Chapter 7: Xu Cuihua, You Are Truly Ruthless!
The Li family’s young heirs trained even more diligently under the weight of their hatred.
Just as Li Xiang was fully focused, he noticed on the screen that Li Dalong had summoned everyone in the Li family except for three-year-old Li Yaowen. They were all heading into the Silver Iron Forest.
He quickly clicked on Li Dalong’s icon.
The screen immediately began to follow the family’s movements.
"The pills our ancestors bestowed upon us are nearly depleted, but the last time I entered the Silver Iron Forest, I came across a fruit tree with a very enticing aroma!"
"This time, I need my family to unite and work together!"
The family stood united, their resolve as one.
Before the screen, Li Xiang held his breath, fully prepared to deploy skills at a moment’s notice should they encounter danger.
The Silver Iron Forest was no ordinary wild boar grove; it was teeming with monstrous beasts.
Although Li Dalong had frequently come and gone from the forest’s periphery alone, moving with ease, this time the whole family ventured in together—and most of them lacked much hunting experience.
Yet Li Xiang did not stop them.
If the Li family wished to grow stronger, they needed to endure hardships. If they intended to linger by the altar and merely wait for his blessings, it would be better to just perish outright.
...
Before long, the family entered the Silver Iron Forest.
They soon faced their first skirmish.
A cat demon with a fiery tail and golden fur appeared!
Li Xiang moved his mouse and clicked on the strange cat demon, instantly retrieving its information.
[Flame-Tail Spirit Cat (Common)]
[Description: Small in size, yet extremely fast, allowing it to survive on the forest’s outskirts. Beware its speed—and its tail.]
Observing this creature, Li Xiang was somewhat surprised. Since the spiritual awakening, this planet harbored demon beasts that had even formed sizable clans.
Yet in school tutorials, Li Xiang had never encountered this kind of species.
He searched online but found no useful information.
Still, Li Xiang knew that common demon beasts typically possessed strength within the Qi Refinement stage.
At this moment, the Flame-Tail Spirit Cat was fleeing desperately, pursued by Li Dalong.
“Whish!”
The sound of an arrow slicing through the air rang out—six-year-old Li Yaotie had drawn his bow and released an arrow!
“Meow!”
The Flame-Tail Spirit Cat barely dodged the arrow, turning back with bared teeth and a meow that sounded like a foul-mouthed curse.
But in the next moment, it fell silent!
In the direction it fled stood a trap laid by the Li family.
Xu Cuihua and Li Yaoqing, mother and daughter, leapt out from between two trees holding a large brown net, enveloping the fleeing cat demon. They had smeared themselves with dirt to mask their scent.
Flames on the cat’s tail flared wildly, but the net, clearly prepared in advance, would not burn.
As the cat clawed and bit at the net, Li Yaozu approached, forming hand seals. The net shimmered with a blue glow, completely entrapping the Flame-Tail Spirit Cat.
“Meow! Meow! Meow!!!”
Surrounded and towering over it, the cat demon cursed even more profanely.
[Captured a common demon beast—the Flame-Tail Spirit Cat. Though it glared angrily at all the Li family members, after Xu Cuihua fed and stroked it, it showed a barely perceptible trace of comfort.]
“Are you planning to domesticate the Flame-Tail Spirit Cat?”
Li Xiang raised an eyebrow at the cat locked in the cage. Clearly, it wasn’t worth much as food, but raising it as a guard beast was a fine idea.
However, the game screen didn’t reveal the family’s thoughts.
They were already preparing for the next hunt.
---
In Li Xiang’s memory, Li Dalong had encountered many demon beasts before. Yet acting alone, he often couldn’t catch them, as they usually escaped. Now, with the family’s teamwork, Li Dalong found things much easier.
Before long, Li Xiang saw the family engaging in successive battles within the Silver Iron Forest, mostly with small demon beasts. Generally, a demon beast’s size corresponded to its strength.
They spent five days in the forest.
[Captured a common demon beast—the Shadow Hound. After a fierce beating from Xu Cuihua, it stuck out its tongue in submission. When she walked away, it resumed barking wildly.]
[Captured a flock of common demon beasts—the Bai Li Pigeons. Xu Cuihua took out a flute and played strange melodies, mesmerizing the pigeons.]
[Captured a common demon beast—the Anteater...]
Huh?
So many demon beasts captured?
Li Xiang scratched his head. Judging by this, the family intended to capture and raise all the demon beasts. But taming them required skill, and it all linked back to Xu Cuihua.
“Damn, Xu Cuihua, you’ve been hiding this well! You secretly learned beast taming?”
Opening the profile of Li Dalong’s wife, Li Xiang suddenly understood.
[Xu Cuihua]
[Realm: Qi Refinement, Level 1]
[Magical Arts and Martial Skills: Qi Absorption Technique, Beast Taming Technique]
[Special Trait: Demon Beast Affinity]
[Can easily sense demon beasts’ emotions, making it easier to approach and tame them. Probability of taming increased by 100%!]
While Li Xiang was still puzzled, the Li family gathered around a fire.
Under the moonlight, Li Dalong took out the ancestral tablet and bowed with incense before it.
“May the ancestors bless this journey with smooth sailing. Thanks to the cultivation manual our ancestors bestowed, this unworthy descendant Li Dalong has found a way to strengthen the family.”
