txolops Chapter 242 This is prudence, not cowardice.
Chapter 242 This is prudence, not cowardice.
in fact.
Li Ping is in a hurry to return to the Flying Snow Sect, not to seek any benefits.
With his current combat strength and wealth, it would be much easier for him to find a place to cultivate in seclusion and not participate in the reconstruction of the Flying Snow Sect.
The reason he came to the Flying Snow Sect.
They planned to take the initiative to refine a batch of pills to treat injuries for the Flying Snow Sect.
After all, Shi Yutong promised to lend him a third-tier spiritual pulse to help him form his core, and he also hoped to maintain a good relationship with the Flying Snow Sect.
As for his previous escape?
As I said before, Li Ping cultivates immortality for the sake of longevity, and his own safety is always his top priority, no matter the circumstances.
With rogue cultivators attacking sects and the situation so chaotic, Li Ping naturally chose to avoid their attacks first.
His relationship with Shi Yutong was not enough for him to risk his life for her.
"Cough cough..."
Li Ping coughed twice, about to say something, when a gaunt old man in a gray-white robe noticed the commotion and flew over.
Upon seeing Li Ping from afar, his face immediately lit up with joy: "Master Li, it's so good that you're alright."
Li Ping looked up at the source of the sound and immediately recognized the person as Mei Hao, the Foundation Establishment cultivator who had once asked him to refine pills.
As the logistics steward of the Flying Snow Sect, Mei Hao had dealt with Li Ping many times over the years and had developed a good relationship with him.
Moreover, after the great battle, the injured cultivators of the Flying Snow Sect urgently needed elixirs to heal their wounds. Li Ping's appearance at this time was like sending charcoal in snowy weather to the Flying Snow Sect.
With him refining the pills, the Flying Snow Sect can recover its strength more quickly.
Therefore, Mei Hao was naturally overjoyed.
He smiled and said, "Master Li, please follow me. The sect leader is eager to see you."
When Mei Hao invited Li Ping, the young Foundation Establishment cultivator's eyes were defiant: "Senior Brother Mei, he ran away alone when our sect was in danger. What right does he have to visit our sect now!"
Upon hearing the young Foundation Establishment cultivator's words, Mei Hao immediately straightened his face and rebuked him, "What nonsense are you spouting!"
Before the young cultivator could retort, he continued to scold, "Alchemist Li is a friend of my Flying Snow Sect. If it weren't for his intervention, my Flying Snow Sect might have been wiped out. How could you be so disrespectful to him? Apologize to Alchemist Li now!"
As the steward in charge of logistics, he was naturally aware that Shi Yutong had collected spiritual herbs and asked Li Ping to refine the "Mysterious Heart Pill".
He knew very well that if Li Ping hadn't successfully refined the "Mysterious Heart Pill" and cured Qianxue Zhenren's mental demons, allowing Qianxue Zhenren to awaken in the emergency, it would have been a huge loss.
The Flying Snow Sect is probably in ruins now.
They were either fleeing for their lives or perishing; how could they possibly have the chance to chat here openly?
As for Li Ping not participating in the defense of Feixue Sect, but taking the opportunity to run away... Mei Hao thought this was normal. Li Ping was not a cultivator of Feixue Sect, so how could he be expected to risk his life for Feixue Sect?
He simply kept to himself and didn't take advantage of the situation, which already demonstrates his high moral character.
After being reprimanded by Mei Hao, the young Foundation Establishment cultivator fell silent.
However, he also refused to apologize.
Mei Hao was about to speak again when Li Ping shook his head and stopped him, saying, "Fellow Daoist Mei, take me to see Sect Leader Shi."
He's not that petty; he wouldn't hold a grudge against a junior.
"Master Li is magnanimous and won't stoop to your level. You should reflect on your actions!" Mei Hao scolded the young Foundation Establishment cultivator a few more times before smiling and leading Li Ping toward the core hall.
The two chatted as they flew.
Li Ping learned from him that after the sect's protective formation was broken, the Flying Snow Sect was truly facing annihilation. Fortunately, True Person Qianxue woke up in time, thus saving the Flying Snow Sect from its predicament.
Those rogue cultivators who failed to escape in time all died at the hands of Master Qianxue after being trapped by her magic treasures, which allowed them to finally vent their anger.
Of course, this chaos will eventually subside.
Both the Flying Snow Sect and the main city of Flying Snow have suffered heavy losses, and it will be difficult for them to recover to their former glory in less than several hundred years.
"By the way, Master Li, Junior Brother Deng's elder brother died in the previous battle." Mei Hao said, then suddenly sighed and said softly, "He was raised by his elder brother and has a deep affection for him, so his attitude towards you was a bit bad before. I hope you will be magnanimous and not blame him for it."
Li Ping nodded: "I can understand the grief of losing loved ones in battle."
Mei Hao breathed a sigh of relief.
If Li Ping were just an ordinary late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, then evil would be evil.
However, he is a high-level alchemist capable of refining third-tier pills, and his friendship is very important to the Flying Snow Sect.
To put it bluntly...
If Master Yixue were to relapse, Li Ping would still need to refine elixirs to cure her.
Mei Hao thought to himself.
The two soon arrived at the sect's main hall, but Shi Yutong was not there, and they had come to nothing.
Mei Hao grabbed a Qi Refining disciple beside him and asked him where the sect leader was. He learned from the disciple that there was a problem with the medicine garden guarded by Uncle Lei, and even Uncle Lei himself had an accident. The sect leader had personally gone to the medicine garden to check and deal with it.
"Something happened to Senior Sister Lei?"
