Li Tongya

Li Tongya is the second son of Li Mutian and one of the founding cultivators of the Li Family of Lijing. Known as the Celestial Moon Sword, he becomes the family’s principal guardian and a Foundation Establishment ancestor, combining the Boundless Ocean immortal foundation with the sword inheritance of his younger brother Li Chejing. His protection allows the clan to grow, but the struggle against the Wrathful Maha costs him his son and ultimately his life. (Chapters 3, 167–169, 227–229, 318–328, 346)

Biography

A farmer learns to protect an immortal secret

Li Tongya begins as the second of four brothers in a farming household. When Li Xiangping brings home the mirror and their father fears that its light has attracted an enemy, Tongya immediately retrieves weapons and armor, assigns his youngest relatives to safety, and joins the defense. His willingness to kill a witness to preserve the secret alarms even Li Mutian, who challenges the proposal. The encounter establishes both sides of Tongya’s guardianship: he reacts quickly to danger, but protecting the family can draw him toward decisions that require a moral check. (Chapters 3–5)

Receiving a Profound Pearl Talisman Seed gives that responsibility a new form. Changhu’s assassination interrupts his cultivation, and only after the funeral and two months of recovery can he condense Profound Scenery. Rather than pursuing cultivation apart from ordinary life, Tongya tends spirit fields and screens village children for spiritual orifices, finding Liu Rouxuan among them. Their later marriage ties his cultivation to another household, while comforting the fatherless Li Xuanxuan makes clear that his brother’s death has left duties which a breakthrough cannot resolve. (Chapters 11, 18, 23, 31)

His early progress is limited by the small family’s equipment and resources. A sword offered as Rouxuan’s dowry becomes the instrument of his first effective Profound Water Sword Aura, and trading harvests alongside the Wan Family exposes him to the greater cultivation world. Reaching Jade Capital provides spiritual sense, allowing him to inspect cultivation and operate formations more effectively. These gains make him a stronger defender, but they also teach him that income, useful allies, and inherited knowledge matter as much as private training. (Chapters 46, 54)

Survival after the invasion

Approaching the end of Embryonic Breathing, Tongya discovers how sharply his circumstances differ from those of the Xiao heirs. His family cannot casually buy spiritual qi, commission artifacts, or experiment with costly talisman paper. He therefore seeks a workable method through the Xiaos, obtains River One Qi and a portion of River Pure Qi, and prepares for Qi Cultivation under pressure from Mount Yue and the Ji Family. Once able to fly and wield River True Essence, he captures a river crocodile alive for sacrifice, turning his own advancement into a means of improving the family’s mirror-derived protection. (Chapters 72, 77, 82–84)

The invasion makes the limits of that protection painfully clear. Tongya draws Mu Jiaoman and two other shamans away so that Xuanling and Jingtian can escape, although their numbers and higher cultivation would exhaust him in a prolonged confrontation. Finding the children safe brings relief; the Azure Pond Sect’s instruction to “Endure” leaves him convinced that the family must become stronger through its own efforts. He reconstructs defenses, gathers spiritual qi, and joins the attack on the Ji Family rather than waiting for a sect to secure their future. (Chapters 95–100)

A promising cave exploration exposes another kind of danger. Tongya accepts Lin Jingyi and Xu Yangping’s proposal only after examining their story, then remains alert around the much better connected Zhang Yun. In the snake cave, Zhang Yun kills the couple and forces a settlement that leaves Tongya with a sealed River Mountain Sutra and a spear he cannot yet use. Much later, the Golden Feather Sect’s arrangement is revealed to have used Tongya in place of Su Yan, leaving the distinctive Duruo Spear and an inheritance that draw the Miao Family’s enmity. What looked like a valuable expedition is another instance of a minor cultivator receiving only the portion stronger actors choose to leave him. (Chapters 108–112, 508, 1486)

A recovered mirror fragment leads Lu Jiangxian to give him the Deep Ocean Long Whale Talisman, abruptly expanding his mana reserve and carrying him to the fifth heavenly layer. Tongya conceals this acceleration by sending Xuanfeng to represent the clan and allowing Xuanxuan to manage its daily affairs. His growing power lets him force Lu Sisi and An Zheyan to honor the Li share of a mine, but does not make every action benevolent: he also ambushes a Wu cultivator for her possessions. By cultivating the White Banyan Fox as an informant through gifts of rice, he supplements force with knowledge of threats that the family cannot discover alone. (Chapters 111–116, 119, 123)

