Rebuilding the Immortal Cultivator Clan

Chapter 143 - 141: Surge

The news of Li Zhiruiʼs successful refinement of the Foundation Establishment Pill captured the attention of the entire family.

Li Shiqing put aside the moving island he was working on, and Li Shiren and Li Shilian also returned to the family.

Even the normally aloof Li Shiting hurried back from Red Pine Island to gaze upon the Foundation Establishment Pill that Li Zhirui had refined!

In truth, these four Foundation Establishment Pills werenʼt considered much for the Li family, given that there were no Spiritual Medicines to refine such pills for the next seventy to eighty years.

And during this time, the Li family was in a period of explosive strength growth.

Among the clan members who had the potential to achieve Foundation Establishment in this period, there were definitely more than four.

But these four pills were of significant importance because they marked the Li familyʼs capability to refine Foundation Establishment Pills on their own from now on.

”Zhirui, you truly are a great hero of our family!” Li Zhizhun praised without restraint.

The other Elders and family members also ceaselessly lauded Li Zhirui, praising him until he blushed with embarrassment, yet they still felt it wasnʼt enough.

”Whatever you want, just say it. The family will do its best to satisfy you,” Li Shiqing promised.

No one stood out to oppose because they knew what it meant for someone to have the ability to refine Foundation Establishment Pills by themselves.

Li Zhirui shook his head, as he couldnʼt think of anything he needed at that moment.

Spirit Stones—he still had tens of thousands of them, more than enough for his use; Spirit Pills—he could refine them himself, and the quality was better than those on the market.

Magic Artifacts—he already had a high-grade second-order one, which was sufficient until the later stages of Foundation Establishment, and he even had contracts with two third-grade Spirit Beasts.

”Could I perhaps hold onto the offer? Iʼll tell you when I think of something,” Li Zhirui hesitated to say.

Li Shiqing nodded, agreeing to his request, then turned to Li Zhizhun and said, ”Keep one Foundation Establishment Pill for Zhiyue, and store the remaining three in the warehouse. Set a reasonable Contribution Value for the family members to exchange.”

Although such an arrangement was not entirely fair to the other family members, what fairness was there to speak of in the world? It was better to be upfront about it, which made it easier for people to accept.

In fact, everyone was without complaints, for Li Zhiyueʼs exceptional dual spiritual roots would warrant considerable cultivation resources even in a Nascent Soul Sect, so a slight preferential treatment in the Li family was hardly a significant matter.

The news of the Li family refining a Foundation Establishment Pill quickly spread throughout Yunping State, and many cultivators awaited the familyʼs auction of the pills, hoping to lower the market price of the Foundation Establishment Pills.

But for the time being, it was impossible for them to put the pills up for sale since the Li family needed them for themselves.

Nevertheless, Li Zhiruiʼs reputation as a genius Alchemist was now solidified across the neighboring regions.

The two Golden Core powers in the know of the pill recipe envied the Li family greatly.

After all, they had completed several tasks for Shen Leishan over the years and paid a high price to be able to refine Foundation Establishment Pills.

Yet, the Li family managed to succeed on their first attempt because they had Li Zhirui.

When Li Zhirui learned of his burgeoning fame, far from being pleased, he discreetly left Da Rong Island to take Li Shilianʼs place managing Nine Springs Island.

Partly to keep a low profile and avoid jealousy and harm, and partly because Li Shilian was preparing to break through to the later stages of Foundation Establishment. With richer spiritual energy on Da Rong Island, it better suited his secluded breakthrough, necessitating the posting of another Foundation Establishment to guard Nine Springs Island.

As a member of the family, Li Zhirui had family duties to fulfill.

Although Nine Springs Island was less abundant in spiritual energy than Da Rong Island, it was enough to maintain a relatively quick pace of cultivation, and being far from the family enabled him to wholeheartedly refine Spirit Pills, which he could sell at Yunqing Marketplace to earn Spirit Stones.

Time trickled past, bringing the final day of the year.

”Is there an event today?” Today was the day Li Zhirui was scheduled to submit the Consolidating Yuan Pills to his family.

But on the way to the warehouse, he noticed many family members heading to one place and asked the new Internal Affairs Elder in confusion.

”Today is Spirit Testing Day. If youʼre free, you could go to Spirit Testing Valley and take a look,” said the Elder with a smile. ”This year we have the highest number of children participating in the test; we might discover some exceptional talents.”

Jolted to realization, Li Zhirui recalled that he had been busy refining pills and had lost track of this vital day for the family.

But considering the crowd that would be there, he had little interest in joining the fray; he would find out the results from a family member afterward.

——

Meanwhile, in front of the Spirit Testing Array, Li Zhizhun and Li Shiren had clear roles: the former organized the testing queue, while the latter activated the Great Array.

”This year, there are seventy to eighty thousand children being tested—the most in several years. Just conducting the tests will take several days!” an Elder excitedly declared.

It should be noted that this high number was only possible because Li Shiren had used substantial resources to set up three Spirit Testing Arrays. If there had been only one Array like in previous years, the tests alone would have taken over half a month!

The large turnout was attributed to Li Zhiruiʼs policies as Acting Clan Leader, which included relocating tens of thousands of young men and women from Yunping State and encouraging the family members to have more children.

Now, five or six years later, the infants born from these policies had grown up, leading to this massive turnout of tens of thousands of children for the tests.

Notably, half of these children were of commoner descent without Li family bloodlines.

However, having grown up under the protection of the Li family on Da Rong Island, these children had embraced their identity as part of the Li family from their hearts.

Some commoners, seeking to close the gap with the Li family—believing it might increase the chances of their descendants manifesting a Spiritual Root—even went so far as to adopt the Li surname for themselves.