Immortality begins with inheriting the myriad arts of cultivation.

Chapter 138 An Alternative Method of Foundation Building

After Li Ping arrived at Gaojishan, he was warmly welcomed by the Bai family.

Led into the formation by Bai Mingde, he finally met Yan Hengchuan, whose expression was somewhat wooden, by the spiritual spring where the Bai family patriarch resided.

Clearly, this was because Yan Hengchuan's origins were unknown and his aura was strange.

Before Li Ping arrived, the Bai family did not dare to let him roam freely in Gaojishan, but instead had him personally supervised by the Bai family patriarch.

After exchanging pleasantries with Li Ping for a while, the Bai family patriarch allowed Li Ping to take Yan Hengchuan away, while he himself lay on a rocking chair, comfortably enjoying the cool breeze.

On the surface, the Bai family patriarch looked no different from when Li Ping first met him, but upon closer inspection, one could see that he had more age spots on his face, and his skin was wrinkled, just like old tree bark.

Clearly, his time is drawing near.

……

Led by members of the Bai family, Li Ping and Yan Hengchuan arrived at a side hall.

"Grandmaster," Yan Hengchuan called out respectfully, his voice slightly hoarse.

When he saw Li Ping again, he was overjoyed, but because his body was already somewhat like a puppet, although he was smiling, his facial expression looked extremely strange.

"I'm glad you're alright... wait a minute..." Li Ping smiled and nodded, but he quickly noticed the unnaturalness in Yan Hengchuan's expression.

He immediately stepped forward, grasped Yan Hengchuan's wrist, and channeled a wisp of magic power into his body to examine him carefully.

After a long pause, he thoughtfully released Yan Hengchuan's wrist and looked at Yan Hengchuan, saying, "Hengchuan, describe in detail your experiences during this period."

"Yes, Grandmaster." Yan Hengchuan nodded respectfully.

Right there in the hall, he recounted how he discovered He Yunyi's secret, how the other party went on a killing spree, not only slaughtering everyone in the restaurant but also taking him away from the Immortal City, forcing him to cultivate demonic arts along the way, and how he eventually escaped from the demonic cultivators by sheer luck.

Li Ping nodded slightly in agreement.

He knew that the one who took Yan Hengchuan away from the Immortal City and forced him to cultivate demonic arts was Yan Liming, a Core Formation cultivator of the demonic path.

"Grandmaster, I had no choice but to cultivate this demonic art to save my life, but in the end I discovered that I was actually turning myself into a puppet." Yan Hengchuan's eyes were filled with resentment and hope. "I have tried everything I can to reverse the puppetization process. Please, Grandmaster, save me."

Upon hearing this, a thoughtful look appeared in Li Ping's eyes.

Yan Liming's storage bag fell into his hands, and his main cultivation technique, "Blood Spirit Hundred Transformations True Scripture," was also obtained by Li Ping.

Therefore, after Yan Hengchuan gave a brief description, Li Ping understood that he must have been affected by Yan Liming's "Blood Puppet Technique".

According to the records in the "Blood Spirit Hundred Transformations True Scripture," when Yan Liming disguised this secret technique as a method to teach Yan Hengchuan, he should have not only imparted the method of cultivating the secret technique, but also instilled the "Blood Soul Seed" that Yan Liming himself had condensed with his magical power.

In this way, he can ensure that the puppets he creates will recognize him as their master and be under his control!

It was precisely because of the Blood Soul Seed that Yan Hengchuan was unable to reverse his puppetization process no matter what he tried.

However, Li Ping, as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, also possessed the miraculous healing power of the Nourishing Life Technique.

He could restore Yan Hengchuan's physical condition to its original state at any time, if he wished.

However, another secret technique recorded in the "Blood Spirit Hundred Transformations True Scripture" made Li Ping hesitate.

This secret technique is called the "Skill of Seizing the Foundation"!

The so-called "foundation seizure" means, as the name suggests, to seize the foundation-building cultivation of other cultivators.

Of course, seizing power isn't something that can be done by simply taking over any target; there are two necessary conditions.

First, both the plunderer and the plundered must cultivate the same technique, namely the "Blood Spirit Hundred Transformations True Scripture".

Second, the plunderer must take a wisp of the victim's essence, energy, and spirit when the victim is weak, and then continuously cultivate this wisp of essence, energy, and spirit during the cultivation process, so that their magical power becomes the same as that of the victim.

Once these two conditions are met, and the person whose foundation has been stolen has successfully established their foundation, the thief can forcibly steal their foundation.

No other conditions are required to become a Foundation Establishment cultivator directly, and this alternative Foundation Establishment method is not much different from the orthodox Foundation Establishment method in terms of magical power and combat strength.

It will not have any impact on subsequent Foundation Establishment cultivation or the breakthrough to Core Formation.

……

Li Ping hesitated because Yan Hengchuan seemed to perfectly meet the cultivation conditions for the "Foundation-Seizing Method".

If he practices the "Blood Spirit Hundred Transformations True Scripture", then there is no doubt that he and Yan Liming practice the same technique.

Moreover, the blood soul seed that Yan Liming injected into his body was also condensed from the other party's essence, energy, and spirit.

In other words, he could cultivate the "Blood Spirit Hundred Transformations True Scripture" and then try to seize Yan Liming's Dao foundation in the future.

After all, given Yan Hengchuan's five spiritual roots, his chances of reaching the Foundation Establishment stage are not entirely nonexistent, but rather negligible.

As for Yan Liming, he was a Core Formation cultivator who had undergone a rebirth, and his body, which he had possessed, possessed four spiritual roots, so Foundation Establishment was basically not a problem for him.

