Chapter 94: Chapter 94: Bai Qing’s Choice

A few days later, Li Ping once again visited Artifact Refiner Wu Feng’s cave abode.

He was visiting to request that Wu Feng refine two items he had purchased at the auction: the shell of a Tier Two Upper Grade Red-Scaled Turtle and a palm-sized piece of Purple Heart Iron. He wanted them made into a Tier Two Upper Grade shield and a Tier Two Upper Grade Flying Sword, respectively.

Sitting in the pavilion, Wu Feng watched as Li Ping pulled the turtle shell from his Storage Bag. The Artifact Refiner looked like he wanted to say something but held his tongue.

He really wanted to ask Li Ping if he had some particular fondness for turtles, since he was always bringing him their shells for Artifact Refining.

Li Ping had no idea what Wu Feng was thinking; otherwise, he would have been sure to explain himself.

It was purely by coincidence that he had acquired two Tier Two Upper Grade turtle shells; he didn’t have any strange fixation on them.

After paying half the fee for the Artifact Refining and drawing up a contract for delivery, Li Ping got up and left.

...

Back in his own cave abode, Li Ping continued to immerse himself in cultivating the First Level of Body Refining of the *Nine Tribulations True Spirit Scripture*.

The deeper he delved into his practice, the more he realized how extraordinary this Cultivation Technique was. Even after only just beginning, he faintly developed an intuition for danger, as if an inner spiritual sense could warn him ahead of time to avoid calamities.

He felt he had discovered another one of the Cultivation Technique’s special effects.

Li Ping couldn’t help but rejoice. ’Avoiding disaster, concealing my aura, and the ability to Transform Appearance... this is the perfect Cultivation Technique for a Gou Cultivator like me!’

He focused on his Body Refining, further strengthening his path of survival.

Before he knew it, the New Year was fast approaching.

Around this time, Bai Lin would usually return to Gaoji Mountain. To Li Ping’s surprise, however, she wasn’t in a hurry to go home this year. Instead, she brought someone to visit him.

...

As he listened to Bai Lin’s report, Li Ping couldn’t help but frown, rather displeased that she had acted on her own initiative.

Seeing Li Ping frown, Bai Lin felt a little apprehensive.

Fortunately, Li Ping didn’t lose his temper. Instead, he said coolly, "I’ll let it slide this time, but don’t let it happen again. Bring him to see me."

"Yes, Sir." Bai Lin’s smile was somewhat forced.

Soon, led by Bai Lin, a middle-aged man appeared before Li Ping. He wore a purple robe, his sallow face was tinged with a deathly pallor, and his hair was streaked with silver. He called out respectfully, "Bai Mingyu of the Bai family pays his respects to Elder Li!"

Li Ping swept his Divine Sense over the man and saw that his Cultivation was at the Qi Refining Eighth Level. However, he seemed weak and drained, apparently due to an injury.

He nodded and said coolly, "You wanted to see me. What about?"

Bai Mingyu hesitated for a moment, but he finally steeled himself and explained the situation in detail.

As Li Ping listened to his story, he couldn’t help but be amused.

After Bai Mingyu finished, he pleaded tearfully, "Elder, I was severely injured in last year’s beast tide. I don’t have long to live, and I’m truly out of options. Please, Elder, help me."

Li Ping chuckled. "So, let me get this straight. You abandoned your wife and son, ignored them for more than ten years, and left a widow and her orphan to struggle and survive in the mortal world. After your wife died and your son, by chance, was brought back to the family, you had no intention of acknowledging him. You even called him a lowly bastard and told him never to look for you again."

"You never gave him a single cultivation resource, choosing instead to pour everything into training your eldest son, the one who had a Spiritual Root. But as it turned out, the son you had such high hopes for died in the beast tide, and you yourself were injured and now only have a few years to live."

"And now you’re worried your family will have no one to care for them after you die, so you want to acknowledge this ’lowly bastard’ of a son so he can experience a father’s love. But to your surprise, he wants nothing to do with you. When you went to see him, he just told you to get lost. Is that about right?"

Bai Mingyu heard the mockery in Li Ping’s tone, and his expression grew awkward.

But considering his circumstances, he mustered his courage and said, "No matter what, Qing’Er is my son. Without me, he wouldn’t even exist. As the saying goes, filial piety is the foremost of all virtues. I am his father; he should show me a modicum of respect. Furthermore, a son should not speak of his father’s failings. Even if I made mistakes, I now recognize my error and am determined to treat Qing’Er much better from now on..."

The more Li Ping listened, the more amused he grew. He cut him off, "I have to say, you’re quite a character. You can say all that without even blushing. I’m feeling embarrassed just listening to you."

Hearing Li Ping’s scorn, Bai Mingyu dropped to his knees. "Elder, my Shan’Er sacrificed himself for the family, and I was severely injured for the family as well! Please, Elder, help me!"

"Alright, alright, enough of this nonsense." Li Ping shook his head impatiently at the sight of him kneeling. "It’s useless to bring this matter to me. I can’t help you."

Bai Mingyu was about to say more when Li Ping’s cold voice cut in, "Bai Lin, take him away. And one more thing. Bai Qing, at the very least, calls me Big Brother. I don’t care if you try to persuade him, but if you dare use any dirty tricks on him, don’t blame me for being ruthless."

Seeing that Li Ping was on the verge of losing his temper, Bai Lin hastily dragged Bai Mingyu away.

...

Watching their retreating figures, Li Ping was lost in thought.

Cultivators from clans are bound by blood. They grow up in their clan, enjoy the vast resources it provides, and are taught to be loyal from a young age. As a result, their sense of belonging to the clan is very strong.

