Chapter 162: Chapter 162: Rejecting the Request

Upon receiving Li Ping’s invitation,

Gumu Sheng hurried over shortly after.

Li Ping immediately asked him about Dai Sangyu breaking off her engagement, and Gumu Sheng nodded, confirming the news was true.

He also told Li Ping that Huang Yunzi wasn’t just making threats; he was serious.

The chambers of commerce belonging to Purple Cloud Valley, Sword Washing Pool, Cyan Wood Sect, and several other Sects had all closed up shop and left the Immortal City a short while ago.

Furthermore, the three Sects had intercepted all merchant caravans transporting Spirit Rice, Spirit Medicine, and other resources to the Immortal City, forbidding them from setting foot in the Cloud Mist Mountain Range.

The three Sects had even organized patrol teams to capture any Cultivators trying to sneak into the Immortal City.

However, they didn’t stop any Cultivators from leaving the Immortal City.

It had only been a few days since the three Sects started this, but the effects were already beginning to show in the Immortal City.

For example, the prices of Demon Beast materials had started to fall, while the prices of finished goods like Spirit Talismans, Spiritual Artifacts, and Spirit Rice had begun to rise slowly.

This was especially true for resources produced on Spiritual Lands, such as Spirit Rice and Pills. The Immortal City was extremely dependent on supply shipments from the Western Wilderness. With the three Sects cutting off the supply, the Immortal City had no way to make up the shortfall in the short term.

Speaking of the Immortal City’s predicament, Gumu Sheng specifically reminded Li Ping, "By the way, Brother, you absolutely cannot try to profiteer this time. Master isn’t handling worldly affairs right now; Senior Sister Dai is the one managing things. She has a fierce hatred for wrongdoing. If she finds something to hold against you, your life could be in danger."

Li Ping nodded. He wasn’t short on Spirit Stones, so he naturally wouldn’t engage in any profiteering.

The last time, during the demon beast tide, it was Gumu Sheng who had the idea to profiteer; it had nothing to do with him.

But Gumu Sheng’s words put him at ease. Purple Cloud Valley and the other two Sects were only prohibiting Cultivators from entering the Immortal City, not from leaving it.

This meant he could leave whenever he wanted.

Before Gumu Sheng left, Li Ping reminded him again, "Stay safe. Also, if anything urgent happens, remember to tell me immediately."

Gumu Sheng naturally agreed readily to Li Ping’s instructions.

Zhang Tie arrived in the evening. The moment he came, he apologized to Li Ping and explained why he was late.

As the Immortal City’s head of logistics, he had been swamped trying to manage the material supply for tens of thousands of Cultivators, so busy he was practically running off his feet.

He was still busy when Bai Lin went to find him.

He had been occupied until just now and had only just found the time to see Li Ping.

Li Ping didn’t mind and asked him the same question about the conflict between the Immortal City and Purple Cloud Valley.

What Zhang Tie said was more or less the same as Gumu Sheng’s account, but as the person in charge of logistics, he was much more pessimistic about the Immortal City’s situation.

Loose Cultivators came to the Immortal City to earn Spirit Stones and obtain cultivation resources. Once prices in the city soared while the cost of raw materials continued to fall, the Loose Cultivators would find it unprofitable and leave without hesitation.

Zhang Tie believed that if the three Sects continued the blockade, the Immortal City’s own production could only support about one-fifth of the current Cultivators. The other Loose Cultivators would be forced to leave and find a living elsewhere.

Of course, under these circumstances, the Cultivation Clans operating on their own immortal mountains outside the Immortal City would benefit greatly.

With external supplies of Spirit Rice, Spirit Medicine, and other goods blockaded, the resources produced on their Spiritual Lands could be sold at a high price.

Therefore, Cheng Yao’s previous decision had now presented the Wang family with a major opportunity for growth.

Soon, Zhang Tie also left.

Li Ping shook his head slightly and returned to his training room to enter seclusion.

In truth, he was slightly displeased.

The conflict between the Immortal City and Purple Cloud Valley had been going on for several days, yet he had known nothing about it.

