Chapter 204

After leaving Guyang Mountain, Song Qingming did not delay too much and directly returned to Qinghe County on the wind.

Successfully sending Song Xinyu into the Xiaoyao Sect this time could be considered to have fulfilled a wish of Song Qingming. The next step is to consider how to support Qingyu's Foundation Establishment. No matter what, the future of the family will still have to be mastered by these young cultivators in the future.

Relying on the stability of Qinghe County over these few years, the Song family slowly made up for the deficit of the family's Treasury Pavilion. The merit in the hands of the clansmen could gradually be exchanged for spirit stones or various spiritual items. The days slowly became well-off, and everyone's cultivation had also improved quite a bit, more or less.

Song Qingyu had already successfully broken through to the ninth layer of Qi Condensation a year ago and could reach Foundation Establishment at any time. It was just that the Song family's foundation was still relatively thin now, and there was temporarily no way to get a Foundation Establishment pill for her. If she wanted Foundation Establishment, she would still have to look at her fortune in the future.

Within his own capabilities, Song Qingming still very much wanted to help the family cultivate another Foundation Establishment cultivator. This was not only for the sake of the family but also to have a reliable helper for himself in the future. It was just that although he had spirit stones on him now, he could not find a way to exchange for a Foundation Establishment pill for a while, so he could only let Song Qingyu wait first.

After returning to Qinghe County, Song Qingming did not return directly to Funiu Mountain but took a detour and came to Qinghe Marketplace.

Just arriving at the marketplace gate, Song Qingming saw from afar on his flying sword that at the gate of Qinghe Marketplace, several cultivators were arguing about something. Song Qingming, who did not know what had happened, put away his flying sword in advance and slowly walked over.

"Kid, I already told you that the marketplace has rules. You cannot bring this thing in. Why don't you understand?" A mid-stage Qi Condensation guard cultivator pinched his nose, pointed at the yellow-clothed man carrying a cloth bag, and scolded loudly.

"When was this rule made? Last time I came to the marketplace, I was allowed to bring it. Why can't I this time? If you don't let me in, you should return the spirit stones you just took from me." The yellow-clothed man who was stopped had a cultivation of only the third layer of Qi Condensation and looked like a rogue cultivator without any background. Facing the intentional difficulty of the guard cultivator, his mouth was still somewhat indignant.

"Do you need to be notified when the marketplace rules change? You even want to bring things like demon beast feces in. What kind of place do you think our Qinghe Marketplace is? We haven't asked you for compensation for smoking us out like this, and you still dare to ask for spirit stones? Get out of here quickly, don't force us to take action to drive people away."

Seeing that several guard cultivators stepped forward and wanted to drive people away directly, the yellow-clothed man hurriedly retreated a few steps, turned around, and was just about to admit his bad luck and leave here, but he did not expect that after these few people looked behind him, they suddenly bypassed him and respectfully came to a young man and bowed their heads to salute.

"Senior Song, when did you arrive? The junior just had eyes but didn't see you. I hope you will forgive me."

As soon as they heard them call him Senior, the few people gathered at the marketplace gate, including the rogue cultivator at the third layer of Qi Condensation who had just been driven away, were all shocked and stood still on the spot.

These people basically mixed in small places like Qinghe County all year round. Being able to see a Foundation Establishment senior at such a close distance was truly a rare thing. They all focused their attention on the young man.

At this time, Song Qingming, with a calm face, smiled and nodded, then opened his mouth to the few people who stepped forward to salute: "Since this little brother doesn't know this rule yet, it is also understandable. Since he has already arrived here, I think it's better to let him in, so as not to block the door and delay everyone's time. Don't you think so?"

Five years had passed. Now the ones stationed at Qinghe Marketplace had been changed to Lu family cultivators. Seeing the arrogant and domineering appearance of the few guard cultivators just now, Song Qingming could only sigh helplessly in his heart.

