Family Cultivation: I Become a Mirror-Chapter 79 Repel the Shanyue

The fires at Lichuan Entrance had already started, with scattered villagers confronting the Shanyue in the alleys, protecting their wives and daughters behind them. Many people had already dispersed in all directions, leaving the Shanyue free to loot.

When Li Xiangping arrived with the clan soldiers, the Shanyue had completely scattered into the village to pillage without any formation. He could only frown and lead his soldiers down the stone-paved road towards the Spiritual Field courtyard.

Around the small courtyard, there were about a dozen Shanyue soldiers chattering in their native tongue, holding up large pieces of bluestone and hurling them into the courtyard. Fortunately, an array plate had been set up and a formation laid inside the courtyard. The bluestones rolled in the air for a while and then fell back outside the courtyard.

"Luckily the Spiritual Field is unharmed. I reckon this Wan Tianchou might still know a few formations. I’ll have to find an opportunity to get him to write them down for me to see."

Li Xiangping and his soldiers hurried over, and upon seeing this scene, he nodded his head. With a wave of his hand, he signaled the clan soldiers to move forward, which sent the Shanyue scattering in fear, and they were quickly captured.

"Family Head!"

Wan Tianchou, who was inside the formation, had a clear view and, seeing Li Xiangping come to the rescue, hurriedly and somewhat awkwardly opened the formation and cried out.

In a single night, the Wan Family was destroyed, and Wan Xiaohua destroyed all the lineages on Huaqian Mountain. The promised inheritance of formations also vanished without a trace. The only thing Wan Tianchou managed to escape with was a few array plates, and his skills weren’t refined; of the ten Fetal Breathing Realm formations, he had only learned three. Fortunately, he still knew how to set up a formation to prevent the Spiritual Field from being harmed.

"Woo..."

Just as Li Xiangping was about to order his soldiers to chase in different directions, he heard a deep horn blowing. The Shanyue soldiers in the village started retreating like a receding tide. He raised an eyebrow, lifted the Green Crow Bow in his hands, drew the bow and notched an arrow. After listening carefully for a few breaths, he released his hand, and a white light shot through the air towards the mountains.

"Let’s pursue them briefly."

Li Xiangping waved his hand, and the clan soldiers behind him sprang into action, following the direction in which the Shanyue had fled.

————

"Why have they come so quickly!"

Ahuiela sat in the forest. Seeing troop after troop of clan soldiers enter the village, he quickly got to his feet and shouted:

"Fall back! Fall back! Don’t bother fighting those people to the death, just grab what you can and go!"

His few hundred battered troops had only come to loot; they had no intention of squaring off with this group of clan soldiers. It was crucial to preserve all his men.

As long as he had these troops, he, Ahuiela, could beg for food in any tribe. If all were lost here, his power and value would greatly diminish, and he’d be nothing more than a hired thug.

The tribal shaman by his side hurriedly took out the horn and began to blow, and seeing the troops retreating back into the mountains, Ahuiela breathed a sigh of relief and sat back down next to the tree.

Just as he relaxed, Ahuiela saw a white light rapidly approaching. The head of the shaman by his side, who had been blowing the horn, exploded with a bang, like a smashed watermelon, splattering red and white all over Ahuiela’s face and head.

"That scared the hell out of me!"

Staring with horror at the arrow still quivering in the tree, Ahuiela swallowed hard, stepped back slowly, and whispered:

"Retreat, into the woods!"

Instantly, another shaman tentatively grabbed the horn and blew two notes, then quickly ducked down. Ahuiela felt an itching in his teeth but dared not take over himself.

Hiding behind a large tree, Ahuiela looked out into the distance. Relying on his Fetal Breathing Realm eyesight, he saw the situation clearly below and breathed a sigh of relief.

With the clan soldiers closely following the retreating troops, nearly a hundred had been cut down. Curses and pleas for mercy arose, and with nearly a hundred as a hindrance, the Shanyue troops finally made it into the forest.

