Chapter 257: Vassal

Just as the Song family's system reform was in full swing, two strange Qi Refining stage cultivators suddenly came to visit Funiu Mountain on this day.

These two were late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, both surnamed Xu, and were cousins within the five degrees of kinship. They came from under Guyang Mountain of the Carefree Sect, and the purpose of this trip was specifically to find the Song family to discuss a matter.

Originally, for two Qi Refining stage cultivators like this, it would have been enough for the clan leader Song Changfeng to come out to receive them, but these two also brought a letter written to Song Qingming at the same time.

Looking at the three words "Xu Ziyan" written on the envelope, Song Changfeng immediately knew the identity of the letter writer. When he went to Yangshan Market to deliver spirit stones to Song Qingming back then, he had heard Song Qingming mention Xu Ziyan. Later, after Song Qingming successfully established his foundation and returned, he also knew that Xu Ziyan had helped Song Qingming a lot when he established his foundation.

Since the other party had already taken out Xu Ziyan's letter, Song Changfeng naturally had to show the Song family's sincerity and hurriedly sent someone to invite Song Qingming over.

"According to what Fellow Daoist Xu mentioned in the letter, are you two looking for a place to stay in my Qinghe County?" After reading Xu Ziyan's letter, Song Qingming immediately knew the intention of these two.

According to what Xu Ziyan said in the letter, the ancestors of these two were the fellow disciples of her master Liu Xingfeng, that is, the descendants of Xu Ziyan's own senior uncle. Their encounter was almost the same as the Song family back then. After their family ancestor suddenly died, they had no backing and were constantly squeezed out at Guyang Mountain. That was why they chose to do the same as the Song family's ancestors back then, intending to leave Guyang Mountain and find another place to live.

This senior brother of Liu Xingfeng was originally a veteran Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Carefree Sect for many years. When Liu Xingfeng was young and had not yet established her foundation, this Senior Brother Xu took good care of her. Unlike most bitter cultivators, he was more greedy for worldly pleasures. After establishing his foundation, he soon married many wives and concubines, leaving behind many descendants over the past hundred years.

In the demonic beast turmoil twenty years ago, this senior brother of Liu Xingfeng was unlucky and died in the great battle supporting Guiyun Market. After he died, although the descendants of the Xu family received a good pension from the sect, unfortunately, among these people, there was no one with outstanding talent who had hope of establishing a foundation, and their days were getting worse day by day. That was why they had the idea of leaving Guyang Mountain.

Half a year ago, they begged Liu Xingfeng, wanting to find a connection there to help take care of them. Liu Xingfeng agreed to repay the kindness her senior brother had shown her back then. It just so happened that Xu Ziyan was also in Liu Xingfeng's cave dwelling at that time, so she directly did a favor and helped her master Liu Xingfeng handle this matter. On the spot, she wrote a letter and gave it to Xu Changrong and others, asking them to come to Qinghe County to find Song Qingming.

"Senior Song, please look at Senior Xu's face and give us some convenience. As long as you don't mind, our Xu family is willing to be a vassal under the Song family and obey your orders." The old man speaking was the clan leader of this generation of the Xu family, named Xu Changrong.

"Sigh, I am a close friend of Fellow Daoist Xu, and since it is a matter entrusted by her, I, Song, will naturally not refuse. Don't worry, tomorrow I will arrange for someone to accompany you two to look around the surrounding area to see if there is any spiritual mountain suitable for you to settle down. If you need any help, you don't need to be polite, just come and tell me."

The matter requested by Xu Changrong and others was not a difficult matter for Song Qingming. There were still many ownerless spiritual mountains in the territory around the Song family, as long as they could take a fancy to them.

On the contrary, being able to have one more vassal family under his command was actually a beneficial thing for the Song family in the long run. Song Qingming now wished that there could be a few more cultivation families under the Song family.

The Song family now has no more than fifty cultivators. Once they encounter some wars that require a large number of cultivators to be summoned, they will be stretched thin. Last time they went to Eagle Nest Ridge to suppress bandits, Song Qingming almost pulled out all the late-stage Qi Refining cultivators he could mobilize below before he barely gathered ten people. In this regard, their foundation was indeed still too shallow compared to several other Foundation Establishment families.

The area in the northeast of Qinghe County currently controlled by the Song family is adjacent to Cloud Mist Mountain and can be considered a relatively remote corner of Qinghe County. In total, there are only five cultivation families under their command.

Compared to the most powerful Huang family in Qinghe County, which has more than twenty vassal immortal families under its command and can easily gather a team of dozens of late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, the Song family is still far behind in this regard.

"Thank you for your care, Senior. This spiritual talisman was passed down by our ancestor. Since we have already joined the Song family, this talisman will be a gift of thanks to you, Senior." Xu Changrong said while smiling and raising his hand to offer a second-grade low-grade spiritual talisman to Song Qingming.

Song Qingming did not refuse this, directly reaching out to take it and look at it, discovering that this was a rare defensive spiritual talisman, which should be worth about 300 spirit stones in the market and was still somewhat useful to him, so he directly put it into his storage bag.

It was perfectly normal for a family like the Xu family, who had just arrived to seek refuge under the Song family, to present Song Qingming with a more substantial gift; after all, once they settled here, they would need to rely on the Song family for protection, and building a good relationship in advance was a prudent precaution.

Although Song Qingming would sell some of Xu Ziyan's face now and would not deliberately make things difficult for them, things in the future would be hard to say. Once they left Guyang Mountain, they would have completely broken their relationship with the Carefree Sect, and it would naturally be unlikely for Liu Xingfeng to keep speaking for them. Like the ancestors of the Song family back then, they would still have to rely on themselves in the future.

After getting Song Qingming's promise, Xu Changrong and the other two went around the surrounding area accompanied by eldest brother Song Qingshi early the next morning. They were also determined to leave Guyang Mountain and were equally cautious about the location chosen for their family's future.

After going around several times, Xu Changrong and others finally selected a spiritual mountain a few hundred miles away from Funiu Mountain as the Xu family's future place to live.

Although the spiritual vein level of this spiritual mountain was not as good as the Funiu Mountain of the Song family back then, it was good in that the terrain was very good. Not only was there vast flat land for farming around it, but there was also a river needed for mortal survival passing through here, which could settle tens of thousands of mortals to live here. This point was not much worse than the current Funiu Mountain.

Although the Xu family's population is not large now, with only eight cultivators and less than a thousand mortals, as long as they take root in Qinghe County in the future and have more vast living space, the family's population will naturally become larger and larger. At that time, they will be able to have the appearance of a cultivation family.

With the Song family as an example here, the Xu family might also produce a talent like Song Qingming in the future, leading everyone on the road to reviving the family's glory.