Chapter 87: Trip to Gaoji Mountain
Chapter 87: Chapter 87: Trip to Gaoji Mountain
"So this is Gaoji Mountain."
Li Ping hovered in the air, gazing at the great mountain before him, which lay like a crouching tiger and a coiling dragon.
Gaoji Mountain looked taller and more majestic than Cyan Dragon Mountain, but it only contained a single Tier Two Lower Grade Spirit Vein, making it far inferior.
Taking out a Sound Transmission Talisman, Li Ping murmured a few words into it before tossing it directly toward Gaoji Mountain.
Once that was done, he clasped his hands behind his back and hovered in the air, waiting patiently.
Before long, a streak of Escape Light flew from the direction of Gaoji Mountain toward Li Ping.
A slight smile touched Li Ping’s lips as he made out the person within the light.
It was none other than the Bai family’s Patriarch.
The Patriarch was welcoming Li Ping personally, a clear sign of how much the Bai family valued his visit.
From a distance, the Bai family Patriarch’s laughter carried on the wind. "Hahaha... Fellow Daoist Li, your esteemed presence brings splendor to our humble Gaoji Mountain!"
Moments later, the Bai family Patriarch, a man with a youthful face and white hair, appeared before Li Ping. He said warmly, "Fellow Daoist Li, the Bai family owes you a life-saving debt that we will never forget. We were planning to visit you during the Immortal City auction in a couple of days, but we never expected to have the honor of you visiting our clan today. Come, come... Fellow Daoist Li, please!"
Li Ping smiled. "Fellow Daoist Bai, you are too kind. Your clan survived the beast tide by risking their own lives. I merely offered a few Spirit Talismans and dare not take any credit."
But the Bai family Patriarch shook his head. "Without the Spirit Talismans you gave us, my family would not have survived."
After exchanging pleasantries, the two flew side by side toward Gaoji Mountain.
...
During his conversation with the Bai family Patriarch, Li Ping explained the reason for his visit.
Bai Lin hadn’t returned to the Immortal City since she came home last year, so he had come to see her.
Hearing this, the Bai family Patriarch just laughed, a mischievous smile on his face as if he had seen right through Li Ping’s excuse. However, he didn’t say anything more.
Li Ping really wanted to ask him, ’Old man, what’s with that look on your face?’
In truth, he had never planned to visit Gaoji Mountain. The main reason he was here was to create a cover for leaving the city.
After all, he was supposed to be cultivating peacefully in the city, so a sudden, inexplicable trip outside would be strange.
At any other time, it would be fine, but during this sensitive period, such an unusual move could easily attract unwanted attention.
But if he was leaving the city to visit a friend, there would be no problem. Anyone investigating his whereabouts would easily find that he had left the city to be a guest of the Bai family.
Besides, his reason for visiting the Bai family was perfectly valid.
In short, Li Ping’s trip wasn’t specifically to bring his little housekeeper, Bai Lin, back to the Immortal City. His main purpose was to dispose of a body and hide a Storage Bag; visiting the Bai family was just incidental.
...
Although Li Ping was only visiting the Bai family as a secondary objective, they treated his arrival with the utmost importance.
Not only had the family’s Patriarch personally flown out to greet him, but when he and the Patriarch arrived at Gaoji Mountain,
all the Cultivators still on the mountain had been arranged by Bai Mingde to welcome him at the base.
Hundreds of Cultivators stood in a dense, dark crowd.
Li Ping swept his Divine Sense over the crowd below and spotted a few familiar faces, including Bai Mingde and his little housekeeper, Bai Lin.
Everyone else was looking up at the sky with excitement, but Bai Lin kept her head down, only stealing glances from the corner of her eye in the direction of the approaching Escape Light.
Seeing Li Ping and their Patriarch fly over, all the Bai family Cultivators shouted in unison, "We respectfully welcome Elder Li’s arrival!"
Admittedly, to an outsider, the scene was rather awkward.
But Li Ping, at the center of it all, felt a thrill of satisfaction. He now understood why, in his past life, heads of state would put on such grand, awkward welcoming ceremonies during official visits.
