Four Generations of Prodigies, Li Tianyi!

"What a real man!"

Li Xiang was overjoyed. He fired off Ancestral Patriarch's Warmth on the spot, sending it straight through the roof tiles and into Li Yundou's room. Before long, sounds came from inside, startling the birds that had just landed in the tree outside.

The newlyweds soon got dressed and went around the Li Family home serving tea.

Li Dalong and his wife had been waiting in the Ancestral Hall. After offering incense to their ancestor, they accepted tea from their grandson and granddaughter-in-law, their faces wreathed in smiles. Then Li Dalong froze for a moment and turned to Xu Cuihua. "Dear, our grandson's wife... she's expecting!"

"What?"

Li Yundou and his wife both stared at them, stunned.

Once someone reached the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, they could see the flow of another person's qi and blood. Li Dalong was already nearing the peak of the realm, so there was no mistaking it!

"So I'm going to be a great-grandmother!" Xu Cuihua beamed. She hurried to kneel before the Ancestral Tablet. "Ancestor, bless us. May all four generations of the Li Family live together under one roof."

Afterward,

Li Dalong and his wife took the newlyweds around to visit the family's various holdings.

When they reached the Silver Iron Forest and the new bride saw the Pig Demon King for the first time, she was so shocked she could hardly believe it. She still couldn't get used to the fact that her family had a Demon King—and that this mighty Demon King, who could rule an entire region, was her husband's maternal grandfather!

"Ha ha ha! I'm a grandfather now! Who'd have thought that a mere demon like me would get to enjoy the blessing of a house full of children and grandchildren?"

Ever since the Pig Demon King of the Silver Iron Forest had gained the Li Family as in-laws, for nearly twenty years he'd been waking up from laughter in his sleep.

Demon Kings were the loneliest of all. The Silver Iron Forest was full of demon beasts, but bloodline suppression kept them all in line, no matter their kind. Only his seven Li Family grandsons, who made the solitary Demon King laugh every day, had ever opened his heart so completely in all these centuries.

He could never get tired of these little ones, no matter how much time he spent with them. He even wanted more—enough to fill his whole valley.

[Li Family Year 53]

[The two great families of Tailin Town had been planning for a long time. They quietly led their clansfolk away from their hometown. As they departed, the two clan leaders looked back again and again, leaving under the watchful eyes of the Li Family. Chen Chuang pleaded with the Li Family to treat his granddaughter Chen Lin and her unborn child well, and gifted them a superior-grade magic artifact—the Heavenly Heart Jade Pendant.]

[The Li Family returned thirty sets of Black Iron Beast Blood Armor to the Chen Family, wishing them success in their new home.]

[Congratulations, your family has successfully taken control of Tailin Town!]

[Incense +1,000!]

In the end, the two families of Tailin Town had left, just as they'd said they would at the wedding banquet. They'd gone without looking back. The Li Family had become the only great family in the area around Tailin Town.

That also meant that if people from Qingyun County kept invading Tailin Town, the Li Family would be their sole target!

Yet several more months passed that year.

The Li Family had even prepared to clash with Yunshu Wanghai Pavilion, but Tailin Town hadn't suffered any large-scale attacks. Only a few petty crooks from Qingyun County had come to try their luck, sneaking around and stealing chickens.

Until—

[Chen Lin carried her child for ten months and gave birth to a boy, whom she named Li Tianyi!]

[Congratulations, you have gained 50 Incense!]

[While the child was in the womb, the Demon King's breakthrough in state of mind lent warmth to his Golden Core. Li Dalong and his wife used the power of the first layer of the Death-Stilling Heavenly Coffin to protect him, while the accumulated blood-dan power of the eighth-grade Blood Spirit Fruit Tree shone upon him. Before the child was born, Li Yaozu happened to comprehend a sword intent, and the child received an insight into the lingering might of its sword shadow. He gained the trait—]

[Immaculate Spirit Body!]

[No bottleneck before the Golden Core Stage; cultivation speed increased by 100%!]

