txolops Chapter 122 A Harsh and Ungrateful Person
Chapter 122 A Harsh and Ungrateful Person
After the wildfirebird finished eating all the scattered eggshells on the ground, it fell into a deep sleep.
Li Ping smiled and put the sleeping little guy into his spirit beast bag before casting a cleaning spell to clean the room.
The cultivation methods of demonic beasts are different from those of humans.
Human cultivation relies on spiritual roots, which are used to refine the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and transform it into one's own magical power.
Monsters do not have spiritual roots, and monsters below the fourth rank are far less intelligent than humans and have no cultivation techniques to speak of.
Their cultivation mainly relies on tapping into their bloodline and awakening the innate supernatural abilities within it.
The stronger the bloodline of a demon beast, the stronger its combat power. Demon beasts with top-level true spirit bloodlines are even stronger than humans of the same level.
Of course, very few demonic beasts possess true spiritual bloodlines.
Generally speaking, the combat power of demonic beasts of the same level is mostly inferior to that of human cultivators.
However, demonic beasts that have cultivated to the fourth stage of human transformation are even more intelligent than humans. They know how to refine magical artifacts and learn spells. At this point, there is little difference between demonic beasts and human cultivators.
Some high-level demonic beasts, relying on their bloodline talents, can even outclass human Nascent Soul cultivators.
In fact, it's not just demonic beasts; according to Li Ping's understanding, spiritual roots seem to be something unique to humans.
Besides humans, the Turo people on the northern grasslands of the Western Wilderness also do not have the concept of spiritual roots. Every Turo can cultivate, but their cultivation methods are different from those of humans.
Human cultivators with spiritual roots begin by refining their Qi into their bodies.
The Turks initially cultivated to the Acquired Realm, which is somewhat similar to that of human martial artists. It is said that human martial artists actually learned the Turkic cultivation system.
However, due to the special physique and bloodline of the Turks, a small number of geniuses, after cultivating to the extreme, can open the bridge between heaven and earth, reverse their innate nature, communicate with the outer world, and thus refine the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into their bodies to become immortal cultivators.
Human warriors, however, could never achieve this.
Moreover, the Turks have much lower requirements for their cultivation environment and the difficulty of advancing in cultivation compared to human cultivators.
This is also why, despite the barrenness of spiritual energy and scarcity of cultivation resources in the northern grasslands, the Turks still possessed the strength to invade the Yan and Liang kingdoms year after year.
……
With the spirit beast pouch hanging from his waist, Li Ping went to the weapon-refining room next door.
In mid-air above the weapon-refining room, a small blood-red banner floated, its surface shimmering with a hazy blood-red light, surrounded by a pervasive blood mist.
This small banner is the "Blood Banner," a second-tier top-grade magic weapon that Li Ping seized from two demonic cultivators on his way back from the State of Qi.
Nearby, two low-level puppets were mechanically and periodically injecting poison into the Blood Banner according to the program set by Li Ping.
The Blood Banner seemed to have an inexplicable greed for poisons, and without Li Ping's prompting, it began to refine these poisons on its own.
After being refined, the poison will transform into the unique colorless and odorless "Blood-Eating" poison of the Blood Banner.
Furthermore, the more poisons refined, the better the effect of the Blood-Corroding Poison.
When refined to its limit, the Blood-Corroding Poison can completely threaten cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage!
These poisons fed to Xue Luofan for consumption and refinement came from various sources, including spiritual herbs and demonic beasts. They were all purchased on the spot when he went out to sell pills and buy medicinal materials last time.
During his last battle with that pair of demonic cultivators, he realized the immense help that poison could provide in combat.
When used properly, poison can be equivalent to applying a negative status effect to the enemy, allowing one to subdue the enemy without fighting. Of course, he wouldn't leave such a powerful weapon as the Blood Banner unused.
Anyway, he has no shortage of spirit stones and can buy enough poisons to feed the Blood Banner for refining. The Blood Banner is suitable for a spirit stone player like him.
Seeing that everything went smoothly, Li Ping nodded in satisfaction.
He turned and left, returning to the alchemy room, where he meditated and practiced qi cultivation while refining pills.
……
Time passed slowly as Li Ping cultivated, and before he knew it, another year was coming to an end.
Within the Tongzhou Society, the five members who were still in Fenglan Immortal City gathered at Immortal Peach Mountain.
Zhang Tie had his first child last year and also married a pair of twin concubines. He is very satisfied with his current life.
He mentioned that he has been learning weapon crafting for nearly three years, but he is still a junior apprentice.
As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, his talent in weapon crafting can be described as quite average.
However, he showed no sign of frustration.
Anyway, Foundation Establishment cultivators can live for over two hundred years, so he has plenty of time left to learn.
Li Ping also greatly admired his attitude.
As long as you work hard and diligently, time will not let down honest people.
After three years of arduous cultivation, Gu Musheng finally broke through to the ninth level of Qi Refining this year, just one step away from Foundation Establishment.
However, generally speaking, even with the aid of Foundation Establishment Pills, the probability of a cultivator with four spiritual roots successfully establishing their foundation is theoretically no more than 30%.
Therefore, the probability of Gu Musheng successfully establishing his foundation is actually very slim.
