Chapter 139

Half a year later, inside Xu Ziyan’s cave dwelling on Guyang Mountain, Song Qingming held a jade box in both hands. Inside the box was a purple spiritual medicine emitting brilliant spiritual light, which was precisely the spiritual item he wanted to offer to Xu Ziyan.

After he rashly offered a Beauty-Returning Pill last time and failed to move Xu Ziyan, Song Qingming specifically made some preparations in this regard before coming to see her this time, carefully selecting a second-tier spiritual medicine that was quite attractive to Foundation Establishment cultivators in Yulou Pavilion.

After all, friendship was friendship. He went to see a Foundation Establishment cultivator with accomplished cultivation time and again without bringing some good gifts to thank her, and he himself felt it was not very stable. In the immortal cultivation world, the vast majority of high-tier cultivators put interests first.

"Disturbing Captain Xu’s quiet cultivation again, Song is truly somewhat wrong. I hope the Captain can be magnanimous. This is a second-tier spiritual medicine I accidentally obtained in Yangshan Market some time ago. Today, I specifically came to offer it to thank you, Captain, for your help to me last time."

Xu Ziyan nodded and said with a smile: "This spiritual medicine looks like it should be three or four hundred years old. It really made Fellow Daoist Song spend a lot."

It was indeed spending a lot. Just this one spiritual medicine cost him two hundred spirit stones, and this was because Yulou Pavilion had some friendship with him and didn't earn too much from him. Song Qingming, who sent out this spiritual medicine, although feeling somewhat painful in his heart, still pretended not to care too much on the surface.

Seeing that Song Qingming was humble and polite every time he saw her now, Xu Ziyan also felt that the distance between the two of them was truly much further than when they were in Guiyun Market back then.

"Counting the days, the time you agreed with Senior Uncle Li is almost up. If Fellow Daoist Song doesn't come to find me, I might have to send someone down the mountain to look for you in a few days." After putting away the spiritual medicine, Xu Ziyan raised her head and slowly reminded Song Qingming again.

Half a year ago, after obtaining a Foundation Establishment Pill from the Heavenly Elixir Alliance, Song Qingming pondered for a while and ultimately chose not to immediately go into closed-door cultivation for Foundation Establishment.

The barrier from the ninth level of Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment did not have requirements for the level of magic power. Although the magic power in Song Qingming’s body was not as thick as that of his third brother, Song Qingze, it was also possible to establish a foundation at any time. It’s just that cultivators with very thick magic power like Song Qingming, who had reached the peak of the ninth level of Qi Refining, would have more sufficient magic power in their bodies, which would give them a slight advantage in magic power allocation when impacting the Foundation Establishment bottleneck.

In Song Qingming’s original plan, he would have to wait at least another year before he could exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill from the Carefree Sect, and then he would have a chance for Foundation Establishment. At that time, he estimated that he would not be too far from the peak of the ninth level of Qi Refining. Now that he had obtained a Foundation Establishment Pill in advance, it made him somewhat embarrassed again.

He didn't pay much attention to the slight influence of the magic power in his body. It was mainly because the time for a cultivator to establish a foundation was not very fixed. Except for a very small number of people with outstanding cultivation talent, most people’s Foundation Establishment took about half a year, but some people’s time needed would be longer, with some taking a year or two before successfully leaving closed-door cultivation. Song Qingming knew that his spiritual root aptitude was very poor, so he estimated that he would find it difficult to leave closed-door cultivation in half a year.

There was less than a year left before going to the Carefree Sect to exchange for the Foundation Establishment Pill. If he chose to go into closed-door cultivation now, in case he missed this time and failed to successfully break through to Foundation Establishment, this would be somewhat not worth the loss for him.

After thinking it over, for the sake of stability, Song Qingming still decided to temporarily not go into closed-door cultivation for Foundation Establishment, and wait until he successfully exchanged for the second Foundation Establishment Pill before going into closed-door cultivation.

