"Won their trust?"
Li Xiang narrowed his eyes. Sometimes, laying plans took a great deal of time.
But in this game, Li Xiang cared more about the Li Family's development. With time accelerated, he had no idea what Li Yaowen had done, so he could only ask the Purple Thunder Heavenly Sun Python.
"Tsii~ Sss~"
The Temple Guardian Beast asked its question.
Li Yaowen immediately understood. She respectfully said, "Ancestor, we have people in Tailin Town. I've had them keep an eye on the Four Great Families' movements. Three months ago, the maid I'd placed in the Chen Family finally sent word: the Chen Family's young playboy had secretly gone to a brothel to indulge himself."
"So I had Second Sister prepare a drug that stirs up lust. That night, Hu Wei of the Hu Family was there too—the same man who once had Father gravely injured. He was dead drunk."
"I had someone take him to the room of the lust-crazed young Chen Family master..."
???
"Thump!"
Li Xiang stared in shock as he slid off his chair. This was explosive—absolutely explosive!
He couldn't imagine what had happened that night. The scene was too beautiful to contemplate.
"The next morning, Hu Wei woke up and searched everywhere for Chen Gandang of the Chen Family, swearing he wouldn't rest until Chen Gandang was dead."
"Later, Chen Gandang fled Tailin Town. With my arrangements, he ran into danger and ended up in Zhien Village."
"The Chen Family head's fourth younger brother has been secretly in contact with me to keep Chen Gandang alive."
Li Xiang was filled with emotion.
He deeply admired Li Yaowen's step-by-step scheming. He could never have thought of such a... distinctive idea.
And as Li Yaowen recounted all this, she didn't even blush. It seemed she felt that as long as she achieved her goal, the process didn't matter.
She was even a little dissatisfied with how things had turned out.
"Ancestor, Yaowen still miscalculated. I thought Hu Wei would sober up early and kill Chen Gandang. Then we could contact his father ourselves. But I never expected Chen Gandang to survive."
"..."
Li Xiang was speechless. He silently typed—
[Life is unpredictable. Let things take their course.]
As the Purple Thunder Heavenly Sun Python relayed his reply, Li Yaowen's eyes lit up. "Yaowen understands. The Ancestor means we can strike another heavy blow. While the Chen Family is sending people here to trade, we'll have someone take Chen Gandang to meet them. At the same time, we'll secretly inform the Hu Family. Hu Wei is the sort of man who never lets a grudge go; he won't spare Chen Gandang!"
"Then... things will spiral even further!"
"That's what it means for life to be unpredictable—a scheme within a scheme. Even if the Chen Family realizes we did it, blood has already been spilled. We'll be enemies of the Hu Family just like they are. The enemy of my enemy is my friend!"
Li Xiang sucked in a breath.
This second-generation descendant of his was the most ruthless person he had ever encountered in his life.
"Go ahead."
Li Xiang had nothing more to say. Li Yaowen had clearly laid everything out already, and meddling would only backfire.
His goal was simple.
He wanted to break through the blockade Tailin Town had imposed on the Li Family and begin trading!
If they could completely deal with the Li Family's two enemies and swallow up all of Tailin Town, the Li Family would progress even faster!
Before long.
As Li Xiang checked the map, he spotted Li Yaozu outside Zhien Village, returning with two spirit beasts and a group of battered people.
The Li Family now had five spirit beasts. Apart from the one Xu Cuihua had contracted, there were four more.
They were all products of the Silver Iron Forest. With the Purple Thunder Heavenly Sun Python's help and Xu Cuihua's patient taming over time, they had no choice but to submit.
The Hundred-Eyed Demon Spider, the Gale Winged Tiger, the Chaoyang Beast, and the Eight-Leaf Flower Demon.
The last two were with Li Yaozu now.
The Chaoyang Beast was a bird demon beast resembling a crane, but with red feathers. As it flew, its demonic aura could become a blazing inferno. It was a fiercely powerful beast that usually helped Li Yaotie forge weapons.
The Eight-Leaf Flower Demon was a flower demon beast that had gained sentience over many years and taken on a beastly form. It could walk on its roots and take root wherever it landed. Its flying leaves could wound people and cloud their minds.
It was also the weakest spirit beast Xu Cuihua had ever seen...
As long as you didn't fall under its spell or get struck by its eight leaves, even a Qi Refining cultivator could burn it to a crisp with a single burst of fire.
At that moment.
Outside a room, pink dust drifted from the Eight-Leaf Flower Demon's flower.
Unnoticed, the wounded inside—whom Li Yaoqing was treating—were filled with indignation.
"Hu Wei of the Hu Family killed our clansmen. This grudge can never be settled!"
"If the Li Family's young master hadn't come to our rescue in time, we'd have died too."
"I never thought that bastard Hu Wei could be so utterly depraved!"
Watching the words above the animated characters in the room, Li Xiang raised an eyebrow.
He knew Li Yaowen's plan had worked—and better than expected!
As Li Xiang watched with interest.
A maid pushed the frail, sickly Li Yaowen into the room.
"And this is...?"
Four members of the Chen Family had been rescued on this trip. The one at their head was middle-aged. As far as Li Xiang knew, he was the Chen Family head's third younger brother, a ninth-level Qi Refining cultivator named Chen Chuang.
