Chapter 6: The Heroine Ascends the Mountain

Inside Li Ping'an's wooden tower;

The newcomer to the path of cultivation was panting heavily, feeling the surging mana within his body, the spiritual sense that had explosively increased due to consecutive breakthroughs, and the qi sea and meridians that had been forcibly expanded, reminiscing about the various sensations at the brink of life and death moments before.

If he hadn't had sufficient insights beforehand and managed to breakthrough the fourth, fifth, and sixth stages of Qi Cultivation in succession, he feared his body might have been blown apart by the rapidly increasing mana during cultivation!

What's happening?

Li Ping'an was indeed a bit confused.

In his understanding, cultivating the Dao was a gradual process, accumulating insights, accumulating mana, building up a strong foundation for a breakthrough in realm, with each advancement in realm bringing an extension to one's lifespan and strengthening the Dao Body, step by step walking the path of immortality in search of eternal life.

Because he lacked the earth element in his five-element aptitude and began cultivating as an adult, his cultivation progress was originally very slow; even after diligently cultivating for a while and fortunately gaining some initial Dao insights, he had only taken a few small steps forward.

But now, for some unknown reason, all of a sudden!

Did someone secretly impart their power to me?

Li Ping'an had a feeling: his sudden breakthrough seemed to be related to his father.

When he was in extreme pain and suffering earlier, he had seen the Big Dipper and a shining bright star.

Li Ping'an took a jade thumb ring from beneath his pillow.

He now seemed capable of using this Storage Treasure.

A flicker of eagerness appeared in Li Ping'an's heart, and he immediately wanted to inject mana to simply refine the Storage Ring, but before he could take any action, a familiar call came from outside the window:

"Ping'an!"

"Dad?"

Li Ping'an wrapped himself in his robe and hurried to the window, pushing it open to see his father standing on the clouds.

Li Ping'an smiled wryly, "Dad, what are you doing? You can ride the clouds now?"

"This is a cluster of clouds refined by your grandmaster; I'm still far from being able to ride the clouds and mists!"

Li Dazhi laughed heartily as he entered Li Ping'an's abode.

His belly had grown larger, not smaller, since their last meeting, the wrinkles on his face had completely disappeared, and he looked as if he had rejuvenated twenty years, beaming with a ruddy complexion when he smiled.

Li Dazhi looked around, then gave Li Ping'an a careful inspection, and after a few moments of contemplation:

"Ping'an, has your cultivation... increased?"

"It has, it suddenly increased quite a bit just now," Li Ping'an frowned, "Dad, did you ask an Immortal to impart their power to me?"

Li Dazhi's face immediately broke into a radiantly bright smile.

He looked around his son's dwelling, nodded approvingly, and walked towards the desk, intentionally being mysterious as he shook his head and murmured:

"This matter must not be spoken of to outsiders!"

Li Ping'an came carrying a pot of cool tea.

"Dad, what exactly happened?"

"It's nothing major."

Li Dazhi settled casually into an armchair, leisurely saying:

"You won't have to worry about cultivation in the future!

"Your grandmaster sacrificed a hundred years of his cultivation to reshape the ancient Divine Skills of the Human Race's bloodline for me. The Divine Skill I received is quite interesting, it activates when my heart is blessed with fortune, allowing me to share some of my mana with you.

"I would like to call it father-son connection.

"How simple is it for me to cultivate, yet how troublesome for you? You don't need to be under so much pressure—just lie flat and let dad carry you."

A slight twitch appeared at the corner of Li Ping'an's mouth, and then he let out a sigh, sitting down opposite his father.

He didn't mention that he was nearly blown apart by the surge of power but subtly reminded his father not to intentionally transfer too much mana to him.

"Ping'an, I know you want to rely on yourself for everything, we both have the same stubborn temperament," said Li Dazhi with a sigh.

"But think about it, you're the only family I have in this world. If I don't help you, who will I help? If you had this Divine Skill, wouldn't you help me?

"Now we've entered the world of immortality, and while the Wanyun Sect seems peaceful, it's actually filled with crises. There are quite a few Immortals within the sect who are unhappy with me, a mere mortal merchant who has suddenly risen to prominence.

