Chapter 80: Seventh Layer of Qi Condensation

However, Song Qingming, who was still burying his head in hard work in the cave dwelling, only learned the news that Xu Ziyuan had returned to Guiyun Market two days later.

On this day, Song Qingming was just about to leave the cave dwelling, but he did not expect that Xu Ziyuan had already taken the initiative to find him and blocked him inside the cave dwelling.

"Fellow Daoist Song hiding here, you truly made me search for a while. I even thought I would really have to go to Qinghe County to find you."

For some reason, Xu Ziyuan, who was still in red, seemed to look a bit more haggard than two months ago.

"Captain Xu, I did not fail the mission. On this trip to White Longshan, I successfully bought the Green Jade Pill."

After seeing Xu Ziyuan, Song Qingming hurriedly took out the Green Jade Pill that he had treasured in his storage bag and carefully handed it to Xu Ziyuan.

This Green Jade Pill had been kept on Song Qingming for over a month. Although having a spirit pill worth three hundred spirit stones in his storage bag made his storage bag bulge, it was ultimately not his own thing.

After obtaining the Green Jade Pill, on the road from White Longshan to Guiyun Market, it had always made him somewhat worried in his heart. If he lost this spirit pill, how would he answer to Xu Ziyuan?

Now that the spirit pill was handed to Xu Ziyuan, Song Qingming finally breathed a sigh of relief in his heart and no longer had to worry about this spirit pill all the time.

As for the ten extra spirit stones from buying the spirit pill, he did not choose to return them to Xu Ziyuan. He had risked his life to make a trip to White Longshan, so it should be reasonable to collect some hard-earned money, right?

After seeing the Green Jade Pill, Xu Ziyuan was happy. She did not ask Song Qingming how many spirit stones he had spent specifically. With a light wipe of her slender hand, she put the Green Jade Pill into the storage bag at her waist, and then bowed to Song Qingming.

"No matter what, being able to successfully obtain this spirit pill this time, I still have to thank Fellow Daoist Song for not being afraid of hardship. This time, I can consider that I owe you a favor."

Song Qingming hurriedly bowed back and said, "Captain Xu is too polite. This trip to White Longshan also allowed me to increase my knowledge a lot. I dare not speak of hardship."

Xu Ziyuan smiled, nodded, and then said, "Fellow Daoist Song, there is one thing I want to inform you in advance. Junior Brother Lu's injuries have almost healed. Next, I will return the title of Captain of the Eleventh Guard to him. In the future, you don't need to call me Captain anymore."

Hearing Xu Ziyuan's words, Song Qingming was slightly stunned, and then said, "Fellow Daoist Xu, are you preparing to go into closed-door cultivation to break through?"

Xu Ziyuan barely managed to put on a smiling face and said, "You are right. After this mission ends, I will return to the sect. Breaking through to Foundation Establishment is extremely dangerous, and I don't know if we will have a day to meet again."

"Fellow Daoist Xu has cultivated to the ninth layer of Qi Condensation for many years, and your foundation is stable. Even if you cannot break through successfully, it is impossible for there to be much danger. Why does Fellow Daoist say this?" Song Qingming heard Xu Ziyuan say that her breakthrough to Foundation Establishment was extremely dangerous, and he could not help but feel extremely puzzled in his heart, so he blurted it out directly.

Xu Ziyuan shook her head, sighed, and said, "This time, the sect had some mishaps in refining Foundation Establishment Pills and only refined a dozen or so. Although Master has been trying her best to fight for me, my hope of obtaining a Foundation Establishment Pill this time is already very slim. However, I have already made up my mind. After returning to the sect, I will go into closed-door death cultivation. If I don't break through to the Foundation Establishment realm, I will never go down the mountain again."

"So that's how it is. Even without a Foundation Establishment Pill, Fellow Daoist has already planned to risk your life to charge at the Foundation Establishment realm. Just for this point, I, Song, already admire you immensely in my heart. Please accept a bow from me."

After finishing, Song Qingming bowed deeply to Xu Ziyuan. For this woman who dared to move forward on the path of Dao and put life and death aside, Song Qingming felt heartfelt admiration for Xu Ziyuan at this moment.

