txolops Chapter 193 The Far North
Chapter 193 The Far North
Xiaomeishan
After paying his respects to Master Ji and discussing the matter of the underground spiritual veins with Ji Shuchen, Li Ping left satisfied.
The Phantom Shuttle transformed into a black streak of light and flew towards the Sword Forging Manor.
The third senior brother, Yan Jingxing, and Yan Hengchuan were both there at that moment.
For Yan Hengchuan, since he doesn't plan to continue cultivating in the short term, whether or not there is a spiritual land is actually irrelevant.
Even if you stay in the mortal realm, as long as you don't waste your magical power recklessly, you don't need to worry about the depletion of your magical power.
Of course, even if one's mana is excessively depleted, it can be restored using spirit stones and pills.
However, if one wants to improve their cultivation level, then a spiritual place is necessary.
Relying solely on spirit stones and pills will not lead to any improvement in cultivation.
……
Li Ping did not deliberately conceal his movements, so the Phantom Shuttle was discovered by Yan Hengchuan as soon as it flew over the Sword Forging Manor.
He flew out of the manor and saw that it was Li Ping. His face lit up with joy: "Grandmaster, you're back!"
Li Ping nodded slightly: "Yes, you're getting married soon, so of course I had to come back."
"Hehe!" Upon hearing this, Yan Hengchuan smiled smugly before leading Li Ping into the Sword Casting Manor.
His third senior brother, Yan Jingxing, and his group were already waiting for him inside the mansion.
Nearly thirty years have passed since Li Ping last returned to the Sword Casting Manor.
When he last returned, Yan Jingxing was already a little old man with graying hair and beard. Now, so many years have passed, and he is nearly ninety years old, already very old, with cloudy eyes and his face covered with age spots the size of coins.
The mortals in the world of cultivation cannot be compared to those in modern society.
At Yan Jingxing's age, he is truly a centenarian.
If Li Ping hadn't secretly nurtured his life essence with the power of the Nourishing Life Technique, he probably wouldn't have lived to be this old.
Supported by two juniors, Yan Jingxing called out shakily, "Junior Brother."
In his eyes, Li Ping's appearance was almost exactly the same as it had been thirty years ago, without any change. He was still as young and dashing as ever.
Time has left no trace on Li Ping.
"Third Senior Brother, it's me who's back," Li Ping said with a smile.
Hearing Li Ping's voice, Yan Jingxing's spirits improved considerably: "Good, good... it's good that you're back."
"Grandpa, let's go inside and talk."
At Yan Hengchuan's signal, the two younger men helped Yan Jingxing into the house to rest.
Yan Hengchuan then smiled and said, "Grandpa has been looking forward to it ever since he heard that Grandmaster might come back."
Li Ping sighed and didn't say anything more.
He could tell that Yan Jingxing's time was up.
This was the true end of his lifespan, and even if he used the power of the Nourishing Life Technique to nurture his third senior brother, it would be of no use.
Third Senior Brother is aging too quickly. Unless he stays by his side every day and infuses him with the power of the health-preserving mantra, he might be able to extend his lifespan by about ten years.
However, he will not choose to do that.
Not to mention that this would delay his own cultivation, what would be the point of the third senior brother continuing to prolong his life for another ten years?
Birth, aging, sickness, and death are the natural order of things; how can mortals defy it?
……
After paying respects to his master, Li Ping settled down at the Sword Casting Manor.
During this time, he took the initiative to ask Yan Hengchuan about his future plans.
Yan Hengchuan frankly admitted that the Ji and Yan families currently only have a total of about twenty cultivators, and the two existing spiritual lands are enough to accommodate them.
He himself planned to move to Bifeng Lake to live with Yu Peiling after the marriage, where there was a ready-made second-order spiritual vein for him to cultivate.
Of course, he was not a son-in-law who married into the family.
If the Ji and Yan families have more cultivators in the future, he might step forward to rent a second-tier spiritual land from the Jiang family for the family's development.
Li Ping also agreed with his approach, believing that managing the family business slowly and steadily was the right thing to do.
The Ji and Yan families have too few cultivators; there's really no need for them to forcibly rent a second-tier spiritual land. A second-tier spiritual land requires at least a hundred Qi Refining cultivators to manage, and the two families' resources are far from sufficient.
At the end of the conversation, Li Ping also told him about Ji Shuxuan's disappearance.
Yan Hengchuan and Ji Shuxuan were sent to the Immortal City when they were young to cultivate and grow up together, and their relationship was even closer than that of Ji Shuchen.
Upon hearing that Ji Shuxuan had gone missing, Yan Hengchuan became anxious.
When Ji Shuxuan wrote to him mentioning his plan to go to Yan State to try his luck at Foundation Establishment, he was actually very opposed to it. But Ji Shuxuan had made up his mind, and no amount of persuasion from anyone could change it.
He suspected that his own foundation-building achievement had provoked Ji Shuxuan, and worried that if he continued to persuade him, Ji Shuxuan would think that he couldn't stand his progress, so he didn't persist in trying to persuade him.
Now, Ji Shuxuan has really gotten into trouble.
"Since no body has been found, Shuxuan might still be alive," Yan Hengchuan comforted himself.
……
In a desolate place tens of thousands of miles north of the State of Yan.
A gray streak of light flew slowly towards the north. Upon closer inspection, it could be seen that this gray streak of light was actually a gray flying boat.
