Chapter 426: Support

Seeing Song Qingming cast his gaze toward him, Song Qingshi, whose hair and beard were already white, slowly stood up and nodded, acknowledging that he was aware of the matter, without saying much else.

Song Qingming held the blue longsword in his hand, observed it carefully for a while, and then spoke with a serious expression:

"Although my artifact refining level is not very high, I can still tell that the level of this magic tool is already very close to a second-tier magic tool. Since Xinde has reached this level in artifact refining, why didn't Big Brother arrange for the clan to support him further?"

Song Qingshi nodded indifferently and said: "This child Xinde is indeed not having an easy time. Although his own spirit root is not very good and his cultivation talent is average, he truly has some talent for the way of artifact refining and has put in quite a lot of effort to study it."

"Over the years, he has refined magic tools for many cultivators in the clan, and his artifact refining level is now the best in the clan. Logically speaking, the clan should indeed support him. It was my negligence as an elder. Since you already know about this, Qingming, you should just make the decision on how to handle it."

"Clan Leader, upgrading the clan's spirit veins a few years ago almost emptied the entire Golden Treasury Pavilion, and we still owe many spirit stones to the cultivators in the clan. Big Brother had no choice but to let Xinde suffer a little; please don't blame him." Song Qingsi stood up and explained anxiously on behalf of Song Qingshi.

Over the years, Song Qingming, as the Clan Leader, had been in seclusion for long periods, and most of the clan's affairs were handed over to several elders. Among them, Big Brother Song Qingshi provided the most help and was Song Qingming's right-hand man in managing the clan.

Ever since Song Qingshi took over from Sixth Uncle Song Changfeng to become the General Manager of clan affairs, the burden on his shoulders had always been the heaviest among all the cultivators in the Song family. Song Qingming was naturally very clear about this in his heart.

This time, it was also because Song Qingming had just returned and happened to hear on the mountain that Song Xinde was borrowing spirit stones from other clan members everywhere. Only after inquiring in detail did he understand his situation over these years.

Song Xinde was the fifth cultivator of the Song family's 'Xin' generation, an ordinary four-spirit-root cultivator. He was already nearly seventy years old, and his cultivation had only just reached the seventh layer of Qi Refining. A cultivator with such average talent had almost no hope of Foundation Establishment in the Song family.

Because he had known early on that his cultivation talent was poor, Song Xinde began to slack off in his own cultivation after breaking through to the mid-stage of Qi Refining, spending most of his energy on the way of artifact refining, which he had loved since childhood.

Although his cultivation talent was average, Song Xinde did have some talent for artifact refining. Under Song Qingming's policy of encouraging everyone to practice cultivation skills, his artifact refining level had reached the first-tier top-quality level more than twenty years ago.

However, because his own cultivation was too low, Song Xinde's artifact refining level could only reach the first-tier top-quality; wanting to improve further to become a second-tier low-quality artifact refiner would be quite difficult.

If Song Xinde had just focused on refining first-tier magic tools his whole life, as the Song family's best artifact refiner, not to mention becoming wealthy, he would never have fallen to the point of needing to borrow spirit stones from clan members everywhere.

The reason it turned out like this was that Song Xinde was unwilling to spend his life only refining first-tier magic tools and wanted to break through to become a second-tier artifact refiner. Most of the spirit stones he had in his hands over the years were spent on this.

At first, in order to promote Song Qingming's policy of valuing the improvement of cultivation skills among clan members, Song Qingshi did indeed support Song Xinde with some materials and spirit items. However, after he failed several times in succession, other cultivators in the clan began to have many opinions about wasting those precious spirit items on Song Xinde for nothing.

Just shortly after that, Song Qingming announced the upgrade of the clan's spirit veins, and the spirit stones in the clan's Golden Treasury Pavilion became very tight. Song Qingshi had no choice but to take charge and stop the support of spirit items and materials for Song Xinde.

But Song Xinde was not willing to accept failure. After the clan stopped supporting him, Song Xinde relied on his own meager savings and spirit stones borrowed from brothers and friends around him. After trying to refine second-tier magic tools a few more times, he actually managed to refine a somewhat defective second-tier flying sword a few years ago.

However, although this second-tier flying sword was barely refined by him, it was only a defective product, and it might not even be able to exchange for the spirit stones used to buy the materials if taken to the market. Song Qingshi had heard about this afterward, but he didn't pay much attention to it at the time.

Although the Song family itself did not have a second-tier artifact refiner, the Huang family and the Gao family in Qinghe County both had them. The Song family now had a good relationship with them, and if they wanted to refine a second-tier magic tool, they just needed to spend some spirit stones to ask them for help; it wasn't a troublesome matter.

However, although Song Qingshi's handling of this matter was not wrong, Song Qingming did not think so. Although the clan was developing very rapidly now, its foundation in all aspects was still far behind those old-established cultivation families.

Like the Huang family, a Foundation Establishment immortal clan that had been passed down for a thousand years, they had complete inheritances for common cultivation skills like alchemy, talisman making, formations, and artifact refining that were second-tier or higher.

Therefore, even if the older generation of cultivators in their clan who mastered second-tier cultivation skills passed away, the new generation of cultivators could still relatively easily cultivate new talents in this area by relying on the inheritance left by the clan, and would not easily face a gap in succession.

Everything is difficult at the beginning. Now, the Song family had Song Qingming, a second-tier talisman maker and formation master. Through Song Qingming's compilation over these years, the clan's Golden Treasury Pavilion already had relatively complete second-tier inheritances for talisman making and formations, and it would be smoother for many young-generation cultivators to develop in these areas.

The clan had never produced a cultivator who could break through to the second tier or higher in alchemy and artifact refining. These two areas were always something Song Qingming very much wanted to cultivate in his heart. As long as he could cultivate a second-tier artifact refiner to leave behind an inheritance, even if it required paying a higher price, Song Qingming was willing.

"Big Brother, I see that since Xinde has been able to refine this kind of magic tool, it seems this kid is indeed somewhat confident about breaking through to become a second-tier artifact refiner. Then let's give him a few more chances. If anyone gossips, tell them to come directly to the mountaintop to find me, the Clan Leader."

"Although there are more cultivators in the clan now, the inheritance of cultivation skills in various aspects is still relatively weak. Having it in one's own home is never as convenient as what others have. As long as we can cultivate a second-tier artifact refiner, the clan should try its best to support him."

Hearing Song Qingming say this, Song Qingshi immediately nodded and said:

"The Clan Leader is right. It was my negligence in this aspect. Most of the affairs in my hands have now been handed over to Qingsi. Let me handle Xinde's breakthrough to become a second-tier artifact refiner; it just so happens that I can also have a good rest."

"Although my energy is not as good as it used to be, I am still confident that I can handle this small matter. Don't worry, Qingming."

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 427 =====