Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 568 Slaying the Yin Fiend Bat

"What a sharp tactic."

Beyond the watchtower, there was an even taller tower, which served as the Xu family's command post.

The white-haired old woman's expression tightened when she saw that Li Xiangming had achieved results as soon as he made his move.

The stronger Li Xiangming is, the better it will be for the Xu family to overcome the current crisis, since the Xu family is currently a member of the alliance.

However, the Xu family faced even greater pressure from the alliance.

Li Xiangming is no pushover!

In the past few days, the contract signed between the Xu family and the alliance has covered all aspects, including the deployment of disciples, the sharing of mineral resources, the distribution of war spoils, the price of materials, and the donation of spirit stones. Each item alone is barely acceptable, but when all of them are added together, it is like a shackle around the neck of the Xu family. When the concept of the Gushe Alliance was proposed, she never thought that there would be such a complicated alliance.

What hurt her the most was Qiu Changzhang!

A dignified Foundation Establishment cultivator was like a little woman in front of Li Xiangming, obeying his every word.

The Xu family was isolated and on the verge of collapse, so she was truly helpless and had no choice but to accept it.

The only consolation is that the Xu family has also secured a high position in the alliance. She, as the vice leader, is in charge of coordinating the manufacturing bureau, while Xu Zhilan has become the director of the General Command of the Support Hall.

What exactly is the purpose of Ceying Hall?

According to Li Xiangming, it was an independent department that assisted the Demon Suppression Camp in combat. The General Command was responsible for coordinating the operation of the two halls, one office, and one camp, and also had to provide advice when necessary. Its responsibilities were very important.

Thinking of this, the white-haired old woman glanced at Xu Zhilan beside her and slowly said, "Fourth Sister, you are not young anymore, it is time to consider marriage."

Xu Zhilan was stunned for a moment, then shook her head repeatedly: "Fourth Sister only wants to stay at home and share the burden of Grandmother."

"I'm glad you think so."

The white-haired old woman smiled first, then shook her head: "You have made great contributions to repairing the city defenses and expanding the spirit fields, but I can't bear to keep asking you to do these things."

Xu Zhilan remained silent.

She had already understood her grandmother's unspoken meaning: she did these chores because they were the only ones she could do! Now, her grandmother's "reluctance" meant that she wouldn't even let her do these chores anymore.

The reason they wouldn't let them do it was quite simple.

With her current prestige, if she continues, she will become the head of the Xu family, a position that all the Xu family members look forward to!
The matriarch, a woman, had ruled the Xu family for over seventy years, but in the end, she decided to hand over power to the male line—no matter how much she had sacrificed for the family.

The white-haired old woman glanced at Xu Zhilan and saw that her face was pale. She couldn't help but sigh and said, "Fourth Sister, don't blame me! If the Xu family only had three or five people, I would pass the position to you, because I believe you can lead the Xu family to rise again."

However, the Xu family has over a hundred adult cultivators over the age of fifteen, and dozens of underage spiritual root seedlings.

Everyone yearns for a bright future, but little do they know that the power of a family is limited!

For decades, I have been impartial and fair in rewarding and punishing, promoting the capable and demoting the mediocre.

What defines a capable person, and what defines a mediocre one?
Someone as capable as you is considered competent, but in your spiritual practice, you can only be considered mediocre.

Not everyone is as talented as Li Xiangming.

The clan has a large number of "capable individuals" who occupy resources and even decide on their allocation, while true cultivators, because they are not good at worldly affairs, have no opportunity to show their abilities.

As you've seen, the final result was as expected.

The Xu family was large but not big. Even though they had one or two hundred cultivators, in Li Xiangming's mind they were not as good as the Immortal Ape Manor with a dozen or so people.

The Xu family cannot continue like this.

I've asked myself this: is the fair system I painstakingly created truly because I have a fair heart? I used to think so, but now I have a different opinion.

If my children were gifted, I would never have expended so much effort on collateral relatives. Ultimately, a family must distinguish between legitimate and collateral relatives.

The white-haired old woman stared intently at Xu Zhilan as she spoke: "Your eldest brother's second son, Chenghou, is quite talented. Even if Chenghou doesn't amount to anything, your eldest brother can still have ten or twenty more children."

But you cannot.

If I make you the head of the family, your eldest and second eldest brothers will become collateral relatives. And you have no children, and even if you do in the future, the probability of them becoming successful is far lower than that of your eldest and second eldest brothers' children.

