Rebuilding the Immortal Cultivator Clan

"Have you been ambushed again?" Li Shiqing looked at the stirred-up Li Shiren with a glint of dark light flashing in his eyes.

If it weren't for the fact that the Li family had just arrived in Yunping State and were cautious of the Yuanming Sect, Li Shiqing would have already taken action to wipe out those three families to the east.

Although he hadn't had much time to cultivate in recent years and his powers hadn't improved much, with his late-stage Foundation Establishment and the late-stage Foundation Establishment Spirit Beast, the Green Pupil Tiger, he could entirely crush each of those three major families one by one at an affordable price!

"It was two greedy, ignorant loose cultivators, who, relying on secret techniques they possessed, attempted to murder and rob treasures," Li Shilian roughly described the situation they encountered on the road.

"Second brother, please activate the Hall Array," Li Shilian said with a solemn expression.

Stirred, Li Shiqing immediately activated the formation, enveloping the hall within its confines, cutting off any connection to the outside world.

"This matter concerns Zhirui, let him tell you about it," Li Shilian stepped to the right, highlighting Li Zhirui.

Li Zhirui first took out a scroll from his storage bag, and even though he knew the scroll was no ordinary item, he handled it with extreme care.

"Clan Leader, this is a Visualization Diagram I came across by chance at the auction; it contains a Visualization Method 'Divine Turtle Ocean-Suppressing Chart'."

Li Shiqing, who originally found the Divine Turtle to be vividly lifelike, changed his expression dramatically. Heeding Li Zhirui's reminder, he immediately plunged his powerful divine sense into a specific piece of the turtle shell to verify the truth of what Li Zhirui claimed.

Li Zhirui wasn't concerned about Li Shiqing's direct attempt to comprehend the skill because he never planned to monopolize the Visualization Method. Had he wanted to keep it to himself, he would not have shared the secret of the scroll with Li Shilian at the auction.

However, he was absolutely not going to part with the scroll!

At most, he would allow his clanspeople to observe the scroll to grasp its true meaning and visualize the inner dharma likeness of the Divine Turtle Calming the Sea in their Sea of Consciousness, but the ownership of the scroll could only be his!

A moment later, Li Shiqing withdrew his presence from the scroll, his face brimming with a smile, and said, "It truly is a Visualization Technique! It should be useful in suppressing Heart Demons."

"Second brother, then you…" Li Shilian, thinking of the ownership of the Divine Turtle Diagram, swallowed his words and conveyed through a psychic whisper that Li Zhirui had purchased the scroll with the family's Spirit Stones at the auction.

Practicing this Visualization Technique would be beneficial for him, as well as the other clan members, but Li Shiqing felt slightly embarrassed to ask Li Zhirui for it.

"I can hand over the Visualization Method to the clan and agree to let fellow clan members observe and practice with the scroll, but its master must be me!" Li Zhirui said, seizing the opportunity.

"Very well," Li Shiqing agreed without hesitation and added, "As a reward for your tremendous contribution to the clan, you can keep the Spirit Stones you borrowed."

"Thank you, Clan Leader!" Li Zhirui didn't refuse, as this agreement was beneficial for both parties and he couldn't pay back the vast number of Spirit Stones in a short period anyway.

"During the day, the Divine Turtle Diagram can hang in the Scripture Pavilion, but at night I need to take it back for my personal cultivation," Li Zhirui put forth his condition.

This was to be expected; one couldn't have Li Zhirui practice in the Scripture Pavilion at night, could they? If something went wrong and the scriptures there were damaged, it would be unfavorable both for the Li family and for Li Zhirui.

"Keep the scroll in my possession for some time until I've grasped the 'Divine Turtle Ocean-Suppressing Chart' Visualization Method and then I will return it to you." Li Shiqing wasn't trying to claim the scroll for himself, but rather wanted to perfect the method to facilitate his clanspeople's cultivation.

Li Zhirui nodded, his gaze fleetingly taking in a still-shocked Li Shiren. He looked apologetically at him. It wasn't that he intended to deceive Li Shiren, but such a significant matter as the Visualization Diagram needed to be kept secret from the outside world as much as possible.

