Chapter 6: Lingyuan Mountain

After leaving Mujiao Town, he cast a Lightness Technique and sped eastward. Now at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, his travel speed using the Lightness Technique was significantly faster than when he was at the early stage. In less than half an hour, he arrived at the foot of Lingyuan Mountain.

Lingyuan Mountain was only a little over a hundred zhang high, making it appear quite inconspicuous compared to the six-hundred-zhang-high Funiu Mountain. Song Qingming arrived at a spot on the mountain shrouded in dense fog. He presented a token to the formation hidden within the mist. Before long, a ripple of spiritual energy emanated from the formation, and the fog began to dissipate, revealing a figure coming out to greet him.

"Second Sister, the Fourth Elder arranged for me to come here to take over your post."

"Little Seven, I didn't expect it to really be you. When Ninth Uncle said you were coming yesterday, I didn't believe it."

Standing before him was a woman in white with her hair tied up in a bun. She was Song Qingwan, the second eldest of the Song family’s 'Qing' generation, and she was also at the fourth level of Qi Refining.

There were currently nine members of the Song family’s 'Qing' generation. Aside from the third eldest, Song Qingze, whose cultivation was outstanding, the talents of the other eight were quite similar—all were four or five-element root cultivators. Thus, their cultivation levels remained relatively close to one another.

For those with the same spiritual root aptitude, the gap in early-stage cultivation is generally not very large. Only those geniuses with exceptional spiritual roots can quickly pull away from ordinary cultivators like them.

Third Brother Song Qingze was the most gifted cultivator of Song Qingming’s generation. As a three-element root cultivator, he was also known as a "True Root" cultivator.

Such cultivators not only cultivate faster but also find it easier to break through the bottlenecks of the Qi Refining stage, making it easier for them to reach the late stage of Qi Refining compared to four or five-element root cultivators like Song Qingming.

In the cultivation world, only one or two out of every ten ordinary cultivators are True Root cultivators. As long as they do not fall prematurely, they can generally reach the late stage of Qi Refining smoothly. These cultivators are the backbone that major sects and families focus on nurturing; if they have sufficient resources, they even have a chance at Foundation Establishment.

Among the more than twenty cultivators in the entire Song family, the best spiritual root aptitude was that of a three-element root cultivator.

As for those with even better aptitude, the dual-attribute root cultivators—also known as Earth Root cultivators—have no bottlenecks before Foundation Establishment and cultivate much faster. They are essentially the "Foundation Establishment seeds" for major sects and cultivation families.

There is also another type of cultivator in the cultivation world known as the Variant Root cultivator, whose spiritual roots are mutated from dual-attribute roots. Their cultivation speed is similar to that of dual-root cultivators, but the former are more formidable in combat and are even rarer.

The most elite cultivators in the cultivation world, the Heaven Root cultivators, are one in ten thousand. In the nearly thousand-year history of Qinghe County, one has never appeared. Legend has it that such Heaven Root cultivators have no cultivation bottlenecks before reaching the Golden Core stage.

Once such a cultivator appears, they are often the target of competition among the top powers in the cultivation world. After all, possessing a Heaven Root cultivator means possessing a potential powerhouse who can reach at least the Golden Core stage.

Although Song Qingwan’s cultivation was not high, she had mastered the art of alchemy, the most difficult of the "Hundred Arts of Cultivation" to inherit, making her a low-grade alchemist. This was the aspect of her that Song Qingming and the others envied most.

Cultivators of all types learn various skills to earn spirit stones and resources: alchemy, talisman-making, artifact refining, formations, spiritual planting, beast taming, puppet making, etc. These are known as the "Hundred Arts of Cultivation," among which the alchemist is the most prestigious.

Alchemists are not only prestigious but also very rare. This is because, compared to other skills, the cost of training an alchemist in the early stages is incredibly high; every alchemist is essentially built upon a mountain of spiritual herbs and immortal medicines.

Song Qingming was now also a novice formation master. He had chosen to become one because, although it was time-consuming to learn, it was the most cost-effective skill in terms of spirit stone investment. Formation mastery was also quite useful when hunting demonic beasts. Because of this, even though his cultivation was not high, his Thirteenth Uncle and the others always liked to bring him along when they went down the mountain to hunt, as he could help set up formations to trap the beasts.

"I didn't expect you to be so diligent, Little Seven. You've caught up to me so quickly. When I was your age, I hadn't even reached the fourth level of Qi Refining yet."

"Second Sister, you flatter me. If you hadn't spent so much time inheriting the family's alchemy, you would likely not be far from Third Brother. The Fourth Elder said yesterday that you are likely returning to go into seclusion to break through your cultivation. We brothers will surely need to rely on you, our alchemist, in the future."

"It's not as fast as he says; I'm still far from a breakthrough. But let's not talk about that for now. I'll take you to see Ninth Uncle first."

The two passed through the mist and walked for a while until they reached a village. Song Qingming saw some of the family's mortals living there; most were the families of the miners working the veins.

