Chapter 679

Five days later, in the council hall of "Jin Shan Market."

Song Qingming, sitting alone at the head position, looked carefully at the battle report that had been compiled in his hand.

The nearly forty Foundation Establishment cultivators standing below were mostly people from "Jin Shan Market" who had participated in the great battle against the demon beasts a few days ago.

When Song Qingming flipped to the last page regarding the battle losses of the "Jin Shan Market" cultivator side in this great battle, the face that had been somewhat happy suddenly became somewhat solemn.

Although "Jin Shan Market" won a great victory in this battle and defeated and heavily wounded the demon beast army, it also paid a considerable price.

Four Foundation Establishment cultivators were killed on the spot, nearly three hundred Qi Refining stage cultivators were lost, and many cultivators were injured in this battle and returned to the rear to recuperate.

Huang Siyuan was also injured in her internal organs during her previous solo battle with the "Nine-Patterned Flood Dragon" and was still in seclusion healing her injuries.

Although the Song family did not lose any Foundation Establishment cultivators in this battle, they also lost more than thirty people; among them, the family elder Song Xuanqing, who was at the second layer of Foundation Establishment, was seriously injured in this battle and had already been arranged to be sent back to the family's Funiu Mountain to heal.

Looking at the cultivators who had already died on the list, although it was not the first time he had seen these, Song Qingming still found it difficult to remain calm in his heart.

Among these people were descendants and juniors he had met, as well as dependents who had visited him; a few days ago, they were still standing in this great hall with smiles, but looking back now, they were all cold names.

However, having experienced so many such cruel things, although Song Qingming was touched in his heart, he was still able to adjust his mindset quickly.

After closing the merit book in his hand, Song Qingming looked up at the crowd sitting there and revealed a smile on his face again.

"In this battle, you all performed well. After the merits are calculated by the law enforcement team, I will report this matter to the sect and record merits for you all.

Those with outstanding merits on the battlefield will have a merit-rewarding assembly arranged in ten days, at which time I will personally distribute rewards to everyone.

In addition, for the cultivators of each family who died in battle, a portion of the consolation spirit stones can be distributed first; you can arrange for people from your families to go directly to the treasury to collect them.

You must personally attend to this matter and must not allow any deduction of the consolation merits of the deceased from the dependent families; otherwise, once discovered in the future, it will be dealt with according to the sect's rules without exception, and you must not be careless."

"Many thanks to the ancestor for the reward! We will definitely keep it in mind!"

According to the detailed post-battle statistics, in this battle, the "Jin Shan Market" cultivators, excluding the demon king "Nine-Patterned Flood Dragon" killed by Song Qingming and the two of them, killed a total of twenty-six second-tier demon beasts and 1,386 first-tier demon beasts.

The materials on these demon beasts, after being processed and collected, were now already filling the treasury of "Jin Shan Market."

According to the previous rules, although these spoils of war were eventually to be transported back to the sect, Song Qingming had the right to take out a portion of the demon beast materials first to console the deceased and reward those who had contributed on the battlefield.

In this battle of "Jin Shan Market," Song Qingming was very satisfied with the performance of these cultivators under his command.

Before he and Huang Siyuan killed the "Nine-Patterned Flood Dragon" and tipped the scales of victory, facing the fierce demon beast army, few people dared to retreat on the battlefield, and they all showed their blood and spirit to defend their land and homes.

Now that they had finally spent so much effort to defeat the demon beast army, Song Qingming naturally did not want to let these cultivators, who were looking forward to the rewards, wait too long, so he directly announced the holding of the merit-rewarding assembly.

Hearing that the merit-rewarding assembly was about to be held, the crowd on the scene also became excited one after another.

Compared to a hundred years ago, when they fought the "White Lion demon king" for more than half a year and fought dozens of battles before defeating the demon beast army, this time the "Jin Shan Market" cultivators defeated the demon beast army in less than a month, and starting to celebrate and receive rewards was definitely something these people had not expected at the beginning.

Although they defeated the demon beast army led by the "Nine-Patterned Flood Dragon" in one battle, this did not mean that this demon beast turmoil that swept across the entire north of Wei Kingdom had already ended.

However, being able to have such a good start was definitely a very encouraging thing for all the cultivators guarding "Jin Shan Market."

