Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 426 Innate Divine Power

"Master Li?"

Zhao Jindou looked up and froze when he saw that familiar face, but he quickly recovered and grabbed Li Xiangming's leg, crying and pleading, "Hall Master Li, save me!"

Li Xiangming frowned. After receiving Wei Fei's intelligence, he immediately summoned Li Xiangfeng and asked if there had been any unusual casualties in the Demon Hunting Guild's demon hunting team.

However, Li Xiangfeng stated that he had not received any reports of heavy casualties.

There were only some complaints at Taibai Tavern.

The problem is that every day, demon hunters at Taibai Restaurant complain about the dangers of Puyin Mountain. If you really investigate those seemingly plausible rumors, you'll find that 90% of them are fabricated.

Li Qiansu, who ran the Taibai Restaurant and was in charge of intelligence, didn't take it to heart at all.

Li Xiangming then turned his attention to whether the "restricted area" on the Puyin Mountain map still existed.

This time, Li Xiangfeng confessed that the Divine Wind Demon Hunting Team had indeed not inspected those "forbidden zones" for more than three months.

The reason lies with Li Xiangming!

It was Li Xiangming's demand for the expansion of the Shenfeng Demon Hunting Group that led to the group's current uneven quality. In order to improve the group's combat effectiveness, Li Xiangfeng divided the group's elites into several teams, each leading a team into the mountains to hunt demons and hone the new recruits.

The dangerous "forbidden zone" was naturally put on hold for the time being.

Nevertheless, Li Xiangfeng did not believe that the great demons in the "forbidden zone" would be in trouble. Over the years, the Divine Wind Demon Hunting Team had been able to find clues about them every time they inspected the area.

Why did they all disappear after only three months of not watching?
Li Xiangming actually had some doubts about Wei Fei's intelligence, but Wei Fei had no reason to lie to him. As the saying goes, seeing is believing, so he asked to check out the "forbidden zone".

But he never expected to run into Zhao Jindou, who had been missing for a long time, on the road.

However, at this moment, he couldn't care less about Zhao Jindou.

Burning Sky Violent Ape!

This old nemesis has reappeared.

Looking at the monstrous fire ape in his line of sight, Li Xiangming's eyes revealed a trace of apprehension. This beast had not been seen for several years, and its cultivation had not increased much, but it was originally a demon cultivator in the mid-stage of the Bone Fusion realm, which was extremely difficult to deal with.

I don't know how many moves I can go against it.

"Xiangfeng, please take care of Chairman Zhao."

Li Xiangming gave the order and strode forward.

The Weeping Spirit Desolate Sky Rope took the lead, moving like a snake across the ground, and approached the Burning Sky Violent Ape with lightning speed.

The Blazing Sky Ape, which was busy killing the "little bugs" around it, suddenly sensed something was wrong, stomped hard on the ground, and looked at its ankle in confusion.

Just then, a young man with phoenix eyes, his hair standing on end in a rage, rushed up to the Burning Sky Ape and slashed down with his sword.

The sword light was sharp, but it was blocked by the thick barrier of demonic power and could not harm the Burning Sky Violent Ape in the slightest.

However, as the demonic power weakened, a talisman emitting flames landed on the head of the Burning Sky Violent Ape without anyone noticing!

"boom!"

With a loud bang, the Sky-Burning Ape swayed and saw stars.

It's a Fireball Talisman!

Li Xiangming glanced at the young man on the battlefield with surprise.

He recognized the man; he was Liu Qingzhou from the Azure Frost Demon Hunting Squad.

Rumor has it that Liu Qingzhou is as cunning as a fox and as ruthless as a snake, but unexpectedly he is as fearless as Xu Buxiu, daring to face the Burning Sky Violent Ape in the Bone Fusion stage with such a heavy blow.

Unfortunately, while the Flame Burst Talisman is powerful, it is not easy to deal with monsters of the same attribute.

As expected, the Blazing Sky Ape, despite the pain, did not fall. Instead, it roared to the sky, its cry piercing the clouds and splitting rocks, carrying powerful demonic energy. The surrounding demon hunters could not withstand it, covering their ears and curling up into a ball.

Liu Qingzhou, who was directly in the front line, was the most affected; or rather, the roar of the Burning Sky Violent Ape was specifically prepared for him.

