[Year 230]
[System Notification: The Great Ceremony has commenced. Your descendants are presenting sacrificial offerings to You...]
[System Notification: You are presently bestowing gifts upon your descendants...]
Another Great Ceremony was upon them. From every region of the world, the far-flung Li descendants participated in the solemn rites.
This occasion also served as a crucial opportunity for the clan members to exchange resources and information.
After the Great Ceremony was completed, the assembled Li clansmen convened once more within the Ancestor Space.
Li Yaowen spoke, her tone grave, "Ancestor, previously, I said we could no longer capture Tianxing's avatars. My reasoning is this: these past two years, our activities have become too conspicuous. Tian Xing is a master of divination; his heavenly calculations are profound. Even though our operatives in the Imperial Capital have General Wang Jinhu's protection to fall back on after they make a move, with so much time having passed, I am afraid Tian Xing will inevitably devise a countermeasure against us."
Upon hearing Li Yaowen's assessment, all the assembled Li family members nodded gravely in accord.
Indeed, for the past several years, their primary focus had been on capturing Tian Xing's avatars. Within the Imperial Capital alone, they had managed to apprehend more than one hundred and fifty such manifestations.
However, they had also become acutely aware that these operations were growing progressively more perilous, even to the point of unsettling some of the Capital's most influential personages. And so, as the Li clansmen deliberated further, they began to solidify their individual courses of action moving forward.
Ultimately, to confront Tian Xing – even knowing some of his vulnerabilities – would require overwhelming power. Only with such strength could they ever hope to achieve the complete and utter annihilation of Venerable Tian Xing!
For the husband and wife, Li Dalong and Xu Cuihua, these spiritual gatherings in the Ancestor Space were rare moments of respite. Whenever they did convene, they would invariably be found nestled closely side-by-side.
Their primary task now, for both of them, was to continue their cultivation in quiet diligence, Dalong within the Wu Clan's lands, and Cuihua among the Fox Clan.
Bai Rourou, meanwhile, remained at Azure Mist Mountain, still unable to depart its sanctuary.
She continued her training under the direct tutelage of Venerable Elder Baimei, and her progress had been substantial.
[Descendant Update (Li Yaozu): Having received Your bestowed gift, the Rank 7 'Returning to Heaven Elixir' (which can restore inner vitality and expel foreign detrimental energies), and coupled with his prolonged cultivation within the Snowy Region under Fang Linglong's tutelage, Li Yaozu's injuries have now recovered by 20%.]
Regarding Li Yaozu, he remained in the Snowy Region with Fang Linglong, focusing on his recuperation before contemplating any further actions.
Their bond had deepened considerably; they had become as master and disciple, yet also as the closest of friends. Yet, whenever they saw him in the Ancestor Space, the other Li clan members couldn't shake a peculiar feeling.
It seemed to them that as Li Yaozu aged, he was becoming progressively more listless, more withdrawn. Gone was all trace of that fiery passion from his younger days – the passion of that night beneath the grassland stars.
As for Li Yaotie and Li Yaoqing, their respective circumstances presented a stark contrast.
Li Yaoqing, however, ensconced within the Auric Empire, operated under the respected guise of a Master Alchemist. This afforded her considerable freedom of movement; Venerable Tian Xing's insidious reach had not yet extended to such far-flung territories. Indeed...
[Descendant Update (Li Yaoqing): Having practiced alchemy within the Auric Empire for several years, your descendant Li Yaoqing is now highly revered by a multitude of cultivators and actively sought after by numerous influential powers.
Due to her prior ordeal in the Thunderfire Demon Cave, where she endured the rapacious attentions of both Demonic and Orthodox path cultivators, the challenges she now encounters in the Auric Empire seem trivial by comparison.
She currently navigates her circumstances with remarkable success and ease, thriving as if she were a fish returned to water.]
[Accomplishments: By virtue of her skills in alchemy, healing arts, and the study of toxins, she has earned the renowned title: 'Sacred Hand of Auric Empire'. New Trait Acquired: Sacred Hand of Medicine.]