Keeping Chejing’s legacy alive

Chejing’s death leaves Tongya with an inheritance that is powerful, precious, and politically dangerous. He has Jingtian preserve an internal history while altering the public account to conceal talisman seeds and implausible advancement. When Xiao Yuansi finally returns Chejing’s belongings, Tongya’s tears join Yuansi’s guilt, but he treats the surviving ally with respect. The Law of Celestial Moon and Qingche Sword give the clan a future beyond the lost brother; Tongya discovers that the sword will open for the initial Celestial Moon stance even though ordinary mana cannot draw it. (Chapters 139, 167–169)

He builds that future through both cultivation and cooperation. Helping Lingyanzi against hostile sect disciples wins a grateful connection, while Yuansi’s pills and guidance support his later heavenly layers. Tongya insists on paying a fair share rather than allowing the whole exchange to become compensation for Chejing. He also studies River Crossing Torrential Step as insurance against defeat, although cultivation takes priority and slows his training. His hope of reaching Foundation before sixty becomes so consuming that, after attaining the ninth heavenly layer, he recognizes haste itself as a danger and resolves to advance steadily instead. (Chapters 148, 159, 161, 168–169, 178–179, 191)

The death of Li Yuanxiu makes the danger to that succession immediate. Tongya pursues the attackers with Xuanfeng, refusing to follow an obvious diversion and driving the other assailant back with successive Celestial Moon strikes. He suspects the Yu Family but cannot obtain a living prisoner: the wounded attacker uses a Foundation talisman to destroy himself rather than permit identification. Tongya therefore faces an enemy he can recognize without safely proving the charge. Arranging Qinghong’s concealed training with Fei Wangbai both improves her cultivation prospects and puts a descendant beyond the reach of the same unpredictable rivals; Fei’s promise to restrain the Yu Family buys time for Tongya’s dangerous Foundation attempt. (Chapters 211–212, 218–221)

The change in attitude accompanies a more sustainable division of labor. He abandons the Qi talismans he cannot successfully draw and recognizes Xuanxuan’s superior aptitude, while continuing to guide the family’s swordsmen and seek alliances for Qinghong. At sixty-two he finally dissolves his six chakras and forms Boundless Ocean with the aid of his talisman and seed. Returning to the younger generation as a Foundation ancestor gives him profound satisfaction: his private struggle has raised the Li Family to the third Foundation Establishment clan on the lake. (Chapters 191, 209, 218, 227–229) The ease of this breakthrough is not explained simply by the mirror’s blessing. Lu observes that the seed and talisman do not raise the chance of Foundation success. Later, he suspects that the pill Tongya took was refined from an Eastern Sea demon and therefore escaped the seed’s dangerous reaction to ingestion; Ximing’s later investigation establishes that Tongya received a superior pill refined by a Purple Mansion cultivator. These revelations complicate the difference between the family’s refusal of slaughter and the opaque medicines upon which its survival has depended. (Chapters 231, 784, 1084)

An ancestor’s strength and its hidden price

Foundation Establishment improves Tongya’s bargaining position without freeing him from danger. Xiao Yuansi explains that compatible immortal foundations can be stolen and consumed, making his very cultivation a potential target. Tongya accepts a marriage alliance for Yuanjiao but resists a match with the Xiao main daughter, eventually agreeing to Xiao Guiluan; he also returns a footwork inheritance belonging to the Xiao ancestors. His diplomacy seeks support that the smaller family can sustain rather than treating newly gained status as permission to abandon caution. (Chapter 235)

That caution shapes his confrontation with Yu Xiaogui. While the Xiaos and their allies strike the Yu Family’s resources, Tongya holds its ancestor at Mount Huazhong. He hides his exceptional recovery behind apparent strain, uses Threefold Moonlight to force defensive responses, and reserves Qingche’s inherited sword intent for an emergency because revealing it would expose secrets. After four hours, his opponent is exhausted while Tongya can still recover. The victory secures room for the Li Family to expand, yet depends on coordinated action and Fei Wangbai’s decision to honor their alliance. (Chapters 260, 268–272)

