Chapter 664 487: Room for Maneuver_2

"My lord has been with the Yuan Family for many years. Now that my master has disappeared, I have searched around the East Sea without any news. I seek my lord this time to ask if the Yuan Family has any information on his whereabouts or the current situation."

Yuan Fuyao hesitated for a while before answering,

"My family... has five main veins, and my father is not among them... Each vein has some friction nowadays, the truth is... the items left by our ancestor are not enough to be divided among the veins."

"Ancestor Huyuan is from the main vein of the eldest house... but now, talent is withering away, with him as the lone Foundation Establishment cultivator... As for news of Ancestor Yuan Tuan, the family only knows she has gone to the tribes of the Yi people, without any other information."

Li Xizhi acknowledged with a grunt, glanced over, and said nothing more, speaking softly,

"What does my lord intend to do?"

Yuan Fuyao's forehead was slicked with faint sweat as he simply replied,

"I... I just follow the orders of my family, cultivating among the nobles, waiting for my father's return."

Li Xizhi nodded and said,

"Good, I shall take that as my lord's intention."

He smiled, suddenly stood up, and Yuan Fuyao, caught off-guard, realized something amiss in his words. Opening his mouth to look at the Taoist in feather clothing, meeting his slightly sharp glance from the corner of his eye, he found himself unable to speak.

A flicker of disappointment crossed Li Xizhi's eyes as he leisurely stepped out of the cave mansion. Reaching the steps, he seemed to mention casually,

"Our families have a deep relationship, my lord is welcome to stay here as long as he wishes."

After uttering these words, he departed gracefully upon a rainbow, his wife Yang Xiao'er already waiting in the sky, looking somewhat worried. She gave him an inquiring look, and Li Xizhi took to the air alongside her, saying with relish,

"The elders at home are just too bound by the rules of the Prefect, having been a noble family for many years, burdened by deeds of goodness... Seeing our family's close ties, I cannot bear to refuse. But what is this? Does Yuan Chengdun merely want our family to protect his offspring, and lay the obligation on my sister as well?"

He paused and his calm, gentle face briefly took on his father Li Yuanjiao's fierceness as he said in a cold voice,

"Lacking courage and strategy, ignorant of when to advance or retreat, if Yuexiang favors him, so be it, but would we let my sister suffer for the sake of returning this endless favor? Which family's logic is this!"

Yang Xiao'er took hold of him, speaking softly,

"It's good it was just a private arrangement; otherwise, word getting out wouldn't sound very pleasant... Yuexiang has her own mind, and Yuan Fuyao truly doesn't understand her."

"Alright..."

Li Xizhi waved his hand dismissively and replied,

"My sister is capable and has already left herself ample room. There's nothing about good or bad appearances, believe it or not, give this boy the bridal gifts, and he'll be secretly pleased."

The two landed back on the peak and entered the grand hall. Li Yuexiang greeted them with a smile, her eyes speaking volumes as she looked at him. Not much time had passed, and everyone was still in the hall. Li Xizhi said,

"I've already done the dirty work. Little sister, go fetch the bridal gifts and hand them to him. You have the gift of gab, and he might even end up thanking you."

Li Yuexiang replied softly,

"Thank you for the trouble, older brother."

Although Li Xizhi forcibly dealt with the matter, he still maintained a respectful attitude towards Li Xuanxuan, saying reverently,

"I was momentarily irritated and ended up shutting the matter down according to his wishes. I hope it hasn't delayed the family affairs..."

"Off with you... What nonsense are you spewing, jesting with an old man like me..."

Li Xuanxuan lifted his foot as if to kick him, but Li Xizhi stood up smilingly. Li Xuanxuan watched the brother and sister's tacit cooperation and sighed on the side, saying hoarsely,

"This is for the best."

Li Yuexiang took several jade boxes from a cabinet in the hall, each containing a brocade pouch. With a twinkle in her phoenix eyes, she held them in her hands and soared on the wind, flying down to the cave mansion below the mountain.

Yuan Fuyao was inside the cave mansion, sighing heavily, when suddenly someone reported that Miss Yuexiang had arrived.

Yuan Fuyao gathered his spirits and hurried out with two servants, eagerly watching the beautiful woman descending on a fiery cloud and hastening to say,

"Yuexiang is here! I..."

Just as he was about to explain, Li Yuexiang gave a faint smile and gestured for him to be silent, causing him to shut his mouth. She took out several jade boxes from her sleeve and said with a laugh,

"Look what this is!"

Yuan Fuyao took it, opened each one, and as his spiritual sense sank into them, he discovered a dazzling array of jade stones, precious liquids undulating, magic artifacts, spiritual objects, precious medicines, and demon beads piled up like mountains, glittering and captivating, leaving him spellbound for a moment.

