Immortality begins with inheriting the myriad arts of cultivation.

"Add spirit stones?"

Li Ping smiled slightly at the additional money demanded by the Wang family patriarch.

Then his lips moved, and his voice rang directly in the ears of the Wang family patriarch: "Hehe... Fellow Daoist Wang, the play you put on downstairs just now was quite wonderful. If I'm not mistaken, the one who acted with you was a junior member of your clan, wasn't he?"

Upon hearing this, the Wang family patriarch's face showed shock, and his gaze toward Li Ping was filled with disbelief.

Seeing his drastic change in expression, the others were all puzzled.

However, the Wang family patriarch, who lived to be over 150 years old, was extremely good at managing his facial expressions and quickly regained his original calm demeanor.

At the same time, he also communicated with Li Ping through telepathy: "Hehe... Fellow Daoist, please forgive my rudeness. I did not expect that you, as a mid-stage cultivator, would actually take a fancy to these little trinkets of my Wang family. Consider the miscellaneous chapters a gift from this old man to make friends with you."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Li Ping carefully, as if trying to identify Li Ping's true identity.

However, Li Ping had been using this set of equipment to operate in the black market for many years, and it had stood the test of time, so his attempt was naturally in vain.

After that, the Wang family patriarch said nothing more, but instead had Li Ping engrave the "Zeshui Yangsheng Jue" (a health cultivation method) and the miscellaneous chapters.

The others then realized that Li Ping must have just communicated something with the Wang family patriarch through telepathy.

Although they realized it, no one spoke up to ask, since the two had chosen to communicate telepathically precisely because they didn't want others to know. But simultaneously, they both subtly moved their feet to distance themselves from Li Ping.

Li Ping didn't take it seriously, but he was recalling the scene he had just witnessed with his divine sense.

Inside the Wang family's secret pavilion, there is an array between the two floors that blocks divine sense from probing, but this array can only defend against the divine sense of cultivators at the early Foundation Establishment stage and below.

Li Ping possessed a powerful soul, and his spiritual awareness was about 1.5 times stronger than that of cultivators of the same level, only slightly weaker than mid-stage cultivators. This formation could not prevent him from spying on him.

Just now, when the Wang family patriarch was dealing with the cultivator who had obtained the demonic cultivation technique downstairs, everyone upstairs heard a scream.

But Li Ping saw clearly that the Wang family patriarch did not attack the cultivator. Instead, the two of them put on a show for the cultivators upstairs to hear, in order to intimidate them!

This allowed Li Ping to see through the true nature of the Wang family patriarch; the other party was not as powerful as he had imagined, which is why he took an extra miscellaneous jade slip.

As he expected, the other party backed down.

……

A moment later, Li Ping waved his hand to catch the two jade slips that floated in front of him. After checking that they were correct, he put them into his storage bag, moved his feet, and made way for the other cultivators.

Once all the cultivators had completed the jade slip inscription, the late-stage Qi Refining expert from the Wang family who had led them in stepped forward again.

They led them toward the city gate and escorted them out of the city.

However, there were twelve people when they came, but now there are only eleven going back.

The other cultivators all assumed that the missing person had been poisoned by the Wang family patriarch.

Only Li Ping knew that at this moment, he was probably happily counting spirit stones with the Wang family patriarch.

Upon arriving at the city gate, Wang Jialian, as usual, sent a signal. Upon receiving the signal, someone immediately opened the city gate for them, allowing them to leave the inner city.

After the eleven figures left the city, they exchanged wary glances and then dispersed.

……

Outside the Wang Family's Secret Techniques Pavilion, the Wang Family Patriarch watched the departing figures of the cultivators, his brows furrowed, his expression shifting between light and shadow: "A mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator? There are only so many people in the Immortal City. Who could he be...? Perhaps he's not a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator, but simply possesses a stronger divine sense than other cultivators of the same level?"

