Family Cultivation: I Become a Mirror-Chapter 44 New Year

The snow had been falling for three days, the silvery-gray flakes wreaking havoc in the air. Each household had their doors tightly shut as the weather turned thoroughly cold. Li Tongya tidied up the small courtyard of Lijing Village and left it in the care of Li Qiuyang, then, leading Liu Rouxuan by the hand, they ascended Lijing Mountain.

With every step through the snow, one deep, one shallow, Liu Rouxuan wore a light gray long fur coat, cheerfully holding Li Tongya’s hand and chattering away:

"Tongya, we’ll get married in the spring."

"Okay."

Li Tongya brushed the snow off her shoulders, laughing softly as he slightly tilted the umbrella he held to shake off the snowflakes, leaning it closer to Liu Rouxuan.

Lijing Mountain wasn’t high. Li Tongya led Liu Rouxuan through the fog that had settled at the foot of the mountain, and they arrived at the courtyard following a stone path covered in snow.

No sooner had they entered the house than they saw Tian Yun hugging a fur and sitting cheerfully in front of the stove, her cheeks slightly red. Upon seeing Li Tongya and the other, she greeted them:

"Second Brother, Second Sister-in-law."

Li Tongya responded with a smile, while Liu Rouxuan faced this younger sibling, who was five or six years older than herself, with an open demeanor. She cozied up to the stove and, with a stolen laugh, began to quietly discuss matters with Tian Yun.

Li Xiangping had gone out early in the morning to apply spirit rain to the rice paddies and was now practicing his breathing exercises in the backyard. Li Tongya, having taken off his overcoat and hung it on the wall, turned and, in a soft voice, asked the silent Ren Clan woman sewing to the side:

"Where’s Father?"

"The old man loves to sleep in the winter, he’s still in the room."

The Ren Clan woman raised her eyes with a smile, seeing Tian Yun waving from beside the stove, she put down her knitting and sat down with her, laughing softly as she inquired about Liu Rouxuan.

Li Mutian himself had personally expanded the skylight yesterday, working late into the night, and was still sleeping in the room now. Li Tongya stared blankly at the snow covering the entire mountain outside the window and silently thought to himself:

"If only Big Brother were still here... that would be wonderful."

————

As winter gave way to spring, last year was prosperous. The spring rains were fine and didn’t cause drought, the autumn was dry and didn’t lead to waterlogging, with neither hail nor locusts present. Paying only ten percent as the land tax, it was a lot more lenient than in previous years, and every household had surplus grain left over, so no one froze to death during winter. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

The second batch of Spirit Rice planted by Lijing Village the year before last had matured. After harvesting the Spirit Rice, threshing and winnowing it, they obtained one hundred and seventy pounds of Spirit Rice, along with fifty pounds of rice bran. Adding to the prior harvest, the total was two hundred and ninety pounds of Spirit Rice, ninety pounds of paddies, and the two hundred pounds of Spirit Rice required for tribute had already been met.

With the addition of Li Qiuyang and Liu Rouxuan, Li Tongya and Li Xiangping were relieved of much of their load and could entrust more of the spiritual fields to the two of them, thus allowing them to devote more energy to cultivation.

The Baiyuan fruit plants had also blossomed, the white and light pink flowers blooming beautifully. Li Tongya estimated that in a few more months the Baiyuan fruits would be ripe, not missing the deadline for Green Pond Sect’s envoy to collect tributes.

Li Tongya had just applied the spirit rain when Wan Tiancang entered the courtyard with a troubled look, complaining to Li Tongya:

"Last night, Ji Dengqi crossed the boundary in disguise and attacked many of our Wan Family’s spiritual fields. The Spirit Rice at the foot of the mountain was burnt, nearly ninety percent of it lost, many mortals perished, and they even nearly breached Huaqian Mountain."

"Fortunately, our family head was decisive. She remained vigilant during the ripening of the Spirit Rice, personally overseeing the formation. Ji Dengqi and his men attacked for the entire night, only retreating sullenly at dawn."

Li Tongya placed his teacup down, speaking with some astonishment:

"Your family’s array is truly formidable, able to withstand a night-long siege by Qi Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Stage."