Before long, Liu Qingzhou let out a scream and was the first to fall from the sky.

However, the raging ape that had just finished roaring had already passed the pain. While glaring at Liu Qingzhou with hateful eyes, it stretched out its huge palm and grabbed Liu Qingzhou hard.

"not good!"

"Commander, get out of the way!!"

The several demon hunters on the ground, who were seriously injured and unable to get up, couldn't help but shout loudly.

However, Liu Qingzhou had already fallen into a coma and was completely unable to react.

The demon hunters could only watch helplessly as the giant paw of the Burning Sky Ape blocked the leader's figure.

Just as the giant hand was about to close, the Blazing Sky Ape suddenly staggered and crashed to the ground with a deafening roar.

Amidst the billowing smoke and dust, a figure rushed towards the Blazing Sky Ape.

No one knows what method he used, but the explosions continued one after another.

Even Li Xiangfeng, who was watching from the rear, had to retreat repeatedly with Zhao Jindou.

"It's Gao Yuan, he's still alive!"

Zhao Jindou guessed something from the voice and showed surprise.

Before he could continue speaking, Li Xiangming, dressed in a green robe, flew in like a whirlwind. Behind him, the Weeping Spirit Desolate Sky Rope was wrapped around seven or eight people.

In addition, a middle-aged monk in tattered clothes followed behind.

"Xiangfeng, cover the rear!"

Li Xiangming uttered a sentence without pausing for a moment.

Although the Burning Sky Violent Ape suffered a setback, its cultivation level was still considerable. It was impossible for it to kill its opponent by itself alone. Even if it stayed to deal with the situation, it would most likely escape in the end.

By then, the Azure Frost Demon Hunting Team will have virtually no chance of survival.

He couldn't possibly escape with a burden on his shoulders.

Rather than making a wasted effort, it's better to take what you can get and leave now.

Upon hearing the news of the retreat, Zhao Jindou was overjoyed and immediately called out, "Gao Yuan, Gao Yuan!"

"Boss, I'm here!"

Gao Yuan obediently came over to help Zhao Jindou.

Only then did Li Xiangming have time to examine the mysterious cultivator who had suddenly appeared.

The man was in his thirties, with disheveled hair, covered in mud and abrasions, as if he had suffered some minor injuries. He had a light stubble on his face and looked unkempt.

However, Li Xiangming greatly admired this person's abilities.

Whether in terms of the amount of magical power or combat experience, this person is slightly better than Liu Qingzhou, who is also at the ninth level of Qi Refining. The key is that he is not old either, at most forty or fifty years old, and has the hope of Foundation Establishment.

Talent!
Li Xiangming sighed.

Zhao Jindou is quite skilled at judging people.

Back then, it was this guy who first recognized Lü Mao's potential. However, Zhao Jindou at the time had limited financial resources and couldn't give Lü Mao what he wanted, so he introduced Lü Mao to the Li family.

Although Lü Mao doesn't seem to have much talent in cultivation, he did build a demon-hunting team from scratch, didn't he?

Not just anyone can be a leader; one must possess the necessary cultivation, methods, and temperament.

Lü Mao's ability to make the Mad Lion Demon Hunting Group famous was not only due to the support of the Li family, but also inseparable from his own abilities.

Xu Buxiu was also discovered by Zhao Jindou!
Without this guy's support, Xu Buxiu's vicious dog demon-hunting team would have been formed at least a year and a half later. It was precisely for this reason that Xu Buxiu chose to join the Zhenhun Sect, which was close to Zhao Jindou, after heading to Daishan.

Now, both Lü Mao and Xu Buxiu have been brought under his command.

This lofty
Li Xiangming's eyes flickered.

Just then, a tremor suddenly came from behind.

Li Xiangming hurriedly turned around, and his divine sense suddenly entered dozens of "weak" fluctuations of demonic power.

In the world of cultivation, any magical power is worth paying attention to.

Because of a defect in their spiritual sense, they can only perceive the surface-level magical power or the intensity of their spiritual sense.

If someone has learned the art of concealing their aura, they can deliberately hide their cultivation level. For example, if they are clearly a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator, they can only display the magic power of an early-stage Qi Refining cultivator and hide their divine sense completely.

