Chapter 215: Xiao Yunzhi is Shocked

Chapter 215: Chapter 215: Xiao Yunzhi is Shocked

In the training room.

Li Ping sensed the ocean of Magical Power within his Dantian expand by a large margin. This was the level of Magical Power characteristic of a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

Having broken through to the Late-stage Foundation Establishment, his Nourishing Life Skill Power became even more vibrant with life. It could now contain more Innate qi, and its healing effects would surely be significantly enhanced as well.

Feeling the powerful pressure emanating from his body, a look of reflection appeared in Li Ping’s eyes.

He had successfully achieved Foundation Establishment at the age of forty. After thirty years of arduous cultivation, he broke through to the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment at seventy.

Originally, he had estimated it would take him around forty years to break through from the Mid-stage to the Late-stage Foundation Establishment.

In truth, while Li Ping’s progress was still inferior to a Celestial Spiritual Root Cultivator like Xiao Yunzhi, it was far superior to that of Dual Spirit Root Cultivators and comparable to those with Abnormal Spiritual Roots.

After all, he cultivated the Wetland Water Nourishing Skill and wasn’t troubled by minor bottlenecks.

Dual Spirit Root and Abnormal Spiritual Root Cultivators might have had a faster daily cultivation speed than Li Ping, but they faced bottlenecks when breaking through realms. They usually had to spend a great deal of time and prepare a large amount of resources to break through successfully.

As a result, their actual cultivation speed was, ironically, slower than Li Ping’s.

Breaking through to the Late-stage Foundation Establishment in forty years—Li Ping would have been very satisfied with that progress.

However, midway through, he provoked the Late-stage Core Formation Cultivator Hua Wuji and was forced to hide in a secret realm’s cavern-residence. There, he unexpectedly obtained a piece of Spiritual Eye Jade.

The Spiritual Eye Jade gave Li Ping cultivation conditions similar to a Tier Three Spiritual Land, greatly increasing his cultivation speed.

In the end, it only took him thirty years in total, and he successfully cultivated to the Late-stage Foundation Establishment at the ripe age of one hundred.

Li Ping smiled and nodded. ’I’ve broken through to the Late-stage Foundation Establishment, and it just so happens to be my hundredth birthday this year. This calls for a celebration.’

Having decided on a plan to celebrate, he didn’t get up in a hurry. Instead, he closed his eyes and continued to meditate to stabilize his new realm.

More than ten days later, Li Ping had stabilized his realm and formally ended his seclusion.

He put away the Spiritual Eye Jade, walked out of the training room, and into the courtyard.

As his gaze swept across the courtyard, he noticed Xiao Yunzhi was there, feeding her Spirit Beast, a Blazing Sun Bird.

The sound of Li Ping emerging startled her. She turned to look at him, and upon sensing the change in his aura, a look of surprise couldn’t help but cross her face.

Then, she gave a sweet smile. "Congratulations, Brother Li, on breaking through to the Late-stage Foundation Establishment. Your Magical Power has grown immensely, and you’re one step closer to Core Formation."

In high spirits from his breakthrough, Li Ping smiled and waved his hand dismissively. "Not at all, not at all. My Cultivation is still no match for yours, Yunzhi."

"You’re being too modest, Brother Li." As she spoke, Xiao Yunzhi rolled her eyes at him. "I know your true strength perfectly well. Forget about now—even before your breakthrough, I was no match for you."

Xiao Yunzhi knew.

The Brother Li before her was no ordinary Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator. In the great battle in the secret realm over a decade ago, he was only a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, yet he had controlled two puppets equivalent to Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators and slain a powerful enemy in one fell swoop.

Now that he had broken through to the Late-stage Foundation Establishment, his strength must have risen to an even greater height.

Unless she could break through to the Core Formation Stage, Xiao Yunzhi wasn’t sure how many moves she could withstand against Brother Li.

"CHIRP CHIRP~"

Just then, the Blazing Sun Bird also flew over to circle around Li Ping, letting out an anxious, low cry.

Li Ping knew what it wanted. He shook his head, slapped the Spirit Beast Pouch at his waist, and the Desolate Fire Sparrow flew out.

