All of this was due to Lin Yao's use of rudimentary witchcraft to help the Yi family members transform their bodies, enabling these Yi family members, who had undergone years of arduous cultivation, to break through in one fell swoop.
Of course, due to the still insufficient number of high-end personnel, the Yi family is slightly inferior to the Hong family, which ranks second. In particular, this data reflects the true state of the Yi family, which they are aware of, while the Hong family's data is based on publicly available figures, and the actual results are still unknown.
Therefore, Elder Yi Potian was not so arrogant as to think that the Yi family was exceptionally powerful and to disregard other aristocratic families.
This world is just as treacherous as the business and officialdom of the secular world.
The Jiang family, ranked fourth among the four great families, usually acts in a style as insidious and cunning as their martial arts techniques, making them unpredictable.
Sometimes they keep a low profile, pretending to be weak while secretly catching the tiger; other times they are flamboyant and make a high-profile attack.
The Yi family, being the Jiang family's mortal enemy, had already learned a great deal from their research on the Jiang family, and therefore never underestimated them.
If it weren't for the deep-seated blood feud that couldn't be let go, coupled with the Yi family's recent comeback and the need to establish a strong and positive image to prevent other powerful families from taking the opportunity to unite and suppress them, Elder Yi Potian wouldn't have chosen this moment to provoke the Jiang family, nor would he have dispatched almost all of the Yi family's members to the five southern provinces for a desperate fight.
In fact, Elder Yi Potian also knew that the best option now was to lie low and recuperate, and improve the strength of the Yi family as soon as possible. However, time was of the essence, and the situation did not allow him to restrain himself and focus on internal cultivation.
The Yi family's "Yi Jin Jue" is renowned for its unparalleled offensive power, and in one-on-one combat, Yi family members can even challenge opponents of higher levels. However, this advantage is not as pronounced against the Jiang family.
Because the Jiang family members can also challenge opponents of higher levels, even two levels higher.
All of this stems from the Jiang family's style of doing things.
They use every means at their disposal: traps, poisons, firearms, and even worldly power to help them achieve their goals.
Most experts at the mid-stage of the Earth Realm can defend against bullets fired from ordinary guns. However, if there are too many of these bullets, even a mid-stage Earth Realm martial artist cannot defend against them. If they do not dodge in time, they are also easily injured.
Experts below the early stage of the Earth level are completely unable to defend against bullets head-on; they can only rely on their superhuman senses and reflexes to cope.
Dodging bullets and using firearms have become essential skills for every scion of a noble family. After all, the world has entered the era of firearms, and clinging to cold weapons will only lead to being eliminated, unless one retreats to the deep mountains and wilderness and only emerges after reaching the peak or highest level of the Earthly Realm, which is even more impossible.
The Jiang family members are better trained in firearms and are also good at utilizing secular armed forces. Therefore, some organizations and institutions with impressive-sounding names, such as the "Flying Tigers" and the "Flying Cats," have very close ties with the Jiang family.
Of course, the Jiang family couldn't command such a state-affiliated armed force like their own troops, but excuses are never in short supply in this world, so this force had to be taken into account in many situations.
This was also what Elder Yi Potian was most worried about. Because the five southern provinces had been the Jiang family's stronghold for decades.
Based on human lifespan and the prime working years, after decades of erosion and management by the Jiang family, even if it were an impenetrable fortress, the five southern provinces would have been almost completely under their control.
Lin Yao's suggestion made extensive use of poison, an area he was skilled in. This was the first time that Elder Yi Potian had witnessed the sinister side of this seemingly gentle and harmless man. Of course, the sinister side he referred to was the use of poison, not his true nature.
For the Yi family members below the Earthly Rank, Lin Yao's poison could instantly knock them out. He could apply the poison to weapons or hidden darts, or spread it through the air. This horrified the elders and the Yi family members who had been given a gag order. They thought to themselves that if the Jiang family also had such a potent poison, the Yi family would have been wiped out decades ago. A few skilled but unassuming men wouldn't have been able to support the entire family.
Once Lin Yao reaches the Earth level, he must personally administer the poison. The effect of having others administer the poison is not good, mainly because Earth level experts have powerful protective true qi and a certain degree of ability to expel poison with their true qi.
Instead of sending the Yi family members, who are not skilled at poisoning in combat, to do such a thing, it would be better to enhance their defensive capabilities and rely on brute force, since the Yi family members have the advantage in battles of the same level.
Lin Yao's suggestion to poison was rejected by Elder Yi Potian. The reasons included the possibility that the Yi family members, who were unfamiliar with the operation, might not be able to adapt and would instead be distracted and lower their defenses, making them vulnerable to the Jiang family's poison. The reasons also included the Yi family's disdain for such insidious acts.
Lin Yao did not insist on his point of view. He knew that there were many rules and regulations in this kind of family that had been passed down since ancient times, and that inappropriate suggestions might affect his relationship with the Yi family.
If poisoning doesn't work, then the only option is to prevent poisoning.
When it came to poison prevention, Elder Yi Potian was as enthusiastic as a widow who had lived alone for many years and was alone in a room with her beloved, busying himself with everything. He did a very thorough job inside and out, making Lin Yao exclaim that he had found the best assistant.
Elder Yi Potian spared no effort in acquiring any medicinal herbs he could find, including honeysuckle and chrysanthemum for defense against cold and heat toxins, and Lobelia chinensis for snake venom. He even managed to get them to a garment factory outside the East Third Ring Road in Chengdu.
So Lin Yao painstakingly refined the medicine, and during that period, the air around the processing plant was perpetually filled with its fragrance, and the people and animals in the area were free from all illnesses.