Just as Song Qingming had expected, after killing the leading demon king "Nine-Patterned Flood Dragon," for a period of time afterward, only some scattered demon beasts that could not form a climate came south to harass in the north, and there were no more large-scale demon beast armies.

Ten days later, a merit-rewarding assembly was held in "Jin Shan Market" as promised.

This time, not only did Song Qingming personally preside over the assembly, but Huang Siyuan, who was in seclusion healing her injuries, also specially came out of seclusion to the assembly site to encourage and reward these cultivators who had performed meritorious service on the battlefield.

In this great battle against the demon beast army, the best performers were naturally the few late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators with the highest cultivation.

Among them, five people, including Song Yuanli and Huang Mengde, all had the record of killing a second-tier or above demon beast alone, and each received a reward of a second-tier top-quality magic tool.

Next were more than a dozen Foundation Establishment cultivators led by Song Yuanhao who performed well on the battlefield and had cooperated to kill second-tier demon beasts, each of whom was rewarded with a second-tier mid-quality magic tool.

Although the battle merits of these people were not as dazzling as the former, their heroic performance on the battlefield was not much worse than theirs.

Besides these Foundation Establishment cultivators, dozens of Qi Refining cultivators who had performed outstandingly on the battlefield also received rewards such as magic tools or talismans and other spirit items.

These spirit items used for rewards were all exchanged by Song Qingming from surrounding Foundation Establishment families or markets at an equivalent value using the captured demon beast materials, many of which came from the Song family and the "Red Flame Market" it controlled.

For this reason, the Song family also exchanged many demon beast materials from the "Jin Shan Market" treasury and transported them back to Funiu Mountain.

After the merit-rewarding assembly ended, not long after Song Qingming returned to the cave dwelling with Huang Siyuan, a streak of spiritual light suddenly flew from the sky and landed in a small courtyard in the center of the market.

Before long, Song Yuanli, holding a sound-transmission talisman that had flown from Guyang Mountain, hurriedly arrived outside Song Qingming's cave dwelling and sent a sound transmission inside.

"Seventh Grand-Uncle, there is a letter from the sect!"

Song Qingming, who was drinking tea and chatting with Huang Siyuan, received this sound transmission from Song Yuanli and hurriedly called him into his cave dwelling, taking the sound-transmission talisman from his hand.

After the great victory in the battle of "Jin Shan Market" against the demon beast army, seeing that the demon beast army here no longer dared to head south on a large scale, Song Qingming sent a letter to inform the sect's General Affairs Hall of the situation here and inquired about the detailed situation of the war in other parts of Wei Kingdom.

Although they had defeated the demon beast army here, Song Qingming knew very well in his heart that this demon beast turmoil was far from over, and it would definitely not be so easy to get through.

In case the war elsewhere was unfavorable, they also had to be prepared to go to support at any time.

Hearing Song Yuanli say that news had come from the sect, Song Qingming's expression immediately became somewhat serious.

After opening the sound-transmission talisman sent by the sect and looking at it carefully, Song Qingming's expression gradually became solemn, his brows furrowed slightly, and he was full of worry.

"Husband, what's wrong? Is there a problem at Tuoyun Mountain and Mount Tiexian Fort?" Seeing that Song Qingming's expression was somewhat wrong, Huang Siyuan, sitting on the side, hurriedly asked.

Song Qingming heard this, then put away the sound-transmission talisman in his hand, shook his head, and replied: "It's not that there is a problem at those two places; the trouble is at Guiyun Market.

According to the sect's letter, besides the Brother Molong Demon Emperor leading the team in person near Guiyun Market, eighteen demon kings came at once. Now the sect is in an emergency, and even Junior Sister Xu and Senior Brother Chen have already rushed to the front-line battlefield of Guiyun Market to support."

"What? Eighteen demon kings? How could Golden Feather Mountain dispatch so many demon kings at once? Is this newly arrived Demon Emperor crazy? To attack Guiyun Market with such a full force, aren't they afraid that their old nest will be taken advantage of by other demon clan forces?"

Hearing from Song Qingming that eighteen demon kings had come to "Guiyun Market" at once, Huang Siyuan's face also showed a look of disbelief and shock.

There were usually about a dozen demon kings stationed near "Golden Feather Mountain," and added to those demon kings who came south from the northern border during the demon beast turmoil, there were usually only about twenty demon kings in the north of Wei Kingdom during the demon beast turmoil.