Sects, on the other hand, try to recruit disciples around the age of twelve or thirteen, when their worldviews haven’t fully formed, making it easier to cultivate loyalty to the Sect.

But their cohesiveness still falls far short of that of the Cultivation Clans.

Bai Lin was no exception. To her, the clan always came first.

That was why she had returned to her clan without hesitation during the beast tide.

And now, she had brought Bai Mingyu to Immortal Peach Mountain without his permission.

Li Ping had neither the ability nor the interest to change her sense of loyalty to her clan, but that was on the condition that she didn’t keep bothering him with the Bai family’s problems.

He had no time to deal with the Bai family’s trivial bullshit.

Li Ping thought to himself, ’I’ll let it slide this time. If it happens again, I’ll revoke her access to Immortal Peach Mountain and my cave abode.’

...

Time flew by as he focused on his secluded cultivation.

Before he knew it, the day of the Friends Association’s annual gathering had arrived. As was customary, he had Bai Lin return to Gaoji Mountain to celebrate the New Year.

Zhang Tie, Gumu Sheng, and the three other Cultivators also arrived one after another. To the regret of the six members now present, their sixth brother, Teng Feng, still did not appear.

However, everyone had already accepted the likelihood of Teng Feng’s death last year, so this year was merely a final confirmation. As such, the mood didn’t change drastically.

Compared to last year, the six of them had all changed quite a bit, not least of all Li Ping himself.

After winning the Foundation Establishment Pill at the auction, Zhang Tie had cultivated with even greater diligence. His Cultivation had now reached the peak of the Qi Refining Ninth Level, and he planned to apply for seclusion at Cyan Dragon Mountain to attempt his breakthrough to Foundation Establishment after the New Year.

Gumu Sheng had finally broken through to the Qi Refining Eighth Level this year.

Li Ping took a closer look at Gumu Sheng.

If he wasn’t mistaken, the Qi Refining cultivator who had bought the Jade Heart Liquid at the auction was likely Gumu Sheng.

He had made a fortune by taking advantage of the beast tide, so he would have had enough Spirit Stones to bid for that Foundation Establishment Spiritual Object.

His gaze swept past Gumu Sheng and landed on Cheng Yao.

Cheng Yao’s Cultivation was still at the Qi Refining Seventh Level, showing little progress from the previous year. This struck Li Ping as odd. She had Three Spirit Roots and was taking Cultivation Elixirs, so it made no sense that her progress was slower than Gumu Sheng’s.

Moreover, Li Ping noticed that her face looked somewhat haggard.

After Cheng Yao were Qi Hanmo and Bai Qing, both of whom had successfully broken through to the next level in the past year.

Qi Hanmo had advanced to the Qi Refining Sixth Level, and Bai Qing had reached the Qi Refining Fifth Level.

...

Li Ping looked at the five of them and began, "I have two things to announce. First, Zhang Tie successfully won a Foundation Establishment Pill at the auction before the New Year, so the Foundation Establishment Fund is now depleted. Second, regarding Teng Feng... as much as we hate to believe it, I think it’s highly likely he perished in the beast tide."

At this, Li Ping sighed. "In that case, we will honor Teng Feng’s final wish and return the Spirit Stones he contributed to his home village. Gumu Sheng, you’ll be in charge of this. The necessary Spirit Stones will be taken from the Foundation Establishment Fund."

"No problem, Big Brother." Gumu Sheng nodded, then added with some hesitation, "But Big Brother, Teng Feng’s home village is full of mortals. It wouldn’t be wise to give them so many Spirit Stones at once. I’m afraid it would bring disaster upon them. I suggest we do it over ten years, and instead of giving them Spirit Stones, I’ll purchase supplies for them directly. Would that be alright?"

Li Ping was very pleased with Gumu Sheng’s suggestion. "Do it just as you’ve proposed."

After dealing with the matter concerning Teng Feng, it was time to collect this year’s contributions for the Foundation Establishment Fund. The six of them contributed a total of 570 Spirit Stones. After subtracting the 150 Spirit Stones for Teng Feng’s village, the fund’s new total was 420 Spirit Stones.

Li Ping put the Spirit Stones into his Storage Bag.

Next was a period of open discussion. Li Ping immediately smiled and asked Cheng Yao if she had encountered some trouble and needed any help.

Cheng Yao just sighed, however, apparently too embarrassed to say what had happened.

Puzzled, Li Ping made a mental note of it and didn’t press her further.

Next, he asked Bai Qing if his deadbeat father had been harassing him again.

Unlike Cheng Yao, Bai Qing didn’t hold back. He spoke indignantly of his father’s shamelessness and declared that he would rather die than acknowledge the man.

As for Bai Mingyu’s hope that Bai Qing would return to the clan and fulfill his filial duties, that was completely out of the question.

After the others understood the situation, they all mocked Bai Mingyu for his utter lack of shame.

In name, Bai Qing might be a member of a Cultivation Clan.

But he hadn’t grown up in the Bai family. He was already sixteen or seventeen by the time he met the Bai family’s Cultivators and was officially acknowledged by the clan. Furthermore, with Li Ping’s help, he was already financially independent and capable of supporting himself.

Initially, he had held a sliver of hope regarding the father he had never met.

But Bai Mingyu’s cry of ’lowly bastard’ had completely broken his heart.

After that, even though he was officially part of the clan, he never thought of himself as a clan Cultivator and spent most of his time living in the Immortal City.

During last year’s beast tide, for example, when Gaoji Mountain was under siege, Bai Lin had rushed back in a panic, but Bai Qing remained in the Immortal City with no intention of returning.

Part of the reason was that his Cultivation was so low he wouldn’t have been much help anyway.

But the bigger reason was that he felt no affection for the Bai family and had no sense of belonging; he would never be one to sacrifice everything for the clan.

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