Chapter 46: Flying Cloud Guards

Song Qingming looked up and saw that the person speaking was a cultivator wearing a bamboo hat and black clothes. This person's cultivation was not bad, having already reached the eighth layer of Qi Refining.

After looking around and confirming that this person was speaking to him, Song Qingming took the initiative to stop his steps and calmly asked the person, "Fellow Daoist, are you speaking to me? I am not acquainted with you, Fellow Daoist; have you mistaken me for someone else?"

The black-clothed cultivator nodded, then took out a black token, placed it before Song Qingming's eyes, and continued, "Fellow Daoist, do not misunderstand. I am a patrol cultivator within Guiyunfang. There are just some things I would like to ask you. It is noisy here with many people, which is inconvenient for conversation. Could you borrow a step to speak?"

Looking at the black token before him, Song Qingming nodded, then, led by the black-clothed cultivator, left the center of the plaza. After the two passed through several bustling streets, they arrived at a quiet teahouse.

Along the way, the black-clothed cultivator did not say anything else, only telling Song Qingming to follow him closely. As soon as the two arrived at the teahouse, the boss saw the black-clothed cultivator walking in front and immediately greeted them enthusiastically.

"Lord Lu, you have come. Is it the old rules today?"

The black-clothed cultivator nodded and added, "I need to discuss some matters today; do not let anyone disturb us." After saying this, he led Song Qingming to a private room on the second floor.

Seeing that the shopkeeper was very familiar with this black-clothed cultivator, it was clear that this guy came here often.

As soon as the two sat down, a waiter in the shop soon brought up a pot of spirit tea, placed the tea on the table, and soon retreated under the signal of the black-clothed cultivator.

The black-clothed cultivator poured a cup of spirit tea for Song Qingming, politely sent it before Song Qingming, and then opened his mouth to say, "I am Lu Yunfei. May I ask your surname, Fellow Daoist?"

"I am Song Qingming." Facing the patrol team from Guiyunfang, Song Qingming did not dare to hide his identity as he had before; after all, his identity had already been verified and registered before entering the city, and it was impossible to deceive the patrol cultivators here.

"Oh, so it is Fellow Daoist Song. Seeing you wandering around the hunting platform today, you must have come to Guiyunfang not long ago. I wonder if you have heard of the Flying Cloud Guards?" After Lu Yunfei finished speaking, his eyes stared at Song Qingming and looked him over.

After pondering for a while in his mind, Song Qingming carefully and softly replied, "I have heard of them. This is a demonic beast investigation team specifically established by Guiyunfang, responsible for investigating information on demonic beasts in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range."

"I wonder, Fellow Daoist Song, if you have any interest in joining our Flying Cloud Guards?"

Lu Yunfei's words immediately made Song Qingming look surprised. At first, he thought this person was going to interrogate him about something and had been on tenterhooks for a long time. Only now, knowing his purpose, did he set his heart at ease.

"I have heard that the Flying Cloud Guards have always been very strict in recruiting people, and in the past, most of those who could join were people with strange skills. I wonder what point Brother Lu saw in me? Could you tell me a little bit so that I can consider and think about it?"

"Hmm, telling you is fine. It is just because I have practiced a spiritual sense technique that can detect the depth of magic power within cultivators of the same tier. Today in the market, I observed that Fellow Daoist Song's magic power is somewhat deeper than other cultivators of the same tier, so I had the idea of recruiting talent." After Lu Yunfei finished speaking, he sipped the spirit tea in his hand and continued to speak.

"You also know that the Flying Cloud Guards have always been strict in recruiting talent. It is just because the demonic beast turmoil in the Northern Frontier is approaching, and the demonic beasts here in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range have also been very restless recently. Therefore, our Flying Cloud Guards have also been recruiting manpower recently to help investigate demonic beasts. Compared to fighting and risking one's life head-on with demonic beasts, I think it would be more secure for Fellow Daoist Song to join my Flying Cloud Guards. We only need to investigate the location, habits, and movements of the demonic beasts and bring back useful information. The reward that can be obtained every month is not worse than those hunting teams."

"May I ask, after joining the Flying Cloud Guards, is it easy to withdraw in the future?" Song Qingming asked another cautious question.

