Even as the urge arose in his heart to practice an evil art that would "wound the enemy eight hundred and himself a thousand,"
Li Ping immediately recalled the Demonic Path cultivation methods he had seen in the Wang Family's Secret Arts Pavilion. Perhaps one of them contained a similar secret art that injured its user before harming others.
Unfortunately, he had not thought of that at the time and had missed the chance to acquire them.
Now, if he wanted to find such evil arts, he would probably have to visit the Black Market.
The Immortal City lay within the territory of the righteous path. No one dared openly sell demonic cultivation methods there.
But it was inconvenient for Li Ping to leave the city at present, so he could only set the matter aside for now.
Shaking his head, Li Ping left the pill room and returned to his cultivation room. He sat cross-legged and resumed circulating the Longevity Art to refine the spiritual qi of heaven and earth.
Based on his usual cultivation progress, he estimated that reaching the peak of the Foundation Establishment early stage would take him around thirty years.
Since he faced no bottlenecks, he only needed to concern himself with accumulating magical power.
With 199 years of lifespan remaining, he had more than enough time to reach peak Foundation Establishment and attempt Core Formation.
While Li Ping was absorbed in alchemy, at the Wang Family Ancestral Grounds,
Under the hopeful gazes of the Wang Family Ancestor and the many Wang Family cultivators,
The spiritual qi vortex above a distant courtyard, more than ten zhang in diameter, suddenly shuddered. With a mournful wail, it collapsed in an instant.
Seeing this, how could they fail to understand what had happened?
The Wang Family's genius, Wang Xingwei, had failed his second attempt at Foundation Establishment as well.
"Hmph, useless trash who can't be propped up!" The Wang Family Ancestor snorted coldly, flicked his sleeves, and left.
Seeing the ancestor leave, the other Wang Family cultivators departed as well, murmuring among themselves.
Only the family head, Wang Qu Yan, remained. He sighed and looked toward the distant courtyard, but there was still no movement within.
"This is bad. Has something happened to him?" At the thought, he hurried over to the courtyard, covering three steps in two, pushed open the half-closed gate, and went inside.
Since the courtyard was within the Wang Family Ancestral Grounds, with the ancestor presiding over them, its formation had not been activated. That was why Wang Qu Yan could enter directly.
Once inside, he immediately spotted a thin, frail figure slumped on the ground, sobbing without pause.
"As long as he's all right." Seeing that Wang Xingwei was unharmed, Wang Qu Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He called softly, "Xingwei?"
Wang Xingwei seemed not to hear him. He kept muttering under his breath, saying things like "Foundation Establishment Pill," "I can't," and "something's wrong"...
The sight filled Wang Qu Yan's heart with boundless regret.
But he did not seriously consider Wang Xingwei's fragmented words. He merely assumed that the young man could not withstand the blow and had fallen into a fit of delirium.
Still less would he consider the possibility that there was something wrong with the Foundation Establishment Pills.
After all, the ancestor had marshaled the entire lineage's resources to gather the ingredients for those two Foundation Establishment Pills, then personally watched the Pill Refiner produce them. After receiving the pills, they had also examined them carefully and confirmed that nothing was wrong.
This child cannot stay in the lineage any longer.
Looking with pity at the frail figure collapsed on the ground, Wang Qu Yan could not help sighing inwardly again.
The ancestor had obtained those two Foundation Establishment Pills at the cost of nearly emptying the lineage's coffers.
Those two Foundation Establishment Pills embodied the hopes of the entire lineage. Everyone in the Wang Family had hoped to use them to nurture another Foundation Establishment cultivator before the ancestor passed away.
The weight of that burden was easy to imagine!
Yet Wang Xingwei, upon whom the entire lineage had pinned its hopes, had failed-and twice in succession.
Without a doubt, he had become a sinner in the Wang Family's eyes. Although... he had never wanted to shoulder that heavy burden in the first place, none of this had been up to him.
If Wang Xingwei remained in the Wang Family, facing the ancestor's and his clansmen's accusing fingers day after day, Wang Qu Yan truly feared that the child might do something foolish.
Though he, too, worried about the lineage's future, he knew that Wang Xingwei could not bear all the blame. The ancestor had placed far too much pressure on him.
With that thought, he smiled and said, "Xingwei, the Immortal City's Spirit Herb Garden over at Fishing Square needs a steward. Go manage the herb garden there!"
The Spirit Herb Garden at Fishing Square was fifty or sixty li from the Wang Family Ancestral Grounds, and it was in the Outer City, where most people were rogue cultivators. There was no one Wang Xingwei knew there; it would be an unfamiliar environment for him.
Wang Qu Yan believed
That spending some time living undisturbed in an unfamiliar place, with no acquaintances coming and going, would help Wang Xingwei emerge from his plight.
Bai Lin was carried along on a flying sword by the family head, Bai Mingde, swiftly passing through layer after layer of thin clouds.
Soon, a towering city enclosed within a hemispherical azure barrier appeared in her sight, growing ever larger as they approached.
As they drew closer to the Immortal City, the sounds of figures cutting through the air continued to ring out around them. Cultivators swept past, some riding flying swords and others astride demonic birds.
From time to time, when these passing rogue cultivators glanced at Bai Lin's face, they would involuntarily let out a surprised "Oh?" as though taken aback by her beauty.
But once their eyes swept over Bai Mingde's peak Qi Refining cultivation, they immediately dared not behave presumptuously and instead sped away.
At this sight, Bai Mingde's expression remained unchanged, but he sighed softly inwardly.
Soon, their streak of light descended before the Immortal City's gates, which stood more than thirty zhang high. Cultivators streamed in and out.
Bai Lin was only at the Qi Refining third layer. Before this, she had always cultivated within her lineage and had never visited the Immortal City. Seeing its grandeur now, she could not help showing awe in her eyes.
Compared with the Immortal City, the Bai Family's High Ridge Mountain was nothing but the countryside.
At that moment, even she did not notice the subtle change gradually taking place in her gaze.
After Bai Mingde registered Bai Lin's information and obtained an identity token for her, the two followed the stream of people into the Immortal City.
On Immortal Peach Mountain, inside Li Ping's cave abode.
Li Ping looked in puzzlement at Bai Mingde and the beautiful young maiden standing gracefully behind him.
The maiden wore a light-colored long dress, her smooth, dark hair loosely tied with a pink ribbon. She seemed like a secluded orchid in an empty valley, pure and delicately elegant, yet also like an oriole singing joyfully on a branch, lively and beautiful.
In truth, his position as the Bai Family's Guest Elder was merely a borrowed label. He had agreed to lend the Bai Family his reputation as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but he could not possibly do any actual work for them.
What had Bai Mingde come to see him for?
Motioning for them both to sit, Li Ping smiled and asked, "Fellow Daoist Bai, is your lineage's ancestor well?"
Bai Mingde hastily replied with respect, "Thank you for your concern, Senior Li. The ancestor is doing well. Before I came, he even instructed me to convey his greetings to you."
Hearing their exchange, Bai Lin, who had kept her head lowered without saying a word, also began secretly observing the family head and that "Senior Li" from the corner of her eye.
To her, Senior Li was simply an ordinary-looking young man, and he put on no airs when he spoke.
Yet the family head, who normally held such lofty status within the lineage, seemed involuntarily fawning as he faced Senior Li.