Chapter 148: Chapter 148: A Lifetime, A Returning Guest

After Cheng Yao left, Li Ping returned to his training room to enter secluded cultivation.

Amid his diligent cultivation, another year passed without him even realizing it.

The Friends Association’s annual gathering was held as scheduled.

Li Ping stood in the pavilion, a smile gracing his lips as he looked at the four people sitting with him.

Needless to say, the other three were doing well. Even Bai Qing, who had the lowest cultivation, had finally broken through to the Qi Refining Ninth Level. Within two to three years, he would likely reach the Peak of Qi Refining and could then start preparing for the trip to the Cyan Cloud Secret Realm.

The Cyan Cloud Secret Realm would open in four years, so he still had plenty of time.

As was tradition, the gathering began with collecting for the Foundation Establishment Fund. Li Ping contributed three hundred Spirit Stones, Zhang Tie, Gumu Sheng, and Cheng Yao each gave one hundred, and Bai Qing added thirty, for a total of six hundred thirty Spirit Stones.

The Foundation Establishment Fund’s total now stood at two thousand, three hundred eighty Spirit Stones.

Putting away the Storage Bag, Li Ping smiled warmly at the other four. "First of all, I have some good news to share."

"Oh?" Hearing Li Ping’s words, the other four were instantly intrigued. They all perked up their ears, eager to hear what good news their "Big Brother" had for them.

Li Ping didn’t keep them in suspense. He continued with a smile, "Not long ago, I received a letter from Hanmo, sent from Jixia. In it, he told me that he has successfully achieved Foundation Establishment!"

"Hanmo reached Foundation Establishment."

"Fifth Brother reached Foundation Establishment!"

...

Upon hearing this, looks of shock and delight instantly washed over the faces of the four.

Having known each other for so long, they were all genuinely happy for Qi Hanmo’s successful Foundation Establishment.

After the initial surprise, Zhang Tie asked quizzically, "Huh? Big Brother, the last letter Hanmo sent me said he would return to the Immortal City after his Foundation Establishment. Why did he only send a letter back?"

The others also turned to look at Li Ping when they heard this.

Apparently, Qi Hanmo had mentioned this in all of their letters.

Li Ping explained with a smile, "Hanmo was indeed planning to come back, but his master ordered him to serve on the Yuan Kingdom battlefield, so he can’t get away for now."

"The Yuan Kingdom battlefield?" Gumu Sheng was shocked. "He’s a brand new Foundation Establishment Cultivator. Isn’t it dangerous for him to go there?"

Li Ping shook his head, looking uncertain. "It’s a battlefield, so of course it’s dangerous. But the war has been going on for so many years that both sides are probably exhausted. The intensity of the fighting should have decreased quite a bit, so Hanmo shouldn’t be in too much danger."

Hearing this, Gumu Sheng nodded thoughtfully.

After discussing Qi Hanmo’s Foundation Establishment, it was time for everyone to share what they had experienced over the past year.

Zhang Tie managed logistics and Gumu Sheng managed the shops. The two formed a powerful partnership, becoming a hot new force in the Immortal City.

As Meng Qingyi’s trusted aides, they had initially been a little worried about their positions after Dai Sangyu achieved Core Formation.

To their surprise, however, after reaching Core Formation, Dai Sangyu went into seclusion to stabilize her realm. Afterward, not only did she show no intention of meddling in the Immortal City’s affairs, but she also left the city to travel far and wide.

No one knows where she is now.

In short, for the time being, Dai Sangyu’s Core Formation had not affected them in any way.

Additionally, Gumu Sheng’s wife had given birth to a daughter last year, and he had already put a plan to take on concubines on his agenda.

As for Zhang Tie, he followed the belief that more children bring more blessings and had taken two more concubines.

The Zhang and Gu clans were beginning to take shape.

As for Cheng Yao, after reporting to Li Ping last year, she had immediately returned to the Wang family and led all their Cultivators, including Wang Xingwei, out of the city to seize territory.

