Chapter 619: Yuanli

Except for the addition of the Chen family, the other major Foundation Establishment families in Qinghe County, although they each had some development, did not have much change in strength.

Only the Huang family here, because of the passing of Huang Shengyue, the head of the family had been replaced by Huang Mengde, who had broken through to the late-stage of Foundation Establishment. This person was also the one who came to participate in the "Red Flame Market" council this time.

On the Pingyang County side, a total of eight Foundation Establishment family cultivators came, and the leader was still the head of the Cao family of Mount Huoyun, Cao Rongxue.

The Cao family was a thousand-year cultivation clan that was second to none in Pingyang County. The clan had never had fewer than four Foundation Establishment cultivators over these years. The cultivation of Cao Rongxue, this clan leader, had also long since been cultivated to the peak of Foundation Establishment, and she had tried to impact the Core Formation realm several times.

However, Cao Rongxue's Dao path situation was about the same as that of Huang Shengsheng of the Huang family back then. Several Core Formation attempts all fell short of success. Now, having passed the age of two hundred, her essence and blood began to decline, and her body already showed signs of old age. Clearly, it was unlikely she would have the opportunity to break through to the Core Formation realm.

Besides the Cao family, the relatively powerful ones in Pingyang County were the Jiang family of Mount Yufeng and the Liu family of Mount Yulong, both of which had three Foundation Establishment cultivators sitting in the clan, and their strength was no weaker than the Huang family, the strongest in Qinghe County.

The remaining five Foundation Establishment families were much weaker compared to the three families above. Whether it was the number of Foundation Establishment cultivators or Qi Condensation cultivators, they were much fewer. The weaker ones were about the same as new Foundation Establishment families like the Wang family of Mount Fengtou, and the stronger ones were not much different from the Gao family.

Because Pingyang County had a larger scope, the overall number of cultivators was about thirty or forty percent more than that of Qinghe County. Coupled with the fact that the demon beast turmoil a hundred years ago did not hurt the foundation, the number of cultivators in the territory had already reached nearly three thousand after these years.

The crowd in the council hall saw the three Song family members walk in and hurriedly stood up to bow and salute each other.

Song Yuanfang swept a glance at the hall, saw that everyone had arrived, took out the summons passed to the Song family by the sect's Merit Hall, showed it to everyone, and then reported the tasks he had already allocated to each family face-to-face.

Among the thirteen Foundation Establishment families present, each family had to extract at least fifteen cultivators at the mid-stage of Qi Condensation or above to accompany the expedition. Those willing to send Foundation Establishment cultivators could summon five fewer Qi Condensation cultivators.

The duration for this summons to go to the Lu State battlefield was one year. After one year, all cultivators could obtain rotation and return to the Wei State to rest.

Of course, cultivators who were willing to stay on the front line to perform meritorious service could also choose to stay after one year.

Like Song Qingming back then, all cultivators who went to participate in the war could directly exchange the meritorious service earned on the front line for the spirit items and cultivation resources they needed.

The second-tier low-quality puppet beast "Galloping Wind Beast" on Song Qingming's body was exchanged by him with the war merits in his hand after staying on the front line of the Lu State for two years back then.

Because the Song family already knew about the summons earlier, Song Yuanfang had also greeted everyone in advance, so everyone did not have any major surprises about this summons.

Only Chen Yun'an of Mount Tiexian and Meng Xuanzhang, the head of a newly built Foundation Establishment family in Pingyang County, revealed a look of difficulty on their faces after hearing the number of cultivators to be summoned.

After Song Yuanfang finished explaining some of the conditions and requirements for summoning cultivators, as well as the specific time for the cultivators to gather, and ended this council.

Chen Yun'an and Meng Xuanzhang immediately sought out Song Yuanfang alone, wanting the Song family to help think of a way to see if they could summon a few fewer cultivators from their families.

The Chen family and the Meng family were both Foundation Establishment families built not long ago. They did not have any vassal Qi Condensation families under their command. The cultivators in the clan added up to only ten or twenty people. Sending out fifteen cultivators at once, and also having to take turns to replace them, was indeed somewhat difficult for them to handle.

