Chapter 108

News that the Northern Frontier demonic beasts had moved south quickly spread throughout the entire nation of Wei. For a time, the entire northern part of Wei, along with several neighboring countries adjacent to the Fuyun Mountain Range, fell into an incomparably tense atmosphere.

Qinghe County soon received instructions from the Xiaoyao Sect. After the major Foundation Establishment families—the Huang, Gao, Lu, and Qian families—discussed it in Qinghe Market, they immediately issued the largest mobilization order in nearly a hundred years to the Qi Refining families below, beginning to organize manpower to head north for support.

In the Song family's council hall atop Mount Funiu, two important figures of the Song family were arguing over the candidates for this support mission.

"Fourth Uncle, this trip down the mountain is of great importance. You should let me go instead and let Ninth Brother stay behind. Changxin has a steady personality, and he has participated in many of the clan's affairs over the past few years. Even... even if I don't come back, the family can be safely handed over to him."

Faced with the repeated requests from the Second Elder Song Changfeng to join the battle, the old clan leader Song Gushan had not agreed, and this time, he still shook his head firmly at him.

"How about letting Qingming stay behind instead? He..."

Song Changfeng still refused to give up, but Song Gushan suddenly spoke to interrupt him.

"Changfeng, Fourth Uncle knows your heart, but this time you must listen to me once. You stay behind and look after Mount Funiu; consider this the last order I give you as clan leader. After I go down the mountain, regardless of whether I can return, you will take over as the clan leader. These children on the mountain and the tens of thousands of family bloodlines below—I am handing this thousand-jin burden to you." After Song Gushan finished speaking, he took a cyan token from his storage bag, handed it to Song Changfeng, and then left the area directly.

Song Changfeng, with a puzzled expression, was stunned to see the token in his hand. Just as he wanted to speak, he discovered that Song Gushan had not given him another chance to talk and had already walked outside the door first.

In the plaza outside the council hall, over a dozen Song family cultivators, including Song Qingming, had already packed their belongings and were standing in the plaza outside.

Song Gushan looked at everyone in the plaza with satisfaction, his gaze slowly sweeping over them one by one. After a long while, he revealed a smiling face and said: "Since everyone is here, let's head down the mountain with me!"

Although they had long known that this mission down the mountain would be arduous, everyone's expressions were still fine, and there was no sense of fear. While gathering in the plaza, they even teased each other.

Only Song Changfeng and the other cultivators who had been selected to stay behind to guard the mountain gate had heavy expressions, and their hearts could not calm down for a long time.

The news of the Northern Frontier demonic beast riot had long since reached the mountain. They all knew that the danger level of this mission down the mountain was not comparable to previous ones. But being in Wei, which was adjacent to the land of demonic beasts, the Song family had no other choice; someone always had to stand up to face these things.

Watching his clansmen leave into the distance, Song Changfeng picked up the token that Song Gushan had handed him before leaving. This cyan token was a top-grade defensive magic treasure crafted when the Song family ancestor first moved to Qinghe County, and it was also the clan leader's token passed down from generation to generation for two hundred years.

Song Changfeng held the object tightly in his hand, as if he gradually felt the added responsibility on his shoulders. It was only after a long time that he put it into his own storage bag.

The order the Song family received this time was to first head to Mount Wufeng to rendezvous with the Huang family, and then follow the Huang family north to provide support.

Because this demonic beast riot arrived several years earlier than in the past, the several markets in Wei were somewhat rushed in their preparations and fell into a passive position from the start. The Xiaoyao Sect could only urge all parties to intensify their efforts to provide support.

After the Song family's group of fifteen arrived at Mount Wufeng, they stayed for less than three days before setting off northward under the leadership of the Huang family cultivators.

This time, whether it was the Foundation Establishment families or the Qi Refining families, at least half of their cultivators were dispatched. The team was much larger than when the Huang family wiped out Chifeng Ridge two years ago.

The Huang family also dispatched two Foundation Establishment cultivators: the clan leader Huang Shengxin, whose cultivation base was a level higher than two years ago at the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment, and Huang Shengyue, who was at the third layer of Foundation Establishment and had only recently recovered from his injuries. The remaining one, Huang Chengliang, stayed behind in the clan.

