The Li Family's Absolute Confidence!

Li Xiang stared intently at the map of [Silver Iron Forest] on the screen.

Ever since the Li Family had gained the freedom to explore this map, its fog of war had long since dispersed. With a single click, Li Xiang could view the scene anywhere on the map.

And now.

Six white dots from six directions were converging upon Silver Iron Forest!

"They've stepped into the game."

Li Xiang narrowed his eyes slightly.

Ever since learning that the Pig Demon King was the Li Family's in-law, this had become a scheme the Li Family had spent considerable time setting up!

And Li Xiang knew clearly.

Within this grand scheme, the Lantian Wu Family was destined to bury its accumulated foundations of many years in Silver Iron Forest!

On the map, the only route leading into the depths of Silver Iron Forest was completely undefended.

Because...

"Something terrible has happened! The Lantian Wu Family has been wiped out!"

"The Silver Iron Forest Demon King has appeared! It already knew that our seven great families planned to attack it, so it intercepted the Wu Family early on, intending to defeat us one by one!"

"People from the Lantian Wu Family came to ask for aid. Our ancestor sent me to ask whether you intend to save them or not."

These families had only just reached the middle section when they stopped in their tracks.

On the map, four green dots were heading toward the four great families, delivering news that the Lantian Wu Family had already been destroyed.

And these four green dots.

Represented people from the Li Family and the Qingping Gu Family!

The four great families hesitated briefly. They merely sent four Qi Refining experts to investigate before retreating resentfully in the direction they had come from. They had no choice but to believe it; these were warnings from two allies. Better to believe it existed than believe it did not.

After all, if they died, what would become of their families?

"How could word have leaked? Could there be a traitor among us?"

"No matter what, all we can do now is wait for news."

"What about Master Shancai... right, once we return, we'll say the Lantian Wu Family caused trouble and disrupted all our plans. It has nothing to do with us."

Before the screen.

Li Xiang smiled.

There really were traitors, and there were two of them!

Otherwise, the allied forces of the seven great families would have driven straight in, and there would have been no way to arrange things so thoroughly.

Everything...

Was under the Li Family's control!

"Family Head, we're back!"

At this moment.

In the Qingping Gu Family's area of Silver Iron Forest, they had actually remained where they were without moving.

And the two people returning now were precisely the ones who had delivered messages to the other two great families!

"Mm."

The Qingping Gu Family Head looked like a refined scholar, gentle and elegant, yet there was always a trace of sinister gloom in his expression. He said coldly to the clan members, "This matter defies the will of all under heaven. You must keep your mouths sealed. Do you understand?"

"Understood!"

Everyone answered with furrowed brows.

Yet one elder in the clan asked doubtfully, "Family Head, why harm the Lantian Wu Family? You must know that our Gu Family has suffered through years of drought and is precisely in need of Silver Iron Forest's resources to replenish ourselves."

The Gu Family Head did not grow angry.

His composure was truly rare.

"One season ago, Li Yaozu of the Li Family came to find me. He asked me something that I found rather interesting."

"Oh?" Everyone was confused.

The Gu Family Head said, "That Li Family brat asked whether there would be casualties if we ventured into Silver Iron Forest. If the elders our families had spent a century nurturing died because of this, would it be worth it?"

"This..."

Everyone looked at one another. How could a fight to the death be without losses? They were all advanced in years; they only sought more resources to nurture the younger generations of their families.

"It would not be worth it. But we have an opportunity—an opportunity to obtain the wealth of a great family with several centuries of history without spending a single soldier or shedding a single drop of blood!"

The Gu Family Head sneered. "Do you understand now?"

"The Lantian Wu Family!"

"Most of their experts have died in Silver Iron Forest, and the Lantian Wu Family is close to our Qingping Town. They are a great fat morsel within easy reach!"

"The Wu Family is now lambs awaiting slaughter. So that's how it is!"

The Gu Family's many elders understood at last and could not help becoming wildly overjoyed.

Why not accept food handed to them without having to risk their lives?

One elder suddenly came to a realization. "No wonder that little girl from the Li Family dared to offer us advice. She had planned this long ago! She first proposed charging directly into Silver Iron Forest to shut that old fellow Wu Mengqiu's mouth! Then, we would suggest splitting into seven directions to attack Silver Iron Forest, spread word that the Wu Family was about to be destroyed, and every family would leave."