After hearing the complaints of Chen Yun'an and Meng Xuanzhang, Song Yuanfang did not have any look of surprise on his face. After being silent for a moment, he said somewhat difficultly:

"Two fellow Daoists, although this matter is handled by me, it is also a rule set by the Ancestor in advance. If I don't handle it impartially, it will be difficult for me to explain when I go back. You are truly making things difficult for me!"

"Song Fellow Daoist, you also know the difficulties of our two families. Please help. Explain to the Song Ancestor's side. This item is something I obtained in my early years and has been useless on me. Consider it as a junior showing filial piety to the old senior!"

Chen Yun'an said and took out a second-tier weapon refining material from his body and took the initiative to stuff it into Song Yuanfang's hand.

Meng Xuanzhang, who was to the side, saw this and also took out a second-tier spirit herb that had already been prepared and placed it before Song Yuanfang.

"Song Fellow Daoist, I didn't bring anything good in a hurry. Please accept this spirit herb and don't dislike it!"

Looking at the spirit items taken out by the two, Song Yuanfang hurriedly waved his hand:

"Two fellow Daoists, what are you doing? Hurry up and put these things away. I have been managing family affairs for the Ancestor in the clan for so many years, and I didn't get the Ancestor's trust by accepting gifts to handle affairs."

"I also know that the two have difficulties. How about this! I will give the two an idea. If the two feel it is feasible, you can consider it carefully. If it doesn't work, then you go back and think of a way!"

Hearing Song Yuanfang say this, Chen Yun'an and Meng Xuanzhang hurriedly stood up and bowed in salute happily: "Please give us some guidance, Song Fellow Daoist. We are deeply grateful!"

"Since the two are worried about lacking manpower, why not go directly to the market's law enforcement team of Red Flame Market to hire a few people and directly classify them under your family's name."

"Our market's law enforcement team, although they were all recently organized, are all cultivators we carefully selected and can be trusted. If the two trust us, go directly to that side and spend some spirit stones. I think it is also feasible."

"This... hiring other cultivators to deal with the summons, I don't know if the Ancestor and the sect's Merit Hall will know about this matter

Song Yuanfang shook his head directly and said, "You two can rest assured about this point. If you were to hire other rogue cultivators or cultivators from other families, I truly would find it difficult to promise you anything here.

But if it is someone from our Chiyan Workshop's Law Enforcement Team, I can naturally come forward to provide a guarantee for you two. In any case, these are all people who have been carefully selected over these years, so we are naturally at ease."

"Then... then I will have to trouble Fellow Daoist Song to help guide us a little."

Hearing that the other party had already agreed, Song Yuanfang hurriedly stood up with a smile and said, "Since that is the case, I will write a note for you two. You can just go directly to the Law Enforcement Team to pick people.

However, no matter what, the number of people hired by each of your families cannot exceed half of the total number conscripted. I hope you are aware of this matter, so as not to put us in a difficult position when the time comes!"

"Fellow Daoist Song, please rest assured. We are naturally aware of this. I will certainly not forget the kindness of your guidance today!"

After sending Chen Yunan and Meng Xuanzhang out, Song Yuanfang beckoned and called in a young cultivator wearing the Song family's attire from outside.

"Xuanyu, go find Yuantong and tell him that the Chen family and the others will be coming to the Law Enforcement Team to pick people in a while. Tell him to hurry over and prepare, be careful on the road, and absolutely do not run into Chen Yunan and the others!"

"Sixteenth Grand-uncle, please rest assured, I will go over immediately!" After Song Xuanyu nodded slightly, he immediately turned around and walked quickly out of the council hall.

Five days later, a large flying boat flying from the direction of Mount Guyang landed on an open space outside "Chiyan Workshop."

Seeing two Foundation Establishment deacons from the Xiaoyao Sect's Miscellaneous Affairs Hall descend from the flying boat, Song Yuanfang, who had already been waiting on the side for a long time, immediately stepped forward quickly and cupped his hands at the two.

"Two fellow daoists, you have had a hard journey coming from afar. Would you like to go into the workshop market to drink some spirit tea and rest your feet first?"

"Fellow Daoist Song, you are too polite. We two have come here this time under the orders of Uncle-Master Xu of the sect, and we dare not delay too much. We hope you can understand!"

