Steady Mortal Path: Starting from Obtaining the Golden Core Inheritance

"I'm sorry to have worried you two."

Lin Changsheng felt a warmth in his heart at the visit of his two old friends.

The two elders have always been of average strength. Even though Wu Fushi, his nominal master, was fortunate enough to achieve Foundation Establishment back then, his magical power has improved slowly over the years, making him almost the bottom of the Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Lin Changsheng could still feel the care and concern his parents had for him.

His master had personality flaws; he was stingy and cowardly, and always knew how to take advantage of his disciple, Lin Changsheng.

Now that his disciple is in trouble, he still came to comfort him in person.

Lin Changsheng had long understood Wu Fushi's personality.

To outsiders, Master Wu constantly exploited his disciples, frequently verbally abusing and reprimanding them.

In reality, beneath Wu Fushi's stingy and miserly exterior, he still cared about his disciples to some extent.

Take Liang Kang, a fellow disciple, for example.

Given his dull personality and aptitude, if he were to wander alone in the world of cultivation, he would probably find it difficult to reach the sixth level of Qi Condensation in his lifetime.

However, after following Master Wu for many years, Liang Kang not only cultivated to the sixth level of Qi Condensation, but also married and had children, living a stable life.

It can be said that it is not as good as the best, but better than the worst.

In Lin Changsheng's view, this was partly due to the halo effect of being a disciple of Master Wu.

A few years ago, when Master Wu broke through to the Foundation Establishment realm, he specially raised breakthrough pills for Liang Kang, helping him to successfully break through the realm that had been stagnant for many years and advance to the late stage of Qi Condensation.

Moreover, given Wu Fushi's current status as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he no longer needs to rely on Lin Changsheng's influence as he did back then.

If he truly didn't care about his disciples, he could have simply pretended to be completely unaware of what had happened at Changchun Peak; there was no need for him to personally visit them.

……

Master Wu and Master Hu stayed at Changchun Peak for about half a day.

The two men, whose combined age was nearly two hundred, were indeed experienced and wise, and they began to offer their advice and suggestions.

However, the two brothers still held their own opinions and their penchant for fighting remained unchanged.

Wu Fushi believed that the matter should be addressed by contacting the Nangong family and asking them to resolve it.

Although the cultivation grounds of Foundation Establishment cultivators are private territories, they are always guarded by the cultivators themselves.

However, the cultivation center here pays a considerable amount of 'management fees' and 'spiritual vein depletion fees' to the Nangong family every year.

Since the Nangong family has collected the fees, they naturally have to bear some responsibility and resolve this matter.

Upon hearing this, Master Hu shook his head, feeling it was inappropriate.

He believed that the fake Core Formation cultivator was bullying the weak, and the Nangong family would not necessarily offend a fake Core Formation cultivator because of Lin Changsheng, a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the early stage.

Master Hu's idea was to spread the word and let everyone else in the Immortal City know about it.

Over the years, Xiao Lin has cultivated a good reputation and word-of-mouth in Thousand Crane Immortal City. In this matter, he plays the role of the weaker party, which is likely to resonate with other cultivators.

In this way, not to mention fake Core cultivators, even True Person Nangong could not disregard the wishes of the vast number of low-level cultivators in the Immortal City.

If lower-level cultivators believe that Thousand Crane Immortal City allows higher-level cultivators to bully lower-level rogue cultivators and that the Nangong family does nothing about it, its reputation will be ruined.

This could lead to the exodus of low-level cultivators from the immortal city, a decline in the city's consumption level, and difficulties in resource circulation, thereby triggering a series of losses...

Ignoring such minor issues could, in the long run, shake the very foundation of the Nangong family.

Upon hearing this, Master Wu immediately became dissatisfied, puffing out his beard and glaring: "In the end, aren't you just asking the Nangong family to intervene? How is that any different from what I said? Why make it so complicated..."

Master Hu glanced at the other person and said indifferently, "Your thinking is too idealistic. Going directly to their door will most likely result in the Nangong family suppressing the matter, and in the end, Xiao Lin will suffer in silence. You're already a Foundation Establishment cultivator, yet your thinking is still so simple and naive..."

Provoked by these seemingly casual words, Master Wu's mustache trembled with anger: "You're just a mere Qi Condensation junior, how dare you speak to me, a Foundation Establishment Master, like that! Do you think I, as your master, would harm my own disciple?!"

