Longevity Candle

Chapter 59 He brought the path of immortality into the mortal world.
Li Qingping went directly to the north and climbed the sacred mountain.

"My name is Li Qingping, and my elder sister is Yaoyao, whom you call the Peach Blossom Sword Demon."

He looked at the snow, his expression calm, without a trace of sadness.

"My grassland will forever remember your kindness, please accept my condolences." Xue bowed deeply in sorrow.

“I have come to collect three hundred years of merit,” Li Qingping said.

After a moment of silence, a brilliant golden light of merit appeared in the void and entered Li Qingping's body.

"The grassland will always remember the peach blossoms." A clear voice rang out from the void.

“Then do one more thing for me,” Li Qingping said.

"You speak."

"When the dragon energy of the Qian Kingdom rises, the spirits of the grasslands enter the Great Qian Kingdom and hold back the path to immortality."

"what are you up to?"

Xue's expression changed slightly, a bad feeling creeping into her heart: "Your Li family is all gone except for you."

"Don't worry, I just want to be the emperor. A new golden age will be enough for the White Wolf King to recover from his injuries."

Li Qingping turned and left, his magical power dissipating, and the dragon energy of the nation's destiny, which had been dormant for many years, began to revive.

"The dragon's aura of national destiny..."

The grassland spirit, Xue, stared blankly.

They understood why Yao Yao would sacrifice herself to shake the fate of the nation.

As long as the path to immortality remains untrodden and the nation's destiny does not collapse, these three-tenths of the dragon's energy will not be able to shake the dragon's energy of the Qian Kingdom.

If they keep waiting, Li Qingping will probably be too old by then.

Yao Yao made this choice because of her promise, for Li Qingping, and to end the chaos of the world sooner.

"The grassland spirit awaits your message."

Above the sky, an eagle circled, responding to Li Qingping.

Li Qingping took away three hundred years of merit, far exceeding what Jiang Zhu had given him.

He returned to the Qian Kingdom and continued to work as an itinerant doctor, providing free treatment.

In his first year, he changed his name to Taiping Daoren and spread the true meaning of peace.

He wrote down all the illnesses and disasters he encountered in the Taiping Book.

He also wrote about the elves he encountered, but of course, he didn't write about Qingdeng and Baihe.

It only describes the spirits who gather incense offerings in the Qian Kingdom.

The following year, the name of the Taoist of Great Peace had spread throughout the north and south, but both places had been abandoned.

In the third year, he stopped writing and no longer preached the true meaning of peace. Instead, he spread the word about the Land of Abandonment and brought the matter of the Path to Immortality into the mortal world.

Hu Yan came to his door to dissuade him: "Li Qingping, what are you doing? You are bringing the immortal path into the mortal world."

"Didn't you all enter the mortal realm long ago?" Li Qingping said calmly.

"We are merely here to gather offerings and prayers; the golden age will eventually pass, and we will not reveal our true nature to others."

Hu Yan said in a deep voice, "Once you do this, almost everyone in the mortal world will know of our existence. How many people will then seek immortality?"

"Would you care about the prayers of ordinary people?" Li Qingping scoffed.

Even though the Nine-Tailed Fox is considered their friend, from a mortal perspective, it is no different from any other spirit.

Without the talent for immortality, without merit, and without anything they care about, even kneeling to death wouldn't earn them a single glance.

“Once the common people find out, they will definitely go deep into the mountains and forests to search, and we will no longer have peace and quiet,” Hu said.

“I did not mention you, I was only referring to the Longevity Path,” Li Qingping said.

Hu Yan remained silent, but the coldness in his eyes gradually deepened.

Li Qingping said again, "Fine, I'll just write the book and not let it spread to the secular world. After it's finished, I'll go to the West. How about that?"

Within him, the power of carefree magic rose.

Hu Yan was deeply affected and knew that enough had been done, so he immediately nodded: "Okay, I hope you can always be safe and sound." Li Qingping changed his tone and began to proclaim that the Qian Kingdom had abandoned them, no longer mentioning the Path of Immortality.

"You are doing something that will anger all the elves," the old elf's voice rang out.

He knew Li Qingping wouldn't give up, and that influencing Hu Yan was also due to his magic power; Li Qingping had never entered the path of immortality.

