Sixty years of blacksmithing, a single hammer blow forging a celestial being.

Since Zhang Meng was killed, the trail went cold, but the other disciples of the abandoned hall were also cleared of suspicion.

Liu Jinhu expelled Zhang Meng's entire family from the mountain gate, and that was the end of the matter.

The next step is to rebuild the abandoned hall.

However, these were all rebuilt by disciples of the sect's Moving Mountain Hall.

Due to the construction, all work has been suspended for some time.

Li Ping'an then no longer needed to absorb waste gas.

However, Li is not in a hurry to absorb the waste gas, because he has reached the bottleneck of the ninth level of body tempering and it is time to break through the Qi refining stage.

One day later,

In the makeshift shantytown, Li Ping'an sat cross-legged on the bed.

He twitched his ears, making sure that the disciples of the abandoned hall around him were asleep and no one was paying attention to him, before letting out a long sigh of relief.

"Come on, Qi Refining Stage, here I come!"

Li Ping'an murmured to himself as he picked up a crimson pill.

The pill emitted a refreshing fragrance; it was indeed a Qi Refining Pill!

Pills used to help cultivators break through from the Body Tempering stage to the Qi Refining stage.

The price of this pill on the market is not too expensive, costing about one hundred spirit stones. However, since Qingyue gave it to him, it's like getting it for free.

Li Ping'an solemnly swallowed the Qi Refining Pill.

Before long, he felt the pill dissolve in his stomach, and the spiritual energy inside the pill began to radiate, clearing his limbs and bones throughout his body, making him feel warm all over.

Most importantly, he felt a spiritual energy gathering in his dantian and beginning to control the slow rotation of his spiritual energy; this was the location of his dantian.

Cultivators in the Body Tempering stage do not have a Qi Sea, but once they reach the Qi Refining stage, they will have a Qi Sea.

Having a Qi Sea allows one to control spiritual power and use spells, thus becoming a true cultivator, a world apart from the Body Tempering Realm.

"very good."

Li Ping'an sensed the changes within his body and was overjoyed. He immediately circulated his spiritual energy, gathering it into a vortex along his dantian, and began to slowly control it.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Ping'an looked inward at his dantian and saw a crystalline particle about the size of a grain of rice.

This is your own dantian (lower abdomen) and qi sea (lower abdomen).

Although it's now as small as an ant, it has a Qi Sea and can store spiritual energy.

As Li Ping'an's cultivation continues to improve, this Qi Sea will grow larger and larger.

Li Ping'an was overjoyed, his face beaming with happiness. He had finally broken through to the Qi Refining stage!

Although it's only the first level of Qi Refining, it's vastly different from the Body Tempering stage.

Now he can finally practice magic.

After successfully breaking through, Li Ping'an immediately took out the "Taiyi Qi-Inducing Technique" and began to cultivate according to the cultivation method described in it.

The "Taiyi Qi-Inducing Technique" is a cultivation method for breathing exercises to promote immortality. It emphasizes a peaceful state of mind when practicing it.

As an old man who had experienced many hardships, Li Ping'an's mentality was naturally much more stable and calm than that of ordinary cultivators.

After practicing for a short while, he felt a spiritual energy slowly circulating within his body, which was the effect of the "Taiyi Qi-Guiding Technique".

"It seems this cultivation technique is indeed suitable for me!"

Li Ping'an laughed heartily and continued to intensify his cultivation.

As Li Ping'an continued to cultivate according to the breathing techniques of the "Taiyi Qi-Inducing Technique," he could clearly feel that the spiritual energy within his body was gradually becoming thicker and easier to control.

Meanwhile, on the other side...

Steward Wang was in his room treating his wounds and applying medicine.

His face looked terrible; his once rosy cheeks were now pale, and there was even a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth.

He was pouring healing pills into his mouth one after another, saying through gritted teeth:

"Damn it, that old bastard Li Ping'an actually hid so well! He even has a rare, high-grade golden light talisman in his possession. I really underestimated this old guy! How infuriating!"

That's right, Manager Wang is the man in black who attacked Li Ping'an in the middle of the night.

As a Qi Refining stage cultivator, Manager Wang was very confident in himself. Killing a frail old man was as easy as crushing an ant.

He had originally arranged for Zhang Meng to poison Li Ping'an and then burn him to death.

However, given the various peculiarities Li Ping'an had exhibited, Steward Wang remained cautious. He deliberately dressed in black and hid near the ruined hall, only feeling at ease after confirming that Li Ping'an had indeed been burned to death.

As expected, he guessed correctly!

Li Ping'an, that old codger, seemed completely unaffected by the poisoned wine, and floated lightly out of the window.

Moreover, his agility was so great that it startled Manager Wang, who was hiding in the tree. Was he really an old man in his seventies or eighties?

But after calming down, he became extremely smug.

I'm glad I was cautious enough, otherwise today's plan would have failed again.

Seeing Li Ping'an cautiously trying to find a place to hide, Steward Wang pounced down without hesitation.

At that moment, in his eyes, Li Ping'an was like a lamb to the slaughter; a single sword strike would be enough to decapitate him and kill him outright.

Then he threw Li Ping'an's body into the fire to destroy the evidence, and everything was done so seamlessly without anyone noticing.

However, just as his longsword was about to touch Li Ping'an, a golden light suddenly burst forth from Li Ping'an's body.

The golden light startled him; it was a high-grade golden light talisman!

Is this something an old codger like Li Ping'an could possibly possess?

Caught off guard, he was blasted away by the golden talisman, failing to kill Li Ping'an and injuring himself in the process.

"Damn it, Li Ping'an, you bastard! I, Wang, swear I won't rest until I kill you!"

Thinking of this, Wang Guan felt a surge of frustration. He, a mere steward, found it so difficult to kill an old handyman.

Failure after failure!

Thinking about all this, I couldn't help but spit out another mouthful of blood.

Just then, a series of sharp whistling sounds came from outside the window, followed by a powerful aura descending.

"Who is it?"

Manager Wang was taken aback and saw a tall young man dressed in white standing in the room.

Manager Wang took a closer look and was taken aback – it was actually Senior Brother Zhang!

"Senior Brother Zhang, you've arrived!"

For a moment, Manager Wang disregarded his injuries and scrambled to his feet, bowing deeply to Zhang.

Senior Brother Zhang glanced at Steward Wang, his expression gloomy, and remained silent.

Only then did Manager Wang notice that Senior Brother Zhang looked travel-worn and his clothes were torn, clearly indicating that he had just been fighting.

"Senior Brother Zhang, what's wrong...?"