Seeing the other party waving their hands repeatedly to refuse, Song Yuanfang did not insist too much. After exchanging a few polite words, he led the two directly to a place where a crowd had gathered not far away.

"Two fellow daoists, this is Fellow Daoist Meng, Fellow Daoist Li, and my younger brother Yuanli. The three of them are the leaders of this expedition. There are two hundred other Qi Condensation cultivators who are all here. You two can count and verify them now."

After hearing Song Yuanfang's introduction, the two Xiaoyao Sect Foundation Establishment cultivators cupped their hands and exchanged greetings with Song Yuanli and the others, then shifted their gaze to the more than two hundred Qi Condensation cultivators who had already assembled.

After a glance, one of the older men cleared his throat and spoke loudly to everyone present: "Everyone, this expedition is to contribute to the sect. Everyone needs to leave their names and family locations in advance.

Please rest assured, whether you die in battle or are injured, the sect will provide corresponding compensation to your descendants. I hope you can all fight hard against the enemy on the front line and win glory for our State of Wei's cultivation world."

When the Xiaoyao Sect conscripts cultivators from subordinate families, they generally have to register and verify their identities before setting off.

The reason for this is to prevent subordinate families from hiring some rogue cultivators with no background to make up the numbers, sometimes in order to protect their own cultivators from going to these dangerous battlefields.

Most of these rogue cultivators are people who only look at immediate interests and trim their sails to the wind. Once they encounter danger on the battlefield, at the critical moment when they need to fight for their lives, it is very easy for them to desert, leading to a collapse of morale.

Therefore, every time the Xiaoyao Sect has a major war and needs a large number of low-level cultivators to participate, they basically prioritize conscripting sect disciples and cultivators from subordinate families. Only in very few critical situations will they take the risk of choosing to hire these rogue cultivators.

Decades ago, during the beast turmoil, when the sect was unable to provide support, in order to hold the Jin Shan Workshop defense line, Song Qingming, under the pressure of the situation, hired many rogue cultivators to help defend the city.

At that time, in order to stabilize these people on the battlefield, Song Qingming not only promised a lot of benefits but also gave up many interests on the battlefield, which for a time also caused many subordinate families under his command to feel a lot of confusion.

Fortunately, there must be brave men under heavy rewards. After a great battle, there were not many cultivators who deserted on the Jin Shan Workshop side. Although the defense was a bit difficult, everyone persisted until the sect's support arrived, killed the White Lion Demon King, and won the final victory.

Watching one cultivator after another register their names and information and step onto the flying boat, Song Yuanfang, having confirmed with the Xiaoyao Sect side that there were no problems, turned around calmly and came to Song Yuanli's side.

"Eighteenth brother, all these children of the family are handed over to you. When you return in triumph, I will definitely set up a celebration banquet for all of you here. At that time, our brothers will call everyone together again and have a good drink!"

Song Yuanli nodded with a relaxed face and said, "Good, then it's a deal. You must bring out some good wine then."

Although there was a difference of more than ten years between Song Yuanfang and Song Yuanli in their Foundation Establishment time, in fact, they were only a few years apart in age. They were brothers who grew up together, and their relationship in the family had always been relatively good.

Among the "Yuan-generation" cultivators who grew up together, except for the few who succeeded in Foundation Establishment, the others who were still alive already had aged appearances and no longer had the look of their youth. This also made them feel the ruthlessness of time over these years and cherish the brothers still by their sides even more.

Compared to Song Yuanfang's tactful management of the family, Song Yuanli's personality had always been relatively introverted. After Foundation Establishment, he had focused his mind on his own cultivation. Even in such a scene of parting, he would not have too many words.

After saying his final farewell to the elder brother in front of him, Song Yuanli turned and strode toward the Xiaoyao Sect's large flying boat. His slender figure soon disappeared from Song Yuanfang's sight.

Watching the flying boat slowly move away, Song Yuanfang turned around and walked silently toward the gate of "Chiyan Workshop." Just as he walked not far from the entrance, Song Yuantong, who had slightly graying hair and was wearing the attire of the workshop's Law Enforcement Team, walked quickly to Song Yuanfang's side.

