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Li Tianshi shot him a glance. “Yes, the Storm Pearls are involved in the changes to the floating continent. But it\'s enough that you know, do not speak of it. Lin Xitang doesn’t need to use such a material object to deal with our Li family. Don’t overthink things.”

That person was still doubtful. “The War of National Fate isn’t looking good. Since Lin Xitang was injured during the battle at Giant’s Repose, could it be that his divination arts aren’t accurate?”

No one responded to these words. Everyone had different thoughts reflected on their faces.

Li Tianshi’s bearing was calm and unperturbed. “This man, Lin Xitang, you can dislike him all you want, but you can never underestimate him. Moreover, battles have always been influenced by timing, numbers, factional fortune, and the influence of peak characters. Be it Evernight or Great Qin, who would dare speak of being accurate?”

That person opened his mouth but downed a cup of tea after realizing that he had no words to say.

After a pause, Li Tianshi continued, “Even if there are no changes to the floating continent, what does our Li family have to lose? The Storm Pearl can increase the rank of any cultivator below the divine champion level by one. Just this effect alone is enough to make people covetous.”

Someone sighed in dissatisfaction. “But we spent so much effort on them. Are we going to give it away just like that?”

“If two Storm Pearls can get us the Misty Wood, then it’s not a loss. This is the key to our upgrade to a major clan.” As someone leading armies, Li Cunjian was fairly clear to this fact. Soon afterward, he sneered, “Even if those outsiders can obtain such a treasure, they would need to be alive to use it.”

Everyone suddenly realized something.

Li Tianshi said, “It’s settled then. Oh right, call back Little Nine and give him a new identity and name. Have him go to the floating continent to contest for contributions.”

“Call Qingyun back?”

Li Tianshi nodded. “Yes, his talents are inferior, and his hopes of becoming a divine champion are slim. He might be able to take that last step with the help of the Storm Pearl. I can’t openly favor him, but giving him such an opportunity is justified. With this fortune and future luck, he might just be able to cross over that threshold.”

Everyone glanced at each other and nodded slowly.

High-ranking aristocratic families had the ability to restrain divine champions, but in order to upgrade to a true major clan, they would need a real divine champion to hold the fort. The Li family had already made preparations for this. But things aren’t constant among the aristocracy—the danger of falling down in times of weakness was always looming over the horizon. With the Song clan’s awkward situation serving as an example, everyone knew that there was no such thing as too many opportunities for their scions.

Li Tianshi’s arrangement of hitting many birds with one stone was naturally good. It was just that snatching food from a pack of wolves wasn’t that easy. Even after success, the path to becoming a divine champion was long and hard.

Li Qingyun was, since his youth, intelligent and loved martial arts. He would learn and master every technique almost instantly. His temperament was brutal, his killing intent was strong, and his attacks, always unrestrained. At the same time, he was even a bit stronger than Li Kuanglan. His weakness, however, was his inferior talents, and even the Li clan couldn’t find a secret medicine capable of transforming him completely. Hence, his case had always been considered a matter of regret.

Li Tianshi scanned everyone, and after seeing no objections, he said, “Then everything is settled. Start spreading the news.”

Everyone’s expressions turned serious as they affirmed the instructions. They knew that a storm would ensue before long.

Li Tianshi remained motionless after everyone had left. Only when a man in his forties entered the courtyard did he stand up and bring him into the study.

Within that elegantly decorated room, there was a person arranging a chessboard on his own. The man was clad in simple clothing and appeared to be in his twenties at a glance. Upon careful observation, however, one would find that he wasn’t as young as he seemed on the surface.

Li Tianshi greeted, “Brother-in-law.” He then turned toward his follower. “All the intelligence has been gathered, yes? Report directly.”

The follower opened the document folder in his hand and said, “There’s been progress in all of the matters Elder Rui has instructed us to investigate.” As the matter wasn’t too complicated and the follower was also a talented individual, the report was delivered clearly in just a short while.

