My Cultivation Has a Progress Bar

Wang Ping knew the two men must have come to see him for a reason. Otherwise, why would they make things awkward for themselves? Still, he wasn’t going to be the one to ask. As the two entered the courtyard, he toyed with his newly acquired Five Elements Stone and said to Xuanling, "How about another round?"

"Yes, Teacher!" Xuanling cupped his fist in a salute and handed the container of black stones to Wang Ping.

Qiuwang and Wenhai knew to act patiently. When Wang Ping picked up a game piece, they stood to the side like young Daoist Children, postured as if ready to be dispatched at a moment’s notice.

And so they waited for an entire hour.

Wang Nanping and Xuanling’s game had reached the mid-game. The time was now 1:45 PM, and a young attendant brought some late-summer melons and fruits.

Just as Wang Ping was focused on the board, Zhao Qian appeared outside the small courtyard. Seeing Wang Ping in a state of quiet contemplation, he swallowed the words that were about to leave his lips.

A quarter of an hour later, when Wang Ping placed the black stone in his hand, Zhao Qian finally bowed respectfully and said, "Martial Grand-Ancestor, the Sect Leaders from dozens of Daoist Temples, large and small, from across Nanlin Road have personally ascended the Ascension Platform before the mountain gate and submitted their visiting cards. I have already invited them to wait in the main hall of the front palace."

It was clear these people had received news the moment Wang Ping returned to Qianmu Temple. They had been waiting in the county town at the foot of the mountain for some time. Now, they must have heard that Wang Ping had come out of seclusion, prompting them to all submit their visiting cards.

News of the events in Shangjing City had reached the Sect Leaders of the major sects three days ago. It was likely that within a month, rumors would be rampant throughout the land. If no new Fourth Realm Cultivator stepped forward to manage the situation in the south, the Chu Country’s position would naturally be in jeopardy. As the political center of the Chu Country, Nanlin Road was, of course, receiving a great deal of attention.

Their visit today was for no other reason than to seek reassurance and to ask about the future.

As the nominal Pacification Envoy of the Nanlin Road Daoist Palace, and with no Fourth Realm Cultivator present to oversee things, Wang Ping was practically the number one figure in the Nanlin Road Cultivation World. Combined with his feat of overpowering all rivals at True Yang Mountain, he had naturally become their pillar of support.

In truth, Wang Ping didn’t know which path Nanlin Road should take either, but he couldn’t reply with that.

Instantly understanding the reasons behind their visit, Wang Ping turned to Hu Qianqian and instructed, "You will receive the sect leaders on my behalf. I won’t be making an appearance."

"Yes, Master!"

Hu Qianqian replied in acknowledgment.

Yu Cheng Taoist, who was standing nearby, rose and chimed in, "I’ll go take a look as well. I am still the Sect Leader of Qianmu Temple, after all."

The moment his voice fell, Qiuwang immediately stepped forward with a fawning expression. "Old Ancestor, if you wouldn’t mind this junior, could I run some errands for you?"

Yu Cheng Taoist looked at Qiuwang’s face, wreathed in smiles, stroked his beard, and said, "Very well!"

Seeing this, Wenhai, of course, also immediately offered his services.

"In that case, Xuanling, you go and take a look as well," Wang Ping instructed Xuanling, looking at the Go board where he was once again on the verge of defeat.

"Yes, Teacher."

Without hesitation, Xuanling decisively rose and saluted with a cupped fist.

When the small courtyard grew quiet, Shi Yu Lian retorted, "You cheated. Xuanling was about to win that game again."

Wang Ping didn’t explain. With a laugh, he transformed into a streak of light and returned to the Mountain Peak Dojo.

Yu Lian didn’t follow him back to the Mountain Peak Dojo. Instead, she flew to Shen Xiaozhu’s Dao Field. After checking on Shen Xiaozhu’s condition from outside the isolation Array and confirming there were no issues, she then went to the Water Institute within the temple to catch and eat shrimp from the river channel.

