Living a peaceful life in the world of cultivation

As night deepened, a weary-looking Xu Cui finally returned from the market.

As soon as she reached the gate of the courtyard, she smelled the pungent stench and saw splattered blood, and panic immediately spread across her face.

"Xiao Fan, Xiao Fan..."

"Mother, I'm with Uncle Ping." Zhao Xiaofan said, opening the courtyard gate and peeking out.

Seeing that Zhao Xiaofan was alright, Xu Cui finally felt a little relieved.

After being pulled into the courtyard by Zhao Xiaofan and sitting down, her legs were still a little weak.

She really didn't know what to do if something happened to Zhao Xiaofan.

"Mom, don't worry." Zhao Xiaofan patted Xu Cui on the back to comfort her, then his eyes gleamed with excitement: "Mom, let me tell you, Uncle Ping is amazing."

"With a swift movement, he killed the ground beetle with a flick of his wrist."

Ground beetle?

Xu Cui's heart, which had just settled down, was thrown into suspense again after Zhao Xiaofan's words, and her face showed unconcealed worry.

Zhou Yang's business was so booming that he didn't need to protect Zhao Xiaofan, and Xu Cui couldn't squeeze in either.

If more earth beetles are found in the courtyard, the only option is to seek out cultivators who charge higher cleaning fees.

No matter how hard it is to earn spirit stones, nothing is more important than Zhao Xiaofan's safety.

Wait a minute, Zhao Xiaofan just mentioned Lü Ping.

Xu Cui snapped out of her daze and asked Zhao Xiaofan for confirmation, "Xiaofan, you mean, that earth beetle just now, was it your Uncle Ping who killed it?"

No wonder she didn't believe it.

Firstly, Lü Ping's meridians were injured, and he was only recently recovering from a serious injury. After several months of recuperation, using spiritual power would certainly not be a problem, but slaying the earth beetle...

Secondly, some offensive spells cannot be performed without reaching a certain level of mastery, such as easily killing the earth beetles as Zhao Xiaofan said.

Lu Ping, who was once an ordinary person, has become somewhat different after experiencing life and death.

Lu Ping could guess some of Xu Cui's thoughts, and he didn't deliberately try to hide anything.

With the white light cluster, the effects of cultivating spiritual plants and improving cultivation will inevitably show sooner or later. Rather than making a splash all at once, it's better to reveal it gradually, so that it remains within the acceptable range for Zhao Dashan's family and the people in the market.

Whenever a cultivator shows signs of soaring to the heavens, others will assume that he has had a miraculous encounter, and thus become greedy.

Xu Cui, who was gradually regaining her senses but whose legs were still a little weak, stood up and gave Lü Ping a deep bow.

"Ah Ping, thank you. I really don't know what I would do if something happened to Xiao Fan..."

"No, no, sister-in-law, this is unacceptable. Given my friendship with Brother Dashan, protecting Xiaofan is simply my duty," Lu Ping said, as he used his spiritual power to try and lift Xu Cui up.

However, Xu Cui insisted on performing the grand ceremony despite being lifted up. Even Zhao Xiaofan followed suit and bowed to Lü Ping to express his gratitude.

As night deepened, Xu Cui took Zhao Xiaofan back to the courtyard; Lü Ping left a message saying that if there were any more earth beetles, they could ask him for help.

After the two left, Lü Ping began to get down to business.

To be on the safe side, he did not sell all the harvested Rejuvenating Grass and Spirit Mushroom to Manager Lu.

It's not good to let these two spiritual plants just gather dust in the storage bag.

"The Spirit Refining Mushroom can be taken directly to refine spiritual power. Although it has the same effect as the Spirit Refining Technique, it's better than letting it gather dust."

"As for the Rejuvenating Herb..."

Lu Ping had considered selling his herbs at other herbal shops in the inner city, but he didn't know how to change his appearance. If he accidentally bumped into the shop assistants at Lingcaotang, his high success rate in cultivating herbs even in pest-infested environments would soon be exposed.

Therefore, he decided to use the Rejuvenating Grass as the medium for casting the Fertilizing Earth spell.

