[Li Family Year 403]
The two prefectures were on a war footing. Through the actions of their cultivators, a disaster not unlike the twenty-year drought the Li family once faced had befallen both lands, plunging their people into misery.
Li Dalong often lamented that he had ultimately become the very kind of person he once despised the most.
Both prefectures were massing troops at their borders, yet it was clear that neither wished for a major war that would inflict crippling losses.
Prince Qian wanted to conquer all under Heaven; the Li family merely wanted to preserve themselves and stay out of the conflict.
Meanwhile, good news arrived from the Li family's children out in the wider world.
[Your descendant, Li Tianyue, has repeatedly achieved great merit on the battlefield. Her title, 'The War Goddess,' is now known far and wide. She has been granted the noble title of Viscount by the Human Emperor and has received a Nascent Soul cultivation base as a gift from the heavens.]
[In a great battle, she enlisted the aid of the peak Heavenly Zombie, Xuan Tianzi. She slaughtered one hundred thousand refugees in a great pit and established the 'Myriad Soul Ghost-Slaughtering Formation' to butcher the populace of an entire District. Trait Acquired: Human Butcher.]
When Li Dalong learned of this, he was so enraged that he sent a message to the Wu Clan, furiously cursing Luo Xing and Lei Dong.
Because those two old dogs had, in fact, cast a curse on Li Tianyue. Fortunately, Li Yaowen worked through the night to dispel the 'Life-Reaping' curse afflicting Li Tianyue, and in a retaliatory strike, killed two of Luo Xing's own heirs.
"You cursed Wu Clan!" she declared. "Just you wait! Once I, this General, have concluded my business with the Eastern Barbarians, if I don't annihilate a million of your people, this hatred will never be appeased!"
That same starlit night, the Seven Ironclads rushed to Li Tianyue's side to cast a protective ward on her, before hurrying on to Grand Yu Prefecture. Li Tianyue, with the great curse finally lifted, stood at the edge of a massive, deep pit, her expression as cold as ice.
Down in the pit, captured cultivators from Duskwild Prefecture wailed in agony. They attempted to flee on their flying swords, but the area was surrounded by Li Tianyue's subordinates. Positioned outside a trapping formation, her soldiers were methodically and unhurriedly shooting the cultivators down.
Cultivator after cultivator fell dead into the enormous pit.
At the center of the pit, Xuan Tianzi was drenched in blood. Two savage fangs jutted out from her upper lip, and the blood of the dead continuously rained down upon the little zombie's form. Immediately following this, desiccated corpse after desiccated corpse began to crawl out of the pit.
[Heavenly Zombie: Xuan Tianzi]
[Realm: Peak Heavenly Zombie]
[Breakthrough Condition: A massive amount of blood from both living beings and cultivators.]
[Due to having consumed a vast number of spirit objects, a unique path to breakthrough has been carved out from the ancient zombie-forging methods of the Heaven-Piercing Coffin.
The method: Use the blood of living beings to establish a Rule. Use the lingering spiritual power from the corpse of a Divinity Transformation cultivator who mastered the Five Element Rules as a catalyst. Use this catalyst to channel the power of Heaven and Earth.]
[From the Rank 5 Spirit Object 'Sacred Qilin Crystal,' obtained from the spoils of Qilin Mountain, your clan has slain the unruly Qilin cub within and used its bones to reforge the very frame of Xuan Tianzi.]
Xuan Tianzi could truly be considered a meritorious veteran, having been with the Li family through thick and thin.
The zombie's luck was not bad, either. Many of the zombies Li Dalong had once acquired had since been destroyed in battle.
That Heavenly Corpse, Long Xuankong, was pulverized by Tian Xing long ago. Yet Xuan Tianzi endured, truly the chosen one among the dead.
Now, among the zombies of the Heaven-Piercing Coffin, Xuan Tianzi's prestige surpassed even that of the Corpse Emperors, Moon God, and Soul Duke.
The sentient zombies all said that she was destined to be the next generation's Corpse Emperor of the Heaven-Piercing Coffin.
[Li Family Year 407]
Prince Qian of the Duravia Trade Prefecture remained as steady as an old dog.
Li Kuanghua and her master, Fairy Hongxiu of the Perennis Immortal Palace, cultivated together on the Red Spider Lily Platform, seemingly paying no mind to the sect's external affairs.
Outside the Red Spider Lily Platform, numerous elders from the Perennis Immortal Palace still had disciples stationed, keeping a close and constant watch on Li Kuanghua.
In the Myriad Dao Immortal Palace, Li Yunlin sat cross-legged inside his Skyveil Hall. Even while imprisoned, he tirelessly lectured on his Dao.
He would endure their curses and then simply continue his sermon.
In fact, quite a few disciples would secretly come to listen to his teachings. After all, he was a master at the Nascent Soul 'Leaving the Body' stage, and his lectures on the Dao were of immense benefit to them.
As for Li Chang'an...
At this moment, he was facing a Mountain Lord from one of the Aeternus Sect's immortal mountains.
Noting the man's unpleasant expression, he said in a grave voice, "Mountain Lord Hu, I know what you're thinking. You're wondering why I have sought you out, aren't you?"
"Ridiculous! You insolent whelp, what makes you think you can possibly know what I am thinking?"
"It has been seven years since I came to the Aeternus Sect. You may not be aware of this, Mountain Lord, but I have known all this time that you have no desire to make an enemy of the Eternal Sun Prefecture. Have you seen the million-strong army of the Eternal Sun Prefecture?
Anyone can die on the battlefield. Do you remember, Mountain Lord, how two years ago one of your disciples nearly lost his life, only to be rescued? You still owe a favor to my Li family for that."
...
The Mountain Lord fell silent for a long moment, his eyes scanning Li Chang'an.
"Let's put that aside for now," he said. "Those wounds on your body—what happened?"
"It was merely the work of a few petty villains," he said dismissively. "Nothing worth mentioning."
[Your descendant, Li Chang'an, after spending years lobbying within the Aeternus Sect and successfully befriending many of its disciples and elders, has acquired the trait: Turning Foes into Friends.]
...
[Li Family Year 409]
In this year, every member of the Li family, no matter where they were in the world, set aside the tasks at hand.
Even on the battlefields of the Northern Border, Li Xinghuo—who, despite receiving the Old Ancestor's healing, remained grievously wounded with one leg severed—managed to force a smile as he lay in a pool of his own blood.
Grand Tutor Lin Jiu arrived as reinforcements, riding a colossal beast, a cloud of dust and smoke billowing in his wake.
Over the years, Li Xinghuo had come to be highly valued by the Grand Tutor.
Lin Jiu had never seen a subordinate so ferociously brave; it seemed that no matter how desperate the situation, Li Xinghuo could always carve a bloody path to safety through sheer, stubborn forward momentum.
"You're already wounded this badly, what on earth is there to smile about?" Lin Jiu chided, even as he ordered a subordinate to summon a physician from the army.
"Thank you for the support, Adoptive Father."
Li Xinghuo grinned, his gaze fixed on the rising sun in the distance.
"I'm smiling because it's only a leg," he said. "It can grow back. What matters is that this child has survived once more."
At these words, Lin Jiu's brow locked into a deep frown.
Li Xinghuo just kept grinning like a fool.
Late that night, he gazed at the new leg the physician had regenerated for him, his eyes turned toward the starry sky.
"My Li family," he whispered, "has a new generation!"
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