Chapter 174: Herb Gathering

Huang family, Taiyuan Mountain.

This was the best spirit vein in the entire Qinghe County. After a thousand years of management by the Huang family, the area within dozens of miles around this mountain was now densely populated, a scene of peace and prosperity, already like a human paradise.

On this day, a cyan sword light suddenly came from the east. The mortals at the foot of the mountain, seeing this scene, thought it was the immortals from their own mountain and stopped what they were doing, kneeling on the ground to worship devoutly.

"It is truly worthy of being the ancestral land managed by the Huang family for a thousand years. The number of mortals here is already enough to rival Qinghe Market." Looking at the endless villages and towns below, Song Qingming, stepping on his flying sword, could not help but sigh.

The dozen or so small towns at the foot of Taiyuan Mountain were home to nearly 300,000 mortals. These people were almost all of the Huang family's bloodline, and every year they could send two or three children with spirit roots to the Huang family. Compared to a Foundation Establishment family like the Song family that had just risen, the thousand-year foundation of Taiyuan Mountain was something they could hardly compare to in a short time.

Just after coming out of closed-door cultivation, the Sixth Uncle Song Changfeng handed him a letter from the Huang family. Only then did Song Qingming know that the Huang family had already made an appointment for him to meet at Taiyuan Mountain five days ago. After briefly explaining a few things to Song Changfeng, he hurried over here.

Led by the Huang family cultivators at the foot of the mountain, Song Qingming soon arrived at the top of Taiyuan Mountain. The several Huang family cultivators who had been waiting for a long time saw Song Qingming and hurriedly came up to meet him.

Song Qingming stepped forward and cupped his hands, saying: "I have been in closed-door cultivation for the past few days and did not see the letter in time, making you fellow Daoists wait for a long time. I am truly ashamed, and I hope you will forgive me!"

"No matter, no matter! I didn't expect that in just half a year, Fellow Daoist Song's cultivation has improved again. This is truly something to be happy about."

Huang Shengyue, with a smile on her face, stepped forward to greet Song Qingming, and then pointed to an old man beside her and introduced: "Fellow Daoist Song, this is my Nineteenth Uncle. He joined the Xiaoyao Sect in his early years, and this time he also came back specifically to help."

Upon hearing this, Song Qingming hurriedly stepped forward to greet the old man, only to unexpectedly discover that this old man, who looked extremely ordinary, was actually a Foundation Establishment late-stage cultivator with profound cultivation, just like Huang Shengxin, which made him have some new understanding of the Huang family's strength.

The old man's name was Huang Chengding. In the Huang family genealogy, he was of the same generation as Huang Chengliang, and he had been in the Foundation Establishment realm for over a hundred years.

Huang Chengding joined the Xiaoyao Sect when he was a teenager and rarely returned to Qinghe County, so much so that Song Qingming, a native cultivator of Qinghe County, had never heard that the Huang family had such a powerful Foundation Establishment expert in the Xiaoyao Sect.

Since everyone had arrived, Huang Shengxin, the Huang family head, coughed lightly, then quickly took out a silver flying boat from his body, loaded everyone on it, and set off directly to the north.

A flying boat is a type of flying magic treasure that can carry multiple cultivators and requires cultivators at or above the Foundation Establishment stage to control. A Level 2 flying boat like the one Huang Shengxin used could generally only carry about ten people. If it were a Level 3 flying boat driven by a Jin Dan cultivator, it would be normal to put hundreds of people inside.

Standing on Huang Shengxin's flying boat, feeling the speed that was three times faster than his own sword flight, Song Qingming could not help but feel a trace of envy. When he had the chance in the future, he must get such a magic treasure. With this, he could greatly speed up his escape when encountering danger.

However, a spirit object like a flying boat is much more expensive than an ordinary Level 2 magic treasure. Any Level 2 flying boat requires two thousand spirit stones to purchase, which is almost the price of a Level 2 high-grade magic treasure. Ordinary people cannot afford such a thing.

For this long journey, the Huang family did not bring any Qi Refining cultivators. On the flying boat, except for the Huang family Qi Refining cultivator who originally discovered the spirit herb and was responsible for leading the way, the rest were all Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The Huang family was very well prepared for this Level 3 spirit herb. The three Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Huang family—Huang Shengxin at the ninth level of Foundation Establishment, Huang Chengliang at the fifth level, and Huang Shengyue at the fourth level—were already quite strong. Coupled with Huang Chengding at the seventh level of Foundation Establishment and Song Qingming, who had just broken through to the second level of Foundation Establishment, it was more than enough to deal with two Foundation Establishment late-stage demon beasts.

If there were no accidents on this trip, achieving the goal should be a sure thing. The only thing that made Song Qingming a little worried was that from the moment he met Huang Shengxin, the Huang family head, he felt as if he had just recovered from an injury not long ago. He didn't know if it was the injury he sustained when fighting for the spirit herb with the two demon beasts a year ago.

The group flew north for two days. After passing through Pingyang County, they soon entered the Fuyun Mountain Range. On this journey, everyone took turns driving the flying boat without stopping to rest. After five days of long-distance trekking, they finally arrived at their destination, beside a high mountain covered with all kinds of weeds.

Previously, Huang Shengxin and Huang Shengyue had already been there once and knew the location of the demon beasts on the mountain. In order not to alert them first, the group, under Huang Shengxin's command, put away the flying boat when they were still more than ten miles away from the mountain and walked quietly toward the spirit mountain.

Along the way, the people on the flying boat had repeatedly discussed this battle and finally decided to split into two groups. One group would act as bait to quietly approach from the front and lure the two Foundation Establishment late-stage wolf demons on the mountain out. Then, the other group of cultivators would take advantage of the time when the Level 2 wolf demons were lured out to quietly enter the mountain from the side, take the spirit herb, and then go to meet the others.

After the plan was set, the group divided the work. Huang Shengxin and Huang Chengding, the two Foundation Establishment late-stage experts, were responsible for luring the enemy, while the remaining Huang Chengliang, Huang Shengyue, and Song Qingming were to take the opportunity to pick the spirit herb.

After Huang Shengxin and the other left, Song Qingming and the others used their breath-concealing techniques, carefully controlling the spiritual energy on their bodies, and lurked on the side, waiting slowly.

Unexpectedly, after a while, Huang Shengxin and the other flew back empty-handed, and there was no trace of any demon beasts behind them.

"Strange! I don't know what happened on the mountain. I didn't see a single demon beast. The place where we encountered the demon beasts last time is the same."

"Could it be that someone has already arrived first?" Hearing Huang Shengxin's words, everyone showed a look of surprise.

Huang Shengxin shook his head and said: "It's hard to say. I didn't see many traces of fighting. I don't know if this pack of wolf demons has migrated. In any case, let's have Sirui take us to the mountain to see. I don't know if that Level 3 spirit herb is still there."

Hearing this, the Qi Refining cultivator who was hiding behind the crowd and had first discovered this Level 3 spirit herb hurriedly stepped forward and nodded.

The group of six, led by the Qi Refining cultivator, soon arrived at a pool on the high mountain. Sure enough, here, everyone saw a spirit herb about half a foot tall, emitting a trace of spiritual light. This was the Level 3 Tianmang Flower they had been longing for.

"We are really lucky. Those wolf demons didn't destroy this spirit herb at all."

After Huang Shengxin stepped forward and carefully picked the spirit herb, a voice that was very strange to them suddenly sounded from the group.

"Little guys, you've been wandering outside for a long time, just for this spirit herb?"