Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Cheng Yao’s Smugness

After Li Ping refused the banquet invitation, Master Hu took his leave with a displeased look on his face.

Li Ping was left alone in the courtyard, a thoughtful expression on his face.

’Perhaps I’m overthinking this?’ Li Ping shook his head slightly. He’d been far too paranoid lately.

’Fairy Miaorou asked me to escort goods, and Master Hu invited me on an expedition and to a banquet... Surely they can’t both be trying to lure me out of the city.’

’The two of them shouldn’t have any connection.’

Li Ping felt no guilt about refusing Miaorou.

After all, he was the customer, and the customer is always right.

But with Master Hu, it was a different story. He still hoped to learn Tier Two Upper Grade Alchemy techniques from the man, and he’d only get that chance by staying on good terms with him.

Offending him over some baseless suspicion would be incredibly foolish.

’Master Hu just left. If I agree to go to the banquet now, I could probably still make it...’

After standing in the courtyard for a long time, his expression wavering, Li Ping finally let out a soft sigh.

He still decided not to go.

’Master Hu isn’t the only one with the legacy of a Tier Two Upper Grade Alchemist.’

’But I only have one life.’

’Risking my life just to avoid damaging my relationship with Master Hu? That would make me a real idiot.’

With that thought, the hesitation in Li Ping’s eyes vanished. He turned and walked toward the Alchemy Room.

’Let the winds blow from all directions; I shall remain as immovable as a mountain.’

As he started walking, his gaze fell upon the patch of Spiritual Land beside the pond. Three figures were busy at work there.

They were his fourth sister Cheng Yao, his handmaiden Bai Lin, and a thin, black-robed figure.

Bai Lin had invited Cheng Yao to help plant Spirit Medicine. As for the thin, black-robed figure, Wang Xingwei, Li Ping had heard from Cheng Yao that he was the new manager of the Spirit Medicine Garden. His cultivation had already reached the Peak of Qi Refining.

Although Wang Xingwei was stronger than Cheng Yao and held a higher position in the Spirit Medicine Garden, he inexplicably hung on her every word.

He had even followed her to Immortal Peach Mountain without a second thought to do unpaid labor, simply because she asked.

Li Ping found this all rather strange.

’After all, his fourth sister was, to put it kindly, decidedly plain.’

’As for her family background, the Cheng family hadn’t produced a Cultivator in generations. She was, for all intents and purposes, from humble origins.’

’And yet, with all that, she still had a simp.’

’On top of that, if Li Ping wasn’t mistaken, this Cultivator, Wang Xingwei, was twenty-four or twenty-five at most, yet his Cultivation was already at the Peak of Qi Refining.’

’To have such a high Cultivation level at his age...’

’Li Ping guessed that he not only had a high-aptitude Spiritual Root but must have also been constantly consuming cultivation-boosting Spirit Medicine.’

’In other words, he most likely came from an extraordinary background.’

’So what’s this, then?’

’The rich young master falls in love with the humble farm girl?’

Li Ping shook his head, pushing these trivial thoughts aside, and returned to his room to practice Alchemy.

...

In the Spiritual Land, the three of them were hard at work.

Cheng Yao’s gaze swept over the field. Her face suddenly turned stern. "Wang Xingwei," she snapped, "is that how you’re supposed to plant Spirit Grass?"

Startled by her sharp tone, Wang Xingwei, who had been in the middle of casting a spell, jumped. He immediately stopped what he was doing and stood there awkwardly, seemingly at a loss for how to react to Cheng Yao’s criticism.

"Sister Yao," Bai Lin murmured, tugging at Cheng Yao’s sleeve in embarrassment.

’In her eyes, Wang Xingwei was here helping out for free. How could Sister Yao scold him like that?’

But Cheng Yao paid her no mind, continuing to berate Wang Xingwei. "Do it over, the way I told you. Understand?"

"Yes, yes, of course..." Wang Xingwei mumbled, bowing his head. Without a hint of defiance, he actually started to replant it, showing none of the bearing expected of a Peak of Qi Refining cultivator or a young master from a noble family.

