Chapter 804: Ye Yutong's Letter

The Sea-Swallowing Crab let out a painful shriek as a large expanse of silver lightning enveloped its body.

Soon after, a second silver lightning bolt flew out from the dark clouds, followed by a third.

A series of thunderclaps resounded, and a large expanse of silver lightning covered the Sea-Swallowing Crab's body.

An extremely strange shriek rang out as the Sea-Swallowing Crab burst out from the silver lightning, its shell scorched black and covered in more than a dozen small cracks.

Its body was covered by a layer of blue water curtain, and it swiftly charged towards Wang Mengbin.

Wang Mengbin changed his incantation, and a brilliant silver light surged from his body, transforming into countless silver electrical arcs that manifested around him. These arcs coalesced into a ten-foot-long silver lightning spear, which flew towards the Sea-Swallowing Crab.

Boom!

The silver lightning spear struck the Sea-Swallowing Crab, immediately exploding into a large expanse of silver lightning that enveloped the creature.

Wang Mengbin formed a hand seal and cast an incantation at the dark clouds high above.

The dark clouds churned violently, emitting a piercing thunder.

With a flash of silver light, a silver lightning bolt, about a foot in diameter, shot out from the dark clouds and merged into the existing silver lightning, causing it to intensify.

One after another, silver lightning bolts of about a foot in diameter flew out from the dark clouds, causing the lightning to surge even more fiercely.

After five breaths, the silver lightning dispersed, revealing the Sea-Swallowing Crab lying motionless on the ground. Its body was riddled with several large, scorched holes, emitting a burnt smell.

“Well done, Mengbin. Next time, I should catch a high-grade second-tier demonic beast for you to practice with,” Wang Qiuhong praised with a smile.

Wang Qiuxin secretly nodded to himself, his expression turning stern as he said, “You still underestimated the enemy. I’ve told you before, when dealing with demonic beasts, you must first maintain your distance and never let them get close. You should have trapped it with a spell before attacking. Moreover, you clearly could have used a more stable approach to kill this beast. The Sea-Swallowing Crab is dead, but its demon core is likely destroyed, rendering it useless for artifact refining. It’s essentially wasted.”

As members of the 'Qing' generation had successively entered secluded cultivation, Wang Qiuxin was now the captain of the demon hunting team, leading expeditions to hunt demonic beasts. He was also a high-grade second-tier artifact refiner and a sixth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Wang Qiuxin cultivated the Heavenly Flame Scripture. He didn’t originally need to lead demon hunting expeditions, but he was stuck at a bottleneck and intended to break through by hunting demonic beasts.

Wang Qiuhong and Wang Qiuxin played good cop, bad cop, both encouraging Wang Mengbin and pointing out his shortcomings.

Wang Mengbin shook his head and said earnestly, “Grandson doesn’t see it that way, Uncle Qiuxin. My cultivation technique has powerful attacks, so I should play to my strengths and minimize my weaknesses. I have multiple layers of defense, so it wouldn’t be able to harm me easily. Besides, I don’t know the Sea-Swallowing Crab’s innate abilities, nor do I intend to test them. It’s best to fight quickly and decisively, using my strongest attack to eliminate this demon. As for its demon core and materials, my life is far more precious than a demon core. Who knows if the Sea-Swallowing Crab was a mutated beast? In a life-and-death struggle, one must never hold back. My goal is to unleash my strongest attack to kill the opponent. Other considerations are not my concern. If my strongest attack still can’t kill it, I should flee, not fight to the death.”

Wang Qiuhong and Wang Qiuxin exchanged glances and smiled at each other.

“Never hold back in a life-and-death struggle, well said. It’s rare for you to have such insight.”

“This isn’t Grandson’s insight, but what Great-Uncle Qiuming told me,” Wang Mengbin replied. “He said these were the words of Seventh Elder Ancestor. Whether facing humans or demons, in a life-and-death battle, you must use all your strength. If you can’t kill the enemy, immediately flee. As long as the green hills remain, there will always be wood to burn.”

The 'Seventh Elder Ancestor' Wang Mengbin referred to was Wang Qingshan. Wang Qiuming had followed Wang Qingshan to hunt demonic beasts since the Qi Refining stage, learning a great deal from him and greatly admiring him.