Back when the Golden Feather Demon Emperor was still alive, every time the demon beast turmoil occurred, although there would be many demon beasts heading south to attack the human territory from "Golden Feather Mountain," there was never a move to go out in full force; at least a portion of demon kings would be left behind to guard the spirit mountains under their command.

If eighteen demon kings appeared at "Guiyun Market" at the same time this time, then added to the demon kings responsible for containing "Jin Shan Market," "Tuoyun Mountain," and "Mount Tiexian Fort," the total was already more than twenty.

With so many demon kings heading south to besiege "Guiyun Market" at the same time, the demon beast army under "Golden Feather Mountain" could indeed be considered to have gone out in full force.

The Xiaoyao Sect side guarding "Guiyun Market," added to Chen Xuanxin and Xu Ziyuan who went to support, only had seven Jin Dan cultivators in total.

In a situation where the Nascent Soul cultivators of both sides were containing each other and it was difficult to intervene, even if the seven people of the Xiaoyao Sect relied on the mountain-protecting formation of "Guiyun Market," it would be difficult for them to persist for too long against the full siege of eighteen demon kings.

Therefore, this sound-transmission letter came to Song Qingming, besides explaining the specific situation of several other places in Wei Kingdom to him, it was also to ask for help from him, hoping that Song Qingming would quickly go to "Guiyun Market" to support the sect in guarding this market. At "Tuoyun Mountain," there was the mid-stage Jin Dan Cloud Crane demon king containing them; Daoist Guangling and Zhang Rong, joining forces, could only barely block the opponent and had no way to spare strength to support "Guiyun Market."

Outside "Mount Tiexian Fort," where Zhao Menglian and Hu Qingyun were stationed, three demon kings also came this time; although these few demon kings could not break into "Mount Tiexian Fort" for a while, Zhao Menglian and the others were also unable to spare themselves.

Only "Jin Shan Market," which was somewhat underestimated by the demon beast side, had Song Qingming unexpectedly kill the "Nine-Patterned Flood Dragon" and quickly defeat this demon beast army, which gave the Xiaoyao Sect side some hope, so they hurriedly sent a letter asking him to go to "Guiyun Market" to support.

After learning that the front line "Guiyun Market" was in an emergency, Song Qingming did not dare to delay too much and returned to Funiu Mountain with Huang Siyuan.

Now that the "Nine-Patterned Flood Dragon" had been killed by Song Qingming and Huang Siyuan together, the demon beasts north of "Jin Shan Market" were no longer a climate, and there was a third-tier mountain-protecting formation.

As long as Song Yuanli and the others could be careful and cautious, even if they encountered one or two ordinary demon kings attacking, the thousands of cultivators inside could hold the formation for half a day, and waiting for the sect's support was something they could do.

After returning to Funiu Mountain, seeing that Song Qingyu was still in seclusion and had not come out, Song Qingming left a letter for her and immediately went to Guyang Mountain with Huang Siyuan, arriving directly at the front line of "Guiyun Market" using the sect's teleportation array.

After the couple Song Qingming arrived at the market, the Xiaoyao Sect members who were resisting the demon beast army's attack in the market were also very encouraged and breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this news.

The next day, Grand Elder Li Mufeng gathered all the Jin Dan elders at "Guiyun Market" in the council hall, preparing to organize a counterattack against the demon beasts to first defeat the demon beast army's continuous attacks on the market's mountain-protecting formation outside.

The demon beast army that came to besiege "Guiyun Market" this time, besides the leading Brother Molong Demon Emperor, had a total of more than twenty thousand demon beasts, among which there were more than five hundred second-tier Foundation Establishment demon beasts, and as many as eighteen Jin Dan demon kings who could influence the situation on the battlefield.

And in "Guiyun Market," although the Xiaoyao Sect had already gathered most of the sect's strength here, there were currently fewer than two hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators in the market; added to the couple Song Qingming who came to support, there were only nine Jin Dan cultivators.

Even adding those rogue cultivators who had lived in "Guiyun Market" for many years and stayed to help guard the market, the overall strength of the Xiaoyao Sect side was only about half of the demon beast army, and the strength gap between the two sides was still very obvious.

More than half a month ago, the Brother Molong Demon Emperor led so many demon beasts to kill their way to "Guiyun Market," which also almost caught the Xiaoyao Sect off guard.

