[Year 210]
[Special Event—Flight for Survival]
[Event Update: The destruction of the Li Clan's main stronghold has not deterred Venerable Tian Xing from his relentless hunt to eliminate all survivors. Moreover, neither Eternal Sun Prefecture nor the Imperial Dynasty itself would raise any objection to seeing the Li Clan completely wiped out, down to the last root.]
[Clan status Update: Your surviving clansn, now fugitives in faraway lands, struggle to confront their tragic past. Their morale is broken, their thoughts overwhelmingly grim; their spirits have descended into darkness, and fear compels them to hide their true identities and origins. Clan Trait Acquired: The Lost Clan.]
[Trait Effect: 'The Lost Clan' – Unable to co to terms with the fact of their near-extermination, your clansn suffer the following: Cultivation Speed -10%; Combat Effectiveness -10%; Comprehension -10%... (Further penalties may apply.)]
...
Five years passed!
In the intervening years, allies of the Li family had journeyed to rit City one by one. None of them knew precisely what had transpired on that fateful day. All that was known was that a mysterious group had stord the Li Clan's stronghold, and since that ti, not a single Li clansman had been sighted again within the Azure Cloud region. rit City itself beca a most enigmatic location; Region Prince Jiang decreed that no outsiders were to disturb its strange peace.
The city itself had co to symbolize a fleeting, glorious age – a ti when the Li Clan spearheaded Azure Cloud region's repeated triumphs over the Wu Clan. Now, Region Prince Jiang had taken up the Li family's mantle, continuing to lead the Azure Cloud Region Army and the clan's allies in the ongoing struggle for the Azure Cloud region.
It was common knowledge that within rit City dwelt one Huang Xiujin, eternally waiting beside the statues morializing the Li family. What no one realized, however, was that within the Li family's Ancestral Hall – still maintained in immaculate, dustless order – a solitary figure had remained seated in a silent, unmoving daze... for five long years.
Late autumn had arrived again. A dense morning mist shrouded the paths outside the Ancestral Hall. Through it, one could dimly perceive the Primal Blood Tree – outwardly appearing to burst with vigorous life, yet in truth, already desiccated and barren. A pall of mist hung over the Li family compound, and it seed all paths to the future had vanished.
All of rit City was suspended in ti, forever, the day before the calamity. And Li Wei himself – was he not trapped in much the sa state? He was like a wandering, lost spirit, having remained seated there, unmoving and vacant, for five long years.
The instant Venerable Tian Xing had appeared, all the aspirations he and his clan had cherished, all their dreams, had been rendered utterly absurd.
So many grand designs he had nurtured: for the family to flourish and put down deep roots in rit City; their ambitious strategy to expand the three Azure Cloud regions into twelve; the ticulously crafted Thousand-Year Blood Exchange Plan; their ultimate goal of bringing all of Eternal Sun Prefecture firmly under their control...
He had envisioned a future where the clan would boast an unending stream of Divinity Transformation stage masters; where his descendants would establish themselves across every corner of Eternal Sun Prefecture; where rit City's grand Martial Training Halls would echo with the shouts of Li children, competing every ten years, every hundred, vying to be acknowledged as the most exceptional talents of their generation...
He had declared to Venerable Tian Xing that nothing was over, that everything was only just beginning. But now... now Li Wei desperately wished the clinging mist outside would perate the Ancestral Hall, wished it would cloud his vision. Then, perhaps, the relentless stream of notifications on the translucent panel before him – announcing the death of his kin, one after another – would cease to sear his eyes and leave him so utterly broken.
He knew not how long he sat there, but eventually, the bright sun ascended, its rays banishing the mist that lay thick outside the Ancestral Hall.
"Coo coo!"
An autumn bird called out. On the panel, notifications began to flash insistently, one after another, repeating themselves. The persistent alerts finally caused Li Wei to stir from his deep stupor, his awareness slowly returning.
[System Alert: Your descendant, Li Xinghuo, is currently being pursued by hostiles! He is clutching an Ancestral Spirit Tablet and desperately implores Your divine protection!]
[System Alert: Your descendant, Li Xinghuo, requests your protection!]
[System Alert: Li Xinghuo... requests... protection!]
"Li Xinghuo..."
Li Wei echoed the na, his voice a re whisper, his eyes still unfocused.
He didn't even recognize this particular descendant. Yet the alerts flashed insistently, one after another.
Finally, with hands that trembled uncontrollably, he forced himself to open it – the clan roster, the list he hadn't dared to look upon for five long years. Line after desolate line of dimd, gray nas scrolled before him, each accompanied by those two brutal characters:
[KILLED IN ACTION].
It felt as if an executioner's icy hand had reached into his chest and was viciously squeezing his heart.
