Immortality begins with inheriting the myriad arts of cultivation.

Chapter 17 Shocking News

Half a day later, Li Ping walked out of the Bai family patriarch's courtyard with a slightly unpleasant expression.

In fact, the Bai family patriarch had always stayed within the family to recuperate. The main reason he appeared in Immortal City today was to see Li Ping.

During their previous meeting, he not only told Li Ping some news, but also invited Li Ping to become a guest elder of the Bai family.

It must be said that, given the advanced age of the Bai family's patriarch and the fact that the Bai family had failed to produce a second Foundation Establishment cultivator, posing a risk of the Foundation Establishment power dying out, the Bai family's offer to invite Li Ping was quite generous.

Li Ping suggested that he should carefully consider the invitation from the guest elders, and the Bai family patriarch did not press the matter.

What truly annoyed him was the message the Bai family patriarch had told him: the Qinglong Mountain lineage had publicly announced its refusal to allow Li Ping to become a guest elder of the Immortal City.

The Qinglong Mountain lineage explicitly stated that the reason they did not allow Li Ping to join the Immortal City was because his successful Foundation Establishment was suspected to be related to a Foundation Establishment Pill lost by one of their disciples.

This displeased Fairy Dai, who was in charge of managing the Immortal City on behalf of her master, and she rejected his application to join the Immortal City.

Now, most of the Foundation Establishment and above forces within the jurisdiction of Immortal City are aware of this matter.

……

Walking back to his own courtyard, Li Ping silently pondered the impact of this incident on himself.

Firstly, although the Azure Dragon Mountain lineage did not explicitly state how their disciple lost the Foundation Establishment Pill, everyone knew that the Qi Refining cultivator named Lin Yue had suffered extremely terrible things after being kidnapped by a mysterious person, resulting in mental breakdown and the ruin of his future.

Regardless of their relationship with the Immortal City, cultivators generally felt sympathy for Lin Yue.

However, Li Ping benefited from this incident. To those unaware of the situation, Li Ping's successful Foundation Establishment using Lin Yue's lost Foundation Establishment Pill was seen as profiting from someone else's misfortune.

As a result, Li Ping's reputation will undoubtedly be affected.

In ordinary times, reputation may not be very important. But in scenarios such as cooperative adventures in secret realms, the impact of reputation is enormous.

No one would trust a monk with a bad reputation with their back.

Secondly, the fact that Fairy Dai of Immortal City rejected Li Ping's application to join Immortal City means that he is disliked by Fairy Dai, and he may be targeted by the cultivators of the Azure Dragon Mountain lineage in the future.

He might be disliked and antagonized by a Foundation Establishment Perfected Sword Cultivator. This would make those forces and cultivators who want to befriend Li Ping think twice and weigh the risks.

Most cultivators would probably reduce their cooperation with Li Ping for fear of offending the Azure Dragon Mountain lineage.

……

Li Ping pondered for a long time but still couldn't figure out why the Qinglong Mountain lineage did this.

In his previous conversation with Dai Sangyu, he made it very clear that he did not know the mysterious person who was an enemy of the Qinglong Mountain faction, nor did he have any intention of being an enemy of the Qinglong Mountain faction.

He fully cooperated with the investigation and did not tell a single lie throughout the entire process.

Although Dai Sangyu ultimately disagreed with him joining the Immortal City, Li Ping felt that even though the deal fell through, they could still maintain amicable relations.

Why is this Fairy Dai going to spread the word about "the decision to refuse Li Ping's entry into the Immortal City and the reasons therefor" so widely?

You don't have to love me, but please don't hurt me, okay?

……

"There's another problem. The Qinglong Mountain faction spreading rumors has also led to the exposure of my black market identity." Li Ping thought of another troublesome matter.

He concealed his identity when he bought the Foundation Establishment Pill on the black market.

The mysterious person who sold the Foundation Establishment Pill did not know who the pill was sold to.

But now that things have turned out this way, that mysterious person probably knows that he is the buyer.

Li Ping guessed that the mysterious person didn't leave the Foundation Establishment Pill for his own disciples and descendants, but instead chose to sell it in the Immortal City Market.

His purpose wasn't the spirit stones; he really just wanted to disgust Dai Sangyu and mess with her mentality.

"That's it." Li Ping suddenly had a thought, and an idea popped into his mind: "Now, that mysterious seller knows that I am the one who bought the Foundation Establishment Pill, and after I successfully established my foundation, I seem to have had a conflict with Dai Sangyu, and was ultimately rejected by the Qinglong Mountain lineage. It is very likely that he is hostile to the Qinglong Mountain lineage because of this... Could he come forward to win me over to deal with the Qinglong Mountain lineage?"

Li Ping immediately became excited; he had already guessed what Dai Sangyu was up to: "Dai Sangyu is using me as bait to catch fish!"

However, as I figured it out, even more questions arose in my mind.

"No, no, that mysterious seller isn't stupid. He won't easily show himself to me. After all... how would he know that I'm not cooperating with the Azure Dragon Mountain lineage in this charade, deliberately luring him out?"

"Moreover, Dai Sangyu's mental state is damaged now, making it impossible for him to break through to the Core Formation realm. If this continues, it will only make Dai Sangyu anxious. He is in the shadows and only needs to wait patiently."

"Why go through the trouble of risking everything to win me over?"

"Why is the Qinglong Mountain lineage doing this? Could it be that Dai Sangyu is desperate and grasping at straws?"

……

After some thought, it got dark before I knew it.

Although she was convinced that Dai Sangyu's attempt to use her as bait to catch fish would not yield any results and was destined to fail.

But nothing is absolute. He wasn't involved, so how could he possibly guess what the person in question was thinking?

Therefore, Li Ping still felt uneasy, fearing that he would leave the area covered by the Immortal City's formation.

The mysterious person who was preventing Dai Sangyu from forming his core will suddenly appear, and then True Person Fenglan will also arrive with his third-tier spirit beast, the Little Azure Dragon.

The two sides broke out into a fierce battle without any explanation, and he was reduced to ashes by the aftershocks of their battle.

Even the aftermath of a conflict between Core Formation factions could be enough to bring Li Ping to his doom.

"It should be fine inside the city. The Immortal City is protected by a third-order formation. Even Core Formation cultivators wouldn't dare to act recklessly inside the Immortal City. But once we leave the city, it's hard to say." Li Ping thought to himself, his expression turning somber.

According to Master Ji's letter, his master Yan Guike was bedridden and didn't have much time left to live. Before he died, he hoped that Master Ji could rush back to see him one last time.

He had originally planned to leave Immortal City the next day and return to Jiang Kingdom.

But given the current situation, how could he dare to leave the Immortal City?

Not to mention the journey of tens of thousands of miles back to Jiang Kingdom to see his master one last time.

"Damn sword cultivators, why do you have to drag me into your fight!" Li Ping sighed.

He wasn't an emotional person; he probably wouldn't be able to see his master one last time.

To risk his life to go back and see his master one last time, he would be called a fool by his master if he knew about it.

Ultimately, even if he returned to Jiang Kingdom in time, he could not prolong his master's life; he could only make up for a slight regret of his master's.

Compared to the regrets of the dying, the reality of the living is ultimately more important.

With a sigh, Li Ping abandoned his plan to return to Jiang State.