[Your descendants offered you sacrificial offerings--] [50 first-tier Beast Blood Fruits!] [High-grade dharma artifact, Spirit Breath Sword!] [One set of Black Iron Beast Blood Armor...]
Li Xiang looked at the various sacrificial offerings on the game altar. Though he had communicated with his descendants beforehand and told them that he only wanted Beast Blood Fruits, the Li Family descendants truly seemed to believe these things were being sent to the Underworld, and they sent over all their most precious treasures in one go.
[You chose to retrieve the sacrificial offering--Beast Blood Fruits.]
After checking them one by one, Li Xiang only took out the Beast Blood Fruits.
"The new Beast Blood Fruit Trees have already grown. We should be able to harvest them again in ten years."
Li Xiang calculated the harvest. He left half of these Beast Blood Fruits for the Li Family and kept half for himself. After all, the Li Family descendants needed to grow as well. Only when they became strong enough would he gain even more benefits in the future!
"One harvest every ten years. I can harvest twice a day. From now on, that'll be a hundred fruits each time—thirty thousand. I'll be able to obtain thirty thousand Spirit Stones every day!"
At that calculation, even Li Xiang drooled.
One had to know that even as a Li Family descendant, he only received three hundred Spirit Stones a month as pocket money!
Wasn't this soaring straight into the sky?
Even as excitement surged through him, Li Xiang remained calm. He had even already planned out what he would do in the future.
Then, his gaze returned to the game.
[For this grand sacrifice, would you like to use 'Ancestor's Bestowal'?]
He rubbed the spatial ring on his hand.
He had long since prepared this Bestowal!
Given the Li Family's current situation, they had already initially formed their own force and could sustain themselves. With the Protection of the Purple Thunder Heavenly Sun Python and the War Puppet, they appeared quite powerful, but that was far from enough!
If any of Tailin Town's four great families broke into the Li Family, Li Xiang could at most use his skills to deal with one enemy.
With a thought—
An ancient book covered in dust appeared in his hand.
[Detecting your Bestowal--] [Ancestral Spirit Array Diagram!] [Delivering Bestowal!]
"The ancestor bestowed something upon us!"
"Every grand sacrifice, the ancestor sends us good things, yet we descendants can only send back useless things. How... how can that put our hearts at ease?"
"Thank you for your Bestowal, Ancestor!"
The whole family was moved to tears.
[Your descendants have felt your regard.] [Incense +300!]
"Quick, see what the ancestor sent us."
Li Dalong hurriedly instructed Li Yaozu to fetch it.
The moment Li Yaozu opened the dust-covered book beside the altar's bronze furnace, he froze in a daze.
"Ancestral Spirit Array Diagram!"
Ancestral Spirit Array Diagram!
Seeing the delighted expressions on his descendants' faces as they received the book, Li Xiang was not surprised in the least.
This array diagram was something the Li Family had possessed a thousand years before the spiritual energy revival in the real world. It was also because of this diagram that the Li Family had been able to grow and flourish over the past thousand years, becoming one of Huaxia's foremost great powers!
As for where this thing had come from?
Li Xiang had only heard a little about it.
It was said that when spiritual energy revived a thousand years ago, the Li Family's ancestor had seemingly attained enlightenment overnight, gaining countless powerful pieces of knowledge in his mind. He immediately led the entire Li Family clan to rise.
This Ancestral Spirit Array Diagram could use the Ancestral Token as its foundation, gathering the strength of all Li Family members and those loyal to the Li Family to protect a piece of land.
Because of this array diagram, the Li Family had escaped danger time and again.
Only the most core direct descendants could obtain this array diagram. It was also the Li Family's secret, never passed down beyond them.
But now...
"Damn it, Li Zhengdao ran off with everyone and left only me behind. Why the hell should I care about your ancestors?"
Li Xiang grumbled, clearly still bitter about being abandoned by the entire Li Family.
He turned his attention back to the game.
Time sped up once more. As Li Xiang waited for the Li Family to figure out how to use the Ancestral Spirit Array Diagram, he also waited for the transaction between the Li Family and the Chen Family.
What Li Yaowen had said before had actually been right.
The Li Family had already encountered a bottleneck in its development. Because they feared the unknown Demon King within Silver Iron Forest, they could not develop it. Meanwhile, in the direction of Tailin Town, they had been blockaded by the Hu Family and the Wang Family.
It was not merely that they could not obtain more resources.
Rather...
Li Xiang had another small goal: dominate all of Tailin Town and become a local tyrant outright!
Time in the game had reached the depths of winter. There was no snow during this winter of drought, only cold wind and dryness.
The Chen Family group had long since been sent back to Tailin Town, yet within a few days, they had returned to Zhien Village.
And they brought a massive amount of resources with them!
The Chen Family was still led by Chen Chuang this time. He was currently trading with Li Yaozu and Li Yaowen. Because Li Yaozu had led people to save Chen Chuang last time, the Chen Family had sufficient trust in the Li Family. They had even brought the resources directly to them.
[Your Lineage is conducting a transaction with the Chen Family.] [Obtained a large quantity of 'Jinling Grass'] [Obtained a large quantity of 'Black Obsidian Essence Stone'] [Obtained...]
Seeing the traded goods, Li Xiang was overjoyed.
Time passed quickly in the game. During those previous thirty years, having the strength to protect the family's development had seemed especially important to the Li Family.
