Transform into ancestral tablets and create a supreme immortal clan.

"I can still bestow upon you the Blazing Sun Pill."

However, to rebuild the foundation, at least one 'Spirit Fruit' level of a rare and precious spiritual object is required in exchange.

As soon as he finished speaking, the air in the ancestral hall seemed to freeze.

Python Spirit Fruit!

These three words struck the hearts of every Shen family cultivator like a heavy hammer.

In the Shen family's treasury, there is only one Python Spirit Fruit left. It is the Shen family's last treasure and their greatest hope for creating another Foundation Establishment cultivator in the next few decades!

This fruit was left behind by Shen Chong, the seventh-generation ancestor of the Shen family, more than a hundred years ago, before he passed away.

It can not only greatly enhance the cultivation and mana of Foundation Establishment cultivators, but also increase the success rate of Foundation Establishment by 20% for Qi Refining cultivators.

Twenty percent! For the Shen family cultivators, this twenty percent was practically a world of difference.

Among the younger generation of the Shen family, Shen Mingzhou is the most talented. He has dual spiritual roots, is forty-three years old this year, and has reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining. If he has the help of the Python Spirit Fruit, his chances of establishing his foundation in the future will greatly increase.

And now, this python spirit fruit, which may be the future hope of the Shen family, is to be used to exchange for the treatment opportunity of a disciple who has been crippled and whose future is ruined?

"Ancestor," Shen Shixiu raised his head, his old face streaked with tears, his voice trembling, "I...I am willing to give all my contribution points, all the savings of my lineage, even my old life, to exchange for a glimmer of hope for Mu Ge! I beg you..."

"Elder brother!" Shen Shiqian interrupted him, his tone complicated. "It's not that we don't want to save Mu Ge, but there's only one Spirit Fruit. Even if Mu Ge is healed, it's uncertain whether her cultivation will recover, and... that injury is even more..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but everyone understood what he meant.

Shen Muge's situation at this time is particularly special.

In the world of cultivation, reattaching severed limbs is not difficult; any Foundation Establishment cultivator can do it easily.

However, limb regeneration is extremely difficult.

Shen Muge's manhood had long been eaten by some monster.

To be reborn, one must be a Golden Core cultivator, capable of reshaping one's physical body.

Alternatively, one could take "Skin Regeneration Elixir".

That "Regenerating Muscle Pill" costs tens of thousands of spirit stones, and it's priceless.

This is simply not something the Shen family can do.

If our ancestors were to intervene, it might be possible, but the cost would be no less than that of the "Regenerating Muscle and Creating Elixir".

The price of a single "Spirit Fruit" was merely to remove the cold poison from Shen Muge, rebuild her foundation, and allow her to embark on the path of cultivation anew.

However, a man whose lineage has been severed cannot pass on his bloodline, and in the world of cultivation, he is almost equivalent to a useless person among useless people.

Even if one's cultivation is restored and one's foundation is rebuilt, it is difficult to maintain one's spirit. Daoist partners and inheritances will become empty talk, and one's Dao heart will likely be left with irreparable cracks.

"Moreover..." Another, younger clan elder, Shen Wenyuan, said in a deep voice, "There are suspicious points about Mu Ge's matter."

"Seven Star Mountain's attitude is ambiguous. If we spend a lot of money to treat him, will it attract further targeting?"

The Bei family is eyeing us covetously. If Seven Star Mountain exerts further pressure, my Shen family... may face annihilation!

This is a strong statement, but it is not an exaggeration.

For a moment, no one in the ancestral hall refuted this; only heavy breathing could be heard.

Shen Muge lay on the stretcher, listening to the clansmen's arguments, her eyes vacant as she stared at the beams and pillars of the ancestral hall.

He did not plead or defend himself; he simply lay there quietly, as if the discussion was not about his life or death.

"What Wen Yuan said makes sense." Shen Shichu slowly stood up, his gaze sweeping over each clansman present. "But I want to ask you all a question: If you, your direct descendant, were lying here today, how would you conduct yourselves?"

