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Chapter 1081: Chapter 1009: Strange_2
For Li Zhirui, the grade of the Spirit Stones doesn’t significantly impact the space generation, so there’s no need to use more precious higher-grade Spirit Stones.
"Please wait a moment, I will bring the Spirit Stones right away," said the Elder as he picked up the Jade Token and deducted the corresponding Contribution Value with a special Magical Treasure.
During this process, he inevitably saw Li Zhirui’s Contribution Value—an extended series of numbers that required careful counting, making his heart skip a beat.
As the Miscellaneous Affairs Elder in charge of exchanging various Spiritual Objects for the Li family, and someone knowledgeable about the family’s resources besides the secret vaults, he was still shocked.
If Li Zhirui wished, he could exchange all the Spirit Stones in the family’s storage, and there would still be plenty to spare!
From this, it’s clear how substantial Li Zhirui’s contributions to the family have been!
After completing the transaction, he returned to the quiet room to start generating Spiritual Objects and refining some Precious Pills to accelerate cultivation.
——
Meanwhile, when Da Qing arrived at Wanling Island, he gave the islanders a reassuring presence.
This was because the activities of the Sea Clan had been increasing recently, with a large number of Water Devils launching attacks every day, and vowing not to retreat until death!
And it was not just limited to them; other factions of the Immortal Tao were facing the same situation, causing panic among the islanders who were considering asking for help from their headquarters.
Many clan members believed that, after so many years, the Sea Clan might feel that their strength had recovered significantly and were eager to regain control of the sea territory.
Upon understanding the situation, Da Qing frowned and then personally went to see the Sea Clan attacks they were talking about the next day.
A beast tide composed of numerous third and fourth-grade Water Devils relentlessly attacked Wanling Island, seemingly resolved not to stop until the island was captured, completely disregarding their own casualties.
Even with the Li family cultivators’ counterattacks, protection by the powerful Island Defense Array, and the advantageous terrain, the Water Devils did not retreat despite suffering heavy losses. 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘱𝘶𝑏.𝑐𝘰𝑚
To better resist the invasion of the Sea Clan, the Li family moved all the mountains on the island to the south, east, and north, arranging them into rugged, steep paths to split up the attacking numbers of the Water Devils.
The west side, lying behind the Immortal Tao defense lines and having higher terrain, was less favorable for Sea Clan attacks, allowing the Li family to reduce some of their defensive forces there.
"It seems like a regular beast tide, but it also feels a bit like a probe, meant to wear us out," thought Da Qing slowly before speaking out loud.
"Yes, the number of Water Devils is so vast that it’s unpredictable. They use this method to test and deplete our strength before deciding whether to launch an attack, but we can only defend passively," commented a Lianxu Cultivator.
"First, let’s inform the headquarters; they will definitely start preparing. As for reinforcements, let’s wait for a bit. Given the current intensity of the Sea Clan’s attacks, Wanling Island isn’t in much danger," Da Qing remarked.
With Da Qing, the highest in cultivation and seniority, anchoring the island, the clan members soon coordinated better and exerted even greater power.
In the following period, the attacks launched by the Sea Clan didn’t cause much harm to the Li family, but they still consumed a significant amount of various Spiritual Objects.
Especially the spirit, energy, and essence of the cultivators. Although Da Qing divided the clan members into three groups, allowing each cultivator some rest, the prolonged and incessant battles still heavily drained their spirit, energy, and essence.
This led to a rapid decline in the combat capabilities of the clan members. What could have been easily handled beast tides were becoming increasingly difficult.
Fortunately, upon noticing the dire situation and the disadvantageous developments for the family, Da Qing timely requested reinforcements from the headquarters.
Therefore, not long after the Sea Clan launched another attack the next day, reinforcements from the Li family arrived.
"Aunt Fengwu?"
Upon seeing the leader of the reinforcements, Da Qing showed a flash of surprise in his eyes, not expecting Jiang Fengwu to come.
