Family Cultivation: I Become a Mirror-Chapter 244 - 225: Paying Respects to Fei Luoya

Li Tongya rode the wind westward, crossing over the border of Eastern Shanyue and the Li Family at Big Fish Creek, soared above Shamo Li's palace, and delved ever deeper into the Shanyue region.

As Li Tongya traveled west, the jungles grew denser, the villages dull and bleak, crumbling and tattered, the dirt roads littered with abandoned bones. The living starved to skin and bone, crawling on the ground, putting those grey bones into broken pots to boil, boiling them into powder, making a pot of grey soup, with a circle of jackals seated around, crying out as they waited for someone to collapse.

Li Tongya looked on in silence, from the merrymaking of Lijing Town, where ten thousand families thrived, to the poverty at every household of Eastern Shanyue, grand gates behind embroidered doors, and then to the Shanyue region, where bones sprawled over the land and beasts feasted on humans. He glanced just once, and all the gaunt, emaciated people lifted their heads to look at him. Li Tongya rode the wind and continued westward.

Westward for dozens of miles, there were finally more signs of life, yet the same sense of desolation prevailed, until at last he saw a pitch-black mountain, atop which sat an appropriately built temple.

Li Tongya landed before the mountain, where many dark, blackened heads were mounted on wooden stakes. As soon as he set foot, all the white eyes opened to look at him, and a few mouths that remained intact cried loudly, shouting:

"Stranger! Stranger!"

Li Tongya waited quietly for a while, then down came a Shanyue man in plain robes, his hair loose, eyes clouded white, a cultivator at the Sixth Layer of Qi Cultivating. He squinted up and down at Li Tongya, still maintaining some courtesy, clasped his hands and said:

"Senior, please follow me up the mountain."

Li Tongya smiled and shook his head, answering:

"Your master's sorcery is truly uncanny—I dare not go up. Best have him come down instead."

The Shanyue man with pale eyes grinned, pulled a head off a stake, turned, and headed up the mountain. The cluster of heads shut their eyes, falling silent and lifeless as the dead.

Li Tongya waited for a few breaths, then down from the mountain came a man dressed in splendid garments, a storage bag tied at his waist, the attire of an Immortal Cultivator, though his features were Shanyue. He held a pitch-black gourd in his hand, glanced at Li Tongya, and exclaimed in astonishment:

"Li Tongya? You've reached Foundation Establishment?"

"Greetings to Senior Fei Luoya!"

This was the very Shanyue Foundation Establishment Cultivator from the days when Witch Mountain split, who gave the Eastern Shanyue region to the Li Family under pressure from the Xiao Family. Now seeing Li Tongya had succeeded in Foundation Establishment, he became a good deal more polite, saying:

"No wonder you're from a Sword Immortal Family. In just a few years, you've said Foundation Establishment and now you've done it—truly enviable."

Though he spoke thus, Fei Luoya was clearly still hung up on old matters; his expression was sour, but Li Tongya's background and power restrained him from flaring up, even forcing him to smile.

"Senior flatters me."

Li Tongya clasped his hands and responded:

"It has been years since we last met; I wronged you greatly back then and feel deeply ashamed. You did not bear a grudge, and the Li Family is most grateful."

"Ha ha."

Fei Luoya gave a dry laugh. Li Tongya said a few more pleasantries, making Fei Luoya's face look better; still, he kept up his courtesy as he asked:

"May I ask what brings Brother Tongya here?" 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Li Tongya nodded slightly and replied:

"Our families dwell side by side, relations ought to be amicable, but due to old affairs we have not visited. I find that a pity. Senior's strength is admirable, and I have always respected you, thinking of ways to ease our relations."

"Not at all, not at all."

Fei Luoya raised an eyebrow, his demeanor lightening; then Li Tongya continued:

"I have a friend who needs a precious medicine to gather its effects. He offered a hefty reward, but I couldn't find a suitable item. I thought: the Shanyue region is rich in spiritual nature, and senior must have many precious medicines in collection. This could earn senior quite a sum."

