Chapter 44 : Chapter 44
Chapter 44: The New Blood Selection Assembly
After obtaining the Blood Spirit Fruit, Li Xingge and his party hurried back to Qingfeng Valley at top speed.
As for the medicinal herbs in the valley, Li Clan herb gatherers would naturally be sent later to harvest them.
...
In the Li Clan’s council hall in Qingfeng Valley, the six elders were seated in order.
“Elders, two of the Blood Spirit Fruits were given to the Blood Spirit Flame Python, so fifteen remain. I intend to distribute them as follows.”
Li Xingge spoke in a deep voice.
All the elders immediately pricked up their ears.
“I will take six. The Grand Elder will receive three. The remaining five elders will each receive one. As for the last one, it will be reserved for an outstanding young member of the clan. What do you all think?”
The Grand Elder was the first to rise to his feet.
Cupping his fists, he said, “Family Head, this old man did not contribute much. I am truly unworthy of receiving such a reward.”
“How precious is the Blood Spirit Fruit? To give it to an old man like me would truly be a waste of a heavenly treasure.”
“The Family Head is still young. The family’s hopes all rest upon your shoulders. These Blood Spirit Fruits are most suited for the Family Head’s use.”
After hearing the Grand Elder say this, the other elders also sincerely expressed their willingness to yield their own shares.
Watching this scene, Li Xingge felt deeply moved by the elders’ selflessness.
A single Blood Spirit Fruit, if placed outside, would be enough to drive people mad and stir up a bloody storm.
Yet within the Li Clan, the value of the Blood Spirit Fruit did not lie in the powerful strength it could grant, but in the precious bond of family affection it revealed.
“That is enough, elders. I understand your good intentions. Six Blood Spirit Fruits are already enough for me.”
“No matter how many more I take, it would only be adding flowers to brocade.”
“But in your hands, there are still limitless possibilities. If the family can gain another Qi-Blood Realm cultivator, then my burden will be much lighter.”
Li Xingge said with a smile.
Since the Family Head had already put it so plainly, the elders no longer refused, but silently resolved in their hearts that they must not disappoint his expectations.
“Family Head, in three more days, the once-a-year New Blood Selection Assembly will begin. As for which elder will go this time, I ask that you make the decision.”
The Grand Elder suddenly spoke.
The New Blood Selection Assembly was one of the means by which the Li Clan absorbed fresh blood from its mortal collateral branches.
A great family that had been passed down for more than two hundred years naturally could not possibly have only a thousand or so clansmen.
Over those two hundred years, Li Clan members who lacked cultivation talent had gradually descended the mountain, mingled among mortals, and spread their branches and leaves, forming the Li Clan’s collateral line.
By today, the Li Clan’s collateral branches already numbered more than one hundred thousand.
And the New Blood Selection Assembly was the means by which those collateral descendants with cultivation talent were selected and allowed to return to the clan grounds, thus strengthening the main clan.
Even the Fourth Elder, Li Xuanzong, had once been one of the outstanding talents who emerged from the New Blood Selection Assembly.
Li Xingge’s gaze swept over the gathered elders.
The Sixth Elder, Li Yanzhao, rose to his feet and requested the duty. “Family Head, let me handle this year’s New Blood Selection Assembly.”
“What do the other elders think?”
“I agree!”
“Accepted!”
Li Xingge made the final decision. “Then the matter of the New Blood Selection Assembly shall be placed entirely in the hands of the Sixth Elder!”
After discussing several more important matters concerning the clan, this council meeting finally came to an end.
The elders withdrew one by one. They could hardly wait to use the medicinal effects of the Blood Spirit Fruit to break through their realms.
As for Li Xingge, he also chose to enter seclusion.
Six Blood Spirit Fruits were enough to bring a qualitative leap to his strength.
...
In Xiaohe Town,
within the courtyard of a shabby earthen house,
a little boy who looked only seven or eight years old stood bare-chested beneath the blazing sun, repeatedly smashing his fists against a wooden training dummy.
Though still so young, his skin was dark, and both his fists were already covered in thick calluses.
Not far away,
a middle-aged woman working at a loom looked at the small figure in the courtyard.
