Chapter 28: Storming into Tailin Town
“Is our ancestor really this powerful when he asserts himself?”
“Too strong!”
“Long live the ancestor!”
Outside Tailin Town, the Li family remained unmoved, patiently waiting for the right moment.
Yet above Tailin Town, the war automaton clashed fiercely with the cultivators of the Wang family in midair!
Flames ascended into the sky.
Flying swords fought intensely, attempting to penetrate the war automaton’s defenses, while the thunderous roar of cannon fire echoed simultaneously!
This was the first time they had witnessed such a battle.
But the Li family only watched from afar.
Only the Wang family understood just how tenacious and terrifying the war automaton was!
“What on earth is that thing? It’s covered in weapons!”
“Stay clear! Don’t get pierced by its swords!”
“It has no weak points—I'm behind it, yet it still attacks me!”
Five Foundation Establishment experts dodged desperately.
They had previously believed the war automaton could only emit blue spiritual energy waves from its shoulders. But suddenly, laser swords appeared on both its hands.
Attempting to sneak behind the automaton, they found its back armor retracting to reveal dark cannon barrels!
Though the spiritual power from these barrels wasn’t as potent as the laser cannons, their attacks remained fierce!
Even its eyes were weapons...
This was truly a mobile artillery platform!
[Back cannons activated: automatic target acquisition and firing!]
[Guardian shield defense: small-scale defensive system activated!]
[Spinal armor detached, operating with reduced load, skill activated—Blade Storm!]
The war automaton was armed all over.
Now it spun wildly, forming a storm above the Wang family’s domain in Tailin Town.
A mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator failed to escape in time and was instantly swept up in the blade storm, leaving no trace of his remains!
“Damn, this is tricky!”
Yet no joy shone in Li Xiang’s eyes. Perhaps to these mid-stage cultivators, the war automaton had no weaknesses, but in truth, Li Xiang also found it impossible to strike effectively.
This contraption was originally developed for interstellar warfare, designed to exterminate weaker races—a technology Earth had acquired from a technologically advanced planet.
Engaging in combat with these swift cultivators could easily result in being drawn out and delayed!
Especially considering the Wang family’s two peak Foundation Establishment experts wielded spiritual artifacts.
One such artifact, an engraved talisman, could enlarge and unleash tremendous power. Even the war automaton’s laser swords could not shatter it. Moreover, this talisman could create a special attack, splitting into ten separate talisman strikes.
Li Xiang had initially hoped to eliminate more of the Wang family, but the centuries of family heritage began to show. The Wang family seemed to possess knowledge of talisman inheritance.
Cultivators on the ground also utilized talismans.
The energies of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth poured in relentless waves, turning the sky above Tailin Town into a dazzling display of multicolored fireworks!
[Spiritual energy consumption: 20%!]
Though Li Xiang tried to conserve the war automaton’s spiritual energy, its consumption remained alarmingly high.
“It’s your turn to act!”
Li Xiang narrowed his eyes—he was never fighting alone!
As he maneuvered the war automaton, his gaze also monitored the map.
With the Wang family’s senior forces pinned down, the Li family began their own offensive.
At the gates of Tailin Town.
“Boom!”
The ground trembled.
Zooming out the map, Li Xiang clearly saw over a hundred cultivators dressed in Hu family attire atop buildings, each carrying multiple spears on their backs!
The Hu family cultivators were alert.
A giant serpent charged from afar, the Purple Thunder Solar Python, dark purple under the blazing sun, roaring as it surged toward Tailin Town!
Even with the dust billowing behind it, the cultivators remained still. Clearly, their target was not the serpent.
“A peak spirit beast!”
Suddenly, a venerable figure from the Hu family soared forward on a flying sword. “Two centuries without action, today this old man will show you, foul beast, that the Hu family patriarch is far from weak!”
Before he arrived, the Purple Thunder Solar Python caused the ground to collapse ahead, and countless spears burst forth from the earth, forming a formation that blocked its path!
At the same moment, the serpent launched an attack on the Hu family elder.
A lightning cage!
Electric arcs radiated from the serpent, easily ensnaring mid-stage Foundation Establishment experts while spewing thunder flames.
But the Hu family patriarch, a formidable false pill stage master, was unfazed.
“Profound Dao technique—spear formation as soldiers!”
With a fierce shout, the spears blocking the serpent’s path floated before him and instantly merged into a giant spear, charged with overwhelming spear energy, piercing through the serpent’s thunder flames!
Though the serpent dodged hastily, the giant spear still sliced open its once impenetrable skin.
“Hiss!”
Since its transformation, this was the first wound the Purple Thunder Solar Python had suffered. It howled skyward, electric arcs rippling outward in all directions, mingled with scorching flames that cast a radiant halo even under the blazing sun.
The so-called Purple Thunder Solar was never limited to lightning alone—it controlled both thunder and fire in battle!
“Damn beast!”
The Hu family patriarch knew the serpent’s power well and dared not let down his guard, but he also understood that a direct fight in Tailin Town would bring irreparable disaster to the family. Thus, he lured the serpent outside the town.
Dust swirled fiercely; the battlefield was filled only with electric arcs, flames, and ever-emerging spear glints.
...
“Evenly matched. The battle between the temple’s guardian beast and the Hu family patriarch could last indefinitely.”
