Rebuilding the Immortal Cultivator Clan Chapter 1937 - 1437: Flames of War (Part 2)

Like a gigantic ancient serpent from the dawn of time, it barreled toward them with its massive, gore-filled mouth agape, determined to gulp them down entirely.

The realm's cultivators, their mana almost entirely drained or on the verge of exhaustion, grew as white as sheets in an instant. A large number lacked the remaining mana to run away and could merely stare in hopelessness as the raging surge barreled closer, until darkness overtook them and they blacked out completely.

"No!"

Those cultivators racing desperately to rescue their comrades, kin, and followers arrived just a moment too late, compelled to watch the demise of their loved ones right before their eyes!

They stood so close that every look on the doomed faces became visible in the approach of death—horror, dread, remorse, and beyond—but ultimately, nothing but oblivion lingered.

With a single clash, the Li family eradicated four or five thousand cultivators!

Almost half of the besieging force that had gathered against them was wiped out, substantially reducing the strain the Li family would endure moving forward.

"Aaaaah! You all deserve to die!"

"I’ll kill you all!"

Many cultivators, witnessing this horror, shattered inwardly and surged toward the Li family in a blind rage, heedless of their own survival, driven solely by a thirst for revenge!

Yet such actions amounted to nothing more than courting doom.

"Don’t!"

"Come back quickly!"

A handful of calmer cultivators from the back lines spotted this and their eyes widened in shock. They yelled urgently, attempting to halt their impulsive allies from rushing to certain death.

Regrettably, these warnings failed to soothe the frenzy, and at the same time, the Li family unleashed their assault anew.

To handle the leftover cultivators from this realm, the Li family dispatched only a thousand members, with merely a few hundred engaging directly this time—yet they still overwhelmed their foes effortlessly!

Beneath the crushing might of their sacred techniques, the opposing cultivators were smashed into gory chunks right away, with blood and tissue spraying wildly, some even splattering onto their fellow fighters.

In a flash, additional losses mounted.

Fury blazed within the surviving cultivators, yet none dared to advance carelessly once more.

By now, it was clear this had been a scheme devised by the Li family, designed purely to draw them close and lighten the load on themselves.

Despite their boiling anger, the smartest counter against the Li family was to pin them down right here, denying any path to freedom!

They gritted their teeth to stifle the wrath surging inside, pulling back to a secure range, stationing extra guards for watch, and steadfastly blocking the Li family from slipping away.

"Since they're holding off, everyone take a break and restore your strength. A fierce clash awaits us!" Li Zhirui declared, sounding somewhat relaxed.

In his judgment, the moment had arrived.

Thus, he assigned a few clan experts in eye-based arts to vigilantly monitor the far-off encampment. The instant any spiritual glow approached, they were to alert him without delay.

Moments passed swiftly. Before long, a full hour elapsed. Abruptly, a fiery trail of radiance streaked in from the distance and dropped into a cultivator's grasp.

But that marked only the start!

During the following half hour, streak after streak of fiery light arrived from the edge of the sky, each settling into the hands of various cultivators.

The contents of the messages were alike: their home sects or family territories faced raids from unknown assailants—foes brutal and unstoppable, striking without mercy. Their barriers were on the brink of collapse, and they urgently requested aid to hurry back.

"Damn it!"

"Impossible! This region has been sealed tight for ages—how could they have slipped through?" Even as the Sound Transmission Talisman arrived, disbelief lingered strong.

However, dwelling on mysteries wasn't an option now; each one promptly gathered their sect's members, eager to launch spirit boats and race home at full speed.

Had they been in a vast, empty wilderness, their departure would have proceeded without hitch. By this point, they'd already be soaring away on spirit boats, unchallenged by any pursuit.

But the timing was off! The location was wrong!

As soon as the spiritual signals appeared, Li Zhirui commanded his whole clan to prepare their sacred energies, ready to intercept the cultivators and bar their return to sects or homes.

Ideally, trapping them all here would be perfect—perishing in this spot was the ultimate goal!

Crack—

Keen lances of spiritual radiance sliced through tough spirit boats in a heartbeat, wrecking their cores and rendering flight utterly impossible.

Clatter!

Innumerable items spilled from the damaged spirit boats, slamming onto the ground and shattering to pieces immediately.

"Roar!"

Under Li Zhirui's onslaught, the cultivators' wrath ignited fully. One bellowed like a feral creature in outrage.

His sect's stronghold teetered on the edge of ruin—he needed to lead his group back fast, or devastating losses would follow once the enemy overran it.

He had already suffered heavy tolls among his sect brothers and juniors here. Should disaster strike their base too, utter destruction loomed inevitable!

"Get out of my way! Stop me and die!"

With an enraged bellow, he conjured yet another spirit boat and attempted to bolt toward the horizon.

"You think you can leave now?"

Li Zhirui materialized abruptly in front, a sinister grin twisting his face. "Be good for once and stay here!"

Rumble—

Enormous columns crashed down from above, pounding him and his spirit boat into the soil.

A number of other fleeing cultivators suffered identical ends.

The might of a Heavenly Immortal unleashed itself fully at last!

No longer holding back as before, when he'd masked his strength to evade notice.

Despite the Floatlight Realm's Heavenly Dao constraints, his deadly sacred techniques surpassed anything these cultivators could endure by far.

Li Zhirui's blow sparked the rest—one by one, Li family members leaped into action, halting the cultivators and sealing off all routes of flight.

Nevertheless, in their frantic drive to protect their own, several broke through successfully.

Truthfully, this was intentional—he had directed subtle openings to remain, permitting a few to slip away, fostering false hope among the rest to prevent a do-or-die frenzy.

This mirrored the tactic of breaching a encirclement: avoid forcing foes into a suicidal stand with no way out. Seizing them entirely might succeed, but the Li family's casualties amid their desperate counter would be too high.

Above all, Li Zhirui sought to prevent that. The lives of his clansmen held far greater worth than those of adversaries!

Following two waves of strikes, nearly every spirit boat lay in ruins. Any survivors were tiny vessels, unable to whisk away crowds in haste.

In this scenario, timely return proved unattainable.

Therefore, Li Zhirui held back from pursuit, guiding his clan to retreat behind the protective array—as a precaution against any berserk cultivators turning themselves into suicide explosives, aiming to drag Li family members down in vengeful carnage.

He had viewed this as mere overcaution, yet shockingly, such fanatics truly emerged—one even transformed into a living explosive!

BOOM—

A tremendous blast thundered outward, shrouding the heavens in thick, light-devouring fumes. The protective array quaked, its glow fading noticeably.

Once the haze cleared, every cultivator who had laid siege to the Li family had vanished entirely!

They had all grasped the chaos and bolted at maximum velocity.

Some of those sects and clans hadn't truly faced assault, but with the bulk departed, the stragglers couldn't possibly confront the Li family solo—so they escaped too.

And just like that, the encirclement around the Li family dissolved in a heartbeat.

"I never imagined there were cultivators like that..."

Though he inflicted no harm on the Li family, his sacrifice served as a stark warning for the clan.

...

Two flowers bloom, each bearing its own branch.

The scene shifts to the break of dawn, prior to the outbreak of that massive conflict.

The last pathway stood fully unsealed as the sun rose that morning!