Chapter 364: Breaking Through

The demon cultivator surnamed Qiu looked at Zhang Huaide, uncertain of his true capabilities. He mused to himself, "We all received orders from Patriarch Di Fu and came here. I wonder what methods this guy has. But judging by the Patriarch's demeanor, this fellow probably has some significant background. Maybe he has a way to defeat the enemy!"

He gritted his teeth, pushed with both palms, and white energy surged. He forcefully took on Li Qinghong's shouted thunder talisman, which emitted a harsh, destructive collision sound between his palms. It was like holding a hot potato, and he struggled to push it away.

"Boom!" Li Qinghong's Purple Talisman Yuan-Light Secret Art could be considered the Li family's highest-grade spell currently. The Three Sects and Seven Gates had extremely strict control over spells, and besides this technique, the Li family had no other secret arts of comparable grade. Now, as it exploded before the demon cultivator surnamed Qiu, purple lightning surged, and white smoke billowed.

"Ah!" The demon cultivator cried out in pain, his hands scorched black. Before he could recover, a bright sword light rose from the dust and smoke, striking towards his neck. The demon cultivator surnamed Qiu had no choice but to block it with his hand.

"Whoosh." His spell had been broken by Li Qinghong's thunder talisman, and the Azure Ruler Sword was a Foundation Establishment artifact. With a flash of sword light, five fingers were severed and fell. Blood immediately gushed out, his eyes turned bloodshot, and he cried out, "Damn you, Zhang Huaide! I, Qiu Ji, am not playing with you anymore!"

On Zhang Huaide's side, the glow in his hand grew increasingly intense. Li Yuanjiao had already clutched the Li family's last remaining Foundation Establishment talisman, and with his other hand, he connected to the Azure Ruler Sword, staring fixedly at Zhang Huaide.

As Li Yuanjiao's gaze fell upon him, Zhang Huaide felt a sharp pain between his eyebrows, but his expression remained calm and fearless. He said coldly, "You scoundrel! Let me show you my demon cultivation secret art!"

At these words, the several demon cultivators were invigorated, waiting for him to act. They saw him raise a blood-red magic mirror high, and five jade rings appeared beside him. Zhang Huaide solemnly intoned, "May the Heavenly Supreme show mercy, imparting the dao to the ten directions of the jungle. May the Netherworld's depths be profound, inquiring the law of the four seas and the great void... 'Mountain Blood Imperial Void Escape Technique, Command!'"

After speaking, the magic mirror in his hand flashed, and his body transformed into a fist-sized blood-red stream of light, trailing a long red tail. It instantly vanished into the distance.

The scene instantly fell silent. The demon cultivators were so stunned they couldn't even curse. The demon cultivator who had been surrounded by the Li family's outer disciples had long wanted to escape and knew Zhang Huaide's shamelessness well. He reacted the fastest.

"Crack!" Taking advantage of the others' distraction, this demon cultivator seized an opening. With one hammer blow, he shattered Tian Youdao's weakest magical energy shield and directly struck his chest, followed by the sound of bone and flesh breaking.

"Uncle!" Tian Zhongqing's mournful cry echoed. Qiu Ji moved, a blood-red escape light flowing around him. He withstood Li Qinghong's lightning spell without dispelling it and flew off in a completely different direction from Zhang Huaide.

Li Yuanjiao and his sister naturally refused to let him go and pursued him on the wind. Unexpectedly, Qiu Ji's flight directly collided with Xu Gongming, who was holding an artifact.

Xu Gongming was currently besieging the demon cultivator in front of him, handling it with ease. Seeing Qiu Ji escape on the wind, his eyes lit up, and he thought to himself, "If I just block him, won't that be an easy merit to claim!"

So Xu Gongming urged his artifact to block. He was originally a blade user, but his family had no such tradition, and he hadn't even mastered blade energy. He simply directed the Qi Condensation artifact, the Azure Crow Blade, to fly over and block.

Qiu Ji was furious, never expecting that an ant he could have killed with a slap in the past would dare to act presumptuously before him. He roared, "How dare this ant!"

He didn't hesitate, spraying out a plume of white gas, like smoke and mist, which instantly shattered Xu Gongming's Qi Condensation artifact. The white gas, still potent after damaging his artifact, then broke through his protective magical energy and struck Xu Gongming's cheek.