Then your divine sense will only tell you that this person is a cultivator in the early stage of Qi Refining.

If you want to know the other party's specific cultivation level, you can either find a way to expose their method of concealing their aura, or rely on your rich experience to discern clues from their words and actions.

Of course, those with superior cultivation don't need to go to such lengths; a mere tremor of their body is often enough to overwhelm their opponents, causing their concealment techniques to crumble on their own. Furthermore, divine sense has another characteristic.

That is, the closer one is to a cultivator's divine sense, the stronger their perception becomes.

Conversely, the farther away the divine consciousness is, the weaker its perception becomes.

Leaving aside situations beyond the range of divine sense, if an enemy is hovering at the edge of your divine sense range, even if the other party is not deliberately concealing their magical power, you will not be able to clearly sense their cultivation level, and may even have the illusion that their magical power is mediocre.

Magical power and demonic power share the same origin.

When a cultivator's divine sense faces demonic power, it is almost no different from when it faces magical power. The only difference is that demonic cultivators often do not hide their cultivation level.

However, Li Xiangming still dared not confirm the exact intensity of these dozens of demonic energy fluctuations, nor did he dare to stop and investigate further.

"Xiangfeng, come back!"

he shouted.

Li Xiangfeng, who was at the very back of the group and constantly on guard against the pursuit of the Burning Sky Violent Ape, rushed over upon hearing the summons: "Hall Master, what happened?"

Li Xiangming's expression was solemn. He didn't waste time explaining and instead summoned the Black Water Serpent.

He patted the Blackwater Serpent's head and whispered, "Little Black, it's up to you now."

Xiao Hei rubbed against his palm, looking somewhat reluctant.

Seeing this, Li Xiangming had no choice but to take out a few Spirit Feeding Pills and give them to it, promising, "When I get home, I'll get you half a pound of Netherfire Mushrooms."

Upon hearing the words "Hellfire Mushroom," Xiao Hei's eyes lit up instantly.

Without hesitation, it flew into the air, transformed into a colossal creature, and darted through the clouds, its body dancing wildly.

After a short while, Xiao Hei had gathered enough strength and opened its abyss-like maw, from which a torrent shot out, instantly creating a huge crater in the underground jungle.

But that wasn't the end of it. The rapids grew larger and larger, like a suspended river falling from the sky. The surging water overflowed from the deep pit, submerging the jungle, collapsing countless plants and trees, causing wild beasts to run and birds to cry out.

"This is……"

Li Xiangfeng stared in disbelief at the scene.

A perfectly good dense forest turned into a swamp right under his nose, and even the surrounding mountains were completely submerged, with only a few peaks still showing their outlines.

Time passed slowly, the water flowed more and more merrily, and the swamp continued to expand, soon turning into a vast ocean.

Even so, Xiao Hei seemed to let out a dissatisfied hiss before leaping into the "sea," its massive body tumbling wildly in the water, splashing up huge waves.

The water, which was originally flowing outwards, seemed to obey its command and flowed back in unison, creating a spectacular scene.

"What...what kind of monster is this?"

Gao Yuan muttered to himself, while Zhao Jindou stood there dumbfounded.

Even Li Xiangming himself was shocked by what he saw.

As a water cultivator, he knew very well how much magical power it would take to create such a commotion.

Even if he were only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, he probably wouldn't be able to do that, let alone at the late stage.

The fact that the Blackwater Serpent could do this even in its juvenile stage is truly a gift.

Under Xiao Hei's control, numerous water streams converged, forming waterspouts that, like wild horses unleashed, surged and roared towards the direction Li Xiangming pointed out.

After doing all this, Xiao Hei pounced on Li Xiangming, instantly becoming listless. Its once bright eyes lost their usual sparkle, clearly indicating extreme exhaustion.

Li Xiangming gently stroked its head and rewarded it with a few more Spirit Feeding Pills.

He had always known that once a demon beast awakens its intelligence, it can comprehend the secrets of cultivation in the dark, and those demon beasts with extraordinary talents can even comprehend their own innate divine abilities.

As one of the ten most famous mythical beasts in the cultivation world, the Blackwater Serpent's innate supernatural power is naturally extraordinary.

