In the eighth year of Jianwu, Li Qing obtained from Rong Ku the secret method of refining a false spiritual root—the Blood Spirit Technique.
For that, he gave two promises.
The first was to find someone with an innate spiritual root and pass on Rong Ku's Zen Art to them.
Today, upon setting foot on the island, he came across a child with such a root. It seemed like destiny had arranged it.
The moment the child was in his hands, he burst into tears, wailing, "Let me go! Let me go!"
Li Qing smiled. "I'm a man of the righteous path, not a follower of demonic sects." With a tap of his finger on the back of the child's neck, he knocked him unconscious.
He then looked around at the gathered members of the White Lotus Sect. Among them were more than a few top experts. "I've been in the Xiantian realm for over a decade," he said calmly, "but I haven't had a real fight yet. My hands are itching today, so I'd like to ask for some pointers.
"Will it be one on one, or all of you at once? Don't worry, I'll hold back. Each punch carries thirty years of cultivation, but I promise it won't kill anyone."
The White Lotus followers: "…"
Who would dare fight a Xiantian grandmaster?
Even if they swarmed him and somehow won, they couldn't keep him here. If such a grandmaster were to make a few more trips to the island, he could easily wipe out everyone on it.
The crowd stayed silent for a long time.
At last....
The acting leader of the White Lotus Sect pressed her lips together, dropped to one knee, and bowed her head. "We dare not challenge a grandmaster. Everything on this island is yours to take as you please. We won't stand in your way. All we ask is that you don't reveal the location of our main headquarters, and let the White Lotus lineage survive."
Backing down without even a fight?
Li Qing was a little surprised, and he slowly lowered his fist, which was as big as a sandbag.
Still, that was fine. The highest virtue is like water, and Li Qing was never one to pick fights for no reason.
"But… that child with the spiritual root…" The acting leader glanced at the seven-year-old in Li Qing's hands.
"He's mine," Li Qing said firmly, leaving no room for doubt.
"This…"
The acting leader hesitated, but then steeled herself. "May I ask which sect or school Grandmaster hails from? Our White Lotus Sect exists only to overthrow the current dynasty. If Grandmaster shares this goal, we are willing to serve you as the new leader of the White Lotus Sect!"
The moment those words fell, the other sect members spoke out in unison: "We are willing to serve Grandmaster as our leader!"
Their voices were so neat and uniform it sounded like they had rehearsed it.
Not only surrendering their authority, but throwing in humiliation as well?
Li Qing froze for a moment, feeling as though he had just stepped into a trap.
If he becomes leader of the White Lotus, wouldn't that be like handing them a Xiantian grandmaster to them for free?
Li Qing asked suspiciously, "I'm actually from the Great Qian Martial Pavilion."
The four words landed in the acting leader's ears and she went pale. The other sect members started to channel internal energy, unsure whether they were preparing to flee or to swarm him.
"We still pledge to make you our leader!" the acting leader said, conflicted for a moment, then firm.
She was taking a gamble. Even if he was a court grandmaster, the fact that they hadn't reported the headquarters' location to the court or brought in troops to attack suggested he probably wasn't truly loyal to the imperial court.
Li Qing thought for a moment, then asked again, suspiciously, "Does the White Lotus have any powerful enemies?"
"No," the acting leader replied quickly and confidently. "The White Lotus has more than ten Eight Vessels peak masters, plus countless White Lotus death warriors. No one dares oppose us."
Li Qing considered a little longer, then said finally, "If I become leader of the White Lotus, you must abandon any plan to overthrow the Great Qian court. If, after I step down, you try to overturn the court again, I will not interfere.
"The White Lotus has acted recklessly, committing more than a few crimes for wealth and blood. From this day forward, you must turn to good deeds for ten years to atone for those sins.
"At present, the White Lotus is stirring uprisings across many provinces. You must cut ties with them immediately. From now on, the White Lotus will remain hidden in the shadows.
"If you agree, then I will serve as the next leader of the White Lotus Sect."
Li Qing gave this answer with the future in mind. He was already thinking about the immortal cultivation world.
With the White Lotus at his side, seeking out the cultivation world would be far easier.
As for the Great Qian court, Li Qing was an outsider anyway.
The acting leader was overjoyed by his terms. A leader's tenure lasted no more than a hundred years, and refraining from rebellion for a century was nothing. After all, the White Lotus had been rebelling for a thousand years, and had never once succeeded. She agreed on the spot.
