Chapter 726: Teaching the juniors, cave dwelling ruins (Seeking monthly votes)

"I already had a connection with your sect, and I also received some benefits from Senior Zhao back then. You don't need to be so polite with me about this matter; get up and speak first!"

Seeing Chen Jianghai's action, Song Qingming hurriedly waved his hand, signaling Luo Li on the side to help her Master up first.

"Master, your body is not well, you should get up first!"

With the help of Luo Li and her companion, Chen Jianghai, whose body was still somewhat weak, slowly stopped his act of gratitude and stood up, slowly sitting on a wooden chair to the side.

"That Senior could grace us with your presence today is truly the supreme glory of our Profound Heaven Sect. This junior boldly requests that Senior not mind us and stay on the mountain for a few more days."

Seeing that Chen Jianghai intended to keep him for a few more days, Song Qingming did not refuse and replied directly: "I came here this time specifically to see you and Luo Li, so I am naturally in no hurry to leave."

"There is one more thing I want to tell you. You probably all know about Luo Li being targeted by people from Iron Wind Island today, right?"

"Although these scoundrels died at my hands, it is hard to say whether this matter has been leaked. If people from Iron Wind Island come looking for trouble because of this in the future, do you have any countermeasures?"

Upon hearing Song Qingming mention "Iron Wind Island," Chen Jianghai's face immediately revealed a somewhat ugly look. Clearly, he had already learned about this from Luo Li.

"Senior, rest assured. Although Iron Wind Island is a Core Formation force, our Profound Heaven Sect is also a vassal of the Chongyun Sect. No matter how bold they are, they still have to consider the face of the upper sect. They shouldn't come here to cause trouble in a big way."

"It's just that Luo Li needs to be more careful when going out in the future. It's best not to leave the island casually for now; let's wait until the wind blows over."

The "Profound Heaven Sect" is located in the Red Rao Xinghai area, which stretches for tens of thousands of miles. In this vast area, there are tens of thousands of islands of various sizes, and as long as there are spirit veins, basically, there are people or cultivators living there.

However, although the "Red Rao Xinghai area" is large, it only contains small and medium-sized spirit veins below the fourth tier, and there are no Nascent Soul forces present. It is ruled by more than a dozen Core Formation forces of various sizes, and "Iron Wind Island" is one of them.

It's just that "Iron Wind Island" only has one Core Formation cultivator, and among the many Core Formation forces in the "Red Rao Xinghai area," it can only be ranked at the back, not even comparable to the "Chongyun Sect," another Core Formation force that the "Profound Heaven Sect" is a vassal to.

Therefore, although Chen Jianghai and the others were somewhat afraid of "Iron Wind Island," they were not afraid that they would dare to come to their door to cause trouble openly. Although the other party would not put them in their eyes, the "Chongyun Sect" would not allow the other party to reach into their territory.

"Hmm! As long as you have a plan in mind, that's fine. I won't be leaving recently. You can first inquire about the movements of Iron Wind Island. If they truly suspect you, inform me immediately."

"After all, these people died at my hands. I cannot leave all the trouble to you after I leave. I still have some friendship with the Hundred Flowers Palace on Wanhu Island."

"In case—I mean, in case they come to your door in the future and you cannot handle it, you can take this item and go find Elder He Mengxin of the Hundred Flowers Palace. She is a close friend of mine and will certainly not neglect you."

After saying this, Song Qingming directly took out a second-tier communication talisman he had crafted himself and handed it to "Profound Heaven Sect" Sect Master Chen Jianghai.

Hearing Song Qingming offer to help them deal with the trouble of "Iron Wind Island," Chen Jianghai and the others were also somewhat excited. They hurriedly accepted the talisman given by Song Qingming and thanked him profusely again.

Song Qingming was not only a late-stage Core Formation cultivator but also had a good relationship with the "Hundred Flowers Palace," a Nascent Soul sect in the East Sea. Such a backer was something the "Profound Heaven Sect" had dreamed of having.

