Xu Cuihua, the Fox Tamer!

"Doing business with Tailin Town?"

Li Xiang wore an intrigued expression. He had been observing the development of the Li Family, and since Li Yaowen had been fond of reading from a young age, it seemed this young girl was truly extraordinary.

He immediately typed into the game, prompting Li Yaowen to continue.

Having received the go-ahead, Li Yaowen ignored her brother's astonishment and parted her thin lips.

"Ancestor, I know we have a blood feud with the Hu and Wang families of Tailin, but that doesn't mean we can't trade with the other two families."

"Human nature is selfish and greedy."

"They say the four great families of Tailin Town stand united, but they are not one family after all. I have investigated; due to the years of severe drought, each of their families is facing their own troubles. Many of their industries are unsustainable, and because they fear our Li Family's indiscriminate killing, they don't even dare to hunt in the Silver Iron Forest."

"Furthermore, our feud with the Hu and Wang families has never had anything to do with them."

"Our terms for trade are valid."

Listening to Li Yaowen's words, Li Xiang took a long gulp of his drink and sent another command to the Purple Thunder Heavenly Sun Python, signaling for Li Yaowen to continue.

Li Yaowen took a deep breath.

"Finding a way to trade with them and letting them see our sincerity is only the beginning."

"After that, what will the Hu and Wang families think?"

"The relationship between them will develop irreparable cracks, and the Su and Chen families will gradually realize that our Li Family can actually replace the Hu and Wang families!"

"The alliance of Tailin Town will collapse from within, and we will be able to exact our revenge!"

Smack!

Li Xiang slapped his thigh hard. Li Yaowen's years of reading had not been in vain. Although she possessed no combat power, her wisdom was comparable to that of a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator!

However, Li Yaowen's next words made Li Xiang twitch.

"This is all an open conspiracy. Once the conflict in Tailin Town erupts, we can retreat behind the scenes!"

"It would be best if we sent people to secretly kill their descendants and frame the others."

"Without their heirs, they will fall into complete despair. They will fight each other to the death, and we will dominate Tailin Town without losing a single soldier!"

"Without the presence of cultivators, chaos and death will descend upon Tailin Town. Forty thousand civilians will gradually perish in this year of drought, and vengeful spirits will occupy the entire city. We will then obtain a massive number of corpses to nourish the Beast Blood Fruit Tree!"

???

Li Xiang's face darkened. Sometimes he felt he was a bit unscrupulous, but looking at the text above Li Yaowen's head now, he felt relieved.

It wasn't just Li Xiang.

Even Li Yaozu looked at his sister in disbelief, even taking a step to the side and swallowing hard.

Following that.

Li Xiang spoke with Li Yaowen in detail for a while before continuing to check on the family's development. Strategy is one thing, but everything depends on practical execution.

No matter what schemes or plots are devised, they must be built upon the foundation of powerful strength.

[Li Family, Year 29.]

The family was still developing. Although the Li clan had established a village, they had already formed the conditions for self-sufficiency.

At this time, Li Yaozu was still managing the family's operations.

The one hundred and fifty guards under his command had formed a well-organized unit. They wore heavy Black Iron chainmail and were each equipped with fifteen iron arrows. It could be said that any one of them possessed the strength to fight a first-level Qi Refining cultivator.

According to Li Xiang's estimation, a volley from one hundred and fifty men would leave a newly-advanced Foundation Establishment cultivator without special defensive techniques looking like a hedgehog—provided, of course, they didn't dodge.

Although he was constantly managing the family business.

Li Yaozu had not neglected his own cultivation.

[Li Yaozu (Second Generation)]

[Realm: Qi Refining, 8th Layer]

[Techniques/Martial Arts: Naqi Technique, Autumn Wind Steps, Basic Sword Technique, Sword Radiance]

[Trait: Killing Potential]

[Equipment: Spirit Breath Sword, Soul-Confusing Pendant, Black Iron Beast Blood Set]

These Autumn Wind Steps were, of course, the technique dropped during the battle with the Wang family elder. When used, it was as swift as a gale in autumn, yet every step was filled with lethal intent.

There were many similar techniques; the Li Family now possessed six or seven technique manuals.

Most of the Li family members' equipment had been obtained from the Hu and Wang families.

The Soul-Confusing Pendant possessed the power to guard the mind and, upon stimulating it with spiritual energy, cause the opponent to fall into a moment of confusion.

As for this Black Iron Beast Blood Set...

Ever since that fellow Li Yaotie became an artificer, his method of crafting magical artifacts had been extremely crude and filled with randomness.

The reason for the randomness was that the kid simply mixed the heart blood of various demonic beasts into a large cauldron and sealed it with spiritual energy.

He called the blood in that cauldron the 'Blood Altar'.

Whenever he needed to refine artifacts, he would place the materials into the Blood Altar and let them soak for forty-nine days.

Immediately afterward, he would begin forging the artifacts with his hammer technique. Even Li Yaotie himself had no idea what kind of abilities the resulting artifacts possessed. Furthermore, all of them were of the lowest possible grade. He called this the "Fate-Following Artifact Refining Method."

The Black Iron Beast Blood Set was Li Yaotie's masterpiece, and every member of the Li Family had a set!

When Li Yaozu wore his set, it appeared as a dark red color, consisting of a robe, inner armor, gloves, a belt, trousers, and boots.

Its function was similar to a chameleon, allowing the wearer to blend into the environment, and when stimulated with spiritual power, it could summon two blood tigers to attack the enemy.

Next were Li Yaotie and Li Yaoqing.

Both of them had reached the sixth stage of Qi Refining.

Li Yaotie possessed decent aptitude, yet he was hopelessly addicted to blacksmithing.

