Chapter 170 Ancestral Worship: Wait for me to come back, then we'll go home together. ...
Winter Solstice, Yanling, Qingwu Mountain.
The Li family's ancestral mausoleum is located in a valley of Qingwu Mountain. Unlike ordinary families who bury their dead in the ground and build mounds, the Li family's ancestral mausoleum is carved out of the mountainside, with the tombs directly carved into the mountain. This is both to symbolize the immortality of the mountain and to convey the idea that immortals who cultivate in the mountains also return to the mountains.
Looking at the cliff caves and tombs covering the mountains and valleys, Jiang Yuhuo couldn't help but wonder if the Li family had almost hollowed out the entire mountain.
She didn't quite understand. Logically, cultivators who reached a certain stage would automatically undergo corpse dissolution upon death, their bones and flesh dissipating and returning to heaven and earth, their soul leaving the body and returning to the netherworld, leaving nothing behind in the mortal realm. The Li family, as the foremost family among the immortal sects, with most of its members being highly skilled cultivators, why did they still cling to such a deep-seated obsession with tombs, continuing this old custom generation after generation, to the extent it had reached its current scale?
Many members of the Li family came, but compared to the tombs carved into the mountains, their numbers were probably small.
Jiang Yuhuo stood in the crowd, with Li Mengbai beside her. Li Yanluo, who possessed the Spirit-Subduing Wood, was in front, with Li Shichuan and several elders from the main branch of the Li family. Wen Yizhan was to her right and behind Li Mengbai.
Wen Yizhan did not stay at the Li family's house. She had not seen him since the banquet that night. Wen Yizhan had mentioned the purpose of his return that night, but their reunion was in such a crowded and complicated setting. Jiang Yuhuo wanted to ask him about his progress, but she didn't want to ask too much at the moment. They simply nodded to each other when their eyes met, as if they were just two people who were not very familiar with each other.
"Let's go, look ahead."
Li Mengbai took Jiang Yuhuo's hand and squeezed it, drawing her gaze away from Wen Yizhan.
The entrance to the cemetery is just ahead.
On either side of the narrow mountain pass stood two enormous stone figures holding swords and halberds. The equally enormous swords and halberds in the stone figures' hands crossed each other not far from the ground, forming an obstruction.
As the head of the Li family, Li Shichuan stood at the head of the procession, like someone entering a genealogy. He dripped a drop of blood from his finger onto the stone statue. Immediately, a rumbling sound came, the ground trembled slightly, and the two stone statues guarding the gate slowly moved their swords and halberds aside, making way for the newcomer.
People waiting in front of the cemetery all looked up, their eyes fixed on the magnificent scene. Only one person was not drawn to the scene, his gaze fixed on the clasped hands of the two people in front of him.
The sacrificial ceremony was held in the ancestral hall built in front of the tomb complex. Jiang Yuhuo was not yet considered a member of the Li family, so she didn't need to do anything and simply watched quietly from the side. Also watching from the side was Wen Yizhan, who had not been included in the Li family genealogy.
In the vast ancestral hall, a large number of people were kneeling on the ground. Only she and Wen Yizhan stood at the junction of the hall doors, neither intending to participate nor interested in the ceremony taking place inside, like two outsiders.
Since it was inconvenient to speak, the two used communication talismans to exchange messages, each picking out the most important parts of what had happened in the past two days.
Jiang Yuhuo then realized that Li Shichuan had placed Wen Ruoxin's body in the Li family's ancestral mausoleum. It was ridiculous that someone who had wanted to escape her whole life was still tied to this family even in death. No wonder Wen Yizhan insisted on taking her away.
But after hiding her for so many years, will Li Shichuan let Wen Yizhan take her away this time?
Jiang Yuhuo used a communication talisman to ask the question.
After a long while without any news, Jiang Yuhuo looked up at the person in front of her—Wen Yizhan, whose hand was on the communication talisman and whose gaze was also fixed on the jade, seemed lost in thought.
Jiang Yuhuo gently tugged at his sleeve with her spiritual energy, and Wen Yizhan seemed to wake up.
Then she saw two new words appear on the message string: "Yes."
That's good.
Jiang Yuhuo was happy for him and couldn't help but smile. When she looked up, she saw Wen Yizhan smiling at her as well, but the moment she saw his smile clearly, Jiang Yuhuo was confused. She felt that her senior brother didn't seem so happy.
Finally, I can take my mother, who has been trapped for many years, away. Isn't that great?
She wanted to ask more questions, but a tall, purple figure suddenly blocked her and Wen Yizhan's path. Jiang Yuhuo looked into the hall and realized that everyone who had been worshipping had already stood up.
Li Mengbai initially thought Wen Yizhan was standing quite far away from him, and although he felt Wen Yizhan was an eyesore wherever she was, he didn't think much of it. But when he glanced at Jiang Yuhuo again during a break in the ceremony and saw her holding that communication talisman, he instantly flew into a rage. He knew all too well what that thing was for. Sure enough, that bastard was holding the same thing too.
Li Mengbai suppressed the overwhelming jealousy in his heart and finally made it to the end of the sacrificial ceremony, only to see the two of them smiling at each other.
He went over almost immediately, firmly blocking her gaze from potentially looking at others. "The ceremony is over, and I have some things to do. Do you want to go back? Gu Yu and Jing Zhe are all waiting outside. I'll have them take you back, okay?"
Jiang Yuhuo still wanted to follow Li Yanluo and didn't want to leave so soon, so she shook her head and said, "No need, I'll wait for you."
