Chapter 825

After "Daoist Lingxu" softly spat out a sentence, he had just picked up the bamboo basket on the ground when it was snatched away by Li Xuanyi beside him.

"Master, you activated the sect token this time... you wouldn't really have done it just to summon me back, would you!"

Seeing the doubt on Li Xuanyi's face, "Daoist Lingxu" smiled slightly, then directly put away the fishing rod in his hand and walked to a simple straw shed that had been set up not far from the shore.

"The wind and waves have been big lately; it's not easy to catch a big fish. This old man hasn't eaten a good fish in a few days."

As "Daoist Lingxu" spoke, he took out a large iron pot from the straw shed. Li Xuanyi directly rolled up her sleeves, walked skillfully to the side of the stream, and began to process the big fish that had just been caught.

Both of them were dressed somewhat simply. At a glance, if one didn't pay attention, one would think they were a father and daughter who had been fishing by the sea for many years.

After a long time, a fragrant piece of fish meat was served on the stone platform nearby, and there was also a pot of fragrant fish soup.

Smelling the delicious fish meat, "Daoist Lingxu" instantly felt a trace of joy. He hurriedly used chopsticks to pick up a piece of fish meat and stuffed it into his mouth.

"The color and taste are delicious. This fish meat must be cooked directly after coming out of the sea to retain this freshness.

Liu Yang and those people have dull minds; no matter how I teach them, they can't grasp the essentials of culinary arts. Every time, they waste the good ingredients I find! It's been so many years, and you, girl, are still the one who best understands my heart. Not only did you inherit my cultivation technique, but even in the area of spiritual culinary arts, you are becoming better than me.

I just don't know how many more opportunities this old man will have to taste the delicious spiritual food you cook in the future."

After some praise, "Daoist Lingxu" poured himself a full bowl of fragrant fish soup, his face filled with endless satisfaction.

"Master, don't blame me. Disciple has been in seclusion for all these years and only recently achieved some success before coming out. I came to visit you, Master, as soon as I received the message."

Seeing that Master "Daoist Lingxu" was still satisfied with her culinary arts after not seeing her for decades, Li Xuanyi felt a trace of joy and took out the spirit tea she had brought to boil.

Waiting until "Daoist Lingxu" had tasted almost all the fish meat in the bowl, Li Xuanyi took the initiative to pour him a cup of fragrant spirit tea.

"Master, my cultivation has now broken through to the late stage of Jin Dan, and there are indeed many matters in the clan that require my help. In the future, Xuan Yi may not be able to return to the sect often to serve you."

"I hope Master will forgive me and allow me to withdraw from the sect in the future!"

"Daoist Lingxu," who had just picked up the spirit tea, heard Li Xuanyi's words. After a pause, he put down the teacup in his hand and said softly, "Your Li family is, after all, a Nascent Soul family with ten thousand years of heritage; it shouldn't be that everything requires you to help them handle it! Could it be that Guyun Mountain has reached the point where there is no one to use, and they need to compete with me, this old man, for you, this girl?

Although Master cannot directly intervene in the affairs of other sects in Nanzhou, I still know a few people outside who can speak.

Girl, if you have really suffered any grievances, you might as well tell this old man. At worst, I will cast aside this old face and go see them."

Seeing "Daoist Lingxu" looking at her with a calm expression, Li Xuanyi hurriedly shook her head and smiled, "Master has misunderstood me. It's all family matters; disciple hasn't suffered any grievances. You don't need to worry about this small matter of mine.

I am still an outer sect disciple; even if I withdraw from the sect, it won't have any major impact. When I have free time in the future, I will definitely come back to see you."

Hearing Li Xuanyi's explanation, "Daoist Lingxu's" expression slowly sank, and a rare glint of sharpness appeared in his eyes.

"The reason Master asks you is because I want you to say it yourself. You girl, don't you really think that just because I stay on the island every day, I don't know anything!"

Seeing the change in "Daoist Lingxu's" face, Li Xuanyi was silent for a moment, then sighed and said, "Master, I know you are doing this for my own good.

It's just that I have already thought through this matter myself.

