I planted the spiritual roots for my people, and they bestowed upon me a body inscribed with incense

However, Li Yuan had already embarked on his journey to Qingyang Market, and the person in charge of the Li family was Li Daqiang.

News of the massacre quickly reached the Li family through County Magistrate Zhou Boyuan. Upon learning of this, Li Daqiang swiftly began making arrangements. However, the Li family only focused on the small fishing village and its vicinity, and could not oversee the more distant areas.

The Li family is not so easy to conquer now. In addition to the cultivators in the Li family, the Li family's clan army is also expanding day by day, and the Li family's bandit extermination team consists of third-rate or even second-rate martial artists.

As long as it's not a top-tier evil cultivator, Li Daqiang is confident he can keep the evil cultivators in the small fishing village.

After traveling for half a month, Li Yuan finally arrived at Qingyang Market. This time, Qingyang Market was much more lively than the last time he came.

Upon arriving at the market, Li Yuan once again chose Xiuzhen Pavilion first. This time, Li Yuan bumped into the manager, Wang Quan, as soon as he entered the pavilion. Wang Quan recognized Li Yuan at a glance.

"Haha, please come in, esteemed guest. Xiuzhen Pavilion has a lot of new and nice items. If you see anything you like, I'll give you a 10% discount online."

Li Yuan could tell from Wang Quan's expression that he had probably made a lot of money these days.

"Manager Wang, I've come to ask if your establishment has any practical killing formations? There's a monster horde coming, so we'd like to defend against them if we can."

Upon hearing this, Steward Wang immediately took out four sets of formations from his Qiankun bag.

"If our distinguished guest had arrived earlier, this killing array package would have satisfied your needs. However, we currently only have four killing arrays in the pavilion, and each of these four arrays requires a considerable amount of spiritual energy."

"However, its only advantage is that the killing formation is quite powerful. It can at least deal with cultivators at the peak of Qi Refining, and the most powerful version can even unleash a blow from a cultivator in the early stage of Foundation Establishment."

As he spoke, Steward Wang pointed to the formation on the far left.

Upon hearing that the killing formation had even unleashed an attack equivalent to a Foundation Establishment cultivator, Li Yuan picked up the formation plate and saw that it was inscribed with the words "Wood Spirit Formation."

The Wood Spirit Array uses the surrounding wood-attribute life forms as its foundation, serving to confuse and suppress intruding enemies.

This was perfect for Zhushan at the moment, and Li Yuan then spoke to Steward Wang:

"Manager Wang, how many spirit stones does this 'Wood Spirit Array' cost?"

Upon hearing this, Steward Wang pointed to the number two. Seeing this, Li Yuan quickly took out two hundred spirit stones and handed them to Steward Wang.

"I want this formation."

Seeing Li Yuan's straightforwardness, Wang Quan smiled even more.

"Haha, esteemed guest, you are so generous. I wonder if you would be interested in my Xiuzhen Pavilion's auction?"

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan waved his hand.

"Hahaha, these two hundred spirit stones have already emptied my pockets. Where will I find the spirit stones to continue participating in the auction?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Quan waved his hand and handed a token to Li Yuan.

"Rest assured, esteemed guest, Xiuzhen Pavilion is still preparing for the auction. The official auction will not begin for another year. I forgot to tell you that this auction will be hosted by three Foundation Establishment cultivators, and there will even be Foundation Establishment spiritual items at the auction."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan's expression changed, and he immediately put the jade token away.

Li Yuan naturally couldn't miss the auction featuring a Foundation Establishment spiritual item; if such a treasure were to appear, the Li family would certainly have to get involved.

After learning about the beast tide from the steward, Li Yuancai left Xiuzhen Pavilion.

To avoid being followed, Li Yuan carefully observed the area and, finding that no one was indeed following him, slowly left Qingyang Market.

The Wood Spirit Array that he purchased could unleash a Foundation Establishment cultivator's attack when fully activated, but once this move was made, the array would definitely shatter. However, this could be considered one of the Li family's major killing moves.

Back at the Li family, another half month passed. Upon arriving at Bamboo Mountain, Li Yuan immediately set up the Wood Forest Array. He had purchased the right spirit for this Wood Spirit Array. With the presence of the spirit bamboo on Bamboo Mountain, this array was virtually invincible unless a Foundation Establishment cultivator came.

