Jade Stone

Li Tongya and Li Xiangping entered the Reed Marshes. Parting layer upon layer of reeds, they leaned in to look. The blue-gray Mirror Fragment glowed white with a gentle warmth. Li Xiangping checked their direction and said softly, "That is the direction of Moon Gazing Lake. We can reach it by following Gu Li Road for half an hour."

Li Tongya shook his head. "We cannot take Gu Li Road. We'll cut through the Reed Marshes."

Li Xiangping quietly acknowledged him, and he and his elder brother crouched low as they made their way through.

Lu Jiangxian only felt that pull growing stronger. The moment they entered the Reed Marshes, his vision lit up, and a hazy scene appeared before him: a cool, crystal-clear lake, with more than a dozen white Gulls and Egrets resting on one leg along the shore.

As Li Xiangping continued onward, the blue-gray Mirror Fragment in his hand grew hotter and hotter, burning him with unease. He looked up at his second brother. Li Tongya's face was cold and silent, but his eyes were filled with worry.

"Can immortals' fate truly be touched by mortals..." Li Xiangping stroked the mirror, seemingly oblivious to its heat.

"Good Mirror Fragment, dear Mirror Fragment, we're almost there." He cradled the blue-gray treasure mirror and murmured.

Before long, the two emerged from the dense Reed Marshes. The shimmering Moon Gazing Lake and a flock of startled Gulls and Egrets sprang into view.

Lu Jiangxian stared straight at a Rocky Sandbar in the middle of the lake. Among the moss-covered stones, a piece of jade glowing white was wedged tightly within a crevice.

The scorching blue-gray Mirror Fragment spouted a pale beam of moonlight. Before Li Tongya and Li Xiangping, the sandbar and the glowing jade within its stone crevice appeared vaguely.

Li Xiangping and Li Tongya exchanged a glance, each seeing shock and delight in the other's eyes. Li Xiangping nodded forcefully, stripped off his clothes, and was about to step into the lake.

"Wait!" Li Tongya grabbed him and shook his head. "I'll get it. You stay on shore with the Mirror Fragment. If the moon moves to that position and I have not returned—"

He pointed toward a spot in the sky.

"Hide the Mirror Fragment in the Reed Marshes and run along Gu Li Road. Do not go home." Li Tongya looked gravely at his younger brother. "Come back and see what happened only after the sun is high in the sky."

"Yes..." Li Xiangping's voice had unknowingly taken on a sobbing note. He wiped his tears and looked at his second brother.

Li Tongya gave a mocking smile as he removed his clothes, revealing his strong, lean arms. He turned and swam into the lake, leaving Li Xiangping hiding in the Reed Marshes, staring blankly after him.

A few years ago, he had come to Moon Gazing Lake with his father and brothers. He had swum back and forth more times than he could count, and he reached the lake's center with practiced ease.

He cautiously felt around the many stone crevices. In the time it took for One Incense Stick to burn, he had searched the entire sandbar.

"Nothing." Li Tongya frowned, checked everything again with painstaking care, and pulled out five or six little river crabs.

Then, sure enough, his fingertips encountered something cool and smooth. He pinched hard with two fingers and drew out a piece of jade about two fingers wide.

The jade was long and narrow, its surface carved with writing and patterns. Li Tongya held it up to the moonlight and made out, "Supreme... Moon... Qi... Nurtures the Wheel..." He could only recognize a few characters roughly. Li Tongya had learned to read from a teacher in his childhood and could recognize most characters, but the patterns on this jade were intricate, and the script was ancient and unusual, making it truly difficult to discern.

After calmly glancing toward the shore, he clenched the jade in his hand and swam back.

"Third Brother!"

After coming ashore, he called softly into the Reed Marshes, and Li Xiangping poked his head out. Li Tongya had just opened his hand to show him the jade when it transformed into a streak of white light and shot into the mirror with a whoosh.

The sudden change made them both shudder. They watched white light surge across the mirror's surface, while the moonlight transformed into rings of lunar radiance that streamed into it as well.

Lu Jiangxian, however, felt as though he had been struck by lightning. A beam of white light slammed directly into his face, and a vast ocean of knowledge flooded rapidly into his mind. He cried out in pain, then promptly fainted.

Li Tongya and Li Xiangping watched as the Mirror Fragment in their hands slowly calmed after swallowing the jade whole. Its white glow gradually dimmed as well.

Golden-red dawn clouds crept across the sky, falling upon Li Tongya's bare upper body and tracing it in gleaming golden lines. He lowered his head and said to his younger brother:

"Let's go home first."

Li Mutian sat beside a red-lacquered wooden table, listening as his two sons explained the entire chain of events. He nodded at Li Tongya. "Well done."

He and Li Changhu had tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep. Now that he saw the two boys return safely, the weight hanging over his heart finally fell away.

"The space in front of and behind this house isn't small. The backyard borders the Back Mountain, and I've been thinking of clearing those two melon fields out front and building two rooms there. With the sides enclosing them, it will form one large courtyard. Once we shut the front gate, no one will be able to peek in."

Li Mutian spoke slowly. He had entertained this idea years ago. His children were growing up day by day, and it would soon be time to divide the household.

Thanks to his savings, the Li Clan was considered a prominent household in the village. After returning from the army, Li Mutian had bought over ten mu of paddy fields. Added to the more than five mu of fertile land inherited from his father, they had nearly twenty mu in all.

Li Jing Village was blessed with fertile waters and soil. The Reed Marshes and mudflats were treasures that kept people alive.

Setting aside labor costs, twenty mu of land could feed more than ten people in a good year. The Li Clan had long reached the point where they could close their gates and live like landlords.

It was precisely because the Li Clan had grain and land that his four children could study and learn to write. Yet Li Mutian had always despised wealthy households whose members loafed about doing nothing, so he required his children to study and farm every day, so that after the household was divided, they would all be able to eat well and live well.

"We can no longer divide this household. And any wives we find must be one of us."

Li Mutian recalled the great households he had seen in the city. A single close-knit family within a grand courtyard: some studied and became officials, others trained in martial arts and led soldiers—what splendor! Poor farming households, meanwhile, divided themselves cleanly apart, neither pulling at nor relying on the other.

"That settles it!"

Li Mutian's eyes brightened as he called to the two children.

"Go call your eldest brother back from the fields and have him level the foundation. Leave the farmland for those tenants to handle. Your fourth brother need not pick mulberry leaves this afternoon either. From now on, he will study with the teacher for the entire day."

"Got it." Li Xiangping had been through a whole night of turmoil, yet he was still full of energy. At those words, he darted out the door like a wisp of smoke.

Li Tongya looked at his father and pondered for a short while before speaking.

"Father, do you intend to follow the Clan Laws written in those books—establish an ancestral hall, open a clan estate, study and enter official service, train in martial arts and lead troops?"

"My Li Clan has accumulated for two hundred years. The time has come."

Li Mutian smiled and waved a hand.

"As for studying and martial training, Gu Li Road is perilous beyond measure, and entering Great Li Mountain is a nine-deaths-in-ten endeavor. Even if one studies and trains, it cannot be sold to the Yue Kingdom Emperor. At most, it is to pass down the family estate and seek self-preservation..."

Li Tongya nodded and said softly:

"Perhaps there is something even more wondrous than studying and martial training."

"Do not speak nonsense here."

Li Mutian burst into laughter, patted Li Tongya on the shoulder, then walked out with his head raised and his hands clasped behind his back.