Zhang Deming smiled and said, "It’s alright. Just keep it in mind for now. A hundred Spirit Stones is no small amount, but I doubt you’d pack up and run away over it."

Li Shifan looked at Zhang Deming, nodded, and said, "Thank you, Senior Brother."

Zhang Deming nodded and continued, "Did you bring your things? If so, let’s head straight to my Cave Mansion.

With the help of this Spirit Nurturing Bead, and given your insights into the Sword Dao, I imagine it won’t take you long to begin your Foundation Establishment."

Li Shifan considered this for a moment, then nodded, accepting Zhang Deming’s proposal.

In his mind, however, the Li Family Ancestor spoke hesitantly, ’After all our interactions, it’s clear this Senior Brother of yours is no fool, nor is he some sucker.

’In comparison, he’s been a little too good to you. I can’t help but feel it’s out of character.

’Either he’s taken a genuine liking to you and truly cherishes your talent, or he’s got a grand scheme in mind and is placing one bet after another.

’And given your looks... while you’re not ugly, you’re definitely not handsome enough for it to be... that sort of thing!’

Li Shifan’s expression twitched. After a pause, he replied in his mind, ’I’ve noticed what you’re talking about, Ancestor. But didn’t you say it’s impossible to tamper with a Spirit Nurturing Bead?’

The Li Family Ancestor replied, ’That’s not my concern. I’m worried that by placing such a large bet now, he’ll be asking for something even bigger in the future.’

Hearing this, Li Shifan replied nonchalantly, ’If that’s the case, Ancestor, I think you’re looking at it the wrong way.

’As long as he doesn’t use any underhanded tricks on me, I don’t think this is a bad thing at all.

’It would be more worrying if he wanted nothing in return.

’Isn’t the point of an investment to get a return? As long as his methods aren’t vicious, I’m willing to repay him several times over.

’Without the one, there can be no ten or hundred. I will remember all the help Senior Brother has given me on this journey.

’In the future, even if he asks me to repay him a hundredfold, I will do so willingly. Because without everything he’s done, there would be no future for me, Li Shifan.’

Hearing this, the Li Family Ancestor fell silent. He clearly understood this last of his Bloodline all too well.

Because of this, a single word of caution was enough. Saying more would have been counterproductive.

He wasn’t a ruthless person himself and agreed with what Li Shifan had said.

Otherwise, he would not have chosen the Painting Dao for the sake of his descendants, let alone sacrificed himself in the end.

Aside from those with no other choice, everyone who chose the Painting Dao was something of an idealist.

······

The two left the Spirit Tea House, and Zhang Deming led Li Shifan to his Cave Mansion.

Li Shifan looked around, and it was clear that he too was quite fond of such a small courtyard.

"The Spiritual Qi is so dense, and the place itself is wonderful. It’s truly a great spot. It must be nice to enter secluded cultivation in a place like this," Li Shifan remarked with a sigh.

Zhang Deming smiled. "Of course it is. It costs one hundred and twenty-five Spirit Stones a week. If the quality wasn’t up to par, why would I spend so much to come here for my cultivation?"

Li Shifan nodded. "That’s true. In any case, I could never afford that much."

Zhang Deming gestured and said, "The Cultivation Room is this way, behind the bedroom."

He led Li Shifan through the bedroom and into the Cultivation Room.

Zhang Deming took out a card for the Cave Mansion and said, "This controls all the Arrays and Restrictions. You take it. I’ll stand guard for you outside." 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Li Shifan reached out to refuse, but Zhang Deming spoke first, "Go on, take it. This way, we’ll both be at ease, won’t we?

After all, a person is at their most vulnerable when condensing their Rune Core. Don’t be falsely polite about this."

Li Shifan froze for a moment. In the end, he said nothing and simply accepted the Cave Mansion’s control Command Token.

Seeing this, Zhang Deming smiled and left the Cultivation Room.

He closed the door to the Cultivation Room, and in the bedroom, he began to passively cultivate while starting to craft Spirit Nurturing Beads.

「Three days passed in a flash.」

A normal breakthrough certainly wouldn’t take this long.

However, Li Shifan must have waited until his comprehension of the Sword Control Skill reached its peak state before choosing to begin his breakthrough.

······

On this day, Zhang Deming was lazing about in the courtyard, passively cultivating.