Zhang Tie and Gumu Sheng hadn’t told him immediately after they heard the news. In the end, he only found out from Yu Menghan.

’Of course, they’re busy with their own duties. It’s understandable.’

’Besides, when I expressed my wish to see them, they immediately dropped what they were doing to come.’

’I have no reason to blame them.’

’After all, Zhang Tie and Gumu Sheng are my sworn brothers, not my slaves.’

After adjusting his mindset, Li Ping returned to his training room and immersed himself in arduous cultivation.

...

Not long after, Meng Qingyi came to his door, asking him to mass-produce Low-Tier Spirit Talismans to stabilize prices in the Immortal City.

This time, however, Li Ping refused her request without hesitation.

During the last demon beast tide, she had come to him for help.

Li Ping had agreed to her request back then, considering he owed her a favor of some significance and also because he hoped to trade for a few High-tier materials from the Immortal City to refine a Dharma Artifact.

Now, the favor had been repaid, and he had no need for anything from the Immortal City’s officials.

Moreover, the current situation was triggered by Dai Sangyu’s willful decision to break off her engagement.

’I can’t possibly waste my cultivation time to clean up the mess caused by Dai Sangyu’s willfulness.’

Li Ping told Meng Qingyi in no uncertain terms: if she personally ran into trouble, he would provide what help he could, but as for the Immortal City’s affairs, he was powerless to assist.

After her repeated attempts to persuade him failed, Meng Qingyi could only force a smile and leave.

Afterward, the old ancestor of the Meng family paid a visit, hoping Li Ping could spare some time to create more Spirit Talismans, which the Meng family was willing to buy back at a high price.

Li Ping also refused his request, citing the need to enter secluded, arduous cultivation.

The Meng family’s old ancestor simply assumed Li Ping was still angry with him for bringing Yu Menghan to visit without prior notice. He gave a bitter smile, said nothing more, and turned to leave.

...

During the following months, Li Ping would occasionally Transform his Appearance and wander around the Immortal City, discovering that it had indeed become much more desolate.

Large shops like Jade Cliff Palace and the Spirit Treasure Pavilion had all closed down as Gumu Sheng had said, leaving only the Ten Thousand Laws Pavilion, which was directly under the Immortal City’s control, still open for business.

In the small shops run by local Cultivators, the prices of finished goods like Spirit Talismans, Dharma Artifacts, and Pills had all risen to some extent.

On the streets, Cultivators could be heard complaining from time to time that if the price of Spirit Rice kept rising like this, they would soon be unable to afford to eat and would starve to death.

Back on Immortal Peach Mountain, Li Ping asked Bai Lin about the price of Spirit Rice.

As a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, he had long since achieved Fasting and was free from the troubles of worldly appetites. Bai Lin, however, was only a Qi Refining Cultivator and still needed to consume Spirit Rice to sustain herself.

With the price of Spirit Rice rising, he planned to give Bai Lin some more money for household expenses.

Unexpectedly, Bai Lin proudly declared that the Bai family of Gaoji Mountain grew their own spirit grain. During this time, she had been receiving Spirit Rice from her family and didn’t need to spend any Spirit Stones.

Li Ping nodded. ’It seems Zhang Tie was right.’

The joint blockade and embargo against the Immortal City by the three Sects had indeed brought a wave of development opportunities to Cultivators like the Bai family and the Wang family, who operated Spiritual Lands outside the city.

While he was at it, Li Ping checked on Bai Lin’s Cultivation.

She had broken through to the Qi Refining Ninth Level the year before last. More than a year and a half had passed, and she had now completed about half of the Qi Refining Ninth Level. In another two years or so, she would be able to attempt to break through to Foundation Establishment.

As for the Foundation Establishment Pill, Li Ping had already prepared one for her long ago.

He would give it to her when she was ready to attempt her breakthrough to Foundation Establishment.

...

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was the end of the year.

In the training room, Li Ping was performing the last treatment of the year on the Seven-Color Illusory Light Butterfly.

