Li Xinghuo and Li Tianyue once again departed for their respective battlefields.
Time passed quickly.
In just one short year, the entire Li family and the Azure Cloud Region underwent rapid and constant changes.
[The Li Family]
[Traits: Azure Cloud War Clan, Tian Xing Immortal Clan, Transcendent Immortal Clan...]
It wasn't just these traits; his family had truly become a transcendent Immortal Clan, detached from worldly affairs.
Aside from the people of Azure Cloud and the leaders of some major powers, even the disciples of many clans and sects were unaware of the Li family's existence.
The family now operated from behind the scenes, controlling the entirety of Eternal Sun Prefecture and Duravia Trade Prefecture.
This year, Eternal Sun Prefecture was still embroiled in ceaseless internal conflict.
The major powers, led by the Nangong family of the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, the Great Ming King Temple, and the True Yang Faction, had become staunch supporters of the Li family.
The world called them the "Traditionalist Faction," and they waged war against the major powers of the "Radical Faction."
Amidst this great chaos.
The Three Great Families and Six Great Sects of Azure Cloud Region began to enter the Eternal Sun Prefecture.
Having received official posts from the Azure Dynasty, they gradually started to make a name for themselves.
In just one short year, the fame of Heavenly Master Jinshou of Longevity Mountain soared.
This old Heavenly Master, whose lifespan was nearing its end, acted in public for the first time, defeating a newly-ranked master who was 17th on the Nascent Divinity List, and emerged from the battle completely unscathed.
Xuan Ji of the Black Tortoise Sect, however, became the laughingstock of Eternal Sun Prefecture.
After arriving in the Broadlake Region of Eternal Sun Prefecture, he was bullied and humiliated by the Xu family, yet he dared not say a single word in protest; instead holing up with his people in the territory the Li family had assigned them.
However, Xuan Ji had a backbone of steel and stubbornly refused to ask the Li family or the other people of Azure Cloud to help him settle the score.
However, the most extraordinary figure of Azure Cloud Region's new generation was still the Sect Master of the Skyveil Sect, Wuyazi.
This man, over three hundred years old and at the Nascent Soul realm, had obtained an inheritance within a secret realm, allowing the Skyveil Sect to reach even greater heights.
Eternal Sun Prefecture was not at peace, and the same was true for Duravia Trade Prefecture.
Prince Qian had vanished without a trace.
Of the Three Great Powers, the Myriad Dao Immortal Palace was annihilated in that great battle.
Ninety percent of the disciples from the Perennis Immortal Palace had departed, and of its dozens of elders, only three remained, all at the Nascent Soul realm.
From that point on, the Palace fell into a decline from which it could not recover, its strength now weaker than even some of the major Immortal Clans in the Duravia Trade Prefecture.
In the Duravia Trade Prefecture now, it was the Aeternus Sect that had become the sole dominant power, though it was facing internal problems.
Two of its thirteen immortal mountains were gone, and after the great battle, the Sect Master, Daoist Mingtai, had directly split off from the main sect...
However, the disciples who had fled from the Myriad Dao Immortal Palace, along with many from the Perennis Immortal Palace, all ended up joining the Aeternus Sect.
In the battle for the Duravia Trade Prefecture, the Aeternus Sect had ironically emerged as the biggest winner.
Daoist Mingtai and the weakened Perennis Immortal Palace had no choice but to form an alliance.
Fortunately, they had the Li family as their backer, so no one dared to move against them. However, they were still ostracized by the other major powers of the Duravia Trade Prefecture.
Led by Hundred Treasures Mountain, the Three Great Families and Six Great Sects of Azure Cloud Region, along with some small and medium-sized powers, began sending people to Duravia Trade Prefecture.
They took over the territories of the clans that had been annihilated in the war, cooperated with the Perennis Immortal Palace, and also conducted business with the Aeternus Sect and the various other great clans.
The native powers of the Duravia Trade Prefecture had no choice but to show goodwill to the people of Azure Cloud and open the doors of convenience for them.
No matter how unwilling they were in their hearts, they all knew that, on the surface at least, they had to let the Li family of Azure Cloud see that they had submitted.
In the future, once everyone was in the same boat, it would be unreasonable for the Li family to interfere with the internal struggles that were bound to happen.
...
Merit City, this Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land, grew increasingly abundant in resources and filled with immortal spirit qi.
There were no more than 140,000 common people living in Merit City, and thanks to the heavenly blessing Li Yaowen had requested for them, essentially all of them could cultivate.
Even those without Spirit Roots could live to be 150 years old in Merit City. They ate spirit rice, so sickness and pain were fundamentally nonexistent.
However, the people of Merit City had always maintained their simple and honest nature; every household was engaged in farming.
With no outsiders and an ever-expanding Grotto-Heaven, the city's crops became increasingly easy to grow.
The City Lord, Liu Bo'er, was already considering a plan to keep only a marketplace and have everyone focus on farming. After all, no one in Merit City would ever starve.
Cultivating and farming became the mainstream way of life for the people of Merit City.
However, the 'crops' they planted were spirit herbs of the eighth rank and above, and the 'livestock' they raised were spirit beasts.
They worked at sunrise and cultivated at sunset.
If the city's children who were out in the wider world ever ran into trouble, these people would go home, pick up their dust-covered weapons, and march out for a good, hard fight.
Surrounded by the spirit fields was the Inner City.
The Inner City could be entered freely.
It contained many prosperous-looking buildings, but in truth, their construction materials were not necessarily as precious as those used for the common people's homes in the Outer City.
Merit City now had five teleportation formations, allowing the great clans of Azure Cloud Region and Eternal Sun Prefecture to visit.
The Li family's Hall of Heavenly Principle and Hundred Treasures Mountain also had various administrative courtyards located within the Inner City.
The Myriad Dao Divine Bell Pagoda was situated among them, the nine-layered ancient pagoda standing a hundred meters tall.
People were constantly entering the formation inside the pagoda, most of whom were from the Hall of Heavenly Principle.
Occasionally, officials from Eternal Sun Prefecture and Duravia Trade Prefecture would arrive to report on their duties.
From within this Inner City, the Li family controlled the power over the mortal populations of both prefectures, and even their cultivation worlds.
At this moment, Li Wei was walking toward the busiest pavilion.
However, as he neared it, he stopped in his tracks, the corner of his mouth twitching.
In a nearby tavern, he saw the Boss of Skynet decked out in gold and silver, looking just like a wealthy merchant.
He sat behind the counter with an arrogant expression, his feet propped up brazenly on top of it.
It was precisely this arrogant demeanor that resulted in the tavern having very few customers.
Some of Skynet's members were acting as waiters, serving dishes.
A table of customers was complaining that the medicinal, immortal cuisine tasted off and made their Divine Souls feel shaky.
Hearing this, the Old Man from Skynet burst out of the kitchen, brandishing a cleaver.
"I dare you to say there's a problem with this old man's immortal cuisine again!" he roared.
The moment the Divinity Transformation aura was released, the customer swallowed nervously.
If the Old Man had unleashed his Bodhisattva's Buddhist power, it would have been even more terrifying.
As for Lady Dongfang Xuan, she had opened a calligraphy and painting shop next door. Her face was calm, and a few female cultivators were working as her assistants.
"So, you've all settled into a comfortable life, have you?"
Li Wei scratched his head. Who could have imagined how powerful and imposing these guys were on the battlefield?