Chapter 10

Lingsource Mountain, Song Changxin was holding the sound transmission spirit talisman received in the morning, pacing lightly in the small building.

"The clan leader sent a letter saying that Qingming went down the mountain early in the morning. This brat, it's almost dark, and he hasn't returned yet. Could it be that he secretly returned to Mujiao Town?"

——

Having run to the west for I don't know how long, Song Qingming was somewhat exhausted at this moment. Seeing that there seemed to be no one behind, Song Qingming found a big rock to hide behind and meditated to recover his spiritual energy.

Unexpectedly, not long after sitting down, a red light flew straight toward his forehead. Song Qingming hurriedly dodged to the side, and the mysterious iron sword in his hand released a burst of fire to attack the enemy, but unexpectedly it was blocked by a blue protective shield set up by the opponent.

Looking at the black-clothed robber not far away, Song Qingming was really somewhat headache. This guy had been chasing him for several hours, from afternoon to dusk. Every time Song Qingming thought he had shaken off the opponent, it wouldn't be long before he appeared behind him. Every time this black-clothed robber caught up with him, he didn't rush to keep him, as if he was deliberately playing with him slowly.

Song Qingming at this time had suffered quite a few injuries all over his body, and the spiritual power in his body was also not much left. Although only one black-clothed robber chased him, Song Qingming also understood that his cultivation base and fighting ability were far worse than this person.

After several times of being chased and fighting, without exception, he was fully suppressed by the opponent. His cultivation base was a big gap behind this person, and a head-on confrontation could be said to have no chance of winning at all.

After Song Qingming ran to the north for a while, the more he thought about it, the more wrong it felt. The old man just said to run separately, which could increase the probability of the two escaping successfully, but the direction he pointed to him was clearly a dead end.

The north is a desolate direction. Further ahead is the Cloud Mist Mountain where demon beasts appear. Running here has no chance of calling for help, and he will definitely be caught up. At this time, Song Qingming felt that he seemed to have entered the Cloud Mist Mountain.

And if he ran on the main road to the south, it would greatly increase the probability of survival. He didn't think much about it for a while just now, and still fell into the old man's trap. This old guy intended to let him help attract the opponent to divide his troops from the beginning, so as to increase his own probability of escaping successfully.

After another bitter battle, the exhausted Song Qingming escaped to the edge of a cliff. In front is a bottomless cliff, and behind is the black-clothed robber chasing after him. With his current state, rashly jumping down this unknown cliff, I'm afraid he will die faster.

Looking at the danger approaching slowly behind him, just when Song Qingming was somewhat desperate, the corner of his eye caught a place covered by vines not far below the cliff, revealing a corner of a black cave entrance, like a mountain cave abandoned by large birds. Now that he had no way out, he didn't think much, jumped along the steep cliff wall a few times, and hid in the cave.

"Brat, you've run for so long, you can't run anymore, right? Do you think that by hiding here, I can't find you? Don't worry, I will give you a quick death."

Not long after Song Qingming entered the cave, the arrogant voice of the black-clothed robber was transmitted into the cave.

This black-clothed robber was named Zhu Wu, originally an ordinary rogue cultivator in Wuling County. Since he was chased and killed by his enemy more than ten years ago and fled into Eagle Nest Ridge, he simply joined this notorious rogue cultivator organization entrenched in the northeast of Wei Kingdom and started this business of killing and seizing goods.

After tasting the sweetness of easily obtaining spirit stones by hunting other rogue cultivators like this, Zhu Wu has been unable to stop ever since. Relying on the cultivation resources obtained by this life-selling business, he also successfully cultivated his five-spiritual-root aptitude to the peak of the fifth level of Qi Refining.

Zhu Wu, who walked into the cave slowly, released a small fireball technique for lighting with his left hand, and carefully opened a five-element cover with his right hand to protect his whole body. This mountain cave was not big, and he had only walked for less than ten steps before he reached the end of the mountain cave.

Zhu Wu looked around, somewhat strange. He had turned around several times and still didn't see the position where the prey was hiding.

"Could this brat be hiding in..." Just as Zhu Wu was about to raise his head to look at the top of the cave, a green mysterious iron sword with an angry shout slashed down from above his head. It was Song Qingming hiding on the top of the cave.

Facing this full-force blow from Song Qingming holding the sword with both hands, Zhu Wu also dared not be careless, hurriedly took out an iron shield magic tool and topped it on his head. After the two magic tools clashed, a loud noise was emitted, sparks splashed, and after a burst of dust fell on both sides of the mountain wall, the two retreated a few steps each to stabilize their figures.

Zhu Wu still firmly guarded the cave entrance, looking at Song Qingming in the cave with a look of contemptuous sneer.

"This is a good place to be buried, both quiet and remote. I think it's not easy for your clan members to find."

Facing Zhu Wu's verbal provocation, Song Qingming didn't answer, just released spiritual power with both hands and entangled it on the mysterious iron in his hand. The mysterious iron sword gave a light groan and pierced toward Zhu Wu at high speed.

"Hmph, this brat has started to seek medical advice in a hurry. With his current cultivation base, releasing spiritual power to control magic tools, isn't this sending his own magic tool to the opponent?"

Seeing the flying mysterious iron sword in front of him, Zhu Wu retreated a few steps and then easily stopped it with the flying sword in his hand. Just as he wanted to put Song Qingming's mysterious iron sword into his pocket, he suddenly found a burst of earthy yellow light coming from under his feet.