Tongya continues to provide for the clan by hunting a Foundation demon, but larger powers repeatedly demonstrate the limits of local success. He cannot substitute himself when the sect summons Xuanfeng, despite fearing the extinction of Xiangping’s line. When Minghui restrains him so that Murong Xia can pass south, he learns that the consumption of human lives has been authorized through a political exchange. He rejects the monk’s attempt to preach among his people, but must let the traveler go. A warning that others are deliberately spreading his fame turns his reputation from a shield into evidence that someone is arranging his destruction. (Chapters 285–288, 296, 303)

The son he cannot save

Xuanling’s disappearance brings the concealed struggle into the open. Tongya tells Yuanjiao that refusing the summons will eventually bring his son’s head, and that hiding indefinitely would endanger more than the two of them. He has learned that a Maha wants his Deep Ocean Whale Dragon Fate, not simply his immortal foundation. His response is a terrible calculated choice: by sending Xuanling north, he gives the enemy a predictable lure instead of allowing it to select victims freely. A delaying divine ability defeats his attempt to arrive in time, and he reaches Zhenhui Temple only after Fahui has killed his son. (Chapters 318, 323–324) Before leaving, he entrusts Yuanjiao with the Law of Celestial Moon, his own sixty years of swordsmanship commentary in the Law of Sexagenary Cycle Sword Manual, and a jade box capable of storing Purple Mansion treasures. Passing over these inheritances makes the succession concrete even while the older guardian remains alive. (Chapter 319)

His sword initially dismembers the newly advanced monk, but Fahui’s reincarnated wrathful form makes those injuries increasingly ineffective. The enemy turns the confrontation into an assault on Tongya’s conscience, speaking in Xuanling’s voice about the duties, marriage, neglected cultivation, and unequal resources imposed on him while Tongya favored his brothers’ children. These are weapons of a hostile spell, but Tongya’s anger and guilt make them devastating. His clan’s lack of powerful immortal spells leaves him dependent on swordsmanship and water techniques; the Maha tears through the serpent dragons, binds him, and destroys his internal organs. (Chapters 324–325)

The arrival of nine Daoist Masters changes the outcome without undoing his losses. Tongya seals his abdominal wound with water, gathers the only surviving part of Xuanling’s body, and escapes with the seed keeping him conscious. Shangyuan delivers the final blow to the trapped Maha, although reports spread that Tongya slew him. By the river, Tongya’s composure collapses as he repeatedly tries to straighten his son’s broken nose. His defense of the family has succeeded only within boundaries imposed by much stronger people, and he admits both his failure toward Xuanling and the limits of what one family or generation can change. (Chapters 326–328)

Choosing the family’s future over his own life

Returning home, Tongya reassures the descendants but withdraws from ordinary command, leaving Qingche in the family’s main seat. He knows that most medicines offered by the juniors cannot repair his ruined Dao and considers their expenditure a waste. The White Banyan Fox offers a cure based on harvesting human organs; Tongya refuses to turn survival into indiscriminate slaughter, even while admitting that he has killed and has compromising ties of his own. The fox’s anger gives way to grief and a gift of its prized Huashang Fruit, preserving a friendship that is more than an exchange of information. (Chapters 331, 333–334)

His last public action turns that borrowed vitality into protection for another family. After Fei Wangbai’s death, the Yu Family attacks Glacial Cloud Peak. Tongya arrives in white robes with a youthful face and a peak-like aura, hoping that the reputation earned at Zhenhui Temple will force a retreat. Yu Mugao recognizes the possibility of a bluff and urges his father to attack, so Tongya releases a devastating Qingche strike. It overwhelms Yu Xiaogui, but costs nearly all the strength he has left. He conceals the blood and internal turmoil, orders their withdrawal, and regrets that he cannot strike again to remove Mugao as a future threat. (Chapters 343–344) The cut splits Xiaogui at the waist and destroys his cultivation, although his son rejoins the body and withdraws with him. Later accounts attribute Xiaogui’s death to Tongya’s sword; the immediate victory is a fatal injury and forced retreat rather than a second execution after the duel. (Chapters 343–344, 347, 426)