Li Yuexiang sighed softly in her heart and said softly,

"What my brother meant was that Taoist Fellow does not wish to reside with us for an extended period... Taoist Fellow is upright and righteous, an exemplary gentleman, with no other intentions."

Her words abruptly woke Yuan Fuyao from his reverie, and he hastened to explain, only to be cut off by her following words.

"Given that, these items were originally the engagement gifts left by Senior Yuan Chengdun for our family. Now, they are all returned to Taoist Fellow. They are truly too valuable, so please take good care of them."

The moment these words were spoken, they placed Li Yuexiang and these immensely valuable treasures on opposite sides, shattering the words he wanted to recapture, leaving him at a loss for words.

"Our family's promise to the senior still stands, the Li Family will always have a place for the young master to stay, and we will do everything within our power to ensure your safety."

Li Yuexiang passed all the jade boxes to him, letting go, and said softly,

"Taoist Fellow, take care."

She quickly departed with the wind, leaving Yuan Fuyao standing there, stunned. Despite having spiritual objects enough for three generations of cultivation in his hands, he didn't feel the excitement he had anticipated, but rather a sense of loss.

"Truly a good girl."

He quickly cleared his mind of these thoughts, and seeing the gleaming eyes of the attendants on either side, he finally felt a sense of security in his empty heart, and sighed,

"Now there's leeway..."

His full stomach of words rolled around inside, and he murmured,

"Now there's no leeway..."

...

The ancestral worship ceremony at the base of the Li Family's mountain this year was smaller in scale than in previous years, with the Four Territories flooded, it was not suitable to make any major moves. Lu Jiangxian watched from within The Great Void, seeing the sharp decline in the population of these several counties, and the rising resentment everywhere.

"Almost everything in Mushroom Forest Marsh has settled."

The members of the Li family couldn't see the situation above, but Lu Jiangxian could see it clearly. Within the Yuan Family, the faction close to the Chi Family was gradually taking control of the situation, and Yuan Huyuan was increasingly distressed, probably unable to hold on much longer.

"It's not just this Yin rain... but also the wails of millions of common folk that are also eroding the 'Mystic Harmony of the Central Atmosphere'."

With a brief observation, unable to intervene, he reached through the mirror and drew over the talisman Qi rising from the altar. After refining it slightly, he once again infused it into Li Xizhi, who was on the altar.

Now, Lu Jiangxian was far more formidable than before. He narrowed his eyes and saw on the body of Li Xizhi, dressed in feather clothing, veins lit up, mostly branching in two directions.

One was surrounded by light vermilion talisman script, the color wavering between crimson and pink, slightly sharp, the characters' edges turning sharply:

"Vermilion Imperial Rainbow"

This talisman had the ability to enhance offspring, granting higher talents and intelligence to children born after its reception; it also made one's mana more robust and increased the might of the Immortal Foundation, augmenting flight speed.

The other was surrounded by an orange-yellow halo, with the colors on either side fading gradually to yellow and white, the script very bright:

"Colorful Cloud Thoroughfare."

This talisman would nourish the heart and spirit, invigorate the mind, allow the receiver to more easily dissolve other people's spells, understand the flow of mana, and with each session of closed-door cultivation, it would slowly strengthen the power of the cultivator's spells.

What made this talisman even more precious was its ability to preserve life; though it couldn't compare with the "Evading Death and Extending Life" and wasn't able to transform calamity, it could add a bit to one's fortune.

Lu Jiangxian glanced at it briefly and thought that "Vermilion Imperial Rainbow" would only be useful for children conceived after its reception. Since Li Xizhi was already a Foundation Establishment cultivator and Yang Xiao'er held a Qi Cultivation Level, it was likely too late for them to have more offspring, rendering this effect largely useless.

"Colorful Cloud Thoroughfare," on the other hand, was a rare talisman Qi that could enhance fortune and would become more potent the longer the period of closed-door cultivation. The cultivation technique practiced by Li Xizhi was specially selected, and with the identity of body protection from Green Pond, she was the least likely among the Li family's members to encounter mishap, thus suiting this talisman Qi quite well.

With that thought, Lu Jiangxian waved his hand, and the talisman Qi turned into a bright yellow color, entering the body of Li Xizhi, then he shifted his gaze to Li Zhouwei.

Over the years, his connection with the Metal Nature of Mingyang had grown increasingly close, with many anomalies beginning to appear. Lu Jiangxian waited silently:

"Once he attains a cultivation level with the talisman, he could try to use the relationship between the Talisman Seed and his body to manage these effects freely... so as not to be overly conspicuous."