After reading the Evergreen Gazetteer, Li Ping felt that his horizons had broadened considerably.
To his regret, apart from the geography of the Western Wasteland, the other sections of this travelogue, such as those concerning famous figures and the various nations and powers, seemed to have been deliberately deleted.
Clearly, those sections might have inadvertently contained something that should never have been written, violating a taboo and getting censored.
The Immortal City Bookshop had once printed a novel with a cultivator as its protagonist. It described a scene in which a Foundation Establishment cultivator named Baixiaosheng fabricated scandalous tales about a Nascent Soul patriarch's love affairs. As a result, the patriarch seized him directly from beyond a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers, shackled his pipa bones, and hung him in the Market Ward for public display.
Back then, Li Ping had still been very young and utterly obsessed with that novel.
Unfortunately, the cultivation novel had been left unfinished, and there had been no continuation to this day.
Having satisfied his curiosity, Li Ping put the Evergreen Gazetteer into his bag and turned to studying the Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art, a cultivation method he suspected ancient cultivators had practiced.
If ancient times had truly been as the legends of the Tuluo people described, the spirit vigor everywhere beneath heaven would have been denser than that of even the finest spirit veins in the present cultivation world.
In that case, even cultivators with five-spirit roots would probably have dared to practice this peculiar cultivation method with confidence, provided their talent for pill refining was strong enough.
Even something like the Heaven-Burning Art, which Li Ping considered a cultivation method for evil cultivators, would probably have attracted plenty of practitioners seeking to overpower their peers if Heaven and Earth spiritual fire had been easy to obtain in ancient times.
The restrictions of the Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art mainly applied when breaking through bottlenecks.
Li Ping was already a Foundation Establishment cultivator, so he would encounter no obstacles in converting the Foundation Establishment magical power within his body into the Longevity Art's Foundation Establishment early-stage magical power.
However, if he wanted to break through further bottlenecks in the future, he would still have to make up for the primordial aura from first-tier pills.
Thus, when he began refining pills in the future, he would have to start with first-tier lower-grade pills.
Li Ping did not mind this. With his world-shocking talent, his pill-refining success rate was a full hundred percent anyway, so he could earn some resources along the way.
The Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art had seven levels in total. The first three corresponded to the three stages of Foundation Establishment, the fourth through sixth to the three stages of Core Formation, and the final seventh level to the Nascent Soul early stage.
The cultivation method ended at the Nascent Soul early stage. He did not know whether its creator had never had time to develop the subsequent levels or whether the version in Li Ping's hands was incomplete.
Li Ping did not care about that, however. The Nascent Soul realm was far too distant for him.
Besides, given how difficult high-tier spirit materials were to find in the present cultivation world, he might well become unable to practice the Longevity Art upon reaching Core Formation and have no choice but to change cultivation methods.
Sitting cross-legged, Li Ping slowly began circulating the first level of the Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art, converting the magical power within his body into Longevity Art magical power.
It was worth mentioning that although Li Ping had practiced the basic metal-element Golden Sword Art during Qi Refining, basic cultivation methods were designed to lay foundations for low-level cultivators. Their creators had considered the need to switch methods later on from the very beginning, and most had modified their basic methods accordingly.
Thus, converting his magical power from a basic metal-element cultivation method to a High-Tier Cultivation Method of the water element would not cause Li Ping any adverse effects.
Of course, converting magical power between different elements would certainly take more time than converting between methods of the same element.
Switching between high-tier cultivation methods, however, was only possible with methods of the same element. To switch to a method of a different element, the only option was to disperse one's cultivation and start over.
Early the next morning, Li Ping opened his eyes as he sat cross-legged on the bed, two sharp gleams flashing through them.
Sensing the change in the magical power within his dantian, Li Ping smiled. "After a whole night's hard work, I've finally converted a sliver of magical power. At this rate, I should only need about a month to convert all my magical power into Longevity Art magical power."
Straightening the hem of his clothes, Li Ping stood up. "The spirit vein in this cave abode is only first-tier upper-grade. It isn't nearly enough for practicing a high-tier cultivation method. I'll have to rent a cave abode of at least the second tier in the Inner City."
A moment later, the courtyard gate opened with a creak, and Li Ping stepped outside.
He had intended to head straight to the Inner City to choose a cave abode, but something suddenly occurred to him. He turned and walked toward Gu Musheng's general store.
Now that he knew the Wang family's offer was actually a scam, he naturally had to warn the lad Gu Musheng so that he would not be duped as well.
Granted, when paying his spirit stones, the Wang family had coaxed him into swearing a Dao Heart Oath that he would "neither disclose nor report the matter of selecting cultivation methods."
But Gu Musheng already knew about it. Li Ping had even learned of it from him, so discussing it with him would not violate the Dao Heart Oath.
It was early in the morning, and Gu Musheng's general store was empty, without a single customer.
As soon as Li Ping entered, he motioned for Gu Musheng to close the shop door first.
Gu Musheng smiled knowingly and hurried to shut the door as instructed. Then he approached Li Ping and asked excitedly, "Big brother, did you find a suitable cultivation method?"
Li Ping said nothing, merely gesturing for Gu Musheng to sit down.
Only after Gu Musheng had sat down did Li Ping say solemnly, "After hearing your news yesterday, I went back and thought it over carefully. I still believe that sneaking into the Immortal City's Secret Arts Pavilion to select cultivation methods is not only extremely risky, but also a furtive act unworthy of a gentleman."
He looked at Gu Musheng. "So I didn't use your route to select a cultivation method last night!"
Gu Musheng could not help looking surprised. "You didn't go, big brother?"
Seeing the change in Gu Musheng's expression, Li Ping inwardly blushed.
There were two main reasons he had not told the truth.
First, getting duped was embarrassing, so Li Ping felt rather awkward about telling Gu Musheng. If his third brother learned that he had fallen for a scam out of a desire to snag a bargain, it would seriously undermine his dignity as the eldest brother.
Although, in reality, he had suffered no loss in the matter and had instead taken the opportunity to choose a suitable cultivation method.
But he alone knew that. In the eyes of anyone else who knew about the incident, Li Ping had simply been scammed.
Thus, he could not directly tell Gu Musheng that it was a scam and warn him not to go. Instead, he had to exaggerate the risks and explain its immoral aspects to discourage Gu Musheng from sneaking off to steal a chicken.
As long as he did not go, he naturally would not be scammed.
Second, Gu Musheng had told him about this with the sincere intention of helping his eldest brother buy a cultivation method cheaply. If he bluntly called it a scam, Gu Musheng might mistake it for an accusation, damaging the bond between them.
At that thought, Li Ping nodded without changing his expression. "Not only do I have no intention of going, I hope you won't go either."
"Oh, so that's how it is." Understanding dawned on Gu Musheng, and he agreed with a smile. "Don't worry, big brother. I'm only at the seventh level of Qi Refining right now. Who knows how long it'll take me to reach the ninth? Why would I spend a hundred spirit stones for nothing just to choose a cultivation method?"
In truth, Gu Musheng had left something unsaid.
If he really managed to reach Foundation Establishment one day, he would simply choose to join the Immortal City as a guest elder. That way, he could obtain both a cultivation method and a cave abode for free.
However, his eldest brother had only recently been rejected by the Immortal City. Saying that might upset him, so Gu Musheng could not bring it up.
Seeing how readily Gu Musheng agreed, Li Ping nodded in satisfaction. "Good."