Cultivating the "Blood Spirit Hundred Transformations True Scripture" presents a dilemma: whether to seize Yan Liming's Dao foundation in the future or to follow the orthodox cultivation path, which essentially eliminates any hope of establishing a foundation.

Yan Liming is already so troublesome at the Qi Refining stage; once he successfully establishes his foundation, how easy will it be to deal with him?

Even if Li Ping were willing to take action, there's no guarantee he could catch him.

But with the hope of Foundation Establishment right in front of us, who would be content if they didn't fight for it?

After a moment's thought, Li Ping decided that the right to choose should be left to Yan Hengchuan himself.

It is to become a demonic cultivator, preserving the hope of an alternative foundation building path.

I should clear the blood and soul seed left by Yan Liming from my body and become a righteous cultivator.

Thinking of this, Li Ping immediately spoke slowly, presenting Yan Hengchuan with two choices and analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of each.

At the same time, he also made it clear to Yan Hengchuan that if Yan Hengchuan chose to cultivate the "Blood Spirit Hundred Transformations True Scripture", he would help him in dealing with Yan Liming in the future.

"Grandmaster, I want to cultivate the Blood Spirit Hundred Transformations True Scripture so that I can kill Yan Liming and avenge myself in the future!" Faced with the choice given by Li Ping, Yan Hengchuan did not hesitate at all and decided to cultivate the Blood Spirit Hundred Transformations True Scripture.

From his resolute gaze, Li Ping could tell that Yan Hengchuan was not only after achieving Foundation Establishment, but also harbored deep hatred for Yan Liming.

Clearly, he suffered a lot during the time he was abducted by Yan Liming.

"Alright, since you've made up your mind, I won't stop you." A smile appeared in Li Ping's eyes.

He was also pleased that Yan Hengchuan had chosen this unconventional path to Foundation Establishment and dared to challenge a Core Formation cultivator.

In fact, he had already guessed Yan Hengchuan's choice.

After all, when they first met, Yan Hengchuan had the air of a "newborn calf not afraid of tigers".

As soon as he finished speaking, he flipped his hand, and the jade slip of the "Blood Spirit Hundred Transformations True Scripture" that he had obtained from Yan Liming's storage bag appeared in his palm. Then he directly used his magic power to control the jade slip to float in front of Yan Hengchuan.

Li Ping's expression was solemn: "You should cultivate at the Bai family's place. Once you can control your internal energy, then you can return to the Immortal City."

"Yes, Grandmaster!" Yan Hengchuan nodded respectfully.

Although there was only one jade slip, Li Ping was not worried that Yan Hengchuan would have any problems with his cultivation.

Yan Liming had cultivated the "Blood Spirit Hundred Transformations True Scripture" to the Core Formation stage. During the cultivation process, he also wrote down a large number of annotations and insights in the jade slip.

In a sense, Yan Liming was Yan Hengchuan's "mentor".

But in the future, he was destined to become a traitorous disciple who killed his master.

……

During his stay at the Bai family's residence for several days, he discussed Daoist principles with the Bai family's patriarch and even slightly revealed his first-level alchemist skills, refining dozens of batches of pills for the Bai family.

Then, Li Ping took his leave.

At the same time, he also asked the Bai family to arrange a place for Yan Hengchuan to cultivate, and left him many pills to enhance his magical power.

After confirming that everything was in order, he left Gaojishan and returned to Xiancheng amidst the farewell of the Bai family.

On the speeding airship, Li Ping pondered for a moment.

In fact, there are certain risks involved in Yan Hengchuan's cultivation of the "Blood Spirit Hundred Transformations True Scripture".

However, the risk lies not with others, but with himself.

Why are demonic cultivators so despised in the Western Wilderness cultivation world?

The main problem is that most demonic cultivation techniques prioritize rapid advancement without considering other factors, which can easily affect a cultivator's mind. Furthermore, they require certain special materials during the cultivation process.

Therefore, if one lacks self-control, it is easy to truly fall into the demonic path and become an enemy of all living beings.

For example, the Blood Spirit Hundred Transformations True Scripture requires absorbing a large amount of essence blood during cultivation. Although it can be replaced by the essence blood of demon beasts, the effect of demon beast essence blood is not as good as that of human essence blood.

For example...

In short, Li Ping hoped that Yan Hengchuan could stay true to himself and not go astray.

"And that boy..."

After pondering Yan Hengchuan's matter, Li Ping thought of the handsome young man serving tea when he was a guest at the Bai family and talked with the Bai family patriarch.

The young man serving tea kept stealing glances at Li Ping.

However, when Li Ping looked at him with a questioning expression, he hurriedly lowered his head.

At the time, Li Ping didn't pay much attention to it.

But now, upon closer reflection, he vaguely felt that the boy's appearance seemed somewhat similar to that of Bai Lin.

"Is he Bai Lin's younger brother with two spiritual roots?" Li Ping wondered to himself.

The fact that the Bai family patriarch was able to take him under his wing and mentor him shows how much the Bai family valued this young man.

The patriarch of the Bai family is very old and his time is not far off.

However, just as the family's Foundation Establishment cultivator was about to pass away, the Bai family failed to cultivate a second Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Bai Lin's younger brother possesses the aptitude of having two spiritual roots; perhaps he is being groomed by the Bai family as the future of the family.

"Why should I care so much about the Bai family's affairs?" Thinking of this, Li Ping couldn't help but chuckle.

He then controlled the flying boat to fly automatically, while he sat down cross-legged and began to meditate silently.

Soon, the flying boat returned to the immortal city.

Li Ping put away the flying boat, verified his identity token, returned to Immortal Peach Mountain, and once again immersed himself in the monotonous practice.

While he was cultivating, the Immortal City Auction finally began before he knew it.