I know the sect's rules, and I don't want to affect the sect because of this matter. Please don't make things difficult for me anymore."

"You have really thought it through?"

"Hmm! Some things have to be faced eventually. I don't want to live under someone else's protection for the rest of my life. Perhaps one day, when I have enough ability to change all this, I can return here."

"Girl, as long as you have thought it through yourself!"

Hearing Li Xuanyi's explanation, "Daoist Lingxu" said no more. He stood up, waved his hand, took out a scroll, handed it to Li Xuanyi, and said to her, "This is the complete Tai Xu Sword Art that I have deduced. It is enough for you to cultivate directly to the Soul Transformation stage. Regardless of whether you are in the sect in the future, I will always recognize you as my disciple."

Li Xuanyi, clutching the bamboo slip tightly, felt her eyes blur and hurriedly bowed to "Daoist Lingxu."

"Xuan Yi, thank you, Master, for bestowing the technique!" — Two months later, outside "Yuxuan Island," another nameless small boat arrived and slowly docked beside a reef near the island.

"It's been decades, and there hasn't been much change. I don't know if I will have a chance to see Master this time!"

Looking at "Yuxuan Island," which was exactly the same as it was decades ago, Song Qingming, standing at the bow, could not help but show a smile. His heart had already begun to look forward to seeing those fellow disciples he hadn't seen for many years.

Just as Song Qingming was thinking, a gust of wind and clouds suddenly changed over the originally clear sky of "Yuxuan Island," and a burst of black mist appeared, shrouding the entire vicinity of the island.

This celestial phenomenon immediately startled the nearby sea birds and flying fish, which began to flee quickly toward the distance.

"This is demonic energy!"

Seeing everything happening on "Yuxuan Island," Song Qingming's expression changed instantly, and he hurriedly threw a bag of spirit stones to the boatman beside him.

Afterward, he transformed into a streak of azure flight light and flew directly toward "Yuxuan Island," landing on a flat area on the east side of the island.

Taking out a round green jade token, Song Qingming soon passed through the formation set up by the sect outside the mountain and arrived directly at the "Tai Xu Gate" located above the island.

Just as he arrived at the entrance, Song Qingming saw several streaks of flight light flying over in a hurry not far away. Upon closer inspection, he realized they were Liu Yang and several other Jin Dan fellow disciples.

"Eh! It's Junior Brother Song."

"Greetings, Senior Brothers... I have just arrived on the island. May I ask where you are all going?"

"Junior Brother Song, the seal sealing the Demon God in the back mountain has loosened again. We are preparing to go help strengthen the seal. Since you have arrived, Junior Brother, why not come with us to help?"

"I will do as Senior Brothers command!"

When Song Qingming first came to the "Tai Xu Gate" years ago, he had encountered the harassment of the Demon God illusion here, and he also knew that a Demon God from the upper realm who had broken through the boundary tens of thousands of years ago was sealed on the island.

Hearing that it was the leakage of demonic energy caused by the loosening of the Demon God seal, Song Qingming hurriedly nodded in agreement. Afterward, he followed Liu Yang and the others to a valley in the back mountain of the island.

Just as they approached the depths of the valley, Song Qingming saw a mass of demonic energy rising into the sky from the valley.

The concentration of this demonic energy was several times purer than the techniques used by the demonic cultivators Song Qingming had encountered before. Before even coming into contact with it, everyone felt a chill hitting their faces.

Seeing this, Song Qingming and the others cast spells to urge their protective spiritual light, forming a shield before them, before continuing to fly into the valley.

Before long, Song Qingming and the others arrived at a stone platform and saw the Fourth Senior Brother Zheng Xingyun, who was casting spells to strengthen the seal, as well as numerous "Tai Xu Gate" disciples.

Because he came relatively rarely, and many fellow disciples in the sect would be in seclusion for years, Song Qingming was seeing most of these people for the first time.

He saw that there were four stone platforms in the valley, standing on both sides of the mountain walls, with seven or eight people sitting on each stone platform.

And standing in mid-air above their heads was one person each. Apart from the Fourth Senior Brother Zheng Xingyun, the aura emanating from the other three clearly had already reached the Nascent Soul realm.

