Chapter 63: New Captain

Half a month later, in a small shop in Guiyun Market, a chubby shopkeeper with a face full of smiles was desperately recommending a white mid-grade flying sword to Song Qingming, who had come to purchase a magic treasure.

"Fellow Daoist, this Cloud Dragon Sword is the best mid-grade flying sword in my shop. If you are still not satisfied, I can only take you to see other high-grade flying swords."

"Sigh, I don't have many spirit stones on me this time, so I can only buy a mid-grade magic treasure first. It's just that this flying sword sells for thirty-five spirit stones, which is still a bit too expensive. Can you lower the price, Boss?" Song Qingming sat on a wooden chair in the shop, bargaining unhurriedly, hoping to save a few spirit stones.

Although he had saved up several hundred spirit stones over the past few years and was not short of these two or three stones, Song Qingming, who had been poor since childhood, was accustomed to being frugal with every spirit stone. When purchasing various supplies, he often lowered his face to bargain with others for a stone or two.

In all his years of cultivating, the only time he had been relatively generous was when he first arrived at Guiyun Market. To purchase the high-grade magic treasure, the Grand Void Sword, he had spent all one hundred and fifty spirit stones he had on him at once.

Although he had been grand at the time and gained some face, he still regretted afterward that he hadn't bargained with those two people; he might have saved ten or twenty spirit stones.

That was the only time in his many years of cultivation that he hadn't taken spirit stones seriously for something he wanted, and every time he thought of it, he couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"I say, Fellow Daoist, the thirty-five spirit stones I mentioned is already a significant discount for you. You have seen the quality of this flying sword. A lot of high-quality White Jade Crystal was used to refine this magic treasure. It was originally meant to sell for forty spirit stones in the shop. You can't make me do business at a loss." The chubby boss shook his large body and continued to explain to Song Qingming with a face full of difficulty.

After finally paying the chubby boss thirty-two spirit stones, Song Qingming bought the mid-grade magic treasure and walked out of the shop amidst the boss's smiling farewell.

After returning to the Flying Cloud Guard station in Guiyun Market, Song Qingming's eleven-man guard was given a period of leave because they could not go out on missions in the short term, and Song Qingming began a relatively leisurely time.

Over the past half month, Song Qingming, who lived in the market, had run through all the shops in Guiyun Market again, inquiring about news of Mount Bai Long while purchasing various supplies to prepare for the next mission.

But having run through almost all of Guiyun Market, Song Qingming hadn't heard any useful information. Whether it was bosses or clerks, whenever they heard the three words "Mount Bai Long," they all acted evasive and shook their heads, claiming ignorance.

Fortunately, he had successfully purchased many useful supplies this time and had also bought many talisman-making materials. In the upcoming missions, he could make talismans to exchange for spirit stones when he had free time.

Now, as his cultivation grew higher, there were more and more places where he needed to spend spirit stones. When he was out and about, he needed spirit stones to purchase spiritual rice, elixirs, magic treasures, and so on.

Even if he didn't eat or drink, living in Guiyun Market required him to hand over two spirit stones to the market manager every month.

Fortunately, upon returning from this mission, the reward Song Qingming received for completing the mission, plus the merit compensation promised by Liu Xingfeng, meant Song Qingming had received a total of over forty spirit stones.

Added to the nearly twenty spirit stones he had received from hunting a high-grade demonic beast with Feng Laogui and the others, Song Qingming had earned nearly seventy spirit stones in the three months he had been out.

After deducting the damaged Blazing Sun Sword and the dozen or so talismans he had used, he still had a net income of thirty spirit stones. This was much more than his income from guarding Lingyuan Mountain for a year. Seeing the pile of spirit stones entering his storage bag, Song Qingming's mood improved significantly.

Although it seemed that Song Qingming had earned a lot of spirit stones this time, it was also because the missions performed by the Flying Cloud Guard were indeed quite dangerous, and higher income was accompanied by greater danger.

