"He's not coming?"
Tu Zhiyong's face darkened as he glared at Lan Xinyi.
Even though this woman had an exceptional appearance and figure, he showed no courtesy whatsoever.
Women? How could they ever compare to even a fraction of the beauty of formation arts?
Not to mention, this was a rare chance to drag Li Ye out of his turtle shell an opportunity to both redeem his past humiliation and fulfill Pingyang Mountain's orders!
How could they mess this up so easily?
Surrounding them, the Lan family elders and Lan Ming also looked at Lan Xinyi with blame in their eyes.
Although they didn't know exactly why Tu Zhiyong insisted on inviting Li Ye to the ceremony, failing to meet his demands and causing dissatisfaction from their new backer was her fault.
This past year had been unbearably difficult for them they absolutely couldn't afford to lose this support!
"Li Ye has always acted cautiously. If there's no pressing need, he rarely leaves his formation. His ties with our Lan family have long grown distant. If he refused the invitation, there's nothing more I could do."
Lan Xinyi replied blandly, her expression cold and unreadable she even looked a bit like Li Ye in that moment.
Looking at the scowling Tu Zhiyong, she couldn't help recalling that day in the Tengyun Market when she and Li Ye had casually wandered past his shop… and everything that followed.
That man's arrogance and bluster back then, contrasted with Li Ye's quiet withdrawal, had seemed so laughable in hindsight especially when his so-called brilliant formation had collapsed in an instant.
If Li Ye hadn't incurred Xu Pingyang's displeasure, how would Tu Zhiyong have ever had the chance to act so smug now?
Perhaps stung by Lan Xinyi's tone, Tu Zhiyong abruptly stood up and barked at everyone present,
"Think of another way… if not, then I won't take this disciple after all!"
With a cold snort, he stormed off.
The Lan family elders all turned pale and rushed after him, pleading and flattering, swearing they'd make it happen no matter what.
Lan Ming didn't follow. Instead, he walked up to Lan Xinyi, a sneer creeping onto his face.
"Sister, you've stuck by that man for so long, but in the end, he treats you with such cold indifference. He's rejected every request, no matter how minor…"
"Looks like all your little tricks never amounted to anything. From now on, I'll be the one calling the shots in the Lan family!"
"After all, Changcui Mountain still belongs to our Lan family. If an outsider like him refuses to leave, we'll just have to find a way to take it back!"
Lan Xinyi stared at the now fourteen-year-old Lan Ming.
He'd grown tall, his face still youthful but unable to hide a cold, mature edge beneath.
She studied him carefully.
His features were still familiar, but Lan Xinyi could no longer see a trace of the little brother she'd once abandoned and fled from…
She let out a quiet sigh, then gave a chilling smile.
"As long as your cultivation remains below mine, I'll remain the one in charge of the Lan family."
"If you're so capable, then go bring Li Ye out yourself. Go curry favor with your master."
With those words, she suddenly stood up, tears glimmering faintly in her eyes, and strode away without looking back.
.....
[You carefully tended the Tier-2 spiritual plant Earth Dragon Ginseng, completing its two-year medicinal accumulation. Experience +3…]
[Earth Dragon Ginseng has completed its two-year medicinal accumulation. You gained 5% of Earth Dragon Essence...]
[…]
[You carefully tended… Mindroot Flower… Experience +3…]
[Mindroot Flower has completed its two-year medicinal accumulation… You gained 5% of Mindroot Essence...]
[…]
[You carefully tended… White Yin Fruit… Experience +3…]
[White Yin Fruit has completed its two-year medicinal accumulation… You gained 5% of White Yin Essence...]
[…]
Things rarely ever go exactly as expected.
At the very least, what Li Ye had once joked about reaching a cultivation breakthrough before accumulating enough essence had not come true.
Thanks to his Tier-2 Advanced skills, all these spiritual plants had now, one by one, provided feedback after a full cycle of growth, each contributing a complete round of medicinal accumulation, and granting him a significant dose of spiritual essence.