Strong branches and weak trunk—this is a major taboo!
Fourth Sister, the Xu family urgently needs a Foundation Establishment cultivator to protect the elders and children of the clan, and it must be from the direct line, so as to keep the growing number of collateral relatives in check. Do you understand my good intentions?

Upon hearing this, Xu Zhilan felt even more bitter, but she could only nod with difficulty.

In most families in the cultivation world, male cultivators are in charge, while female cultivators are married off to other families.

The reason for this is actually determined by fertility.

Male cultivators can have ten children a year and a hundred children in their lifetime; if the limit is lifted, the number would be even more exaggerated. Female cultivators, on the other hand, can only have one child a year, and they would not want to have more if they had more.

Not all offspring of cultivators are spiritual seedlings.

In fact, many cultivators have descendants, yet remain single within their families.

If she becomes the head of the family and happens to fail to produce a child with spiritual roots, then the direct line will die out.

According to clan rules, the Xu family must select one person from the collateral branches to succeed as the head of the family and become the new direct descendant.

This will inevitably cause internal strife within the clan.

The situation would be very different if the eldest brother were to become the head of the family.

The eldest brother already has more than ten children, and he can have even more in the future. Even if he doesn't produce any outstanding geniuses, he can still ensure that the direct line has a considerable number of spiritual root seeds, thus stabilizing the century-long pattern of the direct line dominating the collateral line.

She certainly couldn't agree with this. While the idea of ​​strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches might sound correct, it would only exacerbate family conflicts.

But how could she, caught up in the situation, escape these deeply ingrained constraints?

Seeing Xu Zhilan's dimmed eyes, the white-haired old woman couldn't help but pull her into her arms and whispered, "Lan'er, Grandmother also has her reasons. If you had a good child..."

The white-haired old woman sighed again halfway through her sentence.

She had high hopes for Xu Zhilan, so she found her a husband early on, and found a rogue cultivator who was both good-looking and had a good personality.

However, only a few years after their marriage, the rogue cultivator was devoured by a demon, leaving Xu Zhilan a young widow.

She made several attempts to arrange a marriage, but Xu Zhilan had no desire to stay with him, and they have yet to have a child.

Thinking of this, the white-haired old woman spoke even more earnestly: "Fourth Sister, I've spoken with Li Xiangming, and he's willing to persuade the Li family to form a marriage alliance with the Xu family. The Li family is a powerful force in Pudong, with many members and a constant stream of Foundation Establishment cultivators. If you marry into their family, you'll not only enjoy a high status, but you'll also have the opportunity to advance your cultivation further."

"grandmother!"

Xu Zhilan took a deep breath and interrupted, "Fourth Sister can give up the position of family head, but the clan need not worry about her marriage."

The white-haired old woman frowned, as if about to speak again.

But then cheers erupted again.

She quickly looked up and saw that Qiu Changzhang had already flown out of the formation, wildly wielding his long sword and slaying more than ten demons in succession.

The beast tide's momentum plummeted, and the dozens of bull demons charging at the front were no longer as aggressive as before.

"Master Qiu, you are truly skilled!"

Li Xiangming stood atop the battlements, a hint of approval flashing in his eyes.

There are differences between Foundation Establishment cultivators. Qiu Changzhang is one of the more capable fighters, which is good news for the alliance.

Qiu Changzhang held his breath and withdrew from the midst of the demonic beasts. Only after returning to Li Xiangming's side did his chest rise and fall slightly: "My meager skills are not worthy of comparison with the Alliance Leader."

Li Xiangming was speechless and did not argue, but went out again.

The new Crying Spirit Desolate Sky Rope was very useful. He casually lashed out a few times, and the dense horde of demonic beasts below were reduced to corpses. With the aid of the Mysterious Scale Cloud Soul Armor, the attacking flying demonic beasts were unable to get close to him at all.

The two supported each other, taking turns to attack.

In no time, they had killed two or three hundred demonic beasts.

It should be noted that the two did not act randomly, but rather targeted powerful late-stage Spirit Summoning demon cultivators each time. Despite encountering many obstacles along the way, they almost always successfully achieved their goals.

The already restless beast tide gradually descended into chaos after more than ten late-stage Spirit Summoning experts were eliminated in this targeted manner. Not only did the vanguard hesitate to advance, but the central army frequently looked back and became agitated, and several groups of demonic beasts in the rear even started fighting each other.

