Chapter 458

"Whatever Fellow Daoist wants to know, just ask directly. As long as we know, we certainly won't hide it from you." Hearing that the other party was just passing by and not coming for them, the round-faced big man felt relieved in his heart.

Seeing that this round-faced cultivator's cultivation base had reached the eighth level of Qi Refining and seemed to be the leader among them, Song Qingming nodded to him with a smile and said: "I just went to the north, why didn't I see a single shadow? You tell me what is going on. Have the northern monster beasts already come over?"

Hearing that Song Qingming had returned from the north, the round-faced big man and the others beside him immediately showed a trace of surprise, and their eyes looking at Song Qingming also became somewhat fearful.

"Fellow Daoist doesn't know about this matter, you must have not been to this area for a long time. This matter actually has nothing to do with the northern monster beasts."

"About seven or eight thousand miles to the north of here, there is a White Water River. About three years ago, it was rumored that a monster beast near the White Water River suddenly advanced to the Golden Core realm. At that time, many Tier 1 and Tier 2 monster beasts near the White Water River were scared away and moved south, which caused the monster beasts near here to suddenly increase a lot."

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

"We were also here this time because we happened to receive a mission in the market to kill these two monster beasts. If Fellow Daoist continues to walk south for another few hundred miles, you should be able to see other cultivators."

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

"Thank you all for helping me answer my doubts, then we will meet again if fate allows!" After Song Qingming finished speaking, his figure flashed and instantly turned into a cyan light, breaking through the air and disappearing before everyone's eyes.

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

"Just now he said he went to the north, and I guessed it was seven or eight parts true. This person is indeed a Foundation Establishment senior. No wonder he has such strength at such a young age."

Hearing the round-faced big man say this respectfully, Hu Yu, who was on the side, also had lingering fears in his heart. Fortunately, Song Qingming was not a Foundation Establishment senior who liked to haggle. Otherwise, just because he was so rude in front of him just now, if it were those high and mighty Foundation Establishment cultivators in the market, Hu Yu's fate today would be hard to say.

"From now on, you kid must control your mouth and don't offend people casually. If it weren't for that senior being generous today, I guess your little life would be gone." After the round-faced big man finished speaking, he glared at Hu Yu, who was standing on the side.

"That's right, young people don't know the immensity of heaven and earth, don't always be so impatient, otherwise you will cause big trouble sooner or later!"

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

Hu Yu, who was on the side, saw that everyone was blaming him, and also shook his head helplessly with a smile: "Hey! If I knew he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, I wouldn't have dared to be rude to him."

"This person is also really strange. Clearly a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he just pretended to snatch our prey, and it turned out to be just to ask a question without wanting to give us a reward. He is already at Foundation Establishment and is still so stingy."

Being companions who often hunted monsters together, everyone didn't really blame Hu Yu. After scolding him a few times, under the reminder of the round-faced big man who was the leader, everyone hurriedly stepped forward to prepare to clean up the monster beast corpses not far away.

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

When everyone opened it together, they discovered that the cloth bag was actually full of colorful spirit stones, as many as a hundred or so.

"Thank you, Senior, for the reward!" After everyone looked at Hu Yu and looked at each other, they bowed and saluted again in the direction Song Qingming left.

——

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

A moment later, a cyan shield light suddenly passed through this high mountain rapidly and flew south all the way.

An old man in a red robe, who was discussing the Dao, saw this scene and stood up in astonishment, looking at the cyan light that had already flown into the distance with disbelief.

Another middle-aged cultivator dressed in a gray Daoist robe saw this and also asked with some surprise: "Fellow Daoist Gu, the one who just passed by here, could it be a Golden Core True Person? I only heard a few days ago that Senior Uncle Lu had just gone into closed-door cultivation. Why does he appear here again today?"

The middle-aged man in the gray robe had actually seen that the speed of the cyan shield light that just flew past far exceeded that of ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators, and it seemed to be the escape speed that only a Golden Core True Person could have.

But he hadn't been at the Foundation Establishment stage for long, and his cultivation base was only at the third level of Foundation Establishment, so he also somewhat doubted whether he had seen it wrong just now, which was why he asked the red-robed old man with a higher cultivation base.

After the cyan escape light in the distance disappeared completely, the red-robed old man turned around and nodded to the middle-aged man in the gray robe: "This person is indeed a Golden Core True Person. However, this senior is not the True Person Lu of your sect, but seems to be a strange Golden Core senior whom this old man has not yet seen."