The perfect level of Fertilizer Spell does not require ordinary tree branches as a casting medium, but it is unknown what effect it would produce if a high-grade spiritual herb were used.

It seems that no plant master in the market has ever done anything so wasteful and extravagant.

"Alas, who can understand this kind of suffering?"

Humming a little tune, Lü Ping put the remaining five Rejuvenating Grasses in his storage bag, including the top-quality ones, into the spiritual soil.

As the Fertilizer Technique was cast, the spiritual soil seemed to possess sentience, sensing that the medium for this spell was actually a low-grade first-order spiritual herb. It immediately surged, like a beggar who had not eaten for ten or fifteen days.

As the saying goes, "A skilled craftsman must first have the right tools."

"As a spirit plant master, it is reasonable to nourish the spirit soil in this way so that I can better cultivate spirit plants in the future."

......

Time flew by, and it was the morning of the next day.

Lu Ping was leisurely casting a spell, nourishing the three pieces of spiritual soil with his spiritual rain technique, when he heard the courtyard gate being pushed open. A small head appeared through the crack in the door; the person who came was Zhao Xiaofan.

"Uncle Ping, Uncle Ping," Zhao Xiaofan said, tiptoeing in with a hint of smugness on his face. "Uncle Ping, do you want some spirit stones?"

"I have a way to earn spirit stones, I guarantee you'll earn spirit stones, Uncle Ping."

Seeing this, Lü Ping stopped casting the spell, but he had some guesses in his mind. He deliberately asked, "Oh, what good idea made you sneak over here so early in the morning?"

Zhao Xiaofan straightened up, his tone quite excited.

"Get rid of the bugs, Uncle Ping."

"I've seen Zhou Yang, who sets up a stall in the market and collects cleaning fees, help others clean up the demonic insects."

"However, to be honest, his special magic, oh, the Kusanagi sword, is completely incomparable to Uncle Hei's heroic feat of smashing the earth beetle with a single finger last night."

Zhou Yang's Kusanagi sword could not possibly compare to Lü Ping's perfected sword-element finger technique.

As for pest control, the cost of one cleaning is as high as six low-grade spirit stones, which is equivalent to six Rejuvenating Grasses. It would be a lie to deceive cultivators if they said they weren't tempted.

If it were any other cultivator, they would probably have acted impulsively and set up a stall in the market for rogue cultivators, trying to steal business from Zhou Yang and his group.

However, Lü Ping was not interested in this at all, or rather, he looked down on it. Compared to farming, the benefits and risks of pest control were far inferior.

The matter of pest control.

Firstly, it would reveal that Lü Ping possesses an offensive spell, and that he has a remarkably high level of mastery over it, which contradicts his usual unremarkable demeanor. Even Xu Cui had suspected this yesterday.

Secondly, the news of his injured meridians had already spread throughout the market, so if he were to use his spiritual power carelessly, everyone would know something was amiss.

Another point is that competitors are enemies. In the dog-eat-dog world of cultivation, competitors are even enemies. Trying to steal Zhou Yang's voice is tantamount to secretly provoking several mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators, while Lü Ping himself is only a third-level Qi Refining cultivator.

What can one gain? Nothing more than a few spirit stones that will arouse greed.

It would be better to just honestly farm.

"Xiao Fan, you're still young. Some things aren't that simple." Lu Ping squatted down and patted Zhao Xiao Fan's head. "In the mortal world, there's an old saying: 'Those in the same trade are enemies.'"

"In the cultivation world, those who are in the same profession become enemies. Today, by going to earn spirit stones to eliminate insects, we are cutting off the other cultivators' source of income. They will definitely hold a grudge against you and may even find a time to take revenge on you."

"It's good that you came up with this idea."

"But you must remember, in the pursuit of immortality, if you stray from the right path, you will face eternal damnation."

"Think thrice before you act, and prioritize stability..."

"Alright, kid, you're here so early, you probably haven't finished your schoolwork yet."

"How many cycles has the basic guiding technique been running? Have you finished your talisman lessons?"

Lu Ping lightly slapped Zhao Xiaofan's bottom a few times. The boy muttered something, then stopped looking for Lu Ping and ran home...