"The higher your cultivation, the stronger your self-preservation, and the more unrestrained I can be in advancing my cultivation.

"Besides, Ping'an, you know, even if I have great fortune and aptitude, I'm not cut out to be a big shot as my cultivation advances—I can only act as the vanguard, not a Great General.

"But you're different, Ping'an. You're quick-witted, have good understanding... Giving you some mana to help your cultivation, what's wrong with that? Others would want it but can't get it!"

Li Ping'an pondered for a few moments and then nodded slightly.

"Dad, I won't refuse what you give me, but we must agree on a few things."

Li Dazhi waved a big hand: "What things? Just say it, our family matters depend on you."

"Dad, every time you transfer power to me, you need to come here, so I can prepare."

Li Ping'an pulled open his robe, revealing the inner garments that he hadn't had time to change.

The inner garments were covered with stains of blood;

these were the marks left by Li Ping'an when he faced the life and death threshold earlier.

Seeing this, Li Dazhi broke into a cold sweat and hurriedly said "my fault," "my fault."

"Also, dad, this Divine Skill of yours should only be known between the two of us, and you should impart power to me no more than once a year, and not too much at a time so as not to affect your own cultivation negatively, otherwise it's like abandoning the essentials for the trivial.

"I heard you mention earlier that there were people in the sect dissatisfied with you. You need to tell me more about this, so we don't have any hidden problems."

Li Dazhi laughed and shook his head: "I knew I shouldn't have told you all this; now you're worried."

...

An hour later.

Li Dazhi quietly left the Liuyun Temple.

Li Ping'an took a bath, changed his clothes, and sat quietly behind his desk pondering.

The trouble his father was facing was not big, but not small either.

The resources within the sect were already fixed in number, especially those top-level resources—like the discipleship spots of Daoist Kongming.

This was the main reason for the jealousy from several Heavenly Immortals towards his father.

Wanyun Sect had a total of thirty-six main peaks, thirty-six channels of Dao inheritance, and thus thirty-six factions, with the strongest naturally being the lineage of the Sect Leader.

Daoist Kongming was the patriarch of the Sect Leader's lineage, and the two other Golden Immortal patriarchs were more or less associated with the lineage of the Sect Leader.

With just a word from Daoist Kongming, who would become the next Sect Leader was virtually decided.

This situation brought about new troubles.

Several immortals within the sect were saying that Daoist Kongming's newly accepted disciple, who possessed Great Fortune, might be chosen as the next Sect Leader, using the disciple's Great Fortune to boost the sect's fortunes.

This would be good for the sect;

but for those few Heavenly Immortal Realm experts who had ambitions for the position of Sect Leader, it was very bad news.

This led to the emergence of another force that was hostile towards my father.

The two forces actually had much overlap.

Li Ping'an pondered deeply for a long time before he began to write and draw.

There were also power struggles within this sect.

Although his father had been in business for many years, he always worked in small places and was inherently honest and dutiful. — This was also determined by the era in which his father had grown up.

Li Ping'an feared his father might be at a disadvantage and ultimately needed to plan carefully for his father's well-being.

Only with a clear plan could he counter every move.

He bowed his head and wrote for half a day until dusk, when Li Ping'an remembered he had yet to examine the thumb ring his father had given him earlier.

Li Ping'an took out the thumb ring and refined it using a simple method he had learned from a book. His spiritual sense quickly probed within.

Wow!

Truly worthy of a Golden Immortal's gift to his disciple!

Li Ping'an saw a pile of top-quality spirit stones about three feet square, spotted two porcelain bottles of healing pills, and further noticed a brocade box with the character "Life" written on it.

He focused his sensation, and his spiritual sense detected a strong medicinal fragrance.

It must be a life-saving Spirit Pill given by the Golden Immortal patriarch to his father, yet his father had passed it into his own hands.

Li Ping'an felt warmth welling up inside him, yet he also reminded himself to be vigilant.

