Chapter 60: Fight, Dear Ancestor!
I felt it; I felt this world.
I saw them; I saw my lovely descendants, striving for the family and uniting to resist all incoming enemies.
————
Li Xiang greedily breathed in the surrounding air.
Even high in the sky, with the war puppets behind him, atop whose shoulders stood Li Dalong and his wife; with people all around, nearly a hundred members of the Su family surrounding Li Yunlin and more than a dozen members of the Leaving Heaven Sect in mid-air—
Li Xiang did not feel crowded at all.
He wanted to imprint the appearance of every single Li family member in his heart. Seeing them in the real world versus seeing them in a game were two completely different experiences.
The spiritual Qi here was filled with a murderous intent due to the great battle. The raging fire on the ground, ignited by Elder Qiuli's talismans, filled the air above with gunsmoke, smelling much like stepping into a kitchen fueled by firewood.
Yet Li Xiang remained greedy, deeply feeling that this air was sweeter than that of the real world!
He believed that beyond this world, there must be flowers blooming and birds singing. If he could return to the Li family's domain, that would be even better. He still wanted to see the Boar King and go check out how the fourth-generation children of the Li family had managed to drive the resilient Xu Cuihua crazy.
He wanted to use a clean towel to wipe the perpetually dirty face of Li Yaoqing, letting this child who was wholly dedicated to the family take better care of their health. He wanted to tell Li Yaowen—who seemed frail but was even more stubborn than Li Yaotie—that if she could no longer endure the path of literature, there was no need to force it, for the Ancestor would protect her.
Even regarding Li Dalong and his wife right before him, he wanted to talk to these two fellows about how much he had wanted to strangle them whenever they flaunted their romance in front of him.
And Li Yaozu... Li Yunlin... Li Yunbing...
By the way, he wanted to give the Iron Gate Seven Sons a good beating; every time those descendants struck such embarrassing poses, it made him cringe even through the screen.
"Hoo."
Li Xiang let out a long breath. Regrettably, his time was truly limited.
He could only use his full strength to eradicate all threats to the family within this brief window of time!
[Skill in use—]
[Fight, dear Old Ancestor!]
[Unranked skill. The condition of 50 years of family development has been met; the duration allowed in the game world is 5 minutes!]
[For every new family member added, the duration increases by one second!]
[Detected that the player is at the False Core stage. Incense value consumed per minute: 1,000!]
[Current remaining time countdown—]
[5:23]
————
"You... what on earth are you?!"
When he learned from his grand-grandson that people from the Yunshu Wanghai Tower might arrive, Su Yuanwu had not panicked. But now, though his face remained expressionless, a monstrous storm raged in his heart; otherwise, he would not have bothered exchanging idle words with this abruptly appearing mysterious figure!
Emerging from a spirit tablet? He had never heard of such a thing.
Moreover, this figure shrouded in mist was merely at the False Core stage, yet he could only sense their cultivation realm without being able to gauge how profound their aura was. He felt wave after wave of threat, a sense of crisis that chilled him from the crown of his head to the tips of his toes!
Yet the mist before him did not reply, seeming utterly intoxicated!
"Hmph, playing the god and pretending to be a ghost!"
Su Yuanwu refused to admit his panic. He thought of that sickening diviner in Qingyun County. When he was young, he had also been tricked by Huang Xiujin—who was at the mid-stage Foundation Establishment—using such god-pretending and ghost-acting tricks, an incident that caused the entire Su family to remember that old scoundrel Huang Xiujin.
He instantly narrowed his eyes, forming hand seals. The aura of the water dragon in the air became even more tangible, roaring toward the mist before it!
He moved his seals again.
The Su family's secret arts were unleashed instantly. Su Yuanwu had to be extremely solemn as Gold Core magical power transformed into a surging river in mid-air. That several-dozen-meter-long water dragon grew dozens of times stronger. Within that rushing river surging toward Li Xiang, water-type spiritual weapons condensed from the power of the water spiritual root could be seen, wielding sabers and spears as they charged forward.
The dark mist formed by Li Xiang before him, as well as the five-meter-tall spirit tablet behind him, appeared so fragile under this river's might.
Yet...
"As expected, an insurmountable chasm lies between the Gold Core realm and the False Core, but..."
Li Xiang suddenly raised his head. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes, within which a Yin-Yang fish diagram revolved.
The magnificent and all-conquering Gold Core attack, which seemed poised to obliterate everything in its path, came to an abrupt halt right before Li Xiang!