Just after Li Yuan finished setting up the array on Zhushan Mountain, Li Daqiang told Li Yuan about the evil cultivators who had appeared in Qingshan County.

Last time, the evil cultivator in the Zhenxie Hall couldn't find out who it was. Now, with the beast tide imminent, another evil cultivator has appeared, which gives Li Yuan a headache. As long as this evil cultivator wants to hide, Li Yuan will never be able to find out.

Fortunately, in addition to the illusion array, the Li family also has the Wood Spirit Array, so ordinary evil cultivators dare not cause trouble near the Li family.

Even if there are evil cultivators causing trouble this time, Li Yuan does not plan to send out bandit extermination teams or people from the Sishui Escort Agency to deal with this matter. With the beast tide imminent, it is best for the Li family to concentrate their efforts on dealing with the beast tide.

To Li Yuan's delight, his mother, whom he hadn't seen in a long time, had successfully broken through to the third level of Qi Refining, and Li Shouqian and Zhou Tian had also successfully reached the first level of Qi Refining.

Li Yuan was very satisfied with his son Li Shouqian's character. Although he appeared docile, Li Yuan had seen through his ruthlessness. This was exactly the kind of personality the Li family needed.

As for Li Shouyi, he was quite the opposite. He had to ask Liu Yue'er or Li Yuan about everything and couldn't handle anything. In this cruel world of cultivation, if Li Shouyi had the personality, he would suffer a great loss sooner or later.

After Li Shouqian broke through to the first level of Qi Refining, Li Yuan arranged for him and Zhou Tian to work together to develop the newly opened spiritual fields of the Li family. The two of them were also in charge of the daily spiritual rain technique.

Although Zhou Tian was young, he was just as intelligent as Li Shouqian. He never got involved in any of the core matters of the Li family, and almost deliberately avoided them.

Moreover, Li Yuan was very envious of his dual spiritual root talent. He had only been cultivating for a short time, but he had already reached the peak of the first level of Qi Refining and was about to break through to the second level of Qi Refining.

As for Zhou Tian's dual spiritual roots, Li Yuan had already mentioned it to Zhou Boyuan after Zhou Tian's spiritual awakening was successful, and Li Yuan still vividly remembered Zhou Boyuan's excited expression.

Entrusting the newly developed spiritual fields to the two of them will not only give Liu Yue'er more time to cultivate, but also hone Zhou Tian and Li Shouqian's proficiency in controlling magical power.

On the tenth day of Li Yuan's seclusion, Zhang Xuan finally came knocking on his door.

Arriving at the courtyard at the foot of Zhushan Mountain, Zhang Xuan was drinking tea brewed by a servant.

"Brother Zhang, is your visit here regarding the beast tide?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xuan nodded.

"Brother Li, this time it is probably even more dangerous than the previous battle city. Even our court officials have to participate in the battle. This is an order personally given by the Purple Mansion True Lord of Daqing."

Li Yuan was somewhat puzzled after hearing this.

"Even if we're going to fight, there's no need for Brother Zhang to look so grim, is there?"

Zhang Xuan sighed. "Brother Li may not be aware of the situation."

"At present, the border of Daqing is building defensive fortifications with all its might. This battle will not stop for at least ten or eight years. All the immortals on the border are migrating inland, and each family is sending at least half of their cultivators to participate in the battle."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan's expression froze instantly.

"What?! It's going to take ten or eight years?"

Zhang Xuan nodded in affirmation.

"That's right, just wait and see, the imperial tax revenue will definitely increase soon."

"Although the transfer order hasn't been issued yet, it's definitely the most meticulously planned transfer order ever." Zhang Xuan then glanced at Li Yuan.

"Brother Li, I'm informing you in advance that this war is going to last for an unknown period of time. In any case, before the conflict between the Medicine Sect and the Heavenly Dragon Buddhist Kingdom ends, there certainly won't be much support for Daqing."

"Moreover, according to the inside information I know, if Daqing can survive this, it will be able to break away from Lingyao Peak and open another peak. This is also an important reason why Ancestor Ouyang agreed to do his best to resist the beast tide."