Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 593 Worry

The main structure of Changning City is largely complete, but it is far from luxurious. However, it does include the lord's mansion.

The fairy in silk robes stretched languidly, her gaze falling on the broad back of the man at the edge of the bed. Her red lips curved slightly as she reached out her jade-like arm to embrace his neck and exhaled, "It's so early in the morning, can't you sleep a little longer?"

"The early bird catches the worm. If you were as diligent as me, you would have already broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage."

Li Xiangming slowly opened his eyes.

Fairy Lingluo laughed immediately: "I'm not going to live such a laborious life like you! How can breathing exercises and meditation be as effective or fast as taking elixirs?"

"That's why you can't break through."

Li Xiangming replied calmly.

He knew that Fairy Lingluo was not short of money, and that she could save a lot of time on breathing exercises by casually consuming a few pills.

In a sense, this means being one step ahead of others!
However, it only means that the refinement of magical power is faster, not that the cultivation progress is faster!
Cultivation progress, or realm, can be broken down into individual spiritual apertures.

Each breakthrough to a spiritual aperture requires immense perseverance.

Why?

Because spiritual apertures are stubborn, especially those key spiritual apertures recorded in cultivation techniques, it takes almost all the magical power in the dantian to continuously impact them in order to shake the opponent.

Once successful, the cultivation progress will increase significantly. However, one's own magical power will be completely depleted, requiring the re-refinement of magical power.

This is the best possible outcome.

What if we fail?
Some people get stuck in the Qi Refining stage for more than ten or even several decades, not because their magical power is not perfect enough.

Take Li Qianhe as an example. He has cultivated his Qi Refining Level 6 magic power countless times, but he always fails when trying to break through the Spiritual Aperture, which represents Qi Refining Level 7.

Every failure requires starting over.

After doing it many times, one naturally loses enthusiasm and no longer wants to continue cultivating.

Therefore, in all methods of cultivation, the most important thing is to cultivate one's mind and character!
Meditation is the first test to temper a cultivator's mind and character, and it is also a trial that accompanies a cultivator throughout their life. If one cannot even endure the tedium of circulating breathing, how can one avoid developing demonic obstacles when one repeatedly fails to break through to the spiritual aperture in the future?
Elixirs and miraculous medicines can only guarantee abundant spiritual energy; it still needs to be refined into magical power. Even if one's magical power reaches the limit of their dantian, it still doesn't represent their level of cultivation!
Spiritual talent, resources, comprehension, perseverance, and opportunity are all indispensable. And if we were to list them all, there would be even more.
All of these things represent a cultivator's talent.

The fact that Fairy Lingluo was able to cultivate to the ninth level of Qi Refining is enough to show that she has talent.

However, the Qi Refining stage is merely the first step on the path to enlightenment.

If she thinks that buying enough rare and precious herbs and elixirs will guarantee her success, she's still dreaming.

After being reprimanded, Fairy Lingluo pouted and said, "What use is such a high level of cultivation to a mere woman? I'm not like you, who had to fight the beast tide so hard that she almost lost her life."

"No ambition."

"Big breasts are all that matters!"

Lingluo Fairy chuckled, practically leaning her entire body against Li Xiangming's back: "Otherwise, could you let Master Li stay overnight?"

"You seem quite proud of yourself."

"That's not it."

Lingluo Fairy licked her lips and replied, "Just thinking about how the aloof Master Li fell at my feet makes my heart pound!"

"Then you're wrong."

Li Xiangming pinned Lingluo Fairy down beneath him, his gaze deep and unfathomable: "I am also very interested in dual cultivation."

Upon hearing this, Fairy Lingluo blushed and closed her eyes.

However, after waiting for a while without any movement, she opened her eyes in surprise and found that Li Xiangming had already stepped out of the room, leaving only a faint instruction: "I am handing over all the demon beast materials from the Demon Suppression Camp to you. I hope you will not disappoint me."

