Establishing a Clan in the Eastern Wilderness: A Daily Divination, Cultivating Longevity in a Grotto

Yun Jiuniang summoned a green shadow from her spirit beast pouch.

A blue wolf, the size of a calf, with fur as smooth as silk and a silver crescent mark on its forehead.

"Green Wood Wolf, peak first tier, I'll lend it to you for now." Yun Jiuniang patted the Green Wolf's back. "It understands human nature and will obey your commands."

The blue wolf glanced at Li Changsheng, neither showing affection nor resistance, but simply lay quietly at Li Changle's feet.

"Thank you, Senior Yun." Li Changsheng hadn't expected this unexpected joy.

Yun Jiuniang didn't say anything more.

His figure transformed into a streak of azure light and vanished into the sky in an instant.

Li Changsheng turned around and said to Chen Wenyuan:

"Withdraw the clansmen patrolling the mountain and tighten the defenses. From this day forward, no one may enter or leave the mountain without my order."

...

...

Cheng family.

In the courtyard behind the council chamber, cups and plates were scattered everywhere.

The outer sect steward sent by the Yun family to guard the Cheng family was leaning back on the soft couch, sipping his wine. The young female cultivator standing beside him, dressed in the attire of a Cheng family woman, was pouring him wine with her head bowed, but her body was trembling slightly.

Cheng Lao Er sat at the lower end of the table, his smile frozen for a long time.

The Cheng family paid far too much for this "god".

It wasn't just about spirit stones; it was also about the innocence of a woman from a collateral branch of the clan. No matter how favored her younger sister was by the Second Elder of the Yun family, she couldn't always look after her maternal family. To persuade this deacon at the peak of Qi Refining to stay and guard the place, her father had to pay a real price.

But it's worth it.

As long as we get through the bandit horde, it will all be worth it.

Cheng Lao Er's thoughts had just reached this point—

The token at the waist of the Yun family steward suddenly burst forth with a blinding blood-red light!

"not good!"

The Yun family steward's expression changed drastically. He abruptly stood up, not even caring that his wine cup had rolled to the ground. He shoved aside the female cultivator beside him and strode out.

"Senior! Senior!" Cheng Lao Er hurriedly caught up, "The bandits are coming soon, and you're going at this critical moment..."

"roll!"

Without turning his head, the Yun family steward kicked Cheng Lao Er in the chest, knocking him to the ground. The force of the peak Qi Refining stage kick caused Cheng Lao Er's blood to surge, and he couldn't get up for a moment.

By the time Cheng Lao Er, clutching his chest, chased after the figure out of the courtyard gate, the azure light had already vanished into the horizon, without even a word of explanation.

"Fuck your ancestors!"

Cheng Lao Er finally cursed out loud, staring at the empty sky.

To appease this plague god, the Cheng family squandered countless spirit stones, lost face, and even sacrificed their seventeen-year-old cousin... She left without leaving a trace!

He stumbled and staggered into the old clan chief's study.

"Father! That bastard from the Yun family has run away!"

Elder Cheng, sitting in his armchair, suddenly changed his expression.

"Emergency recall..." he began slowly, his voice hoarse. "In the past hundred years, the Yun family has only issued one emergency recall order seventy years ago during the great chaos in the Eastern Wilderness."

Cheng Lao Er was stunned.

"Father, you mean...?"

"This banditry is no ordinary raid." Elder Cheng stood up. "Immediately gather all the Qi Refining Clan members, take your storage bags, and head to the Spirit Field."

"Harvest now?" Cheng Lao Er asked anxiously. "The red marrow rice won't be fully ripe for another five days! Harvesting now will reduce the yield by 10%!"

Elder Cheng slapped him across the face.

"If we can preserve 90%, it's already a blessing from our ancestors!" he roared. "Harvest immediately! Not a single grain can be left! After harvesting, all Qi Refining cultivators must set off immediately for the market to take refuge!"

Cheng Lao Er covered his face, not daring to argue any further.

...

...

All sixty-seven Qi Refining cultivators from the Cheng family went to the fields.

