Chapter 126: Making a Request

After waiting for over two hours, Xu Cheng Ziyan returned and brought Song Qingming to the Xiaoyao Sect's Law Enforcement Hall, where an elderly Foundation Establishment cultivator was already waiting.

Under Xu Cheng Ziyan's reminder, Song Qingming recounted the sequence of events to this person. After listening, the elderly Foundation Establishment cultivator said, "Junior Sister Xu has already explained this matter to me. Since you dared to come here, I assume there should be no problem. However, this matter involves a Foundation Establishment cultivator from within the sect. According to sect rules, we must still use the Soul-Questioning Talisman on you to finalize the nature of this matter."

As soon as he finished speaking, the old man took a cyan spiritual talisman from his storage bag and stuck it directly onto the top of Song Qingming's head. He then performed a set of hand seals, and the cyan talisman instantly sank into Song Qingming's brain.

Song Qingming's brain jolted, and he immediately felt a wave of dizziness, falling into a state of unconsciousness. Following that, an identical blue spiritual talisman appeared within his body, wrapping around his spiritual sense. Song Qingming felt as if his spiritual sense and thoughts were being controlled; no matter what he tried to think, he couldn't think of anything.

"Where did you obtain the storage bag and jade box you handed over?"

"In the mountains northwest of Pingyang County, by a small river."

"Did you harm the owner of this storage bag?"

"I did not harm them."

"Whose hands did the owner of this storage bag die at?"

"I do not know."

After the three questions were asked, the Soul-Questioning Talisman within Song Qingming's body suddenly disappeared automatically. After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he slowly regained some sensation and woke up from his slumber.

The talisman the old man used was a genuine second-tier Soul-Questioning Talisman, which cost over a hundred spirit stones to produce. Although this type of spiritual talisman was only an auxiliary one, it was extremely rare on the market, and the Xiaoyao Sect did not have many in storage. If it were not for a major matter involving a Foundation Establishment cultivator of the sect, it would not have been taken out for use so casually.

Seeing Song Qingming wake up so quickly, the Foundation Establishment old man showed some surprise. He turned his head and said to Xu Cheng Ziyan, "Using the Soul-Questioning Talisman will always damage a cultivator's spiritual sense to some extent. An ordinary Qi Refining cultivator would find it hard to wake up within the time it takes to burn a stick of incense. This young cultivator must have practiced spiritual sense techniques."

Xu Cheng Ziyan did not know whether Song Qingming had practiced spiritual sense techniques, but she really did not want to cause any more trouble in this Law Enforcement Hall. She nodded carefully and continued to ask, "Senior Brother Zhou, since he has passed the Soul-Questioning Talisman, this matter can be considered concluded. I will trouble you to hand over Senior Brother Mo's relics to Senior Uncle Li."

The old man pondered for a moment and said, "I will hand over the items immediately. In a few days, I ask that the little brother help lead the way. I will take a few junior brothers with me to go with you to bring Senior Brother Mo's remains back to the sect for burial.

Also, since Senior Brother Mo's matter has nothing to do with this little Daoist friend, he should also receive some reward for returning the remains of a sect cultivator to the sect. After the items are returned to Senior Brother Mo's descendants, I will report this matter to Senior Uncle Li and inform you then. I ask that you do not leave Mount Guyang during this time."

After leaving the Law Enforcement Hall with Xu Cheng Ziyan, Song Qingming's face remained pale the entire way.

Having witnessed the power of the Soul-Questioning Talisman for the first time, his heart remained unsettled for a long time.

He had only heard of this second-tier spiritual talisman before; he never expected it to be so profound. No matter how deep one's schemes were, in front of this kind of talisman, not to mention Qi Refining cultivators, even Foundation Establishment cultivators could not lie. To resist this kind of talisman, one would need to have the cultivation of the Jin Dan realm.

Fortunately, this questioning did not involve other secrets he held, otherwise, he would not have been able to walk out of Mount Guyang today.

After staying next to Xu Cheng Ziyan's cave dwelling for two days, several Xiaoyao Sect law enforcement cultivators, led by the elderly Foundation Establishment Senior Brother Zhou from a few days ago, came directly to Xu Cheng Ziyan's place to pick up Song Qingming.

The group rode a flying boat and, without spending many days, arrived in Pingyang County, thousands of miles away from Mount Guyang.

Under Song Qingming's guidance, they quickly found Senior Brother Mo's remains from a pile of rubble. Even for a Foundation Establishment cultivator, a corpse would not completely rot for a hundred years, and the corpse they found was no different from when Song Qingming buried it a year ago.

After returning, Song Qingming continued to stay on the spiritual mountain of Xu Cheng Ziyan's cave dwelling for over ten days. The Law Enforcement Hall then sent a Qi Refining cultivator to deliver a message, bringing Song Qingming to the Law Enforcement Hall once more. This time, Xu Cheng Ziyan did not follow, and Song Qingming felt somewhat uneasy along the way.

After entering the hall, Song Qingming saw that besides the elderly Foundation Establishment man surnamed Zhou whom he had met several times, there was also a man in white who looked even younger than himself.

The elderly Foundation Establishment man surnamed Zhou brought Song Qingming before the man in white and then retreated respectfully.

"So it was you who returned Junior Nephew Mo's remains!" The man in white stepped forward, looked at Song Qingming, and said calmly.

Upon hearing this, Song Qingming realized that the person before him was likely Li Wutong, an Elder of the Xiaoyao Sect's Law Enforcement Hall.

"Reporting to the Ancestor, it was this junior who brought them." After saying this, Song Qingming could not help but break into a cold sweat on his forehead.

Seeing that the Song Qingming before him was quite frightened, Li Wutong flicked a wisp of a cool breeze from his hand, making Song Qingming instantly feel a sense of coolness, and his nervous mood eased somewhat.

Afterward, Li Wutong said, "I heard from Junior Nephew Zhou that you are a cultivator from Qinghe County. Traveling thousands of miles to return Junior Nephew Mo's remains to the sect is a merit. I will take the initiative here and can grant you one request that I can fulfill. Tell me what spiritual item you want most."

"This junior, this junior wants a Foundation Establishment Pill. I hope the Senior can grant it."

For some reason, as soon as Song Qingming heard that he could make a request to a Jin Dan cultivator, he immediately thought of the Foundation Establishment Pill he had been longing for, and it slipped out inadvertently.

"A Foundation Establishment Pill? You kid really dares to think." Li Wutong glanced at the bewildered Song Qingming and continued, "I do have a Foundation Establishment Pill here, but this kind of spiritual item is far beyond the reward you can obtain. How about this: I will give you two years. If you can come up with eight thousand spirit stones, come directly to the Law Enforcement Hall to find me, and you can exchange them for a Foundation Establishment Pill. I will sell it to you at a discounted price. If you cannot come up with it by then, you can only take a small reward of spirit stones. What do you think?"

"This junior thanks the Ancestor for the reward!" Upon hearing Li Wutong say this, Song Qingming hurriedly knelt down, expressed his thousand thanks, and then left the Xiaoyao Sect's Law Enforcement Hall.

According to Li Wutong, he had already obtained an opportunity to purchase a Foundation Establishment Pill, as long as he could gather eight thousand spirit stones within two years. Although he could not come up with so many spirit stones right now, having this opportunity gave him a glimmer of hope for Foundation Establishment no matter what he did next.

After returning to Xu Cheng Ziyan's spiritual mountain, Song Qingming told her about this matter without reservation. After all, he was able to obtain this opportunity because of her help.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 127 =====