Move aside! Her body acted before her mind, instinctively stepping backward.
“What is this?!”
Li Jiaying cried out in alarm and quickly raised her sword to stab the snake-like beast. The sword tip shimmered with cold light, and a faint trace of true energy attached itself to it.
She had already prepared for a fierce battle, but with a plop, the snake-like monster was cut clean into two.
“Eh?” Li Jiaying froze, disbelief written all over her face.
Did it just die?
This couldn’t be real—her father had clearly said that the fierce beasts were all extremely formidable. She didn’t let her guard down and cautiously prodded the snake-like creature with her sword. It didn’t move at all—by all indications, it was undoubtedly dead.
Li Jiaying took a couple of steps back and looked up into the sky. The moon still hung on the eastern horizon.
Although night had fallen, it wasn’t yet very late—it was just the time when lanterns began to light up the streets. Li Jiaying simply lacked experience; an experienced mercenary would have noticed something amiss earlier by observing the moon’s position.
“Let’s go back,” Li Jiaying sighed and turned to leave. She hadn’t walked far before she reached the lakeshore.
The snake-like creature she encountered had no fangs at all, making the battle awkward. It relied on its saliva to create illusions to catch prey, and once the illusion broke, it naturally couldn’t stand up to Li Jiaying.
That said, it had indeed been very dangerous just now.
Li Tan, who had just finished his own task not far away, stood anxiously on a tree branch watching the scene unfold. He had wanted to intervene many times but held himself back. As it turned out, not acting hastily had been the correct decision—Li Jiaying overcame the danger on her own.
Experiencing life-threatening danger could unexpectedly benefit one’s cultivation breakthrough.
When Li Jiaying returned to the lakeshore, Li Xiu was already there, badly wounded.
Li Jiaying asked with concern, “Big Brother, are you okay?”
Li Xiu seemed startled, even drawing his sword, but upon seeing it was Li Jiaying, he resheathed it, awkwardly replying, “I’m fine, I’m okay.”
“Are these wounds from the ferocious beast?”
“Ah, Jiaying, younger sister, you’re amazing—your clothes didn’t even get dirty.” Thinking back to her own experience, Li Jiaying shivered slightly. She briefly explained what had happened to her, then cut off a small piece of cloth from the hem of her skirt and proceeded to bandage Li Xiu’s wounds despite his protests.
After confirming the safe return of the two, Li Tan swiftly made his way to the location where the serpentine creature and the beast slain by Li Xiu lay. He gathered all usable parts and deposited them into the desolate tower, which had just acquired a fresh, bloodstained pile, before returning home.
“Ying’er!”
Li Tan shouted from afar, then leaped and landed beside Li Jiaying. “How do you feel? Are you hurt?”
Li Jiaying shook her head. “I’m fine. This big brother is the one who got injured.”
Li Tan swept his spiritual sense over Li Xiu and relaxed. “Just scratches all over, severe abdominal bleeding, and a few broken ribs. Nothing serious.”
“Cough cough cough!”
Li Xiu covered his chest, looking disheartened. “I won’t die, but like this, I won’t be able to attend tomorrow’s martial contest.”
Li Tan chuckled and asked, “If you can’t go, then what will you do?”
“Come back next year.”
“Next year you’ll be twenty already.”
“Yeah.”
“At twenty, even if you pass the test, the chances of being accepted are very slim. Practically impossible, you could say.”
“Then what should I do?”
“How about giving up cultivation?”
Li Xiu’s face immediately flushed red, looking wronged and on the verge of tears.
“Haha, I’m just kidding,” Li Tan said with a smile. He waved his right hand, and a round object landed in Li Xiu’s palm.
Li Xiu looked at it in confusion, then his expression turned to shock. “Is this… a healing pill?”
“You guessed right. Take it and start cultivating immediately. Within half a day, your injuries will recover. As for breaking through your cultivation level, it’s probably difficult, but that battle from just now will bring other benefits. You’ll understand once tomorrow’s martial contest begins.”
Li Tan smiled, seemingly in a good mood.
“What about Ying’er?”
Li Jiaying asked expectantly.
Li Tan patted her head gently. “After experiencing life and death, it’s the best opportunity to break through one’s cultivation. Ying’er should directly attempt to break through to the middle stage of the Post-Heavenly Realm.”
“What if she fails?”
Li Jiaying asked anxiously.
Li Tan patiently explained, “It doesn’t matter if she fails.”
“But what about the martial contest tomorrow?”
“Don’t worry too much about the contest. It’s not that important.”
“Why not? Father and the others clearly take it very seriously.”
“Performing well in the contest does help with joining the Feiyu Sect, but the Feiyu Sect doesn’t solely base their selection on that. Anyway, Ying’er, listen to me and go cultivate first.”
“Okay,” Li Jiaying obediently nodded and sat cross-legged on a large rock by the lake, while Li Xiu sat a little to the side.
Li Tan stood by the lakeshore, somewhat bored, gazing at the shimmering stars reflected on the water.
The dangerous creatures near the lake had already been mostly “driven away.” In truth, he could also cultivate and attempt to break through to the Pre-Heavenly Realm, but he didn’t really feel like it. It wasn’t out of laziness—it was just that he felt it was pointless. As previously mentioned, breaking through to the Pre-Heavenly Realm couldn’t be rushed; it required the right opportunity.
This opportunity could be difficult or easy to obtain. Some people might awaken one morning and suddenly find it, while others might wait their entire lives in vain. Therefore, one must actively seek it out—through pills, or other means. Among these, the most commonly used method by cultivators was through battle.
In other words, if Li Tan wanted to break through quickly without relying on pills, the best approach would be to venture deep into the Zhui Xian Domain and battle against demonic beasts.
But recently, one thing after another had been happening in Linjiang, keeping him too busy and exhausted to focus on cultivation.
For instance, although most of the ferocious beasts had already been repelled, he still couldn’t venture too far from the two of them. It was better to err on the side of caution—if any managed to slip through, the consequences would be dire.
Sighing, Li Tan’s thoughts drifted to Linjiang, and he couldn’t help but miss Tang Leyin.
After leaving the inn, Tang Leyin directly entered the city lord’s mansion, passing by rows of guards who were as good as decorations, completely failing to notice her presence.
This was only natural, after all—the guards here were mostly at the early to mid stages of the Post-Heavenly Realm, not much of a threat.
Tang Leyin’s main purpose for entering the city lord’s mansion this time was to gather intelligence about the Hanshuang Festival, so she directly sought out Mingde, avoiding drawing attention from others as much as possible.
Mingde was the city lord’s eldest son, so naturally resided in the most central part of the mansion. Therefore, Tang Leyin didn’t have to spend much effort locating him.
However, Mingde was currently speaking with a muscular middle-aged man in his study, so Tang Leyin hid in the adjacent room, waiting while simultaneously eavesdropping on their conversation.
Just then, she suddenly recalled—Li Tan had mentioned before that the insider within the city lord’s mansion, the one in the black robe, was apparently a general named Li Yuanxun.
Could this man speaking with Mingde be that general named Li Yuanxun?
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