Chapter 147: Chapter 147: Developing Outside the City

Donghua Mountain, Jixia Immortal City.

Qi Hanmo slowly walked out of his seclusion chamber, an irrepressible smile on his face.

The aura emanating from him had clearly reached the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Not long ago, after cultivating to the Peak of Qi Refining, he had decisively chosen to enter seclusion to break through to Foundation Establishment.

Relying on the Foundation Establishment Pill and two Foundation Establishment Spiritual Objects provided by his master, he had successfully broken through the bottleneck and achieved Foundation Establishment.

From this day forward, he was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. His strength had soared, and his lifespan was now two hundred and forty years!

’I never thought that I, with my Four Spirit Roots, would one day succeed in reaching Foundation Establishment.’

Qi Hanmo was overcome with emotion. He prepared to first visit his master to share the good news of his breakthrough, and then he would make a trip back to Fenglan Immortal City.

When he went to see his master, his master was also very happy to see that he had successfully reached Foundation Establishment.

But in addition to his happiness, his master gave him a new mission: to head immediately to the front lines in the Yuan Kingdom and participate in the war between the Daoist Guardian Alliance and the four sects of the Demon Dao.

According to his master, as a disciple of a Core Formation Master, Qi Hanmo held a transcendent status among the cultivators of the Academy Palace. He had also used many of the Academy Palace’s resources free of charge to achieve Foundation Establishment.

Therefore, when the Academy Palace faced external enemies, he had to be more willing to lead the charge than the ordinary disciples, proving that he was worthy of the resources he had used and deserving of his status as a Core Formation Master’s disciple.

If blood was to be shed, the blood of a Core Formation Master’s disciple would be shed first.

Qi Hanmo deeply agreed with his master’s teachings. He temporarily abandoned his plan to return to Fenglan Immortal City and decided to go to the front lines in the Yuan Kingdom first. He would wait until the war between the Daoist Guardian Alliance and the four Demon Dao sects was over.

Of course, considering he had just reached Foundation Establishment and was not yet familiar with Magical Combat between Foundation Establishment Cultivators, he wouldn’t be sent directly to the front lines. His master would first arrange for him to treat cultivators whose Primordial Spirits had been injured.

Among the four Demon Dao sects, the Nine Nether Sect was most skilled in Soul Dao attacks. Many Daoist Guardian Alliance cultivators had been wounded by their Soul-Vibrating Spiritual Artifacts.

And when it came to healing Primordial Spirit injuries, Musicians were the most adept.

Next, Qi Hanmo took his Token to the Academy Palace’s Secret Skill Hall to select a suitable main Cultivation Technique. He chose a Tier Three Musician legacy.

Afterward, he made a special point of writing a letter to Li Ping, telling his big brother the news of his successful Foundation Establishment. He also explained that he couldn’t get away to visit him in the Immortal City for the time being and hoped he would understand.

At the end of the letter, Qi Hanmo added that a senior sister of his was looking for a Physician named Yan Buping. If his big brother had the time, he asked him to please keep an eye out for any news about Yan Buping.

He entrusted the letter to a traveling merchant association.

A few days later, Qi Hanmo departed for the Yuan Kingdom’s battlefront with a supply convoy from the Academy Palace. Needless to say, the journey was fraught with peril.

...

While Qi Hanmo was under orders to head to the front lines in the Yuan Kingdom, Li Ping was receiving Cheng Yao on Immortal Peach Mountain.

During a gathering before the new year, he had asked Cheng Yao to find out where Wang Li had originally purchased the main ingredients for the Foundation Establishment Pill. Cheng Yao was now here to report her findings.

"He bought them from the Ying Sea Commerce Association?"

Hearing Cheng Yao’s answer, a pensive look appeared in Li Ping’s eyes. He thought for a long while but realized he had never heard the name of this association before.

Li Ping couldn’t help but ask curiously, "Where is this Ying Sea Commerce Association?"

