Inside Merit City.
Li Yaoqing, Li Yaotie, and Bai Rourou stood outside the city.
The Ancestral Spirit Tablet floated up; they had received the intelligence from Perennis Immortal City, the request from the child Changsheng, and the news of Zhao Qingxia's death.
"I have to say, the Zhao Clan really has some skill, sending their family's Old Ancestor to become the Crown Princess.
If 'she' really became the Empress, the trouble would be even greater."
Li Yaotie sighed with emotion.
"Their greatest skill was forcing Changsheng to take action.
How many years has it been since that kid touched the ground?
It's a good thing the Old Tree didn't go mad; otherwise, if he had released that lunatic, we would be in big trouble."
"Changsheng seems like he grew right out of that tree." Li Yaoqing scratched her head.
"That 'Whatever-Xia' specifically picked the soft persimmons in our family to pinch.
He couldn't bully Yunlin, so he went to bully Changsheng instead."
"Let's go. Time to settle the score."
Li Yaotie and Bai Rourou flashed their bright white teeth in unison.
The couple had been refining artifacts in the "Spirit Gathering Cauldron" for many years, and their skin was pitch-black.
In broad daylight, their teeth stood out starkly against their dark skin; if it were night, the couple would likely be able to merge seamlessly with nature.
The three of them headed toward the outside of Merit City.
"Hey, wait for me! Wait for us!"
Behind them, the Immortal Boy shot forward like a wisp of smoke, catching up to Li Yaoqing.
As the Immortal Boy's small figure dashed through Merit City, figures flashed from all directions.
Dongfang Xuan, Gu Yinming, the Old Man from Skynet, and the others all followed close behind.
In an instant, the group's figures vanished along with the grand formation within Merit City, looking as if they were heading off on a leisurely sightseeing tour in a distant land.
Atop the highest building in Merit City's Inner City, Family Head Li Xinnian could be seen standing, with Nangong Qingya attending by his side.
The husband and wife looked down to see that, following the Old Ancestor's response, figures were appearing from all directions within Merit City.
Those were the common people of Merit City, who had been cultivating for hundreds of years, passing their legacy down through the generations.
Every one of them held a weapon or Spirit Artifact, standing upon their respective spiritual formations.
They had evidently been prepared to face the enemy, hiding in the most inconspicuous corners.
It was only after Li Yaoqing and the others departed that the nervous excitement on their faces quietly faded, and they went back to tending their farm work.
"Gulp." Li Xinnian swallowed hard.
Watching Ancestor Yaowen drift out of Merit City with her eyes closed, swaying with the wind, even someone as composed as he was couldn't help but wipe a sheen of cold sweat from his forehead.
"Xinnian, just how... just how strong is our family?" Nangong Qingya asked, dazed.
She looked down at the Outer City, where thousands of commoners had gathered to slowly fill in a nearly inconspicuous battlefield with their spiritual power, her eyes filled with shock.
Lying beside that battlefield were three corpses... staring with eyes wide open in death, their gazes filled with utter bewilderment!
"I... I don't know." Li Xinnian blinked.
As the Family Head, he had seen much in his time, but today, he was truly dumbfounded.
And the couple could hardly be blamed for their shock.
Since the beginning of the great war with the Immortal Zhao Clan, Li Xinnian, as Family Head, had issued orders for what he believed to be a battle of "life-and-death survival."
The Zhao Clan was simply too powerful; they possessed six experts at the Void Refining realm, and their Divinity Transformation cultivators were mostly experts steeped in their cultivation for many years.
Over the past hundred years, Li Xinnian had continuously used the Hall of Heavenly Principle's resources to investigate the Zhao family's background, and the more he investigated, the more terrified he became.
Never mind the Zhao Clan's Void Refining Old Ancestors—even their Divinity Transformation cultivators were formidable figures rarely seen in the world.
Zhao Qingxia of the Zhao Clan had practically reached the very end of the Divinity Transformation realm; he was but a single step away from the Great Dao of Void Refining.
His spiritual power flying daggers were unstoppable; within the entire Azure Cloud Prefecture, there was hardly a single Divinity Transformation cultivator capable of contending with him.
Zhao Hongchang of the Zhao Clan, the family's most deeply hidden Divinity Transformation expert.
His bloodline allows him to transform into a Roc; in this form, he can summon a magnificent city.
Those beneath the city find their spiritual power suppressed by seventy percent.
He is the true number one person in the Zhao Clan beneath the Void Refining realm.
Zhao Guzhou, Zhao Guping, Zhao Shen'an... one by one, they weighed upon Li Xinnian until he could barely breathe.
It made him secretly lament that with his family's foundation of a mere century or so, he had to exhaust his mind and spirit, matching wits and courage against them and employing every means at his disposal.
