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Chapter 935: Chapter 936: Enlightenment_2
Furthermore, only Li Zhirui and the Clan Leader knew their true identities, beyond that, whether it was other members of the Dark Department or their friends and relatives, none could know.
Once one stepped down as Clan Leader, they would be made to swear an oath not to reveal the identities of members of the Dark Department, ensuring to the greatest extent the confidentiality of their identities.
"I have long known of the deeds you have committed, but in consideration of our blood connection and having arrived at new Territories, I thought to give you a chance to reform yourselves,"
Li Xiansong walked up to the nearby prison, looking indifferently at the dozen or so clan members imprisoned and said, "But why would you still betray the family? Has the family not treated you well over the years?"
"We know you have dirt on us, but wasn’t that destroyed decades ago, along with those other clan members?"
One of them laughed and said, "It is precisely your leniency that made us think betraying the family interests was not such a big deal."
"Ha ha ha ha!" Li Xiansong laughed heartily at their words but instantly turned cold again, "I’m not going to kill you, after all, I am rather forgiving and generous."
At his words, a look of joy instantly appeared on the faces of the dozen people in the prison.
"Since you have betrayed the family’s interests, you will spend the rest of your lives making amends."
Li Xiansong coldly declared: "Seal everyone’s Spiritual Souland Dantian, disable their hand and foot tendons, lock them up in Little Dragon Village in Peace Town, and have them labor tirelessly day and night, and be careful not to let them die too soon."
Peace Town was that mortal town within the Li family’s domain.
As the final word fell, all faces turned ashen, and they began to shout frantically, "Clan Leader! Clan Leader! Spare us! We know we were wrong! We won’t dare ever again!"
They knew, Li Xiansong was treating them as breeding stock.
The fate of breeding stock, as cultivators of the Li family, how could they not know how miserable it was?
Just like Li Xiansong said, special attention must be paid to their health, otherwise, in just a few short years, they would be drained of their vitality and die!
"It’s too late!"
With that, Li Xiansong left without looking back.
——
Meanwhile, although Li Zhirui was seething with rage after leaving, his mind was very calm.
During the time in the great hall, he had always felt that their attitude was somewhat off, but there was no time to consider it then. Now, after coming back, Li Zhirui replayed their expressions and reactions in his mind over and over.
"Why didn’t they continue to threaten the family to give up more benefits? They were satisfied just with two Tier 3 and Tier 4 Pill Recipes and left, and moreover, they could only obtain them through auction." Li Zhirui muttered to himself.
"It’s like they were afraid of something?"
A flash of Spirit Light suddenly went off in Li Zhirui’s mind. If he remembered correctly, to the outside world, the Li family appeared to have migrated due to fleeing a calamity!
Especially after they arrived at the Thousandfold Mountains, in just two or three decades, a Lianxu Cultivator emerged, which further solidified this conjecture.
Did they think that the Li family originally possessed considerable strength and held some trump cards, hence they didn’t dare push the Li family too far?
Following this train of thought, their actions became understandable.
Coming to a conclusion, Li Zhirui’s face showed a bitter smile, "It turns out that their own assumptions inadvertently saved the Li family."
However, he was clear in his heart, this kind of bluff would be easily exposed, and once it was, they might be enraged enough to actually take action against the Li family.
Therefore, before the tiger’s skin is stripped off, the Li family must strengthen itself as much as possible!
Only then could they withstand the fury of those powers.
"One hundred years!"
Li Zhirui spoke softly, "Give the Li family another hundred years of development, and even if real Nascent Soul Powers wish to take action, they will have to carefully weigh whether it’s worth it."
Because if Jiang Fengwu broke through to the Late Stage Refinement Void, she would be able to arrange a Sixth-order Great Array, and with such strong defenses, it would be better to withstand external attacks rather than now, where a Fifth-order Great Array could be broken by a Lianxu Cultivator without much effort.
And then there were Da Qing, Xiaoqing, and Cang, with the help of the Cultivation Technique "Myriad Spirits Scripture," they could effortlessly break through to the Sixth-order without any bottleneck in their cultivation.
