Chapter 87

The setting sun soon completely fell behind the mountain peaks behind the valley.

The sky turned dark.

The stronghold master's room was a large open space.

It was not only cleaned up spotlessly but also decorated with many fresh flowers and calligraphy and paintings, no longer having any bandit air, but rather the style of a wealthy family's residence.

The living room and bedroom were separated by a translucent screen.

Through the translucent screen, one could see a super-large bed placed in the bedroom, with a snow-white animal skin spread on the floor in front of the bed.

Clearly, the Ji Clan had put a lot of thought into Xia Daoming's arrival.

Xia Daoming sat on a chair covered with white animal skin in the living room, with Liu Qiaolian standing by his side.

Ji Yuanzhen and Ji Shouli, father and son, sat at the lower left of Xia Daoming, while Ji Wenyue and Liu Xiao Qiang sat at his lower right.

"How is the refining of the Fengming Pill going?" Xia Daoming looked at Ji Wenyue and asked.

Spirit rice can nourish vitality and meridians, and condense qi power, allowing even elderly people to have a chance for a breakthrough.

But the efficacy of spirit rice is like moistening things silently, which also determines that the process of spirit rice improving strength is gradual, not achieved in one leap.

But the Fengming Pill is different; not only is its medicinal effect astonishing, but its medicinal power is relatively mild.

After a Fifth-Rank Great Wu Shi with a relatively solid foundation takes it, there is a great hope of breaking through to the Sixth-Rank.

A Sixth-Rank peak Great Wu Shi, after taking it, also has a certain chance of breaking through to become a Seventh-Rank Great Wu Shi.

Although the Ji Clan hasn't produced any powerful Great Martial Masters in these years.

But the Ji Clan is a large medicinal herb merchant with a solid foundation. Over many years, they have forcibly used pills to smash out a considerable number of Fourth-Rank and Fifth-Rank cultivation disciples and dead soldiers.

It is precisely because of this reason, coupled with the fact that older generation powerhouses like Ji Yuanzhen did not hesitate to take secret drugs to forcibly improve their strength, that the Ji Clan was able to forcibly carve out a bloody path and even protect the young and female family members to escape to that dilapidated mountain village.

This was still because Ji Yuanzhen was not ruthless enough.

If he had decisively abandoned the old, weak, women, and children of the Ji Clan who had no fighting power from the beginning, with the Ji Clan's foundation suddenly erupting, the Ji Clan's elites should have escaped far away long ago and would not have been besieged by pursuers in the dilapidated mountain village.

Fortunately, Xia Daoming arrived in time to save the Ji Clan and left behind many elite disciples for the Ji Clan.

If this batch of elite disciples of the Ji Clan who had experienced life-and-death tribulations could have the help of the Fengming Pill, then the Ji Clan's strength would not only not decrease but would double compared to before.

Of course, there were also the people from the Qianjiao Martial Arts Hall.

Coincidentally, Xia Daoming had scavenged many Fengyao Grasses in the cave of Gengyun Mountain.

Last time when Xia Daoming rushed to reinforce the Ji Clan, he specially grabbed a small handful to bring along.

A few days ago, he left them to Ji Wenyue, telling her to seize the time to refine a batch of Fengming Pills.

"Big Brother, look!"

Seeing Xia Daoming ask about the Fengming Pill, Ji Wenyue immediately handed over a box with excitement on her face.

As soon as the box was opened, Xia Daoming felt a wisp of fragrance mixed with a trace of warm breath rushing towards his face.

Twenty pills were lying quietly in the box.

Each pill was round like a pearl, and inside, a wisp of red light resembling patterns was faintly revealed.

"This... this is very different from the Fengming Pill you gave me last time!" Xia Daoming's face revealed a look of surprise.

"It's not just different, it's very different!" Before Ji Wenyue could speak, Ji Yuanzhen had already said with emotion on his face, his eyes full of heat as he looked at the Fengming Pills in the box.

"That's right, Big Brother, the Fengyao Grass you brought me not only has a longer age, but the quality of each plant is surprisingly good, far from what the Fengyao Grass our Ji Clan collected before can compare to," Ji Wenyue followed up with emotion.

"So that's how it is!" Upon hearing this, Xia Daoming remembered that this batch of Fengyao Grass was planted by that demon daoist on spirit soil nourished by stalactite spirit liquid, and he was immediately relieved.

After being relieved, Xia Daoming's heart moved slightly, and he added, "Could it be that you and your grandfather..."

"Yes, after Grandfather took spirit rice for several consecutive days, his vitality and meridians recovered a lot. This morning, I successfully refined the last batch of Fengming Pills, which was also the batch with the best quality, so I took one for Grandfather to take.