As soon as those words were spoken.

The elder who had questioned it earlier turned solemn. "In that case, the Lantian Wu Family must leave no survivors. If word gets out, our Gu Family will be treated as traitors to humanity. Family Head, who will handle the Wu Family?"

"Naturally, the Li Family," the Gu Family Head said casually.

"The Li Family?"

The Gu Family elders all frowned, their eyes filled with suspicion.

After all, with every clan gathered this time, the Li Family's meager strength was simply not worth mentioning.

But the Gu Family Head laughed.

"You don't think the Li Family, which can destroy two clans by itself and has even made me view it in a new light, is merely overconfident, do you? When that brat Yaozu discussed matters with me, I saw absolute confidence in him!"

"Absolute confidence?"

Li Xiang quietly watched the small words above the Gu Family Head's head, his expression calm.

Yes.

Absolute confidence!

The Li Family was no longer the Li Family that had once trembled before the Hu and Wang Families!

He looked toward the map.

The Li Family had already encountered the Lantian Wu Family.

He clicked on Li Dalong's portrait.

The scene appeared on the road leading into the depths of Silver Iron Forest. A breeze passed through, and shadows of trees swayed.

The sixteen members of the Lantian Wu Family had stopped in place, all wearing suspicious and startled expressions.

Before them.

Li Dalong carried a silver coffin covered in mysterious patterns on his back, blocking the Lantian Wu Family's path alone!

An Ancestral Tablet floated beside Li Dalong, radiating a brilliant milky glow!

"Li Dalong, why are you blocking our path instead of leading the Li Family to attack from the southwest?!!"

Though he did not know why Li Dalong was doing this, Wu Mengqiu had already sensed that something was deeply amiss.

The Wu Family members were likewise facing a great enemy.

They could sense killing intent from Li Dalong!

"Bang!"

Li Dalong did not answer. He merely silently untied the Death-Stilling Heavenly Coffin from his body. Only after the massive coffin crashed heavily to the ground did he stare at the Lantian Wu Family members as though looking at corpses.

"Whoosh!"

The moment he moved, the sound of something tearing through the air came from afar!

"Not good!"

Wu Mengqiu's expression changed drastically as he said coldly, "It's a trap! Activate the formation!"

At his loud shout, the Wu Family members all raised their heads.

They saw countless long spears gathering in the sky into a great net that descended upon them!

Spear Forest Array.

This was the formation the Li Family had obtained from the Hu Family. By now, more than sixty people in Zhien Village cultivated the Spear Forest Array.

Yet the spears in the sky were not merely from the Spear Forest Array. There were also long spears and arrows hurled by other cultivators from Zhien Village!

The Wu Family members were no weaklings either.

A Foundation Establishment expert rode his sword into the air, using spiritual power to withstand the descending spear formation.

Yet spears and arrows still continued to rain down from the sky.

Cracks appeared in that Foundation Establishment expert's spiritual barrier in less than the time it took to snap a finger.

One had to know that every member of the Li Family capable of fighting outside wielded magical artifacts produced by the Forging Pavilion. Their power was far from ordinary!

"You've got some nerve, Li Dalong! You dare set a trap and intercept my Wu Family? You're courting death!"

Wu Mengqiu was already beside himself with rage.

With a casual wave of his hand, a Wu Family clansman at the peak of Foundation Establishment understood his intent. Vast true qi surged forth like a spring, rushing toward Li Dalong.

But amid a thunderous boom.

Earth carrying the fragrant scent of summer scattered through the air as the Purple Thunder Heavenly Sun Python burst from the ground, wielding the power of Heavenly Thunder and Earthly Fire.

With a wild roar, the Purple Thunder Heavenly Sun Python blocked the strike of the peak Foundation Establishment expert. Yet it did not linger in battle, instead charging directly at Wu Mengqiu, the two-hundred-year-cultivation False Core Stage expert of the Wu Family!

"Hmph! I had long heard that your Li Family has a spirit beast. Where is that puppet, then?"

Wu Mengqiu remained utterly fearless, visibly full of confidence!

"As you wish."

Seeing Wu Mengqiu act so arrogantly.

