[Year 220]
[System Update: Your descendant Li Xinghuo has successfully advanced to the Early Stage of Foundation Establishnt.]
Two years had passed since that last spiritual assembly.
Li Kuanghua now sat in ditation upon the ocean's surface. Stretching out for 300 miles in every direction, centered on her, countless crabs had ticulously arranged themselves into a vast, protective circle, cordoning off the area.
Qing Yuan – now bound by a pact to serve as the Li family's Dao Protector for a century – stood with the two other surviving transford Crab Spirit Beast leaders.
All three stared upwards at the sky, where the tribulation clouds were gathering, growing ever more dense and ominous. A potent mix of deep regret and raw fear was etched upon their faces.
Their regret stemd, first, from their initial decision to lay siege to Li Kuanghua. That miscalculation had cost their clan one of its transford leaders and forced Qing Yuan himself into a century of servitude as the Li family's guardian.
Their second, more imdiate, source of dread was the sheer, terrifying power emanating from the tribulation clouds now completely filling the heavens above.
The events of their siege against Li Kuanghua two years prior remained seared into their mories.
Beyond the terrifying black-misted entity, it had been Li Kuanghua herself, then rely at Golden Core Peak, who had instilled the deepest dread in them. And now, observing these tribulation clouds, still gathering and not yet fully manifested, they could already sense within them the overwhelming pressure of a full Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation!
And the Source of this terrifying celestial phenonon was that young woman at its heart, the one who appeared so deceptively frail.
A Nine-Nine Lightning Tribulation represented the absolute apex of power for a Nascent Soul's Heavenly Tribulation, yet sohow, it seed even this was not her ultimate threshold...
"The Nine-Nine Lightning Tribulation... Never in all my years have I laid eyes upon such a thing!" One of the Crab Spirit Beast leaders exclaid.
"When I was but a child," another added, "I witnessed one of our clan's own Old Ancestors face an Eight-Nine Lightning Tribulation. He held out for rely half a day before his form was obliterated and his Dao extinguished."
But Qing Yuan sensed sothing was terribly wrong.
His voice was heavy as he declared, "This woman... for her breakthrough, she has made no preparations whatsoever! No defensive arrays to mitigate the tribulation's might... She ans to withstand it directly!"
"WHAT?!!" the other Crab Spirit Beast leaders gasped in unison.
The faces of the other two transford Crab Spirit Beasts also contorted in disbelief.
They looked again: the lightning in the sky was poised to strike, and yet this Li Kuanghua... had she truly made no defensive preparations whatsoever?
.....
In this, however, their assumptions were mistaken.
The Li family was indeed actively preparing at that very instant, just not for Li Kuanghua to erect any conventional defensive formations!
[System Notification: Your descendant Li Yunbing is, at this mont, spearheading the forces of the Azure Cloud Three Regions in their most significant counter-offensive against the Wu Clan seen in many years!]
[Wu Clan Corpse 1 Acquired]
[Foundation Establishnt Stage Wu Clan Corpse 1 Acquired]
[Wu Clan Corpse...]
"CHARGE!"
At that very mont, on the Azure Cloud region border, Li Yunbing – still presenting the identity of Jiang Chenghuan to the world – stood upon the battlefield, his gaze fixed on so distant point.
Region Prince Feng Qingyang, Mi Zhunqi, Ye Xiu of the Myriad Arts Sect, and other long-ti allies of the Li family – all of them had plunged into the depths of the Endless Forest, carrying the fight directly into the Wu Clan's heartlands!
It was a fierce engagent. Wu Clan warriors fell in droves. Among the Azure Cloud region forces, a dedicated unit moved swiftly, gathering the enemy dead, packing the corpses into storage rings, and dispatching them back to Li Yunbing.
.....
The Auric Empire, Auraria City.
Jadefla Tower.
This establishnt was Auraria City's preeminent trading hub. A rich, aromatic scent of dicinal herbs constantly drifted from its doors, and a throng of cultivators, drawn by recent news, could always be seen gathered outside its entrance.
The reason was simple: two years prior, a Rank 6 Alchemist had taken up residence in Auraria City.
This master alchemist had made it known that she could successfully refine any dicine up to Rank 6 or Rank 7. Furthermore, her success rate in pill concoction and her material utilization efficiency when working with Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures reportedly achieved a remarkable sixty percent.
For common alchemists, pill refinent always cos with a success rate. Typically, one might provide three full sets of the required Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, and count themselves fortunate to receive even a single successful batch of dicine in return. So, an alchemist capable of a sixty percent success rate, and one who has attained the esteed Rank 6 at that – how exceedingly difficult would such a master be to encounter?
Furthermore, masters of such extraordinary skill typically wouldn't refine dicines for the general cultivator populace simply for ager returns; they often have their own sects or patrons to serve.
Consequently, Jadefla Tower was now perpetually besieged by a veritable ocean of people.
Cultivators had long since submitted their precious Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, terrified of letting such an unparalleled, heaven-sent chance slip through their fingers.
Beyond those with specific requests, throngs of lower-level Qi Refining and Foundation Establishnt cultivators also congregated outside. For them, even the ambient Heaven and Earth Spirit Qi that naturally diffused from the tower when a Rank 6 Alchemist was at work was imnsely beneficial to their own practice.
[System Update (Li Yaoqing): Your descendant Li Yaoqing, currently residing in Auraria City within the Auric Empire, is engaged in refining dicines for nurous cultivators. Through these services, she has acquired a substantial amount of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. She has now comnced utilizing these resources to develop and concoct spirit elixirs specifically designed to enhance physical body strength.]
[Now Refining: Rank 7 Starforged Adamant Elixir]
[Use: Strengthens innate bone structure and overall physique.
Effect: Upon consumption, imbues the physical body with the 'Power of Starforged Adamant', elevating physical might to be on par with the full, True Qi-condensed strength of a False Core stage cultivator.
Warning: If the user's baseline physical power is insufficient, consumption will result in bodily explosion and death.]
[Now Refining: Rank 6 Divine Rock Golden Eye Elixir]
[Effect: Upon consumption, opens the 'Heavenly Eye', allowing clear perception of Heaven and Earth Spirit Qi intensity within a 100-ter radius. Also pushes the physical body towards its ultimate potential, rendering its toughness akin to that of an early-stage Rank 6 spirit ore.]
[Now Refining: Rank 7 Mythweave Dragon Elixir]...
Within Jadefla Tower, Li Yaoqing focused intently, her Soul Fire dancing as she ticulously concocted these dicinal powders.
Her expression was one of deep concentration. In forr tis, she would never have countenanced refining pills for strangers. But the clan now lacked any steady provision of resources, and their very survival was a struggle. Thus, she had no alternative but to offer her skills for hire here in Auraria City.
She had never imagined, however, that the rewards for her services would be so unexpectedly bountiful.
"For the foreseeable future, I shall continue refining dicines here in the Great Jin Empire," Li Yaoqing resolved. "It will serve well to bolster our clan's depleted resources."
---
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