Chapter 739: Family Talent, Nascent Soul Puppet Beast

Song Xuande is a Qi Refining stage cultivator of the Song family’s "Xuan" generation. His talent for cultivation is quite ordinary, and like Song Qingming, he is only a four-spiritual-root cultivator.

However, Song Xuande has a very rare "spirit-probing skill" and is currently the Song family’s only first-level high-grade "spirit-prober." Previously, the spirit stone mineral vein the Song family had at "Twin Peaks Mountain" was discovered by him.

At that time, upon learning that Song Xuande had found a spirit stone mineral vein, Song Qingming was very happy. After returning, he immediately arranged to reward Song Xuande, who had made a great contribution to the family, on the spot.

And at the family meeting, he spoke up that after he reached the ninth level of Qi Refining, the family would reward him with a Foundation Establishment Pill to support him in impacting the Foundation Establishment realm in the future, as an example to encourage other clansmen to make more contributions to the family.

Song Xuande, who received a large number of rewards from the family, used this spirit stone resource and, as expected by everyone, successfully cultivated to the ninth level of Qi Refining five years ago, and also received the Foundation Establishment Pill bestowed by the family.

It was just a pity that although Song Xuande had received a Foundation Establishment Pill a few years ago to go into closed-door cultivation to impact the Foundation Establishment realm, because his own aptitude was poor, he ultimately fell short and failed to successfully establish his foundation.

After failing to establish his foundation and recovering from his injuries, Song Xuande did not give up on the matter of Foundation Establishment. He still practiced diligently every day to polish his cultivation, wanting to impact the Foundation Establishment realm again.

Recently, a "Jade Marrow Golden Branch" just ripened in the family’s back mountain medicinal garden, so Huang Siyuan used this medicine together with a Five Elements Spirit Fruit from the sect to refine five "Foundation Establishment Pills," and the Song family finally received two of them.

Upon learning that the family had new Foundation Establishment Pills, Song Xuande bit the bullet and proactively found the family’s Treasury Pavilion, wanting to use the family merits and some spiritual items in his hand to exchange for a "Foundation Establishment Pill."

Since Song Qingming established his foundation, the family had developed for over two hundred years. In the past, those selected to be supported for Foundation Establishment, as long as they failed, basically had no second chance for Foundation Establishment because they had consumed all their family merits to exchange for the "Foundation Establishment Pill."

The first "Foundation Establishment Pill" Song Xuande received was directly bestowed by the family and did not use the family merits he had accumulated over many years, which is why he had the confidence to exchange for a "Foundation Establishment Pill" from the family this time.

Although Song Xuande had enough family merits to exchange for a "Foundation Establishment Pill," because he had failed to establish his foundation before, it had already caused some dissatisfaction among some people in the clan.

Participating in the competition for the "Foundation Establishment Pill" this time, many family elders were not very optimistic about Song Xuande, fearing that he would waste another Foundation Establishment Pill for the family. The probability of him getting the "Foundation Establishment Pill" was clearly not as good as other clansmen of the same rank.

However, because Song Xuande, as a "spirit-prober," had made many great contributions to the family and was someone Song Qingming had said he would support for Foundation Establishment back then, Song Yuanfang was unable to make a choice for a while, which is why he took this opportunity to ask Song Qingming to make the decision.

Hearing Song Yuanfang mention Song Xuande’s Foundation Establishment, Song Qingming did not think too much and nodded directly to him:

"Xuande is a person who has made great contributions to the family. Not to mention the other mineral veins he has found over the years, just the Twin Peaks Mountain spirit mine he discovered back then, how much revenue has it brought to the family? How can these be compared to a Foundation Establishment Pill?

You leave a Foundation Establishment Pill for him first, let Xuande go into closed-door cultivation to establish his foundation as soon as possible, and arrange all the spiritual items that should be available for Foundation Establishment for him. If the merits are not enough, allocate some from my side to him.

Tell Xuande that since the family said it would support him in Foundation Establishment, it will definitely do its best to do so. Let him prepare for Foundation Establishment with peace of mind and not have too much pressure. Even if he fails this time, I will find a way to arrange another Foundation Establishment Pill for him.