Protected by the family cultivators, these people had few worries and most wore happy smiles. Seeing Song Qingming and his sister pass by, they stopped their work to bow.

After passing through the village, a crescent-shaped lake appeared. On one side of the lake stood a two-story building. Song Qingwan led Song Qingming into the building.

In the center of the room sat a square Eight Immortals table, and behind it sat a middle-aged man reading a book. It was Ninth Uncle, Song Changxin.

"Ninth Uncle, Qingming is here."

"Your nephew pays his respects to Ninth Uncle."

Song Changxin put down his book, looked up, and waved his hand, saying, "Since Qingming has arrived, Qingwan, you should go back and pack up. Leave early so the Patriarch and the others don't worry."

Song Qingwan acknowledged this, nodded to Song Qingming, and walked out.

"Patrol the mines twice a day. When there is nothing to do, you may cultivate on the mountain. Do not leave the mountain without my permission."

"Understood, Uncle."

Ninth Uncle, Song Changxin, was a man of few words. Although he only had a four-element root aptitude like Song Qingming, he was a famously diligent cultivator in the family. At only sixty-something, he was already at the seventh level of Qi Refining. He was one of the only four late-stage Qi Refining cultivators in the family, and barring any accidents, he was certain to reach the peak of Qi Refining.

Half a day later, after a simple handover with his Second Sister, Song Qingming chose not to live in the residence she had vacated, but instead tidied up an older courtyard nearby and settled in, beginning his daily routine of patrolling and cultivation.

Before he knew it, half a year had passed. Song Qingming now fully understood every corner of Lingyuan Mountain and had become familiar with the family mortals living there.

Usually, aside from his daily patrols of the mines, supervising the mining progress, occasionally settling small disputes among the mortals, and driving away low-level demonic beasts that wandered into the mountain's outer formations, he was quite busy but also free and at ease.

Over the past six months, Song Qingming felt that his Ninth Uncle trusted him quite a bit. Once he had taught him how to handle daily affairs, he began to seclude himself in the building for ten days or half a month at a time, leaving almost all the affairs of Lingyuan Mountain to Song Qingming. Only when high-level demonic beasts attacked twice, and Song Qingming found it difficult to handle them alone, did he have to ask Song Changxin for help.

Ten years ago, when Song Qingming first arrived at Funiu Mountain, Song Changxin happened to be away traveling. Song Qingming had little contact with this uncle, knowing only that he had spent many years cultivating alone near the dangerous Fuyun Mountain range at Ziyun Mountain, and that his cultivation and experience far exceeded most of his peers in the family.

After Song Qingming arrived at Lingyuan Mountain, he initially sought him out for advice when he encountered cultivation problems. At first, Song Qingming was a bit reserved, but he didn't expect this Ninth Uncle to be a man with a cold exterior but a warm heart, who was very passionate about discussing the path of cultivation.

Over the past six months, he had patiently guided Song Qingming through many of his doubts, and even shared his insights and experiences from hunting and fighting beasts at Ziyun Mountain without reservation.

It had to be said that Song Changxin had some unique insights into cultivation, which benefited Song Qingming greatly during this time, clearing up many of the doubts he had previously held.

One morning, just after returning from patrolling the mines, Song Qingming saw a martial artist who usually guarded the formation running toward him in a hurry.

It looked like another demonic beast had come to harass them.

Qinghe County had been occupied by human cultivators for over a thousand years. After countless purges by generations of cultivators, while there were no longer any Level 2 demonic beasts in the territory, there were still many Level 1 beasts, and many deep, inaccessible mountains remained the territory of beasts.

Lingyuan Mountain was not as quiet as Funiu Mountain or Mujiao Town. Because of its proximity to the beast-infested Yunwu Mountain, while there were no high-level beasts nearby, there were still many low-to-mid-level ones.

Every half month or so, demonic beasts would wander in and harass the area, which was why the family, despite having few cultivators, still required two to be stationed here.

After receiving the report, Song Qingming quickly cast a spell and rushed toward the village entrance.

Before long, he arrived at the formation control point at the village entrance. Several martial artists guarding the formation were nervously watching a massive figure inside. They only breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Song Qingming arrive.

Song Qingming glanced at the massive figure in the formation and said, "Just hold the formation disk here. This is a mid-level demonic beast; you cannot hurt it."

These martial artists were mortals who had practiced worldly martial arts, also known as "Acquired Martial Artists." They held weapons forged with black iron, which could inflict some damage on early-stage Qi Refining beasts.

There were over a dozen such martial artists on Lingyuan Mountain. They were more than enough to deal with ordinary wild beasts, and by working together, they could even put up a fight against early-stage Qi Refining beasts.

However, they were insufficient against this mid-level beast. Pig-type demonic beasts were naturally thick-skinned and tough as iron. Once they reached the mid-level, some would instinctively awaken certain spells. These martial artists were of no help against a mid-level beast, and one careless move could cost them their lives.