Li Ping

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Li Ping (李平)
Alias(es)	Li Jingyu, Yan Buping, Xiong Dahai, Bai Sheng, Lu Da; also uses the surname Yan when concealing his identity 103 291 374 515 552 553.
Titles	Blood-Dripping Sword in the martial world; Core Formation True Person after forming his golden core; regarded as the Western Wasteland’s foremost cultivator following the Formless Young Master’s death 1 267 452.
Species/Race	Human; transmigrated from Earth into an abandoned beggar boy’s body 1.
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Swordforging Manor disciple; eldest sworn sibling of the Shared Boat Association; associated with the rebuilt Heavenly Craft Sect; benefactor of the Seven Immortals Sect and sponsor of the Cloudtreading Sect 1 16 445 507 544 571.
Occupation/Role	Cultivator, pill refiner, talisman maker, puppet crafter, artifact refiner, formation master, and cultivation mentor 213 332 488 580.
Cultivation	Nascent Soul realm; no later substage is specified in the supplied chapters 556 563 583.
Spiritual Roots	Three spiritual roots 1 29 31.
Age	More than 600 years old by the time he inherits fourth-tier top-grade Formation Dao 580.
Status	Alive; continues cultivating and commanding spirit beasts, puppets, and other combat assets 580 587.
First Appearance	Chapter 1, “Foundation Establishment at Forty” 1.

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Unrivaled mortal swordsman	1	At fourteen, earns the name Blood-Dripping Sword through ruthless victories. His defeat by Daoist Ji reveals the existence of cultivation.
Qi Refining, fourth layer	555	Retrospectively recorded: enters the Yu Household’s market ward at fifteen and takes seven years to reach this layer.
Foundation Establishment, early stage	1	Breaks through after passing forty, twenty-seven years after transmigration. His magical power condenses into liquid and becomes more than ten times as potent.
Foundation Establishment, middle stage	166 167	Reached after roughly thirty years of cultivation, at over seventy. Magical-power reserves approximately double; divine sense reaches 300 zhang.
Foundation Establishment, late stage	213	Reached at age 100 after twelve years cultivating in Snowflight City while financing himself through crafts.
Core Formation	258	Successfully forms a golden core. Can now use core flame to refine Treasures such as the Essence-Devouring Sword.
Second cultivation track: Foundation Establishment	289	The Nine Tribulations cultivation associated with his second golden core reaches Foundation Establishment in less than five years. He can barely begin drawing on its magical power in combat.
Second cultivation track: Foundation Establishment, middle stage	297	Advances the Canon’s qi-cultivation component during about two years of seclusion beneath Little Plum Mountain.
Body refinement, second tier	297	Breaks through after repeated self-injury and recovery. His body becomes as tough as a second-tier Magic Artifact; his lifespan rises to approximately 600 years.
Core Formation, middle stage	396	Reached after refining true phoenix pill essence. Magical-power reserves double, and divine sense extends to 6,000 zhang.
Core Formation, late stage	503	Reached after twenty years of near-continuous seclusion. Both reserves and immediately deployable magical power nearly double.
Core Formation, peak	555	Reached after thirty years of secluded cultivation. Prepares for Nascent Soul formation without using his remaining Nascent Soul Transformation Pill.
Body refinement, third tier	556	Documented by the Nascent Soul breakthrough; the actual advancement chapter is not supplied. His body can wrestle a flood dragon of the same tier.
Nascent Soul	555 556 563 583	Begins the breakthrough with an estimated success chance above ninety percent. Later passages explicitly show his Nascent Soul and confirm the successful advancement.

Background / History

Mortal Life and Entry into Cultivation

Li Ping transmigrated from Earth into the body of an abandoned beggar boy on a snowy street. Yan Guike, master of Swordforging Manor, rescued him and accepted him as a disciple. Li Ping subsequently killed the former friends and relatives of the boy’s parents and challenged the martial world’s strongest fighters, becoming the feared Blood-Dripping Sword at fourteen 1.

