Chapter 24: Breakthrough in Cultivation

After dealing with the items in Liu Tianlong's storage bag, Song Qingming continued to walk south for a few more days and entered some desolate hills. Seeing the sunset sinking, the sky gradually darkened, and Song Qingming stopped his steps.

After observing the surroundings, he found a mountain wall, released the Lieyang Sword to strike the mountain wall for a while, and after spending some effort, finally dug out a small cave. Afterward, he set up a simple Five Elements Maze Formation outside the cave, placed a spirit stone to activate the formation, and then walked into the cave with satisfaction.

Ever since he was chased by the high-tier giant crocodile last time, he would rather choose to take more detours in the past few days, try to walk in desolate mountains and flat land, avoid those deep mountains and swamp areas where monster beasts appear, and find a cave at night to set up a formation outside before he can fall asleep.

Lighting a bonfire, Song Qingming took some spirit rice from the storage bag to cook. Qi Refining cultivators cannot yet Grain Bigu (grain-abstaining), and need to eat every few days. Fortunately, he brought a lot of spirit rice on his body, and he doesn't need to worry about food for the time being.

After dinner, Song Qingming rested for a while, then took out a Qi-Nurturing Pill and took it, running the Kunyuan Art to slowly dissolve the medicinal power of the spirit pill.

He had been out for nearly a month this time. There was no spirit vein to cultivate in these deep mountains, and he could only absorb a little spiritual energy by relying on the spirit rice he carried. His cultivation had not improved much. Fortunately, today he finally reached the time when he could take spirit pills at a fixed time every month.

After cultivating for half a cycle, Song Qingming suddenly felt that the bottleneck of his fifth layer of Qi Refining in his body seemed to have loosened a bit, thinking that this might be the time when his cultivation needed to break through.

Originally, according to the normal cultivation speed, Song Qingming would need at least two or three more years to break through the fifth layer of Qi Refining.

However, ever since he obtained the remnant map, in the past two years, relying on talisman making, he had saved up quite a few spirit stones and had exchanged five or six bottles of elixirs to improve his cultivation from Gao Yuyao. Except for taking two bottles of Qi-Nurturing Pills to the family's Gold Collection Pavilion to exchange for some talisman-making materials, most of the elixirs were left in his own hands. In the past two years, relying on continuously taking elixirs, his cultivation had improved to the peak of the fourth layer of Qi Refining.

Taking out a Clear Heart Talisman and sticking it on his body, Song Qingming crushed more than a dozen low-tier spirit stones in his hand, and a large amount of spiritual power instantly filled this small cave.

When a cultivator breaks through their cultivation, they need to inhale a large amount of spiritual energy. It is best to choose a breakthrough location in a spirit vein with abundant spiritual energy. It is a pity that in this desolate mountain and wild ridge today, Song Qingming could not find a spirit vein at once, so he could only use the spirit stones in his hand to provide spiritual energy. Although he now had quite a few spirit stones, such an extravagant behavior still made him frown.

Relying on this spiritual power, Song Qingming increased the speed of the cultivation technique running in his body, only feeling that the fifth spirit acupoint in his body gradually began to vibrate continuously.

Seeing this, Song Qingming was secretly happy in his heart, patiently continuing to absorb spiritual power and pour it into his dantian. Finally, after an hour, the spiritual energy in the meridians in his body flowed into the river like a bend of clear water, successfully rushing open the fifth spirit acupoint, and his cultivation improved to the fifth layer of Qi Refining, and the magic power in his dantian also rose by a large margin.

Unexpectedly, his breakthrough to the fifth layer of Qi Refining was so smooth. Song Qingming felt a burst of joy in his heart. Twelve years of cultivation, and now at twenty-two years old, his cultivation can finally keep up with most of the cultivators in the family.

For Song Qingming, who has been on the path of cultivation for more than ten years, nothing can make him happier than a breakthrough in cultivation. Without a sufficiently powerful cultivation base, no matter how many treasures and spirit stones he has, he cannot protect them, but instead will make wedding clothes for others. He has always been very clear about this point in his heart.

Cultivating to the fifth layer of Qi Refining at twenty-two years old can also be considered a cultivator with a fast cultivation speed in Qinghe County. If the items in Liu Tianlong's storage bag can be successfully exchanged for cultivation resources, Song Qingming already has a trace of confidence to cultivate to the ninth layer of Qi Refining before the age of sixty. Added to the Water Spirit Fruit in the storage bag, he can then take it to the Xiaoyao Sect to exchange for a Foundation Establishment pill. His path of Dao is now very bright.

Song Qingming, whose cultivation had broken through, did not rush to leave the closed-door cultivation, but slowly ran the spiritual energy dozens of times again, nourishing the newly opened spirit acupoint. It was not until five days later that he completely stabilized his cultivation that Song Qingming walked out of the cave.

Putting away the magic array, Song Qingming continued on his way, using the Light Body Technique, and felt that his magic power was much more profound than before.

