The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 103 Seven Star Pavilion

Li Qing led a group of Taoists to the Immortal City. They quickly rented a manor outside the market and waited quietly inside.

They didn't know what was going on with Pei Jiu, so they sent out two or three heroes with two groups of soldiers to gather information, both to protect him and to keep an eye on each other!

However, on the third day, Pei Jiu and the Taoist priest suddenly rushed into the manor.

No one would be foolish enough to ask the two captains how they knew he was waiting there. As the leaders of a fleet, it was perfectly normal for them to have some means of tracking their subordinates.

However, the chivalrous man from the Yang family, and the few wandering knights who almost plotted to divide the spoils with Li Qing, were filled with lingering fear.

If they hadn't been able to restrain themselves, if they had been even a little less patient, and had rushed to sell off that ship of treasures to Li Qing, then it would have been all over!
Of course, at this moment, Li Qing didn't care much. Ever since he suppressed the statement of that Yang-surname chivalrous man a few days ago, he had made his attitude clear...

At this moment, he was in the courtyard watching over Pei Jiu, the Taoist priest whose face was as pale as paper.

This guy was seriously injured; his chest was completely caved in, and his ribs were probably more than just broken. The reason he survived was probably entirely due to the power of his lightning magic to temper his internal organs.

The pipe man tore open Pei Jiu's chest with a silver blade, using the most brutal and direct method to reset the flesh and bones inside and pry open the already congealed blood clots and pieces of flesh.

The Purple Mansion Daoist is already a being who has initially transcended the category of "human." If one is cautious enough not to venture into dangerous territory and be surrounded and killed, it will be extremely difficult to take their life...

"Ahem, Dafu has already told us about Young Friend Li's sense of responsibility."

"This time, I, Pei, must express my sincere gratitude to young friend Li for protecting the lives of my men!"

After forcibly fixing the meridians and bones in his chest and abdomen with external force, Pei Jiuping lay on the bed, clasped his hands together, and sincerely apologized to Li Qing.

This unassuming disciple of the immortal sect was tricked and ended up alone overseas, and he himself had some unresolved grudges.

Fang then revealed his skills and helped them resolve the issue of a Purple Mansion Daoist, which greatly moved Pei Jiu and his companion.

Pei Jiu was about to get up when Guan Yunzhong slapped his wound, causing him to wince in pain.

The pipeline worker grumbled speechlessly:

"I will discuss the rest with young friend Li myself. You should focus on recovering from your injuries first!"

“I told you long ago that according to my plan, you insisted on fighting that Marquis Wang head-on. It’s fortunate that he was also a rogue cultivator, unable to enter the realm of cultivation, and without any supernatural powers or secret techniques.”

"Otherwise, you'd be nothing but a rotten corpse by now!"

There is also a distinction between upper and lower parts of the Purple Palace.

Pei Jiu was hardly a disciple of any immortal sect, but Wang Hou was merely a bandit cultivator from the sea. Their battle was more like a fight between chickens and dogs.

If Bu Lingxu, the Purple Mansion Foundation Master of the Plain Robe Path, were to make a move, he could subdue both of them in just two or three rounds with a single use of his divine power!

He retorted with a speechless expression, realizing that Pei Jiu had really asked for trouble.

The pipeman turned around, his expression turning serious, and said firmly to Li Qing:

"This time, things are probably not going to end well. Our ships have been destroyed, but I have used the power of the sea dragon to divert the disaster, which will probably cause considerable losses to Marquis Wang's forces!"

"After this back and forth, Marquis Wang and we can be said to have become mortal enemies."

"Young friend Li could perhaps take the treasure ship from this Seven Stars Pavilion to Fangzhang Immortal Continent, and then use the Beast Taming Immortal Sect's ferry to return to the Southern Kingdom in the East Sea..."

They had offended Marquis Wang to the core, but there was no need to drag Lord Li into it, lest they needlessly harm him.

At that time, we should reward Li Qing handsomely and plan out his path back to the Southern Kingdom. The best outcome would be for everyone to part ways here!
The pipe man sighed softly as he explained the reasoning behind it, while Pei Jiu lay flat on the bed board and nodded repeatedly.

However, the group was still discussing what would happen afterward.

Immediately, hurried footsteps echoed outside the courtyard.

"Master, Master, Elder Ninth... Elder Ninth is here!"

Pei San'er rushed to the courtyard, pushed open the gate, and was about to burst in.

However, the gate had long been sealed by the Taoist priest. Instead of pushing the gate open immediately, Pei San'er crashed into the seal and immediately suffered a head injury.

"I know, you're really making a big fuss." A rebuke rang out, sounding exasperated. Just a few breaths later, the courtyard gate was opened, and Guan Daoren and Li Qing walked out side by side from the courtyard.

