[Year 880]
[Your family, utilizing the Ancient Tree of Delusion Breaking and the Resentment Cup, is cultivating diligently.
The entire clan remains within Azure Cloud Prefecture, bolstering their foundations and martial power within the Grotto-Heavens acquired through years of plundering treasures.]
[Family descendants have broken through. Acquired Family Will: 128,290]
[Your descendant Li Chang has broken through to the Void Refinement realm...
Through his Flame Monarch bloodline and the assistance of the Fire Ancestor Li Yaotie, he has acquired the Void Refinement space 'Extreme Flame'.]
[Acquired Void Refinement technique: True Sun Flame Art]
[An orthodox technique that burns all evil. The more malicious one's intentions, the more damage they take from the True Sun Flame Art. Acquired Trait: Gentleman of the Flames]
[Damage dealt to despicable scoundrels and those with wicked intentions increases by 20%.]
Li Chang broke through from the Fake-Void Refinement realm to the true Void Refinement realm.
The addition of another Void Refinement expert to the family filled Li Wei with endless joy.
However, ever since Li Chang broke through to the Void Refinement realm, there had also been some minor trouble.
Li Yunbing, Li Tianming, Li Changsheng, and Li Xinnian always kept their distance from him. For some unknown reason, they simply felt a strong sense of wariness towards him.
It wasn't until the Old Ancestor told them that Li Chang cultivated the righteous laws of heaven and earth, as orthodox and upright as could possibly be.
Li Yunbing deeply understood, while Li Changsheng rolled his eyes.
Li Xinnian, on the other hand, absolutely refused to accept the Old Ancestor's claim that he had wicked intentions, and Li Tianming simply looked on with eyes full of innocence.
Upon hearing the news, Li Dalong hastily hurried back from the Underworld, bringing Li Chang to the ancestral hall to kneel and pay their respects.
"This is wonderful, Old Ancestor. Kuangtu's child has made something of himself.
He cultivates the True Sun Dao methods and has reached the Void Refinement realm. Everyone in the world says he is a righteous gentleman."
Behind Li Dalong stood Huang Xiujin, Qingyu, and his own wife.
Being Li Chang's mother, Qingyu's eyes were entirely red with emotion.
For Li Dalong, the significance was truly different.
The family had always relied on unorthodox, demonic cultivation methods to reach their current state; even Yaoqing used demonic arts.
This was something the family had been forced to do out of necessity after centuries of facing crises and hardships, which was exactly why he had been so furious upon previously learning that Li Xinnian was also cultivating demonic arts.
Sometimes, Li Dalong even wondered if it was because he had gone to the Underworld that the children had ended up walking this path today.
Now that Li Chang had mastered an orthodox Dao method—even after residing in a filthy place like the Imperial Capital, returning still as a dignified and elegant gentleman—how could he not be overjoyed?
"And those petty scoundrels in the Imperial Capital who spread rumors that our Chang is having an affair with the Empress—if I ever hear them say that, I will definitely refine them into zombies!"
Li Dalong was burning with rage, but then he looked at Li Chang with a face full of gentleness. "Chang, you must be a good person in the future."
"..."
His grandfather only returned once every few decades, yet he still treated Li Chang like a young child.
Li Chang didn't quite know what to say; even as a piece of advice, these words were several centuries too late.
How was he supposed to know that back when Li Dalong taught the children, he had always told them to be good people?
In the end, he doted exclusively on Li Chang.
When Li Chang returned from the seaside, Li Dalong had made up his mind that, regardless of whether Li Chang was a playboy or a rebellious youth, the family would cover for him no matter what happened.
Yet as it turned out, Chang was the one whose conduct was the most upright and honorable.
After finishing these bows.
Li Dalong took Chang to the Ancestral Space and made him bow once more directly in front of Li Wei.
Upon coming out, they ran into a descendant on the path.
"Dad." Li Yaozu had only just called out before his face turned bitter.
His old man, for some crazy, unknown reason, seemed to find him completely an eyesore. Giving Yaozu a solid kick, he then led Chang out as if coaxing a toddler.
Following that, he casually leaped up and delivered a kick to Li Changsheng, who was sleeping in the Old Tree.
The latter lay on the ground with a look of utter bewilderment, asking the startled Old Tree, "No, seriously, why did the High Ancestor suddenly hit me for no reason?"
A day passed, and the many 'wicked-intentioned' elders of the family had all received a kick.
Li Wei looked at the complaints his descendants were filing through the ancestral spirit tablets and rolled his eyes.
