[Special Event — Slaying Immortals in Grandhaven Prefecture]
[Your family gathered the strength of the Three Prefectures to resolve the Peerless Hall, Jade Mist Valley, and the Banshu family's watchdog in Grandhaven Prefecture, achieving a great victory.]
[Acquired Family Will: 200,000]
Rewards appeared on the panel. Li Wei knew that Grandhaven Prefecture was completely free of danger.
Maintaining his physical manifestation in the mortal realm, he sat on a raised rock far from the battlefield.
Ahead was the flat ground leveled by the massive cultivator battle. The earth trembled, and the watchdog's tentacles still swayed.
Beyond the battlefield lay the increasingly approaching Blood Moon.
Feeling the tremors of the earth, he remained silent for a long time, constantly thinking about the parting words of the Fox Saint and Grandhaven Prefecture Lord Banshu Qingping, as well as the devastated sight of everything he had seen during this trip to Grandhaven Prefecture.
"Do we really... have to walk the same path as the Fox Saint and Banshu Qingping?"
A cool breeze blew past.
A trace of bewilderment flashed through Li Wei's eyes, along with... a fleeting trace of fear.
This trip to Grandhaven Prefecture could be said to be the family's first time gaining so much understanding of immortals.
To deal with one true immortal and one half-immortal, the Three Prefectures had exhausted all their strength.
Even as the Old Ancestor, he found it exceedingly difficult to deal with the bizarre Linghu Xian alone.
Aside from finding their weaknesses, only immortal methods could deal with immortals.
When the Blood Moon arrived, what could he use to fight the immortals? He didn't know.
Behind him lay the lands of the Three Prefectures, Azure Cloud Prefecture, and the family he had painstakingly developed through countless hardships.
For the first time, Li Wei felt completely at his wit's end.
At that time, there would be no schemes or calculations.
It would be a direct confrontation between the Southern Frontier and the immortals, and there was no telling how many immortals lurked beneath the Blood Moon.
......
Seven days later.
"Rumble!"
The originally white tentacles, now radiating an aura of negative energy, fell from the sky and crashed onto the ground, kicking up massive clouds of dust and smoke.
This was the watchdog's very last tentacle.
Hundreds of thousands of cultivators had besieged the watchdog for seven days, but upon achieving their final victory, there was not much joy to be found among them.
They stared silently at the fallen tentacle that still exuded an oppressive might, feeling the primal fear lingering within their bloodlines, overshadowed only by the profound weariness that follows a great war.
"So this is an immortal."
Xuanyuan Liqun murmured softly.
If it were the beginning of the battle, he would have likely flirted and exchanged suggestive remarks with the cold, mature female cultivators around him, but now he had absolutely no mood for it.
Hundreds of thousands of cultivators took a full seven days just to take down a single watchdog, and this place had gathered so many mighty figures.
After becoming a mighty figure, he was revered by the people of Clearpeak Prefecture, seen by the world as a deity.
Having lived through an incredibly long passage of time, he was essentially a god-like existence in the eyes of mortals.
As long as he wished it, with a mere wave of his hand, he could ensure an ordinary person reached the Golden Core realm in the future.
But facing an immortal, he felt just how fragile he truly was for the very first time.
He looked at the Iron-Eating Beast beside him. "Old Bear, have you ever seen something like this before?"
On Old Bear's back was a hideous, jagged scar—a bite mark left by a suction cup on the watchdog's tentacle.
Baring his teeth in pain, he shook his head. "When you get home, prepare for your funeral. Sleep with as many women as you can."
Xuanyuan Liqun glanced in the direction of the Blood Moon without a shred of joy.
In the distance, Zhangsun Buhuo was tending to the remains of a fallen companion.
Seeing Zhangsun Feng approaching with a gloomy face, he hurriedly bowed. "Ancestor."
Zhangsun Feng waved her hand and said solemnly, "Go back first. Have some of the children in the clan take our inheritance and set out to sea."
"Yes."
Zhangsun Buhuo left without hesitation, kicking a blackened tentacle of the watchdog as he went.
