Chapter 55: Man-made Disaster

Li Shiren did not believe a word of this nonsense. It wasn't the first time Li Zhirui had come here for refuge. Waving his hand, he said, "A few clansmen are returning to the family tomorrow. You should go back with them."

Li Zhirui had originally intended to stay in the backyard for a while longer and then slip away from the market unnoticed, but upon hearing Li Shiren's suggestion, he immediately abandoned his previous idea.

Although the gaze watching him had vanished, who knew if the other party was hiding somewhere, waiting for him to appear?

Since there would be clansmen returning tomorrow, it would certainly be much safer than going back alone; there was no need to take risks.

"However, the rooms in the backyard are all occupied. I see the moonlight suggests it won't rain tonight, so just stay in the courtyard and rest for the night."

Li Zhirui nodded. For a cultivator, sleeping in the open air was a very normal occurrence; there was no need to go to an inn specifically for this.

"You should be close to breaking through to the ninth level of Qi Refinement by now, right?" After finishing the serious business, the two began to chat, though it was primarily Li Shiren asking and Li Zhirui answering.

"If nothing unexpected happens, one year should be enough."

"Mm, break through in a year, then use another one or two years to push your realm to perfection, and then you can attempt to establish your Foundation," Li Shiren said to himself.

There was no need to worry about Foundation Establishment Pills, as the Li family was currently preparing spirit stones to see if the Yuanming Sect would hold an auction this year.

According to the intelligence gathered by Li Shize, the Yuanming Sect would auction one or two Foundation Establishment Pills every few years. In contrast, Foundation Establishment spiritual items were quite common and appeared almost every year.

However, the Li family would never allow Li Zhirui to risk using a Foundation Establishment spiritual item; otherwise, if he failed, Li Zhirui would be rendered useless.

Although the Li family currently had a clansman with better aptitude, Li Zhiyue had not yet begun her cultivation. If Li Zhirui's breakthrough failed, while it wouldn't cause the Li family to fall into a period of succession crisis, there certainly wouldn't be a new Foundation Establishment cultivator for a short while.

"I heard from Uncle Shilian that the Clan Leader spoke to you about succeeding him as the leader, but you refused?" Although Li Shiren didn't ask why directly, Li Zhirui understood.

Li Zhirui felt there was no need to hide anything and said bluntly, "I don't want to be trapped by the family at a young age, nor do I want to be entangled in various trivial matters. I want to enjoy the scenery on the path of cultivation and reach higher realms."

"You are right." But then Li Shiren shook his head and said, "But the family isn't trapping you; it is the responsibility in your heart that traps you."

"However, I hope you can temporarily set aside that responsibility. The family still has us elders."

"I understand," Li Zhirui smiled. "But I didn't expect you to say something so profound, Uncle Ren. Who did you overhear that from?"

"You brat!" The serious atmosphere instantly dissipated due to Li Zhirui's teasing.

In the end, Li Zhirui could not escape Li Shiren's grasp, receiving two heavy slaps on his back.

...

As the sun dipped low and night fell, the once bustling and lively market gradually grew quiet.

However, if someone were hovering above the market and looked down, they would see a group of cultivators in black clothing scattered throughout the market under the moonlight, with spiritual light faintly flickering in their hands, clearly preparing some kind of spell.

*Rumble—*

Only a moment after the first explosion rang out, explosions responded from all corners of the market, followed by points of fire that rapidly expanded throughout the area.

"What's happening?" In the courtyard, Li Zhirui was instantly startled awake by the sound of explosions. He looked up to see the sky stained red, and his heart filled with alarm.

"Someone is attacking the market!"

With a panicked expression, Li Zhirui knocked on Li Shiren's door and shouted, "Uncle Ren, get up quickly! Someone is attacking the market!"

Li Shiren, who was in the middle of carving an array disk, felt his right hand tremble at Li Zhirui's words. The array disk that was nearly finished was ultimately destroyed, but he could not care about that now. Li Shiren immediately rushed out of his room, looking toward the market shrouded in explosions and cries.

"The backyard is protected by a second-order Giant Stone Array; the array disks are in my room," Li Zhirui said hurriedly. "Organize the other clansmen to guard the backyard. I'll go to the Cloud Tower to bring those clansmen over!"

"Uncle Ren..." Li Zhirui wanted to say more, but Li Shiren's figure had already vanished.

At the same time, Sun Dahai, the Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Yuanming Sect stationed here, activated the market's formation the moment he sensed the anomaly.

The formation set up in the Yunqing Market, which was extremely important to the Yuanming Sect, was naturally not simple. It was the "Raging Stone Fire-Burning Grand Array," an integrated offense-and-defense formation. Although it was a second-order array, its power was such that even a Golden Core cultivator would have to exert considerable effort to break it.

"All cultivators, obey the orders of the Yuanming Sect! Kill all those causing chaos! The bounty is equal to that of evil cultivators!" Sun Dahai's angry voice echoed through the entire market via the formation.

However, as Sun Dahai spoke these words, he likely did not realize that this would trigger an even greater catastrophe. He now had to face four suddenly appearing Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Initially, the crowd only targeted the black-clad cultivators who were actually attacking, but those people were well-prepared and quickly vanished, blending into the massive crowd of cultivators, making their tracks impossible to find.

Many cultivators ran out in excitement but found nothing. Unwilling to accept this, many turned their sights on other cultivators, intending to trade their lives for the bounty. After all, as long as they killed someone, who could prove whether the victim had been causing trouble before they died?

As a result, more and more cultivators joined in, indiscriminately slaughtering weaker cultivators.

While hunting cultivators, some people noticed the shops on both sides with their doors tightly shut. They decisively abandoned the pursuit of cultivators and turned to attacking the shops instead. After all, compared to the meager savings of those cultivators, the spiritual items and spirit stones in these shops were clearly far more abundant and tempting than the bounty offered by the Yuanming Sect.

What began as a riot triggered by a group of black-clad cultivators rapidly spread into a conflagration due to the greed of a large number of rogue cultivators. Countless cultivators rushed into shops, looting various spiritual items, and the entire market fell into absolute chaos.

In the midst of this turmoil, those shops that usually enjoyed excellent business naturally became the primary targets of the rogue cultivators—such as the Li family's grocery store.

"Damn it!" Looking at the dense crowd of cultivators outside, Li Zhirui's heart was filled with terror. This situation also made him worry incessantly about Li Shiren, who had gone to the Cloud Tower to pick up the people.

Even if Li Shiren was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, under the siege of hundreds of Qi Refinement cultivators, he likely could not escape death.

"Zhirui, what should we do now?" a certain clansman said tremblingly.

Most of the Li family's cultivators were accustomed to peace, especially those clansmen willing to work as shop assistants in the market. The vast majority of them had never gone out for experience; they hadn't even participated when rogue cultivators previously invaded Great Rong Island. They had spent their entire lives under the protection of the family.

Seeing such a terrifying and bloody scene now, many lost their composure, their faces turning pale as they stood frozen in place.

*Sigh!*

Seeing the reaction of his clansmen, Li Zhirui couldn't help but sigh in his heart. The family had protected them too well.

They were like dodder plants; once they left the greenhouse of the family, they would be unable to survive.