Chapter 2817: Radical Wang Desheng

"Azure Lotus Immortal Couple!"

Jin Linger nodded solemnly, her eyes flickering, lost in thought.

"Alright, you haven't been in the Integration Stage for long. Focus on your cultivation first; it's the most important thing. These years have been turbulent, with frequent conflicts between the Golden Scale Clan and the Silver Shark Clan. We might be dispatched to fight the Silver Shark Clan any day now." Jin Ao expressed some helplessness as he said this.

When living under someone else's roof, one must bow their head. He wasn't a rogue cultivator who only needed to feed himself. He could choose not to obey the Golden Scale Clan's orders, but doing so would likely lead to the annihilation of the Golden Roc Clan. This was the plight of a minor clan.

Jin Linger nodded and agreed.

***

Dongli Realm, South Sea Cultivation World.

On Azure Lotus Island, over a hundred clan elders gathered, their expressions grave. Soon after, a square-faced, large-eyed elderly man in a green robe and a graceful young woman in a golden dress entered. The clan elders all stood up and said in unison, "Greetings, Ancestor Desheng, Ancestor Yuxiu."

The green-robed elder was Wang Desheng, who had reached the Mid-Stage Soul Transformation realm. The young woman in the golden dress was Han Yuxiu, who had reached the Early-Stage Soul Transformation realm. They were a dual cultivation couple.

Wang Shiwen, Wang Defeng, and others had successively ascended to the Xuanyang Realm. Among the clan members in the lower realms, Wang Desheng held the highest seniority. The combined number of Wang family cultivators in the Tianlan Realm, Ice Sea Realm, Dongli Realm, and Thousand Gourd Realm already exceeded one million, with as many as twenty-one Soul Transformation cultivators.

After years of recuperation, the four realms slowly regained their vitality, and the number of high-level cultivators continuously increased. Relying on their Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasure and Flying Spirit Formation, Soul Transformation cultivators from other realms showed great respect to the Wang family, as they still hoped to borrow the Wang family's Flying Spirit Formation.

"We've received news that two neighboring realms have been taken over by foreign races. Humanity there has either been eradicated or enslaved. I plan to deploy manpower to these two realms to clear out the foreign races and, incidentally, expand our family's territory," Wang Desheng said gravely. The number of high-level cultivators in the four realms was growing, and over time, cultivation resources would inevitably be depleted. Currently, with the Wang family's influence, major powers wouldn't erupt into war, but if this continued long-term, problems were bound to arise.

Without internal strife, external troubles are inevitable.

As long as one cultivated to the Mid-Stage Soul Transformation realm, they could use the Flying Spirit Formation to ascend to the Xuanyang Realm. The Wang family controlled multiple secret realms, so the clan members in the lower realms didn't need to fight for their lives everywhere like their predecessors. This led to a pitifully small number of life-and-death battles for the clan members, and even fighting against demon beasts had limited effect. Demon beasts relied entirely on innate divine abilities, possessing no treasures, talismans, or unique secret techniques. Their attack methods were singular, making it no problem at all for Wang family cultivators to deal with demon beasts of the same level.

It was difficult for cultivators in the lower realms to cultivate to the Late-Stage Soul Transformation realm. Previously, they would adventure everywhere, seeking spatial nodes to clandestinely enter the Spirit Realm. Now, there was no need; as long as they maintained good relations with the Wang family and offered some cultivation resources, the Wang family was very approachable. This meant no power was willing to clash fiercely with the Wang family, let alone engage in a life-and-death battle.

Wang family cultivators couldn't just go around killing people and seizing treasures to gain combat experience! Anyway, cultivating to the Mid-Stage Soul Transformation realm allowed one to ascend, so whether their combat experience was rich or not wasn't important at all.

Many clan members mostly engaged in secluded cultivation, possessing pitifully little practical combat experience, or relied on medicinal pills to boost their cultivation. This led to a significant decline in the strength of ascending clan members, making them far inferior to earlier generations of ascenders like Wang Changsheng.

