Setting a Goal for Master

Inside the Prince of Lanyang's Manor. A middle-aged man in luxurious robes sat gingerly beside a youth, his face completely painted with obsequious flattery. A dignified True Immortal was now serving the youth beside him with utmost humility and caution. Just then, another middle-aged man walked in from outside. The man leaned close to Ye Lingyun's ear and whispered via voice transmission, "Young Master, both of them have left. However, a bit of ash and powder was left beside their bed." Ye Lingyun nodded slightly, a glint of cold light flickering in his eyes. By this time, the youth had already changed into a fresh set of robes; the previous one had been tossed away. "Heh, a mere Heavenly Immortal managed to temporarily suppress my power. How interesting... Have you uncovered who he is?" The man lowered his gaze and bowed, murmuring softly, "We are still investigating. But he was accompanied by an old man in the Soul Formation Realm, so he likely doesn't belong to any great clan. That makes tracking him down somewhat troublesome." Ye Lingyun adjusted the hem of his robe as he sat in his chair, speaking with complete nonchalance. "No matter. Given his strength, even if he managed to temporarily suppress my power, he probably won't live much longer anyway. All right, dismiss yourself. I still have some business to discuss with the Prince of Lanyang." After the man withdrew, only Ye Lingyun and the Prince of Lanyang remained in the room. *** Elsewhere. After Li Guanqi led Li Nanting out of the Sumeru Treasure Hall, he once again took the old man and departed the tavern. This time, Li Guanqi and the old man left Lanyang City altogether. Atop a towering mountain outside Lanyang City, an old man sat blankly upon a massive boulder. Li Guanqi had cultivated for so many years; what had he not experienced? In his current weakened position, outmatched in strength, he thought nothing of avoiding someone's sharp edge. All that occupied his mind was that when he encountered Ye Lingyun again in the future, he must become stronger! At the very least, when they next met, he had to reach the same height as the other man and compel him to take him seriously. Li Nanting, however, was different... Ever since awakening and leaving the Lin family, everything he had encountered left him feeling uneasy and constrained. Carrying wine, Li Guanqi approached the old man and handed the jar over. The jar was merely ordinary earthenware, nothing precious. Naturally, the wine within was just coarse, strong liquor commonly found down the mountain—pungent, bitter, and rough with mixed flavors. Yet Li Guanqi felt that only such wine could bring back some sense of familiar ground to the old man. Sure enough, the old man broke the clay seal and took a single sniff before a faint smile appeared on his face. He looked at Li Guanqi. "Wine from the Spirit Realm?" Li Guanqi smiled and nodded. Seeing the satisfied grin that spread across the old man's face after a mouthful, he finally spoke softly, "Master, are you feeling out of sorts?" Li Nanting did not deny it. He nodded, rested the wine jar on his lap, and looked up at the bright moon in the sky. "The moon looks the same, yet this is not home after all." With that, the old man turned to Li Guanqi and spoke with a touch of embarrassment, "Regarding what happened today... did Master make things difficult for you?" Li Guanqi blurted out without hesitation, "How could you think that!" The old man lowered his head with a bitter smile, recalling the humiliation of being soaked in spilled food and wine earlier that day, and the helplessness of the situation... "Sigh... heh... Your master is useless." Li Guanqi plopped down beside the old man, took the wine jar, and let the fiery liquor burn down his throat. Then he brought out a jar of Red Dust Brew, handed it to the old man, and gestured for him to take a sip. With just a single sip, the primal energy inside the old man ran rampant instantly, surging like a roaring river. The old man hurriedly circulated his cultivation method to suppress it, carefully refining the energy. Only after a long while did he open his eyes and exhale a breath of wine-laden vapor. "Fine wine! The power contained within is truly domineering!" Li Guanqi smiled and said softly, "Master, this is merely spiritual wine from our Spirit Realm's Seventh Domain wine shop. I still have immortal wine here." Hearing this, the old man's expression shifted slightly, his eyes flickering with complex light. Looking at the storage ring Li Guanqi handed him, he swept it with his divine sense and was