"Mother of—so many people?!!"
Li Xiang had not taken this invasion seriously at first. After all, things like this had happened plenty of times before—just refugees driven mad in years of famine, no threat at all.
But this time, Li Xiang's expression finally changed.
Dense clusters of red dots had appeared across the Li Clan's territory. A rough count put them at over a thousand!
The last time he had faced the Thunder Python, whose strength had nearly reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, Li Xiang's blood had boiled. This time, however, he was nervous!
Over a thousand people, scattered across every corner of the map.
The power of his Ancestral Tablet was no longer enough. If he had to control it himself and click through them one by one, it would probably keep him busy for half a day!
"Even if they're famine victims, isn't this too many?"
Watching those refugees armed with dung forks and wooden clubs, their faces twisted with bloodlust, Li Xiang felt his scalp tingle.
He took a deep breath and looked at the Li Family members, who had already prepared themselves and spread out in all directions. He frowned. "You can only rely on yourselves now."
What reassured Li Xiang was that—
No one in the Li Family was afraid. They began acting at once!
"Rest assured, Ancestral Patriarch. So long as one member of the Li Family remains, no one will set foot in the Ancestral Hall!"
Li Xiang's memorial tablet had already risen from the Ancestral Hall.
Li Dalong knelt on the ground. Feeling the Ancestral Patriarch's protection, he kowtowed three times toward the tablet before rising with his blade and standing outside the Li Family courtyard!
"Sss, sss, sss—"
Beyond the Li Family lay an open stretch of land, and farther still was the Spirit Beast Garden!
As the wind stirred the grass and the shadows of trees swayed, ragged refugees soon came stumbling out of the Spirit Beast Garden one after another.
These refugees, maddened by hunger, seemed not to see Li Dalong at all.
Their eyes were fixed on the land behind him, where a vast patch of lush green was filled with crops! Beside the crops stood a large enclosure, packed with plump livestock!
At the center sat a little girl with twin ponytails atop a large rock, holding a book as her clear voice rang out in recitation.
"I have hundreds and thousands of acres of fertile fields; every blade of grass and every tree was won through bitter toil."
"When enemy bandits enter and trample upon our household soil, today we can only become wolves and tigers."
"Why must it come to this... why?"
A cool breeze passed through. In that brief silence, Li Yaowen's crisp little voice sounded especially clear.
Yet her childish voice could not stir even the slightest pity in those refugees gone mad with evil.
"Food, it's food!"
"No one better fight me for it! I want meat, meat!"
"They only have one adult and one child. All of this is ours—don't fight over it!"
Mad. They had all gone mad!
No matter how starving they were, the refugees still burst forth with astonishing speed, charging toward the Li Family's territory.
But what awaited them was not food.
It was—
"Whoosh!"
A violent gale swept past as Li Dalong took a single step forward. The two massive cleavers in his hands swept out sideways, sending two arcs of blade energy flying and cutting the foremost refugees cleanly in half at the waist!
Flesh and blood flew everywhere!
At that moment, all the charging refugees finally regained some sense. Li Dalong's blade energy carved a broad scar across the ground, like an uncrossable heavenly chasm that none of them dared step over!
Li Dalong let out a furious roar.
"This is my home! If you want food, I can give you charity, but whoever dares cross this line will end up like the dead!"
As Li Dalong's words fell—
The Iron Forest Horse that had followed him for many years emerged from the household. It pulled a cart loaded with food that had long been prepared.
After hauling the food beyond the Spirit Beast Garden, the Iron Forest Horse hurriedly bit through the ropes and raced back to Li Dalong's side.
"It's food! Wonderful, we finally have something to eat!"
"Thank you, great sir, for your gift!"
"Quick, grab it!"
Seeing the refugees rush out of the Spirit Beast Garden and begin fighting over the food, Li Xiang frowned.
Li Dalong's method of striking with a stick before offering a sweet date was quite clever.
After being frightened and then receiving what they wanted, these refugees would probably not dare cause trouble again.
But...
As he pondered—
In the game, while those refugees were scrambling for food, a group of people suddenly appeared in the Spirit Herb Garden. Cultivators!
"What are you doing?"
"There are so many of us. After we finish this meal, what will we eat for the next?!!"
"Look at their fields, then look at the livestock they raise. If we ration it, it'll last us at least a month! And there may be a huge amount of food hidden in their homes as well. If we seize their territory, we might even survive for a year!"
Human greed was endless!
At the cultivator's words, most of the refugees who had been fighting over food stopped moving, drooling as they stared at the Li Family's fields and livestock.
"That's right, the lord is right!"
"If he can give us one cart, he might have ten carts at home. He's hidden it all away."
"You have so much food, so why are you giving us only this little? Why not give us all the livestock too?!!"
The refugees angrily questioned Li Dalong.
By then, Li Dalong had already tightened his grip on his cleavers.
Li Xiang, who had been drinking from a cup, nearly crushed it in his hand!
"I'll give you your mother, fuck!"
He slammed the cup down.
