Li Yaozu landed on the Spirit Ark and sheathed his sword.
He stared intently at the cabin and walked forward slowly, the fierce wind whipping up his black hair and robes.
When he reached Ah Xiu, who was cowering like an ostrich, and the ugly woman who was comforting him, Li Yaozu paused his steps, turning his head slightly to look at the young man.
This Ah Xiu was also a part of Tian Xing. Tian Xing had thousands of reincarnated bodies, but Ah Xiu was the core.
For tens of thousands of years, Baimei had raised him as a fool, but Ah Xiu controlled the 'good' part of Tian Xing and was a distinct individual.
This was the first time Li Yaozu had seen him. He pondered for a moment, took out a storage ring he had obtained from some unknown cultivator, and tossed it to the pair.
Nodding slightly at the two startled, pitiful figures, he said, "Ah Xiu, you spared my sister-in-law's life. Even though you are a part of Tian Xing, you can also be considered a benefactor of our Li family."
Ah Xiu took the storage ring and looked at Li Yaozu in astonishment.
Back when the incident with Tian Xing occurred, he had also obtained the memories of Tian Xing's avatars.
He hadn't originally been so cowardly; it was those memories that had nearly scared him witless.
In this world, the ones he feared the most were the Li family.
From the memories of the avatars, he knew that the Li family was the most dangerous existence in the world—to encounter them was to die.
Seeing the fear in Ah Xiu's eyes, Li Yaozu gave a slight wave of his hand.
"From now on, you no longer need to worry about Baimei. This is a place of trouble; it would be best for you to leave as soon as possible."
With that said, he walked onward.
Ah Xiu watched Li Yaozu's retreating back with uncertainty.
"Ah Xiu, let's go, quickly! We no longer have to worry about Baimei, and we don't have to worry about Prince Qian anymore. Run!"
The ugly woman pulled Ah Xiu's hand, and only then did he snap back to reality. "Right! Let's go, quickly!"
Ah Xiu summoned a flying sword and fled, holding the ugly woman in his arms.
As she was carried away, she turned her head to look back at the spirit ark, her expression filled with deep meaning.
....
Inside the cabin.
Li Yaozu once again came face-to-face with Prince Qian.
The Prince was seated, looking just like the refined nobleman from that day, as if victory were already in his grasp.
A pot of tea sat on the table beside him.
It was a pity that the servants and maids on the spirit ark had long since fled completely, forcing Prince Qian to pour the tea himself.
Prince Qian still maintained his leisurely and unhurried appearance.
Li Yaozu watched as the Prince held his cup, his own face remaining expressionless even as he saw the tea sloshing over its rim.
Speaking of princes, there was one, Prince Feiheng, hidden away in Merit City.
These princes and princesses were always an arrogant lot; their ambition and arrogance seemed to be as innate as their status.
"Your Excellency, the Sword Venerable."
Prince Qian was still forcing himself to remain calm, his smile placid. "It has been many years, Your Excellency…"
But before he could finish speaking.
Li Yaozu unleashed the oppressive might of his Divinity Transformation realm and, in the span of a single breath, appeared directly in front of Prince Qian's widening eyes!
Smack!
A backhanded slap cut off Prince Qian's words.
His eyes nearly bulged from their sockets; he had been caught completely off guard by Li Yaozu's blow. But the very next moment, Prince Qian was smiling again.
He stiffly straightened his head and body, staring into Li Yaozu's frost-filled eyes. "Sword Venerable…"
Smack!
Li Yaozu slapped him again and again. Each time Prince Qian tried to speak, he was cut off by another blow.
The fear in the Prince's eyes grew more and more intense.
He had so much he wanted to say; he wanted to say he was useful, he wanted to tell Li Yaozu how farsighted and ambitious he was, that he could become the Human Emperor in the future, that he could give the Li family a status and future beyond their wildest imagination, he wanted…
To live!
But Li Yaozu gave him no such chance.
Here, aboard the spirit ark high in the sky, in a place no one could see, the noble prince—the ambitious Prince Qian, who for so many years had schemed time and again to obtain Eternal Sun Prefecture—was being beaten silently by Li Yaozu.
He didn't want to hear what this piece of trash had to say; he only wanted to vent.
And then.
He silently dragged the Prince—who had been beaten beyond recognition—by the hair, retracted the spirit ark into his storage ring, and, as if carrying a bag of garbage, flew back toward the Duravia Trade Prefecture.
"I was wrong… I was wrong… I was wrong…"
Suspended in mid-air, Prince Qian wept profusely, continuously murmuring the words Li Yaozu had once spoken.
.....
In just two short days.
On the battlefields of the Duravia Trade Prefecture, the cultivators led by the Li family were fighting with desperate resolve.
Li Yaoqing had retracted her 'Mountain God'—not because she was out of spiritual power, as her 'Divine Art' made her power endless as long as she stood upon the earth, but because her clansmen and allies were being wounded one after another, and she needed to heal them.
Storage ring after storage ring appeared in her hands. All the medicinal pills and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures for healing and restoring spiritual power were sorted out by her, and then… used up.
The Li family members and their fellow Daoists were wounded, healed, took their medicine, and continued to fight, again and again.
The ones who charged the fiercest were the Seven Ironclads and the Blood Demon Lord.
They had even exhausted their spiritual power; their "undying and indestructible" nature also had its limits.
Even the Blood Demon Lord would consume a great deal of spiritual power to revive if he was killed by a strike to his vital point, and if he were to die again after his power was depleted, there was a risk of his cultivation realm dropping.
Li Yunlin had also broken through to the Divinity Transformation realm; his Primordial Spirit was the Skyveil Hall itself. His Dharma Body took the form of a great hall that was like a sea of stars, and it was incredibly formidable.
But people were also dying.
A few of their friends from Skynet, by the time they were brought to Li Yaoqing, had already seen their souls return to the netherworld.
Even among the Li family, if not for the Old Ancestor saving her life, Li Tianyue had nearly been slain by an enemy.
Of the demons from the Demon Clan who had come as reinforcements, those of lower realms had almost all perished; only the great demons were still fighting on the battlefield.
Of the cultivators brought by the Seven Ironclads and the Blood Demon Lord, not even one in ten remained.
The city had already been destroyed. In its place was a surreal landscape of high mountains, jungles, shattered Buddha statues, and stone steles—the broken remnants of powerful Dharma Treasures and Spirit Objects.
On the side of the Three Great Immortal Sects, the majority of the disciples and elders had already fled. But those who remained were still fighting to the death.
They were waiting.
Waiting for Ming Daozi and Daoist Puci of the Void Refining realm.
The heavy snow was still falling, covering the mottled bloodstains on the battlefield.
At some unknown moment.
Both warring sides suddenly raised their heads, only to see a rift tear open in the sky. Thud!
A figure emerged from the spatial tear and plummeted to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and smoke.
At that moment, everyone on the battlefield stopped in their tracks.
Two more figures appeared in the sky: the White Qilin and Daoist Puci. They were no longer fighting. Both of them appeared to be largely unharmed, though their auras were in disarray.
Everyone was staring at the figure that had plummeted to the ground.