Chapter 378

After the four distributed the spirit items, they boarded Duan Xueyi's flying boat again and left this swampy area, heading south quickly.

On the way back this time, although there were still occasional flying demon beasts harassing them, because they were much more familiar with the route than when they came, the speed of the flying boat also increased a lot, and it only took seven days to completely walk out of the Fuyun Mountain Range.

This trip to the Fuyun Mountain Range, the group not only harvested quite a few spirit items but also didn't encounter any particularly powerful demon beasts, which could be considered very smooth. Therefore, after walking out of the Fuyun Mountain Range, everyone's faces began to be filled with smiles.

As Foundation Establishment cultivators, these people were much wealthier than Qi Refining cultivators, but the consumption required for their daily cultivation was also several times that of ordinary Qi Refining cultivators. Being able to earn several thousand spirit stones on a long trip naturally made them happy.

After arriving at a place ten-plus li away from Guiyun Market, Duan Xueyi took the initiative to stop the flying boat under her feet, and Song Qingming and Fang Wuqian jumped down from it directly.

"Two Fellow Daoists, further ahead is the market. There are many people there, so we will send you here."

"Hehe! Fairy Duan is too polite. You two walk well, and we will meet again if there is fate in the future."

"Walk well!"

Song Qingming and Fang Wuqian bowed to Duan Xueyi and Gao Yuyao above the flying boat, and the flying boat turned into a white light and disappeared into mid-air soon.

After the two Fairies left, Fang Wuqian turned to Song Qingming and asked: "Fellow Daoist Song, I still have to go to Guiyun Market to deal with these demon beast corpses. Would you like to go with me?"

Facing Fang Wuqian's active invitation, Song Qingming shook his head without hesitation: "When I went out this time, I told the clan that I would go back in half a month or so. Now it's almost time, so I won't delay here too much."

"Next time, if Fellow Daoist Fang has a chance to come to Qinghe County, you must come to my Mount Funiu to sit for a while, and I will fulfill the duties of a host properly."

"That's fine! Then Fellow Daoist Song, take care. I will take my leave first." Fang Wuqian smiled, bowed to Song Qingming, and then stepped on his flying sword, heading straight for Guiyun Market.

Seeing Fang Wuqian disappear into a green light in his eyes, Song Qingming took out the green robe and bamboo hat he wore when he came, put them directly on his body, carefully concealed his face, then summoned a dark red flying sword, stepped on the sword light, and left here.

What was somewhat strange was that the direction Song Qingming left this time was not the direction to Qinghe County he had just told Fang Wuqian, but he headed north and entered the Fuyun Mountain Range again.

After flying north on his sword for two days, Song Qingming arrived at a relatively barren small mountain, found a remote place, set up a formation simply, and prepared to rest here for a while, recover some magic power, and then set off on the road again.

Half an hour later, just as Song Qingming was focused on closing his eyes to meditate and recover his magic power, several spiritual lights flying at high speed suddenly appeared in the very quiet sky, approaching the vicinity of the small mountain where Song Qingming was.

These spiritual lights were of different colors. One red light flew the fastest, stopped after arriving not far from Song Qingming's position, and revealed a seductive man in red clothes holding a folding fan.

Not far behind him, there were also a yellow and a white spiritual light following. After flying to the side of the man in red, they also turned into an old man in yellow clothes and a white-robed Confucian scholar with a somewhat delicate appearance.

After the man in red stopped, he circled the sky above the small mountain quickly again, and returned to the side of the other two.

The old man in yellow stepped forward and said to the man in red: "Senior Brother Hong, how is it? Didn't find that kid?"

"Hmph! The place indicated by the Spirit-Communication Bead just now was here. He should be hiding near this small mountain. It's just that this kid seems to have used some hiding method to hide. It seems it will take some effort." After the man in red finished speaking, he took out a jade-green bead from his waist and looked at it carefully.

"Since he is here, he can't run. Let's search separately and carefully. I'm not afraid we won't find that kid." After the old man in yellow finished speaking, he took the lead and flew down to one side of the small mountain, beginning to search slowly at close range.

After the man in red standing in the sky and the white-robed Confucian scholar exchanged a look, they also chose a direction and fell toward the small mountain.

And all of this that just happened in mid-air also fell into the eyes of Song Qingming, who was hiding on one side of the small mountain. At this moment, after seeing these people appear, his face was already filled with confusion.

