Chapter 821: Sect Changes, Three Years Later

After the great battle ended, not long after, the entire "Guyang Mountain" was soon covered with flags.

The sect's ability to show its dignity was also built on the foundation of the sacrifice of many fellow disciples, and the "Xiaoyao Sect" naturally had to arrange their affairs behind them and give these sect disciples a glorious burial.

For this reason, Song Qingming, Song Qingyu, and Huang Siyuan specially went to the sect to send off their old fellow friend Jin Ziyuan.

Jin Ziyuan was a cultivator of the same generation as Li Mu, and his lifespan was already close to five hundred years, but his cultivation had not yet broken through to the sixth layer of the Jin Dan stage.

Like the Guangling True Person who sacrificed for the sect back then, Jin Ziyuan, before falling, could also be considered a cultivator whose path had stopped and whose cultivation potential had been exhausted.

Because he knew that he had no hope of advancing to the Nascent Soul realm in this life, Jin Ziyuan had also somewhat neglected his own cultivation in recent years, which also led to a significant decline in his ability to fight with others, which was why he was taken advantage of by enemy cultivators in the "Nanyue Market" great battle.

As fellow sect brothers, Jin Ziyuan's relationship with Song Qingming was still considered relatively good among the many sect elders, and Song Qingming indeed felt a trace of sadness in his heart for his sudden fall.

However, for an older generation cultivator like Jin Ziyuan whose path potential was exhausted, being able to die for the sect on the battlefield in the end, rather than dying alone on a sickbed, was also in line with his fiery personality throughout his life.

By virtue of his great contribution of dying for the sect this time, the sect's "Merit Hall" would also take extra care of his descendants and disciples, and the treatment of the pension would definitely be better than the descendants of other elders who had passed away.

After sending off the many cultivators who had fallen in battle, the sect soon ushered in a period of peaceful development.

After the "Nanyue Market" great battle, only less than half a year later, the sect had another cultivator who successfully formed a core, which could be considered to have made up for the vacancy left by Jin Ziyuan's fall.

This newly core-formed cultivator was named Luo Qingyun, and he was a personal disciple of the sect Jin Dan Elder Chu Fengping.

Luo Qingyun's spiritual root aptitude was the same as Xu Ziyuan's, and he was also a person who succeeded in forming a core with three spiritual roots.

Although his own spiritual root aptitude could not be considered top-notch in the sect, Luo Qingyun had a very good alchemy talent. After apprenticing to Chu Fengping, the master of the sect's "Alchemy Pavilion," his alchemy level also steadily improved to the third-tier low-quality.

It was precisely by relying on his own superb alchemy skills that Luo Qingyun was able to accumulate sect merit faster than others.

Plus his master Chu Fengping also gave Luo Qingyun a certain amount of support behind his back, allowing him to exchange for the "Five Elements Spirit Items" to impact the Jin Dan realm twice, and finally, he lived up to expectations and successfully advanced to the Jin Dan realm.

It had been less than thirty years since Yun Nishang successfully formed her core, and the sect had another Foundation Establishment disciple who successfully formed a core. The entire "Xiaoyao Sect" was naturally full of joy.

For this reason, the sect even held a relatively large Jin Dan celebration, gradually diluting the lingering sadness on the mountain from half a year ago.

His disciple successfully formed a core, and Chu Fengping, as his master, was also extremely happy. When everyone came to congratulate him, he very generously gifted Luo Qingyun a third-tier low-quality magic treasure in public, which also made Song Qingming and the others feel a burst of surprise in their hearts.

You must know that the value of a third-tier low-quality magic treasure is close to ten thousand spirit stones, which is too generous for Chu Fengping to treat his own personal disciple like this.

Seeing this situation, Song Qingming also had some guesses in his heart. Chu Fengping doing this was estimated to be paving the way for his own future affairs, wanting to fully support Luo Qingyun, so as to leave a backer in the sect for the cultivators of his lineage in the future.

Although Chu Fengping was much younger than Jin Ziyuan, he was also close to four hundred years old.

After his own cultivation advanced to the sixth layer of the Jin Dan stage, Chu Fengping's cultivation encountered a huge bottleneck and had been blocked by the late Jin Dan realm for many years.