I originally thought that helping him recover to his peak state would be very good, but I didn't expect that Grandfather would break through to the Eighth-Rank realm in one go," Ji Wenyue didn't wait for Xia Daoming to finish speaking before she couldn't wait to take over the conversation.

"Because we were taking refuge outside, worried that if a powerful enemy came to attack, my strength would be difficult to protect everyone. So, without informing the benefactor, I took a Fengming Pill without authorization. I ask the benefactor to forgive my sin," Ji Yuanzhen stood up and bowed deeply to Xia Daoming with a solemn face.

"Old Master, what are you doing? I asked Wenyue to refine the Fengming Pill, originally intending to distribute a portion to your Ji Clan disciples to take.

It's just that I didn't expect the medicinal effect of this Fengming Pill to be so good. It seems that our plan to reap the benefits as a fisherman will have to continue to be improved. Your Ji Clan must be prepared to shoulder heavy responsibilities!" Speaking to the end, Xia Daoming looked at Ji Yuanzhen, earnest and well-meaning, with quite a bit of a leader's demeanor.

Upon hearing this, everyone revealed a look of confusion and contemplation, while Xia Daoming was stroking his chin with self-satisfaction.

Seeing this, Liu Qiaolian had the keen eye to take a half-step forward, stand behind Xia Daoming, and gently knead his shoulders.

Xia Daoming narrowed his eyes comfortably.

These days, Xia Daoming's spirit had been in a state of tension. Today, the family members of the Qianjiao Martial Arts Hall's faction were finally safely transferred, and hearing this great news, his mood finally relaxed.

Hmm, speaking of which, it's been many days since I sparred with Lian'er on card skills!

Thinking in his heart, Xia Daoming's eyes, however, drifted towards Ji Wenyue by coincidence.

Ji Wenyue sensed it and looked up at Xia Daoming.

Seeing him aiming at herself, but his gaze was not on her face, but a little lower.

Ji Wenyue's pretty face flushed red, and she couldn't help but glare fiercely at Xia Daoming.

Really, Grandfather and the others are still here!

Xia Daoming, however, acted as if nothing had happened, casually picked up the teacup on the table, opened the lid, and gently blew on the tea leaves floating on top.

"The benefactor means..." However, clearly, Ji Yuanzhen's thoughts at this time were all on Xia Daoming's words just now. When Xia Daoming picked up the teacup to blow the tea leaves, he suddenly understood the meaning of Xia Daoming's words, and his heart couldn't help but beat violently.

"The Xu Clan has dominated Li Cheng for over a hundred years. Now the Three-Clan Alliance wants to take advantage of the Xu Clan's weak power to overthrow the Xu Clan and rule Li Cheng themselves.

Since the Xu Clan can do it, and the Three-Clan Alliance can do it, why can't the Ji Clan?" After Xia Daoming finished speaking, he took a light sip of tea.

Upon hearing this, Ji Yuanzhen's hand couldn't help but shake violently, and quite a bit of tea spilled out.

But Ji Yuanzhen couldn't care about this, instead swallowing his saliva to moisten his dry throat, and said, "Benefactor, even if the Xu Clan and the Three-Clan Alliance both suffer, that would be the benefactor sitting in command of Li Cheng. How would it ever be the Ji Clan's turn?"

"Hehe, Old Master, looking at how excited and nervous you are, you should still be thinking about it, right?" Xia Daoming smiled.

Ji Yuanzhen met Xia Daoming's smiling gaze, sweat dripping from his forehead. He quickly put down the teacup, stood up, and said solemnly, "My Ji Clan has received the benefactor's great kindness. From now on, we will only serve the benefactor as our master and will never have the slightest overstepping..."

Damn it, I forgot that this society is different from the one before. This joke went too far and scared the old master!

Seeing this, Xia Daoming was secretly dumbfounded, but on the surface, he quickly put down the teacup and said, "Old Master, what are you doing? We are our own people, one family. What great kindness, what overstepping, what does this look like!"

"Yes, yes, our own people, one family!" Upon hearing this, Ji Yuanzhen let out a long sigh of relief, his gaze subconsciously glancing at his granddaughter.

"And what I said just now was also serious. I am devoted to martial arts and have no interest in hegemony.

But if the opportunity is good, we can really play the role of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind, and take advantage of the four major forces both suffering to uproot them and replace them. This Li Cheng will always need someone to take over and manage it.

And in Li Cheng, the only ones I can trust are the Qianjiao Martial Arts Hall and the Ji Clan. The Qianjiao Martial Arts Hall's foundation is still much worse than the Ji Clan's, and they don't have the ability to take over Li Cheng yet," Xia Daoming said in a deep voice.