As for Chen Gandang... that fellow had been killed on the road, along with his father, by a trap Hu Wei had set in advance.
Li Yaozu had already met the Chen Family members on the way. When they asked, he smiled and said, "Friends from the Chen Family, this is my younger sister, Li Yaowen."
After everyone had been introduced, Li Yaowen furrowed her delicate brows and asked gravely, "Uncle Chen Chuang, may I ask if your Chen Family has long held a grudge against the Hu Family?"
"Held a grudge for a long time? Niece Yaowen, what makes you ask?"
Chen Chuang thought for a moment, then said, "If you mean grudges, there have been plenty. To be honest, you may have heard that the Four Great Families of Tailin stand united against outsiders, but that's only how it looks to outsiders. Twenty years ago, the Chen Family and the Hu Family fought over a stone mine, and many people on both sides died. Come to think of it, Hu Wei's uncle died in that very incident."
"Just as I thought."
Li Yaowen sighed.
Seeing her like that, Chen Chuang was even more confused. "Why are you sighing, niece?"
"Honestly, when Brother Chen fled to the Li Family, he told us that he'd been woozy when he went out to have fun that night and had no idea what had happened. The next morning, Hu Wei was already threatening to kill him—and Hu Wei even had the moral high ground."
"But Hu Wei searched the whole town for Brother Chen, and Brother Chen still managed to escape Tianlin Town. Don't you think that's strange?"
Chen Chuang's expression changed. "What are you trying to say?"
"I think the Hu Family may have set this all up!" Li Yaowen looked relieved.
"Set it up?" Chen Chuang seemed to realize something.
"That's right. It was a trap!"
Li Yaowen spoke at length. "You know the Li Family and the Hu Family have a blood feud. But your relationship with the Hu Family is bad too. So the Hu Family has been secretly plotting to wipe us all out."
"They deliberately created a conflict between Hu Wei and Brother Chen, then deliberately let Brother Chen escape. They did it all for this moment!"
"Uncle Chen, think carefully. If all your people died on the way to our Li Family to bring Brother Chen home, what would your Chen Family think?"
At last, Chen Chuang went pale.
"Our Chen Family would think the Li Family was responsible. After all, you'd already... tricked the Wang Family's people into coming to the Li Family and killed them."
"Exactly." Li Yaowen shuddered. "That way, the Hu Family could kill your people and turn your Chen Family against ours. Then they could urge your family to make war on us!"
As she spoke, Li Yaowen gave a bitter smile. "If that happened, the Li Family would be in grave danger, with all three other great families of Tailin as our enemies."
"What a vicious plan!"
Chen Chuang gritted his teeth. Even with a broken leg, he struggled to his feet. "I'm going back now. I'll tell our Ancestor and make the Hu Family pay!"
But Li Yaowen shook her head. "Wait, Uncle Chen. You think they'd let you return alive after Hu Wei attacked you? I'm afraid the road to Tailin Town is already riddled with traps laid by the Hu Family."
"I..." Chen Chuang finally calmed down.
Li Yaowen continued, "Uncle Chen, rest and recover here in the Li Family. We can continue discussing the business we planned to discuss these past few days. As for making the Hu Family pay, it would be better to think it over carefully. A family feud is a matter of life and death. You should seriously consider whether it's worth putting your Chen and Hu Families in a fight to the death over this."
"Ah."
Chen Chuang sighed. "These past few days, both the Hu and Wang Families have been saying the Li Family is ruthless. People's tongues can be terrifying."
That was right—you had to hand it to her!
Watching the scenes in the game, Li Xiang couldn't help admiring her.
At her age, Li Yaowen was already almost demonically clever!
She'd seized on nearly every detail, drawing the Hu and Chen Families step by step into a chasm of enmity. She'd even made the Li Family look like a generous, benevolent household in Chen Chuang's eyes.
After Li Yaowen was wheeled out of the room, Li Xiang immediately gave her a dose of 'Love from the Ancestor.'
"Thank you for the reward, Ancestor!" Li Yaowen beamed, delighted by the Ancestor's gift. She had lost count of how many times she'd received such rewards. She was frail and often caught chills or fevers; each time, the Ancestor's blessing had banished her sickness.
Otherwise, Li Yaowen wasn't sure she would have lived to this age.
That was also why Li Yaowen dared to pursue the Literary Cultivator's path, a path as hard to climb as the heavens, despite her illness-prone body. She believed the Ancestor would protect everyone in the family. The Ancestor watched over them from beyond the grave and cared about her even more than her parents did.
Meanwhile, in front of the screen.
Li Xiang was watching Li Yaozu discuss business with the Chen Family members. The Li Family had large quantities of herbs, demon-beast materials, food, and even demon-beast young.
The Chen Family, on the other hand, had all kinds of resources. They even owned a trading company in the county seat.
The Li Family would soon gain a wealth of resources for developing the family through this trade!
Before long.
The deal was finalized. Chen Chuang stayed to recuperate at the Li Family's home, and as heavy snow fell, everyone in the Li Family gathered in the Ancestral Hall.
Even Li Dalong, who had been in seclusion, came out temporarily, his face covered in stubble.
The once-in-a-decade grand ancestral offering began!
[Your family has offered you a great many sacrificial offerings!]
Before you continue