Immortality begins with inheriting the myriad arts of cultivation.

Chapter 20 Trouble

Lingbao Pavilion.

Miao Rou was the same woman who received Li Ping.

During this period, in order to sell the talismans at a higher price.

Li Ping distributed the talismans he produced to various shops, and became familiar with the shopkeepers of each one.

However, when it came to purchasing resources, he still habitually came to Lingbao Pavilion.

This wasn't because Manager Miao was magnanimous; it was simply his habit.

Men's habits are very strange.

Just like in his past life, there was a period of time when he would eat a bowl of beef noodles every day after get off work. This habit lasted for a full six months until he fell in love with KFC.

The owner of that beef noodle shop even thought something had happened to him.

……

Li Ping originally thought that with enough spirit stones, buying talisman ink and spirit wood would be easy.

To his surprise, Miao Rou looked troubled after he mentioned the items he needed to buy.

"Second-grade mid-level talisman ink is no problem; our store has enough in stock to meet your needs," Miao Rou said with a wry smile. "However, second-grade mid-level spirit wood... although our store has a small amount of such spiritual material, I cannot sell it to you."

Li Ping asked, puzzled, "Why is that?"

Miao Rou explained, "As you probably know, the Lingbao Pavilion is backed by the 'Sword Washing Pool' of the Chi Kingdom. I am also one of the stewards of the Sword Washing Pool. Our sect is renowned in the surrounding countries for its expertise in weapon crafting. The reason we opened this Lingbao Pavilion in the Immortal City is twofold: first, to sell the finished magical artifacts and other products produced by our sect; and second, to acquire basic materials produced in the Cloud Mist Mountains."

"These acquired basic materials must be sent back to the sect and handed over to the sect's weapon refiners to be forged into magical artifacts before being sold. I have absolutely no right to handle them myself." Miao Rou looked at Li Ping: "As far as I know, this is the same not only for Lingbao Pavilion, but also for other sects such as Wanfa Tower and Qianxing Tower."

Li Ping finally understood.

Lingbao Pavilion does have second-tier spirit wood, but the other party intends to refine it into magical artifacts and then sell them to obtain the greatest profit.

For example, the second-tier mid-grade spirit wood that Li Ping needs can be used to refine second-tier mid-grade magic weapons, or talismans of the corresponding grade. In this way, its value increases many times over.

Therefore, the other party naturally refused to sell the spirit wood directly.

After figuring it out, Li Ping couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

It seems that if he wants to obtain the spirit wood, he can only try to buy it directly from independent cultivators.

The independent cultivators are not capable of further processing the spirit wood. Even if they are unwilling, they can only sell it at a low price. If Li Ping offers a slightly higher price than the merchant guild, those independent cultivators will probably not refuse to trade with him.

The problem is that even in the Cloud Mist Mountains, spirit wood of the second rank is extremely rare, and he also needs a three-foot-long section.

Such spiritual materials are not produced frequently, and he may have to wait a long time.

Furthermore, at that time, they will have to compete with major chambers of commerce for bids.

Alternatively, he could offer double or even more, willingly letting these large merchant guilds rip him off, in which case they might be willing to sell him spirit wood.

In other words, for Li Ping now, if he wants a mid-grade second-tier spirit wood, he either needs to spend time or spend spirit stones.

Thinking of this, his brows furrowed involuntarily.

……

Seeing Li Ping frown, Miao Rou suddenly spoke up: "Fellow Daoist Li, if you really need second-grade mid-level spirit wood urgently, I do have a way."

"Oh?" Li Ping raised his eyebrows. "I'd like to hear the details."

Meeting Li Ping's gaze, the woman deliberately stretched her body, revealing her ample chest and slender waist to him.

Then, she sighed and said softly, "Our sect recently acquired a batch of spiritual materials that need to be sent back to Chi Kingdom. I was originally supposed to escort these materials, but I've recently reached a critical point in cultivating a secret technique and am unable to leave. If Fellow Daoist Li could go in my place, I'm willing to accept punishment and sell a mid-grade second-tier spiritual wood to you at the acquisition price."

After saying this, the woman looked at Li Ping with eyes full of longing.

Her eyes seemed to be implying to Li Ping that if he agreed to her request, he would be doing her a huge favor, and the two of them might be able to develop a more intimate relationship.

In Miao Rou's eyes, this offer was extremely generous.

Li Ping only needs to escort one shipment of supplies to purchase a mid-grade second-tier spirit wood at a low price, saving several hundred spirit stones. Furthermore, he'll gain the favor of this elegant Foundation Establishment female cultivator, potentially leading to a closer relationship with her in the future.

What reason could Li Ping have not to agree?

Little did she know that the moment she finished speaking, Li Ping immediately became wary.

Previously, after suspecting that he might inadvertently get involved in the conflict between Core Formation level forces, Li Ping made up his mind never to leave the Immortal City.

Because of this worry, he even gave up his plan to return to Jiang Kingdom to see his master one last time.

Now, this woman Miao Rou actually wants to use spirit wood as payment to make him make a trip to the Kingdom of Chi?

Was it unintentional on the other party's part, or was it a deliberate attempt to trick him into leaving the city?

Could Lin Yue's incident be related to the Sword Washing Pool?

……

Many questions flashed through Li Ping's mind. He shook his head inwardly. No matter what the other party was planning, he would not leave the Immortal City until the time was right.

As for when the time will come?

In Li Ping's view, his situation would change in both cases, and by then no one would care about his whereabouts, and he would be safe.

One reason is that Dai Sangyu killed the mysterious person who harmed Lin Yue, achieving a state of mental perfection and breaking through to the Core Formation stage.

Secondly, the mysterious person was never discovered, preventing Dai Sangyu from achieving a state of inner peace, and he ultimately passed away with regret.

As far as Li Ping knew, Dai Sangyu was already over 170 years old, so even in the worst-case scenario, he could only live for about 30 more years at most.

As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he could afford to stay home for a short time.

Anyway, resources are plentiful in the Immortal City, so staying in the Immortal City will not affect his Foundation Establishment stage cultivation.

After pondering for a moment, Li Ping looked at Miao Rou and shook his head: "I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you, Fairy. I've been very busy lately and probably won't have time to make the trip for you."

Upon hearing Li Ping's words, Miao Rou couldn't help but show surprise, seemingly not expecting Li Ping to refuse so decisively.

Before she could offer further persuasion, Li Ping had already taken out 300 spirit stones from his storage bag and said, "Forget about the spirit wood. These are the spirit stones I used to buy the talisman ink. Please take a look, Fairy. As for the escort, Fairy, you should find someone else."

Miao Rou opened her mouth, but in the end she didn't say anything. Instead, she smiled and accepted the spirit stones, and brought Li Ping a mid-grade talisman ink of the third rank, second level.

After verifying that everything was correct, Li Ping put the talisman ink into his storage bag.

He cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, then turned and left without hesitation.