Breaking the Blockade, Resource Trading

[Your descendants have offered you sacrifices--]

[50 Tier 1 Beast Blood Fruits!]

[A high-grade magical artifact, the Spirit Breath Sword!]

[A set of Black Iron Beast Blood Armor...]

Li Xiang looked at the various offerings on the game altar. Although he had communicated with his descendants before and told them he only wanted the Beast Blood Fruits, the Li Family descendants seemed to truly believe these items were being sent to the underworld, dumping all their most precious treasures over at once.

[You choose to retrieve the sacrifice--Beast Blood Fruit.]

After checking them one by one, Li Xiang only took out the Beast Blood Fruits.

"The new Beast Blood Fruit Tree has matured; I estimate the next harvest will be in ten years."

Li Xiang calculated the yield. He had 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 if they were strong enough would he be able to reap greater benefits in the future!

"One harvest every ten years, but I can harvest twice a day. In the future, that's 100 fruits per harvest. At 30,000, I can obtain 30,000 Spirit Stones every day!"

Calculating these figures, even Li Xiang began to drool.

One had to know that even when he was a disciple of the Li Family, he only received 300 Spirit Stones as pocket money per month!

Wasn't this just taking off?

While excited internally, Li Xiang remained calm; he had even planned out what to do in the future.

His gaze then shifted back to the game.

[For this Grand Sacrifice, will you use the 'Bestowal of the Ancestor'?]

He rubbed the space ring in his hand.

He had already prepared the Bestowal for this time!

Given the current state of the Li Family, they had initially formed their own power and were capable of self-sufficiency. With the protection of the Purple Thunder Heavenly Sun Python and the War Puppet, they seemed very powerful, but this was far from enough!

If the four great families of Tailin Town were to invade the Li Family, Li Xiang could at most deal with one enemy using his skills.

With a thought.

An ancient book covered in dust appeared in his hand.

[Detecting your Bestowal--]

[Ancestral Spirit Array Diagram!]

[Delivering Bestowal!]

"The Ancestor has bestowed a gift!"

"Every Grand Sacrifice, the Ancestor sends us good things, yet we descendants can only send back useless items. This... how can we be at peace with this?"

"Thank you, Ancestor, for your Bestowal!"

The whole family was moved to tears.

[Your descendants feel your care.]

[Obtained Incense +300!]

"Quick, see what the Ancestor has sent."

Li Dalong hurriedly ordered Li Yaozu to go and get it.

The moment he opened the dusty book beside the bronze altar furnace, Li Yaozu was instantly stunned.

"Ancestral Spirit Array Diagram!"

Ancestral Spirit Array Diagram!

Seeing the joyful expressions of his descendants as they held the book, Li Xiang was not surprised at all.

This array diagram was something from a thousand years ago, during the spiritual energy recovery in the real world's Li Family. It was precisely because of this diagram that the Li Family was able to develop and grow over the last millennium, becoming one of the top powers in Huaxia!

As for where this thing came from?

Li Xiang had only heard rumors.

It was said that a thousand years ago, when spiritual energy recovered, the Li Family's ancestor seemed to have an epiphany overnight, gaining a vast amount of powerful knowledge in his mind and leading the entire Li Family clan to grow from the very first moment.

This Ancestral Spirit Array Diagram could use the Ancestral Token as a foundation to gather the power of everyone in the Li Family and those loyal to them, protecting a piece of land.

The Li Family had used this array to turn danger into safety time and time again.

This diagram was only available to the most core direct descendants and was a secret never shared outside the Li Family.

But now...

"Damn it, Li Zhengdao ran off with everyone and left me behind. Why should I still care about your ancestor?"

Li Xiang grumbled, clearly still holding a grudge about being abandoned by the entire Li Family.

He began to focus on the game.

Time was maxed out again. Li Xiang waited for the Li Family to figure out how to use the Ancestral Spirit Array Diagram, while also waiting for the trade between the Li Family and the Chen Family.

Actually, what Li Yaowen said earlier was truly correct.

The Li Family had already encountered a development bottleneck; because they feared the unknown Demon King in the Silver Iron Forest, they were unable to develop it, while the direction toward Tailin Town had already been blockaded by the Hu Family and the Wang Family.

It wasn't just about being unable to obtain more resources.

It was that...

Li Xiang had another small goal: to dominate the entire Tailin Town and become the local landlord!

The time in the game world had also reached a deep freeze; the winter of the great drought year had no snow, only cold winds and dryness.

The group from the Chen Family had already been sent back to Tailin Town, but they returned to Zhien Village just a few days later.

And they brought a massive amount of resources!

This time, the Chen Family was still led by Chen Chuang, who was currently trading with Li Yaozu and Li Yaowen. Because Li Yaozu had led people to save Chen Chuang last time, the Chen Family possessed sufficient trust in the Li Family; they even came directly with the resources.

[Your family is currently trading with the Chen Family.]

[Obtained a large amount of 'Jinling Grass']

[Obtained a large amount of 'Black Obsidian Essence Stone']

[Obtained...]

Looking at these traded items, Li Xiang was overjoyed.

Time in the game passed very quickly. For the Li Family, the strength to protect the family's development had been exceptionally important during those previous thirty years.