At last, his eyes found Li Xinghuo's na – still bright, not yet faded to gray. And then, for the first ti in five long years, Li Wei rose and walked out of the Ancestral Hall.
[Li Xinghuo: Son of Li Changge]
[Li Changge (Status: Killed in Action)]
...
Brightre Prefecture, Dawn City.
Deep within a mountain range, fallen leaves carpeted the ground. Behind a massive tree, a youth with delicate features cowered, a geomantic compass generating a protective aura around him.
He desperately clutched an Ancestral Spirit Tablet in one hand, his entire fra slick with nervous sweat, his clothes stained by it.
Not far from his hiding place, small, eerie paper figures rose into the air one by one. A faint light flickered upon their forms as they systematically searched the area.
"Old Ancestor," Li Xinghuo prayed desperately, "I implore you, please, manifest your presence quickly! Father always said that if I ever faced true peril, you would surely grant your divine protection!"
Li Xinghuo clung to the Spirit Tablet for dear life, praying with all his might. anwhile, the paper effigies continued their relentless, frantic search!
Then, footsteps drew nearer. The dry, decaying leaves of the autumn forest floor rustled sharply under advancing feet.
The sound made gooseflesh erupt all over Li Xinghuo's skin, and his legs began to shake violently!
"Li Xinghuo!"
Just over twenty ters behind the large tree where Li Xinghuo hid, an elderly man stood, his fingers deftly forming intricate hand seals.
This was clearly the cultivator who had dispatched the paper figures; the spiritual power emanating from him was unmistakably that of Foundation Establishnt Peak! His eyes fixed on the tree concealing Li Xinghuo, the old man sneered. "Here in my Dawn City, you had the audacity to play gas with ? Employing the 'lure the tiger from its mountain' ploy to murder my disciple, were you?"
He was pinpointed! A bone-chilling killing intent washed over Li Xinghuo. His expression hardened with grim resolve; clamping the Ancestral Spirit Tablet firmly between his teeth, he stepped out from behind the tree, a sickle-shaped artifact now gripped tightly in both hands, his gaze locked fiercely on the enemy.
There was a desperate finality in his eyes. He rembered: when his father had sent him away, his final command had been to survive, no matter what, to one day avenge their kin and wash away the bitter hatred.
"But now... Father, forgive !" Li Xinghuo thought, his mind flashing back to the disciple he'd killed.
"This child... I saw that scoundrel's apprentice. A man, yet dressed like a woman! And he... he even tried to force the 'Passion' upon ! I simply couldn't restrain myself – I had to kill him!"
"Such nerve!" the old man exclaid as Li Xinghuo revealed himself.
The mont Li Xinghuo stepped out from behind the tree, the old man's eyes narrowed, glinting sharply. Without a single wasted word, his fingers flew, forming incantation seals. Instantly, the paper figures hovering in the air lunged towards Li Xinghuo as one.
True to his Li family heritage, Li Xinghuo, despite being rely at the pinnacle of Qi Refining, prepared to make a desperate last stand!
Yet even if he summoned every last ounce of his spiritual power, what hope did he truly have? The instant the oppressive might of the Foundation Establishnt Peak expert neared him, Li Xinghuo felt as though his chest had been crushed by a colossal weight.
The ager technique he managed to cast shattered instantly, and even his twin sickle artifacts began to visibly splinter and crack!
Just then, as the Foundation Establishnt Peak cultivator leisurely advanced upon Li Xinghuo, and as Li Xinghuo himself was succumbing to utter despair, his hopes turned to ash – both attacker and victim suddenly froze, their eyes widening in unison at sothing unseen.
The Ancestral Spirit Tablet clutched between Li Xinghuo's teeth suddenly blazed with light! An overwhelmingly potent Nascent Soul-level pressure, infused with the raw might of Heavenly Tribulation, erupted outwards. It instantly dispelled the spiritual defenses of the Foundation Establishnt Peak cultivator.
Every single one of the paper figures was obliterated, reduced to scattered ash. Even the Foundation Establishnt Peak expert himself was imdiately engulfed in searing flas; in less ti than a finger snap, his body, blackened like charred wood, fell as he died screaming, his face a mask of ultimate agony!
Li Xinghuo appeared not to have registered any of it, still poised in his desperate attack stance. He stared dumbfounded at the Ancestral Spirit Tablet hovering before him, then at the charred cinders of the Foundation Establishnt Peak cultivator lying across the forest floor...
After what felt like an eternity, Li Xinghuo finally jolted back to his senses. Scrambling to his knees, he kowtowed deeply before the Old Ancestor's Spirit Tablet, touching his forehead to the earth again and again.
"Many thanks for your divine protection, Ancestor!" he cried out. "The Ancestor has truly answered my prayers once more!"
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