The Desolate Fire Sparrow’s eyes were a bit dazed when it first flew out, but it soon spotted the Blazing Sun Bird circling in the air. Its eyes instantly lit up, and it let out a joyful chirp before flying toward the Blazing Sun Bird.

The Blazing Sun Bird chirped in response.

Afterward, the two celestial Spirit Birds began to chase each other playfully through the air, occasionally calling out to one another in communication.

About five years ago, Xiao Yunzhi had been letting the Blazing Sun Bird roam the courtyard while feeding it. Li Ping happened to appear at that moment and let out his Desolate Fire Sparrow to stretch its wings within the confines of the Array.

But to his surprise, the Desolate Fire Sparrow and the Blazing Sun Bird hit it off immediately. Despite being different species of Spirit Beast, they became very good friends.

This surprised both Li Ping and Xiao Yunzhi. They could only guess that perhaps it was because both celestial Spirit Birds were Fire Attribute Spirit Beasts that they were drawn to each other.

Initially, when Li Ping learned from Xiao Yunzhi that the Blazing Sun Bird was female, he had secretly hoped something might happen between the two Spirit Birds.

After all, the Desolate Fire Sparrow possessed a thin trace of Vermilion Bird bloodline, while the Blazing Sun Bird had a sliver of the bloodline of the legendary True Spirit, the Fire Phoenix.

With the bloodlines of these two Spirit Birds, their offspring would surely be born extraordinary.

Unfortunately, aside from chasing, playing, and teasing each other, the two Spirit Birds showed no signs of taking things further.

Li Ping guessed that given the long lifespan of celestial Spirit Birds, the Desolate Fire Sparrow and the Blazing Sun Bird were probably still juveniles. They hadn’t matured yet and hadn’t reached mating season.

He shook his head, casting the strange thoughts from his mind.

Li Ping took a bottle of Tier Two Beast Feeding Pills from his Storage Bag, poured out two, and tossed them into the air. Two streaks of fire instantly shot across the sky as the Pills were swallowed down.

"CHIRP CHIRP~"

"CHIRP CHIRP~"

As Li Ping continued to toss out Pills, cheerful chirps rang out ceaselessly in the courtyard. Soon, the bottle of Pills was empty, and the two Spirit Birds obediently landed on an old tree in the courtyard, closing their eyes to refine the medicinal power within them.

Seeing this, Xiao Yunzhi asked with some curiosity, "Brother Li, I’ve searched the city for several years but haven’t been able to buy any Tier Two Beast Feeding Pills. Did you refine these yourself?"

Beast Feeding Pills could accelerate a Spirit Beast’s growth, and typically only the wealthiest of Cultivators could afford to use them.

Ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivators were reluctant to even take Pills themselves, so how could they bear to feed them to their Spirit Beasts?

Back when Xiao Yunzhi was in Jixia, she could purchase plenty of Tier Two Beast Feeding Pills.

But in a remote place like Flying Snow City, there was little demand, so naturally there were few Alchemists who refined Beast Feeding Pills.

Tier One Beast Feeding Pills were still available, but Tier Two ones were simply impossible to buy.

Xiao Yunzhi had been feeding her Blazing Sun Bird ordinary Spiritual Objects recently, yet Li Ping was able to produce an endless supply of Beast Feeding Pills. That was why she had asked so curiously.

Li Ping smiled and nodded. "That’s right, I did refine them myself. If you want to buy Tier Two Beast Feeding Pills, Yunzhi, you can buy them from me."

Now that he had broken through to the Late-stage Foundation Establishment, his strength had soared.

Li Ping felt that he could now reveal his identity as an Alchemist.

Of course, he wouldn’t reveal his true skill level. He only planned to present himself to the outside world as a Pill Master with Tier Two Upper Grade alchemy skills.

Among the four common arts of cultivation—Pill, artifact, Array, and Talisman—the Pill Master ranked first.

Especially for major powers, the importance of a High-tier Pill Master was comparable to that of a Core Formation Cultivator.

The reason Li Ping had decided to reveal his identity as a Tier Two Upper Grade Pill Master was mainly to lay the groundwork for using Flying Snow City’s Tier Three Spirit Vein to attempt his breakthrough to Core Formation in the future.

The higher-ups of the Flying Snow Sect might not care about a Tier Two Middle Grade Talisman Master.