"This is? Damn, where did the Earth Prison Talisman come from?" Zhu Wu turned to look at Song Qingming somewhat angrily. He only saw Song Qingming putting his hands on the ground, and the spiritual power in his body instantly activated the Earth Prison Talisman buried under his feet.

The Earth Prison Talisman is a mid-grade defensive spirit talisman, which can instantly wrap nearby soil blocks with spiritual power to trap the target for a while. Zhu Wu was soon wrapped into a giant ball by the surrounding soil blocks.

Just at this moment, Song Qingming, who had been waiting for a long time, used up the little spiritual power he had left, pushed this giant ball out of the cave entrance with all his might, and kicked it down the hundred-foot cliff outside the cave.

Seeing the giant earth ball slowly disappearing in his eyes, Song Qingming sat paralyzed at the cave entrance and breathed a long sigh of relief.

This spirit talisman was originally given by Song Changxin for fear that the two of them would encounter demon beasts when going to Mount Funiu. Unexpectedly, it was used when he returned alone. Song Qingming had fought several times before, but he didn't have the opportunity to use it to get out of trouble.

It wasn't until he saw this mountain cave just now that he had a sudden inspiration and used this only trump card he had on him to create this trap.

About a quarter of an hour later, a somewhat disheveled figure jumped into the cave from below the cliff. At this time, there was no one in the cave. The mountain soil that collapsed after a battle had already blocked half of the cave entrance.

This person was Zhu Wu, who had been sneak-attacked by Song Qingming and fell off the cliff earlier. Only at this moment, he no longer had his previous confidence and arrogance, and the black magic clothes on his body were also damaged a lot, and there was a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth. The ferocious eyes were full of viciousness.

"I was really careless. This damn brat, wait until I catch you, I will definitely make you wish you were dead."

Zhu Wu jumped onto the cliff, released a spiritual power induction, and after saying a few harsh words, chased toward the depths of the Cloud Mist Mountain quickly.

Not long after Zhu Wu left, a burst of mud cracking sound came from the mountain cave that was originally silent on the edge of the cliff. A thin and small figure slowly broke out of the soil from the deepest part of the cave. It was Song Qingming, who had pretended to escape to the depths of the Cloud Mist Mountain not long ago.

Song Qingming knew deeply that he was covered in wounds now, and the spiritual power in his body was also not much left. The Earth Prison Talisman definitely couldn't trap the opponent for long. If he escaped directly in his current state, he would still be caught up by the opponent with a high probability.

Previously, the opponent was always able to accurately grasp the direction of his escape, which must be due to unique tracking skills. He had no more trump cards in his current state. Once he was caught up by him again, he would really be a fish on the chopping block.

Facing such a crisis, Song Qingming, who had calmed down, chose to gamble on his luck. He ran wildly for several mountain peaks in the direction of the Cloud Mist Mountain, intentionally leaving some traces of escape along the way.

Then he returned halfway to the cave where he was hiding earlier and lurked in a pile of mud that collapsed during the battle between the two. Fortunately, his luck was not bad this time, and he really deceived Zhu Wu, who was chasing anxiously.

After removing the soil blocks on his body, Song Qingming carefully walked out of the cave entrance, confirmed that there was no danger nearby, and quickly left in the direction he came from.

One morning a day later, Song Qingming, who had escaped from death, appeared outside Lingsource Mountain. Looking at the familiar protective mountain array in front of him, the heart that had been hanging for two days was finally settled. This time, although the loss was huge, he lost the mysterious iron sword that had followed him for nearly ten years, and even the Earth Prison Talisman given by Uncle Nine was used up, but he finally returned safely.

Passing through the array, he found a small path and wanted to detour back to his small bamboo house to deal with his injuries first. He really didn't want the family mortals who relied on these immortal masters to protect them to see him in such a disheveled state.

Just as he was getting closer and closer to his small house, he unexpectedly found a tall and straight figure standing in the courtyard outside his house.

"Uncle Nine, I..."

Seeing Song Qingming covered in wounds, Song Changxin raised his hand to interrupt what Song Qingming was about to say, telling him to return to the house to heal his injuries first.

Half an hour later, under Song Changxin's careful care, Song Qingming took a few blood-returning elixirs, and his face had turned ruddy. The external injuries on his body were also all fine after Song Changxin's careful treatment.

The external injuries caused by the magic tools were not serious and would recover soon. It was just that the repeated fighting had overdrawn the spiritual power in his body, which had hurt his vitality. This would take at least a month or two of patient recovery to recover.

After a careful examination, confirming that there were no other serious injuries on Song Qingming's body, the heart that Song Changxin had been hanging for the past two days was finally put down.

While healing his injuries, Song Qingming also slowly told Song Changxin the life-and-death crisis he encountered yesterday word for word.

"These robbers from Eagle Nest Ridge are becoming more and more lawless, actually daring to come to our Qinghe County to kill and seize goods. It seems that the occasional unexplained disappearance of cultivators in the past year or two is mostly related to them. I must hurry and notify the clan leader of this news."

"It's fortunate that you were calm in the face of danger this time and returned safely. There are crises everywhere in the world of immortal cultivation. You must also grow up quickly to have a little more ability to survive."

After hearing Song Changxin's teachings, Song Qingming nodded thoughtfully. In the final analysis, he was so disheveled this time because his cultivation base was too low. If he had a late-stage Qi-Refining cultivation base at that time, it should have been the opponent who ran away, and this crisis would not have existed.

The path of immortal cultivation is inherently the law of the jungle. The weaker you are, the more crises there will be.

(End of chapter)