The child born to Qu Xiaoxiao, who had been lazy and fond of good food this time around, was nowhere near as talented as Li Yunlin. He, too, had five mixed spiritual roots.
Even his strongest, fire, only scored 48 points.
But something in the game screen surprised Li Xiang.
Li Yunbing had only just been born. Li Yaozu was holding him in the room, yet didn't spare Qu Xiaoxiao, who had just given birth, a single glance. The rest of the Li Family were the same. When they occasionally glanced at Qu Xiaoxiao, their expressions were mocking, even tinged with disgust.
"Yaozu, the baby. Let me hold him." Qu Xiaoxiao's eyes were bloodshot.
Li Yaozu thought for a moment, then handed the baby to her. His voice was cold as he said, "Qu Xiaoxiao, I've treated you well all these years. But time and again, you've lined your own pockets with my Li Family's money. You even stole spirit medicines from our treasury, and Beast Blood Fruit for your younger brother and father."
"Once Yun Bing was born, our marriage was over. You have no ties to the Li Family anymore."
"Out of consideration for our marriage, you can live in Zhien Village from now on, under my Protection, and you can still see Yunlin and Yun Bing. I don't want them to grow up without a mother. But remember, sparing your lives is already an enormous act of kindness. I only hope your Qu Family will know its place and behave."
Qu Xiaoxiao cried out, "Yaozu, give me a chance. I'll change. I swear I won't do it again."
"Elder brother has already given you plenty of chances."
Li Yaowen stroked the armrest of her wheelchair, her expression impassive. "Did your Qu Family really think you could get away with these things without me noticing? But you went too far. Our Li Family can accept mediocrity, but we can't accept betrayal and deceit."
As she spoke,
Li Yaowen turned to Li Yunlin, who stood nearby with his head lowered, and said gently, "Nephew, you've grown up. You should know the truth."
"Mm."
Li Yunlin murmured through a sob, still keeping his head down, his eyes bloodshot.
"Ah."
Li Xiang let out a long sigh. Li Yaozu had told the Ancestral Tablet about this, too, blaming himself for being blind and marrying such a woman. He had also repented for failing to judge her character when he was young.
But every family had its troubles. No one knew what the person they cherished might become.
Still, Li Yaozu had handled this matter well. A person's ambition was boundless. If he let the Qu Family run wild, the damage could become unbearable.
The only ones who suffered were Li Yunlin and Li Yunbing.
Late that night, on the game screen,
Li Yunlin, who had held back his tears all day, clutched Li Yunbing in his swaddling clothes. In the flickering candlelight, he faced Li Xiang's Ancestral Tablet and wept bitterly.
"Ancestor, my mother... is a traitor!"
"From now on, everyone in the family, and all our friends in Zhien Village, will know that my little brother and I are the children of a traitor."
"I'm the child... of a traitor..."
No one knew how deeply a failed mother could scar her child. What Qu Xiaoxiao and the Qu Family had done would likely become a mark of humiliation, branded onto Li Yunlin and Li Yunbing.
[Overcome with immense inner pain, Li Yunlin gained the trait: Humiliating Self-Proof]
[He will become more self-conscious, and his state of mind will decrease by 10%. To escape this humiliation, he will work harder than anyone else and make it the line he will never cross. His cultivation speed will increase by 20%!]
Looking at Li Yunlin's new trait, Li Xiang shook his head. He didn't know how to comfort him.
In the end, he could only use 'Love from the Ancestor', sending down a warm light to soothe Li Yunlin.
The Purple Thunder Heavenly Sun Python seemed to sense Li Xiang's feelings. It reached its tongue out of the darkness and licked Li Yunlin's face, covering it in saliva.
"Thank you, Ancestor."
In the pitch-black night, the fragile soul nestled against the Purple Thunder Heavenly Sun Python and fell asleep.
In the days that followed, Li Xiang asked the members of the Li Family to pay more attention to Li Yaozu's two children.
Soon, the year came to an end.
[Li Family Year 31: The long drought finally ended. Heaven smiled upon the land and sent down a heavy rain. The earth came to life anew!]
"Has this drought of more than twenty years finally ended?"
Li Xiang let out a long breath.
He didn't understand why there had been a twenty-year drought. He had lived on Earth his whole life and had never seen such a disaster. He had only heard stories from the refugees of Zhien Village about bones littering the roads and people trading their children for food.
On the game screen,
After the downpour, all the villagers ran out of their homes and stood in the sweet rain that followed the long drought, as if thanking Heaven for finally forgiving their sins.
They seemed to be celebrating the rain.
[After three years of secluded cultivation, Li Dalong suddenly gained insight and successfully established his Foundation. He became a Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivator!]
[Your descendant has advanced to Foundation Establishment and gained 100 Incense!]
"Hahaha, I did it! Ancestor, your foolish descendant Li Dalong finally made it!"
