Chapter 42: The War Between the Litian Sect and the Xuanwu Gate

Looking at the astronomical amount of Incense Points required, Li Xiang could no longer estimate what tier of mystic arts the Heavenly Retribution Flora Divine Art actually contained.

Nor could he gauge the level of Li Yaoqing's current potential.

Li Xiang suppressed the shock and excitement surging in his heart.

He knew very well that no matter how immense Li Yaoqing's potential might be, for now, she was merely a slightly stronger early Foundation Establishment cultivator and an extraordinarily gifted apothecary.

What needed to be done right now was not to fantasize about the distant future, but to focus on current development.

If they failed to develop, everything else would just be empty talk!

Li Xiang began to accelerate the flow of time.

Armed with abundant resources and with the Li family growing increasingly powerful, the family did not grow arrogant or bloated. Instead, they hid these secrets and began to develop quietly.

[Following consultations between you and your descendant Li Yaowen, Li Yaowen concealed the family's vast reserves of spirit stones and steadily increased the family's spirit fields by ten mu each year.]

[Chien Village ceased planting ordinary crops. Li Yaoqing gifted spirit crop seeds, which could be cultivated by ordinary people, to the villagers, gradually teaching them the methods of cultivation.]

[As every household in Chien Village grew increasingly prosperous, a growing number of ordinary residents and cultivators flocked to the area by reputation. Petty thefts became increasingly frequent, and some even attempted to swindle the villagers of Chien Village. The members of the Li family decided to construct a city wall around Chien Village to ward off intrusions from outsiders.]

"Has it already begun to take the embryonic form of a city?"

Under Li Xiang's watchful gaze.

Within the game interface, the villagers of Chien Village—whose population had rebounded to 3,000—volunteered to build the city. Being able to consume spirit rice at regular intervals, the villagers grew increasingly strong, reaching the level of ordinary martial artists. Carrying hundred-jin boulders was effortless for them.

Under the accelerated time flow, these game characters were busily engaged in infrastructure construction.

However, this city was somewhat unique. Most of its inhabitants were the original villagers of Chien Village. Every single household bore a tattoo of the character "Li". Because these were inscribed using the blood of the Li family members, it was instantly obvious whether someone was truly loyal to the Li family.

As for those who wished to join Chien Village, the Li family exercised strict judgment through layers of screening.

Even retainers recruited from the outside could never truly gain the trust of the Li family unless a member of the Li family personally inscribed the character "Li" onto their skin.

[Your descendant Li Yaoqing successfully crafted the Rank 8 elixir 'Tianyuan Soul-Returning Powder'. Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage and below can recover a massive amount of spiritual energy upon consumption!]

[Your descendant Li Yaoqing successfully advanced to a Rank 8 Apothecary!]

[Under her years of nurturing, a Rank 9 Apothecary emerged within the spirit herb garden.]

Soon.

Li Yaoqing came to the ancestral hall to kowtow as usual.

Li Xiang bestowed upon her another dose of 'Love from the Ancestor'.

Her rapid rise to a Rank 8 apothecary was entirely within expectations. In fact, provided there were sufficient medicinal ingredients, Li Yaoqing could refine all Rank 8 elixirs in a very short time!

Such was the terrifying nature of her current talent.

Li Yaoqing even attempted to see if others could practice the Heavenly Retribution Flora Divine Art just as she did, with the ultimate result being......

A bolt of heavenly lightning struck down from the sky, nearly blasting the newly nurtured Rank 9 apothecary to death.

She never dared to try again.

"Is she a one-of-a-kind existence? But as long as there are enough Incense Points, that poses no problem for me."

No matter how much Li Xiang pondered, he could not figure out the reason.

Such a cultivation method had long since surpassed his current understanding.

[With the increase in resources and the growth of Chien Village's villagers, the members of the Black Blood Hall have increased to 300!]

[The Forging Pavilion worked in continuous shifts and finally forged a sufficient number of Black Iron Beast Blood armor sets. The effect of a complete set rivals that of a mid-grade magical treasure.]

Following the acquisition of the Silver Iron Forest, the greatest beneficiaries were undoubtedly the Forging Pavilion and the Spirit Herb Garden!

The Silver Iron Forest provided a vast number of fierce beasts and spirit beasts at the Li family's disposal. Xu Cuihua would periodically lead people into the Silver Iron Forest to extract blood from spirit beasts and fierce beasts.

Li Yaotie now possessed over twenty 'blood altars' used for soaking equipment.

The remaining beast blood was sufficient to support the cultivation of ten beast blood fruit trees!

When fierce beasts needed to make breakthroughs, they could also benefit from the beast blood fruit trees, making it a completely win-win situation.

[Your descendant Li Yaozu cultivated inside the Death-Staring Heavenly Coffin, and his mystic arts and martial skills have improved.]

[Li Dalong cultivated inside the Death-Staring Heavenly Coffin....]

[Xu Cuihua cultivated inside the Death-Staring Heavenly Coffin......]

The couple Li Dalong, along with Li Yaozu who was utterly obsessed with swordsmanship, spent their free time cultivating inside the Death-Staring Heavenly Coffin, incidentally coaxing Li Yunbing inside for training as well.

Their progress in practicing the 'Litian Secret Canon' all advanced.

However, the Li family did not dare to casually display the mystic arts and martial skills from the 'Litian Secret Canon' outside. This art was an un-transmitted secret of the Litian Sect; leaking it would inevitably invite trouble.

The villagers of Chien Village continued to practice the mystic arts and martial skills acquired from the three annihilated families.

Yet, their progress was also extremely rapid.

The Li family now possessed ten dedicated cultivation chambers.

[The 46th Year of the Li Family.]

