The master is dead.
He died of old age.
The master ultimately failed to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, and his lifespan ran out, leading to his death.
Li Qi emerged from the back mountain once more, arriving outside his master's secluded cultivation residence.
At this moment, seven or eight young disciples were gathered outside the master's residence, observing.
Li Qi recognized one or two of them slightly, while the rest were complete strangers.
"Weren't there quite a few disciples before? The Zhen Huang Sect was dealt with too, so how are there only these few disciples left now?"
Li Qi felt a touch of confusion.
A junior disciple who had previously informed Li Qi of the death came forward to answer his questions.
It turned out that after Li Qi and his master dealt with the Zhen Huang Sect.
The master also sensed that his lifespan was dwindling, and his focus increasingly turned towards his own breakthrough.
Consequently, apart from the existing disciples, the Feisha Sect no longer recruited new disciples for the next few years.
Alas, even until now.
The master's breakthrough attempt had still failed.
Li Qi walked into his master's residence and looked at his master's lifeless body, which sat cross-legged without a trace of vital energy.
His gaze suddenly fell upon a letter placed quietly on a wooden table to the side.
(To Li Qi, Personal)
He opened the envelope and read the contents.
The content was quite cliché.
It was essentially preparation for his failed breakthrough attempt.
It roughly stated that Li Qi was his most prized disciple, and if he failed this breakthrough.
He hoped Li Qi would succeed him as the next Sect Master of Feisha Sect.
Beside the letter was a small cloth bag.
Inside were eighteen spirit stones, which, when converted, amounted to eighteen hundred spirit stones.
This was essentially all the inheritance left for Li Qi; there was nothing else.
...
Up to this point, it seemed that everyone in the Feisha Sect with whom Li Qi could converse had truly drifted away from him.
"Senior Disciple Brother, Master has passed away. What should we do?"
The junior disciple who had delivered the news to Li Qi asked with a hint of confusion.
They hadn't even learned much about cultivation before their master died.
He instinctively regarded Li Qi as their pillar of support.
This was because he had witnessed the terrifying strength of this Senior Disciple Brother Li when the experts of the Zhen Huang Sect had attacked.
Weighing the eighteen spirit stones in his hand, he suspected that a portion of these might have come from the tuition fees of these junior disciples.
"From today onwards, I will take over teaching on behalf of Master."
From that day on, Li Qi began to teach.
He only taught the remaining few disciples.
Occasionally, people would want to ascend the mountain to become disciples.
However, Li Qi found it troublesome and refused to accept any new disciples.
He only taught these remaining disciples.
He taught them diligently, until these disciples could no longer persevere.
If a disciple could endure for a hundred years, he would teach for a hundred years; it was a matter of who could outlast whom.
In short... once all the disciples were gone.
In every sense of the word, once they were gone.
Li Qi's task would be considered complete.
...
Spring turned to autumn, and ten years passed.
"Damn it, there are actually stubborn fools who managed to stick it out. How can your heads be so hard?"
Li Qi looked at the three remaining junior disciples before him and couldn't help but curse inwardly.
"Senior Disciple Brother, this is this month's tuition fee."
A disciple walked up to Li Qi respectfully, took out fifteen spirit stones from his embrace, and handed them to Li Qi with both hands.
A faint smile appeared on Li Qi's face as he accepted them casually.
"Good, Wang Cheng. In ten years, you've gone from Body Tempering First Organ to Body Tempering Third Organ. Your future is bright."
This Wang Cheng was the same disciple who had gone to the back mountain to inform Li Qi of his master's passing.
Among the three who had persevered, Wang Cheng had the longest seniority.
"It's all thanks to Senior Disciple Brother's excellent teaching."
Wang Cheng said sincerely.
Although it was somewhat disrespectful to their master, who had passed away over a decade ago, he had to admit that his Senior Disciple Brother's teachings were truly superb.
Whether it was general explanations or detailed observations of each of their cultivation traces and energy circulation methods.
His Senior Disciple Brother could explain them with great clarity, bringing about sudden enlightenment.
This was something their former master truly couldn't achieve.
