Chapter 17: The Liu Family's Employment

In a dense forest dozens of miles west of Qinghe Market, more than twenty cultivators gathered. The leader was an elderly cultivator in his nineties, wearing a black and white Daoist robe, his face full of the vicissitudes of life, his eyebrows and beard already snow-white.

This old man was the current clan leader of the Liu family of Mount Jingyuan in Qinghe County, Liu Tianlong, a cultivator at the peak of the ninth layer of Qi Refining. In his early years, he was also a famous genius cultivator in Qinghe County, having reached the ninth layer of Qi Refining before the age of fifty. It was a pity that when he reached the ninth layer, the family had already begun to decline, and he failed to reach Foundation Establishment.

The age before sixty, when a Qi Refining cultivator's vitality and blood decline, is the best age for Foundation Establishment. After eighty, one basically loses hope for Foundation Establishment. At Liu Tianlong's age, unless one has heaven-defying luck, there is no chance of succeeding.

For an old-established cultivator like Liu Tianlong who has been at the late stage of Qi Refining for many years, his combat ability is unquestionable. In Qinghe County, besides those few Foundation Establishment cultivators, these people are the absolute top combat power.

As long as he doesn't suffer any major injuries, Liu Tianlong can maintain his peak combat power for at least another dozen years. After a Qi Refining cultivator reaches 110, their body will gradually decline, losing the ability to absorb spiritual energy. At that time, they cannot act at will. If they force themselves to act and consume too much spiritual energy, they will at best lose their original cultivation realm, and at worst, it will affect their final ten years of life, causing them to pass away prematurely.

"Clan Leader, news from the Song family, they have arrived," a middle-aged man beside Liu Tianlong was reporting the news he had just received.

Liu Tianlong stroked his beard and said in a deep voice: "Notify the Wu family and Du family cultivators, prepare to set off."

The Liu family also had a Foundation Establishment cultivator in their ancestors and was a Foundation Establishment family in Qinghe County a hundred years ago. It was just that the Liu family was unlucky; during the demon beast chaos a hundred years ago, they lost the only Foundation Establishment cultivator in the clan.

After the war, although the Xiaoyao Sect compensated them with a Foundation Establishment Pill, unfortunately, the person the Liu family chose to reach Foundation Establishment failed. The Liu family thus fell to a Qi Refining family, having to give up part of their family industry in exchange for the protection of other Foundation Establishment families, becoming a vassal family of the Huang family to this day.

This trip to the Fuyun Mountain Range had been planned by the Liu family for many years. As long as it went smoothly, they could get an opportunity to go to the Xiaoyao Sect to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill. As long as someone in the Liu family succeeded in Foundation Establishment, they would restore the glory of the Foundation Establishment family in his hands, and everything in the family would change! Thinking of this, Liu Tianlong's heart was also very excited.

Following the two elders, flying for hundreds of miles in one breath to the west, the group of eight from the Song family arrived in this dense forest. At this time, dozens of cultivators had already gathered in the forest, and there were seven or eight late-stage Qi Refining cultivators. Unexpectedly, the Liu family attached such importance to this trip to the Fuyun Mountain Range.

After Second Elder Song Changfeng and Liu Tianlong met and greeted each other, he led the Song family members to join the team of cultivators led by the Liu family. After everyone gathered, they left Qinghe County and headed north.

This time, the Liu family invited three nearby families to participate. Besides the Song family, there were the Wu family of Mount Longtan and the Du family of Baoshi Peak. The Wu family's strength was similar to the Song family's, and the leader was the Wu clan leader, Wu Xiyun. The Du family's strength was slightly stronger, with more than thirty cultivators in the clan. The team leader this time was the Du family's Second Elder, Du Shaokang.

Adjacent to the north of Qinghe County is Pingyang County, which is the largest county among the four counties of Jiangling Prefecture. There are seven Foundation Establishment families in the county alone, and the territory and number of cultivators controlled are more than twice that of Qinghe County. A hundred miles north of Pingyang County is the Fuyun Mountain Range, which stretches for thousands of miles.

Demon beasts run rampant in the Fuyun Mountain Range, which is not suitable for ordinary commoners to live in, but it is a gathering place for many rogue cultivators in the Wei Kingdom. Many rogue cultivators from the four counties of Jiangling Prefecture like to come to the Fuyun Mountain Range to hunt demon beasts.

There are also many Foundation Establishment rogue cultivators who occupy spirit veins here to open up caves. The Wulong River north of Pingyang County is also the boundary between humans and the northern demon beast forces.

The vast Fuyun Mountain Range attracts many cultivators to hunt demon beasts every year, and at the same time, it is also a buffer zone whenever the northern demon beasts riot.

Therefore, the Xiaoyao Sect also attaches great importance to this place, not only establishing several markets near the Fuyun Mountain Range to collect various resources and earn spirit stones from rogue cultivators, but also sending Core Formation elders from the sect to guard this place all year round.

