They would return. Return to their homeland, return to the Merit City that remained forever frozen in that bygone year.
On this night, Li family members scattered all across the world gazed in the direction of the Azure Cloud Region.
Their eyes burned with a fervent light, yet they all knew a somber truth: the only ones who could return... were those who were still alive.
Time trickled by like sand.
Li Wei cultivated alongside the children, making slow but steady progress.
He knew that only by breaking through to the Divinity Transformation realm would he be able to stand his ground in Eternal Sun Prefecture and directly confront the Li family's greatest foe.
Those who reached the Divinity Transformation stage could cause their Nascent Soul to leave its mortal sheath, transforming it into a Primordial Spirit that could roam freely between Heaven and Earth.
Their most distinct hallmark was the ability to construct a "domain" entirely their own. Within this domain, they could freely control the very rules of existence, and this was the source of a Divinity Transformation cultivator's true power.
He remembered how, back then, at the Azure Cloud border city, if not for the fact that the entire populace of Merit City had provided him with their spiritual power, he feared that even he would have been unable to slay the Moon God.
[Year 270]
[You are currently attempting to transform the Yin-Yang Diagram into a Domain.]
Bit by bit, the Rules of the world were being integrated into the Yin-Yang Diagram, as if he were constructing a world in miniature.
His clansmen, meanwhile, had not been idle.
Li Yaoqing and Li Kuangren continued to run their "mercenary"-style business in the Auric Empire. Through this, the thousand-plus geniuses were slowly maturing through combat missions, while Li Yaoqing's own medical and alchemical arts were also steadily advancing.
Deep within the Northern Region, at the Five Elements Absolute Grounds, Li Kuanghua ventured deeper with each passing day. By now, she had already advanced a full thousand meters into its depths.
The cultivators from Azure Cloud Region, meanwhile, were trained in the outer periphery. Whenever a "snow beast" was slain, the Azure Cloud cultivators would leave its corpse for Li Kuanghua.
Her "Buddha-Demon Disc" inherently possessed methods of demonic cultivation, and by absorbing the flesh and blood of these snow beasts, her own cultivation base could also grow.
[Your descendant, Li Kuanghua, by absorbing a large number of snow beast corpses and living in the Northern Region, has comprehended partial "Ice" element Rules.
By cultivating in the Five Elements Absolute Grounds, under the tempering of the ambient power of Heaven and Earth, her degree of affinity with the Buddha-Demon Disc has grown ever higher.
She has begun to comprehend the Buddhist and demonic techniques once possessed by Li Kuangshi and Li Kuangcai.]
And with each new Buddhist and demonic technique that Li Kuanghua comprehended, Li Wei discovered that this young lass's training was growing ever more arduous, almost to the point of being suicidal.
There were even several occasions when the cultivators from Azure Cloud had to brave great danger to rescue an utterly exhausted Li Kuanghua from the deeper regions.
...
After Lin Wudao had led the numerous Tian Xing avatars to the Endless Forest in pursuit of him, Li Dalong had not, in fact, fled the forest. However, because of that very incident, he had managed to escape the control of the two Wu Clan elders. The Endless Forest was vast, however, and with the help of Lei Dong and You Baiyin, he soon found a new hiding place.
It was the most barren region within the Endless Forest. A very long time ago, a great war had been fought here between the Wu Clan and the Human Race.
Countless lives had been lost on this soil, causing the ground to become so thoroughly soaked with the blood of living beings that it could no longer sprout even a single blade of grass.
Many years ago, the site had been thoroughly explored by numerous adventurers from both the Wu Clan and the Human Race, and now not a single item of value remained; there was nothing left but an endless miasma of deathly Qi.
This was also the most suitable place for Li Dalong's cultivation.
Several tribes from the Ghost Division of the Wu Clan, those who cultivated the arts of deathly Qi, also regarded this location as a sacred ground for their practice.
He cultivated here for several years.
Then one day, Li Dalong, who was seated cross-legged at the very center of the desolate land, suddenly snapped open his eyes, which were filled with utter astonishment.
He no longer needed to rely on his Heaven-Piercing Coffin. Over his years of cultivating alongside the Ghost Division, he had gained a new understanding of "death".
You Baiyin and some of the Ghost Division elders had once told him that practitioners of the ghost arts could communicate with Heaven and Earth, with corpses, and with souls, and that in time, they would speak.
And now, at this very moment, Li Dalong finally and truly understood the profound meaning behind those words.
He saw it. As his cultivation progressed, the deathly Qi of this ancient battlefield began to coalesce, forming scene after vivid scene before his very eyes.
It was a vision of the great war that had once taken place on this ancient battlefield. Innumerable members of the Wu Clan and the Human Race clashed together, until the ground everywhere was naught but blood and sand.
[Your descendant is cultivating on the ancient battlefield. He has begun to gradually comprehend the true essence of the cultivation method bequeathed by the Heaven-Piercing Coffin.]
[Cultivation Speed increased by 20%]
...
Amidst a world of ice and snow, Li Yaozu continued to press onward.
[Your descendant, Li Yaozu, has advanced 300 miles across the snowy plains. Each day, he comprehends the Heaven and Earth Spirit Qi, enriching his Sword Dao cultivation. His injuries have now recovered to 100%!]
[He now possesses a "Sword of the Five Elements Rules" within his body.]
[Your descendant, Li Yaozu, has grown accustomed to living in the snowy wilderness as a mortal would, and has habituated himself to the most fundamental methods of attack in the Sword Dao. Trait Acquired: Innate Simplicity ]
[Sword Dao cultivation proficiency increased by 100%. Comprehension ability increased by 30%.]
[Your descendant, Li Yaozu, has broken through to the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm!]
Even though many years had passed, Fang Linglong was still unable to rise.
Li Yaozu had inquired about her condition, and Fang Linglong had finally told him of the events of that day.
On that day, she had sensed that within that Division of the Wu Clan, an exceedingly powerful expert was preparing to utterly annihilate the Li family.
She, having recovered but a tenth of her full power at the time, had miscalculated not only her own strength, but also the formidable might of the Wu Clan's "Divine Bird Tribe."
She had never imagined that the Divine Bird Tribe would actually have a cultivator at the Body Integration realm among their ranks, nor had she expected to stumble upon a major Wu Clan assembly on that particular day.
The great battle that ensued left her even more grievously wounded than she had been many years prior, but it had also served to deter the Wu Clan, making them not dare to advance another inch.
At this moment, Fang Linglong, who was resting inside a tent constructed from animal hides, glanced at Li Yaozu. Her voice was low and somber.
"Perhaps," she said, "it was because I chose to take action that year that your family suffered such a great calamity. On that day, I could sense that there were cultivators from the Azure Dynasty spying on the proceedings."
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