As notification after notification scrolled rapidly across his interface, Li Ye stood in the middle of his spiritual field, emotions swirling so intensely that a few crystalline tears welled in his eyes.
"Four years of farming... I've finally… finally gathered enough essence to begin alchemy!"
With a mix of excitement and deep emotion, he opened his interface:
[Name: Li Ye]
[Spiritual Root: Mid-grade Earth-Wood Dual Root]
[Age: 30]
[Lifespan: 82 years]
[Skills:]
Planting (Tier-2 Advanced): 1121 / 40,000
Alchemy (Tier-2 Intermediate): 1124 / 40,000
Artifact Crafting (Tier-1 Intermediate): 125 / 5,000
Talismans (Tier-2 Intermediate): 1770 / 20,000
Gu Techniques (Tier-2 Basic): 1325 / 15,000
Formations (Tier-2 Basic): 1411 / 60,000
[Spiritual Essences:]
Blood Grain Rice Essence ×500
Evergreen Essence ×300
Earth Dragon Essence ×30
Mindroot Essence ×30
White Yin Essence ×30
[Essence Traits:]
Vitality (Lv. 1)
Absorption (Lv. 1)
Wood Spirit (Lv. 1)
Tongtian (Lv. 1)
[Experience: 2,700]
After two full years, most of Li Ye's crafts had reached Tier 2.
However, formations were far more demanding. With the output of his current spiritual field, it would take nearly two years just to gain one level in that path.
Given he still lacked even a Tier-2 spirit vein, and aside from temporary miniature formations, he couldn't lay any proper fixed formations, there was no point in obsessing over it for now.
It made more sense to improve other crafts and revisit the path of formations after reaching the Foundation Establishment.
Gu techniques and talismans, for instance, had lower experience requirements and directly enhanced his combat capabilities he wasn't about to neglect them.
After the fall of Tengyun Market, quite a few good things had ended up in the hands of rogue cultivators.
On the rare occasions Li Ye ventured out, he managed to buy a few new Gu techniques. After studying them, he went ahead and leveled them up to Tier-2.
One such technique involved cultivating Emerald Bees, a special type of Gu worm that combined nurturing and combat functions. Though he had only just begun rearing them, they were founded on Tier-2 plant pollen, making the refinement process highly efficient they were already proving quite useful!
As for Artifact Crafting, after upgrading his other skills, he still had a few thousand experience points left over, so he used them to level it up a bit as well.
When combined with his Tier-2 formation knowledge, it allowed him to craft several instant-use formation tools.
With their support, and paired with talismans, he could now quickly deploy simple Tier-2 formations provided he had enough spirit stones for combat scenarios.
Still, none of these recent upgrades could compare to the significance of the three main spiritual essences needed for Foundation Establishment Pills. His attention remained completely fixed on them.
"Based on all my prior simulations… I should have enough to attempt two batches of Foundation Establishment Pills. With my current Tier-2 Intermediate alchemy skills, even if I fail the first try, I'll succeed on the second…"
"Now the only thing left… is to push my cultivation to the peak of Qi Refinement!"
Li Ye murmured to himself. His spiritual energy surged with his rising emotions, reacting to the potent aura of the spiritual field.
Sensing his bottleneck loosening once more, he sat down cross-legged right there in the field.
Tier-2 spiritual energy was generally too intense for most Qi Refining cultivators.
Mid- to late-stage cultivators could manage it with enough spiritual control, moving around freely within but attempting to cultivate in such an environment risked having their energy pathways overwhelmed by the intense flow.
Li Ye had never dared to cultivate here before for both safety and fear of disrupting the gathered spiritual energy of the field. It just wasn't worth the risk.
But this time, the loosened bottleneck was too rare and precious an opportunity to pass up.
Besides, his cultivation was already near the peak of Qi Refinement, and he'd grown highly tolerant of Tier-2 energy. Trying once shouldn't hurt.
He swallowed a Five-Stripe Wood Origin Pill, and waves of powerful spiritual energy surged toward him.
Li Ye fully immersed himself in cultivation.
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