He slowly reached out his hand.
In the space before him, a silver spearhead appeared, followed by a shaft engraved with intricate patterns all over!
————
It seemed to sense the crisis coming from afar.
White light flowed along the patterns on the spear shaft, gradually bursting into brilliant light, suppressing Su Yuanwu's magical power like the descent of an emperor. The roaring rivers and the hundred-meter water dragon in mid-air, along with the thousands of shrimp soldiers and crab generals, encountered their nemesis and reverted to their primordial source.
In an instant, this disintegrated water-type magical power transformed into a torrential downpour over the Su family's domain!
Everyone watched this scene in terror.
Even Elder Qiuli, who was still fighting in the sea of blood in the distance, and the Three Talents assassins who had come from another prefecture, subconsciously halted their actions, staring in astonishment at the brilliantly glowing spear with vigilance and a trace of... greed in their eyes!
"A magical treasure! That is the aura of a magical treasure!"
"And not an ordinary magical treasure; it can... suppress and dismantle spiritual energy!"
"What kind of monster is that thing that came out of the spirit tablet?!"
......
Wielding the spear, Li Xiang felt an incomparably mighty power!
"Hum!"
Having shattered Su Yuanwu's magical power, the spear shaft trembled. It seemed angry—angry that the weak ant before it dared to offend the dignity of a supreme-grade magical artifact!
It also seemed to urge Li Xiang to end the blasphemer's life!
[Tianshu Spirit-Breaking Spear]
[Supreme-Grade Magical Treasure]
[Protected by the spirit spear, all techniques can be broken beneath its tip. Taking this magical treasure as your natal artifact, you gain the Tianshu Spear Array, capable of suppressing all things in the world with this spear!]
This was the mysterious spear that Li Dalong had found and sacrificed, buried deep underground beneath the Straight-Death Heavenly Coffin in the Wild Boar Forest back then—a supreme-grade magical treasure!
Even after accumulating through countless years, the seals on this spear required one million incense value to unlock. Only by relying on the power of a supreme-grade magical treasure, combined with the traits of the Tianshu Spirit-Breaking Spear, had it been able to continuously suppress the Straight-Death Heavenly Coffin without being discovered by outsiders.
This was why Li Xiang dared to descend into the game world at a mere False Core cultivation level via the skill [Fight, dear Old Ancestor!], facing the Gold Core stage head-on.
It was also the ultimate trump card that had kept him from fearing any mishaps regarding Li Yunlin in the Leaving Heaven Sect all along!
If it were merely the Gold Core stage, with the Tianshu Spirit-Breaking Spear in hand, there was simply nothing to fear.
The mere infusion of magical power from the Tianshu Spirit-Suppressing Spear into his body had already made his strength comparable to the peak of the Gold Core stage!
As for the Nascent Soul? Li Xiang did not dare to test that. Although the might of the spirit spear could suppress an opponent's magical power, the physical strength of a Nascent Soul cultivator had reached the absolute ultimate.
Amidst everyone's gazes, this dark cloud of mist, wielding the Tianshu Spirit-Suppressing Spear, hurtled toward Su Yuanwu like a shooting star carrying terrifying coercion.
At the same time.
Su Yuanwu continuously launched attacks against Li Xiang, but no matter how powerful Su Yuanwu's Gold Core magical power was, or what trump cards he possessed, he could not even touch Li Xiang's physical body. He could only watch in panic as his magical power crumbled inch by inch before the spear.
"Puff!"
A streak of blood stained the sky, dripping down the tip of the spear. Li Xiang pressed his hand onto Su Yuanwu's face, and black flames crawled all over Su Yuanwu's body, entering through his seven orifices to destroy both his body and soul, leaving him not a shred of vitality.
One-hit kill!
"Is this the strength of our family's Old Ancestor?!"
"No, I can sense that this is not the Old Ancestor's true body at all; otherwise, why would it be black mist? This is probably just a tiny sliver of the Old Ancestor's divine soul!"
"Hiss~ With an ancestor like this, what more could descendants ask for?"
"......"
The descendants of the Li family were utterly ecstatic; they had finally witnessed a fraction of the mysterious Old Ancestor's divine might!
Conversely, the members of the Su family looked like mourning children.
Especially the head of the Su family, Su Jinming, who despairingly watched his great-grandfather fall helplessly from the sky. He still remembered how, in the main hall, Li Dalong and his wife had once given him a choice; he had thought the Li family's trump card was the Yunshu Wanghai Tower.
