Chapter 118: Undercover?

Chapter 118: Chapter 118: Undercover?

’What a shame I fed the thousand-year-old Jade Frost Grass to the legacy tree!’

Thinking of this, Li Ping couldn’t help but sigh.

Back then, he had been too hasty.

As soon as he gathered the materials, he had eagerly inherited the Tier Three Pill Master techniques, wasting that thousand-year-old Jade Frost Grass in the process.

In truth, he shouldn’t have used a thousand-year-old Spirit Grass with such special effects so casually. It was a real pity.

After all, if he hadn’t used it, he should have been able to get a golden Bloodline Fruit every hundred years or so.

Although he had saved the seeds of the Jade Frost Grass before the inheritance and planted them shortly after returning to Immortal Peach Mountain...

...the Bloodline Fruits produced from ten-year-old or hundred-year-old Jade Frost Grass were completely useless to Spirit Beasts of Tier Three and above.

To get another thousand-year-old Jade Frost Grass, he would have to wait another thousand years.

And a Nascent Soul Cultivator’s lifespan was only about a thousand years.

’I must be more careful in the future,’ Li Ping reminded himself.

...

Before he knew it, more than a year had passed since Li Ping’s return to Immortal Peach Mountain, and it was time for the Friends Association’s year-end gathering.

Due to Qi Hanmo’s departure, only five people were left for this gathering, making the scene feel a little deserted.

Li Ping and Zhang Tie, the two Foundation Establishment Cultivators, were a given.

Gumu Sheng’s cultivation was still at the Qi Refining Eighth Level. He estimated that he might be able to attempt a breakthrough to the Qi Refining Ninth Level next year.

This year, Cheng Yao had finally gotten her wish and successfully broken through to the Qi Refining Eighth Level, catching up to Gumu Sheng’s cultivation.

This wasn’t surprising. She had Three Spirit Roots, so her Spiritual Root aptitude was inherently better than Gumu Sheng’s, and her cultivation speed was naturally faster.

Honestly, from Li Ping’s perspective, for her to only be breaking through now was actually a bit slow.

Bai Qing, who was at the Qi Refining Fifth Level last year, had successfully broken through to the Qi Refining Sixth Level this year, taking a solid step toward the Late-stage Qi Refining.

Moreover, he had finally made a breakthrough in his Pharmacist skills, becoming a Tier One Lower Grade Pharmacist.

Both Pharmacists and Physicians specialized in treating Cultivators, but their focuses and methods were different.

Pharmacists excelled at using various medicinal herbs for internal administration to treat a Cultivator’s internal injuries, while Physicians mainly used their own Magical Power to treat external wounds.

As a Tier One Lower Grade Pharmacist, Bai Qing now had a promising future, whether he chose to focus on healing or switch to Alchemy.

However, Li Ping noticed that Bai Qing’s spirits were low, as if something was weighing on his mind.

...

This year, due to Qi Hanmo’s departure, the contribution to the Foundation Establishment Fund dropped to five hundred fifty Spirit Stones.

The total amount in the fund now stood at one thousand five hundred forty Spirit Stones.

Nearby, Zhang Tie felt a little ashamed. After his big brother had broken through to Foundation Establishment, he had contributed three hundred Spirit Stones every year.

He hadn’t thought much of it before.

But after breaking through and becoming a Foundation Establishment Cultivator himself, he realized his big brother was no ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

Even though he had become a disciple of Fenglan Master and could receive an additional stipend of one hundred Spirit Stones from the Immortal City each year, his total annual income still didn’t reach three hundred Spirit Stones.

If he were to follow his big brother’s example and contribute three hundred Spirit Stones annually, he would probably be in the red.

Of course, according to the rules they originally set, as an Early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, he only needed to contribute one hundred Spirit Stones per year.

After the standard proceedings of the meeting were finished, it was time for everyone to speak in turn.

With another year passed, Zhang Tie had gradually grown accustomed to his status as a Foundation Establishment senior, and his demeanor had become increasingly composed.

