Family Management Game In Immortal Continent

Chapter 1266: Chapter 1260: Universally Acknowledged Scoundrel

In the assembly hall of Jade Mist Valley, Valley Master Linghu Tiangong tightly gripped the teacup in his hand.

The tea inside had grown cold, and the veins on the back of his hand were clearly visible.

This Valley Master, who had presided over Jade Mist Valley for twenty thousand years, was like most faction leaders in times of peace—a person who strictly followed the rules, carefully weighed his options from all sides, and acted as a mediator.

He had always been exceptionally calm and steady.

Now, however, his eyes were hollow.

His usual numerous calculations and strategic weighings were of no use.

Under the current circumstances, where the entirety of Jade Mist Valley, from top to bottom, was about to align itself with the Peerless Hall, he couldn’t come up with a single viable solution.

“The Great Elder… is dead.”

A look that was simultaneously sorrowful, somewhat gratified, and somewhat disbelieving appeared in Linghu Tiangong’s eyes.

“The Great Elder was the oldest existence in the valley aside from the Ancestral Master.

He was profoundly versed in the valley’s techniques, having cultivated six Void Refinement techniques to a profound depth, and had even mastered a Heaven-tier technique.

Even if he wasn’t a match for his opponent, he had plenty of means to escape. How could he possibly be killed so easily by a junior?”

Recalling the intelligence transmitted back by his disciples, coupled with the brilliant light of the talisman array rising into the sky that could be seen from afar that day, even with his vast experience and extensive knowledge, his heart couldn’t help but pound wildly.

“The Azure Cloud Li Clan only possesses a millennium of legacy; where did they get such a powerful Talisman Immortal Master?”

Amidst his thoughts, with cultivators coming and going in the hall, he was completely oblivious to the fact that two women and one man had already arrived right in front of him.

The man among them looked completely harmless, bearing a timid and cowering appearance, while the women flanking his left and right appeared exceedingly shrewd and wise.

“Junior Li Tianming greets Senior.”

As Li Tianming spoke, Linghu Tiangong was finally jolted awake.

Having just been muttering about this very matter, he never expected Li Tianming to actually show up right before him.

Linghu Tiangong was stunned for only a brief moment before his pupils instantly dilated.

He leaped to his feet, uncaring of anything else, and instantaneously channeled his Spiritual power.

The ancient spatial ring on his hand flashed with light as he deployed the ultimate life-saving Dharma Treasure passed down through generations of Valley Masters.

An array formation appeared beneath him, and the brilliance of rules flashed all around.

In a mere few thoughts, the spot where he had just stood was completely empty.

“…”

Li Tianming and the two women beside him stared blankly at the empty space where Linghu Tiangong had vanished.

Soon after, Li Tianming put on a miserable face and turned to the two women, whose faces had darkened considerably.

“You two Fourth Great-Aunts, his… his reaction was so huge. What do we do? We haven’t even mentioned the matter of cooperating with him to attack from both the inside and outside.”

“The matter of you placing talismans under the Great Elder’s chair in Grandhaven Prefecture has already spread. If he didn’t run, he’d be a complete fool.”

These two were entirely Li Yaowen’s reincarnated avatars, acting as disciples of Jade Mist Valley.

When the two of them exchanged glances, their eyes were brimming with scheming thoughts.

“Then what do we do? Where am I supposed to find him?”

Li Tianming’s face turned bitter.

The family had assigned him the task of finding traces of the Martial Academy’s three Masters and the watchdog.

The ‘brothers’ in his mind had given him many ideas; venturing into the enemy’s main base to find Linghu Tiangong—who greatly disliked the Peerless Hall and the Western Frontier—was deemed the safest option.

Who knew it would go wrong so quickly.

“He just panicked,” one of Li Yaowen’s reincarnated avatars waved her hand dismissively.

“Once he thinks it through, he will naturally come back.”

…

[Special Event — Cooperating with Linghu Tiangong]

[Linghu Tiangong is unwilling to see his sect sink into the corruption of the Blood Moon. After being deeply startled by your descendant Li Tianming, he turns back to seek him out.]

[The matter of your descendant Li Tianming burying talismans under people’s behinds has already become widespread knowledge.

When people see Li Tianming, they maintain three parts vigilance and seven parts distance.

Acquired Trait: Universally Acknowledged Scoundrel]

[After revealing himself in front of an opponent, the probability of a successful sneak attack decreases by 50%.