Then Li Shilian recounted to Li Shiqing what they had seen and heard at the auction, the most significant being the exorbitant cost of the Foundation Establishment Pills.

"Eighty thousand Spirit Stones?" Li Shiqing's face showed a slight change of expression. Although the grocery store and Cloudtop Pavilion could be described as making a fortune daily, they would also need to save for several years to amass that many Spirit Stones! After all, the maintenance of a large clan also meant significant expenditures.

Li Shiqing's mind raced as he sighed, "We still need to find a way to cultivate more clan members who can refine Jade Spirit Pills!"

It wasn't that he expected them to become Alchemists, but he hoped they could learn to refine Jade Spirit Pills with the clan's generous investment.

This was the best option that Li Shiqing could think of.

The Li family had a total of three second-grade inheritances: Beast Taming, Formation, and Spirit Plant cultivation.

The Beast Taming was crucial for the family foundations, and since the first-grade Spirit Beasts reared were turned into Spirit Food at Cloudtop Pavilion, earning a large number of Spirit Stones for the clan, but now it had reached the limit.

First, the spiritual energy on Da Rong Island was limited, so it was impossible to expand the scale of the Spirit Beasts; second, although the Marketplace was bustling with visiting Cultivators, the price of Spirit Food was not inexpensive, so it was not something that could be consumed frequently.

Another very important reason was that a new tavern had opened in the Marketplace, the Welcoming Immortals Inn, which debuted shortly before, and because of its lower prices, it had pulled away some of Cloudtop Pavilion's customers.

Of course, you get what you pay for, so the taste of the Spirit Food and the spiritual energy it contained at Immortal Guests' Arrival were inferior to that of Cloudtop Pavilion; although it posed a threat, it wasn't significant.

As for Formation and Spirit Plant cultivation, the demand for Formation among loose cultivators on the market wasn't large, and Spirit Plants were used for Alchemy and cultivating Spirit Beasts and could not be sold on a large scale.

Therefore, if the family wanted to earn more Spirit Stones, they had no choice but to find a way through Alchemy, and Water Refining Jade Spirit Pills was the best choice.

Their refinement was relatively easy, the demand on the market was huge, and more importantly, the price was not low.

Facing the concerns of Li Shiqing, Li Zhirui did not speak because he had already shared all his insights and techniques on refining Jade Spirit Pills with the clan, and with the more experienced Pill-refining Elder Li Shihe there, he couldn't help much anyway.

"However, Water Refinement Pills have also begun to appear on the market recently." A hint of gloom appeared on Li Shilian's face.

Similarly, upon hearing this for the first time, Li Zhirui and Li Shiren's expressions shifted subtly, but their reactions differed. The former looked thoughtful, while the latter's brows furrowed.

Before the Li family introduced Jade Spirit Pills, there were no Water Refinement Pills in Yunping State, not because the other powers were unaware that Water Refinement was better, but because the input costs were higher and the refinement difficulty was higher.

And Fire Refinement could also earn a substantial amount of Spirit Stones, let alone the fact that they already had rich experience in that area, so naturally they hadn't considered learning the Water Refinement Method.

But things were different now. With the Li family's emergence, various Water-Refined Pills with better effects and less pill toxicity appeared. Their prices were the same as those of Fire-Refined Pills, so it was only natural that Water Refinement Pills were sought after by Cultivators.

As a result, this caused suffering to the other powers; the Li family occupied a large market share, and if not for the scarcity of Water Refinement Pills, many stores selling pills would have had to close down due to dismal business.

Necessity is the mother of invention, so these powers began to learn Water Refinement Methods and, after several months, finally produced their own.

"It's fine, the market for Water Refinement Pills is huge, and our family can't monopolize it all," said Li Shiqing with profound meaning. "Sometimes, having one power dominate isn't a good thing."

Especially without enough strength to back it up, if the Li family didn't know when to restrain itself and give way, they could end up being attacked by the other powers.

Li Shilian and Li Shiren's expressions changed slightly. They only saw the loss of the Li family's interests, but they did not see the hidden crisis.

Li Zhirui only felt that the presence of Water Refinement Pills from other powers in the marketplace would not lead to a reduction in the Li family's revenue, at least not for now. But Li Shiqing thought deeper and further ahead.