State etiquette was one reason, but the feeling of being a leader... no, an elder... was truly wonderful.
Of course, Li Ping also understood why the Bai family had made such a grand spectacle.
Gratitude for his help during the beast tide was one reason.
More importantly, with their Patriarch old and frail, and the Bai family facing a generational gap with no second Foundation Establishment Cultivator, this was a way to display their strong relationship with Li Ping to the outside world.
By borrowing Li Ping’s prestige, they could make those with ill intentions toward the Bai family hesitate.
...
SWOOSH!
SWOOSH!
Two streaks of Escape Light landed on the ground, revealing Li Ping and the Bai family Patriarch.
The Bai family Patriarch smiled and waved a hand at Bai Mingde and the others. "Alright, alright, you can all disperse. I will personally host Fellow Daoist Li!"
The crowd replied in unison, "Yes, Patriarch."
Bai Lin, who was in the crowd, stole a few glances at Li Ping. When it seemed he hadn’t noticed her, a flicker of disappointment crossed her eyes. Swallowing her sense of grievance, she lowered her head in disappointment, about to leave.
But just as she turned, the Patriarch’s gentle voice reached her ears. "Little Bai Lin, come over here. Fellow Daoist Li came all this way just for you."
The Patriarch’s words made Bai Lin unconsciously lift her head, only to see Li Ping looking at her with a smile.
When the Bai family members present heard the Patriarch’s words, their eyes filled with envy.
In their eyes, for a lofty Foundation Establishment Cultivator like Elder Li to come all the way to Gaoji Mountain just for Bai Lin after she had stubbornly refused to return to the Immortal City...
It was obvious that Bai Lin wasn’t just some ordinary concubine in Elder Li’s eyes; he cared for her a great deal.
’So, Young Master really did come all this way just for me.’ Hearing the Patriarch’s words, a sweet feeling bloomed in Bai Lin’s heart.
She walked up to the two men with her head lowered, and a large hand came to rest on her head. A familiar voice sounded by her ear, "Hehe... you’ve broken through to the Middle-stage Qi Refining. Not bad."
At that moment, seeing the envious expressions of her clansmen and hearing Li Ping’s gentle words, Bai Lin felt the grievances in her heart begin to fade.
...
「A few days later.」
On the path from Gaoji Mountain to the Immortal City, a jet-black streak of Escape Light sped past.
A closer look would reveal that the light contained a shuttle-shaped Flying Ship, several dozen feet long and about ten feet wide—it was the Tier Two Flying Ship, the Floating Shadow Shuttle!
Inside the Flying Ship, Li Ping sat cross-legged.
Besides him, there were several members of the Bai family, including Bai Mingde and Bai Lin.
Li Ping’s personal visit to Gaoji Mountain had successfully placated her, and she was now happily returning to the Immortal City with him.
As for the other Bai family members, they were heading to the Immortal City for an auction.
Even if Li Ping hadn’t come, they had been planning to set off for the Immortal City soon anyway. Now that he was returning, they were just hitching a ride.
Li Ping mulled over the Storage Bag in his hand.
This Storage Bag contained five hundred Spirit Stones, a gift of thanks from the Bai family for the Spirit Talismans he had provided to help them survive the beast tide.
Originally, the Storage Bag had contained 1,000 Spirit Stones.
However, Li Ping was not short on Spirit Stones and didn’t want to become too deeply entangled with the Bai family over them. After some polite refusal, he eventually accepted only five hundred Spirit Stones as reimbursement for the cost of the talismans.
Li Ping shook his head and put away the Storage Bag. ’Oh well. Five Tier Two Middle Grade Spirit Talismans would sell for much more than five hundred Spirit Stones, so I guess I still gave the Bai family a discount.’
...
At the towering gates of the Immortal City.
Li Ping waved his hand, recalling the Flying Ship, and said lightly to Bai Mingde and the others, "Let’s part ways here."
"Thank you, Elder," they quickly and respectfully replied.