These Nascent Soul cultivators were casting spells to fuse the spiritual power of the numerous Jin Dan cultivators below, pouring it into four giant bronze cauldrons floating in mid-air before them.

And those four giant bronze cauldrons in the middle were each several zhang wide and high. The pressure emanating from them made Song Qingming feel extremely strong pressure just by looking at them, so he hurriedly averted his gaze to feel more comfortable.

"Several Junior Brothers, I have enough manpower here. Please go help Junior Brother Lin and the others."

Hearing a sentence shouted by a square-faced man above, Song Qingming and the others hurriedly separated, landed on the other stone platforms, and began to cast spells to help everyone stabilize the giant seal beneath the four giant bronze cauldrons.

Just like that, everyone was busy from the afternoon until dark, and the demonic energy rising from the depths of the valley finally thinned out.

After another half an hour, when the demonic energy in the valley had gradually ceased, everyone, led by the several Nascent Soul cultivators, put away the spiritual power in their hands.

"The Demon God seal has been stabilized. Thank you, Junior Brothers and Junior Nephews!"

After the giant bronze cauldrons before them calmed down, the square-faced man with the highest cultivation among the four Nascent Soul cultivators turned around and bowed to everyone.

Through the introduction of Liu Yang, who was standing beside him just now, Song Qingming had already learned that this square-faced man was one of the more than a dozen personal disciples of his master, "Daoist Lingxu," the First Senior Brother Fu Jinglong.

His cultivation had already reached the late stage of Nascent Soul, and he was the person with the highest cultivation among the dozens of "Tai Xu Gate" disciples present.

Beside him, the other three were the Third Senior Sister Mu Bingyun, the Fourth Senior Brother Zheng Xingyun, and the Eighth Senior Brother Duan Youde, all three of whom possessed Nascent Soul cultivation.

Hearing the polite words from the First Senior Brother, everyone present hurriedly bowed and returned the salute.

Before everyone could leave this place, a streak of flight light suddenly flew out from the depths of the valley and landed in mid-air. It was none other than Master "Daoist Lingxu," whom Song Qingming had been most eager to see on this trip.

"Greetings, Master!"

"There is nothing else below; everyone follow me back!"

After scanning everyone present, "Daoist Lingxu" waved his hand, then flashed and disappeared from the spot.

Seeing this, everyone followed behind "Daoist Lingxu" and soon arrived at a great hall in the sect in front of the mountain. After arriving at the great hall, "Daoist Lingxu" turned around and said slowly to the numerous disciples before him: "Tens of thousands of years ago, the True Demon descended into the world, causing a catastrophe for our Huayang Realm and causing countless lives in the entire cultivation world to fall.

Afterward, our Tai Xu Gate predecessors joined forces with the human and demon races of the five continents and four seas, and invited the great powers of our human race who had ascended to the upper realm to assist, finally expelling that ancient True Demon from the boundary and exterminating its numerous followers.

After that great war to exterminate demons, although most of the demon heads were killed, some remains of the True Demon still remained in the Huayang Realm.

Even after these upper-realm True Demons died, their physical bodies did not rot or perish, and their primordial spirits continued to revive. Predecessor great powers tried many methods, but for a time, they were still unable to completely exterminate the Demon God's physical body.

Therefore, our human predecessors had no choice but to set up formations to seal these True Demon physical bodies separately in places with abundant Yang energy across the five continents and four seas, using the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy of this realm to slowly grind away these ancient True Demon physical bodies.

Our Tai Xu Gate predecessors also set up the Heaven-Cauldron Dragon-Locking Formation in the valley for this reason, sealing a True Demon physical body here, and have guarded this island and the seal for generations.

Over tens of thousands of years, most of the Demon Gods sealed in this realm have been exterminated by predecessors with the help of the Demon-Suppressing Formation. Only this True Demon in the back mountain valley is dead but not stiff; it not only resisted the power of the formation but has also recovered quite a bit of its strength over the years.

Recently, the Demon God seal has become increasingly loose. I fear that the formation set up by predecessors back then will not be able to trap this demon for much longer.