Inside the secret chamber, Li Dalong was already 51 years old when he broke through to Foundation Establishment. Before going into seclusion, his head had been streaked with white. After his breakthrough, his hair turned black and the wrinkles on his face smoothed out. Now he looked like a resolute man in his thirties, and his complexion had grown much fairer and rosier.
Even standing beside Li Yaozu, he could easily have been mistaken for his brother!
[Li Dalong]
[Cultivation: Foundation Establishment Early Stage]
[Techniques: Naqi Technique, Basic Sword Technique, Dragon Wandering Footwork]
[Traits: Striving for Excellence, Wild Boar Slayer, Forest Ranger]
Breaking through to Foundation Establishment was a complete transformation. The so-called 'hundred days of Foundation Establishment' was also a process of transformation: they purged impurities from their bodies, preparing them for better cultivation in the future.
Their limbs and bones, their internal organs—every impurity was cleared away. During Qi Refining, spiritual energy flowed through the Ren and Du meridians; during Foundation Establishment, it coursed through the full circuit of meridians.
Even their spiritual roots grew stronger!
After three years of Foundation Establishment, Li Dalong now had only three spiritual roots: metal, fire, and earth. Each one had reached a quality score of 60 or higher.
That was what made Foundation Establishment so powerful. It broke through the limits of mortal flesh.
They had more spiritual energy and the ability of 'Insight', which let them see the aura around others and roughly estimate how strong their spiritual energy was. They could gather 'Divine Sense'; sensing their surroundings was no longer limited to their seven senses. They could perceive everything around them in a full three hundred and sixty degrees.
They could even use 'Micro-Perception' to see tiny things. Their dantians contained Dantian Fire, the key to condensing the spiritual energy within their dantians into a core and advancing to the Golden Core Realm!
That was why the cultivators from the Hu and Wang Families had looked down on the Li Family's Qi Refining cultivators when they entered Li Family territory.
The two sides were on entirely different levels.
It was also why they had fled without hesitation when they encountered the Purple Thunder Heavenly Sun Python and the War Puppet. They could sense how powerful the two were!
"Our Li Family finally has a true Foundation Establishment cultivator."
Li Xiang didn't hesitate to give Li Dalong a dose of 'Love from the Ancestor'.
Li Dalong was the first true Foundation Establishment cultivator in the Li Family because Xu Cuihua didn't count... She was a Beast Tamer, and after contracting the Heavenly Moon Fox, she could be considered a demon cultivator.
With Li Dalong's breakthrough, the Li Family gathered once more to celebrate him!
But they kept their celebration private. Only they knew about it.
After all, only hidden strength was a true trump card.
"Thank you, Ancestor, for all your help. Without it, a fool like me could never have established my Foundation. Your Bestowal has always been helping me."
He thanked the Ancestor again and again.
After the ceremony, Xu Cuihua looked at her husband with delight. As time passed, she had grown more and more beautiful after contracting the Heavenly Moon Fox. She even seemed noble now, so much so that it was hard to imagine she had once been an ordinary farm girl. "Dear, this is wonderful. With your breakthrough, our Li Family will be even stronger."
"Wife, you..."
Li Dalong stared at his wife, bewildered. "Your strength..."
He knew Xu Cuihua had contracted the Heavenly Moon Fox, but only now did he truly sense his wife's power. It crushed his own... Xu Cuihua's aura rose three zhang high, while his reached barely two chi!
"Beast Taming Technique..." Xu Cuihua slowly explained what had happened to her. Li Dalong had been in seclusion all these years, and she hadn't wanted him to imitate her path to Foundation Establishment when he broke through. After all, everyone's path was different.
Only after hearing how wondrous the Beast Taming Technique was did Li Dalong understand. He sighed in admiration. "So that's how it is. The Beast Taming Technique passed down by the Ancestor is truly extraordinary."
As he spoke,
he looked at his increasingly beautiful wife and stood a little straighter. His old face reddened. "Wife, there's something I'd like to discuss with you in our room."
"You old rascal!"
Xu Cuihua gave him a rare, coquettish look and pulled Li Dalong into the room.
"..."
Li Xiang watched the two of them with a dark expression. He hurriedly switched the view, gritting his teeth as he muttered, "If you two keep flaunting your love in front of me, I'll bury you far apart—one at the South Pole and the other at the North Pole!"
It took him a good while to collect himself.
Only then did Li Xiang return to the game screen. He glanced at the numbers on the right side of the game.
[Incense: 5121]
"Finally, that's enough."
He grinned. During all this time watching the Li Family grow, he had kept his eye on his Incense.
Reaching 5,000 meant he had met another requirement!
The scene shifted to a cellar behind the Li Family Ancestral Hall. A huge mech stood inside.
He clicked on the War Puppet.
The long-awaited prompt popped up on the screen.
[Activating the War Puppet's operating system requires 5,000 Incense.]
[You have enough Incense.]
[Would you like to build a connection now? You will be able to control the mech and enter combat mode!]
He had waited so long.
This was what he had been waiting for: controlling the mech would let him see the game from a first-person perspective and fight alongside his family!
He excitedly clicked—
[Yes!]
Before you continue