Most of the Wang family members in Taoshan, Yuyao Kingdom, revered Wang Qingshan. As for Wang Changsheng, he was too distant; many clan members had only seen his portrait. Wang Qingshan had been stationed in Taoshan for decades, and many clan members had fought alongside him, naturally leading to greater admiration for him.

“By the way, Patriarch, where is Seventh Elder Ancestor? I’ve grown so old, and I still haven’t met him!”

Wang Mengbin asked curiously. After being sent to Silver Serpent Island, he had cultivated there continuously. He had met Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan but not Wang Qingshan.

Wang Qiuhong nodded with a smile and said earnestly, “There will be a chance. For now, focus on your cultivation and never slack off.”

“Understood, Patriarch.”

Wang Mengbin agreed, bowed to Wang Qiuhong and Wang Qiuxin, and turned to leave.

“This child is good,” Wang Qiuxin sighed, watching Wang Mengbin’s retreating figure. “The 'Tian' and 'You' generations haven’t produced many outstanding clan members, but thankfully, the 'Meng' generation has Mengbin.”

Whether it’s an immortal cultivation family or a sect, it’s impossible for every generation to be outstanding. Producing a few excellent disciples who can advance to the Core Formation stage is enough to protect the family or sect for several centuries.

“Tianqi is also quite good,” Wang Qiuhong said with a smile. “She’s very diligent in her cultivation, but she manages the Intelligence Hall and travels a lot. I’ve already told her to hand over most of her duties to the deputy hall master so she can focus on cultivating.”

“Counting the time, Fourth Uncle has been in secluded cultivation for quite a while now. Hasn’t he attracted the lightning tribulation yet?”

The time it takes for a Foundation Establishment cultivator to attempt to break through to the Core Formation stage is not fixed. Some attract the lightning tribulation in as little as a year, while others take decades.

“Probably soon!”

The two chatted for a while before leaving the training ground to attend to their respective duties.

In a quiet courtyard, Ye Haitang was teaching array formations to five cultivators.

Wang Tianmi’s array formation skill was second only to Ye Haitang’s, which was quite good. However, in Ye Haitang’s opinion, Wang Tianmi’s skill still needed improvement. Just as Ye Lin was very strict with Ye Haitang, Ye Haitang was equally strict with other clan members, believing that only a strict teacher produces accomplished students.

“There are many ways to break an array formation; you must consider the array’s attributes, the terrain, and the environment. I’ve also given you several examples. Go back and review them thoroughly. In a few days, I will set up an array for you to break.”

Wang Tianmi and the other four agreed in unison and left one after another.

Wang Tianqi walked in quickly, smiling as she said, “Grand-Aunt, Great-Uncle by marriage has sent a letter.”

The 'Great-Uncle by marriage' she referred to was naturally Ye Yutong.

“My brother sent a letter! Let me see it quickly,” Ye Haitang urged, her face beaming with joy. She had always been concerned about her parents and brother, and judging by the time, they should have returned to the Eastern Wasteland.

Wang Tianqi took out a blue storage bead and handed it to Ye Haitang.

Ye Haitang poured a pile of items from the storage bead: letters, array formation scriptures, and some sweets, all specialties of the Eastern Wasteland.

The letters primarily detailed Ye Lin’s family of three safely returning to Green Lotus Mountain Villa in the Eastern Wasteland, along with Ye Yutong’s observations and experiences.

“This boy bought so many sweets for me; how will I ever finish them all?” Ye Haitang said, though her face was full of smiles.

“Great-Uncle by marriage and Uncle Qingzhi visited many market cities specifically to buy these sweets for you, and they also copied a set of the family’s collected array formation scriptures. Great-Uncle by marriage is truly good to you.”

Ye Haitang nodded with a smile and said, “Once I finish this busy period, I’ll return to the Eastern Wasteland to visit my parents and spend their remaining time with them.”

If Wang Tianmi’s array formation skill hadn’t been so low, Ye Haitang would have returned to the Eastern Wasteland with Ye Lin earlier.

“Grand-Aunt, please rest assured! The Patriarch takes good care of Great-Grand-Aunt and Great-Grand-Uncle; they are doing quite well,” Wang Tianqi said with a smile.

Ye Haitang nodded and inquired about the situation at Green Lotus Mountain Villa in the Eastern Wasteland, to which Wang Tianqi replied truthfully.

Upon learning that Green Lotus Mountain Villa was flourishing, Ye Haitang felt relieved.