In the end, breaking through the realm was relying on a rare elixir obtained from the "Leiyuan Sea" trade fair a few years ago, which allowed him to luckily advance to the seventh layer of the Jin Dan stage.

Although theoretically he still had a trace of opportunity to condense the Nascent Soul, Chu Fengping also knew clearly in his heart that relying on his cultivation talent, it would be very difficult to advance to the ninth layer of the Jin Dan stage in the future, let alone impact the higher Nascent Soul realm.

For this reason, it was normal for Chu Fengping to make some preparations for the descendants and disciples of his lineage in advance. After all, he didn't know if he would suddenly fall outside like Jin Ziyuan in the future.

Since Bai Yuxian condensed the Nascent Soul, the "Xiaoyao Sect's" strength had also developed very fast in these decades.

Not only did they expand thousands of miles of territory in the northern expedition against the demon race, but they also took down "Nanyue Market" from the "Jiuyuan Sect" in the east, and the sect territory expanded by nearly 30% at once.

After obtaining so many territories, the resources controlled within the "Xiaoyao Sect" naturally increased a lot, and both the number of cultivators and mortals obtained a wave of rapid explosion.

At Luo Qingyun's core-forming celebration, Xu Ziyuan, who managed the sect's secular affairs, also specially took out the "Merit Hall" roster and carefully reported the development status of the sect over these years to the two sect Supreme Elders.

In just less than thirty years, the number of cultivators in the "Xiaoyao Sect" had increased to more than twenty thousand, and this did not include the many vassal cultivation family forces under its sect.

If counted together, the number of cultivators controlled by the entire "Xiaoyao Sect" could be more than thirty thousand.

This includes two Nascent Soul Supreme Elders, who are Li Mu of the fourth layer of the Nascent Soul stage, and Bai Yuxian, who had just formed the Nascent Soul not long ago and whose cultivation was still at the first layer of the Nascent Soul stage.

The sect has fifteen Jin Dan elders: Chen Xuanxin (Jin Dan 9th layer), Song Qingming (Jin Dan 9th layer), Li Mu (Jin Dan 8th layer), Chu Fengping (Jin Dan 7th layer), Zhao Mengling (Jin Dan 6th layer), Song Qingyu (Jin Dan 6th layer), Xu Ziyuan (Jin Dan 6th layer), Zhang Tieyang (Jin Dan 5th layer), Huang Siyuan (Jin Dan 5th layer), Fang Baixuan (Jin Dan 4th layer), Shen Tongzhou (Jin Dan 3rd layer), Yun Nishang (Jin Dan 3rd layer), Zhao Xingtang (Jin Dan 2nd layer), Hu Qingyun (Jin Dan 1st layer), and Luo Qingyun (Jin Dan 1st layer).

Among them, Song Qingming, Song Qingyu, Huang Siyuan, Zhang Tieyang, Hu Qingyun, and Zhao Xingtang, these six people, are not directly integrated into the sect now and still hold the position of guest elder.

(PS: The reason why the realm of these Jin Dan elders is directly marked is to facilitate everyone's viewing. If there is anything wrong, please help me correct it.

There are also Zhou Ziyang (Jin Dan 4th layer) and Zhang Rong (Jin Dan 1st layer). Although they are also in the Wei State cultivation world, because they didn't directly join the Xiaoyao Sect, I didn't write them down directly.) A few decades ago, when the northern border demonic beast chaos had just ended, the "Xiaoyao Sect," which had experienced a great battle, had less than two hundred Foundation Establishment disciples in total.

Now that a few decades have passed, as the sect's power has gradually recovered, the number of Foundation Establishment cultivators in the sect has also nearly doubled, and there are already nearly four hundred.

This is also thanks to the sect's continuous development over these years, expanding and occupying many territories, which allowed the sect to have more resources to cultivate the cultivators in the sect.

This is also a process that the "Xiaoyao Sect," which is in urgent need of expansion after Bai Yuxian condensed the Nascent Soul, must go through.

If nothing unexpected happens, in another hundred years, the "Xiaoyao Sect" will become a Nascent Soul sect comparable to the "Star Sect" of the Wu State, possessing the strength to rank among the top three sects in the Fuyun Mountain Range cultivation world.

After attending Luo Qingyun's core-forming celebration, Song Qingming and the others, who had nothing to do, soon returned to their family to cultivate with peace of mind.