After becoming a son-in-law of the Meng family, he and the Meng family were effectively one entity, at least on the level of the Immortal City.

After learning that he planned to study Artifact Refining, the Meng family’s old ancestor personally stepped in to arrange a logistics management job for him at an artifact refining workshop.

This way, he could collect his stipend from the Immortal City while focusing on his Artifact Refining studies.

Li Ping nodded.

He knew that Fenglan Master had only taken Zhang Tie as a disciple as a means of control and didn’t actually care about him. Zhang Tie hadn’t even seen his master since the apprenticeship ceremony.

But Zhang Tie had a simple and honest personality, so he didn’t mind being ignored by his master.

Besides, his wife was about to give birth, and he would soon welcome his first child.

Bogged down by personal matters, he had no time to get involved in the affairs of the Immortal City. If Fenglan Master had actually valued him highly and assigned him important duties, he would have been overwhelmed instead.

Gumu Sheng told everyone that, as they had discussed last year, he had given all the Spirit Stones left by Teng Feng to He Yunyi, the Cultivator from Teng Feng’s village.

Furthermore, he would continue to check on He Yunyi’s situation from time to time to ensure he didn’t go astray.

After Gumu Sheng finished speaking, Li Ping nodded and turned his gaze to Cheng Yao.

Everything was normal with Cheng Yao, though her condition seemed much better than last year.

Of course, what the others didn’t know was that after selling her Magic Robe last year, Cheng Yao had now sold the Beauty Pills she had bought from Bai Lin.

One bottle of Beauty Pills contained twelve pills. For the past six years, Cheng Yao had taken one pill each year to maintain her youthful appearance.

To maintain her cash flow, she had been forced to sell the remaining half last year for Spirit Stones.

With the fifty-some Spirit Stones she got from selling the Beauty Pills, Cheng Yao wouldn’t have to worry about cash flow for the next three to four years.

With her anxiety gone, her condition naturally improved.

Last was Bai Qing. Aside from his breakthrough in Pharmacist skills, he didn’t say much else.

Although it was clear he had something on his mind, he didn’t bring it up, and Li Ping couldn’t very well pry. He could only wait for Bai Lin to return after the new year and ask her about it.

After everyone had spoken, Zhang Tie once again lectured and answered questions for the remaining three.

At daybreak, Li Ping cheerfully took out some Pills and distributed them to the three.

Afterward, Zhang Tie and the other three departed.

...

「After the new year, Bai Lin returned.」

Li Ping asked her about Bai Qing.

Bai Lin pondered for a moment before saying uncertainly, "Perhaps it’s because Uncle Mingyu passed away?"

Bai Mingyu was a Late-stage Qi Refining cultivator from the Bai family. He was also Bai Qing’s father.

Two years ago, Bai Mingyu came to the Immortal City and tried to take Bai Qing back to Gaoji Mountain to inherit the family business. After Bai Qing refused, he even came to Immortal Peach Mountain to pay a visit to Li Ping.

He had tried to ask Li Ping to step in and persuade Bai Qing to return home and take over the inheritance.

However, after hearing the whole story, Li Ping refused him without the slightest hesitation and warned him not to use any underhanded tactics on Bai Qing.

Warned by a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, Bai Mingyu of course didn’t dare to try anything funny again and could only return to Gaoji Mountain dejectedly.

He finally passed away last year when his lifespan ran out.

Hearing Bai Lin’s words, Li Ping came to a sudden realization.

He could understand Bai Qing quite well. His father had been very irresponsible, and there was no affection between them. In fact, Bai Qing held a great deal of resentment toward him.

But no matter the reasons, that man was still his father.

Now that his father had passed away, his feelings were probably extremely complicated.