Regarding this, clan members in the lower realms had differing views. The moderate faction believed it was fine; "later generations enjoy the shade of trees planted by their predecessors." Their ancestors had already completed everything, so they didn't need to struggle, but could cultivate peacefully and wait to ascend to the Xuanyang Realm. The radical faction, however, believed they shouldn't rely entirely on their ancestors. They should also strive, and with the Wang family's current strength, they ought to expand their territory, control more realms, and contribute to the family's growth and prosperity, rather than just waiting to enjoy what was already there.

Controlling more realms would serve two purposes: expanding territory and honing the clan members, killing two birds with one stone.

Wang Defeng and other previous generations of Soul Transformation cultivators belonged to the moderate faction, advocating for recuperation and not meddling in the affairs of other realms, focusing only on their own. Wang Desheng, however, was part of the radical faction, believing they should actively expand their territory and not always rest on their laurels. To put it bluntly, with the Wang family's strength in the lower realms, taking control of another realm was not an issue.

After Wang Defeng ascended to the Xuanyang Realm, Wang Desheng became the highest-ranking member. He dispatched people to search for spatial nodes leading to other realms, hoping to find a realm rich in cultivation resources. There were many spatial nodes, but behind them could be a dead spirit space, a secret realm, or perhaps a path to another realm. Investigating spatial nodes required significant manpower and resources. They paid a considerable price and eventually found two spatial nodes leading to two lower realms: the Jade Dust Realm and the Skyfire Realm.

The Jade Dust Realm and Skyfire Realm were previously human-controlled realms. Similar to the Dongli Realm, cultivators in these two realms could only ascend after reaching the Late-Stage Soul Transformation realm. Starting several centuries ago, several minor clans in these two realms suddenly saw their strength increase dramatically, with high-level cultivators continuously emerging. They frequently clashed with humanity. After centuries of conflict, humanity was no match, and these two realms were completely controlled by foreign races, with humans enslaved. Had it not been for the Wang family cultivators reaching these two realms via spatial nodes, this situation would still be unknown.

"Ancestor Desheng, is this an order from our founding ancestor?" a clan elder asked curiously.

"No, this is my idea," Wang Desheng replied, shaking his head. He still didn't dare to act under Wang Changsheng's banner.

"Since it's not an order from our founding ancestor, we don't need to do this, do we? How many people will die in a realm war? If we hit a snag, it'll be troublesome. Our founding ancestor painstakingly created the current situation; there's no need for us to mess things up."

"Let sleeping dogs lie. This has nothing to do with us! There are too many lower realms; we can't manage them all. When our family was bullied, cultivators from other realms didn't necessarily help us either."

"Exactly. If you ask me to fight for the family, I won't hesitate. But if you ask me to fight for outsiders, I refuse. We don't owe them anything."

"Engaging in excessive military expeditions; we should mind our own business less."

Many clan elders disapproved, feeling there was no need to take such action. As long as they cultivated steadily, they could use the Flying Spirit Formation to ascend to the Xuanyang Realm upon reaching the Mid-Stage Soul Transformation realm. There was no need to take risks, especially since it wasn't an order from Wang Changsheng.

"As fellow humans, we have the ability to help; there's no reason to stand by. This is also an excellent opportunity for training, to temper our clan members and let the fittest survive. Otherwise, even if they ascend to the Xuanyang Realm, they won't get far."

"Exactly. Our family has been recuperating for nearly ten thousand years; it's time to take action. Occupying two more realms will strengthen our clan."

A minority of clan elders expressed agreement, believing that with the Wang family's current strength, they could absolutely expand their territory instead of merely clinging to four realms.

"I am not consulting you; I am informing you. Currently, I hold the highest authority in the entire clan, and you will all obey me. If anything goes wrong, I will take responsibility. Execute the order! Gather experts from the four realms and prepare to head to the Jade Dust Realm to first eliminate the Fire Lizard Clan." Wang Desheng stated gravely. The family had enjoyed peace for too long; it was time to take action. He preferred to be proactive rather than complacent.

The minority of clan elders echoed their agreement. Seeing this, the other clan elders found it difficult to say much more and could only concur.