Immortality and cultivation begin with drawing talismans.

Chapter 193 The Lu Family and the Wang Family

With the beast tide imminent, the waters around Five Dragons Island are about to witness a carnival.

"Fellow Daoist Lin, the so-called beast tides in each sea area are nothing more than the migration of sea beasts driven by their instincts. Our Five Dragons Island, Star Pole Island, and Heavenly Star Island are inhabited by these giant bone sea fish beasts."

Of course, there will be other sea beasts, but overall there are not as many as the giant bone sea fish beasts. The once-every-ten-year tide is a small beast tide, and most of the ones that appear are first-tier sea beasts.

This is a once-in-a-century beast tide, and there will likely be a considerable number of second-tier sea beasts appearing..."

After Lin Chang'an returned to the island, the Ping, Feng, and Li clans also came with gifts, their faces full of friendliness.

Lin Chang'an listened to the other party's description of the beast tide, which seemed commonplace and indifferent, and Lin Chang'an could only nod in approval.

Perhaps after he has lived and cultivated here for decades, he will also get used to it like everyone else.

However, he also understood the other party's true purpose in coming here.

However, when the other party mentioned this great beast tide, they clearly showed their anticipation. A beast tide that occurs once every hundred years is definitely a feast for these cultivator families.

"Fellow Daoist, you have brought so many generous gifts this time. I am truly unworthy of them."

Lin Chang'an waved his hand modestly, and the cultivator simply smiled and nodded.

"Fellow Daoist Lin, you're too kind."

"I came here only to cultivate peacefully, hoping to break through to the late Foundation Establishment stage one day, and I don't want to get involved in these troubles..."

Lin Chang'an had practically made it clear.

He doesn't want to get involved in the feuds between your three clans and the Lu family; he just wants to cultivate in peace.

The three clans must have known about the letters the Lu family had secretly sent earlier, which is why they came to visit and try to win them over.

"Fellow Daoist Lin, rest assured, we will guard this island together. It won't be long before we have to defend against this beast tide together. Just tell us if you need anything."

Our three clans' merchant ships trade back and forth, and we can still bring some supplies for you fellow Daoists.

Upon seeing the other party speak in this manner, Lin Chang'an smiled and cupped his hands in greeting.

"In that case, thank you very much."

The two then enjoyed tea. The other party felt it was a pity that they hadn't been able to win him over, but since he was focused on cultivation, it was better than having any entanglement with the Lu family.

Lin Chang'an also took the opportunity to inquire about the local situation.

After all, the information on jade slips is mostly one-sided, and some things still need to be told by cultivators who have lived in this place for hundreds of years.

In particular, local celestial phenomena and experience in dealing with sea monsters cannot be fully understood through simple intelligence.

After the other party left a gift and departed, Lin Chang'an stood at the entrance of the cave, watching the disappearing figure, and couldn't help but narrow his eyes.

"In the struggle for family interests, I've come out ahead and gotten a free advantage."

Then the Green Horned Ox let out a moo, and Lin Chang'an released the Phoenix Bird.

"But none of this concerns me, as long as it doesn't disturb my cultivation."

Lin Chang'an shook his head and then returned to his cave, resuming his daily routine of cultivating, drawing talismans, refining pills, and studying formations to prepare for the beast tide.

At the same time, he secretly made up his mind that once this beast tide ended, he would go into seclusion and never come out until he broke through to the late stage of Foundation Establishment.

At the same time, he also needs to try his best to obtain more resources during this beast tide.

……

Five Dragon Island.

As the grand event continued, the various family and merchant associations on the island made a fortune, and everyone was all smiles.

Meanwhile, inside a merchant guild on the island, the five Foundation Establishment cultivators present, who had been all smiles just moments before, suddenly turned grim after someone took out an item.

"Brother, this is the Fire Sun Sword, our nephew Wang Lin's magic weapon!"

No one expected that this chamber of commerce was actually the Wang family, who had once competed with the Zhou family in Qingzhushan Market and were later displaced due to the secret realm.

"My son!"

When the patriarch of the Wang family saw this ordinary high-grade magic weapon, his eyes were filled with resentment and anger.

