Immortality begins with inheriting the myriad arts of cultivation.

Chapter 15 Seven Siblings

That night, a banquet was being held in the courtyard where Li Ping lived.

Cultivators do not indulge in gluttony, and the long table is only set with some fruit and wine. Seven figures sit around the long table.

Li Ping sat at the head of the long table, and to his left and right sat three figures, with Zhang Tie and Gu Musheng sitting closest to him.

Besides the three of them, the remaining four figures were the four remaining cultivators from the "Tongzhou Association".

To make the Tongzhou Association's mission of "advanced cultivators helping less advanced cultivators, ultimately enabling all cultivators to progress together" more convincing, Li Ping specifically set several rules for the association's recruitment standards.

First, the Fellowship will not consider cultivators with five spiritual roots or those with three or more spiritual roots.

Even cultivators with five spiritual roots have difficulty breaking through to the mid-stage, let alone the foundation stage; they are simply too difficult to carry.

Cultivators with three or more spiritual roots can easily join a sect based on their own aptitude, without needing to undergo "joint foundation building" at all.

Second, the Tongzhou Association does not accept cultivators from families or sects, only independent cultivators.

Sect and family cultivators have elder cultivators and masters who can support them on their path to immortality. The Tongzhou Society's motto of "sharing the same boat and building a foundation together" holds no appeal for them.

Inviting them is not only time-consuming, laborious, and troublesome, but it may also incur the wrath of their elders.

Third, the ages of those joining the Fellowship should be staggered, with a difference of at least three years.

The reason for the third rule is that the older a cultivator is, the lower the success rate of foundation building. Once a cultivator is over sixty, even if they use foundation building pills, the success rate is frighteningly low.

In that case, it would be inappropriate to establish a "joint foundation building" fund with cultivators of the same age, as it would easily lead to conflicts over who should establish their foundation first and who should establish their foundation later.

Fourth, we will not accept those who like to cause trouble and have an unruly personality.

The cultivation world is full of extraordinary people and events. If a troublesome person joins the association and accidentally offends a powerful figure, it could bring annihilation to the rest of the association. Such a person cannot be accepted.

……

For the reasons mentioned above, the situation of the seven members of the Fellowship is as follows.

Li Ping: Forty years old, three spiritual roots, Foundation Establishment cultivator, professional talisman maker.

Zhang Tie: Thirty-six years old, three spiritual roots, level eight of Qi refining, professional leather craftsman.

Gu Musheng: Thirty-three years old, four spiritual roots, sixth level of Qi Refining, professional trader.

Cheng Yao: Thirty years old, three spiritual roots, level six of Qi Refining, professional spiritual plant master.

Qi Hanmo: 26 years old, four spiritual roots, fourth level of Qi Refining, professional musician.

Teng Feng: 23 years old, three spiritual roots, fourth level of Qi Refining, professional beast tamer apprentice.

Bai Qing: Nineteen years old, three spiritual roots, Qi Refining Level 3, professional pharmacist apprentice.

Fourth Sister Cheng Yao is an ordinary-looking, short female cultivator. Her background is similar to that of Gu Musheng. She was able to join the sect after passing Li Ping's test through Gu Musheng's introduction.

One thing that Li Ping was quite satisfied with about her was that she was not particularly good-looking.

Li Ping knew the saying that beautiful women can bring trouble. If Cheng Yao was truly as beautiful as an angel, then he would refuse to let her in.

Not long after Cheng Yao joined the guild, Li Ping used his connections to introduce her to a spiritual herb garden under the Immortal City as an apprentice. Now she has become a first-grade low-level spiritual plant master and can cultivate spiritual herbs on her own.

The fifth brother, Qi Hanmo, usually wore a white robe and had a romantic temperament. He came from a scholarly family in the neighboring Ji Kingdom. Because of his love for music, he met a cultivator who was living in seclusion in the mortal world. He was introduced to the path of immortality by the cultivator and was even taught the art of music. After the cultivator passed away, he came to the Immortal City to develop his career.

