Chapter 109: Incident

The Jinshan Market in the northern part of Pingyang County is much like the Qinghe Market in Qinghe County; it is a market jointly established by the seven Foundation Establishment families of Pingyang County and the upper-level Profound Heaven Sect.

Over a decade ago, when Song Qingming was still stationed at Lingyuan Mountain, he was assigned by the family to participate in a mercenary mission for the Liu family. He had passed by this place while heading toward the Floating Cloud Mountain Range, but since their destination was the mountain range at the time, they did not enter the Jinshan Market.

The area controlled by Pingyang County is slightly larger than that of Qinghe County to the south. Its geographical location is closer to the Floating Cloud Mountain Range, and its cultivation resources are far richer than those of Qinghe County. Consequently, there are more cultivators active within their borders—more than double those in Qinghe County. Even though some cultivators left temporarily due to the impending beast unrest, the number of cultivators here is still far greater than in Qinghe County.

The entire Pingyang County is controlled by seven Foundation Establishment families led by the Cao family, totaling sixteen Foundation Establishment cultivators. At this moment, due to the beast attack, most of the cultivators in Pingyang County have gathered at the Jinshan Market. In addition, there are some cultivators sent by the Profound Heaven Sect assisting in the defense of the Jinshan Market line, including three Foundation Establishment cultivators and over a hundred Qi Refining cultivators.

In every past beast unrest in the northern border, the first to bear the brunt was always the Guiyun Market, which is closer to the Floating Cloud Mountain Range. With its flat terrain, it is the largest battlefield of the entire beast unrest, and seventy percent of the beasts heading south to the Wei Kingdom go in that direction.

Although smaller markets like Jinshan Market also suffer from the impact of some beasts that bypass Guiyun Market, they are generally low-intelligence Level 1 or Level 2 beasts. In the last few hundred years, they have not encountered any beasts above Level 3. Therefore, the Profound Heaven Sect is not very concerned about the defense here and has left it entirely to the cultivators of the various counties under Jiangling Commandery nearby.

The entire Wei Kingdom is divided into five commanderies. Among them, Jiangling Commandery is located in the northeast, including four counties: Qinghe, Pingyang, Liuyang, and Jiangling, with a total of several thousand cultivators.

Among the four counties, Pingyang County has the strongest overall strength, with seven Foundation Establishment families and sixteen Foundation Establishment cultivators. Jiangling County is second, with five major Foundation Establishment families and nine Foundation Establishment cultivators. The remaining Qinghe County and Liuyang County have similar strength, with only five or six Foundation Establishment cultivators combined within their borders.

Jinshan Market is not only the barrier for Pingyang County but also the first line of defense for the entire Jiangling Commandery and the main battlefield for their defense against this beast unrest. Upon receiving the order from the Profound Heaven Sect, the Foundation Establishment families of the other three counties in Jiangling Commandery have already organized cultivators to rush to Jinshan Market for support.

The three hundred or so cultivators from Qinghe County, led by several Foundation Establishment cultivators, traveled north for several days and have already entered the territory of Pingyang County.

The Gao family and the Huang family in Qinghe County often have friction over various cultivation resources, and the cultivators and affiliated Qi Refining families under them also have poor relations. When the two families first converged, Song Qingming saw several cultivators from the Gao family glaring at the Huang family with red eyes.

However, now that they are facing the major issue of resisting the beast invasion, both the Huang and Gao families tacitly issued strict orders to their subordinates early on: no one is allowed to stir up trouble during the beast unrest. For the past few days on the road, the cultivators of the two families have appeared quite harmonious on the surface.

Although the Gao family only has one Foundation Establishment cultivator, Gao Jinhe, they have some good connections within the Profound Heaven Sect. Over the years, although they have been suppressed by the Huang family in Qinghe County, they have remained firmly in the position of the second-largest cultivation family in Qinghe County.

Song Qingming has some history with the Gao family. Gao Yuyao, who once exchanged elixirs with him, is a direct descendant of the Gao family and occasionally returns to the Gao family in Qinghe County. Song Qingming saw Gao Yuyao once in Qinghe Market a few years ago.

