Chapter 338: With Ancestral Blood as the Catalyst

The battlefield, where the fighting had been raging fiercely, was doused by the heavy rain.

The downpour poured relentlessly; as the rear of the demon horde was severed by a rain of sword qi, their momentum faltered, and with the aid of sword qi from the city walls, the previously collapsing defense—forced into a steady retreat—suddenly stabilized.

On the walls once submerged by the demon flood, the Xia family's battle standard fluttered once more.

The pressure on every soldier instantly eased; after each demon before them fell, no more surged forward.

They stared, stunned, unable to believe the reversal before them.

"This… this is…"

"Who is summoning the swords? Who is saving us?!"

"Are we… saved?"

All troops and aristocratic forces—including the martial sects hastily conscripted—stared blankly beyond the defensive line.

Beyond the line, the land had become a hell: countless sword qi pierced downward, and every demon screamed as it fell.

The three-undying-level great demons, their massive bodies coiling, tried to flee far away—but like moths struggling in the rain, they were swiftly buried under the sword rain, plummeting rapidly into silence.

"Who is that…"

At the center of the line, Commander-in-Chief Xia Xia Changkong, directing the second defense, stared upward in shock.

There, beneath the river of sword qi, sat a young boy atop the back of a crimson-flame demon; his entire body radiated visible white mist-like energy, surging upward into the skyward tide of swords, transforming into endless sword qi that cascaded down.

Beside the boy stood the head of the Xia family and his own brother.

"Family Head, Xia Yuanwu…"

Xia Xia Changkong froze; the Family Head had come in person? Then where was the Gluttony Valley Master? He turned his gaze toward the rear of the demon horde—but saw no movement there.

On the battlefield, only a few elders of the Gluttony Valley fled in panic, pursued by long rivers of sword qi.

One Gluttony Valley elder, already wounded, seeing the approaching sword qi dragons seemed weak, chose to block them with his body—but instantly, as if his soul had been ripped away, he plummeted rapidly to his death.

Gluttony Valley demons were cruel and bloodthirsty, their bodies generally as robust as those of the Dragon Clan, relying heavily on physical strength in battle—but before a 1% lethal attribute, they were no different from ordinary demons.

Li Hao watched the demons falling beneath the sword rain, his expression calm and unchanged; when the battlefield nearly fell silent, he retracted the sword tide.

"The two of you, handle the stragglers—I'm leaving."

Li Hao said to the two beside him, Xia Xia Linglong.

They snapped back to reality, stunned; in just this brief moment, tens of millions of demons on the battlefield had nearly all perished! This was terrifying!

Is this the power of a Tai Ping Dao realm? It surpassed their imagination.

"General General Hao Tian, rest assured—we'll handle the rest. Once we clean up, we'll immediately send troops to reinforce Qingzhou!"

Xia Xia Linglong quickly replied to Li Hao.

Originally, her offer to send troops had been merely to repay a debt—but now, even she felt that Xia family troops meant little before a being like Li Hao, at best only capable of rescuing scattered villages and towns in Qingzhou.

After all, even with his immense power, Li Hao couldn't possibly protect all of Qingzhou alone in such a short time.

"Mm."

Li Hao nodded, not refusing her goodwill.

Then, gently stroking the head of Zhu Zhu Huoshen, he signaled; Zhu Zhu Huoshen's flames surged, its mighty, Water Qilin-like hooves stamped forward, blazing through the battlefield's sky as it raced swiftly away, leaving the battlefield behind.

On the defensive line, generals, clan heads, and martial sect masters all looked up, watching the boy riding the crimson-flame demon depart, etching this scene into their memories.

They didn't know who the boy was—but they knew the Xia family would give them the answer.

…

…

Qingzhou, Qingzhou City.

Once a thriving city, Qingzhou was now under total lockdown; civilians were forbidden from leaving their homes, street stalls cleared away, wide roads emptied solely for rapid troop movement.

Golden arrays stretched along all four city walls, while outside, a vast demon horde gathered.

On the walls, Li family soldiers and Qingzhou City garrison troops stood gathered, faces grim.

Days of continuous battle had left them exhausted, yet none dared relax.

Three days ago, intelligence obtained through Li family secret arts revealed that most of Qingzhou's territory had already fallen.

Over a hundred cities had been shattered and occupied by demons; Qingzhou, the Li family's ancestral heartland, had suffered its worst blow in a thousand years.

When news reached other surviving cities, many refused to believe it, thinking the military reports were mistaken—until they saw the flood of refugees fleeing from other cities and villages, and only then did they realize Qingzhou was truly in catastrophe.

A millennium of peace had caused most Qingzhou civilians to lose any clear understanding of demons.

