Text appeared on the mirror.
The next day, Li Rufeng came to the ancestral hall as usual.
"This!" Seeing the two cultivation techniques, Li Rufeng's eyes shone brightly.
Indeed, this was exactly what he desired!
What made him even happier was finding out that the mirror would also give in; it finally deigned to reveal good things.
Over the years, other than the Tranquility Technique and the Corpse-Driver Technique being somewhat decent, the rest were minor cultivation techniques, unable to take the family to the next level.
Now that the Mirror Immortal had given them secret techniques that could directly lead to the Nascent Soul stage, the first step of pressure had succeeded.
But how much were these techniques worth?
So, he said to the mirror, "The Li Family can't come up with thousands or tens of thousands of lower-grade spirit stones, but I will offer a price that satisfies the Immortal to show my sincerity!"
Li Rufeng lit a stick of incense and then promptly retreated.
Now was not the time to press too hard; he must get his hands on the cultivation techniques.
The Li Family was still in a position of weakness, but once they had the cultivation techniques, they would have the foundation to become a great sect.
Even if he himself couldn't subdue the Mirror Immortal in his generation, future descendants surely would.
With this in mind, Li Rufeng gathered twenty lower-grade spirit stones and materials worth ten lower-grade spirit stones.
"Presenting the offered meal… to the divine Mirror Immortal!"
A flash of light passed, and the offerings vanished.
No secret technique came through.
"Not enough, as I thought…" Li Rufeng mused.
Clearly, the Mirror Immortal was not satisfied with this offer.
After that, Li Rufeng continued to make offerings intermittently.
Occasionally, the Mirror Immortal released a line or two of key text, which made Li Rufeng itch for more.
From the text, the technique was truly not simple and seemed possible to cultivate—it wasn't fake. Over the years, the Mirror Immortal had never deceived them with fakes.
Three months later.
"Report! The Wu Family from Changsheng County has ambushed our family's trading convoy, leaving only Fourth Room's Li Luxin alive; all others were lost!"
"The audacity! Send the call! Follow me to war!"
Furious, Li Rufeng drew his green sheath longsword and chopped off the corner of a table.
Soon, dozens of Li Family disciples, along with a hundred zombies, a thousand soldiers and horses, talisman paper, elixirs, and more set out.
The two families waged war for three days, with blood flowing like rivers.
In the end, the battle concluded with the Li Family defeated, their influence shrunken, losing half of their market in various businesses.
"We shall negotiate peace with the Wu Family," said the over ninety-year-old Li Qingquan.
"Agreed!"
The proud Li Rufeng nodded reluctantly, his heart filled with humiliation.
His father had once endured hardships and emerged from Yang Family Village; now he could do the same.
Afterward, the Li Family became a vassal to the Wu Family, supplying them with elixirs at a lower price, and the Li Family daughters married into their family.
Li Rufeng then consecutively made offerings of dozens of spirit stones, totaling one hundred and twenty lower-grade spirit stones in all.
Being a cultivating family in a small county city was already hard; they needed funds for various aspects, and now they had nearly drained the family treasury.
Leaves fell in abundance, and the autumn air turned bleak.
The once vigorous Li Qingshi was now at the advanced age of a hundred, and he, who failed to start Qi cultivation, was in the twilight of his years.
Li Qingshi's eyes were cloudy, his skin was covered with liver spots, and he sighed with the melancholy of the changing seasons.
"In years past, willows were planted, by the Han South side so clear. Now I see them fallen, how forlorn they appear. If trees can end thus, what of us, living here?"
Suddenly, as though realizing something, he summoned his progeny.
"My time is near, listen carefully..."
Old age made him somewhat rambling as he went about giving last instructions, mostly about trivial matters.
Soon, he asked Li Rufeng to stay alone.
"I don't want to ask where you've taken the family's spirit stones, but remember, don't misplace your cleverness, and always remember where our roots lie, and never entertain improper thoughts..."
Li Qingshi was not senile; it was just that his advanced age rendered him unable to deal with family matters.
"Yes, father knows best," answered Li Rufeng.
Li Qingshi continued to mutter advice incessantly, his voice growing fainter. He recalled what Li Qingquan had said about old branches and new sprouts.
"Remember, do not be too extreme in anything, don't rush to do what successors must handle, leave three parts wisdom for the next generation... Old branches wither, new sprouts will grow."
Li Qingshi's eyes gradually closed as if he returned to his youth, to the moment when he first saw the mirror.
The wheel of fate began to turn.
Li Rufeng silently shed tears.
