Chapter 601

Today's Mount Tuoyun, after nearly twenty years of development, had long since recovered its vitality from the Ma family rebellion, and was even somewhat more prosperous than it was during the time of Feng Deyang.

The business of the Mount Tuoyun market had been getting better and better over these years, and it had long since recouped its costs, still bringing in a considerable amount of spirit stone revenue for all three parties managing the market every year.

Among them, the Xiaoyao Sect, which held the largest share of the market, was naturally the party that earned the most; they could earn nearly ten thousand spirit stones in profit from the numerous loose cultivators of Mount Tuoyun almost every year.

On Mount Tuoyun now, Lin Yutian and his people from the Jin Yunge were responsible for managing the entire spiritual mountain and the numerous loose cultivators on it, while the Xiaoyao Sect firmly controlled the management rights of the Mount Tuoyun market, and the Song family provided protection for this spiritual mountain, from which they took a small portion of the benefits.

Now that the cooperation between the three parties had reached this point, the Xiaoyao Sect was clearly the one taking the most advantage; they had obtained the benefits they wanted most steadily without expending much effort here.

Although Lin Yutian and his people from the Jin Yunge had ceded most of the market's benefits, the control of the Mount Tuoyun spiritual vein had always remained in their hands.

Plus, there was the Jin Dan ancestor Song Qingming sitting in town inside, and the Xiaoyao Sect to provide backing outside.

The days of the two fellow disciples, while far less glorious than before, were still stable and comfortable, and there were not many things to worry about in the short term.

Although the Song family also obtained some benefits from the Mount Tuoyun market, because of this, the Jin Dan cultivator Song Qingming could only stay on Mount Tuoyun most of the time to help guard this gateway to the northwest of Wei, so the effort and the return were actually not very high.

Fortunately, in recent years, ever since Song Qingming taught the Cloud Crane Demon King a lesson twice, Mount Tuoyun had been relatively peaceful and uneventful, not causing Song Qingming much worry; most of the time he spent here was basically in closed-door cultivation.

Otherwise, if high-tier demon beasts came to harass them every few days, Song Qingming would likely have long been unable to bear the annoyance, abandoned the affairs here, and returned to Qinghe County.

Zhang Tieyang's arrival in Wei this time was actually a bit ill-timed; the demon beast turmoil had just ended not long ago, and the surroundings of Mount Tuoyun were still relatively peaceful.

Moreover, the business of the Mount Tuoyun market was getting better day by day, and various benefits had long been allocated; an outside Jin Dan cultivator suddenly taking over Mount Tuoyun would inevitably break the current balance, which was also something the Xiaoyao Sect did not want to see.

Whether it was the Xiaoyao Sect or Lin Yutian and his people on Mount Tuoyun, they were not in a hurry to need a powerful Jin Dan cultivator to help guard the Mount Tuoyun spiritual vein year-round; having Song Qingming able to spare some energy to look after it was enough.

If a few decades passed and the pressure from the demon beasts in the north grew greater and everyone needed manpower to help, Zhang Tieyang would certainly not be opposed if he just opened his mouth.

However, people who could cultivate to the Jin Dan realm were generally not fools; if it really reached the point where the demon beast turmoil was about to move south, it was basically impossible for anyone to choose to come to Wei to wade into these muddy waters.

Even for a Jin Dan cultivator, it was equally difficult to guarantee one's own safety in a great war like the demon beast turmoil; if there were no sufficiently attractive benefits, no one would be willing to risk their own death and destruction to help the Xiaoyao Sect deal with the demon beast turmoil.

A third-tier low-quality spiritual vein, while indeed very important to a Jin Dan cultivator, was not worth them taking such a risk.

It is easy to share wealth, but always difficult to share adversity.

After learning the news that the Xiaoyao Sect had rejected Zhang Tieyang, Song Qingming, who was on Mount Funiu, felt somewhat surprised in his heart, but could only sigh for Zhang Tieyang.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang and I only met once, and there is no deep connection, so you need not worry so much. Since it is the intention of the sect, I naturally will not have any opinions; you just need to do your own work well.