[Consumed 20 points of Incense. Used 'Ancestral Patriarch's Fury'!]
In an instant—
The Ancestral Tablet blazed with brilliant light and shot toward that group of cultivators!
He could see it now. There had to be something strange behind why these refugees had come to the Li Family's territory, and it was connected to these cultivators!
Otherwise, why would cultivators in a year of great calamity wade into these muddy waters?
Passing through the refugees—
The Ancestral Tablet flew toward the cultivators, making the instigating cultivator's face change dramatically. "This... what kind of strange magic artifact is this?"
But before his words had even faded—
"Pfft!"
The tablet pierced straight through his chest. Blood gushed out like a fountain, and it also sounded the horn for the refugees' charge at the Li Family!
A great mass of refugees charged toward the Li Family.
"Ancestral Patriarch, mighty indeed!"
Seeing the Ancestral Patriarch's fury, Li Dalong hesitated no longer.
He closed his eyes and lowered his head, as though sensing the rhythm of the earth. Only when the refugees drew near did he suddenly lift his head. True qi blasted the dust around him into the air, and his twin blades swept out, sending blade energy flying once more and cutting the refugees who had crossed the line in half at the waist.
He charged into the battlefield with his blades, showing not the slightest mercy, and threw back his head with a roar.
"I gave you a chance, yet you insisted on forcing my Ancestral Patriarch into a rage!"
"Wife, children, today our Li Family shall show not the slightest trace of mercy."
"Kill!"
Li Dalong nimbly swung himself onto his horse. Wherever he passed, no one was left alive.
As his words fell—
Movement also erupted from every direction around the Li Family's territory.
The refugees had just been terrified by Li Dalong's slaughter when some of them looked around in horror.
"D-demonic beasts!"
"Save me, this child is insane!"
"Run!"
These refugees only knew to seize food and occupy this fertile land, yet they did not know...
While Li Dalong slaughtered freely and the Ancestral Tablet streaked through the air in violet light, pursuing those cultivators—
The rest of the Li Family had also begun appearing on the battlefield from the outer perimeter!
Li Yaozu appeared directly behind the refugees.
Holding a longsword, he charged forward with the demonic beasts that had always accompanied him in training. Like an elegant dancer, he waved his sword through the crowd, easily taking lives. Blood splashed across his body, but he felt no fear at all. Instead, madness glittered in his bloodshot eyes!
"Ah."
To the west, a giant eagle flew overhead. Li Yaoqing rode upon its back, looking down at the slaughter below with a long sigh.
Then she slowly opened the bundle strapped to the giant eagle's back, scattering black dust over the crowd below. It fell across the refugees' bodies.
Next came the bamboo tubes strapped to the giant eagle. Black liquid poured out from them.
Before long—
The refugees clawed desperately at their reddened skin. Those stained by the black liquid even began to emit black smoke from their flesh!
After cultivating spirit herbs for so many years, no one in the Li Family understood medicinal properties better than Li Yaoqing!
To the east—
Xu Cuihua and Li Yaotie, mother and son, also appeared. A great number of demonic beasts followed at their side, charging mercilessly into the crowd.
Though she looked like an ordinary farm woman, she possessed a fierceness few women could match.
Any refugees missed by the demonic beasts' charge faced her merciless cleavers!
Li Yaotie beside her was still young, but his combat strength was by no means lacking.
The Fury Lizard behind him struggled to pull a small cart, its basket filled with bows and arrows. Whenever Li Yaotie loosed an arrow from his longbow, the Flame-Tailed Spirit Cat would always carry another arrow over to him.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
One arrow every three seconds. Li Yaotie, the little blacksmith who had always possessed great strength, was like a mobile artillery platform!
These refugees did not know—
The Li Family now possessed enough strength to protect their household, as well as an unyielding determination!
One crazed refugee after another began recovering their senses under the Li Family's slaughter. Seeing the corpses and blood covering the ground, they stopped in their tracks and fell to their knees, begging for mercy.
"Don't kill me! I know I was wrong!"
"Help! I'll never do it again, please spare me!"
"Whoosh—"
Li Yaotie's arrow shot dead the refugee who had knelt and begged for mercy.
"So the Lineage I raised has already become this powerful."
At that moment, Li Xiang had controlled the tablet to kill twelve cultivators. He then stopped moving, watching the Li Family members slaughter their enemies as the tension in his heart finally eased.
His face was full of smiles. A family's strength lay not only in its power, but also in the strength of its hearts.
Li Xiang was very glad that no sanctimonious fools who wept for heaven and earth had appeared in the Li Family. Their strikes were decisive and clean!
Just then—
"Boom!"
Li Xiang frowned as his tablet was shattered in one blow by a flying sword.
Then a black-clad cultivator walked out from the Spirit Herb Garden, the flying sword that had shattered the tablet hovering at his side!
"I never expected that beyond Tailin Town, there would be a family like yours. Hahaha!"
Li Xiang merely furrowed his brow.
[Ancestral Patriarch's Fury] x10!
Before you continue