Chapter 13: A Letter from the Jiang Kingdom
Chapter 13: Chapter 13: A Letter from the Jiang Kingdom
Inside the general store.
After bowing, the dark-skinned young man said with a smile, "Congratulations on reaching Foundation Establishment, Big Brother. You have a bright future on the Immortal Dao."
Li Ping waved his hand, gesturing for him to dispense with the formalities.
Without much further pleasantry, Li Ping sat down in the general store and took out two Cyan Thunder Talismans he had specifically set aside. "Musheng, sell these two Cyan Thunder Talismans in your shop. You don’t need to give me Spirit Stones—just trade me some Tier One Upper Grade Talisman Ink and Talisman Paper for them."
The dark-skinned young man was surprised at first, then overjoyed. "Cyan Thunder Talismans? And you’re asking for Tier One Upper Grade Talisman Ink and Paper... Big Brother, you’ve become a Tier One Upper Grade Talisman Maker! This is fantastic!"
Saying this, he didn’t hesitate, taking the Cyan Thunder Talismans and carefully storing them away before going to get the Talisman Ink and Paper for Li Ping.
As Li Ping watched him bustle about, his mind drifted back to the first time he met his third brother.
This third brother of his, with his dark skin and plain features, was named Gumu Sheng.
He was a native of the Immortal City. His ancestors had been mortals for generations, and he was the first in his family line to be born with a Spiritual Root and become a Cultivator. However, what he possessed was a Four Spirit Roots.
In the Cultivation Realm, Four Spirit Roots and Five Spirit Roots are also known as Pseudo-Spiritual Roots. Cultivators with these types of roots not only cultivate at an incredibly slow pace, but they also find it far more difficult to break through bottlenecks than Cultivators who possess True Spiritual Roots, such as Three Spirit Roots or higher.
Take, for example, the old Daoist who had guided Li Ping onto the path of the Immortal Dao. Despite a lifetime of arduous cultivation, he had only reached the Qi Refining Fourth Level.
Gumu Sheng was no exception. With his Four Spirit Roots and no guidance from cultivator elders, his journey on the path of cultivation was fraught with hardship.
Fortunately, he had grown up in the Immortal City. He was used to seeing all sorts of Cultivators come and go, which had honed his ability to read people. Furthermore, he was familiar with the Immortal City and its surroundings.
Not long after becoming a Cultivator, he set up a stall in the Outer City to do business, buying low and selling high to earn some cultivation resources.
However, the Low-tier Cultivators in the Outer City were all part of gangs and factions, a world where the strong preyed on the weak. Seeing that he was alone, they inevitably bullied him.
While it wouldn’t go as far as robbery and murder within the Immortal City, extortion was unavoidable. The constant harassment made it impossible for him to run his business in peace.
At that time, Li Ping had already established the Friends Association, and his Cultivation had reached the Qi Refining Sixth Level. Furthermore, he had once been a great martial hero and was skilled in Magical Combat, making him a relatively famous expert in his residential area.
Thus, to avoid being bullied by those Low-tier Cultivators, Gumu Sheng sought Li Ping out as a backer.
However, Li Ping did not immediately agree to let him join.
After all, he had established the Friends Association for the sake of pursuing the Immortal Dao, not to form a gang to bully others and commit misdeeds.
Nor was it to play the hero, righting wrongs and protecting the innocent.
He wouldn’t accept just anyone.
After some investigation, Li Ping discovered that while the young man was shrewd and clever, he didn’t use his wits for nefarious purposes. His business dealings were always fair, and he never cheated anyone.
If he hadn’t been backed into a corner by bullies, he probably would have been content to quietly run his small business forever.
Only then did Li Ping agree to admit him into the association, and thus he became the third member of the Friends Association, after Li Ping and Zhang Tie.
With Li Ping as his backer, those Low-tier Cultivators naturally stopped harassing him. He was finally able to run his business in peace and put his natural talent for it to good use.
Over the past decade or so, his business had grown larger and larger, and he had gone from being a simple stall vendor to the proud owner of his own shop.
