Chapter 81: A Wanderer Returns Home

After breaking through his cultivation, Song Qingming suddenly dissolved over a dozen low-tier spirit stones and used this spiritual energy to slowly stabilize his cultivation.

It was not until five days later that Song Qingming completely stabilized his cultivation at the seventh layer of Qi Condensation. Afterward, he ended his closed-door cultivation that lasted for over half a month and walked out of the gate of his cave dwelling.

Standing at a height of a thousand zhang on Guiyun Mountain, Song Qingming looked at the market below that was as small as stars. The thoughts in Song Qingming's mind surged like a sea of clouds.

Since he went down the mountain to guard Lingyuan Mountain at the age of twenty, it had been only ten years until now. Song Qingming had gone from a bottom-tier cultivator who was confused about his path of Dao and had just broken through to the fourth layer of Qi Condensation, to finally becoming a late-stage Qi Condensation cultivator with a mature mind.

With his cultivation at the late stage of Qi Condensation, a cultivator's spiritual sense could already be released outside the body. Song Qingming closed his eyes tightly and used his spiritual sense to probe the surroundings. He discovered that he could sense every blade of grass and tree within a radius of ten zhang from himself through the spiritual sense in his body.

After the spiritual sense is released, it is easier for a cultivator to perceive the opponent's moves in advance during a battle. This is also the biggest reason why the combat ability of late-stage Qi Condensation cultivators is far stronger than that of mid-stage Qi Condensation cultivators.

Half an hour later, Song Qingming put away his thoughts, slowly walked down Guiyun Mountain, and arrived at the Flying Cloud Guard station in the market.

In the station, the Xiaoyao Sect cultivator who was on duty saw that Song Qingming had successfully broken through his cultivation and said with some envy:

"Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Song, for finally successfully breaking through your cultivation in this closed-door cultivation. However, you truly came at an inconvenient time this time. The Eleventh Guard already received a mission and set off a few days ago. Do you want to wait, or should I help you introduce yourself to go to another guard temporarily?"

In order to break through in this closed-door cultivation, Song Qingming had already asked for leave from the Flying Cloud Guard early, and this was already the third time in these two years.

Song Qingming shook his head and replied, "No need to trouble yourself, Fellow Daoist Li. I am preparing to leave Guiyun Market for a period of time. This time, I want to temporarily resign from my position in the Flying Cloud Guard. Please help me handle the handover matters. After Captain Lu returns, please help me inform him."

Hearing that Song Qingming wanted to resign from his position in the Flying Cloud Guard, this Xiaoyao Sect cultivator on duty hurriedly tried to persuade him a few times. In these few years, the Flying Cloud Guard had always been short of manpower, and the departure of every Flying Cloud Guard cultivator was a very headache-inducing matter for them.

"Leaving this time is also because when I left home, I agreed with my family on the date of return. Now that the agreed date is almost here, I am truly afraid that if I return late, my family will be worried."

Seeing that Song Qingming had already made up his mind to leave, this person did not continue to persuade him to stay. Soon, he helped Song Qingming exchange all his remaining merits for spirit stones and handed them to him.

After leaving the Flying Cloud Guard, Song Qingming went to the Heavenly Wind Tower again, set a banquet, invited Shi Chun and the other two here, and bid them farewell.

In the many years Song Qingming had been in Guiyun Market, he had not made many true friends. Shi Chun and the other two had all extended a helping hand to him when he needed help the most. Song Qingming always kept this in his heart.

Shi Chun's cultivation had also progressed very quickly in these few years, and he was not far from the late stage of Qi Condensation. Zhang Tieyang broke through two years ago, and his cultivation had already reached the eighth layer of Qi Condensation. Only Qin Yuniang seemed to have little interest in cultivation, and her cultivation was still only at the fourth layer of Qi Condensation.

Although Hu Daozhen of the Heavenly Wind Tower had average cultivation talent, relying on a spirit cooking skill, he had also earned quite a few cultivation resources. Born as a loose cultivator, he had already cultivated to the fifth layer of Qi Condensation before the age of thirty, not slower at all than those cultivators born in small families like the Song family of Funiu Mountain.

