Inside the Baizhu Family

East Isle, Baizhu's home.

Li Qi was outside the door piecing together the clues.

For the past two days, he has been wandering the seabed of East Isle, gathering other intelligence.

For some reason, the gathering went very smoothly, with almost no other obstacles. Everyone seemed to have no sense of secrecy and were basically like the small farmers of Baiyue —extremely conservative yet quite afraid of those in power. Li Qi managed to find out quite a lot of information without much effort.

It's also possible that the information that needed to be kept secret was never disseminated, so the information Li Qi gathered was all irrelevant.

However... nothing is insignificant.

Even junk intelligence can be analyzed to uncover a lot of information.

As Baizhu Zhaoyue said, the Bai Zhu family does indeed have some connection with High Antiquity Shaman.

But those connections... are probably similar to the level of having ancestors eight generations back who were friends.

Now that Human and Shaman separation separated, the Baizhu family has completely lost touch with Wushen Mountain and makes a living by cultivating pearls in the sea.

However, the business is still very large. The Bai family has pearl fields on several thousand East Isle. In particular, they have mastered a secret technique that can cultivate 'Mother Clam'.

The Mother Clam is of low grade, only grade eight, and cannot fight, but it can produce a large number of pearl oysters. These pearl oysters cannot reproduce, but the quality of the pearls they produce is extremely high.

This method established the Baizhu family's current status. Those merfolk who cultivate pearls can only rely entirely on the Baizhu family's pearl oysters; otherwise, they would not be able to engage in this industry at all. The Baizhu family has made a fortune from this, continuously shipping large quantities of pearls to the land and beyond, thus supporting a large Lineage.

It is truly a large Lineage, with a fourth-rank patriarch and several fourth-rank retainers. The Lineage's influence extends across thousands of East Isle in the east, and countless merfolk are their de facto serfs. They can be considered quite aristocratic.

In other words, the Bai Zhu family, as a sea Lineage that was able to supply the Human Race in ancient times, has survived to this day, which shows that they are indeed capable and not just incompetent.

However... this is just an ordinary East Isle in the east, so only one member of the Baizhu Family remains here at the seventh rank, while the rest are at the eighth rank. Most of them are only responsible for managing this ordinary business.

In other words, it's just a store of a large corporation, with the highest position being a store manager, and there isn't even a regional manager.

"The Bai Zhu family is unlikely to be coerced by the Flood Dragon's forces, but the local Bai Zhu family leader will probably find it difficult to maintain a firm stance when faced with the Flood Dragon's words. Whether it's enticement or coercion, the Flood Dragon should be able to manipulate a seventh-rank official."

With that thought in mind, Li Qi quietly entered Bai Zhu's residence.

He planned to see how this place worked in order to deduce how the Flood Dragon made its move.

However, as soon as he stepped inside, he felt a strong aura of Flood Dragon!

The Dragon Qi is undisguised; Flood Dragon must have stayed here, and even left its mark or some other body parts here. Otherwise, it would be impossible for there to be such a strong Flood Dragon aura.

Li Qi observed the aura of these Flood Dragons, and then naturally walked into them.

No one noticed him. In a state of Body Merged with Nature, Li Qi's aura blended perfectly with his surroundings. Although he didn't become transparent, he gave off a feeling that 'he was meant to be there,' causing people to subconsciously ignore his presence.

It's probably... similar to that TV remote you can't find no matter what you do.

It's right there on the table, but no one except her mother can see it. Even if they touch it, they'll ignore it. It's perfectly integrated into its environment.

As Li Qi walked through Bai Zhu's mansion, he could see that the surrounding environment was not particularly luxurious; on the contrary, the decorations were quite ordinary.

Of course, it's just a simple decoration.

Li Qi had previously debated this matter with Liu Shenzhi and Liu Donghe.

Whether the decoration is ornate or simple, it's just a matter of 'decoration style'. True luxury lies in its essence.

"A large-scale Law Treasure array? This entire mansion is equivalent to a large-scale eighth-grade combined Law Treasure." Li Qi observed his surroundings and came to this conclusion.

This mansion seems to have drawn inspiration from Human Path ideas, with even the paving stones being made of Law Treasure. Although most of them are only unranked or ninth-rank Law Treasure, these many Law Treasure form a large array of Law Treasure, producing a fairly good overall effect, reaching the eighth rank.

