Chapter 2: Mount Qingzhu

Just as Song Qingming was deep in thought, the restriction he had set at the entrance of his cave dwelling suddenly experienced a fluctuation of spiritual energy.

Calming himself, Song Qingming quickly packed all the spirit stones on the table back together and carefully hid the bag inside a wall of the cave dwelling. After confirming once more that the location where he buried the spirit stones showed no signs of being disturbed, Song Qingming stood up and walked out of the cave dwelling.

Just as he stepped out of the cave entrance, he saw a person standing not far away who was much taller and broader than him, wearing a green long robe similar to his own, with a square-shaped face.

Seeing this person, Song Qingming felt a bit of joy and said, "Fourth Brother, coming to find me so early, are we going down the mountain again?"

"Old Seven, how are you so sure it's a good thing? Aren't you afraid it's Third Uncle again, looking for you to help draw formation diagrams?"

The person speaking with Song Qingming is ranked fourth among the "Qing" generation cultivators of the Song Clan, named Song Qingrui. His cultivation base is higher than Song Qingming's, already at the fourth layer of Qi Refining.

"Didn't I just go a few days ago? I don't think I'll have to go again today," Song Qingming replied with some embarrassment.

The Third Uncle mentioned by Fourth Brother Song Qingrui is also the Great Elder of the Song Clan. Because Song Qingming studies the Dao of formations, he likes to grab Song Qingming to help draw some small auxiliary magic spells on the magic robes he refines.

Although Song Qingming has some talent in the Dao of formations, his time since starting is still short, and his level is barely sufficient. For this reason, he is often scolded until his face turns red by the hot-tempered Third Uncle.

Song Qingrui smiled and didn't dwell on it, directly stating the purpose of his visit.

"Thirteenth Uncle said we're going to roast snakes at Mount Qingzhu today. Big Brother has already gone over and is waiting for us."

"Alright, Fourth Brother, wait for me to pack my magic tools, and I'll go down the mountain with you."

——

Located in the northeast corner of Qinghe County is a green mountain stretching for dozens of miles, named: Mount Qingzhu. The mountain is covered with patches of emerald green bamboo, resembling a sea of bamboo.

In a dense forest at the foot of Mount Qingzhu, there is an open ground that has just been cleared by magic tools. Three cultivators are nervously hiding in a pile of dense weeds nearby, occasionally sticking their necks out, anxiously staring at a small path leading up the mountain in front of them.

"Big Brother, do you think Thirteenth Uncle will be alright? Why hasn't he returned after so long this time? Should we go and support him?"

One of the three youths asked anxiously to the slightly older leading young man in the middle.

"Don't talk nonsense. Thirteenth Uncle is at least a sixth-layer Qi Refining cultivator. As long as he doesn't go deep into the territory of those high-tier demonic beasts inside Mount Qingzhu, how could the demonic beasts at the foot of the mountain hold him back?

There are relatively few demonic beasts in this area. I guess he hasn't found a suitable prey for a while. Let's not go out first; if we startle the demonic beasts, all our hard work will be in vain," the slightly older young man scolded the youth in a low voice.

This man is named Song Qingshi, a fourth-generation cultivator of the Song Clan from nearby Mount Funiu, with a cultivation base at the fifth layer of Qi Refining. The two youths behind him are Song Qingrui and Song Qingming, who came down the mountain together.

The cultivator Song Qingshi mentioned who went to lure the demonic beasts is Song Zhangxiong, ranked thirteenth in the third generation "Chang" character generation of the Song Clan. He already has a cultivation base at the sixth layer of Qi Refining and has often led these nephews of the "Qing" generation out to hunt demons in recent years.

Looking at the open ground not far away, Song Qingshi also felt a trace of worry in his heart, but then he thought that he had been hunting demonic beasts with Thirteenth Uncle for so many years, and Thirteenth Uncle's experience in luring the enemy was already very rich.

Also, he has a tough defensive cultivation technique and carries a mid-tier defensive magic tool for self-protection, so he thought there shouldn't be any major problems.

Song Qingshi silently took a breath and slowly exhaled, calming the tension in his heart.

After another few quarters of an hour, a sound suddenly came from the bamboo forest at the end of the small path, and a burly man suddenly rushed out. It was Song Zhangxiong.

But at this moment, he looked somewhat disheveled, covered in green bamboo leaves, his clothes were torn in several places, and even a section of his right sleeve was gone.

Song Zhangxiong took a few steps to the left and right, jumped onto the small path, and ran straight towards the hiding place of the three people at the foot of the mountain without looking back. While running, he shouted loudly:

"Hurry up and prepare to activate the formation! Damn it, there are quite a few coming this time."

The three people hiding in the grass breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Song Zhangxiong was safe and sound. Song Qingshi turned around and gave instructions to the two people behind him after hearing Song Zhangxiong's voice.

"Prepare to activate the formation. I guess there are mid-tier demonic beasts this time. Everyone be careful."

It wasn't until Song Zhangxiong ran to within a few zhang of them that the three heard a "hissing" sound coming from behind him. Seven or eight large green snakes were in hot pursuit. The two snakes at the front were a size larger than the others, with long, thin white stripes on their bodies, looking quite ferocious.

"There are two mid-tier Green Bamboo Pythons. This is a bit tricky. You two be sharp later. If the formation can't trap the demonic beasts, retreat immediately and scatter to escape."

"Don't worry, Big Brother, we know what to do." The two nodded repeatedly after hearing this, obviously not the first time they had heard Song Qingshi's cautious words.

Just as Song Qingshi finished speaking, Song Zhangxiong had already run to the open ground a few zhang in front of the three. He then turned around and immediately stopped, releasing a large silver saber and holding it horizontally in front of him. The two leading mid-tier Green Bamboo Pythons following him were not slow either, catching up in an instant, opening their giant mouths and pouncing towards Song Zhangxiong.

