"These old geezers from the Lan family… With just that little bit of resources, they're already trying to push me into meddling with the affairs between the Luo family and Pingyang Mountain. I used to think they had some sense of boundaries… Looks like I've been way too polite to them."
A trace of coldness flashed through Li Ye's eyes.
"Forget it. At least with this incident as a pretext, they probably won't dare bother me for a while… And if they try anything in the future, it'll be perfectly justified if I fall out with them."
The cultivation agreement he made with Lan Xinyi only required both sides to jointly safeguard Changcui Mountain's safety there wasn't a single clause about looking after the Lan family.
In the past, he tolerated them since there were still some benefits to be squeezed out. But now that they were starting to overreach, if he didn't show some attitude, they'd probably forget their current position entirely!
"Still… I didn't expect things to play out like this…"
Li Ye scratched his chin, his expression slightly amused.
The reason he didn't deal with Fei Xing'an was precisely because the man had shown some sense and hadn't joined in the attack. Li Ye let him go so he could explain the situation no need to push things too far and completely offend the entire mountain alliance.
What he hadn't expected was that this would cause the long-standing tensions between the Luo family and Pingyang Mountain to further escalate.
At this rate, with the Luo family leading a faction of clan forces, a full fallout with Pingyang Mountain didn't seem far off.
"If someone manages to uncover the Blackwood Daoist's identity, maybe the situation could be defused… but actually, it's better if they just break off entirely."
Li Ye made his decision swiftly.
Better them than him. Even if their infighting plunged the entire Chidi mountain range into chaos, with his array of formations and current stockpiles, he could remain self-sufficient and cultivate in peace.
But if anyone were to figure out that he was the Blackwood Daoist, Changcui Mountain would be dragged into the storm, and that would be a major disruption to his cultivation.
Not to mention, Li Ye was a gentle soul well-versed in arrays and talismans, while the Blackwood Daoist was known for his domineering ways and formidable body cultivation. No one would ever connect the two of them.
Even if those clans had tried to plant tracking methods on the items he sold, once they were brought into the Green Vine Verdant Wood Array which had a faint domain-isolating effect they became completely ineffective.
Unless Li Ye confessed himself, the Blackwood Daoist was destined to vanish without a trace. No one could track him down!
"Still, unless the Luo family produces a Foundation Establishment cultivator, no matter how much noise they make, it's still Pingyang Mountain that calls the shots in the Chidi mountains…"
Li Ye let out a long sigh.
Back when he killed that Ding fellow, it had only worked because the man underestimated him. Li Ye had planned for a quick strike and immediate retreat if it failed.
In any other situation, if a Foundation Establishment cultivator was even slightly prepared, there was no way someone at the peak of Qi Refinement could take them down. Even winning would be difficult.
Unless you had more second-grade talismans or even a talisman treasure than Li Ye did otherwise, it was practically impossible.
And with the current state of the Chidi mountains, where a bunch of Qi Refinement cultivators were flailing at each other like chickens, Li Ye seriously doubted any of them had that kind of foundation.
This made him suddenly think of the second-ranked faction, the Chang family from Mount Dengjin.
Rumor had it they also had a small segment of a second-grade spirit vein…
If they were hiding a Foundation Establishment cultivator in reserve, waiting to spring a surprise… well, that would change the game entirely.
His gaze flickered slightly, but Li Ye couldn't be bothered to think about it further.
"Let them tear the place apart so long as they don't mess with my farming, I don't care."
As he spoke, he stepped through layer upon layer of arrays and entered the acre of second-grade spiritual farmland.
Every time he completely sealed off the Green Vine Verdant Wood Array, it meant he was either cultivating or tending this field.
This time, the spiritual field had already changed significantly.
Divided into three sections, the Earth Dragon Ginseng, Mindroot Flower, and White Yin Fruit were now each planted in over half their respective plots. Looking over the field, it finally felt like it had some abundance.
Of the three, the White Yin Fruit being better suited to the climate of the Chidi mountains was growing the fastest and had nearly filled its section.
"Mm… With the two trait boosts in effect, the seedlings I brought back this time are growing quite well…"
"After another round of cultivation, once they've accumulated enough vitality, I can propagate them again… At that point, I should be able to fully plant the entire acre."
Li Ye inspected each spiritual plant carefully, nodding in satisfaction.
He then took out his tools and various prepared fertilizers and spiritual liquids, and began meticulously tending to each plant.
Speaking of which, the [Absorption] trait had already started to show results. The earliest seedlings were now well-adapted to various fertilizers, and their medicinal potency hadn't notably declined.
Once the next propagation was complete and the field was fully planted, Li Ye estimated that he could remove the array's isolation and tend all three types the same way.
With fewer restrictions, enhanced absorption, and a potential increase in fertilizer application, their growth could be even more impressive!
However, due to the longer time required to accumulate the vitality of second-grade herbs, and because Li Ye had kept propagating the plants as soon as they reached a decent state, he still hadn't received a single spirit energy feedback even after more than a year.
Still, he didn't mind. Once the field was full, he could harvest in batches and that would be even more satisfying.
As he pondered this, Li Ye sighed a little regretfully.
"The only real pity is that the [Wood Spirit] trait is useless on these three herbs. Earth Dragon Ginseng is earth-type, Mindroot Flower is yin-type, and White Yin Fruit is yang-type none of them match."
"To see what [Wood Spirit] can do, I'll have to count on the Evergreen Flower…"
After finishing his work on the entire field, even Li Ye, with his current level of cultivation, was left sweating and panting a bit. But as he looked at the thriving spiritual plants before him, his heart was full.
His path to Foundation Establishment was steadily advancing, and once these spiritual herbs matured, he'd be ready to take that crucial step forward!
Days passed, one after another.
It had been over a month since Luo Zhai was killed by the Blackwood Daoist, an incident that had sent a wave of fury through the Luo family of Mount Woyun.
Spring snow had melted, and temperatures in the Chidi mountain range were rapidly rising yet the atmosphere outside was growing ever more tense and grim.
Led by the Luo family, a coalition of clans had officially requested permission from within the alliance and subsequently formed a joint search party.
They began combing the Chidi mountains and surrounding areas in a large-scale manhunt. Apart from a few treacherous locations too dangerous for Qi Refinement cultivators to approach, they practically searched every nook and cranny.
But still, they found nothing.
The Blackwood Daoist had seemingly vanished into thin air, leaving behind not a single trace.
Instead, the hunt flushed out many hidden rogue cultivators, resulting in numerous skirmishes with the search party.
Although the Luo family and its allied clans managed to eliminate most of these rogue cultivators, they also suffered significant casualties among their ranks.
As a result, their pent-up frustration only grew, with no clear outlet for release.
Now, the joint search party was still active but its original goal had shifted. What started as a mission to locate the Blackwood Daoist had devolved into a campaign of venting anger and seizing wealth.
In the span of just a few weeks, many rogue cultivators had either been killed or forced to flee and on the surface, public security in the Chidi mountain range appeared to have improved.
But in truth, even innocent cultivators who merely exchanged a few harsh words with the search party were often beaten or killed on the spot.
They acted with impunity, unchecked and unchallenged, leaving the region's loose cultivators too frightened to venture out.
No one knew how long this situation would last.
Until one day, word spread that a cultivator from one of the mountain sects had been killed on the spot by the search party after a dispute.
Like a spark to dry tinder, this news ignited the situation pushing everything to a whole new level.
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