"Sixteenth brother, the ones I picked this time are all those with relatively quick minds. The people from the sect's Miscellaneous Affairs Hall shouldn't have noticed anything just now, right!"

Song Yuanfang shook his head after hearing this and said with a calm expression, "Don't worry! Even if they noticed, it doesn't matter. Hiring a dozen people is not a big deal. It's not like no one else has done this in other places.

The war in the State of Lu to the south is probably not going to end so quickly. Ninth brother, for the Law Enforcement Team, we still have to find a way to recruit more people and make preparations in advance."

"Hehe! Recruiting more people is not difficult, but I am at this age, and I am afraid that I will suddenly collapse when the time comes, delaying the family's major affairs. You should send someone more reliable over to replace me sooner."

"Hmm! Ninth brother, your spirit is not inferior to those juniors. I am more at ease leaving this place to you for the time being. I haven't seen a more suitable person for the family yet, let me consider it further!"

Since "Chiyan Workshop" was built, Song Yuantong, who managed part of the family's industries in Qinghe Workshop, had come to this workshop market and served as an elder of the Law Enforcement Team for several years.

When Shi Chun was still alive, he had secretly recruited some rogue cultivators in Qinghe Workshop to help the Song family inquire about news and do things that were inconvenient for them to come forward for.

Later, through the development of two generations of cultivators, Song Xintang and Song Yuantong, these cultivators who were nominally rogue cultivators but had secretly become part of the Song family had strength that was far from what it was in the beginning.

A few years ago, after "Chiyan Workshop" was built, Song Yuanfang transferred most of them here to join the workshop's Law Enforcement Team. After these years of development, nearly thirty people in the Law Enforcement Team were those recruited and cultivated by the Song family behind the scenes.

These people were all tested and carefully selected by Song Yuantong and others from among many rogue cultivators. Although they had no major connection with the Song family on the surface, they all received salaries from the Song family in secret and were peripheral cultivators who did things for the family outside.

The reason Song Yuanfang gathered them all in "Chiyan Workshop" was to strengthen and expand this force, allowing them to have more opportunities to contribute to the family in the future.

Since being promoted to a Jin Dan family, the Song family had been troubled by the fact that the family was developing too fast and the number of cultivators was seriously insufficient.

Even though Song Yuanfang had issued a policy encouraging family cultivators and mortals to have more children many years ago.

But because the family's original base of mortals was not large, it was impossible to see the results of a large increase in the number of cultivators in a short period of time, and it still needed time to be slowly reflected.

That was why Song Yuanfang turned his thoughts to recruiting rogue cultivators to expand the family's cultivation strength.

In Qinghe and Pingyang counties, because of the rise of the Song family over these years, not only had the number of original cultivators and mortals in the territory ushered in a wave of explosion, but it had also attracted many foreign cultivators, and the spirit mountain territory within the territory was already a bit crowded.

The surroundings of "Chiyan Workshop" were basically still barren land, and the farthest spirit mountain was also hundreds of miles away. The space that could be expanded around it was still very large.

After a few more years when the number of cultivators in "Chiyan Workshop" slowly increases, the workshop's Law Enforcement Team controlled by the Song family can continue to expand its territory to the surroundings, slowly turning this originally barren land into a place that can support the survival of cultivators and mortals.

The Song family wanted to keep these people in the workshop's Law Enforcement Team, but once the number of people increased, it would also be a relatively large burden on the workshop. Therefore, Song Yuanfang was now also trying to find various tasks for them, trying to earn more spirit stones to minimize the burden on the workshop as much as possible.

Letting the Chen family and the Meng family hire these people from the workshop's Law Enforcement Team was actually something Song Yuanfang had already planned. It could not only let these workshop Law Enforcement Team cultivators controlled by the Song family take on this task to earn spirit stones, but after going to the front-line battlefield, it could also let them get some training and grow faster.

As long as the Song family guides them a few more times behind the scenes, letting those cultivation families who need people take the initiative to come to the "Chiyan Workshop" Law Enforcement Team to hire cultivators, the reliance of the many cultivation families in the Song family's Qinghe and Pingyang territories on "Chiyan Workshop" will also become greater and greater in the future.