"Fellow Daoist Song's courtesy truly makes me feel unworthy. Ziyuan has cultivated for over forty years. I dare not say how firm my Dao heart is, but I am not a person who wastes time. Since I have entered the immortal path, if I cannot walk to the clouds and see all the beautiful scenery in this world, what is the use of living for a few more decades for me?" After Xu Ziyuan finished speaking, her eyes also gained a few more traces of firm radiance.

"Then I will congratulate Fellow Daoist Xu here first. Next time we meet, I, Song, will have to address you as Senior."

Next, the two chatted a few more words, asked about each other's recent situation, and Xu Ziyuan also swept away her previous haggard look. Afterward, she generously exchanged many of her own insights in cultivation with Song Qingming, which benefited Song Qingming a lot and gave him a few more points of certainty for his next charge at the late stage of Qi Condensation.

After Xu Ziyuan left Song Qingming, she left Guiyun Market not many days later and returned to the Xiaoyao Sect mountain gate. Even many people in the Eleventh Guard did not know that their captain had left, and the captain of the Eleventh Guard became Lu Yunfei again.

It was not until half a year later that Song Qingming heard news of Xu Ziyuan again from a Xiaoyao Sect cultivator. This strange woman who made Song Qingming admire her had actually, just as Song Qingming said that day, successfully broken through to the Foundation Establishment realm after three months of closed-door cultivation.

Like Xu Ziyuan, a cultivator who successfully established Foundation Establishment without using a Foundation Establishment Pill was also very rare in the cultivation world.

After all, among twenty cultivators who successfully established Foundation Establishment without using a Foundation Establishment Pill, only one could be a lucky person. Most people who chose to break through either had their path of Dao cut off by severe injuries or had already died.

The entire Xiaoyao Sect had over three hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators, and those who did not use Foundation Establishment Pills to establish Foundation Establishment did not exceed twenty percent. After these people established Foundation Establishment, without exception, they were all cultivators with exceptionally firm minds. Their path of Dao would also be brighter than those cultivators who had used Foundation Establishment Pills, and their chances of cultivating to a higher realm would also be greater.

Hearing the news that Xu Ziyuan had successfully established Foundation Establishment, Song Qingming was also very excited. After restoring his state, he soon chose to go into closed-door cultivation to break through to the late stage of Qi Condensation again. However, his luck recently did not seem to be that good. This time, after losing another mid-grade spirit stone, he still failed to break through again.

Fortunately, he was not discouraged. In the following time, apart from following the Flying Cloud Guard to go out for training, after returning to Guiyun Market, he also continued to inquire about news of mid-grade spirit stones everywhere.

A year later on Guiyun Mountain, Song Qingming sat upright in his cave dwelling. Streams of thick spiritual energy continuously entered his dantian from several meridians all over his body and slowly emerged from several other meridians.

After continuously polishing the spiritual energy for five days, the pure spiritual energy within Song Qingming's dantian had become very saturated.

Seeing that the spiritual energy within his body had been polished to perfection, Song Qingming finally made up his mind and dissolved the mid-grade spirit stone he had already prepared in his hand.

After the meridians in his body trembled, borrowing this extremely pure and thick spiritual power, Song Qingming finally broke through the bottleneck of the seventh layer of Qi Condensation that had troubled him for several years during his third breakthrough, successfully raising his own cultivation to the late stage of Qi Condensation.

After breaking through his cultivation, Song Qingming could not help but breathe a sigh of relief in his heart. He did not expect that for a bottleneck of the late stage of Qi Condensation, he had to break through again and again to succeed. Regarding the next hurdle of Foundation Establishment, he truly had no bottom in his heart now.

In these two years in Guiyun Market, apart from going out to execute Flying Cloud Guard missions, Song Qingming was inquiring about mid-grade spirit stones everywhere. Finally, Shi Chun helped him find another mid-grade spirit stone, and he had a third opportunity to successfully break through to the late stage of Qi Condensation.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 81 =====