"Doing business with Tailin Town?"
Li Xiang's interest was piqued. He had been keeping an eye on the Li Family's development. Li Yaowen had loved reading since she was little, and now it seemed the girl was no simple character.
He promptly typed into the game, telling Li Yaowen to continue.
With his approval, Li Yaowen ignored her astonished elder brother. Her lips parted slightly.
"Ancestral Patriarch, I know we have blood feuds with the Hu and Wang families of Tailin Town, but that doesn't mean we can't trade with the other two families."
"Human nature is selfish and greedy."
"Everyone says the four great families of Tailin Town work together with one heart, but they aren't one family. I've looked into it. Because of the years of severe drought, each family has its own troubles, and many of their businesses are struggling to stay afloat. They're especially afraid that our Li Family will kill innocents indiscriminately, so they don't even dare hunt in the Silver Iron Forest."
"Besides, our feud with the Hu and Wang families has never had anything to do with them."
"Our terms for a trade are sound."
As he listened to Li Yaowen, Li Xiang gulped down 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.
"Arranging a trade with them and showing them our sincerity is only the beginning."
"What will the Hu and Wang families think next?"
"Their relationship will develop an irreparable crack. 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 without us lifting a finger, and we'll be able to avenge ourselves!"
Smack!
Li Xiang slapped his thigh. Li Yaowen's years of reading hadn't gone to waste. She might have no combat strength whatsoever, but her wisdom was a match for a Foundation Establishment cultivator!
But Li Yaowen's next words made Li Xiang twitch.
"This is all an open scheme. When the conflicts in Tailin Town begin, we can withdraw completely and work from behind the scenes!"
"Better yet, we can secretly send people to kill their heirs and frame someone else."
"Without descendants to carry on their families, they'll fall into utter despair. They'll fight each other to the death, while we'll conquer Tailin Town without losing a single soldier!"
"With the cultivators gone, chaos and death will descend upon Tailin Town. Its forty thousand commoners will gradually die during this year of severe drought, and vengeful spirits and evil ghosts will occupy the entire city. We'll get a huge number of corpses to nourish the Beast Blood Fruit Tree!"
???
Li Xiang's face darkened. Sometimes he thought he was a bit of a scoundrel, but looking at the words above Li Yaowen's head, he felt relieved.
Li Xiang wasn't the only one.
Even Li Yaozu stared at his younger sister in disbelief. He even shuffled a step away from her and swallowed hard.
After that,
Li Xiang and Li Yaowen discussed things for a while before he continued checking on the family's development. Schemes were schemes, but everything still depended on how they played out in practice.
No matter what kind of plot or trick it was, it all depended on having overwhelming strength.
[Li Family, Year 29.]
The family continued to grow. Though the Li Family had established a village, it had already become self-sufficient.
At this time, Li Yaozu was still managing the family's affairs.
The one hundred and fifty guards under his command had already formed a well-organized unit. They wore heavy black iron scale armor, and each carried fifteen iron arrows. Put simply, any one of them could fight a first-layer Qi Refining cultivator.
By Li Xiang's estimate, if a newly advanced Foundation Establishment cultivator without any special defensive spells faced a volley from all one hundred and fifty guards, they'd end up riddled with arrows—assuming, of course, they couldn't dodge.
Though he was always occupied with family affairs,
Li Yaozu hadn't neglected his cultivation.
[Li Yaozu (Second Generation)]
[Realm: Qi Refining, Eighth Layer]
[Spells and Martial Arts: Naqi Technique, Autumn Wind Steps, Basic Sword Technique, Sword Radiance]
[Special Trait: Killing Potential]
[Equipment: Spirit Breath Sword, Soul-Confusing Pendant, Black Iron Beast Blood Set]
The Autumn Wind Steps were the cultivation method that had dropped when they fought the Wang Family elder earlier. When used, the cultivator moved with the swiftness of an autumn gale, each step concealing a deadly strike.
There were many similar techniques. The Li Family now had as many as six or seven cultivation manuals.
Most of the Li Family's equipment had come from the Hu and Wang families.
The Soul-Confusing Pendant could protect the mind. When infused with spiritual power, it could leave an opponent dazed for a moment.
As for the Black Iron Beast Blood Set...
After Li Yaotie became an artifact refiner, his method of forging artifacts was crude and utterly unpredictable.
The reason for this unpredictability was that the kid poured all sorts of demonic beast heartblood into a large pot and sealed it with spiritual power.
He called the blood in that pot the 'Blood Altar.'
Whenever he needed to refine an artifact, he placed the materials in the Blood Altar and soaked them for forty-nine days.
Then he began hammering the artifact into shape. Even Li Yaotie himself had no idea what abilities the finished artifact would have. And every artifact he made was of the lowest grade. He called this the 'Fate-Following Artifact Refining Method.'
The Black Iron Beast Blood Set was Li Yaotie's handiwork. Every member of the Li Family had one!
The set Li Yaozu wore was a dark red. It included a robe, inner armor, gloves, belt, trousers, and boots.
It let the wearer blend into the surroundings like a chameleon. When activated with spiritual power, it could also summon two blood tigers to attack the enemy.
Next were Li Yaotie and Li Yaoqing.
Both of them had reached the sixth layer of Qi Refining.
Li Yaotie had excellent aptitude, but he was hopelessly obsessed with blacksmithing.
Still, no one should underestimate his strength.
