Chapter 738: The Reaction of Golden Feather Mountain, Enfeoffment and Rewards

The territory spanning several thousand miles between "Golden Mountain Market" and "White Lion Ridge" is as large as two Pingyang Counties. This vast expanse is now filled with human cultivators, and the traces of second-level or higher demonic beasts are already nowhere to be found.

As long as the Song family slowly clears out the low-level demonic beasts within their borders and develops steadily, their family territory can directly double. At least for the short term, they will no longer have to worry about the lack of spiritual mountains within their territory as they do now.

After listening to Song Changze’s report, Song Qingming nodded slightly and said:

"Hmm! Since everything is almost ready, send a message to the family and have Yuanfang and the others prepare. You will return personally in a few days to transport the first batch of mortals over as soon as possible.

Also, take the opportunity to bring Xuande and the others over to survey all the second-level spiritual mountains and see where there are mineral veins nearby. This matter must be handled urgently to avoid letting those people below find loopholes."

Upon hearing this, Song Changze immediately bowed and replied: "Rest assured, Patriarch. Once Xuande and the others arrive, I will personally accompany them on a trip; there will certainly be no mishaps."

"Hmm! I leave this matter to you. I will be stationed here recently; if there are any discoveries, inform me immediately."

After Song Qingming finished speaking, he was about to stand up and leave the hall when he noticed Song Changze standing to the side with a hesitant look on his face, as if he still had something left unsaid. He then spoke directly to him:

"Changze, there are no outsiders here. If there is anything else that hasn't been made clear, just ask directly!"

Seeing that Song Qingming had discerned his thoughts, Song Changze nodded somewhat awkwardly and said: "Seventh Grand-Uncle, actually, this isn't my own affair. It was Xueting who sent a message back a few days ago asking me to help inquire about your intentions.

A few days ago, Li Chengyue approached him, expressing an interest in the Red Moon Ridge spiritual vein, and asked him to help ask you if this spiritual vein could be handed over to the Li family when the time comes.

Li Chengyue promised that if the family agrees, the Li family is willing to exchange a Foundation Establishment Pill plus half the shares of Red Flame Market for this spiritual vein."

After Song Changze finished speaking, his gaze worriedly glanced at Song Qingming’s face, only to find that, just as he had anticipated, Song Qingming’s expression had already turned unpleasant.

"The family will have its own method of distributing spiritual veins later. Let Li Chengyue go directly to Yuanfang for this matter. In the future, do not come to us directly to pass on such messages.

Tell Xueting later that he should try to involve himself as little as possible in the affairs between the Li family and Mount Funiu. The family has its own rules for doing things and cannot change them arbitrarily because of personal relationships. Otherwise, if everyone comes to find connections, what will the family’s decorum look like in the future?"

Hearing Song Qingming’s response, the still-awkward Song Changze nodded quickly and dared not say more. It was only after watching the family ancestor walk out of the hall that he slowly let out a sigh of relief.

"I already told you that the ancestor doesn't like you involving yourselves in other families' affairs and told you not to do Xueting this favor. You refused to listen, so are you satisfied with being scolded now?"

Seeing the trace of regret on Song Changze’s face, Liu Yuxin, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but rebuke him again, feeling very helpless about Song Changze’s behavior just now.

"I also know the ancestor doesn't like hearing these things, but this isn't the first time Xueting has proactively come to me for help. How could I, as an elder, directly refuse him? I know you're unhappy, but what else could I do?

Anyway, whoever says it will get scolded. I’ll consider this time as me taking the blame for Xueting; just treat it as me, his clan uncle, taking care of him once."

Song Changze, who had already been feeling regretful in his heart, was now feeling somewhat awkward because of what his wife said, and he sighed with self-mockery.

After Song Xueting reached Foundation Establishment, he married into the "Green Dragon Mountain" Li family under the matchmaking of Song Yuanfang, taking a younger niece of Li Chengyue as his Dao companion. Because of this layer of relationship, he naturally had a closer relationship with the Li family.

This time, following the Song family to expand their territory, the Li family took a fancy to "Red Moon Ridge," one of the dozen second-level spiritual veins near "White Lion Ridge," and wanted to use Song Xueting’s relationship to inquire about this matter in advance to see if they could secure this second-level high-grade spiritual vein early.

