Despair crept into her heart, and fear, like ants swarming from their nest, gnawed at her soul, causing her unbearable pain.
"No... this shouldn't be happening."
Guan Ming shook her head, wishing that everything she was witnessing was just an illusion.
She had been prepared for a desperate counterattack.
Even as one Li family squad after another arrived, she hadn't given up hope of finding a way out of this desperate situation.
But after the Li family ancestor appeared...
Everything changed.
The Wu Clan had many trump cards. Each one, if unleashed, could at least inflict some damage on the Li family.
But that man in the black mist seemed omniscient and omnipotent.
The moment he appeared, he destroyed the totems used by the Wu Clan to activate their grand formation, killed the peak Golden Core stone beast she was about to command to self-destruct among the crowd, and ruined the Wu Clan's secret ritual formation that she was about to use for a blood sacrifice...
And then...
The Giant Rock Spirit Jade Tribe had no chance of escape.
"Kill!"
Outside the battlefield were the zombies and flying corpses released from Li Dalong's Heaven-Piercing Coffin. It turned out that this fellow had already prepared to cut off all escape routes for the Giant Rock Spirit Jade Tribe.
"I've made it in time!"
"Seniors, please reveal yourselves and lend your strength to the Li family!"
"Those of the Liu family, attack! Leave no member of the Wu Clan alive, but do not harm our allies."
"..."
More and more members of the Li family arrived, and the allies brought by their descendants grew increasingly formidable.
The once mighty army of the Giant Rock Spirit Jade Tribe was now being overwhelmed and scattered. She had no more trump cards left to play.
...
Half a day later...
Guan Ming knelt on the battlefield, the surrounding area devastated and scarred. The priestess of the Giant Rock Spirit Jade Tribe had a vacant look in her eyes, her hands weakly supporting her on the ground.
The Azure Dragon still soared through the sky, roaring.
Beside her, Xuan Tianzi and the Blood Frenzy Demon Lord held her captive. Before her stood Li Dalong, the patriarch of the Li family!
The Li family's demonic beasts, spirit puppets, and forces gathered from all directions were clearing the remnants of the battlefield.
She seemed to hear the questioning voices of the Giant Rock Spirit Jade tribesmen.
"Priestess, why did you bring us to this cursed place?"
"You promised us that we would flourish here... No, this isn't what you said!"
"Priestess, you lied to us..."
"....."
The cold wind of the battlefield swept past, ruffling Guan Ming's hair.
The small town ahead, which had initially seemed insignificant, still stood tall and undefeated, while the mighty army of the Giant Rock Spirit Jade Tribe lay shattered on the ground.
One by one, the members of the Li family gathered before Guan Ming.
They looked down upon her as she knelt in defeat.
Li Dalong and his wife stood at the forefront.
The four members of the Li family's second generation were chatting and laughing, seemingly unconcerned about the recent battle.
The nine members of the third generation were the most silent. The seven demon cultivators stood quietly. Li Yunlin and Li Yunbing, the two brothers, exchanged a smile. In their eyes, one could see the traces left by the years of separation.
The children of the fourth generation were playing and jostling amongst themselves at the back.
Li Tianyi seemed to be scolding Li Tianming, pointing at his nose. Then, he went to each of his siblings, scolding them one by one, until they all lowered their heads with pained expressions.
The six children of the fifth generation seemed completely unaware that their family was so powerful.
Even after the battle, they stared at their elders in disbelief, as if asking, "You old guys who have been hiding your strength, just how many more tricks do you have up your sleeves?"
Li Changsheng, the sole member of the sixth generation, stood alone on the city wall.
He touched his nose, a pained expression on his face as he looked at his dumbfounded parents' generation.
"I thought our family was weak and poor," he mused.
"But it turns out that it's my parents' generation who are weak and poor!"
"I thought I was coming back to a life of hardship. Who knew that our family would become so powerful? The four words 'living in the shadow of our ancestors' are almost suffocating me!"
This time, the Li family gathered together. Since they left home... no, in this past century...
This was the first time they had truly reunited, with every member returning home!
They were no longer hiding; they had brought all their forces with them.
Just like the character "Li," still shining brightly in the sky above the Azure Cloud region.
They were proclaiming to everyone in the Azure Cloud region.
That they, the Li family, were the true rulers of this land. No other faction could compare to them.
The blood of the foreign race, now flowing from the Li family's territory throughout the Azure Cloud region, was the best proof!
"Impossible, this is impossible!"
Guan Ming shook her head, seemingly unable to believe what she was witnessing.
Li Dalong heard her words. He slowly crouched down, grabbed Guan Ming's hair, and looked at the defeated priestess with a mocking expression.
"Nothing is impossible," he said. "You are the invaders, and we..."
"...just happened to encounter you, a slightly tough stepping stone, on our way home."
---
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