Inside a plain, timeworn palace of blue marble.
A gray-robed female cultivator sat cross-legged, a three-foot-long, hiltless flying sword resting across her knees. An eerie gleam flickered over its blade from time to time.
Rumble!
The palace doors were pushed open, and a graceful figure walked in. It was Meng Qingyi. He looked at the gray-robed cultivator and called out respectfully, "Thirteenth Senior Sister, I've done as you instructed and had Fellow Daoist Li leave."
"Mm." Dai Sangyu spoke slowly, her voice as still as an ancient well, yet vibrating through the soul like a sword's ringing. "Next, spread word through other channels that Li Ping was rejected by our immortal city, along with the reason for it."
Meng Qingyi hesitated before answering, "Yes."
"All right. If there's nothing else, you may leave," Dai Sangyu said indifferently.
Meng Qingyi nodded and began to turn away, but stopped halfway. After some hesitation, he finally could not resist voicing his confusion. "Thirteenth Senior Sister, we all know Fellow Daoist Li truly had nothing to do with what happened to Nephew Lin. He doesn't know the villain who harmed Nephew Lin, either. He was only dragged into it by coincidence. Why do you think we can use Fellow Daoist Li as bait to draw that villain out?"
At those words, a trace of impatience entered Dai Sangyu's previously unruffled voice. She said coldly, "Aside from Li Ping, do we have any other leads?"
Meng Qingyi's lips moved. He wanted to speak but held back. In the end, he said nothing and turned to leave in silence.
It occurred to him that Thirteenth Senior Sister was already over a hundred and seventy years old. She was also a sword cultivator who had frequently fought other cultivators in her youth, suffering numerous injuries, some of which had damaged her vital essence. She probably had little time left now.
And now this incident had damaged Thirteenth Senior Sister's state of mind, leaving her unable to attempt Core Formation.
With the end of her lifespan looming, it was only natural for her to grow impatient.
Although Meng Qingyi did not believe Li Ping could lure out the villain responsible, he understood Thirteenth Senior Sister's feelings and dearly hoped she could truly slay that villain.
Then her state of mind would be whole, and she could break through in one stroke!
Meng Qingyi left. Inside the plain blue palace, only the gray-robed Dai Sangyu remained, sitting cross-legged.
Suddenly, she opened her eyes, but her gaze was no longer as sharp and overbearing as it had been around her junior brothers and sisters.
Instead, it resembled a clear spring amid a mountain forest, calm and serene.
"Sword cultivator... heh. You all think I'm a sword cultivator... heh... You've shattered a sword cultivator's state of mind and left her unable to suppress her heart demon. That should put you at ease, shouldn't it?" she murmured.
"Yue'er, it was your master who dragged you into this!"
"Once I reach Core Formation, I will get justice for you!"
Li Ping strolled unhurriedly toward the outer city, forcibly suppressing the delight in his heart.
Not long before, after giving him the brush, Meng Qingyi had personally escorted him beyond Azure Dragon Mountain before departing gracefully.
Only then had the day's baffling encounter finally come to an end.
As he walked, Li Ping considered what he had gained and lost that day, along with his plans for the future.
First, his original plan of joining the Azure Dragon Mountain lineage and becoming a guest elder of the immortal city had fallen through completely.
That meant the free cultivation method and cave abode he had hoped for were both gone. He would have to find a way to obtain a cultivation method and a cave abode himself.
Second, because of the Foundation Establishment Pill, he seemed to have offended the sword cultivator named Dai Sangyu. She might well bear a grudge against him by association. While he was on the mountain, everything had been out in the open. Perhaps concern for the immortal city authorities' reputation had kept her from attacking him.
There was no guarantee, however, that she would not act in secret and give Li Ping a beating to vent her anger.
In other words, there was a chance Li Ping had gained an enemy: a sword cultivator at foundation establishment perfection.
Those were all setbacks, but today's trip had brought benefits, too.
At the thought of the second-tier mid-grade talisman brush, Purple Phoenix, in his storage pouch, the smile on Li Ping's face nearly overflowed.
With this talisman brush in hand, he could become a second-tier mid-grade talisman maker!
Once he became a second-tier mid-grade talisman maker, the trait granted to him by the Inheritance Tree-"a hundred percent success rate when drawing talismans of the same grade"-would make his rate of earning spirit stones easy to imagine.
Buying a cultivation method and renting a cave abode would be no trouble at all.
But besides the talisman brush, the Inheritance Tree needs other resources as nourishment. I'm still far from meeting its requirements. Who knows when I'll gather enough? At that thought, Li Ping came back down from his delight and sighed inwardly.
[A talisman brush imbued with the skills of a second-tier mid-grade talisman maker, low-grade spirit stones ×1000, three liters of second-tier mid-grade talisman ink, three feet of second-tier mid-grade spirit wood. When used as nourishment, these grant mastery of second-tier mid-grade talisman-making skills.]
He could not come up with a thousand spirit stones right now.
Three liters of second-tier mid-grade talisman ink should not be hard to buy in the immortal city. However, ink of that grade cost at least a hundred spirit stones per liter, so three liters would start at three hundred spirit stones.
As for three feet of second-tier mid-grade spirit wood, Li Ping had never even seen a spiritual material of that grade and had no idea exactly how many spirit stones it would cost. Still, he estimated that it would be worth no less than the talisman ink-another three hundred spirit stones or more.
He had not realized until he counted, and the total gave him a fright.
To become a second-tier mid-grade talisman maker, Li Ping would actually have to pay more than fifteen hundred spirit stones, the equivalent of half a Foundation Establishment Pill.
Of course, if other cultivators learned that they could instantly become second-tier mid-grade talisman makers for a mere fifteen hundred spirit stones, they would go mad.
After all, even Meng Qingyi had the backing of a Core Formation True Person and extraordinary talent in talisman making.
Yet he had still spent nearly a hundred years struggling to become a second-tier mid-grade talisman maker. Who knew how much talisman ink and paper he had wasted along the way? Their value far exceeded fifteen hundred spirit stones.
And talisman makers were relatively undemanding when it came to resources.
The cost of training a second-tier mid-grade pill refiner or artifact refiner would make even a faction overseen by a Core Formation cultivator wince.
Not to mention that once Li Ping broke through, he would also gain the special effects of "once attained, forever attained" and "a hundred percent success rate."
In the end, everything takes spirit stones. Earn spirit stones, earn spirit stones-I need to get enough spirit stones!
Misty Glow Lane, in the outer city.
Li Ping stopped before a general store with a rather tidy exterior. After briefly examining its Green Bamboo sign, he strode straight inside.
The general store was small, its interior only about thirty feet across. At the back stood a shelf stocked with all kinds of low-tier materials, magic artifacts, pills, talismans, and other goods.
A four-foot-high counter stood before the shelf, separating it from the customers.
Behind the counter sat a dark-skinned young man in blue enchanted robes, his head lowered as he sorted through something.
As Li Ping entered the shop, the sound of his footsteps alerted the dark-skinned young man.
He looked up and recognized Li Ping, then hurried out from behind the counter. Coming up to Li Ping, he called out respectfully, "Big Brother."