"All the items ant to be sold are gone—ti to head back to Da Rong Island!" Li Zhirui stretched languidly, exhaling a long breath of stale air.
In the past few days, in his efforts to sell the Spiritual Objects, he had assud nurous identities and had to evade the prying eyes that watched him from the shadows. He was utterly exhausted.
Fortunately, it had all co to an end, and the results were extrely gratifying!
The next morning, Li Zhirui stepped out of the Marketplace gates and imdiately summoned his Spirit Boat, racing through the sky.
"Big brother, that guy’s too fast, we can’t catch up!" A Foundation Establishnt Loose Cultivator complained, trailing several miles behind Li Zhirui.
"Forget it, let’s head back," said the ’big brother’, as he looked up at the disappearing Spirit Boat and decided to return ho.
Li Zhirui’s seemingly perfect disguise had actually been detected long ago.
When he passed the large river at the border of two states, Li Zhirui slowed down a bit but, after a brief reflection, he accelerated again to leave.
By the ti he reached Yunping State, the sun had already set. Yet, he didn’t stay in the Marketplace, opting instead to continue towards Da Rong Island under the cover of night.
After half an hour, Li Zhirui finally returned to his holand, which he had longed for day and night.
"I’m back!" Li Zhirui silently said to himself.
If it hadn’t been so late, he would have liked to shout out loud and tell all his clansn.
"I wonder if Uncle has returned." He glanced towards the back hall but, seeing no one, he turned and walked back to his own courtyard.
Although no one had resided there for a year, the courtyard remained remarkably clean, thanks to the protective Formation. It was just too quiet.
Chirp!
Chatter!
Hearing the surprised chirps of his two pets, Li Zhirui nodded in satisfaction. Now things felt livelier, especially with the presence of Xiaoqing, the energetic little creature. There would be no peace from now on.
"I’m going to rest now; don’t play too late," he told his pets before entering his ditation room to begin treating his Spiritual Soul as usual.
Before leaving the Wood Spirit Market, he had bought several types of Spirit Pills for treating the Spiritual Soul, which were sowhat expensive but effective, and unavailable in Yunping State.
Li Zhirui estimated that his Spiritual Soul would be healed once he refined all the Spirit Pills in his possession, roughly half a year from now.
However, until then, Li Zhirui knew he must be cautious with his Divine Sense to avoid aggravating the injury to his Spiritual Soul.
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The night passed without incident, and soon it was the next day.
"Big brother, I’m back!" Li Zhirui said with a smile as he walked into the main hall, "I didn’t exceed our one-year agreent, did I?"
"The fact that you’re back safe and sound is what matters," Li Zhizhun sighed in relief.
Li Zhirui, with his keen senses, detected sothing amiss and furrowed his brows as he asked, "Is there sothing wrong with Uncle?"
"Don’t worry, Uncle wasn’t injured; he’s safely back with the Foundation Establishnt Spiritual dicine," Li Zhizhun quickly explained, worried that Li Zhirui might misunderstand.
After hearing about what Li Shiqing had experienced during this period, Li Zhirui fell silent for a while before forcing a smile, "It’s fortunate that Uncle returned unhard and even brought so many benefits to our family."
Foundation Establishnt Spiritual dicine, Island Moving Minor Divine Ability, and a third-tier Spirit Vein—should the Li family assimilate these resources, they would maintain high-speed developnt and strengthen the family’s power for decades to co!
But there was a serious problem—the family had too few people. Not just the number of Cultivators was lacking, but also the number of Secular Clansn.
Such a thing couldn’t be rushed, though fortunately, at the current rate of growth, the population of Secular Clansn with Li family blood would exceed one hundred and fifty thousand within twenty years!
"Aside from this, is everything else fine with the family?"
Li Zhizhun nodded and said, "Uncle is currently comprehending the Island Moving Divine Ability, and Shiren is assisting that Earth Master in preparing to elevate the Spirit dicine Mountain to a third-tier Spirit Vein."
Since the Earth Master’s role had branched off from that of an Array Master, by studying with him, Li Shiren didn’t hope to master the Formation responsible for elevating a Spirit Vein’s tier but at least hoped to improve his Array Tao cultivation.
The Spirit Vein of Spirit dicine Mountain, which was already between the first and second tier, was the most convenient one on the island to be raised to the third tier.
This ti, the layout of the Spirit Vein was different from before. The clan’s Spirit Vein wasn’t extended too long because it was ant to provide a place for the clansn to cultivate, so they focused on increasing the density of the Spiritual Energy instead.
This ti, though, they planned to extend the Spirit Vein so that the entire small hilly area where Spirit dicine Mountain was located would beco third-tier Spirit Land, perfect for cultivating higher-grade Spiritual Objects.
In the future, part of this hilly area would also be sectioned off to foster a clan of third-grade Spirit Beasts.
"Oh, you’ve co back at just the right ti!" Li Zhizhun suddenly rembered sothing, "Uncle brought back ten sets of Foundation Establishnt Spiritual dicine; the family extracted seven Spirit Seeds to cultivate new Spiritual dicine."
Shen Leishan had been very "thoughtful," providing not only Spiritual dicine and Pill Recipes but also various insights into planting them so that their vassals needn’t grope around in the dark.
"The remaining three sets are waiting for you to use the Fusion Spirit Skill, hoping that when you refine the Foundation Establishnt Pills, you might slightly increase the success rate."
Li Zhirui’s eyes lit up imdiately, "Can I have the Pill Recipes and Spiritual dicine now? I’m just about to seclude myself to sort through my experiential realizations and take the chance to study the Pill Recipe."
Li Zhirui did not disclose the incident of the Soul Possession in the daoist temple, as there was no need to worry the family about a matter that had already passed.