"This magical artifact was discovered in the market, and its origin is impossible to trace."

"Is there any need to say more? It was the Li Huo Palace that killed our Wang family back then, forcing us to flee the world and now we can only openly do business here, while secretly engaging in the business of robbing cultivators."

One by one, the Foundation Establishment cultivators spoke with faces full of anger, their Wang family's rage against the Li Huo Palace had not yet subsided.

"No need to say more, this is Lin'er's fate! It is also his mission!"

Finally, the head of the Wang family, with a gloomy expression, directly stopped everyone.

When the treasures obtained by the Wang family in their secret realm were discovered by the disciples of the Li Huo Palace, he had no choice but to order his clansmen to scatter and flee in order to protect his family.

As the young master, Wang Lin naturally had a very high profile.

But their goal was too small; it all came down to luck who would win if they split up.

"We'll settle this score with Li Huo Palace sooner or later, but not now."

As the cold voice of the Wang family patriarch echoed, everyone nodded solemnly.

"That's right. The Li Huo Palace is now a dog of the Xuan Yin Demonic Sect. This dog might be beaten to death any day."

Some people sneered, while others were unwilling to accept it.

"Alright, our most urgent task now is to cooperate with the Lu family. The Lu family has promised us that once it's done, we can plunder the three clans of Jade Spirit Island at will."

"Brother, the Lu family doesn't have many Foundation Establishment cultivators. Should we..." A greedy Foundation Establishment cultivator wanted to take over the Lu family as well.

However, this was refuted by the head of the family.

"When we're doing quests, we have to be honest and trustworthy. Otherwise, who will come to us in the future?"

"That's right. The Lu family is colluding with us. They will inevitably encounter some difficulties in the future and will need our help. It's best to take things slowly and steadily."

"Alright, remember the orders from Five Dragons Island: no one is to act recklessly!"

Upon hearing the mention of Five Dragons Island, everyone's expressions turned solemn, and the head of the Wang family also looked gloomy.

The Wang family fled all the way to the Demon Beast Sea Abyss and became Tribulation Cultivators, but they became Tribulation Cultivators raised by Five Dragon Island.

As for the purpose, no one is stupid; it's nothing more than eliminating dissidents and incidentally amassing wealth.

……

time flies.

【Lifespan: 94/253】

[Realm: Mid-Foundation Establishment (92/100)]

Inside the cave, Lin Chang'an slowly opened his eyes and sighed softly as he watched his cultivation level improve.

"Sure enough, low-grade spiritual roots not only have a slow cultivation speed, but also a greater chance of breaking through bottlenecks, especially as the cultivation level increases."

He felt this bottleneck after only 90 experience points in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. If he had a mid-grade spiritual root aptitude, he probably wouldn't have felt the bottleneck until after 93 experience points.

Lin Chang'an shook his head as he noted that his experience points had only increased by two points in the past year.

"However, the beast tide is coming soon, so we may take this opportunity to collect a lot of resources and then go into seclusion for a long time."

Lin Chang'an slowly got up, went to his desk, and picked up the near-third-tier spirit brush that he had photographed at the Five Dragons Island market a year ago.

As the magic brush stroked the lines, a perfect talisman emitted a wisp of electricity, and the character 'thunder' appeared in the center of the talisman.

[Tier 2 High-Grade Talisman Master (Grandmaster 3635/5000)]

Looking at the Thunderclap Talismans, Lin Chang'an smiled with satisfaction.

He has been preparing for the beast tide for over a year.

The best way to counter sea monsters is with lightning-attribute attacks.

He had accumulated quite a few second-tier high-grade Thunderclap Talismans, and even more than thirty near-third-tier talismans that he had previously purchased from the market for self-protection.

"However, if we want to be more secure, or even kill a large number of demonic beasts, we still have to rely on formations."

After gently setting down the spirit brush, Lin Chang'an raised his hand, and several array plates and array flags of different sizes floated out of his storage bag.

Its main array plate is naturally the 'Blood Fiend Crimson Sun Array' that he obtained in the secret realm before, while the other secondary array plates and array flags are all custom-made by him over the past few years.