He had guessed wrong, and he had chosen wrong!
He watched as the Li family's Old Ancestor rushed toward him and closed his eyes. Yet after waiting for the fraction of a second, the imagined death did not arrive.
Li Xiang bypassed him.
His target was not False Core weaklings like Su Jinming; those fellows could be left to the family descendants. Furthermore, as the family head, this person still held other value. His target was...
"Run!"
"Flee in different directions! He possesses a supreme-grade magical treasure; even if we join forces, we are no match for him! How could such a heaven-defying magical treasure appear in such a tiny, rustic place?!"
"Elder brother, second sister, run first! I will hold him back; we'll meet in the next life!"
That "Ren" (Man) character assassin among the Heaven, Earth, and Man Trio was also loyal and righteous. Wielding a long halberd, he did not flee with the other two, choosing instead to face Li Xiang directly.
Fleeing along with them was Elder Qiuli!
"Damn it!"
Watching the mysterious figure rapidly close in, swatting away the "Ren" character assassin's halberd with a single sweep and piercing him straight through, Qiuli cursed inwardly.
He had helped Li Yunlin in hopes that once Li Yunlin became the sect master, he would obtain sufficient resources to break through to the peak of the Gold Core stage. As long as he played his cards right, he might even control the new sect master.
But now, he realized his plan was utterly wrong!
The Li family was by no means the mere Foundation Establishment clan they had assumed!
Look at the Li family—all their trump cards were laid bare.
Various puppets, two puppets possessing the power of the early Gold Core stage, plus that mysterious figure and the supreme-grade magical treasure...
With such a clan, let alone him, this kind of strength was already enough to catch the eye of the Leaving Heaven Sect. One must know that within the Leaving Heaven Sect, there was only a single lower-grade magical treasure, which served as the sect-鎮ing treasure!
Especially...
"Puff!"
As he fled, Elder Qiuli spat out a mouthful of blood. "Madmen, a whole family of madmen!"
His face was pale as he cursed inwardly.
The people of the Li family had long since marked him as a target for extermination. Earlier, during his battle with the Heaven, Earth, and Man Trio, when the two Gold Core puppets appeared, he had rejoiced briefly, only to find that when one of the puppets drew near, it took advantage of his lack of preparedness and struck him as well!
Elder Qiuli had plotted and schemed his entire life, yet today, he had fallen into two schemes in a single day.
First was Elder Qiuyi's scheme to ambush and kill him. That was fine; he was confident he could escape, and if the worst came to the worst, after Li Yunlin died, he could simply defect to Elder Qiuyi.
But the second scheme—
It was a scheme set by the Li family. The Li family had made it clear they intended to wipe everyone out, and he was no exception!
"If I escape, I can exact this vengeance. The sect master and the supreme elder will definitely be interested in a supreme-grade magical treasure."
Elder Qiuli cast a cold glance at the mysterious figure behind him, and at Li Yunlin, who had joined the Li family and turned to slaughter his fellow sect disciples. "As expected, these clan-bred descendants are impossible to truly domesticate!"
"Although that mysterious figure possesses a supreme-grade magical treasure, he cannot fully command the Gold Core power. He cannot catch up to me. This is what you Li family brought upon yourselves."
Swallowing a dozen movement talismans, Qiuli had never run so fast in his life.
Yet suddenly, his expression changed once more.
The mysterious figure behind him seemed not to care about his escape at all. The person remained calm, unhurried, and spoke with cold indifference.
"Close the gates, release the Blood Spirit Fruit Tree!"
As those words fell, Elder Qiuli stared in horror toward the center of the Su family's domain.
Li Yaozu of the Li family, wielding the power of the Sword Sect, crazily slaughtered the Su family members with a hundred flying swords revolving around him as he charged straight into the center of the Su family estate.
He held a scroll in his hand and hurled it high into the air.
In an instant, roots and vines crawled out of the scroll, baring fangs and brandishing claws. Following that, a massive tree nearly twenty meters tall came into everyone's view. This bizarre tree seemed to be dancing, and densely packed runes were engraved all over its roots, thick trunk, and branches!
As it danced wildly in the center of the Su family estate, the array runes carved upon its body burst into brilliant light. Its roots spread across the entire Su family grounds, and a disc gradually expanded above its crown—that was the—
Eight Directions Array Disc that Li Yunlin had once sent back to the family!