With his descendants' marriages thriving and their children aplenty, Li Xiang was deeply gratified.
Time passed in the game. Li Dalong and his wife settled into a life of farming and weaving, and the young man worked hard at his cultivation.
[Year Five]
[Through constant effort, Li Dalong broke through to the third layer of Qi Refining.]
[That same year, Xu Cuihua carried her child to term and successfully gave birth to a son, whom they named Li Yaozu!]
[Congratulations! The Lineage has gained a member. Incense +10!]
"He's here! He's finally here!"
With two pieces of good news at once, Li Xiang was just as overjoyed. He took a long gulp of his drink.
On the game screen, Li Dalong waited anxiously outside the house, dancing with excitement. "The Ancestor has answered our prayers! It's a boy! The Li Family has an heir!"
The scene quickly shifted.
Cradling his newborn son before the Ancestral Tablet, Li Dalong wept with gratitude.
"Ancestor, look at our family's big, chubby boy! My son Yaozu has the makings of an immortal!"
A reward was in order. It had to be!
[Used "Love from the Ancestor," consuming 4 Incense.]
In an instant, light enveloped Li Dalong and his son before the ancestral altar.
"Son, did you see that? The Ancestor has answered our prayers again! May the Ancestor protect you from sickness and calamity!"
[Incense +2]
After the celebration,
Li Xiang hurriedly opened the newborn's profile.
Compared to Li Dalong's mixed spirit roots, Li Yaozu clearly had better aptitude.
[Spirit Roots: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth]
[Wood Spirit Root: 56]
He still had mixed spirit roots, but each one could be stronger or weaker. A spirit root with a value of 100 was complete, and 56 was ordinary.
That was far better than Li Dalong's Metal Spirit Root, which had only 38 points!
"The Li Family is flourishing!"
Li Xiang cheerfully asked Yuexian to prepare a late-night snack. After eating, he began another long battle in his room.
That was one of the perks of being a cultivator: he could fight through the night without getting tired.
He quietly watched the Li Family grow.
After the arrival of the child, the Li Family's little homestead in the game changed considerably.
Li Dalong repaired the house and made it much bigger. He also cleared a few more acres of farmland.
The game seemed to have four seasons, too. Li Xiang even saw the fields lie fallow, but fortunately, Li Dalong was a cultivator and could hunt for food, so they didn't have to worry about going hungry.
Not long after,
the action panel made Li Xiang pause.
[Li Dalong hunted down every wild boar in Wild Boar Forest and gained the trait "Wild Boar Slayer"!]
"???"
What kind of bizarre trait was that?
Li Xiang opened it.
[Wild Boar Slayer: Combat power increased by 10%. Damage against pig-type creatures increased by 200%.]
"Awesome."
Li Xiang gave a thumbs-up. It seemed one of his descendants had made great strides in a particular field.
After the family welcomed a new member,
even their little homestead was full of life.
Li Xiang even saw little Li Yaozu crawling all over the floor. Li Dalong brought him to the ancestral altar to kowtow. Clearly, Li Dalong knew that paying respects to the ancestors had to start when a child was young.
[Incense +3]
Right after that,
Li Xiang saw Xu Cuihua's belly swell again!
He checked the game's timeline. It was the seventh year.
"As expected of my descendant—a real man!"
Not long after,
[Xu Cuihua successfully gave birth to a girl, named Li Yaoqing!]
[Congratulations! The Li Family has gained a member. Incense +10.]
The same scene followed: Li Dalong led his family in worship before the ancestral altar.
"Your unfilial descendant has failed to meet the Ancestor's expectations. This time, we couldn't give birth to a boy. Please forgive us, Ancestor!"
Li Dalong wailed as if he had committed some terrible mistake.
He held the bewildered Li Yaozu in his arms. Beside him, Xu Cuihua held the newborn girl, her expression downcast.
"What does this mean? Favoring boys over girls?"
Li Xiang's face darkened. As far as he was concerned, it didn't matter whether his descendants were boys or girls, as long as they could bring prosperity to the family. Favoring sons over daughters—or daughters over sons—was equally wrong.
After thinking it over,
[Used "Love from the Ancestor," consuming 2 Incense.]
But this time, the skill only blessed Li Yaoqing. He didn't use it on anyone else!
At that moment,
Li Dalong seemed to understand what Li Xiang meant, and his next kowtow was tinged with apprehension.
"Please calm your anger, Ancestor. Dalong understands now. I will love every child of the Li Family. Thank you for blessing Yaoqing!"
[Incense +3]
Only after seeing this did Li Xiang's expression ease. Though he couldn't communicate with the people in the game, he could still find other ways to make them understand. Last time, he'd used "Love from the Ancestor" on everyone. This time, he'd only used it on Li Yaoqing. The message couldn't have been clearer.
After the family resumed its daily routine, Li Xiang checked Li Yaoqing's profile.
This child had poorer aptitude than the last one—worse even than Li Dalong. Only her Water Spirit Root managed to reach a bare 20 points.
But it didn't matter. As long as the family grew, each new member could do their part. Another pair of hands in the fields was a good thing.
