The Li Family's descendants trained even harder, their hatred driving them on.
Just as Li Xiang was absorbed in the screen, he noticed Li Dalong had gathered everyone in the Li Family except three-year-old Li Yaowen, and they were heading toward the Silver Iron Forest.
He hurriedly clicked Li Dalong's icon.
The screen immediately began following the family's movements.
"We don't have many of the pills our Ancestor bestowed upon us left. But the last time I entered the Silver Iron Forest, I came across a fruit tree that smelled absolutely delicious!"
"This time, I need my family to join forces with me!"
The whole family was of one mind.
Meanwhile, Li Xiang held his breath before the screen, ready to use a skill at a moment's notice if they encountered danger.
The Silver Iron Forest was nothing like the Wild Boar Forest they'd visited before. It was teeming with spirit beasts.
Though Li Dalong had been going in and out of the Silver Iron Forest for some time, he had always stuck to its outermost edges, where it was easy enough for him to move around alone.
This time, however, the whole family was going together, including a group with little hunting experience.
But Li Xiang didn't stop them.
If the Li Family wanted to grow, they had to overcome one hardship after another. If they planned to stay by the altar forever, waiting for his Bestowal, they might as well be wiped out.
Before long, the family entered the Silver Iron Forest.
And they soon encountered their first battle.
A cat demon with golden fur and flames burning on its tail!
Li Xiang moved the mouse and clicked on the strange cat demon. Its information appeared at once.
[Flame-Tailed Spirit Cat (Common)] [Description: Small in stature, but incredibly fast, it can survive on the outskirts of the Silver Iron Forest. Beware of its speed, and also... its tail.]
Li Xiang was a little surprised as he looked at the spirit beast. Ever since spiritual energy had returned, spirit beasts had appeared on this planet and even formed great clans.
But he'd never seen this kind of beast in the school's lessons.
He searched online, but couldn't find any useful information.
Still, Li Xiang knew that common spirit beasts were mostly within the Qi Refining Realm.
At that moment,
the Flame-Tailed Spirit Cat was running for its life as Li Dalong chased it.
"Whoosh!"
An arrow whistled through the air. It was six-year-old Li Yaotie, drawing his bow and taking aim!
"Meeeow!"
The Flame-Tailed Spirit Cat barely dodged the arrow. It turned around, bared its teeth, and meowed at them. Judging by the sound, it was cursing up a storm.
But the next moment, it couldn't curse anymore!
A trap had already been laid in the direction it was fleeing.
Xu Cuihua and her daughter, Li Yaoqing, burst out from beside two trees, holding a large brown net. They threw it over the fleeing Flame-Tailed Spirit Cat. They had covered themselves in ash, apparently to mask their scent.
The flames on the Flame-Tailed Spirit Cat's tail blazed wildly, but the net seemed to have been prepared in advance and wouldn't burn through.
As the Flame-Tailed Spirit Cat clawed and bit at the net,
Li Yaozu charged toward it, his hands forming a spell seal. The net glowed green, trapping the Flame-Tailed Spirit Cat completely!
"Meeeow, meeeow, meeeow!!!"
By the time the family gathered around the Flame-Tailed Spirit Cat and looked down at it, its cursing had grown even fouler.
[Captured a common spirit beast—Flame-Tailed Spirit Cat. It glared furiously at everyone in the Li Family, but after Xu Cuihua fed and stroked it, it revealed a faint look of contentment.]
"Are they planning to raise the Flame-Tailed Spirit Cat at home?"
Li Xiang looked at the cat in its cage and raised an eyebrow. There wasn't even enough meat on it to get stuck in your teeth. Raising it to guard the house, though, seemed like a good idea.
But the game screen didn't reveal what the clan members were thinking.
They had already begun preparing for their next hunt.
From what Li Xiang remembered, Li Dalong had encountered quite a few spirit beasts before, but all alone, even when he could have fought them, he often ended up letting them escape. Now, with the family working together, Li Dalong had a much easier time of it.
Before long,
Li Xiang watched the family fight spirit beasts throughout the Silver Iron Forest. They were nearly all small ones, and most of the time, a spirit beast's size also reflected its strength.
This time, they stayed in the Silver Iron Forest for five days.
[Captured a common spirit beast—Shadow Hunting Dog. After a thorough beating from Xu Cuihua, it stuck out its tongue and looked utterly obsequious. Once Xu Cuihua walked away, it started barking like mad again.] [Captured a nest of common spirit beasts—Baili Pigeons. Xu Cuihua took out a long flute, and as the strange melody played, the Baili Pigeons grew dazed and entranced.] [Captured a common spirit beast—Anteater...]
Hmm?
They'd caught that many spirit beasts?
Li Xiang scratched his head. From the looks of it, the family planned to catch all the spirit beasts and raise them. But taming spirit beasts took skill, and it seemed everything depended on Xu Cuihua.
"Holy crap, Xu Cuihua, you've been hiding this deep! You actually learned Beast Taming Technique behind my back?"
He opened the information for Li Dalong's wife.
Li Xiang immediately understood.
[Xu Cuihua] [Realm: First Level of Qi Refining] [Techniques and Martial Arts: Naqi Technique, Beast Taming Technique] [Trait: Spirit Beast Affinity] [She can sense spirit beasts' emotions to some extent and is more likely to bond with them. Her chance of taming a spirit beast is increased by 100%!]
Just as Li Xiang was puzzling over this,
the Li Family members in the Silver Iron Forest gathered around a campfire.
Beneath the moonlight, Li Dalong brought out the Ancestral Tablet and burned incense before it, bowing in worship.
