Chapter 333: Ten years

Song Qingming, who was in his cave dwelling on Mount Funiu, looked at the dozen or so small jade bottles that had been delivered before him. A look of surprise appeared on his face, and he said softly to Song Qingsi, who was standing to the side:

"There are actually so many demonic beast souls collected over these past few days. The family's beast-hunting team has been much more diligent recently than in the past!"

"Yes! Ever since this mission was posted, everyone has been very enthusiastic. There are also quite a few young people in the family who have taken the initiative to come to the Golden Treasury Pavilion to exchange for the Soul-Capturing Technique." Song Qingsi replied with a calm expression.

Song Qingming nodded slightly, showing his satisfaction. "I have enough for this month already. Qingsi, keep an eye on this; from now on, limit the number of demonic beast souls collected each month. Don't let everyone's fondness for this mission affect the normal operations of other parts of the family."

"Understood, I will notify everyone immediately!" After hearing this, Song Qingsi nodded hurriedly in agreement.

"Alright, you go ahead and get busy. Looking at your cultivation, you shouldn't be far from a breakthrough soon. I have a few elixirs here that should be useful for your cultivation; consider it a reward for your hard work recently.

For those of us who cultivate the Dao, the path of cultivation is the top priority. Do not let these trivial matters delay your own progress. If the Golden Treasury Pavilion becomes too busy, just tell Big Brother and have him send someone to help you."

Watching Song Qingming hand her a small porcelain bottle, Song Qingsi took it, bowed with a smile to express her thanks, and then nodded and exited Song Qingming's cave dwelling.

Over these years, as the few 'Chang'-generation cultivators who managed affairs gradually passed away, their generation of cultivators had basically handed over the affairs they managed to the next generation. The manager of the Golden Treasury Pavilion had also changed from the patriarch Song Changfeng to Song Qingsi, whom Song Qingming had recommended.

The fourteenth elder, Song Qingsi, had also followed Song Qingming for a long time in her early years to learn the way of formations. Although they were of the same generation in the clan, their relationship was effectively that of master and disciple.

Although Song Qingsi's innate spiritual root talent was not as good as the tenth elder, Song Qingyu, her personality had been careful and steady since she was young. Coupled with the years of influence from following Song Qingming, she still had some knack for managing family affairs. Song Qingming was quite at ease having handed the Golden Treasury Pavilion over to her.

In order to cultivate the Soul-Devouring Art technique given to him by Feng He, Song Qingming had to frequently go out to hunt demonic beasts and collect their souls. Although his cultivation base was very high and he could quickly kill these low-tier demonic beasts, collecting the souls from these corpses was not a simple matter. Sometimes, killing five or six low-tier demonic beasts could result in returning empty-handed. Doing this alone was simply too inefficient.

Later, after some thought, Song Qingming simply posted a mission in the family's Golden Treasury Pavilion to capture demonic beast souls and placed the corresponding Soul-Capturing Technique directly into the pavilion, letting other Song family cultivators participate in this mission to help him solve this troublesome problem. After all, he was the controller of a cultivation family; leaving so many subordinates unused was truly too wasteful.

What Song Qingming needed for his Soul-Devouring Art cultivation now were the lowest-level first-grade low-quality demonic beast souls. Most Qi Condensation cultivators could kill such beasts alone, and the Soul-Capturing Technique was not a particularly difficult spell to learn. In just a short month, quite a few Song family cultivators had already learned this spell.

Seeing such a mission with very generous rewards and low difficulty suddenly posted in the Golden Treasury Pavilion, many Song family cultivators were attracted to it. For a time, the areas near Mount Funiu suffered heavy blows to their demonic beast populations, which also made the Song family's territory much more peaceful.

With them helping to do this troublesome task, Song Qingming was finally able to focus wholeheartedly on cultivating the Soul-Devouring Art.

After seeing Song Qingsi off, Song Qingming sat cross-legged with his eyes closed on the meditation cushion in his cave dwelling. After casting a spell, his primordial spirit slowly emerged and separated from his physical body.

Song Qingming had previously cultivated the Soul-Forging Art, so his primordial spirit was already three parts stronger than that of an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator. Now, using this technique to separate his primordial spirit from his body was naturally a familiar task.

Under Song Qingming's control, a jade bottle containing a demonic beast soul was opened. A somewhat dim ball of light instantly escaped from the bottle; it was precisely one of the demonic beast souls captured by the Song family cultivators.

Having been trapped in the bottle for so long, this small ball of light had long since become somewhat manic. However, before it could even make a move after gaining its freedom, a somewhat transparent giant hand had already firmly grasped it.

Seeing that something else wanted to restrain it, the small green ball of light immediately began to struggle. However, compared to the transparent giant that had grasped it, this small ball of light was truly too weak. It was quickly crushed by the hand and swallowed into its mouth.

After swallowing this demonic beast soul, Song Qingming hurriedly retracted his primordial spirit back into his body and then began a long period of meditation to refine it.

Thus, spring passed and autumn came. After a long period of arduous cultivation, Song Qingming finally cultivated the Soul-Devouring Art to the second layer after ten years.

Having successfully cultivated the Soul-Devouring Art to the second layer, Song Qingming released his spiritual sense and discovered that he could now project it forty to fifty zhang away. Ordinary cultivators of the same tier who had not cultivated soul techniques could at most project theirs ten to twenty zhang away. His primordial spirit was now nearly twice as strong as theirs. Seeing that his many years of hard work had finally yielded good results, Song Qingming was satisfied as he put away his technique and walked out the door of his cave dwelling.

"Seeing Seventh Brother so happy, could it be that your cultivation is about to break through again?" Song Qingyu, who was meditating at a spot on the mountaintop, sensed the movement from Song Qingming's side and walked over to him with a smile.

Seeing Song Qingyu, Song Qingming chuckled and shook his head slightly, saying: "This time, it is just that the technique I was cultivating has made progress. I have been sitting in my cave dwelling for so many years; wanting to rely on hard work to break through my cultivation is likely quite difficult. I don't know when I will have the opportunity to break through to the late stage of Foundation Establishment.

Tomorrow, I have decided to go to Yangshan Market again to see if there are any elixirs that can help with a breakthrough. Do you have anything you want to buy? I will look for it for you while I'm there."

"The elixirs I use for cultivation are almost gone. Please bring some more back for me, and I will give you the spirit stones when you return. Also, please help me see if there is any second-tier water-attribute demonic beast fur. I have had some new insights into my talisman-making recently and want to try to see if I can use this opportunity to break through and become a second-tier talisman maker." Song Qingyu thought for a moment and quickly listed the spiritual items she needed.

"Alright! I have noted it down. Don't skimp on the elixirs you need for cultivation in the future; if you don't have enough spirit stones, just tell me directly."

Seeing that Song Qingming was in a very good mood after coming out of seclusion this time, Song Qingyu hesitated for a moment, but finally made up her mind and asked Song Qingming: "Seventh Brother! That matter I mentioned to you last time, how have you considered it?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 334 =====