He had even started making preparations in secret back when he was in Tianxuan City.

"It's just a pity that I don't have time to learn weapon crafting yet, otherwise it wouldn't be so troublesome."

Lin Chang'an sighed. Right now, his most important task was to focus on cultivation and then plan to form his core. He didn't have any extra time to learn weapon crafting.

This has led him to have to find people to forge similar array plates and flags separately in recent years in order to complete the array. "It's a third-tier high-grade array, but unfortunately, I can only find some low-grade materials to forge it in recent years. Right now, the power of this array can probably only be exerted at most the power of the second tier."

Seeing that the secondary array plates and array flags were made of different materials, some were second-tier and two were near-third-tier, Lin Chang'an felt helpless.

To avoid letting people know that he possessed a third-tier array, he commissioned someone to refine it based on the power of a second-tier array plate and array flag.

[Second-Tier Mid-Grade Array Master (Proficiency 349/1000)]

If he were a cultivator who was not proficient in formations, it would be easy for others to discover his secrets, but he was a genuine mid-grade second-tier formation master.

When finding someone to forge the array plates and array flags, there would naturally be no oversights.

"The strength of an array depends not only on the cultivator's own abilities, but also on the holder's understanding of array formations."

For example, with the same formation, a cultivator who is not familiar with formations can only unleash 70-80% of its power by rigidly relying on the formation plate and flags.

A cultivator skilled in formations can unleash the full power of a formation once it is set up, and may even unleash even greater power by taking advantage of the terrain.

"The Blood Fiend Crimson Sun Formation is a large-scale killing formation with concealment, which is perfect for dealing with the beast tide."

Lin Chang'an's eyes flickered. He decided to take advantage of the beast tide to experience the power of this formation.

……

"Old Lin, is this the beast tide of the Demon Beast Sea Abyss? The signs are completely different from what we know."

As this sea area enters the rainy season, there are frequent storms and heavy rain, with dark clouds hanging in the sky.

This made Lin Chang'an, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, feel awe at the power of heaven and earth.

"Old Hu, the beast tide brought about by the migration of the giant bone sea fish beasts covers an extremely wide area..."

"Alright, Lao Lin, what you're saying is too convoluted. I'm just a rough guy. All I do is have these beasts return to their birthplace every ten years to come ashore and mate."

Good guy.

Old Hu's words left Lin Chang'an speechless.

But the words are rough and the reasoning is not rough.

This giant skeletal sea creature resembles a crocodile or a pufferfish. It is enormous, with hard scales, four limbs, and a sharp, massive mouth.

"Alright, Lao Lin, remember to send me a message if you need anything."

After glancing at the dark, stormy sea, Old Hu shook his head, uttered a few words, and got up to leave.

Lin Chang'an nodded with a light laugh, but at this moment, the Green Horned Ox let out a moo, and its huge size left Old Hu speechless.

"Old Lin, if I run into any trouble, you can't just stand by and watch me die."

Although he had broken through to the late Foundation Establishment stage, Lin Chang'an was no weakling. With the addition of a mid-stage second-tier spirit pet, his strength might not be much weaker than his.

This made Lao Hu feel awkward, but he still shamelessly said something.

"Alright, there's a protective formation on the island. As long as you have enough spirit stones, this monster can't get in."

Lin Chang'an smiled and waved his hand, watching Lao Hu leave, his gaze involuntarily turning to the array tower.

The three major families on the island, along with their Foundation Establishment cultivators, wouldn't open the array tower casually, since it would consume their spirit stones.

However, Lin Chang'an still made his way to the top of the array tower. Looking at the spirit stones that had already filled the grooves in the tower, Lin Chang'an nodded to himself.

They had activated it twice before, but both times it was to withstand natural disasters like raging storms, and the consumption was not significant.

This beast tide is different.

"Judging from the weather, based on our previous understanding, the beast tide should be around these two months. Let's set up the formation in advance."

Lin Chang'an came down from the array tower and went directly to the mountain forest and beach area outside the array tower.

He then patted his storage bag, and with flashes of spiritual light, array flags grew larger in the wind and were then planted around the area.

