Chapter 16: Family Conscription

Spring went and autumn came; in the blink of an eye, Song Qingming had been at Lingyuan Mountain for two full years.

Relying on the special properties of the fragmented map, Song Qingming's talisman-making abilities improved rapidly. His success rate had now reached fifty to sixty percent. By selling spiritual talismans, he had saved up over a hundred spirit stones, allowing him to repay the spirit stones borrowed from his Thirteenth Uncle and the others long ago.

With spirit stones in hand, Song Qingming naturally began to upgrade his equipment and arm himself. Not only did he exchange for several mid-grade talismans from the family's Gold Treasury, but he also scavenged a mid-grade defensive magic tool from Caolu Mountain. He was no longer the destitute, struggling boy he had been two years ago.

Gao Yuyao did not visit Caolu Mountain frequently, coming only once every few months, but fortunately, their several pill transactions had been very smooth.

Thanks to the pills exchanged from Gao Yuyao, Song Qingming's cultivation had now risen to the peak of the fourth level of Qi Refinement. Before long, he was confident he could break through to the fifth level.

Over the past two years, a major event had occurred in Qinghe County. The head of the Qian family, Qian Guangyao, had successfully established his foundation half a year ago, becoming the sixth Foundation Establishment cultivator in Qinghe County. Consequently, the Qian family had soared overnight, ascending to the status of a Foundation Establishment family.

Once a cultivator establishes their foundation, their lifespan increases significantly. With Qian Guangyao's breakthrough, the Qian family was guaranteed at least two hundred years of prosperity.

Originally, Qinghe County only had three Foundation Establishment families. Now, with Qian Guangyao's success, the Qian family had smoothly grown into the fourth Foundation Establishment family, gaining the opportunity to pay direct tribute to the Xiaoyao Sect.

The dozens of Qi Refinement families, large and small like the Song family, were ostensibly vassal families to these four Foundation Establishment families. Every year, they had to hand over large quantities of spirit rice in exchange for the protection of these Foundation Establishment families. The Song family, to which Song Qingming belonged, was a vassal Qi Refinement family under the Foundation Establishment Huang family.

Among the four Foundation Establishment families, the Huang family was currently the strongest, possessing three Foundation Establishment cultivators. The clan leader, Huang Shengxin, was at the seventh level of Foundation Establishment and was the only late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator in all of Qinghe County. The Huang family was also an established, old-line Foundation Establishment family; their lineage of Foundation Establishment cultivators had not been interrupted for nearly a thousand years, making them the undisputed overlords of Qinghe County.

The Gao family was originally on par with the Huang family, but over twenty years ago, the previous clan leader—a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator—had died unexpectedly while traveling to visit an ancient cultivator's cave at someone's invitation. This caused a massive loss of strength for the Gao family, leaving them with only one mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator today.

The Lu family was in a similar situation to the newly established Qian family; both had only ascended to Foundation Establishment status in recent decades. In terms of family heritage, they lagged far behind the Huang and Gao families.

The four Foundation Establishment families had a total of six Foundation Establishment cultivators. Including the one Foundation Establishment cultivator dispatched by the Xiaoyao Sect to guard and manage Qinghe Market, there were seven permanent Foundation Establishment cultivators in Qinghe County.

Hearing of Qian Guangyao's successful foundation establishment, Song Qingming felt a surge of emotion. Becoming a Foundation Establishment cultivator not only granted the ability to fly and traverse the earth but also doubled one's lifespan. This was a dream for countless cultivators, and naturally, it included him.

The Song family had also added one more cultivator over the past two years: Song Qingwen, ranked eleventh in the "Qing" generation. He possessed a five-element spiritual root aptitude and hailed from a small village subordinate to Mujiao Town.

With two new cultivators added in two years, the Song family was experiencing a streak of good fortune. The Fourth Elder, who managed the family's internal affairs, even issued special supplies to allow these two villages to celebrate grandly.

Because of this, work at the Lingyuan Mountain mine was halted for two days, and hundreds of migrant villagers living there took turns surrounding Xiao Yu's parents to celebrate.

Currently, Song Qingyu's family was much like Song Qingming's family had been years ago—one person's success elevating the entire household. Xiao Yu's father had become a mine foreman last year, responsible for managing dozens of miners. He no longer had to descend into the mines personally, and the family had long since moved into a large courtyard bestowed by the clan.

One morning, while Song Qingming was in secluded cultivation, he suddenly received a message from the Second Elder, ordering him to return to Funiu Mountain that day.

Not daring to delay, Song Qingming said his goodbyes to his Ninth Uncle, Song Changxin, and returned to Funiu Mountain alone.

Not long after ascending the mountain, he happened to run into his Thirteenth Uncle, Song Changxiong, who was also heading toward the family's assembly hall.

