Chapter 36: Banquet

"The body will build resistance from continuous consumption of herbal medicine. The secret art, however, won't have the issue of drug resistance."

Li Pin worked on perfecting the Blood-Seething technique while using Core Formation to gently nurture the body.

Relying on the accurate grasp of changes to his body, after Li Pin attained Core Formation, the regulating of his qi and blood wasn't done passively. Although he took reference from the Five Elements Body-Refining Art's Core Formation body-tempering portion, he still relied mostly on his body's responses.

Li Pin went with whichever method had greater efficiency on the condition that there wouldn't be any negative harm done to his body.

In just two days, his qi and blood level grew to 31.04. The rate of his growth was rapid.

With this trend, in one month... or one and a half months at the latest, my blood and qi level will reach 34. It's two to three times faster than expected.

The ability to accurately control his body and train it in the correct direction helped him avoid any time wastage. He barely took any detours either. Because of this, he saved time. It usually took people three to five months to complete their physique training. He had done it in a much shorter period.

Ring, ring!

Li Pin's phone rang.

As the call connected, Fang Lingjue's voice sounded,

—Today is Grandmaster Cao's birthday. It is time to leave.

"I'm coming now," Li Pin replied.

It was Cao Tianyou's sixty-sixth birthday. Although it wasn't the beginning of a new decade for him, this Aura Master planned on celebrating it in a grand manner. Therefore, a lot of guests were invited.

Fang Lingjue, being one of Zanglong City's few Core Formation masters, was also invited. The two of them had agreed to go together at noon.

Lin Pin went downstairs. He stood near the door and waited for a while till he heard Fang Lingjue's voice. Li Pin then walked over to the luxurious golden Phantom[1] car.

There were many people standing next to the car and secretly snapping photos.

A woman who looked put together seemed to be flirting with Fang Lingjue.

When Fang Lingjue saw Li Pin come close, he said to the woman, "Look, my boss is here."

The woman looked at Li Pin with a shocked expression, and the glint in her eyes intensified.

Barely had she opened her mouth to say anything when Li Pin opened the car door and sat inside. "What were you guys chatting about?"

"The young ladies nowadays are so daring," said Fang Lingjue.

Fang Lingjue didn't elaborate on that but started the car quickly.

Li Pin didn't continue on the topic. Instead, he commented, "Did you change your car? It's no longer the Swift[2] you were driving before?"

Li Pin laughed and added, "I have never ridden such a luxurious car in my life. It's all thanks to you that I have this chance now."

"You have thirty million. Isn't it a piece of cake for you to buy a car worth two million?" said Fang Lingjue. "The guests that Grandmaster Cao had invited today are all people of status. I'll have to drive a nicer car."

"Well thanks for picking me up, I was planning to ride a bike over, surely I won't be let through the door," Li Pin responded.

He had thought of buying a car because he didn't feel it was right to keep depending on Fang Yubai and Fang Lingjue for car rides. However, he certainly didn't need a two million yuan luxury car. He just needed something to get by for now.

A Blue Horse X7 would be good.

"How could it be ... After you signed the agreement with the Five Elements Sect, you're practically considered half a leader there. I don't believe they didn't reach out to you to offer to chauffeur you," Fang Lingjue said.

Li Pin had indeed received a call from Qi Dongyuan, but since he had already made plans with Fang Lingjue, he naturally declined him.

Screech!

Suddenly, the car screeched to an abrupt stop.

If Li Pin didn't have good reflexes, he would've gotten thrown out of the front windshield.

Li Pin looked ahead and discovered that there was nothing off about the road. There were no accidents either.

He turned to look at Fang Lingjue only to find him staring at him deadly. He was clasping the steering wheel tightly but he wasn't looking at the road. He had a look of shock on his face. "You ...you formed a Core?"

"Drive. It's dangerous to stop in the middle of the road," reminded Li Pin before he began, "Isn't it normal? I comprehended Core Force two months ago. I studied for two whole months since and attained a breakthrough."

"Two months...." Fang Lingjue breathed in a gush of cold air from the air-conditioner. "Twenty-two years old, Core Formation, without any guidance from famous teachers...."

"Calm down," said Li Pin. "As you said, I didn't receive any guidance from famous teachers and figured out Core Force on my own. Now that I have Five Elements Sect's core legacy, the Five Elements Body-Refining Art, as well as the Core Formation from both yourself and Grandmaster Cao, achieving Core Formation is within reason."

"Is this really reasonable?"

"It is very reasonable," answered Li Pin matter-of-factly.

Fang Lingjue looked at Li Pin, who was more than ten years younger than him, and suddenly felt that his many years of cultivation had been all wasted.

Back then, he was considered a genius of sorts in the White Crane Sect. Although he couldn't be compared to his senior brothers who were considered the sect's core successors, he was confident that he could surely have success of his own in the future. However, now, he suddenly had the feeling that the new generation was constantly excelling and replacing the old.

Indeed, people and their talents cannot be generalized.

Honk, honk, honk!

At this time, horns sounded from behind them.

If it weren't for the fact that Fang Lingjue was driving a golden Phantom, which caused others to keep their distance from him when they drove, there'd have been collisions with him stopping in the middle of the road for so long.

Phew.

Fang Lingjue restarted the car after a while.

He suddenly recalled that Li Pin was also participating in the Jiang Province Martial Competition. Though he previously had experience slaying the demonic cat and killing Wang Daoyi, the situation on both occasions were special. Therefore, Fang Lingjue had not taken those to heart. But now, Li Pin had formed the Core. He achieved Core Formation when he was a little more than two months away from the martial competition.

Theoretically speaking, one would need three to five months to nurture the body to be in condition to form the Core, but a genius like Li Pin, who couldn't be measured with regular standards, had done it in a much shorter period—a mere two months.

With the three life and death experiences he had experienced, and having reached a similar cultivation level—Core Formation—as himself, when the time came for the competition, would he still be able to enter the provincial top ten?

There was even a chance for Li Pin to fight for a chance to get a quota to participate in the national competition!

The thought of this dazzled him.

Unknowingly, the youngster who joined Changfeng Martial Hall four months ago, seemingly only looking for a job, had achieved growth in cultivation to be on par with him.

***

Their car moved along rapidly with the traffic.

On the road, drivers adhered to regulations and did not cut in lines. The drive had been relatively smooth.

The car quickly arrived at the birthday banquet that the Cao Family had organized to be held at the Star Brilliance International Centre.

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Due to existence of Astral Gods and Astral Cultivators, high-end establishments liked to name themselves relating to stars. Just like there was a period in Taibai where everyone liked to have names with Star Alliance style.

By the time Li Pin and Fang Lingjue reached the Star Brilliance International Center, it was already swamped with people.

There were several youngsters raising signs and photos, waiting.

Li Pin glanced over and saw that there was also a picture of An Youran, which caused him to remember that a few local celebrities had been invited to perform at the banquet for Cao Tianyou's birthday.

As Li Pin was lost in his thoughts, the car drove into the lane that led to the hotel.

Here, Zhaoyuan, Qi Dongyuan, and a few other Five Elements Sect's top management were already waiting.

1. Rolls-Royce car series ☜

2. Suzuki car series ☜