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Chapter 1094: Chapter 1016: Home
After taking over leadership, Li Taiyao did not make significant changes to the family, but instead carried on with various measures from before.
As the first Void Refinement Clan Leader, she had enough power to maintain her position and did not need to employ other means to boost her prestige.
Of course, this is not to say that Li Taiyao was incapable; her administration of the family was like a silent evening drizzle, quietly spreading her development philosophy.
Not only did she maintain a relatively rapid development of the family, but she also solved some long-standing issues.
Under Li Taiyao’s leadership, the Li family became very low-profile, as if they had vanished within Shanyuan State.
The reason for this was mainly due to a series of recent unsettling moves by the Zhang Family!
As mentioned before, an entire generation of the Zhang Family had been spoiled, and after some hardships, only a portion of them were barely brought back on track.
In other words, the Zhang Family had been in an awkward situation of inadequacy.
Of course, if nothing unexpected happened, the Zhang Family could just wait for the next generation to grow up.
But the announcement of the Fine Gold vein shook the entire Spirit Realm, and being the first to rediscover it, the Zhang Family wanted to take the opportunity to mine some Fine Gold, resulting in the death of all the cultivators they sent to the vein!
It should be noted that many of these people were Integration cultivators.
Perhaps the Zhang Family was truly unlucky, as the next generation they trained were mostly mediocre, with unremarkable aptitudes, and few managed to break through to Integration.
After several successive setbacks, even the deeply rooted Zhang Family found it difficult to endure, with their strength significantly weakened.
The change in the Zhang Family’s strength was noticed by certain Integration forces of Wanzhu State; after all, following the Zhang Family’s occupation of the Thousandfold Mountains, they bordered Wanzhu State, making some interactions unavoidable.
Consequently, ideas like taking over the territory of Shanyuan State started emerging in their minds!
Even though in terms of Spiritual Energy and other aspects, Wanzhu State was better than Shanyuan State, the size of one’s own territory is linked to their luck!
How could they miss such a great opportunity when the Zhang Family’s strength had waned?
Yet, the Zhang Family was not easy to provoke, especially with their mastery of the powerful Combined Assault Technique; they did not fall behind in battles against these forces.
Unfortunately, the forces coveting the vast Spirit Land of Shanyuan State were not just one, but three Integration forces!
The Zhang Family, having lost many Integration cultivators and despite having Secret Techniques, could not fend off three enemies at once and were gradually pushed back on the battlefield.
To avoid losing territory, the Zhang Family forcibly conscripted cultivators from all families in Shanyuan State. If the Li family became too conspicuous at this time, they would definitely be targeted by the Zhang Family, which would lead to the conscription of even more clan members for the battlefield!
But why should the Li family fight to the death against other forces for the sake of the Zhang Family? Besides the hierarchical relationship, there was no other connection between the Zhang Family and the Li family.
Moreover, due to the Zhang Family’s inaction during several major battles, the Li family suffered significant losses, even including the lives of their members at the hands of Zhang Family cultivators. Strictly speaking, the relationship between the two families was rather poor.
So even if the Zhang Family lost a large amount of territory, it did not have much to do with the Li family. After all, the Li family was located on the southeast side of the mountains; if the three major Integration forces of Wanzhu State were to reach there, then at least half of the Zhang Family’s territory would have been lost!
Fortunately, during Li Xunda’s time as Clan Leader, many new Lianxu from the Li family had achieved their breakthrough on Wanling Island, so the Zhang Family didn’t have a complete grasp of the Li family’s capabilities.
Otherwise, the Zhang Family wouldn’t have conscripted just a few Lianxu cultivators from the Li family as they do now!
The great war triggered by the four major Integration forces over territory lasted for several years, and both sides suffered not insignificant casualties, with the Zhang Family bearing the brunt of the losses.
They not only lost nearly twenty percent of their territory, but also suffered the greatest number of casualties among their members, further weakening their power!
During the war, Li Taiyao specifically reminded the conscripted clan members to act cautiously, to not exert their full strength, and to prioritize preserving their own lives above all else.
Even so, the casualty count for the Li family still amounted to several hundred personnel.
The other forces of the Thousandfold Mountains also did the same; in order to defend the Zhang Family’s territory, they all sacrificed many clan members.
But the most tragic were those families whose sect gates were located in the western part of Shanyuan State. Their hands stained with the blood of the three major forces, they now faced a dire future with their former adversaries becoming their overlords.
Luckily, the two states did not erupt into large-scale conflicts after this battle.
The Zhang Family quietly licked their wounds, while other forces noticed their weakness, recovering their strength while preparing for the next assault!
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, several years had passed.
"After hundreds of years, I’ve finally returned!"
Li Chengshuo, looking at the majestic and grand Mount Wanxian in front of him, familiar yet strange, couldn’t help but let out a sigh of emotion.
"So many years have gone by; the family must have changed a lot, right?"
"Let’s go inside and you’ll find out." With that said, Yue rushed ahead, wanting to enter Mount Wanxian, but was blocked by a streak of starlight.
Li Chengshuo originally wanted to stop Yue’s impulsive action, but before he could speak, this scene unfolded before his eyes.
"You’re too hasty; the family has changed the Mountain Protection Array, and our Identity Jades haven’t been updated with the new prohibitions."
Fortunately, the Great Array did not launch an attack; otherwise, Yue would not be standing here unscathed.
Although it had been several hundred years since he’d last dealt with formations, with his experience, Li Chengshuo could certainly discern the unique aspects of this Mountain Protection Array.