Occasionally, when the Demon Suppression Bureau captured and executed a demon, parading it through the streets after transporting it from outside, crowds would gather in curiosity, treating it as mere novelty.

Now, as demons swept across the land, every city was shrouded in unprecedented shadow and terror, each one trembling in cautious defense.

Yet compared to the already burning battlefields of Qingzhou, Qingzhou City itself was now surrounded on all sides, on the brink of collapse.

On the walls, Li Li Muxiu and Li Li Xiaoran held their posts, both now with snow-white hair, visibly aged over a decade, their faces lined with deeper, more numerous wrinkles.

Two devastating blows in this period had left them heartbroken, nearly dead inside.

Over a month ago, when Li Li Tianzong's spirit dispersed, they had set out in fury toward the Mo River—but instead of attacking directly, they secretly investigated, only to discover the demon forces gathered beyond the Mo River far exceeded their expectations.

Longmen and Shenggong had shifted most of their strength there, with both factions' leaders personally stationed, all to kill Li Hao.

They did not act rashly; instead, they seized the opportunity to send troops to attack Longmen's ancestral stronghold.

It was a rare chance: Shenggong's stronghold had already been destroyed by the Qing Prince, and Longmen's was now defenseless.

Through the Huang Tianji Tower's intelligence network, they located Longmen's nest, reported it to His Majesty, and jointly launched an expedition with the imperial clan to destroy it.

After spending half a month to obliterate Longmen's stronghold, the Longmen Master, upon hearing the news, flew into a rage and accelerated his plan to swiftly attack Qingzhou, directly marching toward Qingzhou City.

But Li Li Xiaoran and Li Li Muxiu already knew Li Hao had left the Mo River, so they did not remain stationed there; instead, they returned early to Qingzhou.

Anticipating that Longmen, upon learning of its stronghold's destruction, might retaliate against Qingzhou, they had prepared defenses in advance—causing Longmen and Shenggong's night assault on Qingzhou to fail, and instead exposing their intentions.

After the failure of the Liangzhou plan and the aborted secret attack on Qingzhou City, Longmen and Shenggong abandoned subtlety; after deliberation, they rallied all demon factions and launched a massive, open invasion of Qingzhou.

Thus began this prolonged, brutal battle.

And in this war, both sides suffered countless losses; after holding out for over a month, Qingzhou ultimately fell.

The Li family retreated step by step, abandoning most of Qingzhou's cities, finally holding their ground at Qingzhou City. The reinforcements sent from the imperial capital were ambushed en route by another demon force—not only failing to reach Qingzhou, but suffering devastating losses.

The demons surrounding Qingzhou were not merely from Shenggong and Longmen; beyond those still guarding the Mo River, awaiting their master's return, other top-tier demon factions had also joined the fray.

When they sought aid from the Youzhou Xia family, they learned of the Gluttony Valley's attack on Xia—clearly, the Gluttony Valley's move was meant to pin down the Xia family. Though the Five Divine General Houses competed openly and covertly, they aided each other in crisis, and Xia was the Divine General House nearest to Li.

The Gluttony Valley's assault left Youzhou Xia unable to spare troops to reinforce Qingzhou, severing yet another thread of hope.

In recent days, all rescue signals sent from Qingzhou to other regions had vanished without reply; Qingzhou had been completely isolated by demons.

The demon forces gathered here outnumbered even those in Liangzhou; they were determined to crush Qingzhou entirely.

Having retreated from the border, fighting and losing all the way, abandoning armor and weapons, they now held Qingzhou City—the last bastion.

If this fell, only the Divine General House remained, like a tiny boat adrift in the sea, ready to capsize at any moment.

Li Li Xiaoran's expression was icy with despair; over this month of battle, he and Li Li Muxiu had nearly died.

The Longmen Master had revealed his true power, breaking from the previously recorded half-Dao realm into the Tai Ping Dao realm.

The Shenggong Master, originally a Tai Ping Dao realm cultivator, had been severely wounded in battle against Yanbei and the Qing Prince, his realm fallen—he had not yet recovered, now barely equal to a half-Dao realm.

Had Li Li Muxiu not also been half-Dao realm, able to sustain a Dao domain to barely resist, he would have died long ago.

With his half-Dao Fist and half-Dao domain, Li Li Muxiu had held his own against the Longmen Master, greatly slowing Qingzhou's collapse; otherwise, Qingzhou would have fallen a month ago, and Qingzhou City would have been destroyed.

But now, they were still trapped in utter desperation.

"Their target is our Li family—they want to erase the Divine General Houses!"

After over a month of battle, Li Li Xiaoran had seen the demons' true aim: to annihilate the Li family, and this was merely the first step in their conquest of Emperor Da Yu.

