Chapter 380

After Long Feng finished speaking, just like before, he directly swept Song Qingming into his massive wings and then transformed into a gale, leaving the area directly.

Song Qingming, sitting on Long Feng, was not visiting the depths of the Fuyun Mountain Range for the first time. Knowing that it would take some time to reach his destination, he took out a few spirit stones, held them in his hand, closed his eyes, and began to slowly recover his magic power.

The purpose of Song Qingming's deep venture into the Fuyun Mountain Range again after bidding farewell to Fang Wuqian and the others was, in fact, to find this demon king, Long Feng, with whom he had dealt before.

It was just that he hadn't expected to be targeted by the three men in red on the road. At the time, Song Qingming, hiding on a small hill, knew that if he chose to fight head-on, he might not be a match for the three of them. In desperation, Song Qingming had no choice but to use the communication feather Huo Feng had left him ahead of time while fleeing, wanting to use the demon king Long Feng to help him resolve this predicament.

By the time Song Qingming arrived at the old meeting place he had agreed upon with Long Feng, his magic power was already near exhaustion. Fortunately, Long Feng arrived in time, having reached the spot a step ahead of him; otherwise, if he had truly arrived late, it would be hard to say whether Song Qingming could have escaped from the red-robed man's hands unscathed.

Although this guy Long Feng was sometimes not very polite when speaking to Song Qingming, he did not disappoint Song Qingming at the critical moment.

This time, not only did he save Song Qingming, but he also helped him kill these demonic cultivators who had targeted him for unknown reasons. Long Feng could be considered to have helped Song Qingming resolve a major hidden danger.

Thinking of this, Song Qingming felt that the ore materials he had brought this time were truly not prepared in vain, and it was worth the time Song Qingming and the entire Song family had spent collecting these rare spiritual items.

However, Song Qingming hadn't expected that he would be able to see Huo Feng upon coming to the Fuyun Mountain Range this time. Thinking of that noble, fiery-red figure from years ago, a helpless smile slowly appeared on Song Qingming's face.

Years ago, after reaching Foundation Establishment, he went deep into the Fuyun Mountain Range with the Huang family to gather herbs, and the unlucky Song Qingming fell into Huo Feng's hands.

Later, although Song Qingming was forced to do many life-risking tasks for her under Huo Feng's coercion, he also received many benefits from her; otherwise, Song Qingming's cultivation could not have improved so quickly later on. If he didn't still have the thousand-year spiritual milk Huo Feng had given him back then, Song Qingming would likely have had no chance to escape to the place he had agreed to meet Long Feng.

Although there is an inherent conflict between human cultivators and the demon race over the survival resources of the cultivation world, making it impossible to live in harmony forever, being able to know a few demon friends like Huo Feng and Long Feng was still more beneficial than harmful to Song Qingming at present.

——

In a cave deep beneath a mountain tens of thousands of miles away from the Fuyun Mountain Range, an old man draped in a wide black robe was looking unhappily at a small wooden plaque in his hand that had already shattered into several pieces.

This wooden plaque looked very ancient, with some floating cloud-like patterns carved around it, and some black characters written in the center. Because the plaque was broken quite severely, these characters were also incomplete, making it impossible to see clearly what was written.

Beside the black-robed old man stood a middle-aged man with a red face and a long beard. The pressure radiating from this man had long since exceeded the scope of a Foundation Establishment cultivator; he was clearly a Jin Dan cultivator who had already stepped into the Core Formation stage.

Although this man was already a Jin Dan cultivator with profound cultivation, in front of this black-robed old man, he always wore a furrowed, trembling expression, not daring to speak first, as if he were afraid that a moment of carelessness or a wrong word would provoke the displeasure of the black-robed old man before him.

"Where exactly has Hong Qijun gone these past few years? Has it been investigated clearly?"

"Reporting to Master, Ninth Junior Brother sent a message back a year ago. At that time, he was in the Wei State to the east, searching for traces of Uncle Xiao, and Liu Kui from Second Senior Brother's sect was also with Ninth Junior Brother."

"I asked Second Senior Brother before I came just now; that Liu Kui's soul has also dissipated, and the time of his death seems to be about the same as Ninth Junior Brother's. Disciple guesses that they must have encountered some misfortune together, but since they are too far apart, we still don't know the details."