A hundred years later, the White Lotus would still be the White Lotus.
"We pledge our loyalty to the Grandmaster as leader!"
"We pledge our loyalty to the Grandmaster as leader!"
That day on the little island was a strange one. Without throwing a single punch, Li Qing had quietly become the leader of the White Lotus Sect.
.....
Summer passed and autumn came. Li Qing had been the sect leader for three months in the blink of an eye.
By now he knew every detail of the island's layout.
The island was called White Lotus Island. Outside it lay a natural formation, and within, another formation had been set up. But the inner formation required a Xiantian grandmaster to control it. With its power, a Xiantian grandmaster facing opponents of the same realm could fight three at once.
When Li Qing learned that the previous leader, before his death, had planned to use the formation to trap him, a chill ran through him. Being cautious really was the right choice. Luckily, he hadn't barged in blindly.
Out of consideration for the sect members, he had refrained from standing over the former leader's grave and playing a mournful solo.
Playing the erhu was merely a minor skill. The true reward lied in what came after becoming the sect leader.
Because the immortal cultivation world was real.
Li Qing now had two treasures in hand.
The first was the Foundations of Formation Arts. It wasn't a martial formation, but an immortal one. He had studied it for three months without grasping even the surface. The formation on the island had been built by generations of sect leaders studying those foundations. An immortal formation could only be controlled by someone in the Xiantian realm.
The second was the Lotus Cleansing Sutra. An immortal cultivation method, and the very thing Li Qing had been seeking.
The White Lotus Sect really did have an immortal cultivation lineage, and it went back a long way.
But that lineage was broken long ago. What remains is only the doctrine, without the techniques.
Drawing on the annotations of past sect leaders, Li Qing had fully mastered the Lotus Cleansing Sutra. His true qi had already been transformed into mana, and his cultivation was at the late-first layer of Qi Refinement.
One more step would bring him to the second layer of Qi Refinement.
On the path of cultivation, there are nine layers of Qi Refinement. Li Qing had just set foot on that road.
After converting his true qi into mana, his overall strength had increased by more than half.
"The former sect leader had a mixed four-element spiritual root, lacking only water. That made it impossible for him to practice the Lotus Cleansing Sutra. Otherwise he could have reached the second level of Qi Refinement and lived a few more years," Li Qing sighed.
The Lotus Cleansing Sutra required a water-element root. To cultivate it, one must refine a false spiritual root, which was the orthodox tradition of the White Lotus Sect.
Li Qing had practiced the Seven Forms of Flowing Water to the Xiantian realm, then refined a water-element false spiritual root, fitting the Lotus Cleansing Sutra perfectly.
It was only natural that this sutra became his destined chance.
As for formation techniques, I don't understand them yet. But their value to me is no less than the Lotus Cleansing Sutra. My lifespan is long now. If I take my time, I'll eventually grasp a thing or two. And when I step into the wider cultivation world, I might at least have a foundation to stand on, instead of being forced to clear land for others, farm their fields, or mine their stones.
Besides these, Li Qing had also mastered a secret technique left by the previous sect leader, one that concealed innate qi.
Strangely, after his true qi transformed into mana, the technique worked far better than before. It now let him suppress his aura for seven full days, far surpassing the single day it once allowed. That was a great boon.
Half a year later, one day while meditating and drawing in spiritual energy, Li Qing felt a shift within. The bottleneck of the first layer of Qi Refinement loosened, and he stepped into the second layer.
In a daze, he realized it's already the twenty-fifth year of Jianwu. He had left the capital in the thirteenth year. Twelve years had passed in a blink. It's time he returned.
In this second lifetime, I've reached thirty-one years of age, the start of middle age.
I wonder if Master Rong Ku is still alive. I've already found him a worthy disciple.
The White Lotus Sect, following Li Qing's instructions, had begun to fade from sight, withdrawing into seclusion. For now, it would spend ten years devoted to good deeds. Li Qing had no use for the sect at present. His path led back to the capital.
"I don't know whether the Jianwu Emperor has obtained a false spiritual root and advanced to the Xiantian realm. Nor do I know if the King of the Northern Garrison, after years of campaigns, has uncovered news of the cultivation world."
There was too much Li Qing did not know.
But as a top-tier imperial guard, and one who had already attained the Xiantian realm, he had the right to share in whatever knowledge the imperial family had acquired.