Chapter 458

"If you want to know something, fellow Daoist, just ask. As long as we know it, we certainly won't hide it from you." Hearing that the other party was just passing through and not coming for them, the round-faced man felt a sudden sense of relief.

Seeing that the round-faced cultivator's cultivation had reached the eighth layer of Qi Refining and that he seemed to be the leader among them, Song Qingming smiled, nodded at him, and said, "I just went to the north, so why didn't I see a single shadow? Tell me what is going on. Have the Northern Frontier demonic beasts already arrived?"

Hearing that Song Qingming had returned from the north, the round-faced man and the others beside him immediately showed a hint of surprise, and the way they looked at Song Qingming became somewhat fearful.

"You don't know about this, fellow Daoist? You must not have been to this area for a long time. This matter actually doesn't have much to do with the Northern Frontier demonic beasts.

About seven or eight thousand miles north of here, there is a White Water River. About three years ago, it was rumored that a demonic beast near the White Water River suddenly advanced to the Core Formation realm. At that time, many first-tier and second-tier demonic beasts near the White Water River were frightened into leaving and heading south, which led to a sudden increase in the number of demonic beasts in this area.

Later, many demon-hunting teams came here and almost lost their lives, so gradually, very few people came here to hunt demons. Although the situation has improved a lot recently, very few people still dare to continue heading north from this direction.

We are only here because we happened to be at the market and received a mission to kill these two demonic beasts. If you continue south for another few hundred miles, fellow Daoist, you should be able to see other cultivators."

After hearing the answer given by the other party, Song Qingming finally understood some of the information he urgently needed to know and slowly let go of the worries in his heart.

"Many thanks to you all for helping to answer my questions. We shall meet again if fate allows!" After Song Qingming finished speaking, his figure flashed, instantly turning into a streak of green light that broke through the air and quickly disappeared from everyone's sight.

"Respectfully send off the senior!" Seeing this scene, the round-faced man, who had long guessed that Song Qingming was a Foundation Establishment expert, hurriedly led the others to bow in the direction Song Qingming had left.

"I guessed seven or eight parts of it when he said he went to the north. This person is indeed a Foundation Establishment senior. No wonder he has such strength while looking so young."

Hearing the round-faced man speak so respectfully, Hu Yu, who was standing to the side, also felt some lingering fear. Fortunately, Song Qingming was not a Foundation Establishment senior who liked to hold grudges; otherwise, given how rude he had just been in front of him, if it had been those high-and-mighty Foundation Establishment cultivators in the market, Hu Yu's fate today would have been hard to say.

"From now on, you brat must control your mouth and stop offending people so easily. If that senior hadn't been generous today, you probably would have lost your life." After the round-faced man finished speaking, he glared at Hu Yu, who was standing to the side.

"Exactly, young people don't know the immensity of heaven and earth. Don't always be so impatient, or you will cause a great disaster sooner or later!"

The others recalled what had just happened and also felt some lingering fear, so they all scolded Hu Yu a few times.

Hu Yu, standing to the side, saw everyone blaming him, so he helplessly shook his head and smiled: "Hey! If I had known he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, how would I have dared to be rude to him?

This person is also really strange. He was clearly a Foundation Establishment cultivator, yet he just pretended to want to snatch our prey, and it turned out it was just to ask a question without wanting to give us a reward. To be so stingy even after reaching Foundation Establishment."

As companions who often hunted demons together, everyone didn't truly blame Hu Yu. After scolding him a little, under the reminder of the round-faced man who was the leader, everyone hurriedly stepped forward to prepare to collect the corpses of the two demonic beasts not far away.

Just as they approached one of the demonic beast corpses, they suddenly saw a small cloth bag placed on the side of the beast's belly at some point. Hu Yu, not knowing what was inside, picked it up and took a look, then couldn't help but let out an exclamation, attracting the others nearby.

Everyone opened it together and discovered that the bag was filled with colorful spirit stones, totaling at least a hundred.

"Many thanks to the senior for the reward!" After looking at Hu Yu, the group looked at each other and bowed again in the direction Song Qingming had left.

——

On a high mountain hundreds of miles away from Guiyun Market, two cultivators were discussing the Dao and drinking tea on the summit. There were also more than a dozen young cultivators around, standing respectfully to the side and patiently listening to the teachings of the two people above.

A moment later, a green shield light suddenly and rapidly passed through this high mountain and flew south.

Among the two people discussing the Dao, an old man in a red robe saw this scene and immediately stood up in astonishment, looking at the green light that had already flown into the distance with disbelief.

Another middle-aged cultivator wearing a gray Daoist robe was also surprised when he saw this and said: "Fellow Daoist Gu, the one who just passed by was a Jin Dan True Person. I only heard a few days ago that Elder Song Qing had just gone into seclusion. How could he appear here again today?"

The middle-aged man in the gray robe had actually seen that the green shield light that had just flown past had a speed far exceeding that of an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator, appearing to be the escape speed that only a Jin Dan True Person could possess.

However, he had not been in the Foundation Establishment stage for long, and his cultivation was only at the third layer of Foundation Establishment, so he was somewhat suspicious that he might have misjudged, which is why he asked the red-robed old man with higher cultivation.