As his flesh and blood withered, Xu Gongming couldn't even maintain the wind beneath his feet. He cried out and fell. Madam Dou had to quickly move to catch him and dispel the evil energy from his face.

The Li family siblings didn't hesitate, pursuing on the wind. On the other side, An Zheyuan, who had been frustrated by Zhang Huaide's actions, now had an opening. He turned back to intercept the early Qi Condensation demon cultivator wielding the hammer.

He had been very close to Tian Youdao, and now his eyes were bloodshot with rage. He cursed, "Dog thief!"

An Zheyuan, with his eighth-level Qi Condensation cultivation, forced the demon cultivator back with a single palm strike, instantly gaining an overwhelming advantage. The demon cultivator couldn't even summon the wind to fly and was struck so hard he vomited blood.

"Boom!" The group worked together, quickly turning the demon cultivator into a bloody pulp in just a few moves. They then cast several fire spells, burning him into scorched fragments on the ground.

Tian Zhongqing had already landed and picked up his uncle. Tian Youdao had long since lost his breath, his chest bloody and soaked, his face ashen. That hammer blow had struck him directly in the heart, causing his eyes to bulge and the area around them to turn purplish. Additionally, when he fell, he must have broken countless bones. The once rigid old man now lay limp in his nephew's arms, blood pooling on the ground.

On the other side, one of the cultivators besieging Kong Heng shouted, "A'gan, the one named Zhang fled!"

"Damn it, we're retreating too!" These two brothers had always been half-hearted in their efforts, merely holding their ground against Kong Heng. They even had the nerve to apologize to Kong Heng before fleeing for their lives.

The last demon cultivator, Zhang Mutong, was the unluckiest. As soon as he summoned his blood-wind, he was instantly struck down by Sha Mo Li's lightning. He didn't possess Qiu Ji's profound demonic cultivation, so he couldn't fly after being struck two or three times. The Li family members swarmed him, each releasing their artifacts.

Various artifacts and spells surged towards him, but the spells from the red glazed bead in his hand repelled them all. Fortunately, Sha Mo Li moved around the periphery, occasionally striking down Zhang Mutong's blood-wind, preventing his escape.

Zhang Mutong lasted only dozens of breaths longer than the other Qi Condensation demon cultivator. In his dying struggle, he managed to injure two or three people before being dismembered into several pieces, burned by fire, and struck by lightning. Soon after, he was completely dead.

Everyone settled down. Only then did Li Yuanjiao and his sister return on the wind. Li Yuanjiao's expression was grim, his hands empty. Qiu Ji was extremely decisive. As he fled, he continuously sacrificed various secret techniques, from his internal organs to his limbs and senses. Although the two Li siblings had the "Turbulent River Crossing Step," this movement technique was more suited for dodging, and he stubbornly managed to escape. As they moved further and further from home, both feared an ambush and dared not pursue further. They silently returned on the wind.

"My Lord..." All the cultivators sustained injuries of varying degrees. Li Xuanxuan and Tian Zhongqing were the most severely wounded. The former, supported by Hou'er, still looked somewhat acceptable, while the latter simply held Tian Youdao's corpse, weeping with his head bowed. Xu Gongming had already fainted, half of his face reduced to bare bone, a truly frightening sight. Qiu Ji had been injured, and Xu Gongming's artifact had blocked an attack for him, so aside from the disfigurement, he hadn't sustained overly severe injuries.

Among the guest cultivators, Li Qilang and An Zheyuan were the least injured and were tending to the wounded on the spot. Xu Gongming was unconscious. Madam Dou held the even older-looking Li Xuanxuan, resembling a daughter holding her father.

"Elder Tian has fallen!" Everyone sat cross-legged to heal their injuries. Xiao Guilan came forward and softly spoke a sentence.

Uncle Tian Youdao lay limp on the ground like a pile of mud. Li Yuanjiao tightened his grip on the Foundation Establishment talisman in his sleeve, not looking at Tian Zhongqing's expression. He merely asked Li Qinghong to go comfort him, while he himself stood holding his sword.

