After the New Year.
Bai Lin returned to Immortal Peach Mountain from High Ridge Mountain. After looking her over carefully, Li Ping could not help frowning.
What made him frown was Bai Lin's cultivation.
When Bai Lin first came to Immortal Peach Mountain, she had been nineteen, at the qi refining third layer.
In her nine years on Immortal Peach Mountain, she had needed to manage the cave abode and handle miscellaneous chores, but Li Ping often gave her pills to improve her cultivation, and she could cultivate on second-tier upper-grade spirit land.
Her earlier progress had therefore not been slow, but over the past two years, Li Ping had clearly sensed her cultivation slowing down.
Even after all this time, she had yet to break through to the sixth layer of qi refining.
By Li Ping's estimate, she should have broken through last year.
With this in mind, he casually asked, "Lin'er, have you encountered any problems with your cultivation lately?"
Bai Lin was visibly taken aback by his question, but she soon smiled and said, "No, my cultivation is going smoothly."
"That's good." Li Ping reminded her, "You need to devote more attention to cultivation. Try to reach peak qi refining around the age of forty."
Bai Lin nodded. "Mm, I understand."
"All right, go attend to your work!"
Watching Bai Lin walk away, Li Ping could not help sinking into thought.
Her cultivation could not have suddenly slowed for no reason. He suspected Bai Lin might be hiding something from him.
Bai Lin had been nineteen when she first arrived at Immortal Peach Mountain, but nine years had passed, and she was now twenty-eight.
As she grew older and experienced more, her thoughts had grown more complicated. She was no longer as innocent as she had once