While pursuing the Eighteen Black Mountain Bandits, he encountered the white-haired Daoist Ji. The old cultivator defeated him effortlessly with a golden barrier and guided him onto the Immortal Dao. Li Ping abandoned the martial path, entered the Yu Household’s market ward at fifteen, and began the slow work of cultivation with three spiritual roots 1 88 555.

Windmist Immortal City

After decades of Qi Refining, Li Ping established his foundation in Windmist Immortal City. Initially convinced that his aptitude made further advancement unlikely, he intended to enjoy his remaining life. The awakening of the Purple Qi Space and Inheritance Tree reversed that decision by giving him a practical route to mastering cultivation crafts 1 2.

As the Shared Boat Association’s eldest sworn sibling, he provided cultivation guidance and pills while working toward Foundation Establishment opportunities for its other six members. He also supported Swordforging Manor’s descendants and Daoist Ji’s family through medicines, talismans, spirit stones, and offers to train their juniors 16 47 58.

His relationship with Bai Lin became marital, but ended after she gave the Foundation Establishment Pill intended for her to her younger brother without consulting him. Li Ping refused the Bai Family’s apology and replacement attendant, installed a servant puppet, and returned to cultivation 66 164 165.

Far North and Golden Core

After escaping a collapsing secret realm, Li Ping settled in Snowflight City with Xiao Yunzhi. He cultivated in seclusion, expanded his puppet arsenal, and used the Far North’s demand for hunting talismans to fund his material purchases. He reached late-stage Foundation Establishment at 100 and later formed his golden core 213 258.

He rejected a proposed Dao-companion marriage with Snowflight Sect leader Shi Yutong and departed without a personal farewell. Returning to the Western Wasteland, he revealed his Core Formation status to Yan Hengchuan and Yu Peiling and arranged for the Yan, Ji, and Yu lineages to benefit from the hidden third-tier spirit vein beneath Little Plum Mountain 260 266 267.

An abandoned cave yielded the Great Purity Jade-Liquid Golden Core Method and information about a teleportation route to Great Zhou. These discoveries shaped his next plans: cultivate a second golden core, strengthen his body, improve his crafts, and eventually leave the resource-limited Western Wasteland 270 272 289 297.

Great Zhou and Return to the Western Wasteland

In Spirit Firmament City, Li Ping balanced seclusion with alchemy commissions and the White-Gathering Pavilion’s search for useful artifacts and materials. He helped Wei Yiling and Feng Xishuang recover from the Soul Devouring Restriction and reached middle-stage Core Formation after refining true phoenix pill essence 361 373 374 396.

The increasingly destructive Eastern Sea war eventually made Great Zhou unsuitable for his preferred cultivation routine. He returned to the Western Wasteland with Meng Wanjun, finding some old companions newly advanced to Core Formation and others approaching death 432 433.

His defeat of True Person Lei deterred the Three Sects from blockading Windmist Immortal City. He then helped his sworn siblings establish the Seven Immortals Sect, supplied its protective formation, and settled succession rules after Zhang Tie’s death so the founding families could retain authority for two generations without making offices permanently hereditary 437 438 445 447.

Regional Supremacy and Renewed Travel

The Desolate Fire Sparrow’s one-strike killing of the Formless Young Master, followed by Chixiaozi’s refusal to challenge Li Ping, established his reputation as the Western Wasteland’s foremost cultivator 452.

During his later departure, Li Ping destroyed an ambush by ten Core Formation demon cultivators. He also destroyed a Tuluo city to eliminate dangerous blood shadows, killing hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, and defeated the Holy Temple force sent in retaliation. He gave unwanted spoils to Bai Qing for the Seven Immortals Sect and warned the Academy about the surviving demonic threat 465 466 468.

Back in Great Zhou, he continued cultivating under aliases, recruited the Mountain-Suppressing Softshell Turtle, and taught Yun Lingsu alchemy. He also authorized Ji Shuwen and Yan Jing to establish the Cloudtreading Sect under his protection 487 488 503 507.

Nascent Soul and Formation Mastery

After returning to Heavenly Dao City as Lu Da, Li Ping reached peak Core Formation and attempted Nascent Soul formation. His preparations included exceptionally strong divine sense, third-tier body refinement, enhanced magical power, and bodily regeneration 552 555 556.