Mei Hao was shocked and didn't bother to ask for more details. Instead, he looked at Li Ping and said, "Fellow Daoist Li, I'm really sorry. The sect leader is probably too busy to see you for the time being. Why don't you go back to your residence and cultivate? The sect leader will visit you personally when he has time."
……
After a hasty farewell to Li Ping, Mei Hao hurriedly left.
"Who is that Senior Sister Lei?"
As Li Ping returned to the palace, he pondered silently.
From Mei Hao's words and actions, he could sense that Senior Sister Lei and the herb garden she guarded must be very important to the Flying Snow Sect and to Shi Yutong.
After all, she had abandoned everything to check on Senior Sister Lei's situation when the sect was in dire need of rebuilding.
However, this matter had nothing to do with Li Ping, and after thinking about it for a while without any clue, he let it go.
Returning to his main hall, Li Ping used magic to clean the hall before sitting cross-legged to continue his cultivation.
The spiritual energy concentration in his hall can reach the third level, so he can achieve the same cultivation effect without using the Spirit Eye Jade.
Several days passed in this manner.
Shi Yutong didn't come to visit him; instead, Ji Shuxuan did.
"Uncle Li, it's so good that you're alright." The hunched old man was overjoyed to see that Li Ping was unharmed.
Li Ping smiled and nodded, gesturing for him to sit down before continuing the conversation.
Actually, when the Flying Snow Sect's protective formation was broken, he was still somewhat worried about Ji Shuxuan's family.
Seeing that Ji Shuxuan looked normal, it was clear that his family was doing well.
Sure enough, during the ensuing casual conversation, when the topic turned to the previous chaos within the sect, Ji Shuxuan's eyes were filled with relief.
He said with lingering fear, "I lived in the outer area of the sect with Yunmei and the eldest and second eldest brothers. When the sect's formation broke, a large number of rogue cultivators with bloodshot eyes rushed in. I immediately thought of Uncle Li's usual cowardice, so instead of retreating to the core of the sect like the others, the whole family retreated to a low-level herb garden on the outer edge."
"After successfully reuniting with the remaining cultivators there, we not only didn't encounter any danger, but we also killed several rogue cultivators who tried to plunder the herb garden. We were rewarded for our merits. On the other hand, those who went to the core of the sect to take refuge suffered heavy casualties, and many homes were decorated with white banners."
Li Ping nodded slightly, believing that Ji Shuxuan's choice at the time was correct.
The core area of the sect contains important buildings such as the secret vault, and gathers most of the Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Flying Snow Sect.
In their panic and unease, the first reaction of those low-level cultivators was to turn to Foundation Establishment cultivators for protection.
If they were facing an enemy capable of annihilating their sect, their choice would be perfectly reasonable.
Low-level cultivators are easily captured and killed by high-level enemy cultivators when acting alone.
But they didn't understand that this time, the rogue cultivators weren't coming to wipe out the Flying Snow Sect; they were simply after the zero-yuan purchase.
Naturally, in order to seize more treasures, the large group of rogue cultivators rushed straight to the core area of the Flying Snow Sect without hesitation. As a result, those low-level cultivators who were frantically seeking protection ran right into the trap, and many of them died at the hands of the rogue cultivators.
On the contrary, Ji Shuxuan led his family to hide in a low-level medicinal garden with little value, where they only had to deal with some Qi Refining rogue cultivators.
Relying on the array formation in the herb garden, they were able to deal with it with ease.
The safest course of action would be to follow Li Ping's example and leave the Flying Snow Sect's territory without getting involved.
However, Ji Shuxuan's third son was a disciple of the Flying Snow Sect. They were considered half members of the Flying Snow Sect and had the responsibility to protect the sect. They couldn't run away like Li Ping without any psychological burden.
You can't just pack up and leave.
Having enjoyed the benefits provided by the sect, one naturally needs to bear the corresponding responsibilities.
But this kid called him a coward?
Li Ping glanced at Ji Shuxuan and said calmly, "Shuxuan, you did the right thing. Only the living have the right to talk about the future. But there's one thing I must correct you on: I'm not being cowardly... I'm being prudent, understand?"
"Understood, understood." Ji Shuxuan quickly apologized, "It was Shuxuan who spoke without thinking. Please forgive me, Uncle Li. You are very prudent!"
Li Ping nodded in satisfaction: "Hmm."
Not long after Ji Shuxuan left, Mei Hao personally came to visit him.
He sent over a batch of medicinal herbs, asking Li Ping to help refine them into pills.
Seeing that he didn't look well, Li Ping casually asked him a few questions and learned the truth from him.
It turns out that Senior Sister Lei was Shi Yutong's teacher who taught her to read and practice Qi cultivation since she was a child. Before this, she had taken on a task to take care of a spiritual object.
In the chaos that followed, not only was the spirit lost, but she herself also perished.
Her death left Shi Yutong in a bad mood, and she had rarely gone out in the past few days, which was why she hadn't come to visit Li Ping.
Li Ping suddenly realized.
After informing Li Ping of this, Mei Hao hurriedly left.
Clearly, he was very busy with logistics duties during the sect's post-disaster reconstruction.
Li Ping didn't take it seriously and continued refining pills while cultivating his spiritual practice.
Li Ping didn't take it seriously and continued refining pills while cultivating his spiritual practice.
Several months have passed in the blink of an eye, and the year is coming to an end.
With several dozen days left until the New Year, Shi Yutong finally emerged from the gloom and personally visited him in the palace.
It has been almost half a year since we last met.
Shi Yutong looked much more haggard and mature.
Upon seeing Li Ping, she forced a smile: "Brother Li, I'm so sorry. I've been too busy lately, and some unspeakable things have happened. I've neglected you."
Li Ping nodded slightly.