[Trait Effect: 'Sacred Hand of Medicine' – Comprehension related to the Medical Dao +30%.]
[System Update (Li Yaoqing): The principles of pill crafting and medicine concoction are deeply intertwined. Your descendant Li Yaoqing, through years of dedicated refinement of medicinal ingredients, has successfully formulated a new Rank 6 elixir: the 'Clear Spirit Dao Pill'.
Effect: Enables a cultivator to significantly deepen their understanding of Rules within a six-month period. On the path of Alchemy, she has now attained the mastery of a Rank 6 Pill Master!]
At this point, Li Yaoqing was already a highly sought-after guest of honor throughout Auraria City in the Auric Empire. An unending stream of cultivators, having heard of her renown, flocked to her, some begging her to concoct specific medicines, others offering exorbitant sums for her to personally treat their wounds.
Consequently, at each Great Ceremony, Li Yaoqing was able to contribute substantial, high-grade resources to the clan's collective pool.
She had even managed to acquire numerous rare pill recipes, and with the abundance of ingredients now available to her, she had successfully developed several new medicinal compounds. Furthermore, since the disciplines of the Apothecary and the Alchemist are intrinsically linked, it was a natural and logical development for Li Yaoqing to now also be recognized as a Rank 6 Pill Master.
Throughout these recent years, Li Yaoqing had maintained an air of quiet taciturnity, almost as if she had returned to her demeanor from her early days in Green Valley Village.
The sole distinction was that in those former times, her silence stemmed from a genuine disinclination to engage with people. Now, however, it seemed her relentless, silent dedication to refining medicines and concocting elixirs day in and day out was perhaps a way to numb the lingering ache of past traumas.
Li Yaotie's situation, however, was a world apart from Li Yaoqing's.
Though he probably already commanded the abilities of a Rank 6 Artificer and Puppet Master, he dared not display such prowess openly.
His only recourse was to bide his time in silence, awaiting Li Kuanghua's eventual rescue before he could even begin to consider his next moves. Nevertheless, these years of obscurity had not been entirely fruitless for Li Yaotie.
[Descendant Update (Li Yaotie): While performing his drudgery in Heavenly Light Sect over many years, Your descendant Li Yaotie was tormented by his inability to openly refine artifacts. Yet, possessing an exceptional aptitude for the craft, he seized every fleeting chance to intently study the methods of high-level Talisman Masters, Array Masters, Puppet Masters, and other such specialized artisans. He made sure never to miss a single discourse on the Dao delivered by any mighty cultivator.]
[Proficiencies Attained: Through his silent efforts, he has reached the following levels: Rank 7 Talisman Master; 'Chief Sorter'; Rank 7 Array Master; Rank 8 Executioner....]
[Trait Acquired (Li Yaotie): Unorthodox Path]
[Trait Effect: 'Unorthodox Path' – Aptitude for understanding and mastering Unconventional Disciplines and Esoteric Arts +20%.]
It truly had to be acknowledged, Li Wei mused; Heavenly Light Sect was, without a doubt, the most unconventional of all cultivation sects, its curriculum the most bewilderingly diverse.
Indeed, some of the 'professions' practiced within its walls were entirely new to him, things he'd never encountered in all his long existence.
Consider the 'Sorter,' for instance. Such a profession was dedicated to meticulously separating and processing all manner of raw resources. If given the carcass of a Spirit Beast, from which a cultivator wished to extract valuable high-grade components, a Sorter possessed the unique skill to do so while preserving the intrinsic properties of those materials to the fullest possible extent.
Then there was the 'Executioner'... a profession singularly dedicated to the art of beheading.
After all, within the Imperial Capital, when cultivators found guilty of heinous crimes were sentenced to public beheading as a warning to others, that was when the Executioner's unique function became indispensable.
Their entire study was devoted to the most effective methods of beheading a life.
And as his mastery over these various Unorthodox Arts gradually advanced, Li Yaotie's own skills in artifact forging and puppet crafting likewise became progressively more formidable.
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