[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-qinghe-song-clan":3,"chapter-the-qinghe-song-clan-the-song-clan-of-qinghe-chapter-16":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Qinghe Song Clan",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1927271,2615,"Chapter 16: Family Recruitment","the-song-clan-of-qinghe-chapter-16",16,"\u003Cp>Spring passed and autumn came; in the blink of an eye, Song Qingming had been at Lingyuan Mountain for two years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Relying on the special function of the incomplete map, Song Qingming's talisman-making ability improved rapidly. Now, his success rate had reached fifty to sixty percent. By selling spirit talismans, he had saved over a hundred spirit stones and had long since repaid the spirit stones he had borrowed from Thirteenth Uncle and the others.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With spirit stones, Song Qingming naturally had to start upgrading his gear and arming himself. He not only exchanged for some mid-grade talismans at the family's Gold Treasury Pavilion but also hunted for a mid-grade defensive magic tool at Caolu Mountain. He was no longer the embarrassed, poor boy he had been two years ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Yuyao did not visit Caolu Mountain often; sometimes she would only come once every few months. Fortunately, the few elixir transactions between them went very smoothly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Relying on the pills exchanged from Gao Yuyao, Song Qingming's cultivation had now reached the peak of the fourth layer of Qi Refining. It wouldn't be long before he was confident in breaking through to the fifth layer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Over the past two years, a major event had occurred in Qinghe County: the head of the Qian family, Qian Guangyao, had successfully reached Foundation Establishment half a year ago, becoming the sixth Foundation Establishment cultivator in Qinghe County. The Qian family had thus risen to the clouds overnight, promoted to a Foundation Establishment family.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a cultivator reaches Foundation Establishment, their lifespan increases significantly. A Qi Refining cultivator's lifespan is normally only two sixty-year cycles, but after breaking through to Foundation Establishment, it increases to about 250 years. With Qian Guangyao's breakthrough, the Qian family would have at least two hundred years of glorious days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qinghe County originally had only three Foundation Establishment families. Now that Qian Guangyao had succeeded, the Qian family had successfully grown into the fourth Foundation Establishment family in Qinghe County, gaining the opportunity to offer tribute directly to the Xiaoyao Sect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Other Qi Refining families, large and small, like the Song family, were ostensibly vassal families to these four major Foundation Establishment families, needing to hand over large amounts of spirit rice every year in exchange for their protection. The Song family, where Song Qingming was located, was a vassal Qi Refining family under the Huang family, a Foundation Establishment family.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among these four major Foundation Establishment families, the Huang family was the strongest, with a total of three Foundation Establishment cultivators. The clan leader, Huang Shengxin, was at the seventh layer of Foundation Establishment and was the only late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator in the entire Qinghe County. The Huang family was also an old-established Foundation Establishment family in Qinghe County, having never lacked Foundation Establishment cultivators in the clan for nearly a thousand years. They could be considered the undisputed overlords of Qinghe County.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Gao family's strength was originally similar to the Huang family's, but more than twenty years ago, their previous clan leader, who was at the late stage of Foundation Establishment, was invited by someone to explore an ancient cultivator's cave and accidentally perished outside, causing the Gao family's strength to suffer greatly. Now, there was only one mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator left in the clan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Lu family and the newly established Qian family were in similar situations, both having been promoted to Foundation Establishment families only in the last few decades. In terms of family heritage, they lagged far behind the Huang and Gao families.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The four major Foundation Establishment families had a total of six Foundation Establishment cultivators. Adding the one Foundation Establishment cultivator sent by the Xiaoyao Sect to manage Qinghe Market, there were seven Foundation Establishment cultivators residing in Qinghe County.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing that Qian Guangyao had successfully reached Foundation Establishment, Song Qingming felt a tremor in his heart. Becoming a Foundation Establishment cultivator not only granted the ability to fly and traverse the earth but also doubled one's lifespan. This was something countless cultivators dreamed of, and naturally, that included him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Song family had also added one cultivator in the past two years: Song Qingwen, eleventh in the 'Qing' generation, a five-element spiritual root talent from a small village under Mujiao Town.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Adding two cultivators in two years was a series of happy events for the Song family. The Fourth Elder, who managed the family's affairs, specifically issued some supplies to allow the two villages to celebrate grandly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For this reason, the Lingyuan Mountain mine had also stopped work for two days, and hundreds of miners living there took turns celebrating around Xiao Yu's parents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Song Qingyu's family was now like Song Qingming's family had been back then—one person attains the Dao, and their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven. Xiao Yu's father had become a foreman at the mine last year, responsible for managing dozens of miners, no longer needing to go down into the mine himself. The family had long since moved into a large mansion bestowed by the clan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One morning, Song Qingming, who was in seclusion, suddenly received a message from the Second Elder of the clan, telling him to return to Mount Funiu today.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Song Qingming dared not delay. After greeting Ninth Uncle Song Changxin, he returned to Mount Funiu alone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not long after going up the mountain, he happened to run into Thirteenth Uncle Song Changxiong, who was also heading to the family council hall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Qingming, why are you back? Are you going to the council hall too?