I will be in closed-door cultivation for a period of time next; if there is any urgent matter down the mountain, just send a message to notify me as before."

"Please rest assured, Senior; this junior knows what to do." Seeing Song Qingming's smiling face and that he truly had no intention of pursuing the matter, Lin Yutian breathed a slight sigh of relief and hurriedly nodded in response to Song Qingming.

After sending Lin Yutian and his companion away, Song Qingming lingered outside his cave dwelling and watched the setting sun about to fall for a while.

After the sun set behind the western mountains, Song Qingming reluctantly walked back to his cave dwelling, opened the restrictions at the entrance, and prepared to begin closed-door cultivation.

Spring passed and autumn came, and six years passed in the blink of an eye.

On this day, in the northwest corner of Qinghe County, in Mount Yunwu, two sword lights suddenly flew over and stopped on a high mountain.

Among them, a handsome young man in green robes pointed not far in front of them with a smile and said to another man beside him:

"Sixteenth Uncle, how about this place? I scouted the surroundings last time I came; except for a second-tier mid-quality Fire-Scaled Leopard on this mountain, there are no other second-tier demon beasts within a hundred miles.

Although this spiritual vein is only second-tier low-quality, it is less than a thousand miles from the Huang family's Chifeng Ridge and the Zhao family's Mount Luoyun in Pingyang County; I feel that the location is quite in line with the requirements you proposed."

Song Yuanfang looked at the other high mountain pointed out by Song Changze, and after a moment, nodded and said: "Hmm! Your eye for things is quite good this time, Changze; the location here is indeed quite suitable for building a market in all aspects.

Although the spiritual vein is slightly lower, it is a minor matter; we can just find a way to improve it later.

I will discuss it with the others after I go back; if everyone has no objections, we will immediately organize manpower to come and clear this place."

After saying a few more words on the spot, Song Yuanfang and Song Changze quickly turned into two sword lights again and left the place directly.

A few days later, led by Song Yuanfang, a grand army of over a hundred cultivators arrived at the foot of this mountain again.

This army of cultivators brought by Song Yuanfang was composed of the Song family and cultivators from some immortal cultivation families near the Song family's gate; their cultivation bases were basically all at the sixth layer of Qi Condensation or above, and their combat capabilities were very impressive.

In addition to these hundred-plus Qi Condensation cultivators, there were also five Foundation Establishment cultivators who followed: Song Yuanfang, Song Changze, Song Yuanli, Liu Yuxin, and Wang Huaqing.

Among the five who came, Song Yuanli had the highest cultivation base; having already cultivated to the peak of the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment, his cultivation base could break through to the late stage of Foundation Establishment at any time, and he was already considered the top among mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Next was Song Yuanfang, who had been in the Foundation Establishment stage for over forty years; having just broken through to the fourth layer of Foundation Establishment two years ago, although his cultivation speed was not very fast, he could barely surpass about half of the Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Wei cultivation world.

Except for the two of them who were mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, the cultivation bases of the other three were still in the early stage of Foundation Establishment, among whom Song Changze and Liu Yuxin had also broken through to the third layer of Foundation Establishment one after another in these few years.

The remaining Wang Huaqing only had a cultivation base of the second layer of Foundation Establishment; he was not a Foundation Establishment cultivator invited by the Song family from outside, but the one from the Wang family of Mount Fengtou who succeeded in Foundation Establishment after exchanging for a Foundation Establishment Pill from Song Qingming over a decade ago.

This time, the reason Song Yuanfang and the others led so many cultivators here was to clear this second-tier spiritual vein, which was occupied by a second-tier mid-quality demon beast and had relatively flat terrain.

After taking down this spiritual vein, the Song family intended to build a market here that would connect the two counties of Qinghe and Pingyang and could also penetrate deep into Mount Yunwu.

Since the Song family ascended to a Jin Dan immortal clan, with more and more cultivators in Qinghe and Pingyang, even the expanded Qinghe Market was gradually becoming a bit crowded now.

The increasing number of cultivators in Qinghe County also allowed the Song family to see some business opportunities, so after discussing it within the family, the Song family decided to establish another market in the middle near Pingyang County.

