novelraw Chapter 63: Paying Respects to the Family Ancestor
Chapter 63: Paying Respects to the Family Ancestor
Blue Stone Platform from several hundred years ago wasn't as prosperous as it was now. Looking out, there were only a few dozen thatched houses.
Most of the orderly farmland that stretched as far as the eye could see in reality was now mostly muddy swampland overgrown with weeds.
One of the main reasons for the sparse population in the northern frontier was the harsh climate.
Under normal circumstances, half of the year was covered by ice and snow and then there were abnormal circumstances.
For example, every few hundred to a thousand years, a large-scale cold wave disaster would occur. The ice and snow would never melt year-round, and ordinary people could barely survive.
So people living in the northern frontier, like the birds living here, all had the habit of migrating. Except that people had stronger survival abilities, and tribal migrations would occur on cycles of hundreds or even thousands of years.
Li Qiuchen carefully examined his surroundings. Apart from those lines of text he saw at the very beginning, he couldn't find any more intelligence clues. However, in a vague, imperceptible way, he could sense something in his mind like a counter.
That was the challenger's "Mental State."
Although from the challenger's perspective, you couldn't see the specific value of the Mental State, when wear occurred inside the illusory realm, there would be a clear sensation.
Alright... let me see what this is all about.Li Qiuchen steadied his mind and stepped toward the village.
He walked into Blue Stone Platform, which at this time was still just a "village."
The moment he entered the village, Li Qiuchen caught a whiff of an unusual fragrant scent of plants and trees.
As a holder of the Medicine Master's blessing, he was extremely sensitive to the breath of plants and trees.
In a normal mountain forest, fallen leaves covered the weeds, mixed with soil and dew, creating one kind of smell.
After trimming plants and trees, the cut branches and leaves gave off another kind of smell.
Besides these, there was a rather special smell, which was the kind of smell full of life energy that was produced when large quantities of plants and trees grew rapidly.
Or it could be stated more plainly, it was "the Medicine Master's smell."
On the blue stone in the village, a white-robed man with long flowing hair, handsome in appearance, looked like a banished immortal.
Several young children sat obediently below, listening attentively to the man's teachings.
Li Qiuchen walked over and listened for a moment, discovering that the white-robed man wasn't lecturing about any immortal cultivation path, but rather the most basic Thousand Character Classic.
The white-robed man sensed Li Qiuchen's footsteps and only gave him a slight nod, not stopping the lesson before him.
Until after about half an hour had passed, having finished explaining the thirty-six character formula of the first half of the Thousand Character Classic and waving his hand to dismiss the children, the white-robed man finally raised his head and smiled, "Sorry to have kept you waiting, fellow Daoist."
Their gazes met. When Li Qiuchen saw the change in the man's pupils, he already had a conclusion in his heart.
"This poor Daoist is Li Jingyun."
The white-robed man said quietly, "Since fellow Daoist has cultivated my Li family's ocular technique, you must also have some connection with my Li family."
"Also?"
Li Qiuchen keenly noticed the most noteworthy part of Li Jingyun's sentence.
"My name is Li Qiuchen."
"So you're a member of the family."
Hearing Li Qiuchen introduce himself, Li Jingyun's brow slightly relaxed, and his tone naturally became much more casual.
"How is the Li family developing now?"
"There's only me left."
"..."
The atmosphere at the scene was very awkward.
Li Jingyun was silent for a moment, then asked again, "Did you get mixed up with some formidable enemy?"
"I had an elder sister. Ten years ago, she wiped out the entire Li family."
"..."
A look of surprise appeared on Li Jingyun's face. He raised an eyebrow, "Why? Was she deceived by some scumbag?"
The ancestor's image as an otherworldly expert shattered into pieces with a single sentence.
Was scumbag an appropriate word?
Li Qiuchen shook his head, "I was too young at the time and don't remember. But from what the villagers said, it was a qi deviation."
"Qi deviation?"
Li Jingyun shook his head, seemingly somewhat unconvinced.
Li Qiuchen calmly watched this ancestor's every move.
Li Jingyun's behavior seemed to be excessively full of human qualities.
He could engage in normal dialogue, had his own thoughts, and was absolutely not as simple as a plain NPC.
Of course, an image left behind by a Golden Core realm great cultivator wouldn't be surprising even if it contained a few supernatural qualities.
Hearing about the Li family's fate of being wiped out, a few traces of sorrowful emotion flowed from Li Jingyun's eyes, but he quickly adjusted.
"Since you're a family member and were able to enter here, you must have already received the Medicine Master's blessing and stepped onto the path of cultivation. However, I see your foundation seems somewhat thin... forget it, each person has their own fate and connection. I have nothing here to entertain you with, but I can answer some questions about cultivation difficulties for you."
Li Qiuchen thought for a moment and asked seriously, "You aren't actually Senior Li Jingyun himself, are you?"
"Of course not."
Li Jingyun shook his head, "This illusory realm here was created by me. What you see before you is an image I left here. I can only answer some basic questions for you. However, I think these basic questions would be sufficient for you as you are now."
Li Qiuchen asked again, "I wonder how this illusory realm's trial is passed?"
Surely it couldn't be a one-on-one fight with Li Jingyun? That difficulty level would be too high for Qi Refining realm cultivators.
Li Jingyun looked at him with some puzzlement.
"Haven't you already guessed it?"
"Huh?"
"That's right, it's by listening to me lecture."
Li Jingyun smiled, "Those little schemes of yours are all things I played with back in my day. No need to show them off in front of me. I know what you're thinking. On one hand, you can't figure out my background. Not a single word I say, you dare believe, afraid there's some trap. On the other hand, you're worried about the secret of the Medicine Master's blessing, afraid it will be exposed, right?"
A few sentences left Li Qiuchen red-faced and ashamed, wishing he could disappear.
His Mental State suffered slight wear.
"I see you're not very old and probably haven't gone out to see the world."
Li Jingyun's every sentence struck right at the heart.
"The cosmos is boundless and vast. If you have the opportunity to travel later, you'll discover how great this world is, with all manner of wonders. The Medicine Master's blessing is not some one-of-a-kind divine miracle. As for the distinction between righteous and evil, the discourse on good and bad is even more laughable. They say sword cultivators hate evil as they hate enemies. But can you really tell a person's character from just the weapon they wield?"
"Let's set aside traveling for now. I mainly want to ask you about the Li family's inherited cultivation methods."
Seeing the ancestor losing control and about to start lecturing from the boundless cosmos, Li Qiuchen quickly pulled the topic back, "Earlier I mentioned the Li family's destruction but hadn't finished. All the family's books were also burned by my elder sister."
"???"
Li Jingyun was stunned.
"All burned?"
"Yes."
"She burned my 'Jingyunzi' too?"
"That one wasn't. It was rescued."
"Good, then. Is the content incomplete? Which volume is missing?"
"Which volume?"
"Hmm?"
"Senior, only one volume remains."
"..."
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