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Chapter 653: Chapter 659: Test
"He has an earnest and steady character, a true steward." Li Zhirui watched his departing figure and quietly commented.
But that’s also good, since for quite some time to come, there won’t be any significant movements from the Li family.
Li Zhirui had no hope of achieving Divine Transformation in the short term, and even if the family were to produce several Nascent Souls during this period, they could only deter affiliated powers more, without changing the balance of power in the Extreme Eastern Corner.
After all, whether it’s the Profound Ice Sect or the Qing Xuan Sect and Fire Demon Sect to the west, they are all longstanding Nascent Soul powers, with openly known several dozens of Nascent Souls, not to mention those hidden in secret.
If it weren’t for their wariness of rival powers which tied their hands, the Li family would not have had such a favorable external environment.
As for the Water Spirit Sect and Wuya Mountain to the south, their strength is indeed lesser than that of the Li family, but taking them down would not be easy.
Moreover, having long signed a mutual defense alliance to resist the Li family, they’ve become even more troublesome to deal with.
And the Li family’s territory is already large enough; if they were to take over these two families’ lands, they could very likely suffer from indigestion, leading to a loss greater than the gain.
Therefore, for the next one to two hundred years, the Li family’s main focus should be to deepen their internal strength and to cultivate in tranquility.
Thus, they need a conservative and moderate Clan Leader to ensure that the family’s direction does not deviate.
Li Wenli is a very good candidate for this role, but he must break through to the Golden Core stage, otherwise, he is destined to have no chance with the position of Clan Leader.
——
Meanwhile, Li Darong, upon receiving a response, immediately arranged for a clan member to trade with an Foundation Establishment Cultivator named Zhang Hong.
Soon, both sides obtained what they wanted and parted ways.
As soon as they exited the inn, a multitude of gazes, both intentional and casual, fell upon the two figures.
The clan member appeared calm, clearly expecting this, and said to Zhang Hong with a half-smile, "Fellow Daoist should be careful."
Zhang Hong had once tricked the Li family, and today was the Li family’s ’return gift.’
Ignoring Zhang Hong’s unsightly expression, the clan member went on his way. On the Li family’s territory, who would dare to lay a finger on him?
Zhang Hong then turned back to the inn, rented a room, and as soon as the door closed, he anxiously contacted a Zhou Family Cultivator via a Communication Talisman, "Father-in-law, what should I do now? Surely there are many cultivators watching me, wanting to seize the Gold Core Formation Pill from my hands."
"Don’t worry, our family has already made arrangements; you just need to wait patiently," came the reply.
The plan was simple: during a collision in the corridor, transfer the Gold Core Formation Pill to another person, while he, carrying Spirit Stones, rented a cave residence in the Marketplace to pretend to seclude for a breakthrough.
As time passed, naturally, no one would target him anymore.
But what they did not know was that every move they made was under the surveillance of the Li family.
Back to the Li family clansman who had acquired the Sun Flow Flame Crystal; he quickly returned to his family’s residence and handed it over to Clan Leader Li Darong.
"Great Ancestor, the Spiritual Object has been secured," he reported.
With the Jade Box in hand, he strode toward Li Zhirui.
Li Zhirui waved his hand casually, bringing the Jade Box before him, scanned it with his Divine Sense, and nodded in satisfaction, saying, "The quality is good."
"Great Ancestor, should we teach the Zhou Family a lesson?" inquired Li Darong hesitantly.
Li Darong pondered for a moment and then asked, "What if they manage to decipher the Pill Recipe? What then?"
"Don’t worry, the difficulty of refining those two Spirit Seeds is not simple, and besides, I’ve used my unique sealing method. Any slight damage will turn the Spirit Pill to waste," Li Zhirui reassured him.
Any Alchemy Master will create their own unique pill-concealing methods to prevent others from deciphering the Spirit Pills that they painstakingly created.
And in this matter, Li Zhirui indeed expended a great deal of effort!
Therefore, he didn’t take this issue to heart at all, not to mention a third-rank Alchemist, even a fourth-rank Alchemist would need at least a hundred Spirit Pills to possibly break the code!
The Zhou Family was destined to gain nothing if they did not come to their senses in time and continued to foolishly attempt to decode the two types of Spirit Pills, they might end up not being able to save even a single one.
And indeed, that was the case.
On Jade Wood Mountain, the third-rank Alchemist upon whom the Zhou Family had placed great hopes was now sweating profusely, his eyes red as if possessed, staring intently at the Sky Cleansing Pill in front of him.
Thump—
But only a quarter of an hour later, he collapsed weakly, repeatedly muttering, "It’s too hard! It’s simply impossible to decode it!"
The only consolation was that he hadn’t wasted all the Spirit Pills, by the third one, he had already realized the vast gap between himself and Li Zhirui.
Despite being extremely unwilling, reason still made him stop. 𝚗𝚘v𝚙𝚞b.𝚌𝚘m
—
Time passed day by day, and in the blink of an eye, five years went by, with the day of the opening of The Secret Realm of Wanxian drawing ever nearer.
Before setting off, Li Zhirui planned to personally test their strength.
However, at this time, Li Xianxun was having an insight in his cultivation and was in closed-door cultivation attempting to break through to the Middle Golden Core Stage, so only Li Chengsheng and Li Chengshuo participated.
"You may use any means to attack me. Of course, those life-saving measures with limited uses should not be wasted here,"
Li Zhirui looked at the two before him and said, "Who will come first?"
"I’ll go first!"
Li Chengsheng stepped forward with determination, saying solemnly, "Father, please forgive my impertinence!"
"There’s nothing to forgive or not forgive, make your move."
Li Chengsheng summoned three Spirit Beasts, their mouths spewing forth Spiritual Fire, while he himself added his power to the fire, enhancing its might and engulfing the sky as it attacked Li Zhirui.
Li Zhirui, holding back his cultivation at the Golden Core Late Stage, rapidly formed spell hand gestures, bringing forth a torrential downpour in an instant. This was no ordinary rain; it was intermixed with his mana, continuously weakening the power of the Spiritual Fire.
His hand gestures suddenly changed, and the rain transformed under his control into myriad forms, be it long swords, great axes, or massive hammers, each weapon corresponding with a type of Spiritual Fire, stopping them without allowing any advancement.
Li Zhirui, observing Li Chengsheng who was nearly defenseless in the rear, shook his head subtly, his figure flashed, and when he reappeared, he had a Spirit Sword pointed at the younger man’s back.
"Your offense is sufficient, but your defense is lacking!"
Li Zhirui shook his head, commenting, "If you were to encounter a cultivator who is proficient in Escape Techniques and stealth methods, you might be taken down in just one encounter!"
"Moreover, your coordination with the Spirit Beasts is far too poor! You must fully utilize each of the beasts’ strengths and magnify them, then create your own unique style of combat."
Seeing that Li Chengsheng appeared to be pondering and had seemingly taken the lesson to heart, Li Zhirui was quite satisfied and said, "Shuo, it’s your turn."
Li Chengshuo’s performance wasn’t much better, but he had learned from the former’s lesson and immediately applied defensive spells for himself from the outset.
Yet in Li Zhirui’s eyes, it was still fraught with flaws!
Of course, it wasn’t that they were inadequate, given that both had undergone many years of training outside; it was entirely because Li Zhirui’s standards were too high.
