Looking at the astronomical number of Incense required.
Li Xiang could no longer fathom what level of techniques Heavenly Condemned Vegetation Divine Art contained.
He could even less fathom what level of potential Li Yaoqing now possessed.
Li Xiang suppressed the shock and excitement in his heart.
He knew perfectly well that no matter how great Li Yaoqing's potential was, for now she was only a slightly stronger Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivator and a gifted apothecary.
What he needed to do now wasn't fantasize about the future, but focus on the family's development in the present.
If they couldn't develop, then everything else was just empty talk!
Li Xiang began increasing the flow of time.
Even as they amassed abundant resources and the Li Family grew stronger and stronger, the family didn't let success go to their heads. Instead, they kept all these secrets hidden and quietly focused on developing.
[After discussing it with you, your descendant Li Yaowen hid the large quantity of Spirit Stones owned by the family and gradually increased the family's Spirit Fields by ten mu each year.]
[The people of Zhien Village stopped growing ordinary crops. Li Yaoqing gave the villagers seeds for medicinal herbs that even ordinary people could cultivate, then slowly taught them how to grow them.]
[As every household in Zhien Village grew increasingly prosperous, more and more ordinary residents and cultivators came hoping to settle there. Petty theft became more frequent, and some even deceived the villagers. The Li Family decided to build a city wall around Zhien Village to keep outsiders from disturbing them.]
"Has it already begun to take shape as a city?"
Under Li Xiang's gaze,
the villagers of Zhien Village, whose population had once again recovered to 3,000, volunteered to build the city. Since they could eat Spirit Rice every so often, they had grown stronger and stronger, reaching the level of ordinary martial artists. Lifting stones weighing a hundred jin was no trouble at all.
With time accelerated, the little figures in the game were hard at work on construction.
But this city was a little different: most of its residents were the original villagers of Zhien Village. Every household bore the character "Li" tattooed on their bodies. Since the tattoos were made with the blood of the Li Family, it was easy to tell at a glance who was truly loyal to the family.
The Li Family also carefully considered anyone who wanted to join Zhien Village, screening them at every level.
Even if they recruited a retainer from outside, that person couldn't truly earn the Li Family's trust until a member of the family tattooed the character "Li" on them.
[Your descendant Li Yaoqing successfully concocted the eighth-grade medicine "Tianyuan Huiling Powder." Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Realm and below could recover a large amount of spiritual power by taking it!]
[Your descendant Li Yaoqing successfully advanced to become an eighth-grade apothecary!]
[After years of her nurturing, a ninth-grade apothecary appeared in the Spirit Herb Garden.]
Soon,
Li Yaoqing came to the ancestral hall to pay her respects, just as she always did.
Li Xiang gave her a dose of "Love from the Ancestor" as well.
But her rapid rise to eighth-grade apothecary had been expected. In fact, as long as she had enough medicinal ingredients, Li Yaoqing could concoct every eighth-grade medicine in a short time!
That was how terrifying her talent had become.
Li Yaoqing even wanted to see if anyone else could cultivate Heavenly Condemned Vegetation Divine Art like she could. The result was...
A bolt of Heavenly Thunder crashed down from the sky, nearly killing the ninth-grade apothecary she had just nurtured.
She didn't dare try again.
"Is she the only one who can do it? As long as I have enough Incense, though, that won't be a problem for me."
Li Xiang racked his brains, but couldn't figure out why.
This kind of cultivation art had long since surpassed his current understanding.
[As resources increased and the people of Zhien Village grew, the Black Blood Hall's membership rose to 300!]
[The Forging Pavilion worked overtime and finally forged enough Black Iron Beast Blood Sets. The effect of a complete set rivaled that of a mid-grade magical artifact.]
After gaining the support of Silver Iron Forest, the Forging Pavilion and the Spirit Herb Garden benefited the most!
Silver Iron Forest had plenty of demonic beasts and spirit beasts for the Li Family to use. Every so often, Xu Cuihua led people into the forest to draw blood from spirit beasts and demonic beasts.
Li Yaotie now owned more than twenty Blood Altars, which he used to soak equipment.
The remaining beast blood was enough to support the cultivation of ten Beast Blood Fruit Trees!
When the demonic beasts needed to break through, they could also obtain Beast Blood Fruit Trees. It was a win-win arrangement.
[Your descendant Li Yaozu's cultivation in the Death-Stilling Heavenly Coffin improved his techniques and martial arts.]
[Li Dalong cultivated in the Death-Stilling Heavenly Coffin...]
[Xu Cuihua cultivated in the Death-Stilling Heavenly Coffin...]
Li Dalong and his wife, along with Li Yaozu, who was most obsessed with swordsmanship, spent their free time cultivating in the Death-Stilling Heavenly Coffin. They also took the opportunity to coax Li Yunbing into the coffin for training.
Their cultivation of Litian Secret Canon had progressed.
However, the Li Family didn't dare use the techniques and martial arts from Litian Secret Canon outside. It was the Litian Sect's exclusive secret, and revealing it could cause trouble.
The villagers of Zhien Village continued to cultivate the techniques and martial arts they had obtained from the three clans that had been wiped out.
But they were making rapid progress as well.
The Li Family had now built ten training rooms.
[Li Family, Year 46.]
[Bai Rourou carried her pregnancy to term and gave birth to fraternal twins, naming them Li Yunqian and Li Yunxing!]