Immediately afterwards, Lin Chang'an activated the array plate, and finally a formation with a very large area appeared.

A fiery red barrier slowly formed, then disappeared without a trace.

Upon seeing this, Lin Chang'an's eyes flickered, and information about the formation surfaced in his mind.

"The Blood Fiend Crimson Sun Formation is not the kind of formation that counters the attributes of sea beasts, but the greatest mystery of this formation lies in its fiendish energy."

The more blood is killed, the denser the baleful aura becomes, and the stronger the formation will be—this is actually quite suitable for dealing with a beast tide.

"Moo!"

The menacing Green Horned Bull also approached, clearly sensing the terrifying crisis lurking beneath the sea.

Lin Chang'an chuckled and patted the spirit beast pouch, and the Phoenix Bird immediately flew out excitedly.

"And you, this time I'll have to see what you're made of. You're a ferocious bird, after all."

This tiny phoenix, no bigger than a palm, proudly held its chest high, which made him suspicious.

This bird is a rare and exotic creature; hopefully it won't disappoint him.

Although it was powerful and fast before, with an extremely sharp beak, it's unknown how it will fare when it encounters a sea monster this time.

After all, in terms of attributes, it seems to be countered.

On Jade Spirit Island, the Ping, Feng, and Li clans eagerly gathered their people, preparing for the upcoming beast tide.

After the island-protecting formation is activated, it will be up to each of them to see how many monsters they can hunt, based on their individual strength.

Also present were the Wen couple, and the reclusive monk surnamed Fang.

Everyone was preparing for this feast of monsters.

Meanwhile, the further out you go in this abyss, the more cultivators you can see, working together to set up formations on desolate islands, or waiting together.

These are all independent cultivators.

This is a carnival for cultivators, and a feast for demonic beasts.

Human cultivators use demonic beasts as resources, but demonic beasts also use human cultivators as food.

……

On a nameless, deserted island.

Hundreds of cultivators gathered densely on the merchant ship, which then docked at a hidden cave.

At the same time, a powerful array was also constructed on the island, which caused countless rogue cultivators to frown and leave after seeing it from afar.

This looks like a large, powerful group, and these independent cultivators don't want to get involved with them.

The hundreds of cultivators on the island, however, were clearly divided into two groups.

"Madam Lu, we've lost a lot by giving up the gains from this beast tide."

The group of people were cultivators from the Wang family. The head of the Wang family was all smiles as he cupped his hands and spoke.

The head of the Lu family opposite them was a beautiful middle-aged woman. When the Wang family demanded benefits, she simply smiled indifferently.

"Once the beast tide passes, won't the gains of the three races on Jade Spirit Island during the beast tide, as well as their accumulation over the years, be enough?"
Or rather, if you, fellow Daoist, are so powerful that you don't need to conserve your energy, then naturally we won't stop you from hunting demonic beasts.

After their conversation, it was clear that both sides planned to wait for the beast tide to pass and then attack the three major families when they were exhausted.

“Madam Lu, if your husband had your methods, the Lu family would not have fallen to this state.”

Faced with these words, many cultivators from the Lu family showed anger, but they were unable to refute them.

It was because the Lu family was too arrogant back then; with ten Foundation Establishment cultivators, they offended too many people.

"Alright, fellow Daoist, rest assured. I have an inside man on the island. We can easily storm the island when the time comes."

"Very well, as you say, Madam."

Both sides' cultivators were conserving their energy. The Wang family was looking forward to the next raid, while the Lu family was full of enthusiasm and determined to return to Tianxing Island.

As for the subsequent investigation?
The Lu family isn't some wanted criminal gang; they just want to reclaim everything that belongs to them.

Justifiably.

The law of the jungle prevails, and this is perfectly normal in the Monster Sea Abyss.

Those in power don't care about the lives of those below them, as long as it's not excessive.

"Moreover! Ping, Feng, and Li clans, your mistake lies in not seeing the situation clearly."

With a calm expression, Madam Lu was confident that if she dared to lead the Lu family back, she would gain the approval of Five Dragons Island.

Five Dragon Island is not ruled by the Dragon family.

(End of this chapter)