However, there was nothing to be done about it, given that Li Qi possessed a cheat.
Not to mention that Li Qi occasionally gained attribute points for Comprehension and Aptitude, which gave him an extremely profound understanding of cultivation.
Coupled with the acquisition of various "underworld" attribute points.
In these ten years, Li Qi had gained many attribute points such as "Teaching," "Meticulousness," and "Identifying and Filling Gaps."
This made it incredibly simple for him to identify issues in others' cultivation.
With fewer disciples, teaching also became increasingly relaxed.
In less than an hour, Li Qi had roughly resolved all the issues of the three junior disciples.
Incidentally, during these ten years, Li Qi's own cultivation had long since broken through to Foundation Establishment.
By now, Li Qi could be considered a master of the third level of Foundation Establishment.
Out in the world, he would be addressed as a "True Person" by low-level cultivators, and even as an "Immortal" by mortals.
As for Li Qi's actual combat strength.
He himself didn't know how strong he had become.
[Ding, congratulations to the host for surviving one day, obtaining a random attribute point Strength+1]
[Congratulations to the host, the "Strength" attribute point has accumulated to one thousand, triggering a reward, Strength Doubled!]
[Ding, congratulations to the host for obtaining a special talent, Giant Brute! (Within sixty seconds, the host can gain a hundredfold strength increase, with a cooldown period of one day)]
Li Qi felt his internal strength surge once more, becoming even more unfathomable.
He knew even less about his own strength now.
The appearance of this new talent also surprised Li Qi.
His original base strength likely already surpassed cultivators of the same level by a significant margin, and with the hundredfold strength increase within sixty seconds.
Ten opponents should no longer be enough for Li Qi to handle.
A hundred might even be a close call.
The sky darkened, signaling the approaching end of the day.
Feisha Sect was enveloped in silence.
After receiving Li Qi's teachings, the three junior disciples returned to their residences to cultivate diligently.
As for Li Qi, through years of a leisurely and indolent lifestyle, he had cultivated the good habit of early rising, early sleeping, and never staying up late.
Although sleeping held little significance for Li Qi at present.
Yet... it was comfortable!
Without enjoying a good sleep, how could it be called a leisurely and indolent life?
And just then, cries for help echoed from the mountainside of Feisha Sect, reaching Li Qi and the others' ears.
"Help! Someone save us!"
"I don't want to die, please Immortal Lords save us."
Hearing the cries, Li Qi frowned and pushed open his door.
Wang Cheng and the other two junior disciples also withdrew from their cultivation states and met with Li Qi.
"Let's go take a look together."
After saying this, Li Qi led the three junior disciples towards the outskirts of Feisha Sect.
They were a group of refugees, covered in mud, their clothes tattered and ragged, utterly disheveled and dusty.
At this moment, terror filled their eyes as they fled for their lives.
Many of them ran with their shoes askew or falling off, their soles bleeding from the stones on the path, yet they dared not stop.
And the true source of this group of refugees' flight.
Li Qi gazed into the distance, towards the rear of the fleeing refugees.
Three humanoid creatures with fangs and covered in fur, with extremely slender arms and legs, were pursuing at high speed.
A little girl with a face caked in mud was being pulled along by an adult when she lost her footing and fell.
"Mother, save me!"
The little girl cried out in despair and couldn't get up.
And those three fanged monsters were already lunging towards the little girl.
One of them directly grabbed the little girl's leg, lifting her entire small body, and was about to bite down.
"Er Ya!"
The woman who appeared to be the mother cried out in despair, but the man beside her gritted his teeth and pulled her along, continuing to run.
And at this very moment.
From the darkness, three pebbles shot out, carrying three sharp gusts of wind, striking the heads of the three fanged monsters with incredible precision.
"Bang!"
The heads of the three monsters exploded without resistance, splattering viscous blood and brains everywhere.
The little girl, whose leg had been held, was about to fall headfirst to the ground again.
Li Qi's figure, like a fleeting divine light in the night, arrived in an instant.
He caught the little girl in his arms with one hand, and his gaze fell upon the three corpse-like figures before him, slowly uttering two words.
"Demons."