A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

"Senior Brother Shan, I'll choose this spot."

Zhou Ping pointed to a green area and selected a residence within it. Judging from its location, it was right on the edge of the model.

"Since Junior Brother Zhou has made his choice, I won't say any more. But there's one thing you should know: if you're not satisfied with your residence in the future and want to change it, you'll have to pay a certain amount of spirit stones. The sect's rules state that only the initial choice of a place to settle is free."

Senior Brother Shan glanced at the spot Zhou Ping pointed to, raised his eyebrows slightly, and instead of being surprised, he offered a reminder.

"Thank you for reminding me, senior brother. I understand now."

Upon hearing the other party's kind reminder, Zhou Ping showed gratitude and hurriedly bowed in thanks.

"Since Junior Brother Zhou has chosen such a place to live, he must be a detached and refined person who dislikes crowds and noise."

"Senior brother, let me give you a heads-up. If you're thinking of hunting wild beasts in the forest, be careful. These deep mountains and forests are full of powerful demonic beasts. There are quite a few that are comparable to the peak of the late Qi Refining stage."

Senior Brother Shan abruptly changed the subject, his shrewd eyes darting around as if he saw through everything.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ping was speechless. Judging from the other person's expression, it seemed that he was someone who coveted the wild beasts and spiritual materials in the mountains.

That's good, since he was just wondering how to explain his motivation for choosing this place. This makes it all seem reasonable now.

"Senior Brother Shan, does the sect have any rules prohibiting the hunting of mountain monsters?"

Zhou Ping looked displeased, pretending to be annoyed that his little scheme had been exposed.

"Junior brother, don't worry. I'm just giving you a friendly reminder. There's no such rule in the sect. On the contrary, the Merit Hall of Jingxin Peak will regularly issue hunting missions to obtain the various spiritual materials needed by the sect."

"Junior Brother Zhou is new here, so you must not be careless. Most of these missions require you to go in groups. If you go deep into the mountains alone, even you senior brothers who are in the late stage of Qi Refining will face considerable danger."

Seeing Zhou Ping's displeasure, Senior Brother Shan felt a chill and quickly offered an explanation.

"I see. I was being presumptuous. Please forgive me, senior brother."

Then, at Zhou Ping's instruction, Senior Brother Shan gently touched the green empty space on the sand table with the token in his hand. In a short while, the green empty space slowly turned into a pale yellow color.

"Junior Brother Zhou, this token is already in harmony with the restrictions in the formation. It will be activated soon by simply dripping a drop of your blood essence into it."

Zhou Ping took the token and saw that a faint spiritual light had appeared on it, which was indeed different from before. He then thanked Senior Brother Shan again and took his leave.

.......

Zhou Ping piloted his flying boat to the outer area of ​​Jingxin Peak. This place was far away from where he had been on guard duty. Apart from a large number of empty houses, there were lush and dense forests not far away.

He dripped a drop of his blood essence onto the token, and with a slight sense, he knew the location of his residence.

As expected of one of the five great sects, the Azure Lotus Profound Sect's array restrictions alone are comparable to those of the Guiyuan Pavilion, and are even larger and more complex.

After successfully entering the courtyard, Zhou Ping put away his disciple token, tidied himself up briefly, and then sat cross-legged on the bed.

After a long day of activity, he still hadn't finished his cultivation task for the day. Since it was still early, he decided to cultivate for a while.

Reaching into his robes, Zhou Ping took out an exquisite porcelain bottle, a fiery glint in his eyes.

The porcelain bottle contained the ten Golden Marrow Pills obtained from Qin Zhong. These pills were the best cultivation medicine for Zhou Ping at the moment, and he couldn't wait to try them out.

Since the pills in Zhou Ping's hands gradually lost their effect of improving cultivation, his cultivation has stagnated at this level for a long time. Although his daily meditation and cultivation can refine the Qingyuan spiritual power in his body little by little, his cultivation level has hardly increased.

Zhou Ping took out a Golden Marrow Pill, tilted his head back and swallowed it, then closed his eyes and concentrated, carefully sensing the changes in his abdomen.

After the Golden Marrow Pill entered his body, it melted into a pale golden paste-like liquid in just a moment. Powerful medicinal power suddenly filled Zhou Ping's entire body and transformed into streams of pure spiritual energy, gathering towards his dantian.

Zhou Ping was overjoyed and quickly banished all distracting thoughts, focusing all his energy on circulating the Azure Lotus Transformation Technique.

Two months later, at Jingxin Peak, in the Hall of Merit.

A handsome young man put away the disciple token in his hand, without even glancing at the increased sect merit points, and turned to walk outside.

A moment later, a young man dressed in disciple's robes ran out from behind, caught up with the handsome man in front, and said with a fawning smile,

"Brother Changqing, Brother Changqing, did you just return to the sect?"

Qin Changqing noticed the movement behind him, slowly stopped walking, turned his head to look at the person coming from behind, and did not say anything.

"Brother Changqing, how long will you be staying this time?"

Qin Lang quickly walked to Qin Changqing's side and asked excitedly.

"What's up?"

Qin Changqing stared at the newcomer expressionlessly and spoke in a cold tone.

"I'm on duty at the Hall of Merit, and I have some news I'd like to tell Brother Changqing."

Qin Lang was not bothered by the other party's cold attitude at all, and continued to speak in a warm tone.

"Oh? Tell me about it."

Qin Changqing narrowed his eyes slightly, seemingly showing some interest in Qin Lang's words.

"Brother Changqing, someone recently took on the task of transporting spiritual materials, which filled your vacant partner position. Now that you have returned to the sect, it shouldn't be long before the Hall of Merit notifies you and that disciple to carry out the next transport mission together."

Qin Lang recounted all the information he had gathered, then looked at Qin Changqing with reverence and said no more.

Qin Changqing paused slightly, his brows furrowing suddenly, before letting out a soft sigh.

"Another reckless fool..."

After saying that, he flipped his hand, took out a medicine bottle, casually tossed it to Qin Lang, and left without looking back.

Qin Lang excitedly caught the medicine bottle, carefully uncorked it, peered inside, and then repeatedly brought it to his nose to sniff. His face immediately turned red, and he repeatedly bowed in the direction Qin Changqing had left.

"Respectfully bidding farewell to Brother Changqing!"

As a collateral descendant of the Qin family of Dianyun, Qin Lang's status and position were naturally incomparable to those of Qin Changqing, who was born into the direct line, and the family resources he enjoyed were far inferior.

Therefore, he would try every means to curry favor with some direct descendants through unorthodox methods. In this way, any cultivation resources that the other party might casually pass through would be an unimaginable gain for him.

.......

Zhou Ping slowly opened his eyes, feeling the fluctuations emanating from the disciple token, and picked it up.

After transferring a wisp of magic power into it, a beam of light shot from the token toward the doorway. Then, a round hole the size of a bowl was opened in the courtyard's barrier, and a communication talisman with a burning tail flew in with a "whoosh" and floated in front of Zhou Ping.

"Five days from now, I will travel to Luoyun Prefecture with Qin Changqing to oversee the transportation of spiritual materials..."