Chapter 274

He used a spirit beast bag to contain two first-stage Purple Crystal Scorpions and gave them instructions through the contract!

Only then did he hand them over to Sixth Grandfather Lin Fanxuan, taking the opportunity to explain the methods for using and feeding the Purple Crystal Scorpions to him.

Furthermore, the two of them huddled together; in reality, Sixth Grandfather was specifically seeking advice from Lin Zhangqing, primarily regarding insights into using the Purple Crystal Scorpions for interrogation.

Lin Zhangqing had the most experience in this area, and he imparted everything to Sixth Grandfather without reservation.

He also emphasized that if a Qi Refining stage cultivator is stung more than three times in a short period, there is a possibility they could be stung to death in agony.

He had not yet tested this on Foundation Establishment stage cultivators, but one must still be careful; one must absolutely not kill the person, or it would all be for nothing, like fetching water with a bamboo basket.

Sixth Grandfather earnestly recorded this point, as he also did not want such an accident to occur, which would lead to all his previous efforts being wasted and his hard work coming to naught.

The Clan Leader urged the Wind-Running Boat forward at high speed, and finally, before the sky turned completely dark, they returned to the Lin family's ancestral mountain, Nine Peaks Mountain.

This journey back could be described as smooth sailing; nothing happened, and they returned to Nine Peaks Mountain without incident.

When the Wind-Running Boat approached the family's mountain-protecting grand array, it gave Aunt Lin Maoting a huge fright. She thought something had happened—was it not successful? How could they leave in the morning and return in the evening! Fortunately, after asking, she learned that Lin Zhangqing and the others had won a great victory, and she immediately beamed with joy.

She pulled Lin Zhangqing to her side, pinched his cheek, and said happily, "Qing'er, did your spirit scorpions achieve any results this time?"

As soon as she finished speaking, the Clan Leader and the two grandfathers all burst into laughter! Lin Zhangqing's father also spoke with a face full of smiles, "Qing'er's spirit scorpions really stole the show this time; the results they achieved are so great you wouldn't dare imagine them!"

The Clan Leader also said with a chuckle, "Little Ting'er, I'll give you a chance to guess. If you can guess five or six layers of it, I'll give you a reward.

I'll give you a hint: be bold and guess, guess big!"

When Aunt Lin Maoting heard the Clan Leader's words, her eyes lit up—not because of the reward the Clan Leader mentioned, but because she had already guessed it!

The Clan Leader and the others must have achieved a very glorious victory this time; for the Lin family, this was a matter of vital importance!

However, since the Clan Leader clearly wanted to give her a reward, she couldn't let it pass, especially seeing that everyone looked so happy.

Suddenly, a thought struck her, and she blurted out, "You wouldn't have wiped out all of the Li family's Foundation Establishment cultivators, would you?"

As soon as these words were out, the Clan Leader and the others burst into laughter, and Lin Zhangqing also said with a grin, "Aunt is amazing! You guessed it right away. Not only that, we also killed a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Zhao family."

This time, Lin Maoting was truly dumbfounded. That result was something she had boldly guessed at random under the Clan Leader's prompting, specifically guessing the biggest possibility, never expecting to hit the mark immediately.

The Clan Leader chuckled and took out the two mid-grade spiritual artifacts he had reserved earlier, handing them to Lin Maoting, "Little Ting'er, take these! These two were originally reserved for you!"

Aunt took them happily and thanked the Clan Leader, "That's great! Thank you, Clan Leader; you are truly wise and mighty!"

Upon returning to the family, the smile on the Clan Leader's face never faded; clearly, the victory was glorious, and he was in an excellent mood.

He instructed everyone, "Everyone, go back and rest first! Tomorrow, gather at the place where I am in seclusion, and we will discuss our next strategy!"

Subsequently, Lin Zhangqing, his father, and his grandfather, the three of them, bid farewell to the Clan Leader and Sixth Grandfather before returning to their own courtyard.

Aunt, however, had to return to the core of the mountain-protecting grand array to continue guarding it, waiting until tomorrow when Lin Zhangqing's father would go to relieve her.