The Song family now had the control and management rights of the territories of Qinghe and Pingyang counties; the Xiaoyao Sect naturally would not intervene in building a new market within their own territory.

Except for the few markets and some mineral industries that were already controlled and operated by the Xiaoyao Sect before the Song family ascended to a Jin Dan family, the Xiaoyao Sect had basically not intervened in any affairs within the Song family's territory over these years.

This was also a tacit understanding that the two sides had reached decades ago.

Although building a new market in their own territory did not require greeting the Xiaoyao Sect, this move would more or less affect the business of the nearest Qinghe Market.

For this reason, the relatively steady Song Yuanfang had written a letter to the Xiaoyao Sect's General Affairs Hall beforehand, directly explaining the matter and asking for their opinion.

Regarding the Song family's idea of building a new market in the northeast of Qinghe County, the Xiaoyao Sect's General Affairs Hall did not pay too much attention to it and quickly gave a reply, agreeing to their idea of building a market.

Compared to large markets like the Mount Tuoyun market, the Qinghe Market was just one of the small markets among the nearly one hundred markets controlled by the Xiaoyao Sect in Wei, and the revenue it could create for the sect every year was very limited.

Even if the business of the Qinghe Market were affected, it would be but a drop in the bucket for the entire sect; they cared more about the few large markets like the Guiyun Market, Mount Tuoyun, and the Yangshan Market.

After resting on the spot for a while, Song Yuanfang announced the mission this time loudly to everyone and assigned their respective duties on the spot.

Following Song Yuanfang's order, the five Foundation Establishment cultivators present immediately set off with a team of Qi Condensation cultivators each, split into five different directions, and killed their way toward the high mountain in front of them.

There were not many demon beasts on this spiritual vein, only one second-tier mid-quality demon beast with average strength and dozens of ordinary small demon beasts at the Qi Condensation stage.

Song Yuanfang and the others had five Foundation Establishment cultivators and over a hundred Qi Condensation experts here this time, so everyone was already determined to win this battle, and excitement appeared on every face.

A sword light flew to the top of the mountain, and Song Yuanli, who charged the fastest, soon discovered the second-tier "Fire-Scaled Leopard" hiding in a place on the mountain.

Seeing a human cultivator run to the spiritual mountain it occupied, this "Fire-Scaled Leopard" also immediately let out an angry roar and charged toward Song Yuanli; sparks immediately flew when the two sides met.

Seeing the Fire-Scaled Leopard that was about to kill its way to his side, a slight look of contempt appeared on the corner of Song Yuanli's mouth; with a movement of spiritual light in his hand, a second-tier flying sword immediately appeared, and he directly greeted the opponent.

Although this Fire-Scaled Leopard was also a second-tier mid-quality demon beast, its cultivation strength was still much worse than a mid-stage Foundation Establishment expert like Song Yuanli; after fighting for only a moment, it quickly fell into a disadvantage.

Several Foundation Establishment cultivators who were searching for demon beasts in other directions heard the fighting sounds from the side of the mountain where Song Yuanli was, and hurriedly set up their flying swords to lean toward him.

This second-tier mid-quality "Fire-Scaled Leopard" was already unable to resist Song Yuanli's attack, and seeing two more Foundation Establishment cultivators quickly leaning toward this side not far away, it felt a sense of impending doom, hurriedly abandoned Song Yuanli, and turned around, wanting to slip away directly.

However, the Song family members were clearly well-prepared before attacking this place.

Seeing this "Fire-Scaled Leopard" wanting to escape to the depths of Mount Yunwu in the northeast direction, Song Yuanli, who was following behind it, did not have a trace of anxiety on his face.

Before this "Fire-Scaled Leopard" could escape very far, another blue sword light appeared in front, blocking its path; it was Liu Yuxin, who had been prepared here for a long time.

Seeing Liu Yuxin blocking in front of it, with a cultivation base of only the third layer of Foundation Establishment, the "Fire-Scaled Leopard" did not take her seriously at first; after spitting a ball of flames at Liu Yuxin, it wanted to bypass her and escape quickly.