After the green escape light in the distance completely disappeared, the red-robed old man turned to the middle-aged man in the gray robe, nodded, and said: "This person is indeed a Jin Dan True Person, but this senior is not the True Person Song Qing of your sect. He seems to be a strange Jin Dan senior whom this old man has never seen before."

"A strange Jin Dan cultivator? Fellow Daoist Gu, you couldn't be mistaken, could you? With the Northern Frontier demonic beast turmoil approaching, how could there still be Jin Dan cultivators from other places entering the Mount Yunwu range? This is truly strange.

Fellow Daoist Gu, this matter seems a bit suspicious. I must hurry back to Guiyun Market to report to Elder Song Qing. I will take my leave first!" After the gray-robed cultivator finished speaking, he immediately took out his flying sword and headed straight for Guiyun Market.

After continuing to fly south for several thousand miles, Song Qingming finally crossed the territory of the demonic beasts and entered the territory controlled by the human race in the Wei Guo cultivation world. Seeing that the number of cultivators below was gradually increasing, Song Qingming's heart also gradually settled down.

It had been almost six years since he went to the Mount Yunwu range for seclusion to form his Core. He was really worried about what had happened outside, especially on the way back from the cave at the bottom of the pool, where he hadn't even seen a single shadow of a cultivator, which had made Song Qingming nervous for a long time.

What Song Qingming never expected was that while he was hiding in the depths of the Mount Yunwu range to form his Core, it was rumored that a demonic beast had advanced to become a Demon King, which had also affected the migration of demonic beasts near the White Water River to the south.

Song Qingming felt somewhat helpless about causing such a big impact. He had been hiding in the cave at the bottom of the pool for six years, and he was completely unaware of what had happened outside during these years. He only learned about the situation after asking Hu Yu and the others just now.

Fortunately, as Song Qingming had expected, the Northern Frontier demonic beast turmoil had not yet arrived, so he did not need to worry about the safety of the Song family. Now that Song Qingming had broken through to the Jin Dan realm, he had enough strength to protect the family and safely get through this demonic beast turmoil.

Mount Funiu, in the Song family's council hall.

Song Qingyu, with a headache, was patiently listening to several Song family elders below reporting the family's income from various places this year in turns.

Because the Northern Frontier demonic beasts were approaching again, the entire northern part of Wei Guo began to become turbulent. Coupled with the fact that the Lu family and the Li family, two major Foundation Establishment families, had been constantly causing trouble for years, the Song family's income from outside had shrunk significantly compared to the past.

Especially in Qinghe Market, except for the new winery opened by the family, all shops were in varying degrees of loss. Now, the entire Song family's finances had suddenly fallen into a state where expenses exceeded income.

Fortunately, Song Qingming had greatly reduced the family's investment outside in previous years, spending most of the spirit stones on cultivating spiritual veins and opening up spiritual fields within the family. Although the spirit stone stipends for all cultivators in the Song family had decreased slightly, they were more generous in the allocation of other cultivation resources than before, which did not affect everyone's daily cultivation.

After the family council ended, Song Qingyu, with a worried look on her face, came to the top of the mountain alone.

It had been six years since Song Qingming went out to form his Core. Although the Song family had not faced any major crises in these years other than some financial problems, as the day of the Northern Frontier demonic beast turmoil drew closer, Song Qingyu still often felt a faint sense of unease in her heart.

A moment later, a white-clad figure quietly came to Song Qingyu's side.

"I have just received a reply from Brother Sibai. He has persuaded Ancestor Shengxin and has also communicated with the Qinghe Market side. In a few days, he will invite our families to come forward together to Qinghe Market to negotiate and see if we can completely resolve the issues between the Lu and Li families."

Song Qingyu squeezed out a smile, looked at Huang Siyuan who had come to her side, and said slowly:

"Sister-in-law, I've troubled you again. I hope the Huang family really has a way to solve this matter. Now that the demonic beast turmoil is coming, if the Lu and Li families continue to make trouble like this, they will definitely be at odds with each other in the future. How can they work together with us to deal with this once-in-a-century catastrophe?"

Huang Siyuan nodded and said: "This time, Sibai took the initiative to send me the letter. Now that it has reached this point, if Qinghe County continues to be so chaotic, I am afraid it will also provoke displeasure from the Xiaoyao Sect. Whether it is us or the Huang and Gao families, we will definitely be implicated when the time comes."

Ever since Song Qingming came forward to mediate between the Lu and Li families once, these two families had been quiet for less than half a year before they started fighting openly and secretly again.

After Song Qingming went out to form his Core, Song Qingyu had also joined forces with Feng De, who was stationed in Qinghe Market, several times to persuade the Lu and Li families to stop and make peace. To her helplessness, every time they were persuaded to make peace for a period of time, the two families would soon start a new round of fighting over some trivial matters.

Song Qingyu felt deeply helpless about this, and in recent years, she had also continuously received intelligence sent back to Mount Funiu by Song Xintang from Qinghe Market, suggesting that there seemed to be the shadow of the Huang family behind the fighting between the Lu and Li families.

Thanks to Pan Longtengkong, Keng De Wo Tu Xie, Xuanmiao Shangxian, Xianxue Lingzhu, Yu Dashui, and Book Friend 9937 for their tips.

(End of chapter)