Immortality begins with inheriting the myriad arts of cultivation.

Inside the grocery store.

After bowing, the dark-skinned youth smiled and said, "Congratulations, elder brother, on your successful Foundation Establishment! You have a bright future on the path to immortality."

Li Ping waved his hand, indicating that he didn't need to be so polite.

Without much formality, sitting in the general store, Li Ping took out two Azure Thunder Talismans that he had specially saved: "Mu Sheng, you can sell these two Azure Thunder Talismans in your store. You don't need to give me spirit stones. Just give me some first-grade high-quality talisman ink and talisman paper as payment."

The dark-skinned youth was first surprised, then overjoyed: "Azure Thunder Talisman? And first-grade high-quality talisman ink and talisman paper! Brother, you've become a first-grade high-quality talisman maker! This is wonderful!"

Without any hesitation, he took the Azure Thunder Talisman and carefully put it away, then went to get the talisman ink and paper for Li Ping.

Li Ping watched him busy, but his eyes recalled the scene when he first met this third brother.

This third brother, with his dark skin and unremarkable appearance, is named Gu Musheng.

He was a native of the Immortal City. His ancestors had been mortals for generations, but in his generation, they finally acquired spiritual roots and became cultivators. However, he possessed four spiritual roots.

In the cultivation world, four or five spiritual roots are also known as pseudo-spiritual roots. Cultivators with these spiritual roots not only cultivate at an incredibly slow pace, but also face far greater difficulty in breaking through bottlenecks than those with three or more true spiritual roots.

Just like the old Taoist priest who led Li Ping onto the path of immortality, he cultivated diligently for a lifetime, but he was only a cultivator at the fourth level of Qi Refining.

Gu Musheng was no exception. With four spiritual roots and no elder cultivator to help him, his path to cultivation was extremely difficult.

Fortunately, he grew up in the Immortal City and was used to seeing all kinds of cultivators coming and going, which honed his ability to read people's expressions and expressions. In addition, he was familiar with the surrounding environment of the Immortal City.

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-level cultivators in the outer city all formed cliques and were a dog-eat-dog world. Seeing that he was alone, they inevitably bullied him.

Within the Immortal City, murder for money was out of the question, but extortion was inevitable. The constant bullying made it impossible for him to do business in peace.

At that time, Li Ping had already established the "Tongzhou Society" and his cultivation had reached the sixth level of Qi Refining. In addition, he had been a martial arts master and was skilled in combat. In the area where he lived, he was considered a well-known expert.

Therefore, in order to avoid being bullied by those low-level cultivators, Gu Musheng sought Li Ping as his backer.

However, Li Ping did not immediately agree to his joining the association.

After all, he established the Fellowship of the Ones for the sake of achieving immortality, not to unite and bully men and women, or to commit evil deeds.

It's not about being a hero, doing good deeds, upholding justice, or eliminating evil.

He doesn't accept just anyone.

After some investigation, Li Ping discovered that although the young man was shrewd and had some cleverness, he did not use his cleverness for crooked means. He conducted business fairly and never cheated anyone.

If he hadn't been bullied and had no other choice, he probably would have continued to run his small business peacefully.

Only then did Li Ping agree to admit him into the association, making him the third member of the Tongzhou Association, after Li Ping and Zhang Tie.

With Li Ping as his backer, those low-level cultivators naturally stopped bothering him, allowing him to focus on his business and utilize his talent in it.

Over the past ten years, his business has grown bigger and bigger, and he has successfully gone from a street vendor to owning his own shop.

Even his cultivation level has been raised to the sixth level of Qi Refining. With his spiritual root aptitude, he has been able to cultivate so quickly, thanks to the consumption of many precious pills.

Of course, for cultivators, spiritual root aptitude is extremely important.

Zhang Tie was only three years older than Gu Musheng and had taken fewer pills, but his cultivation level was already at the eighth level of Qi Refining.

……

"Brother, here are the talisman ink and talisman paper you requested." Gu Musheng walked out from behind the counter with a fawning smile, the amount of talisman ink and talisman paper in his hand far exceeding the value of two Azure Thunder Talismans.

Li Ping smiled and shook his head, not taking it all, but only a portion: "It's too much."

Upon seeing this, Gu Musheng immediately became anxious: "Brother, you've broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage and become a first-tier high-grade talisman maker, a double celebration! I'm also happy for you, brother. I've prepared some talisman ink and paper as a small token of my congratulations. Won't you accept them?"

Li Ping smiled and shook his head, stopping Gu Musheng from continuing.

Seeing that Li Ping was unwilling to accept it, Gu Musheng had no choice but to give up.

He couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Although his elder brother had the highest cultivation level and was the leader of the guild, he never used his cultivation level or status to bully the other brothers and sisters in the guild. On the contrary, he took good care of them.

Of course, the spirit stones they contributed each year also helped their elder brother establish his foundation, which was worthy of his care.

……

"By the way, brother, seven days ago, a letter from you was sent from Jiang Kingdom." Gu Musheng brought up another matter: "At that time, you went to the inner city to cultivate and break through, so the messenger from the merchant guild left the letter with me."

As he spoke, Gu Musheng took out a palm-sized blue wooden box from his storage bag.

"Oh? A letter from Jiang Guo." Li Ping looked surprised, but his hands kept moving as he took the wooden box.

The wooden box is protected by a protective barrier. When a letter is sent, the monk who sent the letter sets a key, and the recipient must use the same key to open it. Forcibly opening it will only cause the wooden box to self-destruct.

Upon seeing the familiar key on the barrier, Li Ping immediately recognized that the letter was indeed sent by an acquaintance of his.

The old Taoist priest who guided Li Ping into the path of immortality was surnamed Ji and named Ji Xiu. Before Li Ping left the Jiang Kingdom and went to the Immortal City to seek the Tao, he made a special trip to see him.

They agreed on a secret key for sending letters to each other, and asked Master Ji to take care of the Sword Casting Manor after he left Jiang Kingdom.

After arriving in the Immortal City, the two exchanged letters several times to keep in touch. Li Ping even sent him some resources needed for cultivation, as well as some pills used by mortal martial artists, asking him to pass them on to his master, Yan Guike.

Now, Master Ji has written to him again.

A smile involuntarily appeared in Li Ping's eyes. He had always been grateful to the Taoist priest who had led him into the path of Taoism, and had always regarded the priest as his elder.

Although his current strength far surpasses that of his opponent.

"Alright, Musheng, you go ahead and do your work. I should be going now." Li Ping put away the wooden box and said with a smile, then waved his hand to indicate that Gu Musheng didn't need to see him off.

……

In the rented courtyard.

Li Ping controlled his magic power and carefully injected it into the seal on the surface of the wooden box using the agreed-upon key.

With a "click," the wooden box opened automatically, revealing a folded letter inside.

Li Ping took out the letter, unfolded it, and began to examine its contents.

However, as he looked on, Li Ping's expression became serious.

In his letter, Master Ji said that his master, Yan Guike, was bedridden and nearing the end of his life. Before he died, he hoped that Master Ji could go back to see him one last time.

In addition, Master Ji also has something he wants to ask Li Ping, but it is not convenient to say the details in the letter. He will discuss it in detail when he returns.