Facing Li Chengyue’s proactive request, Song Xueting, hindered by the relationship between the two sides, found it difficult to refuse and agreed to help the Li family inquire about it.

However, although Song Xueting is a Foundation Establishment elder of the family, his relationship with the three Golden Core ancestors of the Song family is quite ordinary, and he could not find a good opportunity to ask Song Qingming about this matter alone.

As for "White Lion Ridge," the ones who are currently close to and can speak to the family’s ancestors are the couple Song Changze and Liu Yuxin. That is why Song Xueting begged them.

Liu Yuxin had been married into the Song family for many years and had long understood the temperaments of Song Qingming and the others. She had wanted to remind Song Xueting not to intervene in this matter, but she didn't expect Song Changze to bite the bullet and say it anyway.

For this husband of hers who always likes to think for others, Liu Yuxin could only smile bitterly in her heart, knowing that he was kind-hearted and always thought of those around him, but such a personality would always cause him to suffer losses.

After setting up the mountain-protecting array, Song Qingming remained at "White Lion Ridge" with Song Qingyu to hold the fort, while Huang Siyuan, who still had many alchemy tasks, returned to "Mount Funiu" first.

The news that the human cultivators had won a complete victory and captured "White Lion Ridge" soon reached the ears of the many demon kings near "Golden Feather Mountain."

Although the "White Rhino Demon King" was an outsider and not a direct descendant of Golden Feather Mountain, after settling down at "White Lion Ridge," it, like many surrounding demon kings, proactively submitted to Golden Feather Mountain and was assigned under the command of the Great Demon King, the Giant Elephant Demon King.

After the White Egret and Black Armor demon kings failed to support "White Lion Ridge," they quickly confirmed the news that the "White Rhino Demon King" had been killed by human cultivators.

Originally thinking that the Song family had ventured deep into the Floating Cloud Mountain Range to surround and kill the "White Rhino Demon King" only to avenge its previous attack on "Golden Mountain Market," the two demon kings, after fleeing back to their own lairs, thought that Song Qingming and the others would retreat south to "Golden Mountain Market" immediately after looting the spiritual mountain.

They did not expect that the Song family would not leave after killing the "White Rhino Demon King," but instead began large-scale construction on the mountain, intending to stay there for the long term.

Seeing this situation, the two demon kings knew that the other party was here to grab territory, so they immediately informed their backer, the "Giant Elephant Demon King."

Upon learning that human cultivators had actually ventured deep into the Floating Cloud Mountain Range to surround and kill his subordinate demon king, the "Giant Elephant Demon King" was also furious. A few days later, he personally brought the two demon kings and killed his way to "White Lion Ridge" again.

Although Huang Siyuan had already returned to "Mount Funiu," Song Qingming and Song Qingyu, backed by the mountain-protecting array, were not afraid at all when facing the three demon kings and even proactively went out to fight a great battle with them outside the array.

The "Giant Elephant Demon King" had fought Song Qingming during the demonic beast turmoil years ago, and both sides were already very familiar with each other’s divine abilities and cultivation bases.

However, at that time, Song Qingming’s cultivation was still at the sixth level of Golden Core, and he could only barely cope with the Golden Core late-stage "Giant Elephant Demon King," having no way to defeat his opponent.

But decades later, Song Qingming’s cultivation had advanced further to the seventh level of Golden Core, and with several powerful divine abilities and magic treasures on him, when the two fought again, Song Qingming was actually able to gain the upper hand against his old rival.

Song Qingyu, facing the White Egret and Black Armor demon kings alone, also fought with ease, blocking the two demon kings firmly outside the array with one person and one sword.

The two sides fought for half a day. Not only did the "Giant Elephant Demon King" and his group fail to gain any advantage, but by the end of the fight, the "White Egret Demon King" almost died at the hands of Song Qingming and his companion.

Seeing that they couldn't beat their opponents, the "Giant Elephant Demon King," who fled back to the north, proactively went to Golden Feather Mountain to request the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor" to send troops to help drive Song Qingming and the others back to the south of "Golden Mountain Market."

Unexpectedly, this time the "Giant Elephant Demon King" proactively came to the door, but was given the cold shoulder at "Golden Feather Mountain." It happened that the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor" was in closed-door cultivation, and he only met his trusted aide, the "Golden Tiger Demon King."