This isn't a combat Law Treasure, but rather a collection of features that regulate temperature, automate furniture, allow for easy room layout changes, provide an immersive home experience, offer a range of processing tools, various novel experiences and cultivation containers, and even include numerous processing workshops. It allows users to create simple tools and Law Treasure using their own raw materials.

Calling it a residence... is an understatement; it's more like a base vehicle with greatly enhanced pleasure features.

Throw this thing out into the outer realms, find any world of level eight or nine to settle down in, and add someone who can skillfully operate this house. Before long, this house will develop into a country.

In terms of combat, this thing isn't very strong, but its defensive capabilities are quite impressive.

However, it still falls short of the extremes of Human Path.

Human Path houses also have these functions, but they are far inferior to Human Path ones.

For example, Human Path houses cannot be built privately; they can only be purchased from existing ones or built through planning applications. The reason for this is that these houses are to be combined into a larger array of Law Treasure.

Human Path paving stones are Law Treasure, but these are not just for building a large mansion like the Bai Zhu family.

From Human Path perspective, what needs to be combined is—the city.

Each city is a powerful Law Treasure in itself.

The buildings, greenery, parks, and various facilities in the city are all planned out and are part of this large-scale combined Law Treasure. Each city is a high-grade magical Law Treasure assembled from these parts, powered by the Human Path Dragon Vein underground, and resources are uniformly allocated by the Nexus of All Realms.

It maintains the normal operation of the city and its residents in normal times, and can be deployed at any time when needed to become a large multi-functional fortress. It can easily handle scientific research tasks, war missions, or colonial construction tasks. The residents inside will also become fortress staff, temporarily separating from their status as ordinary residents.

Compared to this scale, the Bai Zhu family mansion in front of us seems rather small.

But...

It is certain that Bai Zhu's residence was indeed custom-made in the Tang Kingdom. Li Qi, as the manager of Law Treasure factory in Chang'an with his own manufacturing industry, could even use special methods to read the custom specifications.

Bai Zhu's family...

Their financial resources are deeper than I imagined. To be able to buy a custom-made Law Treasure mansion from the Tang Kingdom shows their wealth. It's clear that their pearl farming industry is thriving.

As he surveyed the large mansion along the way, which covered an area of about three or four miles in circumference, Li Qi soon arrived at its center.

This is the place where the Dragon Qi is most concentrated.

Li Qi was surprised to find that there were also a considerable number of pearl oysters in this place.

These enormous pearl oysters are five-colored, each glowing in the dark and several feet long. Pearls grow in their bellies, mirroring the waxing and waning of the moon.

The Liang Sigong Ji states. "Pearls in the world are divided into large pearls, small pearls, and miscellaneous pearls. Large pearls are like the Ruyi Pearl of Heaven and Earth, small pearls are like the pearl of the black dragon, and miscellaneous pearls are like the pearls of clams, oysters, snakes, cranes, etc."

"The Ruyi Pearl, the best of which emits light for fifty li in the dark, the medium one for ten li, and the worst one for one li. Wherever its light reaches, there is no wind, rain, thunder, hail, water, fire, weapons, or poisons. The Lilong Dragon Pearl comes in nine colors and emits light for a hundred paces in the dark, the medium one for ten paces, and the worst one for a room. Wherever its light reaches, there is no poison from snakes, vipers, or insects. The miscellaneous pearls are each in five colors, and all of them emit light in the dark for several feet, but they have no extraordinary abilities."

The pearls recorded in the books that Li Qi could read must be the very best of the best. Pearls produced by ordinary pearl oysters wouldn't even be considered ordinary pearls; they would only be considered common items.

However, the pearl oysters seen at the White Pearl Mansion produced pearls with five colors of light and glowing several feet in the dark, clearly reaching the level of 'mixed pearls'.

These giant pearl oysters that produce mixed pearls are probably the 'Mother Clam', right?

There are dozens of Mother Clam here, some producing pearls and some producing eggs. There are also some mechanisms nearby that are constantly collecting the eggs produced by the Mother Clam.

Li Qi could see that these Mother Clam were all surrounded by an illusion array. They were all still patting their shells as if they were floating on air, but in reality they were trapped and unable to escape, and were still producing the products that the White Pearl family needed.

This is... a farmed Mother Clam?

I thought they used some kind of trick, but I never expected it to be something like this.

Are all the Mother Clam raised through illusion arrays and the mechanisms in the center of this mansion? That's truly... against the natural order.