It is a pity that Song Qingming's roots are not in the East Sea, and he cannot stay here for a long time. The "Profound Heaven Sect" can now at most only borrow his name to act like a fox assuming the majesty of a tiger outside.

When Song Qingming first visited and returned the remains of Zhao Jibai, Chen Jianghai and the others deliberately invited surrounding Foundation Establishment forces to observe the ceremony, using their familiar relationship with Song Qingming to improve the declining status of the "Profound Heaven Sect."

It is a pity that Song Qingming did not visit again for decades. As time passed, the surrounding people naturally saw through the reality of the "Profound Heaven Sect," and now their days are returning to what they were before.

Fortunately, Luo Li successfully established her Foundation later, giving the entire "Profound Heaven Sect" a glimmer of hope for revival.

The current "Profound Heaven Sect" is much better than when Song Qingming first arrived. The number of sect disciples has nearly doubled compared to before, and they have slowly stopped the trend of continuous decline.

After giving instructions to Chen Jianghai and the others about this matter, Song Qingming, having nothing to do here, took the opportunity to give them some guidance on some cultivation matters.

Next, under the personal arrangement of Chen Jianghai, Song Qingming stayed directly in a cave dwelling on the back mountain of the "Profound Heaven Sect."

Except for returning to the cave dwelling to meditate and cultivate at night, Song Qingming basically wandered around the foot of the mountain during the day, accompanied by Luo Li, to experience the different customs on the island in the East Sea.

After inquiries by Chen Jianghai and the others, the situation on "Iron Wind Island" was indeed as Song Qingming and the others had expected. After losing several Foundation Establishment cultivators, they immediately began sending people to investigate everywhere, but in the vast sea, they couldn't even find the bodies, and there was no way to find the person who had made the move.

The four, including the white-haired old man, were not weak among Foundation Establishment cultivators. Being able to kill them silently already proved from the side that the person who made the move was likely a Core Formation cultivator.

Although "Iron Wind Island" had suffered a silent loss this time, they also knew that the person who made the move might have an extraordinary background, so they did not publicize the matter widely afterward. Soon, the sudden disappearance of the white-haired old man and his group slowly vanished from people's conversations.

Three days later, in a teahouse in the mortal town of "White Sand Island," Song Qingming was sitting among a group of mortals, watching the performance on the stage with the ordinary people around him.

With a slight smile on his lips, he, like the many mortals sitting in the teahouse, would occasionally take the initiative to clap and cheer for the wonderful performance on stage.

Ever since participating in secular cultivation at the "Grand Void Gate," Song Qingming had now easily been able to integrate himself quickly into ordinary mortals, no matter where he was.

He could deeply feel their joys, sorrows, and partings from these ordinary mortals around him—things that cultivators hiding on high immortal mountains found it difficult to obtain.

Song Qingming also slowly felt the benefits that secular cultivation brought to his own cultivation, from his initial lack of understanding to now being able to integrate into a relatively unfamiliar mortal world at will.

Over these years, Song Qingming's personal state of mind had become much more indifferent than before. Even when facing some setbacks, he could accept them calmly and would not be as easily trapped in the situation as before.

Just as Song Qingming was listening to the play intently, two young women suddenly walked to the entrance of the teahouse. Both were dressed in brocade and jade belts with extraordinary temperaments. As soon as they walked in, they attracted the attention of everyone in the hall.

After seeing Song Qingming sitting in the crowd not far away, the two women immediately looked happy and walked straight toward him. Ignoring the somewhat puzzled looks of the people around them, they bowed slightly to Song Qingming.

"Senior, greetings. This junior pays respects!"

The people who came in were none other than Luo Li and her close friend Guo Yuting.

Guo Yuting had said when she left last time that she would come to visit in a few days to ask for advice on cultivation matters. Her coming here today was not beyond Song Qingming's expectations.

After nodding lightly, Song Qingming immediately waved his hand: "Since you are here, sit down and listen to the play first! You are all people of cultivation; in front of mortals, try to control yourselves as much as possible. Don't let them see your differences at a glance. Listening to this kind of play requires a calm heart to feel the different aspects."