Wan Tiancang waved it off with a bitter smile:

"It’s simply taking advantage of the situation. My Wan Family had a master of arrays two hundred years ago, who, with the help of a Spiritual Spring on Huaqian Mountain, constructed this Great Formation. As long as the Spiritual Spring doesn’t run dry, the array can continuously restore spiritual energy."

"What a formidable array!"

Li Tongya couldn’t help but praise and silently pondered:

"The arrays on my own Lijing Mountain pale in comparison; however, Xiao Yuansi once said that should I encounter a better array, I would still be able to set it up using those Formation Flags! It’s just a pity that my family lacks the legacy of array techniques..."

Wan Tiancang glanced at Li Tongya, who was lost in thought, and continued:

"It’s a pity his aspirations were too high, and in his haste to cultivate the Taoist Foundation, he met his downfall on Huaqian Mountain."

"Cultivate the Taoist Foundation?"

Li Tongya couldn’t help feeling a sense of regret as he solemnly said,

"He was indeed a senior at the Qi Cultivating Peak."

"Alas..."

Wan Tiancang let out a long sigh, his voice full of longing as he said,

"That was the most glorious era of my Wan Family, we had five Qi Cultivators. After that ancestor died more than a decade ago, we lost three painstakingly managed mountains in quick succession, and four Qi Cultivators and ten at the Fetal Breathing Stage fell in battle. Had it not been for some connections within the sect, our family would have been completely decimated."

"As time went on, the elders passed away one by one, and that person in the sect only preserved the bloodline of the Wan Family and no longer managed affairs. From then on, each generation was weaker than the last. But fortunately, we managed to survive, until more than a decade ago when the Family Head broke through to the Yujing Wheel. Only then were we able to open the storage bags passed down from our ancestors and found only some Spirit Stones and Talismans left, without anything else to bolster our strength."

"So that’s how it was."

Li Tongya took a deep sigh, filled Wan Tiancang’s teacup in front of him, and seeing him sigh with sorrow, softly offered a few words of comfort.

Wan Tiancang sipped his tea and then slammed his hand on the table, indignantly saying,

"Damn that Ji Family! Back in the day, my Wan Family was ceaselessly at war with the Yu Family to the north, and the Ji Family was just a small clan stuck in the middle without even a single Qi Cultivator. Now they’ve found favor on both sides and have grown to such an extent that they’re nearly pushing my Wan Family to the brink of extinction."

Looking at Li Tongya, Wan Tiancang asked in a lower voice,

"How is that great person in your family?"

Li Tongya knew Wan Tiancang was asking about Li Mutian and became cautious. Fortunately, the brothers had already agreed on their story, and he took a sip of tea before saying,

"My father left home when he was young, joined the army in the ancient Lidao, and followed General Yang in the assault on Shanyue."

"Tiancang has heard a little about that. Yang Tianya, with his Foundation Establishment Cultivation, led his troops east to fight against Shanyue, and many lives were lost."

Wan Tiancang moved his teacup slightly and asked doubtfully,

"But I heard that your esteemed father returned as a mortal..."

Li Tongya smiled wryly and explained,

"My father was instructed by an Immortal Cultivator and attained Qi Cultivation. He then had an opportunity in the military to cultivate the Immortal Foundation. As for why he abandoned his cultivation level, it is inconvenient to divulge."

"Tiancang was too rash!"

Wan Tiancang bowed slightly in apology, thinking to himself,

"It must be that, young as he was, he had cultivated the Immortal Foundation and offended those scions of the great clans. Only those fearless of revenge would enjoy this drama of discarding cultivation to become a mortal."

He then said with apparent regret,

"What a pity, what a pity."

Seeing that Li Tongya remained silent, Wan Tiancang gritted his teeth before finally speaking,

"To be frank with you, Brother Li, I’ve come here hoping to exchange our clan’s Formation legacy for a Talisman at the peak of Qi Cultivation or Foundation Establishment, to execute Ji Dengqi!"

Only then did Li Tongya have a sudden realization, thinking to himself,

"I wondered why this Wan Tiancang would come to chat idly with me, but he was entertaining such an idea!"