As for how he would present the Magical Treasure and Jade Slip he obtained from Qinghua to the family, he had already devised a plausible excuse on his way back.
"All right," Li Zhizhun stood up, leading him towards the back, and said, "Between the main hall and the back hall, a new storage room has been built, specifically for storing precious Spiritual Objects."
This place was closest to Li Shiqing’s residence, so in case anything unexpected happened, he could also intervene promptly.
Furthermore, the storage room could obstruct the connection between the main hall and the back hall. After all, the back hall now served as Li Shiqing’s cave dwelling, and he did need so independent, private space.
Due to the importance of the new storage room, not many clan mbers were allowed to enter, only a few such as Li Zhizhun, Li Shiqing and Li Shile.
However, there wasn’t much inside the new storage room at the mont, the most valuable item being the Foundation Establishnt Spiritual dicine.
"Let’s go," Li Zhizhun took the Jade Box storing the Spiritual dicine, glanced back at the empty spirit wood shelves, and said, "One day, our family will fill this storage room!"
"Definitely!"
After they left the storage room, Li Zhirui said, "Big brother, I am off to visit Uncle, so I’ll take my leave first."
"All right," Li Zhizhun now had hardly any ti to spare. The advancent of the Spirit Vein, the island that needed relocating, the Marketplace on Red Pine Island, and so on, were all waiting for him to handle.
"Uncle, Zhirui seeks an audience." After repeating this three tis, Li Zhirui stood at the entrance, waiting for Li Shiqing to finish his cultivation and open the door.
Monts later, the door opened, and Li Zhirui walked in.
After exchanging pleasantries, he took out the Green Haze Thunder Shock Command and the Wood Spirit Protecting Heart Bead, these two third-rank top-grade Magical Treasures, along with the Divine Ability Jade Slip of the Clear Wind Escaping Skill.
"Where did you get these Magical Treasures?" Li Shiqing frowned. Magical Treasures that could only be used by Golden Core cultivators—and of such a high grade—were not easily obtained.
The Escape Divine Ability was even more precious.
Li Zhirui recounted his experience but altered the part about being possessed, making it sound like he had to escape in a sorry state after being injured by soone while fighting over so treasures.
Li Shiqing gazed at Li Zhirui for a long ti before finally sighing, "Don’t take such risks in the future."
"Understood!" Li Zhirui, worried that his injury to the Spiritual Soul might be discovered, hurriedly handed over the Magical Treasures to Li Shiqing and left shortly afterwards.
In the following days, apart from healing, Li Zhirui spent all his ti stimulating the growth of the Foundation Establishnt Spiritual dicine at hand.
Fortunately, he had obtained quite a few Spirit Stones previously; otherwise, he couldn’t have sustained such a significant expenditure.
A second-rank Spiritual dicine required the consumption of seven to eight hundred Spirit Stones. The refining of a Foundation Establishnt Pill involved three kinds of second-rank Spiritual dicines, using over two thousand Spirit Stones for a single batch.
That didn’t even include the cost of cultivating first-rank Spiritual dicines!
Luckily, first-rank Spiritual dicines had shorter maturation periods, and since Li Zhirui was injured and unable to refine Spirit Pills for the ti being, he could let them grow naturally in the space, saving him quite a few Spirit Stones.
While Li Zhirui was in seclusion, the clan mbers on the island could hardly find peace, as everyone had affairs to manage.
Li Shiqing learned the Island Moving Divine Ability and began to integrate small islands reported by the clan mbers into the east side of Da Rong Island.
But since Li Shiqing was not of high cultivation, he could not move large islands and could only initially form a bridge of islands connecting Da Rong Island with Red Pine Island, planning to fill in the sides later.
Li Shiren was working under the Earth Master, ending each day covered in dust, but his beaming smile suggested that he was gaining much from the experience.
Li Shiting and Li Shilian were leading a group of clan mbers, overseeing two other islands, maintaining the environnt and the Marketplaces there.
Of course, the busiest among them were Li Zhizhun and Li Shile among the few Elders.
They had to oversee all matters, such as ensuring the Red Pine Market had enough Spirit Pills and other Spiritual Objects, coordinating the making of Spiritual Objects by the clan mbers, and so on—it was non-stop busyness.
Once everything was on the right track, the vitality of these Elders of the Li generation was depleted, and their condition worsened significantly.
It was then that people started to realize just how old these Elders had beco!
The life expectancy of a Qi Cultivation cultivator was up to 120 years—an upper limit in theory. In reality, due to conflicts, training, and other reasons faced by cultivators, their life span rarely exceeded a hundred years.
And they were already in their eighties or even nineties!
For cultivators, this was also considered the twilight years.
Elders like Li Shile began to semi-retire, handing over their affairs to clan mbers of the Shi generation, and started to pass down their experiences and insights from behind the scenes.
The Li and Shi generations were transitioning and transferring responsibilities, while the youthful and robust Zhi generation started entering the family’s managent as Executors.
They were aware that choosing this path ant it would beco difficult for them to advance further on the path of cultivation, as the multitude of trivial matters would occupy their ti.
But they were clear in their hearts that, with their capabilities, they would not receive the family’s resource prioritization and had to find their own way.
This was not only because they had reached the end of their own path but also because many of them had families and descendants to consider.
Among the Zhi generation clan mbers of the Li family, not counting the younger ones, only a few, such as Li Zhizhun, Li Zhirui, and Li Zhixuan, had yet to start their own families.
Li Zhizhun was hoping to find a Foundation Establishnt female cultivator of similar age to live and age together with.
Li Zhirui had the sa idea but with slightly higher standards; at least she should be able to reach Core Formation, lest they had to enact a separation of yin and yang, a drama of parting by life and death.
As for Li Zhixuan and Li Zhiyue, they had grand aspirations and were not eager to settle down so easily.
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