Spreading the Teachings in Another World Will Greatly Benefit the Li Household

Everyone nodded. His words had exposed the weakness beneath the Great Scarlet Realm's prosperous facade.

Li Zhengjun had originally intended to kill the tiger demon and leave it at that. Only after hearing the clan elders' analysis did he realize he had nearly squandered a heavenly treasure.

Not every Demon Beast should be killed. Some could be brought under their control!

"Zhengjun, the information you provided will be given to the various offices for assessment. A complete plan will be ready in a few days. How to suppress the Sun Household on every front in the battle for Gold-Bearing Mountain and how to subdue that Ginseng-Cloud Tiger must be planned together. Neither can be neglected."

Li Chenxiao pondered for a moment, then immediately added, once Yuhong had finished:

"True Person, my lord, this old man has a suggestion. Our clan has a tiger demon that has just formed its Jade Capital Wheel, named Li Huchan. This demon has been under the Li Household's control since the time of our ancestor. For generations, it has remained utterly loyal, never once harboring divided loyalties. This old man suggests sending it to the Great Scarlet Realm with my lord this time."

He paused, then explained his reasons:

"First, Li Huchan is a tiger demon himself. That Ginseng-Cloud Tiger has yet to awaken its intelligence and will be far less wary of its own kind than of cultivators. With Li Huchan there, he might approach and placate the Ginseng-Cloud Tiger on your behalf, assisting you in putting the Spirit-Binding Method into practice in the Great Scarlet Realm."

"Second, Li Huchan cultivates the Gen Earth path and has an innate ability to move mountains, carve out abodes, shift rocks and build roads. Once Gold-Bearing Mountain is ours, having him there to reclaim spirit fields and build the mountain gate will let us accomplish twice as much with half the effort."

Li Zhengjun's eyes lit up, and he nodded at once.

"Uncle Chenxiao is absolutely right. If we only send Spirit Plant farmers, there will be a limit to what they can do. Li Huchan can serve two purposes at once, providing both fighting strength and labor. He is the best choice to cross realms right now."

The clan elders from the various offices began to discuss the matter. Some were skeptical, believing that the next person sent should be a core disciple of the Li Household, one with formidable fighting strength who could serve as their lord's personal guard.

But after comparing their options, everyone agreed that Li Huchan was no weaker than an ordinary core disciple. With the additional assurance that his true spirit was under the Li Household's control, he satisfied all three requirements: loyalty, strength and usefulness. There was truly no better choice.

The final vote passed unanimously.

Having settled on who would cross realms, Li Zhengjun continued:

"Besides that, there is another important matter, also concerning Cultivation Methods. I discovered someone in the Great Scarlet Realm who might be a child of destiny."

"Oh?"

Everyone's interest was piqued. Li Zhengjun handed over the Jade Slip containing information on Ye Xiufan, and the clan elders took turns examining it with their Divine Sense.

Only a moment passed before Li Chenbin was the first to speak.

"Judging by the course of this young man's life, neither his cultivation talent nor his comprehension can be considered top-tier, yet he has advanced at a speed far beyond reason. That is indeed strange. The image-recording stone shows several suspicious actions. The most conspicuous is that his lips often move when he is alone, as though he were talking to someone. Combined with the previous instance in which he may have turned the tables and killed a Devil Cultivator, all indications suggest that a remnant soul of a higher cultivator is very likely attached to him."

The other clan elders nodded in agreement and pointed out several more details in support.

Li Zhengjun's expression remained unchanged as he listened.

"This young man has already cultivated the Fetal Breath breathing method from our Li Household's Cold Abyss Wave-Guiding Instruction, and his progress has been extremely fast. I expect it won't be long before he begins attempting to break through to Qi Ingestion. This Cultivation Method seems to have greatly interested both him and the 'old senior' behind him. He has spent the past few months desperately saving Contribution Points, almost certainly for the later parts of the method. So I was thinking..."

He paused briefly, his gaze sweeping over every face in the hall, and his tone grew more solemn.

"Could we use this young man as a chess piece and have him cultivate our Yuyu Realm's entire system of Cultivation Methods, progressing from Fetal Breath and Qi Ingestion onward? Once his Dao Path has taken deep root and he can no longer turn back, we could let him leave Jade Wave Island and sound out the Great Scarlet Realm's cultivation world. We could see how the cultivators of that world react to our Yuyu Realm's system of Cultivation Methods."

This was a serious matter. After all, the two worlds had different systems of Cultivation Methods.

The Great Scarlet Realm's methods were crude and inefficient, while those of the Yuyu Realm were subtle and profound.

If the Li Household rashly spread the Yuyu Realm's methods throughout the Great Scarlet Realm, no one knew what consequences might follow.

Ye Xiufan was the stone cast to test the road. He was a cultivator born and raised in the Great Scarlet Realm, bearing that world's fortune. Using him to test its reaction was far safer than having the Li Household personally risk itself.

