Gu Li Road."

He then drew a circle in the middle of Gu Li Road and wrote the character Li within it. Li Xiangping nodded, took up a brush as well, dipped it in ink, and drew a circle above and below the character Li, writing Moon Gazing Lake and Great Li Mountain.

"Our Li Clan has Great Li Mountain at our backs and Moon Gazing Lake before us, with Gu Li Road running straight through."

Wan Yuankai nodded and drew a small circle to the right of the Li Clan, explaining:

"To the east is my Wan Family."

He then raised his brush and drew a large circle above the Wan Family, speaking with grave seriousness:

"This is the Ji Family of Tang Gold Gate."

"The Ji Family of Tang Gold Gate?"

Li Xiangping's heart immediately tightened as he asked in return.

"Precisely! Tang Gold Gate is an immortal sect of Great Xu to the north, its strength comparable to our Green Pool Sect. Moon Gazing Lake is vast indeed. Cross the heart of the lake and head north, and you will reach Tang Blade Mountain, the mountain gate of Tang Gold Gate. The Ji Family is one of the forces under Tang Gold Gate's rule."

Li Xiangping nodded at Wan Yuankai, signaling him to continue, while inwardly he smiled bitterly.

What I feared most has truly come to pass.

"For more than a decade, Tang Gold Gate and Green Pool Sect have clashed without end. Though the two sects have yet to go to war, more than ten families along the border have already been destroyed, and tens of thousands of mortals have been driven from their homes. Both sides are merely testing one another."

Wan Yuankai looked uneasy, as though voicing the worry that had weighed upon his heart for a long time.

"That Ji Family has also struck again and again, trespassing upon my Wan Family's territory and leaving us in Unbearable Suffering. The Ji Family head, Ji Dengqi, attained Qi Refining several years ago. My father has only just advanced to the Jade Capital Wheel and is no match for him."

"Whenever our spirit rice ripens, the Ji Family people veil their faces and pretend to be Rogue Cultivators, coming to our villages to plunder. For years, we have had no choice but to huddle on the mountain and let the Ji Family loot our spirit rice."

By this point, Wan Yuankai's eyes had reddened. He clenched his fists tightly.

Having heard this, Li Xiangping had already guessed Wan Yuankai's purpose. His expression darkened somewhat as he said, "My Li Clan is weak and short on strength. I fear we cannot be of much help."

Seeing Wan Yuankai's grief and indignation, Li Xiangping hastily asked, "How many cultivators does the Wan Family have in total?"

Wan Yuankai froze at once. He hesitantly glanced at Li Xiangping, then gritted his teeth and said:

"My father is at the peak of the Jade Capital Wheel, while I have only formed the Azure Origin Wheel. There are also two juniors in the family who have just formed the Profound Scene Wheel. Besides that old thief who has attained Qi Refining, the Ji Family has two at the Circulating Movement Wheel and one at the Bearing Light Wheel. As for Profound Scene Wheel cultivators, there should be several more, though they never come to plunder."

Li Xiangping was somewhat puzzled upon hearing this. "Someone from the sect once told me that if we encountered an enemy attack, we could use the Jade Seal to seek aid from the sect. If the sect sent down a single Foundation Establishment immortal cultivator, would that not resolve your pressing crisis?"

"How could people like us possibly invite a Foundation Establishment cultivator!"

Wan Yuankai cried out sharply, gnashing his teeth and clenching both fists, looking as though burdened by deep suffering and bitter hatred.

"If we activate the Jade Seal, it will take at least two hours before the Qi Refining cultivator in the city arrives. By then, everything will be too late. Not only will the spirit rice all be lost, but repeatedly seeking aid will also needlessly offend the cultivator who comes to help!"

No sooner had he finished than he saw Li Xiangping about to speak. Wan Yuankai hurriedly continued, "My father sent me to visit you all today because he hoped that our two families might form an alliance and borrow the strength of your honored clan..."

Li Xiangping sighed inwardly. Since Wan Yuankai had already spoken, he gave up on trying to pry out further information and said with a bitter smile:

"It is not that we are unwilling, but that we truly cannot. My Li Clan has few members, and we only entered the gate of cultivation before the New Year. My father had four sons. My eldest brother died young, while my younger brother, though his cultivation is higher, has already gone to an immortal sect to cultivate. My brother and I are both shallow in cultivation, not even your equals. What could we possibly use to contend against the Ji Family?"

"But isn't there still your honored father?"

Wan Yuankai looked at Li Xiangping with a face full of hope, his voice brimming with expectation.

"To be frank, my father is merely a mortal..."

"Impossible! How could a mere mortal father three children with spirit apertures? My father, with Jade Capital Wheel cultivation, had seventeen children before he got me alone."

Wan Yuankai's face immediately filled with suspicion. Li Xiangping was greatly alarmed, thoughts flashing through his mind. Almost without hesitation, he followed Wan Yuankai's words and smiled bitterly.

"My father fought someone in his early years, and his cultivation was crippled..."

Wan Yuankai's expression changed at once. Somewhat ashamed, he replied, "I was indeed rash! Your honored father must have already established the foundation of the Great Dao. Yuankai has been presumptuous."

With that, he sat back down blankly, his eyes filled with worry.

Li Xiangping was also shaken to the core. Wan Yuankai's outburst had truly frightened him so badly that cold sweat ran down his back, and he had nearly failed to maintain his expression.

So the higher a cultivator's cultivation, the greater the chance that their children will possess spirit apertures. I nearly gave myself away over such a trivial detail!

Seeing Wan Yuankai's low spirits, Li Xiangping calmed himself and asked, "Then at the end of Gu Li Road, west of my Li Clan, does Brother Wan know what lies there?"

"West of Gu Li Road..."

Wan Yuankai paused, gazing thoughtfully at the map. His expression grew focused as he considered it.

"Great Li Mountain slopes westward. Gu Li Road gradually enters the mountains as it heads west, for the most part. There has never been any word of human habitation along that stretch, though I have heard..."

"Heard what?"

Li Xiangping hurriedly asked.

"I heard my father say that our ancestors once explored westward. Mountain Yue can be found west of Gu Li Road."

"Mountain Yue?"