"Just by spreading their deeds to the common people, they have angered them?"

Li Qingping chuckled: "You high and mighty immortals, I was so naive to think I had become friends with them."

"How can we become friends without entering the path of immortality? Only Jiang Zhu and I consider you our friends," the old elf said.

“You still chose to help me,” Li Qingping said.

“I need the Book of Peace.” The old elf did not hide anything: “I have always lived in the Land of Forgetfulness. Although it is a barbaric land where people eat raw meat and drink blood, it is a truly peaceful place. But I know that they will also progress, and war will come sooner or later.”

“I might not have been confident before, but my older sister… gave me enough confidence.”

Li Qingping's gaze was deep; what Yaoyao had seen at the Immortal Palace of Eternal Life gave him enough confidence.

He didn't say it aloud, but continued to travel around, rallying people's hearts.

In the fourth year, Li Qingping raised an army, and both the north and south benefited from his kindness. Almost immediately, countless people responded.

They swiftly conquered several surrounding cities, including a prosperous one, shaking the very foundations of the Qian Kingdom.

Li Qingping stood atop the city wall and summoned all the citizens of the city:

"The Qian Kingdom is dead, and a new kingdom shall be established. Changsheng has caused chaos and angered Heaven. By the mandate of Heaven, we wish for peace throughout the world."

"Today, Li Qingping, the Taoist of Great Peace, petitions Heaven, wishing to dedicate himself to bringing peace to all people under Heaven!"

"I have one wish: that the world will be free from war, disease, disaster, and the chaos of immortality; I wish to be the foundation upon which a new nation is built; I wish to be the towering tree that supports peace and tranquility; I wish to transform myself into a peach tree, so that peach blossoms may bloom throughout the world..."

With his grand ambitions and the support of the people, the dragon energy that Yao Yao had stirred up on the grasslands was now being sensed and gathered around him.

His dragon energy surged by 30%, and in the blink of an eye, it had reached 45%!

The old elf looked at him, not suppressed by the dragon energy; he had gained the approval of the dragon energy emanating from Li Qingping.

In the distance, in the capital of the Qian Kingdom, lightning flashed and thunder roared, the nation's destiny and dragon energy were in turmoil, and there were signs of collapse.

Seven immortal masters and seven golden lotuses continuously unleashed their immortal power to suppress the nation's destiny.

"Damn the Taoist of Peace, he really knows how to pick his timing!" The black-robed immortal master gritted his teeth: "Li Yaoyao, I should have killed you sooner!"

He regretted it. If he had killed Yaoyao recklessly back in Yigu City, none of this would have happened.

If we had acted then, we would have at most suffered losses; this time, we won't get involved.

He has a long lifespan ahead of him, so he shouldn't be greedy.

Now, burdened by karma, the nation's fortunes have suffered greatly, and the situation is unstable.

If Li Qingping were to actually capture the capital, he had no doubt that this man, having mastered all the dragon energy, would exhaust all his power to avenge his elder sister.

"Send troops to suppress this immediately!"

Inside the palace, an imperial edict was issued, and a large army assembled to march on Li Qingping.

At that very moment, the grassland army assembled, bypassed Zhenbei City, and headed straight for the capital of Qian Kingdom.

The grasslands enter the pass!

The heavenly horse rode in on the clouds, gazing at the high sky above the Qian Kingdom, where various colors of celestial light shone, and the Dao of Following Heaven was clashing with the Dao of Longevity.

"This time, it's our turn."

A chubby tabby cat landed on the back of the celestial horse: "How many will you kill?"

“Those with karmic burdens can be killed, but the rest should be left alone,” Tianma said. “Unless, Li Qingping is willing to use the nation’s fortune to immobilize a spirit.”

"Sigh, we owe him, how can we expect anything in return?" The tabby cat shook its head: "We can only wait for the path to immortality to go wrong."

Even among elves, killing each other is forbidden. Fighting is allowed, but if you actually kill someone, you will still have to bear the karma.

The steppe army entered, bypassed the abandoned land, and captured important cities of the Qian Kingdom.

Meanwhile, Li Qingping's forces, echoing from both the north and south, had garnered hundreds of thousands of followers in just two years, forming what was known as a million-strong army.

(End of this chapter)