72: A powerful alliance

To deal with this potential clan-annihilation crisis, the upper echelons of the Shi Family have recently been holding secret meetings to discuss the matter.

The world is never short of those who would kick someone when they are down; such a potential crisis of clan annihilation must never be known to outsiders.

Otherwise, too many forces would want to kick the Shi Family off its pedestal.

The Lei Family was one of them.

The result of the meeting was a powerful alliance!

That is, the Shi Family would send a large number of young women to the three major forces: the Cloud Palace, the Imperial Family, and the Fire Cloud Sect, while simultaneously proposing marriage to these three forces, taking back some young women with good backgrounds.

The focus was on strengthening ties with the Imperial Family, seeking to marry an Imperial Princess, followed by seeking to marry a talented female Prodigy with a good background from the Fire Cloud Sect, and finally, the Cloud Palace.

The Shi Family is, after all, one of the Five Great Cultivation Families of the Imperial City, and the Imperial Family is closest to the Shi Family. As the saying goes, 'distant water cannot quench a nearby fire.' Even for external aid, the Imperial Family would be more timely than other giants, not to mention that the Five Great Cultivation Families of the Imperial City are inherently top-tier Cultivation Families affiliated with the Imperial Family.

As a result, the Shi Family selected nearly a hundred female Disciples from within the clan who were both beautiful and possessed high Martial Arts Talent, and began to implement this powerful alliance strategy, which caused other Cultivation forces to look at each other in bewilderment.

What is the Shi Family trying to do?

The other Cultivation forces were very confused.

Regarding the Shi Family's initiative to send women, the Imperial Family, Cloud Palace, and Fire Cloud Sect all accepted without refusal. However, the Shi Family's desire to marry their young women was not so readily agreed to.

The Imperial Family maintained a cautious attitude towards marrying a Princess to the Shi Family.

The Cloud Palace, on the other hand, considered the Shi Family to be a Cultivation Family affiliated with the Imperial Family and was not particularly interested in the Shi Family's powerful alliance.

Not to mention, can the Shi Family even be considered powerful in front of the Cloud Palace?

The Cloud Palace is one of the two major giant forces in the Eastern Desolation. In terms of strength, the Cloud Palace's power is considerably stronger than that of the Imperial Family. Does the Cloud Palace need to form a powerful alliance with the Shi Family?

It must be that the Shi Family wants to leverage the Cloud Palace's influence, right?!

Want to use the Cloud Palace?

The Cloud Palace would never fall for that!

It can be said that the Shi Family wanted to intermarry with the Cloud Palace but was met with disdain from the Cloud Palace; they simply looked down on the Shi Family.

The Shi Family could send their young women, but if they wanted to marry their young women, that was out of the question.

However, the Fire Cloud Sect actively responded to the Shi Family's powerful alliance. No matter what, the Shi Family is the head of the Five Great Cultivation Families of the Imperial City, and with Shi Youse as the Clan Chief of the Shi Family, how could the Fire Cloud Sect not respond actively?

Shi Youse is an Inner Sect Elder of the Fire Cloud Sect, and even the Chief Inner Sect Elder. With Shi Youse serving as the Clan Chief of the Shi Family, the relationship between the Shi Family and the Fire Cloud Sect instantly improved by an unknown number of levels. Some even proclaimed that the Fire Cloud Sect and the Shi Family were as close as one Family.

Having received an active response from the Fire Cloud Sect and continuing to strive to marry an Imperial Princess, the Shi Family finally breathed a slight sigh of relief in the face of the mysterious powerful individual's potential threat of clan annihilation... On the other side, Long Aotian returned to Zuoqiu in less than half a day.

The Ten Disciples were still in seclusion.

Long Aotian had something to instruct, so he halted their seclusion.

Over a month had passed, and their Cultivation had all advanced by a minor Realm.

Long Aotian was very satisfied with this rate of advancement. Their Martial Arts Talent and diligent Cultivation were worthy of being chosen by the Family as the Ten Disciples of the Ao Generation.

Among the ten, the highest Cultivation still belonged to Long Aomei, who was at the fourth stage of the Transformation Sea Realm and not far from the fifth stage.

Long Aohuang was next, having just broken through to the third stage of the Transformation Sea Realm. It was clear that the gap between him and Long Aomei was widening.

Lan, Zhu, Ju, and Xue all broke through to the second stage of the Transformation Sea Realm. Although Long Aoxue caught up with the three, she still could not surpass them. The four seemed to be secretly competing in Cultivation.

This is a good thing!

With competition and rivalry, the motivation for Cultivation is ample.

The Dao is not alone!

Advancing together!

Creating brilliance together!

Long Aoyu, Long Aozhou, Long Aohong, and Long Aowu all broke through to the first stage of the Transformation Sea Realm.

At this point, all Ten Disciples of the Ao Generation had entered the Transformation Sea Realm.

Long Aotian instructed them to continue their seclusion in Zuoqiu, not to come out for training until they broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm. He also imparted to them the Thousand Faces Technique, Shape Shifting Technique, Mind Altering Technique, Cultivation Concealment Cultivation Technique, the Grandmist Supreme Golden Core Realm Purple Core Condensation Method, the Five Elements Supreme Nascent Soul Realm Multi-Infant Ancient Method, his own developed Multi-Integration Nascent Soul Method, and the Eight Desolations Divine Steps.