The man in red and the old man in yellow who just arrived, Song Qingming had actually seen them before. These two were none other than the demonic cultivators who fought against Xiaoyao Sect cultivators like Li Yungong in the chaotic battle in the underground cave of Black Stone Valley a year ago.

Only the white-robed Confucian scholar, Song Qingming should not have seen him. Looking at his somewhat thin and small build, he didn't look like the third demonic cultivator who escaped that day either.

Although he didn't hear what these demonic cultivators were talking about in mid-air, Song Qingming knew very well in his heart that on this small mountain where demon beasts were rampant and there were no people, the appearance of the man in red and the other two was nine times out of ten aimed at him. It was just that he didn't know when he had leaked his whereabouts and was targeted by them.

This time, entering the Fuyun Mountain Range alone, Song Qingming not only concealed his face but also walked a route that was very careful and cautious. Even if he saw Qi Refining cultivators passing by below, he tried his best to avoid them so as not to attract their attention. Logically speaking, it was impossible to be targeted by demonic cultivators so coincidentally.

After quickly recalling his journey in his mind, Song Qingming still couldn't find a problem with where he was targeted, and his face couldn't help but frown.

Fortunately, he had long been accustomed to setting up a formation to hide his aura when resting in the wild. Otherwise, when the man in red found this small mountain just now, Song Qingming would have already exposed his hiding position.

Although Song Qingming's cultivation base had now reached the seventh layer of Foundation Establishment, this time the other party came with three Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators at once. Besides the man in red's peak cultivation base of the ninth layer, the old man in yellow and the white-robed Confucian scholar both had cultivation bases of the fifth or sixth layer of Foundation Establishment. Once surrounded by these three, Song Qingming would inevitably have some difficulty in escaping.

Right now, he could still rely on the formation to cover up the aura on his body, but facing the three demonic cultivators who were pressing step by step, Song Qingming also knew that it was only a matter of time before he exposed his figure. He must find a good way to escape quickly.

The white-robed Confucian scholar who was searching on the east side of the small mountain and was closest to Song Qingming's position was named Ye Shujie. This demon, like Yang Wuqi who was killed by Chen Xuanxin decades ago, was a local demonic cultivator within the State of Wei and was not a fellow sect junior of the man in red.

Ye Shujie was born in a Foundation Establishment family in Cangbai County in the north of the State of Wei over a hundred years ago. After his family ancestor passed away over a hundred years ago, because the inheritance of Foundation Establishment cultivators was broken and he lost his greatest protection, plus the newly appointed patriarch was a cowardly and indecisive person, they were soon targeted by other immortal cultivation families nearby.

In less than a dozen years, the Ye family completely fell from a Foundation Establishment immortal family to an object that even nearby Qi Refining families dared to bully.

Therefore, quite a few Ye family cultivators with good spirits chose to leave the family and defect to other forces because they couldn't stand this gap, or became rogue cultivators and left Cangbai County. Ye Shujie was also one of them.

Ye Shujie left Cangbai County for over a dozen years. He didn't know what opportunity he encountered outside. When he returned to the Ye family over a dozen years later, not only had he switched to practicing demonic path cultivation techniques, but he had also successfully reached Foundation Establishment.

After this demon reached Foundation Establishment, he was very low-key at first and always disguised himself as an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator, rarely using demonic path evil techniques to harm people, so much so that among the dozens of Ye family cultivators, no one knew that this person who looked simple and honest and was a former fellow clansman was actually a terrifying demonic cultivator.

However, after a long time, Ye Shujie still accidentally revealed a flaw and was discovered by a Ye family cultivator who felt something was wrong with him and secretly notified other clansmen to prepare to take him down.

Seeing that his identity had been exposed, Ye Shujie also revealed his ruthless true face, showing no mercy to his own clansmen, and killed over a dozen Ye family cultivators who came to capture him overnight, escaping directly.

This incident of his soon attracted the attention of the Xiaoyao Sect. Since then, Ye Shujie also became a Foundation Establishment demon head on the Xiaoyao Sect's wanted list in the State of Wei.

However, Ye Shujie also knew the power of the Xiaoyao Sect. Over the years, he had been hiding outside and had been keeping a low profile, not daring to attract the attention of the Xiaoyao Sect at will.

A year ago, the man in red and his companion were injured by Xiaoyao Sect cultivators led by Li Yungong and fled Black Stone Valley, but these two demonic cultivators didn't leave the State of Wei immediately but hid in a place to heal their wounds.

Once when the man in red went out to look for healing items, he happened to run into Ye Shujie, who was secretly capturing prey on the road. In order to have one more helper in the State of Wei, the man in red took the initiative to find Ye Shujie and, after promising Ye Shujie quite a few benefits, successfully brought him under his command.