"Zhirui has more important cultivation to attend to, and since my restart in cultivation, I never had the chance to participate in a major battle. Seeing an opportunity now, I decided to come," Jiang Fengwu said with a light smile.
Furthermore, she had another task, which was to enhance the Island Defense Array.
This was just to strengthen the existing Formation, not to completely replace it with a new Great Array like those of Mount Wanxian; the Li family didn’t have enough Spiritual Objects for Jiang Fengwu to squander.
"With Aunt Fengwu’s strength, Wanling Island will definitely be safe and sound."
This sentence isn’t Da Qing flattering Jiang Fengwu, but rather, he sincerely feels a significant pressure emanating from her.
That is to say, Jiang Fengwu’s strength is even greater than Da Qing’s!
This immediately struck him hard, causing Da Qing, who became somewhat arrogant after changing his cultivation technique, to sober up quickly.
"Everyone needs to work together; relying on just me alone is not enough."
With the support of two thousand clan cultivators, the defensive pressure on Wanling Island was significantly reduced, and the clan members could be arranged more reasonably to respond.
"During this period, have there been no sightings of sixth-grade water devils?" Jiang Fengwu asked while monitoring the battlefield.
"No, none at all," Da Qing assured.
"Such behavior from the Sea Clan is too bizarre!" Jiang Fengwu frowned, unable to decipher the Sea Clan’s true intentions.
"With the current scant information, all we can do is take things step by step and slowly adjust and perfect our response strategies."
Eventually, both decided not to waste time on this issue, since the Sea Clan was unlikely to breach Wanling Island’s defenses at the moment, which was sufficient.
Then they divided the tasks; Da Qing focused on the battlefield situation, and Jiang Fengwu enhanced the Island Defense Array. With no major changes, both just needed to concentrate on the task at hand.
——
Atop Mount Cave Abyss.
"What do you all think is the reason behind the Sea Clan’s repeated probes?" the Sect Leader of the Cave Abyss Sect inquired.
In order to seize the nearby sea area, the Cave Abyss Sect had paid a huge price, not to mention that they had gained a large territory, increasing their luck significantly, naturally they were not willing to be driven out by the Sea Clan now.
Thus, the Cave Abyss Sect had a firm grasp on the conditions of the sea territories under their control, and could not be easily deceived by any subtle changes.
Within half an hour after the Sea Clan launched attacks on various forces of the Immortal Tao, the Cave Abyss Sect received the news.
"I think the Sea Clan probably wants to launch attacks but might have some reservations, so they took back part of the sea area, and then slowly encroach on the cultivators’ territories," an Elder commented.
He didn’t believe, or rather, no cultivator would believe, that the Sea Clan would stir such a big commotion without any ulterior motive.
And the most likely possibility was to seize back the sea territories that were taken away by the cultivators, something the Sea Clan always dwelled on.
"This speculation is very probable, the Sea Clan might want to use an unwritten rule, limiting high realm participants, mainly utilizing their most numerous, advantageous ranks of third and fourth-grade water devils."
Soon another similar speculation emerged.
Then, the Elders discussed these speculations fervently, debating which was better.
"Alright!"
The Sect Leader gave everyone a quarter hour to discuss, then interrupted the Elders’ increasingly heated debate.
Seeing that everyone supported Elder Geng’s speculation more, believing the Sea Clan might try to use the numerous third and fourth-grade water devils to break through at a few smaller sea areas and then slowly expand their territory to eventually reclaim the coastal areas."
The Sect Leader announced: "Then, let’s organize our response strategy based on this plan."
Of course, it was only temporary.
Should the Sea Clan change their tactics, their strategy would naturally change accordingly.
"Third-grade, fourth-grade water devils..."
"That would be Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators; the Sect can deploy quite a few disciples to battle, but certainly, their numbers are unmatched by the Sea Clan’s, so we also need to issue bounties, gathering loose cultivators."
All the large and small vassal forces under the Cave Abyss Sect, without needing their orders, would inevitably confront the Sea Clan’s attacks and probes, unless they wished to lose their territories to the Sea Clan.