He refuses to exploit the rescued Fei Family for tribute and instead leaves advice and a debt of friendship that Yuanjiao can use after his death. Back in the cave, he explains the surrounding powers and the need to preserve alliances, then dies alone as Boundless Ocean crumbles and gentle rain falls outside. Five years later, his descendants discover the transformation of his body into spirit water and minerals and follow his request to return them to rivers, streams, and useful mortal work. His influence survives in the Qingche Sword and the family’s memory of his warm but unsentimental guidance. (Chapters 345–347, 358, 536) Xiao Chuting later admits that he would not disrupt the many Purple Mansion cultivators’ plan for Tongya and instead sought gains from a fate he could not change. For Yuansi, this admission exposes the limit of the family alliance and raises the suspicion that the trap was also meant to test an unseen presence. (Chapter 366)

Appearance and personality

Tongya has broad shoulders, long gentle eyebrows, and gray eyes. As an older cultivator he often wears a gray robe and ordinary cloth shoes, with gray hair appearing at his temples and later in his beard. His restrained clothing contrasts with the otherworldly sight of rain parting around him after he establishes Boundless Ocean. Terminal injury leaves him white-haired and withered; the Huashang Fruit temporarily restores a handsome youthful appearance, flowing black hair, and a spirited face resembling his sixteen-year-old self. That transformation accompanies a desperate last exertion rather than lasting rejuvenation. (Chapters 167, 228, 318, 324, 328, 333, 343–346)

He is composed, suspicious, and accustomed to concealing both strength and pain. He studies threats before committing himself, keeps the mirror’s secrets out of public histories, and prefers alliances or an intimidating display to unnecessary exposure. His austerity extends to carrying an unprotected basic storage pouch and refusing medicines that would waste the clan’s resources. Neither caution nor warmth makes him harmless: he fights for territory, kills opponents, and threatens a traveler he intends to rob. His refusal to slaughter uninvolved people for a cure is therefore a moral boundary within a violent life, rather than a claim of innocence. (Chapters 99–100, 116, 119, 123, 139, 269, 326, 333–334)

His care for his brothers’ descendants is sustained and consequential, but it places an unequal burden on his own household. Fahui’s use of Xuanling’s voice exposes the guilt behind Tongya’s stoicism, and the sight of his son’s broken face finally overwhelms him. Even afterward, his last advice centers on the younger generation’s survival. He preserves gratitude toward the Fei Family and the White Banyan Fox while refusing to pretend that the clan can escape every compromise imposed by a stronger world. (Chapters 31, 296, 324–328, 333, 345–346)

Abilities and cultivation

Tongya specializes in swordsmanship supported by an unusually large and rapidly recovering supply of mana. His water cultivation, mirror-derived talisman, and Chejing’s sword legacy reinforce one another, making him an exceptional opponent in a prolonged fight. They do not compensate fully for the family’s limited spell inheritance or grant the bodily resilience of a powerful Buddhist cultivator. His last explicitly established realm is early Foundation Establishment; the final peak-like display is temporary. (Chapters 168, 227, 269–272, 325, 328, 343–344)

River One Qi and Boundless Ocean

After completing the six chakras of Embryonic Breathing through the Supreme Yin Breathing Meridian Nourishment Sutra, Tongya uses River Pure Qi with the River One Qi Technique. The resulting River True Essence enables flight, a Pure Qi Shield, and water-related techniques, and is compatible with his Profound Water Sword Technique. His capture of a river crocodile shows its practical use: he flies above the creature, blocks some of its attacks, wounds it with strengthened sword qi, then seals its vitality so that it can be brought home alive. This power requires active cultivation and mana expenditure; at his second heavenly layer he cannot indefinitely sustain sword attacks against several shamans. (Chapters 11–12, 82–84, 95)

At Foundation Establishment, the technique forms Boundless Ocean. The breakthrough dissolves his six chakras into streams of light and consumes the true essence in his sea of qi before they coalesce into flowing water. His Deep Ocean Long Whale Talisman and Profound Pearl Talisman Seed participate in the process, although Tongya does not fully understand why success comes so readily. The foundation inherits the method’s immense mana flow, grants greater strength in rivers, and enhances water manipulation. He forms serpent dragons from water, converts them into water swords, and combines them with sword aura. Its water-repelling effect keeps rain and even blood away from him. (Chapters 227–228, 268, 273)

The foundation also grants less martial functions: studying channels to anticipate droughts and floods, entering water without disturbing fish and crabs, suppressing hunger through breathing, resisting ordinary water and fire, and blessing water with talisman qi to aid lower-realm cultivators. Tongya initially considers several of these effects unremarkable; that judgment does not establish that they lack value, nor does ordinary-fire resistance imply immunity to hostile magical attacks. His late water membrane can cover an abdominal wound, but cannot restore the destroyed organs beneath it. (Chapters 227, 326, 328)