The few of them gathered in the Heavenly Wind Tower from daytime until late at night.

Until the moment they were about to part ways, Song Qingming suddenly said to Shi Chun and the other two: "Fellow Daoists, I have always forgotten to explain one thing to you. Actually, my name is not Song San. I am Song Qingming, a family cultivator. In the future, if you want to find me, you can come to Funiu Mountain in Qinghe County to find me."

Hearing Song Qingming's words, Shi Chun and the others did not show much surprise on their faces. Just as Song Qingming expected, they were all loose cultivators who had drifted through the market for many years and were long accustomed to cultivators like Song Qingming who did not use their real names.

Qin Yuniang giggled and said, "Actually, we knew long ago that you couldn't possibly have such an ordinary name as Song San. However, Big Brother Song, you being able to tell us frankly can be considered truly treating us as friends."

"Song San was also my name before I cultivated the Dao. It is indeed very ordinary."

After bidding farewell to Shi Chun and the others, Song Qingming, who had packed his luggage, set off to leave Guiyun Market early the next morning.

Before going into closed-door cultivation, Song Qingming had already decided that as long as he successfully broke through to the late stage of Qi Condensation, he would return to Qinghe County immediately.

He had been out for training for nearly four years. Although Song Qingming had not been able to accurately find news of a Foundation Establishment Pill, his cultivation had broken through to the late stage of Qi Condensation, which could be considered as having completed a goal he had set in his heart.

In these few years in the Flying Cloud Guard, whether it was his combat ability or his mentality when facing danger, he had grown a lot. Compared to four years ago, it could be said that he had a very obvious transformation.

After leaving Guiyun Market, Song Qingming performed the Gale Technique he had just learned. His figure turned into a clear breeze, jumping rapidly among the mountains and forests.

After his cultivation reached the late stage of Qi Condensation, his speed of traveling was also much faster than before. After using magic power to reduce his own weight, he could even run rapidly on thin branches in the trees, as if gliding in the air.

Just as Song Qingming was rushing back to Qinghe County, on Funiu Mountain in Qinghe County, the Song family's Great Elder, Song Gubai, who had a worried face, was discussing a major matter concerning the future fate of the Song family with the Clan Leader, Song Gushan.

"Clan Leader, we cannot let Qingze go to the Xiaoyao Sect. He is the person with the highest cultivation talent in our Song family in these decades, and he is also the hope for the future prosperity of the family."

Song Gushan looked at this Great Elder who had worked hard for the Song family with him for decades. After a long time, he nodded and said with some difficulty, "Third Brother, how could I not know these things you said? You also know that the person we selected in advance this time was originally Qingyu. However, now that Qingze has taken the initiative to propose that he wants to go to the Xiaoyao Sect, and he came to speak to me, it means he has already made up his mind. How can I forcibly obstruct him? After all, this concerns his path of Dao."

"Qingyu is still young, and we don't know if her path of Dao will be smooth in the future. Currently, the only one in the Qing generation who can shoulder the heavy burden is Qingze. If he goes to the Xiaoyao Sect, once Changfeng and the others are no longer here, if the family's cultivators are not replaced in time, I am afraid that the family will decline immediately and it will be difficult to escape the fate of being annexed by other family forces around us." Song Gubai sighed unwillingly and continued to say.

Song Gushan gave a bitter smile and said, "You don't have to be too discouraged. How many setbacks and hardships has the family experienced in two hundred years? Haven't we all endured them? Qingze chose to take the initiative to propose joining the Xiaoyao Sect, which shows that the development of the family in his heart is far less important than his own path of Dao. To tell you the truth, if the family is truly handed over to him in the future, Fourth Brother, can you be at ease?"

"Since he chose to go to the Xiaoyao Sect, after thinking about it, I still decided to let him go. If we forcibly keep him, it is inevitable that he will have resentment toward the family in the future, which might not necessarily be a good thing for the family. It's just that the journey to the Xiaoyao Sect is long and arduous, and his future can only rely on himself. The family has already done its best for him for so many years."

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 82 =====