At night, he returned to the ancestral hall.
"We have nothing left, nothing at all! One hundred and twenty spirit stones, herbs worth fifty lower-grade spirit stones—these are all our family has left!"
Bang!
Li Rufeng slammed his storage bag onto the table.
"This is my last possession, inside is a lower-grade magical artifact, twelve lower-grade spirit stones. If you don't give it, I'll smash you! We will go down together!"
Li Rufeng's eyes were bloodshot, like a gambler who was in too deep.
The mirror flashed, and the storage bag vanished.
At that moment, lines of text appeared on the mirror's surface.
Li Rufeng hurriedly memorized them.
…
"Gamblers never meet a good end,"
Xu Xuan said with a smile.
With the false cultivation technique out, this family was as good as finished, but was this their own fault?
Who was it that had the crooked idea first?
Thirty-five years converted to just over three years without giving me spirit stones.
Do you know how I managed these three years?
"Don't smash the mirror just yet, watch what comes next."
Coming back to his senses, Xu Xuan looked at the bag on the table.
The bag wasn't big, about the size of a palm, and seemed to be made of sheepskin, tied shut with a red string.
So this was the storage bag.
Picking up the bag, he probed into it with his True Qi, and the image inside emerged in his mind.
Ten cubic meters, roughly a cube with sides of two point one meters, the space's walls were pitch black, and inside lay a treasured sword, along with twelve spirit stones.
At the thought, the longsword appeared on the table.
Green hilt, slender blade.
"A lower-grade magical artifact?" Xu Xuan caressed the blade, like a bumpkin who had never seen the world.
He channeled True Qi into the sword, and it hummed and emitted a faint white light.
The treasured sword could slice through iron as if it were mud and was thin as a cicada's wing.
The treasured sword was put back into the storage bag.
It wasn't a matter of cramming it in, but rather items within a ten cubic meter radius centered on oneself could be retrieved with just a touch and a thought.
Xu Xuan opened the chest under the bed, which was packed full of lower-grade spirit stones.
"Including those in the storage bag, that makes a total of one hundred and forty-two lower-grade spirit stones."
Spirit stones are a very special substance, turning to ashes immediately once their spiritual energy is exhausted.
"These spirit stones should be enough for me to squander for decades."
Xu Xuan breathed a sigh of relief.
If he were to run out of spirit stones and couldn't replenish his True Qi, he would really become a waste.
Even talisman techniques required a slight amount of negligible True Qi to activate.
Clang...
With a touch and a thought, the chest was also put into the storage bag.
"From now on, zombies can also be stored in the bag."
The eighteen corpses on the mountain couldn't all fit, but eight would be enough.
With new spirit stones in hand, Xu Xuan practiced cultivation without worry.
Three days later.
In the alchemy room, Xu Xuan watched the furnace, occasionally adding metals like lead, mercury, copper, and gold sand.
After a while, the fire died down, and he lifted the lid to find some shiny gold powder and a phoenix stone.
Xu Xuan used a bamboo scoop to move the powder into a container, then added beeswax and various powdered herbs, all of which he kneaded into a round, dazzling gold pill.
Opening the door, he went to the training room.
He swallowed the elixir in one gulp.
This was the Gold Sand Element Cultivating Pill, even more potent than the Great Green Dragon Powder.
After taking it, Xu Xuan's entire body turned red as if he were a burning iron figure.
After a long while, Xu Xuan exhaled deeply.
Two strands of True Qi had actually increased in his body.
What made him even happier was that his lifespan had increased by a year, now a total of one hundred and one years.
"Can a stronger elixir combined with the phoenix stone actually prolong life?"
Unfortunately, that night, excessive joy turned to sorrow.
Xu Xuan vomited and had diarrhea, as pale as death, lying on the bed for three days and three nights.
On the fourth morning, as the sunlight spilled into the room, Xu Xuan's complexion finally recovered.
Lifespan: 30/99.
Xu Xuan gave a bitter smile, "My lifespan has actually decreased by two years, it must be heavy metal poisoning, the dan toxic reaction. I shouldn't dabble in alchemy without proper skills."
Fluctuations in lifespan were common, and ordinary people experienced it too, like someone who habitually smoked and drank might have an expected lifespan of only sixty-odd years; yet if they quit these habits and exercised, their lifespan might increase a bit.
"Why not go down the mountain to travel, visiting famous mountains and rivers, Cave Heavens and blessed lands?"
Anyway, with the storage bag, I can embark easily.
That very afternoon, the Taoist descended the mountain.