NOVPUB
Chapter 945: Chapter 941: Happy Chinese New Year’s Eve!_2
But they didn’t know that the reason Li Xiansong had chosen the method of competing for Spirit Light to select his clan members for battle was because he could decide the placement of the pine needles!
With this method, he could select the most powerful clan members, reducing the casualty rate among those participating in the battle.
Of course, since it was declared that the selection would be fair, naturally, he couldn’t allocate all the pine needles to those powerful clan members—it would be too obvious. Therefore, Li Xiansong still allowed some of those who were lucky to obtain pine needles.
After all, sometimes, luck is also part of strength.
Especially in this world where Dao and magic are revered, Qi Fortune is very important.
An hour or two later, all one hundred clan members who were to fight had been chosen.
Many clan members saw that the fairness Li Xiansong spoke of was not very fair, but the wise ones kept silent, recognizing that offending too many people was unnecessary.
"Prepare yourselves, we will head to Lin Zhu Mountain to fight in half a month, and the family will give priority to you for exchanging Spiritual Objects," Li Xiansong told the hundred people.
To them, this was very good news.
Because the Li family didn’t have an abundant supply of Fourth Order and Fifth Order Spiritual Objects, especially since Jiang Fengwu and other Divine Transformation cultivators were still outside gaining experience, lacking high rank Skill Artisans, naturally, the supply of Spiritual Objects was insufficient. 𝒏𝒐𝙫𝙥𝙪𝙗.𝒄𝙤𝙢
Moreover, many High-Rank Spiritual Objects grew slowly, and there were not even raw materials available, so how could they produce High-Rank Spiritual Objects?
So, this promise from Li Xiansong made the one hundred clan members very happy.
...
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was half a month later.
"Depart."
Li Zhirui stood on the Cloud Whale Spirit Ship, behind him stood a hundred clan members full of vigor, and at his command, the Spirit Ship tore through the sky, leaving behind a long trail of clouds.
"Chenghuo, you are in charge on the way."
Lastly, Li Zhirui cautioned, "Though we are taking a detour around the heart of the mountains, we are still flying over a region densely populated with Devil Beasts. If we encounter any danger we cannot resist, inform me immediately!"
He wanted to take the opportunity during the journey to refine a few more Precious Pills, because Li Zhirui did not know if there would be any chance for Alchemy during the upcoming great battle; refining more now was better.
Perhaps it was precisely this that saved his own life?
Li Chenghuo earnestly nodded in agreement, assuring that he would not forget and would be careful to avoid Devil Beasts in the mountains.
However, Li Zhirui disagreed with the latter part of his statement. How could those Devil Beasts not attack seeing a large group of Cultivators flying over their heads? But he didn’t elaborate further, just instructed Li Chenghuo to be careful.
And indeed, Li Zhirui’s expectations were met; shortly after entering deep into the mountains, the Spirit Ship encountered a group led by six Fifth Order Copper Crown Red Hawks, surrounded by hundreds of Red Hawks, encircling all the Li family members.
"Attack!"
Li Chenghuo’s face revealed a look of killing intent. Aside from the clan members’ attacks, there were also various large Magic Artifacts equipped on the Spirit Ship!
The Cloud Whale Spirit Ship they were riding, transformed by Li Chenghuo into a warship, was equipped with numerous powerful Magic Artifacts.
For example, the Spiritual Energy Cannons placed on both sides—if it hit, even a Nascent Soul Cultivator would be critically injured if not killed!
However, while powerful, the cannons also consumed a lot of Spirit Stones; firing once required tens of thousands of Spirit Stones.
Li Chenghuo had always wanted to reduce the consumption of Spirit Stones while maintaining the power, but sadly it hadn’t been accomplished yet.
With a loud boom, several cannons fired dazzling trails of Spirit Light at incredible speed, containing explosive energy.
Screech!
The few Fifth Order Copper Crown Red Hawks clearly recognized the power of the cannon fire, so they attempted to strike and disperse it mid-air to avoid their kind being injured.
However, they didn’t know that the attacks from the Spiritual Energy Cannons were like many times compressed Fireballs—explosive, unstable.
As soon as their attacks made contact, it was like a volcano had erupted, booming loudly and spreading incredibly hot energy all around.