In the blink of an eye, spring went and autumn came, and another three years passed. —— On this day, on a high mountain by the Qing River, two cultivators, one tall and one short, wearing Song family clothes, were running rapidly along the river bank, their figures like cunning rabbits.

The one running in front was slightly older, and he was the 37th cultivator of the Song family's "Lin" generation, named Song Linyuan, whose cultivation had already reached the eighth layer of Qi Refining.

The cultivator following hard behind was short in stature, and he was a cultivator of the Song family's newest "Si" generation, ranked 11th in the genealogy, named Song Sibai, who had just broken through to the fourth layer of Qi Refining not long ago.

Because the cultivation gap was a bit large, even if Song Linyuan intentionally slowed down his pace, he still left the Song Sibai behind him, and the distance between the two was getting wider and wider.

"Uncle Linyuan, I can't do it anymore, let's take a break!"

After the two ran more than ten miles along the river bank, Song Sibai, feeling that his footsteps could no longer keep up with the other party, shouted and sat directly on a stone by the bank.

Seeing this, Song Linyuan laughed at him and could only turn around and walk back.

"Sibai, you look like this, it's really not good. When I was about your age, I was already following the 19th Uncle and the others to hunt demonic beasts everywhere.

With your physical strength now, let alone hunting demonic beasts, if you encounter a powerful one, I'm afraid you won't even be able to catch up.

If you want to join the law enforcement team to earn spirit stones, besides daily cultivation, you must practice your legs and feet more in the future."

"Uncle Linyuan, you are a three-spiritual-root aptitude, and in the future, you will have a chance to successfully establish a foundation like the family elders. The family naturally values you.

I am just a fake spiritual root. It will be good if I can break through to the late Qi Refining stage in this life. Even if I cultivate harder, I'm afraid the law enforcement team won't look at someone like me!"

Compared to Song Linyuan, who had advanced to the late Qi Refining stage early and was about to impact the Foundation Establishment realm, Song Sibai was just a four-spiritual-root cultivator with ordinary talent, and he only successfully broke through to the fourth layer of Qi Refining at the age of nineteen.

Having long realized that cultivation was not easy, hearing Song Linyuan mention his past, he felt a bit ashamed in his heart.

Hearing Song Sibai's somewhat discouraged words, Song Linyuan sighed slightly and hurriedly stepped forward to comfort him: "Sibai, what are you saying?

Although individual talent has high and low points, our cultivation path is not entirely determined by talent.

Think about it, there were many people in the family with better talent than me back then. If you think like this now, I would have given up the path early, so where would I have today's cultivation.

The family now doesn't look at individual talent, but relies entirely on accumulating merit to exchange for Foundation Establishment pills. Although you and I are not as talented as others, as long as you are willing to pay for the family, individual effort is not impossible to change reality.

In the clan, Elder Yuanqian and Elder Xuande, aren't they both four-spiritual-root Foundation Establishment successes? As long as you can show your ability to the family in the future, how can it be impossible to have a chance to establish a foundation.

You are so young, and you start complaining about this and that. With such an unstable Dao heart, how can you cultivate in the future."

"Hehe! Uncle Linyuan, I was just saying it with my mouth. Why did you start talking at length again? I know I was wrong. Rest assured, I will definitely cultivate hard in the future and strive to successfully establish a foundation with you."

After Song Sibai finished speaking, he immediately stood up holding the stone, wanting to continue running forward.

But just as his footsteps moved a few steps, he was pulled back by a big hand, and then a shield shrouded his body.

"Be careful, there are demonic beasts!"

Just as Song Linyuan's voice fell, several water arrows flew from afar and landed directly on the shield in front of the two, splashing a burst of water. Until this moment, Song Sibai saw that in the Qing River not far in front of them, several black giant crabs suddenly emerged, rushing toward the location of the two with great momentum.

"How can there be demonic beasts here? Could it be that they ran down from above again?"

Since Song Qingming discovered the Qing River cave dwelling and let the family cultivators occupy the vicinity, the river had been cleaned several times over the years, and there were no demonic beasts left.

But because the upper reaches of the Qing River connect to "Yunwu Mountain," from time to time there would still be demonic beasts coming downstream along the river water.

Seeing these few black giant crabs, Song Sibai quickly guessed their origin and couldn't help but shout out.

