Immortality begins with inheriting the myriad arts of cultivation.

Chapter 119 Undercover Agent?

"What a pity, I fed the thousand-year-old Jade Grass to the Tree of Heritage!"

Thinking of this, Li Ping couldn't help but sigh slightly.

He was too hasty back then.

As soon as he gathered all the materials, he couldn't wait to inherit the skills of a third-level alchemist, thus wasting the thousand-year-old Jade Condensation Grass.

Actually, he shouldn't have used such a thousand-year-old spiritual herb with special effects like this; it's a real pity.

You should know that if he doesn't use it, he should be able to get a golden bloodline fruit about every hundred years.

Although he left behind the seeds of the Jade Condensation Grass before passing on the inheritance, he planted them shortly after returning to Immortal Peach Mountain.

However, the bloodline fruits produced by the ten-year or hundred-year-old Jade Condensation Grass are of no use to spirit beasts of the third rank or above.

He would have to wait another thousand years to obtain another Thousand-Year Jade Grass.

The lifespan of a Nascent Soul cultivator is only a thousand years.

"I must be more careful in the future," Li Ping reminded himself.

……

Before he knew it, more than a year had passed since Li Ping returned to Xiantao Mountain, and it was time for the Tongzhou Association's year-end gathering again.

With Qi Hanmo gone, only five people remained at the gathering, making the scene seem a little deserted.

Leaving aside the Foundation Establishment cultivators Li Ping and Zhang Tie...

Gu Musheng's cultivation level is still at the eighth level of Qi Refining. He expects that he may be able to break through to the ninth level of Qi Refining next year.

Cheng Yao finally achieved her goal this year, successfully breaking through to the eighth level of Qi Refining and catching up with Gu Musheng's cultivation level.

This is not surprising, as she possesses three spiritual roots, making her inherently more gifted than Gu Musheng, and thus her cultivation speed is naturally faster.

To be honest, in Li Ping's opinion, her breakthrough at this point is already a bit slow.

Bai Qing was at the fifth level of Qi Refining last year, and this year he successfully broke through to the sixth level of Qi Refining, making solid progress towards the later stage of Qi Refining.

Moreover, he finally made a breakthrough in his pharmacist skills and became a first-tier low-grade pharmacist.

Both pharmacists and physicians are skilled at treating monks, but their areas of expertise and methods differ.

Pharmacists are skilled at using various medicinal herbs to treat internal injuries in cultivators, while physicians mainly use their own magical power to treat external injuries.

With his status as a first-tier low-grade pharmacist, Bai Qing's future prospects are promising, whether he focuses on healing or switches to alchemy.

However, Li Ping noticed that Bai Qing was not in a good mood and seemed to have something on his mind.

……

This year's Foundation Building Fund has been reduced to 550 spirit stones due to Qi Hanmo's departure.

The total amount came to 1,540 spirit stones.

Zhang Tie, standing to the side, felt a little embarrassed. After his elder brother broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage, he contributed three hundred spirit stones every year.

He hadn't felt anything before.

But after he himself broke through to become a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he realized that his elder brother was no ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Even if he became a disciple of True Person Fenglan and received an extra hundred spirit stones from the Immortal City each year, his total annual income would still not reach three hundred spirit stones.

If he were to follow his elder brother's example and contribute three hundred spirit stones every year, he would probably be unable to make ends meet.

Of course, according to the original rules, as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he only needs to contribute one hundred spirit stones per year.

After the standard meeting procedures were completed, it was everyone's turn to speak in turn.

Another year passed, and Zhang Tie gradually adapted to his identity as a Foundation Establishment senior, and his demeanor became more and more composed.

After becoming the son-in-law of the Meng family, at least at the level of the Immortal City, he and the Meng family were practically one.

Knowing that he was preparing to learn the art of weapon crafting, the Meng family patriarch personally arranged for him to work in charge of logistics at the weapon crafting workshop.

In this way, he could receive the salary from the Immortal City and then concentrate on researching weapon crafting.

Li Ping nodded.

He knew that Master Fenglan had only taken Zhang Tie as his disciple as a means of control, and that he didn't actually care about him. In fact, Zhang Tie hadn't seen his master since the initiation ceremony.

However, Zhang Tie was honest and straightforward by nature, so he didn't care about being ignored by his master.

Besides, his wife is about to give birth, and he will soon welcome his first child.

He was swamped with trivial matters and had no time to get involved in the affairs of the Immortal City. If True Person Fenglan really valued him highly and assigned him important tasks, he would be even more overwhelmed.

Gu Musheng told everyone that he had given all the spirit stones left by Tengfeng to He Yunyi, the cultivator who came from Tengfeng Village, as they had agreed last year.

Furthermore, he would frequently check on his situation to ensure he wouldn't go astray.

After listening to Gu Musheng's explanation, Li Ping nodded and turned his gaze to Cheng Yao.

Cheng Yao is doing as usual, and her condition is much better than last year.

Of course, what others didn't know was that after selling the robe last year, Cheng Yao sold the beauty pills she had bought from Bai Lin this year.

A bottle of beauty pills contains twelve pills. For the past six years, Cheng Yao has taken one pill every year to maintain her youthful appearance.

In order to maintain her own cash flow, she had to sell the remaining half last year in exchange for spirit stones.

With the more than fifty spirit stones she earned from selling the beauty pills, Cheng Yao wouldn't have to worry about cash flow for the next three to four years.

With her anxiety gone, her condition naturally improved.

Good books and good stories accompany you every day.