Later, more than a century of cultivation beside a fourth-tier middle-grade spirit vein raised it to fourth-tier top-grade through his creation magic power. He consumed that vein to receive Fire Dragon True Person’s Formation Dao inheritance, created a replacement ungraded vein, and prepared to return to the Heavenly Craft Sect 580.

Appearance

• Handsome Yan persona: Described with a face like polished jade, a high, straight nose, composed bearing, and refined, almost immortal grace 103.
• Zhou Lingyan impersonation: Appears as an alluring woman in a long purple dress; his transformation and knowledge of her memories make the disguise difficult for Core Formation cultivators to detect 306.
• Lu Da persona: A burly, bald man with a thick beard, adopted for his return to Heavenly Dao City 552.
• Other disguises: Uses a sallow-faced middle-aged appearance during market browsing and suppresses his aura to match lower cultivation levels 273 380.
• Preserved youth: His unchanged appearance contrasts with the visible aging of his sworn siblings during later reunions 433.

Personality

Li Ping places longevity and cultivation above fame, political office, and romantic commitment. He prefers long preparation to uncertain opportunities, repeatedly declines prestigious appointments, and abandons revenge when an enemy’s likely ambush makes the risk unacceptable. Even with considerable strength, he treats ancient-cave maps and powerful patrons as potential sources of trouble 260 278 338 381 460.

He is generous toward mentors, sworn siblings, descendants of old friends, and dependable assistants. His support is usually practical—pills, equipment, instruction, protection, or access to resources—but does not amount to unlimited responsibility. He refuses to guard Meng Qingyi’s Core Formation attempt against the Three Sects and insists that the lineages benefiting from his protection eventually produce strength of their own 58 277 279 434.

His mild public manner coexists with ruthlessness and suspicion. He uses planted evidence for delayed revenge, humiliates former antagonists, performs soul searches to verify information, and can kill on a massive scale when he judges a threat necessary to eliminate. He nevertheless recognizes that unexpected treasures can endanger him and treats the Soul-Settling Stake encounter as a warning against complacency 88 277 278 468 473.

Li Ping remains affected by old attachments despite resisting them. He later regrets neglecting Bai Lin, quietly absorbs news of her death, and finds comfort in the survival of Swordforging Manor’s traditions. His understanding of legacy broadens as he outlives both friends and their children 244 266 267 456.

Abilities & Skills

Purple Qi Space and Inheritance Tree

• The space awakens in his sea of consciousness only after Foundation Establishment and initially contains a gray floating island and purple Inheritance Tree 2.
• Suitable craft inheritances or artifacts, combined with required spirit stones and materials, allow him to acquire their knowledge and proficiency without ordinary decades of study 2 88.
• The Tree records craft mastery on its branches; by Chapter 580, Formation Dao is his seventh fourth-tier skill and first fourth-tier top-grade skill 580.
• High-level transmissions can require scarce resources and leave him vulnerable while he experiences the predecessor’s inheritance illusion 88 580.
• Major-realm breakthroughs unlock additional islands. He later uses accelerated cultivation on Gray Islands and derives techniques through Derivation Island 2 400 578.

Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art

• Absorbs primordial aura or innate spirit vigor produced during alchemy to strengthen his foundation and improve breakthrough prospects 29 379.
• Removes minor-realm bottlenecks once sufficiently developed and improves the chance of overcoming major bottlenecks by roughly fifty percentage points 31 291.
• Maintains his body at its physical peak and repairs severe bodily damage, enabling repeated dangerous body-refinement attempts 47 297.
• Its early regeneration cannot extend his fixed lifespan or heal damage to the divine soul 47.
• Progress is slow because the method does not permit ordinary cultivation enhancement through pills 291 302.

Nine Tribulations True Spirit Sacred Canon

• A dual magical-power and body-refinement method obtained from a blood-red armor plate functioning as a transmission jade slip 83.
• Initially reveals only the first tribulation; later portions become accessible after mastering the preceding stage 83.
• Allows rapid pill-assisted cultivation and produces stronger combat magical power than the Longevity Art at equivalent levels 289 291.
• Body refinement strengthens his durability, physical power, and transformation ability 297.
• Its breakthroughs are exceptionally difficult. Second-tier body refinement grants him approximately a century beyond the usual Core Formation lifespan 291 297.