"You're the one cultivating the Blood Sea and the Corpse-Driving Art, so why are you kicking our kids?"
.......
[Special Event: Northern Frontier Spoils of War]
[Min Youguo presided over the Northern Frontier borders. Grand Tutor Lin Jiu engaged in a great battle with the Demon Race and emerged victorious, slaying a Mahayana realm demon.
For the first time in tens of thousands of years, the Imperial Dynasty had slain a Mahayana demon.
The Empress took its head and paraded it across the world, invigorating every prefecture within the Imperial Dynasty.]
[Special Event: Western Frontier Spoils of War]
[The Human Race cultivators of the Western Frontier won a great victory over the Wu Tribe.
Spear Saint Gu Fenghua directed his troops with divine skill, occupying a vast territory of the Wu Tribe.
In gratitude for the Li Clan's previous counsel that helped him launch an assault into the Wu Tribe's lands, he gifted the Li Clan a supreme-grade Dharma Treasure.]
[Special Event...]
Apart from great victories across the world, as the Human Race reaped the benefits, numerous experts and geniuses emerged.
Hidden factions also revealed themselves one by one to serve the Imperial Dynasty.
One had to admit, Empress Wenren Xianyi possessed quite extraordinary abilities.
"This is good, too."
Li Wei nodded slightly.
With the family possessing a Body Integration expert, as long as the Imperial Dynasty remained stable, the family would remain stable.
Never mind the Blood Moon in the Western Frontier; now that the family's foundations were profound, if Min Tiange showed his face, Li Wei would naturally go and meet him.
Besides, Wenren Xianyi had also said that she would deal with Min Tiange.
Meanwhile, in the Western Frontier.
The once-chaotic Deston Prefecture and Shadowfell Prefecture gradually reclaimed the Human Race's territories.
Within the former Highsun City, Ba Siyu's Dharma Treasure, the Auspicious Cloud, returned to its previous location.
However, in the newly restored Highsun City, both the scenery and the people had changed; City Lord Feng Tu was no longer there.
Ba Siyu, the mighty figure of the Nation-Protecting Guard who loved to weigh pros and cons, now wore a face full of sorrow.
"My Lord." Zhou Chengli, who often served as Ba Siyu's military advisor, approached.
This old gentleman, who had once assisted the Li Clan, was looking younger as he aged.
Seeing Ba Siyu weighed down by heavy thoughts at a glance, he inquired, "My Lord, why are you so distracted today?"
Seeing Zhou Chengli, Ba Siyu maintained his heavily burdened expression and sighed,
"That bastard Gu Fenghua stole my military merits! The territory at the frontlines wasn't reclaimed by me.
Old Zhou, go back and think carefully about whether there's a good way for me to kill that man surnamed Gu."
"You must be joking, My Lord," Zhou Chengli smiled bitterly, then proceeded to report the details of the integration of the Deston Prefecture soldiers one by one.
As Zhou Chengli departed.
Ba Siyu's expression gradually turned gloomy.
He took out a letter; it was a letter the Li Clan had left for him using a special method before their departure.
[Lord Ba, beware of the Blood Moon and the Dao Seeds.]
"It's too late. What a pity, it's too late."
Ba Siyu walked down from the main hall, gazing at Zhou Chengli's retreating back.
When the Li Clan's letter arrived, he knew that Mr. Zhou, who stood by his side, was already beyond saving.
He looked up at the red moon in the sky.
The red moon's color was even more vivid, turning the entire Western Frontier into the color of blood.
Besides Zhou Chengli beside him, he didn't know just how many people in the entire Western Frontier had already been controlled.
A sound came from outside the Grotto-Heaven. It was a border transmission,
"Reporting to Lord Ba, the Spear Saint requests your presence to resist the enemy and deal with the Wu Tribe's Rising Sun Sage Elder!"
The messenger came in a hurry and left in a hurry. The Blood Moon had already affected Deston Prefecture.
Ba Siyu gave a response, gritting his teeth.
"Why did those surnamed Li just leave? I heard the Li Clan produced a Fire Ancestor and now possesses a Body Integration mighty figure.
If the Li Clan were in the Western Frontier to help me, perhaps... I could root out Min Tiange!"
Back when the Li Clan was in the Western Frontier, he wanted nothing more than to see them exterminated.
But now, he suddenly felt that at least here in the Western Frontier, only the people of the Li Clan were trustworthy.
At the very least, when the Li Clan ran away, they still left him a letter.