Calling you all back is also to borrow your strength to completely resolve this matter in my lifetime, so as not to leave too great a hidden danger for you in the future.

I plan to set up another formation in a few days to strengthen the seal of the formation in the valley. Even if I cannot completely exterminate this demon, at least I can seal it for a longer period, so as not to cause you too great a hidden danger.

I believe that even if I am no longer here in the future, you will be able to continue guarding the valley formation for the sect and not let that True Demon have another chance to bring disaster to the world."

"Disciple obeys Master's orders!"

Hearing Master "Daoist Lingxu" recount this, Song Qingming finally understood the reason why the sect had suddenly activated the token to summon numerous disciples back: it was to refine a high-tier Demon-Exterminating Formation to strengthen the seal of the Demon God in the valley.

Although helping the sect exterminate the upper-realm True Demon was something he, as a righteous cultivator, was duty-bound to do, regardless of whether he was a "Tai Xu Gate" disciple or not.

It was just that this matter of strengthening the Demon God seal certainly could not be done in a day or two. He did not know how long it would take this time before he would have the opportunity to return to the Floating Yunshan range.

Thinking of this, while Song Qingming was excited, he could not help but sigh slightly.

After "Daoist Lingxu" finished saying these words, he waved his hand and dismissed everyone. Song Qingming also followed everyone and left the great hall.

Not long after walking out of the great hall, Song Qingming immediately stepped forward to stop Liu Yang. After bringing him to a relatively quiet place, he took out a storage bag and handed it to the other party.

"Senior Brother Liu, these are the spirit stones I borrowed from you last time at the Thunder Origin Sea. I originally wanted to come find you after returning, but I was delayed by matters at home. I hope Senior Brother will not mind."

"Junior Brother Song is too polite. These spirit stones are just external objects; why does Junior Brother need to keep them on your mind? I will accept them."

Liu Yang took the spirit stone bag Song Qingming handed over and glanced at it. Seeing that it seemed to have more than what he had borrowed initially, just as he was about to return it, he was stopped by Song Qingming again.

"Senior Brother helped me out in an emergency; this is what I should do. Just consider it as treating Senior Brother to a few more cups of spirit tea; don't be too polite with me anymore.

By the way, Senior Brother Liu, I asked you to come because I have a question; I hope Senior Brother can clear up my confusion."

Hearing that Song Qingming still wanted to inquire about something, Liu Yang smiled slightly:

"Junior Brother Song, are you asking about Senior Sister Li? Senior Sister did come once two months ago, but she didn't stay for a few days before leaving again. She didn't tell me when she would be back next time.

Last time I saw Senior Sister Li, it seemed she had something on her mind. Master also wouldn't let me inquire about her affairs; I don't know if Senior Sister encountered anything at home.

Why don't you ask Master when you have a chance to see him alone in a few days, and tell me by the way!"

"Ah! Senior Sister has been back? Alright, when I have a chance to see Master, I will definitely ask."

Seeing Song Qingming agree, Liu Yang smiled and bowed slightly to Song Qingming.

"That's good. If Junior Brother Song has any news, be sure to inform me. Senior Sister Li has always been so good to me; if she really has any trouble, I should also do my part."

Suddenly hearing Liu Yang mention Senior Sister Li Xuanyi's affairs interrupted Song Qingming's train of thought for a moment.

Song Qingming, who had originally wanted to inquire about the specific time for the sect to set up the Demon-Exterminating Formation, only remembered this matter after Liu Yang left, and could not help but shake his head at himself.

However, after staying in the sect for a few days, just as Liu Yang said, Song Qingming soon received a private summons from his master "Daoist Lingxu," giving him the opportunity to inquire about these matters.

After greeting Senior Brother Liu Yang, who was guarding the entrance, Song Qingming was familiar with the road and soon arrived at the cave dwelling at the mountain peak, where he saw "Daoist Lingxu" burning water with firewood.

"Greetings, Master!"

"Hehe! You've come."

"I was busy dealing with that demon a few days ago and forgot to see you. I only remembered today. The water has just boiled; come over and sit!"