Unexpectedly, Cheng Yao also shook her head. "I don’t know. The current Clan Leader of the Wang family told me about it, but when I asked, he didn’t know the origins of the Ying Sea Commerce Association either. It seems the association only communicated directly with Wang Li."

Upon hearing this, Li Ping grew even more interested in the Ying Sea Commerce Association. However, the association was so mysterious that he had no way to investigate, so for now, he could only set his curiosity aside.

He would look into it later when he had the chance.

After finishing her report about the Ying Sea Commerce Association, Cheng Yao brought up another matter.

Apparently, ever since the Wang family’s scheme of defrauding Loose Cultivators was exposed, members of the Wang family were no longer permitted to hold any official positions in the Immortal City. Furthermore, to compensate the Loose Cultivators who claimed to have been swindled, the Wang family had been forced to sell off nearly all of their assets, including several shops in the Immortal City. They also now owed a considerable amount of Spirit Stones to the Meng family and several other Cultivation Clans.

Now, the Wang family was left with only a single Tier Two Spiritual Land.

However, this Spiritual Land was only large enough to house the Wang family’s cultivators and produced absolutely nothing.

The Wang family cultivators could either take on various menial jobs in the Immortal City to earn cultivation resources, faring worse than some Loose Cultivators, or they could just lie flat in their ancestral land and wait for their resources to run out.

In the eyes of the Wang family cultivators, their clan had always depended on the Immortal City for its existence, ever since its founding. Their ancestors had already endured all the necessary hardships when they followed Fenglan Master to build the city.

They shared a common destiny with the Immortal City.

Now that they were suddenly abandoned by the Immortal City and could no longer hold official positions, they had no stage to display their talents, even if they wanted to strive for more.

After Cheng Yao took control of the Wang family, the thought of the debts owed to the Meng family and other Cultivation Clans made her extremely agitated.

On top of that, the Wang family was in such a mess now that not only could it not provide resources for her and Wang Xingwei, the two Foundation Establishment Cultivators, but it actually required them to subsidize the clan.

The Qi Refining Cultivators were lying flat while the Foundation Establishment Cultivators toiled without complaint.

’This is unacceptable! It’s completely backward!’

What Cheng Yao told Li Ping was the solution she had come up with.

She believed that since Fenglan Master had already issued the order, then aside from her as a special exception, the rest of the Wang family, including Wang Xingwei, probably had no way of entering the Immortal City’s system.

Since there were no opportunities within the Immortal City, they would have to carve out a new future for themselves outside of it.

She planned to lead the Wang family cultivators out of the city to seize a Tier Two Spirit Vein and have the clan’s Qi Refining Cultivators manage it.

With a Tier Two Spirit Vein in hand, they just needed to manage it patiently. Not only could the Wang family’s Qi Refining Cultivators support themselves, but the surplus income could also be used to pay off the debts to the Meng family and others, as well as support the cultivation of the two Foundation Establishment Ancestors.

Finally, Cheng Yao said viciously, "They’d better all get to work obediently. If any of them dare to refuse, I’ll expel them all from the Wang family and let them fend for themselves!"

"Uh..."

Li Ping was speechless for a moment before asking, "Do you have a target in mind?"

There were many Tier Two Spirit Veins near the Immortal City, but they were all basically occupied by various Foundation Establishment Immortal Races. If she wanted to snatch one from them, a battle would be inevitable.

Further west, deep within the Cloud Mist Mountain Range, there were indeed many ownerless Tier Two Spirit Veins, although most were occupied by Demon Beast Races.

However, dealing with Tier Two Demon Beasts was certainly much easier than dealing with Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

But the problem was that the farther one went from the Immortal City, the greater the danger.

The area around the Immortal City was densely populated and guarded by a Core Formation Master, so Tier Three Spirit Beasts rarely appeared.

That wasn’t necessarily the case farther out. If a Tier Three Spirit Beast were to appear, not only would a century of the clan’s accumulation be wiped out, but the entire clan could be annihilated.

Li Ping guessed that Cheng Yao would still choose to target a Foundation Establishment Immortal Race near the Immortal City.

