Chapter 378: Can

After the four distributed the spirit objects, they boarded Duan Xueyi's flying boat again and left this swampy area, heading south quickly.

On the way back this time, although they were occasionally harassed by flying demon beasts, because they were much more familiar with the route than when they came, the speed of the flying boat also increased a lot, and it only took seven days to completely walk out of the Floating Cloud Mountain Range.

This trip to the Floating Cloud Mountain Range, the group not only harvested quite a few spirit objects but also didn't encounter any particularly powerful demon beasts, which could be counted as very smooth. Therefore, after walking out of the Floating Cloud Mountain Range, everyone's faces began to overflow with smiles.

As Foundation Establishment cultivators, although they were much wealthier than Qi Refining cultivators, the consumption required for their daily cultivation was also several times that of ordinary Qi Refining cultivators. Being able to earn several thousand spirit stones on a trip far away, how could it not make them happy.

After arriving at a place ten-odd miles away from Guiyun Market, Duan Xueyi took the initiative to stop the flying boat under her feet, and Song Qingming and Fang Wuqian jumped down from it.

"Two Fellow Daoists, further ahead is the market. There are many people and mixed eyes there, so we will send you here."

"Hehe! Fairy Duan is too polite. You two have a safe journey, and we will meet again if there is fate in the future."

"Have a safe journey!"

Song Qingming and Fang Wuqian bowed to Duan Xueyi and Gao Yuyao above the flying boat, and the flying boat turned into a white light and disappeared in mid-air soon.

After the two Fairies left, Fang Wuqian turned to Song Qingming and asked, "Fellow Daoist Song, I still have to go to Guiyun Market to deal with these demon beast corpses. Would you like to go with me?"

Facing Fang Wuqian's active invitation, Song Qingming shook his head without hesitation, "When I went out this time, I told the clan that I would go back in at most half a month. Now the time is almost up, so I won't delay here anymore."

"Next time, if Fellow Daoist Fang has the opportunity to come to Qinghe County, you must come to my Mount Funiu to sit. I will then fulfill the duty of a host properly."

"Alright! Then Fellow Daoist Song, take care. I will take my leave first." Fang Wuqian said this, bowed to Song Qingming with a smile, and then stepped on his flying sword and headed straight for Guiyun Market.

Seeing Fang Wuqian turn into a green light and disappear from his eyes, Song Qingming took out the green robe and bamboo hat he wore when he came, draped them directly on his body, carefully covered his face, then summoned a dark red flying sword, stepped on the sword light, and left here.

Somewhat strangely, the direction Song Qingming left this time was not the direction to Qinghe County that he had just told Fang Wuqian, but he headed north again and entered the Floating Cloud Mountain Range.

After driving his sword north for two days, Song Qingming arrived at a relatively desolate small mountain, found a remote place, arranged a magic array simply, and prepared to rest here for a while, recover some magic power, and then set off on the road again.

Half an hour later, just as Song Qingming was focusing on closing his eyes and meditating to recover his magic power, several rays of spiritual light suddenly appeared in the originally very quiet sky, rushing toward the vicinity of the small mountain where Song Qingming was.

These rays of spiritual light were of different colors. A red light flew the fastest in the middle. After arriving not far from Song Qingming's position, it stopped immediately, revealing an enchanting man in red clothes holding a folding fan.

Not far behind him, there were also a yellow and a white ray of spiritual light following. After flying to the side of the red-clothed man, they also turned into an old man in yellow clothes and a white-robed Confucian scholar who looked somewhat delicate.

After the red-clothed man stopped, he circled the sky above the small mountain quickly and returned to the side of the other two.

The old man in yellow stepped forward and said to the red-clothed man, "Senior Brother Hong, how is it? Didn't find that kid?"

"Hmph! The place shown by the Spirit-Communication Bead just now was here. He should be hiding near this small mountain. It's just that this kid seems to have used some hiding method to hide. It seems it will take some effort." After the red-clothed man finished speaking, he took out an emerald green bead from his waist and looked at it carefully.

"Since he is here, he can't run away. Let's search separately and carefully. I'm not afraid that we won't find that kid." After the old man in yellow finished speaking, he flew down to one side of the small mountain first and began to search slowly at close range.

The red-clothed man standing in the sky and the white-robed Confucian scholar exchanged a look and also chose a direction to fall toward the small mountain.

And all this that happened in mid-air just now also fell into the eyes of Song Qingming, who was hiding on the side of the small mountain. At this moment, after seeing these people appear, his face was already full of doubt.

