No one knew what a great price Li Yaowen had paid to call back the life force of Merit City.
The Heavenly Dao creates lightning tribulations as a test for cultivators breaking through their limits, but also to suppress their growth.
And what even fewer people knew was this: if Li Yaowen had truly used that Qi Luck to reforge her body, her innate aptitude would have become heaven-defyingly terrifying.
It was for this reason alone that the Heavenly Dao had lent its power; otherwise, it would never have acquiesced, not even if she had threatened it with the lives of all living beings.
At the very least, Tian Xing was unaware of this; otherwise, he would not be here...
"If I were you, I would have fled long ago, and never contend with an existence that cannot be surpassed!"
In the sky outside Skyveil City.
Qu Yang, posturing as if holding aloft a war trophy, declared proudly with his head held high, "Ahead lies a cliff's edge, and on the opposite shore lie precious treasures.
The people of the world always believe they are within arm's reach, yet they do not know that a single step forward is an abyss!
Mortals are inherently shortsighted, yet they insist on reaching out due to a trick of the eye, only to lose their lives. I never thought you people of the Li family would be so common and worldly as well."
"You still have a chance. The opposite shore of the cliff has extended a hand to you.
Set aside your hatred and grudges, and neither your Li family nor we will have to face the peril of falling from the cliff.
We can join hands and walk to the other shore together.
This is the sincerity of Lin Wudao, and it is my sincerity as well."
If Li Kuanghua were here to witness Qu Yang's high and mighty speech, her response would surely have been nothing but a stream of curses.
But Li Yaoqing, though slovenly, always possessed the gentle nature of both a healer and a young woman.
"You are truly ill."
She extended a delicate hand, and the cyan mist gradually thinned.
"Those who stand upon the clouds always believe victory is firmly in their grasp," she said, "but on what grounds do you look down upon the desperate struggle of us little people?"
"Pharmacist, why did you disperse the mist that blocks perception..."
Xian Tong was utterly horrified.
Their ability to remain entangled with Qu Yang for so long had relied entirely on the mist deployed by the Pharmacist. Yet, scarcely had his voice faded when...
Both Xian Tong and Qu Yang were left completely stunned!
Outside the mist, a semi-transparent golden barrier had long since been erected.
Floating high above was an enormous, inverted golden bowl, and upon it stood an old man grasping two enormous clubs.
If one's eyes did not deceive, those "clubs" were actually two golden chopsticks.
Higher still in the sky, there was a deep vortex, like a mysterious black hole that could devour all things in the world.
Phantom images of mountain peaks swirled around it, and at its very center was a short young man, his hands forming intricate seals.
Beneath him, a handsome young man was bare to the waist, revealing his sculpted muscles.
Arcs of lightning flickered in his eyes, and his spiritual power manifested as a thunder dragon that coiled around his body, periodically letting out the sound of roaring thunder.
And further out still, cultivator after cultivator stood upon their flying swords, clad in black robes. Upon the robes were embroidered cloud patterns, which whipped and snapped in the wind of the vast sky.
This was the attire of the members of the Li family's Hall of Heavenly Principle, Shadow Division!
These people numbered in the thousands, standing densely packed in their respective positions in the sky.
Without exception, every single one of them was forming hand seals; it was a trapping formation!
"How is this possible? How can there be so many people?!!"
Qu Yang was terrified out of his wits; where now was the composed look of someone who had victory firmly in their grasp?
In that instant, he understood. Li Yaoqing and Xian Tong had entangled him for all these days, using that mist that blocks perception, all for the precise purpose of allowing these people to deploy a trapping formation outside the mist and imprison him!
He recognized those people—it was the Li family's Hall of Heavenly Principle!
Back then, when the Tian Xing avatars slaughtered the core Li family members, they hadn't bothered with these 'little people' from the Hall of Heavenly Principle.
They were high and mighty and had never considered this Hall to be worthy of their notice.
Naturally, there had been some avatars who prepared to move against the people of the Hall of Heavenly Principle, but the Li family's forces had reacted far more quickly than they had ever imagined.
The Hall of Heavenly Principle is divided into two divisions: one covert and one overt.
The overt Hall of Heavenly Principle, which manages the Li family's businesses, was absorbed by the various powers of the Azure Cloud region in less than a month.
In these hundred-plus years, their businesses have even expanded to the new cities of the Northern Border developed by Grand Tutor Lin Jiu.
As for the Hall of Heavenly Principle's true fighting force, the 'Shadow Division,' it vanished without a trace overnight, and everyone assumed its members had all scattered to the four winds.
And yet, today...
They had appeared silently within Tian Xing's domain and had, just as silently, deployed a spiritual formation to trap him!
"Ye Xiu... Daoist Shanchen?!!"
Besides these people from the Hall of Heavenly Principle, Qu Yang stared at the two Divinity Transformation cultivators who had fought him back then on that Mountain.
Over a hundred years had passed; these two individuals had likewise vanished without a trace, only to reappear simultaneously on this very day, and in a place he had never anticipated!
"How can you be here? You should be in the Imperial Capital! You should be dealing with Lai Teng!"
In Qu Yang and Lin Wudao's plan, Daoist Shanchen and Ye Xiu should have fallen right into Lai Teng's trap.
Qu Yang could not conceal the panic in his heart.
The Li family members had not fallen into their trap. The appearance of these people also signified that the strength the Li family commanded was far vaster than they had ever speculated!
However, no one paid Qu Yang any mind.
Ye Xiu and Daoist Shanchen slowly entered the formation, joining the bewildered Xian Tong to face this formidable enemy, Qu Yang.
"Pharmacist... how do we have so many people? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
Xian Tong stared at Li Yaoqing with a hint of complaint, feeling utterly wronged, just like a child who discovers in the middle of the night that his mother has been secretly eating delicious snacks without him.
"Yaoqing has mentioned you."
Li Yaoqing did not answer, but Ye Xiu, beside her, had already said with a faint smile, "Qu Yang's strength is formidable; he is a titan among Divinity Transformation experts. We cannot afford to make the slightest mistake."
There were some things Ye Xiu left unsaid.
Xian Tong's aptitude was far from ordinary, but the Li family members had always said his mind was not fully developed, and seeing him today, it was indeed so.
If a person like him had known the plan in advance, one fears he would have made a mistake during the battle, allowing that old fox, Qu Yang, to become vigilant.
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