However, just as the "Fire-Scaled Leopard" had just crossed Liu Yuxin and was about to breathe a sigh of relief, a silver ring suddenly appeared in the mid-air in front, and then quickly grew several times larger, directly stuck on the "Fire-Scaled Leopard".

The one operating this silver ring magic tool was Liu Yuxin, who had just avoided the "Fire-Scaled Leopard"'s attack.

Looking at the "Fire-Scaled Leopard" that had been caught by her magic tool not far away and was struggling constantly in mid-air, Liu Yuxin's face was filled with joy, and the magic power in her hand increased by a few points, quickly making it difficult for this "Fire-Scaled Leopard" to move forward another step.

Just as Liu Yuxin had trapped the "Fire-Scaled Leopard" with the silver ring magic tool and took out a blue flying sword, preparing to continue attacking the opponent.

That trapped "Fire-Scaled Leopard" suddenly turned around, opened its mouth wide, and spat out a red ball wrapped in flames, heading straight for Liu Yuxin.

Seeing this scene, Liu Yuxin, who had some surprise on her face, hurriedly stopped her figure and took out a defensive magic tool to block in front of her.

However, just as the black ball spat out by the "Fire-Scaled Leopard" flew into mid-air, a golden light suddenly appeared and directly intercepted it, and a violent explosion sound soon rang out in mid-air.

"Are you alright!"

Before the smoke had dissipated, Song Changze's figure had already appeared beside Liu Yuxin, asking her with some concern.

"I'm fine! You hurry up and kill the Fire-Scaled Leopard first, don't let it run away." Liu Yuxin glanced at Song Changze slightly and immediately said to him.

Just now, in order to defend against this fierce attack from the "Fire-Scaled Leopard", Liu Yuxin had released her control of the silver ring, and the opponent might have already broken free from her magic tool at this moment.

The two passed through the black smoke in front of them and were just about to chase the "Fire-Scaled Leopard" forward, only to find that it had just broken free from Liu Yuxin's silver ring magic tool and was entangled by Song Yuanli, who had already caught up.

Seeing this, Liu Yuxin and Song Changze also breathed a slight sigh of relief and hurriedly stepped forward to join the battle.

The strength of this "Fire-Scaled Leopard" was not as good as Song Yuanli's to begin with, and after falling into the siege of the three, it was immediately beaten into retreat, losing its ability to parry.

By the time Song Yuanfang and Wang Huaqing, who were a little further away, arrived at the battlefield, this "Fire-Scaled Leopard" had already been beaten by the three of them until it only had half a life left, and was soon beheaded by Song Yuanli with a sword.

Seeing that this Fire-Scaled Leopard had been successfully killed, Song Yuanfang's face was filled with joy, and he immediately said to the people present with a smile:

"Changze and Fellow Daoist Liu, stay behind to collect the demon beast materials; let us few go together to help clear the remaining demon beasts on the mountain."

After Song Yuanfang finished speaking, he stepped on his flying sword and went to the top of the mountain first; Song Yuanli and Wang Huaqing did not say much after hearing this and immediately turned into sword lights and left here.

After the three of them had left, Liu Yuxin glanced at Song Changze, who was processing the corpse of the "Fire-Scaled Leopard" in front of him, and asked with some displeasure:

"Song Changze! I could clearly have blocked that blow myself just now; why did you have to waste a second-tier defensive spiritual talisman?"

Song Changze, who was focused on collecting demon beast materials, turned around and replied calmly:

"I believe you could have blocked it, but I just felt that the innate ability of this Fire-Scaled Leopard was indeed a bit powerful, and I was a bit anxious, so I used that spiritual talisman; it was just a second-tier low-quality spiritual talisman, so you don't need to take it too seriously."

"When I asked to borrow a few hundred spirit stones from you before, it was like taking your life; how come now you don't even care about a second-tier low-quality defensive spiritual talisman? Tell me, did you secretly make a fortune, and you have so many spirit stones you can't finish using them?"

Song Changze smiled and shook his head: "Hehe! You're overthinking it; if I had so many spirit stones I couldn't finish using them, I would have shared some with you.

