Chapter 43 Three Years Later

Time passed slowly. Song Qingming thought he would stay in Lingyuan Mountain for only one more year. He did not expect that he would stay there for more than three years. It was not until the Liu family mortals who had been settled there were all stable that his uncle Song Changxin returned to Lingyuan Mountain.

Song Qingming packed up his luggage and returned to Funiu Mountain. His sixth brother Song Qinghe seemed to like this place. Although his stay had expired, he unexpectedly took the initiative to apply to stay in Lingyuan Mountain.

Under his careful management, the two acres of spiritual fields on the platform of the mine had almost stabilized their spiritual energy. From the desolate scene of weeds and rocks, it has now become a spiritual land with bright spiritual light and lush green leaves.

Three years have made Song Qingming's handsome face more mature and stable. Now he is no longer as confused about his path of cultivation as when he first came to Lingyuan Mountain.

Song Qingming has not only become a mid-level talisman maker, but his cultivation is also progressing steadily. In the past three years, with the blessing of the Yuxuan Sutra and the incomplete map, he has broken through to the sixth level of Qi Refining a few days ago. Now, among the Qing generation in the Song family, except for the third brother Song Qingze, Song Qingming's cultivation has surpassed other brothers and sisters.

Song Qingze has outstanding spiritual roots. Since he started practicing, he has been far ahead of others in the Qing generation. Song Qingming got the news from Funiu Mountain a month ago that Song Qingze has begun to break through the seventh level of Qi Refining in seclusion. With his spiritual root qualifications and the family's vigorous cultivation, he must have entered the late stage of Qi Refining now.

Song Qingze is only 34 years old now. At this age, he has cultivated to the seventh level of Qi Refining, which is comparable to the direct descendants of those foundation-building clans. According to his progress in cultivation, he will definitely be able to cultivate to the ninth level of Qi Refining before the age of 50. If he can get a foundation-building pill by then, there is hope for foundation-building.

It's just a pity that he lives in a weak Qi-refining family like the Song family. If he continues to stay in the family in the future, the Song family will definitely not be able to provide him with foundation-building pills. The total annual income of the Song family is only 400 to 500 spirit stones. Excluding the consumption of the cultivators in the family, there are only 180 spirit stones left every year. In the event of disasters and wars, they need to take out spirit stones from the treasury to subsidize. After 200 years of accumulation, they have accumulated more than 2,000 spirit stones.

And a foundation-building pill costs at least 10,000 spirit stones, which is a rare spiritual object with no market. In Weiguo, only Xiaoyao Sect will sell a little every ten years, but only families who have made great contributions to the sect are eligible to buy it. This situation means that Qi-refining families below the foundation-building stage have no chance at all.

The reason why the Qian family in Qinghe County had the opportunity to get a foundation-building pill four years ago was because their ancestors had a foundation-building cultivator who made great contributions to the Xiaoyao Sect. Only in Qian Guangyao's generation did they have the opportunity to exchange for the foundation-building pill.

If they leave Weiguo and go to other countries thousands of miles away, a Qi-refining family like the Song family may not be able to successfully buy a foundation-building pill even if they can take out 10,000 spirit stones. They may be targeted before they return to Weiguo. By then, the family's savings of hundreds of years may be lost in one day, and the family's life and property may be lost.

Now that Song Qingming has completed the six-year garrison mission and has at least six years of free cultivation time, he returned to the cave in Funiu Mountain and quickly applied to the family to go to the Floating Cloud Mountains for training.

Now his cultivation is steadily improving at his own pace. In the past few years, he has saved a lot of spirit stones by making intermediate-level spirit talismans. He is not short of spirit stones for elixirs used for cultivation, and he still has hundreds of spirit stones on him.

In the past few years, Song Qingming has been hiding in Lingyuan Mountain. In the absence of Uncle Jiu, in order to be safe, he did not dare to attack the monsters that invaded the formation at will. When encountering high-level monsters, he had to send out a communication talisman to notify the family to come to the rescue. Now he feels that his fighting ability has been much worse. He has long wanted to find a place to practice his magic power after practicing Yuxuan Sutra.