After Song Qingming crossed a high mountain, he suddenly found a few figures appearing in the mountain valley under the mountain, and from time to time there was a roar of monster beasts, and a look of surprise and joy appeared on his face instantly. Ever since Song Qingming was rolled into the water pool by the Black-Feathered Python, he had been walking alone in this dangerous mountain range for nearly ten days. Finally seeing someone appear before his eyes, he couldn't help but feel a bit excited and quickly went down the mountain.

After walking closer, he found that it was a few cultivators besieging a giant bear. The burly man in the lead had a cultivation base that was not low, already at the late stage of Qi Refining. He had always been the main force on the battlefield. The other three mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators who assisted in the attack, and there was also a woman with only the third layer of Qi Refining who did not participate in the battle, always standing not far away watching the surroundings of the battlefield.

Seeing this situation, Song Qingming did not appear immediately, stopped on a tree on the side and watched from afar, and only jumped down from the tree trunk and walked toward the crowd after the high-tier giant bear was knocked down by these people.

"Stop, who is your excellency?"

Just as Song Qingming walked to a distance of ten zhang, the burly man with the highest cultivation discovered him first and shouted, his tone still a bit unkind.

The others on the side were still collecting materials on the giant bear. As soon as they heard someone coming, they hurriedly released magic tools to alert the surroundings, fearing that Song Qingming was not coming with good intentions and had other accomplices.

Seeing that these people were very wary of him, Song Qingming hurriedly stopped his steps, spread his hands and explained:

"Fellow Daoists, don't misunderstand. I am a rogue cultivator in Qinghe County, and I also came here to hunt monster beasts. A few days ago, our monster-hunting team encountered a second-tier monster beast. When fleeing for my life, I accidentally lost contact with my teammates. I didn't carry a map on me, and I walked in this mountain for a few days without finding my companions. Today, I happened to meet you all. May I ask in which direction Pingyang County is, and how far is it from here?"

"So it's a fellow rogue cultivator. You scared me. Fellow Daoist, don't blame me. I thought your excellency was one of those bastards from the Fire Wolf Gang." The burly man in the lead saw that there was really only Song Qingming around, put down his guard, and let his companions put away the magic tools in their hands.

This burly man looked like a straightforward person. Song Qingming had been mixing in Caolu Mountain for two years, but he was very fond of dealing with this type of person.

"It's a bit of a distance from Pingyang County. It will take about five or six days to walk in the southeast direction. If you don't have a map in your hand, Fellow Daoist, I'm afraid it will be a bit difficult to walk. I see that Fellow Daoist might as well wait for us at the mountain pass in the rear for a day. We will also return to Guiyun Market tomorrow, and just happen to be able to take you along."

The person speaking was a middle-aged Confucian scholar among them, with Confucian robes fluttering, holding a cyan-green treasure sword in his hand, with a cultivation base of the fifth layer of Qi Refining, full of scholarly spirit, and his speech was not slow, looking like a person with goods in his belly.

"That's fine. I would like to thank you fellow Daoists here first." Song Qingming nodded. As long as he can walk out of this dangerous Fuyun Mountain Range faster, waiting for a day is nothing to him.

The others, including the burly man with the highest cultivation, did not express opposition when they heard the middle-aged Confucian scholar wanting to take Song Qingming along. It was very obvious that although this Confucian scholar's cultivation was not high, he was the one who counted among the five.

After parting with the crowd, Song Qingming walked out of the mountain valley to the east for the time it takes to eat a meal, and saw a red big tree more than ten zhang high appearing in front, which was exactly the meeting place with that Confucian scholar yesterday.

Song Qingming found a few withered trees nearby, and borrowed some branches and leaves from this big tree, and simply built a small hut under this big tree.

Early the next morning, Song Qingming was meditating in the hut, when he suddenly heard a burst of spiritual power fluctuations coming from the formation outside the hut. Song Qingming went out to see, and a green-clothed girl in front was slashing in the mist of the formation with the flying sword in her hand, and from time to time she released a few low-tier spells.

This woman was about twenty years old, with a cyan jade hairpin inserted in her head, combed into two black braids behind her back, wearing a green skirt, exactly the third-layer Qi Refining girl among the rogue cultivators he met in the mountain valley yesterday.

It was just that at this time, this woman seemed to be trapped in the direction by the formation, and her face looked a bit panicked. Her several companions were standing not far outside the formation, seemingly discussing how to rescue her.

Seeing this situation, Song Qingming also gave a wry smile. He set up this formation originally to guard against the harassment of monster beasts in the mountains. Who would have thought that this woman was so careless that she plunged into this formation and was trapped by this formation at once. It would be difficult for someone who doesn't understand formations like her to walk out of this formation by herself without two or three hours.

Song Qingming hurriedly made a few gestures and put away the formation. The mist that surrounded the square few zhang under the tree instantly dissipated in the world, revealing the red big tree in the formation and Song Qingming under the tree.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 25 =====