"Waaah~"

In the delivery room, the midwife who had delivered a Li Family baby when she was thirty was now nearly sixty. Trembling, she passed the newborn to Li Dalong and his wife. Even she could sense that the child was extraordinary. She stared in a daze. "Master, Madam, this baby of ours..."

"Your great-grandson Tianyi has the makings of a celestial!"

Everyone in the Li Family was overjoyed. They could all see the auspicious phenomenon that had appeared at Li Tianyi's birth, as the surrounding spiritual energy gathered around him!

Li Xiang, watching the screen, shot to his feet, staring excitedly at the child in the game.

"My Li Family has finally produced a heaven-sent prodigy!"

Even Li Xiang couldn't help envying the child's luck.

He still remembered that Chen Lin was a daughter of the Chen Family, and only at the fifth level of Qi Refining. With the Chen Family's descendants dwindling, she'd fought alongside them for years and accumulated many hidden injuries. When she was six months pregnant, she'd nearly lost the child.

It had taken several members of the Li Family channeling their spiritual power into the Death-Stilling Heavenly Coffin to protect the pregnancy. He'd also used Ancestral Embrace to finally ensure the child's survival.

And Li Tianyi really was lucky. The Pig Demon King had made a breakthrough in his state of mind, and Li Yaozu had reached enlightenment—and the child had arrived just in time to benefit from both.

His spiritual roots were especially remarkable. He was born with three, and they were no ordinary roots.

Aside from his natural metal and wood roots, each at sixty points, he also had a wind root that reached seventy-eight!

"Awesome!"

Everyone in the Li Family rejoiced at Li Tianyi's birth.

When the Pig Demon King in the Silver Iron Forest heard the news, he was so delighted that he carried the baby in his mouth and bounced around the valley for ages. Li Yaotie, his wife, and their seven children were used to this sort of thing, but Chen Lin was scared half to death.

Even Li Yaoqing and Li Yunlin, who were away from home, heard the news.

[The Li Family sent a letter by Baili Pigeon. Li Yaoqing paid her respects to the ancestor outside the Thunder-Fire Demon Cave.]

Li Xiang clicked on Li Yaoqing's portrait through the event log.

Once again, Li Xiang saw the Thunder-Fire Demon Cave. This land of demonic cultivators was riddled with damage, clearly the work of cultivators. More than five hundred cultivators had gathered around the cave by now, righteous demon-slayers drawn from Taiqing County and the neighboring counties.

Li Yaoqing was still dressed plainly, with disheveled hair.

Yet outside the room where she was staying, one injured person after another waited for help.

Though Li Yaoqing had stayed at the Thunder-Fire Demon Cave all this time, Li Xiang occasionally checked on her. The girl's current position... was anything but ordinary!

He opened her character history.

[Li Family Year 49: Li Yaoqing arrived at the Demon Cave.]

[Li Family Year 50: She kept a low profile.]

[Year 51: Li Yaoqing began treating the wounded and became a renowned apothecary among the Demon-Extermination Squad. Thanks to her trait, "Miraculous Physician's Hands," she could always save her companions.]

[Year 52: A demon cultivator was gravely injured. A demon cultivator who valued loyalty above all else risked entering the Demon-Extermination Squad's camp to ask Li Yaoqing to save her life. Li Yaoqing sent a letter to the Li Family, and Li Yaowen gave her an idea. From then on, Li Yaoqing treated members of the Demon-Extermination Squad during the day and demon cultivators at night, and her medical skills grew ever more profound.]

[For saving lives, she received a low-grade magic artifact as payment: the Shadowless Hairpin.]

[She received Heavenly Heart Grass as payment.]

[She received an ordinary cultivation technique as payment: the Heavenly Profound Circular Steps.]

[She received...]

[As she treated the sick and wounded, and came into contact with an ever-growing variety of poisonous herbs within the Demon Cave, her trait "Miraculous Physician's Hands" transformed into—]

[Great Physician Without Borders: She found it increasingly easy to grasp the medicinal properties of unfamiliar herbs. Medical skills increased by 100%; poison arts increased by 100%.]