However, one should not underestimate Li Yaotie's strength.

If there was anyone in the Li Family with the most formidable physique, it was undoubtedly Li Yaotie; by hammering away all day, he was also tempering his own body. He had two large hammers. The smaller one was used for daily equipment forging; made of pure black iron and weighing fifty pounds, he could wield it with one hand as easily as if it were an extension of his own arm.

The large hammer...

The handle was as tall as a man, and the hammer head was thicker than Li Yaotie's own burly frame. Li Xiang believed that if anyone in the Foundation Establishment Realm dared to take a direct hit from this hammer, they would be driven into the ground like a nail.

Of course, it was impossible to use this thing in combat. Li Yaotie had made it for blacksmithing, and he would be completely exhausted after swinging it three times, not to mention the difficulty of actually hitting anyone.

Li Yaoqing, that young girl, was a pharmacist, but she was far more than just someone who treated illnesses and saved lives.

The Classic of a Thousand Herbs recorded methods for refining medicine, and the essence of the book also included the art of poisoning.

Once, an enemy invaded.

They had entered the Spirit Herb Garden and, seeing Li Yaoqing as a weak woman, were just about to launch a sneak attack.

Li Xiang had noticed it at the time, but he hadn't yet used the Ancestral Patriarch's Fury to intervene.

The assassin, who was at the eighth stage of Qi Refining, had already fallen into Li Yaoqing's trap. She raised a swarm of Purple Bees; once bitten, the victim would gradually lose their strength until all their spiritual power was exhausted, leading to their demise.

As for Li Dalong, that guy was still in the Li Family's secret chamber, having failed to break through for two years.

He had been accumulating spiritual power, striving to open all the acupoints in his body.

Of course, breaking through from Qi Refining to the Foundation Establishment Realm was not as simple as it sounded. Every breakthrough to a major realm was equivalent to unlocking the human body's genetic locks, resulting in a complete transformation.

Before reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm, one's lifespan was like that of a mortal, but upon reaching it, one could cleanse the marrow and strengthen the tendons, gaining a lifespan of over two hundred years, and one's spiritual roots would also be sublimated to a certain degree.

A perfect Foundation Establishment was nothing short of defying the heavens and changing one's fate.

[Xu Cuihua has used the Beast Taming Technique to form a contract with her life-bound spirit beast, the Heavenly Moon Fox!]

[Obtained profession: Beast Tamer!]

[Obtained trait: Fox Tamer]

[Obtained Incense +100!]

Good news suddenly flashed across the game screen.

In the Spirit Beast Garden, Xu Cuihua was surrounded by spirit beasts, and a phantom of a white fox appeared above the woman as she sat cross-legged!

"I didn't expect this, Xu Cuihua. You're a ruthless one, hiding your true depth so well!"

Li Xiang's eyes lit up. He had just been thinking that Li Dalong was the one defying fate.

He hadn't expected that Li Dalong's wife had already completely succeeded in defying her fate!

[Xu Cuihua (Wife of Li Dalong)]

[Profession: Beast Tamer]

[Realm: Qi Refining Fifth Stage]

[Cultivation Methods: Naqi Technique, Beast Taming Technique]

[Trait: Fox Tamer]

[Fox Tamer: Contracted the spirit-level beast 'Heavenly Moon Fox' as a life-bound spirit beast, used the Heavenly Moon Fox to forge the dantian, and shares the lifespan and magic power of the Heavenly Moon Fox!]

Beast Tamer was a very niche profession.

In Li Xiang's memory, during the thousand-year history of spiritual energy recovery in Huaxia, Beast Tamers were once powerful for a time; they could always obtain various powers from their spirit beasts.

And now.

By contracting a spirit-level beast, Xu Cuihua was effectively equivalent to having the strength of the Foundation Establishment Realm. Based on the combat power of a Heavenly Moon Fox, Xu Cuihua had even reached the middle stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm, leaping to become the strongest existence among the Li Family members!

She had even... surpassed a two-hundred-year lifespan. Spirit beasts had very long lives, and the Heavenly Moon Fox, favored by the bright moon, could live for a thousand years!

"Tsk tsk."

Li Xiang clicked his tongue in wonder, feeling happy for the growth of the Li Family's daughter-in-law.

However, compared to Xu Cuihua, Li Yaozu's wife, Qu Xiaoxiao, was truly unremarkable.

Qu Xiaoxiao's father, Qu Changming, was a cultivator, but Qu Xiaoxiao herself was a mortal. Even with the resources provided by the Li Family, she was only at the first stage of Qi Refining, pampered and lazy. Since marrying Li Yaozu, she had gained a circle of fat, though she was currently pregnant again.

The third-generation member she gave birth to, Li Yunlin, was quite promising.

At eight years old, Li Yunlin had already reached the second stage of Qi Refining. His three-element spiritual root allowed for faster cultivation, and since the Li Family was no longer as destitute as before, he had plenty of resources and the experience of his predecessors to guide his path.

Fortunately, the kid had been influenced by the Li Family since he was young and hadn't picked up his mother's bad habits; although he wasn't as hardworking as the other members of the Li Family, he could still be considered decent and steady.

"The next Great Sacrifice is about to begin soon."

Li Xiang gazed at the screen, filled with many emotions.

He had only been playing for a little over a day.

Yet, nearly thirty years had passed for the family head in the game world, and he had practically watched the children of the Li Family grow up.

Just as he was about to stretch his limbs and prepare for this Bestowal.

The figure of Li Yaowen appeared in the ancestral hall on the screen.

"Ancestor, after spending a year, Yaowen has finally gained the trust of the Su and Chen families!"