After the group traveled north for a day, the Gao family leader Gao Jinhe brought over a hundred cultivators to rendezvous with them.

According to the instructions from the Xiaoyao Sect, there were two locations that the Qinghe County cultivators needed to support. One was the Jin Shan Market located in the northern part of Pingyang County. This market was located in the north of Pingyang County, and like Guiyun Market, it was also a connection point between Wei and the Fuyun Mountain Range. It was the first position to bear the brunt of the demonic beasts' southward advance. The Huang family and the Gao family, two of the four major Foundation Establishment families, were responsible for supporting this location.

The other location was the Liangshan spirit stone mine, located on the eastern side of Qinghe County at the junction with the Yunwu Mountain Range.

This mine was discovered by a Qi Refining family cultivator a hundred years ago. Unfortunately, a small Qi Refining family did not have the ability to mine this priceless spirit stone vein and could only report the matter to the Xiaoyao Sect. For this, they even received a Foundation Establishment Pill as a reward.

Decades later, their family finally produced a genius with excellent cultivation talent, who went to the Xiaoyao Sect to receive this Foundation Establishment Pill. In the end, the Foundation Establishment was successful, elevating this small Qi Refining family into a Foundation Establishment family. This is the story of the Lu family, the other Foundation Establishment family in Qinghe County.

The spirit stone mine had been mined for nearly a hundred years. Recently, perhaps influenced by the Northern Frontier demonic beast riot, many demonic beasts in the Yunwu Mountains had also become restless and began to walk out of the Yunwu Mountains to attack the surrounding counties.

The Liangshan spirit stone mine was very close to Qinghe County, and this place was particularly important to Qinghe County. Once this place fell, a large number of Yunwu Mountain demonic beasts would directly enter the territory of Qinghe County.

By then, faced with the direct attack of these ferocious demonic beasts, the fate of these cultivation families in Qinghe County would be hard to say. Once the mountain gate was breached by demonic beasts, it would be a disaster of clan extermination; both cultivators and mortals would become blood food in the mouths of the demonic beasts.

Even if some cultivators were lucky enough to escape, having lost the protection of their family, they would only be reduced to even lower-level rogue cultivators in the future.

The Lu family and Qian family cultivators, who were weaker in strength, were responsible for supporting the Liangshan spirit stone mine. Although the number of demonic beasts in the Yunwu Mountains was not small, their strength was much weaker compared to the demonic beasts coming from the Fuyun Mountain Range, so the pressure here was also smaller compared to the Jin Shan Market side.

In order to put the Qinghe County cultivators at ease regarding their homes, the Xiaoyao Sect also increased the number of cultivators stationed in Qinghe Market and added another Foundation Establishment cultivator.

These Xiaoyao Sect cultivators had already begun to close the market and recruit rogue cultivators, preparing to deal with emergencies in Qinghe County at any time. Once any cultivator took advantage of the situation to loot the major cultivation families in the county whose defensive forces had been greatly weakened, these Xiaoyao Sect cultivators in Qinghe Market would decisively take action to stop them.

The Qinghe County cultivators heading north to resist the demonic beasts were also defending the living space of the human race for the entire nation of Wei. During this period, once it was discovered that someone was taking advantage of the situation to commit backstabbing acts like looting, the Xiaoyao Sect could not ignore it. Even if they could not spare the manpower for the moment, they would definitely settle the accounts after the fact.

Not only that, in addition to the two Xiaoyao Sect Foundation Establishment cultivators in Qinghe Market, the Huang family also left one Foundation Establishment cultivator to stay behind in the clan. Added together, there were still three Foundation Establishment cultivators stationed in Qinghe County, and the defensive force was not weak. Even if they encountered a high-level expert like Huang Shengxin at the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment, they could rely on the geographical advantage to hold out for a few days.

Once the Xiaoyao Sect sent cultivators to support, it would be difficult to escape. Under normal circumstances, no Foundation Establishment rogue cultivator would dare to take this risk, unless they encountered a high-level expert above the Golden Core stage. And in the entire nation of Wei, apart from the Xiaoyao Sect, there were only a few such people. It was impossible for such big figures to look down upon a small place like Qinghe County.

(End of chapter)