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Master Hu seemed to recall something and said with a smile, "Indeed, Foundation Establishment cultivators are quite impressive, riding a second-tier flying artifact to their disciple's dojo. They even needed to rest and recuperate midway due to exhaustion. Normally, they use first-tier flying artifacts when going out, only switching to second-tier when encountering acquaintances. Truly worthy of being called Venerable Wu..."

The two argued until they started pointing out each other's shortcomings, each becoming red-faced and visibly angry.

Lin Changsheng and Liang Kang each tried to persuade him.

After having a meal at Changchun Peak, the three of them rode away together on Master Wu's flying magical artifact.

After the two old brothers' commotion, Lin Changsheng's mood improved considerably.

……

The next day.

Li Suxin changed into a plain dress, simple and elegant, but it couldn't hide her pure and ethereal temperament.

"Uncle Lin, a letter from the Fengling Chamber of Commerce."

Although she is now married, Li Suxin's appearance remains youthful; however, compared to the proud and arrogant young girl she once was, she now possesses a more mature charm.

At this moment, the little girl seemed to have returned to the time when she was on Changchun Peak.

"Ah."

Lin Changsheng took the letter and began to examine it.

The letter was written by Zhao Wanning.

The information contained exactly what Lin Changsheng had asked him to find out: the situation of Gong Wanliang, the fake alchemist from the Gong family, in Qingshan Market.

The letter was over a dozen pages long. Apart from a brief account of the Gong family, the rest of the letter recorded Gong Wanliang's daily deeds, personality, and combat skills.

The summary is extremely detailed, clearly showing that Zhao Wanning has put in a lot of effort.

Lin Changsheng began to browse through it carefully.

After a stick of incense.

He looked away from the letter and, having gained a general understanding of the Gong family in Qingshan Market and Gong Wanliang, breathed a sigh of relief.

Gong Wanliang is only a little over two hundred years old, which is middle age for a pseudo-core cultivator.

The Gong family, to which he belonged, was originally a Foundation Establishment family in the local area.

In recent years, things have been going well, and they have accumulated some wealth, so they are thinking about expanding the family business.

More than 30 years ago, the Gong family of Qingshanfang City devoted all their family resources to raising the resources for Core Formation, and nurtured Gong Wanliang, who was in the late stage of Foundation Establishment, into a Core Formation True Person. He was also the only pseudo-Core Formation True Person in the Gong family.

Upon learning that there were no other fake or Golden Core cultivators behind him, Lin Changsheng felt much more at ease.

He was originally worried that if he encountered someone like Nangong Hongzhi, who came from a Golden Core faction and had a deep-rooted family background, or someone like Tie Antong, who was a fake Golden Core cultivator with extraordinary skills and a wealthy family, it might be more troublesome.

However, for a pseudo-core cultivator like Gong Wanliang, who is isolated and without family support, even if he advances to the pseudo-core stage, his true strength is still quite different from that of pseudo-core cultivators like Nangong Hongzhi or Tie Antong.

At the end of the letter, Zhao Wanning also stated that she had been busy with chamber of commerce affairs recently and was unable to visit in person.

If necessary, she could invite Master Feng of the Fengling Chamber of Commerce to intervene and coordinate the matter.

Lin Changsheng smiled faintly.

To be honest, they are both pseudo-cultivators.

Feng Baiying of the Fengling Chamber of Commerce is far more famous than Gong Wanliang.

Unbeknownst to many, Lin Changsheng had been operating in Thousand Crane Immortal City for decades and had developed cooperative relationships with people of the level who could invite Pseudo-Core Formation True Persons.

However, in his reply, besides expressing his gratitude, he politely declined Zhao Wanning's offer.

I have a cooperative relationship with the Fengling Chamber of Commerce, and we each get what we need.

Using Master Feng's connections for no reason naturally requires repayment in other ways.

Moreover, a mere Foundation Establishment family member who is a pseudo-Core Formation cultivator has no complicated background, so he wouldn't care too much about him.

Although Lin Changsheng usually keeps a low profile, he has now been seriously injured and his spirit beast kidnapped after his dojo was trespassed on.

Does she really think she's a pushover who just swallows her pride and never admits her mistakes?