“This means Lin Xitang has indeed left the imperial capital during the battle at Giant’s Repose.” Li Rui’s eyes fell upon the chessboard as he calmly placed another piece. “He went to the Greensun Manor yesterday? How bold. What is the marquis’ opinion?”

Li Tianshi sat formally and looked down at his hands on his knee. “It’s improper for us to cause any more disturbances during the war of national fate. The waves around the floating continent will only increase.”

Li Rui laughed as he threw the two white pieces in his hand into the box. “Winds and waves aren’t a problem. How can there be a tidal wave without a storm? Never mind, leave the struggle between orthodoxies to us old fellows. You youngsters focus on expanding outward! Have you made preparations for the redistribution of military zones?”

Li Tianshi replied, “Uncle Fangqing has been transferred to the war department. With the addition of a couple of other people, our participation in the army leadership will be quite expansive. His Majesty’s imperial guards will also recruit two lieutenant generals from our family. Unfortunately, things happened too fast, and we didn’t have the time to produce any marshal candidates.”

The redistribution of military zones wasn’t just about removing a couple of marshals. There would be drastic changes from the military to regional administration. General Li Fangqing was the Jingtang Li Family’s highest-ranking member in the military world. He was currently the local commander in charge of the military police. This was a position of great power, but in the end, those managing internal affairs were inferior to the generals overseeing large warzones.

Li Rui said, “Our family’s roots in the army are too thin. We might not be able to obtain stable military authority even if we expose our divine champion power two years in advance. It’s great that we were able to obtain more active offices, but we must pick the right people to enter the imperial guard.” He gave it some thought and said, “I’m rather concerned about your siblings, especially Lil’ Lan.”

Li Tianshi’s calm expression suddenly shifted, and his brows couldn’t help but knit together.

Li Rui looked up at his expression and said, “Even you don’t know how Lil’ Lan became related to those two little fellows?”

Li Tianshi smiled wryly. “Little sister probably met Zhao Jundu while exploring the central cave in Giant’s Repose. Song Zining, on the other hand, has always been moving with the main army, and he had remained in Prince Greensun’s command center later on. If she had really gone to the Zhang clan’s camp... there’s no way we wouldn’t know that.”

Li Rui also revealed a helpless expression. “She’s really been spoiled!” That was what he said, but one could hardly hear any blame in his words.

Li Tianshi’s smile turned even more rueful. Their little sister was a child their father had gotten at an old age and had thus received much of the elders’ affection. All the siblings, including Empress Li, had pampered her like they would, a daughter. However, she had always been cold and detached despite her intelligence and great talents, eventually growing up to become such a person. They truly had no one else to blame for this.

But this matter was simply too delicate—it was fine if nothing happened, but it would be difficult to handle once something had come up.

“Lil’ Lan is causing too much trouble this time. You’d better keep an eye on her,” said Li Rui. “We can ignore Song Zining, but that Zhao Jundu is a different matter. He’s the son of the eldest Princess, someone younger by an entire generation. Moreover, during the fight for orthodoxies back then, Duke Xuanyuan, Zhao Xuanyun, supported the Eastern Tranquility Tower in contending with us, causing both sides to suffer. This led to that nobody Lin Xitang’s meteoric rise. The orthodoxy is our Li clan’s foundation. There’s no reconciliation between us and the Zhao clan.”

Li Tianshi’s expression froze. He hadn’t expected Li Rui to take a child’s mischief so seriously. He gave it some thought before asking, “I heard that the alliance the elders were trying to form with Prince Greensun didn’t go very well. What happened after that?”

Li Rui frowned upon hearing this. “His Excellency Zhang refuses to comment. He neither agrees nor refuses. I’ll discuss this matter with the empress when I visit the imperial capital this time.”

Li Tianshi lowered his gaze in contemplation.

Li Rui stood up and said, “I’ll set out tonight.” He didn’t leave via the main doors but went into the bedroom instead. There, he moved a hanging flower pot, and following which, the bookcase moved away to reveal a dark passage.