The clan soldiers were filled with fighting spirit, eager to pursue into the woods. The sound of gongs and drums also came from the village, and the soldiers hesitated before stopping their chase, taking the captives back to the village instead.

"Damn cowards!"

Aherila cursed indignantly and, turning his head, led his people deep into the mountain forest.

————

After driving the soldiers and killing for a while, seeing that all the Shanyue had entered the forest, Li Xiangping hurriedly gave the signal to retreat, and the anger in his heart subsided a bit as he looked at the dozen or so captured Shanyue.

Watching Chen Erniu, covered in blood, slowly walk back from in front of the village, Li Xiangping gentled bowed his hands and said in a deep voice,

"You have worked hard, Steward Chen."

"Cough cough... I dare not..."

Chen Erniu coughed twice and waved off the gratitude, while Li Xuanxuan approached, clad in armor, with a string of bound Shanyue behind her. Li Xiangping nodded his head slightly and said in a low voice,

"Xuan’er, rest where you are with the men. We can’t let this go, allowing hundreds of Shanyue to simply plunder the riches and children of Lichuan Entrance."

Raising his hand to signal, Li Yesheng, with a few village strongmen, had already arrived at Lichuan Entrance, and they quickly gathered around.

"I’ll return to Lijing Mountain for now. You organize the troops here; we cannot let this hostility linger overnight."

The crowd responded in unison and dispersed, and Li Xiangping, having spoken, immediately turned and headed back. When he reached Lijing Mountain, he encountered the hurriedly emerging Li Tongya, his mana reaching perfection, having attained the peak of the Fetal Breathing Realm.

"Since Second Brother has emerged, we now have even greater assurance in dealing with this matter."

Li Xiangping teethed a smile with a hint of fury in his eyes, changed his clothes, entered the ancestral hall and knelt thrice and kowtowed nine times. Bypassing the offering table full of fruits and burning candles, he bowed respectfully to the Mirror on the stone platform and took down the Dharma Mirror.

"Be careful in your actions."

An elderly voice unexpectedly said, coming from his father, Li Mutian.

Li Mutian was now withered beyond recognition, sitting quietly in the courtyard, speaking in a hoarse voice before taking deep breaths.

The old man often fell into a confused slumber in the courtyard, with few lucid moments, frequently forgetting to eat in the main house. He needed Li Xuanfeng to call him, yet was exceptionally sensitive to the sound of footsteps; Li Xiangping had just entered the yard when he awoke the elderly man.

"Yes."

Li Xiangping acknowledged with a response, looking at Li Mutian’s condition, a trace of worry rose in his heart, not knowing how much longer his father could hold on, and his face involuntarily showed a hint of reluctance.

Clenching his teeth, Li Xiangping turned and left the back courtyard, then said to Li Tongya,

"There is no need to use the Taiyin Profound Light; the ability of this Mirror to sense far and near will suffice. We will catch the Shanyue off guard. With the Mirror, even if there are Qi Cultivators, we can retreat unscathed."

"Agreed."

Li Tongya followed Li Xiangping down the mountain, listening to his brother’s somber recounting of the events of the past few days, then nodded thoughtfully.

Without stopping, the two hastened to their encampment. The night was still deep, and the village militiamen and clan soldiers were sleeping with their faces covered.

Two strikes of the gong sounded, and everyone sprang up, donned their armor, grasped their swords and shields, took out horizontal crossbow bolts to bite in their mouths, and tightly wrapped the bolts with cloth strips to prevent them from falling out, as they assembled together.

While waiting for Li Xuanxuan and Li Qiuyang to gather the troops, Li Xiangping closed his eyes and surreptitiously touched the Mirror, thoroughly scanning the entire mountain with clarity.

With the Green Crow Bow in hand, several beams of light flew into the mountains, picking off the Shanyue sentries left in the woods one by one. Only then did Li Xiangping put the bow behind him and loudly declared,

"Move out!"