"Detoxification Pill" is the name Lin Yao gave to the new pill. This brown pill, about the size of a mung bean, was made using almost every available detoxification ingredient and refined through a combined mental technique with Xiao Cao.
It has a strong detoxifying effect, but it is troublesome to refine because ordinary medicinal materials will not even leave any residue after being burned by the pseudo-elixir fire. In the end, the grass absorbs the effective medicinal energy from these medicinal materials and then injects it into the cactus and aloe vera leaf pulp that can barely absorb the medicinal energy, so that Lin Yao's alchemy can continue.
The leaf pulp of cacti and aloe vera obviously cannot withstand the burning of pseudo-elixir fire. However, as a medium, they can be combined with the medicinal gas contained within them during burning, forming a framework for the formation of elixir liquid, and thus forming elixir.
As Lin Yao practiced alchemy more, he gained more free-floating magical power. Most of this power was absorbed by him and the little grass. The little grass could directly steal the free-floating magical power that had just been absorbed into his body before it could be integrated into his flesh and blood. Therefore, both of them were very enthusiastic about alchemy, to the point that they would immediately start alchemy as soon as they had nurtured enough pseudo-alchemy fire.
Low-quality medicinal energy has little effect on Xiaocao, as she can absorb it from trees and flowers in the outside world. What she needs now is the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, which can be gathered through Lin Yao's alchemy. The spiritual energy contained in the super pills made from this energy is exactly what Xiaocao loves.
After calculating the raw materials and costs, and comparing the amount of spiritual energy contained in the refined pills, Lin Yao found that the pills made from wild snow lotus still had the best cost performance and the best effect. Thus, the "Life Movement No. 1" pill, which Lin Yao had originally planned to abandon, regained its life, allowing Min Hong's depleted inventory to be replenished.
The main force of the Yi family temporarily settled in Changzhou. This was Jiang family territory, and any large-scale gathering would attract their attention. Therefore, they planned to drive to Huizhou after dusk, where the Jiang family's headquarters were located.
Plans can always have flaws. The Yi family planned a surprise attack, but they were unaware that the Jiang family was already on high alert.
Jiang Chengen, a Heavenly Elder of the Jiang family, went missing after going to Xiangxi, Hunan. Three mid-level Earthly Realm experts and two early-level Earthly Realm experts also disappeared.
The unusual mobilization of the Yi family in Yanji before Jiang Chengen's disappearance, followed by Lin Yao's return to Chengdu with Yi Potian, the eldest elder of the Yi family, and others, all contributed to the discovery. The people sent back to Jiangxi to search for Jiang Chengen reported that the valley inhabited by the Daika tribe was deserted. Analysis of this information and intelligence led to conclusions that shook the entire Jiang family.
The pillar of the Jiang family has fallen!
Not to mention the lack of definitive proof that Jiang Chengen is dead, the fact that there has been no news of him indicates that his situation is definitely not good. He is either hiding somewhere to heal his injuries or he is being held captive. In short, his situation is not optimistic.
Because of their long-standing feud, the Jiang family never relaxed its investigation and surveillance of the Yi family. Although it was difficult to send their own members to the Yi family's territory in Yanji to carry out intelligence work, there was no shortage of people in the world who were willing to curry favor and be bribed. Therefore, the Jiang family was basically able to keep track of the Yi family's every move in Yanji.
The news that Yi Potian, the eldest elder of the Yi family, recovered from a qi deviation during cultivation and advanced to the Heavenly level greatly shocked the Jiang family, but it did not affect the Jiang family's suppression of the Yi family. After all, the Jiang family had long had a Heavenly level expert, and the strength and influence of its other members in the country far surpassed that of the Yi family. Having an additional Heavenly level expert could not determine the fate of the Yi family. If it were not for the constraints of the aristocratic family alliance, and if it were not for the military's prohibition, the Jiang family would have wiped the Yi family off the face of the earth long ago.
Later, the number of Yi family's top-tier experts surged, and their overall strength rapidly increased. Upon investigation, Lin Yao, a previously overlooked young man, emerged. Through an investigation of Minhong Pharmaceutical, and considering the close relationship between the Yi family and Lin Yao, and Lin Yao's involvement in every instance of strength improvement, the Jiang family reached a startling conclusion: Lin Yao was the key figure. He possessed medical skills far surpassing those of this world.
The advantages and disadvantages of the "Yi Jin Jue" were already known to the major families. They also knew that the decline of the Yi family was related to a catastrophe that swept across China decades ago. It was during that time that the Fan family, which coexisted with the Yi family, declined, which in turn affected the decline of the Yi family.
The sudden emergence of Lin Yao, who is even more powerful than the Fan family, has sounded an alarm for the Jiang family, leading to the formation of a conspiracy against Lin Yao.
Yi Fei protected Lin Yao closely. Because of the Third Leader, the Jiang family dared not act rashly, fearing that Yi Fei's actions would affect their image and status in the eyes of the leaders. Therefore, they indirectly kidnapped Lin Yao through various means. With the Miao people of the Daika ethnic group in Xiangxi unable to learn the secret, Elder Jiang Chengen personally went to demand Lin Yao's release. As the investigation deepened, Lin Yao's personal value had risen to an extremely high level.
With Elder Jiang Chengen missing, the Yi family's Elder Jiang and other elders settled in Chengdu to protect Lin Yao. While regretting not directly kidnapping Lin Yao, the Jiang family also made full preparations to prevent Yi Potian from launching a surprise attack. After all, the strength of a Heaven-level expert should not be underestimated, and Yi Potian alone could bring great losses to the Jiang family.
The Alliance of Clans has restrictive rules for top-tier experts. Although Yi Potian cannot act against the Jiang family at will according to the rules, if Jiang Chengen is involved, Yi Potian will have an excuse and reason.