After hesitating for a moment, the pipe man briefly introduced the identity of the Ninth Elder to Li Qing, and then entrusted Li Qing and the heroes to deal with him first, saying that he would come later!
Besides the overt income from goods from the Southern Kingdom, the amount of spiritual materials obtained by the Seven Star Pavilion through the private dealings of these ship owners is also enormous.

The Ninth Elder of the Seven Star Pavilion has always been in charge of all exchanges between the immortal city of Lixu and the sea market.

Having ruled over various states for over a hundred years, he was fully aware of everything, big or small.

Of course, Elder Jiu has always been "generous" to ship owners like Pei Jiu.

But this person has one thing in common: he must put business first!

Li Qing's fleet had been in the manor for several days, and there was no unusual activity in the Seven Star Pavilion, as if they were unaware of it.

It wasn't until Pei Jiu and the others returned that the Seven Star Pavilion finally came knocking. It has to be said that they handled the matter fairly.

As Li Qing and several heroes emerged from the main hall, they saw an old man with a white beard sitting high on the guest seat, followed by two attendants on either side. They were all figures from the Purple Mansion!

"This person's aura is inferior to that of the head of the academy, and even inferior to that of Senior Brother Bu Lingxu, and moreover..."

"That's the aura of decay in the celestial realm!"

Upon meeting the Ninth Elder, Li Qing suddenly felt something.

The Ninth Elder's lifespan is coming to an end!
His cultivation of the "Southern Dipper Longevity Scripture" was quite sensitive to the longevity light, and he immediately saw through the Ninth Elder's background.

However, he did not know the exact relationship between the two ship captains and the Seven Star Pavilion, so silence was the best course of action at this moment.

Li Qing simply raised her hand and bowed to the three Purple Mansions, then moved to the other side.

The Ninth Elder of the Seven Star Pavilion was wondering why Pei Xia'er suddenly had a new face under her command who had one foot in the Purple Mansion. He was even more surprised to see Li Qing bowing and paying his respects so politely.

One of the young men from the Seven Star Pavilion nodded and returned the bow. The two sides sat on opposite sides, quietly waiting for their hosts.

After a short while, the Taoist priest quickly emerged from behind the screen, accompanied by three chivalrous cultivators who carried mustard seed pouches on jade plates.

"Ahem, Ninth Elder, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting!"

Looking around the hall, all that could be seen was that the pipe-man's face was as pale as paper, his breathing was disordered, and he couldn't help coughing as soon as he came out.

The many wandering knights on the side were about to help him up, but Pei San gave them a few winks and sent all the bystanders away.

After the many wandering swordsmen and cultivators had all left, the Taoist priest bowed to the old man, addressing him as a junior, and went straight to the point:
"Ninth Elder, you must already know what happened to Brother Pei and me."

"On this trip, General Wang Hou plundered most of our supplies on our ship and severely injured the two of us. If it weren't for the favorable timing, we would not have survived."

"Guan was incompetent in protecting us, and the 300,000 Taiyue Mountain-shaped Dao coins that were originally entrusted to the Immortal City were among them!"

At this point, the pipe man's face grew even more bitter, and he shook his head, saying:
"The Yin Gold of Lingnan Prefecture is also gone, all of it has been captured..."

"However, I managed to protect most of the spiritual items that the Yang family of the East Sea had agreed upon with the several state lords and elders!"

The three heroes opened the mustard seed pouches one by one, and there were indeed a lot of spiritual materials and treasures, but... the rare and precious materials that the Ninth Elder had specifically requested were all gone.

This caused the faces of the Purple Mansion Daoists from the Seven Star Pavilion to turn cold.

So that thief has such high standards, only robbing what we want?

"Brother Guan Dao, is there not even a trace of Yin Gold and Jiu Hua Spirit Gold left?"

Inside the Purple Mansion of the Seven Star Pavilion, the young Taoist priest was the first to lose his composure; he found this explanation somewhat hard to believe.

You wouldn't be using this as an excuse to steal my stuff, would you?
"Brother Dao, you might as well go and see for yourself. My warship has been smashed to pieces, and now that Marquis Wang is still searching for us all over the sea."

"Let alone this time, after we finish this trip, we don't even know how to get back to the East Sea. My brother and I have always been protected by the Ninth Elder, but in the future, we are afraid we will not be able to run this route again."

The man with the pipe shook his head helplessly and ordered his heroes to go up and take inventory. He seemed to have lost all his spirit, as if these few Seven Star Pavilion Purple Mansion cultivators had punched cotton, having no way to use their strength...

(End of this chapter)