Eighteen years ago, when he first arrived in Immortal City.
Li Ping had felt keenly how insignificant an individual's strength was. With his income, he feared he would never scrape together enough spirit stones to buy a Foundation Establishment Pill, even by the day his lifespan ran out.
The cultivation world had no such thing as a mortgage loan that would let him make a down payment and slowly pay off the rest.
As a rogue cultivator, he certainly had no six family wallets willing to give selflessly on his behalf.
After racking his brains, he finally came up with a solution.
He would lead a group whose members would pool their efforts to help one person reach Foundation Establishment first. Once that person succeeded, their status and income would rise dramatically, allowing them to turn around and help the other members reach Foundation Establishment too.
In other words, "Everyone would pool their resources to support one cultivator's advance to Foundation Establishment, then that cultivator would help the others do the same, until everyone had succeeded."
Li Ping named this little group the "Shared Boat Association," taking the name from the idea of crossing troubled waters together in the same boat.
Under the rules Li Ping devised, every cultivator who joined the Shared Boat Association had to contribute a certain number of spirit stones each year to the "Foundation Establishment Fund." The exact contribution depended on the cultivator's cultivation level.
Early-stage Qi Refining cultivators had to contribute ten spirit stones a year, middle-stage cultivators twenty, and late-stage cultivators thirty.
They could contribute more, but never less.
Once the Foundation Establishment Fund held enough spirit stones, the members would be ranked by their contributions to the fund and their ages. The highest-priority member could then withdraw the spirit stones to attempt Foundation Establishment.
If that member succeeded, they had to do everything in their power to help the other members reach Foundation Establishment.
Early-, middle-, and late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators had to contribute one hundred, two hundred, and three hundred spirit stones respectively to the Foundation Establishment Fund each year without compensation, until every other member had received a share of Foundation Establishment resources.
Regardless of cultivation level, the association's members addressed one another as brothers and sisters according to age.
As its founder, Li Ping was naturally the eldest brother. The honest-looking young man before him, Zhang Tie, had been the first cultivator to trust Li Ping and join the Shared Boat Association.
As memories of the past flashed through his mind, Li Ping looked at the tall old man with white hair and beard beside Zhang Tie and teased him. "Old Lin, I'm younger than you, and I'm a spirit-stone swindler to boot. I hardly deserve to have you call me 'Senior.'"
His second brother, Zhang Tie, was a Tanner, and Old Lin was both Zhang Tie's master and his employer.
Eighteen years ago, Li Ping had persuaded Zhang Tie to join the Shared Boat Association.
Lacking experience, Li Ping had failed to include a confidentiality clause in the membership oath. Coupled with Zhang Tie's honest nature, this meant Old Lin soon noticed something was afoot and learned about the Shared Boat Association.
Furious, he had immediately sought out Li Ping, demanding the return of Zhang Tie's contributions, the dissolution of their mutual oaths, and Zhang Tie's withdrawal from the association.
Li Ping had naturally refused to entertain him, while Zhang Tie firmly believed his eldest brother would never cheat him and refused to leave.
Helpless in the face of his disciple's stubbornness, Old Lin had abandoned the matter of withdrawing. Still, for a long time afterward, he never gave Li Ping a friendly look.
Fortunately, a few years later, Li Ping recruited a third cultivator.
Only when Old Lin saw that the Shared Boat Association seemed capable of staying afloat, and that his disciple would not be left holding the bag-and might even reap some benefits if he was lucky-did he finally settle down.
Li Ping guessed that his mindset was much like that of people on Earth who participated in various Ponzi schemes.
So what if it was a Ponzi scheme?
As long as you got in early and pulled out in time, you could not only avoid losing money but make a fortune.
Old Lin might have settled down, but a few mocking remarks behind Li Ping's back were inevitable.
What he had never expected was that Li Ping would overhear his backbiting this time-and that Li Ping had actually succeeded in reaching Foundation Establishment, becoming a powerful Foundation Establishment cultivator.
At Li Ping's words, bitterness welled up in Old Lin's heart.
As a powerful Foundation Establishment cultivator, if Li Ping insisted on taking him to task, he really could leave Old Lin with more trouble than he could swallow.
At that thought, Old Lin bowed at the waist and smiled bitterly. "You jest, Senior. On the path of cultivation, those who attain greater heights take precedence. How could this old man dare put on airs before you? I was muddleheaded and spoke recklessly earlier. Please forgive me, Senior."
Seeing his master like this, Zhang Tie hurriedly cried, "Eldest Brother, my master..."
Before Zhang Tie could finish, Li Ping stopped him with a look, then shook his head helplessly. "You're no fun at all, Old Lin. I was only joking."
Old Lin was Zhang Tie's master. How could Li Ping truly get angry over a few remarks?
Only then did Old Lin breathe a sigh of relief. Zhang Tie, however, had already hurried over to Li Ping, his voice brimming with excitement. "Eldest Brother, you're a Foundation Establishment cultivator now."
After all, a fair portion of Li Ping's Foundation Establishment cultivation had come from his contributions.
"Heh..." Li Ping nodded with a smile. "My reaching Foundation Establishment is only the beginning. In time, all the brothers and sisters in the association, including you, will succeed too."
Tanning was one of the hundred arts of cultivation.
Before the hides of slain demon beasts could be made into magical robes, magic artifacts, or talisman paper, a Tanner had to process them first: scraping away residual flesh and blood, smoothing out the violent demonic power within the hides... If the Tanner's skills were lacking, it was all too easy to ruin a hide and turn it into waste.
Seated in the tanning shop, Li Ping watched Old Lin and his disciple Zhang Tie busily processing a low-tier demon beast hide. In his hands, he toyed with a knife-shaped magic artifact about a foot long. Most of its cutting edge had worn away, yet its surface remained as smooth and gleaming as new.
This scraping knife artifact was one of Old Lin's favorite hide-scraping knives and had accompanied him for many years. Even after it was damaged, he had not disposed of it, instead carefully preserving it.
Just now, Li Ping had asked to study it and obtained it from Old Lin.
This hide-scraping knife should be usable as nourishment for the Inheritance Tree.
Li Ping rubbed his fingers over the rough texture on either side of the hide-scraping knife. As his gaze settled on it, a line of text visible only to him slowly appeared above it.
[A hide-scraping knife used for many years by a first-tier upper-grade Tanner, low-grade spirit stones ×100, three first-tier demon beast hides, one first-tier demon beast spirit essence. Used as nourishment, these grant mastery of first-tier upper-grade tanning skills.]
Zhang Tie has studied tanning under Old Lin for over twenty years, yet he's still only a first-tier middle-grade Tanner, capable of processing only first-tier middle-grade demon beast hides. But I only need to provide this nourishment to the Inheritance Tree, and I can instantly attain the same tanning skills as Old Lin.
Li Ping silently considered it. First-tier demon beast hides and spirit essences aren't hard to find. So I choose... to give up on becoming a first-tier upper-grade Tanner.
Reaching Foundation Establishment had consumed most of his wealth. Li Ping was desperately poor now. One hundred spirit stones... he simply could not afford them.