Led by the two of them, the Wang family Cultivators arrived at Mist and Smoke Mountain and directly stated their intentions to the Xue family.

Seeing that the Wang family was backed by two Foundation Establishment Cultivators, the Xue family didn’t put up a pointless fight. They surrendered decisively, ceding Mist and Smoke Mountain to the Wang family.

And in accordance with the rules set by Fenglan Master, the Wang family did not make things difficult for the Xue family, instead allowing them to leave peacefully with their family’s assets.

The Wang family had thus successfully occupied Mist and Smoke Mountain, a Tier Two Spirit Vein.

However, when the Xue family surrendered Mist and Smoke Mountain, they harvested all of their own Spirit Medicines, spirit rice, and other resources.

So, for the time being, this Tier Two Spiritual Land not only failed to bring the Wang family any profit but also required them to invest a large amount of resources into its development.

It would likely be several years before they saw any returns.

Cheng Yao also mentioned that many of the Wang family Cultivators were dissatisfied about having to work hard to receive a stipend from the clan.

Of course, Cheng Yao wouldn’t coddle them. To establish her authority, she directly expelled several of the snide and sarcastic Cultivators from the Wang family.

Now, the rest of the Wang family’s Cultivators were obediently developing the immortal mountain at Mist and Smoke Mountain.

Li Ping nodded slightly as he listened to Cheng Yao’s account.

Perhaps because his own Sect was wiped out by the Demon Dao, Fenglan Master was very lenient with the Cultivation Clans under his rule. While he didn’t forbid them from fighting each other, he did prohibit ruthless, bottomless slaughter and absolutely forbid any attempts to wipe out a clan completely.

Take the battle between the Xue and Wang families for Mist and Smoke Mountain, for example.

The Wang family’s army descended upon them, and the Xue family, knowing they were outmatched, simply conceded and surrendered, giving up the Tier Two Spiritual Land of Mist and Smoke Mountain.

And once they conceded and surrendered the Spiritual Land, according to the rules set by Fenglan Master, the Wang family was not allowed to kill any more Xue family Cultivators and had to let all of them leave.

Of course, if the Xue family Cultivators had put up a desperate resistance and were killed in the battle, they would have deserved their fate, and the Immortal City would not have held the Wang family responsible.

In the nations of the Western Wilderness, all Spirit Veins had owners.

If a Cultivation Clan wanted to operate a Spirit Vein, they had to either rent it or buy it; seizing one by force was absolutely forbidden.

Under the rule of the Demon Dao, the law of the jungle—the strong devour the weak—was followed.

As long as one was strong enough, they could freely plunder others’ wealth, slaughter Cultivators for Refining Treasure, and seize Spiritual Lands. Might makes right.

The rule of the Immortal City was not as orderly as that of the Western Wilderness nations, but it was not as bottomless as the Demon Cultivators’ way. It was somewhere in between.

At the end of the gathering, the four sworn brothers and sister of the Foundation Establishment Stage all turned their gazes to Bai Qing.

With Qi Hanmo’s Foundation Establishment, Bai Qing was the only one of the six sworn siblings who had not yet reached that stage.

With such a powerful support group, they could, in theory, easily acquire the resources for Bai Qing’s Foundation Establishment.

Bai Qing couldn’t help but sigh mournfully, "Why do I have to be a clan Cultivator? If only I were a Loose Cultivator!"

...

"A million jade dragons fought the war; their broken scales and shattered armor filled the sky!"

The snow fell thick and fast. It was no longer ’falling’ like goose feathers but pouring down from the sky.

The entire city was cloaked in a thick blanket of snow, its silhouette barely visible.

Yet on such a frigid day, a young-looking child resolutely stepped out of his home. He was going to deliver a meal to his big sister, who was by the river washing clothes for others.

Tucking the flatbread into his clothes to keep it warm, the child closed the dilapidated wooden door and headed for the river.