[Bai Rurou completed a ten-month pregnancy and gave birth to fraternal twins, named Li Yunqian and Li Yunxing!]

[Congratulations, you have gained +30 Incense Points!]

Bai Rurou was undoubtedly the wife who had contributed the most to the Li family. The cries of newborns echoed once more in the delivery room as the midwife skillfully handed the two infants over to the couple Li Dalong. The joy and jubilation of the Li family members were beyond description.

"Ancestor, take a look at me! I've birthed two more children, much better than my eldest brother!"

Gazing at the robust infants cradled in his parents' arms, Li Yaotie was so overjoyed that he spoke without thinking.

Li Yaozu glared at Li Yaotie, though he was long accustomed to his third brother's recklessness. More than annoyance, a hidden joy welled up within him as he scolded with a dark face: "What kind of talk is that? Do you think that just because we're all grown up, I won't beat you?"

"Ah haha, I'm happy, I'm just happy today."

Li Yaotie scratched the back of his head.

Observing the harmonious family on the screen, Li Xiang smoothly bestowed a round of 'Love from the Ancestor' upon each of them.

"Time really flies for them."

A broad smile filled Li Xiang's face.

Soon, the scene shifted, and the Li family was hosting a grand banquet to celebrate the arrival of the new family members.

Li Xiang noticed that over the years, the Li family had made quite a few friends, and their halls were packed with guests.

The Su and Chen families of Tailin Town, the Gu family of Qingping Town, the Han family supported in Lantian Town, and other prominent families with whom the Li family conducted business in neighboring towns had all arrived bearing gifts.

Just as he was counting the Li family's friends.

Suddenly, phrases that felt utterly incongruous with the joyous atmosphere popped up in the event log.

[Special Event]

[The two major sects behind Taiqing County have clashed once again after many years, reaching an irreconcilable point. A massive war is on the verge of breaking out, and great chaos has arrived.]

[???]

Li Xiang paused in bewilderment. He remembered that when Li Yun临 joined the Litian Sect, the notification had mentioned friction between the Litian Sect and the Xuanwu Gate, and Li Yun临's master had even perished amidst their conflicts.

These two factions practically broke out into massive skirmishes every so often, having fought for a thousand years.

However, he had been so focused on the family's development that he failed to notice the outside world had fallen into such chaos.

He cast his gaze back toward the game screen.

The topic of discussion at the banquet table was precisely this matter!

Chen Chuang shook his head and sighed, "Alas, when sects fight, it is ultimately families like ours—and the common folk—who suffer."

The head of the Gu family also wore a deeply troubled expression.

"I have a friend in the Litian Sect who shared some inside information with me."

"Long ago, the two major sects obtained an ancient stele, learning that an ancient battle once took place around our Taiqing County, where Mahayana-stage experts perished, leaving behind treasures such as a heavenly coffin. Consequently, they tracked down the ancient tomb and used magic to trigger the tomb's grand formation, causing a nearly twenty-year-long drought across Taiqing County and its surrounding counties."

"They claimed to be searching for a heavenly coffin, but it turned out to be a farce. There was nothing in that ancient tomb except for... flatulence left behind by an ancient mighty figure using great magic."

"For the sake of a joke, they utterly disregarded the lives of the common people and people like us. Now that the two sides are going to war, how are we supposed to protect ourselves?"

"......"

Hearing this, the members of the Li family maintained a calm exterior, but their hearts were thrown into tumultuous waves!

And so was Li Xiang in front of the screen!

"What the hell?!?"

In an instant, everything clicked for Li Xiang!

No wonder Li Dalong had stumbled upon that mysterious spear in the Wild Boar Forest at the very beginning of the severe drought.

And no wonder the heavenly coffin had manifested.

"In other words, they searched the wrong location and unleashed their magic, which caused the mysterious spear and the Death-Staring Heavenly Coffin—far away in Chien Village—to successively burst from the earth and fall into the hands of our Li family."

Li Xiang felt a sudden tingling sensation crawl across his scalp.

Fortunately, both the Litian Sect and the Xuanwu Gate believed the ancient legends were false, convinced that the ancient expert's tomb had merely played a trick on them. As long as no flaws were exposed, no one would ever suspect that the Death-Staring Heavenly Coffin was in the hands of the Li family!

"Hoo..."

Li Xiang let out a long breath.

He now congratulated himself on his prudence, having consistently kept the Li family members bound to absolute secrecy regarding the Death-Staring Heavenly Coffin. Otherwise, the slightest slip would have driven the two major sects—having been mocked by an ancient powerhouse—to tear the Li family to shreds!

Soon, the banquet within the game interface concluded.

With heavy hearts, the descendants of the Li family walked into the ancestral hall.

The most pressing issue at hand was that if the two major sects went to war, they too would inevitably be caught in the fallout!

Li Xiang clicked on the avatar of the Purple Thunder Solar Python and asked the group for details.

He heard Li Yaowen speak in a grave tone:

"Ancestor, for the longest time, the twelve towns of Taiqing County have been governed by the two major sects. Taiqing County is merely one of those counties, and the two major sects each occupy two other county territories as well."

"Taiqing County City has been jointly managed by the two sects for many years, with tax revenues split evenly. Now that both sides are going to war, Taiqing County will likely be dragged into their contention. When that time comes, even the county government will be powerless to maintain order, and Taiqing County City will descend into a lawless zone! We could receive orders from the two major sects at any moment, and we are equally vulnerable to opportunistic predators stirring up trouble."

"Patriarch Gu said their conflict is irreconcilable. According to the ancient texts I've examined, this war is very likely to last for decades, if not centuries!"

Li Xiang stroked his mouse.

He could deeply sense that the days ahead would no longer be peaceful!