Hearing Song Qingming ask them to stay and listen to the play together, Guo Yuting and Luo Li immediately nodded, sat down beside him, and patiently focused their attention on the stage not far away, just like Song Qingming.

"Senior, is listening to plays here also a way of cultivation for you?" Seeing that a play on stage had just ended and there was a gap in time, Guo Yuting asked Song Qingming beside her with a trace of doubt.

This kind of teahouse stage was very common among mortals in the East Sea cultivation world. Guo Yuting and Luo Li had grown up here since they were young, so they naturally knew about these things long ago.

It's just that as cultivators, they only treated these mortal storytelling and singing as a novelty and had never deeply understood these things that were unimportant to them.

From the moment she first came in and saw Song Qingming, a Core Formation cultivator standing at the height of the cultivation world, coming here to listen to plays with a group of mortals, she only thought that this senior must rarely come to the East Sea and was interested in the local characteristic plays for a while.

But after sitting here and watching a whole play, Guo Yuting discovered that this senior before her was very serious when watching the play, even more focused than some mortals.

Although Song Qingming rarely spoke when watching the play, he could react quickly every time the singing on stage was good, clapping in time with those mortals to cheer for the other party. Clearly, he was now somewhat familiar with these plays on stage.

Hearing Guo Yuting's puzzled inquiry, Song Qingming immediately nodded slightly: "There are thousands of ways of cultivation; it is not only sitting on the mountain and cultivating bitterly that is called cultivation."

"My way of cultivation can be carried out in many places. Listening to these plays can also yield gains. This point might be something you cannot feel right now."

"However, how much one can gain from this way of cultivation depends entirely on personal understanding. You two should not think too much about this matter; let nature take its course. When it is time to understand, you will naturally understand."

"I understand a little. Senior is cultivating personal temperament here, not his own cultivation base. This should be correct, right?"

Song Qingming heard this and replied with some satisfaction: "Hmm! What you said is not bad. This kind of cultivation is more helpful to personal state of mind and can be beneficial for you to break through cultivation bottlenecks."

"If you can also enter the Dao in the future and experience different aspects, you will naturally be able to gain some benefits."

"However, this kind of cultivation emphasizes letting nature take its course and should not be forced. It is not easy for everyone to comprehend. You should still focus on your own cultivation in your daily life and do not put the cart before the horse, thus delaying your own cultivation." "Senior's good words, this junior has noted them!"

"Alright! Listening to a few plays today has already yielded a lot, let's stop here."

Seeing that because Luo Li and Guo Yuting were sitting beside him, many people around were casting curious and strange looks, Song Qingming nodded slightly to the two, took the initiative to stand up from his seat, and walked toward the door.

Seeing this, Luo Li and her companion hurriedly followed behind, and the three passed through the bustling small town to the seaside not far away.

After finding a relatively quiet place to sit down, Song Qingming went straight to the point, giving Luo Li and her companion the opportunity to ask questions they didn't understand about cultivation.

Guo Yuting had been cultivating for many years. Although her talent was not bad and she had successfully established her Foundation early, she was born into a Foundation Establishment family with not much strength and had never had the opportunity to come into contact with Core Formation cultivators.

Seeing that Song Qingming took the initiative to guide them in cultivation, Guo Yuting hurriedly knelt down with Luo Li to thank him with a happy face and began to ask Song Qingming about her doubts in cultivation.

To this, Song Qingming answered them one by one without any reservation.

For Foundation Establishment cultivators like Guo Yuting and Luo Li who had no background, the personal teaching of a Core Formation cultivator could absolutely be considered a rare personal stroke of fate.

Both were born into small Foundation Establishment forces and had cultivated step by step from the bottom. Their personal talents were naturally not too bad. Song Qingming only gave a little guidance on some of the dilemmas in their cultivation, and they quickly understood.