However, one's innate supernatural power cannot be used at will. It consumes an enormous amount of demonic power, and once it is used, the original combat power of the demon beast will be reduced by more than 70%.

Therefore, monsters will not use this trick unless absolutely necessary.

Compared to human cultivators who can quickly restore their magical power by taking elixirs, they care more about their demonic power.

Knowing this, Li Xiangming never forced Xiao Hei to use its abilities, even though he already knew about them.

But this time, facing the mid-stage Bone Fusion Realm Burning Sky Ape head-on, he couldn't afford to hold back.

Although the Blackwater Serpent is far inferior to the Burning Sky Violent Ape in terms of demonic power, the overwhelming torrent of water would still take a toll on even the Burning Sky Violent Ape.

At worst, it could slow down the fire ape and the group of demon cultivators behind it.

Thinking of this, Li Xiangming made a quick decision and shouted to the others, "Let's leave now, don't delay any longer!"

"Yes!"

Zhao Jindou and Gao Yuan dared not delay and flew away first.

Li Xiangming led the remnants of the Qing Shuang Demon Hunting Group, flying in the middle, while Li Xiangfeng stayed behind to cover the rear. The group quickly left Puyin Mountain.
-
Yuanmen Ferry was originally just an inconspicuous little ferry crossing at the foot of Mount Dai.

As the Daijiang River was developed by Bailumen, more and more people took boats to Yuanmendu, disembarked there, and entered the Pudong area.

As a result, Yuanmen Ferry transformed into the largest wharf in Pudong, with countless ships loading and unloading cargo every day. Even the town of Yuanmen next to it benefited and developed into a large city.

Since it's a large city, there are naturally many rules and regulations.

The city gate fee was the first to be included, which the city officials euphemistically called "gate tax".

All people from other places had to use a doorplate to enter and exit the city, and each doorplate cost three coins.

If the person is a passing merchant, a separate hoof tax will be levied on top of the address tax.

Even those willing to pay were still stuck outside the city gates, complaining bitterly.

In the crowd, dozens of miners dressed in gray-white linen clothes gathered together, anxious and uneasy. Some paced back and forth, muttering repeatedly, "Why hasn't Master Xu come over yet?"

"That's right, what will we do if Master Xu doesn't come?"

Suddenly, someone suggested, "Yuanmen Town won't let us in, why don't we go back to the camp?"

A burly man with a blue turban grabbed his collar and roared, "Are you crazy? Our camp was just attacked by monsters, and more than a dozen people died. Do you want to die?"

The man retorted, "Yuanmen Town won't let us in, what can we do? Didn't you hear the people here say that monsters are going to attack the city? There's no natural defense outside the city. If we stay here, aren't we just waiting to die?"

These words made everyone even more anxious.

The burly man in the blue turban gritted his teeth and said, "If it doesn't work, we'll retreat to that mountain ridge we saw earlier and hide there for a while."

"You're the one who's crazy!"

The other person shook his head repeatedly: "The monsters come from the mountains, otherwise why would so many people come to the city? You're leading everyone into the mountains, you're practically walking into a trap."

"Then what do you think we should do?"

The miners argued back and forth, and the atmosphere became increasingly tense.

Just then, a lifelike paper crane flew in from the horizon, causing everyone to gasp in surprise.

"Is it Master Xu?"

The miners were overjoyed and gathered around.

Many people cried out, "Master Xu, we followed your instructions and came to Yuanmen Town, but the city won't let us in. What should we do? Master Xu, please save us!"

Xu Jin looked at them expressionlessly and said, "Come with me."

When he turned around, the miners were shocked to find that Master Xu's back and shoulders were covered in blood, and he was even walking with a limp.

"This"

The miners dared not ask any questions and followed closely behind Xu Jin.

The guards on the city wall immediately noticed their movements and shouted, "Halt! Anyone who dares to advance further will be shot dead!"

Xu Jin's eyes turned cold, and he threw out a token.

The token, imbued with magical power, shattered a corner of the battlements.

"Open your dog eyes and see clearly."

The guards were startled and retreated. After a long while, someone took the token and saw the words "Dang Gui Shan Li" on the front and the three large characters "Li Qianxiao" on the back.

"It seems to be a cultivation force from the south. Quickly, go and invite Immortal Master Zhao!"

(End of this chapter)