With a flicker of his consciousness, he arrived in the Spirit Nurturing Space.

A scene, much longer than before, appeared before his eyes.

The scene took place in the sealed room, starting from his initial grasp of the Technique and continuing until the promotion was complete, at which point it ended and began to loop.

It seemed that any scenes of a breakthrough would be saved in these specks of light, available to be viewed at any time.

This was unlike the initial Enlightenment Dao scenes, which shattered directly into specks of light.

Furthermore, inside Zhang Deming’s repository, there were now two new light spheres: one gold and one white.

Merit: 11.2, Qi Fortune: 29.2.

This increase in Merit made Zhang Deming understand one thing completely: promotion to the Tai Chi realm was different from the Enlightenment Dao for a Technique.

It seemed the rewards gained from someone using his Spirit Nurturing Ball Technique to be promoted to Tai Chi weren’t fixed; they varied completely from person to person.

Feng Mingyou had yielded five of each, but Li Shifan had only yielded one of each.

’With such a huge disparity, my previous guess must have been right. It’s very likely I altered Feng Mingyou’s destiny.’

’Following that line of thought, can I tentatively conclude that the main source of Merit comes from this?’

’Am I really supposed to be the man behind the protagonist?’

’And the more of a loser or good-for-nothing they are, the more dramatic the Destiny Alteration, and the greater the reward?’

’Why does this model feel so familiar?’

’Oh, right! Isn’t this just like the ’golden finger’ protagonists get in all those novels from my past life?’

’So is my future role supposed to be the generous old grandpa who hands out golden fingers for free?’

Zhang Deming looked at the editor, his eyes flickering as inspiration suddenly struck.

After a long moment, Zhang Deming shook his head. With his current Cultivation, it was obviously too early to be thinking about these things.

Zhang Deming watched the looping scene as a new speck of light was born.

Zhang Deming didn’t touch the speck of light immediately. With a wave of his hand, he tossed it up into the sky.

Within the currently chaotic sky, over a hundred specks of light were already hidden.

However, because Zhang Deming had been very careful and only sold Tier One Entry-Level Techniques, they were almost all Apprentice-level specks of light.

Aside from the first few, Zhang Deming hadn’t made contact with any of the others.

At his current level of Cultivation, there was no rush for these things. Besides, his Spirit Nurturing Summoning Technique didn’t meet the requirements yet.

After concealing the speck of light, Zhang Deming exited his Dantian, his consciousness returning to reality.

Zhang Deming turned and went back into the bedroom.

He had only waited a moment when the door to the Cultivation Room opened.

Zhang Deming smiled at Li Shifan, who had just broken through and wasn’t concealing his aura in the slightest. "Congratulations, Junior Brother, on your successful Foundation Establishment and ascending to the Tai Chi realm."

Li Shifan gave a rare smile and said, "I couldn’t have done it so smoothly if it weren’t for your help, Senior Brother."

"Heh, it’s because your own foundation is solid enough. I just added the finishing touch," Zhang Deming replied with a smile.

"This was more than just a finishing touch, Senior Brother. It was a lifeline.

If it weren’t for your help on multiple occasions, I might not have even made it as an Outer Disciple and still be a servant disciple right now!

Or I might have just died in that alley back then," Li Shifan said seriously.

"Alright, let’s stop with the mutual praise. It’s not like we have an audience," Zhang Deming said.

"Since you’ve successfully broken through, why don’t we go out and celebrate?" Zhang Deming suggested.

Li Shifan shook his head. "No, I’m broke."

Zhang Deming said nonchalantly, "Don’t worry about it. I have Spirit Stones."

Li Shifan said, "More importantly, with the aura I’m giving off right now, it’s not a good idea to go out.

After all, I don’t plan on entering the Inner Sect right away."

Hearing this, Zhang Deming said in surprise, "I’m not entering the Inner Sect because my Spirit Root is terrible and my Cultivation is a bit abnormal. I’m afraid of attracting unwanted attention.

Your Spirit Root isn’t great either, but you have an awakened Sword Body. Why are you still lying low like me?"

Li Shifan gave a bitter smile and said, "Senior Brother, how do you think the Li Family ended up in its current state?"

Zhang Deming was stunned for a moment, then nodded. "I see. So that’s why you have to lie low. It seems the people the Li Family offended back then were quite powerful."

Li Shifan nodded, not wanting to say more on the subject for now.