Seeing "Daoist Lingxu," who still had a trace of smoke on his forehead, beckoning to him with a smile, Song Qingming hurriedly stepped forward to his side and sat down at the stone table nearby.

After the two sat down, Song Qingming saw Master "Daoist Lingxu" holding the kettle, but his gaze was fixed tightly on him, and a trace of doubt could not help but appear on his face.

Just as Song Qingming was still quickly thinking about what was wrong with him, "Daoist Lingxu" pointed to the empty teacup beside him and said softly:

"I'm telling you, kid, you came all this way; you wouldn't have come empty-handed, would you!"

"Oh! Master, don't blame me."

Realizing this, Song Qingming hurriedly took out several bags of spirit tea, a specialty of the Floating Yunshan range cultivation world, and respectfully placed them on the table.

Seeing this, "Daoist Lingxu," who had just been stern-faced, finally regained a smile and brewed a large bowl of the spirit tea Song Qingming had taken out.

"Not bad. I haven't drunk this in decades; I still miss this taste. It seems I will have to go over to your side to look around when I have a chance in the future."

After patiently tasting a cup of fragrant spirit tea, "Daoist Lingxu" felt a trace of satisfaction and then turned his gaze to Song Qingming beside him.

"It's been decades, and your cultivation has progressed quite well. Have you thought about how to break through to the Nascent Soul realm in the future?"

"This... Master also knows that my aptitude is too poor.

Back then, disciple was able to form the Jin Dan thanks to the cultivation technique Master taught me, which gave me the opportunity to come here and join the sect.

Now, although my cultivation has reached the ninth layer of Jin Dan, this matter of forming the Nascent Soul seems like a high mountain that is difficult for me to penetrate. I fear it will not be that easy.

Coming to the sect this time, disciple also wanted to take the opportunity to ask Master for some advice."

"Although your talent is not as good as many disciples in the sect, your understanding of cultivation techniques is not inferior to theirs; otherwise, you wouldn't have achieved what you have today.

However, the matter of forming the Nascent Soul is indeed, as you said, far more difficult than forming the Jin Dan. That you can have a sense of this in your heart is not a bad thing; at least you can see yourself more clearly than those in the sect with better talent.

Now that you are an outer sect disciple, hindered by sect rules, I cannot directly support you in forming the Nascent Soul, but I can give you some guidance.

In the Tai Xu Hall, there are still many insights and manuals on forming the Nascent Soul left by sect predecessors. I will tell Liu Yang later; you can go in and take a look when you have time.

I will be in the sect recently; if you have anything you don't understand, you can come here to find me at any time.

If you want to form the Nascent Soul in the sect in the future, if I am not on the mountain, you can also tell Xingyun and the others."

"Disciple thanks Master!"

Hearing "Daoist Lingxu" agree to give advice on forming the Nascent Soul and agree that he could impact the Nascent Soul realm in the "Tai Xu Gate" in the future, Song Qingming was instantly overjoyed and hurriedly stood up to bow and thank him.

"Master, disciple has another question. I wonder how long this matter of setting up the formation to exterminate demons will take?"

"I have planned this matter for many years; I will handle it within a year at most. Rest assured, it won't delay you for long.

However, within this year, you must not leave the sect, so as not to leak this matter and attract those demons outside to cause trouble, which would be troublesome."

"Disciple understands!"

After getting a precise answer from "Daoist Lingxu," Song Qingming's mood suddenly became much lighter. After chatting with him in the cave dwelling for a while, he reluctantly stood up and left.

At this time, in a dense forest on the north side of "Yuxuan Island" at the foot of the mountain, a very quiet forest suddenly sounded with a "rustling" noise.

Before long, a small azure snake, whose color was almost integrated with the surrounding forest, slowly crawled out of the dense forest.

This small azure snake poked out its small head and looked around very cautiously. Seeing that there was no movement around, it suddenly accelerated and rushed out of the dense forest behind it, arriving at the coast not far away.

Afterward, only a "splash" sound was heard on the water surface, and the figure of the small azure snake quickly disappeared from the spot.

(End of chapter)