The anger on his face suddenly dissolved into a long, weary sigh. "When will these kinds of days ever end?"
She cast a glance toward an abyss in the distance, where the Li Clan's cultivators were gathered.
The people of the Li Clan stood calmly by the edge of the abyss, while the Old Ancestor and the experts of the Xuanyuan Clan congregated together.
In the past, there was much treachery and mutual deception, but Zhangsun Feng knew that from now on, everyone faced only one single priority.
Survival.
...
As the tentacles collapsed one by one, the watchdog's hiding place was exposed to the world.
It was a bottomless abyss, and from the very bottom echoed the sharp, babbling cries of an infant.
Li Dalong led the numerous experts.
Standing atop his silver coffin, they descended to the bottom of the abyss in a flash.
What met their eyes was the watchdog's main body, heavily polluted by the demonic and evil qi unleashed by the numerous cultivators, and atop it knelt Banshu Weide, holding an infant.
"Eldest Brother."
Holding a whisk, Li Yunlin was about to step forward.
He sensed the aura of entering the Dao realm emanating from Banshu Weide—it was the ethereal and elusive Dao of 'Cloud'.
It was exactly this Dao path that allowed Banshu Weide to hide deep underground without being detected.
Yunbing had waited nearly a century for this Dao. Li Yunlin wanted to step forward, cripple Banshu Weide, and bring this Dao back to the family.
Li Yunbing stopped his eldest brother, shaking his head. "There is no rush."
Banshu Weide wore an expression of absolute despair.
The immortal infant in his arms was crying and struggling. Sensing the arrival of the crowd, Banshu Weide spoke in a low, hollow voice.
"Ancestor was right. Immortals can only be suppressed; they cannot be controlled by us. Otherwise, all that awaits us is degradation—becoming neither human nor ghost."
The crowd frowned slightly. They could see that Banshu Weide's mentality had seemingly... collapsed.
"Believe me! He is a piece of trash. I can help you—help your descendants possess spiritual roots and become strong!"
The immortal infant reached out its hands toward the crowd, its crisp, clear voice echoing brightly.
"I am an immortal! I can help you become immortals, just like Banshu Weide!"
The immortal infant's voice was brimming with bewitchment.
Banshu Weide obediently offered the immortal infant forward with both hands.
The numerous cultivators exchanged glances, able to feel the infant's insidious temptation.
A few with weaker willpower had already lost the light in their eyes and began stumbling forward, but were firmly stopped by the stronger experts.
"Its power resides within Banshu Weide." Li Dalong instantly understood everything and cast a glance at Li Zhiheng.
Li Zhiheng nodded. He stepped forward and picked up the immortal infant.
Cradled in Li Zhiheng's arms, the immortal infant was just about to say something when its eyes suddenly widened in sheer terror.
"No, that's not right! What is that thing on your body?!!"
"Noisy." Li Zhiheng casually delivered a sharp slap across the immortal infant's face. The infant trembled all over, not daring to utter another word.
Looking back at Banshu Weide, the crowd realized that Banshu Weide was physically connected to the watchdog's main body. All the tentacles outside had been entirely manipulated by Banshu Weide.
With the demonic and evil qi emitted by the cultivators fully absorbed, Banshu Weide's physical body was already on the verge of total collapse.
But what had collapsed even further was Banshu Weide's mind.
"Hahaha! Ancestor always valued me, but I didn't listen to his teachings and was reduced to a running dog for the immortals.
Banshu Qingping hid far too deeply; he is the Ancestor's true successor.
He surpassed the Ancestor, and even I was kept completely in the dark by him. He was the one who managed to walk further."
Banshu Weide's face was blurred with tears, yet he wore a broken smile. "At least my Banshu family still has a future. I no longer have any path to survival. Kill me."
"Alright." Li Yunlin gave a slight nod.
He and Li Yunbing remained in place as the rest of the crowd dispersed.
Li Yunbing walked forward and squatted down in front of Banshu Weide. "Senior, this junior wishes to borrow your Dao."
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