Li Xiang glanced at the upper-right corner.
It was already the eighth year. From time to time, the Li Family's descendants would kowtow before the ancestral altar.
Li Xiang was also beginning to understand how "Incense" was generated. It seemed to increase when his descendants prayed sincerely or when something special happened.
Now, he had 38 Incense.
By this point, Li Yaozu could run around on his own. Though only three years old, he was sturdier than ordinary children, perhaps because he often ate meat. Li Dalong even gave him a wooden sword so he could start practicing swordsmanship while young.
Cultivation had to start in childhood, but three was obviously too young to understand how to cultivate immortality.
Li Yaoqing was only one, but she showed little interest in cultivation. Instead, she often crawled toward the vegetable garden in the game, watching with wide-eyed curiosity as Li Dalong irrigated the fields.
Then,
to Li Xiang's delight, Li Dalong's wife had only recently given birth, yet she was pregnant again by the beginning of the year!
"Ancestor, please bless us! Your unfilial descendant, Li Dalong, has brought his wife to kowtow and thank you for granting us another child!"
Incredible!
Without hesitation, Li Xiang bestowed "Love from the Ancestor" on Li Dalong.
"Thank you, Ancestor! You truly are watching over this unfilial descendant of yours. Rest assured, with your blessing, my wife will surely bear even more children and bring glory to the Li Family!"
[Incense +2]
Li Xiang was very satisfied.
Just look at Li Dalong's descendants. Their aptitude might be poor, but they were so sensible—especially their fertility. It made their ancestor proud.
After closing the scene,
something unusual appeared in the member action list.
[It was a year of severe drought. The family had more and more children, and there were no small animals left in Wild Boar Forest. The children were tired of eating pork, so he decided to search for other food farther away. He planned to hunt more and prepare provisions for his family.]
What a responsible child!
Li Xiang opened the map.
Before long, he spotted Li Dalong walking across it. He had reached a place called [Silver Iron Forest].
Not long after, Li Xiang saw Li Dalong facing down a horse in the game.
[Li Dalong fought the demonic beast Iron Forest Horse, wounding it. He chased it for three days and three nights before finally catching it. But when the Iron Forest Horse pleaded with its eyes, he saw that it had gained humanlike intelligence, so he let it go. Silently, he reached for the back of his basket and thought, "I'd better go farther away, so the blood won't splatter on me."]
[Unexpectedly, when the Iron Forest Horse saw the bow raised by the human before it, it was filled with gratitude. It followed Li Dalong all the way back to the Li Family and became his mount!]
After acquiring a demonic beast,
Li Dalong specially built a stable. Around the family's homestead, a horse could now be seen happily galloping about.
Not long after,
the Li Family received more good news, making Li Xiang beam with joy.
[Xu Cuihua successfully gave birth to a son, named Li Yaotie!]
[Congratulations! The Li Family has welcomed a new boy. Incense +10.]
Three children!
At Li Dalong's rate, he'd have enough for a whole soccer team before long, ready to bring glory to the national team—no, a whole classroom!
Once again, Li Dalong and his family offered heartfelt thanks before the Ancestral Tablet.
The newborn Li Yaotie had decent aptitude, too.
[Metal Spirit Root: 42]
[Fire Spirit Root: 51]
What was more, this kid had no idea what he'd eaten in the womb, but he was born with a trait—and even pulled out one of Li Dalong's hairs!
[Trait: Bone Strengthening]
[His bones are larger than those of an average child. Strength increased by 5%.]
"Ancestor, look! My son Yaotie is so strong. He'll be a first-rate dung hauler when he grows up!"
Thank you on behalf of your son Yaotie...
Li Xiang was delighted by the growing family. Li Dalong was clearly diligent, and he kept hunting in Silver Iron Forest. But the forest seemed to be home to many demonic beasts, and Li Dalong had once been lightly injured, despite having reached the fourth layer of Qi Refining.
Li Xiang immediately bestowed "Love from the Ancestor" on him.
What surprised Li Xiang was that the "severe drought" in the game had lasted a long time. Even the fields beside the house were affected, and the Li Family's only daughter, Li Yaoqing, cried as she clutched a handful of dry earth.
Time soon came to the ninth year.
The drought still hadn't ended, but Li Dalong had prepared in advance. His wife and all three children had enough to eat, and the well hadn't run dry.
Just as Li Xiang watched the family slowly develop and waited for the tenth year to arrive, when the incense burner would appear so he could use [Bestowal],
his brows furrowed tightly.
[Special Event: Bandits]
[In a year of severe drought, crops withered, and many ordinary people turned to banditry. Thirteen bandits raided the Li Family in the dead of night. One spotted the Iron Forest Horse and, not knowing what was good for him, tried to steal it. The horse kicked him to death, and the noise woke Li Dalong!]
In the scene, the Li Family home blazed with light in the dead of night. As Li Xiang watched, Li Dalong rushed out of his room with a cleaver in hand.
He raised it and roared at the bandits outside the stable.
"Leave our home, or I won't go easy on you!"
Before you continue