"Don't panic yet. I've more or less pieced things together for you."
"Look, according to the rumors, your family head was killed by a Star-Destroying Cannon in the Tianhuang Star Domain. But I don't think it's that simple. He's already become an immortal, so there's no way he'd die so easily. He probably faked his death."
"Then your higher-ups ran off first, claiming they were going to get revenge. But who knows? They might've just been making an early escape."
"Next, your new family head cut off your funding. In my experience, he didn't do it on purpose. He was left behind to move the family's assets, so naturally he didn't have time to worry about your allowance. Even if someone killed him, your family's main force would still be around. But he's pretty capable—he took everyone and ran, and quietly carried off the family's assets, too."
"In short, your Li Family is moving its assets, and you... congratulations, your family has forgotten you, and you're now broke."
What the hell was there to congratulate him for?!!
Damn it!
"Thanks, Uncle Han." Li Xiang plastered on a fake smile.
"It's nothing. Oh, and if you're short on Spirit Stones and want to sell your villa, remember to contact me first."
"Beep, beep."
Li Xiang was numb with shock!
He'd thought Uncle Han would send lawyers from his law firm to surround the Li Family today and fight a beautiful court battle.
Best of all, they'd take down the ungrateful new family head, and his allowance would double.
But who could've guessed things would end up like this?
"What happened???"
Li Xiang still hadn't come around. He stared at the enormous house with tears in his eyes. His allowance was really gone now, and in this vast universe, the odds of him finding his family members were slim...
Overnight, he'd become a pauper through and through. His only assets were everything inside this villa.
"Knock, knock."
Just then, someone knocked on the door. Li Xiang opened it with a long face. This time, even Yuexian's smile couldn't bring the slightest joy to his numb heart. Instead, he felt strangely empty.
That damn new family head had forgotten him when he ran away!
"Master, a letter arrived for you. Please take a look." Yuexian studied Li Xiang's expression and frowned, then handed him a letter.
Li Xiang opened it and took a look.
The sender was Li Zhengdao, that damn new family head!
[Li Xiang, remember how you beat me up when we were kids and said I'd never become family head in this life, and that you might as well do it instead? I think you had a point. You're now the last bloodline of the Li Family on Earth, so I'm appointing you family head. Please make our Li Family great!]
"Li Zhengdao, you bastard! You'd better hope I never see you again!"
He'd planned this all along. It had to be a plan!
Li Xiang took a deep breath and stopped dwelling on it. Frowning at Yuexian, who still didn't know what had happened, he asked, "What do you think we should do if I go broke?"
Yuexian furrowed her delicate brows and thought seriously for a long while.
"Master, we could do this: Jixian Manor has 108 households. We could go to one household each day and mooch a meal, then ask for a few Spirit Stones to get by. That wouldn't be too often, so we wouldn't annoy anyone."
"You also have lots of classmates. You could mooch meals at their homes, too."
As she spoke, the Storage Ring in her hand flashed. She pulled out a book and waved it in front of Li Xiang. "If all else fails, I've still got a secret manual here."
[Divine Thief Secret Technique]
That was thoughtful of her.
Li Xiang forced a smile, then left the house and headed to Grandma Ling's door.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
He knocked on the door.
This time, Grandma Ling wasn't as warm as she'd been when they last met. She eyed Li Xiang as if she wanted to get angry but didn't dare. "Little Li, did you come to get your things? They're not ready yet. It's only been a little while."
Li Xiang wasn't in a good mood and didn't feel like wasting his breath on the old woman. He simply held out his hand.
"We're neighbors. We know each other well enough, don't we? Grandma Ling's skills are unparalleled. How could you possibly not be finished?" Li Xiang smiled. "Besides, Uncle Chen at the gate praised your craftsmanship."
"You..." Grandma Ling's face flushed. She slammed her cane against the ground. "Don't think you can threaten me just because you've got Old Chen at the gate on your side!"
"That's going too far. I'm not threatening you. It's just wise to guard against the unexpected. Grandma Ling knows I'm a cautious person, so I merely took a precaution."
Li Xiang kept smiling, but his smile looked more and more fake.
"Hmph!"
Since they'd taken things this far, Grandma Ling said no more. She tossed Li Xiang a ring and snorted. "Boy, before, the people of Jixian Manor showed you respect because you had the Li Family to rely on. But I heard..."
She paused, watching Li Xiang turn away, then sneered. "Without the Li Family, you're nothing! You'll learn how cold the world can be. When Jixian Manor throws you out and no one shows you respect anymore, let's see what you do then!"
"Bang!"
Grandma Ling's front door slammed shut.
Li Xiang's expression darkened. He knew he and Grandma Ling had fallen out for good. No—or rather, they'd fallen out the moment he gave her the Mysterious Spear.
Everyone in Jixian Manor knew Grandma Ling was a brilliant weapon refiner, but an unscrupulous merchant.
The reason Li Xiang had spent so long talking with Grandma Ling was to find out whether she'd swap out his Mysterious Spear. The result... hadn't been good, so he'd gone to Uncle Chen at the gate!
"Damn it. I've lost my family, and now I've made an enemy of a vicious old woman!"
He cursed under his breath.
Li Xiang suddenly looked up at the sky and rubbed his face. "Grandma Ling wasn't wrong. Without the Li Family, I'm nothing. But now..."