In this way, the Song family, which firmly controls this workshop market, will have an immediate improvement in its influence over these subordinate cultivation families compared to the past.

——

Half a month later, in the "Hui Xian Pavilion" on the top of Mount Funiu.

Song Yuanqian, with a slightly nervous face, stood on the side, carefully watching Song Qingyu, who was checking a pile of artifact refining materials in front of her.

After a good while, Song Qingyu stood up, smiled, and nodded to her, saying: "Not bad, it has only been less than a month, and you have almost collected them all. Yuanqian, you handled this matter very well. When I look back, I will definitely record a credit for you with Seventh Brother!"

Hearing the praise from her own Jin Dan ancestor, Song Yuanqian nodded hurriedly with a face full of joy and said: "Thank you, Grand-aunt, for the reward!"

Just as Song Yuanqian walked to the stairs, she bumped into Song Qingming and Song Yuanfang, who had just walked up. She hurriedly stood on the side and bowed slightly to the two of them.

"Greetings, Patriarch!"

Song Qingming glanced at Song Yuanqian, then at the artifact refining materials in Song Qingyu's hands not far away. He instantly knew that she seemed to have come to deliver the spirit items needed for Song Qingyu to refine her natal magic treasure. He hurriedly smiled and nodded to her:

"These days, searching for spirit items everywhere has been hard on you. Go back quickly!"

After Song Yuanqian left, the two of them walked to Song Qingyu's side and asked again: "Have they all been collected this time?"

Song Qingyu smiled and nodded in response: "Hmm! With these materials, I can go into seclusion to refine my natal magic treasure in a few days. Yuanqian did a very good job this time. We should reward her well later."

"That is of course. If you can refine your natal magic treasure a day earlier, it will be of great help to your Dao path. We naturally cannot be stingy with rewards, not to mention that they are all our own people!"

"Hmm! Seventh Brother, you and Yuanfang came here to find me, is there anything else?"

Hearing Song Qingyu's inquiry, Song Yuanfang, who was standing on the side, hurriedly said: "The family obtained two more Foundation Establishment Pills yesterday. Seventh Grand-uncle and I wanted to come and discuss with Grand-aunt first about who should be given these two Foundation Establishment Pills to use for Foundation Establishment."

"Two Foundation Establishment Pills? Didn't the previous use of my merit points only allow for the exchange of one Foundation Establishment Pill? How did another one come out? Where did it come from?" A trace of confusion flashed slightly in Song Qingyu's eyes.

Seeing this, Song Qingming smiled slightly and said: "This Foundation Establishment Pill was actually obtained by me inadvertently at the Heavenly Pill Alliance!"

"Heavenly Pill Alliance! Could it be that you, Seventh Brother, a dignified Jin Dan cultivator, actually went to participate in the Foundation Establishment cultivator auction they held?"

Before Song Qingyu reached the Core Formation stage for the first time, in order to search for Core Formation spirit items everywhere, she had also participated in the auction held by the Heavenly Pill Alliance in the State of Wei. She naturally knew where Foundation Establishment Pills might appear.

However, the "Heavenly Pill Alliance" auction was only open to Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment level cultivators. Song Qingming was already a Jin Dan cultivator, so logically speaking, he should not have been able to join in the fun.

Song Qingming shook his head lightly and said: "Unless there is news of Five Elements Core Formation spirit items there, otherwise, no matter what, I would not go to participate in the Heavenly Pill Alliance auction for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

I don't know if you still remember the Fellow Daoist Gu from the Heavenly Pill Alliance that I mentioned to you before?

Speaking of which, it is quite a coincidence. This time when I went to the sect, I happened to run into him on the road. After chatting for a few sentences, I learned that he had successfully refined a batch of Foundation Establishment Pills not long ago, so I used the two third-tier spirit herbs in my hands to exchange for one directly from him."

"So that's how it is, this is really quite a coincidence!" After hearing Song Qingming's explanation, Song Qingyu finally understood, and a look of surprise appeared on her face.

This Fellow Daoist Gu that Song Qingming spoke of was named Gu Qing, and he was an executive elder of the "Heavenly Pill Alliance," specifically responsible for all the business of this organization in the State of Wei and several surrounding countries. (End of chapter)