Chapter 462 - 460: The Reason

Chapter 462: Chapter 460: The Reason

"Patriarch! The Mountain Protection Array has been breached!"

A Li Family disciple rushed in, panicked. His voice trembled as he shouted in terror.

"Patriarch, that Red Eyebrow Old Demon we paid a fortune to hire has fled! There’s no sign of him in the side hall!"

Another person burst in, his face etched with anxiety.

"The enemy has broken through the valley entrance, and all the traps we set outside have been destroyed! Patriarch, what should we do next?!"

"Patriarch, should we fight to the death or retreat immediately? Please decide quickly!"

"What about the Ancestor? This is a critical moment for the Li Family’s survival! We implore the Ancestor to act at once!"

Deep within the valley, inside a magnificent hall shrouded in layers of mist, the atmosphere was so heavy it was nearly suffocating.

Many Li Family disciples were spattered with blood. They staggered as they rushed in from outside the hall, their faces filled with panic.

Just then,

from the direction of the valley entrance, immense roars like rolling thunder echoed continuously.

From a high vantage point, one could see flashes of Magical Power. The resounding collisions made the very ground tremble.

It was clear proof that the enemy was advancing rapidly.

Each flash of spiritual light was like a heavy hammer, pounding mercilessly on the hearts of the Li Family Members.

The Demonic Cultivators who had come from outside to provide support had almost all left.

Essentially, only members of the Li Family remained within Heaven’s End Valley.

After five days of relentless attacks from the Ancient Sword Sect,

the Li Family’s strength had been drastically weakened.

Now that the Mountain Protection Array was broken,

it was like a tear that could not be mended, allowing the enemy to pour through.

Even though the Li Family had operated here for hundreds, even thousands of years, and had filled the valley with meticulously laid traps and obstacles,

in the face of absolute power, all of it proved fragile.

The traps that could have delayed Cultivators at the Soul Emergence Early and Middle Stage were utterly useless against those at the Soul Emergence Late Stage, especially powerhouses at the Soul Emergence Ninth Layer. They were shattered from a distance with a single blow.

With experts like Jian Wuheng and Patriarch Ouyang—both at the Soul Emergence Ninth Layer—leading the charge,

they were practically unstoppable.

Absolutely no one could stand in their way!

Moreover,

with them as the spearhead,

a host of Soul Emergence Realm Cultivators was swarming in right behind them.

One could imagine that,

in a short while,

all of Heaven’s End Valley would fall.

"Patriarch!"

The surrounding Li Clan Members all turned their desperate gazes toward the Patriarch of the Li Family, Li Changzun.

At that moment,

Li Changzun’s expression turned extremely grim, and his fists clenched involuntarily.

His nails dug into his flesh, drawing blood.

But Li Changzun didn’t seem to notice at all.

He had no mind to spare for such things.

’Damn it! How did the situation deteriorate to this point?!’

Li Changzun’s face had grown pale.

In just five short days,

the Mountain Protection Array had been broken.

The enemy was pouring in,

and annihilation seemed imminent.

This filled Li Changzun’s heart not only with rage but also with a sliver of fear he dared not imagine.

’Is the Li Family, with its eight-hundred-year legacy, going to fall at my hands today?’

’No!’

’Absolutely not!’

In that instant,

Li Changzun’s eyes turned bloodshot.

He admitted it.

He had indeed made a mistake.

He shouldn’t have underestimated the combat prowess of that brat named Shen Changchuan.

That mistake led to their defeat in the great battle five days ago,

which in turn resulted in the completely one-sided situation they now faced.

’But my overall strategy wasn’t wrong!’

The Li Family had been entrenched in Heaven’s End Valley for these past eight hundred years, and not just because they were reluctant to leave their home.

The unique environment of Heaven’s End Valley was extremely beneficial to the Li Family and their Lifebound Spirit Gu, the Flying Heaven-Splitting Spirit Ant.

Once the Li Family left Heaven’s End Valley,

cut off from its resources,

their family would lose the very foundation of its existence and gradually decline.

That was why,

even though Li Changzun knew perfectly well

that the tide in the Nanyue Kingdom had turned in favor of the Tian Nan Domain’s Righteous Alliance,

and that after the Demonic Alliance’s defeat at Broken Soul Mountain, their position in Heaven’s End Valley had become extremely precarious, making it impossible to remain entrenched there,

Li Changzun still didn’t dare to casually abandon Heaven’s End Valley—the very foundation of the Li Family’s power.

’My strategy wasn’t wrong!’

’Without the foundation of Heaven’s End Valley, the Flying Heaven-Splitting Spirit Ants can’t be raised, and my Li Family will eventually decline and perish!’

’To change that fate, we had to secure greater benefits before evacuating Heaven’s End Valley and find another path for the family!’

’Therefore, that Shen Changchuan had to be captured!’

’It wasn’t just for the Demonic Alliance’s reward, or for the favor of two old demons standing at the peak of the Nanyue Kingdom’s Demon Dao.’

’More importantly, the Minghuan Gu Scripture Fragment in that brat’s possession might allow our Li Family to continue breeding our Lifebound Spirit Gu, the Flying Heaven-Splitting Spirit Ants, even after leaving Heaven’s End Valley!’

Li Changzun’s eyes were bloodshot.

He was like a desperate gambler about to lose everything.

He did have his reasons.

The great battle at Broken Soul Mountain a year or two ago, which forced the Nanyue Kingdom’s Demonic Alliance to retreat, had made Shen Changchuan’s name known to almost everyone in both regions.

At the same time,

word of Shen Changchuan’s improved Gu-controlling Secret Technique and his method for mass-producing Gu Insects also spread.

It reached the ears of the Demonic Alliance,

and some of the Demon Dao’s Gu Dao families even sent people to capture individuals to interrogate them for the key points of the Gu-controlling Secret Technique and the industrial method of raising Gu.

Although the Li Family was a reclusive Demon Dao family that rarely left the confines of Heaven’s End Valley, they naturally had their own information channels and connections.

Not long ago, they had used these channels to obtain the Gu-controlling Secret Technique that had shone so brightly on the Broken Soul Mountain battlefield.

The upper echelons of the Li Family were ecstatic when they acquired the key aspects of these two methods.

The Flying Heaven-Splitting Spirit Ants were powerful,

but due to their low reproductive rate, they could never be mass-produced, and it was extremely difficult to cultivate an Ant King. This forced the Li Family to remain hidden, holed up in Heaven’s End Valley.

This was to avoid exposing their foundation to the outside world and being targeted by those old demons at the Divine Travel Realm.

But with the Gu-controlling Secret Technique and the industrial breeding method,

the problem seemed to have a solution.

And once the breeding problem of the Flying Heaven-Splitting Spirit Ants was solved—if they could be mass-produced through industrial Gu-raising, made to fight each other, and ultimately evolve into Ant Kings—

then,

armed with several Flying Heaven-Splitting Spirit Ant Kings capable of releasing a trace of the Power of Space, they would even dare to hunt beings at the Divine Travel Realm!

With such a powerful tool,

the upper echelons of the Li Family could even use that unparalleled might to seize the opportunity to ascend to the Divine Travel Realm themselves.

They could leap into the Divine Travel Realm, gain a lifespan of four hundred years, and roam the world freely!

And as long as they could successfully cultivate a large number of Flying Heaven-Splitting Spirit Ant Kings,

this was all very possible!