Venturing deep into the Fuyun Mountain Range to explore the territories of unknown demonic beasts often led to unimaginable dangers. Just like this time, out of the sixteen cultivators in their eleven-man guard, only half returned to Guiyun Market intact.

After experiencing this dangerous mission, on the way back to Guiyun Market, Song Qingming had once thought about quitting the Flying Cloud Guard. However, after returning to Guiyun Market and receiving the spirit stones for this mission at the Flying Cloud Guard station, he quickly dismissed this thought.

Song Qingming knew in his heart that encountering demonic cultivators on this mission was an accident. Even if he had chosen not to join the Flying Cloud Guard and had entered the Fuyun Mountain Range alone to hunt beasts, if his personal luck had been poor, there was a high probability he would have encountered demonic cultivators like Gu Liangshan who captured rogue cultivators.

Even if Song Qingming had a few high-grade life-saving talismans, if he encountered a demonic cultivator at the peak of Qi Refining like Gu Liangshan, his chances of escaping would not be high. In all likelihood, he would have been like Hu Daozhen and the others, captured by the demonic cultivators to refine magic treasures in a daze, dying in the vast Fuyun Mountain Range.

Since he was out to train, if he turned around and left at the slightest sign of danger, he might as well return to Mount Funiu early.

Thinking of this, he slowly accepted the fact. Cultivators seeking the Dao were always accompanied by both opportunity and danger. If he hadn't encountered the bandit cultivators robbing the road back then, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to obtain the treasure that allowed him to turn his life around—the remnant map.

Seeing the several Carefree Sect Foundation Establishment cultivators appear in the camp, Song Qingming and the others slowly learned some news.

This group of demonic cultivators had now been exposed, and the Carefree Sect had sent a large number of cultivators to search for them. If they were smart enough, they must have already fled the Fuyun Mountain Range.

Otherwise, if their tracks were found by so many Foundation Establishment cultivators, even if Yang Wuqi had refined the demonic blade magic treasure, he would surely be unable to escape his fate.

Just yesterday, Song Qingming had received news from the Flying Cloud Guard that they would be heading to the Fuyun Mountain Range again in three days.

After receiving this news, Song Qingming hurriedly went to the market to purchase the missing magic treasures. This time, with sufficient time, he had finally made full preparations.

After coming out of the shop, Song Qingming wandered around the market for a long time before slowly returning to the Guiyun Market station on the east side of the market.

Unexpectedly, just as he reached the entrance of the station, he heard the guards informing them of the assembly of the eleven-man guard. Song Qingming hurriedly rushed to the assembly point in the backyard of the Flying Cloud Guard station.

Arriving in the backyard, Song Qingming saw that more than a dozen cultivators had already gathered in the courtyard, and everyone was gathered in twos and threes, discussing something.

Song Qingming looked at the scene. Besides the original six members of the eleven-man guard, including Jia Sixing, there were several cultivators wearing Carefree Sect robes. These cultivators looked relatively young, and there was a hint of obvious arrogance in their eyes as they looked at cultivators like Song Qingming.

After walking over and chatting with a few familiar cultivators, he learned that these cultivators were also disciples sent by the Carefree Sect to Guiyun Market for training, and they were likely going to the Fuyun Mountain Range with them this time.

After another half an incense stick of time, fifteen or sixteen cultivators had gathered in the courtyard, and a woman in red walked in from outside the courtyard.

When everyone saw the person, including Song Qingming, there was a hint of surprise on their faces.

This woman in red was none other than Xu Ziyan, the fellow sect sister of Gao Yuyao, whom they had dealt with in the Fuyun Mountain Range a month ago.

During the great battle with the demonic cultivators that day, it was the two of them and Liu Xingfeng who arrived in time to save the lives of Song Qingming and his group. In a way, she could be considered a life-saver to Song Qingming and the others.

After Xu Ziyan walked in, she looked at everyone and said softly: "Fellow Daoists, because Captain Lu of the eleven-man guard has returned to the sect to heal his injuries, after discussions between the Master and several senior uncles, I have been appointed to temporarily take over the position of captain of the eleven-man guard."

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 64 =====