With the Spirit Stones in hand, Zhou Yang and the other two could hardly wait to return to their courtyard, preparing to enter Secluded Cultivation and break through to the third level of Qi Condensation.
Having long since advanced to the mid-stage of Qi Condensation, and with no hope of reaching the fifth level within ten years of becoming a Novice, Senior Brother Yan’s mindset was the most laid-back among the five of them.
He did not return with the others. Instead, he held Fang Ping back and invited him to Tianxiang Tower in Luoyun Market.
Fang Ping still had Foundation Establishment on his mind, so naturally he refused.
He glanced around and, seeing no one nearby, asked Yan Xu, “Senior Brother Yan, you became a Novice earlier than I did and have wide connections in the outer sect. I wonder if you could help me look into two people’s backgrounds?”
“That’s easy.”
Yan Xu answered without hesitation, patting his chest. “Just give me their names and tell me how deep you need me to dig.”
Fang Ping briefly recounted the earlier extortion scam and gave the names of Lu Shan and Ming Yulou. “It’s these two. I heard they have some connection to an outer sect deacon behind the scenes, though I don’t know if that’s true.”
“So they’re just two scammers!”
Yan Xu knew what to do. He thought for a moment and said, “Three days at the fastest, five at the slowest. I will definitely give you an answer.”
With the matter settled, and seeing that Fang Ping stubbornly refused to go along, Yan Xu took a roundabout route to avoid Su Lingyun, humming a tune as he headed straight for Tianxiang Tower.
Cultivating the Dao, cultivating the Dao—dual cultivation was, of course, also one of the Great Daos.
*
Four days passed in a flash.
At noon that day, Fang Ping had just finished cultivating and was about to stand up when he suddenly heard a knock at the door.
It was Yan Xu paying a visit.
After letting this Senior Brother inside, Fang Ping served tea and looked at him.
Taking a casual couple of sips, Yan Xu set down his teacup and said to Fang Ping, “Through a few friends’ connections, I’ve already investigated Lu Shan and Ming Yulou. Just as you said, those two are truly scum. In the outer sect, I’m afraid they’ve scammed more than just one or two people.”
Speaking of this, he revealed an expression of anger and contempt.
It was hard enough for outer sect disciples to cultivate step by step—yet there were actually dregs like this who specialized in swindling away others’ cultivation resources.
If not for the lack of hard evidence, he would have taken the matter directly to the Law Enforcement Hall and had them arrest the two on the spot.
“What about their background?” Fang Ping asked the most crucial question.
Yan Xu chuckled. “What kind of background could trash like that have? At best, they’ve managed to latch onto a Dining Hall Deacon at the eighth level of Qi Condensation, but that Deacon doesn’t take Ming Yulou seriously at all. For trivial day-to-day matters, tossing out a few empty words on their behalf is fine. But if a real incident happens, he would never go to war for two hyenas.”
Sure enough—they were bluffing, using a nonexistent background to intimidate people!
Fang Ping had roughly guessed this was the case, and now it was finally confirmed.
That being so, he no longer needed to have any misgivings about plotting a counterattack.
Observing Fang Ping’s expression, Yan Xu asked, “Junior Brother Fang seems to have some ideas? What do you plan to do?”
In front of an outsider, Fang Ping naturally could not speak frankly. He only put on an appearance of hesitation. “Senior Brother Yan, I wonder if you have any methods to teach me?” This chapter was taken from novelping.com without permission.
Senior Brother Yan smiled. “There are two ways to resolve this matter. One is an open strategy, the other is a hidden strategy.”
Fang Ping asked for guidance. “What does the open strategy entail? And the hidden strategy?”
“The open strategy: invite the Law Enforcement Hall to arrest them, blow the matter up, and have all the scammed disciples step forward to testify. Even without hard evidence, a coincidence might happen once or twice, but it couldn’t possibly happen seven or eight times, or even more, right?”
“When coincidences pile up, they are no longer coincidences—they are deliberate acts.”
“Seize upon this logic, and they will naturally be convicted.”
“The hidden strategy is also very simple.”
“Find an excuse to go down the mountain and deliberately leak the news.”
“Lu Shan and Ming Yulou have held a grudge against you for a long time. Once they receive the news, they will very likely chase after you to teach you a lesson.”