And these unrivaled Divinity Transformation cultivators all broke into Azure Cloud Prefecture, charging toward the Li family's rear!
And then...
"Are they really dead?"
Nangong Qingya still pointed at the four corpses in disbelief, her eyes filled with bewilderment.
When these four charged into Azure Cloud Prefecture, her husband was the first to know and had treated the threat with the utmost gravity.
She still remembered Zhao Hongchang's insufferably arrogant demeanor when he slaughtered his way into Merit City.
Zhao Hongchang indeed possessed the skill; his spiritual power was boundless.
When unleashed, a bustling city appeared out of thin air above Merit City, nearly destroying the entire place.
There were three others as well, all unrivaled experts.
Even if Nangong Xianliu of her Nangong family and all the clan elders defended together, they might not be a match for even one of them.
Her husband had even spoken his last words to her.
And then, all the preparations the couple had made seemed so pale.
These four fellows were clamoring about exterminating the entire Merit City and subsequently wiping out every power in Azure Cloud Prefecture one by one.
Then, the elders, whom she and Xinnian rarely saw, came out.
After Ancestor Yaotie emerged, his very first words were, "So it turns out they aren't Void Refining experts; scared me into a cold sweat."
And then... There was no "then"!
Nangong Qingya looked at the bewildered Li Xinnian.
"Xinnian, I heard that back then, Ancestor Yaotie was the top disciple of the Heavenly Light Sect in the Imperial Capital, the number one person on the Nascent Divinity List.
Is the number one person on the Nascent Divinity List really... really that powerful after reaching the Divinity Transformation realm?"
The scene of Ancestor Li Yaotie appearing to defend against the enemy was something she would likely never forget as long as she lived!
Dharma Treasures and Spirit Artifacts were innumerable.
If a cultivator at the Divinity Transformation realm can wield three Dharma Treasures simultaneously, they are already an extraordinary existence, yet Ancestor Yaotie used a full eighteen!
Not to mention the Spirit Artifacts—there were over two hundred of them.
Zhao Hongchang's so-called Heavenly City oppression was nothing before the Illustrious Ancestor; those Dharma Treasures simply charged in without any technique, heading straight for Zhao Hongchang.
Zhao Hongchang had barely been arrogant for a few finger snaps before his eyes went blank.
"I don't know." Li Xinnian took a deep breath. What his wife had seen, he naturally had seen as well.
He gave a bitter laugh.
"I suppose not every number one on the Nascent Divinity List is that formidable.
Senior Tianxing, who comes to Merit City most often to see Ancestor Yaowen, was number one on the Nascent Divinity List for a very long time, but he..."
Li Xinnian shook his head.
"Illustrious Ancestor Yaoqing never held the rank of number one on the Nascent Divinity List either.
I heard that during the battle at Prince Qian's Mansion back then, she wasn't this formidable. Her Mountain God technique is different from the rumors."
It was said that back then, Illustrious Ancestor Yaoqing's Mountain God technique summoned a high mountain.
Now... no high mountain appeared.
Li Xinnian only saw Illustrious Ancestor Yaoqing cast a technique, causing flowers and grass to bloom throughout the city.
No matter how the other three from the Zhao Clan attacked, Illustrious Ancestor Yaoqing's injuries would recover rapidly.
Under that Domain, even if the spiritual power of the three Zhao Clan members surged to the heavens, they could not shake Merit City.
"My family's ancestors... are this powerful?"
Li Xinnian looked at the common people filling the city, continuing their labor as if nothing had happened.
That ordinariness, revealing a kind of indifferent arrogance, made Li Xinnian feel as if he had thorns in his back.
Having served as the Family Head for so many years, he actually knew nothing about the true strength of the Old Ancestors.
When he thought back to how, just a while ago, he had bid farewell to his elders with a face full of sorrow, and how he had delivered such tragic, stirring speeches to the children and the masters of the subordinate powers, pouring out his heart...
And then, recalling the unsightly expressions the ancestors wore when they looked at him, Li Xinnian suddenly understood.
Those weren't looks of despair; they were...
"Xinnian, you... Why are you crying?" A trace of confusion flashed in Nangong Qingya's eyes.
As the cool breeze of Merit City blew past, a single, crystal-clear tear hung at the corner of Li Xinnian's eye.
"It's nothing. The family is strong; I am happy." Li Xinnian revealed a standard fake smile.
After a long sigh, he silently returned to the clan's main hall to preside over family affairs; he still needed to manage the logistics of this war.
Nangong Qingya nodded slightly.
A moment later, everyone in the city stared in astonishment toward the Li family's main courtyard, as a furious roar pierced the clouds.
"Ahhh!!!"
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