Rebuilding the Immortal Cultivator Clan

Chapter 101: Pest Infestation

A power that wants to grow must have both hard and soft power—indispensable and most important are the former.

When it comes to hard power, in terms of clan combat strength and economy, the Li family has already done quite well.

Especially the former, which cannot be improved any further in the short term; we can only wait for our clanspeople to achieve breakthroughs, or for Li Shiqing to successfully form his Golden Core.

The same goes for the economy; Cloudtop Pavilion and the grocery storeʼs two major industries have added quite a few spiritual objects for sale over the years.

For instance, Cloudtop Pavilionʼs Hundred Flowers Brew, Fruit Brew, and various new Spirit Foods, and the grocery storeʼs ice silk-made vestment robes, Giant Bee Spiritual Honey, and other spiritual objects, but itʼs impossible to introduce new spiritual objects for now.

Thus, Li Zhirui gathered the Elders to discuss a matter concerning the future of the family.

”Greatly foster our clanspeopleʼs learning of various cultivation skills!” This was the solution Li Zhirui came up with.

Everyone says there are six arts of cultivation—alchemy, tool refining, formation, talisman making, planting, and beast taming—but actually, these are only the most widely spread skills. In addition, there are Earth Masters, Puppet Masters, Diviners, and many other skills.

As for the exact number, Li Zhirui, or rather, ninety-nine percent of cultivators, have no idea.

These ”minor paths” are challenging to inherit and learn, so what Li Zhirui referred to were still the six arts of cultivation.

Among these, because Spirit Pills are most popular with cultivators, the Li family has put a lot of effort into this area and nurtured many Alchemists, although most of them can only refine Jade Spirit Pills.

Furthermore, training cultivators to learn cultivation skills is an endeavor that consumes a great amount of Spirit Stones. When Li Zhirui proposed this, many Elders stood in opposition, including Li Shile and Li Shiqi, the two with the greatest power.

In the end, Li Zhirui had no choice but to compromise, selecting alchemy and talisman making—since he had both himself and the Pill Scripture for the former, and talismans are commonly used spiritual objects by cultivators, with learning costs being the lowest among the six arts.

However, these Elders did not know that Li Zhiruiʼs previous brash statement was actually deliberate.

All sorts of cultivation skills?

Even Yuanming Sect, a Golden Core power, only ensures the basics of the six arts and then selects one or two for focused development—Foundation Establishment families simply donʼt have the financial resources or heritage to learn too many skills.

Itʼs actually a ruse by Li Zhirui, to exaggerate intentionally first and then voluntarily step back, thereby achieving his true goal.

This also spared him the effort of convincing the Elders extensively should he want to strongly develop the familyʼs alchemy and talisman making.

In terms of hard power, Li Zhirui could not think of other methods in the short term, so he began to consider soft power.

This aspect was somewhat complex, for it was not as visible as hard power, which you can see with the naked eye—it is an invisible state.

Because of this, Li Zhirui pondered for several days before he came up with a few methods he deemed feasible.

”First, compile the history of the Li family as completely and concisely as possible, and incorporate it into the educational materials of the Spirit Wisdom Court.” History was not absent in the Li family, but it was too disorganized, too scattered, and nobody read it.

”Second, write about the heroic deeds of the Li familyʼs ancestors, so the younger generations know and remember their sacrifices, enhancing the cohesion of the family.”

”Thirdly, significant or special contributions to the familyʼs development must be recognized by calling a full family assembly, where public commendation and publicity are carried out.”

After Li Zhirui finished describing his three methods, most of the Elders present had a stunned expression, not quite understanding the deeper meaning of his words.

He did not feel inclined to explain, and with a wave of his hand, he let the Elders vote on whether to pass the proposal.

Fortunately, in the end, there were more Elders in favor than against, and the proposal was adopted.

However, for the first two tasks, Li Zhirui did not plan to entrust them to the clan members but instead intended to let mortals take the lead, as such affairs were too tedious.

Just sending a few clan members to help would suffice, and their main task was to relay the content of the Jade Slip.

”To start and to finish, thus, my two years as Acting Clan Leader would not have been in vain,” Li Zhirui murmured to himself.

Suddenly, a panicked voice came from afar, ”Clan Leader, something terrible has happened!”

Li Zhiruiʼs mouth twitched. Why did that sound so ominous?

But since the person hurrying over was Li Shize, Li Zhirui refrained from saying anything.

”Elder Shize, what happened?” If it wasnʼt a matter of great importance, Li Shize wouldnʼt have come back personally.

Moreover, his reaction this time held an extra trace of fear and apprehension compared to when the Earth Dragon turned or ancient ruins were discovered.

”A kind of black insect suddenly appeared in Yunping State. They like to gnaw on all kinds of things imbued with Spiritual Energy. Their numbers seem infinite, and they cannot be completely eradicated,” Li Shize explained with a trace of fear on his face.

”Thankfully these black insects donʼt eat humans; otherwise, the two poor families to the far west would have lost more than just their heritage and land, which have been rendered completely barren.”

In fact, these black insects were not strong; even mortals could easily crush scores of them, but their numbers were too great, and they reproduced swiftly.

You could eliminate all the black insects in one area, but in just a few days, a swarm would fly in from another place, and in a few daysʼ time, their numbers would skyrocket tenfold, even twentyfold!

”Gulp!” Someone, upon hearing Li Shizeʼs description, couldnʼt help swallowing their saliva, breaking the silence that had fallen over the room.

”Isnʼt that terrifying?”

”Has the Yuanming Sect done nothing?”

”What should we do if those black insects make their way to Da Rong Island?”

The responses from the elders varied, but all were concerned about the catastrophe potentially affecting the family.

”Elder Shize, do you know of any weaknesses these black insects might have?” Li Zhirui asked, frowning.

If this issue was not dealt with properly, then the familyʼs years of accumulation and foundation might be devoured clean by the black insects, like what happened to those two families.

Fortunately, the appearance of the black insects was confined to the west, and, as Li Shize mentioned, their slow movement meant they would likely not reach Da Rong Island any time soon.

”They are mere mundane insects, easily killed by mortals.”

Yet it was these mundane insects that brought a terrible disaster to the cultivators and powers of Yunping State, Green Mountain State, and Guangqing State.

”Hasnʼt the Yuanming Sect come up with a way to deal with these black insects?” Li Shilian asked as he had just entered the hall and learned the news from the other elders.

Li Shize nodded and then shook his head with a sigh, ”The Yuanming Sect took action, even those two True Ones intervened, but they couldnʼt eradicate the black insects completely.”

”This…” Li Zhirui had personally witnessed the strength of the Golden Core cultivators, the figures who with a single strike had annihilated thousands of zombies, an image that lingered in his mind.

Yet such formidable individuals were helpless against these black insects?!