"A man without conscience."

Fairy Lingluo snorted and got up to tidy her clothes and makeup.

After a long while, she gently pinched the communication talisman on the table, and a respectful voice immediately sounded from outside the door: "Master, you wanted to see me?"

"Let all the caravans enter Pudong."

"Everyone come in?"

"nonsense."

Lei Meng's tone instantly turned to surprise: "I'll go prepare right away."

As soon as he turned around, Lei Meng paused: "Boss, by controlling the demon beast materials in Pudong, we have essentially taken control of the lifelines of half of the weapon refiners and talisman masters in Pushui Market. Could we directly crush the Taiping and Lexuan Chambers of Commerce?"

"Who are they?"

Fairy Lingluo sneered: "The situation in Pubei is a complete mess right now. The Mang Sect's leader is said to have the ability to deduce heavenly secrets, and True Man Xuanling has repeatedly failed. The chaos caused by the Mang Sect will probably continue for another six months. Puxi and Punan have very few demon-hunting cultivators and have never been the original source of demon beast materials. By monopolizing the demon beast materials in Pudong, we are essentially monopolizing more than 80% of the demon beast materials in Puxian. Just you wait and see, I will turn Pushui Market upside down."

Lei Meng felt a chill run down his spine and instinctively bowed his head.

"That's a nice thought."

Just then, another aged voice rang out: "Don't forget, the situation in Pudong is equally dire. Thousands of demon-hunting cultivators have fled. Without Monkey Valley, can Li Xiangming still be a stable source of demon beast materials for us?"

Fairy Lingluo explained, “Uncle Fan, it is precisely because of the turmoil in Pudong that we have this opportunity. Otherwise, why would Li Xiangming have given the exclusive right to sell demon beast materials to the Lingluo Merchant Guild? If Pudong can still produce a large amount of demon beast materials, it must be from his Demon Suppression Camp. Our entry into the game now is perfectly timed! When the beast tide recedes, Monkey Valley will be rebuilt, but the cooperation between the Lingluo Merchant Guild and the Li family will not end.”

"That's what you said back then."

Uncle Fan snorted coldly: "Haven't our losses in Monkey Valley been heavy enough? Li Xiangming has a history of defeats. What if his Demon-Suppressing Camp is defeated by the beast tide again?"

"The man I've set my sights on won't be that bad."

The Fairy of Silk suddenly interrupted, her face already showing impatience.

Uncle Fan was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "I'm not questioning your judgment. Pudong has the Puyin Mountains, which will become the largest source of monster beast materials for Puxian County and even Shun'an Prefecture in the next few decades. The direction of the Lingluo Chamber of Commerce's cooperation with the Li family is correct."

but!

Taiping and Lexuan are both established trading companies. If you try to use this opportunity to manipulate the price of monster materials in Pushui Market and declare war on them, even if you gain the upper hand, this battle will last at least three to five months. If anything happens to Li Xiangming, we'll be busy trying to salvage the situation, but we'll lose our supply and reputation, and we might be driven out of Pushui Market. Have you considered these consequences?

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Uncle Fan, I don't have time."

Fairy Lingluo pushed open the door and looked at him earnestly, saying, "Within two years, I will make Lingluo Chamber of Commerce the largest chamber of commerce in Pushui Market. If we continue to operate on a small scale like this, it will be an impossible task."

Uncle Fan's cloudy eyes trembled slightly: "Miss, you don't need to force yourself like this. Even if you return to the Luo Yan Chamber of Commerce, you can live a good life."

The Fairy of Silk Silk's expression suddenly turned cold: "I insist on forcing you."
-
A cool breeze blows, and the sweltering summer is over.

The sky was perfect over Xiaolan Valley.

Seven or eight members of the Chi family were busy in the spiritual field, some watering the spiritual water, others catching pests, each doing their own thing.