Hearing Li Ping’s question, Cheng Yao hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Big brother, actually, the Bai family’s Gaoji Mountain isn’t a bad choice. The Bai family’s ancestor is old, but, big brother, you..."

Cheng Yao didn’t finish her sentence, but Li Ping understood what she meant.

When seizing a Spiritual Land, one would definitely choose to pick on the weak.

The Bai family’s ancestor was not far from passing away—a prime member of the retirement home. The risk of beating up an old folks’ home was, of course, much lower than fighting Foundation Establishment Cultivators in their prime.

Cheng Yao’s concern was Li Ping’s relationship with the Bai family.

Li Ping didn’t mind her seizing the Gaoji Mountain Spirit Vein. The rise and fall of powers in the Cultivation Realm was all too normal.

In the Bai family’s situation, even if it wasn’t Cheng Yao, other powers would have their eyes on them.

However, Li Ping had once promised the Bai family that if anyone asked, he would not deny their relationship. He certainly wouldn’t go back on his word now.

So, facing Cheng Yao’s inquiry, he nodded affirmatively. "I am an Honored Guest Elder of the Bai family."

"In that case, forget it." Upon hearing this, Cheng Yao didn’t dwell on it and quickly proposed another target. "Then let’s seize the Xue family’s Mist and Smoke Mountain!"

Mist and Smoke Mountain was about four thousand li from the Immortal City, an immortal mountain no less impressive than Gaoji Mountain.

The Foundation Establishment Immortal Race that occupied this mountain was the Xue family.

However, the Xue family had suffered significant losses in the beast tide nine years ago, and even their Foundation Establishment Ancestor had been seriously injured. Although he hadn’t died, many speculated that his Origin had been damaged, and he no longer dared to fight others easily. A bona fide member of the sick list.

Li Ping gave Cheng Yao a strange look. It seemed his fourth sister was determined to follow the battle strategy of ’beating up the old, weak, sick, and disabled’ to the very end.

But the Xue family had nothing to do with him, so he couldn’t be bothered with Cheng Yao’s decision.

Having received her big brother’s tacit approval, Cheng Yao left gleefully. She prepared to call on Wang Xingwei and lead the several hundred Qi Refining Cultivators of the Wang family out of the city in a great procession to seize territory.

However, her decision was met with strong opposition from the Clan Leader, Wang Quyan.

"Elder Cheng, the Wang family can’t withstand any more turmoil!" Wang Quyan complained endlessly. "The Xue family is no pushover either. Why must we make an enemy of them over a Spiritual Land?"

Because Cheng Yao and Wang Xingwei were young and of a junior generation, Wang Quyan only called them Elder or used their names directly, not addressing them as Ancestor.

"Hm?" Cheng Yao raised an eyebrow and looked at him impassively. "Can you produce the Spirit Stones to solve the clan’s debt problem?"

At the mention of Spirit Stones, Wang Quyan immediately began to stammer, "The clan previously got back over eight thousand Spirit Stones from those Loose Cultivators... and Xingwei has been hunting Demon Beasts recently..."

Hearing this, Cheng Yao snorted coldly. "Hmph, I was the one who got those Spirit Stones back, and I can tell you right now, they’re all gone. Besides, Xingwei needs to cultivate; he can’t be out hunting Demon Beasts forever. Also... Xingwei is a Foundation Establishment Cultivator and the clan’s Grand Elder. You are not allowed to address him directly by name anymore, understand?"

Wang Quyan looked up at Cheng Yao. In that moment, he seemed to see the old Ancestor’s silhouette overlapping with hers.

He tried to retort, "I..."

But he was cut off by Cheng Yao. "’I’ what? Do you still want to be the Clan Leader or not? If you don’t, we’ll just find someone else to do it!"

After being thoroughly reprimanded, Wang Quyan didn’t argue back. Instead, he sighed internally and went to organize the Wang family’s Qi Refining Cultivators to assemble and depart.

Seeing this, Cheng Yao nodded in satisfaction.

She had discovered that these Wang family members just needed to be scolded; there was no use trying to reason with them.

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