Clan Cultivation: Starting from Foundation Establishment on Mount Luoxia

The old man's voice was calm, "When you fought those three little demon kings in the gravel belt, a trace of your Heavenly Dao trace leaked out."

Blood Eyes locked onto you through that sliver of aura.

Li Xiaoyao recalled that battle. At that time, he activated the [Colorful Splendor], unleashing seventy-two rays of light at full power, and indeed did not deliberately conceal the traces of the Dao from beyond the heavens.

But he didn't expect that Blood Eyes could sense it from such a distance.

"So it attacked Zhenyue to lure me there?" Li Xiaoyao asked.

"I'm not trying to lead you there."

True Monarch Minghuang spoke, his voice deep, "It's a test."

It's a test of your strength, a test to see if the immortal sect behind you will make a move, and a test to see if you've discovered its existence.

It's not in a hurry to catch you, because it's waiting—waiting for the right opportunity.

"At what time?"

Minghuang Zhenjun looked at him and said, "When your Heavenly Dao Mark is strong enough..."

Li Xiaoyao was stunned.

"The celestial traces will strengthen as your cultivation level increases."

Sect Leader Meng Yang continued, "You are currently in the mid-stage of the Purple Mansion realm, and the strength of your Heavenly Dao Mark is not yet sufficient. Blood Eye needs a stronger Dao Mark to activate the Void Token."

He's waiting for you to break through to the late stage of the Purple Mansion realm.

Li Xiaoyao remained silent for a long time.

"What should I do now?"

Meng Yang stood up, walked to the window of the stone hall, and looked out at the vast emptiness. His figure appeared somewhat lonely in the dim light.

"Wait," he said. "Wait for it to make the first move."

"But--"

"It is in the shadows, we are in the light. It doesn't show itself, so we can't find it."

Meng Yang turned around and looked at Li Xiaoyao, "But it will definitely come looking for you. Because it needs you. So, you just need to return to the border and continue your patrol mission."

Just do what you need to do; don't be on guard, and don't take the initiative. Wait for it to show itself.

Looking into the sect leader's eyes, Li Xiaoyao suddenly asked a question he shouldn't have: "What if I can't defeat it when it appears?"

The hall fell silent for a moment.

Minghuang Zhenjun's lips curled up slightly: "You can't fight alone."

The old man in the gray robe smiled too. His smile spread across his wrinkled face, like a clear spring suddenly gushing forth from a parched riverbed.

"Young friend Shangyuan," the old man stood up and extended his hand to him, "My Daoist name is Qingwei, I am a Supreme Elder of the Immortal Sect, and I am at the Dao Embryo Realm."

While you're away from the border, I will secretly follow you. The moment Blood Eyes appears will be its death.

Li Xiaoyao looked at the calloused hand and took it in his hand.

"Thank you, Elder."

Elder Xuanwei shook his head: "No need to thank me. The Immortal Sect has been waiting for this big fish for a long time."

It was already dark when Li Xiaoyao came out of the council hall.

He stood on the stone steps outside the hall, gazing at the fading glow of the sunset on the horizon, remaining silent for a long time. Then he turned and walked towards the Void Anchorage.

A small flying boat was docked at the edge of the anchorage, with the Immortal Sect's mark engraved on its hull.

Li Xiaoyao boarded the flying boat and set the coordinates—the western border, Zhenxi Pass.

The flying boat trembled slightly and entered the void.

Li Xiaoyao sat in the cabin, closing his eyes to rest.

The journey back was just as long as the one that had taken him there, but this time, he carried something different in his heart.

Fish bait—Elder Xuanwei called himself fish bait. It's an unpleasant metaphor, but very apt.

He was like a piece of meat hanging on a hook, waiting for the big fish to bite him.

He wasn't afraid. What he was afraid of was that the hook wasn't sharp enough.

……

Twenty days later, the flying boat arrived at Zhenxi Pass. Li Xiaoyao stepped out of the cabin and bumped into Zhen Yue.

Upon seeing Li Xiaoyao, he nodded: "You're back?"

"I'm back."

"What did the sect leader say?"

Li Xiaoyao didn't tell the truth, but simply said, "Let me continue my patrol."

Zhenyue didn't ask any more questions, he just nodded.

The days that followed went as usual.

Two of the three minor demon kings of the Blood Wolf tribe were crippled and one was killed by Li Xiaoyao. The remaining one hid deep in the Blood River Valley and dared not show itself.

But other tribes began to emerge—the Black Wind Tribe in the north and the Fire Hyena Tribe in the south, each sending one or two early-stage Purple Mansion demon kings to probe the border every few days.

They strike once and then retreat, never lingering in battle.

Li Xiaoyao and Zhen Yue took turns patrolling, one person per day, alternating between covering the gravel belt and the sea of ​​ghostly fire.

Elder Xuanwei never showed himself, but Li Xiaoyao knew he was there—that faint, elusive aura, like an invisible thread, was always tied to him.

On the thirteenth day, Li Xiaoyao patrolled the gravel belt alone.

The gravel belt remained dark and gloomy, with countless pebbles floating in the air, like a silent graveyard.

He flew close to the largest piece of gravel, his divine sense spreading out to cover an area of ​​a hundred miles.

There was no demonic aura, no abnormality, nothing at all.

But he always felt that something was watching him.

The body's instincts are inexplicable and hard to explain.

Something lurked in the shadows, casting its gaze upon him.

Just as he was about to hurry away, a voice echoed in his mind: "Don't rush."

It was Elder Xuanwei, aged and hoarse.

"It's here."

Li Xiaoyao felt a chill run down his spine, slowed his pace, and continued flying forward as if he hadn't noticed anything.

Elder Xuanwei's voice continued to echo in his mind: "It's in the northwest, about three hundred miles away from you. It's hidden in the shadow of a pile of rocks and has been following you for half an hour."

"Is it Blood Eyes?" Li Xiaoyao asked.

"Yes. But it wasn't its true form that came. It was an avatar, or rather... a phantom created from a wisp of divine thought. Its true form is not here."

Li Xiaoyao frowned slightly. A clone? A late-stage Purple Mansion cultivator can already condense a clone?

Elder Xuanwei seemed to see through his doubts: "Besides the Blood Fiend Demon Light, the Blood Eye Clan's innate divine abilities also include the 'Blood Shadow Clone'."

It can use its essence and blood as a catalyst to create a clone with the same aura as its original body. Its combat power is only 30% of the original, enough to fool even the most discerning eye.

"Is it using a clone to test us?"

"Yes," Elder Xuanwei said, "It's testing whether you have anyone behind you. It's also testing the Immortal Sect's reaction."

If it detects that you are protected by a high-level cultivator, it will disappear completely and never show its face again.

Li Xiaoyao understood. That's why Elder Xuanwei wouldn't make a move. If he did, Blood Eye's true form would escape.

They escaped the celestial realm, escaped the vast demon kingdom, and fled to some remote corner of the universe, where they could never be found again.

"Then what should I do?"

"Keep going. Don't speed up, don't slow down, and don't show anything unusual."

Elder Xuanwei's voice was calm, "Let it see whatever it wants to see. Let it test whatever it wants to test."

Li Xiaoyao took a deep breath and continued flying forward.

That gaze followed him the whole time, flying past him, from the gravel to the Sea of ​​Ghostfire, and from the Sea of ​​Ghostfire to the edge of Blood River Valley.

The blood-red phantom maintained a distance of three hundred miles from him, moving at a steady pace, like a wolf following its prey.

Until he flew back to Zhenxiguan.