The red-clothed man and the old man in yellow who just arrived here, Song Qingming had actually seen them before. These two were none other than the demonic cultivators who fought against the Carefree Sect cultivators like Li Yungong in the chaotic battle in the underground cave of Black Stone Valley a year ago.

Only that white-robed Confucian scholar, Song Qingming should not have seen him. Looking at his somewhat thin figure, he didn't look like the third demonic cultivator who escaped that day.

Although he didn't hear what these demonic cultivators were talking about in mid-air, Song Qingming knew very well in his heart that on this small mountain where demon beasts were rampant and desolate, the appearance of the red-clothed man and the other two was nine times out of ten aimed at him. It was just that he didn't know when he had leaked his whereabouts and was targeted by them.

Entering the Floating Cloud Mountain Range alone this time, Song Qingming not only covered his face but also walked the route very carefully and cautiously. Even if he saw Qi Refining cultivators passing by below, he tried his best to avoid them and not attract their attention. It stood to reason that it was impossible to be targeted by demonic cultivators so coincidentally.

After quickly recalling his journey in his mind, Song Qingming still couldn't find a problem with why he was targeted, and his face couldn't help but frown.

Fortunately, he had long been accustomed to arranging magic arrays to hide his aura when resting in the wild. Otherwise, when the red-clothed man found this small mountain just now, Song Qingming would have already exposed his hiding position.

Although Song Qingming's cultivation had now reached the seventh level of Foundation Establishment, this time three Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators came at once. Aside from the red-clothed man's peak cultivation of the ninth level of Foundation Establishment, the old man in yellow and the white-robed Confucian scholar both had cultivation of the fifth or sixth level of Foundation Establishment. Once surrounded by these three, Song Qingming would definitely have some difficulty in escaping.

At the moment, he could still rely on the magic array to cover his aura, but facing the three demonic cultivators who were already pressing step by step, Song Qingming also knew that it was only a matter of time before he exposed his figure, so he must think of a good way to escape quickly.

The white-robed Confucian scholar who was searching on the east side of the small mountain and was closest to Song Qingming's position was named Ye Shujie. This demon, like Yang Wuqi, who was killed by Chen Xuanxin decades ago, was a local demonic cultivator within the State of Wei and was not a junior brother of the red-clothed man.

Ye Shujie was born in a declining Foundation Establishment family in Cangbai County in the north of the State of Wei over a hundred years ago. After his family's ancestor passed away, because the inheritance of Foundation Establishment cultivators was broken and he lost his greatest protection, plus the newly appointed patriarch was a cowardly person who was not decisive enough, his family was soon targeted by other immortal cultivation families nearby.

In less than ten-odd years, the Ye family completely fell from a Foundation Establishment immortal family to an object that even nearby Qi Refining families dared to bully.

Therefore, many Ye family cultivators with better spirit chose to leave the family to join other forces, or became rogue cultivators and left Cangbai County. Ye Shujie was also one of them.

Ye Shujie left Cangbai County for ten-odd years. He didn't know what opportunity he encountered outside. When he returned to the Ye family ten-odd years later, he had not only switched to practicing cultivation techniques and joined the demonic path but had also successfully reached Foundation Establishment.

After this demon reached Foundation Establishment, he was very low-key at first and had been disguising himself as an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator, rarely using demonic evil techniques to harm people, so that none of the dozens of Ye family cultivators knew that this person who looked simple and honest and was a former clansman was actually a terrifying demonic cultivator.

However, as time passed, Ye Shujie still accidentally revealed flaws and was discovered by a Ye family cultivator, who secretly notified other clansmen to prepare to take him down.

Seeing that his identity had been exposed, Ye Shujie also exposed his cruel and ruthless true face and was merciless to his own clansmen. Overnight, this Foundation Establishment demon killed more than a dozen Ye family cultivators who came to arrest him and fled directly.

This commotion of his soon attracted the attention of the Carefree Sect. Since then, Ye Shujie also became a Foundation Establishment demon on the wanted list of the Carefree Sect of the State of Wei.

However, Ye Shujie also knew the power of the Carefree Sect. He had been hiding outside for these years and had been living in seclusion, not daring to attract the attention of the Carefree Sect at will.

A year ago, the red-clothed man and his companion were injured by the Carefree Sect cultivators led by Li Yungong and fled Black Stone Valley, but these two demonic cultivators did not leave the State of Wei immediately but secretly hid in a place to heal their injuries.