Chi Laiyong stared at them, his brow furrowed in worry.

A moment later, Chi Laiyi strode by and, seeing him lost in thought, couldn't help but ask, "Brother, what's wrong with you?"

Chi Laiyong turned around, but did not speak immediately.

"Still thinking about Master Li?"

Chi Laiyi stepped forward and whispered, "It's a good thing that Hall Master Li didn't conscript any members of our Chi family!"

"A good thing?" Chi Laiyong sat cross-legged and closed his eyes: "Laiyi, if you think this is a good thing, then you are not qualified to be the head of the family."

is it?

A hint of displeasure flashed across Chi Laiyi's face, but he quickly suppressed his expression and said respectfully, "Please enlighten me, elder brother."

"Do you still remember the agreement between Grandpa and Master Li?" Chi Laiyong asked.

Chi Laiyi nodded: "Of course I remember. Although I don't know the specifics of what Grandpa and Hall Master Li talked about, Hall Master Li promised to protect our Chi family for twenty years. Nie Rong, Miss Tang, and Jiang Liang take turns stationed in the valley, and now we also have Vice Sect Leader Zhang and others from Green Cloud Cave."

"Twenty years!"

Chi Laiyong's expression suddenly turned serious: "Almost half."

Chi Laiyi froze, as if he had just realized something. He grabbed Chi Laiyong's arm and said urgently, "Brother, are you saying that in another ten years or so, Master Li will abandon our Chi family?"

"What's so strange about that?"

Latecomer Yong asked a question in return.

Chi Laiyi opened his mouth, but still said, "But our Chi family has done so much for Master Li, and my eldest brother gave up his position as family head to go to the dangerous Puyin Mountain."

“In Master Li’s view, this is just his duty.” Chi Laiyong shook his head.

Chi Laiyi was unwilling to give up and said again, "Xiaolan Valley still has hundreds of acres of spirit fields belonging to Hall Master Li. Does he not want them anymore?"

Chi Laiyong frowned instantly, looking at his younger brother's panic, and a look of disappointment appeared on his face: "What are you talking about? What does Master Li's spirit fields have to do with our Chi family? Who owns those spirit fields?"

Chi Laiyi answered instinctively, "They're in the hands of Vice Sect Leader Zhang and Deng Kang."

"They have it now, and they will have it in the future."

"I'm late," Yong interrupted coldly.

Chi Laiyi's expression kept changing, and finally he realized what was happening, staring in disbelief: "You...you mean Green Cloud Cave will take over the crane's nest?"

"You should have considered this risk when you agreed to let Green Cloud Cave settle in Xiaolan Valley."

Chi Laiyong's expression was gloomy: "Our Chi family has few members, and Green Cloud Cave has few cultivators! But don't forget, while the Chi family continues to develop, Green Cloud Cave is also growing stronger. This year, they recruited more than ten spiritual root seeds, while how many spiritual root bloodlines have our Chi family detected? In another ten years or so, the number of cultivators in Green Cloud Cave will inevitably crush the Chi family, and there is only one spiritual spring. Do you think Green Cloud Cave won't be tempted? Even if they remember our past relationship and coexist with us, the Chi family, having lost the protection of Hall Master Li, will only be able to depend on others from now on."

Upon hearing this, Chi Laiyi broke out in a cold sweat.

He caught a glimpse of Chi Laiyong's sharp gaze out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help but give a wry smile: "Brother, this really can't be blamed on me. You know how powerful Hall Master Li is. He wants Green Cloud Cave to settle in Little Lan Valley. How could I dare to object?"

Chi Laiyong sighed, "I'm not blaming you, but I'm a little worried because you didn't think things through when it came to dealing with Master Li! You should know that our Chi family has limited resources, and we can't afford to make a single wrong move."

Chi Laiyi hesitated, "Brother, does this mean the Chi family still has to join the Demon Suppression Camp to prove its worth?"

