Chapter 21: Lifting the Blockade, Resource Exchange
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[Your descendants offer you sacrifices—]
[50 First-Tier Beastblood Fruits!]
[Superior Magical Artifact, Spiritbreath Sword!]
[One set of Black-Iron Beastblood Armor...]
Li Xiang gazed at the various offerings on the game’s sacrificial altar. Although he had communicated with his descendants long ago and told them that all he wanted was Beastblood Fruit, the members of the Li family seemed to genuinely believe that these items were being sent to the underworld. They had sent over all their most precious treasures in one fell swoop.
[You choose to withdraw the offering—Beastblood Fruit.]
After examining everything one by one, Li Xiang took out only the Beastblood Fruit.
“The new Beastblood Fruit trees have already matured. We should be able to harvest them in another ten years.”
Li Xiang calculated the yield. He left half of the Beastblood Fruits for the Li family and kept the other half for himself. After all, his descendants needed to grow as well. Only when they became sufficiently powerful would the benefits he received in the future increase!
“One harvest every ten years. I can harvest twice a day, and each harvest will produce a hundred fruits. Thirty thousand... I can earn thirty thousand spirit stones every day!”
Even Li Xiang began to drool when he finished calculating the profits.
One had to remember that, despite being a member of the Li family, he received only three hundred spirit stones a month as pocket money!
Wouldn’t that send him straight into the heavens?
Though his heart was surging with excitement, Li Xiang remained calm. He had even begun planning what he would do in the future.
His gaze then shifted back to the game.
[For this grand sacrifice, would you like to use “The Ancestor’s Gift”?]
He rubbed the spatial ring on his finger.
He had prepared this gift long ago!
Given the Li family’s current circumstances, they had already begun to establish a force of their own and could sustain themselves. With the Purple-Thunder Heavenly-Sun Python and the War Puppet protecting them, they appeared to be quite powerful.
But this was far from enough!
If the four great families of Tailin Town invaded the Li family, Li Xiang could deal with at most one enemy using his skills.
As his thoughts stirred, an ancient book covered in dust appeared in his hand.
[Your gift is being examined—]
[Ancestral Spirit Formation Diagram!]
[Gift delivery in progress!]
“The Ancestor has bestowed a gift!”
“Every grand sacrifice brings us wonderful treasures from the Ancestor, yet we descendants can offer nothing but useless items in return. How... how can we possibly feel at ease?”
“Thank you for the Ancestor’s gift!”
The entire family was moved to tears.
[Your descendants have sensed your concern for them.]
[You have gained 300 strands of ancestral incense!]
“Quickly, see what the Ancestor has sent us.”
Li Dalong hurriedly instructed Li Yaozu to retrieve it.
The moment Li Yaozu opened the dust-covered book beside the bronze sacrificial furnace, he was utterly stunned.
“The Ancestral Spirit Formation Diagram!”
...
The Ancestral Spirit Formation Diagram!
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Seeing the delight on his descendants’ faces when they received the book, Li Xiang was not surprised in the slightest.
This formation diagram had existed in the real world since a thousand years before the Li family’s spiritual-energy revival. It was also thanks to this diagram that the Li family had been able to grow and prosper over the past millennium, eventually becoming one of the foremost powers in Huaxia!
As for how this thing had come into existence—
Li Xiang had only heard bits and pieces.
A thousand years ago, when spiritual energy first began to revive, the Li family’s Ancestor seemed to have gained enlightenment overnight. Countless powerful forms of knowledge had appeared in his mind, and he immediately led the entire Li clan on the path of growth.
The Ancestral Spirit Formation Diagram could take the Ancestor’s Token as its foundation, gather the strength of everyone in the Li family and all those loyal to it, and protect an entire territory.
Because of this formation diagram, the Li family had survived one crisis after another.
The diagram could be inherited only by the most central direct descendants, and it was one of the Li family’s closely guarded secrets.
But now...
“Damn it. Li Zhengdao ran off with everyone and left me behind. Why should I care about your Ancestor?”
Li Xiang muttered a complaint, clearly still holding a grudge against the entire Li family for abandoning him.
He began watching the game again.
Time once more accelerated to its limit. While waiting for the Li family to figure out how to use the Ancestral Spirit Formation Diagram, Li Xiang also waited for the Li family’s trade with the Chen family.
In fact, Li Yaowen had been right before.
The Li family had already encountered a bottleneck in its development. Because they feared the unknown demon king in the Silver-Iron Forest, they could not develop the area. As for the route toward Tailin Town, it had already been blockaded by the Hu and Wang families.
The problem was not merely that they could no longer obtain more resources.
Rather...
Li Xiang had another small goal: to dominate all of Tailin Town and become its absolute landlord!
Time in the game entered another frozen period. It was winter in a year of severe drought, and there was no snow—only cold winds and dryness.
The Chen family had long since been sent back to Tailin Town, yet within a few days they had returned to Grateful Village.
And this time, they brought a great deal of resources with them!
Chen Chuang was once again leading the Chen family delegation. He was currently conducting the trade with Li Yaozu and Li Yaowen. Since Li Yaozu and his people had saved Chen Chuang the last time, the Chen family possessed complete trust in the Li family. They had even brought the resources directly to them.
[Your family is conducting a trade with the Chen family.]
[You have obtained a large quantity of “Golden-Ridge Grass.”]
[You have obtained a large quantity of “Blackglow Essence Stones.”]
[You have obtained...]
Seeing the items being traded, Li Xiang was overjoyed.
Time passed quickly in the game. During the previous thirty years, the strength needed to protect the Li family’s development had been especially important.