The matter of the family supporting Xuande in Foundation Establishment is something I agreed to. Regardless of whether he can successfully establish his foundation in the future, if anyone has any opinions or thoughts about this, tell them to come to the top of the mountain to find me."

After receiving Song Qingming’s support, Song Yuanfang felt a slight relief in his heart and immediately nodded in agreement with a look of approval: "Seventh Grand-Uncle is right. Although Xuande’s talent and aptitude are average, over these years, he has found so many mineral veins for the family outside, and his merits are already no less than those of us Foundation Establishment cultivators. In any case, the family cannot treat him unfairly.

"Rest assured, before Xuande enters seclusion this time, Leqing and I will definitely find time to give him some proper guidance, striving to help him succeed in Foundation Establishment as soon as possible, so as not to let down the cultivation of Seventh Great-Uncle."

"Hmm! As long as you understand this. The family is developing so fast now, and with more people, there will always be different views. These are unavoidable in the future.

But no matter what, those of us who manage the family must have a long-term vision. For someone like Xuande who will be of great use to the family in the future, we should support him as much as possible.

Regardless of whether I am here in the future, you must understand this point. Do not bury family talent because of these petty gains."

"Seventh Grand-Uncle’s words are very true, Yuanfang understands!"

Seeing Song Yuanfang listening to his teachings with a serious face, Song Qingming nodded slightly and continued: "There are many things at home recently, and you all have worked hard.

Now that Xuanyu and the others are back, if you are too busy, you can share some of the burden with others. Do not let this delay your personal cultivation.

This spirit fruit was found by Yuanhao and the others at Red Moon Ridge. It should be helpful for your breakthrough in cultivation. Take it first and strive to break through to the late stage of Foundation Establishment as soon as possible."

After speaking, Song Qingming’s hand flickered with spiritual light, and he took out a black wooden box from his storage magic tool and sent it into Song Yuanfang’s hand.

Opening the wooden box, seeing that it actually contained a second-level high-grade spirit fruit, a look of surprise immediately appeared on Song Yuanfang’s face, and he looked at Song Qingming with some excitement.

Although Song Yuanfang had always been in the rear at "Mount Funiu," every day the cultivators on the front line of "White Lion Ridge" would report back to the family how many demonic beasts they had killed and how many spiritual items they had obtained, so he had naturally heard of this spirit fruit found by Song Yuanhao and the others long ago.

Song Yuanfang’s current cultivation had reached the peak of the sixth level of Foundation Establishment, and he was just looking for spiritual items to impact the late stage of Foundation Establishment. The second-level high-grade spirit fruit in front of him was exactly what he needed for his breakthrough.

Originally, Song Yuanfang wanted to wait until Song Qingming returned to the family to find an opportunity to ask him for this item, but he didn't expect Song Qingming to have been keeping this matter in mind and took it out proactively without waiting for him to speak.

Seeing the spirit fruit in his hand, Song Yuanfang was also extremely excited and hurriedly stepped forward to bow and thank Song Qingming.

Seeing this, Song Qingming immediately waved his hand: "We are all family, why be so polite?

Although you all didn't go to the front line to make contributions this time, staying behind to guard the family and keep our rear worry-free is also a contribution. This time the family successfully captured White Lion Ridge, so naturally, we cannot treat you unfairly.

Tell Yuanqian and the others that all cultivators who stayed behind to guard the family without going to the front line, as long as they have not made any mistakes in their work within half a year, should go to the Treasury Pavilion to receive twenty family merits, and each of you Foundation Establishment cultivators will be issued two hundred points."

"Thank you, Patriarch, for your cultivation!" Song Yuanfang replied with a smile upon hearing this.

After sending away Song Yuanfang, Song Qingming came to the family’s Alchemy Pavilion again to find Huang Siyuan, who was in closed-door cultivation refining alchemy, and handed over all the second-level or higher spiritual medicines that the family cultivators had looted near "White Lion Ridge" during this period to her.

Ever since Huang Siyuan became a third-level alchemist, basically all high-grade spiritual medicines of second-level or higher in the entire family were left for her to use for alchemy.

If the many immortal cultivation families under the Song family found high-grade spiritual medicines of high value that they couldn't use themselves, they would also bring them to "Mount Funiu" to honor this Golden Core ancestor in exchange for some useful elixirs.