With the spirit sickle flying and spiritual power pushed to its limit, eighteen acres of red marrow rice fell in swathes at a visible speed, threshed, bagged, and stored in the treasure pouch. What would normally take three days to harvest was ninety percent done in less than two hours.

Elder Cheng personally oversaw the operation, ensuring that not a single grain of rice was left behind.

The last bag of spiritual rice was put into the bag.

"Let's go!" Elder Cheng ordered, "Through the secret passage in the back mountain, towards the market..."

Before he could finish speaking...

A sharp, piercing sound came from outside the mountain gate.

Elder Cheng's expression changed drastically.

The spiritual mist outside the mountain gate was violently torn apart, and more than thirty cultivators dressed in animal skins and with tattooed faces filed in. The leader exuded a wild aura and was clearly at the peak of Qi Refining.

The bandits have arrived.

Moreover, the mountain gate has already been surrounded.

"No...didn't they say there were still two or three days left...?" A young member of the Cheng family said, his voice trembling.

Elder Cheng did not respond.

He gazed at the layers of figures in the direction of the mountain gate, and something went out in his cloudy old eyes.

"Activate the mountain-protecting formation," he said in a hoarse voice.

"Father!" Cheng Lao Er cried out, "We have a top-tier first-order formation! They're just a peak Qi Refining cultivator; they might not be able to break through! We have sixty or seventy people; we're not without a fighting chance!"

"The strength to fight?" Elder Cheng turned to look at him, his gaze unreadable, a mixture of weariness and disappointment. "And then?"

Cheng Lao Er opened his mouth.

"Kill this wave, but what about the second? The third?" Elder Cheng's voice was soft. "The mountain-protecting formation is damaged. What will you use to repair it? Your clansmen are killed or injured. What will you use to compensate them?"

Cheng Lao Er clenched his fists tightly, filled with resentment.

"Activate the formation." Elder Cheng turned away from him and addressed the clansmen guarding the formation.

The spiritual light of the mountain gate array slowly faded away.

Elder Cheng faced the horde of ferocious bandits alone, presenting them with both hands the storage bag filled with red marrow rice.

"The Cheng family of Qinglan County has offered all of this year's spirit rice harvest to you fellow Daoists. We only ask that you do not harm a single grain and spare the lives of our Cheng clan."

The bandit leader took the storage bag, glanced at it, and the amount matched. He looked at Elder Cheng, then at the Cheng family members who looked terrified but were mostly unharmed.

The Cheng family's sensibility saved him a lot of trouble.

He was too lazy to waste any more time.

"Walk."

The bandit turned around, and his thirty-odd men retreated like a receding tide.

Cheng Lao Er stared at those retreating figures, his eyes bloodshot with rage.

A year's harvest. The food for the entire clan of cultivators next year. The little bit of dignity my sister gained by humbling herself in the Yun family, exchanged for this position as a resident deacon, and the loss of another cousin...

It's all gone.

His gaze passed over the dust and smoke of the departing bandits and landed in the direction of Qinglan Mountain.

There, Li Changsheng resides.

There, you'll find Li Changsheng, who killed his third brother, caused him to be humiliated in public, and made the Cheng family a laughingstock.

His throat bobbed, and he spoke in a hoarse voice, "Senior, please wait."

The bandit leader paused, turning his head to look at him.

Cheng Lao Er's voice was very low, so low that only the two of them could hear it:

"The Li family of Qinglan Mountain has a cultivation level of no more than the fourth level of Qi Refining. The people sent by the Yun family to guard the area have also been urgently recalled today."

He paused for a moment, then added, "The Li family has more spiritual lands than the Cheng family."

The bandit leader squinted.

He scrutinized Cheng Lao Er, his gaze neither mocking nor amused.

He had seen this kind of trick far too many times in the Eastern Wilderness: using someone else to do his dirty work.

But the information provided by Cheng Lao Er was true.

He had confirmed this when he left the Cheng family—the Yun family had indeed recalled all the clansmen stationed outside.

A small Qi Refining family without the protection of a powerful clan, whose highest cultivation level is only the fourth level of Qi Refining...

"Towards Qinglan Mountain." The bandit leader waved his hand, changing the direction of their journey.

The thirty-odd bandits behind him were like hungry wolves smelling blood.