But as the family developed, the importance of resources began to increase!

Li Yaoqing's alchemy progress had already hit a bottleneck. Among the herbs that could be cultivated from the Silver Iron Forest, there were only four types of medicine that could be refined using the Classic of a Thousand Herbs.

There was the 'Blood Coagulation Powder' for treating external injuries, the 'Body Forging Powder' for cultivators below the fifth level of Qi Refining, the 'Seven-Flavor Soup' to increase the speed at which Qi Refining cultivators absorbed spiritual energy, and the lethal 'Ghost-Seeing Agent'.

External spiritual herbs appeared very valuable.

As long as they could obtain 'Jinling Grass' from the Chen Family and combine it with some of the Li Family's spiritual herbs.

Li Yaoqing could even refine the 'Metal Spirit Bath Soup', which could increase Metal spiritual roots by 1-8 points; this was the most powerful medicine among those easily refined in the Classic of a Thousand Herbs.

Then there were the two mineral deposits owned by the Chen Family.

The Black Obsidian Essence Stone mine produced a significant amount of black stones every five years, which was the foundation of the Chen Family. Paving a training room with Black Obsidian Essence Stone allowed a cultivator to meditate within it, increasing their cultivation speed by half a layer while also making their thoughts more flexible during meditation techniques.

As for the Bright Moon Stone, it was a type of spirit stone used for forging magical artifacts. It was usually used for inlaying, which could to a certain extent increase the power of the artifact and save the spiritual energy consumed when using it.

"Hmph, I knew the Hu Family and the Wang Family were slandering you; your Li Family truly keeps its promises."

In the game, as the two sides traded, Li Xiang saw the small text above Chen Chuang's head. Clearly, Chen Chuang was very satisfied with this transaction. "Please rest assured, from now on you are partners of my Chen Family. The potions made by your alchemists and the artifacts crafted by your refiners can be traded to other towns through us!"

Of course.

Li Xiang could tell that the Chen Family was so forthcoming not because the Li Family kept their promises.

It was because the Li Family possessed Li Yaoqing and Li Yaotie. Although they were only ninth-grade, they were highly sought-after treasures no matter where they went.

After the Chen Family members left.

The members of the Li Family were jubilant.

"That's great! Being able to trade with the Chen Family means we can obtain various resources. We've finally broken the blockade of Tailin Town. My Metal Spirit Bath Soup is now within reach. As long as we cooperate with the Su Family next, I will be able to make even more potions!" Li Yaoqing seemed to only be this excited when it came to alchemy.

"The Black Obsidian Essence Stones the Chen Family sold us can build a training room that can accommodate a hundred people. Leave this matter to me."

Li Yaotie licked his lips. "And the Bright Moon Stones—hand over your artifacts, and I'll refurbish them for you. Big Brother, you can try it with your high-grade artifact too."

"I'll give it a try then, take it. I really haven't gotten used to this Spirit Breath Sword."

Li Yaozu grinned. "By the way, Yaotie, you must remember my 150 sets of Black Iron Beast Blood Set, Black Blood Bow, and Black Blood Blade. Once we have a 150-man Qi Refining guard troop, these things will come in handy. I've even thought of a name for them: the Black Blood Hall!"

"150 sets? Big Brother, you're really greedy. These things will take me several years to forge. You'd better check if the Black Iron Mine is enough."

"Once we bring the entire Tailin Town into our pockets, everything will be within our grasp."

Li Yaowen, sitting in the wheelchair, uttered these words lightly, drawing the attention of her older brothers and sister.

However, they had no doubts about the fourth sibling's methods.

Li Xiang, in front of the screen, had no doubts either.

[Congratulations, your descendants have obtained a large amount of resources. They know it was with your approval that Li Yaowen implemented the plan to reach the deal with the Chen Family, and they admire you even more.]

[Obtained Incense +100!]

In the days that followed.

The Li Family began their heated development once again.

Having received Li Yaozu's promise that they would be granted artifacts once they became Qi Refining cultivators, the guard troop began to cultivate frantically.

As the Ancestral Spirit Array Diagram bestowed by Li Xiang this time continued to be deciphered, Li Yaozu actually began to assemble a hundred people from Zhien Village every day... for tattoos!

The tattoos used the blood of the Li family members, mixed with some miscellaneous materials.

Li Xiang saw a villager lift his shirt to have a very handsome 'Li' character carved onto his chest, and immediately after, the next villager had the same character carved onto a part of their body; some even wanted it carved on their buttocks.

It turned out that to complete the Ancestral Spirit Array Diagram, the first step was to mark everyone loyal to the Li Family with the Li Family's brand. Its core was the blood of the Li family members, used to gather everyone's strength with the Li family members as the center when the clan faced a crisis!

The second step was even more complex than the branding process.

That was to carve a massive array diagram within the area where the grand formation would be used; wanting to carve an array diagram across the entire Li Family estate would take years of accumulated time.

Finally, when early spring arrived.

All the members of the Li Family gathered together, waiting anxiously outside the delivery room.

Following the cry of a newborn, everyone cheered with joy.

[Qu Xiaoxiao has completed her ten-month pregnancy and successfully given birth to a son, named Li Yunbing!]

[Congratulations, you have gained +10 Incense!]