"What is the meaning of this?" Li Shilian asked with a gloomy face, and at the same time, he sent a message to stop Li Shiting, who was about to come out.
"Attack!" The three of them didn't bother with Li Shilian and cast their spells decisively, attempting to kill both Li Shilian and Li Zhirui on the spot.
"You take over the Spirit Boat!" Li Shilian handed over the control to Li Zhirui and faced the three Foundation Establishment cultivators alone.
Although Li Shilian was not weak, it was still a bit of a stretch for him to fight against three Foundation Establishment cultivators. It didn't take long before he was at a disadvantage, looking quite embarrassed.
At first, Li Zhirui didn't quite understand why Li Shilian didn't call out Li Shiting, or even summon the Spirit Beast, and instead was single-handedly confronting the three.
However, it didn't take long for Li Zhirui to guess his intention—Li Shilian wanted to set up the enemy, allowing Li Shiting to serve as a surprise force and find an opportunity to counter and kill the three.
But now, under the combined attack of the opponents, Li Shilian was hard-pressed and had to use all his strength just to ensure he wasn't injured.
This embarrassed state also lulled the three of them into thinking they could easily take down Li Shilian.
"Vajra! Boulder Torrent!"
Just as the three pressed forward, focusing only on the attack, Li Shilian suddenly shouted, and the Spirit Beast Bag on his waist opened instantly. A giant ape flew out from it, and immediately a huge number of boulders coalesced in the air, forming a yellow torrent in the blink of an eye, whooshing toward the three.
The Spirit Beast that Li Shilian had contracted, a second-order Stone Ape, was strong and thick-skinned, excelling in earth-based spells, and was one of the best among the second-order Spirit Beasts cultivated by the Li family.
Moreover, with his meticulous cultivation, this Stone Ape of Li Shilian had reached the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment.
As Vajra appeared, Li Shiting, who had been hiding in the cabin, also made her move.
A streak of green light shot out, circumventing the three in an instant, its speed so fast that the opponents couldn't even react.
The Green Scale Snake, Li Shiting's second-order Spirit Beast, could fly and its speed was comparable to lightning, possessing a potent poison that dissolved Mana.
"Not good!"
The trio, seeing Li Shiting emerge, felt a sudden sinking in their hearts, but what was even more horrifying was that their opponents each had a Foundation Establishment Spirit Beast, and the situation had reversed in an instant, with them becoming the weaker side.
Because of the sudden appearance of Li Shiting, in their panic, the three didn't notice that a small wound had appeared on their bodies.
"Run!"
In fact, they didn't need reminding—when they realized Li Shiting, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, showed up, they knew their ambush had failed. Now it was a matter of whether each of them had a way to escape with their lives.
"Thinking of escaping?" Li Shilian sneered coldly, saying, "Too late!"
Before his words fell, the spell he had been preparing was released, and the Boulder Torrent that the Stone Ape had amassed instantly transformed, becoming an airtight stone prison, trapping the three of them inside without escape!
"Vajra, Stone Spears." Following Li Shilian's command, numerous hard and sharp spears emerged within the stone prison, compelling the trio to defend themselves first.
While the three of them swiftly circulated their Mana, it also spurred the venom of the Green Scale Snake, not even giving them the chance to deal with the Stone Spears before they horrifiedly realized that their own Mana had nearly run out!
"What's going on?" a Zheng Family cultivator cried out in panic.
They had originally thought they could easily take down Li Shilian, but who could have imagined that in just half an hour, the situation would be completely reversed, and they had become like fish on a chopping board.
Seeing this, Li Shilian knew that the venom of the Green Scale Snake had deeply invaded the trio's bodies, and that they had no strength left to resist. He then made a move to remove the stone prison.
Li Shiting, who had not taken action yet, suddenly cast a spell, and several vines sprouted out of nowhere, tightly binding the three men. She then reached out and pulled them onto the Spirit Boat.
Li Shilian steered the Spirit Boat away at high speed, but he didn't head back to the Li family. Instead, he found a deserted island, docked the Spirit Boat, and, without interrogating the three cultivators, he asked Li Zhirui for his thoughts on this magical confrontation.
"Your coordination with Mrs. Ting and the Spirit Beast was simply too perfect!" This was Li Zhirui's most profound impression.
"That's one point!" Li Shilian nodded and advised, "As a cultivator of the family, you don't have to show off personal prowess like a Loose Cultivator. You need to understand how to cooperate with fellow clan members to achieve the best effect with the least mana!"
"Moreover, why were Shiting and I so cautious? It's to guard against the possibility of the enemy, in desperation, causing us harm."
Seeing that Li Zhirui took his words to heart, Li Shilian inwardly nodded, turned, and walked to the three men. He transformed the surrounding spiritual energy into a large hand and pulled off the black cloth covering their faces.
"Shiting, have you seen them before?" Li Shilian frowned slightly, as he always felt these three men looked somewhat familiar.
Seeing Li Shiting shake her head, Li Shilian didn't ask further. He directly took the storage bags from the men's waists, forcefully broke through their Divine Sense, and searched for anything that could identify them.
"The Zheng Family?" A sharp light flashed in Li Shilian's eyes as he said, "You're a cultivator from the Zheng Family on Red Pine Island?!"
Li Zhirui was taken aback. Why would the Zheng Family strike at the Li family out of nowhere? Were the other two also cultivators from the Zheng Family?
"Are you two also Zheng Family cultivators?" As soon as he spoke, Li Shilian shook his head to negate the idea; the Zheng Family had only three Foundation Establishment cultivators in total. It wasn't possible they would send all of them at once.
Otherwise, should any misfortune arise, without any Foundation Establishment cultivator in residence, the Zheng Family would likely perish atop the vast sea.
Li Shilian and Li Shiting took action together, opening the other two men's storage bags. After seeing the marks of the other two families inside, their expressions darkened considerably.
"The He Family! The Zhang Family!" Li Shilian, using mana to lift a man, demanded, "Why have your three families joined forces?"
If it were any of the three families alone against the Li family, Li Shilian wouldn't have been so anxious, as their strength was not equal to the Li's. But if the three families formed an alliance, then the Li family's situation would become extremely dire!
"Haha!" Upon seeing Li Shilian's grim expression, the man's mood suddenly improved, and he said fearlessly, "You guess?"
"Slap—"
The hand made of spiritual energy slapped him, and Li Shilian tossed the man aside like garbage.
"You two go to the Marketplace, while I will return to Da Rong Island to inform the Clan Leader of this matter," instructed Li Shilian, as it was not appropriate to interrogate in front of Li Zhirui; besides, the matter was urgent and needed to be reported to Li Shiqing as soon as possible.
Li Shiting nodded and said, "Alright, I will discuss this matter with Shiren."
Li Zhirui, having become just a bystander, suddenly spoke up, "You targeted the Li family because you saw our business flourishing and felt threatened, thus you all joined hands to ambush us in secret, right?"
One of the men's expressions changed slightly; he hadn't expected such a minor Qi Cultivation cultivator to hit the nail on the head right out of the gate.
"Indeed!" Seeing the man's reaction, Li Zhirui knew his guess was correct.
Ever since the news of booming business at the Cloudtop Pavilion had reached Da Rong Island, Li Zhirui had been concerned that some might be envious and target the Li family in secret.
However, that was just Li Zhirui's speculation and worry, not something to directly tell the family, mainly because Li Zhirui himself found it somewhat improbable.
He had brought it up casually in conversation with Li Shile, who also thought Li Zhirui was overthinking it. After all, the Marketplace had seen other shops with flourishing businesses before the Li's rise.