After nearly half an hour, as dusk began to fall, Li Qilang had already gathered two storage bags and handed them to Li Yuanjiao. The others stepped forward to offer a few words of comfort to Tian Zhongqing, then left him to his silent solitude.

Kong Heng silently walked up, clutching his Zen staff, its bronze rings clinking. Li Yuanjiao's emotions were incredibly complex; his suspicion towards Kong Heng had not yet dissipated. With his eyelids drooping slightly, he simply said, "Thank you, Bhikkhu, for your assistance."

Kong Heng gently shook his head, walked to Tian Youdao's limp corpse, and silently chanted a few words, seemingly performing a ritual for his departed soul. Tian Zhongqing suddenly looked up, bursting out with two cries of anguish, and cursed, "You bald dog... harbinger of misfortune! Get away from here!"

Kong Heng, neither rushed nor angered, stepped back a few paces, turned to Li Yuanjiao, and said gently, "This humble monk will cultivate on the small island by the lake. Should your clan have any need, feel free to seek me on the island."

With that, he departed on the wind. The remaining people fell silent for a moment, then one by one took their leave. The reddish-orange sunset shimmered against the blood on the ground. Li Qinghong softly offered a few words of comfort, and Tian Zhongqing also picked up Tian Youdao's body, bowed apologetically to Li Yuanjiao, and then departed on the wind.

Only a few core members of the Li family remained in the forest. Li Yuanjiao stood alone. Li Xuanxuan coughed twice, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and said, "There's no fault in weighing choices."

Li Yuanjiao nodded gently, tightening his grip on the white and green Azure Ruler Sword, and replied, "Your son understands. Holding this sword, I must prioritize the clan's interests. It's only right to endure blame and resentment."

Tian Youdao was Tian Yun's younger brother and the maternal uncle of Li Xuanfeng and Li Jingxian. He was also a senior figure in the Li family. After finally breaking through to Qi Condensation, he ultimately died at the hands of a demon cultivator.

The funeral arrangements were kept simple. At the gathering, apart from the direct descendants of the Li family and members of the Tian family, the other guests showed little sorrow; in fact, several families felt a sense of relief. This battle left two demon cultivators dead, one of whom was a mid-Qi Condensation cultivator. The profits were substantial, and all the Qi Condensation cultivators looked on with excitement, their minds far from mourning.

Lijing Town, Central Hall.

The Central Hall was the administrative office of the family head, Li Yuanping, and the secular power hub of the entire Li family. When first built, it had a decent appearance, but after many years of use, there were visible signs of wear on the blue brick steps. The Li family was known for its indulgence in luxury, yet Li Yuanping had never bothered to repair the hall, simply making do with it. Today, however, it was Li Yuanjiao who sat at the head, clad in white robes, with two storage bags placed before him.

An ordinary Qi Condensation cultivator typically carried only about ten spirit stones, with a total worth of thirty to forty. Yet, these two demon cultivators alone yielded forty-six spirit stones from their spoils. It would be a strain for the Li family's liquid funds to produce such an amount of spirit stones.

Eleven cultivators participated in the battle that day. Excluding the five direct family members, the remaining five included Xu Gongming and Tian Zhongqing, both early Qi Condensation cultivators, who were severely wounded and contributed greatly, each receiving three spirit stones. Li Qilang received two. Old Hou and Sha Mo Li, both mid-Qi Condensation cultivators, received four spirit stones each. An Zheyuan, a late Qi Condensation cultivator, received six. Ten more were set aside as compensation for Tian Youdao, and the remaining eighteen were confiscated for public use.

The several outer guest cultivators joyfully stepped forward to claim their shares, expressing their gratitude repeatedly. Xu Gongming, though disfigured, showed no signs of dejection. He wore a mask to cover his face and grinned broadly. When Tian Zhongqing came forward to claim the substantial sum of thirteen spirit stones, Li Yuanjiao privately produced a few bottles of pills to supplement him, saying softly, "With Uncle's passing, will this compensation be received by his only son, Tian Rong?"

Tian Zhongqing had already composed himself and replied respectfully, "Reporting to my Lord, Tian Rong has always enjoyed tormenting maidservants. During the mourning period, he drank himself into a stupor and was secretly stabbed to death with hairpins by several maidservants in the middle of the night. This compensation will likely have to be claimed by his direct grandson, Tian Ling, the spiritual aperture child."