"No matter where they came from, just a few mid-tier Qi Refining demonic beasts, what are you afraid of? Quickly pick up your weapons and go!"

Having cultivated for so long and never fought with wild demonic beasts, Song Sibai was stunned by the shock, and standing in place, he didn't know how to deal with it next.

It was still Song Linyuan beside him who couldn't help but kick him, which made Song Sibai stabilize his mind, hurriedly take out the magic tool on his body, and rush up with Song Linyuan.

Song Linyuan's cultivation had already reached the late Qi Refining stage, and he had joined the family law enforcement team for many years, so his hunting experience was very rich.

Even though bringing Song Sibai was a bit of a drag, the two still unexpectedly solved the two demonic beasts that came to raid them, and only one more agile demonic beast saw that the situation was not good and fled back into the water.

Seeing that Song Sibai still wanted to chase and not let the other party go, Song Linyuan hurriedly stopped him.

"Sibai, I don't know if there are any demonic beasts in the water, I'm afraid it's not safe, you stop chasing first.

Let's deal with these two demonic beasts first, report to the elder later, and wait for the family to send people to search the vicinity together!"

Song Sibai, who had walked back, looked at the two demonic beast corpses on the bank and couldn't help but laugh: "Really didn't expect that I could encounter demonic beasts while patrolling here. This time I really caught Uncle Linyuan's light, this opportunity came just like that."

"Hehe! You kid is still young, as long as you cultivate hard, there will always be opportunities to encounter opportunities."

After the uncle and nephew looked at each other and smiled, they immediately began to decompose the demonic beast corpses on the bank. In their eyes, these two demonic beasts had already become bright spirit stones.

Just as the two were working hard to pack up the demonic beast corpses beside them, before long, a loud bang suddenly came from the water, and then a burst of water splashed out from the water.

This huge movement instantly attracted the uncle and nephew on the bank. Looking over, they saw a black giant crab with a body width of two or three feet, waving its huge iron pincers and glaring at the bank.

"This... this is a Foundation Establishment demonic beast! Run quickly."

After feeling the powerful aura emitted from this black giant crab, Song Linyuan was immediately startled, hurriedly threw down the demonic beast corpse in his hand, and ran toward the distance with Song Sibai.

While running, Song Linyuan threw a crimson spirit talisman from his hand and cast a spell to throw it behind him.

Just after moving the spirit talisman for help, the black giant crab in the water roared and quickly rushed toward the location of the two. Its speed far exceeded that of ordinary Qi Refining cultivators.

"Sibai, you quickly run toward the mountain, don't follow me, otherwise neither of us will be able to run!"

Seeing the black giant crab behind chasing closer and closer, Song Linyuan shouted to Song Sibai, turned around, gritted his teeth, threw a top-grade spirit talisman at the demonic beast behind, and then changed direction and chose to flee separately from Song Sibai.

The top-grade spirit talisman in Song Linyuan's hand only blocked the other party for a moment before the black giant crab chased up again.

It's just that this black giant crab didn't choose to chase the closest Song Linyuan first, but instead turned around and went straight for Song Sibai, who had weaker strength. —— Song family "Funiu Mountain" mountain top.

Following a red light sinking into the formation, the law enforcement cultivator who received the request for help opened the letter and took a look, and before long, this letter was sent to the family "Discussion Hall."

Song Yuanfang, who opened the letter, only took a look, and a hint of solemnity immediately appeared on his face.

"Quickly notify Elders Yuanxue and Xuanfeng, let them gather at the Discussion Hall immediately, and say that the family has urgent matters!"

"Husband, what happened?" Seeing her husband Song Yuanfang's face looking a bit bad, Huang Leqing hurriedly asked with concern.

Song Yuanfang heard this and immediately sighed: "It's something that happened at Qing River. Xuanqing sent a message saying that a Foundation Establishment late-stage demonic beast appeared nearby.

Just relying on them, I'm afraid they can't handle it. Yuanxue, Xuanfeng, and I will go there. I'll leave the family matters to you first."

"Foundation Establishment late-stage demonic beast, this is something we haven't encountered for a long time. Husband still needs to be careful!"

"Rest assured, even if that demonic beast is powerful, it's enough for so many of us to deal with it. If there's anything, I will send a message back in time."

