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Chapter 878: Chapter 884: Defusing
"No matter what the cost, we must implore Li Zhirui to take action and resolve the Gu Insect issue!"
Hearing such adamant words, some Nascent Soul Cultivators were still reluctant, especially those who had openly ridiculed Li Zhirui, fearing that he might humiliate them in turn and still trying to prevent this.
"Why don’t we ask the Great Devil Qing’ai to make a move? With his strength, he can surely eliminate the Gu Insects."
"This..."
Great Devils should not interfere in battles without cause, but simply cleaning up Gu Insects in the rear does not constitute breaking the rules.
However, what they hadn’t anticipated was that the Great Devil Qing’ai, whom they had pinned their hopes on, had been paying attention to them all along and spoke up, "I am also unable to detect those Gu Insects."
In truth, Qing’ai also felt awkward; after all, despite publicly maintaining neutrality during their past conflict, he had exerted pressure on Li Zhirui in secret and issued a warning.
Now, they had to turn to Li Zhirui for help.
"Fellow Daoist Yu Xue has a good relationship with Li Zhirui, why not ask him to come back?"
"It’s too late; the battlefield where Yu Xue is currently located is far too distant. Even if he were to rush here, it would take at least two or three days."
During this period, the Sea Clan would definitely instigate a great battle, spurring on the Gu Insects!
Middle Realm cultivators walk the upright and just path and disdain such side-door practices like Gu refining; almost no cultivator would choose to learn it.
Owing to their long inheritance and profound knowledge, however, they were familiar with many methods, but the problem was they couldn’t even detect the Gu Insects, let alone resolve them.
"Let’s go, we cannot delay any further with the Gu Insect matter. Otherwise, once the Sea Clan launches an attack, the consequences will be unimaginable!" a highly respected Nascent Soul Cultivator said solemnly.
If possible, he would not want to lower his head and ask for Li Zhirui’s help either, but now Li Zhirui was the only one who could solve the problem; there were no other options.
In fact, they weren’t completely without means to deal with the Gu Insects, since they hailed from the major powers of the Middle Realm and had seen and learned many extraordinary things. Given some time, they would surely develop a solution.
But that was precisely the problem!
Time! They simply didn’t have the time to do the research.
As expected, the Sea Clan was likely to launch a major offensive within the next day or two!
After returning to the Li Family Island, it wasn’t long before Li Zhirui was visited by a group of Nascent Soul Cultivators from the Middle Realm.
"Hmph, now they know to come begging for help?" Xiaoqing snorted coldly, utterly displeased.
But fortunately, Xiaoqing still maintained some rationality and did not make any remark about refusing to help.
Li Zhirui, too, didn’t want the conflict between them to lead to failure in the larger battle, especially since if the island chain defenses fell, the Li family would be the first to suffer!
So, when they asked Li Zhirui to take action, he did not refuse but said, "Gather all the wounded clanspeople together, I need to return to Wanxian Island to fetch a few Spiritual Objects to augment the spellcasting."
The main issue was the sheer number of injured cultivators. Relying on Li Zhirui alone would take an unknown amount of time to resolve, so they had to invoke the Laws on a large scale for the specific healing.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist! If you need anything, just say the word, and perhaps we can provide it," the leading Nascent Soul Cultivator said, going along with the momentum and also planning to foster a good relationship with the Li family.
Although there hadn’t been much interaction between them, they were all on the same side, and they had gained a deeper understanding of the Li family.
The trouble they faced today could be immediately resolved only by Li Zhirui, and perhaps next time they faced issues, people like Jiang Fengwu would be able to offer help.
"Prepare some more Purifying Spiritual Objects," Li Zhirui casually requested, since they were willing to offer Spiritual Objects from their own supplies, allowing him to save a bit more.
"Good, then we will wait for your esteemed visit."
After saying this, he led the others in paying respects before leaving.
"Be careful, everyone; I’ll be right back."
This time, Li Zhirui’s return to Wanxian Island was not just to obtain Purifying Spiritual Objects from the Spirit Realm, but also to bring back seriously wounded clan members and to fetch a contingent of clan members along with Spiritual Objects from his family.
The Cloud Whale Spirit Ship returned to Wanxian Island at top speed, and Li Mingzi, who had received prior notice, awaited him with a group of clan members and a great many Spiritual Objects.
"Ancestor Rui!" Everyone hastily greeted him.
Li Zhirui helped them up and said, "There is no need for ceremony; arrange for the replacement of our clanspeople first, I have some matters to attend to and will return shortly."
Before his words were even finished, he had vanished from sight.
Li Mingzi efficiently put everything in order with the Elders and in no time at all, everything was ready.
And Li Zhirui, who swiftly returned to the Spirit Realm, picked a few Purifying White Lotuses, snapped a few branches of Dust Cleansing Green Willow, and gathered several Low Rank Purifying Spiritual Objects before hurriedly departing.
"Take good care of our family, and be prepared to leave Wanxian Island should there be an emergency on the frontlines!" he instructed before setting off to return.
"Ancestor Rui, perhaps we could take those two Fifth-Order puppet artifacts to the battlefield?" Li Mingzi suggested quickly.
"No need; let’s keep them at home in case someone harbors ulterior motives."
The Fifth-Order puppet artifacts could be devastating against Nascent Soul Cultivators and Fourth Order Great Devils, but posed no significant threat to Fifth Order Great Devils.
When Li Zhirui had just broken through to Nascent Soul not long ago, he could easily take down the Fifth-Order puppets found in relics—even more so for those Water Devils.
Moreover, he had been concerned about preserving the puppets intact at the time, and had held back somewhat in his actions, while those Water Devils would not care about such matters.
The Spirit Boat sped back, and in no time, it had reached the frontline of the battlefield.
Li Zhirui did not return to Li Family Island, but went directly to the main island, to eliminate the Gu Insects within the cultivators as quickly as possible; only then he could rest easy, not having to worry constantly about a Sea Clan ambush.
Those several Middle Realm Nascent Soul Cultivators had already gathered all the injured cultivators and were anxiously awaiting Li Zhirui’s arrival.
Since there had already been cultivators who used Secret Techniques to observe the Sea Clan rallying a large number of Water Devils, a great battle was imminent!
So, when they saw Li Zhirui arrive, they hurriedly greeted him, brought out Spiritual Objects, and said, "Fellow Daoist, are these five Fourth Order Purifying Spiritual Objects enough?"
Li Zhirui evaluated the number of cultivators present and estimated in his mind, replying, "They are sufficient."
"Please, Fellow Daoist, make your move quickly. The Sea Clan has already become restless."
Li Zhirui took the Spiritual Objects handed to him, flew above the center of the crowd, and exerted all his strength to invoke the surrounding Purification Principle. He also drew out the Purifying Laws from within the objects to form a large light orb that radiated pure white Purification Spiritual Light.
"I never imagined he would have such a high level of control over the Laws!"
A group of Nascent Soul Cultivators observing from nearby were visibly surprised.
Although Li Zhirui was at the Middle Stage of Nascent Soul, they had assumed that his understanding of the Laws would be inferior, given his origin from a small family and the lack of guidance from predecessors.
It seemed they had underestimated Li Zhirui.
The large orb of light in the sky was the limit of Li Zhirui’s control; he did not continue to accumulate the Purifying Laws of heaven and earth but instead merged them with the dense vapor in the air to transform it into a continuous fine drizzle, showering down upon the cultivators below.
