Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

At the rear cliff of Qingyun Dao Sect, as a clear breeze blew past and rays of light suddenly appeared in Ye Ping’s mind.

They were dazzling like stars.

The light was like stars and they connected together. There were a total of 36 stars that formed a pattern.

Those were the Immortal Apertures.

Ye Ping instantly understood that he had found the Immortal Apertures in his body.

Almost without further hesitation, Ye Ping began guiding the spiritual energy into his body.

However, something terrible soon happened.

Ye Ping suddenly realized that he seemed to… have no idea how to guide the spiritual energy into his body.

That was horrible.

The fact that he had found the Immortal Apertures in his body but could not guide spiritual energy into his body was indeed rather frustrating.

“Let me think about it.”

Ye Ping pondered in his mind.

He did not know how to guide the spiritual energy into his body, but he knew quite a bit about deduction.

“The first realm for cultivators is called the Qi Refinement realm, whereby the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is absorbed and refined. The essence is then extracted and the spirit meridians are nurtured. Hence, it’s called the Qi Refinement realm.”

“But how do I absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth?”

A new question appeared.

Ye Ping frowned.

Time passed bit by bit.

He had been pondering over this question which seemed simple but was actually extremely complicated.

“No, no. I should be thinking like the first cultivator in the world, the first person who discovered and mastered Qi refining. I have to figure out how he did it and what his thought process was at that time. Only then can I get an outcome.”

After thinking about it, Ye Ping continued to brainstorm.

However, if the world knew what Ye Ping was doing now, the immortals would probably be shocked too.

Although Ye Ping was only pondering about the simplest problem, it was an extremely horrifying one.

The Qi Refinement realm was very ordinary and guiding spiritual energy into one’s body was very simple for most people, but all the cultivators were actually following in someone else’s path.

Take Math for an instance. Three-year-old children know that one plus one equals two because it is written so in the textbooks.

However, Ye Ping was thinking about why one plus one equals two.

The world’s cultivators knew how to guide spiritual energy into their bodies because it was written on a manual and others had taught them how to do so. Hence, they naturally knew how to do it.

However, if there wasn’t anyone to teach them or the method of guiding spiritual energy into one’s body wasn’t stated in the manuals, even a prodigy might not be able to embark on the path of cultivation.

Ye Ping was just opening a path for himself.

If he succeeded, his cultivation path would be unprecedented because that was a method that he had figured out on his own. Regardless of whether he ultimately succeeded or not, he would be different from others so long as he could draw spiritual energy into his body.

Moreover, it was extremely difficult to have an epiphany of the Qi Refinement method. Even the reincarnations of immortals might not be able to get an epiphany.

On the cliff, Ye Ping slipped into deep thought.

Time passed bit by bit.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month passed.

He spent 19 whole days.

However, Ye Ping still didn’t get an epiphany of the method to guide spiritual energy into his body.

Ye Ping felt a little upset because of that.

He was even more convinced that he had poor aptitude.

It had almost been 20 days, but he couldn’t even guide spiritual energy into his body. He felt that he was quite useless.

However, despite complaining, Ye Ping still worked very hard.

After all, he wouldn’t know how incompetent he really was until he tried.

During this period of time, Xu Luochen had also gone to look for Ye Ping. There had been several times where Ye Ping wanted to ask Xu Luochen how he could guide the spiritual energy into his body, but ultimately, he didn’t pop the question.

He was afraid of leaving a bad impression on Xu Luochen.

Late at night, Ye Ping opened his eyes.

He still did not have an epiphany.

Standing alone on the cliff, he gazed at the sky quietly.

The stars were shining brightly, trying to outshine the moon.

The sky was dark like ink because it was nighttime.

On the cliff, Ye Ping felt the breeze caressing his face, but his heart was filled with helplessness and annoyance.

However, he was well aware that the more frustrated he was, the more he had to calm down. Otherwise, it would be more difficult for him to figure things out and solve the problem.

“Forget it, I’ll paint. I might get some inspiration and insights.”

Ye Ping suddenly thought to himself.

He wanted to paint to ease his boredom.

Thinking of this, he got up and left to get his brush, ink, and paper.

After Ye Ping returned to the cliff with those items, a figure appeared.

It was his Second Senior Brother Xu Luochen.

“Senior Brother Luochen, what brings you here?”