Finally, Bai Qing didn't say much besides his breakthrough in pharmacist skills.

Although he could tell that he seemed to have something on his mind, he didn't say anything, so Li Ping didn't pry. He could only wait until Bai Lin returned after the New Year to ask her.

After discussing their own affairs, Zhang Tie continued to preach and answer questions for the remaining three.

At dawn, Li Ping cheerfully took out the pills and distributed them to the three of them.

After that, Zhang Tie and the other three went their separate ways.

……

After the New Year, Bailin returned.

Li Ping asked her about Bai Qing.

After a moment's hesitation, Bai Lin spoke uncertainly, "Perhaps it's because Uncle Mingyu passed away?"

Bai Mingyu is a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator from the Bai family. His other identity is Bai Qing's father.

Two years ago, Bai Mingyu came to Xiancheng and tried to bring Bai Qing back to Gaojishan to inherit the family business. After being rejected by Bai Qing, he even went to Xiantaoshan to visit Li Ping.

They tried to get Li Ping to intervene and persuade Bai Qing to return home and inherit the family business.

However, after hearing the whole story, Li Ping rejected him without hesitation and warned him not to use any underhanded methods against Bai Qing.

Warninged by a Foundation Establishment cultivator, Bai Mingyu dared not harbor any more wicked thoughts and could only return to Gaoji Mountain in dejection.

He finally passed away last year at the end of his life.

After hearing what Bai Lin said, Li Ping suddenly realized what was going on.

He could understand Bai Qing very well. Although his father was very irresponsible towards him and he had no affection for his father, he actually harbored a lot of resentment towards him.

But no matter how many reasons there are, he was still his father.

Now that his father has passed away, his feelings must be extremely complicated.

Seeing Li Ping's interest, Bai Lin explained to him, "Besides Uncle Mingyu himself, there are no other late-stage Qi Refining cultivators in his lineage. Moreover, of the remaining four cultivators, two are still young, and the other two have five spiritual roots and their cultivation is only at the fourth level of Qi Refining. Therefore, Uncle Mingyu was always worried about his funeral arrangements before he passed away."

Li Ping nodded to indicate that he understood.

Resources are limited.

Therefore, even if a cultivation family is united against the outside world, internal disputes will still erupt over resources; this is a very real thing.

Otherwise, Bai Mingyu wouldn't have been in such a hurry to have Bai Qing go back and inherit the family business.

Li Ping shook his head, banishing the matter from his mind, and turned to walk into the alchemy room.

……

Inside the restaurant.

Yan Hengchuan unceremoniously handed over all his tasks to Yan Liming: "Xiao He, I have to go out for a bit. You're in charge of the rest!"

During this time, given his volatile nature at home, he had long since treated He Yunyi, whose cultivation was inferior to his own, as a younger brother.

Yan Liming nodded in agreement in a low voice.

At the same time, he was inwardly roaring, "You brat, how dare you order me around like this! I'll tear your soul apart and refine your spirit sooner or later!"

As a dignified Core Formation cultivator and a giant of the demonic path, when has he ever been ordered around by anyone?

in fact.

Although he had only just broken through to the second level of Qi Refining and was not as powerful as Yan Hengchuan, he had a thousand ways to make Yan Hengchuan disappear, given his skills as a Core Formation cultivator.

However, he dared not do so, because Yan Hengchuan had a Foundation Establishment stage elder, and this Foundation Establishment cultivator cared quite a bit about Yan Hengchuan.

If Yan Hengchuan disappears without a trace, he will be targeted by a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

To him before, Foundation Establishment cultivators were people he could easily crush.

But now, he really doesn't dare to provoke a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

"You little brat, just you wait, hehehe—"

A spoonful of water hitting Yan Liming on the head interrupted his inner musings.

It was Chef Mo Ling. He snapped, "What are you grinning about? Get back to work!"

Yan Liming remained silent for a while before slowly leaving. Mo Lingchu, standing to the side, was still muttering curses under her breath, completely unaware that she had just brushed with death.

Little did he know that if it weren't to prevent his identity from being discovered, Yan Liming would have killed him long ago.

……

"Excellent, excellent!"

In his cave dwelling on Immortal Peach Mountain, Li Ping smiled as he looked at the two young men who had come to pay their respects to him.

Yan Hengchuan was still at the second level of Qi Refining, but Ji Shuxuan had already broken through to the third level of Qi Refining.

Clearly, both teenagers were diligent in their training and had not wasted their time.

……

After accepting the pills and expressing their gratitude, Yan Hengchuan and Ji Shuxuan left Immortal Peach Mountain.

On the way, Yan Hengchuan told his friend what he had discovered. He whispered, "Xiao Xuanzi, I suspect that He Yunyi, who is apprenticing with me, is likely an undercover agent sent by another restaurant to steal Mo Ling's culinary skills."

Upon hearing this, Ji Shuxuan frowned and said, "Hengchuan, you can't just falsely accuse someone. Do you have any evidence?"

Yan Hengchuan shook his head: "I have no evidence, but I can tell something's off about him. He didn't say a word even after being bullied like that by Chef Mo Ling. If it were me, I would have slapped him a few times already. His silence is definitely for some kind of scheme!"

"With Senior Li looking after us, of course you dare to disregard Chef Mo Ling," Ji Shuxuan said with a smile. "How could someone with no background dare to offend Chef Mo Ling?"

Upon hearing this, Yan Hengchuan hesitated for a moment: "What you said seems to make sense."

But then he excitedly added, "If he's an undercover agent, I'm going to catch him!"