Boundless Ocean is powerful but not self-sufficient. Xiao Yuansi describes River One Qi as slow, and Tongya’s family lacks the advanced spells needed to turn its reserve into an answer to every opponent. The Wrathful Maha, who calls the foundation by its ancient name Jing Dragon King, tears apart Tongya’s serpent dragons and immobilizes him. Compatible foundations also create a predatory risk: Yuansi warns that Dao Partners can be extracted and consumed, with severe restrictions and dangers for the thief. Tongya’s eventual threat comes from a Maha seeking his fate instead, but the warning shapes his caution long before he identifies that distinction. (Chapters 168, 235, 318, 325)

Profound Pearl Talisman Seed and Deep Ocean Long Whale

The mirror’s seed gives Tongya access to cultivation and the Exorcism Art. Its contribution remains important beyond his first chakra: it assists the formation of Boundless Ocean and provides cooling energy that keeps him conscious after the Maha’s assault. Lu Jiangxian’s protection is therefore part of Tongya’s endurance, although Tongya does not have independent command of the mirror’s powers. The seed cannot prevent irreversible bodily damage or the final collapse of his foundation. (Chapters 11, 227, 326, 344, 346)

The Deep Ocean Long Whale Talisman is a separate permanent enhancement bestowed after a mirror fragment is recovered. Lu chooses it over an alternative that would exchange lifespan for explosive mana. Its infusion expands Tongya’s Qihai five or six times and accelerates recovery by more than ten times at that moment; he finds that replenishment which he expected to require eight or ten hours will take less than two. The passage simultaneously carries his cultivation through the fourth and fifth heavenly layers. Its increased reserve makes his previously full supply feel sparse until he refills it, so the experience is an expansion of capacity rather than a loss of realm. (Chapter 111)

Combined with Boundless Ocean, the talisman makes ordinary attrition a poor strategy against him. During the Yu Xiaogui duel, Tongya estimates that one-tenth of his mana corresponds to two or three-tenths of an average Foundation cultivator’s supply. He recovers with each breath, conceals that advantage, and holds his opponent for four hours while using roughly forty percent of his reserve. This is a demonstrated advantage in that confrontation, not limitless mana: the Maha’s much stronger attacks destroy his organs, and his final Qingche strike exhausts the vitality temporarily supplied by medicine. (Chapters 269–272, 325, 343–344)

Profound Water Sword Technique

Tongya first produces a thin, light-gray Profound Water Sword Aura on the sword given by Rouxuan’s family. After six months of practice it can cut through a large tree, but replenishing the mana used remains part of the exercise. Continued practice produces fast, precise ranged sword qi; River True Essence increases its strength, and he uses repeated strikes to wear down the river crocodile without allowing a dangerous final counterattack. His skill lets him pressure opponents whose less refined cultivation gives them weaker techniques, although fighting several at once can still drain him. (Chapters 46, 84, 95)

He later combines these ordinary sword attacks with the opening stance and surprise of Celestial Moon Slash. Against Lu Sisi and An Zheyan, the initial attack breaks their defensive true essence and lets him follow with two Profound Water Sword Qi before they can respond. The success depends on their underestimating a technique he withheld in their earlier battle. Strong protective artifacts can still absorb his sword attacks, and powerful talisman fire forces him to defend and retreat even when he holds the broader advantage. (Chapters 119, 123, 268–269)

Celestial Moon and the Qingche Sword

Chejing’s Celestial Moon Slash manual gives Tongya an offensive technique beyond ordinary Profound Water swordsmanship. He studies it for more than a decade and knows the text thoroughly, but initially uses it sparingly because execution is exhausting. Drawing the sword and gathering power can therefore be both preparation and a threat: the White Banyan Fox retreats when Tongya releases the slash, and his former allies discover its force only when they try to reduce the Li share of the mine. Its effectiveness develops through practice and timing rather than merely possessing the manual. (Chapters 99, 114, 119)

