Chapter 45: The House is Empty

After leaving Mu Jiao Town, Song Qingming traveled steadily northward.

On this journey of cultivation and experience, Song Qingming was in no hurry to rush. He walked and stopped along the way, making a point to linger and enjoy any interesting sights he encountered. It was the Spring Equinox, a season when all things revive and flowers bloom everywhere; this journey allowed him to witness many beautiful landscapes he had never seen before.

Song Qingming made a silent resolution in his heart: if he were to achieve great success in his cultivation one day, he would surely leave the State of Wei and see the vast expanse of the cultivation world.

During his last trip to the Floating Cloud Mountains, Song Qingming had faced constant peril, leaving him no time to stop and admire the scenery. When returning to Qinghe County from Guiyun Market, he had also rushed his journey to avoid causing his clansmen constant worry about his safety, arriving back at Mount Funiu early without much heart to appreciate the views along the way.

It took him twenty days to cross Pingyang County and change course toward the northwest. By the time he leisurely arrived at Guiyun Market, more than a month had passed. The entrance to the market was the same as it had been three years ago, requiring one to queue for identity verification before entering, though there seemed to be a few more guarding cultivators than before, and the questioning was more detailed than last time.

After entering the market, Song Qingming inquired and learned that a group of demonic cultivators had arrived in the Floating Cloud Mountains in recent years, having already harmed many fellow cultivators. To prevent them from infiltrating the market, the Xiaoyao Sect had increased its patrol intensity.

Demonic cultivators are those who practice eerie and strange techniques from other realms. After practicing these methods, a cultivator's temperament often undergoes a drastic change, leading them to use any means necessary to achieve their goals. Some special techniques even grant bizarre abilities to control others, and some even commit acts that defy the Heavenly Dao, such as blood sacrifices of mortal cultivators.

The cultivators of this realm loathed demonic cultivators with a deep passion. Once a trace of a demonic cultivator was discovered within the State of Wei, the Xiaoyao Sect would often launch a massive campaign to exterminate them completely. However, demonic cultivators were cunning creatures, skilled at hiding among the mountains, wilds, and mortals, often leaving these great sects working in vain.

Song Qingming wandered through Guiyun Market for a while. The market had not changed much from three years ago. He soon arrived at the shop where he had purchased the Taixu Sword, but to his dismay, the scene before him left him feeling quite depressed. The general store where he had bought his magical tool had been replaced by a shop selling various spirit beasts, and the owner had changed to a bearded, middle-aged man.

Song Qingming checked carefully to ensure he hadn't gone to the wrong place before stepping forward to ask, "Boss, may I ask if Fellow Daoist Li, who used to be here, is still around?"

"Fellow Daoist Li? Which Fellow Daoist Li? I don't have any workers surnamed Li here. You must be looking for medicinal pills, right? But he sold this shop to me long ago. If you're looking for him, just head a hundred paces ahead and you'll find him." After speaking, the middle-aged man pointed toward a pill shop diagonally across the street.

"Pills? Wasn't this originally a general store?" Song Qingming looked in the direction he pointed, his confusion deepening.

After spending some time asking around to clarify, Song Qingming finally learned that the "Li Family General Store" had long since been vacated. The shop had already changed hands several times.

Hearing this news, Song Qingming's heart couldn't help but tremble. He had long since experienced the profound mysteries of the Yuxuan Scripture. He had intended to come here to inquire about the identity of the expert who had originally stored the Taixu Sword, but it seemed he had arrived too late; the place was now empty. He wondered if the former shopkeeper had even known that a cultivation technique was hidden within the sword.

Reluctantly giving up, Song Qingming inquired around the surrounding streets. He was not unfamiliar with the master and disciple duo who had run the shop three years ago, but he only knew they were master and disciple and seemed to be rogue cultivators from elsewhere who merely managed this small shop. After asking around the neighborhood, no one knew where they had gone. It seemed that in the short term, it would be difficult to find an answer to this question.

Even if they were worried about him coming to settle a bill, they didn't need to move the entire shop away, did they? Seeing that it was getting late, Song Qingming left the area feeling somewhat dejected and found an inn within the market to stay.

Lying on his bed, Song Qingming continued to ponder the matter. He even began to suspect that the two of them had intentionally hidden the technique within the sword.

Now that he had obtained the inheritance of this technique and felt the wonders of the Yuxuan Scripture, if it truly was an intentional transmission by those two, they could be considered his mentors in the Dao.

The next morning, Song Qingming left the inn early and returned to the market. Following the largest street in the market, he arrived at a plaza on the eastern side. At this time, many cultivators had already gathered in the plaza, some in small groups and others alone like himself, all staring intently at the center of the square.

This was the location in Guiyun Market where cultivator demon-hunting missions were posted. In the center of the plaza stood a tall, circular wall covered in posted missions for hunting demon beasts and purchasing spiritual herbs, along with various types of demon beast information.

From Level 1 demon beasts of the early Qi Refinement stage to Level 2 demon beasts at the peak of Foundation Establishment, any Level 1 or Level 2 demon beast near Guiyun Market was included. The magical powers and divine abilities of Level 3 or higher demon beasts were equivalent to Golden Core cultivators among humans; they generally did not appear near Guiyun Market, as they resided deep within the Floating Cloud Mountains. Naturally, Guiyun Market did not dare to offer bounties for such high-level beasts.

The posted information not only indicated the locations where the demon beasts were active but also detailed their characteristics and weaknesses. It also specifically noted valuable items found on these beasts. This was done to allow cultivators to make necessary preparations before setting out after accepting a mission, ensuring they could complete it more effectively.

To this end, the Xiaoyao Sect had specifically recruited a group of cultivators in Guiyun Market to venture deep into the Floating Cloud Mountains to investigate information on these demon beasts. Specialists would then compile this information and, based on the level and difficulty of the beast, issue bounties in spirit stones on this plaza.

The market had explicit regulations: any cultivator, whether a direct disciple of the Xiaoyao Sect or a mere rogue cultivator, could claim the bounty spirit stones indicated in the mission as long as they successfully completed the task and brought back the required tokens.

Guiyun Market was the largest market in the northern region of the Xiaoyao Sect, with no fewer than a thousand cultivators residing within it, most of whom were rogue cultivators. After accepting missions in the market, these rogue cultivators formed demon-hunting teams of various sizes to venture into the Floating Cloud Mountains, bringing an extraordinary prosperity to Guiyun Market.

The reason Guiyun Market operated this way was to attract more cultivators to hunt demon beasts, thereby reducing the number of beasts in the Floating Cloud Mountains and preparing for potential demon beast unrest in the future.

Before arriving, Song Qingming had already gathered information about the market. His purpose for coming here was to find a place where he could go out to hunt demon beasts to train himself.

After wandering the plaza for a long time, Song Qingming made up his mind. He planned to start by practicing with missions that were relatively simple for him. After selecting a few relatively easy mid-tier demon beast missions, just as Song Qingming was about to walk toward the center of the plaza to accept them, a voice suddenly sounded beside him.

"Fellow Daoist, please wait a moment."

(End of Chapter)