Even his Cultivation had risen to the Qi Refining Sixth Level. For someone with his Spiritual Root’s aptitude to cultivate that quickly, he must have consumed no small number of precious Pills.
Of course, for a Cultivator, the aptitude of one’s Spiritual Root was just too important.
Zhang Tie was only three years older than Gumu Sheng and hadn’t consumed nearly as many Pills, yet his Cultivation was already at the Qi Refining Eighth Level.
...
"Big Brother, here is the Talisman Ink and Talisman Paper you asked for." Gumu Sheng emerged from behind the counter with an eager smile, the amount of supplies in his hands far exceeding the value of two Cyan Thunder Talismans.
Li Ping smiled and shook his head. He didn’t accept everything, taking only a portion. "This is too much."
Seeing this, Gumu Sheng immediately grew anxious. "Big Brother, you broke through to Foundation Establishment and became a Tier One Upper Grade Talisman Maker! It’s a joyous double occasion, and I’m so happy for you. This ink and paper is just a small token of my congratulations. Can’t you accept it?"
Li Ping just smiled and shook his head again, stopping Gumu Sheng from saying any more.
Seeing that Li Ping was unwilling to accept, Gumu Sheng had no choice but to let the matter drop.
He couldn’t help but marvel inwardly. ’Even though Big Brother has the highest Cultivation and is the head of the association, he never uses his power or position to bully the other members. In fact, he takes great care of us all. Of course, the Spirit Stones we contribute each year also helped Big Brother reach Foundation Establishment, so we’ve earned the care he shows us.’
...
"Oh, by the way, Big Brother, a letter for you arrived from the Jiang Kingdom seven days ago," Gumu Sheng said, changing the subject. "You had gone into seclusion in the Inner City to work on your breakthrough, so the merchant guild’s messenger left it here with me."
As he spoke, Gumu Sheng took a cyan wooden box, about half the size of his palm, from his Storage Bag.
"Oh? A letter from the Jiang Kingdom." Li Ping looked surprised, but he took the wooden box without hesitation.
The surface of the box was protected by a Restriction. The sending Cultivator had set a secret key, and the recipient had to use the same key to open it. Any attempt to force it open would cause the box to self-destruct.
Looking at the familiar pattern of the secret key on the Restriction, Li Ping immediately recognized that the letter was indeed from someone he knew.
The old Daoist who had guided Li Ping to the Immortal Dao was named Ji Xiu. Before Li Ping left the Jiang Kingdom to seek the Dao in the Immortal City, he had made a special trip to see him.
They had agreed upon the secret key for their correspondence, and Li Ping had asked Daoist Ji to help look after the Sword Casting Manor after he left the Jiang Kingdom.
After arriving in the Immortal City, they had exchanged several letters to keep each other updated. Li Ping had even sent him back some cultivation resources, as well as some Pills for mortal Martial Artists, asking him to pass them along to his master, Yan Guikai.
Now, Daoist Ji had written to him again.
A smile touched Li Ping’s lips. He had always been grateful to the Daoist who had guided him onto the path of cultivation and had always regarded him as an elder.
This was true even though his own strength now far surpassed the old Daoist’s.
"Alright, Musheng, go on and get back to your work. I should be going as well," Li Ping said with a smile, putting the wooden box away. He waved his hand again, signaling for Gumu Sheng not to see him out.
...
「In his rented courtyard.」
Li Ping controlled his Magical Power, shaping it into the pattern of the agreed-upon secret key, and carefully infused it into the Restriction on the box’s surface.
With a soft CLICK, the wooden box sprang open, revealing a folded letter inside.
He took out the letter, unfolded it, and began to read.
However, as he read on, his expression grew grim.
Daoist Ji wrote that Li Ping’s master, Yan Guikai, was bedridden and did not have long to live. His final wish was for Li Ping to return and see him one last time.
Furthermore, Daoist Ji mentioned that he also had a favor to ask of Li Ping, but the details were not suitable for a letter and would have to wait for them to speak in person upon his return.