The other personalities within his mind are deeply annoyed by this matter and have decided to condense another personality to counter the drawbacks of being easily discovered.

Will acquire a new personality: ‘Despicable Personality’.]

In a pitch-black cave in Jade Mist Valley where one couldn’t even see their own fingers, Li Tianming stood a hundred meters inside.

He furrowed his brows; the ‘big brothers’ in his head were gathered together holding a meeting.

He didn’t know what they were up to this time, but he was absolutely certain it was nothing good.

This was especially true of the primary personality, who was currently sitting cross-legged on a torture rack in his mind, sneering with a dark and sinister expression.

Deep inside the cave, about a thousand meters away and safely separated by layer upon layer of defensive array formations, Linghu Tiangong looked highly vigilant.

“Little friend Tianming, you and I can be completely honest with each other now.”

Li Tianming put on an honest and simple-minded look. “Senior, you wouldn’t want Jade Mist Valley to turn out like the Western Frontier either, right?”

Linghu Tiangong immediately understood. “You are asking me to betray Jade Mist Valley?”

Such brutal honesty.

Li Tianming hurriedly nodded.

“Yes. My family elders said they have long heard of Senior’s astuteness. My venturing here is a sufficient show of sincerity; the rest is entirely up to Senior to decide.

Whether you kill me or choose to cooperate, this is Jade Mist Valley’s final chance to avoid sinking into the Blood Moon.”

Linghu Tiangong indeed fell silent, sinking into a long, profound contemplation.

“Are you certain of success?”

Li Tianming initially wanted to speak directly and honestly, but suddenly felt that would make him look too foolish.

Feigning deep contemplation, he then mimicked the exact way Xinnian used to speak to people back when he was the Family Head, stating confidently,

“Jade Mist Valley is nothing more than a handful of clowns.”

“You bastard!!!”

As he was leaving, thinking back on how Linghu Tiangong, flushed red in the face with anger, had violently driven him out, Li Tianming realized he had definitely said the wrong thing.

However, every single one of the brothers in his head praised him, telling him he had spoken wonderfully.

Then he definitely must have said the wrong thing. But it wasn’t a big problem.

On the border between Redmere Prefecture and Grandhaven Prefecture, cultivators from the three major prefectures of the Southern Frontier could be seen gathering, using their Spiritual power to seal off the edges of the two prefectures’ territories.

Cultivators retreating from Grandhaven Prefecture toward the three rear prefectures underwent rigorous inspections.

The occasional one or two who attempted to conceal their identities were firmly forced down from the cloudy sky by experts who had laid an inescapable net using their divine souls.

A vast majority of the renowned experts from the three prefectures had arrived.

Simply standing on the border, they could see the Blood Moon in the distant Western Frontier dyeing half the sky red.

Li Yuanshang already managed the logistics, and now, with his simultaneously most unreliable yet most dependable son, Li Jianguo, helping to manage things, he actually had the leisure time to gaze out at the red moon.

“From the Central Plains to the Southern Frontier, Grandhaven is an unavoidable crossing.

It is also the main artery connecting the Southern Frontier to the entire Imperial Dynasty, making it the most prosperous.

All merchant shops in the Southern Frontier would establish themselves in Grandhaven Prefecture, boasting a prosperity ordinary people can hardly imagine.

Even your Li Clan’s Hall of Heavenly Principles had no fewer than a hundred shops, and you once established three branch families within my Grandhaven.”

Beside him, Prefecture Lord Banshu Qingping, who had been escorted to the rear, wore an expression of profound sorrow.

“A single Blood Moon, in just a short century, turned a place of prosperity into a desolate land of fleeing refugees.”

Just how miserable Grandhaven was now, Li Yuanshang could clearly see with his own eyes.

The thought that the Blood Moon would reach their Azure Cloud Prefecture in the future, turning it into exactly this kind of state, filled his heart with pity.

However, sympathy was something best kept hidden inside.

He was a merchant, not a philanthropist. He merely let out a cold snort,

“You brought this upon yourselves. With the Blood Moon approaching, you actually went and put your faith in that demon empress.”

“It’s a pity for the commoners of Grandhaven. Fleeing on the road, an unknown number of lives were lost.” The Prefecture Lord smiled bitterly again and again.

“But what else could we do? Our home is in Grandhaven. Even if we went elsewhere, could we truly deal with the Blood Moon?

Who willingly chooses to be displaced and homeless? The Imperial Dynasty was our final life-saving straw.”