Second Golden Core

• The Great Purity Jade-Liquid Golden Core Method supplies a route to cultivating a second golden core 270.
• Li Ping uses the second cultivation track for the Nine Tribulations Canon while retaining the life-nourishing method’s healing advantages 289.
• His arrangement combines stronger offensive magical power and physical defense with rapid bodily recovery 289 291.

Divine Sense and Soul Techniques

• Fusion with the original body’s remnant soul makes his divine sense roughly fifty percent stronger than ordinary cultivators’ from the beginning 1.
• The Myriad Spirits Divine Sense Art strengthens it further and divides spiritual thought for puppet control. Its fifth level doubles the baseline and permits control of up to 108 puppets 182 250 396.
• At middle-stage Core Formation, his divine sense reaches 6,000 zhang—three times the ordinary range at that stage 396.
• Uses soul-bewildering techniques, Soul Search, and divine-soul restrictions to investigate or control others 306 473 487 587.
• Helps Wei Yiling and Feng Xishuang overcome the Soul Devouring Restriction by removing affected portions of their divine souls and allowing them to regrow through cultivation 373.
• The five-level Myriad Spirits method is itself described as a fragment of a more complete art, which he plans to seek in the Far North 571.

Creation Magic Power

• Retains the Longevity Art’s bodily healing and bottleneck benefits after absorbing sufficient creation qi 560 567.
• Can awaken demon beasts’ intelligence and make Treasures more likely to develop spirituality and advance into Spirit Treasures 560.
• Restores damaged spiritwood, including severed roots of soul-nourishing wood 400.
• Improves spirit veins through prolonged cultivation and can create a new ungraded vein where spiritual energy has been exhausted 580.
• Preserving its healing properties requires his main Nascent Soul body to forgo Cultivation-Enhancing Pills, slowing advancement 567.

Cultivation Crafts

Craft	Documented Proficiency or Application
Talisman making	Initially first-tier middle-grade after more than twenty years of study; later secretly crafts second-tier upper-grade Rampaging Lightning Talismans 2 167.
Alchemy	Produces Foundation Establishment Pills, fulfills third-tier middle-grade commissions, and absorbs innate spirit vigor from third-tier top-grade pills 272 473 516.
Puppet crafting	Builds second-tier offensive puppets and Mysterious One, whose magical power rivals a peak early-stage Core Formation cultivator 213 220 291.
Artifact refining	Develops proficiency beyond the third tier and later makes the Origin Heaven Cauldron for the Mountain-Suppressing Softshell Turtle 332 515.
Formation Dao	Reaches fourth-tier top-grade through Fire Dragon True Person’s inheritance 580.
Corpse refinement	Acquires resources for a fourth-tier corpse-refining inheritance and develops Copper Corpses and Xuan Er as combat assets 389 396 494.

Formations and Zhou Tian Star Banners

• Plans 365 Star Banners that can serve both as Treasures and formation anchors, using stored stellar power as their energy source 379.
• Inheritance Tree-assisted mastery permits almost instantaneous formation deployment 379 571.
• With fourth-tier top-grade Formation Dao, he can deploy a formation of the same grade and believes he can contend with or defeat late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators 580.
• Deployment remains limited by the banners’ stored star power and duration 580.
• His small quantities of heavenly meteoric iron and earthcore primordial stone can enhance only one banner, not supply the full legendary Zhou Tian Star-Dipper Array 580.

Concealment and Escape

• Suppresses his aura, changes appearance, and uses disposable identities to avoid exposing his cultivation or implicating allies 273 306 335 552.
• Escapes Core Formation pursuers with the Bloodwing Escape Art 263 459.
• His aura-concealment method prevents Hua Wuji from locating him during more than a month of hiding 338.
• His disguises are not infallible: Bai Yaoyue recognizes his life aura through her Devil Race bloodline, while Yu Menghan identifies Bai Sheng as Li Ping 494 515.