Especially Cang, who unlike Da Qing and Xiaoqing, was not restricted by bloodline grade. As long as his cultivation reached perfection, he could attract the Thunder Tribulation.
"Power!"
If Li Zhirui held the cultivation of the Late Stage Refinement Void, or if the Li family had a few more Lianxu Cultivators, would they dare to pressure the Li family?
"Refinement Void is just the beginning; we cannot become complacent and arrogant!" Li Zhirui said to himself.
Despite years of arduous cultivation and even developing a method to absorb the essence of the sun and moon, everything seemed flawless.
But in reality, after his breakthrough to Refinement Void, Li Zhirui’s mentality had become somewhat complacent and arrogant because he was not only the first Ascended cultivator from the Li family but also led all his clanspeople to the Primal Spirit Realm.
Just like the legend where one person ascends to the Way, and even chickens and dogs ascend to heaven, how could his various achievements not affect his mental state?
Thankfully, the current crisis served as a cold bucket of water poured over him, extinguishing that complacency and arrogance.
This crisis was also a blessing in disguise for the Li family, snapping them out of their fantasy that they were still the dominant forces of yesteryears.
The present Li family was like when they first moved to Da Rong Island, weak and at the bottom of the hierarchy.
"The Li family spent hundreds of years growing from a humble Foundation Establishment clan to dominate as a Transforming Spirit force; in the Primal Spirit Realm, it is still possible!" Li Zhirui said unwaveringly.
——
A month’s time flew by in an instant.
News of the auction had already spread through various forces, and most cultivators in the entire Thousandfold Mountains Territories knew about the auction at the Wanling Market, especially with the Golden Sprout Pill and the Red Origin Pill Recipes as a draw, which garnered immense attention.
Thus, on the day the auction commenced, countless cultivators swarmed into Wanling Market. The wide road built by the Li family was now so crowded it was hard to navigate.
"If only so many cultivators came to the marketplace every day," said Li Xiansong wistfully from the top of the tallest and largest shop building in the center of the market, as he looked down at the throngs of people on the streets.
Sadly, after this, not only would there not be so many cultivators in Wanling Market, but there might even be fewer than before. Because the pill recipes for the two types of Spirit Pills would be auctioned off, the Li family could no longer monopolize them, presenting buyers with more options.
Moreover, after this lesson, the Li family had decided that until their strength had considerably risen, they wouldn’t put any unique Spiritual Objects up for auction, so as to avoid being pressured and humiliated again.
Ding ding ding—
The sound of the bronze bell rang from the auction house, signaling that the auction was about to start.
With the auctioneer taking the stage and beginning the warm-up, it didn’t take long for the first auction item to make its grand entrance—it was the Li family’s Golden Sprout Pill Recipe!
On the red satin lay five Jade Slips, which contained the coveted Pill Recipes.
"The Golden Sprout Pill, a Third Order Spirit Pill that aids Golden Core cultivators in their practice, can effectively accelerate the accumulation of mana and has a mild nourishing effect on the Golden Core, with a starting bid of five hundred thousand Spirit Stones!"
Before the auctioneer’s voice had fully faded, forces were already eagerly calling out their bids.
"Six hundred thousand!"
"Eight hundred thousand!"
In the blink of an eye, the price soared to one million three hundred thousand!
At this price level, everyone calmed down, knowing it wasn’t the only recipe available, and there were several more to go.
Not to mention there were even more precious Fourth Order Pill Recipes to come; it wasn’t worth spending too many Spirit Stones on this.
In the end, the first recipe was purchased by a Lianxu clan for the staggering price of one million four hundred and fifty thousand Spirit Stones.
The remaining recipes sold for similar prices, only the very last one was a bit more expensive, reaching one million five hundred thousand.
The Pill Recipes stirred up everyone’s emotions, and several other highly valued Spiritual Objects followed on the auction block.
These were not offered by the Li family but were treasures consigned by other forces, with grades all at Sixth Order and even Seventh Rank, but with rare and unusual effects, so the atmosphere wasn’t very heated.
