A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

Although Qin Lang and Ma Xiaoguang looked on with envy, they saw that Zhou Ping was so pedantic that they looked at him as if he were a fool.

They couldn't understand why Zhou Ping kept refusing the spirit stones even after Qin Changqing had pushed them into his arms; it was as if he had a screw loose.

"Senior Brother Qin, there is one more thing that Fairy Gu entrusted me to deliver to you personally before she left Jiyun City. Zhou Ping has done his job well."

Without any hesitation, Zhou Ping took out the exquisite little bag he had obtained from Uncle Yun and handed it over to Qin Changqing and the other two in their astonished gazes.

"Well....."

Qin Changqing hesitated slightly, looking at the exquisitely embroidered, small and delicate purse in Zhou Ping's hand. His lips twitched slightly, but in the end, he gritted his teeth and accepted it.

Judging from the exquisite craftsmanship of this purse, any discerning person would know that it is a personal item for young women, the kind of token of love that girls in the throes of first love would prepare for their beloved.

Upon seeing this scene, Qin Lang and his companion showed even greater surprise. They never expected that their beloved Senior Brother Qin Changqing, who was devoted to the Dao, would have such unknown romantic feelings. What they had seen and heard on the Wangya Terrace today was enough to shatter everyone's worldview.

Although they were extremely surprised, they tried their best to control their expressions, afraid of revealing even the slightest flaw.

The reason was simple: after Qin Changqing hurriedly put away his purse, his cold gaze had already subtly swept towards the two of them. The warning contained in his gaze was something the two of them could clearly feel from the atmosphere.

"Then Zhou Ping thanks Senior Brother Qin for his generosity. I have other things to do, so I won't bother you any longer."

Zhou Ping sensed that something was off about the atmosphere, so he stopped refusing. With a flash of blue light, he generously put the remaining spirit stones on the ground into his storage bag, and then raised his hand to bid farewell to Qin Changqing.

Watching Zhou Ping steer the flying boat away with a carefree air, a hint of surprise flashed in Qin Changqing's eyes.

Just as he took the purse from the other's hand, their fingertips touched lightly for a fleeting moment, and he faintly felt a slight stinging sensation, as if he had touched a faint arc of electricity, causing his body to involuntarily tense up slightly.

Unexpectedly, the other party's physical body caused his body to spontaneously generate a sense of crisis, and he involuntarily felt a sense of resistance.

Qin Changqing's slightest movement was so subtle that he quickly concealed it without making a sound. As a result, no one, including Zhou Ping, noticed anything amiss at the time.

"It's been several months since I last saw you, Junior Brother, you've really impressed me this week... No wonder you were interested in the roots of that Blood Emperor Grass, it turns out you also cultivate the Body Refinement path. But how did you manage to break through to the mid-stage in just half a year? Did you have some kind of fortuitous encounter?"

Only fellow cultivators who practice body refinement can make his physical body feel threatened, and their body refinement level must be higher than his.

Therefore, Qin Changqing immediately guessed Zhou Ping's body refinement level.

However, what puzzled him was how the latter could break through from the beginner level of body refinement to the mid-stage of body refinement in just a few months, which was an unimaginable difference.

Recalling the time a few months ago when he rescued the other party from the Three Flowers Gang, although the other party's physical body was quite robust and he withstood the Three Flowers Gang's blood-draining and essence-sucking without dying, when he treated the other party, his physical body was only at the beginner level of body refinement. He was confident that he had not sensed anything wrong.

After thinking it over, Qin Changqing shook his head inwardly and could only conclude that Zhou Ping must have had some extraordinary encounter, which allowed him to make rapid progress in body refinement and surpass him in one fell swoop.

It should be noted that Qin Changqing had taken the Blood Emperor Pill to refine his body in his early years, and his body refinement cultivation had already reached the peak of the early stage of the first level of body refinement. As long as he refined the Blood Emperor Grass he obtained a few months ago into the Blood Emperor Pill, he was very confident that he could break through to the middle stage of body refinement.

However, in order to break through to the ninth level of the Qi Refining stage in the past few months, he had not yet had time to refine the Blood Emperor Grass into a pill, so he temporarily put aside his body refining cultivation.

Unexpectedly, after meeting Zhou Ping today, it was the latter who unexpectedly stepped into the mid-stage of Body Refinement, which undoubtedly surprised Qin Changqing.

Qin Changqing finished thinking this, and in the blink of an eye, when he realized that Qin Lang and the other person were still standing on the Wangya platform, his face finally showed impatience, and his tone instantly turned several degrees colder.

"What? You two aren't leaving yet? Are you planning to spend some time on that Cliff of Repentance?"

The moment the words "Cliff of Contemplation" were uttered, Qin Lang and his companion shivered on the spot, their faces instantly draining of color.

Are you kidding me! Even Foundation Establishment cultivators would be terrified if they went to the Cliff of Repentance. It's a notorious place of punishment in the Azure Lotus Sect. How could these two mere Qi Refining mid-stage cultivators possibly endure such torment? Naturally, they were so frightened by what they heard that they ran away in terror.

"Brother Qin, what about Zhou Ping...?"

After the two came to their senses, Qin Lang seemed to suddenly remember the purpose of their trip and was about to ask.

Before he could utter a few words, Ma Xiaoguang suddenly pulled his arm, gave him a few meaningful glances, and together they bid farewell to Qin Changqing.

"Junior Brother Ma! Why did you stop me just now? Didn't we agree to teach Zhou Ping a lesson? As long as we find out the details of the mission from Brother Qin, we can expose his crime of cheating the sect's merit points and make him regret it!"

On the way back to the Hall of Merit, Qin Lang looked displeased and kept questioning Ma Xiaoguang.

Meanwhile, Ma Xiaoguang, after listening to the other person's incessant complaints, showed a hint of helplessness on his face. He secretly pursed his lips and could only earnestly remind him,

"Senior Brother Qin, listen to my advice. Don't provoke Zhou Ping anymore, or you'll definitely suffer a great loss."

After this trip to Tianxing Peak, Ma Xiaoguang realized with dismay that he had been completely led astray by Qin Lang.

Originally, the two were both on duty in the Hall of Merit. Qin Lang had the identity of a member of the Qin family to rely on, while Ma Xiaoguang, who came from a humble family, thought about whether he could find an opportunity to get closer to him in order to win his favor and thus have a small backer in the sect.

But who would have thought that Qin Lang would be so brainless, unable to even see the situation, and kept stretching his neck to rub against the blade.

Anyone with eyes can see that Zhou Ping and Qin Changqing must have some kind of tacit understanding that no one else knows about. How could they possibly sow discord with just a few words?

Moreover, that disciple named Zhou Ping was nothing like the greenhorn Qin Lang described; he seemed much more mature than them.

"It seems I should avoid associating with Qin Lang in the future... As for Zhou Ping, I should try to befriend him if I have the chance, lest he hold a grudge."

Ignoring the puzzled Qin Lang, Ma Xiaoguang pondered his future plans alone on the flying boat.