Chapter 39: The Secret of Li Village.
“We’re home. Here we are.”
Li Tianxing dragged his feet, his face a tangle of reluctance, but every road has an end, and he finally stopped at the doorstep.
His home sat at the eastern edge of the village, nestled against a cliff that looked like it had been cleaved by a giant axe, exposing strange dark-golden rock.
Two plain stone-tiled houses stood at the cliff’s base.
The stones looked dull and gray, but a closer glance revealed faint, star-like glimmers flickering deep within their grain, almost imperceptible.
A hundred meters from the house was a small pond, its water so clear you could see straight to the bottom, where glossy, jade-like pebbles pulsed with faint spiritual charm.
A few silver-white fish, their scales edged with subtle spatial ripples, swam lazily, indifferent to the commotion on the shore.
The pond, along with a few odd trees with star-shaped leaves, belonged to their family’s land.
Inside, the furniture was old but meticulously tidy.
A chipped stone table, its surface smooth as a mirror, reflected the roof tiles, where faint runes seemed to flow slowly in the gaps.
At that moment, his grandmother and cousin Li Tianze were bickering in the thatched hut to the west.
The hut looked unremarkable, but its straw roof stood unnaturally straight, glinting with an impervious toughness.
Its owner was the village chief, Old Man Chen—an old codger with three stubborn hairs on his head.
The entire Li Family Village exuded an ancient, stagnant air of desolation.
The village path, paved with black stone slabs, wound between low stone houses.
Young faces were scarce—only a dozen or so old men and women lingered, squatting or sitting at their doorsteps.
These sunbathing elders, though relaxed, carried an indescribable weight in their presence.
The village was eerily quiet, disturbed only by the rustle of wind through the trees.
In the thatched hut, Old Man Chen’s raspy voice boomed.
“Well, I’ll be damned! Where’d you snatch this treasure of a girl? A Lunar Saint Body!
What a pity, what a pity—my useless grandson’s off gallivanting on the Starry Ancient Road in some other world.
Otherwise, I’d pull out all stops to join this fun!”
His voice wasn’t loud, but it shook dust from the hut’s beams, accumulated over who-knows-how-many years.
The old woman exploded at his words.
Without a word, she grabbed her unassuming wood-cutting knife, its blade erupting in vibrant, razor-sharp emerald light, slicing through space with a shrill whistle as it hacked at Old Man Chen’s scrawny frame.
Clang—Buzz!
A metallic clash rang out, followed by a low hum.
A visible shockwave rippled outward, stirring perfect circles on the pond’s surface a hundred meters away, the spiritual pebbles at its bottom briefly glowing.
“Ha!”
Old Man Chen smugly stroked his bald chin, his clothes unscathed, and flashed a provocative middle finger.
“That’s it? A thousand years ago, your lousy knife couldn’t scratch me.
A thousand years later? Tsk, tsk, your Emerald Sky Blade’s getting worse.
Can’t even nick my Immortal Heavenly Art skin. Frustrated yet?”
As he spoke, his frail body seemed like an eternal divine mountain, his aura vast as an abyss.
The black stone slab beneath him sank slightly, then slowly restored itself.
“You bastard!”
The old woman’s liver ached with rage.
Her Emerald Sky Blade flared brighter, slashing like a roaring jade dragon as she cursed.
“Old fossil, back when I came of age, you played pig to eat the tiger, nearly shattering my invincible dao heart!”
“Now you want to steal my grandson’s wife?
Today, I’ll see what’s tougher—your turtle shell or my Emerald Sky Blade!”
The scene at the village’s west end was bizarre.
A tottering old lady wielded a space-cleaving Emerald Sky Blade, while a scrawny, three-haired old man stood unshakable like a divine needle, flipping her off with a smug grin.
This “divine brawl” instantly roused the sunbathing elders.
Like they’d been injected with adrenaline, they swiftly pulled out stools and benches, eagerly spectating.
Some even fished out star-shaped, fragrant medicinal fruits from their pockets, munching away crunchily.
Old Man Chen, seeing the crowd gather, rolled his eyes and raised his arm, shouting, “Brothers and sisters, look!
This old hag got lucky, snagging a Lunar Saint Body to marry her useless grandson!”
“I, Chen, am the first to object!”
His voice carried an odd penetrating power, making the dark-golden rocks on the distant cliff hum in resonance.
“Go to hell!”
The old woman lost it, flipping her wrist.
The Emerald Sky Blade switched from slashing to smacking, its heavy back slamming into Old Man Chen’s shoulder with mountain-shattering force.
Wham!
“Ow!”
The old man, steady as a rock moments ago, broke character, yelping and hopping in pain, grimacing.
Each leap cracked the black stone slabs beneath him into spiderweb patterns, which eerily healed as he jumped away.
The spectating elders, expecting a quiet show, were stunned as the old man drew the fire to himself.
Boos mixed with gleeful snickers filled the air.
This old coot had swindled their peers in his youth and now targeted the younger generation.
If not for his freakishly durable Immortal Heavenly Art, honed over countless millennia, he’d have been ganged up on in a dark alley and had his last three hairs plucked out.
An old man puffing a pipe sneered lazily, “Chen, have some shame.
Look at this village—besides you and Old Lady Li’s family, who’s got a living descendant to call back?
Yours either ran off or…”
He paused, glancing at the silver fish in the pond.
“…or ain’t even human anymore.
You two fight it out.
Us old bones can’t handle your divine nonsense!
If you wreck my house, you paying?”
Old Man Chen, clutching his shoulder, scoffed at their “cowardice” and exposé.
“Tch! Two thousand years old, and I’m in my prime—time to hustle and grow the family!
No descendants? Make some! Use that initiative, you know?”
“If this hag gets her way and snags a once-in-eternity Lunar Saint Body, it’d hurt worse than if my whole line were talentless mortals!”
He pounded his chest dramatically, the thumps echoing loudly.