Upon returning to his Dao Field, Wang Ping first went to the Alchemy Room behind the small courtyard to check on the production status of the Power Pills. He also carefully inspected the restrictive Array in the Alchemy Room to confirm no one had entered without permission while he was away.

Currently, the market for Power Pills was already nearing saturation. Furthermore, some had specifically developed Arrays that block Spiritual Qi to counter the detonation of the Power Pills, making them somewhat useless in actual combat.

This was from an old intelligence report that Wang Ping never had time to deal with, as sales were still acceptable back then. But now, despite the instability in Zhongzhou, not many people were willing to stockpile them in large quantities. This resulted in most of the Power Pills made by the puppets simply gathering dust in storage pouches.

’It’s time to upgrade the product!’

Wang Ping stroked his chin and thought. He had two plans. The first was to construct a small-scale Gathering Spirit Array on the outer surface of the Power Pill’s packaging. The second was to switch to using Spiritual Object-grade materials to refine the Power Pills.

The goal of the first method was simple: if they block Spiritual Qi, then the device would store its own. The second method was to bypass the Spiritual Qi blockage by increasing the pill’s power and blast radius.

Either way, the cost of the Power Pills would increase by several hundred times. Especially if they were refined using Spiritual Objects, the materials for a single Power Pill alone would cost over ten thousand taels of silver. Moreover, the annual supply of Spiritual Objects was limited. If they were used to mass-produce Power Pills, it could cause the price of Spiritual Objects to skyrocket.

For Wang Ping, this matter was both urgent and not. It was urgent because he needed money to buy a Divine Soul Guide. It was not urgent because there was still no trace of a Divine Soul Guide to be found.

And Zi Luan’s estimated price for a Divine Soul Guide was a starting bid of twenty million taels of silver!

For the Cultivation Realm, silver was not just a universal currency but also a fundamental material for refining Magical Artifacts and Arrays. This was because it was the most spiritually conductive of all metals; basically, it was a required component for the base material of every Array Rune. Of course, gold was even better.

Before the Second Realm, Wang Ping felt his wealth was more than enough to construct a Nine Extremes Array that covered the entirety of Qianmu Temple. But after reaching the Third Realm, he found that to refine an Array capable of withstanding Third Realm energies, one first had to refine silver or gold with Spiritual Qi. The resource consumption immediately increased tenfold.

This process was similar to how Tongyu Taoist created Puppet Zi Hong. He had used the most ordinary materials, refining them over many long years until Zi Hong could withstand the attack of a Second Realm Cultivator with his physical body alone.

Of course, one could achieve twice the result with half the effort by using Spiritual Objects or Celestial and Earthly Treasures, but that would only make the cost even more exorbitant.

For the next ten days, after finishing his daily cultivation exercises, Wang Ping spent all his time experimenting with building a small-scale Spirit Gathering Array on the outside of the Power Pill’s packaging.

However, the process was far more difficult than Wang Ping had imagined. He needed to use Yin Yang Vine to insulate the Power Pill, but then he had to try and construct a Spirit Gathering Array on the surface of the Yin Yang Vine, which itself naturally repelled Spiritual Qi. On top of that, the Spirit Gathering Array had to be constrained to the size of a fist.

While Wang Ping was busy with his own affairs, feeling quite at ease, the front hall of Qianmu Temple had become unusually lively over the past ten days. Yu Cheng Taoist and Hu Qianqian received many people on Wang Ping’s behalf. At first, it was Cultivators from the various sects of Nanlin Road. Later, Cultivators from Mozhou Road, Hai Zhou Road, and Ningzhou Road followed. Now, even people from the Liangjiang Region and Jianglin Road were coming to visit.

Naturally, some minor figures couldn’t possibly disturb Wang Ping’s Pure Cultivation, but there were some people he absolutely had to see.

As the guests coming and going from Qianmu Mountain gradually dispersed, two distinguished visitors appeared on the Ascension Platform at the cliff’s edge. One was Zhi Gong Taoist, dressed in a Blue Daoist Robe. The other was Hu Yin, the leader of the Demon Race tribe from Ningzhou Road.