The three sat by the sea, accompanied by the sound of the tide rising and falling not far away, from the morning until dusk, before Song Qingming ended this discussion that guided them.

Although it was only half a day's work, Guo Yuting and Luo Li, under Song Qingming's guidance, solved many problems that had plagued their cultivation before and also had a clear understanding of their future personal path of the Dao.

Such gains were absolutely impossible to measure with ordinary spirit stones or spirit items for them. At this moment, in their hearts, Song Qingming had slowly changed from a senior to half a mentor.

Seeing that the two women had benefited a lot, Song Qingming, who had patiently preached, also felt some gratification in his heart at this moment.

Having cultivated for so many years, Song Qingming had also received guidance from many seniors, which allowed him to walk step by step to where he is today. Today, preaching to Luo Li and her companion, Song Qingming was also inheriting the will of these seniors at this moment.

The path of cultivation cannot always just look at one's own path. Sometimes, one must also leave some strokes of fate for the descendants. This is also a personal inheritance of cause and effect.

Convenience for others is convenience for oneself. Today's matter might just be something Song Qingming did casually, but for Luo Li and the others, it might be a major event that could change their life's path.

Seeing that they had no more questions and that he had said everything he should have, Song Qingming took the initiative to stand up, looked at the sunset not far away, and turned around, preparing to return to the "Profound Heaven Sect."

Just at this moment, Guo Yuting on the side suddenly cupped her hands toward Song Qingming and said: "Senior, please wait a moment. This junior has another matter today and would like to ask Senior Song to help with a favor. I don't know if Senior has any free time recently."

"I came here this time mainly to visit Luo Li and the others. I estimate I will leave in three to five days. Tell me what you have first; if it is convenient, I can consider it."

Hearing Guo Yuting ask for his help, Song Qingming did not immediately agree. He was not a person who loved to meddle in other people's business when out and about, so he still wanted to hear what the other party had to say before considering it.

Song Qingming's expression was very calm, but Luo Li on the side had already guessed what Guo Yuting wanted to say, looking at her with a nervous look of wanting to speak but stopping.

Hearing what Song Qingming said, Guo Yuting also immediately understood his meaning. Without too much hesitation, she said directly: "Senior Song was able to teach us everything he knew today. Yuting will never forget this teaching kindness and naturally would not dare to hide anything from Senior."

"More than ten years ago, when this junior had just established her Foundation, I was lucky enough to discover a cave dwelling left behind by a senior in the nearby sea area."

"It's just a pity that not only were there many restrictions there, but there were also many high-tier spirit beasts appearing. This junior tried to enter it several times but failed to do so."

"I would like to ask Senior Song to help break the restrictions there. If I am lucky enough to enter that senior's cave dwelling, this junior is willing to share the spirit items obtained with Senior."

"A Core Formation cultivator's cave dwelling, how are you sure? It's been more than ten years and you still haven't succeeded. It stands to reason that a cave dwelling left behind by an ordinary Core Formation cultivator shouldn't be that hard to enter, right?"

Hearing what Chen Yuting said, Song Qingming, who had been very calm, suddenly became interested and asked the other party again.

Although the number of high-tier rogue cultivators in the East Sea cultivation world was more than double that of the Floating Cloud Mountain Range cultivation world, it was not a very strange thing for Chen Yuting to find a Core Formation cultivator's cave dwelling outside.

However, what made Song Qingming somewhat puzzled was that Chen Yuting herself was a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, and there were other Foundation Establishment cultivators in her family, so it wasn't as if there was no one to help.

Breaking a cave dwelling left behind by a Core Formation cultivator, grinding slowly for ten years would have been enough for them to open the restrictions of the cave dwelling; it shouldn't have been necessary to specifically ask Song Qingming, a Core Formation cultivator, to help.

Hearing what Song Qingming said, Chen Yuting sighed and said bluntly: "Senior is right. The restrictions inside this cave dwelling are indeed somewhat different and very difficult to remove."