However, even so, Weiguo belongs to a place with relatively scarce cultivation resources, and it is still very difficult to satisfy the needs of Huang Siyuan, a high-grade alchemist.

Most of the time, for the auxiliary spiritual medicines needed to refine high-grade spirit elixirs, Huang Siyuan still had to run to "Mount Guyang" or "Tiandan City" to find a way to gather them.

In this regard, the Song family has also been increasing its efforts to cultivate medicinal fields in recent years, expanding the planting in the family’s back mountain "Spirit Medicine Garden," and cultivating more "spirit planters."

It’s just that hindered by the fact that the family has no spirit planters above the third level, the Song family’s foundation in spirit planting is still far from comparable to those large sects that have been established for over a thousand years. There is still a long way to go to satisfy self-sufficiency in spiritual medicines.

After living at home for a few days, Song Qingming boarded the large flying boat he had rented from the sect to attack "White Lion Ridge" again, intending to go to "Mount Guyang" to return this flying boat to the sect’s Merit Pavilion in person.

After all, this item was borrowed by him personally, and he was not at ease letting others return it, so he simply made the trip himself; it wouldn't take a few days anyway.

To help deliver some goods along the way, Song Qingming specifically had the flying boat make a detour to "Yinfeng Ridge," and only after loading all the mineral ores collected in the past year onto the flying boat did it turn and head toward "Mount Guyang" in a grand manner.

Just as the flying boat was moving slowly, Song Qingming, who was flipping through an array technique classic in the storage room with nothing to do, suddenly felt that the light inside the flying boat had suddenly dimmed, and he felt a bit strange.

Standing up and coming to the window to open it, he discovered that a strange black cloud had suddenly appeared above the previously clear sky, shrouding the entire flying boat, and the surroundings were dim as if they had suddenly entered the night.

"Eh! What is going on?"

Seeing this strange scene outside, a doubt arose on Song Qingming’s face. He was just about to go out to check the situation when he heard a knock on the door from behind.

Song Qingming hurriedly came to the door and opened it, only to find that the person who came was a middle-aged man with a Foundation Establishment fifth-level cultivation base, one of the Carefree Sect disciples he had hired from "Mount Guyang" half a year ago to help control the flying boat.

This person’s face was somewhat flustered. Seeing Song Qingming, he hurriedly said: "Uncle-Master Song! It seems like there is something in the sky that has been following us, looking like a Golden Core demon king."

"Golden Core demon king! This place is not far from 'Mount Guyang.' How could there be a Golden Core demon king daring to run here? Did you see it wrong?"

Hearing the words from the person’s mouth, Song Qingming asked with a look of doubt, obviously not quite believing what he said.

Seeing Song Qingming say this, "Reporting to Uncle-Master Song, we didn't see it clearly either, but just now Junior Brother Chen said he saw the shadow of a large white bird in the black cloud, which indeed looked like some powerful demonic beast.

This place is less than a thousand miles from Mount Guyang. Theoretically, there shouldn't be such a powerful demonic beast appearing. I have been controlling the flying boat for so many years and this is the first time I have encountered this situation in this vicinity, ah!."

Before the Carefree Sect disciple could finish speaking, the flying boat suddenly shook violently as if it had been hit by something, interrupting his words. "You stay on the flying boat and start the array to continue moving forward. I will go and see what kind of ghost is making trouble above."

Seeing this situation, Song Qingming’s face changed suddenly, and he felt a bit annoyed. After giving instructions to the "Carefree Sect" disciple who had just stood firm, he immediately turned and walked out of the cabin.

By the time Song Qingming reached the front of the flying boat, a sudden thunderbolt struck the location of the flying boat from the sky, but at this time, several Carefree Sect disciples had already started the array on the flying boat.

The thunder light fell on the array, immediately sparking a fire that illuminated the surrounding night, and the entire flying boat shook violently again.

Fortunately, this thunder light falling from the sky looked fierce, but its power was not as powerful as imagined. Apart from making the flying boat shake a few times, it did not cause any other damage.

"Hmph! A person who hides his head and shows his tail, let me try to see how much ability you really have."

With the help of the thunder light just now, Song Qingming also clearly saw a large bird phantom several feet tall appearing in the black cloud, but as the Foundation Establishment disciple said just now, it really looked like a demon king with a not-low cultivation base.