But it was impossible for them not to try and recruit a Tier Two Upper Grade Alchemist.

Once they tried to recruit him and needed his services, Li Ping could take the opportunity to propose using the Tier Three Spirit Vein to break through to Core Formation as his condition.

"Brother Li, you’re a Tier Two Pill Master."

Upon receiving Li Ping’s confirmation, the shock on Xiao Yunzhi’s face was practically palpable. She never thought Brother Li had hidden his skills so deeply.

’It turned out I know very little about Brother Li after all.’

"You’re mistaken," Li Ping said, shaking his head with a solemn expression.

Xiao Yunzhi was confused. "Huh?"

Li Ping laughed heartily. "To be precise, I am a Tier Two Upper Grade Alchemist."

Xiao Yunzhi: "..."

...

「Several days later」

Li Ping held his hundredth-birthday banquet at the Golden Goblet Tower.

Aside from Xiao Yunzhi, Ji Shu Xuan and his family also attended the banquet. Twelve years had passed, and Ji Shu Xuan now had another son.

He had two sons and one daughter in total. His eldest son was twenty-two this year; he had been tested for a Spiritual Root at the age of twelve and had started cultivating, but his Spiritual Root was poor—a Five Spirit Roots type.

After eight years of cultivation, his Cultivation was only at the Qi Refining Third Level.

His eldest daughter was eighteen and had Four Spirit Roots. Her Cultivation was at the Qi Refining Second Level.

As for his youngest son, he was only ten and not yet of age to cultivate.

Ji Shu Xuan and his wife were both Cultivators, so the probability of their children having Spiritual Roots was quite high, even if the quality of those roots was nothing special.

"Uncle Li, may your path to the Immortal Dao be everlasting!" Ji Shu Xuan and his wife said with congratulatory smiles.

"Grandpa Li, may your path to the Immortal Dao be everlasting!" the three children chimed in, quickly bowing behind their parents to offer their congratulations.

Li Ping smiled and nodded. "Good, good. Everyone, please sit."

Ji Shu Xuan was already seventy-two. Although he was a Cultivator, his Origin had been damaged after an injury, causing him to age quickly. His body was now slightly stooped, and he looked like a man well into his seventies.

Li Ping, however, remained youthfully timeless, still looking like he was in his twenties.

For him to bow respectfully to Li Ping created a strange sight, but it was a common occurrence in the Cultivation Realm.

Some old Core Formation eccentrics who had lived for several hundred years might even still have the appearance of a young child.

His gaze passed over Ji Shu Xuan and his wife, landing on the three children as a slight smile touched the corners of his eyes.

Then, he took out some high-quality Pills from his Storage Bag and gifted them to each of Ji Shu Xuan’s three children.

Seeing that Ji Shu Xuan didn’t object, the three children happily accepted the Pills, shouting, "Thank you, Grandpa Li!"

This made Li Ping laugh even more heartily.

During the banquet, Li Ping once again asked for news of Xu Guikai.

But Ji Shu Xuan told him that Senior Xu and Senior Lin had not yet returned.

The two had gone to the Ice Sea to hunt beasts, and Ji Shu Xuan hadn’t heard from them in over a decade. Li Ping could sense a hint of worry in his words.

However, the Ice Sea was vast and boundless. If they hadn’t made any significant gains, it was quite normal for the two to spend more than a decade there.

Therefore, aside from some slight concern for Xu and Lin, Ji Shu Xuan and Ah Yun weren’t overly emotional about it.

During the meal, Ji Shu Xuan mentioned that because Uncle Li was selling Spirit Talismans in their shop, business had been much better recently. He and his wife were both very grateful for Uncle Li’s care.

Li Ping just smiled without saying a word.

...

When the spirit banquet ended, Li Ping and Xiao Yunzhi returned to the cavern-residence.

Xiao Yunzhi suddenly spoke in a low voice, "Brother Li, I think a simple, peaceful life like Ji Shu Xuan and his wife’s—having children, raising a family—seems quite nice. I’m actually a little envious of them."

Li Ping bluntly shot her down. "If you don’t achieve Core Formation, you’ll just end up as a pile of withered bones when your lifespan runs out. What’s so nice about that?"

Xiao Yunzhi: "..."