Ancestor Qingyu specifically instructed me to look after you; I was just a bit afraid you would get hurt, so I used that spiritual talisman; if you really feel bad about it, just return one to me next time."

"Hmph! It was you who insisted on wasting it, and you want me to return it; you really have a beautiful dream."

Regarding Song Changze's answer, although Liu Yuxin's tone still seemed a bit indifferent, her heart could not help but warm up; she didn't say anything more and followed him to help Song Changze collect demon beast materials.

After solving the second-tier mid-quality "Fire-Scaled Leopard", the remaining demon beasts on the mountain no longer posed any threat to everyone; except for a small portion that escaped down the mountain, the rest were all killed.

After collecting all the demon beast materials, Song Yuanli and Song Changze stayed behind with dozens of Song family cultivators to guard this spiritual vein.

Song Yuanfang took the rest of the people back to Mount Funiu and began to dispatch manpower to go there to set up the mountain-protecting formation.

After the mountain-protecting formation began to operate, the Song family quickly gained a firm foothold here and named this newly obtained spiritual vein "Mount Chiyan".

After occupying "Mount Chiyan", the news that the Song family was going to build a new market here soon spread throughout the northeast of Wei.

Although the Xiaoyao Sect did not care about this matter, the numerous immortal cultivation families in Qinghe County were all starting to get excited after hearing the news that the Song family was about to build a new market.

As Qinghe County became more and more prosperous, other Foundation Establishment families in Qinghe County, led by the Huang family and the Gao family, although they did not have many shares in the Qinghe Market, could still receive a considerable amount of spirit stones every year.

With the strength of the Song family as a Jin Dan immortal clan, the market that "Mount Chiyan" would build in the future would certainly not be worse than current markets like the Qinghe Market or the Jin Shan Market.

They naturally also wanted to contribute some effort to occupy some shares in this new market of the Song family, or get a few more shops.

As long as the market operated normally in the future, even if they couldn't eat meat following the Song family, it would be good for them to drink some soup.

Not long after the news spread, not only the Foundation Establishment families in Qinghe County, but even several Foundation Establishment families in Pingyang County could not sit still.

They soon sent people to Mount Funiu to seek an audience with Song Yuanfang, who was in charge of the Song family, wanting to contribute to the Song family and participate in the operation of this new market with them.

Regarding their intention to get a piece of the pie, Song Yuanfang's attitude toward them this time was relatively vague.

Although he verbally agreed that everyone could rent shops and occupy some shares in the newly built market in the future.

But regarding the specific details of the cooperative operation of the market, Song Yuanfang did not immediately promise them, and also rejected their idea of wanting to participate in building the market now.

Looking at "Mount Chiyan", where the Song family had already begun to vigorously improve the spiritual vein and build the market, those Foundation Establishment families who had not yet received a definite answer from the Song family also began to get anxious day by day, constantly sending people to Mount Funiu to inquire about news.

Facing these people who came to the Song family to inquire about news, Song Yuanfang, who was responsible for managing this matter, although always greeting them with a smile, could not give them the answer they wanted.

He only claimed that the Song family patriarch was still in closed-door cultivation, and he himself had no way to make this decision, and that they would have to wait for the family ancestor Song Qingming to return.

Hearing Song Yuanfang's explanation, even if these people were anxious in their hearts, they did not dare to disturb Song Qingming's cultivation because of this small matter, and could only leave Mount Funiu with some disappointment.

——

Northwest of Yue, on a high mountain hundreds of feet deep in the Fuyun Mountain Range.

On a steep cliff side that was originally extremely quiet, a faint white light suddenly lit up.

Immediately after, two figures flew out quickly from the white light and stopped in mid-air beside the cliff.

A young woman in green robes glanced at the woman in white beside her and said softly: "Senior Sister Xia, it seems we still can't get in with just the two of us; we must find some helpers."

The woman in white looked around and sighed helplessly:

"We just opened the formation outside, and the spiritual energy here has already begun to leak out; it won't be long before it attracts the attention of those high-tier demon kings.

This place is too far from the sect; it will probably be too late by the time we go back to find helpers."

(End of chapter)