The subtle interactions between the siblings naturally caught Li Shiji's attention, but he didn't mind. After all, he couldn't exactly interrogate them.
Suddenly, Li Shiji appeared in front of Li Anle and gently pinched her shoulder.
"Her bone age is less than a year. It seems she has indeed awakened the Rejuvenation talent."
[Rejuvenation, Purple Epic, Martial Talent: Rejuvenates once every fifty years. After rejuvenation, there is a temporary weakening, but the lifespan previously consumed is restored. The number of rejuvenations is random, with a maximum of nine times.]
Those with this talent can live up to 450 years, far longer than ordinary people.
The Rejuvenation talent closely matched Li Anle's situation.
"Please take good care of my sister. She's quite timid."
"Goodbye, sister... and, uh, goodbye, grandfather."
Li Cunxu bid his farewell.
Li Shiji frowned, his authority evident even without anger.
"You're leaving? Not staying?"
Li Anle looked at Li Cunxu with hope, wishing her brother would stay with her.
"Yes."
Li Cunxu's reply was straightforward.
Stay? Experience Pupil City where every step is a struggle and everyone is an enemy?
Old man, do you even realize how many people you've killed in Pupil City?
Although Li Shiji only killed those who deserved it, their families didn't see it that way.
If the game difficulty could be set to normal mode instead of hell mode, Li Cunxu would prefer to clear it on normal. He wasn't some masochist who insisted on playing on hell mode.
Besides, the rewards for clearing normal and hell modes were the same.
Moreover, he didn't have Li Anle's Crimson Lotus Eye. Staying here wouldn't earn him any favor, so it was better to leave.
Li Shiji tried to persuade him, "The conflict between me and your father won't involve you."
Li Shiji genuinely wanted Li Cunxu to stay. He valued family deeply, though it was precisely this attachment that had led to the demise of his entire family.
But Li Cunxu left.
Staying by Li Shiji's side offered no benefits, only countless drawbacks.
To name just one example, consider Father Li, Li Mingshi's own brothers.
They were good at nothing but infighting.
Their internal strife was even more terrifying than the palace dramas, though this was also a result of Li Shiji's deliberate indulgence.
Father Li's brothers were utterly mediocre, especially compared to their father, Li Shiji.
Li Shiji had hoped to cultivate an excellent successor through controlled internal conflict.
But in the end, it yielded no results. Outsiders still regarded them as incompetent and unworthy of trust.
Their infighting only brought chaos to the family, and eventually, they began to see each other as mortal enemies.
After Li Cunxu left, Li Anle settled in.
Li Shiji returned alone to the tea room.
"Shadow Guard."
"Your subordinate is here."
From beneath a suit of Mingguang armor in the tea room, a shadowy figure emerged and knelt behind Li Shiji.
"Go find out where my second son, Li Mingshi, is. He couldn't possibly be dead."
"Yes."
The Shadow Guard transformed into a shadow and departed.
Li Shiji stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the Yin-Yang Taiji Diagram in the tea room, his eyes slightly narrowed.
"Li Cunxu, interesting."
Li Shiji was quite intrigued by his first meeting with his grandson, Li Cunxu. Beneath Li Cunxu's seemingly respectful demeanor lay an air of extreme arrogance and superiority.
"He is confident, and he is arrogant. His arrogance is the kind that looks down upon all living beings. He resembles me, deep down, he resembles me."
Li Shiji was both fascinated and disinterested.
As the saying goes: Those who learn from me will thrive, those who imitate me will perish.
In Li Shiji's eyes, Li Cunxu was one who imitated him.
On his way home, Li Cunxu bought some Sterilization Potion.
"How much should I price the Winged Slime? If it's too high, no one will buy it. Let's set it lower to build a reputation."
Li Cunxu set the price very low, at ten yuan, but later realized it wasn't appropriate. If he offered free shipping, he would have to pay ten yuan for each delivery.
Adding and subtracting, it was still ten yuan, meaning he wasn't making any profit.
In fact, he was losing money, as running an online store also had its costs.
Li Cunxu then raised the price to twenty yuan.
After two days of listing, there were no inquiries.
On the third day, it was still the same, and Li Cunxu began to feel restless.
He spent three thousand yuan on a small promotion, which gradually brought in some attention. After that, he stopped worrying, as the Winged Slime was being shipped daily by couriers.
The five-day preliminary rounds ended, and Li Cunxu won all ten matches, advancing to the main competition.
The main competition began.
The venue changed from an open battleground to an Arena Battleground that could accommodate five hundred spectators. The stands were packed, mostly with the parents of the competitors.
Li Cunxu somehow ended up in the first match of the main competition.
Li Cunxu and Chen Baiyan entered the arena.
"Please summon your respective Pet Beasts."
The majestic White-haired Lion and the soft, adorable Water Slime appeared on the battlefield, causing the audience to burst into laughter.
"What the hell? A Slime has appeared."
"Is this kid here to make us laugh?"
"Not necessarily. If it made it from the preliminaries to the main competition, this Water Slime might be something special."
Some rational people made correct analyses.
The opponent, Chen Baiyan, laughed so hard he couldn't straighten up. He wiped the tears from his eyes and composed himself.
"Thanks, brother, for the free win."
"The Slime will definitely win!!!"
A thunderous roar came from the audience. Everyone turned to see a young man in the front row shouting through a megaphone.
The young man was Lin Fei, Li Cunxu's first defeated opponent in the preliminaries.
Since his defeat, Lin Fei seemed to have become a loyal supporter of Xiao Ruan. He attended every match of Li Cunxu's, cheering loudly. After each match, he would offer water to Li Cunxu and Spirit Food to Xiao Ruan.
Li Cunxu naturally declined. As a qualified Beast Tamer (even though he hadn't even joined a Beast Tamer class), he wouldn't let his Pet Beast easily eat something from others.
The experience of the Heavenly Eater King was still fresh in his mind!
A king-level Beast Tamer, just by letting his Pet Beast eat something given by others, not only had his Pet Beast killed but also himself.
And it was a gruesome death—his fat was turned into candles, his skin into a flag, and his skull into a wine jug.
To this day, they are still displayed at the Blood God Sect headquarters, shown off to newcomers.
The referee shouted, "The match begins."
Without Li Cunxu's command, Xiao Ruan spat out a Water Orb.
The Water Orb paved the way. Only those who could catch it, block it, or dodge it had the right to continue the fight.
In the ten preliminary matches, Li Cunxu had bad luck. He had wanted to find sparring partners to build combat synergy with Xiao Ruan, but the opponents couldn't even handle a Water Orb that Xiao Ruan had held back to fifty percent of its strength.
Fortunately, he had the Mech Hunter and Ah Huang to help as sparring partners; otherwise, Xiao Ruan would have had no practical combat experience at all.
The White-haired Lion's talent, [Danger Perception (Green)], sensed that the seemingly ordinary Water Orb posed a deadly threat and immediately dodged.
Chen Baiyan put away his disdain. The speed and power of the Water Orb were not to be underestimated.
Moreover, winning against a mere Slime is nothing to boast about, but losing to one is a different story—it's utterly humiliating to admit.
Another Water Orb shot forth.
This Water Orb was even faster than the previous one, and with the White-haired Lion still scrambling to dodge, its posture hadn't even been adjusted yet.