Start with acting, and you'll achieve immortality!

Li Ping pulled Zhang along, running all the way to the slums outside the city.

"Sister-in-law, don't panic."

Li Ping was panting heavily.

"Although Hu Lie is wicked, the government troops are searching the whole city, so he certainly wouldn't dare to swagger around in the streets."

Zhang's face was pale. Her cloth shoes sank into the gravel path, her steps uneven, and her palms were covered in cold sweat.

When the two arrived home, they saw several county constables dressed in blue uniforms standing guard at the gate, their hands on their swords.

In the courtyard

Honest and simple-minded Li Dazheng stood there, holding an iron axe for chopping wood, his bronze face filled with panic.

"Jiro!"

Upon seeing Li Ping, Li Da tossed his iron axe to the ground, strode over in a few steps, and placed his large, fan-like hand on Li Ping's shoulder.

"Are you hurt? People outside say a fight broke out at the county government office!"

"I'm fine, brother."

Li Ping caught his breath and looked around.

Have you seen Hu Lie?

The gatekeeper strode over and bowed.

"Mr. Li, please rest assured. After Hu Lie and his men escaped from the government office, they only thought of heading towards the Wanzhong Mountains. When they passed by this alley and saw that we were already prepared here, they didn't even stop and directly jumped over the city wall to escape."

Li Ping exhaled.

False alarm

But his back was already soaked with sweat. Even though Hu Guan had fallen, his remaining followers were not eliminated.

If Ren Jun hadn't been so meticulous and assigned a team to guard their home, his elder brother and sister-in-law, both ordinary people, probably wouldn't have lasted even half a moment against a Qi Refining cultivator.

Training

You must begin your practice immediately.

In this world where human life is as cheap as grass, without the ability to protect oneself, one cannot even sleep soundly.

That night

Zhang spent half a day working in front of the earthen stove, using the last bit of pork skin to make a plate of pickled vegetables, and also served Li Ping a large bowl of brown rice.

Li Da used his chopsticks to pick out the few pieces of pork skin from his bowl and put them into Li Ping's bowl.

"Second Brother, I heard the officials arrested the county magistrate today, all because you led the way?"

Li Da held the large, rough porcelain bowl, his face showing both pride and unease.

"I just hitched a ride with the Inspector."

Li Ping picked up a piece of pork skin and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing it with a loud smacking sound.

"Brother, now that Xiyun County is under a new administration, our blacksmith shop will pay less tax and we can live a peaceful life."

"That's good, that's good."

Li Da wiped his mouth and lowered his voice.

"But since that inspector was your former classmate, why didn't he take you to work in Jiangning City? It would be better to be a manager in such a big city than to stay stuck in this poor mountain village."

Li Ping shook his head.

"Although Jiangning City is big, it's not our home. If we went there, we'd have to be subservient to others, and if a big storm broke out, we wouldn't even know how we died. Here in Xiyun County, we have my elder brother's blacksmith shop and my sister-in-law's cooking, so I can live a peaceful life."

Seeing how attached his brother was to home, Li Da chuckled a few times and said no more.

The moon is high in the sky.

Inside the mud-brick house, a stray dog ​​barked a few times in the distance, then its cries were swallowed by the cold night wind.

Li Ping closed the wooden door, bolted it tightly, and blew out the oil lamp on the table.

He sat cross-legged on the earthen bed and took out the book "The Small Heavenly Circuit Qi Guiding Technique" from his robes.

Under the moonlight, the faint blue light shimmering on the pages was somewhat dazzling.

He turned to the yellowed cover.

"All cultivators must first perceive the spirit of heaven and earth, which is born from all things and roams freely in the void. If one can enter this spirit, the mortal body will naturally recede..."

Li Ping closed his eyes, and following the method in the book, began to regulate his breathing and clear his mind.

For an ordinary mortal to sense the spiritual energy in the air, even a person with exceptional talent would need half a month.

But Li Ping closed his eyes for only a dozen breaths before his mind became completely clear.

He is not actually an indigenous person of this area.

His ability to travel through time and space made his soul exceptionally resilient and his senses acutely acute.

But a moment

In the pitch-black sea of ​​consciousness, tiny specks of light began to appear.

Some were red, some were blue, like fireflies in a summer forest, drifting aimlessly in the air.

"Is this spiritual power?"

Li Ping muttered to himself

He began trying to use his mind to capture the nearest blue light spot.

Inhale

A tiny wisp of light slid slowly down his throat, following his breath.

cold

Li Ping's jaw was chattering from the cold.

But he steadfastly guarded the clarity within his mind, guiding this wisp of spiritual energy to impact his meridians according to the principles of the cultivation method.

The meridians of mortals are full of filth.

Every inch the spiritual energy traveled forward was like being ripped and pulled from the flesh with a dull knife.

Large beads of sweat appeared on Li Ping's forehead, and his hands gripped his trouser leg tightly, wrinkling the coarse cloth pants completely.

This cultivation is as painful as having a gastroscopy in my past life.

The spiritual energy had finally completed most of its circulation within the body and was about to converge into the dantian in the lower abdomen.

But the final hurdle was like a solid mud wall, blocking the way halfway.

Li Ping's several charged attacks each time caused his blood to surge and his throat to taste slightly sweet.

If you can't get through this, you'll likely suffer hidden injuries, and all your previous efforts will be in vain.

"Is my talent truly so inadequate?"

He cursed inwardly.

Just as this spiritual energy was about to dissipate

A fist-sized ball of warm air suddenly rose from Li Ping's lower abdomen.

That was the medicinal and spiritual energy that had remained in his body since he drank the cup of tea that Ren Jun had handed him in the courtyard yesterday.

This power was incredibly pure, like a pool of warm water, instantly merging into Li Ping's previously depleted spiritual energy.

The combined spiritual energy transformed into a ferocious beast, which rammed into the final barrier.

"Click"

Li Ping seemed to hear the sound of a thin piece of ice shattering.

Meridians are completely opened

The faint specks of light that had been drifting aimlessly in the room seemed to have found a floodgate, and frantically rushed into his pores.

He sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), his coarse old clothes billowing even without wind, a layer of black, sticky grime gradually seeping from his body.

Li Ping suddenly opened his eyes.

The once dark mud house had completely changed in his eyes.

Colorful dust particles floated in the air, and even the cracks in the earthen walls shimmered with a faint glow.

This is spiritual energy.

In his eyes, the world finally revealed its most authentic side.

Li Ping looked at his palm, feeling the faint yet real flow of energy swirling beneath his skin.

He grinned, about to let out a few silent laughs.

"click"

Outside the courtyard gate, a faint metallic clanging sound suddenly came, as if someone was using a piece of metal to poke at the bolt of his wooden gate.

The smile on Li Ping's lips disappeared.