If one asked who had gained the most during the year of the two sects' war,

it wasn't Li Yunlin, who had become a personal disciple of the Litian Sect. It was Li Yaoqing!

She'd used her knack for getting along with both sides to reap a rich harvest.

And more than that...

[Li Family Year 53: Li Yaoqing made a hundred medicines and refined a hundred poisons, gaining considerable insight. By taking both medicine and poison into her body, and using the nourishing energy of the earth and the weight of its soil to temper herself, she broke through to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage!]

And that wasn't all.

At that moment, Li Yaoqing was kneeling before Li Xiang's tablet, her face open and innocent, without a trace of the scheming caution she'd shown while currying favor with both sides. She was just like the child who'd happily stroked a Beast Blood Fruit beneath the Beast Blood Fruit Tree.

"Ancestor, I've already heard. I have a grandnephew with peerless talent. With Tianyi in our Li Family, our legacy will endure for a thousand years."

"Hee hee."

As she spoke, Li Yaoqing suddenly giggled. "Ancestor, I've made something of myself. Whenever I save someone, they owe me a favor. No physician can compare to me, and even when they realize it, they don't dare say no to me. This Demon Cave is practically the best place in the world."

"Please rest assured, Ancestor. As long as I manage things properly, our family's Temple Guardian Beast will be able to enter the Demon Cave as if it were an empty realm!"

A warm current flowed through her body. Li Yaoqing immediately knew it was a gift from her ancestor, and she was even more thrilled.

"..."

Li Xiang's mouth twitched. He thought he finally understood why more and more cultivators had gathered around the Demon Cave, while hardly anyone on either side was dying. "The trait 'Great Physician Without Borders'—what a fitting name."

"As expected of an idea from Yaowen."

Seeing that things were going well, Li Xiang felt reassured about Li Yaoqing. Then he looked toward the Litian Sect.

A location appeared on the map.

[Litian Hall]

He looked closely. It seemed to be a cavern that only the successive sect masters of the Litian Sect could enter. Darkness filled the place, yet here and there, specks of light glittered like stars in the dark universe.

Li Yunlin and the sect master, Daoist Zhenyang, sat facing each other.

Daoist Zhenyang watched Li Yunlin become more and more proficient in the sect's secret arts, but his brow furrowed as he questioned him. "Yunlin, I heard you received another letter from your family today?"

Li Yunlin slowly opened his eyes.

His expression was calm. "Yes. I burned it. I cut off my ties to the mundane world long ago. The Li Family is just trying to climb the social ladder. There's no need to pay them any mind."

"Very good."

Daoist Zhenyang nodded slightly, though suspicion still lingered. "I hear you often carry your ancestral tablet with you."

"That's right."

Li Yunlin remained as calm as an ancient well. He silently took the Ancestral Tablet from his robes and casually shattered it. "Keeping it by my side was also part of severing my ties to the mundane world. Now, even looking at the Ancestral Tablet no longer reminds me of my mortal days. If it offends you, I'll destroy it."

"Phew." Only then did Daoist Zhenyang relax. He smiled. "Very good. Disciple, you must understand: cultivators can pass through years in the blink of an eye. Only by severing worldly ties can you cultivate. This is the truth of the Great Dao!"

"Yunlin understands."

That night,

Li Yunlin returned to his bedchamber and cautiously sensed his surroundings. Only after confirming there were no other auras did he enter the room. He slowly lifted the bed, undid thirty-six arrays, and revealed a large pile of prepared ancestral tablets inside. He picked one out, lit incense, and knelt to pay his respects.

"How dare that old cur, Zhenyang, try to muddle my resolve?"

"Please rest assured, Ancestor. He may have taken me as his disciple, but I've never once called him 'Master.'"

"I've been at the Litian Sect for years, and some of the elders already regard me as the next sect master. Last year, when Qingyun County tried to invade our family's territory, I sent three inner disciples loyal to me to draw them away."

"I heard this time that my third brother, Yundou, has had a son. The gift I sent will arrive in time for the baby's full-month celebration. It can serve as a trump card to secure our Li Family's survival in this war between the two sects!"