Song Yuanfang said while walking out, but at this time, a figure suddenly appeared at the door of the "Discussion Hall," making him stop his footsteps somewhat unexpectedly.

"Greetings to the Patriarch!"

Seeing Song Qingming suddenly walk in, the crowd in the "Discussion Hall" was also surprised and hurriedly bowed and saluted him in unison.

Seeing this, Song Qingming hurriedly waved his hand and asked: "Just saw that Xuanqing sent a request for help, did something happen at Qing River?"

"Reporting to the Patriarch!"

Because the family equipped Qing River with a top-grade second-tier top-quality sound-transmission talisman, which was different from other places, Song Qingming, who happened to be drinking tea on the mountain top, recognized it immediately after seeing the spirit talisman.

Considering the importance of the Qing River cave dwelling, Song Qingming, who was a bit uneasy in his heart, came to the family "Discussion Hall" in person to ask about this matter.

After learning from Song Yuanfang that a Foundation Establishment late-stage demonic beast had come near Qing River, Song Qingming felt a bit relaxed in his heart and waved his hand to stop Song Yuanfang and the others who wanted to deal with the demonic beast.

"I just came out of seclusion and happened to have nothing to do, so you don't have to go. I'll go there and move my hands and feet by the way."

Seeing Song Qingming want to deal with the demonic beast in person, just as Song Yuanfang wanted to say something, Song Qingming didn't pay attention and turned and left the family "Discussion Hall."

Subsequently, an escape light flew out of "Funiu Mountain" and headed south toward the location of the Qing River.

A quarter of an hour later, at a mountain bay by the Qing River.

Stepping on a flying sword and holding a three-legged small tripod, Song Xuanqing was casting a spell to fight fiercely with a huge black giant crab.

The dozen or so Song family cultivators below were holding formation flags and forming a second-tier magic array, transforming into a golden wolf demon to help Song Xuanqing contain part of the black giant crab's energy.

Song Xuanqing's cultivation was only at the fourth layer of Foundation Establishment, and because he practiced alchemy, Song Xuanqing rarely went out to fight with people of the same tier, so his strength was not outstanding among Foundation Establishment mid-stage cultivators.

Facing a Foundation Establishment late-stage demonic beast, even with the help of a second-tier great array below, he was still not the opponent of the other party and was beaten down, adding many wounds to his body.

"Elder Xuanqing, this demonic beast is so powerful, just relying on us, I'm afraid we can't block it. Why not retreat first and wait until the family reinforcements arrive!"

"No, this place is too close to the Patriarch's cultivation place. If this guy breaks in, it will be difficult for us to explain to the family in the future.

And if we just retreat like this, you definitely won't be able to escape in time, and there will definitely be casualties.

Let's hold on for a while, the Great Elder and the others should already be on their way."

After Song Xuanqing finished speaking, he took out a silver second-tier mid-quality spirit talisman, directly transformed it into a fire blade and slashed toward the other party, and then swallowed a pill to restore spiritual energy.

After using the power of the spirit talisman to force the other party back and catch his breath, just as Song Xuanqing was preparing to continue controlling the magic tool to attack the black giant crab, a sword light suddenly flew from the high sky in the distance and landed on the black giant crab.

Immediately after, before everyone's surprised eyes, the black giant crab trembled a few times and completely lost its breath, and then its huge body fell directly to the ground, shaking up a cloud of dust.

Just when Song Xuanqing and the others were still a bit confused and didn't know what had happened, a green-clothed figure appeared in front of them.

"Greetings to the Patriarch!"

Seeing that the person who came was actually Song Qingming, Song Xuanqing and the others were also full of surprise, not knowing why this matter would alarm this family Patriarch who had been cultivating in seclusion on the mountain top all year round.

After scanning Song Xuanqing and the others, Song Qingming nodded at them with a smile.

"I happened to come out of seclusion and heard about this, so I came to take a look by the way. You did well, go back to heal your wounds first, and deal with the demonic beast corpse later!"

"Thank you, Patriarch!"

Hearing Song Qingming's order, Song Xuanqing and the others hurriedly bowed and responded, then walked away from the river bank quickly.

After the people around had all left the Qing River bank, Song Qingming, who took a look at the demonic beast corpse on the ground, turned around and immediately transformed into an escape light and plunged into the turbulent river water beside him. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 822 =====