The fuller Law of Celestial Moon returns with Chejing’s belongings. It is a Grade Five inheritance, and Qingche is a spiritual Foundation weapon whose own development came through Chejing’s continuous nurturing and sword intent. Ordinary mana cannot draw it for Xiao Yuansi or Tongya; Tongya unlocks it through the initial Celestial Moon stance. The matching stance establishes Tongya’s ability to draw the inherited sword without establishing that he has personally attained Chejing’s sword intent. Tongya preserves the sword carefully and avoids exposing its remaining intent unnecessarily. (Chapters 167–169, 269)

His years of study produce Threefold Moonlight: sword aura separates into three pure-white lights that are substantial, agile, and move with an intelligence beyond his earlier ethereal sword qi. Their unpredictable movement forces Yu Xiaogui to divert his artifact and defend several lines of attack. They are still counterable—the Jade Smoke Mountain suppresses them, and Yu Xiaogui shatters the separated lights—so Tongya uses them together with reserve management and allied timing rather than expecting an unavoidable kill. (Chapters 268–269)

Wielded against Fahui, Qingche releases Celestial Moon Sword Essence whose individual lights have consciousness. Tongya severs an arm and directs three lights into the heart, brow, and abdomen before sweeping through the body. Yet a Buddhist body can regenerate from dismembered white flesh, and the returning Wrathful Maha’s strengthening form reduces the injury his sword can inflict. The sword retains Chejing’s intent, while Tongya demonstrably commands its sword essence; he is not described attaining personal sword intent. His last strike against Yu Xiaogui shows its terrible offensive force, but the effort leaves him unable to follow with another attack. (Chapters 324–325, 343–344)

River Crossing Torrential Step

Tongya discovers this footwork inheritance by channeling River True Essence into the dharma sword taken from the Wu cultivator. It originated with Xiao Xianyou and shares a background with River One Qi, which should aid learning. The technique has three stages, but Tongya’s realm cultivation repeatedly takes priority, leaving him to practice mainly at bottlenecks. He needs seven or eight years to master its first stage, rather than the shorter period he believes focused study would have required. (Chapters 146, 178, 235)

That first stage lets him step through the air with phantom-like movement and water-like reflections. He regards it as a means of escaping ordinary Qi opponents even when he cannot win, explicitly excepting a Foundation Establishment opponent from that confidence. He later returns the ancestral method to the Xiao Family as a gesture of integrity and alliance. No further stage is specifically confirmed. An accompanying Blood Escape Technique offers an emergency escape at the cost of essence qi and life. Tongya passes that inheritance to his descendants, but his own use of it is not shown. (Chapters 146, 178, 235, 387)

Crafting and practical judgment

Tongya learns the Spiritual Talisman Method from Chejing’s manual, but expense and limited aptitude constrain him. He eventually masters Embryonic talismans, yet never successfully produces a Qi Cultivation talisman and yields that specialization to Xuanxuan. His other early support skills include casting Spirit Rain, screening children by circulating mana through their meridians, and using the spiritual sense gained at Jade Capital. These competencies help establish a cultivation household without making him an accomplished expert in every craft. (Chapters 23, 54, 72, 191)

His investigation and leadership depend on accumulated experience, confidential histories, and relationships. The White Banyan Fox supplies approximately half his information; cooperation with the Xiao and Fei Families lets him accomplish more than a solitary fighter could. He disguises accelerated cultivation, preserves the public relationship between the mirror and the clan, and leaves Yuanjiao a map of nearby threats and useful alliances. These methods have real limits: he cannot prevent the sect from taking Xuanfeng or undo the agreements which allow Murong Xia’s passage. (Chapters 116, 139, 269, 285, 296, 303, 333, 346)

Power progression

Relationships

Li Mutian and his brothers: Tongya’s father checks his early willingness to silence a witness, while the deaths of Changhu, Xiangping, and Chejing turn him into the surviving guardian of their descendants. He keeps their history, preserves Chejing’s sword legacy, and continues defending a family whose original brothers have dwindled to himself. (Chapters 4, 18, 96, 139, 167–169, 285)

Liu Rouxuan and Li Xuanling: Rouxuan is the spiritual-orifice candidate he discovers and later marries; her family supplies his first sword. Their son inherits his sword aptitude and many household responsibilities. Fahui’s use of Xuanling’s grievances exposes the cost of Tongya’s clan-first priorities, and Tongya’s grief after retrieving his son’s head is an explicit admission that protection of the wider family has failed his own child. (Chapters 23, 31, 46, 84, 324–328)