With a pained expression, she said to the man sharpening a blade beside her, “Husband, the sun is so fierce. Why not let the child rest for a while and have him train later?”
The man sharpening the blade shook his head.
“No. In three more days, the New Blood Selection Assembly will begin. Xingzong must break through into the Body Tempering Realm within these two days. Only then can he return to the main clan!”
“Husband, I do not understand. What is so good about returning to the main clan? Wouldn’t it be fine to live as an ordinary person, tilling the fields by day and weaving by night, and pass one’s life in peace? My poor son suffers so much at such a young age. How could he have a father as hard-hearted as you?”
The woman wiped her tears as she cried.
“Honey, returning to the main clan has been the long-cherished wish of our family for generations. From my grandfather, to my father, to me, and now to Xingzong—we have all been striving for this wish.”
After saying that, he put down the blade in his hand and walked toward the boy.
“Xingzong, how many times have I told you? When you throw a punch, your lower stance must be steady, and your force must be focused into a single point. Only then can you kill the enemy with one strike! Why can’t you ever remember?”
The man spoke in an exceptionally stern tone.
Looking at his fierce father, Xingzong’s mouth puckered, his eyes reddened, and tears were on the verge of falling.
He did not understand why other children his age could spend their days happily playing with their friends,
while he, day after day, was forced by his own father to practice martial arts.
“What are you crying for? Hold it back! A real man does not shed tears lightly!”
As he spoke, he raised his hand as if to strike, but the woman hurried over, grabbed his wrist, and shouted angrily, “If you want to hit someone, then hit me!”
At the same time, she shot Xingzong a look, signaling for him to run.
Joy rose in Xingzong’s heart. At last, he could go play with his friends. He ran out of the house happily.
“You just keep spoiling him.”
Watching Xingzong’s cheerful retreating figure, the man let out a helpless sigh.
He picked up the firewood knife he had finished sharpening and slung a basket over his back.
“It is the middle of the day. Where are you going?”
“Xingzong’s daily martial practice drains him too much, and the family has no real means. I arranged to go up the mountain with Tieniu and the others to hunt and see whether we can bring back something to replenish Xingzong’s qi and blood.”
“You cannot go. Little Fourth said that a man-eating Mountain Lord has been appearing in the mountains lately. It is too dangerous.”
The woman spoke with a worried face.
“Do not worry. I know what I am doing.”
Without even lifting his head, the man slung his bow and arrows over his back and went out.
...
The sky gradually darkened.
The woman had already finished preparing dinner, but the man still had not returned. She paced anxiously back and forth in the courtyard.
“Mother, when can we eat? I’m so hungry.”
Xingzong rubbed his empty stomach and said with a miserable little face.
“Wait a little longer. Once your father comes back, we can eat.”
The woman comforted him.
Just then,
movement sounded outside the door. Joy flashed across the woman’s face, and she hurried to open it.
But when she opened the door, the one she saw was not the husband she had been yearning for.
“Sister-in-law, we ran into the Mountain Lord. Brother Quan... Brother Quan... he stayed behind to cover our escape...”
The woman’s vision went black, and she fainted on the spot.
“Sister-in-law!”
“Sister-in-law!”
...
One day later,
Xingzong sat on the steps, staring blankly into the distance.
“Father, why haven’t you come back yet?”
Xingzong murmured, though in his heart he knew clearly that the father who had been so stern and yet loved him most dearly would never come back again.
“Ah!”
Xingzong screamed and ran to the wooden training dummy his father had personally made for him.
This wooden dummy that he had once hated so much.
He struck it with punch after punch, until his skin split and blood flowed, yet he felt nothing at all.
After venting himself in that wild frenzy, he hugged the wooden dummy and burst into loud sobs.
“When you throw a punch, your lower stance must be steady, and your force must be focused into a single point. Only then can you kill the enemy with one strike!”
Those words were still vivid in his ears.
“Father, I remember now.”
“I’ll never disobey you again.”
“I’ll never slack off again.”
“I want to grow stronger. I want to avenge you!”
“My name is Li Xingzong—Li Xingzong of bringing glory to the ancestors!”