[Your descendant Li Chuxiu has brought a revolution to Azure Cloud Prefecture, refining a series of war artifacts such as the 'Rain Spear', 'Spirit Rifle', and 'Spirit Cannon'. Acquired Trait: Spiritual Energy Cultivation Revolutionary]
[A Spiritual Energy Cultivation Revolutionary uses 'Spiritual Qi' as a foundation to bring new revolutions to the cultivation world. Comprehension increases by 10%, Prestige increases by 50%.]
Li Wei jolted awake from his secluded cultivation and looked at the interface before him.
The appearance of 'spirit rifles' and 'spirit cannons' left him utterly dumbfounded.
The so-called 'waking up to find the world has changed' probably looked exactly like this.
The family's development over these past millenniums was like leaping straight from ancient dynasties into the steam age.
Even more astounded than him was Li Yaotie in the Heavenly Fire Dao Field.
This grandmaster of artifact forging and Spirit Puppet crafting, upon hearing that Li Chuxiu had created the 'spirit rifle', bounded straight out of his Dao Field.
Without a moment's hesitation, he snatched up the actively researching Li Chuxiu, nearly terrifying the 'hidden weapon'-obsessed Patriarch into wetting himself.
Following that, the two of them acted like mad scientists, exchanging ideas with their eyes shining brightly.
Li Yaotie awakened as if from a dream.
"So that's how it is. It turns out spirit stones possess such wondrous utility. However, a small gun barrel requires array formations to be engraved internally.
The craftsmanship is complex and intricately interlocked; a single misstep, and the spirit stone will self-detonate.
I attempted this in the past, but unfortunately failed time and time again. Even with a sample in hand, I couldn't forge it. In the end, I simply couldn't handle the delicate, precision work."
Well, wasn't that the truth? How could a guy deeply versed in the 'Follow-Fate Forging Method' possibly handle delicate work?
"If your Dharma Treasures were added to my Spirit Puppets..."
"Your child was thinking the exact same thing!" Li Chuxiu's eyes lit up brightly.
These two, separated by many generations, threw their arms around each other's shoulders and headed to the Heavenly Fire Dao Field.
For the next few days, all one could hear were phrases like,
"Iron Ancestor is truly an extraordinary man; even immortals cannot compare to the Old Ancestor," "With a descendant like Chuxiu, how could our family's path of artifacts not flourish," "Iron Ancestor possesses unparalleled wisdom," and "Xiu'er is exceptionally brilliant"...
Li Wei even suspected that if it weren't for their generational gap, the two of them would have become sworn brothers right on the spot.
...
[Year 1082]
Nearly ninety percent of Clearpeak Prefecture's land had been lost, and the Blood Moon was encroaching upon Westfall Prefecture.
Over the years, Clearpeak Prefecture had suffered countless casualties.
The commoners could not escape Clearpeak Prefecture, and the fate left for them...
The people of Azure Cloud Prefecture and Westfall Prefecture were unwilling to mention it. It was just that within the Thunder Fire Demon Cave, there were now many, many more demons.
Xuanyuan Liqun of the Xuanyuan Clan would never forget the Sect Master of the Drunken Dream Sect in Clearpeak Prefecture, who charged headlong into the Blood Moon.
He still remembered the profound hatred he felt upon witnessing Banshu Qingping's actions in Grandhaven Prefecture, and his anger toward the Fox Saint.
Yet now, filled with despair, he had become exactly that kind of person—perhaps even worse.
As the years passed, no one knew exactly what state Xuanyuan Liqun had reached.
They only knew that many mortals in Clearpeak Prefecture had died, and within him resided the 'Unbound Immortal'.
According to the Red Dust Immortal, the 'Unbound Immortal' was an anomaly among immortals even when they roamed the world.
As the name suggested, 'Unbound' meant defying the rules. Even other immortals could not fathom the actions of this immortal, and its immortal power was ever-changing.
Originally, it was just an ordinary immortal, but after Xuanyuan Liqun completely retreated from Clearpeak Prefecture, it faintly showed the momentum of breaking through to become a Heavenly Immortal.
Furthermore, led by Old Bear, all ten thousand Iron-Eating Beasts of the Xuanyuan Clan had relocated to the Thunder Fire Demon Cave, leaving only a few young Iron-Eating Beasts to accompany the Xuanyuan Clan's children overseas.