Li Xuanxuan and Li Xuanfeng: Changhu’s and Xiangping’s sons become central to Tongya’s succession. He comforts the fatherless Xuanxuan, relies on his administration and talisman talent, and encourages Xuanfeng’s cultivation and family life. His attempt to replace Xuanfeng in the sect summons demonstrates the depth of his responsibility toward his brothers’ remaining lines. (Chapters 31, 96, 115–116, 161, 191, 296)

Li Yuanjiao and Li Qinghong: Tongya seeks an alliance through Yuanjiao’s marriage, explains the Maha’s threat to him, and leaves him the practical burden of defending the clan. He helps arrange opportunities for Qinghong’s spearmanship and gives her armor; she later carries out his wishes for his remains. He defends her right to refuse marriage while warning that her chosen path will be difficult and asking her to reconsider the dangerous Purple Thunder method. (Chapters 191, 234–235, 318, 346, 358)

Lu Jiangxian: The mirror is the hidden patron behind Tongya’s seed, talisman, and crucial survival assistance. Tongya continues treating it with ritual respect even after reaching Foundation. Lu interprets that respect as a deliberate effort to preserve their mutual relationship despite Tongya’s suspicions; he also values Tongya’s longevity because the implanted seed matures over time. Their alliance is productive without either side fully revealing its knowledge or motives. (Chapters 11, 111, 227, 285, 324, 326)

Xiao Yuansi and the Xiao Family: Yuansi becomes a guide, bereaved friend, and custodian of Chejing’s inheritance. Tongya accepts his help while paying fairly for pills and returns the footwork of his ancestor. Their cooperation develops into a marriage alliance and joint political action, although the cultivation world’s inequalities remain visible even within this valuable friendship. (Chapters 167–169, 235, 260, 268–272)

White Banyan Fox: What begins as a fight and an exchange of rice for information becomes a long friendship. The fox’s attempt to save Tongya through blood sacrifice causes an ethical quarrel; its gift of Huashang Fruit and grief at his death show an attachment beyond the original bargain. (Chapters 114–115, 333–334, 358)

Fei Wangbai and the Yu Family: Fei cooperation is essential to the confrontation with Yu Xiaogui, and Tongya later protects the bereaved Fei household without demanding tribute. The Yu Family remains a recurring territorial threat. His final encounter incapacitates Xiaogui and forces retreat, but leaves the calculating Yu Mugao alive—a danger he recognizes when he no longer has strength to strike again. (Chapters 268–272, 343–346)

Fahui and the Wrathful Maha: The Maha targets Tongya’s fate through his family and uses Xuanling’s death and memories to attack his conscience. Tongya survives the battle through the intervention of greater cultivators and the mirror’s assistance, but loses both his son and his own cultivation future. (Chapters 318, 323–328)

Items

Qingche Sword: Chejing’s spiritual Foundation sword returns through Xiao Yuansi and opens for Tongya’s Celestial Moon stance. It carries inherited sword intent, supports his signature techniques, and remains with him through his final battles. Yuanjiao retrieves it when the family discovers Tongya’s transformed remains. (Chapters 167–169, 269, 324–325, 343–344, 358)

Law of Sexagenary Cycle Sword Manual: Tongya compiles sixty years of commentary on the Law of Celestial Moon into this teaching inheritance and entrusts it to Yuanjiao before going north. Its explanations later prove easier to understand than the original art. The jade box handed over with the manuals is itself capable of storing Purple Mansion treasures. (Chapters 319, 384, 895)

Cultivation and sword inheritances: Tongya studies the Supreme Yin Breathing Meridian Nourishment Sutra, River One Qi Technique, Profound Water Sword Technique, and the Celestial Moon manuals. He also possesses the sealed purple River Mountain Sutra jade slip, whose contents he initially cannot access, and discovers River Crossing Torrential Step within a dharma sword before returning its method to the Xiao Family. These are distinct inheritances with different uses and access restrictions. (Chapters 11–12, 46, 83, 99, 112, 168, 178, 235)

Huashang Fruit and cultivation pills: The fox’s Huashang Fruit grants the temporary vitality used in Tongya’s last defense of the Fei Family. Earlier, the Jade Sprout Pill enables his third heavenly layer, pills refined by Yuansi support his later cultivation, and the Essence Gathering Pill accompanies his Foundation attempt. Medicine assists specific transitions or temporary survival; none repairs the terminal injury. (Chapters 99, 168–169, 179, 227, 333, 343–344)