This is also a plan he has thought of a long time ago. Go to Fuyun Mountain to train for a few years, and then ask where there is news about foundation-building pills.

In the entire Wei Kingdom, except for Xiaoyao Sect, only the black market near Fuyun Mountain has foundation-building pills flowing out. Although it is still early to build a foundation, he still has to make some preparations for himself. Although he has the water spirit fruit equivalent to the foundation-building pill, how to exchange the water spirit fruit for the foundation-building pill is a problem that gives him a headache now.

It would be the safest way for him to directly take the water spirit fruit to Xiaoyao Sect, but now that the Liu family has been involved, Xiaoyao Sect will certainly doubt the origin of the spirit fruit on him. Even if he tells the truth, they will inevitably not believe him. If they use spiritual objects such as the God-asking Talisman on him, the matter of the water spirit fruit is easy to explain, but if the secret of the incomplete map on him is revealed, Song Qingming will be doomed.

It is difficult for cultivators below the Jindan level to resist the questioning of the second-level God-asking Talisman. Once he steps into a place like Xiaoyao Sect, it will be difficult for him to control his own destiny. Only if he can form a golden elixir in the future can he avoid this danger.

After arriving at the Zangjin Pavilion, Song Gucai saw that he had made another breakthrough in his cultivation and could not help but feel a little envious, but he did not think much about it. He also felt that the reason why Song Qingming cultivated so quickly must be the credit of the spirit fruits he ate that year.

He and the fourth elder Song Gucai applied for three years to leave the family for training. Song Qingming did not expect that his move would alarm the clan leader Song Gushan.

Song Gushan has been the head of the Song family for nearly 30 years. Although he has not made any significant contributions to the development of the Song family over the years, he is calm and broad-minded, and is also a head deeply loved by the clan members. During the decades he has been in office, the Song family has not experienced any major events, and the family has been moving forward steadily.

Song Gushan just celebrated his 100th birthday last year. Although he looks rosy on the surface, the life span of a Qi Refining Stage is at most 120 years, and now he only has more than a dozen years left.

He wanted to give some advice, but after a few words, looking at Song Qingming with a firm look in his eyes, Song Gushan finally nodded and agreed to let him go out for training.

"Qingming, although you have been to the Floating Cloud Mountains, you should still be more careful when you go out. There are many people in the world of immortal cultivation who are treacherous and will do anything for the sake of profit. You must never trust others easily. This top-grade talisman is given to you by me for self-defense. It is also a little thought from me as an elder. The clan is not well-off, so please don't despise it."

After Song Gushan finished speaking, he handed over a green talisman in his hand, with a look of relief on his face. Among the young cultivators in the clan, there are not many cultivators like Song Qingming who take the initiative to go out for training. After all, it is more beneficial for cultivators to go out more often. Although it is safer to practice hard in the mountains, practicing too comfortably will also make cultivators more likely to encounter bottlenecks in their cultivation.

"Qingming, thank you for the treasure."

Song Qingming took the talisman and saw that it was a rare top-grade Qingguang talisman, which should be the treasure of the top-grade talisman master of the patriarch. Although he was not short of talismans now, he also bought a few top-grade talismans in Guiyunfang last time. However, even if Song Qingming himself could not use this kind of spiritual object for the time being, he could always go to the market to exchange it for spiritual stones to buy other spiritual objects. For him, the more things that could be exchanged for spiritual stones, the better. After putting the talisman into the storage bag, Song Qingming bowed his head to the two elders, and then slowly withdrew from the treasure storage pavilion.

Song Gucai watched Song Qingming leave, and said to the clan leader Song Gushan in front of him with some reluctance: "Fifth brother, Qingming is one of the most promising young people in the family. Isn't it a bit rash to let him go to the Floating Cloud Mountains to train alone?"

After listening, clan leader Song Gushan paused and said: "Don't worry, Qingming was able to return safely in such a critical situation in the Floating Cloud Mountains last time, and he unexpectedly got a chance, which shows that he is not only calm, but also a lucky person. Going out to experience more will also be good for their future path."