This plot may have been brewing for decades: from the successive deaths of the Nine Sons, to the frequent demon attacks on Li family territories—now it was clear, all were deliberate, targeted.

They sought to break the Li bloodline, leaving no heirs; if they waited another few decades, the Li family's direct lineage would weaken, and the chosen True Dragon would be far inferior to those of other Divine General Houses.

That would be the perfect moment to strike.

But now, the demons' plan had changed—seemingly accelerated.

Li Li Muxiu's eyes grew deep as he slowly calmed his breath; earlier, outside the array, he had defeated and driven off the Shenggong Master—but he himself had expended immense energy.

The two faction leaders had taken turns attacking him, leaving him utterly exhausted.

"Have we heard back from Wu Liang Mountain?"

Li Li Muxiu's face darkened as he gazed westward.

There, demon hordes covered the mountain peaks, dense and overwhelming, pressing heavily on those within the city—but his gaze remained unchanged, piercing through the demons to gaze far beyond.

That was where Wu Liang Mountain lay.

The Li family's ties with Wu Liang Mountain had always been close; they had long offered incense and worship, and even now, Li Qianfeng remained the Buddha Master's direct disciple.

Yet the rescue request sent to Wu Liang Mountain had received no reply.

Whether it was never received—or whether Wu Liang Mountain itself faced trouble—no one knew.

"Send word to Tian Gang—I can't hold out much longer. The Li family stands at its final moment of survival—we must call them back."

Li Li Muxiu turned his gaze away, realizing Wu Liang Mountain would offer no aid; he took a deep breath, his eyes sharpening.

Li Li Xiaoran paused, his expression shifting, then fell silent.

He knew—now was truly the moment for the Li family to fight to the death.

The former glory had faded; now, it was time for those who had scattered to return and defend this legacy.

If the ancestral shrine fell, the scattered bloodline would mean nothing.

A thousand-year-old Divine General House's legacy was not merely bloodline—it was its foundation. Once the foundation was shattered, even if the bloodline survived, it could never rise again.

After all, many successes depend on timing and opportunity—things that cannot be replicated.

"I understand."

Li Li Xiaoran glanced at his second brother, nodded slightly, then rose and flew swiftly toward the city's Divine General House.

Soon, he descended into the Divine General's Mansion like a streak of light.

Inside the mansion, in the Shanhe Courtyard.

Many figures gathered in the hall of the courtyard; the foremost was a towering, imposing figure with a commanding aura—Li Li Tiangang.

To his right, a female general clad in battle armor sat on a wicker chair—his wife, Ji Ji Qingqing.

Besides the couple, Madams He He Jianlan, Li Li Xuanli, Gao Ji Qingqing, and others from various courtyards were also present.

But unlike their former luxurious attire, these ladies now wore battle armor like Ji Ji Qingqing, their faces cold as frost, as if ready to rush onto the battlefield at any moment.

"Mount Wuliang Mountain has not replied…"

"The Sword Saint of the Southern Sword Hut has also given no answer…"

Inside the hall, the atmosphere was cold, silent, and solemn.

The Divine General's Mansion's former network of connections had suddenly vanished, with not a single word received.

Aside from these two powerful factions near the Li family, many other groups and sects that had once received Li family favors had rushed here—but most lacked even a Four-Standing Realm cultivator; the strongest among them were barely Third Immortal Realm.

Now, they desperately needed a Supreme Mastery Realm cultivator to come and relieve Li Li Muxiu of pressure.

After all, this old man was holding back two major faction leaders alone—one of whom was in full strength as a Tai Ping Dao Realm cultivator. He was stretched too thin and could collapse at any moment.

A swift whoosh.

Li Li Xiaoran's figure landed outside the hall; he did not pause, but stepped directly inside, his gaze sweeping over the grim, sorrowful faces before locking onto Li Li Tiangang. "Second brother says to prepare the ancestral ritual—to invoke our forebears' bloodline and recall every Li family bloodline."

"If we win this battle, we live. If we lose, the Li family is exterminated!"

His eyes were deep and icy: "All hinges on this one move—Second brother is barely holding on!"

Hearing Li Li Xiaoran's words, those in the hall froze, yet showed no great shock—only grim sorrow.

The fall of Qingzhou, and the countless demons and monsters crowding beyond Qingzhou City, had made them understand this was inevitable.

When the ancestral blood invocation is triggered, every Li family bloodline will sense the Li family's peril—this is a call through bloodline, used only when the Li family faces true extinction, when this millennia-old Divine General's Mansion stands at its final brink. The millennia-long lineage, its branches scattered across the Great Yu Divine Empire, form an immense force; all will sense it when the blood invocation is cast.

(End of Chapter)