Chapter 334: New Clan Leader

Hearing Song Qingyu's question, Song Qingming was slightly stunned, then shook his head. "Qingyu, let's talk about this after your cultivation base breaks through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. Your strength isn't enough yet, and I'm really worried about you going far away alone."

"You said yourself that one needs to go out for training to quickly improve one's strength. I didn't get to go to the Lu State last time. Look, my cultivation progress while staying on the mountain isn't as fast as yours was back then!" Song Qingyu muttered with some dejection.

"It doesn't matter if cultivation is a bit slow for now; being too anxious is useless. Look at me, haven't I been staying on the mountain honestly all these years? I've been in life-and-death situations many times while outside, and I really don't want you to take such risks now.

I promised you that once you break through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, I will let you go out for training. You don't need to be too anxious. Maybe I can find an elixir to help you break through when I go to the Heaven Elixir Pavilion."

Song Qingyu had been pestering Song Qingming for nearly a year about wanting to go out for training. For the sake of her safety, Song Qingming had not relented after much consideration.

Originally, four years after Song Qingming returned from the Lu State, it should have been the Song family's turn to send Foundation Establishment cultivators to the front line. However, three years after Song Qingming returned, the Heaven Sea Alliance had to stop the offensive against the Lu State because the Sea Clan monsters in the south suddenly invaded, forcing them to withdraw their main forces to deal with the monster attack.

After the two sides ceased hostilities, the Carefree Sect also withdrew the cultivators who were supporting the Lu State back to the Wei State. At that time, Song Qingming had already promised Song Qingyu that he would let her go the second time, but this sudden ceasefire meant the matter had to be dropped.

Over the past ten years, although the cultivation world of the Wei State where Song Qingming resided had been relatively calm, the surrounding countries were not stable. Although the Lu State in the south had temporarily ended its battle with the Heaven Sea Alliance, it was only temporary, and the two sides might fight again at any time.

The Zheng State in the east had fallen into civil strife again in recent years. Not only were the two Golden Core sects constantly bickering, but it was also said that another force had intervened, making it even more chaotic than before. At this time, Song Qingming was still worried about Song Qingyu going out for training, but he also knew he couldn't stop her forever. He could only try to delay it until she broke through to the fourth level of Foundation Establishment.

Facing Song Qingming's intentional protection, Song Qingyu was naturally very clear about it. Under Song Qingming's shelter all these years, she had never fought against a strong enemy again, except for the crisis at Qinghe Market.

This was also a shortcoming for her. It was definitely not feasible for a cultivator to hide on the mountain and never come out. However, Song Qingming wanted to give them as much protection as possible while he had the ability. This was a good thing for Song Qingyu, but also something that often worried her.

As a practitioner of the Dao, Song Qingyu also yearned for the outside world in her bones. Although she knew it was very dangerous, so many people in the cultivation world continued to move toward this goal one after another.

A male eagle must eventually spread its wings and fly high. Song Qingming also looked forward to this, but before that, all he could do was provide as much protection as possible so they could better face these things.

After Song Qingyu left, Song Qingming, preparing to go out the next day, invited his eldest brother Song Qingshi over. After asking about the recent situation of the family, he told him about his plan to go to Yangshan Market.

In ten years, the Song family had also undergone great changes.

First of all, the Clan Leader Song Changfeng had passed away in his cave dwelling eight years ago. Perhaps because of his failure to establish his foundation back then, Song Changfeng's lifespan was significantly shorter than other clansmen of the same generation, so he even passed away before his elder, the fifth aunt Song Changling.

Fortunately, their generation basically witnessed the rapid development of the Song family over these years. In just thirty years since Song Qingming established his foundation, the Song family had grown from a small Qi Refining family to a Foundation Establishment family with two Foundation Establishment cultivators. Seeing the Song family so strong, even when Clan Leader Song Changfeng left, there was a hint of relief on his lips.

After Song Changfeng passed away, Song Qingming automatically became the new Clan Leader of the Song family, receiving the ring representing the identity of the Clan Leader and the family genealogy, the two most important items passed down through the generations of the Song family.

Among the 'Chang' generation cultivators, except for the fifteenth aunt Song Changyue, the remaining few had all passed the age of one hundred and were in their twilight years. The handover of family management power had successfully transitioned to the 'Qing' generation.

Eldest brother Song Qingshi managed family affairs and participated in basically all matters, big and small. Over the years, his prestige in the family was second only to the two Foundation Establishment cultivators, comparable to the sixth uncle Song Changfeng before he passed away.

With the help of the healing elixirs Song Qingming sought over the years, second sister Song Qingwan recovered from her injuries and quickly returned to Qinghe Market to take over all her original affairs. In recent years, the family's industry in Qinghe Market had finally slowly recovered with the return of Song Qingwan, the original operator of the family market.

As for the law enforcement team, although the thirteenth uncle Song Changxiong was already over a hundred years old, he had never been able to sit still. Even at this age, he often took the younger generation of the family out to hunt monsters, educating those young cultivators who had just started.

However, Song Changxiong had already selected his successor as the elder of the law enforcement team, Song Xintang, who was ranked eighth in the 'Xin' generation. Although this child was a four-spiritual-root cultivator, he practiced very diligently.

At just over thirty years old, his cultivation base had recently broken through to the seventh level of Qi Refining. Now with Song Changxiong's personal guidance, it would not be a big problem for him to take over the affairs of the law enforcement team in the future.

The ninth uncle Song Changxin had handed over the affairs at Mount Duanliu to his eighth brother Song Qingchen and returned to the family to retire. Shi Chun returned to continue managing the industry at Mount Fengtou. Having been well-behaved and handled affairs well while stationed at Mount Fengtou in his early years, he even married a female Qi Refining cultivator from the Wang family.

One must know that for a small Qi Refining family like the Wang family, every cultivator was very important. To get them to agree to marry off a female cultivator, Shi Chun had indeed put in a lot of effort.

To get the Wang family to agree to this, Shi Chun not only begged Song Qingming to come forward as a matchmaker but also took the initiative to help the Wang family with many things before they relented.

Shi Chun was originally invited by Song Qingming. Over the years, he had worked conscientiously in the Song family and helped Song Qingming a lot. Seeing that Shi Chun had not only a cultivator wife but also several mortal concubines after coming to the Song family alone, Song Qingming felt quite gratified.