But Gu Musheng himself didn't seem particularly anxious, which further convinced Li Ping that it was indeed him who had secured the bottle of "Jade Heart Liquid," a Foundation Establishment artifact that could increase the chance of Foundation Establishment by 10%, at the Immortal City auction three years ago.
With the aid of Jade Heart Elixir, he can achieve a Foundation Establishment success rate similar to that of cultivators with three spiritual roots.
Li Ping did not reveal his thoughts.
There's a saying that goes something like this: If you're not capable, you have to be honest; if you want to play dirty tricks, you have to be smart enough.
When an honest person encounters trouble, people will choose to help him because of his honesty.
Clever people can use their own planning and methods to obtain enough benefits and avoid those troubles.
Clearly, Zhang Tie and Gu Musheng are two such examples.
It was precisely because Zhang Tie was honest and straightforward and sincere in his work that Li Ping treated him with special favor and was willing to put in a lot of effort to help him build his foundation.
On the contrary, Li Ping didn't really like his third brother, Gu Musheng, who had a quick mind, and didn't give him much help.
But Gu Musheng was clever enough to earn a lot of spirit stones through his shrewd management and speculation during the beast tide.
He didn't need Li Ping's help; he had enough money to acquire the Jade Heart Liquid on his own.
Next is Cheng Yao. A year has passed, and her cultivation level is still stuck at the eighth level of Qi Refining. According to her own estimation, she should be able to step into the ninth level of Qi Refining next year and catch up with Gu Musheng in terms of cultivation.
This shows the importance of a cultivator's aptitude. She has three spiritual roots, and although Wang Xingwei delayed her a lot of time, her cultivation speed is still faster than Gu Musheng, who has four spiritual roots.
Finally, there's Bai Qing. In the past year, he successfully broke through to the seventh level of Qi Refining and became a cultivator at the seventh level of Qi Refining.
In this way, apart from Qi Hanmo who was far away in Jixia, all the cultivators of Tongzhou Society had reached the cultivation level of late-stage Qi Refining or above.
In fact, among all the cultivators in the association, Bai Qing benefited the most, as he joined the association the latest.
Not long after he joined the association, Li Ping broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage and began to provide feedback to the other cultivators in the association.
With the pills Li Ping gives him every year, and being a fellow cultivator with three spiritual roots, his cultivation speed is much faster than Li Ping's back then. He is expected to reach the Qi Refining Perfection stage around the age of thirty-six and attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage!
Seeing the progress of the three, Li Ping was filled with emotion.
Eight years have passed since he broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage.
With his help, not only did everyone in the guild successfully break through to the late stage of Qi Refining, but a Foundation Establishment cultivator named Zhang Tie was also born.
It must be said that he felt quite accomplished about it.
After checking everyone's cultivation level, it was time to pay the Foundation Establishment Fund.
Because Bai Qing broke through to the late stage of Qi Refining, the amount of contribution he needs to make each year automatically increased to thirty spirit stones.
With the contributions of the other four people, the total number of spirit stones in the Foundation Building Fund reached 2,100.
Four years have passed, and before we knew it, we had collected another Foundation Establishment Pill.
Next, the four of them recounted their experiences over the past year, including the troubles they encountered.
There's not much to say about Zhang Tie; he's a Foundation Establishment cultivator and also the son-in-law of the Meng family.
Given his current status and content-loving nature, he can be said to be living a very pleasant life in the Immortal City area, and it is basically impossible for him to encounter any trouble.
Gu Musheng didn't encounter any trouble, but he did mention the child, He Yunyi, whom he had brought from Zhangtie Village to Xiancheng.
After handing over the spirit stones left by his sixth brother Teng Feng to He Yunyi, Gu Musheng did not neglect him, but frequently checked on his condition.
He believed that although this person was not very old, it was already clear that he was a mean-spirited, ungrateful person.
According to Gu Musheng's observation, He Yunyi has been in Xiancheng for more than two years, and even when he has free time, he has not returned to the village to visit his parents and relatives.
With such a personality, even if he achieves great success in his cultivation, he probably won't give back to the village and fulfill his sixth brother Teng Feng's last wish as everyone hopes.
Gu Musheng mentioned that he somewhat regretted giving all the spirit stones left by Teng Feng to He Yunyi.
Li Ping asked him if he had a better solution to this problem.
After thinking it over, Gu Musheng came up with an idea: he would go to Tengfeng Village to investigate.
According to the villagers, He Yunyi's true nature is indeed so mean and ungrateful.
Then we will take back all the spirit stones given to him and use them to purchase supplies in installments according to the original plan to return them to the people of Tengfeng Village.
If there's nothing wrong with his nature, and his psychological reaction is simply due to witnessing the prosperity of the Immortal City after entering it, then he's likely experiencing psychological stress.
Then take the initiative to have an open and honest talk with him, make it clear that he wants to give back to the village in the future, and ask him if he is willing.
Li Ping and the others agreed with his idea.
There's not much to say about Cheng Yao's routine life, and her emotional state has visibly improved compared to last year. Li Ping guesses that perhaps she has successfully resolved her troubles.
Bai Qing still seemed troubled, probably because of family matters.
After completing the meeting agenda, the usual sermon followed.
Zhang Tie preached to the three of them all night.
Li Ping chuckled as he took out pills from his storage bag and distributed them to Gu Musheng and the other two, encouraging them to cultivate diligently and achieve Foundation Establishment as soon as possible.