"To tell you the truth, this junior mainly cultivates the path of formations and is now a second-tier mid-grade formation master. However, facing the restrictions in that cave dwelling for ten years, I still haven't found any good way."

"Even if I called several family elders to go together, it would be very difficult to break the restrictions inside. The current plan can only be to find a Core Formation cultivator to cooperate with me to break the formation, only then will there be a few chances of successfully removing the restrictions and entering the cave dwelling."

"Senior, rest assured, that cave dwelling was absolutely built by a cultivator above the Core Formation stage. This trip, this junior is confident that I will not let you make a wasted trip."

"Last time I searched carefully outside the cave dwelling and unexpectedly found a third-tier spirit item in an abandoned stone room. The reason why Luo Li and I were targeted by the people from Iron Wind Island was actually because of this item."

After Chen Yuting finished speaking, she reached out and wiped her waist, taking out a third-tier low-grade magic treasure that was already somewhat damaged.

The style of this magic treasure was very ordinary, and the spiritual light on it was already very dim. It looked indeed as Chen Yuting had said; it should be something left outside by the owner for a long time.

Chen Yuting had obtained this magic treasure several years ago and had never shown it in front of others. Except for the clan leader of the Chen family, no one knew that she had found a Core Formation cave dwelling outside.

It wasn't until she went to a nearby market with Luo Li last time that she happened to see a spirit item in the market that could help them break through their cultivation.

At that time, the spirit stones in their hands were not enough. Facing a rare opportunity, Chen Yuting did not want to give up, so she wanted to sell this flawed magic treasure to exchange for spirit stones.

Unexpectedly, when inquiring in the market, she was unfortunately targeted by the people from "Iron Wind Island." Although the two fled the market very carefully afterward, they were still caught up by the other party for some reason, and they nearly lost their lives on the sea with Luo Li.

If it hadn't been for meeting Song Qingming later, they would have been killed for treasure and disappeared into the vast sea by now.

It was precisely because Song Qingming had saved Chen Yuting's life and had not treated her as an outsider, teaching her everything he knew and guiding her patiently, that Chen Yuting made up her mind to tell Song Qingming about the Core Formation cave dwelling and wanted to ask him to help explore it together.

Over the years, it wasn't that Chen Yuting hadn't thought about asking experts to help, but those Core Formation cultivators outside were all like jackals and tigers, making Chen Yuting really dare not try.

She and the entire Chen family were just a small Foundation Establishment family, and they had no room to bargain in front of Core Formation cultivators. Even if they went to the upper sect "Chongyun Sect," it was estimated that the things inside this Core Formation cave dwelling would eventually be eaten clean by the other party.

Asking a strange Core Formation cultivator outside for help, in case the other party had evil intentions and killed them to silence them, I am afraid the entire Chen family would face the crisis of extermination. These were not things that Chen Yuting, a small Foundation Establishment cultivator, dared to gamble on.

Therefore, for so many years, Chen Yuting had kept this secret tightly. Except for the Chen family clan leader who had supported her to establish her Foundation, Chen Yuting had never mentioned this matter in front of outsiders.

Even her good sister Luo Li only learned about it not long ago when she decided to invite Song Qingming to go.

Hearing Chen Yuting's explanation, Song Qingming did not answer immediately, but picked up the short sword magic treasure in Chen Yuting's hand and looked at it carefully.

After trying with the magic power in his hand, Song Qingming found that this magic treasure was not damaged too severely, and he could still directly inject magic power to drive it. It is estimated that the time it was abandoned should be at most a few hundred years.

Judging that what the other party said did not seem to be false, Song Qingming then nodded slightly: "Since that is the case, I will accompany you on a trip!"

"However, let's say it beforehand: I can go with you to see the situation first. If the restrictions there are too powerful for me to open, then I can only give up on this matter."

"Although Song is not a benevolent gentleman, he is also not a person who likes to take advantage of juniors."

"No matter whether I can help you on this trip, I will not easily tell others what you have said to me today. You can rest assured about this."

"Then Yuting will thank Senior here first!" (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 727 =====