To Li Mengbai, the words "waiting for you" sounded like sweet nothings, filling him with a warm glow that completely overshadowed his earlier jealousy. If it weren't for the bustling crowd in the hall, he would have kissed the lips that uttered such tender words.
"Alright, there's a side chamber on the side of the main hall. Go there and wait for me." He was pleased with himself, but he didn't forget to separate Jiang Yuhuo and Wen Yizhan. As soon as he led her into the small side chamber, he kissed her lips a few times and then kissed the cinnabar mark on her forehead with reluctance before saying goodbye, "I'll be back soon. When I come back, we'll go home together."
Jiang Yuhu nodded, and then saw Li Mengbai and Li Shichuan walk away together.
Jiang Yuhuo searched for Li Yanluo's whereabouts. She hadn't gone far; she was in the mountains not far from the main hall, facing the tomb in the cliff, with Li Ziying, who was often with her, beside her.
After the ceremony, many people left, while others went to the tombs to perform separate tomb rituals for their ancestors. Li Yanluo wandered around one tomb after another, as if she was paying respects to the ancestors in these tombs, or as if she was looking for something.
Jiang Yuhuo kept an eye on Li Yanluo while waiting for Li Mengbai.
After a while, Li Mengbai, who said she would be back soon, did not appear. Instead, Li Shichuan came toward her.
Because of the eerie hall and Jia Yue's reminder, Jiang Yuhuo was already very wary of this person. When she saw him coming, she secretly called Ding Chun. If he made any unusual move, she would draw her sword.
Li Shichuan seemed to have given up on pretending with her and went straight to the point, saying, "Isn't the Princess very curious about that portrait? Come with me."
The portrait... Who else could it be but that portrait of the winged man? Jiang Yuhu knew he must have ill intentions, so she immediately tried to back away. But as soon as Li Shichuan saw her move, he immediately unleashed several large seals, intending to block all her escape routes.
The white rainbow sword intent burst forth, piercing through Li Shichuan's hand seals. The sword energy swirled, and the hand seals were torn to pieces. Jiang Yuhuo said coldly, "I hesitated for only one step, and the Li family head is so eager to force me to submit. I don't know when I offended the Li family head."
“Dingchun?” Li Shichuan’s narrow eyes narrowed slightly, his already cold and stern gaze becoming even more sinister. “It seems I underestimated you.”
"Spying on your aunt and trespassing into forbidden areas, Princess Ji doesn't take these things seriously?" Li Shichuan said, forming hand seals and drawing several streaks of light in the air that were enough to cleave the sky. He actually formed a sword array with his bare hands in an instant. Li Shichuan sneered, "But more importantly, there is the Feather Clan bloodline flowing in your veins."
With a flick of his finger, countless blades of light descended from the sky, rushing towards her location.
Jiang Yuhuo gathered her energy with her sword, preparing to unleash a nine-sword strike, "Breaking Through the Emperor's Gate," to break his sword formation. But this time, a "Breaking Through the Emperor's Gate" sword aura arrived at Li Shichuan's formation even faster than she could. Jiang Yuhuo looked at the familiar figure standing before her, facing countless blades, and felt a long-lost sense of peace.
This was a perfect "Emperor's Gate Cleaving" move. The powerful sword energy unleashed directly cleaved the sword formation in two. The black-clad swordsman wielded the sword freely, and the remaining power of the sword energy dissipated the remaining blade light.
Li Shichuan's face visibly darkened. "Zhan'er, don't be silly!"
Wen Yizhan drew his sword, its tip pointing directly at Li Shichuan. "Who's messing around with you? She's my junior sister. If you want to harm her, you'll have to ask the sword in my hand first."
Now that things had come to this, Li Shichuan no longer concealed anything and said proudly, "She possesses the bloodline of the Feathered People and is born to serve my Li family." Seeing the doubt flash in Wen Yizhan's eyes, Li Shichuan softened his tone, "I only want to take her to a place, not kill her. Don't forget, you promised me."
Jiang Yuhuo found it laughable. Did Li Shichuan think she could just take her along whenever she wanted?
"Is Patriarch Li so confident that he thinks he can take me away?"
Li Shichuan suddenly smiled sinisterly, "It might be hard to say outside, but once you dare to step into this place, things will be out of your control."
What about here?
With a thought, Li Shichuan's fingers flew across the screen, forming hand seals. He chanted something, and immediately many red lines appeared out of thin air, coming from all directions, all pointing directly at Jiang Yuhuo.
It was the same as the one I saw in that main hall last time.
Almost the instant the red line appeared, Jiang Yuhuo immediately felt that powerful suppressive force again.
What's going on? Is there another seal here?
Seeing that Jiang Yuhuo was not cooperating, Wen Yizhan went to help her, but as soon as he touched her arm, he was so hot that he almost pulled away. Her body was burning hot, just like the days after the Immortal Sect Competition.
He immediately realized that he couldn't let these things touch Jiang Yuhuo.
A red line was about to encircle Jiang Yuhuo. She gripped the sword in her hand and thought of the cinnabar mark on her forehead.
Is the Exile Seal that Li Mengbai just planted in her yesterday going to be used up today?
Just then, a figure rushed over, shouting, "Master, Shichuan... Yanluo went in alone!"
Li Shichuan's brow twitched. "Where did she go in?"
Li Ziying, who had rushed over, caught her breath and said, "The main tomb... she said you placed Wen Ruoxin's body and soul in the main tomb..."
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