It was just that Gao Yuyao was accompanied by several Gao family cultivators at the time, and for fear of causing unnecessary trouble, he only greeted her from afar and did not get to meet her.

Later, Song Qingming also inquired about Gao Yuyao in the market and only learned that she had returned to the Profound Heaven Sect to undergo closed-door cultivation to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm. He did not know if she had succeeded.

When Song Qingming first dealt with Gao Yuyao at Mount Pinglu, the elixirs Gao Yuyao traded with him saved him a lot of trouble. Although they were just taking what they needed from each other, Song Qingming had always had a good impression of her.

It was not until he met her again in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range later that Song Qingming realized the gap in their status. At Gao Yuyao's suggestion, the two became friends, and there was no further interaction afterward.

Less than a day after the group entered Pingyang County, they discovered something strange: they saw many cultivators fleeing toward the rear in Qinghe County along the way.

After a Huang family cultivator received an order and intercepted an elderly rogue cultivator to inquire, the group learned a shocking piece of news: the Jinshan Market, which was their destination for support, had been breached by beasts a day ago.

Upon hearing this news, the Qinghe County cultivators suddenly fell into a panic, afraid to move forward, and many suggested returning to Qinghe County immediately.

Finally, forced by the situation, the two Foundation Establishment cultivators, Huang Shengxin and Gao Jinhe, set out personally, heading in two different directions to the nearby Foundation Establishment families of Pingyang County to inquire, only then learning the specific situation in Pingyang County.

Yesterday, just as the cultivators from Qinghe County reached the border with Pingyang County, a major event unexpectedly occurred at Jinshan Market. The three Foundation Establishment cultivators guarding Jinshan Market, because they went out to chase a Foundation Establishment beast, were trapped along with a dozen Qi Refining cultivators in a valley a hundred miles outside Jinshan Market.

Since the start of this beast unrest over ten days ago, the beasts that had come to attack Jinshan Market for the past four or five days had only been weak Level 1 beasts, and the scale of the beasts was not large, with only a few dozen at a time, at most no more than a hundred.

In contrast, Jinshan Market, their opponent, had seven or eight hundred Qi Refining cultivators alone, including over a dozen Foundation Establishment cultivators. Without even needing the Foundation Establishment cultivators to take action, the Jinshan Market cultivators easily repelled four or five beast attacks and obtained many beast materials. This slowly led the Pingyang County cultivators guarding the place to become contemptuous, feeling that this beast unrest was not as terrifying as rumored.

Unexpectedly, this morning, a Level 2 low-grade One-Eyed Eagle unexpectedly mixed in with the dozens of Level 1 beasts attacking the market. The several Foundation Establishment cultivators on duty took action and easily defeated this beast. Just as they were about to kill it, they did not expect that although this One-Eyed Eagle was not strong, it was born with extremely fast escape speed and managed to escape by luck.

Seeing the duck that had just reached their mouths about to fly away, the three people led by Zhao Mengzhen in Jinshan Market were naturally displeased. After consulting with each other, they took the Qi Refining cultivators below and chased after it.

Unexpectedly, just as they chased to a place called Huangling Valley a hundred miles away, several Level 2 beasts suddenly appeared behind them, blocking their return path to Jinshan Market. Only a few Qi Refining cultivators running at the back were not entangled by the beasts and managed to escape back to Jinshan Market to report the news.

Upon learning this news, the dozen or so Foundation Establishment cultivators guarding Jinshan Market discussed it and immediately mobilized the cultivator army to go to the rescue.

It was just that they did not expect that just as the main force of their defense arrived at Huangling Valley and rescued the trapped Zhao Mengzhen and others, a highly urgent sound transmission suddenly came from Jinshan Market, stating that the market had suddenly encountered a large-scale beast attack and urging them to return to defend.

By the time they returned to the outside of Jinshan Market, they discovered that the market's grand formation had already been breached by the beasts. Except for a small number of cultivators who escaped, the several Foundation Establishment cultivators and two hundred Qi Refining cultivators who remained to defend the market were almost completely wiped out.