If anyone in the Li Family had the strongest body, it was undoubtedly Li Yaotie. He spent all day hammering iron, and in doing so, he also hammered his own body into shape. He had two hammers. The smaller one was for forging equipment day to day, made entirely of black iron and weighing fifty jin. He wielded it one-handed as easily as an extension of his arm.
The big hammer...
Its handle was as tall as a person, and the hammerhead was wider than Li Yaotie's broad, burly frame. Li Xiang believed that if a Foundation Establishment cultivator tried to take a direct hit from it, they'd be pounded into the ground like a nail.
Of course, there was no way he could use the thing in battle. Li Yaotie had made it for blacksmithing, and after three swings at most, he'd be completely spent—not to mention the difficulty of actually hitting anyone.
Li Yaoqing might have been a girl and an apothecary, but she was far more than just an ordinary healer.
The Classic of a Thousand Herbs recorded methods of refining medicine, and poison-making was just as much a part of the book's essence.
Once, an enemy invaded.
He had entered the Spirit Herb Garden and spotted Li Yaoqing, a frail young woman. He was just about to launch a sneak attack.
Li Xiang noticed him too, but before he could use 'Ancestral Patriarch's Fury' to come to her rescue,
the eighth-layer Qi Refining assassin had already fallen into Li Yaoqing's trap. She kept a swarm of Purple Bees. Once stung, a person would gradually lose their strength until every last bit of spiritual power was drained from their body—and then they'd be done for.
As for Li Dalong, that guy was still in seclusion in the Li Family's secret chamber. He still hadn't broken through after two years.
He had been accumulating spiritual power, trying to open every acupoint in his body.
Of course, breaking through from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment wasn't as simple as it sounded. Each major breakthrough was like undoing the body's genetic lock, bringing about a complete transformation.
Before Qi Refining, one's lifespan was that of an ordinary person. Foundation Establishment cleansed the marrow and transformed the sinews, granting a lifespan of more than two hundred years. One's spiritual roots would also be elevated to a certain degree.
A perfect Foundation Establishment breakthrough was no different from defying fate and changing one's destiny.
[Xu Cuihua used Beast Taming Technique to contract the Heavenly Moon Fox as her bonded spirit beast!]
[Obtained profession: Beast Tamer!]
[Obtained trait: Fox Tamer]
[Obtained Incense +100!]
Good news suddenly rang out from the game screen.
In the Spirit Beast Garden, Xu Cuihua was surrounded by demonic beasts, sitting cross-legged. The phantom of a white fox appeared above the woman!
"I never would've guessed, Xu Cuihua. You're a tough one—you've been hiding your abilities well!"
Li Xiang's eyes lit up. Just moments ago, he'd thought Li Dalong was defying fate and changing his destiny.
He hadn't expected Li Dalong's wife to have already accomplished the same thing!
[Xu Cuihua (Li Dalong's Wife)]
[Profession: Beast Tamer]
[Realm: Qi Refining, Fifth Layer]
[Techniques: Naqi Technique, Beast Taming Technique]
[Special Trait: Fox Tamer]
[Fox Tamer: Contracted the spirit-grade demonic beast 'Heavenly Moon Fox' as her bonded spirit beast. She used the Heavenly Moon Fox to forge her dantian, sharing its lifespan and magical power!]
Beast Tamers were an obscure profession.
In Li Xiang's memories, during Huaxia's thousand-year history of spiritual energy revival, Beast Tamers had once risen to prominence. They could always gain all sorts of powers from their spirit beasts.
And now,
by contracting with a spirit-grade demonic beast, Xu Cuihua had gained strength equivalent to that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Given the Heavenly Moon Fox's combat strength, she had even reached Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, becoming the strongest member of the Li Family in a single leap!
She had even surpassed two hundred years of life. Demonic beasts lived a long time, and the Heavenly Moon Fox, blessed by the moon, could live for a thousand years!
"Tsk, tsk."
Li Xiang clicked his tongue in wonder, happy to see the Li Family's wives growing stronger.
But compared with Xu Cuihua, Li Yaozu's wife, Qu Xiaoxiao, was truly mediocre.
Qu Xiaoxiao's father, Qu Changming, was a cultivator, but Qu Xiaoxiao was an ordinary person. Even with the Li Family's resources supporting her, she had only reached the first layer of Qi Refining. She was spoiled, lazy, and fond of good food. In the years since marrying Li Yaozu, she'd put on a few pounds, and now she was expecting again.
Her son, the third-generation Li Yunlin, was a different story.
Eight-year-old Li Yunlin had already reached the second layer of Qi Refining. With three spiritual roots, he cultivated faster, and the Li Family was no longer as destitute as it once had been. He had plenty of resources and could draw on the cultivation experience of those who came before him.
Fortunately, the boy had grown up immersed in the Li Family's ways and hadn't picked up his mother's bad habits. He wasn't as hardworking as the other members of the Li Family, but he was still respectable.
"The next grand sacrifice is about to begin."
Li Xiang gazed at the screen, filled with emotion.
He'd only been playing for a little over a day.
Yet the head of the family in the game had already lived through nearly thirty years. He had practically watched the Li Family's children grow up.
Just as he was about to stretch and get ready to bestow his next blessing,
Li Yaowen appeared in the ancestral hall on the screen.
"Ancestral Patriarch, after spending a year on it, Yaowen has finally earned the trust of the Su and Chen families!"
Before you continue