Among the several Foundation Establishment families in Qinghe County, the cultivators under the Huang and Gao families, even if they looked down on these bottom-layer rogue cultivators in their eyes, would occasionally have times when they bullied others, but they had always been very law-abiding on the surface. Back when Song Qingming was stationed at Qinghe Marketplace, the shopkeeper of Jinbao Hall, Gao Yufu, whom he handled, was also a cultivator with some status within the Gao family. The shady things they did in the marketplace were not so blatant and only dared to be done secretly. After the incident, Gao Yufu was whipped in public by Song Qingming, and the Gao family did not plead for him personally because of this matter.

It was precisely because of this that although Qinghe Marketplace was only a small marketplace, it still had a good reputation around Jiangling County. During the demon beast turmoil back then, many rogue cultivators specifically chose to run here to take refuge.

Although the Song family had only risen to become a Foundation Establishment family in these few years, under Song Qingming's lead in restraint, their actions had always been relatively low-key and would not be like these people who looked at people with their nostrils in the sky. Before the Song family became a Foundation Establishment family, they, who were in a Qi Condensation family, were actually also looked down upon by other Foundation Establishment families in Qinghe Marketplace. It was precisely because of this that most of the current Song family cultivators still had some empathy for these rogue cultivators.

Only the style of the Lu family cultivators made Song Qingming feel somewhat disgusted in his heart. In broad daylight, they dared to directly borrow power to collect wealth at the marketplace gate. I don't know how Lu Xingde, this patriarch, disciplined these cultivators under the Lu family. The reputation that Qinghe Marketplace had worked so hard to build over these years, I estimate that it would not take long before it would be consumed by these people.

Although he was somewhat worried in his heart, Song Qingming did not want to manage this matter now. As for how the business of Qinghe Marketplace was, the ones who should be most worried should be Lu Yuanfeng and the people of the Huang and Gao families. They occupied the majority of the marketplace's interests, and it was not yet the Song family's turn to take the lead.

"Senior is right. We juniors actually didn't intend to make things difficult for him just now. It was really that Senior Lu gave our law enforcement team an order not long ago to clean up and rectify the image of the marketplace, so we were just telling him the rules." Seeing that Song Qingming, this Foundation Establishment senior who was usually high above, would actually speak up for a down-and-out third-layer Qi Condensation rogue cultivator, these people were also somewhat surprised and hurriedly explained a few sentences.

When they faced these bottom-layer rogue cultivators just now, they were arrogant and domineering. At this moment, facing Song Qingming, they suddenly turned into flattering faces, which really made Song Qingming feel somewhat funny in his heart.

After speaking, a law enforcement team cultivator hurriedly turned around and shouted loudly at the few people who were still blocking the marketplace gate: "Why don't you go in? Why are you all blocking the door? Didn't you hear what Senior just said?"

The yellow-clothed man and the crowd heard this and hurriedly bowed to Song Qingming to thank him, then quickly passed through the marketplace gate.

Song Qingming smiled and nodded, then followed behind them and walked into Qinghe Marketplace.

After the battle of Duanliu Mountain, as the Huang and Gao families took the initiative to stop the fighting and defaulted to their respective territories, the situation in Qinghe County slowly stabilized over these few years, and Qinghe Marketplace also returned to the calm of the past. It was just that the pedestrians coming and going on the street were indeed fewer than in the past.

After entering the marketplace, Song Qingming first went to the Song family shop and sent some alchemy materials brought from Yangshan Marketplace, then passed by and came to Huang Siyuan's Golden Phoenix Tower.

Ever since moving back to Funiu Mountain, Song Qingming had rarely come here over these few years. Since he had already arrived at Qinghe Marketplace today, he naturally would not let go of this opportunity to comfort his five internal organs. He ordered a table of delicious spiritual food in one breath. Now that he could be considered a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he was not lacking these few spirit stones.

(End of chapter)