For a moment, many lower-rank Copper Crown Red Hawks suffered heavy casualties, their bright red bodies distinctly visible, losing at least over a hundred.
"You’re seeking death!"
The several Fifth-order Red Hawks, seeing the bodies of their offspring on the ground, were consumed by raging flames of anger and launched their most powerful attacks regardless of consequences, seeking only to kill Li Zhirui and the others in vengeance.
Unfortunately for the group of Copper Crown Red Hawks, they encountered the even stronger Li family!
Without Li Zhirui lifting a finger, Li Chenghuo, collaborating with all the clan members, successfully scared off these Red Hawks.
It must be noted that their warship was equipped with several Defensive Formations, and together with the concerted efforts of a hundred Cultivators, the Copper Crown Red Hawks could barely break the defense in a short time, only able to take blows.
When the casualties reached a certain number, they considered retreating!
Internal struggles within the Devil Race were very severe; if a clan’s strength was significantly weakened, it could easily be targeted, or even annexed and exterminated.
"Do not pursue, we need to hasten our journey." If it were not for this, Li Chenghuo would not have let these weakened Devil Beasts go.
By evening of that day, the Li family, somewhat disheveled, successfully arrived at Lin Zhu Mountain.
Apart from the Copper Crown Red Hawks, the Li family had encountered several waves of Devil Beast attacks along the way, the most dangerous being from a Sixth Rank Great Devil.
If it were not for Li Zhirui, who had exerted all his strength to force it back, everyone on board might have perished at the claws of the beasts.
They found the Housekeeper of the Zhang Family in the area, indicating that the Li family responded to the call-up and were also waiting for him to allocate a campsite and their assignments.
Since the Li family brought many people, the campsite was quite large, fully accommodating a hundred people.
As for the task, it was simple: infiltrate Wanzhu State to clearly investigate what the Demon Cultivators were doing and the current situation of the Cultivators.
Simple because the task requirements were few, but accomplishing it was not easy!
Investigating the matter of the Demon Cultivators would be impossible without diving deep into it, and doing so meant placing oneself in danger.
The latter could be accomplished incidentally.
Initially, Li Zhirui thought the Zhang Family was targeting them. Otherwise, why would they assign such a difficult task from the start?
He pondered deeply but couldn’t reckon when or where the Li family had offended the Zhang Family, having never officially interacted; where could the offense have come from?
It was only later that Li Zhirui discovered that all Cultivators were assigned this task, and it was not specifically targeting the Li family.
"The great battle is about to erupt again!" Seeing that Li Zhirui was strong, the Housekeeper gave him this piece of information favorably.
Hearing this, Li Zhirui’s heart stirred, wanting to ask for more news and details, but seeing the man bow his head, he knew the other party didn’t want to say more and could only regretfully leave.
Upon entering the campsite, Li Zhirui instructed everyone to rest well and recover their spirit, energy, and soul to be prepared for the battle that could erupt at any time.
For several days, everything was very calm, as if in Wanzhu State, a few miles away, there was no ongoing battle and they were not there to provide support at all.
"Uncle Shiling, why do I feel that the Zhang Family is intentionally delaying time?" Li Chenghuo asked, filled with doubts.
From the previous recruitment notice that allowed half a month’s time, Li Zhirui could tell, the Zhang Family was not very willing to support Wanzhu State.
And their lack of action over these days further validated his guess.
"It is good to know in our hearts, no need to voice it out."
Li Zhirui shook his head; after all, this camp was established by the Zhang Family. Despite them having thoroughly checked and redeployed the Formations upon residing, they couldn’t ensure that there were no problems.
"Just patiently wait; consider it a change of place for Cultivation."
Until one evening, when a Zhang Family Cultivator came to the campsite, inviting Li Zhirui to discuss important matters.
Led by the visitor, Li Zhirui entered a hall that gathered various forces from Shanyuan State.
"The Demon Cultivators disregard the Heavenly Dao, wreak havoc on earth, and slaughter their kind. I hope everyone can exert their utmost effort, follow my Zhang Family, and completely eradicate the Demon Cultivators! Save our fellow cultivators in Wanzhu State!"
The speaker was a Lianxu Cultivator, with a righteous demeanor, as if the many days of inactivity were not like them at all.