When he first arrived in the Immortal City, he hoped to make a living on his own with his musician skills. However, the "Music Gang" that occupied the outer city thought he dared to steal their business. They beat him up and threatened him that he was no longer allowed to work as a musician.

Gu Musheng, who had a similar experience to him, introduced him to the Tongzhou Association.

After investigating, Li Ping found that he had a simple background, was devoted to music, and disliked worldly affairs, so he agreed to let him join the association.

With the Tongzhou Society as his backing, he was able to continue earning a living by playing music and making spirit stones.

The sixth brother, Teng Feng, was a rugged-looking young man wearing leather armor. He was originally a mortal hunter under the jurisdiction of the Immortal City. During the pursuit of prey, he accidentally fell off a cliff, but by chance, he received the inheritance of a certain Qi-refining cultivator who had passed away at the bottom of the cliff, and embarked on the path of immortality.

Later, when Lin Laotou was selling monster hides at his leather shop, Zhang Tie took a liking to him and introduced him to Li Ping.

After talking with Teng Feng, Li Ping believed that he had a pure heart and good fortune, so he agreed to let him join the association.

After joining the guild, Zhang Tie, through Old Man Lin's connections, introduced him to the Spirit Beast Garden in Immortal City to learn the art of beast taming. He is currently just an apprentice.

The seventh brother, Bai Qing, was a young man dressed in a blue robe. He came from the Bai family, a family of cultivators. The Bai family's spiritual land was about eight thousand miles away from the immortal city. The family had a Foundation Establishment cultivator in charge, making them the overlords within a thousand miles.

Bai Qing is the illegitimate son of a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator in the Bai family, the result of that cultivator's promiscuity in the mortal realm.

However, after his affair, Bai Qing's biological father simply left without a word, completely unaware that he had a son left behind. Bai Qing grew up with his mother.

Not long after Bai Qing came of age, his mother died. Before she passed away, she told him that his father was an immortal and that Bai Qing should go and find his father after her death.

Bai Qing practiced the cultivation method left by his father. After mastering the basics, he came to the Immortal City to make a living. Eventually, he was introduced by Gu Musheng and joined the Fellowship as a rogue cultivator.

But to Li Ping's surprise, two years ago, Bai Qing met a Bai family cultivator in the Immortal City. Through their blood ties, Bai Qing confirmed that he was a member of the Bai family and thus recognized his ancestry.

If Li Ping had known about Bai Qing's family's status as cultivators before he joined the association, he would never have agreed to let him join.

However, since joining the membership is already a fait accompli, we can only let it go.

Therefore, Bai Qing became the only 'family cultivator' within the Tongzhou Association.

Of course, Bai Qing had no good feelings towards his father who had abandoned him after starting a relationship. Even after acknowledging his ancestry, he spent most of his time in the Immortal City and rarely returned to the Bai family.

……

As the banquet drew to a close, Li Ping clapped his hands to attract the attention of the remaining people.

He smiled and said, "Thanks to everyone's joint efforts, I have successfully completed the Foundation Establishment stage. First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their contributions."

Upon hearing his words, Zhang Tie grinned sheepishly, while Gu Musheng looked solemn and opened his mouth to speak, but Li Ping stopped him with a gesture.

He glanced at everyone and then said, "With a Foundation Establishment cultivator in our Fellowship, we can naturally reach a higher level. Therefore, I have decided... that the Fellowship will no longer recruit new members."

After successfully establishing his foundation, the Fellowship was no longer of any use to Li Ping. However, the vow he had made bound him to help the remaining people obtain a chance to establish their foundation.

Therefore, recruiting new people would actually harm his interests.

Of course, this is not the case for others who have not yet established their foundation.

After all, the more new recruits they bring in, the faster they can gather spirit stones, allowing them to attempt Foundation Establishment sooner.

On this issue, Li Ping's interests undoubtedly conflicted with the interests of the six people present.