This time, he only intends to scam those rogue cultivators at the peak of Qi Refining, as well as those who haven't yet established themselves in the early stages of Foundation Establishment.

But now a cultivator who appears to be a mid-stage cultivator has appeared. Offending a cultivator of this level is not worth it for him.

The Wang family patriarch shook his head: "Oh well, I can't control that much anymore!"

Just as the Wang family patriarch was guessing Li Ping's identity, a figure dressed in a gray robe jogged up to him and respectfully greeted, "Patriarch."

If the cultivators were still here, they would immediately recognize that the figure in the gray robe was almost identical to the cultivator who had taken the demonic cultivation technique and was righteously exorcised by the Wang family patriarch.

"Hmm." The Wang family patriarch nodded. "How many spirit stones are we still short?"

The figure in the gray robe stood there, looking slightly reserved, with his shoulders hunched. Only when he heard the patriarch's question did he look up and say, "We still need about two thousand more."

Upon hearing this, the Wang family patriarch did some mental calculations: "Two thousand one? Then doing this two or three more times should be enough!"

Upon hearing this, the gray-robed figure hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

His actions naturally caught the attention of the Wang family patriarch, who couldn't help but show impatience on his face: "Qu Yan, what do you want to say?"

Upon hearing the question from the patriarch, the gray-robed figure named Wang Quyan finally mustered the courage to speak, his face full of worry: "Patriarch, I'm wondering if doing this kind of thing will make too many enemies and sow the seeds of future trouble for my Wang family."

He glanced at the ancestor and continued, "Moreover, a 700-year-old 'Golden Marrow Jade Fungus' would normally cost around 3,000 spirit stones, but we're asking for 7,000 spirit stones now, double the price. Isn't that too high?"

As soon as Wang Quyan spoke, the Wang family patriarch's impatience became even more apparent, and he immediately wanted to reprimand him.

However, when his gaze fell on this junior and he saw his timid and hesitant appearance, he thought that after all, the junior was the patriarch of the family and the person whose status in the family was second only to himself. After he passed away, the burden of the family would fall on his shoulders.

He then suppressed his emotions and explained in as gentle a voice as possible, "Don't worry, with me here, no one dares to mess with the Wang family. As for the price of the 'Golden Marrow Jade Fungus,' only they have it right now, and we need it urgently, so there's nothing we can do about it."

The gentle voice of the Wang family patriarch seemed to give Wang Quyan more courage. He continued, "But what if one day, patriarch, you are no longer here? Moreover, the next round of Foundation Establishment Pill competition in Immortal City will only take about thirty years. To empty the family's coffers just to obtain Foundation Establishment Pills thirty years earlier seems rather unworthy to me."

At this point, the Wang family patriarch could no longer contain himself. He angrily rebuked, "Fool! If I'm gone, without a Foundation Establishment cultivator to oversee things, can the Wang family preserve this legacy?"

The old ancestor's angry shout immediately frightened Wang Quyan into silence.

But inwardly he sighed, "Ancestor, I know you're doing this for the family's future, but it's far too risky. Emptying the family coffers to refine Foundation Establishment Pills—what if the refining fails? Even if we have Foundation Establishment Pills, is it guaranteed that the family will produce a Foundation Establishment cultivator? If any link in the chain goes wrong, the family will be utterly ruined!"

In his mind, the Wang family ancestors followed True Person Fenglan to establish the Immortal City and made great contributions to it. The Wang family was well-known to True Person Fenglan. Even if there were no Foundation Establishment cultivators to oversee the city for a short period of time, the family would at most shrink back to recuperate.

They don't need to take such a risk.

Although Wang Quyan knew that his actions were in the best interest of the family, the patriarch had long held considerable power and was accustomed to making absolute decisions within the family.

Although he was the clan leader, he only dared to question the decisions made by the ancestor, and he didn't have the courage to firmly oppose them!

Of course, there's no use in strongly opposing it.