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Chapter 734: Chapter 740: Return
"Is the family doing well? No trouble, I hope?" Li Zhirui had flown in all the way from the westernmost part of Wanxian Province, but just happened to miss those few marketplaces and Immortal Cities that suffered the heaviest losses, so his attitude was comparatively optimistic.
After all, he had gained a lot from his trip, not only creating a significant income for himself but also enhancing the family’s foundation. How could he not be in a good mood?
"To answer the Elder’s question, this demon cultivator disaster destroyed two marketplaces, one Immortal City, and nearly led to the extinction of some minor powers," said Li Wenli with a wry smile.
Li Zhirui’s expression froze; the outcome was vastly different from what he had imagined!
He had thought that with Xiaoqing’s return, the family would have been prepared. Even if demon cultivators attacked, they could have retaliated in time to minimize the losses, but he hadn’t expected the damages to be so severe!
"How could this have happened?" Li Zhirui furrowed his brows and asked.
"It’s unclear what was going on with those demon cultivators, but thousands of them managed to flee to Wanxian Province, including that Nascent Soul, who has been slain by Elders Qingpeng and Feng Peng."
"However, there were still over a dozen Golden Cores scattered across the vast lands. By the time family reinforcements arrived, they had already disappeared without a trace, with ultimately only eight Golden Core demon cultivators being killed."
Li Wenli said with a self-reproaching expression, "If only I had been better prepared earlier, the family wouldn’t have suffered such grand casualties and losses."
"You are not to blame for this matter; after all, who could have known that so many demon cultivators would flee here." Li Zhirui shook his head and offered a word of comfort.
In fact, on further thought, this number wasn’t that large. Wanxian Province bordered a Nascent Soul Demon Sect, and the Fire Demon Sect alone had more than a few thousand disciples.
"Have the aftermath arrangements been completed?"
Li Wenli nodded and said, "The compensation has been made twenty percent more generous than usual."
Upon hearing this, Li Zhirui did not inquire further, trusting that the Elders would take care of the matter. He then shifted the conversation to the gains from his recent trip.
"I know the family is nurturing a Fifth-Order Spirit Vein, but upper-grade Spirit Stones are hard to come by, slowing down the progress. Now, I’ve acquired three thousand, which I can transfer to the family at market price."
The value of upper-grade Spirit Stones lay not only in their richer and purer Spiritual Energy but also because they could absorb the essence of the sun and moon, and the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth, to slowly replenish their consumed portion!
It’s precisely this effect that made upper-grade Spirit Stones an indispensable part in the advancement of a Spirit Vein.
Although upper-grade Spirit Stones were extremely precious, they weren’t as important to Li Zhirui, who found using lower-grade Spirit Stones for nurturing Spiritual Objects to be more cost-effective.
Since they weren’t of much use to him personally, it made more sense to sell them to the family. Not only would he acquire a large number of lower-grade Spirit Stones, but the advancement of the Spirit Vein would also benefit his cultivation significantly.
Joy appeared on Li Wenli’s face. He didn’t ask about the origin of the upper-grade Spirit Stones, but his heart was nonetheless rocked. To have obtained such a fortune and to have just returned from Xuanfa State, it must have come from those top powers!
This made him feel quite uneasy, yet upon further thought, he realized that as the family’s Elder, Li Zhirui surely wouldn’t harm the Li family, so he simply moved on.
After pondering for a moment, he said, "In the black market, one upper-grade Spirit Stone can be exchanged for over sixteen thousand lower-grade Spirit Stones. The family will give the Elder that rate."
"No need for that many, ten thousand lower-grade Spirit Stones will do," Li Zhirui waved his hand and said, "The advancement of the Spirit Vein benefits me greatly too, so naturally, I should contribute my share."
Seeing that Li Wenli wanted to say more, he cut him off with "In addition to the Spirit Stones, there are some Spirit Seeds and Spiritual Objects that are unmarked. But to be cautious, they should not be easily revealed to outsiders, and it would be best to deal with them as soon as possible."
Having said that, he took out a large amount of Spiritual Objects, with a Storage Magical Treasure containing three thousand upper-grade Spirit Stones placed on top.
As for the Magical Treasures, Spirit Pills, and the like, he did not bring out a single one. And the Jade Slips, without having been sorted through, he would not let others know of their existence.
Of course, there were some spiritual objects useful for himself, Jiang Fengwu, their son and daughter, as well as their respective Spirit Beasts, which he did not take out.
After all, the fame and strength of the Wanxiang Sect were simply too great, if the clan members were to know, and if it accidentally leaked out one day, the Li family would face a devastating disaster!
Even though it wasn’t Zhirui who killed the Nascent Soul cultivator, would the Wanxiang Sect listen? They wouldn’t!
In front of the Wanxiang Sect, the Li family was but a slightly bigger ant, easily crushed, and no one would bother listening to an insect’s explanation.
"The family will calculate the value of the spiritual objects and add Contribution Value to your account," said Li Wenli, taking a deep breath to forcibly calm himself, his hands trembling as he gathered the spiritual objects, piled as high as a person, into his storage magical treasure.
As for this, Zhirui just waved his hand and turned to leave.
He actually did not know how much Contribution Value he still had, but one could imagine it was an unimaginably huge number!
He hadn’t worked hard for hundreds of years for nothing!
To say Zhirui’s Contribution Value could match the combined Contribution Value of all the clan members was certainly an exaggeration, but it definitely exceeded fifty percent!
"What did you and the Clan Leader discuss? You stayed in the family hall for such a long time?"
Back at his cave dwelling on the mountain peak, Jiang Fengwu couldn’t help but guess, "Could it really be that you robbed some power of their spiritual objects?"
She was extremely disapproving of this when she found out from Xiaoqing, considering the chaotic situation and the danger involved, where a slight misstep could result in injury.
"That’s right!"
Zhirui said with a beaming smile, "You can guess which power I robbed. You’ll be absolutely shocked."
"It couldn’t be Xuanfa Pavilion, could it?" Jiang Fengwu took a bold guess, seeing his expression and knowing it must be significant.
Originally expecting a denial from Zhirui’s mouth, the response she got was unexpected, "Not correct, but nearly there."
"Really?" Jiang Fengwu looked at him with disbelief.
To be comparable to Xuanfa Pavilion, there were only those three top powers in the entire eastern region!
"Wanxiang Sect," Zhirui mouthed a few words, but did not make a sound.
"It was also a matter of luck, just when I thought the trip would yield nothing, I happened to encounter an injured Nascent Soul cultivator. After killing them, I realized there was this pleasant surprise."
Moreover, there were quite a few nice things in the injured Nascent Soul’s storage magical treasure.
"Could we be discovered...?" After the initial joy, Jiang Fengwu couldn’t help but feel a bit of worry.
"Don’t worry, if they knew, I wouldn’t have been able to safely return to the family now."
Zhirui had also harbored such concerns earlier, but by now, since no one from the Wanxiang Sect had come after him, it should be fine.
"This is what I’ve prepared for you and the gifts for Feng Peng and the others. See if you like them."
As he spoke, he took out several jade boxes and handed them to Jiang Fengwu.