Fighting the Wang family’s experts while observing the distant clash between the serpent and the Hu elder, Li Xiang frowned.
The only difference between Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining experts was that the former could harness the spiritual energy of heaven and earth for themselves, fly on swords, and wield spells. Their adaptability meant evenly matched fighters found it difficult to secure victory.
“Boom!”
Though watching the distant fight, Li Xiang did not cease attacking the Wang family’s stronghold!
Five Foundation Establishment experts had already lost one mid-stage member to him.
Under the wide-reaching Blade Storm, the remaining four were forced to avoid the brunt of the attack, and even the low-grade spiritual artifact talisman could not stop the assault.
Another cannon blast followed.
The Hu family’s defensive formation was utterly shattered!
“Destroy my family’s legacy, and you shall pay with your life!”
Though most Wang family members had retreated, the two Hu family patriarchs, seeing their clan turned to ruin, were filled with uncontrollable rage.
“Keep him pinned! Not one of the Li family will survive!”
But before his words finished, Li Xiang seized the opportunity, firing another laser cannon blast that killed the Wang family’s weakest early-stage Foundation Establishment member.
With another death, the Wang family’s attacks grew more fierce. They gradually discerned the war automaton’s weakness—relying on its smaller size, it followed Li Xiang in guerrilla skirmishes. Since the laser cannons required charging, Li Xiang understood their strategy and minimized the automaton’s energy consumption, relying on laser swords and the more energy-efficient cannon barrels.
“The war automaton and Purple Thunder Solar Python have tied down some of their elite. The rest is up to you!”
...
“This... is the Li family’s true strength???”
Outside Tailin Town, more than thirty members of the Chen family joined the battle!
At first, they had no hope for this fight—after all, the Li family had only risen over two decades, starting from humble origins, all resources gained from the Silver Iron Forest.
But the moment the Purple Thunder Solar Python appeared, they were shocked.
This was a terrifying beast capable of contending with false pill stage experts!
Moreover, the towering silver figure above Tailin Town resisted most of the Wang family’s Foundation Establishment experts single-handedly, even killing two cultivators amid the combined assault of two peak Foundation Establishment spiritual artifacts!
“We knew nothing of the Li family’s true power.”
Chen Chuang rubbed his face.
But these two Chen family members realized just how little they understood!
“It’s our turn now!”
A call came from Li Dalong nearby.
Chen Chuang and the family patriarch looked to the right, seeing Li Dalong issue an order. The Li family forces, fully prepared, suddenly rose to action.
Yet the armed villagers of Zhi’en Village did not move immediately.
Unexpectedly, someone stepped forward alone.
A rarely seen woman of the Li family—a daughter of a rustic farming household, gentle and soft-spoken, typically only at the fifth layer of Qi Refining.
“Ancestor bless us—the Li family is invincible in battle!”
With a fierce cry from Xu Cuihua, a spectral image appeared above her—
The Celestial Moon Fox!
This fox was pure white, with a moonlit mark on its brow and two fluffy tails standing upright, seemingly borrowing power from the heavens.
“A demonic cultivator, beast tamer technique, mid-stage Foundation Establishment!”
The Chen family patriarch, experienced and knowledgeable, instantly recognized Xu Cuihua’s background, which shocked him deeply.
With a fierce howl from Xu Cuihua, the forest outside Tailin Town rustled and swayed.
One by one, fierce spirit beasts emerged!
“Hundred-eyed demon spiders, fierce wind winged tigers, morning sun beasts!”
Chen Chuang’s expression changed drastically. These beasts were known denizens of the Silver Iron Forest!
The four major families’ descendants had trained in the Silver Iron Forest; countless sons and subordinates had perished at the hands of these beasts. Yet, helpless against them, they never imagined these terrifying creatures had quietly become the Li family’s guardian beasts!
Not only the Chen family found this unbelievable.
Inside Tailin Town, the Hu family, having set a vast net of traps, also wore expressions of dread.
“Hurry, the beasts are attacking the city!”
“Hu family spear forest formation, prepare!”
“Damn the Li family! How do they have so many beasts?!”
Xu Cuihua, now in fox form, led over a hundred beasts, charging like a storm toward Tailin Town.
Within Tailin Town, spear formations hovered in the air, raining down upon the beast horde!
The true battle began at this moment!
“Kill!”
Li Dalong narrowed his eyes. There was no longer time to worry about his wife’s safety on this battlefield.
As the first wave of traps felled the beasts in bloody heaps, he resolutely led all the people of Zhi’en Village in a desperate assault on Tailin Town!
“Damn it!”
The Chen family patriarch, bloodshot-eyed, soared on his sword, leading the last thirty or so Chen family members into their ancestral home!
...
Inside Tailin Town.
Amid the clamor of battle, a maid from Zhi’en Village pushed Li Yaowen along the empty street.
Li Yaowen stared blankly ahead at the grand mansion.
She slowly raised her head.
Gazing at the plaque above the gate—
“Is this the Su family?”
Several guards stood alert at the gate, ready to question the woman in the wheelchair about her purpose.
Li Yaowen smiled and said:
“Fourth daughter of the Li family, Li Yaowen, requesting an audience with the head of the Su family—to offer you a chance to live.”