After hearing the detailed explanation from the red-faced man, the black-robed old man paced back and forth in the cave a few times, then raised his head and said calmly:

"Old Four, you go to the Wei State and investigate who harmed Hong Qijun. While you're at it, see if that guy Xiao Huang is truly hiding there. If you find news of him, hehe, do not alert him; just send this blood sound talisman back. Master wants to go meet this good junior brother of mine personally."

"Yes! Master, this disciple will set off for the Wei State immediately." After receiving the order, the red-faced man took the blood-red spiritual talisman thrown by the black-robed old man and retreated respectfully.

After only the black-robed old man remained in the depths of the cave, he placed the broken wooden plaque from his hand before his eyes again and muttered to himself with a sad expression: "Hong Qijun, Master placed high hopes on you. How could your Uncle Xiao be like this, leaving no room for sentiment and striking to kill directly? You were my personal disciple, after all; could he not have recognized you at all?"

"Junior Brother Xiao, hundreds of years have passed. Logically, you should have formed your Nascent Soul long ago, but why is it that I still don't see you taking the initiative to find your senior brother? Could it be that you have already let go of what happened back then?"

After the black-robed old man spoke to himself, a strange flame suddenly appeared in his hand, quickly burning the wooden plaque in his hand into a pile of ashes.

——

After traveling rapidly through the Fuyun Mountain Range with Long Feng for about two hours, Song Qingming's eyes finally lit up as he was tossed out of Long Feng's pitch-black wings and landed on a high mountain shrouded in clouds and mist.

Looking at the somewhat familiar place before him, Song Qingming knew he had reached his destination and hurriedly stood up to tidy his appearance.

Afterward, under Long Feng's guidance, Song Qingming followed him to the underground cave where he had stayed years ago. There, he saw Huo Feng, whom he hadn't seen for decades since their parting at Taiyue Lake.

Just like back then, that fiery-red figure still loved to lean sideways on the large jade stone in the middle of the cave. However, Huo Feng's appearance and temperament seemed to have changed somewhat compared to decades ago; she was even more enchanting and mature, which caused Song Qingming, who saw her, to stand frozen in place for a moment.

Over these years, although Song Qingming's cultivation had improved from the third layer of Foundation Establishment to the seventh layer, he still could not see through Huo Feng's true cultivation. He only vaguely felt that the pressure she radiated from time to time was still somewhat frightening, just as it had been before.

The gap between a Nascent Soul demon emperor and a Foundation Establishment cultivator was truly too vast. Standing before Huo Feng, Song Qingming only felt as if he were standing before an unreachable mountain, feeling truly too insignificant.

"Bold! You don't even know how to pay respects when seeing Her Highness? You brat really doesn't know what's good for you!" Not far from Huo Feng, a large cyan bird saw Song Qingming still in a daze after arriving and shouted at him unhappily, seemingly not very fond of this human.

This Qingluan demon king, who had captured Song Qingming back then, looked much the same as she had decades ago, and her cultivation didn't seem to have changed much either. Now that Song Qingming's cultivation had reached the late stage of Foundation Establishment, he could finally sense that there was a slight difference between Qingluan's strength and Long Feng's.

"Your Highness, this junior pays his respects!" After hearing Qingluan's reminder, Song Qingming didn't dare to say anything more and hurriedly stepped forward to bow and salute Huo Feng respectfully.

"Alright, Qingluan, don't scare him. I still have some things to ask him, so go attend to your own business first."

Seeing that Her Highness beside her didn't seem to mind the previous rudeness of this insignificant human, Qingluan curled her lip and, feeling somewhat depressed, retreated from the cave along with Long Feng.

After dismissing Qingluan, Huo Feng looked at Song Qingming calmly, then rose and walked to a spot at the side of the cave, sitting down at a stone table. Song Qingming stood cautiously not far from her side.

"Your cultivation has improved quite a bit over these years. It seems you have made some progress."

"Compared to Your Highness and the seniors, this junior's talent is dull, and being able to take a small step forward is truly not easy. If it weren't for the spiritual items Your Highness gave me back then, this junior could not have broken through to the late stage of Foundation Establishment so quickly. This junior will certainly never forget Your Highness's great kindness in this lifetime."

Huo Feng glanced sideways at Song Qingming and smiled: "It seems that not only has your cultivation improved, but your way with words has also progressed quite a bit. Even Long Feng praised you in front of me last time."