[Congratulations, you received 30 Incense!]
Bai Rourou was undoubtedly the Li Family's most hardworking daughter-in-law. Another round of infant cries rang out in the birthing room, and the midwife expertly placed the two children in the arms of Li Dalong and his wife. The Li Family was beside themselves with joy.
"Ancestor, look at me! I've had two more children. I'm way ahead of Eldest Brother!"
Looking at the children in his parents' arms, Li Yaotie, already beside himself with joy, let his mouth run away with him.
Li Yaozu glared at Li Yaotie. He had long since grown used to his third brother's recklessness, and beneath it all, he was delighted. Still, he scowled and scolded him: "What are you talking about? Do you think I won't beat you just because we've all grown up?"
"Ahaha, I'm just happy. Today's a happy day."
Li Yaotie scratched his head.
Looking at the happy family on the screen, Li Xiang gave each of them a dose of "Love from the Ancestor."
"Time sure flies for them."
Li Xiang beamed.
The scene soon shifted, and the Li Family was already holding a grand banquet to celebrate the arrival of their newest children.
Li Xiang noticed that over the years, the Li Family had made plenty of friends. The banquet hall was packed with guests.
The Su and Chen Families from Tailin Town, the Gu Family from Qingping Town, the Han Family supported by the Li Family in Lantian Town, and prominent families from other towns that did business with the Li Family had all come bearing gifts.
As Li Xiang was counting the Li Family's friends,
the event panel suddenly displayed a message that clashed sharply with the festive atmosphere.
[Special Event]
[After many years, the two sects behind Taiqing County have come into conflict once more. The situation has reached the point of no return, and war is about to erupt. Great turmoil has arrived.]
"???"
Li Xiang froze for a moment. He remembered that when Li Yunlin had joined the Litian Sect, the notifications had mentioned the conflict between the Litian Sect and Xuanwu Sect. Li Yunlin's master had even died because of the conflict between the two sides.
Those two sects had been going at each other for a thousand years, fighting fiercely every so often.
But Li Xiang had always focused on the family's development and hadn't realized things outside had become such a mess.
He looked at the game screen.
The guests at the banquet were discussing it!
Chen Chuang shook his head and sighed. "Alas, when sects fight, it's families like ours—and even ordinary people—who suffer."
The Gu Family Head also looked troubled.
"I have a friend in the Litian Sect. She told me some of what's really going on."
"Back then, the two sects obtained an ancient stele and learned that an ancient battle had once taken place around Taiqing County. A Mahayana expert had fallen there, leaving behind some treasure, a coffin or something. So they found an Ancient Tomb and used a spell to trigger its great formation, causing a severe drought that plagued Taiqing County and the surrounding counties for nearly twenty years."
"They said they were searching for some kind of heavenly coffin, but they ended up making a laughingstock of themselves. There was nothing in that Ancient Tomb—only the... farts of an ancient mighty figure, preserved for ages through great supernatural power."
"For the sake of a joke, they showed no regard for the lives of the common people or the rest of us. Now that the two sides are going to war, how are we supposed to keep ourselves safe?"
"..."
At his words, the Li Family members remained outwardly composed, but inside, their thoughts surged like a storm!
Even Li Xiang, watching from in front of the screen, was the same!
"Holy crap?!"
In an instant, Li Xiang understood!
No wonder Li Dalong had found that Mysterious Spear in Wild Boar Forest at the beginning of the drought.
And no wonder the Death-Stilling Heavenly Coffin had appeared.
"So they searched in the wrong place, then unleashed their power. The Mysterious Spear and the Death-Stilling Heavenly Coffin buried far away in Zhien Village surfaced one after the other, and our Li Family ended up with them."
Li Xiang felt his scalp go numb.
Fortunately, though, the Litian Sect and Xuanwu Sect both believed the ancient legend was false and that the tomb of some powerful expert had played a trick on them. As long as the truth didn't come out, no one would suspect that the Death-Stilling Heavenly Coffin was in the Li Family's hands!
"Phew..."
Li Xiang let out a long breath.
Only now did he appreciate how wise his caution had been. He had always made the Li Family keep the Death-Stilling Heavenly Coffin secret. Otherwise, if anyone caught even the slightest hint, the two sects—already fooled by an ancient powerhouse—would tear the Li Family apart!
Soon, the banquet in the game came to an end.
The Li Family's descendants, their faces full of worry, went to the ancestral hall.
The most pressing concern was that if the two sects went to war, the Li Family would be caught up in it too!
Li Xiang clicked on the Purple Thunder Heavenly Sun Python's portrait and asked everyone for details.
Li Yaowen said solemnly:
"Ancestor, all twelve towns in Taiqing County have long been under the control of the two sects. Taiqing County is only one county among them; each sect also controls two other counties."
"For many years, both sects have shared Taiqing County, splitting the tax revenue evenly. Now that they're going to war, Taiqing County will likely be caught up in the struggle. By then, even the county government won't be able to do much, and Taiqing County will become a place of chaos! We could be ordered around by either sect at any time, or attacked by opportunists taking advantage of the turmoil."
"The Gu Family Head said their conflict is beyond reconciliation. Based on the texts this child has consulted, this war could last for decades, or even a century!"
Li Xiang rubbed the mouse.
He could feel that the days ahead would no longer be peaceful!
Before you continue