Facing the "Giant Elephant Demon King’s" request for reinforcements, the "Golden Tiger Demon King," who had not received instructions from the Demon Emperor, only comforted him and did not promise to send troops to assist.

It was not until after sending away the "Giant Elephant Demon King" that the "Golden Tiger Demon King" turned and went to a cave dwelling on the top of the mountain to meet the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor," who was in closed-door cultivation.

"Ancestor, I have already dismissed the Giant Elephant. I heard him say that this time the Song family does not intend to leave after taking White Lion Ridge and has even set up an array on the mountain. Do you think we should send troops to drive them back?"

"Drive them back? How? Do you think the Carefree Sect wouldn't know about the Song family’s move? I’m afraid that by the time you reach White Lion Ridge, the people from the Carefree Sect will already be waiting there."

Hearing the "Golden Tiger Demon King’s" inquiry, the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor" raised his hand to withdraw the magic power scattered around his body and then stood up.

"Last time we were defeated at Guiyun Market and suffered heavy losses. The Carefree Sect has now caught its breath and will certainly not let us off easily. If I am not mistaken, the Song family’s troop deployment this time should be their first step of probing.

Now that our strength does not exceed that of the Carefree Sect by much, rashly sending troops will not gain us any advantage and will easily make us fall into the ambush of those cunning human cultivators.

Now is not the best time for us to launch a full-scale war. There is no need to start a war with them in advance for a small White Lion Ridge. Let’s wait until we find helpers before talking!"

After the last defeat, the "Golden Feather Mountain" demon race suffered heavy damage, with more than half of their subordinate low-level demonic beasts killed or injured, and even seven or eight Golden Core demon kings died in battle.

Although they have recruited some demonic beasts from the Northern Frontier over the years, their current strength is still incomparable to what it was before the demonic beast turmoil, and it will take at least another hundred years to slowly recover.

As a trusted aide of the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor," the Golden Tiger Demon King was also aware of the unfavorable situation of "Golden Feather Mountain" today, and he did not question the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor’s" decision too much.

However, now that human cultivators have begun to expand northward and have even killed the White Rhino Demon King under the "Giant Elephant Demon King," it seems a bit unjustifiable for "Golden Feather Mountain," as the backer of the nearby demon race, to ignore this matter. After hesitating for a moment, the "Golden Tiger Demon King" still bit the bullet and asked: "Ancestor, how should we reply to the Giant Elephant? If we just ignore it like this, I’m afraid it will make him feel cold-hearted toward us in the future."

The "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor" sighed upon hearing this and said: "At any rate, he is also a Golden Core late-stage Great Demon King who has cultivated for thousands of years. He can’t even beat a small Song family. It was a waste for me to hand over the entire Northeast to him. He is truly trash.

He has no ability of his own and only knows how to run here to ask us to stand up for him. We know how to send troops to support, but the Carefree Sect isn't stupid; would they sit idly by and watch us take action? You can't expect me, a Nascent Soul ancestor, to take action against them, right?

If that were the case, the Song family wouldn't have the guts to attack our demon race’s territory to the north.

It’s just losing a third-level low-grade spiritual mountain; it’s not like his Giant Spirit Peak is gone. Why be so short-sighted?

Later, have someone send a magic treasure to Giant Spirit Peak to appease him. Tell the Giant Elephant not to worry. Once we have accumulated enough strength, we will sooner or later definitely fight back to the south. By then, you will have as many spiritual mountains as you want.

Also, tell all the demon kings near the south that the Carefree Sect might have other movements recently. Let them all be careful and don't let human cultivators find loopholes like this again."

"Ancestor is wise. Leave this matter to me. Rest assured, I will definitely appease the Giant Elephant." Hearing the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor’s" explanation, the Golden Tiger Demon King nodded quickly and agreed to the matter.

The Song family’s northward advance to occupy "White Lion Ridge" only meant that the "Giant Elephant Demon King," who was entrenched in the east, lost some territory. For the entire Golden Feather Mountain demon race, it did not have much impact.

The "Golden Tiger Demon King" himself did not want to intervene in the "White Lion Ridge" matter casually; it was just that it would be unjustifiable not to give an explanation when someone came to the door.