Hearing Huo Feng say this, the corners of Song Qingming's mouth smiled slightly. He hadn't expected Long Feng to be so honest; he had only made a fair trade with him, and yet it was enough for him to praise him in front of Huo Feng, which was something he hadn't expected.

"Your Highness, these two pots of spiritual wine are the best fine brews among our human cultivators; I went to great lengths to purchase them. I had intended to present them to you last time, but Senior Long Feng said you had gone into seclusion and were not here. Fortunately, this trip was not in vain; if you have time, you must do me the honor of tasting them." After lightly brushing his waist with his right hand, Song Qingming quickly took out two white jade pots from his storage bag and placed them respectfully on the stone table before Huo Feng.

Huo Feng squinted at the spiritual wine on the table, then quickly shifted her gaze, seemingly not very interested in these things.

"If you have something to say, just say it directly. Don't beat around the bush with me. Although my place here is not as prosperous as your human lands, it is not as if I haven't seen anything before; don't always think about using these things to curry favor with me."

Seeing that Huo Feng didn't seem to like the routine he was accustomed to among human cultivators, Song Qingming slowly put away his smile and took out a cyan jade pendant from his person, placing it on the stone table.

"Your Highness, I obtained this item by chance a year ago, but because my cultivation is too low, I have been unable to break the restriction on it. I came here this time to ask Senior Long Feng to help me see if there is any way to help open it."

Huo Feng glanced at the jade pendant on the table indifferently, then her eyes suddenly lit up. She extended a crystal-clear jade hand and gently brought the pendant before her eyes to examine it carefully.

"This item seems to be a spatial magic treasure. Logically, only Jin Dan cultivators among you humans can use it. How did you obtain it?"

Facing Huo Feng's puzzled inquiry, Song Qingming took a deep breath and hurriedly poured out the explanation he had already prepared on the road in one breath.

"It was a matter of chance. I actually obtained this jade pendant from the corpse of a Qi Refining cultivator. As for how he obtained it or why it was on his person, I am not very clear."

Hearing Song Qingming's answer, Huo Feng stared calmly into his eyes for a moment, then suddenly turned her face and said lightly: "Long Feng is not skilled in formation restrictions; asking him for help probably won't work."

"Even Senior Long Feng cannot open it? Then does Your Highness have any way? As long as the restriction on it can be removed, this junior is willing to offer half of the spiritual items inside to Your Highness."

Song Qingming had brought this jade pendant to find Long Feng this time with the intention of seeing if he could open it and find a few good items inside to use for exchanging for the resources needed for his future Core Formation. Hearing Huo Feng say this, Song Qingming immediately became anxious.

"Don't tell me this trip was truly in vain!" If even Huo Feng, this Nascent Soul demon emperor, had no way, then Song Qingming would truly have to give up on opening it completely before his own Core Formation.

"Hehe! Half of the spiritual items? You certainly have a good plan. You yourself said you don't know the origin of this item, which means you have no idea what is inside. What if it's empty? Wouldn't I be wasting my effort?" After Huo Feng finished speaking, she placed the jade pendant back on the stone table and began to tap lightly on the table with her slender fingers.

Seeing Huo Feng say this, Song Qingming felt a sudden sense of relief. It seemed that Huo Feng did indeed have a way to open this spatial magic treasure, but Song Qingming would still have to pay a price to persuade her.

Song Qingming lowered his head to ponder for a moment, then slowly raised his head and said: "Ever since I became acquainted with and followed Your Highness, I have received much care, which has allowed me to obtain many benefits and improve my cultivation so quickly. How could I ever forget Your Highness's kindness? If you have any orders, just command me; please don't treat me as an outsider."

"Hmm! It is best if you think this way. Although I occasionally have things I need your help with, I am not someone who likes to force others. If you are unwilling, you can say so directly now; I will naturally find other ways." Huo Feng said with a smiling face.

"Hehe! Your Highness is joking. I am only too happy to have the opportunity to contribute to you; how could I be unwilling?"

"Alright then! I will keep this item for now; you can come back to retrieve it tomorrow!"

Having obtained the answer he wanted, Huo Feng waved her hand and put away the cyan jade pendant on the table, and the two pots of spiritual wine Song Qingming had offered earlier also disappeared without a trace.

(End of chapter)