Perhaps it was to show that she was capable or that she wanted to gain Wang Ping's validation, but after waking up, the little girl had taken the initiative to help Wang Ping clean the courtyard and water the vegetables.
Seeing how practiced she was, it was obvious that she had done this many times at home.
When Wang Ping saw this, he thought of keeping Lin Xiao'e by his side.
However, as soon as this thought surfaced in his mind, the rational side of him immediately dismissed the idea.
He couldn't be that selfish. With Lin Xiao'e's talent, if she could get accepted by a good master, she would have a very high chance of entering the Foundation Establishment stage. It might even be possible for her to enter the legendary Core Formation stage.
However, if she were to follow him, given his current situation, he might not even be able to find a suitable cultivation technique for her.
Hence, finding a good master for Lin Xiao'e was the best choice for her.
Wang Ping knew that Lin Xiao'e might not be able to understand this now, but when she got old and mature enough to understand the cultivation world, she would definitely be grateful for him.
As the temporary market in Black Rock Mountain would not be open for another twenty days, Wang Ping was not in a hurry to set off.
After dealing with the corpses of the two Alligator-Tailed Toads, he called Xiao Feng aside to study the innate magic it had awakened.
During the battle at Golden Shell Village, Xiao Feng was able to break through under the pressure of the Alligator-Tailed toads, awakening two innate spells.
The two spells were the 'Wind Blade' and the 'Wind Splitting Claw.'
The "Wind Blade" was no different from the low-grade Tier 1 "Wind Blade" spell that cultivators could practice. While it had slightly weaker damage than the "Golden Blade" that Wang Ping used, it had a higher speed and a larger range.
The 'Wind Splitting Claw,' on the other hand, was a close-combat spell. It required Xiao Feng to use the wolf claw as the medium to approach the enemy.
That day, Xiao Feng was able to easily tear the thick outer skin on the back of the Alligator-Tailed Toad apart, because he had used the 'Wind Splitting Claw' to increase the sharpness of its wolf claws.
It could be said that Xiao Feng, who had awakened these two offensive spells, was actually stronger than Wang Ping on the battlefield.
This outcome made Wang Ping both elated and sad.
He was happy because Xiao Feng had become so strong, and that he would be able to bring Xiao Feng to hunt some low-level demon beasts with him in the future.
However, the sad thing was that after five years of diligent cultivation, he still wouldn't be able to defeat a pet he had been raising for less than three years!
However, this was reality!
He was an itinerant cultivator in the early stage of Qi Refinement, and he did not have any magic weapons or spirit talismans. Apart from having mastered a few spells, he was no different from a low-grade tier 1 demon beast.
Human intelligence was indeed very useful. However, in a one-on-one fight with demon beasts, if one did not have any magical weapons or other equipment with them, intelligence would not be as useful in the face of the demon beasts and their powerful, agile bodies.
If it weren't for that, Gu Feng and He Meng, two middle-stage Qi Refinement cultivators, wouldn't have let Wang Ping join their team when they were hunting mid-grade tier 1 demon beasts.
To the itinerant cultivators on Golden Pearl Island, it was not a problem to have one more person to distribute the loot with. After all, there were too many demon beasts in the sea for them to kill.
The first thing they had to make sure of was their own safety; they had to survive.
Only by surviving every sea hunt could they have the word 'future.'
Although Wang Ping was indeed a little sad, he was obviously happier. That little bit of sadness was quickly pushed to the back of his mind, forgotten.
He even began to ponder about hunting demon beasts alone. He thought about which demonic beasts he could deal with, without sustaining any injuries, and what would happen if he joined forces with Xiao Feng.
After staying in the White Gull Mountains for about half a month, Wang Ping brought Lin Xiao'e down the mountain and headed to White Sand City.
Because Xiao Feng was now a demon beast, Wang Ping didn't dare to leave him on the mountain alone. If other cultivators were to discover it, they might kill it in his absence.
Therefore, after he brought Lin Xiao'e down the mountain, he returned halfway through the trip to put Xiao Feng in the world inside the "Heaven and Earth Shell."
By that time, Lin Xiao'e had already learned about her arrangements from Wang Ping.
She was very quiet during the journey. Even when she arrived at the bustling White Sand City and saw the many unfamiliar faces on the streets, the beautiful clothes, the fun toys, and the delicious food, she did not smile at all.
Wang Ping, who was an orphan himself, understood how she felt. However, it was exactly because he understood that he could not bear to hold her talent back.
Hence, he could only harden his resolve and not change his mind.
On the trip to White Sand City, Wang Ping planned to pay a visit to He Meng, who lived in the city, to see if they could head to Black Stone Mountain together.
After all, the journey from White Sand City to Black Stone Mountain was an arduously long one. If Wang Ping were to bring Lin Xiao'e alone, he was worried that something would happen along the way.
Wang Ping had been to He Meng's residence once. It was a large residence in White Sand City.
Unlike Wang Ping, who was fully dedicated to cultivation, He Meng liked to enjoy the pleasures of life. He had a large family consisting of twelve concubines and more than twenty children.
Wang Ping had heard He Meng say that his wish was to give birth to one or two offspring with a spiritual core constitution. Then, he would do his best to raise them so that they could support each other in their cultivation and strive to eventually develop the He family into a clan with generations of cultivators.
However, up till now, He Meng's concubines had yet to give birth to a single child with a spiritual core constitution.
This was actually very normal. The probability of an ordinary person having a spiritual core constitution was one in a thousand. It was unrealistic to expect to have a large number of children with a spiritual core constitution.
On the other hand, if both parents were cultivators, the success rate of their children possessing a spiritual core constitution would increase considerably, possibly up to one in a hundred.
However, there were less than a hundred itinerant cultivators on Golden Pearl Island, and there were only a dozen or so female cultivators, including a few in their seventies and eighties.
Under such circumstances, it was basically impossible for He Meng, who was at the fifth level of Qi Refinement, to find a female cultivator to be his Dao companion and for her to accept him as a concubine.
On Golden Pearl Island, the social standing of women was much lower than that of men. Becoming a cultivator was the only way for women to be regarded as equals to men.
Under these circumstances, it was already fortunate enough for a female cultivator to be willing to get married. To expect her to allow her Dao companion to wantonly take concubines was far too difficult. This was only possible if the cultivation of the male cultivator far surpassed that of the female cultivator.
Wang Ping was lucky. After learning of his purpose for visiting, He Meng readily agreed to go to Black Stone Mountain together and asked about Lin Xiaoe's situation.
Of course, Wang Ping would not easily reveal the fact that Lin Xiao'e might have a thunder-elemental spiritual core constitution. He only said that she was a junior from the same village who also happened to have a spiritual core constitution. This time, he was going to Black Stone Mountain to help her trade for a cultivation technique.
There were many unspoken rules in the cultivation world. One of them was to not inquire too much about others.
He Meng had asked about Lin Xiao'e's situation so as to make his stance clear.
Since Wang Ping had given him an answer, he should not ask any further questions.
Naturally, He Meng, who had been cultivating for over twenty years, would not break this unspoken rule so easily.