Fortunately, the sect's Grand Elder Li Mufeng had already entered "Guiyun Market" in advance to sit in command, added to the fact that the market's third-tier top-quality mountain-protecting formation had formidable power, they had barely blocked the demon beasts' first wave of fierce attacks.

After discovering that the demon beast army had gone out in full force to besiege "Guiyun Market," Li Mufeng hurriedly transferred all the remaining mobile forces that were left behind in the sect to support the front line at any time to the front line of "Guiyun Market," which finally barely stabilized the current situation.

However, although the Xiaoyao Sect held "Guiyun Market," now that the demon beast army was powerful, they could only rely on the mountain-protecting formation to defend and had no ability to defeat the demon beasts' siege.

For more than half a month, being constantly attacked by the demon beast army, the mountain-protecting formation of "Guiyun Market" currently had no problems, but if they did not find a way to defeat the demon beast army's fierce attack, it would not be able to persist for too long.

In the thousands of years of the Xiaoyao Sect's history, the last time they encountered such a large-scale demon beast army heading south was more than a thousand years ago, led by the "Golden Feather Demon Emperor."

In that battle more than a thousand years ago, the reason the Xiaoyao Sect could successfully defeat the "Golden Feather Demon Emperor's" powerful attack was, besides the support of the cultivators from the friendly Pei Kingdom in the south.

It was mainly because the former Nascent Soul Grand Elder, Daoist Dao Xuan, had powerful divine abilities and defeated the leading "Golden Feather Demon Emperor" several times in the great war, which forced the demon beast side to retreat and sign a covenant with the human side.

Facing the full-scale attack of the demon beasts in the north, the Xiaoyao Sect, which was already somewhat unable to bear this pressure, had also sent letters to friendly surrounding countries asking for help.

However, now that the demon beast turmoil was occurring throughout the northern border, surrounding countries also had their own troubles to deal with; it would definitely be difficult for the Xiaoyao Sect to wait for reinforcements from other sects in a short time, and they still had to rely on their own strength to guard "Guiyun Market" for now.

For the past half month, Xiaoyao Sect Grand Elder Li Mufeng had also fought several battles with the "Brother Molong Demon Emperor," who led the demon beast side; both were mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators, and Li Mufeng had not been able to take any advantage from the "Brother Molong Demon Emperor."

Now that the Nascent Soul cultivators of both sides were evenly matched, if the Xiaoyao Sect wanted to interrupt the demon beast army's attack on the "Guiyun Market" mountain-protecting formation and temporarily resolve this crisis, they could only look to Song Qingming and the other Jin Dan elders of the sect.

According to the information currently grasped by the Xiaoyao Sect, there were a total of eighteen demon kings attacking the mountain-protecting formation outside "Guiyun Market," and they were leading a demon beast army to attack the "Guiyun Market" mountain-protecting formation in turns from the north, east, and west directions.

Each direction had a total of six demon kings, and each had a powerful late-stage Jin Dan great demon king sitting in command.

Because the demon beasts' strength far exceeded that of the Xiaoyao Sect side, no matter which direction Bai Yuxian and the others attacked from in the previous few times, they failed to defeat the enemy and were forced back by the demon kings who came to support from the other two directions, and they could only return to the mountain-protecting formation of the market without success.

This time, with the addition of the couple Song Qingming, the Xiaoyao Sect side, which had increased its Jin Dan cultivator strength, finally had an opportunity to break the current deadlock.

Although the Xiaoyao Sect side failed to defeat the demon beast army's siege in the previous few counterattacks, they also discovered quite a bit of useful intelligence.

Both the north and west directions of "Guiyun Market" had two late-stage Jin Dan great demon kings sitting in command; only the six demon kings responsible for commanding the demon beast army on the east side of the market had slightly weaker strength, with only one late-stage Jin Dan great demon king among them.

Therefore, the Xiaoyao Sect crowd also chose this direction for this counterattack.

As long as they could take them by surprise and heavily wound or kill one or two demon kings before the demon beast armies on the other two sides reacted, they would definitely be able to thwart the enemy's momentum, force the demon beast army to temporarily stop the siege from all sides, and reduce the pressure on the market's mountain-protecting formation.

After the crowd discussed it, the next day Li Mufeng took the initiative to kill out from the north side of the market and once again launched a great battle with the "Brother Molong Demon Emperor."