What he didn’t know was that a figure in a gray Magic Robe was standing right beside him, watching.

The figure watched the child struggling through the snow, a smile in her eyes. ’The Spirit-Guiding Sword points to him. Is he the reincarnation of Elder Xu?’

As she murmured, a trace of her Magical Power had already entered the child’s body to inspect his Spiritual Root aptitude.

"A Five-Element Spiritual Root?" Her expression was one of surprise, finding the result hard to believe.

Fearing she had made a mistake, she checked again. The result was the same—it was indeed a Five-Element Spiritual Root.

Dai Sangyu was speechless. ’How could Elder Xu’s reincarnation have a Five-Element Spiritual Root? With an aptitude like this...’

While she was lost in thought, the child had already reached the street corner and was about to disappear from sight.

Sighing, Dai Sangyu took a step and followed him.

After turning the corner and walking a few hundred more paces, they reached a small river.

The heavy snow was also swirling by the riverside, but upon closer inspection, several figures could be seen, faint and indistinct.

Under Dai Sangyu’s gaze, the child ran up to a young girl of about the same age and presented the flatbread he had been carefully warming in his clothes. "Big Sis, have some bread."

"Didn’t I tell you not to come out? Big Sis isn’t hungry," the girl said, a look of gentle reproach on her face when she saw the child.

Looking closely, her face was an unnatural shade of red, like a frostbitten radish, with faint hints of purplish-blue.

Clearly, washing clothes in this kind of weather was no easy task.

Despite her reproachful tone, the girl shook her hands, trying to shake off the chill from her swollen, red fingers.

Taking the flatbread the child offered, the girl began to eat it in small bites. From her appearance, she was clearly famished.

The reason she hadn’t gone home wasn’t that she wasn’t hungry, but that she was worried she wouldn’t finish her work and earn enough money for the two of them to survive.

Dai Sangyu revealed herself and walked over to the child. She asked with a smile, "What’s your name?"

"AH!"

The child was startled by Dai Sangyu’s sudden appearance, and the young girl looked at her warily.

"This is no place to talk. Let’s go somewhere else," Dai Sangyu said, nodding nonchalantly at their frightened expressions.

Then, she enveloped the two of them with her Magical Power. A flash of light erupted, and by the time they could see their surroundings again, they found themselves in a magnificent palace.

"An Immortal!" Seeing her display such power, the girl and the child were both shocked and overjoyed.

From then on, they answered all of Dai Sangyu’s questions without hesitation.

After a session of questions and answers...

After a long while, Dai Sangyu nodded slightly, her expression unchanged. "You," she said, addressing the boy, "are the posthumous son of the deposed crown prince and were not allowed to have a name. And you," she said to the girl, "are Ah Yun, the adopted daughter of the deposed crown prince."

"How about I give you a name?" she asked the child with a gentle smile.

To be given a name by an Immortal was a wonderful surprise, and the two agreed at once.

"Then you shall be called Xu Ping—" Halfway through, Dai Sangyu suddenly paused.

At that moment, she thought of her master, who had sat waiting in the Immortal City for over two hundred years, bitterly awaiting Elder Xu’s return.

Seeing the Immortal fall silent, the child and the young girl grew anxious.

Just as their anxiety mounted, they heard the Immortal before them murmur softly, "A lifetime given to a city of mist and rain; in Cyan Mountain’s depths, awaiting a guest’s return... You... shall be called Xu Guikai."

"Xu Guikai." The child was overjoyed. Since birth, he had never had a name of his own, but now he finally did.

Beside him, Ah Yun bowed excitedly in gratitude. "Thank you, Immortal, for bestowing this name."

’The words of an Immortal were as good as gold; no one could ever take away His Highness’s name again.’

Dai Sangyu nodded with a smile, her voice flat. "Guikai, Ah Yun, there are many people in this city who have bullied you. Shall I kill them for you?"

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