Chapter 154: Chapter 154: Marquis Xiping

Back on Immortal Peach Mountain.

Li Ping did not rush to refine the Beast Feeding Pills. Instead, he went to his private Artifact Refining room.

He sat cross-legged and took out a Jade Box containing the Tier Three poison sac from his Storage Bag, placing it in front of him.

He was definitely going to feed this poison sac to the Blood Banner to be refined.

Given the intense toxicity of a Tier Three Poison Flood Dragon, once the Blood Banner completely refined its poison sac...

...when it released its blood-corroding poison, even a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator would likely fall prey to it if they weren’t careful, their combat power greatly weakened for a short time.

However, Li Ping didn’t plan to have the Blood Banner refine the poison sac just yet.

Because aside from the Blood Banner, he also possessed a set of Spiritual Artifacts, the Bone-Stealing Needles, which were also coated in poison.

Now that he had a more potent toxin, he planned to re-coat the Bone-Stealing Needles as well.

By doing so, the power of his set of needles would surely increase dramatically.

Carefully, he lifted the lid of the Jade Box. A black, oval-shaped sac the size of a fist appeared before Li Ping. There was an opening at the top of the sac, and looking through it, one could see the glistening green liquid inside.

The poison sac had clearly been processed by someone. The opening was sealed by a Restriction, locking all the toxins inside.

Li Ping smiled faintly. Nine Bone-Stealing Needles appeared in the air, and under his control, they pierced the Restriction at the sac’s opening and plunged into the poison sac.

"Not good!" The moment the Bone-Stealing Needles touched the venom, Li Ping was dumbfounded.

His Divine Sense, attached to the nine Bone-Stealing Needles, had silently dissipated the instant it came into contact with the venom.

In just a moment, he had completely lost control of his Spiritual Artifact.

He hadn’t expected the Poison Flood Dragon’s venom to be so domineering, capable of directly corroding the Divine Sense a cultivator attached to their Spiritual Artifacts.

’After being coated in the Poison Flood Dragon’s venom, will I be unable to control this Spiritual Artifact?’ Li Ping worried inwardly. But when he looked at the scene inside the poison sac, he was instantly stunned.

Right before Li Ping’s eyes, after the Bone-Stealing Needles came into contact with the Poison Flood Dragon’s venom, they began to melt, starting from the point of contact.

The melting speed was quite fast; in just a moment, the inch-long Flying Needles were already half-gone.

Now, Li Ping no longer had to worry about being unable to control the Flying Needles.

The fate of the Flying Needle Spiritual Artifact also made Li Ping discard any thought of using the Blood Banner to refine the poison sac.

The Bone-Stealing Needles were just Tier Two Middle Grade Spiritual Artifacts. If they were destroyed, they were destroyed. Li Ping didn’t mind.

But the Blood Banner was a Tier Two Top-Grade Spiritual Artifact. Besides releasing poison and facilitating escape, it had many other functions that Li Ping couldn’t use because his Cultivation was too low.

This Spiritual Artifact would still be of great use even when he reached the Late-stage Foundation Establishment.

How could Li Ping dare to gamble that it could refine the Poison Flood Dragon’s venom now? If this Spiritual Artifact was ruined by the venom, the loss would far outweigh the gain.

’It’s a Tier Three Spiritual Material, after all. I should just put it away for now. Maybe I can use it in the future!’

Putting the Poison Flood Dragon’s sac away again, Li Ping couldn’t help but sigh. He never thought that after obtaining the poison sac, he would be completely unable to use it. No wonder Huang Yan had been willing to trade this item.

For now, the only use Li Ping could think of for this poison sac was to throw it directly at an opponent’s Spiritual Artifact during Magical Combat to defile it.

Other than that, it really didn’t seem to have much use.

He placed the other poisonous materials he had purchased with the Blood Banner, letting it slowly refine them.

As for Li Ping himself, he left and entered the Alchemy Room to begin studying the refinement of Tier Two Beast Feeding Pills.