Meanwhile, the people of the Li family, after waiting for several hours, finally could not hold back any longer and sent someone out to explore, finally confirming that the people from the Lin family had already left.

As for Zhao Chengfeng of the Zhao family, he had only supported the Li family's mountain-protecting grand array for an hour before he could no longer bear it! After confirming that the Lin family's cultivators had no intention of continuing to attack the Li family's mountain-protecting grand array, he directly interrupted his secret art and went to find a safe place to go into seclusion and recuperate.

Being able to hold out for the Li family until now, he had already done his utmost; it was his limit. If he persisted any longer, his Dao foundation would be damaged.

Once Zhao Chengfeng left, the remaining few Qi Refining Great Perfection elders of the Li family were all devastated. The dozens of Qi Refining stage clansmen who had been summoned to help guard the array were also all in a state of confusion and loss, not knowing what to do!

Some cultivators even burst into loud sobs, presumably the family members of those two unlucky ones whose deaths had already been confirmed.

According to Zhao Chengfeng's description, among the Li family's four Foundation Establishment cultivators, those confirmed dead were Outer Affairs Elder Li Youtian and Li Dequan.

As for their Clan Leader Li Youzong, it was only known that he had been severely wounded and had fallen into a coma at the time; his current life or death was uncertain. The most troublesome thing was that there was no way to further confirm the situation.

As for Li Dening, he was seen with their own eyes and confirmed to have been captured.

In just a few hours, the Li family's high-level cultivators had been wiped out, and from being one of the thirteen Foundation Establishment families in Pingyang Prefecture, they had suddenly regressed into a Qi Refining family.

This sudden turn of events stunned everyone in the Li family. In the end, it was the eldest elder of the family, Li Youwang, who was the oldest, who stood up.

He forcibly demanded that all clansmen present swear an oath to forbid the spread of this news, lest other clansmen find out, causing the morale to collapse and putting the family at risk of falling apart.

Subsequently, within the family's mountain-protecting grand array, six or seven family elders began to discuss countermeasures.

In the end, they summarized them into three methods. The first was to contact the Lin family, offer an apology, and ease the conflict with them.

At the same time, they would see if they could redeem the Clan Leader or Li Dening, so that at least the Li family would still have one or two Foundation Establishment cultivators to guard them.

Another method was that since the Clan Leader and Li Dening were in the hands of the Lin family, they would inevitably be controlled or threatened.

They should temporarily ignore them and use the strength of the entire clan to find one or two clansmen most likely to reach Foundation Establishment and fully support them in doing so.

This way, at least the Li family would have Foundation Establishment cultivators and would no longer face the crisis of falling apart, and they could wait until their strength was greater in the future to come back and take revenge on the Lin family.

The final method was to believe that they should now unite with the Zhao family and contact the other ten Foundation Establishment families in Pingyang Prefecture.

They would make the Lin family's strength public and unite everyone to deal with the Lin family, preventing the Lin family from becoming the sole power.

If they eventually became a Purple Mansion family, then those families bordering the Lin family would certainly be in big trouble.

The six or seven people argued in a mess, and no one convinced anyone! However, in the end, the Eldest Elder stepped forward and directly rejected the third method, emphasizing that the Li family's current crisis was caused by that very third method.

Originally, everyone was neighbors; there had always been small frictions but no major conflicts, and they had lived in peace.

It was precisely because someone proposed this viewpoint that the Zhao and Li families disregarded everything and directly clashed with the Lin family.

And it caused their own high-level cultivators to be decimated; now the family was already on the verge of falling apart!

To think that some people were still insisting on these viewpoints was truly ignorant!

If they continued to be enemies with the Lin family, as long as the Lin family sent people to guard the Li family's mountain gate or killed the Li family's Qi Refining clansmen, the Li family would face an immediate crisis of annihilation.

Therefore, the first method was the most feasible: to ease the conflict with the Lin family and try to redeem their Clan Leader—and of course, Li Dening as well.

Regardless of whether Li Youzong could continue to serve as Clan Leader in the future, at the very least, he himself was a late-stage Foundation Establishment combat force.

This was still very important to the current Li family, and it was impossible to just give up on it easily! (End of chapter)