Before going in, Li Rui suddenly turned back and said, “Marquis, you’re a man of great skill and strategy, one most fitting to lead our family to power. But sometimes, you shouldn’t act on emotions.”

Li Tianshi sat in place for a long while. The aide beside him also remained seated as straight as a pillar.

“Zhi Jie, is Lil’ Lan still in isolated cultivation?”

“Yes, it has been said that the Young Miss has gained some insights on the path to combat perfection. This time, she’s going to remain in isolation until she fully comprehends that Hidden Snow Stance.” Presently, most of the family servants only knew that the clan lord had a young brother. This aide knew because he was the son of Li Tianshi’s wet nurse and had been following him since a young age. He could hardly change his address after all this time.

Li Tianshi asked again, “What exactly is Marshal Lin’s situation?”

The follower replied, “There were rumors a while ago about him being injured during the divination of Giant’s Repose, but that’s false information released by the Northern Manor. There really is something wrong with his body, but the situation is unclear.”

Li Tianshi nodded and dismissed the aide. He sat there for quite a while after the aide left before walking over to the window, his gaze traversing all obstructions to land on the mountain and sea.

The Jingtan Li Clan’s divination art was an ancient inheritance comparable to the long history of the four major clans. Despite being set back quite badly during the battle of orthodoxies back then, the clan remained a colossal entity and was an honored guest to many an imperial clan member and nobility.

However, every entity had its strengths and weaknesses. The Li clan’s overall strength had always been lingering around the top tier of the aristocratic families. They were still a fair distance away from upgrading to the status of a major clan.

Although the two factions had been fighting constantly, the empire had been internally peaceful for quite some time, so it wasn’t that easy for the Li family to pioneer new territory. If they were to follow normal procedures, the family would hardly be able to take that next step in Li Tianshi’s entire lifetime.

Li Tianshi laughed all of a sudden. A flame flickered in his eyes as he muttered to himself, “Those with influence but no power will always rely on others. How can I allow myself to be restrained so? War of national fate? Heh!”

The spread of news in the empire was both fast and slow. Usually, it would take months for things at the border to reach the imperial capital, but big news would spread throughout the major clans in a single day. Before a single day had passed, the Storm Pearl’s appearance on the Li clan ranking awards had reached the desks of every clan lord.

Numerous undercurrents started flowing immediately.

Qianye, who was on the distant floating continent, had no idea what this so-called Storm Pearl was. Even if he did, he wouldn’t pay too much attention to it. This Storm Pearl could upgrade one’s talent potential below the divine champion rank, but it was useless for Qianye.

He cultivated the Song Clan Ancient Scroll which was poles apart from the orthodox principles—there wasn’t any bottleneck to speak of. The only thing he needed to do was maintain the balance until the two parts had reached the apex and then proceed to explore the primal chaos realm mentioned in the outlines.

Additionally, what Qianye wanted from this war weren’t resources but purely contribution points.

At this moment, Qianye was paying rapt attention as he opened the Book of Darkness.

Beneath the thick cover was a familiar list of contents. The same words were written upon it: Refinement.

The table of contents flipped over in response to Qianye’s consciousness. There, the mass of rolling darkness turned into human figures demonstrating swordplay.

Qianye was beyond familiar with this move. It was one of his killing moves—Nirvanic Rend. However, the Nirvanic Rend at this moment was no longer the same as before. It had become much clearer, and there was a sharp sword intent rushing at his face. This meant that the move had been further perfected, and its might had grown significantly.

Qianye seemed to have understood something and tried flipping the page over. As expected, a new page had appeared after Nirvanic Rend. There was also a sword-wielding figure here, holding the blade with both hands and dealing one strike in each of the eight directions around it.

This move was much simpler compared to Nirvanic Rend. However, the concept of the blade wasn’t normal. It was simple and unadorned yet dignified. Every blow possessed a might capable of splitting the skies and parting the oceans. That suppressive pressure rushing out at his face caused Qianye to feel stifled!