He infused it with four wisps of Nourishing Life Skill Power as usual, then ignored the faint emotion of ’I want more’ that came from it and directly pulled his hand away.

Seeing that he had finished the treatment, Yu Menghan hurriedly sent her Divine Sense into the Celestial Profound Crystal to check on the Seven-Color Illusory Light Butterfly’s condition.

A moment later, she put away the Celestial Profound Crystal, her eyes filled with unconcealable joy.

After two years of treatment, the Seven-Color Illusory Light Butterfly’s injuries had shown a faint but steady improvement under Li Ping’s care.

Now, even if she took the Seven-Color Illusory Light Butterfly out of the Celestial Profound Crystal, it could sustain its own life force and wouldn’t die immediately.

The situation was roughly like going from being fully paralyzed and on life support to being able to breathe on its own.

The results of the treatment were gratifying, to say the least.

As usual, she presented a Spirit Fruit as a thank-you gift.

She was about to turn and leave when Li Ping called out to her.

Li Ping wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with a smile, "Fairy Yu, if you’re not busy, there’s something I’d like to ask you."

"Go ahead and ask, Fellow Daoist Li." Yu Menghan waved her hand, speaking in a magnanimous tone.

Li Ping asked in confusion, "Fairy, could you tell me about the conflict between the Immortal City and Purple Cloud Valley? It’s been almost a year. Don’t they have any other moves besides the blockade and embargo?"

In reality, what he wanted to ask was what the current state of the situation was.

"So that’s what you wanted to ask about, Fellow Daoist Li." Yu Menghan shook her head. "If it were just the Immortal City alone, Purple Cloud Valley would of course have more moves than just a blockade. But both Purple Cloud Valley and the Immortal City are members of the Daoist Guardian Alliance. Before the Daoist Guardian Alliance makes a ruling, Purple Cloud Valley will not resort to force."

From Yu Menghan’s explanation, Li Ping learned the full story.

It turned out that the Cyan Cloud Secret Realm at Donghua Mountain produced the vast majority of Foundation Establishment Pills in the Western Wilderness.

And this secret realm was controlled by Jixia Immortal City. Because of the Foundation Establishment Pills, the other factions in the Daoist Guardian Alliance dared not offend Jixia Immortal City too much, and Purple Cloud Valley was no exception.

Moreover, Jixia Immortal City had nearly ten Core Formation Cultivators, including Alliance Leader Xiao, the number one Cultivator in the Western Wilderness.

In terms of strength, it far surpassed the other Sects.

In this dispute, Purple Cloud Valley believed they were in the right and was willing to wait for the Daoist Guardian Alliance’s ruling.

As for the Cyan Dragon Mountain lineage, their strength was inferior to Purple Cloud Valley’s, so facing the blockade, they could only endure it silently, not daring to resort to force.

And so, the matter reached a stalemate.

Li Ping asked curiously, "It’s been almost a year. Why haven’t the Daoist Guardian Alliance and Alliance Leader Xiao made a ruling yet?"

Hearing this, Yu Menghan revealed a sly expression. "Fellow Daoist Li, if your friend got into a conflict with someone, but you knew your friend was not in the right, how would you intervene to mediate?"

Li Ping had a sudden realization.

’Fenglan Immortal City is a nail that the Daoist Guardian Alliance has driven into the Cloud Mist Mountain Range to counterbalance the three Sects, including Purple Cloud Valley.’

’Now that the two sides are in conflict, the Daoist Guardian Alliance is bound to favor Fenglan Immortal City.’

’But this dispute was started by Dai Sangyu breaking her promise, so the Daoist Guardian Alliance can’t be too biased in her favor.’

’So what should be done in this situation?’

’Publicly, they’ll drag it out. Secretly, they’ll sound out the bottom lines of both sides and mediate between them.’

’The reason there hasn’t been a result after so long is most likely because the two sides haven’t been able to agree on the terms.’

In short, with the Daoist Guardian Alliance keeping things in check, the two sides wouldn’t come to blows. He could rest assured.

"Thank you for clearing up my confusion, Fairy," Li Ping said with a smile.

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