Seeing this, a flicker of triumph showed in Cheng Yao’s eyes.

An ancestor of the Cheng family had been a Cultivator in the Qi Refining Stage. When he grew old and felt the Immortal Dao was beyond his reach, he had no choice but to give up cultivating, take a wife, and start a family.

But this Cultivator was unlucky. Despite his best efforts, by the time he passed away, he had failed to produce a second heir with a Spiritual Root for the family.

In a place like the Immortal City, where Cultivators and mortals lived side-by-side, the Cheng family, lacking a Cultivator to watch over them, was at the very bottom of the social ladder.

Fortunately, several generations later, when Cheng Yao was twelve, she was discovered to possess Three Spirit Roots. Her becoming a Cultivator finally allowed the Cheng family to escape its predicament.

Growing up in such an environment gave Cheng Yao a complex personality. She was kind by nature, but her life at the bottom had also made her shrewd and aggressive, willing to be shameless when it came to fighting for resources.

When Wang Xingwei had first arrived at the Spirit Medicine Garden as its manager, his Cultivation and status had far surpassed hers, and Cheng Yao wouldn’t have dared to provoke him.

She treated him exactly as she would any superior.

Then one day, Wang Xingwei was spacing out in the Medicine Garden when Cheng Yao mistook him for another Early-stage Qi Refining Cultivator she was supposed to be mentoring.

Thinking he was slacking off, Cheng Yao snapped without a second thought, "Get back to work!"

But her sharp reprimand made Wang Xingwei tremble from head to toe, and he didn’t dare say a word.

Only when Cheng Yao got closer did she realize she’d yelled at the wrong person.

She was about to apologize, but Wang Xingwei beat her to it, offering a stream of timid apologies and admitting fault.

’It was then that Cheng Yao had a realization: ’So the new manager is an idiot.’ And when it came to handling idiots, she was an expert.’

From that day on, Wang Xingwei, the manager, became her follower, hanging on her every word.

’As for whether this idiot’s family would come looking for trouble?’

’Before, Cheng Yao might have been worried. But now? ’My big brother is a Foundation Establishment Cultivator!’’

...

Wang Xingwei worked with his head bowed, a sense of fulfillment in his heart.

After he failed his Foundation Establishment, his Old Ancestor had been thoroughly disappointed in him. Without even getting to see the man, he was sent by the Patriarch to be the manager of the Spirit Medicine Garden.

He went from being the Old Ancestor’s "family prodigy" to a "hopeless waste," and was completely marginalized within the family.

But Wang Xingwei wasn’t dejected by this at all. In fact, he was delighted.

Because he no longer had to stay by the Old Ancestor’s side, enduring his constant rebukes.

He was free.

He was happy at first, but soon after arriving at the Spirit Medicine Garden, he realized something was wrong.

Before, the Old Ancestor had packed his schedule with tasks every single day. He’d had no room to think for himself, nor any need to; all he had to do was follow the Old Ancestor’s orders.

But at the Spirit Medicine Garden, the Old Ancestor no longer managed him, and he found he didn’t know what to do with himself. He drifted through each day in a daze.

Cultivating was boring.

Eating was boring.

Walking was boring.

Planting was also boring.

...

He was free, but it was as if he had lost himself.

This tedious life even made him start to miss the days when the Old Ancestor would scold him.

Those days were so fulfilling, so satisfying.

But alas, the Old Ancestor wouldn’t be scolding him anymore.

He thought he would drift along in a daze forever.

Until one day, as he was spacing out in the Spirit Medicine Garden, a sharp reprimand suddenly reached his ears—one that sounded remarkably similar to his Old Ancestor’s usual tone.

He looked over and saw it was one of his subordinates. By all rights, he should have been angry at being scolded by a subordinate.

But for some reason, he wasn’t angry at all. In fact, he felt a sense of profound comfort.

’This is it. This tone. It’s the same way the Old Ancestor used to scold me.’

’Let the rebukes come even harsher.’

...

Even as his body trembled from a conditioned reflex, Wang Xingwei was filled with anticipation.

’Scold me louder. Order me around. Don’t stop.’

’My life has meaning again.’

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