“Then where is that life-saving straw now?” Li Yuanshang replied casually.

Tianming had said that Banshu Qingping was a decent person, didn’t hold grudges, and spoke pleasantly.

But Li Yuanshang despised him from the bottom of his heart.

The family had communicated with Banshu Qingping long ago.

Say what you will, making the wrong choice was one thing, but now all he did was wallow in self-pity and resentment.

“Our current life-saving straw…” Banshu Qingping paid no mind to the dissatisfaction in Li Yuanshang’s eyes.

Now, all the people fleeing Grandhaven Prefecture blamed their suffering entirely on him.

It seemed that as long as a person appeared who ‘should bear the responsibility’, all their hardships found a focal point, and they finally had a target they could curse with peace of mind.

Banshu Qingping pondered for a long time, sighing,

“The life-saving straw has always been within ourselves. It’s just that for some, this straw is too frail, and some people will simply never reach the shore.”

As cultivator after cultivator entered Azure Cloud Prefecture, glaring at him angrily, he said in a solemn voice,

“Beneath the Blood Moon, as long as we are still alive, there is hope. I have always believed that evil cannot prevail over good.

The people who left Grandhaven Prefecture will return to our lands, and our bloodlines will continue to spread.”

“No matter what the future holds, one day, we will return with our descendants and renew our lands.”

Banshu Qingping unexpectedly patted Li Yuanshang’s broad shoulder.

“I now believe that your Azure Cloud Prefecture’s decision to gather cultivators for a final stand is the right one.

I will fight to the bitter end against this damned world alongside you, regardless of victory or defeat.”

Li Yuanshang frowned. Just as he was about to say he didn’t want to associate with Banshu Qingping, a Dark Crow flew over, transmitting a message directly into his mind.

He glanced at Banshu Qingping.

“It’s Banshu Weide and that watchdog of your Banshu Clan. They are heading toward Jade Mist Valley. It looks like they’re waiting to strike after everyone else has worn each other out.”

At those words, Li Yuanshang turned his head away.

He hadn’t revealed the full extent of the intelligence. Although they were on the same side for now, they still remained wary of one another.

At this very moment, his ancestors were shadowing that watchdog, waiting to do the very same.

“Sigh.” Banshu Qingping smiled bitterly.

Among all the major factions in Grandhaven Prefecture, his Banshu Clan was the most miserable.

The family’s highly anticipated Banshu Weide was driven by the divine infant.

In truth, there was another old ancestor, but he had died in the jaws of the watchdog, leaving the Banshu Clan with only him as their sole Void Refinement cultivator.

As for recreating their former glory, who knew what year or month that would be.

Li Yuanshang said no more and went to help Li Jianguo manage logistics.

Ahead lay Jade Mist Valley; behind lay Azure Cloud Prefecture.

Banshu Qingping looked down at the ground.

It seemed someone had started fleeing toward Redmere Prefecture early on, and heaven knows what had happened on the way.

There were dried bloodstains on the ground, radiating the aura of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Now, the entirety of Grandhaven was tainted with the blood of its own people.

He stared fixedly at the blood beneath his feet, lost in thought for a long time.

Then, he took a step forward, only to take a step back.

Repeating this back and forth, he finally gazed at the distant, brilliant red sky, let out a long, drawn-out sigh, and ultimately set off in the direction of Jade Mist Valley.

He walked further and further away, disappearing from the world’s sight, leaving behind the cultivators who were still directing the evacuation.

Walking further ahead, he unexpectedly entered a bustling, prosperous city, a faint smile gracing his face.

Behind him.

Li Jianguo, who was busy organizing war-use spiritual artifacts, saw his father’s massive figure approaching.

He wiped the sweat of hard labor from his forehead, muttering inwardly that managing logistics was even more exhausting than repairing the city walls back in the City of Merit.

He looked resentfully at his slacking father, “Dad, what were you muttering to yourself while staring off to the north just now?”

Just as Li Yuanshang reached out to pick up an array disc, he frowned upon hearing Li Jianguo’s words.

“What do you mean, staring to the north? Haven’t I been busy working this whole time?”

“If you’re slacking off, just admit it. It’s not like I’ll blame you,” Li Jianguo rolled his eyes.

“Hm?”

Seeing that Li Jianguo didn’t look like he was joking around, Li Yuanshang let out a soft exclamation of surprise and looked behind him.

He murmured suspiciously, “It feels like someone was just here… What the hell.”

—

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