Chapter 301

Among the remaining few, Fifth Aunt Song Changling and Sixth Uncle Song Changfeng were both over a hundred years old. Although they had spent these past few years working tirelessly for the family, time spares no one, and their spirits and appearances were no longer what they once were.

Ninth Uncle Song Changxin, Thirteenth Uncle Song Changxiong, and Fifteenth Aunt Song Changyue were slightly younger and still able to run about, but they no longer participated much in the core affairs of the household. The power to manage the family had basically fallen to the cultivators of the Qing generation.

In recent years, Sixth Uncle Song Changfeng's energy had gradually declined, so his eldest brother Song Qingshi had been assisting him with many of the affairs at Mount Funiu. Second Sister Song Qingwan, meanwhile, had been managing the family's assets in Qinghe Market for nearly thirty years.

Aside from the two Foundation Establishment cultivators Song Qingming and Song Qingyu, these two held the highest prestige among the Qing generation. They had gradually taken over the power from the Chang generation and were now managing the daily operations of the family's core assets.

As for the other Qing generation cultivators, with the exception of the late Third Brother Song Qingze and Fifth Brother Song Qingyang, who died in battle at Qinghe Market two years ago, they had all become the backbone of the Song family.

What brought Song Qingming some comfort was that the Xin generation cultivators among the younger family members had also been slowly growing up over the years. The eldest, Song Xinhu, was already over forty this year—an age to settle down and start a career—and most of them were already working busily at various Song family industries down the mountain.

This generation of cultivators was luckier; they had caught the Song family during a period of vigorous development. Unlike Song Qingming when he first went down the mountain—when he had to borrow spirit stones from his eldest brother and didn't even have a mid-grade magic tool on him, all just to break through to the mid-stage of Qi Refining for a single Qi-Gathering Pill.

However, although there were many Xin generation cultivators, their spiritual root talent was only average; among the more than twenty of them, there were only two with three-element spiritual roots.

One was Song Xinyu, whom Song Qingming had sent to the Grand Void Gate over a decade ago. The other, ranked nineteenth in the Xin generation, was named Song Xinhe. Although he also had three-element spiritual roots, his cultivation talent was inferior to Song Xinyu's; he had only just reached the fifth level of Qi Refining at twenty-three.

Among the Xin generation cultivators, excluding Song Xinyu who was far away at the Grand Void Gate, the highest cultivation level was only the sixth level of Qi Refining. No one had yet broken through to the late stage of Qi Refining, and for the time being, Song Qingming had not seen any cultivators in this generation with the aptitude for Foundation Establishment.

However, this generation's talent for immortal cultivation skills was much better than the previous one. Almost all the adult cultivators had one or two skills under their belts, so after going down the mountain, they could all be considered free from worries about food and clothing.

As for the few current Yuan generation cultivators, no one with outstanding spiritual root talent had appeared yet. They were still young, and Song Qingming could not yet discern the depth of their Dao hearts.

Taking advantage of the Grace and Honor Ceremony, Song Qingming had carefully observed all the current Song family cultivators to see if there were any more seeds capable of Foundation Establishment. However, the current results left him somewhat disappointed; among these people, there was no one who, like Song Qingyu back then, gave him the feeling that they were worth gambling on and pouring resources into cultivating.

Although Song Qingming was disappointed by this result, he could accept it calmly in his heart. After all, the Song family had successfully produced two Foundation Establishment cultivators in these few decades, which was an unprecedented situation in Qinghe County for a century; it could be said they had been extremely lucky.

Whether it is an individual or the entire family's fortune, it is impossible for it to be this good forever. The Qing generation producing two Foundation Establishment cultivators had essentially exhausted the Song family's fortune for these few decades, so thinking about it this way, it was understandable that no talent had emerged among the Xin generation in recent years. Otherwise, if the Song family had Foundation Establishment successes one after another, let alone the local Huang and Gao families of Qinghe County, even the Grand Void Gate would likely have sensed the situation and sent people to investigate.

The Grace and Honor Ceremony lasted for three days, during which the entire Song family, from the mountain top to the bottom, was filled with joy. This was the first time the Song family had held a banquet with such a grand display since becoming a Foundation Establishment family, and this news naturally soon reached the ears of other Foundation Establishment families who had already been keeping an eye on the Song family.

At Mount Lianhua, Gao Jinhe listened to the report on the Song family's Grace and Honor Ceremony and said to Gao Yubai, who had been sitting silently to the side:

"The Song family has indeed developed very quickly in recent years. It took them less than thirty years to transform from a small Qi Refining family into a Foundation Establishment family. It really has made me misjudge them. I don't know if it's because Song Qingming's personal ability is too outstanding, or if the Song family's destiny has truly arrived, resulting in such a soaring momentum."

"Ninth Great-Uncle is right; the Song family's success today is indeed due to excellent luck. Song Qingming's spiritual root talent is not outstanding, and I once fought him. This person's cultivation techniques and magic tools are both very ordinary. If Huang Shengyue hadn't intervened to help him back then, he shouldn't have been my match. However, we should pay more attention to Song Qingyu. This woman's talent should be above Song Qingming's, and she has some hope of breaking through to the late stage of Foundation Establishment in the future."

Seeing Gao Jinhe staring at him, Gao Yubai smiled and spoke the words of comfort the other party most wanted to hear at that moment. He was a two-element spiritual root cultivator himself, and in the entire Qinghe County, no one's talent could surpass his except for Huang Shengxin.

Gao Jinhe nodded after listening. If one were to talk about the Song family's good fortune, in reality, the Gao family's fortune had been truly soaring in recent years. In this generation of the Gao family, two earth-element spiritual root cultivators, Gao Yuyao and Gao Yubai, had emerged in succession. Such fortune had never appeared in the five hundred years since their family was established.

If it weren't for the family's limited resources, Gao Jinhe would absolutely not have chosen to send Gao Yuyao to the Grand Void Gate. In a small place like Qinghe County, it was destined to be difficult for the Gao family to cultivate two earth-element spiritual root cultivators at the same time. Only by concentrating resources on one person could they cultivate Gao Yubai to the late stage of Foundation Establishment sooner. If his cultivation went smoothly, he might even have a glimmer of hope for Core Formation, just like Huang Shengxin.

It was also because of this reason that Gao Jinhe painfully chose to send Gao Yuyao to the Grand Void Gate. Even for a Foundation Establishment family with a relatively solid foundation like the Gao family, it was very difficult to cultivate two Foundation Establishment cultivators simultaneously within a single generation.

Leaving one in the family and sending one to the Grand Void Gate—this way, neither person's path to the Dao would be delayed. This was their optimal choice. When most immortal cultivation families in the entire Wei Guo encountered such difficult dilemmas, many chose to handle it this way.

As far as the current situation goes, Gao Jinhe's choice was indeed not wrong. Gao Yuyao's path to the Dao at the Grand Void Gate could also be described as smooth sailing. With the support of her masters, she successfully achieved Foundation Establishment early on. Her current cultivation is even one level higher than Gao Yubai's, and she has already become a key candidate for Core Formation among the Foundation Establishment cultivators within the Grand Void Gate.