The Main Hall of The Xue Family Mansion,
Everyone was dispersed and went back to their routine work while Xue Diwei followed her father to the master hall to discuss future matters.
...
The Li Family Villa,
Li Tao came inside after handing up the phone. He deliberated for a long time and decided to incorporate the most neutral families in the protagonist camp on his side with as little cost as possible.
When he returned the whole family was sitting in the hall. Li Tao called everyone here to disclose some matters and increase everyone's strength.
"Everyone, I am hoping everyone has adapted to the surge in strength. I called you here to tell you about some important matters."
Everyone stopped chatting and looked at him with a serious look on their faces.
His face turned serious, "Dad, you asked me why I got anxious after hearing the name of Soaring Dragon Group."
"It is all connected to the technique I cultivate. It can help me check the luck of any person in my vicinity and also check the people whose destiny is bound to that person."
"This was the reason why I quit my intention to marry Lin Bingxue and chose Qing'er instead."
"Lin Bingxue's luck was entangled with someone named Ye Feng who lived in the Good Fortune mountain and She is not the only one tied to him."
Everyone in the room was lost in thought, contemplating the information they just received. Except ... Li Jing. She was working on a small Bruce Lee machine (grip strengthening machine).
He ignored this monkey and continued with his performance...cough..explanation, "This Ye Feng along with Nine other people are deeply connected via luck."
"The ones you are familiar with are Lin Bingxue from the Lin family, you must know her from my past."
"hmm hmm." Li Jing was nodding her head.
"The second one is Shen Yao from the Medicine Shen Family, they are experts in the medical field."
"The Third one is Song Yurou, the young lady of The Song Family, they are known for their wealth in our city."
"The Fourth one is Tang Jing from the famous Tang Family, their family are overlords of the Fortune City. The Old man was the strongest martial artist in the city as middle-stage of the Grandmaster realm."
"The Fifth one is Xu Yue, she is a common house girl, Ye Feng saved her and entered her bed the very next day."
"The Sixth one is Xue Diwei, the Eldest Miss of The Xue Family from the provincial capital. They are a famous martial arts family in the province with two people at middle-stage of the Dan-Forging realm."
The faces of everyone present were changing as the list progressed. Especially the Male members, what sort of bull stool is this?
Every one of these women is the jewel of their families and their child/nephew is telling them that they are all concubines of Ye Feng's harem.
Li Jing was no longer exercising, after the list progressed her face went from excited to weird to sad and then disgusted & nauseous.
_________________________________
[Ding! The host created a fissure in the relationship between The Xue Family and The Protagonist.]
[Rewarding: 1 High-Grade spirit stone (Dust), 25,000 points.]
[Would the host like to upgrade cultivation realm?]
"Upgrade."
[Ding! Consuming 22,000 Villain Points.]
[Ding! Host cultivation increased.]
[Ding! Host cultivation increased.]
[Ding! Host cultivation increased.]
[Current Realm: Late-Stage Grandmaster]
[Remaining Villain Points: 3,000]
_________________________________
Li Tao sighed after realizing his plan worked.
After hearing the name of Soaring Dragon Group that day, Li Tao had been unable to sleep peacefully.
The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he became.
In the original timeline, Soaring Dragon Group should not exist yet.
It was founded only after the Li Family was destroyed and Ye Feng had already established a firm foothold in the province.
Yet now it had appeared years ahead of schedule.
The timing was too precise.
Too deliberate.
Too abnormal.
At first Li Tao assumed it was simply the butterfly effect caused by his rebirth.
But the more he observed Ye Feng, the less convinced he became.
Ye Feng was moving too quickly.
Almost as if he knew exactly where every opportunity would appear.
He was collecting resources ahead of schedule.
He was contacting people ahead of schedule.
He was even expanding his influence ahead of schedule.
Most importantly, he lacked the patience described in the original story.
The original Ye Feng preferred to grow step by step.
The current Ye Feng looked like a man racing against time.
As if he had already experienced failure once before and was desperately trying to correct it.
A terrifying thought surfaced in Li Tao's mind.
What if he was not the only person who had returned from the future?
What if Ye Feng had also been reborn?
The possibility was small.
But if it was true—
then this battle would become far more dangerous than he originally expected.
Li Tao took out respective pills for everyone.
One Dan-Forging Pill each for his Dad and Uncle Cheng.
Two Grandmaster Dans each for Mom and Aunt, and
One Grandmaster Dan for Cousin Li Jing.
This way their family would have the strength to tackle the upcoming storm.
Thanks to the Marrow Washing Dan, the whole family was able to digest the medicinal effects of their pills to the fullest.
The hall soon became filled with dense spiritual energy.
One after another, breakthroughs echoed throughout the villa.
Li Tian successfully stepped into the Dan-Forging Realm.
Uncle Cheng followed shortly after.
Mother Li and Aunt Ling both crossed into the Grandmaster Realm.
Even Li Jing advanced rapidly under the medicinal effects.
In the original story, some of them would never reach these heights in their entire lives.
But now everything was changing.
The Li Family was no longer walking down its original path.
They were becoming stronger at a speed that even Li Tao found shocking.
The first person to become excited after her breakthrough was naturally Li Jing.
She immediately challenged Li Tao to a duel.
According to her logic, she had become much stronger.
Therefore she should finally be able to beat him.
Three minutes later she was lying on the ground with swollen cheeks and a pair of fresh panda eyes.
Everyone silently looked away.
Li Jing sat in the corner while drawing circles on the floor.
The newly advanced Grandmaster looked as though she had lost all meaning in life.
Li Tao settled the family matters and felt everything was under control for now but a whole different plot was unfolding itself in another part of the world.
___________________________________
Endless mountains, Outskirts of the Sun City
These mountains have existed since the birth of knowledge. They incorporate an endless sea of forest land and are home to the most dangerous species in the world.
A big part of the mountain range was shrouded with thunderous clouds today.
At one of these peaks, our protagonist Ye Feng was standing holding a round cylinder in his hand while looking at the endless sky. He was standing there like he was waiting for something.
Then it happened.
*boom* *crackle*
A loud bang came from the sky while a sword-like shadow made from the thunder and lightning fell down as if heaven was punishing the mortals for their sins.
Ye Feng's face showed a rare serious look and he injected 90% of his strength inside the jade cylinder he was holding. A strange portal-like pattern lit on the surface of that device which shot a beam of light in a distant space.
He felt like his mission was accomplished so he went back to the Sun City.
The beam of light pierced through layers of clouds and disappeared into the depths of the Endless Mountains.
Far away from human civilization.
Far away from the eyes of ordinary cultivators.
A gigantic black stone gate stood silently between two mountain peaks.
Ancient runes covered its surface.
Many of them had already faded with the passage of time.
The moment the beam struck the gate, several runes suddenly lit up.
A low rumbling sound echoed across the mountains.
The gate trembled slightly.
Dust fell from its surface.
For a brief moment, it looked as if something sleeping behind the gate was trying to awaken.
Unfortunately the energy was insufficient.
The runes dimmed one after another.
The mountains returned to silence.
Only the faint outline of the black gate remained beneath the clouds.
Waiting.
As if it had been waiting for thousands of years.
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