Rebuilding the Immortal Cultivator Clan

Chapter 177 - 183: Accumulation

”Sigh!”

Just as the group of loose cultivators were preparing to make their move and seize Li Zhiyue, a resigned sigh suddenly rang out.

”Who is it? Stop playing tricks on me, come out here!” a loose cultivator shouted loudly.

”As you wish!” A slender female cultivator slowly appeared, and with her emergence came a flash of lightning-fast blue light, as well as vines spreading all over the ground.

”Be careful! That blue light is poisonous!” Feeling pain on his arm, he immediately examined his body with divine sense and so was the first to sense something amiss.

The color drained from everyoneʼs faces because they had already been bitten before the man had spoken!

They looked terrified, fearing the venom could claim their lives in an instant, but they soon realized they didnʼt seem to be affected at all.

Thinking of fighting by expending mana after being bitten by Li Shitingʼs spirit beast, the Green Scale Snake, was utterly foolish. It was indeed pitiful for inheritless loose cultivators who didnʼt even know the habits of the Green Scale Snake.

Soon, they were horrified to discover that the mana in their bodies had been greatly depleted, leaving only a very small portion!

”What did you do? Why is my mana gone!” someone cried out in panic.

Li Shiting couldnʼt be bothered to respond, continuing her spell casting, wanting to dispatch them quickly to avoid any accidents. After all, this was the territory of the Devil Race, and attracting a Devil Beast would be troublesome.

And without their mana, the cultivators had no power to resist.

”Mrs. Ting, how could you...” Li Zhiyue recognized the voice as familiar from the start, but never imagined it would be Li Shiting.

Li Shiting shook her head without explaining, absorbed in her spell casting to cleanse the corpses of the few cultivators who wanted to harm Li Zhiyue.

”Letʼs leave Green Mountain first.” Saying so, Li Shiting lifted her up with mana, and the Spirit Boat sped away through the skies.

Li Zhiyue, although naive, was not a fool and quickly understood, her face filled with emotion as she said, ”Mrs. Ting, have you been silently protecting me all this time?”

What she didnʼt know was that Li Shiting, worried about her safety, had followed her in secret the moment she left Da Rong Island.

And all that Li Zhiyue had been through these past days, such as encountering Li Zhixuan but pretending not to see, battling with Devil Beasts, being deceived, and so on, Li Shiting had witnessed it all.

Although she felt heartbroken, she also saw how inadequate Li Zhiyue was and suppressed the urge to intervene, letting her endure hardship on her own.

ʼI hope this setback will allow her to grow,ʼ Li Shiting silently said to herself.

After settling Li Zhiyue down and waiting for the Spirit-Inhibiting Pill in her body to be neutralized, Li Shiting said, ”Now that things are settled here, I should return to the clan. A fall into the pit, a gain in your wit. I hope you will be more careful in the future.”

Li Shiting couldnʼt always follow her around; this several-month-long vigil was already the limit.

”Mrs. Ting, I have disappointed you,” Li Zhiyue said in a downcast tone, enveloped in a sad atmosphere.

”Itʼs my failure in teaching you,” Li Shiting said with a complex expression crossing her face. She had thought her teaching was a success, but it was only now that she realized it was a complete failure!

She couldnʼt help but recall a saying among mortals: ”Indulgent mothers make for spoiled children.” Though not mother and daughter, their bond was just as strong.

”Donʼt be discouraged. Youʼre still young, with time to make mistakes and waste time in order to find the path thatʼs right for you.”

This time, instead of consoling Li Zhiyue with earnest advice as usual, Li Shiting simply spoke briefly and then fell silent, letting her digest it on her own.

”Alright, I should go back now.” Seeing Li Zhiyue come to her senses, Li Shiting felt somewhat relieved and promptly departed.

Before she left, she had asked Li Zhiyue if she wanted to return to Da Rong Island with her, only to be refused without hesitation.

——

Red Pine Island, Meditation Chamber.

This was the place where Li Zhirui was in closed-door cultivation, and he was constantly honing his mana to make it purer.

With his cultivation, the mana in his Sea of Magic had no trace of being insubstantial. Although the total amount wasnʼt much just yet, it could be gradually replenished. Sooner or later, heʼd be able to fill the entire Sea of Magic.

From now on, Li Zhiruiʼs cultivation was all about gathering strength for the imminent breakthrough to Golden Core!

At this moment, over a year had passed since he entered retreat.

”Da Qing, nothing bad has happened on the island during this time, has it?” Li Zhirui asked.

If there was nothing amiss, he planned not to leave the house, but to communicate with his two pets and then return to the meditation chamber to continue cultivating.

Li Zhirui was prepared to stay in retreat until he was about to break through to Golden Core, and then he would leave seclusion and return to Da Rong Island to ask Li Shiqing for his assistance as protector.

Chirp!

Da Qing shook its head; no clan member had come to look for them during this time, and Xiaoqing hadnʼt found anything unusual while soaring outside.

”Has the family sent any news?” Li Zhirui asked again.

Da Qing nodded, took out a Jade Slip with its divine sense, and handed it to him.

”Elder Lian is entering retreat, preparing for the breakthrough to Golden Core, isnʼt he?” Li Zhirui murmured to himself.

This was a good thing, if he managed to form his Core successfully.

But if he failed, the loss of a Golden Ganoderma was a minor issue, Li Shilian would likely fall during the Thunder Tribulation of Golden Core!

The fall of a late Foundation Establishment cultivator would be no small blow to the Li family.

But in such matters, one really couldnʼt say much. After all, you couldnʼt stop someone from advancing just because youʼre afraid they might fail, right?

Moreover, Li Shilian was not young anymore. It was better to take a gamble now while his vitality had not yet declined, rather than wait till he was even older and no longer had the strength to attempt it.

In fact, despite Li Zhiruiʼs confident facade, believing he could successfully form his Core, he wasnʼt quite so confident about transcending the Tribulation.

Why were Golden Core cultivators so rare? Apart from the need to accumulate and refine a large amount of mana and find ways to condense vitality, the main reason was the existence of Thunder Tribulation!

And Thunder Tribulation alone stopped ninety percent of cultivators! The remaining ones often failed due to Heart Demons.

The reason Thunder Tribulation was considered the biggest obstacle on the path to Core Formation is that, while other requirements can be solved, such as taking Spirit Pills or practicing Visualization Skills,

Thunder Tribulation must be faced with oneʼs own strength.

Li Zhirui shook his head, casting all these distracting thoughts aside. He still had some way to go before Core Formation and there was no need to rush or allow himself to be overtaken by fear.

As for Li Shilian, with the familyʼs two Core Formation Comprehensions, in addition to a Golden Ganoderma, his chances of succeeding were not low, at least higher than what Li Shiqing had originally.

”In the coming time, you two will have to work hard,” Li Zhirui said somewhat apologetically.

Chirp!

Screech!

Both pets cried out in unison, indicating that they didnʼt mind the effort.