Immortality begins with inheriting the myriad arts of cultivation.

Chapter 168 Breakthrough at Seventy

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Xiantao Mountain.

As Li Ping focused solely on his cultivation, the year passed by unnoticed.

Towards the end of the year, perhaps he learned from Bai Qing what had happened to Li Ping.

More than a decade later, Zhang Tie, Gu Musheng, Cheng Yao, and Bai Qing made a pact to visit Li Ping at Xiantao Mountain, just like they had done in the first decade or so.

Back then, every year, the cultivators of the Fellowship would gather at Immortal Peach Mountain to discuss their gains and losses over the past year.

However, over the years, they have all achieved something and have their own families and careers, but the eldest brother has always stayed in Xiantao Mountain and never went out to do housework.

Now, even the only maid has abandoned the eldest brother, leaving him a lonely old man.

So they were privately worried about their eldest brother's condition.

Zhang Tie entered the cave and saw that his elder brother's expression remained unchanged, so he smiled and said, "Brother."

Behind him, Gu Musheng and the other two also entered, greeting him with smiles: "Big Brother."

All four of them were smiling, except for Bai Qing, who looked slightly embarrassed.

"Come in and we'll talk," Li Ping said, inviting them to sit down in the pavilion.

Then, puppets delivered the spirit wine and spirit fruit.

At first, the four of them thought the puppet in front of them was a servant newly recruited by Li Ping, and did not think much of it.

But soon, Gu Musheng noticed something was wrong: "Hey, brother, why doesn't your servant have any aura?"

The remaining three people, upon hearing his words, also looked at the puppet, and were immediately stunned.

Zhang Tie said even more urgently, "Brother, you're being foolish! How can you use corpse refining within the Immortal City? If Senior Sister Dai finds out, it will be too late to regret it!"

They all knew that Senior Sister Dai's newly established Foundation Establishment disciple had been kidnapped by a demonic cultivator and nearly died.

Therefore, Senior Sister Dai cannot tolerate the evil deeds of demonic cultivators. If she finds out that her elder brother dares to use corpse refining, she will definitely chop off his head with a sword.

How could they watch their eldest brother walk down a path of no return?

Li Ping shook his head, both amused and exasperated: "What nonsense are you talking about? This is a puppet, not some kind of corpse refinement."

"A puppet?" The four were surprised and simultaneously scanned the puppet servant with their divine senses.

After a moment, they realized that the servant was indeed not a corpse cultivator, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

Cheng Yao couldn't help but ask curiously, "Big brother, what is this puppet? Why have I never heard of it before?"

The art of puppetry had long been lost in the cultivation world. Li Ping only learned about this skill among the various arts of cultivation from the "Changqing Fengwu Zhi".

Cheng Yao is a young woman who works the land and doesn't like to study.

After reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, he was busy lording it over the Wang family and had no time to read books.

Therefore, she had no idea that puppetry existed.

The other three were not much better off, only Gu Musheng showed a hesitant expression. He was a businessman and his knowledge was far beyond that of ordinary cultivators.

Li Ping shook his head helplessly and immediately explained to them what a puppet was.

Hearing Li Ping say that the puppets could not only move on their own, but also fight using magical artifacts like cultivators, he was amazed.

The four were all surprised. They all thought: If they had a second-tier puppet, wouldn't that be equivalent to having an assistant with the same combat power?

But they were soon disappointed.

Because Li Ping explicitly told them that the art of puppetry had long been lost, and that he had only obtained this puppet by chance, and that there might not be another one like it in the entire Western Wilderness.

"Congratulations, brother, on acquiring this treasure," Gu Musheng said with a smile, glossing over the matter.

……

The five men chatted about everything under the sun, and gradually, Zhang Tie brought up another matter.

It turns out that, under Dai Sangyu's arrangement, Meng Qing had already stepped down from her position as head of general affairs and was now focusing on preparing for her marriage to Ziyun Valley.

As for the newly appointed head of general affairs, it was Lin Yue, Dai Sangyu's newly established disciple.

Zhang, Gu, and Cheng, who held high positions in the Immortal City, all showed expressions of unease.

Master Fenglan only has about sixty years of life left, and he is not far from the day he passes away.

After her passing, Dai Sangyu will undoubtedly be the one to rule the Immortal City in the future.

As the saying goes, "A new emperor brings a new court," and these remnants of the old era will likely have a tough time in the future.

Moreover, Zhang and Gu are sons-in-law of the Meng family and have a close and deeply intertwined relationship with them.

The Wang family, which is under Cheng Yao's control, was once an ally of the Meng family. Moreover, the two sides had a power struggle over the matter of the Wang family's patriarch, so they can also be considered to be on the Meng family's side.

Dai Sangyu removed Meng Qingyi from his position as head of general affairs with ease, making it even easier for him to deal with them.

When the topic came up, none of the three seemed very enthusiastic.

Bai Qing, on the other hand, seemed indifferent. The Bai family had its own sacred ground, which was relatively independent.

They didn't care about the changes in power within the Immortal City.

These independent cultivation families only need one Core Formation cultivator to guard the immortal city and maintain stability in this tens of thousands of miles of territory.

They didn't care who that person was.

For them, it's all about loyalty anyway, so who they're loyal to doesn't matter?

Li Ping was even less concerned; he was a rogue cultivator with no ties to him.

Whoever is in charge of the Immortal City, he remains indifferent and uninvolved.

Ultimately, they came together to build a foundation together, not because they were like-minded like Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, who swore brotherhood in the Peach Garden and were willing to live and die together.

Now that everyone has established their foundation, they must walk their own path from now on.