Li Xiang, before the screen, had already clicked on the War Puppet!

"Boom!"

As Li Xiang's eyes turned white.

His consciousness entered the game world. The War Puppet, which had long been prepared in Silver Iron Forest, rose into the air. Weapons all over its body erupted as it charged toward Wu Mengqiu!

During the great battle in Tailin Town, this War Puppet had even lost an arm.

Yet after five years, through recovering fragments of the War Puppet and relying on the biotechnology inside it, its injuries had long since healed. Only some pieces could not be recovered, leaving its exterior old and scarred!

"Not good!"

The booming Laser Cannon fire and the erupting thunder-and-fire power of the Purple Thunder Heavenly Sun Python did not panic Wu Mengqiu.

What truly frightened him.

Was the demon beasts rushing in from every direction alongside the War Puppet's appearance!

These.

Were all spirit beasts guarding the Pig Demon King in Silver Iron Forest. The great families from all four directions had already departed, and these beasts had come to surround the Wu Family. For the Wu Family, this had been a dead end from the start!

This was the Li Family's current strength.

The Li Family had become in-laws with the Pig Demon King and now had done it a favor. The demon beasts of Silver Iron Forest could long since be used by the Li Family!

Gathering the strength of all Silver Iron Forest.

A full fifty spirit beasts—this was strength the Li Family had not even dared dream of before. Fifty Foundation Establishment Realm fighters, including four spirit beasts as strong as the Purple Thunder Heavenly Sun Python!

"Run!"

At the sight of these spirit beasts, Wu Mengqiu was scared out of his wits. "No matter who it is, get word out! This expedition into Silver Iron Forest was a trap laid by the Li Family! They conspired with the Demon King—they are traitors to humanity!"

"Hahaha, run? Let's see how you run!"

Li Dalong finally spoke.

The arriving spirit beasts had already taken positions in the treetops, blocking their path of escape by flying swords.

The terrified Wu Family cultivators scattered and fled in every direction across the ground.

But soon.

Their hope of escape shattered!

"Crack, crack!"

The earth moved as Li Dalong opened the Death-Stilling Heavenly Coffin!

After obtaining this spirit treasure, Li Dalong had dug up every corpse buried beneath the Beast Blood Fruit Tree during the battle of Tailin Town.

Those corpses had all been refined into zombies by the Heavenly Coffin Corpse-Driving Technique and the Death-Stilling Heavenly Coffin!

Withered hands tore through the soil one after another. Dry hair and faces like tree bark emerged as they crawled from underground, maggots even writhing across their bodies.

More than a thousand zombies blocked the Wu Family's route of escape!

The Li Family members and spirit beasts also joined the battle, stopping the Wu Family experts who sought to flee.

Xu Cuihua transformed into her two-tailed fox form. Wielding the Tianjun Seal, a spirit artifact seized from the Wang Family, she could even fight a peak Foundation Establishment opponent.

"Thunder-Attracting Heavenly Scripture!"

This technique summoned Heavenly Thunder. Obtained from the Litian Secret Canon, Xu Cuihua had learned it and drew Heavenly Thunder into the Tianjun Seal, forcing even peak Foundation Establishment experts to avoid its edge.

"Phantom Heavenly Cluster Steps!"

"Hundred Shadow Sword Radiance!"

When Li Yaozu fought the enemy, he was impossible to grasp, seeming extraordinarily illusory.

He had long since learned the Phantom Heavenly Cluster Steps through constant cultivation in the Death-Stilling Heavenly Coffin. Now, he could create ten clones possessing one-tenth of his original body's strength. With the Hundred Shadow Sword Radiance, one thrust produced a hundred sword shadows. When the two techniques were combined, the sky filled with sword shadows, real and illusory alike; he could even battle opponents in the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage!

"Quick, quick, quick! Keep him tangled up—I'll hammer him to death!"

Only Li Yaotie seemed somewhat out of place. Holding a massive hammer thicker than his own body, he called for a tree demon to help entangle a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage opponent.

The prosthetic on his severed left arm had originally lacked strength, but after breaking through, he tempered it with Dantian Fire. His left arm had now become a magical artifact, easily capable of lifting a thousand jin!

He gripped the huge hammer with both hands without the slightest strain!

One hammer blow, one explosion of blood and pulp.