Ninefold True Illusory Body

• Derived by Derivation Island; its first level should create an illusory body sharing his aura and allow him to exchange places with it 578.
• His initial use instead sends his awareness into the Southern Splendor Illusory Realm 578.
• Inside, he cannot use divine sense, magical power, or cultivation abilities, though he retains unusually fast movement 578.
• He postpones further entry to observe changes in his divine soul 580.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Dragon-Slaying Guillotine — Life-Bound Treasure modeled after a spirit treasure; a major component of his combat strength 396 503.
• Zhou Tian Star Banners — A planned set of 365 multipurpose Treasures and formation banners; central to his fourth-tier formation strategy 379 580.
• Soul-Settling Stake — Ancient Treasure taken from the Tuluo Holy Maiden. Immobilizes divine souls through ordinary defenses; his powerful divine sense makes it especially lethal 468 481.
• Essence-Devouring Sword — Yan Liming’s former Life-Bound Treasure. Li Ping finishes refining it after Core Formation but can unleash only about seventy percent of its power 258 259.
• Blood Rakshasa Banner — Produces blood-mist armor with protection comparable to a second-tier upper-grade artifact 167.
• Lunar Coldflame — Fourth-tier flame whose heavy magical-power demand makes restorative reserves valuable 494.
• Origin-Replenishing Liquid — Roughly one liter brewed over nearly thirty years, sufficient to restore his magical power many times 494.
• Radiant pole starwood — Grown with Gray Island’s accelerated time; its removal at 100,000 years of age produces a celestial spectacle visible across an immense distance 400 487.
• Soul-nourishing wood — Restored with Longevity Art magic and cultivated on Gray Island; also given to Wei Yiling to aid her and Feng Xishuang’s soul recovery 400 432.
• Yun ancestor’s Artifact Furnace — Received in exchange for instructing Yun Lingsu and intended to support advancement in Artifact Refining 488.

Spirit Beasts and Constructed Combatants

Companion / Asset	Role and Documented Strength
Desolate Fire Sparrow	Offensive spirit beast with Vermilion Bird-derived flame particularly effective against evil beings. Later reaches fourth-tier strength and leads the beasts guarding Li Ping’s breakthrough 460 555 578.
Earth Spirit Mouse	Treasure finder and Earth Escape specialist; helps capture the turtle and later reaches fourth-tier strength after receiving a Shape-Transformation Pill 487 578 580.
Scarlet Flood Dragon	True-dragon-blooded spirit beast whose growth benefits from Meng Wanjun’s abilities; later reaches fourth-tier strength 438 578 580.
Mountain-Suppressing Softshell Turtle	Intelligent Black Tortoise descendant, mount, and recipient of the Origin Heaven Cauldron. Reaches third-tier late stage but remains untransformed 487 515 578 580.
Mysterious One	Offensive puppet with magical power comparable to a peak early-stage Core Formation cultivator; initially limited by lacking a suitable Treasure 291.
Xuan Er	Corpse combatant that incorporates Bone-Eroding Cold Marrow Sand as a Life-Bound Treasure and advances to third-tier late stage after refining fourth-tier nether baleful qi 462 494.

Relationships

Mentors and Family Connections

• Yan Guike — Rescuer and martial master. Li Ping repeatedly honors his memorial and supports Swordforging Manor’s descendants 1 58 266 434.
• Daoist Ji / Ji Xiu — Introduces him to cultivation and remains a trusted old friend. Li Ping welcomes him without allowing their difference in status to diminish their friendship 1 88 555.
• Yan Hengchuan — Junior who addresses him as grandmaster. Li Ping supports his cultivation to fulfill his obligation to Yan Guike and entrusts him with hidden spiritual resources 167 266 267 434.
• Ji Shuxuan — Trusted Far North contact who gathers puppet materials and information. Li Ping later informs Yan Hengchuan of his death and reincarnation 213 266.
• Ji Nianyuan — Ji Shuxuan’s descendant; receives an exceptionally valuable second-tier upper-grade puppet from Li Ping 260.
• Ji Shuwen — Niece and eventual ruler of Windmist Immortal City. Li Ping supports her cultivation, protects her political position through his reputation, and authorizes the Cloudtreading Sect’s founding 278 438 507.
• Li Qingshan and the Five Cloud Pool Li Lineage — Descendants of children adopted into Li Ping’s name by Bai Lin. He does not acknowledge the lineage as his own, but gives Qingshan cultivation resources 267 279 434.

