In Azure Cloud Prefecture, within Merit City.
Li Xinnian and numerous clan elders were congratulating Li Yunbing.
The joyous news of Li Xinghuo's breakthrough transmitted from the Northern Border made the clansmen even more overjoyed.
Tian Xing was trapped within the family's Old Tree. The elders said that what they had once obtained from that scoundrel was enough to allow any of the elders who had lived through that era to break through to the Divinity Transformation realm within this century.
"Tian Xing... just what kind of existence was he?"
Li Xinnian murmured in shock.
Amidst the sounds of drinking and merrymaking in the Li family's main courtyard, Li Xinnian looked at his wife, Nangong Qingya, and asked, "Qingya, in your dreams, does Tian Xing exist?"
On the night of their wedding, he had asked about the strangeness surrounding his wife.
Nangong Qingya had answered every question truthfully.
She possessed "Illusory Dreams" that allowed her to know the future. However, due to his appearance, Su Chen, and indeed the entire Li family, reality had already diverged vastly from Nangong Qingya's dreams of the future.
"He does." Nangong Qingya said in a grave voice,
"In my dreamscape, Tian Xing and Daoist Baimei were the Supremes of Eternal Sun Prefecture.
The master and disciple used a spiritual formation to sacrifice all the living beings of Eternal Sun Prefecture. However, when Tian Xing attempted to break through to the Integration realm, he suffered a backlash.
Azure Mist Mountain then saw the rise of a Supreme Baimei at the peak of the Integration realm.
After being hunted by the Imperial Dynasty for many years, he descended once more upon Azure Mist Mountain at the Mahayana realm."
Hearing this, Li Xinnian sucked in a sharp breath of cold air. He felt even more strongly just how formidable his elders and the Old Ancestor were to have seized the destiny of legendary figures like Baimei and Tian Xing.
"But I don't know what happened after that." Nangong Qingya gave a bitter smile.
"In the illusory dream, I was merely an elder of the Nangong family. Nowadays, too many things are different from my dream."
Li Xinnian looked thoughtful.
As the couple chatted idly, they saw a young man approach and bow to them.
"Father, Mother."
The youth's features bore a striking resemblance to Li Xinnian's, though his gaze was pure. This child was Li Zhiheng.
"Zhiheng, Father asked you to go meet that girl from the Sun family of the Duravia Trade Prefecture. What did you think?" Li Xinnian looked at Li Zhiheng with gratification.
This child had inherited his kindness, and his aptitude was a Single Spirit Root. With diligent cultivation, once he broke through to the Foundation Establishment realm, even a Heavenly Spirit Root was possible.
This was especially true of the child's aptitude of the "Heart of the Innocent"—it was truly extraordinary.
"Father, this child just met Miss Sun Sixiu. I asked her, and she turned bright red with anger, calling me a lecherous knave. This child does not know what he did wrong."
Li Zhiheng's eyes were filled with innocence.
"..."
Li Xinnian fell silent for a moment. "How did you ask her?"
"I asked the moment we met. I asked if she wanted to marry me and bear children for our Li family."
Li Zhiheng spoke with utter sincerity. "If there is nothing else, this child will take his leave to go cultivate."
"Go. Don't come see me for the next two years."
Li Xinnian's face turned black as he waved his hand. Seeing Li Zhiheng turn around with a blank expression, he added, "Make that three years."
Watching Li Zhiheng's retreating back, Li Xinnian felt for the first time that some things really were innate.
This child of his was naturally dense. No matter how hard he tried to teach him, Li Zhiheng just couldn't learn.
He hadn't learned to speak until he was six years old. Yet, he happened to be a top-notch talent when it came to cultivation, while being dull to the extreme in all other matters.
"Xinnian." Li Yunbing smiled from the side.
"Promise me one thing. Just let the child Zhiheng focus on his cultivation. It is better this way; do not let him become familiar with the filth of this world. Trust me, this is a good thing for him."
"But..." Li Xinnian knitted his brows.
"No buts." Li Yunlin gave a cold snort. "And don't you worry about Zhiheng being bullied just because he is innocent of the world's ways. Just let us see who would dare to bully him."
Li Yunbing simply watched Li Zhiheng depart with a face full of nostalgia, smiling at Li Yunlin.
"Big Brother, does he not look like the me of the past?"
"He does." Li Yunlin was also all smiles.
Li Yunbing took a deep breath. "Then let us hope he does not become the me of today."
Li Yunlin fell silent. Perhaps this was the very goal for which their ancestors had fought generation after generation up to this day: so that the children would not have to be like them, who had endured that era of the past.
Amidst the laughter and merrymaking at the banquet, everyone suddenly turned their gaze toward the sky.
"Boom!"
Under the moonlight, the muscle man's bald head gleamed brightly as he soared into the air, a cube spinning madly before him.
He laughed loudly, "Hahaha! It's done! Old Ancestor, Yaotie has finally done it!"
A look of joy appeared in everyone's eyes.
Suddenly, the fragrance of medicine from the Outer City permeated the entirety of Merit City.
Flames from a pill furnace shot up into the sky, accompanied by a sarcastic cold snort.
"Old Third, oh Old Third. I haven't been wrong about you since we were kids; you really are a useless brute. Your Second Sister finished ten years ago!"
"You... go refine artifacts if you're so capable! If you keep laughing, believe it or not, I'll tell Mom, Dad, and the Old Ancestor!"
Hearing this, the banquet erupted in laughter.
Li Yunlin shook his head with a bitter smile. "It's been hundreds of years, yet Second Aunt still loves bullying Third Uncle."
His voice had barely faded.
Li Yaoqing, stepping upon the flames, projected her voice across the entire Merit City. "Hmph! At his age, he still loves to tattle, just like a certain fool!"
"..."
Crack!
The wine cup shattered. Li Yunbing looked at his Big Brother, whose face had turned black and whose veins were bulging all over his body, and was stunned.
"Big Brother, what... what's wrong? You seem angry."
---
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