Chapter 726: The Terrifying Li Tianwang Branch

"The Celestial Dragon Five Branches..."

"Dragon Blood Branch, Dragon Fang Branch, Dragon Scale Branch, Dragon Horn Branch, Dragon Bone Branch..."

All are named after parts of a dragon's body.

Listening to the information Li Li Rouyun revealed, Li Luo also showed a look of astonishment. He hadn't expected that this Li Li Tianwang branch was not simply one branch, but was divided into a full five branches!

"Among these five branches, Dragon Blood, Dragon Fang, and Dragon Scale are the direct branches, because our three branches count as the direct bloodline of the ancestor. The other two branches are somewhat more distant. After all, you must understand that a Li Tianwang's lifespan is eight thousand years, so naturally many side branches will have branched off. And our ancestor, among the Li Tianwang-level powerhouses of Outer Shenzhou, is still considered to be in his prime." Li Li Rouyun continued.

"A Li Tianwang's lifespan is eight thousand years?"

Li Luo sucked in a breath of cold air. What a terrifying lifespan that was—eight thousand years of time, enough to sit and watch the transformation of mountains and rivers.

"However, the ancestor has to guard the Heavenly Rift, and sometimes it's hard for him to return even once in ten-odd years. Of course, normally speaking, almost all Li Tianwang-level powerhouses shoulder the heavy responsibility of humanity's survival, fighting against and intercepting some terrifying enemies in certain forbidden zones of the world."

Li Luo's heart trembled slightly. The terrifying enemies that required Li Tianwang-level powerhouses to fight against—needless to say, they must be some fearsome aberrations from the Dark World.

"The Celestial Dragon Five Branches each have a branch head in charge, who is the lord of that branch. And the branch head of our Dragon Fang Branch is your grandfather, whose name is Li Li Jingzhe. He himself is also a top powerhouse who has stepped into the King-level." When mentioning Li Li Jingzhe, the expression on Li Li Rouyun's face clearly became much more respectful.

"My grandfather... Li Li Jingzhe... a King-level powerhouse?"

Li Luo blinked, not quite knowing what to say. He used to think he was just an ordinary second-generation strongman, but unexpectedly he had still underestimated himself. Looking at it now, not only did he have a father with stunning talent, he also had a King-level grandfather, and even a Li Tianwang-level ancestor.

This made him sigh somewhat wistfully. So it turned out that being an ordinary youth was this difficult.

"Could it be that all five branch heads are King-level powerhouses?" Li Luo suddenly thought of something and asked, somewhat shocked.

Li Li Rouyun smiled and nodded, with a hint of pride: "Our Li Li Tianwang branch is currently in a period of amassing strength for a great leap forward. Naturally, all five branch heads are King-level—otherwise, how could they command respect?"

Li Luo felt a bit numb. Five King-level powerhouses? What kind of concept was that? Did the entire Eastern Region of Outer Shenzhou have that many?

The foundations of Inner Shenzhou were simply too terrifying! "Let's not talk about the other branches for now. Let's first talk about our Dragon Fang Branch."

"The old master sits as branch head, governing the Dragon Fang Branch. Within the Dragon Fang Branch there are four academies, named after Qingming, Ziqi, Chiyun, and Jin Guang. Each of these academies has one Grand Academy Head and several Vice Academy Heads... and I am the Third Academy Head of the Qingming Academy."

"And the Qingming Academy has a total of four Academy Heads."

Hearing this, Li Luo estimated in his heart, and then couldn't help but be moved. Four Academy Heads in one Qingming Academy—across four academies, wouldn't that be nearly twenty Academy Heads? And judging from Li Li Rouyun's strength, these Academy Heads must all be at the Marquis-level.

That meant that just the surface strength of this Dragon Fang Branch alone already had one King-level powerhouse and over a dozen Marquis-level ones?!

This was practically enough to use the power of one branch alone to suppress the entire Daxia!

And the Dragon Fang Branch was already like this—add the other four branches on top of that?

One Li Tianwang, five King-level, close to a hundred Marquis-level?