Shared Boat Association

• Zhang Tie — Second sworn brother. Their affectionate bond lasts into Zhang’s old age; Li Ping restores lost lifespan but cannot prevent his eventual death 274 433 447.
• Gu Musheng — Third sworn brother, merchant, and reliable intermediary. Li Ping gives him a Foundation Establishment Pill, protects him from arrest, and assures him about his family’s future before his death 131 166 273 447.
• Cheng Yao — Fourth sworn sister and later Seven Immortals Sect leader. Li Ping supports her cultivation and her family’s establishment 66 434 447.
• Qi Hanmo — Fifth sworn brother and Confucian cultivator. Their reunions remain warm across centuries; Li Ping is delighted when Qi forms a Nascent Soul at 590 284 438 507 578.
• Teng Feng — Sixth sworn brother, long mistakenly believed dead. Reunites with Qi Hanmo and Li Ping after more than three centuries 445 507.
• Bai Qing — Seventh sworn brother. Their friendship survives the Bai Family dispute; he later carries Li Ping’s warnings and spoils to support the Academy and Seven Immortals Sect 165 338 438 468.

Companions and Allies

• Bai Lin — Former marital partner. Their relationship ends over her unauthorized transfer of a Foundation Establishment Pill; Li Ping later reflects on his neglect and hears of her death 66 165 244 267.
• Yu Xuewei — Former romantic attachment. He declines marriage into her household to pursue Foundation Establishment and later accepts her decision to remain with her lineage without trying to reclaim the past 97 267.
• Xiao Yunzhi — Far North housemate and ally who shows romantic affection. Li Ping hesitates to reciprocate because of her dangerous revenge obligations 213 244 544.
• Meng Wanjun — Long-serving maid, secretary, business manager, and spirit-beast caretaker. He funds her advancement and protects her; she later forms a Nascent Soul and guards his inheritance transmission 374 400 460 578 580.
• Wei Yiling — Initially distrusted after deceiving him; later a close ally and intimate partner. Her true phoenix pill essence aids his cultivation, though he resists formal Dao-companion commitment 361 396 432 544.
• Feng Xishuang — Ally and exceptionally talented puppet student “in all but name.” He treats her damaged soul, shares the Heavenly Craft Sect’s inheritance, and guides her refining work 373 406 544.
• Daoist Gaoji — Adviser on Mystic Script, materials, and Heavenly Craft Sect knowledge. Their mutual heavenly Dao oaths involve rebuilding the sect and making a fourth-tier puppet body for Gaoji 270 284 571.
• Yu Menghan — Owner of the Seven-Colored Illusion Butterfly he saves. She quietly helps him acquire rare materials; he maintains that they are simply fellow Daoists 167 381 515 546.
• Xu Guike and Lin Yue — Far North friends. Li Ping respects Xu’s claim to the Heavenly Profound Sect’s legacy and later mourns Lin Yue’s death 219 442 507.
• Yun Lingsu — Alchemy student trained through an agreement with her grandfather, Yun Qisheng 488 494.
• Bai Yaoyue — Former neighbor who recognizes his concealed identity and initially keeps silent out of gratitude. Later threats from her contribute to his long absence from Heavenly Dao City 470 494 552 553.

Notable Quotes

“Becoming Dao companions depends on Wanjun’s own wishes. If she wants to marry a decrepit old man like you, I naturally won’t stop her. If she doesn’t, don’t even think of forcing her.” 310

“I do not fear Nascent Soul cultivators. Before long, I will form a Nascent Soul myself.” 553

“Sadly, no matter how talented you are, if you cannot break through in cultivation, you can only become a mound of yellow earth when your lifespan ends.” 580