“When that happens, I will invite two Law Enforcement Hall disciples to keep watch from the shadows. As long as those two strike first, they can be apprehended on the spot and convicted of turning against fellow disciples.”
That was a far heavier crime than extorting a few Spirit Stones. The result would inevitably be direct expulsion from the outer sect!
“Such are the open and hidden strategies…”
Fang Ping put on a thoughtful expression.
The open strategy—he had considered it long ago, but it was not necessarily the superior choice.
As for the hidden strategy, it did seem better than the open one, capable of solving the problem once and for all.
But this move carried the suspicion of scheming against fellow sect members. Allowing Yan Xu and two Law Enforcement Hall disciples to participate would mean handing them a piece of leverage over him, neither too large nor too small.
Even though exposing this shared conspiracy would bring no benefit to Yan Xu and the others, if he had a choice, it was best not to do this at all.
Moreover, wouldn’t enlisting the help of two Law Enforcement Hall disciples require paying a price?
Even if Yan Xu volunteered his help without stating any conditions, wouldn’t Fang Ping still end up owing him a favor?
And favors in the cultivation world were never easy to repay…
Fang Ping even considered the worst-case scenario. If he used himself as bait to lure Lu Shan and Ming Yulou into an ambush, what if an accident occurred? What if Yan Xu and the two Law Enforcement Hall disciples—who were supposed to act as reinforcements—arrived a step too late?
Then his fate would be far from pleasant.
Although this possibility was slim, he had to guard against it!
As long as he had a choice, Fang Ping would never place his life and safety into the hands of others.
Having weighed the gains and losses, Fang Ping gave Yan Xu an answer that took him slightly by surprise.
“Both of these strategies seem quite sound. For the moment, I find it difficult to make a decision. How about this: allow me a few more days to consider. Once I have made up my mind, I will consult with you again, Senior Brother Yan.” Find the original chapter at NovelPing.
Difficult to make a decision?
Junior Brother, you certainly don’t seem like such an indecisive person!
Yan Xu cast a meaningful look at Fang Ping and nodded. “That is fine as well. If you need any help, Junior Brother, you can seek me out at any time.”
*
After seeing Yan Xu out,
Fang Ping returned to his room. Reconsidering Yan Xu’s two proposals, he grew even firmer in his own resolution.
However, since he was not going to use either of Yan Xu’s open or hidden strategies, he could only rely on his own strength to resolve the matter.
True, Fang Ping was merely an ordinary disciple with average combat strength.
But Lu Shan and Ming Yulou were not exactly figures of remarkable talent or outstanding comprehension either—otherwise, they wouldn’t have sunk to the point of extorting their fellow disciples just to gather cultivation resources.
Under these circumstances, he could find an opportunity to defeat them one by one.
As long as he plotted carefully, he was not without a chance of victory.
Of course, now was not yet the best time to strike.
At the very least, it wouldn’t be too late to seek trouble with those two after he advanced to the third level of Qi Condensation.
Endure a little longer. After all, the third level of Qi Condensation was not far off.
With these thoughts in mind, Fang Ping calmed down. Summoning the Prime Cauldron, he resumed refining Inedia Pills to accumulate as many Spirit Stones as possible.
*
Two weeks later.
Inside his own courtyard, Fang Ping held a Spirit Stone in his hand, circulating the Five Elements Sutra while extracting the pure Spiritual Qi from the stone to accelerate his cultivation.
Several days prior, he had already felt the premonition of a breakthrough.
At this moment, as another great circulation cycle completed, Fang Ping suddenly experienced an epiphany—he had reached the absolute limit of the second level of Qi Condensation and could break through the threshold at any time.
The early stage of Qi Condensation had virtually no threshold to speak of.
Perhaps only a talent as utterly trash as the Five-Attribute Spirit Root could be stuck for half a year or more.
Fang Ping was, at the very least, a Four-Attribute Spirit Root, and his foundation was fairly stable. Breaking through would not be a difficult task.
“The third level of Qi Condensation… it happens today!”
With his conviction set, Fang Ping redoubled his efforts to extract the Spiritual Qi from the Spirit Stone, circulating the Five Elements Sutra at full power.