After traveling north for several days, everyone entered the territory of Pingyang County, and after another ten days, they crossed Pingyang County and entered the Fuyun Mountain Range.

This was also Song Qingming's first time leaving Qinghe County to perform a mission. The cultivators he saw along the way, whether they were traveling in groups like them or acting alone in twos or threes, all had the same destination: the Fuyun Mountain Range, which was full of crises and opportunities.

When Song Qingming was at Lingyuan Mountain, he often heard Ninth Uncle Song Changxin talk about the various strange things he encountered when he was cultivating in Ziyu Mountain in the Fuyun Mountain Range, and he was also very curious about this place. It was just that since he set off with everyone this time, they had been rushing on the road, and he had no chance to pay attention to the various scenery along the way.

Half a month after entering the Fuyun Mountain Range, everyone arrived in a dense forest in a mountain bay. Liu Tianlong announced that everyone would rest in place for one night. The target of this hunt was in a pool not far ahead, a second-tier low-grade Silver-Armored Crab demon.

According to the Liu family cultivators, this Silver-Armored Crab had only advanced to a second-tier demon beast for a few decades, and its magical powers were not difficult to deal with.

After a long journey, it was rare for everyone to rest for a night. At night, everyone lit bonfires and formed several circles, laughing and talking, and it didn't calm down until midnight.

Early the next morning, led by the Liu family, everyone came to the side of a pool. This pool was only a few dozen zhang in circumference. Near the center, a huge black reef protruded above the water, and several low-tier demon beasts were lying on it, leisurely basking in the rising sun.

Under the command of several Liu family elders, everyone began to set up the "Gold Net Demon-Binding Array" in a grassy area by the pool. This second-tier low-grade array was purchased by the Liu family from the Jiangling Prefecture market many years ago. As long as sixteen Qi Refining cultivators activate it together, they can trap an ordinary second-tier low-grade demon beast in a short time. This was also the biggest confidence the Liu family had in targeting a second-tier demon beast on this trip.

Second-tier arrays are relatively complex. The Liu family was also very well prepared for this operation. The Liu family alone sent two high-grade array masters, plus two high-grade array masters from the Wu and Song families. The four of them led more than a dozen low- and mid-tier array masters, including Song Qingming, and it took nearly an hour to set up this second-tier grand array.

This was also the first time Song Qingming participated in setting up a second-tier array. Originally, his array level as a low-grade array master was only at the introductory level. This time, following the four high-grade array masters to jointly set up the array, he benefited a lot.

Although he was only helping out in this array-setting operation, it gave him a lot of insights into the Dao of arrays at this moment and inspired a lot of inspiration.

There were more than forty cultivators participating in this mission, including nine late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, and the others were all mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators. And there was not only this second-tier Silver-Armored Crab demon in the pool, but also many first-tier demon beasts.

According to the Liu family's on-site allocation, a part of the array masters brought were responsible for activating the array at any time, and other cultivators, led by several late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, first strangled the first-tier demon beasts in the pool.

Before the war, everyone must try their best to kill the first-tier demon beasts, otherwise, when the second-tier demon beast comes out, too many first-tier demon beasts will hold back the array, and it will be difficult to fully trap the second-tier demon beast when the array is deployed.

"Qingming and Changyun, stay behind to cooperate with us to activate the array, others follow Changfeng to act." Great Elder Song Gubai saw that the Liu family cultivators had begun to organize manpower to attack the pool and quickly made proper arrangements.

Twelfth Aunt Song Changyun, like Song Qingming, was also a low-grade array master. Although she had sixth-layer Qi Refining cultivation, she practiced wood-attribute techniques, her combat skills were average, and she rarely participated in such dangerous missions.

Great Elder Song Gubai was the only high-grade array master in the family, so naturally, he had to stay behind to help activate the array.

The other five had relatively rich experience in hunting demon beasts and fighting enemies. Under the leadership of Song Changfeng, they quickly gathered by the pool.

"Kill!" Under Liu Tianlong's order, everyone quickly killed toward the pool.

A black-clothed cultivator took the lead in attacking a low-tier fish demon resting by the pool. This person was an old-established late-stage Qi Refining cultivator from the Du family, whose cultivation had reached the peak of the seventh layer of Qi Refining.

I saw him take a few quick steps, carefully touching behind the fish demon with squinting eyes, catching it off guard, and quickly sacrificed a black ring magic tool in his hand, putting it toward the fish demon's neck.

The black ring suddenly became several times larger in the air and instantly got stuck on the fish demon's neck. The fish demon felt the abnormality on its neck and was about to get up, but in the next moment, it suddenly stopped moving. A burst of blood rain drifted out, and the huge fish head fell off its neck.

After watching this, Song Qingming was shocked. What a powerful method.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 18 =====