A spirit beast soul contract with the strength equivalent to a Wàng Yōu Realm cultivator is naturally tempting.
But Xutai Ping was not the kind of person who would lose himself over immediate benefits. What truly made him waver was Bai Yu's determination to abandon his freedom to see his mother.
He could not bear to trample on this resolve.
Finally, Xutai Ping nodded.
That night, deep into the night.
"Lingyue, should I be more heartless?"
In the bedroom, under the light of a single candle, Xutai Ping asked Lingyue Fairy with a hint of self-mockery.
"Xutai Ping, having compassion is not a bad thing; otherwise, what would distinguish humans from demons? You just need to remember that when you show compassion, you must never act against your true self."
"If you feel that helping Bai Yu see his mother does not go against your true self, then go ahead with confidence."
"As cultivators, we seek life on the Great Path, not by living in fear. Cultivation is like navigating a boat in the vast sea at night. Your true self is like the moon and stars in the sky. If you lose it, you will surely be lost in the vast sea."
"On the Great Path of cultivation, losing your true self means losing everything."
Lingyue Fairy sat beside Xutai Ping, gently guiding him.
Upon hearing these words, Xutai Ping, who had been a bit confused, suddenly had a clear look in his eyes.
"Seeking life, not living in fear; losing your true self means losing everything."
He murmured to himself, his face showing a sudden realization.
"Lingyue, in my life, I've met many cultivators. Some have become so powerful that they can glimpse the workings of heaven. Even so, even if they see the dangers ahead or the end of their lives, they still choose not to abandon their Dao heart. Instead, they wield their swords and fists, clearing mountains and slaying demons."
"They do this because they know that once they choose to abandon their Dao heart, their path of cultivation will come to a halt."
"Living in fear, even for a thousand years, is meaningless. The Heavenly Dao still treats you like a straw dog. Only by facing death can we, as cultivators, find the only way forward on our long path of cultivation."
Lingyue Fairy suddenly cupped Xutai Ping's face, speaking with great solemnity.
Xutai Ping's eyes became resolute again.
"Of course, if you agreed to help Bai Yu kill the Peacock King for revenge, then consider my words as if they were never said."
Lingyue Fairy then laughed.
Killing the Peacock King and helping Bai Yu see his mother for the last time are on entirely different levels of difficulty.
"Lingyue, I'm not a fool. I wouldn't do something that would lead to my own death."
Xutai Ping, of course, understood what Lingyue Fairy meant.
"Alright, let's start preparing to break through to the Wàng Yōu Realm. If you can't break through tonight, I won't let you take the risk."
Lingyue Fairy's expression became serious again.
Xutai Ping nodded firmly.
The reason he told Bai Yu "I'll think of a way" instead of agreeing outright was because he was waiting to see if he could successfully break through to the Wàng Yōu Realm tonight.
If he succeeded, he believed that in the situation where the enemy was known and he was hidden, he would at least have a chance to escape from the Peacock King.
Lingyue Fairy thought the same way.
"Xutai Ping, Xutai Ping, the kind of immortality achieved by sitting in a cave for a thousand years is the most fragile. The day such people ascend is the day they meet their end. Moreover, this Qingxuan Sect, or even this world, is just a small part of the countless cultivation realms. The path ahead is still long."
Lingyue Fairy looked at the meditating Xutai Ping and murmured to herself.
She didn't want Xutai Ping to take risks before because he hadn't even reached the Kai Men Realm. Now that he was a quasi-Wàng Yōu Realm cultivator, he needed to understand the dangers ahead.
After taking the Foundation Establishment Pill, Xutai Ping's aura suddenly surged, and he was enveloped in a swirl of green qi, emitting an intangible aura.
Then, his divine soul sensed that the true qi cloud in his dantian began to condense into raindrops.
A moment later, he saw a heavy rain in his dantian, which eventually formed streams, and the streams converged into rivers, making his previously dry dantian look like a network of waterways.
This was the process described in the Residual Afterglow Technique: accumulating rain into streams, converging streams into rivers, and gathering rivers into a sea, ultimately forming a qi sea.
The difficulty in this step was that if the "spirit rain" above his head was interrupted, the rivers in his dantian would quickly evaporate, turning back into scattered true qi, leading to the failure of the Foundation Establishment breakthrough.
Time passed, and the spiritual qi gathering around Xutai Ping became increasingly dense, even enveloping the entire courtyard.
Everything seemed to be going well.
However, Lingyue Fairy's expression did not relax at all.
In her view, with the Foundation Establishment Pill and Xutai Ping's strong will, breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage was just a matter of time. If not this time, then definitely the next.
What truly worried Lingyue Fairy was the extraplanar demons.
"Failure in Foundation Establishment can be tried again, but if the soul is devoured by an extraplanar demon, there will be nothing left."
At that moment, the spiritual qi around Xutai Ping suddenly exploded, tearing his clothes to shreds, and a stream of impure qi began to emerge from his pores, with a rainbow of light flowing over his skin.
At this moment, Lingyue Fairy did not feel any relief; instead, she became even more tense because she knew that if the extraplanar demon were to appear, it would be at this moment.
As she expected, a bone-chilling wind blew in through the window, and the wind began to beat against the window with a "bang, bang."
But the next moment, everything became silent, and a completely black arm, emitting a chilling aura, reached in through the window.
Wherever the arm passed, whether it was the window or the wall, a layer of ice crystals began to form.
At this moment, Lingyue Fairy made a hand seal and chanted:
"Divine might, golden armor, yellow head holding an iron whip."
"Red robe, green boots, wind belt, tiger eyes."
"Dragon rope around the waist, ordered by the Three Pure Ones to capture evil spirits."
"Quickly bind and present the disobedient, I will cut them to dust. Urgently, as the law commands."
As she finished speaking, the array she had set up around the area lit up, and a golden-armored warrior's shadow appeared in front of her.
The golden-armored warrior roared like thunder, one hand holding a whip and the other a knife, striking and lashing at the extraplanar demon's arm.