Chapter 127

Ever since Song Qingming returned the remains of the Carefree Sect cultivator, Xu Ziyan had been making inquiries at the Law Enforcement Hall these past few days and finally learned the full story of the matter.

The owner of the storage bag and jade box was named Mo Rongshan, a cultivator who had joined the Carefree Sect many years ago. Although he was a three-element spiritual root cultivator, his cultivation talent was quite average. He was able to reach Foundation Establishment because he had some backing in the sect; an elder in Mo Rongshan’s clan happened to be a personal disciple of a Carefree Sect Core Formation Elder.

Sixty years after Foundation Establishment, Mo Rongshan had stumbled his way to the fourth level of Foundation Establishment. He was not very outstanding among the hundreds of Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Carefree Sect. Foundation Establishment cultivators like him, who were seen early on to have no chance of Core Formation, were mostly sent by the Carefree Sect to outside markets to help the sect manage its industries.

During the beast chaos two years ago, Mo Rongshan, who was stationed in Gaoyang County, received a mission from the sect to lead a team of Qi Refining cultivators to support the front lines at Guiyun Market. Unexpectedly, not many days after they left Gaoyang County, Mo Rongshan’s soul lamp within the sect suddenly extinguished.

At that time, it was the height of the beast chaos, and all high-tier cultivators of the sect had missions. They could only send a few Foundation Establishment cultivators to search along the route, but they found no traces, assuming they had perished after encountering an attack by high-tier beasts.

Unexpectedly, not long after, news came from Gaoyang County that the patriarch of the Hu family, a Foundation Establishment family within the territory, had absconded with most of the family’s spiritual items and inexplicably abandoned his own clansmen to flee the Wei Kingdom.

The remaining cultivators of the Hu family only discovered more than a month later that their only Foundation Establishment ancestor and many important spiritual items of the family had suddenly gone missing. Because of this, they, being completely in the dark, foolishly invited Carefree Sect cultivators to investigate the matter.

Upon investigation, it was discovered that the Hu family patriarch had followed Mo Rongshan’s group when they left Gaoyang County that day and had gone missing shortly after returning. Only then did the Carefree Sect accidentally uncover the truth: the Hu family patriarch had coveted a spiritual item on Mo Rongshan’s person and had taken the risk to collude with a few rogue cultivators from out of town to attack Mo Rongshan and his group.

Afterward, under the thunderous fury of the Carefree Sect, the Hu family of Gaoyang County was completely struck from the records, and all their cultivators were sent to the Carefree Sect’s mines for long-term servitude. It was just that the Carefree Sect had issued a wanted notice in the surrounding countries for over a year, but they had yet to find the escaped Hu family patriarch and his accomplices.

"Fortunately, after you obtained Senior Brother Mo’s remains, you did not greedily trigger the restrictions on them. I only learned later that the jade box contained a powerful spiritual item of the sect, and it had a formidable restriction set by a Core Formation Elder of the sect. If you didn’t know the operating technique and rashly triggered the restriction, even someone like me might have lost my life on the spot."

"Is it that powerful?"

Hearing Xu Ziyan describe the danger within the jade box, Song Qingming gasped. After obtaining the items, he had indeed felt greedy a few times, but because his cultivation was truly too low, he had no confidence in his own means to break the restrictions, and he couldn't bring them out to ask others for help.

After thinking it over, Song Qingming ultimately decided to return the items to the Carefree Sect, thinking that even if he couldn't get a reward, he could at least become a familiar face to the Carefree Sect, and if he were lucky, he might find a way to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

To be honest, he himself had not expected that this time would actually earn him a chance to exchange for Foundation Establishment. Although gathering eight thousand spirit stones in two years was still somewhat difficult for him now, he still had a Water Spirit Fruit in his hand. If he really couldn't gather enough in two years, he would have to take it out and try his luck.

"I really didn't expect you to get a chance to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill from Senior Uncle Li. If I had had your good luck back then, I wouldn't have had to risk my life to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm." Seeing Song Qingming lost in thought, Xu Ziyan teased him again.

Song Qingming shook his head and smiled bitterly: "If I can't gather that many spirit stones within two years, this is just empty talk. Eight thousand spirit stones—how could that be a simple matter for me?"

Hearing Song Qingming’s words, Xu Ziyan pondered for a moment and said: "Fellow Daoist Song, if you really can't come up with that many spirit stones by then, I can help introduce you to transfer this opportunity to other sect cultivators. You could at least get a few thousand spirit stones, which is better than the Law Enforcement Hall just tossing you two hundred spirit stones to dismiss you."

"Many thanks, Captain. If it truly comes to that, then it is just that my luck has not yet arrived. I will have to trouble you to put in the effort then." After saying this, Song Qingming took a small jade bottle out of his storage bag, handed it to Xu Ziyan, and continued:

"I have been well taken care of by you, Captain, during my time on the mountain. I came in a hurry this time and didn't prepare any good gifts. This elixir was brought by me specifically from Qinghe County. I hope you won't mind, Captain Xu!"

"This is... a Beauty-Returning Pill? It seems a bit off, though; it shouldn't be an ordinary Beauty-Returning Pill." Xu Ziyan glanced at the elixir, set it aside, and asked with a hint of displeasure on her face.

"It is indeed not an ordinary Beauty-Returning Pill. It was refined by a clan sister of mine based on an ancient prescription, and its effects are several times better than a regular Beauty-Returning Pill." Seeing Xu Ziyan’s expression, he thought she wasn't very interested in the Beauty-Returning Pill, so Song Qingming hurriedly explained with some embarrassment.

"It’s fine. Although this kind of elixir is of no use to me, those disciples of mine have been wanting it for a long time. You brought it just in time, so many thanks, Fellow Daoist Song." Xu Ziyan nodded calmly, letting the female disciple beside her, whose eyes were shining, put away the elixir Song Qingming had gifted.

After staying in the cave dwelling for a while longer, Song Qingming bid farewell to Xu Ziyan and returned to Yangshan Market at the foot of Guyang Mountain.

Song Qingming first rented a cave dwelling on the west side of the market for the long term, then sent a letter home. He would be staying here at Guyang Mountain to find a way to earn spirit stones and would not be returning to Funiu Mountain for these two years. In the letter, Song Qingming roughly described the process of returning Mo Rongshan’s remains, so that his clansmen on Funiu Mountain wouldn't worry about him not returning for a long time.

Next, he would begin to devote himself entirely to preparing the spirit stones for the Foundation Establishment Pill.

When he came from Qinghe County, Song Qingming had brought a total of four thousand six hundred spirit stones. He had spent five hundred spirit stones wandering around Yangshan Market earlier, and after renting the cave dwelling, he had exactly four thousand left. To gather enough spirit stones to exchange for the Foundation Establishment Pill, he still needed to obtain at least four thousand more.

Over the next few days, Song Qingming began to frequent Yangshan Market, taking all the spiritual items he could sell to the market to be sold. Even the White Jade Sword and Black Gold Shield that had been with him for many years were exchanged for spirit stones. The three second-tier magic tools he had obtained when exploring the senior’s cave dwelling with Old Daoist Chen were also sold off, allowing him to gather another two thousand-plus spirit stones.