But as the family developed, the importance of resources began to rise as well!
Li Yaoqing's alchemy progress had already fallen into a bottleneck. Of the cultivable herbs obtained from Silver Iron Forest, there were only four medicines that could be refined using the Classic of a Thousand Herbs.
Blood Coagulation Powder for treating external injuries, Body Forging Powder for cultivation by cultivators below the fifth layer of Qi Refining, Seven-Flavor Soup for increasing the speed at which Qi Refining cultivators absorbed spiritual energy, and Ghost-Seeing Agent, which killed at the sight of blood.
Foreign spirit herbs thus became extremely valuable.
As long as they could obtain Jinling Grass from the Chen Family and pair it with some of the Li Family's spirit herbs—
Li Yaoqing could even refine Metal Spirit Bath Soup, which could raise a metal-element spiritual root by one to eight points. Among the easily refined medicines in the Classic of a Thousand Herbs, it was also the most potent.
There were also the Chen Family's two mines.
Of them, the Black Obsidian Essence Stone mine produced quite a few black stones every five years. This was also part of the Chen Family's foundation. Paving the ground with Black Obsidian Crystal Stones could form a cultivation room. Cultivators meditating within it could increase their cultivation speed by half a tenth, while their thoughts would become more agile when contemplating cultivation arts.
Bright Moon Stone, meanwhile, was a Spirit Stone used to forge dharma artifacts. It was usually used for inlaying and could, to a certain extent, enhance a dharma artifact's power while reducing the spiritual power consumed when using it.
"Hmph, I knew the Hu Family and the Wang Family were spewing blood from their mouths. Your Li Family truly keeps its promises."
As the two sides traded in the game, Li Xiang saw the small words above Chen Chuang's head. Chen Chuang was clearly very satisfied with this transaction. "Please rest assured. From today onward, you are the Chen Family's partners. The medicines made by your alchemist and the dharma artifacts forged by your artifact refiner can be traded with other towns through our Chen Family!"
Of course.
Li Xiang could tell that the Chen Family was being so forthright not because the Li Family kept its promises.
It was because the Li Family had Li Yaoqing and Li Yaotie. Though they were only ninth-grade, they would be sought after wherever they went.
After the Chen Family members departed—
The Li Family rejoiced.
"Wonderful! With trade with the Chen Family, we can obtain all kinds of resources. We've finally broken Tailin Town's blockade. My Metal Spirit Bath Soup is finally within reach! As long as we cooperate with the Su Family again, I'll make even more medicines!" Li Yaoqing seemed to be this excited only when it came to alchemy.
"The Black Obsidian Crystal Stones the Chen Family sold us can build a cultivation room that holds a hundred people. Leave that matter to me."
Li Yaotie licked his lips. "And Bright Moon Stones too. Give me your dharma artifacts, and I'll refurbish them for you. Big Brother, we can try it on your high-grade dharma artifact as well."
"Then let's try it. Take it. I really haven't gotten used to using this Spirit Breath Sword."
Li Yaozu grinned. "Right, Yao Tie, you must remember my one hundred and fifty sets of Black Iron Beast Blood Sets, Black Blood Bows, and Black Blood Blades. Once we have a one-hundred-and-fifty-man Qi Refining guard unit, those things will come in handy. I've even thought of a name for them—Black Blood Hall!"
"One hundred and fifty sets? Big Brother, you're really greedy. Those things will take me years to refine. You should first see whether there's enough Black Iron Mine."
"Once we bring all of Tailin Town into our grasp, everything will be there for the taking."
Li Yaowen, seated in her wheelchair, spoke lightly, drawing the attention of her brothers and sisters.
Yet none of them doubted Fourth Sister's methods.
Neither did Li Xiang before the screen.
[Congratulations. Your descendants have obtained a large amount of resources. They know that it was with your approval that Li Yaowen carried out the plan and completed the transaction with the Chen Family. Their admiration for you has grown ever deeper.] [Incense +100!]
In the days that followed—
The Li Family began another period of fervent development.
After receiving Li Yaozu's promise that they would be granted dharma artifacts once they became Qi Refining cultivators, the guard unit members began cultivating like mad.
As the Ancestral Spirit Array Diagram bestowed by Li Xiang continued to be deciphered, Li Yaozu actually began gathering a hundred people from Zhien Village every day... for tattoos!
The tattoos were made with Li Family members' blood mixed with all sorts of miscellaneous materials.
Li Xiang watched a villager lift his shirt and have a handsome "Li" character carved into his chest. Then the next villager had the same character carved somewhere on his body. Some people even wanted it carved onto their buttocks.
It turned out that to complete the Ancestral Spirit Array Diagram, the first step was to brand all those loyal to the Li Family with the Li Family's mark. Its core was the blood of Li Family members. That way, when the clan faced a crisis, all their strength could be gathered around the Li Family members!
And the second step was even more complicated than branding.
It was to carve a massive array diagram across the area where the grand array would be used. To carve such an array diagram throughout the entire Li Family residence would take years upon years.
Finally, when spring arrived—
All the Li Family members gathered together, anxiously waiting outside the delivery room.
With the cry of a baby, everyone rejoiced.
[After ten months of pregnancy, Qu Xiaoxiao successfully gave birth to a son, named Li Yunbing!] [Congratulations, Incense +10!]
Before you continue