The fairy forced me to marry into her family, so I retorted by throwing myself into the Pool of Fate

Li Ping suppressed his thoughts and ordered, "Take me to see that secret passage."

The iron-backed whale nodded and swam towards the crevice with Li Ping in its wake.

The narrow entrance was so cramped that Li Ping had to squeeze in sideways.

Looking ahead by the faint light of the water, one can see that the waterway is winding and has many forks, and one could easily lose one's way if one is not careful.

The two followed a path deeper into the sea, and soon they saw light, which indeed led to the outside sea.

Li Ping secretly memorized the route before turning back with the Ironback Whale.

"From now on, you will keep watch here. If anything seems amiss, remember it and wait for my return."

The iron-backed whale nodded, then hesitated, as if it wanted to say something but stopped itself.

Li Ping sighed, knowing he needed to offer some incentive.

He immediately squeezed out a trickle of blood and held it in his hand.

"Stay here quietly and keep an eye on things. Don't cause any trouble. You'll have your essence next time, understand?"

The iron-backed whale responded and quickly swam to Li Ping's side, sucking in the blood.

After consuming it, it released a bubble and floated in the water with a satisfied expression.

Seeing its unreliable appearance, Li Ping wanted to offer some advice, but then felt it would be pointless to say anything, so he could only sigh and go up alone.

Back in the cave, Li Ping explored it again.

This time he searched even more thoroughly, leaving no inch unchecked.

After a round, however, I still couldn't feel the kind of panic that the iron-backed whale had described.

Seeing that a lot of time had passed, Li Ping had no choice but to memorize everything that happened inside the cave.

He examined everything carefully, not missing a single detail.

In a short while, the basic shape of a cave gradually formed in my mind.

Suddenly, he was startled and rushed to the entrance of the underground cave.

Standing at the edge of the cave, Li Ping looked up and his mind suddenly went blank.

The thick stalactite suddenly transformed into a giant python, as if it wanted to swallow him whole.

Li Ping staggered and hurriedly stepped back.

Turning his head to look at the yellow bricks and tiles on the cave wall, he suddenly realized that they were connected to the stalactite.

If stalactites are the head of a python, then these yellow bricks and tiles are like... its body.

……

……

Inside the courtyard, the sound of snoring was deafening.

Everyone was still completely drunk, and even Hong Xing, who had been sober earlier, was now slumped over the table.

At this moment, Li Ping stood up unsteadily.

"Xing...er, help me to the outhouse again."

"I'm not going," Hong Xing mumbled sleepily.

Li Ping called out several more times, but seeing that Hong Xing did not respond, he had no choice but to go alone.

Upon entering the outhouse, it suddenly turned into a puddle of water.

In the darkness, the real Li Ping emerged.

He carefully cleaned up the traces and, after confirming that nothing was amiss, returned to the courtyard.

At this moment, everyone was still fast asleep, and nothing seemed amiss.

Li Ping turned to the doorway for some fresh air, and as soon as he sat down, the image of a giant python flashed through his mind.

The giant python was so lifelike that he lost his composure and had no time to react.

Fortunately, the giant python was fleeting and could only be seen when looking up from the cave entrance.

With this thought in mind, Li Ping felt somewhat at ease.

Perhaps the preparations inside the cave are not yet complete, and danger will not strike for the time being.

However, although this investigation confirmed that there was something unusual about the cave, the specific plans of the Hong family and the purpose of the arrangement inside the cave remained shrouded in mystery.

While he was deep in thought, he suddenly remembered the layout of the small house in the cave.

The directions are clearly defined: Qian (☰) to the south, Kun (☷) to the north, Li (☲) to the east, and Kan (☵) to the west, with meticulous attention to detail.

"This seems to be related to the formation. If we start from here, we might be able to uncover the Hong family's plan."

Li Ping's eyes lit up, and an idea immediately formed in his mind.

……

……

A month has passed in the blink of an eye.

Early morning, on the coast.

Li Ping held his breath and focused his mind. With a wave of his hand, a giant wave gathered in front of him.