Where does the Mother Clam come from? The eggs produced by the Mother Clam should only give birth to ordinary pearl oysters, and certainly not to the Mother Clam.

"No, these Mother Clam... have Dragon Qi on them? Is the birth of Mother Clam related to Dragon Qi?" A thought popped into Li Qi's mind.

So he went even deeper into it.

Once you reach this place, it's no longer a matter of simply Body Merged with Nature to enter.

The surroundings were filled with all sorts of mechanisms and illusion arrays, and there were guards stationed in various places, patrolling back and forth.

These guards were not very useful; the strongest among them was only of the eighth rank, and it was impossible for them to see Li Qi.

The formation is quite interesting. It seems to have been set up by a master, possessing the functions of overall control and coordination for the entire mansion, as well as warning and defense capabilities. Moreover, it uses many Rank 8 Mother Clam as the foundation of the formation. Whenever Mother Clam leaves, the formation will react instantly. If the entire formation plate is not destroyed, it is impossible to move the Mother Clam here.

Everything was done very meticulously.

Only...

I never imagined there would be an outlier like Li Qi.

Although Li Qi was not a master of formations, he possessed True Knowledge Dao Charm and had first-rate eyesight. He could clearly see the structure of a formation, even including the flow of energy within it.

It's basically like... I saw the design blueprints for this formation directly.

The person who set up this formation is indeed very powerful, perhaps even a sixth-rank expert or higher. The Bai Zhu family must have spent a lot of money to hire him.

However... this expert only paid someone to make an array plate. Li Qi doesn't need to face this expert directly. Since he can see the entire array plate design blueprint, it's not too difficult to crack it.

With that in mind, Li Qi gave it a try.

Okay... it's actually quite difficult.

Li Qi realized he had overestimated himself; there were many things he couldn't handle even after looking at the design drawings.

What an intricate formation! The Bai family truly lives up to its reputation as Lineage with a fourth-rank expert overseeing it.

With the blueprints, Li Qi knew the weaknesses of the array plate, its energy center, and various conduits. He could brute force his way through the array, but his Li Qi level was still far from sufficient to break it.

But...

You have to understand, this is the world, and the infrastructure here is very well-developed.

Li Qi brazenly took out his terminal and dialed Shen Shuibi's number.

"Hmm? What's wrong? Contact me in the East China Sea. Be careful of getting a warning from the terminal's monitoring system," Rabbit said on the other end of the phone.

Li Qi could see that she was still working on the formation.

That was a super array powerful enough to move an entire world cluster, capable of covering a vast area measured in light-years.

A master of formations—isn't there already one?

Moreover, the expert who created this formation is probably no match for Shen Shuibi.

This is a genuine master of formations, the kind who can mold integrated circuits out of sand.

"It's just ordinary communication. The supervision shouldn't be that high, right? As long as the amount of information isn't large, people will just glance at it at most and won't pay too much attention. After all, the terminal is indeed convenient," Li Qi said with a smile.

Contacting Chang'an from the East China Sea is indeed risky, so Li Qi wouldn't contact them casually unless necessary, let alone activate the terminal just for a casual chat.

This is not just a matter for the terminals; other Dao Path will also closely monitor the terminal signals to prevent Human Race from transmitting certain conspiracies through these terminals in these places.

After all, the desire for the expansion of Human Path... is well known.

However, this little bit of communication wasn't a problem, because Li Qi wasn't planning on any conspiracy, but he still needed to hurry.

Therefore, Li Qi said, "Yu, help me break this formation, and I'll tell you the reason when we get back."

Shen Shuibi knew that Li Qi's actions should not alert the terminal, so she didn't ask any more questions. She simply pointed out a few locations for Li Qi.

"According to the shape of the fire energy in the south, replenish its mixed energy, righteous energy, and transformed energy, and together they will form its energy, which will then become disordered," the rabbit said calmly, with almost no emotional fluctuation.

Li Qi nodded, then put away the terminal, tapped it a few times, and easily broke the formation. Moreover... the entire formation was still operating, completely unaware that a large crack had been opened in it.

Li Qi strolled in leisurely and arrived at the center of Bai Zhu's house.

Here lies a dragon scale.

It was also stained with blood and steaming hot, clearly fresh.

It is obvious that this dragon scale is the source of the Dragon Qi here.

Beside the dragon scales, a seventh-rank merman was swimming.

Just after Li Qi entered, he suddenly looked in Li Qi's direction.