……

During the banquet, both guests and hosts enjoyed themselves immensely.

The four of them didn't leave until morning.

Before leaving, Li Ping specifically asked Gu Musheng to search for a second-tier high-grade talisman-making inheritance for him.

Gu Musheng readily agreed to his elder brother's request.

The four left, and Li Ping sat alone in the pavilion, lost in thought.

There were no talisman makers of intermediate or higher rank in the Immortal City. With his cultivation about to break through, he was too lazy to make a trip to Jixia, so he simply chose to spend more spirit stones to buy the inheritance of an advanced rank talisman maker.

Once he breaks through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, his internal mana will be sufficient to cast second-tier high-grade spells. With the blessing of the Tree of Inheritance, he will likely be able to create second-tier high-grade spirit talismans.

Having a large number of second-tier high-grade spirit talismans in hand would undoubtedly be a huge boost to his strength.

In particular, he planned to set off to capture Yan Liming after his breakthrough, in order to help Yan Hengchuan seize the foundation and break through.

As a Nascent Soul cultivator who had possessed another body to rebuild his cultivation, Yan Liming was cunning and resourceful, making him a formidable opponent.

The stronger he is, the more confident he will be in dealing with Yan Liming.

However, he did not plan to directly inherit the third-tier talisman-making skill.

After all, the nutrients required for a third-tier inheritance are quite troublesome, and he doesn't have time to run around collecting spiritual materials, so he'll just make do with what he has for now.

……

Soon after, Gu Musheng indeed brought Li Ping a complete second-tier high-grade talisman-making inheritance.

[Second-Tier High-Grade Talisman Crafting Inheritance: 1000 Low-Grade Spirit Stones, 3 liters of Second-Tier High-Grade Talisman Ink, 3 feet of Second-Tier High-Grade Spirit Wood. These can be used as nourishment to master the Second-Tier High-Grade Talisman Crafting technique.]

After paying for the spirit stones needed for the inheritance, Li Ping also entrusted Gu Musheng with the task of collecting spirit materials.

His third brother is very reliable, and he trusts him completely.

Gu Musheng readily agreed.

In the middle of that year, he indeed found Li Ping a three-foot-long piece of second-grade superior "Jade Pure Wood", thus fulfilling Li Ping's request.

At the same time, he also excitedly told Li Ping some good news.

It turns out that Lin Yue, who replaced Meng Qingyi as the head of the Immortal City's general affairs, had been injured and received treatment from their fifth brother, Qi Hanmo.

Therefore, she had a good impression of Qi Hanmo.

She also respected Zhang Tie, Gu Musheng, and Cheng Yao, so the three of them were not marginalized after Meng Qingyi left his post. On the contrary, they gained more autonomy because Lin Yue was not good at administrative affairs.

Previously, Meng Qing had also served as the head of general affairs, and he was very knowledgeable about them, so they dared not deceive him.

But now... well, Gu Musheng is very happy.

Upon hearing this, Li Ping shook his head. This was probably a case of "a loss may turn out to be a blessing in disguise."

They were quite lucky; Qi Hanmo's connections in the Immortal City happened to take care of them.

……

At the end of that year, Li Ping met Yan Hengchuan again, who was cultivating outside the Immortal City.

Despite his best efforts to conceal his true nature, Yan Hengchuan, who constantly hunted demonic beasts and refined their essence, still exuded an inescapable aura of ferocity.

Fortunately, many cultivators in the Immortal City make a living by hunting demons, and there are many cultivators with his aura in the Immortal City. He won't attract strange looks from others when he walks on the street.

Li Ping scanned Yan Hengchuan with his divine sense and found that his cultivation had increased significantly, and he was not far from reaching the peak of the ninth level of Qi Refining.

Upon meeting, Yan Hengchuan first looked at the puppet that had led him in with surprise, then solemnly told Li Ping, "Grandmaster, I sensed that Yan Liming's aura has gone north, and has already crossed Liang and Yanliang Kingdoms, and gone deep into the grasslands."

"Went to the grasslands? What's that old devil doing on the grasslands?" Li Ping wondered.

But he quickly dismissed this doubt. No matter what Yan Liming was doing now, he wouldn't change his plans. He would at least wait until he reached the mid-Foundation Establishment stage and was fully prepared before he went to cause trouble for Yan Liming.

No matter how things change, I must always put myself first.

Thinking of this, he nodded: "Yokokawa, I know you're in a hurry, but don't rush. Go back and cultivate diligently first, and we'll set off when the time is right."

A hint of anxiety flashed in Yan Hengchuan's eyes. He explained, "Grandmaster, I hope you can understand me. I really want to reach the Foundation Establishment stage."

Li Ping nodded with a smile, indicating that he understood.

……

Another year passed, and Zhang, Gu, and Cheng continued to thrive thanks to Qi Hanmo.

However, the Meng family was rather frustrated. When Li Ping went to pay the rent, he chatted with the Meng family patriarch for a few minutes and noticed that although he was still smiling, there was a lingering sense of irritation in his eyes.

Clearly, even after three years, he still couldn't let go of the fact that Meng Qingyi had married out of the country.

It was also at the end of that year.

Inside the empty cave, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth suddenly became chaotic for a moment, and then quickly calmed down.

Instead, an exceptionally powerful pressure emanated from the training room.

Shortly afterward, the door to the practice room was pushed open from the inside.

A figure dressed in a long blue robe strode out of the house; it was Li Ping.

A hint of emotion crossed his face: "After thirty years of arduous cultivation, I have finally broken through in my seventies and reached the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment."

That year, Li Ping was over seventy years old.