"Fellow Daoist Song, please rest assured. Except for a small number of sect disciples, most of our Flying Cloud Guards are free to come and go, just like those itinerant cultivators in hunting teams. As long as the task is completed, the reward can be obtained. Moreover, with the identity of the Flying Cloud Guards, whether you are renting a cave dwelling in this Guiyunfang or purchasing necessary supplies in the market controlled by our Xiaoyao Sect, you can enjoy the same discounts as sect disciples."

"However, the Flying Cloud Guards also have some specific task indicators every year to explore some unknown places in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range. If you cannot complete them or refuse to go, the market will directly remove your identity as a Flying Cloud Guard. Please pay attention to this point, Fellow Daoist."

Lu Yunfei finished speaking and looked at Song Qingming with a smile. Having explained the benefits so thoroughly, he thought this kid wouldn't refuse, right?

Two months later, in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range, Song Qingming, wearing a bamboo hat and black clothes, was hiding behind a giant rock, looking from afar at a giant green crocodile wandering in a swamp dozens of feet away.

After a long time, Song Qingming took out a black notebook from his storage bag, opened it, and wrote with a pen: "High-tier demonic beast, Green Water Crocodile, can use top-grade water-type spells, lives alone in the Green Water Pool three hundred miles southwest of Mount Cangyun, likes to go out to the swamp south of the pool to forage for fish during the day."

After putting away the black notebook and watching the Green Water Crocodile swim back into the pool after having its fill, Song Qingming stood up, carefully looked around, and quickly left the place.

After receiving Lu Yunfei's invitation in the teahouse that day, Song Qingming pondered for a while and decided to join the Flying Cloud Guards of Guiyunfang, taking on the job of going deep into the Floating Cloud Mountain Range to investigate information on demonic beasts.

Speaking of these Flying Cloud Guards, they were really not an ordinary cultivator organization. Within them, they not only gathered over a hundred experts at the Qi Refining stage but also had several Foundation Establishment cultivators leading and holding the line. Song Qingming's cultivation at the sixth layer of Qi Refining seemed inconspicuous among them, equivalent to being at the bottom.

And the tasks they received were mainly to investigate the demonic beasts in the areas they were responsible for in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range, record the valuable information on these demonic beasts, and then they could send it back to Guiyunfang to exchange for spirit stones.

These areas would generally be investigated by Foundation Establishment cultivators in the air first. The Foundation Establishment cultivators would record the information on second-tier demonic beasts in this area first to prevent Qi Refining cultivators from mistakenly entering the territory of second-tier demonic beasts.

Only then would they arrange for these Qi Refining cultivators to explore the information on Qi Refining demonic beasts in the area in detail.

At the same time, about once or twice a year, there would be tasks forcibly assigned from above to explore unknown areas on the map. Although these tasks would also be investigated by Foundation Establishment cultivators first, compared to those places that had already appeared on the map and were frequently visited by cultivators, these unknown areas were often more dangerous.

There were often second-tier demonic beasts that slipped through the net mixed in, escaping the search of Foundation Establishment cultivators. Foundation Establishment cultivators' spiritual sense could only be released for three to five miles, and for such places they were not familiar with, it was common to miss some places. And once Qi Refining cultivators encountered second-tier demonic beasts, they often had to rely on luck to survive.

Therefore, in the Flying Cloud Guards, basically all cultivators would have some special skills to rely on, or they would have special escape spells, agile technique divine abilities, and like Lu Yunfei, practice spiritual sense techniques, with particularly strong spiritual sense perception to foresee danger in advance. Only with these various special technique abilities could they greatly increase the probability of these people surviving; otherwise, if it were ordinary cultivators, it would be very easy to go and not return.

Regarding this, Song Qingming also had some confidence in himself. Although he didn't have any powerful magic power divine abilities in fighting, fortunately, after practicing the Jade Profound Scripture, his magic power was much deeper than ordinary people. Lu Yunfei also saw this point at the time, plus he had fine magic treasures, spirit talismans, and other protective spirit items on him, so as long as he didn't encounter powerful second-tier demonic beasts, it was not difficult for him to escape with all his heart.

Actually, the main reason he agreed to Lu Yunfei was that he took a fancy to the identity of the Flying Cloud Guards. With the identity of the Flying Cloud Guards, many things would be more convenient for him to do in this Guiyunfang in the future.

I suppose I have a cold. This headache came quietly. Lying on the bed, tossing and turning, I couldn't sleep. I got up and brewed two cups of 999, one is mine, and the other is still mine.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 47 =====