Once, when the red-clothed man went out to look for healing items, he happened to run into Ye Shujie, who was secretly catching prey on the road. In order to have one more helper in the State of Wei, the red-clothed man took the initiative to find Ye Shujie and, after promising Ye Shujie quite a few benefits, successfully brought him under his command.

This time, Ye Shujie followed the red-clothed man deep into the Floating Cloud Mountain Range. He only knew that it was to deal with a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. After the few followed all the way here, in order to find Song Qingming as soon as possible, they could only act separately.

Having lived a hiding life for so many years, Ye Shujie had long been accustomed to acting cautiously. While slowly searching the surroundings carefully, he was secretly praying in his heart that he had better not run into Song Qingming.

Although Ye Shujie also broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage very early, he had been at Foundation Establishment for nearly a hundred years and his cultivation had not yet broken through to the late stage of Foundation Establishment. It could be seen that his talent for practicing demonic path cultivation techniques was far inferior to Yang Wuqi, whom Song Qingming had seen back then. If it were truly a one-on-one fight, he was far from Song Qingming's opponent.

However, many times, things are always what you fear. When Ye Shujie arrived beside a mountain wall, a white light flashed before his eyes, and a green figure rushed out from a place that was empty just now, and a black silver knife in his hand slashed toward Ye Shujie's neck quickly.

Seeing this sudden sneak attack, Ye Shujie, who had long been prepared, hurriedly raised a green jade ruler in his hand above his head and opened a green protective shield in front of him.

After the black silver knife in Song Qingming's hand slashed onto the green protective shield, although it revealed a trace of cracks on this shield, it couldn't slash through it directly, which made him show a hint of surprise.

Unexpectedly, this white-robed Confucian scholar was not only cautious in character but also had a good defensive magic tool on his body, which could actually block his swift and fierce blow that he had prepared for a long time.

However, just as Song Qingming wanted to praise Ye Shujie a few words in his heart, the jade ruler in his hand suddenly broke into two pieces with a bang, and the green protective shield also slowly dissipated in the air.

Fortunately, with the help of the jade ruler to block Song Qingming's fatal blow, it also bought Ye Shujie some time, allowing him to retreat backward smoothly and dodge the remaining power after Song Qingming's black silver knife shattered the green protective shield.

"Fellow Daoist Hong, he is here, quickly..."

After dodging Song Qingming's blow, Ye Shujie hurriedly shouted to the distance, but before he could finish his words, Song Qingming's second blow had already arrived in front of him, forcing him to have to brace himself and fight with Song Qingming.

Although Ye Shujie had practiced for many years, he didn't have a magic tool as powerful as the demonic knife refined by Yang Wuqi. The only most powerful green jade ruler was just destroyed by Song Qingming with one slash.

And the Song Qingming he faced, in order to make a quick decision, used his two most powerful magic tools, the black silver knife and the Azure Water Bell, at the same time, soon beating Ye Shujie to the point where he could only retreat step by step without any power to fight back.

Soon, after fighting for only a dozen or so moves, Ye Shujie was directly hit by the Azure Water Bell operated by Song Qingming and flew to the side, unable to block him anymore.

After beating back Ye Shujie, Song Qingming had already heard the angry shout of the red-clothed man from far to near, so he hurriedly took out his flying sword and broke through the air without looking back.

After the red-clothed man and the old man in yellow arrived at the battlefield, Ye Shujie, who fell to the ground, also slowly stood up, and his mouth also spat out a mouthful of blood, looking as if he was not lightly injured.

"Chase! He can't run away." The red-clothed man looked at the direction Song Qingming left, looked at Song Qingming escaping in the air with some playfulness, and chased after him first.

The old man in yellow on the side threw a pill to Ye Shujie, whose face was still somewhat bad. After he took it, the two stepped on magic tools and followed.

Looking at the red-clothed man who had already chased up not far behind, Song Qingming hurriedly increased his magic power to the Wind-Driving Boots under his feet, flew with his sword with all his might, and always kept the fastest speed.

The red-clothed man turned into a red light. Although his speed was faster than Song Qingming's at first, after chasing not far behind Song Qingming, his speed still slowly dropped, but he always kept not far away.

"This guy still dares to go north. Truly not knowing whether to live or die. Let's see how far you can run!"

Seeing that Song Qingming didn't choose to go south but continued to go north where high-level demon beasts were rampant, a trace of mockery appeared at the corner of the red-clothed man's mouth. In his view, Song Qingming using his internal magic power to rush on the road like this would definitely not last long. As long as he kept the speed of the pursuit well, capturing the other party should only be a matter of time.

This is a big chapter.