This time, Ye Shujie followed the man in red deep into the Fuyun Mountain Range. He only knew it was to deal with a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. After the few followed all the way here, in order to find Song Qingming as soon as possible, they could only act separately.

Having been hiding for so many years, Ye Shujie had long been accustomed to being careful. While searching the surroundings slowly and carefully, he secretly prayed in his heart that it would be best if he didn't run into Song Qingming.

Although Ye Shujie also reached Foundation Establishment very early, he had been at Foundation Establishment for nearly a hundred years and his cultivation base hadn't broken through to the late stage. It could be seen that his talent for practicing demonic path cultivation techniques was far inferior to Yang Wuqi, whom Song Qingming had seen back then. If it were truly a one-on-one fight, he was far from being Song Qingming's opponent.

However, many times, people fear what they encounter. When Ye Shujie arrived beside a mountain wall, a white light suddenly flashed before his eyes, and a green figure rushed out from a place that was empty just a moment ago. The black silver blade in his hand soon slashed toward Ye Shujie's neck.

Seeing this sudden sneak attack, Ye Shujie, who had long been prepared, hurriedly raised a green jade ruler in his hand above his head and opened a green protective shield in front of him.

After the black silver blade in Song Qingming's hand slashed onto the green protective shield, although it revealed a crack in the shield, it failed to slash through it directly, which made his face reveal a hint of surprise.

He didn't expect that this white-robed Confucian scholar was not only cautious in character but also had a good defensive magic tool on his body, which could actually block his swift and fierce blow that he had prepared for a long time.

However, just as Song Qingming wanted to praise Ye Shujie a few words in his heart, the jade ruler in his hand suddenly snapped into two pieces with a bang, and the green protective shield also slowly dissipated in the air along with it.

Fortunately, with the help of the jade ruler to block Song Qingming's fatal blow, it also bought Ye Shujie some time, allowing him to retreat smoothly and avoid the remaining power of Song Qingming's black silver blade after it shattered the green protective shield.

"Fellow Daoist Hong, he is here, hurry..."

After dodging Song Qingming's blow, Ye Shujie hurriedly shouted loudly toward the distance. However, before he could finish his words, Song Qingming's second blow had already arrived in front of him, forcing him to brace himself and engage in a fight with Song Qingming.

Although Ye Shujie had practiced for many years, he didn't have a magic tool as powerful as the demonic blade refined by Yang Wuqi. The only most powerful green jade ruler had just been destroyed by Song Qingming with one slash.

And Song Qingming, whom he was facing, in order to finish the battle quickly, brought out his two most powerful magic tools, the black silver blade and the Azure Water Bell, right from the start, and soon beat Ye Shujie until he could only retreat step by step with no power to fight back.

Soon, after fighting for only a dozen or so moves, Ye Shujie was directly knocked flying to the side by the Azure Water Bell operated by Song Qingming and could no longer intercept him.

After beating back Ye Shujie, Song Qingming had already heard the angry roar of the man in red coming from far to near, so he hurriedly took out his flying sword and broke through the air without looking back.

After the man in red and the old man in yellow arrived at the battlefield, Ye Shujie, who had fallen to the ground, also slowly stood up, spitting out a mouthful of blood, looking as if he were seriously injured.

"Chase! He can't run." The man in red looked at the direction Song Qingming left, glanced at Song Qingming escaping in the air with some playfulness, and chased after him a step ahead.

The old man in yellow on the side threw a pill to Ye Shujie, whose face was still somewhat unwell. After he took it, the two stepped on their magic tools and followed.

Looking at the man in red who had already caught up not far behind him, Song Qingming hurriedly increased his magic power to the Wind-Riding Boots under his feet and flew with his sword with all his might, always maintaining the fastest speed.

The man in red turned into a ball of red light. Although his speed was a bit faster than Song Qingming's at first, after chasing to a position not far behind Song Qingming, his speed still slowly dropped, but he always maintained a distance that wasn't far.

"This guy still dares to go north. Truly courting death. Let's see how far you can run!"

Seeing that Song Qingming didn't choose to go south but continued to go north where high-tier demon beasts were rampant, a hint of mockery appeared on the corner of the man in red's mouth. In his opinion, Song Qingming using his internal magic power to rush like this would certainly not last long. As long as he maintained a good pursuit speed, capturing the other party should only be a matter of time.

This is a big chapter.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 379 =====