Inside the flying boat were three figures. Two of them were sitting cross-legged, while the third was controlling the flying boat to move forward.
Inside the flying boat were three figures. Two of them were sitting cross-legged, while the third was controlling the flying boat to move forward.
Suddenly—
The handsome young man among the two figures opened his eyes, and the instant he did so, his gaze pierced through the void like a sharp sword.
He stood up and smiled at the figure piloting the flying boat: "Senior sister, you must be tired after piloting the flying boat for several days in a row. Let me take over, you can rest for a while."
"Okay." The female cultivator operating the flying boat nodded and made way for her.
If Li Ping were here, he would recognize at a glance that the three people on the flying boat were Xu Guike, Lin Yue, and A Yun, who had mysteriously disappeared during the Yan Kingdom War.
As soon as Lin Yueyi moved aside, the flying boat paused slightly, but Xu Guike immediately took control, and the flying boat continued to fly north at a constant speed.
"Junior brother, does this mean we've deserted the battlefield?" Lin Yue said in a low voice, her voice tinged with frustration.
At first, when Xu Guike was preparing to flee the battlefield, she disagreed, but she was weak-willed and could not go against her junior brother, so in the end she could only let him take her away.
The thought that the cultivators who had arrived in Yan with them were still fighting the Turks while they had secretly slipped away made her feel guilty.
Xu Guike shook his head: "Senior sister, didn't I already explain to you? We're not deserters; at most, we've just successfully escaped danger and aren't getting involved in their affairs."
He paused, then explained, "Our master and grandmaster were both killed by them under some pretext. We have an irreconcilable hatred for them. If we stay in Yan and fight the Turks without regard for our own lives, aren't we serving our enemies? If our master finds out, he will really blame us."
Lin Yue still looked somewhat conflicted. She had spent a long time with Qi Hanmo and had unconsciously learned his logical thinking.
After thinking for a moment, she spoke again: "But right now, alien races are invading the Western Wilderness. If we just leave like this, what if the Western Wilderness falls?"
Xu Guike was speechless. His senior sister was good in every way, but why was she so naive?
After thinking for a moment, he patiently explained, "Even if the Western Wilderness really falls, it's not something that two Foundation Establishment cultivators like us can stop."
"But..." Lin Yue hadn't finished speaking.
Xu Guike interrupted her directly: "Senior Sister, you always consider the big picture, but did they consider the big picture? Master, Grandmaster, and Little Azure Dragon, three Core Formation cultivators, could have turned the tide of a local battle, yet they were murdered on charges of colluding with demonic cultivators. They didn't consider the big picture at all, so why should we risk our lives for them?"
He looked at Lin Yue: "Do you really believe that Master colluded with demonic cultivators to kill Grandmaster?"
Lin Yue looked up: "How is that possible!"
Xu Guike's gaze was resolute: "Therefore, we must strive to cultivate and achieve the Core Formation stage before returning to avenge our master and grandmaster. How can we waste our lives in a place like Yan Kingdom!"
He chuckled and advised, "Alright, Senior Sister, you should quickly meditate and recover your magical power. The journey to the far north is at least several million miles; it won't be a short trip!"
Lin Yue obediently went to meditate to recover her magical power.
Xu Guike stared ahead, a thoughtful look in his eyes.
When he left the Immortal City to provide support to the Yan Kingdom, Li Ping reminded him that he could seek refuge under the Weidao Alliance at Jixia Academy.
At first, he did intend to do so, and Senior Sister Lin Yue also had great faith in those Confucian cultivators.
But later, he changed his mind.
Because he thought of his master, who had believed the mediation of the Weidao Alliance and the promise of Alliance Leader Xiao.
The results of it?
She died alongside her grandmaster at Qinglong Mountain, yet the Defenders Alliance did nothing.
Perhaps the Defenders Alliance is under pressure from the four major demonic sects and the Turks, and cannot spare the resources; perhaps they need something from Purple Cloud Valley, so they have temporarily shelved the matter; perhaps...
But no matter how many reasons they have, they cannot cover up the fact that they stood idly by when their master was murdered.
How could Xu Guike possibly entrust his life and safety to the protection of the Weidao Alliance?
What if the other party is willing to sacrifice themselves to win over Ziyun Valley for the sake of the bigger picture?
However, he thought Li Ping was right about one thing.
It's fine with the others, but he and Lin Yue can no longer return to Immortal City.
Staying in Yan would only lead to certain death sooner or later.
In the end, Xu Guike decided to leave the Western Wilderness with his senior sister and Sister Ayun and go to the far north to cultivate. He would return to the Western Wilderness to take revenge after he had formed his core.
It was precisely because of the large-scale southward migration of the Turks that the interior of the steppe became vulnerable, giving him the opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
Therefore, during one of his missions, he used the second-tier high-grade spirit talisman given to him by Li Ping to decisively launch a sneak attack and kill another Foundation Establishment cultivator and four Qi Refining cultivators who were on the mission with him.
He led Lin Yue and A Yun and fled into the grasslands.
The cultivators who were on the mission with him were all from the three sects, including Ziyun Valley. By killing them, he could consider it a way of collecting some interest first.
"The far north is said to have even worse cultivation conditions than the western wilderness. It is the domain of alien races, while the human race is a small force."
After flying for two days, the airship still found itself in an endless expanse of desert and grassland.
Suddenly—
"Huh, it's him?"
Xu Guike scanned the Turo tribe below with his divine sense, a strange look appearing in his eyes.