After the crowd dispersed, Zhou Ping walked straight up to Lin Ruohe and bowed respectfully.
"May I ask what business Your Excellency has with this commoner?"
"Master Immortal, there is no need for such a great courtesy. Please, rise." Lin Ruohe hurriedly stepped forward to support Zhou Ping, speaking with deep sincerity.
"I must ask Your Excellency to speak plainly, otherwise my heart will not be at ease."
"Alas," Lin Ruohe let out a long sigh, sorrow spilling from his eyes. "To speak truthfully, Lin does indeed have a request. I beg the Master Immortal to save a life."
Saying this, Lin Ruohe moved to kneel, though Zhou Ping's quick hands caught him just in time.
"I see that Your Excellency has a ruddy complexion, not at all like one whose life is in peril," Zhou Ping said, puzzled.
Despite a few stray white hairs at his temples, Lin Ruohe was full of vigor, in the very prime of his life. He hardly looked like a man suffering from a vile illness.
"It is not me, but my child." Lin Ruohe covered his face, tears falling in silent grief.
"A month ago, my mischievous boy slipped and fell into a well while playing. After he was fished out, his body grew weaker by the day. In just a month's time, he has become nothing but skin and bones, and no medicine can cure him."
"I sought out those Master Immortals in the city. They all claimed it was an evil aura corroding his bones, exceedingly difficult to purge. Every single one of them wrung their hands in defeat."
"Desperate to save my son, I was forced into this lowly scheme. I beg the Master Immortal's forgiveness." Lin Ruohe knew his actions were somewhat despicable-using his authority to pressure and binding another with a favor-but to save his beloved son, he had no other choice.
After all, those Master Immortals were out of options. There were truly capable Master Immortals in Qingshui County, but the price to request their aid was astronomical, far beyond what he could afford.
Thus, the moment he learned there was a Master Immortal residing in Baixi Village, he rushed over in a panic, desperate to grasp this final lifeline.
Zhou Ping's brow furrowed. Evil auras came in many varieties, but Lin Ruohe's description was far too vague for him to properly gauge. He could only make a judgment after seeing the boy.
"Then I will accompany Your Excellency on this trip. However, since I have not seen the affliction for myself, I cannot make any promises. If I prove powerless, I hope Your Excellency will not take offense."
"I would never, I would never."
Soon after, Zhou Ping prepared to follow Lin Ruohe to Qingshui County Town, dozens of li away. Right before departing, he carefully pulled his brother aside to give a few instructions.
"Brother, you must protect Father and Mother. Also, hire some of our fellow villagers to work the fields," Zhou Ping urged. "Do not seize the grain currently growing on those lands; that is a year of their bitter toil."
"Next year, our family will have our own fields to work and cloth to weave. When the time comes, we will send Changhe to study..."
"Mm, I remember. I will remember it all." Zhou Hong gripped his younger brother's hands tightly, his eyes brimming with tears, terrified that this might be their final parting.
"Do not let Father and Mother worry. I am a cultivator, after all. Even if he harbors ill intent, he will have to weigh the consequences."
With that, Zhou Ping departed with Lin Ruohe and his entourage toward the county town.
Zhou Hong steadied his emotions, slapped on a calm expression as if nothing had happened, and returned to the crowd.
The villagers who had sold their land had been driven to a dead end. Now that the Zhou family was willing to rent the fields back to them for only a five-tenths share, they naturally wept with gratitude.
Though Zhou Dashan and his wife still harbored some worries, Zhou Hong easily smoothed things over.
Watching the departing group from afar, the Liu, Qian, Wang, and Sun families grew even more wary of the Zhou family. They had never imagined that the second son of the Zhou family would actually establish ties with the Master of Records.
It seemed that from this day onward, Baixi Village would truly have to bow its head to the Zhou family.
Qingshui County spanned a hundred and thirty li in circumference, encompassing eight townships, over a hundred villages, and more than forty thousand people.
In his previous life, this would have been a county with an abysmally small population, but here it was considered quite bustling. However, Zhou Ping knew full well that this world was vast and boundless, home to blessed lands and cave heavens, meaning the overall population was naturally far greater than that of his past life.
After walking for roughly an hour and a half, an un-imposing small city appeared before Zhou Ping's eyes. It was little more than four hundred zhang across; standing on a high ridge, one could see from one end to the other at a single glance.
The moment Zhou Ping set foot inside the city walls, he felt several probing gazes sweep over him. There were even faint fluctuations of qi hidden amid the clamorous streets, their sources impossible to trace.
He instantly understood. These were likely the few Spirit Awakening Realm cultivators in the city who, just like him, were quietly living out their retirement. He paid them no mind. He was not here to stir up trouble, nor did he intend to grab a piece of the county town's pie for the time being, so he posed no threat to their interests.