He walked to the center of the ancestral hall, his voice suddenly rising: "What has enabled my Shen family to establish itself in Mingzhou for eight hundred years?"

"It's not about compromising, not about betraying principles for personal gain, and certainly not about abandoning our own kind! It's based on the eight words: 'We are connected by blood, sharing honor and disgrace!'"

"Our ancestors are here." He turned and bowed deeply before the offering table: "If today, for the sake of a single spiritual fruit, we abandon Mu Ge, abandon our own people, then the soul of the Shen family will be scattered!"

"Today we can abandon Mu Ge, tomorrow we can abandon others. The day after tomorrow, when disaster strikes, who will still fight to the death for the family?"

"But patriarch, the python spirit fruit is related to the future of the family..." Shen Shiqian wanted to argue.

"Without the present, how can we talk about the future?" Shen Shichu turned around abruptly, his gaze sharp as lightning.

"What kind of future does a family that can easily abandon its own children deserve?"

Our ancestors bestowed upon us this opportunity so that we might become self-reliant, not so that we might be calculating gains and losses, cold-blooded and heartless!

He took a deep breath and said decisively, "In the name of the patriarch, I propose that we take out the Python Spirit Fruit, offer it to our ancestors, and ask them to save Shen Muge."

Those who agree, please stand on the left.

After saying that, he was the first to walk to the left side of the ancestral hall.

Shen Shixiu practically crawled, staggering to his side as he stood, tears streaming down his face.

After a brief silence, members of the tribe began to move.

Shen Wenyuan's expression changed several times before he finally sighed and walked to the left.

He's not cold-blooded, he just overthinks things.

Shen Shiqian stood there, his face contorted with struggle.

He was in charge of the storeroom and knew all too well what that python spirit fruit meant to the Shen family now.

But looking at the once brilliant young man on the stretcher who had brought countless honors to the family, and then at Shen Shichu's determined eyes, he finally closed his eyes and moved his feet.

Finally, all the monks in the shrine stood on the left side.

No one objected.

Shen Shichu's eyes were slightly red as he bowed deeply to the crowd: "Thank you all for upholding the righteousness of the Shen family!"

He turned and knelt before the offering table: "This unworthy descendant begs our ancestors to save Shen Muge, a member of the Shen family!"

Shen Xiao, inside the memorial tablet, took in all of this.

He wasn't particularly moved; this was a test he had deliberately set for himself.

But the choices made by the Shen family members did give him a greater sense of identification with this declining family.

"Can."

With that word spoken, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Shen Shiqian personally retrieved the Python Spirit Fruit, which was a jade box that was entirely emerald green and faintly glowed with spiritual light.

Upon opening, a fruit the size of a longan, shaped like a small snake coiled around its head, and golden-red in color, lay quietly inside, emitting a fragrant aroma and brimming with spiritual energy.

Shen Xiao also has one of these items; it was from the previous family fortune gift pack.

As the jade box was respectfully placed on the offering table, the system notification sounded precisely on time:

[The host has received a family offering: a thousand-year-old python spirit fruit, carrying significant family fortune. It can be converted into 500 offering points. Convert?]

"Transformation".

A flash of golden light, and the jade box, along with the python spirit fruit inside, transformed into a stream of light and disappeared into the spirit tablet.

Shen Xiao looked at the 500 new offering points added to the system and quickly made calculations in his mind.

"System, exchange for Blazing Sun Pills."

[Exchange successful. 100 Offering Points consumed. Obtained "Blazing Sun Pill" (Superior Grade).]

A fiery red pill with flowing golden patterns on its surface appeared out of thin air on the offering table, radiating a blazing, pure yang aura that instantly dispelled some of the chill in the ancestral hall.

"Give it to him."

Shen Shixiu carefully picked up the pill and fed it to Shen Muge.

The pill melted instantly upon entering her mouth, and a warm current flowed throughout Shen Muge's entire body.