Song Qingming, who was far away at "White Lion Ridge," had actually anticipated the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor’s" choice not to intervene in this matter, and this was the biggest reason why he dared to take action against "White Lion Ridge."

This time, when expanding their territory to the north, Song Qingming first went to "Mount Guyang" personally, and only after obtaining the sect’s support did he feel at ease to gather manpower to attack "White Lion Ridge."

After the last demonic beast turmoil, the "Golden Feather Mountain" demon army suffered heavy losses after failing to attack "Guiyun Market," and more than half of their subordinate demonic beast army were killed or injured before they could all retreat to the Floating Cloud Mountain Range.

After the great battle, the "Golden Feather Mountain" demonic beasts no longer have any advantage over the "Carefree Sect" side, and the human cultivators have long wanted to counterattack the demon race to avenge their grievances.

The "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor" lacks manpower and can only recruit a batch of unevenly skilled demonic beasts from the Northern Frontier to strengthen the already empty defenses on the periphery of Golden Feather Mountain.

Now that the "Golden Feather Mountain" demon race is still in danger itself, as long as the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor" is not stupid, he will not start a full-scale war with the Carefree Sect for a small "White Lion Ridge" at this time.

At most, they will give some support behind the scenes to see if the "Giant Elephant Demon King" has the ability to retake the spiritual mountain himself; they will absolutely not send a main demonic beast army to come.

After "White Lion Ridge" was conquered by Song Qingming and the others, a third-level "mountain-protecting array" had already been set up. Without five or six Golden Core mid-stage or higher demon kings taking action at the same time, there would be no chance to retake this spiritual mountain.

With just the "Giant Elephant Demon King" and his subordinate demonic beast army, the Song family’s three Golden Core cultivators were already enough to cope, without needing anyone else’s help.

If the "Golden Feather Mountain" demon army dared to move south to support on a large scale, the "Carefree Sect" behind the Song family would certainly not sit idly by, and the demon race side would not get any benefit either.

After obtaining the clear instructions from the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor," the "Golden Tiger Demon King" personally went to Giant Spirit Peak a few days later to properly appease the "Giant Elephant Demon King," who had suffered grievances.

Knowing that the one at Golden Feather Mountain did not want to go to war with the humans, the "Giant Elephant Demon King," though unwilling, was helpless. Without the help of "Golden Feather Mountain," they could not drive away Song Qingming and the others on their own, and in the end, they could only helplessly record this debt first.

Although he knew in his heart that "Golden Feather Mountain" was unlikely to send troops to back up the "Giant Elephant Demon King" and his group, Song Qingming did not relax his vigilance and had been stationed at "White Lion Ridge" with Song Qingyu.

Soon, another half a year passed. Just as Song Qingming had thought, there was no movement from Golden Feather Mountain. Apart from coming south to probe a few times, the "Giant Elephant Demon King" did not dare to venture deep and bring people to attack "White Lion Ridge" again.

More than half a year had passed, and the demonic beasts in the many spiritual mountain territories near "White Lion Ridge" had basically been cleared. Everyone had worked hard for more than half a year, and now it was time to reward them based on their merits.

Seeing that "White Lion Ridge" had slowly stabilized, Song Qingming finally found time to lead a portion of the family cultivators back to "Mount Funiu," leaving Song Qingyu, Song Changze, and the others to garrison "White Lion Ridge."

The family had just captured "White Lion Ridge" and expanded their territory by thousands of miles. Not only did they need to reward merits and distribute territory, but they also needed to arrange for cultivators and mortals to go and build and manage these spiritual veins.

In the past half year, Song Yuanfang, who was responsible for this matter in the rear, had been so busy that he was overwhelmed. As soon as he heard the news of Song Qingming’s return to the family, he immediately came to the top of the mountain to find him.

"Seventh Grand-Uncle, these are the cultivators that Yuanqian and the others have counted to be rewarded after the battle, as well as the distribution of merits for the major Foundation Establishment families. Please take a look first. If there are no problems, I will let Changze and the others execute them directly.

Also, in the past few months, many immortal cultivation families and outside loose cultivators have come to ask for the low-level spiritual veins we newly occupied in the north.