Whether it was the mana or elixir pills and treasures his father had given him, they were ultimately external aids. He still needed to diligently cultivate, to ponder the principles of the Great Dao in order to exist eternally with the Great Dao.

Mana did not represent one's cultivation realm; everything depended on one's personal insight into the Great Dao.

Influenced by the Divine Skills recently acquired by his father, Li Ping'an made slight adjustments to his own cultivation plan, but the conclusion remained unchanged.

— The priority at the current stage was to achieve self-circulating Qi.

This was a key aid in enhancing his cultivation speed.

Li Ping'an had long known that the first three realms of cultivation were Qi Cultivation, Spirit-Gathering, and Light Condensing, followed by the next three realms: Void Refining, Merge True, and Heaven and Earth Bridge.

Generally speaking, only a Qi Cultivator in the Light Condensing realm could generate mana circulation within the body, absorbing spiritual energy from the heavens and earth and turning it into their own essential mana at any time.

But lesser cultivators like those in the Qi Cultivation and Spirit-Gathering realms could only maintain Qi circulation while meditating, absorbing spiritual energy faster for their own use.

Even after his recent surge in cultivation, Li Ping'an was still just a minor cultivator in the seventh stage of Qi Cultivation, with weak spiritual sense and frail spirit, not even a glimmer of light ignited in his spirit platform...

To achieve 'self-circulating Qi' at this moment was indeed quite difficult.

"Everything is up to one's efforts."

Li Ping'an stretched and got up, pushed open the window, and gazed into the distance as he exhaled a breath of turbid air to clear his sea of consciousness and relax his mind.

The young boy next door was practicing a set of Qi-enhancing boxing techniques in the courtyard;

A young girl was practicing talisman magic by the pond, her thrown yellow-paper talismans transforming into spirit sparrows, fluttering around her, eliciting tinkling laughter;

The Minister's cabin in the front yard was still wrapped in the light of formations, and the welcoming pine seen from afar resembled an exquisite bonsai.

Li Ping'an didn't linger on these sights; he closed the door and windows and returned to his bed to continue meditating.

He must achieve self-circulating Qi!

He concentrated his mind to initiate the circulation of vital energy in the Qi cycle, carefully feeling the many mysterious aspects of the vital energy's Qi cycle within his body.

The spiritual energy drifting in the air slowly moved towards his body, entering his mouth and nostrils, seeping into his pores, and after making a round, a small amount of spiritual energy remained in his body, slowly assimilated by the vital energy, slightly increasing his mana.

How could he maintain this process autonomously?

As Li Ping'an pondered, he suddenly heard a youthful female voice calling out:

"Excuse me! Is there someone in charge here?"

The voice came from the front yard.

Li Ping'an, slightly annoyed by the disturbance, furrowed his brow, shook his head, and continued to meditate intently.

After another half hour, the girl's voice sounded again, seemingly having some cultivation, as her soft and clear voice was quite penetrating:

"Is there someone from the sect in charge? I am a new disciple."

Li Ping'an opened his eyes, somewhat impatiently twitched his lips, and couldn't help but complain inwardly:

Why couldn't this disciple wait a while longer? There was surely Minister Weiyen in the front yard...

Ah, right, Minister Weiyen was secluded;

he was now the acting minister.

Li Ping'an sighed in resignation to the 'trouble', glanced at the Minister's token on the table, reluctantly got dressed in his robe, and shuffled down in his cloth shoes to the first floor.

Before leaving the wooden building, he was neatly dressed and had tied his hairband properly, holding the token in his hand as he hurried to the front yard.

Three to five little disciples were peering out from the back yard gate towards the front.

When Li Ping'an arrived, the young boys and girls turned their heads to look.

Although they were well-acquainted, they had never spoken;

Seeing Li Ping'an holding the Minister's token, the young disciples naturally saluted with a bow.

Li Ping'an returned the salute and said, "My fellow senior brothers and sisters should focus on cultivating in peace, I'll go take a look at the front yard."

Having said that, he stepped out of the back yard, turned around the shadow wall in front, and looked up towards the center of the front yard.

A young girl stood there with a sword in hand.