"Oh." The outer guest cultivators showed no surprise, their expressions all significant. Tian Youdao's only son was worthless; not only was he tactless, but he also caused conflicts with many families. Even Mountain Yue King Li Jiman wished he could devour his flesh and sleep in his skin. It was only Tian Youdao's deep paternal love that had fully protected him. The fact that he only died half a month after Tian Youdao's passing was already due to Tian Youdao's accumulation of good karma during his lifetime. As for whether his death was disgraceful or not, or whose doing it was, even Tian Zhongqing himself couldn't be bothered to care.

Li Yuanjiao stroked his beard and sighed, "Uncle passed away while serving the clan. As he left behind an orphan, send him to cultivate on the mountain. The main lineage will cover all his cultivation resources from now on."

"Yes!" Tian Zhongqing bowed his head in agreement. The outer guest cultivators then dispersed, their low cheers trailing as they made their way to the town's inn.

Li Qinghong, who was observing, clearly understood that Li Yuanjiao's move was both compensation and a test. Feeling a lingering sense of gloom, she spoke, "We also need to send someone to the west to inform Aunt Jingxian."

"Someone has already been sent," Li Yuanjiao replied, pushing aside the blood energy, resentment, and cultivation techniques on the table. He picked up the artifact great hammer and the artifact glazed bead. Both were low-grade Qi Condensation artifacts. The former was nothing special and could be sold.

"This red glazed bead, however, is a good magic treasure. The runes within are quite profound; it can emit a protective magical light. It would be good for the younger generation to use." With a flick of his wrist, streams of red light emanated from the red bead, and a power of division and erosion continuously flowed. Li Yuanjiao calculated its might: it could already dissipate most early Qi Condensation spells.

"Why not call it..." As Li Yuanjiao pondered, Li Qinghong, fearing he would name it something like "Red Light Bead" or "Crimson Light Bead," quickly smiled and said, "I see this glazed bead is made entirely of rouge glaze and adorned with various runes, like the evening glow in the sky. Why not call it 'Evening Red Glaze'?"

Li Yuanjiao paused, pondered for a moment, then nodded and replied, "Good. Send it to Xijun."

The rest were mostly spirit items and Qi Condensation artifacts, provenance unknown, but together worth about ten spirit stones. Li Yuanjiao had just sold a batch of spirit items and Qi Condensation artifacts from the treasury, so these were directly added to the inventory.

He gathered the spirit stones he had, finally accumulating one hundred and twenty. Li Yuanjiao handed them to Li Qinghong and let out a sigh of relief, saying, "Please trouble my sister to make a trip to the Yuan family."

Li Qinghong nodded. Li Yuanjiao hesitated for a moment, then took out a bluish-gray Immortal Seal, respectfully handing it to her. He then took out the Foundation Establishment talisman and said, "I fear Zhang Huaide and Qiu Ji might harbor ill intentions and lay an ambush on the road. Please take the Dharma Seal with you, just in case."

Watching Li Qinghong gracefully depart on the wind, Li Yuanjiao finally let out a long sigh of relief. He calculated the days, took out a Jade Bud Pill, and murmured, "I will immediately enter seclusion to break through to the eighth level of Qi Condensation!"

He then flew back to Wutu Mountain on the wind, where he saw Xiao Guilan standing in the courtyard with a smile, raising her eyebrows to look at him. Li Yuanjiao was puzzled, but then she blinked her phoenix eyes and smiled, "It's time to choose another name!"

They had been husband and wife for many years, living in harmony with much unspoken understanding. Seeing Xiao Guilan caress her lower abdomen, he instantly understood.

"What?!" Li Yuanjiao was overjoyed, his face losing its usual composure. He had already had a son when he was a Qi Condensation cultivator. After both husband and wife advanced to the Qi Condensation realm, the chances of having more children diminished, so he hadn't thought about it further, treating it merely as a private pleasure.

He never expected Xiao Guilan to be pregnant again. He laughed heartily, embraced his wife, kissed her twice, and replied, "I wonder if it's a girl or a boy; this child certainly came late."

After a moment of intimacy, Li Yuanjiao, in high spirits, went into seclusion to make his breakthrough.