Next, the Bai family members went to line up for the identity inspection.
Li Ping, on the other hand, took Bai Lin and walked through the express lane directly into the city under the respectful gazes of the city guards.
On the way back to Immortal Peach Mountain, Bai Lin’s mind was racing with happy thoughts and memories. ’It’s been almost a year. The Spirit Medicines I planted must have grown a lot. The spirit fish in the pond should be nice and fat by now, though Young Master is so busy with his cultivation, he probably didn’t have time to feed them. And...’
As she thought about it, she couldn’t help but shake Li Ping’s arm and ask, "Young Master, did you feed the spirit fish in the pond?"
"Huh? Feed the fish?" Li Ping was bewildered. How could he feed them when the spirit fish had been turned to ash?
"What about the Spirit Medicines? Did you use a Spirit Rain spell on them?"
The Spirit Medicines had also turned to ash. Li Ping remained bewildered.
Seeing the look on Li Ping’s face, Bai Lin gradually began to feel that something was wrong.
When they returned to Immortal Peach Mountain and Li Ping deactivated the Array, she saw nothing but a stretch of empty, flat ground. The faint smell of lightning, fire, and char still lingered in the air.
Forget the Spirit Medicines and spirit fish—even the palace, pavilions, Medicine Garden, and pond were gone.
Bai Lin was dumbfounded. "My huge Medicine Garden? My big pond? All my Spirit Medicines? All my fish?"
Seeing her stunned expression, Li Ping smiled faintly. "I never liked the design of this residence anyway and have been wanting to rebuild it for a while. Now that you’re back, you’ll be in charge of hiring people to rebuild it according to your own ideas!"
"Okay! Yes!" Hearing that she could rebuild the residence according to her own ideas, Bai Lin beamed with joy, her heart filled with sweetness.
After all, the task Li Ping had given her was clearly something only the mistress of the house would do.
...
At the base of Cyan Dragon Mountain.
The members of the Wang family knelt, unable to rise. Passing Cultivators occasionally pointed at them, seemingly gossiping about the family’s affairs.
In the conference palace on the mountainside.
Several Foundation Establishment Cultivators were discussing how to deal with the Wang family.
Fenglan Master, the lord of the Immortal City, was not present. Among the Foundation Establishment Cultivators there, the most powerful were Dai Sangyu and the Meng family Patriarch.
Besides them, there were six or seven other Foundation Establishment Cultivators in the palace, including Meng Qingyi and Junior Brother Ye.
They argued fiercely over how the Wang family should be handled.
Junior Brother Ye, of course, wanted to completely crush the Wang family, while Meng Qingyi did his utmost to speak in their defense.
The arguments died down.
Dai Sangyu glanced down the mountain with a look of disgust before her eyes swept over the Foundation Establishment Cultivators in the hall.
With Fenglan Master in seclusion, she, as the Vice Sect Leader, had immense authority over the Immortal City’s affairs.
Others could question her decision, but they had no power to overturn it.
She said coldly, "The Wang family’s matter has tarnished the Immortal City’s image and affected my Master’s reputation. Wang Li is already dead, so we’ll let that be. As for the rest of the Wang family—"
As she was speaking, her expression suddenly faltered. She stopped talking and began to listen intently.
The other Foundation Establishment Cultivators in the hall all reacted, knowing that Fenglan Master must be sending her a sound transmission.
After a moment, Dai Sangyu slowly began to speak again. "In consideration of Wang Li having died in battle for the Immortal City, his merits and demerits cancel each other out. We will show the Wang family leniency."
"The Wang family may remain in the Immortal City, but its members are barred from holding any official positions. Furthermore, they must return the Spirit Stones they swindled from Loose Cultivators by the end of the year!"
Hearing this resolution, all the Foundation Establishment Cultivators present showed expressions of satisfaction.
The Meng family Patriarch was relieved that the Wang family had been saved.
Junior Brother Ye was satisfied because the Wang family’s removal from the Immortal City’s system would free up numerous official positions, allowing him to achieve his goal.
...