...

Donghua Mountain, at the exit of the Cyan Cloud Secret Realm.

Dozens of Foundation Establishment Cultivators waited silently in the square before the secret realm. At the entrance, however, sat a fat, white-haired, and white-bearded elder, cross-legged.

The secret realm had opened for Qi Refining Cultivators to enter and would only reopen three months later.

As they waited patiently, three months passed by unknowingly.

"Open!"

That fat elder took out a gilded Token from his robes. Core Formation Realm Magical Power poured into it, and a beam of golden light shot toward the secret realm’s entrance, slowly opening a channel several yards in diameter.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH...

As the secret realm’s passage opened, figures continuously flew out from within.

Most of the Qi Refining Cultivators who emerged from the secret realm looked exhausted, their auras in disarray. Only a few cultivators had a normal aura.

Bai Qing flew out of the passage and landed in the square. He surveyed his surroundings, his expression a mixture of nervousness and a trace of joy.

This time in the Cyan Cloud Secret Realm, relying on the many supplies his big brother had prepared for him, he had successfully harvested two thousand-year-old Golden Marrow Jade Ginsengs.

The military merits from the two Golden Marrow Jade Ginsengs could be exchanged for two Foundation Establishment Pills. Foundation Establishment was practically a sure thing.

Thinking of this, Bai Qing couldn’t help but clutch the Storage Bag at his waist.

Inside it were not only the two thousand-year-old Golden Marrow Jade Ginsengs, but also materials he had collected from slaying Demon Beasts in the secret realm, various Spirit Medicines he had gathered, and more.

Of course, several cultivators with ill intentions who had tried to attack him had also died by his Spirit Talismans, and their belongings had fallen into Bai Qing’s hands as well.

’I’ll exchange for the Foundation Establishment Pills and attempt my breakthrough as soon as I get back.’

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Bai Qing scanned his surroundings, trying to find the three elder cultivators from the Bai family.

To his disappointment, however, the three elder cultivators never appeared.

In fact, it wasn’t just those three; the total number of cultivators in the square was less than a third of what it had been when they entered the secret realm.

Such a high casualty rate showed just how dangerous the Cyan Cloud Secret Realm was.

Just as the secret realm’s passage was about to close, a white-haired figure staggered out of the passage and landed beside Bai Qing.

"Seventh Grand-uncle!" Bai Qing quickly supported the old man, only to find that his left arm was gone and his body was covered in wounds.

Seeing that Bai Qing was still alive, the elder cultivator’s face lit up with joy. "Qing’Er, you made it out alive! That’s wonderful."

The joy on his face did not last long, for even at the very end, he did not see his two old brothers emerge.

Three went in, one returned!

...

"Alright, I’ll send you all off!" Song Yushu appeared once again.

But just as he was about to throw out that Giant Whale Wave-Piercing Shuttle Magical Treasure—

BOOM!

A world-shaking noise erupted, and Bai Qing felt the entire Donghua Mountain tremble.

"What’s happening?" He looked up at the sky in horror.

There, he saw a thousand-foot-long Red Flood Dragon hovering outside the Array. Its entire body was crimson and covered in hard scales. It had seven or eight sharp horns on its head and four huge, sharp claws under its belly.

This was a true Flood Dragon, not a mere serpent-python like Little Green Dragon!

And atop that Red Flood Dragon’s head stood a bald figure in a large, turquoise robe.

A moment ago, it was this very Red Flood Dragon that had caused such a commotion by spitting flames at Donghua Mountain’s Array!

"Xiao Changkong, do you dare come out and face me!"

"Come out and face me!"

"Face me!"

...

The arrogant voice pierced directly through the Array, ringing in the ears of every cultivator on Donghua Mountain!

"Old Devil Lu, Donghua Mountain is not a place for you to run wild!" Accompanied by a steady voice that rang through the void like clashing metal, a white Escape Light shot out from the Array to confront the man and the flood dragon.

