Chapter 678 495: Rumors

Qing Song Island

Li Xizhi was sitting quietly inside the Cave Mansion, flipping through the letters on his desk. He had been in seclusion for a long time, and now that he had come out, there was still quite a pile of accumulated messages. Suddenly his brow furrowed; he picked up one of them.

"The Yuan Family broke off the engagement? What nonsense is this!"

The matter between Li Yuexiang and Yuan Fuyao had always been a private arrangement, not even the faintest formal agreement. What's more, Li Xizhi had already refused it outright and returned the betrothal gifts—long since over and done with.

But now this news spelled it out plainly: word from within the sect said Yuan Fuyao had gone back on his engagement to Li Yuexiang. This truly made Li Xizhi's brows knit tightly. Looking more closely, there were even rumors of how Yuan Fuyao had escaped.

"Song Family, switched to the Song Family?"

Li Xizhi almost burst out laughing, but anger welled up in his heart. He pondered carefully again, glanced at the current situation, and muttered:

"Threw his lot in with the Chi Family…"

He fell silent. As several Zifu Perfected Persons began to show signs of decline, the Chi Family's authority was slowly recovering. Although Chi Buzi's whereabouts remained unknown, there was still a Sui Guan Perfected Person propping the Chi Family up…

"Yuanwu Perfected Person still has some lifespan left… By my reckoning, of the twenty-one within the sect undertaking closed-door seclusion to break through to Zifu, probably more than half are approaching their end. With the Green Pond and Xiuyue vying for power, the future terrain is truly hard to predict."

He was deep in thought when someone below came forward, face full of bitterness—both anger and bafflement mixed together. With cupped fists, the man called out:

"Senior Brother! This! This is—"

This man was none other than his junior brother, Yuan Chengzhao, clearly just getting the news himself, both perplexed and furious. Li Xizhi let out a sigh and replied:

"This is the Yuan Family's business; no blame falls upon you. The bond between us brothers is as it always was—worry not."

...

Shankei County marketplace.

Shankei County had always been Xuan Yue Sect's domain. There weren't many marketplaces, so the few that existed were quite prosperous, teeming with people. It was very close to the East Sea, and because Xuan Yue Sect always acted with integrity, many cultivators passing to and from the East Sea would stop here.

Li Xuanfeng put away the Golden Bow, found a tavern at random, sat down, ordered two small dishes, and settled in the main hall of the second floor, gazing out at the fluttering flags beyond the window.

He'd only ever been to a tavern twice in his life. The first time was with Liu Changdie. Liu Changdie had only asked some random questions; she said his methods were like those of the Demonic Path. This person had brought up Jiang Yan amidst the Demon Calamity very early on—she must have known the inside story for a long time.

'Jiang Yan…'

The old man savored the name for a moment, finding it quite pleasing. He bowed his head in thought. Suddenly his ears caught movement—a cultivator beside him was whispering:

"Did you hear…about the Yuan Family affair?"

"Of course I heard! Sigh! Tell me, why would the Yuan Family, so good and proper, break off the engagement?"

Li Xuanfeng slowly lifted his eyes, his dark gray gaze sweeping across to the neighboring table. He gently shook the Jade Cup in his hand and listened quietly.

One man wore black robes, with a Daoist headband—resembling the old Taoists, likely a cultivator under Linhai County's Great Owl Sunflower View. He spoke:

"I heard that Li Family's young lady is a Foundation Establishment orphan! Who knows how many Spiritual Objects she's inherited. That Yuan heir must have lost his mind, wanting to marry some mere girl from the little Song Family!"

The other man, dressed all in white, his sect unknown, merely tapped his jade chopsticks and said seriously:

"What do you know! The Song Family's girl was his childhood sweetheart; they grew up together. How can a promise like that be so easily forsaken? I actually think it shows good character."

"Heh! He'll live to regret it!"

The man in black scowled, but then—a sharp cracking sound, like a silver bottle shattering, rang out. He turned to look. At the next table, a cultivator had just crushed his Spirit Cup to dust; emerald shards flew everywhere.

This man's hair was more white than black; yet he wore black-gold Armor, his build burly, features sharp and weathered—the look of an old campaigner who'd fought for years. His gaze was icy and cold, sharply turned their way.

The man in black was puzzled, but as his Spiritual Sense swept over, he was inwardly shocked:

"Foundation Establishment Cultivator!"

He hastily got up, with a touch of deference, and said:

"If my words have offended you, senior, I beg your pardon… I am Lin of the Lin Family in Linhai County…"

Before he could finish, the man was already seated beside him, eyes deep, one hand pressing Lin back into his chair as he softly asked:

"Just now you said…the Yuan Family…broke off the engagement with Yuexiang?"

As soon as the Lin man heard the name Yuexiang, he understood at once, panic rising in his heart:

"Damn it! Ran into the main character himself!"

Beside him, the white-robed cultivator went weak at the knees and flopped to the floor. He'd said a few words in favor of the Yuan Family just now, and now wished he could slap himself. Kneeling, trembling all over, he didn't dare speak.

"Yes…the Yuan Family had some changes. It's said they withdrew from the engagement, parted badly with the Li Clan…"

He recounted everything quietly from start to finish. Li Xuanfeng's expression became much more composed; he nodded thoughtfully, fingers lightly drumming the table. Li Yuanjiao had died before his very eyes, and the violence and pain in his heart had nowhere to go. Now his daughter had suffered indignity as well—ice settled in the old man's heart.

Li Xuanfeng paused, losing himself in thought. At that moment, every golden and iron object in the tavern began to tremble—all the cultivators shrank their necks like quail, no one daring to make a sound.

Li Xuanfeng looked at the man in black again and asked:

"Since you're with the Great Owl Sunflower View, do you know Lin Chensheng?"

The man in black was delighted and quickly replied:

"He's an Elder in my clan!"

"Has his injury healed?"

The man in black answered with awe, nodding:

"Much better now. I hear Elder returned to the sect and broke through!"

"Good."

Li Xuanfeng tossed a Spirit Stone as compensation for the broken cup. In the blink of an eye, he vanished from the tavern. All the metallic vessels finally settled. A golden kettle crashed to the floor, and all the cultivators in the place exhaled in unison. Someone muttered:

"A Foundation Establishment Cultivator, drinking in a place like this…truly rare!"

The man in black was still quaking from the shock. Glancing at the white-robed youth drenched in cold sweat across from him, he could only sigh:

"You really had incredible luck! Good thing that senior has a good temper… Do you even know who Lin Chensheng is?"

The white-robed youth, yet to recover, asked:

"Pray instruct me, Taoist Fellow."

"He's the pride of the sect, the nephew of a Zifu Perfected Person! In the Cave Heaven he comes and goes as he pleases!"

"For that senior to ask his name, and inquire after his injuries—he might well have accompanied him to the Cave Heaven itself! Such figures aren't ordinary Foundation Establishment; one puff from him and you'd be ashes!"

The two let out a breath. The white-robed youth, as if after a brush with death, murmured:

"There's an old saying, 'Disaster comes from the mouth.' Today I finally understand. Lucky to be alive…truly lucky to be alive…"

The man in black, recalling Li Xuanfeng's bearing, just shivered. As the whole tavern stared at him intently, he put on a bit of a show and declared:

"While the elders are away, bullying their juniors…someone's about to have a run of bad luck!"