Weapons and protective equipment: His first sword is supplied as Rouxuan’s dowry. The Duruo Spear, a Foundation-grade lightning spear recovered from the snake cave is initially beyond both his realm and spear skill, and he later recalls it while seeking instruction for Qinghong. The Dragon Coiling Pillar is a Yuan Family congratulatory gift later carried by Yuanjiao, while jade armor from the conquest of Mount Yuting is given to Qinghong. His ordinary storage pouch lacks protective enchantments and is destroyed at Zhenhui Temple. (Chapters 46, 112, 191, 218, 318, 326, 353, 358, 508)

Alchemy furnace: Tongya takes a valuable Qi Cultivation furnace from the Wu cultivator he ambushes, then conceals it because the small family cannot safely advertise such wealth. It later supports the clan’s alchemy inheritance. (Chapters 123, 365)

• An Family Jade Armor: The An-family heirloom becomes Qinghong’s protective armor; its association with his household does not make it his personal combat equipment. (Chapters 329 and 410)

• First Absorbed Jade: The recovered jade integrates into the household’s mirror and restores capabilities on which his cultivation depends. (Chapters 6–7)

• Immortal Mirror: Safeguards and serves the family’s conscious relic, whose gifts establish his cultivation and whose resident consciousness remains an independent agent. (Chapters 8–12)

• Jade Sprout Pills: Uses the old Daoist’s medicinal inheritance and later doses to advance Qi cultivation, while observing the need for toxic aftereffects to clear. (Chapters 75, 83, 97–99, and 107)

• Law of Celestial Moon manual: Receives Chejing’s sealed sword inheritance through Xiao Yuansi and later entrusts it to Yuanjiao alongside his own commentary. (Chapters 168–171 and 319)

• Lingyu Gate Dharma Sword: Retrieves the fallen sword carrying River Crossing Torrential Step and its appended Blood Escape Method; later returns the movement inheritance to the Xiao family. (Chapters 144–146 and 235)

• Misty Maze Formation Flags: Controls the household’s concealing defense through his spiritual sense. After the formation is destroyed, Xuanxuan recovers three of its six flags and Tongya puts them away. (Chapters 34, 54, and 96)

• Old Daoist’s White Jade Pendant: The family’s looted pendant supplies stored qi to the mirror, helping restore the pill-making inheritance that supports its descendants. (Chapters 75–77)

• Pearl-Encased Mirror Fragment: Presents the recovered pearl to the mirror; Lu’s Supreme Yin Profound Light dissolves its enclosure and releases Foundation talisman qi before the fragment is integrated. (Chapters 111 and 129–130)

• Profound Pearl Talisman Seeds: Receives a seed and Exorcism Art from the mirror, gaining the household’s route into cultivation. (Chapters 11)

• Secrets of Alchemy: Retains the light-purple jade-slip inheritance delivered with Chejing’s legacy, intending to preserve it for a future family alchemist. (Chapters 168–169)

• Snake Essence Pill: Directs Xuanling to supply Shamoli with this mild cultivation medicine and personally gives a dose to Qiuyang in recognition of his long service. Yuanjiao later delivers another dose to Shamoli. (Chapters 176 and 189)

• Spirit Eye Perception Manual: Receives the smaller jade slip and instructs the family to pass it to Xuanfeng, supporting his perceptive eye technique. (Chapters 168–169)

• Talisman Pill: Benefits from the household’s mirror-derived medicinal inheritance; these pills are distinct from the seeds that first connect cultivators to the relic. (Chapters 149–150 and 188–189)

• Tongya’s Inherited Alchemy Furnace: Recovers and stores a bloodstained furnace after the market’s fall, eventually giving the preserved Qi-level furnace to Ximing. (Chapters 123 and 365)

• Tongya’s Purple Mansion Jade Box: Entrusts the spacious pale-blue box and two sword manuals to Yuanjiao; its capacity extends to Purple Mansion treasures. (Chapters 319 and 353)

• White Feather Purple Flags: Receives twelve Qi-level formation flags as compensation from Mount Huaqian, strengthening the family’s defenses when Liu Changdie installs them. (Chapters 101 and 136–137)