\" Song Changxiong asked, somewhat surprised to see Song Qingming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The Second Elder summoned me back to the mountain. I don't know what for yet,\" Song Qingming answered truthfully.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Sixth Brother summoned you back? Could it be that you are included in this mission?\" Song Changxiong looked curious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Mission? This nephew doesn't know. The Second Elder didn't say in his letter. Does Thirteenth Uncle know what mission it is?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Oh, the Clan Leader accepted an employment mission from the Liu family yesterday. Maybe you'll have to participate, or maybe Sixth Brother has other arrangements for you. You'll know when you get to the council hall.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Song Qingming's confusion, Song Changxiong didn't say anything more, only urging him to head to the council hall together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the summit of Mount Funiu, inside the Song family's council hall, a dozen Song family cultivators, including Song Qingming, were lined up, discussing the employment mission from the Liu family. Besides Song Qingming, another member of the 'Qing' generation was among them: Third Brother Song Qingze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he came to Mount Funiu half a year ago, Third Brother was only at the fifth layer of Qi Refining. Unexpectedly, after half a year of not seeing him, he had already broken through to the sixth layer. He was truly worthy of being the most talented cultivator of the Song family's next generation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like the Clan Leader, Song Qingze cultivated the family's only Foundation Establishment technique, the \"Red Flame Art.\" Foundation Establishment techniques are much more powerful than the common Qi Refining techniques they practiced. Now, Song Qingze's combat skills were not at all inferior to the 'Chang' generation elders present. His appearance here did not surprise Song Qingming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was just that Song Qingze was somewhat surprised to see Song Qingming here and greeted him with some confusion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clan Leader Song Gushan, standing in front of the crowd, saw that everyone had arrived, waved his hand to calm the discussion, looked at the people in the hall, and loudly stated the purpose of summoning everyone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It turned out that another Qi Refining immortal clan in Qinghe County, the Liu family of Mount Jingyuan, had posted an employment mission at Qinghe Market a few days ago, secretly inviting several nearby Qi Refining families to go to the Fuyun Mountain Range together to hunt a second-tier low-grade demon beast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like the Song family, the Liu family were vassals under the Huang family. They were a relatively old-established immortal cultivation family in Qinghe County, having been passed down for nearly four hundred years. There were more than forty cultivators in the clan, and their foundation was much stronger than that of the Song family, which had only been passed down for two hundred years. It was precisely because of this that they had the confidence to target a second-tier demon beast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Demon beast levels are divided the same way as human cultivator realms. A second-tier low-grade demon beast is already equivalent to a human Foundation Establishment early-stage cultivator, but demon beasts are clearly slower to open their intelligence compared to humans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First-tier demon beasts basically rely on instinct to fight. Second-tier demon beasts are equivalent to the intelligence of a ten-year-old human child and are often easily suppressed by various techniques, traps, and arrays when fighting human cultivators. Qi Refining cultivators can also rely on numbers to activate second-tier arrays to defeat second-tier demon beasts that are at the Foundation Establishment level.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Conversely, third-tier demon beasts at the Core Formation stage have fully opened their intelligence, can speak human language, and have intelligence basically no different from ordinary people. They will not be easily trapped by low-level human cultivators using arrays, and relying on their own powerful bodies, they have an advantage when fighting human cultivators of the same level.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hiring cultivators from nearby Qi Refining families to hunt demon beasts together is a relatively rare employment mission, but it is not strange. For the employer, compared to rogue cultivators drifting everywhere, family cultivators with homes and businesses are definitely more trustworthy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many Qi Refining immortal clans and forces in Qinghe County have issued such missions. It was just that because the Liu family offered a high price for this mission, the Clan Leader and several elders discussed it and decided to accept it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Originally, such a high-difficulty mission carried high risks, and Song Qingming's cultivation was not high, so the family shouldn't have let him participate. It was only because the Liu family required at least three array masters to participate in this mission, and the Song family only had a few, that they summoned the fourth-layer Qi Refining Song Qingming to make up the numbers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the council hall, after some discussion, the final candidates for the mission were quickly decided. The Clan Leader would stay behind to guard Mount Funiu, and the Great Elder and Second Elder would lead the team to participate in the mission.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In addition to Great Elder Song Gubai and Second Elder Song Changfeng, there were four 'Chang' generation cultivators including Thirteenth Uncle Song Changxiong, as well as Song Qingze and Song Qingming of the 'Qing' generation. Half of the Song family's elite were dispatched for this mission, which could be considered the largest action the Song family had taken in the last decade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Half a day later, the group of eight from the Song family, led by Great Elder Song Gushan, quietly left Mount Funiu and headed west toward Qinghe Market.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 17 =====\u003C\u002Fp>",1842,"2026-06-14T03:09:34.521Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","49e4c0853e23bf747624283419fe7fac76982caf22a2a9d9cb7568c1b0b6cb08","the-song-clan-of-qinghe-chapter-17","the-song-clan-of-qinghe-chapter-15",846,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-qinghe-song-clan-cover.jpg"]