Taking advantage of the fact that many demon beasts in the north were attracted by the great battle between the two Nascent Soul cultivators, Bai Yuxian quietly gathered Song Qingming and the others to the east side of "Guiyun Market."

The six demon kings who were commanding the demon beast army to attack the mountain-protecting formation here did not notice the movements of the Xiaoyao Sect cultivators in the market and were still taking turns to step forward and cast spells to attack the market's formation.

Taking advantage of the gap when two demon kings with weaker strength stepped forward to attack the formation, Sect Master Bai Yuxian gave an order, and the nine Jin Dan elders of the Xiaoyao Sect quickly killed out from the mountain-protecting formation, heading straight for the two demon kings who were casting spells.

Seeing so many Jin Dan cultivators from the opponent heading straight for them, the two demon kings, whose strength was only at the early stage of Jin Dan, were suddenly taken aback and hurriedly stopped casting spells, turned around, and retreated rapidly toward the rear.

"Demon kings, where are you going!"

Seeing that the two demon kings of the opponent wanted to flee, Bai Yuxian, who had long been prepared, let out an angry roar; a white light flashed under her feet, and after several changes in her figure, she had already chased to a position not far behind one of the "White Ox demon kings" with a slower escape speed.

Bai Yuxian's expression was calm; with a movement of magic power in her hand, she released a silver long whip to bind one of the hind legs of this "White Ox demon king," forcing it to stop in mid-air.

The other "Green Python demon king" not far away, seeing this, immediately turned around to support, wanting to help his companion, the "White Ox demon king," out of the predicament.

However, Bai Yuxian, as a peak Jin Dan cultivator, faced two early-stage Jin Dan demon kings alone and had no pressure at all; she suppressed the two demon kings in just a few rounds.

When Song Qingming and the others struck, thousands of cultivators in the market had also cooperated to kill out from the mountain-protecting formation and began to contain those low-tier demon beasts below.

Located above the market's city walls, the many second-tier "Flying Cloud Crossbows" and a type of "Spiritual Light Giant Cannon" with greater power that had been concentrated here in advance also began to launch attacks toward the demon beasts below one after another.

Facing this sudden fierce attack, the demon beast army that had just begun to besiege the market's formation unscrupulously was also somewhat caught off guard for a while, but in just a moment, they lost nearly two hundred demon beasts.

"Hmph! Sect Master of the Xiaoyao Sect, don't you be arrogant! Let me come and meet you!"

Just as Bai Yuxian had just caught up with the two demons, the "White Ox demon king," four streaks of escape light had already flown from the sky not far away; the one who had arrived in the vicinity a step ahead was the "Gao Jinhu demon king," who commanded the demon beast army on the east side of the market.

The "Gao Jinhu demon king" had come to Golden Feather Mountain with the "Brother Molong Demon Emperor" from the northern border not long ago; this demon had followed the "Brother Molong Demon Emperor" for many years and was deeply trusted by him.

Besides this, the "Gao Jinhu demon king's" cultivation had also reached the peak of Jin Dan, and his fighting strength was not much worse than Bai Yuxian's, which was also the reason he could command a demon beast army alone.

Seeing that a sharp claw of the "Gao Jinhu demon king" had already killed its way before him, Bai Yuxian did not dare to be careless and was about to turn back to block, but a streak of sword light had already blocked before her a step ahead, blocking the "Gao Jinhu demon king's" attack.

"Senior Sister Bai, you focus on dealing with these two demon beasts; leave these few demon kings to us to deal with!"

At the same time, among the Xiaoyao Sect crowd, Chen Xuanxin and Song Qingming, who had faster escape speeds, had also arrived at the battlefield and blocked the "Gao Jinhu demon king," who wanted to come up to help resolve the siege.

Seeing that Song Qingming and the two had already blocked the most troublesome "Gao Jinhu demon king," Bai Yuxian felt a sense of relief in her heart and began to focus on dealing with the two demon kings before her.

Soon, the Xiaoyao Sect crowd and the other four demon kings who had arrived one after another also arrived at the battlefield, and the many Jin Dan cultivators of the demon and human clans immediately broke out into a very fierce melee.

For a time, all kinds of spiritual light shot and sparks flew above the battlefield; many unlucky demon beasts nearby below that had not had time to escape lost their lives due to the aftermath of the battle of these Jin Dan cultivators. (End of chapter)