Carrying the materials, Ye Ping watched curiously as Xu Luochen took a seat.

“Junior Brother Ye Ping, I’m here to have a chat with you. You seem troubled lately. Did you get into some trouble?”

Xu Luochen walked over and smiled gently.

During this period of time, he would occasionally go over to check on Ye Ping and see how he was doing. However, he discovered that Ye Ping had been sulky and pulling a long face during this period of time, and subconsciously thought that Ye Ping was obsessing over the matter of non-poisonous alchemy.

Hence, he decided to go and comfort Ye Ping while feeling somewhat guilty.

If Ye Ping became overly obsessed, the sect would definitely not spare him.

“Oh, I’m a little troubled, but it’s just some trivial matters. It’s nothing much.”

Ye Ping originally wanted to ask Xu Luochen directly, but in the end, he kept it to himself instead of popping the question.

Xu Luochen comforted slowly, “Something’s troubling you? Junior Brother Ye Ping, don’t be overly eager. The path of cultivation is long. You have to relax.”

When he saw the materials that Ye Ping was carrying, he couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Are you going to paint?”

Xu Luochen was a little curious as he didn’t know that Ye Ping had a flair for painting.

“Yes. I’m feeling vexed, so I’d like to paint to relieve some stress.”

Ye Ping answered truthfully.

“That’s great. It’s beautiful tonight, you can really create a painting.”

Xu Luochen smiled and nodded.

However, after that, Xu Luochen spoke again, “Junior Brother Ye Ping, do you know how to paint portraits?”

Ye Ping answered, “Yes. I painted one for Eldest Senior Brother the other day.”

“You painted one for Eldest Senior Brother?” Xu Luochen frowned slightly. He had never seen Su Changyu having any paintings, but that was just a trivial matter that Xu Luochen wasn’t bothered about. Instead, he grinned even more widely.

“Junior Brother Ye Ping, do you mind painting a portrait for me too?”

Xu Luochen chuckled.

“Of course I don’t. Senior Brother, would you like your face to be painted or just your side profile?”

Ye Ping asked.

It didn’t matter who he was painting for. Ye Ping just wanted to use painting to relieve his frustration.

“It has to be a painting of me from the front. Come on, paint my face, but you have to do a good job. There must be a mood. You can use some exaggerated techniques. I can handle it.”

Hearing that Ye Ping was going to paint for him, Xu Luochen was even more excited and specifically asked for the front of his face to be included.

“Excellent!”

Ye Ping did not say much. He simply laid the rice paper on the ground and weighed it down with a paperweight. He then started grinding some ink.

15 minutes later, Ye Ping began painting with his brush.

He spent an entire hour on it.

Finally, he completed the painting.

“It’s done, Senior Brother Luochen.”

Ye Ping called out.

All of a sudden, Xu Luochen twisted his neck and then walked over to look at the painting with joy written all over his face.

The night sky on the painting was dark as ink and was blotted with numerous stars. There was an inexplicable mood. It was extremely beautiful.

Although his handsome features were not shown in the painting, it was not too bad.

“Good, very good, excellent! Little Junior Brother, your painting skills are remarkable. Not bad, not bad.”

Xu Luochen complimented with satisfaction.

“It’s alright. Senior Brother Luochen, do you want me to add a poem to the painting?”

Ye Ping asked.

He wanted to add a poem to fit the night scenery.

“No need, this is enough. It’s indeed enough.”

Xu Luochen didn’t want a poem to be added because he felt that it was unnecessary. For him, the main point of the painting was to highlight his image.

Wouldn’t a poem ruin its beauty?

“Yes.”

Ye Ping rolled up the painting without even sealing it. He could tell that Xu Luochen preferred keeping things simple and didn’t like the fancy things.

He had truly reached a higher emotional realm.

Soon, Xu Luochen put the painting away and comforted Ye Ping again before leaving alone.

While walking on the road, Xu Luochen couldn’t help but unroll the painting again and look at it under the moonlight, admiring his suaveness.

“When Master and Eldest Senior Brother come back later, I must let them have a look too. I wonder if they understand paintings, but they’re definitely going to compliment me for my handsome good looks. Hehehehe.”

“No, no. There should be a poem too. It’s alright, I’ll add one on my own when I go back.”

It was nighttime.

Xu Luochen’s laugher and self-muttering gradually faded.

At the same time, in Cloud Mist Mountain Range…