With a gentle push, a giant wave surged forth, and then a second one took shape.

Two giant waves followed one after the other, surging out three zhang (approximately 10 meters) and creating two splashes of water, one large and one small.

Li Ping withdrew his gaze and made up his mind.

Since that night when he ventured deep into the cave, he had focused all his attention on the Overlapping Waves Technique.

With diligent practice every day, I have gone from never having entered the door to having achieved a minor level of proficiency.

Now that the consumption of the Gathering Waves has greatly decreased, two giant waves can be easily generated.

He had observed it closely; the power of the first wave was comparable to that of a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator.

The second wave is overwhelming; mid-stage cultivators without magical artifacts or talismans for protection will undoubtedly be injured.

If one were to unleash the third wave without regard for the consequences, even a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator could be defeated.

In addition, there has been some progress in the Water Splitting and Transformation Technique, but due to limited practice, it remains at a minor level.

As for his cultivation level, it was stuck at a bottleneck, with no signs of breakthrough.

"If only there were some medicinal pills."

Li Ping returned to the courtyard and went straight to find Hong Xing.

"Xing'er, do you have any Qi Gathering Pills?"

Hong Xing frowned: "What do you need this thing for?"

"This is to break through the bottleneck."

Breaking through the bottleneck? You'd better stay in the early stage of Qi Refining for the rest of your life.

Hong Xing chuckled inwardly, but advised, "Fellow Daoist Li, a bottle of Gathering Yuan Pill costs fifty spirit stones. With that money, why not go to the Worry Relief Shop to satisfy your craving?"

"What, you don't want me to break through the bottleneck?" Li Ping frowned.

"How could that be?" Hong Xing shook her head, her face sincere. "I was just worried that you would waste the spirit stones."

"With your mixed spiritual root aptitude, taking pills won't be of much use. You'd be better off cultivating step by step, and you'll naturally break through the bottleneck when the time is right."

After saying that, she glanced at Li Ping, wondering why the Mu family had chosen such a good-for-nothing.

Has Mu Yuebai lost his mind?

"When will things finally fall into place? No, I need to take the Gathering Essence Pill now." Li Ping started acting like a rogue.

Hong Xing looked up at the sky, unmoved.

"Hmph, if you won't give it to me, I'll go find Fellow Daoist Hong." Li Ping turned and left.

Arriving at Hong Peng's house, he knocked on the door. Before entering, Hong Peng said, "Fellow Daoist Li, what brings you here?"

"That's right, lately I've been..."

Before he could finish speaking, Hong Peng interrupted him, "Get to the point."

"I want a bottle of Gathering Essence Pills."

"Here to freeload again?" Hong Peng's face darkened, and he slammed the door shut.

"If you want pills, go buy them yourself."

A cold voice came from behind the door, and Li Ping's face instantly fell.

"I'll buy it myself then."

He snorted and walked toward the dock, cursing under his breath.

Once on the ship, Li Ping's expression brightened slightly. He found a private room by the window and sat down, feeling quite content.

"Finally, we can legitimately leave the island."

A moment later, a crew member came over: "Fellow Daoist, where do you disembark?"

"Qingshi Collection".

On the open sea, transportation is inconvenient, and not everyone lives in the market town, hence the existence of this lower-class trading place.

The market is held every three days, and monks from the surrounding area will come to attend, so the goods are not much worse than those in the market town.

His purpose in going there was one thing: to obtain the elixirs, but more importantly, to find the array diagram.

Li Ping paid half a spirit stone and then entered a meditative state, slowly breathing in and out.

Less than half a day later, the crew came to remind us to disembark.

It was market day, and the dock was bustling with people.

"Although the flow of people cannot compare to that of the market, it is not deserted either."

Li Ping felt somewhat relieved and headed towards the market.

He hadn't walked far when he suddenly felt as if someone was watching him from behind.

Looking back, all the passing cultivators appeared normal.

"Are they thieves or members of the Hong family?"

Li Ping withdrew his gaze and shook his head inwardly.