There are too many people coming, and the spiritual veins we have in hand are only these, far from enough for them to divide. I can only distribute them based on merit.

This is a draft I prepared regarding the enfeoffment of the new spiritual veins. Please take a look to see where changes are still needed, and I will deliberate on it later."

Seeing the merit reward accounts handed over by Song Yuanfang, Song Qingming just glanced at them slightly and nodded to him, agreeing with their arrangements.

The Song family had been a Golden Core family for over a hundred years, and the merit system within the clan had long been very perfect. Song Qingming was quite at ease with Song Yuanfang and the others handling this matter.

After returning the merit ledger to Song Yuanfang, Song Qingming focused his attention on the second list of spiritual vein distributions in his hand.

This time, in addition to the third-level spiritual vein of "White Lion Ridge," the Song family occupied a total of thirteen spiritual veins of second-level or higher, and more than eighty spiritual veins of first-level or higher.

Some of these spiritual veins had been developed by cultivators in the past and then occupied by demonic beasts, while others were naturally grown and had always been occupied by demonic beasts until they were just captured by human cultivators. Without exception, they were all excellent spiritual veins with environments quite suitable for mortals to live in.

Knowing the news that the Song family had expanded so many new spiritual veins, all the immortal cultivation families within the Song family’s territory began to stir, wanting to use their merits or spiritual items to exchange for better spiritual mountains for their families.

The most aggressive among them was the Li family where Li Chengyue was. The grade of the Li family’s "Lotus Flower Mountain" spiritual vein was only second-level mid-grade. With the rapid development of the family over the years, the spiritual energy on the mountain was already somewhat insufficient.

They were just trying to take this opportunity to secure a second-level high-grade spiritual mountain near "White Lion Ridge," which could not only solve the problem of the family’s insufficient spiritual veins but also allow the Li family to follow the Song family and develop northward together.

However, for the "Red Moon Ridge" spiritual vein that the Li family wanted to exchange for, besides them, several other Foundation Establishment families also had their eyes on it at the same time, and the competition was very fierce.

After synthesizing their bids, Song Yuanfang finally chose to exchange the spiritual vein to the Li family, but the asking price was much higher than what they had given before. The Li family spent a full thirty thousand spirit stones to secure this spiritual vein.

In addition to the immortal cultivation families under the Song family, many loose cultivator forces lacking spiritual veins for cultivation, as well as some outside immortal cultivation families, also came to "Mount Funiu" one after another, spending spirit stones to exchange for a spiritual vein they wanted from the Song family.

Even within the "Carefree Sect," there were several Foundation Establishment cultivators whose paths to the Dao had been cut off who entrusted people to send letters asking if the Song family had any extra spiritual veins to settle their relatives and descendants.

These people were all advanced in age and had long lost the hope of breaking through to Golden Core. They had no background in the sect, and once they passed away in the future, their descendants would inevitably be squeezed out by others just like the Song family’s ancestors.

They wanted to see if they could exchange for an industry for their relatives and descendants outside in advance, so that they could have a place to stay in the future and not have to live under others' roofs and look at others' faces.

Facing these forces that wanted to join the Song family, Song Qingming was still quite concerned and carefully checked the names on the list one by one. He didn't expect to see a name he was very familiar with among them: Bai Yunhua.

Seeing this name, the figure of the other party immediately appeared in Song Qingming’s mind.

Recalling that array genius who followed him to "Mount Funiu" to help improve the spiritual vein back then, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart that time had passed so quickly; it had been almost two hundred years since the two of them first met.

"Yuanfang, this person is an old acquaintance of mine and is also Yuanrong’s master. The Rising Sun Peak spiritual vein he wants is just a first-level high-grade spiritual vein anyway, so just give it to him directly. Don't ask him for spirit stones.

As for the others, I’ve looked at them and there are no major problems, so just follow your current plan. If there are any changes, inform me again.

Remember one thing: for those spiritual mountains where mineral veins have been detected by Xuande and the others, you must tell them in advance that they cannot be mined privately. Whoever doesn't listen will have their spiritual vein reclaimed on the spot."

"Good! Seventh Grand-Uncle, there is one more thing regarding Xuande’s recent Foundation Establishment. I want to ask for your opinion again: should the family continue to support him in Foundation Establishment?"