"A strange Golden Core cultivator? Fellow Daoist Gu, you couldn't have seen it wrong, right? Recently, the northern monster beast turmoil is near, how could there still be Golden Core cultivators from other places entering the Floating Cloud Mountain Range? This is truly strange."

"Fellow Daoist Gu, this matter seems somewhat suspicious. I must return to Guiyun Market immediately to report to Senior Uncle Lu. I will take my leave first!" After the gray-clothed cultivator finished speaking, he immediately took out his flying sword and headed straight for Guiyun Market.

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

It had been nearly six years since he went to the Floating Cloud Mountain Range for closed-door cultivation to form his core. He was truly somewhat worried about what was happening outside, especially on the way back from the cave dwelling at the bottom of the pool at the beginning, he didn't even see a shadow of a cultivator, which made Song Qingming nervous for a long time.

What Song Qingming never expected was that he hid in the depths of the Floating Cloud Mountain Range to form his core, but it was rumored that a monster beast had advanced to a monster king, and it even affected the monster beasts near the White Water River to move south.

Having caused such a big impact on himself, Song Qingming was also somewhat helpless in his heart. He had hidden in the cave dwelling at the bottom of the pool for six years of closed-door cultivation. Song Qingming was completely unaware of what had happened outside over these years, and it was only after asking Hu Yu and the others just now that he knew some of the situation.

Fortunately, as Song Qingming expected, the northern monster beast turmoil had not yet arrived, and he did not need to worry about the safety of the Song family. Now that Song Qingming had broken through to the Golden Core realm, he also had enough strength to protect the family and safely survive this monster beast turmoil.

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

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

Because the northern monster beasts were approaching again, the entire north of the Wei State also began to be turbulent. Plus, the two major Foundation Establishment families, the Lu family and the Li family, had been making trouble constantly over these years, and the Song family's income from outside had shrunk quite a bit compared to the past.

Especially in Qinghe Market, apart from the new wine workshop opened by the family, all shops were in a state of loss to varying degrees. Now the entire Song family's finances had suddenly fallen into a state of exceeding income.

Fortunately, Song Qingming had greatly reduced the family's investment outside in previous years, spending most of the spirit stones on cultivating spirit veins and opening up spirit fields within the family. Although the spirit stone salary of all cultivators in the Song family had decreased somewhat, they were more generous in other cultivation resources than in the past, 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 encountered any major crises over these years apart from some financial problems, as the day of the northern monster beast turmoil drew closer, Song Qingyu still felt a trace of hidden unease in her heart from time to time.

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

"I just received a reply from Brother Sipo. He has already persuaded Ancestor Shengyue and has also communicated with Qinghe Market. In a few days, he will invite our families to come forward together to Qinghe Market to negotiate and see if we can thoroughly resolve the affairs of the Lu and Li families."

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

"Sister-in-law, I have troubled you again. I hope the Huang family really has a way to resolve this matter this time. Now that the monster beast turmoil is imminent, if the Lu and Li families continue to make trouble like this, they will certainly be harmonious on the surface but at odds in their hearts. How can they work together with us to deal with this once-in-a-century catastrophe?"

Huang Siyuan nodded: "This time it was Sipo who took the initiative to send me the letter. Now that it has reached this point, if Qinghe County continues to be so chaotic, I fear it will also invite displeasure from the Carefree Sect. Whether it is us or the Huang and Gao families, we will certainly be implicated to some extent by then."

Ever since Song Qingming came forward to mediate between the Lu and Li families years ago, the 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 united with Feng De, who was stationed in Qinghe Market, several times to persuade the Lu and Li families to stop fighting and make peace. The result that made her helpless was that every time they were persuaded to make peace for a period of time, the two families would soon start a new round of fighting because of some trivial matters.

Song Qingyu felt deeply helpless about this in her heart. Moreover, she had been continuously receiving information sent back to Mount Funiu by Song Xintang in Qinghe Market over these years. Behind the fighting between the Lu and Li families, there seemed to be the shadow of the Huang family.

Thanks to Pan Long Teng Kong, Keng De Wo Tu Xue, Xuan Miao Shang Xian, Xian Xue Ling Zhu, Yu Da Shui, and book friend 9937 for the rewards.