However, the divine ability the other party displayed looked scary, but Song Qingming did not take it to heart. Now his cultivation had reached the late stage of Golden Core, and ordinary Golden Core demon kings were simply not his opponents.

Moreover, this place is not far from "Mount Guyang," and he can send a message to the sect for help at any time.

As long as the other party is not a Nascent Soul demon emperor, even if he encounters a Golden Core peak Great Demon King, Song Qingming, who has a body of powerful magic treasures and divine abilities, does not need to fear the other party.

After Song Qingming snorted coldly, his magic power moved, and he directly summoned his natal magic treasure, the "Five Elements Divine Light Mirror," and then directly escaped from the flying boat array to kill into the black cloud high in the sky.

Encountering obstruction near "Mount Guyang," Song Qingming was also very curious about which blind person had the guts to be presumptuous here.

Just as Song Qingming’s figure was about to submerge into the black cloud, there was a sudden flash of thunder and lightning above his head, followed by a flash of white thunder light of the same color as just now, which quickly headed straight for Song Qingming’s location.

Seeing this, Song Qingming immediately cast a spell to control the "Five Elements Divine Light Mirror" to turn into a huge bronze mirror to block above his head, wanting to directly take this attack head-on.

As soon as the thunder light fell on the "Five Elements Divine Light Mirror," a burst of fire immediately lit up, illuminating the surroundings as if it were broad daylight.

What made Song Qingming somewhat surprised was that although this thunder light was clearly cast by the same person, its power was much stronger than the one the flying boat below had endured just now.

As soon as the two sides came into contact, Song Qingming felt a very powerful thunder method fluctuation coming from the "Five Elements Divine Light Mirror," which made his hands, which were controlling the magic treasure, suddenly feel a burst of numbness, and he almost couldn't even control his natal magic treasure.

The power of this thunder light was no longer at the level that an ordinary Golden Core demon king should have. If the other party was not a special demonic beast naturally good at thunder methods, then at least their cultivation was not weaker than his own.

Feeling that he seemed to have underestimated his opponent, Song Qingming became even more curious. After blocking the attack in front of him, he immediately flashed his figure and submerged into the black cloud, heading straight up to the location of his opponent.

However, just as his figure moved, another white thunder light fell head-on from above his head, and the pressure of this thunder light seemed to have increased a bit compared to before.

"Still coming, it’s really endless, isn't it!"

Seeing the other party’s decisive actions and the powerful thunder light coming wave after wave, as if they didn't want him to get close, Song Qingming’s face changed suddenly and became somewhat solemn.

After spitting out a few words with displeasure, Song Qingming waved his hand and hurriedly took out a golden ball, directly placing it above his head.

After this golden ball appeared, it immediately turned into a protective shield to block in front of Song Qingming. With this layer of protection, Song Qingming’s face immediately felt much more relaxed.

This time he did not choose to stay in place and resist, but instead advanced rather than retreated, flying upward directly to meet the fierce thunder light.

Soon, Song Qingming’s figure collided with the white thunder light falling from above.

However, in this contact, the two sides did not collide with very intense sparks as before.

As soon as that white thunder light fell on the protective shield formed by the golden ball, it was immediately firmly absorbed by that golden ball. Its power was immediately reduced by eighty or ninety percent, and it only sparked a few small sparks before disappearing without a trace.

This golden bead was exactly a treasure Song Qingming had begged from Fire Phoenix back then, a spiritual item specifically for restraining thunder methods, the "Thunder-Gathering Bead."

Although this item is not a powerful high-grade magic treasure, it is very restraining to various thunder methods in the immortal cultivation world. Even powerful thunder methods that Golden Core cultivators find difficult to contend with will be greatly reduced in power in front of the "Thunder-Gathering Bead."

Over the years, Song Qingming has relied on this item to survive several crises, so he has always carried it with him and has never been separated from it.

Seeing that the "Thunder-Gathering Bead" easily blocked this thunder light as he expected, Song Qingming took this opportunity to immediately cast the "Nine Palaces Meteor Escape," quickly breaking through the obstruction of the dark clouds and arriving at the location of his opponent above.

"What is this?"

Just as Song Qingming rushed to the sky above, seeing the large white bird not far away that had just launched the thunder light attack on him, he couldn't help but show a look of shock on his face.