"It's time to start working hard!"
He thought of the Li Family members in the game and how hard they'd worked.
As their ancestor, how could he let his clan down?
"From today on, I'll be a hardworking family head!"
"Master, did that really get to you? Are you all right?"
At Villa No. 1, Yuexian saw Li Xiang return home, brimming with excitement, and couldn't help feeling a little nervous.
Li Xiang beamed. "What kind of person do you take me for? So what if I've lost my family and my allowance? Does your master look like the kind of person who gives up when he runs into trouble?"
Yuexian pondered for a long while before hesitantly replying, "No."
"..."
No more. That hurt. Li Xiang gave her an order. "Contact No. 104 and ask Boss Qi to come see me in two hours."
Then he hurried back to his room.
Li Xiang knew that now the Li Family was gone, his only support was the Cultivation Family Simulator, his special cheat!
Li Xiang focused intently.
In the computer, the Li Family's development was growing more and more rapid. The villagers had become a fighting force, and two cultivators had even emerged among them. A squad of twenty soldiers made up of villagers was patrolling the village.
[Li Family, Year 19: The refugees protected by the Li Family have formed a village of modest size, named Zhien Village. The villagers have received the Li Family's Protection and now worship the Li Family.]
[Incense +200!]
"Holy crap! I was only gone for a little while, and it's already developed this far?"
Li Xiang was overjoyed, thinking to himself that he'd made the right choice back then!
Soon.
The game screen changed--
[Li Family, Year 20: Your descendants have prepared an altar and begun the great ceremony held once every twenty years!]
[Your descendants have prepared Sacrificial Offerings for you--]
[50 first-tier Beast Blood Fruits!]
[One male and one female Baili Pigeon chick!]
[The Baili Pigeon chicks are living creatures. Would you like to spend 10 Incense to retrieve them?]
"So they really can be brought out!"
Li Xiang's eyes lit up.
He'd had all these Sacrificial Offerings sent to him by instructing the Li Family through the Temple Guardian Beast.
His family in the modern world had run off, but although Li Xiang was a little taken aback, he wasn't panicking at all. These Sacrificial Offerings could bring him enormous benefits, too. He still had a chance to turn things around!
"Retrieve them!"
Soon, fifty Beast Blood Fruits appeared beside the incense burner on the table.
The fruits were a vivid red, and a bloody smell wafted into his nose.
Li Xiang's face brightened.
[First-Tier Beast Blood Fruit]
[Beast Blood Fruits are cultivated with blood and refined by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Each contains 50 points of spiritual energy, of which the human body can absorb up to 80%!]
Divine fruits!
Li Xiang couldn't help grinning. The Cultivation Simulator was even more intelligent than he'd imagined.
In the game world, spiritual energy wasn't measured in points.
But in the modern world, thanks to technology, people had already divided the spiritual energy absorbed during cultivation into points. A Qi Refining cultivator at the first level needed only 100 points of spiritual energy to break through!
And each additional level required only 10% more.
The worse one's aptitude, the slower one absorbed spiritual energy from heaven and earth. But fruits like these let people store spiritual energy and absorb it gradually.
Li Xiang could hardly imagine how many wealthy young masters would clamor for these divine fruits if he sold them.
Next came the Baili Pigeons!
"Peep, peep..."
The two chicks, still blind and nestled in their nest, chirped. Ordinarily, the chicks of such common spirit beasts were nothing special.
But...
To the modern world, these two Baili Pigeons were entirely new species!
If Li Xiang took them to beast researchers, the obsessive scientists secretly studying beastology would fight tooth and nail to get their hands on the two little things. They might even give Li Xiang a "Beast Discovery Award."
But Li Xiang had no intention of treating the little things that way.
"The offerings have arrived. Looks like I won't have to go around mooching food for a while."
Li Xiang breathed a sigh of relief.
As Li Xiang stroked a Beast Blood Fruit, he froze. A prompt had appeared in a box in front of the computer.
[Would you like to quickly absorb the spiritual energy in the Beast Blood Fruits? 1 point of spiritual energy costs 1 Incense.]
"I... holy crap???"
Li Xiang was instantly dumbfounded.
Quick absorption? That was an option, too?
He knew that even if medicinal power was in his body, getting it into his meridians was no easy feat.
In an instant, Li Xiang realized how terrifying this feature was!
As long as he had enough Incense and enough Beast Blood Fruits, he could...
Shoot straight into the immortal realm with a single "whoosh"!
But Li Xiang held back and clicked "No."
"This much spiritual energy wouldn't even be enough to fill a tooth."
He shrugged.
He looked at the game screen again.
[The Sacrificial Offerings have been delivered. Would you like to bestow them upon your descendants?]
Li Xiang sprang to his feet and cleared the things around him.
He glanced at the Mysterious Spear Grandma Ling had unsealed in his Storage Ring. It was now gleaming brilliantly.
But there was another item inside, too.
A prohibited item for ordinary cultivators in this world!
It was also something he and Grandma Ling had discussed for an hour, and which she'd agreed to give him in a moment of delight. Even though things had turned sour afterward, Grandma Ling had still handed it over!
"Send."
As Li Xiang clicked the mouse, a colossal object suddenly appeared in the room with a thunderous crash!
[Sending the ancestor's Bestowal--]
[War Puppet...]
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