Chi Laiyong fell silent.

After a long pause, he said, "Lai Yi, you are the head of the family, and the decision on this matter is yours."

Chi Laiyi was taken aback and looked up at his elder brother.

He was merely a temporary replacement for Chi Laiyong as the head of the family.

Chi Laiyong had always been the backbone of the Chi family. Although he harbored some resentment, he acquiesced. He never imagined that his elder brother would entrust him with such an important decision.
Chi Laiyong rubbed his temples: "You don't know what Master Li is like. The reason he didn't summon the Chi family must be because he saw that our Chi family is stubborn! He is such a shrewd person, how could he take the initiative to ask for favors?"

But he will never let go of anyone he can use! He might be waiting for us to visit him in Changning City right now.

If we don't go!

More than a decade later, they might become vassals of the Green Cloud Cave. But if they want to prove their worth…

Chi Laiyong paused, then looked at his younger brother: "One general's success is built on the bones of ten thousand! Hall Master Li is ambitious, having established two Demon-Suppressing Camps, determined to use the entire beast tide of Pudong as his stepping stone. Regardless of success or failure, the battlefield will be littered with corpses. Our Chi family is weak; if we get involved, at best we'll suffer minor injuries, at worst..."

Chi Laiyong didn't say the rest.

But how could Chi Laiyi not know?
He clenched his fists. Only now did he realize what his elder brother had been thinking all along. The Chi family's carriage had long since reached a turning point in their fate; whichever path they chose seemed like an abyss, yet he remained oblivious.

"If it's just idle talk..."

Chi Laiyi couldn't help but think of his younger sister.

If Chi Youyan marries into the Li family, many problems will be easily solved.

Thinking of this, Chi Laiyi took a deep breath: "It seems I still need to urge Youyan on."

Chi Laiyong sighed silently.

Chi Youyan is a "seed" planted by her grandfather, and is the last line of defense to ensure the safety of the Chi family.

However, the seed failed to take root and sprout for a long time.

Master Li's attitude towards Chi Youyan was definitely not bad; in fact, it could be described as caring, but it had nothing to do with intimacy. If Master Li were faithful in his affections, that would be one thing, but unfortunately, the other party had recently brought a strange woman to Xiaolan Valley to see the sea of ​​flowers.

This is enough to show that Chi Youyan actually had the opportunity to get close to Master Li.

But she didn't seem to care much about it.

"Lai Yi, you are the head of the family, you should communicate more with Youyan."

Chi Laiyong gave a deep, solemn instruction.

Just then, another person came along, walking hurriedly.

"What's the matter?"

Late Yong asked.

The man was drenched in sweat and said urgently, "Brother, the Demon Suppression Camp is here!"

"Demon Suppression Camp?"

Chi Laiyong was shocked and jumped up: "Where is the Demon Suppression Camp?"

"At Jinqianling!"

"Jinqianling?"

Chi Laiyong and Chi Laiyi exchanged a glance, both understanding each other's confusion.

Chi Laiyi asked, "Why did the Demon Suppression Camp travel all the way to Jinqianling? Has a beast tide broken out over the Huang family's territory?"

"how is this possible?"

Chi Laiyong immediately retorted, "Jinqianling, Baolong Valley, and our Xiaolan Valley are all adjacent to each other. If the Huang family encountered a beast tide, we couldn't possibly have been unaware of it."

He suddenly remembered something and asked in a low voice, "How many people from the Demon Suppression Camp went?"

"More than one hundred people!"

Chi Laiyong gasped.

There are no demonic disturbances at Jinqianling, so why did the Demon Suppression Camp send over a hundred cultivators there? What are they planning to do?
This is an attempt to force the emperor to abdicate!
Recalling Li Xiangming's arrogant demeanor, Chi Laiyong hesitated for a moment, but finally a resolute look flashed across his face: "Laiyi, quickly prepare the gifts."

(End of this chapter)