This large white bird, although its figure was lifelike, did not emit the aura that a demonic beast should have, and its eyes were lifeless, staring tightly at Song Qingming in front of him as if it were a dead object.

What shocked Song Qingming the most was that after seeing the other party at close range, just as Song Qingming’s spiritual sense probed toward the other party, it was suddenly blocked back by a more powerful spiritual sense, making him unable to see the other party’s true cultivation base.

"Could this be a Nascent Soul puppet beast?"

Ever since advancing to the late stage of Golden Core, Song Qingming’s spiritual sense has not been inferior to those Golden Core peak cultivators. Over the years, he has almost never encountered a Golden Core cultivator who could surpass him in spiritual sense.

And the other party could actually surpass him so much in spiritual sense, which clearly was not something a Golden Core level cultivator could show. If they were not carrying some special exotic treasure, they must be a Nascent Soul level cultivator to be able to do this so easily.

Coupled with the fact that there was no aura of a living thing on this large bird, Song Qingming quickly made a comprehensive judgment that the other party might be a fourth-level puppet beast of the Nascent Soul level, but he didn't know who was controlling it or why it appeared here.

Standing in place at this moment, Song Qingming looked at the large white bird in front of him with a very solemn expression.

Before coming up, he had always thought that he might have encountered a blind Golden Core demon king, and he couldn't imagine at all that the one attacking him would be a fourth-level "puppet beast" of the Nascent Soul level.

Spiritual items above the fourth level are extremely precious and rare in the entire immortal cultivation world. Taking out any one of them in a place like the Floating Cloud Mountain Range could cause a stir.

Although Song Qingming is a late-stage Golden Core cultivator who has cultivated for more than two hundred years, he has not seen many fourth-level spiritual items in so many years, let alone something as rare as a fourth-level "puppet beast."

"Puppet beasts" are spiritual items, although their strength is not as good as corpse puppets and spirit beasts of the same rank, they are relatively simple to control and do not have high requirements for users, so they are still loved by many cultivators in the immortal cultivation world.

However, because making "puppet beasts" is very complicated, except for a very small number of large sects that specialize in this path, few cultivators in the immortal cultivation world can raise their puppet skills to above the third level, so high-grade "puppet beasts" have always been relatively rare existences in the immortal cultivation world.

Although the "Carefree Sect" is a Nascent Soul sect that has been established for thousands of years, because it is deep in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range where resources are relatively scarce, there is only one third-level mid-grade "puppet beast" that has been passed down for a long time in the sect.

As far as Song Qingming knows, there are hundreds of sects of all sizes above the Golden Core level in the entire Floating Cloud Mountain Range immortal cultivation world, and all of them combined cannot produce a spiritual item of the fourth-level "puppet beast" level.

"May I ask who you are, and why do you want to attack the flying boat of my Carefree Sect here?"

Seeing the large white bird in front of him, Song Qingming knew that he was definitely not the other party’s opponent, but this place was not far from "Mount Guyang," so he could still try to see if he could make the other party have some scruples by using the sect’s name.

Moreover, a fourth-level "puppet beast" is not a real Nascent Soul cultivator after all, and can at most exert half the strength of a Nascent Soul cultivator. If they really fight, he is not completely without a chance to escape.

Hearing Song Qingming’s question, the large white bird suddenly let out a strange laugh, and then popped out a sentence that made Song Qingming somewhat confused.

"I have long heard of your great name, it is like thunder piercing the ears. Today, I am here specifically to ask for advice. I hope Fellow Daoist Song will not be stingy with your guidance!"

"I have lived in the deep mountains for a long time and have not offended anyone outside. Fellow Daoist, did you find the wrong person and misunderstand?"

Since entering the Dao of cultivation, Song Qingming has always been relatively low-key in his conduct. Even when he goes out to practice and deal with people, he rarely uses his real name and never likes to show off too much outside. Theoretically, there shouldn't be such a mysterious expert specifically coming to his door to deal with him.

Song Qingming had no impression of this large white bird, but hearing the words spoken by the large bird, the other party knew his surname was Song, so they were clearly coming for him.

This sudden situation also made Song Qingming somewhat confused for a while, unable to figure out what was going on.