"Ancestor, bless us with a safe and smooth journey. Thanks to the cultivation manuals you bestowed upon us, your unworthy descendant Li Dalong has found a way to strengthen the family."
"Your child will put the Cultivation Manual for Qi Refiners to good use. One day, we'll wipe out the Tailin Hu Family and wash away our shame!"
Xu Cuihua knelt as well.
"Xu Cuihua, wife of Dalong, thanks the Ancestor!"
"For eleven years, I've raised chickens and ducks. At last, Cuihua has learned the way of Beast Taming. I'll use it to strengthen the Li Family!"
[Your family has benefited from your grace and comprehended 'Beast Taming Technique' from the Cultivation Manual for Qi Refiners.] [Incense +100!]
"Huh?"
Li Xiang froze. "The Cultivation Manual for Qi Refiners can do that, too?"
He hurriedly opened the course materials he'd studied for an entire year at school.
And sure enough, he found a whole stack of material.
[Best Cultivation Methods for Spirit Herbs], [How to Communicate with Spirit Beasts and Build Trust], [Division of Labor and Assembly Line for Pills]...
The Cultivation Manual for Qi Refiners was the equivalent of a middle-school textbook in his previous life.
But in this world, spirit herbs, spirit beasts, and pills were all handled by specialists or monopolized outright by companies. The planet's environment had also been heavily developed over the past thousand years, leaving no extra resources for ordinary students to practice with.
Only those at the Golden Core Realm or above had the right to travel between planets and develop and cultivate resources elsewhere.
So, apart from practicing the methods for absorbing spiritual energy from heaven and earth and the techniques in the Cultivation Manual for Qi Refiners, they didn't even bother looking at most of its other lessons.
"These things have no use for me, but for the Li Family, the Cultivation Manual for Qi Refiners is packed with practical knowledge. There's a lot they can do with it."
Li Xiang sucked in a sharp breath. "I've been underestimating this most basic textbook all along!"
Sure enough, a cultivation textbook distilled from a thousand years of Huaxia's history after the return of spiritual energy was nothing short of an unparalleled beginner's manual in a cultivation world!
Time passed quickly in the game.
While Li Xiang was still marveling at how the Cultivation Manual for Qi Refiners could shine in the game world, the Li Family's party was already making their way through the heavy fog.
Before long,
a great tree appeared on the game screen, laden with bright red fruits!
Li Xiang moved the mouse and checked the tree's information.
[Beast Blood Fruit Tree] [A fruit tree that can only grow where spirit beasts gather. It is cultivated with the blood of various spirit beasts and bears Beast Blood Fruit. The more spirit beast blood it receives, and the stronger the beasts, the more spiritual energy the fruit contains. Powerful spirit beasts often seize such trees, hunt other spirit beasts, and nourish the tree with their blood so they can break through!]
As usual, Li Xiang searched for it online, but found no information about this kind of tree.
Still, he could sense its value. The stronger the spirit beasts' blood, the more spiritual energy the fruit held. That meant the tree had no fixed limit to its level!
Just as Li Xiang was weighing the value of the Beast Blood Fruit Tree,
a giant snake suddenly appeared on its trunk in the game. Its blood-red eyes were fixed on the Li Family. Two huge horns rose from its head, crackling with lightning, as if warning the family that if they came any closer, it would use them as nourishment for the Beast Blood Fruit Tree!
"Not good! It's a peak common spirit beast!"
"When I saw it last time, its aura wasn't this strong!"
"Let's leave, Father. It doesn't seem intent on attacking us."
[Thunder Python (Common Spirit Beast)] [Description: An absolutely powerful being among common spirit beasts. Once its molting period ends, its transformation will soon begin.]
The Li Family's party began to have second thoughts.
But Li Xiang noticed that Li Dalong wasn't being reckless. There were two more Thunder Pythons on the Beast Blood Fruit Tree.
"Retreat? No way!!!"
Li Xiang narrowed his eyes at the screen. He checked the amount of Incense in the game. There were 180 left!
"Damn it, even if I spend every last bit of Incense, I'm not giving up the Beast Blood Fruit!"
[Used 'Ancestral Patriarch's Fury', consuming 20 Incense!]
In an instant,
Li Xiang's Ancestral Spirit Tablet flew out from Li Dalong's clothes and shot toward the Thunder Python!
"The Ancestor has manifested!"
Li Dalong was overjoyed. "That's right, we have the Ancestor's protection! Don't be afraid of this snake—take it down!"
In an instant, Li Xiang and the Li Family members on-screen stood as one.
And this time,
Li Xiang also discovered the limits of the 'Ancestral Patriarch's Fury' skill.
Against the peak common spirit beast, the Thunder Python, his skill could no longer kill it in one blow. A common spirit beast at its peak could put up a fight even against a cultivator who had just entered the Foundation Establishment Realm!
The Ancestral Spirit Tablet soon collided with lightning bolts blasted from the Thunder Python's horns.
The Li Family members helped too, but Li Yaotie's arrows couldn't even scratch the Thunder Python's hide. The others couldn't even get close.
Before long,
the skill Li Xiang had used to slaughter bandits again and again was actually defeated by the Thunder Python's attacks!
"Damn, it's that strong?!"
Li Xiang gritted his teeth. "Two more!"
He clicked 'Ancestral Patriarch's Fury' repeatedly.
The tablet on the screen split in two. Violet light streaked across the sky as the pieces charged forward again.
"Don't be afraid! The Ancestor hasn't given up, so we, his descendants, have to fight to the bitter end!"
"These spirit fruits are ours!!!"
Li Dalong gritted his teeth, his own fierceness rising. He led Li Yaozu toward the other two smaller snakes!
"Ancestor, protect us!"
Before you continue