Just then, ripples suddenly appeared on the Dragon Yang Formation, and a crimson hue, seemingly from nowhere, spread across the light screen at a visible speed. From the outside, the entire Fish Belly Valley appeared to be swallowed by boiling molten lava, a truly awe-inspiring sight.

"Roar!" Immediately afterwards, a dragon's roar resounded through the sky.

The light screen distorted violently, and suddenly half of a ferocious dragon's head emerged. Its two dragon eyes, the size of copper bells, burned with a fierce light like molten gold, and its gaping maw churned up scorching waves of air.

"Two seniors! Please make way!"

From the watchtower in the formation, a person flew into the air and shouted loudly.

Li Xiangming and Qiu Changzhang dared not delay and left the city wall.

Seeing this, the dragon head stretched out its entire body and, with unparalleled force, crashed straight into the beast tide.

In an instant, the group of green-skinned bull demons at the very front melted away!
The fiery dragon continued its relentless advance, its heatwave sweeping across all directions. Wherever it passed, the earth cracked, scorched soil churned, and the beast horde's central army was easily pierced as if made of paper. Countless demonic beasts howled and writhed in the flames, a scene resembling purgatory.

Looking down at all this, Li Xiangming couldn't help but feel a slight ripple in his heart.

This is a battle formation!
Formations are not only good for defense, but also for offense!
Its power is such that no single person can withstand it.

As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he maintained absolute dominance over any member of the Xu family, but under the "Dragon's Fury" of the Dragon Yang Formation, he was nothing more than reduced to ashes.

If a Qi Refining force with strength comparable to the Xu family wanted to conquer Fish Belly Valley, how many lives would it take to fill the gap?

The Dragon Yang Formation is only a second-tier formation.

The protective formations of the Zhenhun Sect and Shengyi Sect of Daishan, as well as the four great families of the southeast—Qin, Li, Liu, and Geng—are all third-order formations.

This is why the war between the Qin and Geng families lasted for more than a decade.

It's not that the Qin family doesn't want to destroy the Geng family, but that unless the Qin family finds a way to break the Geng family's protective mountain formation, even if a Golden Core cultivator is born, it's impossible for the entire clan to set foot in Meiling.

Of course, the Geng family could not protect themselves with just the mountain-protecting formation.

The more powerful the formation, the more energy it consumes.

The Longyang Formation had only been activated for a few days when it caused the Xu family great anxiety.

The Geng family, relying on the Meiling spiritual vein, set up the same spiritual array as the Li family, which is even more durable.

However, when the mountain-protecting formation frequently absorbs the spiritual energy of the spiritual veins, it sacrifices the cultivation environment of the Geng family cultivators—the spiritual energy fluctuations are too excessive, and the cultivators are even unable to meditate and enter seclusion.

As time went on, the Geng family's potential for cultivation was weakened, and they were ultimately fighting a desperate battle.

However, the Geng family has many other methods besides formations.

Putting aside other things, even when they were besieged, they were still able to send people to infiltrate Puyin Mountain to secretly trade with the Li family, and repeatedly harass the Qin family's outposts near Meiling.

Ultimately, this forced the Qin family to retreat to the Yunhuang mines, leading to the current standoff.

In comparison, the Xu family's strength seemed much weaker. Faced with the surging beast tide, they could only rely on their formation to hold their ground.

"Alliance Leader Li, it seems the beast tide is receding."

Qiu Changzhang flew over at this moment and said slowly.

Li Xiangming nodded in response. The beast tide was already somewhat demoralized, and now the Xu family had seized the opportunity to counterattack, resulting in the deaths and injuries of thousands of demon beasts. Leaving them behind would only increase casualties.

As expected, the beast tide descended into chaos and became difficult to control. In particular, the surviving beasts at the front all turned tail and fled.

This escape directly disrupted the beast tide's formation.

Not only was the beast tide directly in front of Fish Belly Valley routed, but even the beast tides on both sides that were not attacked by the formation retreated one after another.

"The beast tide has been severely damaged, and we can close the net in two more days."

Qiu Changzhang stroked his beard and said.

Just as Li Xiangming was about to respond, he suddenly felt a strong warning from his divine sense.

Looking up, I saw hundreds of bats swarming in from the horizon, emitting piercing screams, like a dark cloud.