Inside the Thunder Fire Demon Cave.
As the Myriad Dao Pagoda was taken away by Third Uncle to research war artifacts, Li Yunbing achieved complete freedom.
In the end, after years of observation, the family determined that Li Yunbing would not act recklessly. Yet even while suppressing him, they still couldn't suppress his wicked thoughts.
Li Kuanghua chanted scriptures to him for decades, but let alone reforming Li Yunbing, even her Buddha-Demon physique was driven madly off balance; her demonic body almost completely overpowered her Bodhisattva form.
Li Kuanghua remarked that even inspiring a stubborn rock to gain sentience would be easier than reforming Master Yunbing.
Upon hearing that Master Yunbing was heading to the Thunder Fire Demon Cave, she instead breathed a sigh of relief.
She would no longer have to occasionally travel around singing his praises—it was a total disgrace to the face of Buddhism.
At this moment.
Li Yunbing sat in the center of the Thunder Fire Demon Cave, an area ravaged year-round by lightning and flames.
Above the rolling thunder in the sky and the scorching magma on the ground, the old dragon transformed into a ten-meter-long dragon body.
Rolling its eyes, it coiled around Li Yunbing, who was dressed in black with long hair cascading like a waterfall.
Before him were countless demonic cultivators.
From the demons emerging out of Clearpeak Prefecture, hundreds or even thousands were captured and brought into the Demon Cave every single day.
Combined with the demonic cultivators the Thunder Fire Demon Cave had accumulated over centuries, and the demonic sect cultivators Li Xinnian had once nurtured in the Southern Sea, the entire Demon Cave was practically overflowing with people.
This place had become essentially a Gu-poison breeding ground.
The demonic cultivators knew each other, yet no one could trust anyone. Every day was a slaughterfest among themselves.
Every single one of these demons was completely full of schemes.
Here, even a Qi Condensation demonic cultivator could not be underestimated; firing hidden shots from the dark was just their daily routine.
But no matter how much they slaughtered each other, it was never more than the number of cultivators being sent in.
Sitting in the center of Old Dragon, Li Yunbing naturally became the sole King of the Demon Cave.
[Your descendant Li Yunbing has entered the Thunder Fire Demon Cave.
As a Body Integration realm demon, possessing the purest demonic nature, his wicked thoughts are sufficient to bring absolute soul suppression and terror to nearly all demons. Acquired Trait: Demon Saint]
[The uncrowned king of the myriad demons in the Thunder Fire Demon Cave.
The moment Li Yunbing entered the Demon Cave, the demons saw the hope of the Demon Tribe's rise, believing the Li Clan's Demon Saint could lead them to dominate the world.
He can absorb the wicked thoughts of all demons, having silently placed a curse upon them all.]
[When a demon dies, pure, unadulterated demonic qi will be absorbed.]
As for Old Dragon?
Old Dragon cast a glance at Li Yunbing in the center, who maintained a majestic posture at all times.
Before entering the Demon Cave, he had been tricked into coming here by Li Yunbing; Li Yunbing told him there was delicious food here.
But when Li Yunbing told him to strike a pose, Old Dragon completely understood.
This bastard simply thought it looked cool.
Don't be fooled by the fact that this kid rarely spoke from childhood to adulthood, always maintaining a cold and aloof demeanor; he was actually a massive show-off.
He spent his entire life wanting others' acknowledgment. No matter how hard Old Dragon racked his brains, he couldn't figure it out: why did this kid love showing off so much?
Li Yunbing ignored the many demons who revered him like a god, and he also ignored Old Dragon's "admiring" gaze.
He had more important things to do.
Having become a Demon Saint, over the years he had grown increasingly proficient in wielding 'wicked thoughts'.
Human hearts always harbor greed, and his wicked thoughts were omnipresent.
Those with fragile minds would easily have their mental defenses breached, followed by their souls.
Inside the Blood Moon, many so-called 'kin' of the immortals were even greedily worse than the demons in the Demon Cave.
Wicked thoughts pierced through the Demon Cave, shooting across Azure Cloud Prefecture like beams of light, traveling all the way to the edge of the Blood Moon.
The wicked thoughts were untraceable, arriving with practiced ease at the location of the Spirit Lord.
Li Yunbing's expression darkened slightly.
"The alteration of Qingya's memories has actually caused the situation to become even more severe."