This was the precise reason Zhou Ping had chosen to remain in Baixi Village. Out there, his strength alone was enough to effortlessly suppress a few wealthy families. But the county town was a different beast entirely. Its powers were tangled and complex, ranging from mighty imperial officials to wealthy landlords and local clans founded by Spirit Awakening Realm cultivators. They had long since carved up Qingshui County Town among themselves.
If he uprooted his family to come here, he would inevitably be drawn into their disputes. Should any harm befall his family in the crossfire, Zhou Ping would regret it for the rest of his life. It was far better to be the undisputed tyrant of Baixi Village.
He could reconsider all this later, once his clan had flourished.
Lin Ruohe, entirely oblivious to the probing gazes, produced a few taels of silver to dismiss the yamen runners. He then guided Zhou Ping through a winding maze of streets until they arrived at an old, weathered courtyard.
Zhou Ping surveyed his surroundings. The courtyard was far from wealthy; in fact, years of neglected maintenance had left it decrepit and gloomy. Some sections were outright ruined, the damp shade giving rise to crawling moss.
"The journey was taxing, Brother Ping. Would you like to rest for a moment?" Lin Ruohe asked.
"No need, let us see to my nephew's illness first," Zhou Ping said, waving his hand. The walk had merely tired his legs a bit; the Spiritual Qi within his body remained entirely untouched.
"Then please, follow me." Hearing this, Lin Ruohe was overjoyed and hurriedly led the way.
Zhou Ping followed, his eyes constantly taking in the details. He could already deduce one thing: Lin Ruohe was likely an honest and uncorrupted official, hence his lack of wealth. Of course, it was also possible he had drained his coffers trying to cure his child.
But just as Zhou Ping stepped through a doorway, a servant who had been trailing him suddenly whispered, "Master Immortal, someone asked this lowly one to pass you a message. Please, do not speak out of turn."
Were it not for the sharp senses granted by cultivation, Zhou Ping might not have even heard it. He casually glanced back at the servant without changing his expression, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
It seemed the young master's illness involved some hidden complications.
Stepping into the room, he saw Lin Ruohe sitting slumped on the edge of the bed, staring in absolute heartbreak at the frail figure lying there, tears streaming down his face once more.
It took him a good while to rein in his emotions. Turning his head, he choked out, "Brother Ping, this is my son, Zhaohe. He is only eight years old. Why must he suffer such a horrific affliction?"
Speaking of it, Lin Ruohe could not hold back his bitter sobs.
"Let me take a look." A trace of pity touched Zhou Ping's heart, and he stepped forward.
His first glance gave him a fright. The child on the bed was skeletal, withered like a dying tree. His entire body exuded a faint, unnatural chill, his skin was mottled blue and purple, and his eyes were starkly bloodshot. He looked absolutely ghastly.
But after getting over that initial, horrifying sight, Zhou Ping examined him closely. Realization dawned instantly.
This was no evil aura. It was unmistakably Yin Malefic Qi, a naturally occurring worldly energy that served as cultivation material for the Qi Condensation Realm!
Such worldly qi typically coalesced in freezing, sunless places where the dead lay. If it accidentally invaded a mortal's body, it would plunge them into an icy abyss, stagnating their blood and qi until their entire frame grew agonizingly stiff.
Zhou Ping also noticed that the medicines on the nearby table were all of extreme yang nature. It was precisely these herbs that were keeping the child tethered to life. Of course, the child's survival was also due to the fact that this wisp of Yin Malefic Qi wasn't particularly dense.
But if this qi was not drawn out, it would continuously chip away at his life force. That was why the child had withered into this state.
For a Spirit Awakening Realm cultivator, there were two primary methods to deal with Yin Malefic Qi. The first was to forcefully grind it away with one's own Spiritual Qi until it completely dissipated.
This was the most common approach. Given the limited reserves of a Spirit Awakening Realm cultivator, it would require dozens of grueling cycles to fully wear the Yin Malefic Qi down. Because it was so incredibly taxing on the mind and one's Spiritual Qi, very few would willingly choose to do it.
The second method was to use a specialized gathering technique to extract and seal it within a vessel, turning it into cultivation material for the Qi Condensation Realm. This was the most orthodox and practical method, but such techniques were the closely guarded secrets of various sects. Naturally, not just any cultivator would know them.
After all, there were tens of thousands of different worldly energies in existence, each requiring its own unique gathering method. It was perfectly normal not to know one.
Zhou Ping understood it all now. It wasn't that the Spirit Awakening Realm cultivators in the city were helpless; they simply refused to lift a finger.
Lacking the proper gathering technique, they were left only with the first option. But the toll it demanded was immense. They were all men of advanced age who constantly needed their Spiritual Qi to nourish their failing bodies. They were never going to risk their own foundations to save some mortal child, which was why they all claimed to be helpless.
