Chapter 163: Dao Heart

Song Qingming felt somewhat strange hearing Huang Siyuan's self-talk. In the past, every sentence Huang Siyuan said to him felt basically centered around her own interests. It was just like the delicious spirit food she often sent to Song Qingming, which was actually to have the opportunity to get some guidance from Song Qingming on her cultivation. Usually, except for some necessary words, she almost never said an extra word in front of Song Qingming.

After more than four years of contact between the two, Song Qingming also understood Huang Siyuan a little bit. The feeling she gave Song Qingming was that she was someone who appeared very calm about everything on the surface, but was extremely closed off inside.

Huang Siyuan was born in a large cultivation family like the Huang family, and because her parents were both cultivators, her days had always been very good. Since she was a child, she not only lacked the resources needed for cultivation but also had her parents personally guide her practice. With her spiritual root aptitude, she was definitely a key object for the Huang family to cultivate in the future, and she had some hope of successfully reaching Foundation Establishment. Just based on her background, compared to cultivators like Song Qingming who came from a small family and whose spiritual root aptitude was not very good, the gap was simply heaven and earth.

Huang Siyuan's mother was originally a cultivator of the Minghe Sect in the State of Zheng. Many years ago, when the two major sects in the State of Zheng were fighting, many cultivators fled to neighboring countries to avoid disaster, and Huang Siyuan's mother was one of them. After her mother came to the State of Wei, she, having no one to rely on, accidentally met Huang Siyuan's father in Qinghefang, and the two fell in love over time and ended up together.

After giving birth to Huang Siyuan, their family lived a stable life for more than ten years under the protection of the Huang family. But then, a major event occurred that caused a great turning point in Huang Siyuan's fate.

Many years ago, when Huang Siyuan's mother went to Qinghefang alone, she suddenly went missing for some reason. Over the years, there had been no news of her, and no one knew where she had gone. After this incident, many Huang family cultivators searched Qinghefang but found no traces. They all suspected that her mother had voluntarily abandoned the father and daughter and turned her back on the Huang family. Coupled with the fact that Huang Siyuan's father's status in the Huang family was not high and his personality was somewhat cowardly, she soon became unwelcome in the Huang family as well.

After Huang Siyuan cultivated to the fourth layer of Qi Refining, knowing that she was sidelined and could not get many cultivation resources from the family, she chose not to stay on the mountain to cultivate and voluntarily went down the mountain to Qinghefang to help manage the Huang family's industry, starting a life of cultivating on her own.

Over the years, she had been helping the Huang family manage this restaurant in the Huixian Tower in Qinghefang, and she also learned a good skill as a spirit chef. A few years ago, when the spirit beast turmoil happened, there were many more cultivators in Qinghefang, and the Huixian Tower's business became better and better. Coupled with the fact that Huang Siyuan was doing quite well, the Huang family earned more, and naturally, they would give her more, which allowed her to save a lot of spirit stones over the years. If there were no accidents, she would still have a chance to cultivate to the ninth layer of Qi Refining faster in the Huixian Tower and fight for that glimmer of hope for Foundation Establishment.

It was a pity that before she could be stable for long, someone in the family became jealous of her position as the manager of the Huixian Tower. When they knew the family wanted to choose someone to marry into the Song family, her conditions just happened to meet the requirements of the two Huang family ancestors, and she was naturally chosen by the many elders in the clan. Taking this opportunity, she was kicked out of the Huixian Tower, causing Huang Siyuan to lose this stable source of income for earning spirit stones.

After several twists and turns, on the surface, Huang Siyuan seemed to go with the flow like most bottom-tier cultivators, calmly accepting everything she had lost. But from her secretly using spirit food to please him and guide her cultivation over the years, Song Qingming saw the determination Huang Siyuan hid deep in her heart, determined to change her fate of being controlled by improving her own strength.

Marrying into the Song family and becoming the Dao companion of Song Qingming, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, seemed like a very glorious thing on the surface. But unlike others, Huang Siyuan was a tool for the marriage alliance between the Huang family and the Song family. Everyone in both families knew this. The Huang family wanted to use her to win over and monitor the Song family, and the Song family would naturally be on guard against her and would not treat her as one of their own in the short term.

If the Song family were still the Qi Refining family they were before, that would be fine. As a Huang family cultivator, relying on the power of her maternal family, the entire Song family would naturally not dare to look down on her. As long as the Huang family did not fall, she could definitely live a stable life.

But now, the difference was that the Song family was a Foundation Establishment family. As Song Qingming's cultivation base slowly improved, the Song family might be able to rival the Huang family in the future and compete for cultivation resources in Qinghe County. Moreover, this marriage alliance was forced down by the Huang family when Song Qingming had just reached Foundation Establishment and the Song family was weak. Once there were bad changes in the relationship between the two families in the future, Huang Siyuan, as a tool for the marriage alliance, would naturally be the first to be sacrificed.

From the moment Huang Siyuan was chosen as the person for the marriage alliance of the Huang family, she actually knew her position in the Song family. She did not take the initiative to contact the Song family members. Over the years, although Song Qingwan and other Song family cultivators in Qinghefang were very polite to her on the surface, they were still very wary of her in secret. Only Song Qingyu, who was spoiled by the older brothers and elders in the family, showed a trace of sincere friendship toward her.

The reason she was able to open the Xianfeng Tower later was actually because Song Qingming saw that she stayed near his cave dwelling all day long, fearing that she would know too many secrets about him if time went on, so he intentionally let Song Qingwan take the initiative to find her something to do. It was just that she probably didn't know it yet.

At this moment, on the mountaintop, Song Qingming suddenly felt the incomparable yearning for the Great Dao of cultivation that Huang Siyuan had been hiding in her heart from her words, which also touched Song Qingming's heart. He wanted to speak, but after opening his mouth, he didn't know what to say for a while.

Although he had successfully reached Foundation Establishment, this was only a small step on the Great Dao of cultivation. How far he could walk on the Dao path in the future and how long he could see the beautiful scenery of this world, he himself didn't know. By comparison, Huang Siyuan's Dao heart was more determined than his.

Just as the two suddenly fell into silence, a large red bird suddenly flew from high in the sky and landed on the blue stone beside them.

"It's not early anymore, why don't we go back earlier? With the Immortal Wind Jade, it's actually very convenient if you want to come here again in the future." After Song Qingming finished speaking, he put the Skyfire Peng directly into a lightweight spirit beast bag and handed the spirit beast bag to Huang Siyuan.

Huang Siyuan heard Song Qingming's words and didn't say much, nodded, and took the Skyfire Peng from his hand.

Because the flight speed of the spirit item Immortal Wind Jade was far inferior to a Foundation Establishment cultivator flying with a sword, Song Qingming simply used his second-tier flying sword to carry Huang Siyuan back to Qinghefang.

Just as the two returned, they saw a disciple of Lu Yuanfeng waiting outside Song Qingming's cave dwelling. Seeing Song Qingming return, the person hurriedly stepped forward to salute.

"Greetings, Senior Song. Senior Uncle Chen and the others have arrived and are in the council hall. My master asks you to go there as well."

Song Qingming nodded and said, "You go back and report first; I will be there immediately."

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 164 =====