"Qingming, why have you returned? Are you also going to the assembly hall?" Song Changxiong asked with some surprise upon seeing him.

"The Second Elder summoned me back to the mountain. I don't know what it's about yet," Song Qingming replied truthfully.

"The Sixth Brother summoned you? Could it be that you are part of this mission as well?" Song Changxiong's face showed a strange expression.

"A mission? Your nephew doesn't know. The Second Elder didn't say in his message. Does Thirteenth Uncle know what mission it is?"

"Oh, the Clan Leader accepted an employment mission from the Liu family yesterday. Perhaps you will participate. The Sixth Brother might have other arrangements for you. You'll find out once you reach the assembly hall."

Seeing Song Qingming's confusion, Song Changxiong did not elaborate further, merely urging him to head to the assembly hall together.

At the summit of Funiu Mountain, inside the Song family assembly hall, over a dozen Song family cultivators, including Song Qingming, were seated. They were discussing the employment mission from the Liu family. Besides Song Qingming, another member of the "Qing" generation was present: his Third Brother, Song Qingze.

When he had come to Funiu Mountain six months ago, Third Brother was only at the fifth level of Qi Refinement. Unexpectedly, after six months of not seeing him, he had broken through to the sixth level. He truly lived up to his reputation as the most talented cultivator of the Song family's next generation.

Like the Clan Leader, Song Qingze practiced the family's only Foundation Establishment technique, the "Crimson Flame Art." Foundation Establishment techniques were far more powerful than the common Qi Refinement techniques and divine abilities they practiced. Currently, Song Qingze's combat abilities were not inferior to any of the elders of the "Chang" generation present. His appearance here was not unexpected to Song Qingming.

However, Song Qingze was somewhat surprised to see Song Qingming there, and he greeted him with a look of confusion.

The Clan Leader, Song Gushan, standing before the group, waved his hand to quiet the discussions once everyone had arrived. He looked at the crowd and loudly announced the purpose of the gathering.

It turned out that the Liu family, another Qi Refinement family in Qinghe County located at Jingyuan Mountain, had posted an employment mission in Qinghe Market a few days ago. They were secretly inviting several nearby Qi Refinement families to hunt a second-grade, low-rank demon beast in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range.

Like the Song family, the Liu family was a vassal of the Foundation Establishment Huang family. They were a relatively established cultivation family in Qinghe County, having existed for nearly four hundred years. With over forty cultivators in the clan, their heritage was much stronger than that of a family like the Song family, which had only existed for two hundred years. It was precisely because of this strength that they had the confidence to target a second-grade demon beast.

The grading of demon beasts followed the same logic as human cultivator realms. A second-grade, low-rank demon beast was equivalent to an early-stage Foundation Establishment human cultivator, though demon beasts generally developed intelligence much slower than humans.

First-grade demon beasts mostly fought based on instinct. Second-grade demon beasts possessed intelligence roughly equivalent to a ten-year-old human child. In battle against human cultivators, they were often suppressed by various techniques, traps, and formations. Qi Refinement cultivators could use their numbers to activate second-grade formations to defeat a second-grade demon beast of the Foundation Establishment stage.

Conversely, once they reached the third grade—the Core Formation stage—demon beasts possessed high intelligence, could speak human language, and their intellect was essentially no different from an ordinary person. They could no longer be easily trapped by low-level human cultivators using formations; instead, relying on their powerful physical bodies, they actually held an advantage when fighting humans of the same level.

Hiring cultivators from nearby Qi Refinement families to hunt demon beasts was a somewhat rare type of employment mission, but it was not unheard of. For the employer, family cultivators with homes and responsibilities were certainly more trustworthy than wandering rogue cultivators.

Many Qi Refinement families and factions in Qinghe County had issued such missions. Because the Liu family offered a handsome price this time, the Clan Leader and several elders had deliberated and decided to accept the mission.

Normally, such a high-difficulty mission carried high risks. Given Song Qingming's low cultivation level, the family should not have let him participate. However, the Liu family required that any participating family must send at least three formation masters. Since the Song family only had a few such specialists, they had summoned the fourth-level Qi Refinement Song Qingming to make up the numbers.

In the assembly hall, after a period of discussion, the final selection for the mission was quickly decided. The Clan Leader would remain to guard Funiu Mountain, while the First Elder and Second Elder would lead the team.

In addition to the First Elder, Song Gubei, and the Second Elder, Song Changfeng, there were four "Chang" generation cultivators, including Thirteenth Uncle Song Changxiong, as well as Song Qingze and Song Qingming from the "Qing" generation. Half of the Song family's elite forces were being deployed for this mission, making it the largest operation the Song family had undertaken in nearly a decade.

Half a day later, under the leadership of the First Elder Song Gubei, the group of eight Song family members quietly departed Funiu Mountain, heading west toward Qinghe Market.

(End of Chapter)