The clan elders shared this view, and Li Chenbin spoke on their behalf.

"So far, we can be reasonably certain that the Great Scarlet Realm has an advantage in resources but lacks adequate Cultivation Methods, while the opposite is true of our Yuyu Realm. As the Lineage develops in the Great Scarlet Realm, it will inevitably have to spread its teachings."

"But there are different ways to spread those teachings. If we do so quietly, hiding the Yuyu Realm's system of Cultivation Methods and keeping it within our own small circle, sooner or later those methods will inevitably come into contact with the outside world. If the Great Scarlet Realm's higher cultivators suddenly discover them then, it would be no different from throwing a ladleful of water into a pot of hot oil. It would surely stir up a great storm."

"But if we begin laying the groundwork now, gradually spreading this new cultivation system and letting the Great Scarlet Realm's cultivators slowly become acquainted with it, until they grow accustomed to it, the change will take effect almost imperceptibly."

"Moreover, once a large number of people cultivate it, a lineage like our Li Household, which possesses a superior Cultivation Method, will no longer be the most conspicuous. After all, even a great tree can hide in a forest."

Li Chenbin had been considering this question for the past few days and had even drawn up a preliminary plan.

Yuhong had given the matter considerable attention and added:

"Chenbin and I have discussed this privately several times. I believe it is feasible, but there is one more thing that everyone here may have overlooked."

Everyone looked toward him, and Yuhong spoke unhurriedly.

"Zhengjun gained destiny by slaying the devil, which means that destiny and fortune exist in the Great Scarlet Realm. And spreading the teachings-passing our world's superior Technique Methods on to the people of the Great Scarlet Realm and benefiting countless cultivators—is a deed of immense merit. As long as this succeeds, in time, the destiny of the Unseen will naturally incline toward Zhengjun. That might be of enormous help when he attempts to break through to the Purple Mansion in the future."

Everyone's eyes lit up. Things like destiny and fortune were intangible and elusive. Lower cultivators who did not seek the Purple Mansion had no need to concern themselves with them in this lifetime, but for anyone who aspired to attain truth, they would play an enormous role in breaking through to the Purple Mansion.

Yuhong continued, "So I believe we can let Ye Xiufan cultivate the Yuyu Realm's methods, have him test the bottom line of the Great Scarlet Realm's higher cultivators, and draw their attention while he is at it. Besides, as long as he cultivates our Yuyu Realm's methods, he will have no choice but to obey the Li Household for the rest of his life. That much is absolutely within our control."

The Yuyu Realm's methods had all been refined over ten thousand years by countless higher cultivators of exceptional Dao wisdom.

Even if there might be a higher cultivator's remnant soul inside Ye Xiufan, what of it?

As long as he cultivated this method, he would have no choice but to bow his head and submit.

Thus, everyone agreed. They discussed the matter further, but still could not settle on Ye Xiufan's future Dao Path.

For now, the young man was breathing in water spirit, so he would certainly follow the path of Water Virtue in the future.

But if they were to use him as a long-term chess piece, they would have to exercise the utmost caution in deciding which "aspect" of Water Virtue he would cultivate and how far he would take it.

Water Virtue had five "aspects": [Weak Water], [Gui Water], [Frozen Water], [Abyssal Water], and [Dried Water].

The only branch the Li Household could offer was Frozen Water, and Li Chenjun, who had the deepest attainments in Frozen Water within the clan, was still in seclusion in his cave abode.

Without his approval, the others' understanding of the Frozen Water Dao Path was ultimately not up to the mark, and none of them dared make the decision.

Yuhong thought for a while, then said:

"Counting the days, your youngest uncle should emerge from seclusion within the next day or two. There is no need to rush this matter. For now, let your uncle Chenxiao teach you the Spirit-Binding Method. Take it back to the Great Scarlet Realm and study and cultivate it diligently."

"By the time you have grasped the basics and return for the plan to deal with the Sun Household, your youngest uncle will most likely have emerged. He can explain the Frozen Water Dao Path to you in person then. It won't be too late to decide Ye Xiufan's path afterward."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Chenxiao stepped forward and bowed deeply, declaring in a powerful voice:

"I will not fail your trust, True Person."

He then looked at Li Zhengjun, his eyes full of anticipation.

In his heart, his lord was certain to reach the Purple Mansion someday, yet despite having been here for so long, he had not managed to help in the slightest. He could only watch Li Chenbin and a few of his old friends bustling about, and it had made him terribly anxious.

Li Chenxiao had lost count of how many times he had imagined his lord commanding other races in the Great Scarlet Realm, giving him a chance to put his abilities to use.

He had thought that day was still far off, but unexpectedly, Demon Beasts in the Great Scarlet Realm were generally still without awakened intelligence. At last, he had somewhere to put all his abilities to use!