Within the white Escape Light was a handsome, middle-aged cultivator dressed in a white robe.

Old Devil Lu looked down, seemingly able to see the secret realm within the Array and the Qi Refining Cultivators returning from their Medicinal Collection. He bellowed, "Xiao Changkong, the Saint Emperor has already enfeoffed the Western Wilderness to Marquis Xiping! Not only do you refuse to wholeheartedly assist the Marquis, but you even dare to occupy this secret realm for yourselves and shut us out!"

Faced with Old Devil Lu’s tirade, the white-robed, middle-aged cultivator was completely unfazed. "If Marquis Xiping himself were to arrive, we would naturally hand over the secret realm and the Immortal City to him and assist him in governing the Western Wilderness. But you... you are merely a thief of the Demon Dao. Do you dare claim to represent Marquis Xiping?"

"Good, good... What a hypocrite!" Old Devil Lu snorted coldly. "Then let me experience this hypocrite’s Vast Righteous Qi for myself!"

...

「Half a month later, aboard the Flying Ship returning to Fenglan Immortal City.」

Bai Qing couldn’t help but recall the earth-shattering battle he had witnessed at the Immortal City half a month ago.

On one side of the battle was the Alliance Leader of the Daoist Guardian Alliance, Xiao Changkong, known as the number one cultivator in the Western Wilderness.

On the other was the Grand Elder of the Spirit Control Sect, one of the four sects of the Demon Dao, the one called Old Devil Lu, known as the strongest cultivator of the four sects.

Alliance Leader Xiao fought one against two, battling Old Devil Lu and the Red Flood Dragon without being at any disadvantage. In the end, he even summoned an earthy-yellow Seal the size of a mountain, smashing it into the Red Flood Dragon and making it cough up blood.

This forced Old Devil Lu to flee in a sorry state.

As he recalled the great battle, he also remembered Old Devil Lu’s words.

Old Devil Lu had said that the Saint Emperor granted the Western Wilderness to Marquis Xiping.

And Alliance Leader Xiao had also said that if Marquis Xiping appeared, he would hand over the secret realm and Donghua Mountain to him.

Clearly, although the two looked down on each other, they both held immense respect for this Marquis Xiping.

’The Saint Emperor... could he be a legendary Nascent Soul Cultivator? Is that why the Marquis Xiping he enfeoffed holds such authority?’ Bai Qing silently guessed.

At this moment, however, a whole new world had opened up in his heart.

The two thousand-year-old Golden Marrow Jade Ginsengs that Bai Qing brought out of the secret realm had already been handed over to the leading Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

The military merits he earned could be exchanged for two Foundation Establishment Pills.

He had Three Spirit Roots aptitude. With two Foundation Establishment Pills in hand, his chances of a successful Foundation Establishment were extremely high.

One could say he already had one foot in the Foundation Establishment Stage.

’I’ll exchange for the Foundation Establishment Pills as soon as I get back, then enter seclusion to break through to Foundation Establishment!’ He forcefully suppressed his excitement.

Sitting beside him was the Seventh Elder, the only one of the three Bai family elders to make it out alive.

However, the Spirit Medicines he had collected were not enough to gather the military merits required for a single Foundation Establishment Pill.

The Bai family could only wait another thirty years for the next time the secret realm opened to send more cultivators inside.

A Cultivation Clan’s military merits could be accumulated. As long as the clan survived, they would sooner or later gather enough for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

...

「A few months later, on Immortal Peach Mountain.」

Li Ping received Bai Qing, who had come to visit him. As his Divine Sense swept over Bai Qing, a look of joy appeared on his face.

Bai Qing’s appearance hadn’t changed much, but he was now clearly exuding the powerful pressure of the Foundation Establishment Stage.

As the youngest cultivator in the Friends Association, Bai Qing, at the age of thirty-seven, had finally succeeded in his Foundation Establishment.

Looking at Li Ping, Bai Qing smiled and called out, "Big Brother!"

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