After taking a trip to the Heavenly Elixir Alliance auction and spending several hundred spirit stones, the spirit stones he originally used to exchange for the Foundation Establishment Pill were also somewhat short, and he didn't have extra spirit stones to purchase other elixirs needed for cultivation. It just so happened that he could take advantage of this period of time to earn the spirit stones he needed first. After all, he still had to take a trip to the Carefree Sect, and maybe there were other needs. Having more spirit stones on him was always more stable.

Just like this, he spent over half a year, and Song Qingming not only successfully raised the magic power in his body to the peak of the ninth level of Qi Refining, but also saved several hundred more spirit stones. Only then did he bring a thick gift to find Xu Ziyan.

"Many thanks for your concern, Captain Xu. During this period of time, I have been running around in the market, and it was only a few days ago that I prepared the spirit stones."

"I was worried that you wouldn't be able to gather so many spirit stones. I didn't expect Fellow Daoist Song to be so wealthy. This time, you truly made me misjudge." Hearing Song Qingming say that he had gathered the eight thousand spirit stones to exchange for the Foundation Establishment Pill, a trace of surprise also flashed rapidly in Xu Ziyan’s eyes.

Song Qingming waved his hand and said: "Captain Xu is joking. When I obtained the opportunity to exchange for the Foundation Establishment Pill from Old Ancestor Li back then, the spirit stones on me were indeed not enough, and I didn't hold much hope for this matter at the beginning.

Later, the reason I could successfully gather the spirit stones to exchange for the Foundation Establishment Pill was also because the elders in the family knew about this matter and fully subsidized a sum of spirit stones, which solved my urgent needs. It is indeed not that I intentionally wanted to deceive Captain Xu."

"Look at me, I almost forgot that Fellow Daoist Song is a family cultivator. You still have a family to help when establishing a foundation, which is indeed much better than us. Junior Sister Gao was also like this when she established her foundation some years ago.

Unlike me when I established my foundation back then, only my master could help speak a few words. But she had many disciples and couldn't let all the resources be given to me alone. Ultimately, I could only risk my life to break through to achieve the Dao." After Xu Ziyan finished speaking, she sighed, and there was a hint of envy in her tone for the help of the family in the cultivation path of Gao Yuyao and Song Qingming.

It’s just that she didn't know that the reason Song Qingming could gather enough spirit stones to exchange for the Foundation Establishment Pill actually didn't have that much to do with the Song family. If it were another cultivator from a similar Qi Refining family, even if they obtained this opportunity to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill, it was estimated that even if they sold themselves, they couldn't gather eight thousand spirit stones in a short time.

After the two chatted in the cave dwelling for a while, Xu Ziyan used her flying sword to spend half an hour to bring Song Qingming to the Carefree Sect Law Enforcement Hall again.

"This is Song Qingming, a cultivator from Qinghe County, here to receive the sect reward. Go in and report it, and help me see if Senior Uncle Li is there."

"Okay! Please wait a moment, Senior Aunt Xu." The ones guarding the door were still a few Qi Refining disciples. After hearing Xu Ziyan’s intention, they bowed to her and immediately walked quickly into the Law Enforcement Hall.

"You can rest assured. Senior Uncle Li has always acted impartially in the sect. Things he promised you, generally no one will dare to make things difficult for you." After reporting to the guard cultivator at the door, Xu Ziyan turned her head and saw that Song Qingming was still somewhat nervous when he arrived here, so she hurriedly comforted him.

Song Qingming nodded and hurriedly calmed his mind. The reason he was somewhat afraid was not because he was afraid of other Carefree Sect cultivators, but just thinking that he had to face an old monster at the Core Formation level again, he was truly somewhat involuntarily nervous.

Core Formation cultivators were basically old foxes who had practiced for hundreds of years. In front of these people, even if Song Qingming tried his best to stay calm, it was a very difficult thing. He always felt that any look from these high-tier cultivators could see through his heart.