immediately shaken to the core. Li Guanqi continued on his own, "You see, I have already prepared every resource you will need all the way until you break through into immortality. It's just becoming an immortal. With your current aptitude and bone structure, a hundred years of cultivation will pass in the snap of a finger. What is there for you to worry yourself sick over?" With that, the corners of Li Guanqi's mouth curved upward as he murmured softly, "Master. Cultivators act against the heavens, fighting for life and destiny. You should see that far more clearly than I do. Having weathered the wind and frost of the Spirit Realm, now tread in song through the Immortal Realm. Just because of a few insults and some lost face, will you abandon the Dao? What an absolute joke!" Li Guanqi spoke lightly, but that was because he had endured the crushing weight of ten thousand mountains and thirty years of wind and snow. It was only a scuffle in a tavern. Had it been in the Spirit Realm, Li Guanqi would have erupted and killed without hesitation. In the Immortal Realm, it was the same. It was just that Li Guanqi was no brainless brute; charging forward when outmatched was nothing but suicidal stupidity. He would commit the name to memory, bury it deep in his heart, and settle the score properly down the road. Yet he could not let Li Nanting wear down the fighting spirit left in his own heart. The old man was a man of few words, prone to brooding in silence. If Li Guanqi did not untie this knot in the old man's heart today, his master's future path of cultivation would be choked with brambles, plagued by massive heart demons. Li Nanting grew thoughtful at his words. Li Guanqi continued, "For ten thousand years, the Human Spirit Realm produced no immortals, and everyone went mad trying to ascend. Yet here we are in this Immortal Realm, one step ahead of the rest. Master, if you don't want Mistress to suffer the same humiliation when she ascends, then you must cultivate diligently! Who knows? Perhaps one day in the future, your disciple will have to bask in your glory!" Li Nanting burst into hearty laughter, the gloom in his chest gradually dispersing. "You brat, spouting nothing but sarcastic jokes! No matter how I cultivate now, I'll never catch up to you." Li Guanqi smiled, knowing he had resolved more than half of the knot in his master's heart. As long as he planted a goal in his master's heart, the old man would have direction. His gaze turned slightly dazed. Once upon a time, it was this old man who had taught him countless truths; now, their roles had flipped. Perhaps once the old man adapted to the Immortal Realm, much would naturally change. As they drank, Pengluo crawled out with sleepy eyes. As soon as he climbed onto Li Guanqi's shoulder, he felt something was off. With eyes still shut, he felt around Li Nanting's face for a moment before suddenly startling awake! "Yikes!! An old man!!!" Li Guanqi plucked Pengluo up by the scruff and reprimanded him crossly, "Show some respect! This is my master from the Great Xia Sword Sect." Pengluo's eyes lit up, and he suddenly remembered. "Oh, oh, oh, oh!! This old man... er... this senior is Master's master! What a rare sight~" The corner of Li Guanqi's mouth twitched. Of course it was a rare sight; it had taken Li Guanqi this long just to reshape his master's physical body in the Immortal Realm. Without a word, Pengluo snapped off a section of his own arm with a crisp *crack* and offered it to Li Nanting. Under the old man's dumbfounded gaze, Pengluo thrust the severed arm straight toward his mouth. "Uh... gnaw on the arm first; eat the fingers last. If you're not used to it, I can snap the fingers off and eat them myself. This arm of mine isn't bad—tastes just like crisp lotus root." With that, he snapped off the fingers from that arm and shoved them into his own mouth. As he chewed, he winked and nudged, urging the old man to dig in. Li Guanqi was thoroughly speechless. He took the arm from the old man's hand. "Are you trying to blow my master up just to hear the bang?!" Only then did Pengluo realize that the old man's cultivation was only at the peak of the early Soul Formation Realm. Taking a bite of that... would truly make him go bang... Li Guanqi sliced off a sliver as thin as a cicada's wing from the arm and handed it over. "Master, this is Pengluo, my bonded partner. He originated as a spirit essence and is now considered a ranked spirit. Eating a tiny sliver will do you good." Li Nanting let out a long breath. "A spirit that has attained immortality? I couldn't tell in the slightest... No wonder."