The Grandmist Supreme's Golden Core Realm Purple Core Condensation Method and the Five Elements Supreme's Nascent Soul Realm Multi-Infant Ancient Method might not be useful to them, but the Multi-Integration Nascent Soul Method would be.

The Eight Desolations Divine Steps is a weakened version of the Tai Xu Divine Steps.

After the Tai Xu Supreme created the Tai Xu Divine Steps, Ba Huang, a Human Race Supreme who was on good terms with the Tai Xu Supreme, referenced the Tai Xu Divine Steps and created the Eight Desolations Divine Steps.

Learning the Eight Desolations Divine Steps does not require comprehending the Void Rule or possessing the Grand Void Dragon Clan Bloodline. However, its Peak step covers a thousand miles, and performing the Eight Desolations Divine Steps consumes spiritual energy within the body.

In comparison, the Tai Xu Divine Steps is far superior to the Eight Desolations Divine Steps. Its Peak step is a nine-stage step covering a hundred million miles, and it utilizes the Void Rule in the heavens and earth, requiring almost no consumption of spiritual energy within the body, allowing for unlimited use.

Even so, Long Aomei and the others who received the Eight Desolations Divine Steps were all pleasantly surprised, as if they had obtained a priceless treasure.

Although the Eight Desolations Divine Steps was disdained by Long Aotian, it is still a top-tier movement Martial Skill on the Sky Ruins Continent, and even across all Lower Realm Planes.

After imparting these, Long Aotian then taught them Cultivation Techniques.

The Long Family's Cultivation Technique Rank was simply too low.

Lower Realm Cultivation Techniques are divided into four major Ranks.

Namely:

Yellow, Profound, Earth-Grade, Heaven-Grade.

The four major Ranks are further subdivided into four minor stages.

Namely:

Low Grade, Middle Grade, High Grade, Extreme Grade.

The Long Family's Cultivation Technique was Profound-Grade Low Grade.

It can be said to be very low-Rank.

That they could Cultivate themselves into thousand-year Geniuses and ten-thousand-year Prodigies using low-quality Cultivation resources and low-Rank Cultivation Techniques shows just how desperately these Cultivation Disciples of the Long Family Cultivated.

The Cultivation Technique Long Aotian imparted to Long Aomei and the others was called the Origin Returning Mysterious Skill. It was neither Yellow-Grade, Profound-Grade, Earth-Grade, nor Heaven-Grade, but rather a Rankless, growth-type Cultivation Technique.

It was created by the Human Race Supreme Ba Huang for his clansmen. Because of his good relationship with the Tai Xu Supreme, this Cultivation Technique was also known and treasured by the Grand Void Dragon Clan, appearing in Ao Zhan's memories.

Its power lies in the fact that no matter what attribute Spiritual Root one Cultivates, it can be returned to the Cultivation Technique of that attribute Spiritual Root.

Of course, while it is said that any attribute Spiritual Root can be returned, it mainly applies to the ten attribute Spiritual Roots of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Ice, Wind, Thunder, Light, and Dark.

Space Spiritual Root and Time Spiritual Root are things that even Ba Huang Supreme could not access.

The Origin Returning Mysterious Skill is suitable for the Ten Disciples to Cultivate. Even if they Ascend to the Immortal Realm, they won't need to change Cultivation Techniques. However, it may not be suitable for Long Aotian to Cultivate, not to mention that Long Aotian has the Chaos Dao Art.

For a Chaos Dao Body to Cultivate the Chaos Dao Art is what suits him best.

Otherwise, if he were to switch to the Origin Returning Mysterious Skill, the Origin Returning Mysterious Skill might not include Time Spiritual Root attributes and Space Spiritual Root attributes, and it might even cripple his Time Spiritual Root and Space Spiritual Root... The Ten Disciples, having obtained the Origin Returning Mysterious Skill, were once again astonished by Long Aotian.

Although the Origin Returning Mysterious Skill is a Rankless Cultivation Technique, when they circulated it to try Cultivating, they found that the Cultivation speed of the Origin Returning Mysterious Skill was ten to several tens of times faster than when they used the Long Family's Cultivation Technique.

What kind of Heaven-Defying Cultivation Technique is this?

The key is that it can also grow, so they won't have to worry about Cultivation Techniques even if they Ascend to the Immortal Realm!

The Young Lord is too good to them, isn't he?!

At this moment, the Ten Disciples were once again moved to tears by Long Aotian, vowing that from now on, their lives belonged to the Young Lord, and if the Young Lord told them to go east, they would absolutely not go west...

Under the influence of their emotions, Mei, Lan, Zhu, Ju, and Xue, the five of them, actually wanted to go up and 'molest' Long Aotian's face.

Long Aotian, startled, flashed three hundred miles away, which also left the Ten Disciples momentarily stunned.

What a swift movement Martial Skill!

Could this be the Eight Desolations Divine Steps that the Young Lord imparted to them?

Phew!

No!

They couldn't resist!

They wanted to learn it now!