Seeing Li Ping’s interest, Bai Lin explained further, "In Uncle Mingyu’s branch of the family, there are no other Late-stage Qi Refining cultivators besides him. Of the four remaining cultivators, two are still young, and the other two have Five Spirit Roots and are only at the Qi Refining Fourth Level. That’s why Uncle Mingyu was always worried about what would happen after he was gone."

Li Ping nodded to show he understood.

Resources were limited.

So, even in a Cultivation Clan that presented a united front to the outside world, internal conflicts over resources were bound to erupt. It was a simple reality.

Otherwise, Bai Mingyu wouldn’t have been so anxious to have Bai Qing return and inherit the family business.

Li Ping shook his head, clearing the matter from his mind, and turned to walk into the Alchemy Room.

...

「In the restaurant.」

Yan Hengchuan unceremoniously dumped all the tasks at hand on Yan Liming. "Little He, I’m heading out for a bit. I’m leaving the rest of this to you!"

During this time, with his penchant for stirring up trouble, he had long since started treating He Yunyi, whose cultivation was weaker than his, as a personal lackey.

Yan Liming nodded and agreed in a low voice.

Meanwhile, he was roaring internally, ’You junior, how dare you order me around like this! Sooner or later, I will perform Soul Extraction and Essence Refining on you!’

’To think that I, a dignified Core Formation Cultivator, a titan of the Demon Dao, would be ordered around by others!’

In reality, although he had just broken through to the Qi Refining Second Level and his Magical Power was weaker than Yan Hengchuan’s, with his methods as a Core Formation Cultivator, he had ten thousand ways to make Yan Hengchuan disappear.

However, he didn’t dare to do so, because Yan Hengchuan had an elder in the Foundation Establishment Stage, and this Foundation Establishment Cultivator cared a great deal about Yan Hengchuan.

If Yan Hengchuan were to disappear for no reason, he would attract the attention of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

To his former self, a Foundation Establishment Cultivator was something he could crush with a flick of his hand.

But now, he truly didn’t dare to provoke a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

’Junior, just you wait... HEH HEH HEH—’

A ladle rapping him on the head interrupted Yan Liming’s inner monologue.

It was Spirit Chef Mo, who scolded, "What are you grinning foolishly for? Get back to work!"

Yan Liming was silent for a moment before slowly walking away. Spirit Chef Mo, still muttering curses nearby, was completely unaware that he had just taken a stroll past the gates of hell.

He didn’t know that if Yan Liming wasn’t trying to prevent any abnormalities that might expose his identity, he would have killed him long ago.

...

"Not bad, not bad!"

In his Immortal Peach Mountain cave-dwelling, Li Ping couldn’t help but smile as he looked at the two youths who had come to pay their respects.

Yan Hengchuan was still at the Qi Refining Second Level, but Ji Shu Xuan had already broken through to the Qi Refining Third Level.

Evidently, both youths had been cultivating diligently and hadn’t wasted their time.

...

After accepting the Pills and giving their thanks, Yan Hengchuan and Ji Shu Xuan finally left Immortal Peach Mountain.

On the way, Yan Hengchuan told his friend about his discovery. He said in a low voice, "Little Xuan, I suspect that He Yunyi, the apprentice who works with me, might be a spy from another restaurant, sent specifically to steal Spirit Chef Mo’s techniques."

Hearing this, Ji Shu Xuan frowned. "Hengchuan, you can’t just accuse someone without reason. Do you have any proof?"

Yan Hengchuan shook his head. "I don’t have proof, but he just seems off to me. He doesn’t make a peep even when Spirit Chef Mo bullies him like that. If it were me, I would’ve slapped him a few times by now. For him to swallow his anger like that, he must be plotting something!"

"We have Elder Li looking out for us, so of course you dare to disregard Spirit Chef Mo," Ji Shu Xuan said with a smile. "How could someone like him, with no background, dare to offend Spirit Chef Mo?"

Hearing this, Yan Hengchuan hesitated. "What you’re saying does seem to make sense."

But then he added excitedly, "But if he is a spy, I’m definitely going to be the one to expose him."