But as the family continued to grow, the importance of resources also began to rise!
Li Yaoqing’s progress in alchemy had reached a bottleneck. From the cultivable herbs obtained in the Silver-Iron Forest, the only medicines that could be refined using the Hundred Herbs Manual were four types.
There was Blood-Clotting Powder, used to treat external injuries; Body-Tempering Powder, for cultivators below the fifth level of the Qi Refining stage; Seven-Flavored Decoction, which increased the rate at which Qi Refining cultivators absorbed spiritual energy; and Ghost-Sealing Elixir, a deadly poison that stopped the heart at the slightest contact with blood.
Outside spiritual herbs were therefore extremely valuable.
As long as the Li family could obtain Golden-Ridge Grass from the Chen family and combine it with some of their own spiritual herbs, Li Yaoqing could even refine Golden Spirit Bath Decoction, which increased a cultivator’s metal-aspect spiritual root by one to eight points. It was also the most powerful among the easier medicines recorded in the Hundred Herbs Manual.
The Chen family also possessed two mines.
One was a Blackglow Essence Stone mine, which produced a considerable number of black stones every five years. This was one of the Chen family’s foundations. If the ground were paved with Blackglow Essence Stones, it could be transformed into a cultivation chamber. A cultivator meditating inside would gain a fifty-percent increase in cultivation speed, while their thoughts would also become more agile when visualizing cultivation techniques.
Brightmoon Stone, meanwhile, was a spiritual stone used to forge magical artifacts. It was generally set into them and could increase their power to a certain extent while reducing the spiritual energy consumed during use.
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“Hmph, I knew the Hu and Wang families were slandering you. The Li family truly keeps its promises.”
In the game, the two sides completed their trade. Li Xiang saw the small line of text above Chen Chuang’s head, and it was obvious that Chen Chuang was extremely satisfied with the transaction.
“Rest assured. From this day forward, you are partners of the Chen family. The medicines made by your alchemists and the magical artifacts forged by your artifact refiners can be traded with other towns through our family!”
Of course, Li Xiang could tell that the Chen family’s generosity was not solely because the Li family had kept its promise.
It was because the Li family possessed Li Yaoqing and Li Yaotie.
Though they were only ninth-grade professionals, people like them were coveted wherever they went.
After the Chen family departed, everyone in the Li family erupted in cheers.
“Wonderful! Now that we can trade with the Chen family, we’ll be able to obtain all kinds of resources. We’ve finally broken through Tailin Town’s blockade. My Golden Spirit Bath Decoction is within reach! Once we also cooperate with the Su family, I’ll be able to make even more medicines!” Li Yaoqing seemed capable of showing such excitement only when it came to alchemy.
“The Blackglow Essence Stones the Chen family sold us are enough to build a cultivation chamber that can accommodate a hundred people. Leave this to me.” Li Yaotie licked his lips. “As for the Brightmoon Stone, hand over your magical artifacts and I’ll refurbish them. Big Brother, you can even try it with your superior-grade artifact.”
“Then I’ll give it a try. Take it. I’ve never really been comfortable using this Spiritbreath Sword.” Li Yaozu grinned. “Oh, right, Yaotie, don’t forget my one hundred and fifty sets of Black-Iron Beastblood Armor, along with the Blackblood Bows and Blackblood Blades. Once we have a one-hundred-and-fifty-man Qi Refining guard force, those items will come in handy. I’ve even thought of a name for them: the Blackblood Hall!”
“One hundred and fifty sets? Big Brother, you’re really greedy. It’ll take me several years to refine all that. You’d better check whether we have enough black iron ore first.”
“Once we bring all of Tailin Town into our hands, everything will be within easy reach.”
From his wheelchair, Li Yaowen spoke a seemingly casual sentence, drawing the attention of his older brothers and sisters.
Yet none of them doubted their fourth brother’s abilities.
Nor did Li Xiang, watching from before the screen.
[Congratulations. Your descendants have obtained a large quantity of resources. They know that Li Yaowen was able to carry out his plan and complete the trade with the Chen family only with your approval, and their reverence for you has deepened.]
[You have gained 100 strands of ancestral incense!]
In the days that followed,
the Li family once again embarked on a vigorous course of development.
After Li Yaozu promised that they would be granted magical artifacts once they became Qi Refining cultivators, the guards began cultivating with fervor.
As Li Xiang’s gift, the Ancestral Spirit Formation Diagram, continued to be deciphered, Li Yaozu unexpectedly began gathering a hundred people from Grateful Village every day...
To give them tattoos!
The tattoos were made with the blood of the Li family, mixed with all kinds of miscellaneous materials.
Li Xiang watched as one villager lifted his clothes and had a beautiful character meaning “Li” carved onto his chest. The next villager then had the same mark carved onto another part of his body. Some people even wanted to have it carved on their buttocks.
It turned out that the first step in completing the Ancestral Spirit Formation Diagram was to mark everyone loyal to the Li family with the family’s emblem. At its core was the blood of the Li family. In this way, whenever the clan faced a crisis, the strength of everyone could be gathered around the members of the Li family!
The second step was even more complicated than the marking.
Within the area where the great formation would be used, they had to carve an enormous formation diagram. To inscribe it across the entire Li family settlement would take years upon years.
At last, when spring arrived,
everyone in the Li family gathered together, anxiously waiting in the delivery room.
Then, with the sound of a baby’s cry, everyone erupted in joy.
[After carrying the child for ten months, Qu Xiaoxiao has successfully given birth to a son. He has been named Li Yunbing!]
[Congratulations. You have gained 10 strands of ancestral incense!]
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