I saw the two Green Bamboo Pythons pouncing left and right, aiming their giant mouths at Song Zhangxiong's neck and thigh respectively.

Seeing this, Song Zhangxiong quickly made a response. He first turned his body to dodge the poison sprayed at his neck on the left, and at the same time, the large ring saber in his hand quickly slashed towards the giant python pouncing at his thigh on the other side, forcing the giant python that was about to succeed to change its attack direction.

Unexpectedly, the giant python saw the large saber slashing over but did not retreat immediately. Its large green head just shrank slightly, and it opened its giant mouth to spray a stream of poison.

With a loud "bang," although Song Zhangxiong fought hard to slash the Green Bamboo Python, he didn't cause much damage. While turning to dodge the poison, he was swept in the waist by the tail of the other Green Bamboo Python that had just missed its pounce, forcing him to retreat dozens of steps before he could stabilize his figure.

"Bang, bang, bang," there were several more loud noises. The man and the two snakes had several more fierce collisions. Song Zhangxiong, facing two mid-tier demonic beasts alone, gradually fell into a disadvantage, and several wounds appeared on his body.

At this time, the other five or six low-tier Green Bamboo Pythons had also arrived. On that open ground, seven or eight Green Bamboo Pythons surrounded Song Zhangxiong. Song Zhangxiong's state at this moment was also somewhat precarious, his outer garment was already tattered, revealing a piece of black soft armor underneath.

Just at this moment, three red fire walls suddenly jumped up from the open ground, connecting into a triangular shape, instantly surrounding Song Zhangxiong and the seven or eight Green Bamboo Pythons within the fire walls. It was the "Blazing Fire Formation" that Song Qingming and the other two had been waiting for a long time to activate.

Seeing this, Song Zhangxiong was overjoyed, raised his large saber and swung it hard to force back the few low-tier Green Bamboo Pythons, then quickly sacrificed a fire-avoidance talisman and stuck it on his chest, turned and passed through the fire wall behind him to the outside.

Outside the fire wall, three red formation flags were inserted into the ground, and a white formation disk was dancing above. The three fire walls connected by the formation disk were emitting raging flames. Song Qingshi and the other three were sitting behind the red formation flags, injecting their own spiritual energy into the flags.

Green Bamboo Pythons are naturally afraid of fire, and this Blazing Fire Formation is the sharp weapon for dealing with them. The erected fire walls could easily block the poison sprayed by the two mid-tier demonic pythons. The four of them had used this formation many times in the past to hunt demonic beasts here, and now they were extremely proficient in driving the formation.

"I'll recover my spiritual power first, you guys hold on for a moment," Song Zhangxiong said to Song Qingshi and the other three after jumping out of the fire wall. He walked to the side, took out a few elixirs, stuffed them into his mouth, and sat cross-legged, practicing to slowly dissolve the medicinal power.

Seeing this, the three just nodded and didn't distract themselves to look after him, just continuously increasing their efforts to drive the formation. The fire in the Heavenly Fire Formation rose instantly. The low-tier demonic beasts inside the fire wall were frightened and panicked, retreating repeatedly.

Seeing this, the two mid-tier demonic beasts let out a few low hisses at their low-tier counterparts behind them. The low-tier Green Bamboo Pythons were frightened and hurriedly stabilized their figures. Driven by the two mid-tier demonic beasts, they sprang up one after another and crashed into the fire walls, but were bounced back by the powerful force of the fire walls, and patches of burn marks appeared on their bodies.

Although low-tier demonic beasts cannot yet drive spiritual energy, their physical fitness is several times that of ordinary wild beasts. Constant collisions also consumed a lot of the formation's spiritual energy.

Seeing this, Song Qingshi and the other three successively raised their spiritual energy, driving the small red formation flag in their hands. Three fire dragons suddenly flew out from the fire walls and pounced towards the leaping demonic beasts. For a time, the fire dragons and the demonic beasts fought into a ball.

Although there were many demonic beasts, one of the three fire dragons was beaten away after a while. However, the fire dragons were formed by absorbing the spiritual energy of the formation, and as long as there was a stable injection of spiritual energy, they could recover.

Half an hour passed slowly. Most of the low-tier demonic beasts in the Heavenly Fire Formation had been killed by the fire dragons, and the remaining ones had also lost their fighting ability. Only the two mid-tier Green Bamboo Pythons, although they had some wounds on their bodies, did not affect their fighting ability much, and were still struggling to fight with the three fire dragons.

At this time, Song Qingshi, who had the highest cultivation base among the three, was already covered in sweat, and the speed of inputting spiritual energy into the formation had slowed down a lot. On the other sides, Song Qingming and Song Qingshi had lower cultivation bases, and at this moment, the two looked like their spiritual energy was running low, and they were gritting their teeth to hold on.

Song Qingming's cultivation base was only at the third layer of Qi Refining. At this moment, the luster of the fire wall in front of him had become very dim. Seeing this, the two demonic beasts attacked his side desperately. Song Qingming was backlashed by the formation, a trace of blood overflowed from his mouth instantly, his face was as pale as paper, and his expression was somewhat listless.

Just at this moment, a thick, large hand supported his back. Song Qingming instantly felt a thick stream of spiritual energy pouring into his body, and the fire wall in front of him, which was about to collapse, quickly recovered its original brightness.

Song Qingming was pleasantly surprised, "Thirteenth Uncle, if you didn't come, I'm afraid I would have fallen first."

"That won't do. If we let them out, all our hard work will be in vain. Let me in later, and you guys continue to drive the formation with all your might to help me kill these two beasts."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 3 =====