Rise of the Wang Clan: Starting with a Portable Farm

Chapter 178: The Art of the Strategic Retreat

Gu Lizhan stood at the rear of the Maple Leaf Market formation, his expression an unreadable mask. Yet, deep down, a cold satisfaction simmered.

The Gu family had not avenged their dead today, true. But Maple Leaf Market had bled—heavily. For Gu Lizhan, this disaster was the spark of hope his family needed to rise from the ashes.

Had the coalition remained intact and powerful, the Gu family would have been nothing more than a puppet. Even if they rebuilt their clan under the Burning Heaven Sect’s orders, the other families would have picked their bones clean, devouring every resource and benefit until nothing remained.

But the playing field had leveled.

The Ye family had lost two Foundation Establishment cultivators and half its Qi Refining members. It now had less than half its former strength.

In contrast, the Gu family still possessed two Foundation Establishment cultivators. Gu Lizhan himself was in the late stage, ranking him among the top apex predators of the market. With him holding the line, he could protect what remained of his family’s interests. Their Qi Refining numbers were low, yes, but their mortal base was intact. Give them a few centuries of peace, and the Gu bloodline would flourish once more.

In the world of cultivation, interests reigned supreme. To ensure his clan’s future, Gu Lizhan could bury his hatred for now.

He stepped forward, his voice projecting calm authority. “This disaster was caused by Elder Ji’s willful arrogance. It is not our burden to bear. If we continue this blood feud, we risk being flanked by the Lei, Zhao, and Cheng families. If that happens, we face total annihilation, and the Sect’s containment mission will fail completely. However, if we withdraw now and preserve our strength, the Green Bull Market forces will not dare to recklessly support the Qingyuan Sect. I am certain the Sect will understand this strategic necessity.”

Both late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators favored withdrawal, and no one else objected. They all wanted to live.

Consensus reached, the Maple Leaf Market army began a slow, organized retreat.

Wang Hao did not pursue. The Wang and Li families needed rest after the battle, and a pursuit promised little gain.

In truth, Maple Leaf Market had lost this war before it began. Their preparations were rushed, and their strength had already been chipped away by Wang Hao’s surprise raids on the Gu and Si families. Launching a full-scale invasion in such a state was an act of hubris that invited ruin.

The battlefield fell silent, leaving both sides to lick their wounds.

The battle had damaged Wang Family Ridge. Dozens of mu of spirit fields at the foot of the mountain were ruined; rebuilding them would cost five thousand Spirit Stones and several years.

When Wang Hao concentrated defenders against one enemy group, attackers reached the undefended sides and damaged spirit herbs and plants worth at least tens of thousands of Spirit Stones.

Collapsing slopes and buildings caused by the shaking array added losses of another several tens of thousands.

Fortunately, the enemy had not reached above the mountainside. The clan treasury, scripture pavilion, and other core buildings remained intact.

Wang Hao reactivated the defensive formation and ordered his clansmen to begin the grim task of clearing the corpses. A heavy sigh escaped him. The cultivation world was brutal. It was a far cry from his ideal life of quiet farming and steady progression.

The Li family remained at Wang Family Ridge for three days. Only after scouts confirmed the Maple Leaf army had fully withdrawn did they bid farewell.

The Li family had brought only a hundred clan members, while spouses, servants, and dependents numbered far more.

Bringing everyone would have slowed their march and consumed precious spiritual energy at Wang Family Ridge. It also risked the entire bloodline. Li Yaozu had dispersed the others: mortals went to mortal cities, and weaker cultivators hid in nearby mountains.

Gathering them again would be difficult, and some might suffer losses in the mountains. Overall, however, the Li family had lost the least among the Five Families of Green Bull.

The Zhao and Cheng families returned after receiving the news. Their spirit mountains had been plundered, but Maple Leaf Market had intended to occupy them and had not caused wholesale destruction; the main losses were property.

Across the border, the mood in Maple Leaf Market was funereal.

The month-long campaign had been a meat grinder. Their stockpiles of pills and talismans were depleted, and their manpower was devastated.

The Ye family had two Foundation Establishment cultivators left, one old and the other rash, neither suited to lead. Decline seemed inevitable. The Xu and Cui families might not recover for a century without extraordinary luck.

Ironically, the He family emerged as the biggest winner. They had lost only one expert and kept their main force intact. In the vacuum left by the Ye family’s collapse, the He clan was poised to become the new overlord of Maple Leaf Market.

Gu Lizhan was the strongest individual cultivator in Maple Leaf Market but lacked enough clan members to compete with the He family. The He family would still avoid provoking a lone, powerful Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Back at Green Bull Market, the news sent shockwaves through the Lei, Zhao, and Cheng families.

The three families had barely held out, while the Wang and Li families defeated the enemy army in one day, rather than merely driving it away. This strengthened their wish to remain allied.

However, the local victory was a small bright spot in a grim picture.

Within half a year, only two relatively strong market towns had repelled Burning Heaven Sect attacks. The rest had fallen or were still fighting.

It was only a matter of time before a new, larger coalition came for Green Bull Market.

Wang Hao was ready to flee if necessary.

As long as he lived and kept the farm, he could rebuild the family anywhere.

For a long war, he cleared unimportant herbs from his farm and planted Spirit Talisman Grass for talisman paper and herbs for pill refining.

He kept the perennial fruit trees: Gold Essence Fruit, Spirit-Nurturing Fruit, Void Mulberry Divine Tree, Jasper Moon Fruit, Mystic Wonder Fruit, and Hundred-Fragrance Fruit. They were too useful to uproot.

Wang Hao opened his system interface to check their progress.

He had planted the Gold Essence Fruit Tree in gold soil three years earlier. At eighty times normal growth, it had aged two hundred and forty years.

[Status: Gold Essence Fruit Tree]

Stage: Seedling

Progress: 01 Year, 05 Months, 12 Days until Small Leaf Stage.

Note: Fertilization available!

The tree required a millennium to flower and another three hundred years to bear fruit. Wang Hao did the mental math: with the 80x boost, he would need to wait roughly thirteen more years in the real world to harvest the fruit.

He shifted his gaze to the second plot of Gold Soil.

[Status: Spirit-Nurturing Fruit Tree]

Stage: Flowering

Progress: 01 Year, 01 Month, 03 Days until Fruiting Stage.

He had harvested Spirit-Nurturing Fruit once already. He did not need much more himself, but it was valuable enough to sell.

Finally, he looked at the third plot, home to his most long-term investment.

[Status: Void Mulberry Divine Tree]

Stage: Sprouting

Progress: 03 Years, 12 Months, 25 Days until Seedling Stage.

The Void Mulberry was a project for the distant future. It needed a thousand years just to become usable—and even then, the wood would only be good for low-grade Storage Bags. To craft high-grade spatial Magic Treasures, the tree would need to grow for several thousand, perhaps even ten thousand years.