“I will make good use of the ‘Qi Refinement Cultivation Manual’ and one day wipe out the Tai Lin Hu family to avenge our past disgrace!”
Xu Cuihua knelt as well.
“Wife of Dalong, Xu Cuihua, pays respects to the ancestors!”
“For eleven years of raising chickens and ducks, Cuihua has finally mastered the Beast Taming Technique, which she will use to strengthen the Li clan!”
[Your family, blessed by you, has comprehended ‘Beast Taming Technique’ from the ‘Qi Refinement Cultivation Manual.’]
[Incense +100!]
“Ah?”
Li Xiang was stunned. “The ‘Qi Refinement Cultivation Manual’ has this effect?”
He hurriedly opened the curriculum he had studied for a whole year at school.
Sure enough, he found numerous pieces of information.
[Best methods for cultivating spiritual herbs], [How to communicate and build trust with demon beasts], [Division of labor and production of pills]...
The ‘Qi Refinement Cultivation Manual’ was comparable to a junior high school textbook in his previous life.
But in this world, spiritual herbs, demon beasts, and pills were handled by specialists or monopolized by corporations. The planet’s environment had been heavily developed over the past thousand years, leaving no surplus resources for ordinary students to practice.
Only those beyond the Golden Core stage had the right to interstellar travel, to develop and cultivate on other planets.
Thus, apart from cultivating methods for absorbing spiritual energy and cultivation techniques, most of the course content was never even glanced at.
“These lessons may be useless to me, but for the Li family, the ‘Qi Refinement Cultivation Manual’ is packed with practical knowledge and full of potential.”
Li Xiang drew a sharp breath. “I have underestimated this most basic textbook all along!”
Indeed, distilled from the millennia of the Huaxia people’s spiritual awakening, this cultivation manual was a supreme guide for beginners in the cultivation world.
...
Time sped rapidly within the game.
While Li Xiang was still marveling at how the ‘Qi Refinement Cultivation Manual’ shone in the game world, the Li family was already traveling through thick fog.
---
Soon after,
The game screen revealed a towering tree bearing clusters of fiery red fruit!
Li Xiang moved his mouse to view the fruit tree’s details.
[Beast Blood Fruit Tree]
[A fruit tree that grows only where demon beasts gather. It is cultivated with the blood of various demon beasts, producing Beast Blood Fruits. The more potent the demon beast blood used, the stronger the fruit and the richer the spiritual energy it emits. Powerful demon beasts often dominate such trees, hunting others to nurture the tree’s growth, using the fruits to break through their own limits!]
As usual, Li Xiang searched online again but found no records of such a tree.
Still, he sensed the tree’s immense value. The more potent the demon beast blood, the more spiritual energy the fruit contained—meaning this tree effectively had no fixed tier!
While Li Xiang was weighing the value of the Beast Blood Fruit Tree, the screen suddenly showed a giant snake coiled around the trunk, its crimson eyes fixed on the Li family.
Two massive horns atop its head crackled with lightning, warning the family that if they dared approach further, they would become fertilizer for the tree!
“This is bad—it’s a peak-level common demon beast!”
“When I last saw it, its aura wasn’t this strong!”
“Let’s leave, Father. It doesn’t seem intent on attacking us.”
[Thunderlight Python (Common Demon Beast)]
[Description: An absolutely powerful being among common demon beasts. Once its shedding period ends, its transformation will begin.]
The Li family began to retreat.
But Li Xiang noticed it wasn’t recklessness on Li Dalong’s part; there were actually two Thunderlight Pythons on this Beast Blood Fruit Tree.
“Retreat? No way!!”
Li Xiang’s eyes hardened before the screen. He glanced at the remaining incense count—180 points left!
“Damn it, even if I burn all the incense, I won’t give up on the Beast Blood Fruit!”
[Use ‘Ancestor’s Wrath,’ consuming 20 incense points!]
In an instant,
The ancestral spirit tablet flew out from Li Dalong’s clothing, charging fiercely toward the Thunderlight Python!
“The ancestor has manifested!”
Li Dalong rejoiced. “Yes! With the ancestor’s blessing, don’t fear this snake! Attack!”
In that moment, Li Xiang and the Li family fought together in unison.
But this time,
Li Xiang realized the limit of the ‘Ancestor’s Wrath’ skill.
Against the Thunderlight Python, a peak-level common demon beast, the skill could no longer deliver an instant kill. Such a beast posed a challenge even for experts just entering the Foundation Establishment stage.
The ancestral spirit tablet clashed with the python’s lightning-emitting horns.
The Li family assisted, but Li Yaotie’s arrows couldn’t even pierce the python’s skin. Others couldn’t get close enough to make a difference.
Before long,
The skill that had once effortlessly slain bandits repeatedly was overwhelmed by the python’s assault!
“Damn, it’s so strong?!”
Li Xiang gritted his teeth. “Two more shots!”
He repeatedly activated ‘Ancestor’s Wrath.’
The spirit tablet split into two and streaked through the air again, leaving violet trails as it charged forward.
“Don’t be afraid! The ancestor has not abandoned us! We, the descendants, will fight to the end!”
“These spirit fruits will be ours!!!”
Li Dalong gritted his teeth, fueled with determination, leading Li Yaozu to charge at the other two smaller snakes!
“Ancestor, bless us!”