Additionally, the reward Lin Ruohe offered was far too meager to move them. On top of that, Lin Ruohe was merely a petty Master of Records; he wasn't someone they needed to curry favor with in this city.
After all, what could Lin Ruohe bring to the table? Gold, silver, and mundane jewels? How could such worldly trinkets tempt a bunch of old men desperately clinging to life? Now, if he could procure some life-extending treasure, they might have actually reconsidered.
Now that Zhou Ping had entered the picture, those old men were terrified that this reckless newcomer might expose their lie. That was the true purpose behind the servant's whispered warning.
Zhou Ping naturally had no intention of exposing their lie. He was perfectly capable of weighing the worth of a mortal Master of Records against several local Spirit Awakening Realm cultivators.
He felt a touch of relief. Out of the thirteen worldly qi gathering techniques he had mastered, there just so happened to be one for Yin Malefic Qi.
This was all thanks to a freezing limestone cavern back in the Azure Cloud Sect. To complete an Elder's assignment, Zhou Ping had spent three agonizing months gathering Yin Malefic Qi in that wretched place. When he finally emerged, he had been stiff as a frozen corpse. Naturally, the gathering technique had been part of his payment.
"Brother Ping, is there a way?" Lin Ruohe asked, his eyes filled with desperate hope.
"It will be somewhat arduous, but there is a solution. Allow me a moment to prepare." Zhou Ping smiled faintly. He glanced around the room, plucked a small porcelain bottle from the table, and headed for the door.
Though Lin Ruohe was burning with anxiety, he dared not follow and risk offending him. He could only bark at the servant, "Hurry up and attend him!"
Out in the courtyard, Zhou Ping drew a bucket of water from the deep well. Even though it was the height of autumn, the water was piercingly cold to the touch.
This was the very well where someone had died. Perpetually steeped in shade and starved of sunlight, it had subtly and gradually accumulated Yin Malefic Qi. To house Yin Malefic Qi, fusing it with chilling, yin-natured water was ideal.
As for exactly who had died down there, Zhou Ping had no desire to investigate.
He poured some of the water into the small porcelain bottle and briskly walked back toward the room. As he brushed past the servant, he discreetly slipped something from the man's hand.
Striding right up to the bed, Zhou Ping commanded,
"Everyone, stand back. I am about to begin."
Everyone hurriedly retreated several paces. Lin Ruohe stood a good distance away, craning his neck in agonizing worry.
In that moment, he wasn't the dignified Master of Records; he was simply a pitiable father desperate for his son's survival.
Zhou Ping pressed one hand against the child's lower abdomen while his other hand blurred through a rapid series of incantation seals. Spiritual Qi flowed from his palm into the child's body, immediately locating the bone-piercing yin aura lodged within the boy's lungs. It was radiating a relentless chill, further freezing the child's frail frame.
Zhou Ping dared not be careless. His Spiritual Qi surged, wrapping around that yin aura and inching it backward, guiding it to flow in reverse alongside his own Spiritual Qi, straight into his own body.
Instantly, white mist steamed off Zhou Ping's arm. Every hair on his skin stood on end as waves of pure, terrifying cold rolled off him.
The child's complexion, however, began to shift from bruised purple back to a healthy ruddiness, and his chest began to rise and fall with more vigor. This sight thrilled Lin Ruohe, though he ruthlessly choked back his emotions, terrified of interrupting Zhou Ping's technique.
Zhou Ping's hand seals shifted constantly, binding the Yin Malefic Qi strictly to his forearm. His arm rapidly changed color, turning a sickly, purplish white.
Cold sweat beaded on Zhou Ping's brow. He slowly shifted his arm, pressed it against the small porcelain bottle, and pinched his fingers into a final seal.
Instantly, a mad rush of freezing qi poured into the small porcelain bottle, intertwining with the frigid water within. Even so, the sheer aura leaking from the exchange dropped the room's temperature by several degrees. The onlookers shivering in the distance couldn't help but look on with awe and dread.
Shoving a metal-and-stone stopper into the bottle's mouth, the biting cold abruptly vanished, leaving only the freezing porcelain bottle resting in his palm.
Zhou Ping's forehead was drenched in cold sweat, his entire body trembling uncontrollably. In just that brief window, more than half of the nine strands of Spiritual Qi in his body had been drained. If it was this exhausting even with the proper gathering technique, one could only imagine the sheer misery of trying to grind it away with the crude method. No wonder the old cultivators in the city refused to touch it.
However, a flicker of sheer delight flashed through the depths of his eyes.
The Yin Malefic Qi was his.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoHEH4luep0
36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGjBaM7viDI
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