Chapter 271: Seeking the Dao

Hearing this news, Song Qingming was stunned. After a moment, he took the note Song Qingyu had brought back.

On the white paper was written a line of elegant, large characters: "This journey is only to seek the Dao; do not look for me."

On a high mountain hundreds of miles away from Qinghe County, Huang Siyuan, dressed in black, stood on a giant rock at the summit, blankly watching the sunset that was no longer dazzling in the distant twilight.

Not far behind her, there was another black-clad cultivator wearing a bamboo hat, who was holding several spirit stones in their hands and slowly recovering the magic power in their body.

A moment later, the sun had set below the ground, and the sky gradually darkened. The black-clad cultivator sitting on the ground slowly put away their magic power and stood up.

Seeing Huang Siyuan still blankly watching the darkened sky, the black-clad cultivator shook their head slightly, walked over, and said, "It's already late. You should get some rest, and we will continue our journey tomorrow!"

Hearing the voice from behind, Huang Siyuan finally came back to her senses, squeezed out a faint smile, nodded, and slowly walked down.

Half a month later, in the Immortal Phoenix Pavilion in Qinghe Market.

After Huang Siyuan left, Second Sister Song Qingwan had no choice but to immediately call someone to take over. Fortunately, under Huang Siyuan's guidance over the years, the Li family father and daughter who stayed at the Immortal Phoenix Pavilion were already very familiar with the business situation there, and they soon helped the newly arrived Song family cultivators stabilize the situation.

In a private room on the second floor, Song Qingming, as usual, ate the spirit meal in large mouthfuls while sipping the spirit wine on the table. He soon enjoyed most of the delicacies on the table, as if nothing had happened during this time.

Song Qingyu, who was sitting on the side and hadn't moved her chopsticks much, said with some displeasure, "The Huang family has already sent someone to ask. How should we answer regarding Sister-in-law's matter?"

"She left on her own initiative. We don't know where she went either. How else can we answer? Just tell the truth."

"Seventh Brother, it's been so many days. You have time to come here to enjoy food, why don't you go out and look for her!" Song Qingyu sighed, feeling that he was not living up to expectations!

In her heart, she had always hoped that Song Qingming and Huang Siyuan would become a true Daoist couple soon. She hadn't expected that just when their relationship reached this point, such a thing would suddenly happen, which couldn't help but make her feel a trace of regret.

"Qingyu, pursuing the Dao is her own choice. Even I have no reason to stop her. Besides, she has been gone for so many days and has long since left Qinghe County. The world is vast, and no one has pointed me in a direction; where can I go to find her?" Song Qingming smiled and replied to Song Qingyu, then stood up and slowly walked out of the Immortal Phoenix Pavilion.

With the tipsiness of the wine, Song Qingming stepped onto his flying sword and arrived at the high mountain where he often came with Huang Siyuan, looking alone at the beautiful sunset on the horizon of the market.

After seeing the note Huang Siyuan left that day, Song Qingming instantly recalled all the strange feelings she had shown the last time he saw her. It seemed that Huang Siyuan's departure this time was not a temporary decision; she must have already thought it through when she saw him that time.

At that time, he had only said one sentence, and she had immediately talked about so many handover matters of the restaurant. Such things should logically have been discussed when Second Sister brought people to take over, but Huang Siyuan had suddenly told him everything at once, which meant she was already prepared to leave at any time.

If he had been more attentive at the time and sensed that something was wrong with her, perhaps he would have had a chance to stop her. It was a pity that he had missed it in the end.

Recalling the gaze she had kept fixed on him in the Immortal Phoenix Pavilion, Song Qingming could still feel in his heart that Huang Siyuan would return in the future.

The sunset would eventually fall, but as long as one endured the dark night, the sun would rise again.

As for why Huang Siyuan left at this time, Song Qingming didn't need to guess; he knew she must have gone out to seek the opportunity for Foundation Establishment.

Huang Siyuan's cultivation had already reached the ninth level of Qi Refining. For her, naturally, nothing was more important than Foundation Establishment. But if she wanted to establish her Foundation, there was no way to find a Foundation Establishment Pill in Qinghe Market, so leaving here became an understandable choice.

As a Daoist couple, although Song Qingming had treated her quite well over the years, when it came to spiritual items like the Foundation Establishment Pill, Huang Siyuan could not possibly think of relying on Song Qingming to easily obtain one.

This was also the truth. Song Qingming hadn't gone out much in recent years, and he truly had no way to immediately exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill. This was also the biggest reason why he chose not to actively look for her after Huang Siyuan left. After all, he couldn't give her any promises for the time being, so he could only respect her choice.

It was just that Song Qingming had experienced the hardships of being outside and knew that the cultivation world was full of all kinds of dangers. Over these days, he was very worried about Huang Siyuan in his heart, but there was nothing he could say. No matter what, she was doing it for her own Dao path. Having the courage to go out and walk around might not be a bad thing for her.

Just like that, Huang Siyuan temporarily disappeared from Song Qingming's side, and life returned to its usual state.

After receiving the Song family's reply, the Huang family indeed didn't say anything more, only Huang Siyuan's father came to the Immortal Phoenix Pavilion alone to inquire a few times.

In recent years, due to the rapid improvement of Song Qingming's talisman-making skills, the talismans he produced had gained some reputation in Qinghe County. Not only the smaller Qi Refining families below, but even people from the Huang and Gao families had sent people to the Song family to purchase talismans.

Making second-level talismans was no longer a difficult task for him now. As long as he had materials, his efficiency was at least equal to that of four or five second-level talisman makers. But what was difficult was that Qinghe Market was, after all, a small market, and not everyone could afford second-level talismans. Many Qi Refining cultivation families bought one or two second-level talismans just to add to the family's foundation and would not use them casually.

Over the years, the number of second-level talismans he had hoarded had grown, and he had invested quite a few spirit stones, but because the market here in Qinghe Market was gradually becoming saturated, they were becoming harder and harder to sell. He still had to find a way to find a place to dispose of some of them so that he could have more leeway.

Regarding the best place to dispose of these talismans, Song Qingming thought about it and decided to come to Guiyun Market.

Although Guiyun Market was not as large as Yangshan Market, it backed onto the Floating Cloud Mountain Range, attracting many cultivators to hunt demonic beasts here. Therefore, although Guiyun Market was not the largest market in the Wei Kingdom, the consumption of items like talismans and magic artifacts here was much higher than in other markets.