Li Luo's scalp went numb. If one were to count strength, just this Li Li Tianwang branch alone could blast through half of the Eastern Region of Outer Shenzhou, right? Compared to this Li Li Tianwang branch, House Luolan Mansion really couldn't even count as an ant—no, let alone House Luolan Mansion, even Daxia would be trampled flat in an instant.

At this moment, he truly understood deeply just how enormous the gap between Inner Shenzhou and Outer Shenzhou was.

No wonder when speaking of Inner Shenzhou, even those Marquis-level powerhouses of Daxia all wore a look of longing. By such comparison, Inner Shenzhou truly deserved the four words 'cultivation holy land.'

In such a holy-land environment, even those with ordinary talent might achieve accomplishments no weaker than the pride of Outer Shenzhou. If ordinary people were already like this, then those whose talent was equally top-tier—after receiving the boost of such an environment—how dazzling would they be?

"Then what about my father?" Li Luo asked curiously.

Li Li Rouyun gave a slight smile and said: "Your father also came from the Qingming Academy, and... he was the Grand Academy Head of the Qingming Academy. The entire Qingming Academy used to be under his jurisdiction. However, he has already been gone for over a dozen years. Strictly speaking, his position as Grand Academy Head should have been replaced, but this matter has always been held down by the old master, so to this day, the Grand Academy Head of the Qingming Academy is nominally still your father."

Li Luo fell into thought. It seemed his grandfather was somewhat protective of his own, or perhaps he carried a bit of guilt because of what happened back then?

"And among our Li Li Tianwang branch, the Dragon Blood Branch is the most powerful, and they are also the Mountain-Governing Branch. The so-called Mountain-Governing Branch—if we use secular royal authority as an analogy, they are the sovereign king, while the rest of us four branches are the vassal kings subject to their command. However, every hundred years, the 'Mountain-Governing Grand Sacrifice' is held, and at this grand sacrifice, the new Mountain-Governing Branch will be decided."

"That Li Li Zhiqiu you met before came from the Dragon Blood Branch," Li Li Rouyun said.

Li Luo thought of the man he had met before, and the smile on his face faded somewhat, his gaze turning a little cold.

The other party had sat by and ignored the crisis on his side, and that was already bad enough—at the end, they even tried to cheat him out of his Li Tianwang Token, and even made Jiang Jiang Qinge, who was already injured from burning her Light Heart, suffer even more. Every single one of these incidents was enough to make him mark this person down.

Right now he simply lacked the strength. Once his strength caught up in the future, this debt of grievance would surely have to be settled.

Li Li Rouyun, seeing Li Luo's expression, understood what was in his heart, and said: "Back then, your father was the most brilliant and outstanding figure in our Li Li Tianwang branch—even the ancestor favored him greatly. You know, those who stand out too much will inevitably attract much jealousy, and this Li Li Zhiqiu was one of them."

"Back then he didn't dare show anything toward your father. Now that you've fallen on hard times, naturally he can't resist adding insult to injury. Our clan is far larger than you imagine, so naturally there are some unpleasant matters and people within. You're not a child anymore, you should understand."

Li Luo silently nodded. Even their small House Luolan Mansion had produced people like Manager Pei Hao who were disgusting to have around—let alone the Li Li Tianwang branch, which was thousands or tens of thousands of times larger than House Luolan Mansion?

"The situation within our clan is basically this. As for the question you care about—about what happened with your parents back then..."

Li Li Rouyun gave a bitter smile and sighed, saying: "First, you need to know that our Li Li Tianwang branch is indeed considered a hegemon in Outer Shenzhou, but the vastness of Outer Shenzhou far exceeds your imagination. In such a place, even we cannot cover the sky with one hand."

"Li Tianwang Branches—Outer Shenzhou doesn't only have ours alone. There are four in total."

"Four Li Tianwang Branches—and even judging by foundation and length of existence, our Li Li Tianwang branch is actually at the bottom."

"Back then, the Mountain-Governing Branch attempted to form a marriage alliance with another Li Tianwang Branch. At that time, Taixuan had already begun to show his talent within our clan, and was also starting to reveal his brilliance in Outer Shenzhou, so this marriage alliance naturally fell upon your father's head."

Li Luo was stunned for a moment, then felt like laughing.

A marriage alliance.

The moment those two words fell into his ears, he knew that a spectacular, melodramatic past was about to unfold.