At the same time, the earth trembled.

A new wave of beasts, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, joined the routed beast army and managed to stabilize the situation.

One of the golden-striped white tigers galloped over, crushing the mountain rocks. Wherever it passed, smoke swirled, and any monsters that blocked its path, whether dead or alive, were all sent flying dozens of feet into the air.

"It's that tiger demon."

Qiu Changzhang's face instantly turned ugly.

Li Xiangming also frowned.

In the past few days, he has maintained his restraint and has not allowed the Demon Suppression Camp to attack the beast tide without authorization. The two Bone Fusion Demon Cultivators have also cooperated by remaining hidden and only stirring up the emotions of the beast tide in secret.

Both sides had similar plans—he hoped that the Dragon Yang Formation could deplete the beast tide's forces, allowing the Demon Suppression Camp to achieve the greatest results with minimal casualties.

The tiger and bat demons, on the other hand, wanted to use the large number of demonic beasts to deplete the magic power of the Dragon Yang Formation, and ultimately reap the benefits.

But this time, they seemed unable to hold back, leaping out as the beast tide was defeated, hinting at a decisive battle.

"Roar!"

The golden-striped white tiger roared to the sky, and the sound shook the city wall so much that bricks and stones crumbled off.

Seeing this, Qiu Changzhang couldn't help but speak in a deep voice: "Alliance Leader Li, this tiger demon is a demon cultivator at the mid-stage of the Bone Fusion realm. Neither you nor I are a match for it. I'm afraid we should avoid its sharp edge for now."

Before he finished speaking, a fiery sunset appeared inexplicably in the sky.

A streak of red light approached from afar at an extremely fast speed.

Li Xiangming raised his head slightly. The appearance of the two Bone-Melting Demon Cultivators with their followers was obviously not hidden from the Demon Suppression Camp cultivators who had ambushed them on three sides of Gushe Ridge. Li Xiangyu's arrival at this time meant that the Demon Suppression Camp was ready.

"Master Qiu, the tiger and bat demons wanted to take advantage of the weakened state of the Dragon Yang Formation to launch a strong attack and break through it, but they did not know that the morale of the beast tide army was low and they could not hide their panic in a short time. You should quickly return to the formation to inform the Xu family to prepare. After I kill the Yin Sha Ghost Bat, we will immediately launch a full-scale attack to catch them off guard."

After saying that, Li Xiangming suddenly flew out.

Qiu Changzhang was stunned. He hadn't expected that Li Xiangming, who was always "prudent," would suddenly make such a radical decision.

Just as he hesitated, Li Xiangming had already appeared on the horizon with lightning speed using wind magic.

Hundreds of bats were excitedly chirping when they were suddenly struck by a whip. They scattered in panic, but one bat demon shrouded in black mist did not retreat. Instead, it flashed forward with a strange movement, its sharp claws aimed straight at Li Xiangming's crown.

too slow!
Li Xiangming sneered, leaving behind a trail of black smoke.

The Yin Sha Ghost Bats missed their target entirely.

Before it could make any other move, the Weeping Spirit Desolate Sky Rope, like a venomous snake, emerged from the void and precisely wrapped around the bat demon's right claw.

"Come here."

Li Xiangming suddenly exerted his strength.

Only then did the Yin Sha Ghost Bat realize what was happening. It let out a shrill scream, and the sound waves caused the bats that had been fluttering around it to be struck by lightning and fall to the ground one after another.

However, a ghostly light flashed in Li Xiangming's pupils, and he remained completely unaffected despite being enveloped in black mist.

In a mere instant, he forcefully pulled the Yin Sha Ghost Bat over, grabbed its throat, and brought it close to his eyes.

"You have today too!"

Li Xiangming looked at the hideous face of the Yin Sha Ghost Bat and felt a sense of satisfaction.

This beast is insignificant in terms of combat strength alone, but it used to hide behind the Crimson Ape Demon, causing him to suffer repeated setbacks. Today, it has finally fallen into his hands.

"babble"

The malevolent bats were still screaming.

But it stopped abruptly as the veins on Li Xiangming's arm bulged.

"Demon Suppression Battalion, heed my command!"

Li Xiangming flicked his sleeves to shoo away the bat corpses, hovered high in the air, looked down at the black dots constantly flanking the beast tide, and shouted: "Let's annihilate the beast tide together!"

(End of this chapter)