Fei Luoya laughed loudly, thinking he understood Li Tongya's intent, saying:

"I suppose Brother Tongya has his eye on that hefty bounty, hoping to serve as middleman and take a share?"

Li Tongya smiled faintly, nodded, and replied:

"Senior is wise—that's exactly it. After all, it's a way for us both to profit. There are plenty of precious medicines on Da Li Mountain and Mushroom Forest Plain; I seek out senior for this, not another, as a sign of goodwill, no?"

Fei Luoya considered this and found Li Tongya's words reasonable. He did have some precious medicines on hand that were of no use to him. Li Tongya continued:

"This is a long-term deal, not a matter of one or two days. If senior wishes to mend relations with my family, and make this money, we might as well work together."

Fei Luoya laughed heartily, responding:

"If Brother Tongya puts it this way, how could Fei Luoya refuse?"

Since the last time forcing Fei Luoya to back down, Li Tongya had already seen through him; living day in and day out atop Witch Mountain, not mingling with common folk, he was a blustering yet spineless man, soft-eared, and after a joint scare from the Xiao and Fei Clans, he was quite afraid of Li Tongya. With a concoction of pure fabrication and reversed truth, Li Tongya managed to turn a situation where he needed help into one of win-win cooperation, smoothing relations, while thinking privately:

"This man, despite his sorcery and being Shanyue, most likely doesn't even know precious medicine prices, but at least he's a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and should not be taken advantage of. For something like precious medicine, which has no fixed price, buying at market value, and then using it as gifts or for family disciples to consume, is a good path forward."

Fei Luoya was brisk and forthright; he already produced five or six wooden boxes, showing them one by one to Li Tongya. Li Tongya took them to inspect, each emanating a strong aura, glittering with colored light, but upon closer look, found that he didn't recognize any of them. Still, his face remained calm as he retrieved the smallest fruit with a spell, examining it carefully.

Fei Luoya grew somewhat embarrassed and said in a low voice:

"If I'm honest, brother might laugh at me—this… I don't really know what these are, which is why I never consumed them. They've sat here for years, and now their potency is fading. If brother Tongya hadn't come, I wouldn't have had a trustworthy person in these parts. You've truly solved my urgent need!"

Li Tongya clasped his hands, smiling, saying:

"Brother is so forthright—I won't speak empty words. This fruit meets my friend's requirements in appearance, though the quantity is a bit small, but it'll do in a pinch."

Fei Luoya nodded, gritting his teeth, saying:

"Brother Tongya, do you think this fruit is worth a hundred spirit stones?"

"A hundred spirit stones?!"

Li Tongya laughed aloud in surprise; while his experience was thin, he knew precious medicine couldn't be bought for a mere hundred spirit stones, and replied candidly:

"I'll give you two hundred spirit stones up front. I'll take this fruit, and if I learn the price, I'll give you the difference, more or less, and send it to you!"

"Two hundred spirit stones!"

Fei Luoya was immediately shocked. Seeing Li Tongya speak so honestly, his impression of him changed considerably, and he trusted him a lot more. Li Tongya, though grinning, thought to himself:

"As for when I find out the price, or when to settle up— isn't it all up to me? Fei Luoya really is an honest one!"

Fei Luoya nodded enthusiastically. Li Tongya counted out two hundred spirit stones, watching him receive them with joy, and then produced the jade box he'd salvaged from Wangyue Lake market ruins to store the resplendent spirit fruit.

Fei Luoya gazed at it with lingering attachment, then suddenly jolted, greatly alarmed. He was much more skilled than Li Tongya in formations and sorcery, and clearly saw the exquisite patterns on the jade box. His eyes widened as he stared fixedly at the box.

Li Tongya, ever keen, thought swiftly, and said casually:

"This jade box was a gift from my friend, used to collect precious medicines for him."

Fei Luoya grew more and more amazed as he watched, murmuring:

"I fear even Zifu-grade precious medicines could be stored in this… Brother, your friend…"

Li Tongya laughed loudly and replied:

"He was introduced to me by a Sword Immortal—a Zifu Perfected Person!"