Chapter 1062
Heavenly Book Assistance, Technique Breakthrough
At the foot of Chiyun Mountain, in the Li family teahouse on the west side of Fangshi Street.
Even though its location isn't on the main street, this century-old teahouse still attracts many customers.
Inside the teahouse, a woman in yellow was busy at the counter, instructing two waiters to attend to the customers.
Not far away by the stove, a man in a yellow robe was intently studying a bamboo scroll containing martial arts techniques. He was so absorbed in it that he didn't even notice the sound of tea boiling beside him.
Hearing the continuous beeping sound from the side, Song Linyu sighed and quickly turned around to the stove, taking down the kettle that had been boiling.
Bai Jingyun, who was sitting in place, immediately sensed the change beside him. He looked up and a slightly apologetic smile appeared on his face.
"I got so engrossed in my thoughts that I almost messed things up again. I've been here for so long, but I still can't seem to fully integrate into this place."
"My husband, I know you have something on your mind, but some things can't be rushed. We have to take it one step at a time."
My master once told me, "Since we're here, let's make the best of it. I believe there's always a way out, and no matter what happens, we'll always find a solution."
Just as Song Linyu was trying to comfort Bai Jingyun, a figure in a green robe arrived at the teahouse entrance, instantly attracting the attention of the two people inside.
"Master!"
Upon seeing that the person who came was none other than his master, Song Qingming, who had been in seclusion on the mountaintop for a long time, Bai Jingyun was so surprised that he thought he was seeing things.
After a moment of stunned silence, he finally came to his senses and quickly followed his wife, Song Linyu, to the entrance of the teahouse.
"Disciple respectfully greets Master, Ancestor!"
"No need for formalities, please come in!"
After her senior sister Li Xuanyi left, this teahouse in the market was left to Song Linyu, who had a master-disciple relationship with her.
To better manage the teahouse, Song Linyu and Bai Jingyun moved directly from Weiguo to "Chiyunfang".
The Bai family, located at "White Lion Ridge," has been entirely managed by one of their descendants who recently achieved Foundation Establishment. The couple has been focusing on Core Formation for the past few years.
After following the two into the teahouse, Song Qingming went to the backyard and sat down at a white stone table that he was very familiar with.
Back when Senior Sister Li Xuanyi was still alive, Song Qingming would often bring Song Qingyu and Huang Siyuan to visit. The four of them would sit around this stone table, enjoying tea and discussing philosophy.
Returning here, it felt as if the scenes in my mind were still vivid, except now Song Qingming was all alone.
Upon seeing that it was their ancestor who had come, Song Linyu and Bai Jingyun quickly served up some freshly brewed spirit tea and some fresh spirit fruits prepared in the shop.
“Master, I originally intended to visit you on the mountain after you came out of seclusion, but I did not expect that this matter would alarm you. I should not have done this, and I beg you to punish me.”
"Hehe! I just came out of seclusion and was just about to go down the mountain for a walk, so I came here to take a look. It has nothing to do with you, so there's no need to feel guilty about it."
Since Jingyun became my disciple, I have focused on my own cultivation and rarely come down the mountain. I have also rarely taken care of you. I am aware of all of this.
Now that you've reached the crucial point of forming your core, I wonder what you two are thinking. Since we're all family here, you can speak frankly with me; there's no need to hold back.
In the letter that Bai Jingyun had sent from the foot of the mountain, although the letter did not contain any specific content, it was only a request to meet him.
However, Song Qingming was quite familiar with the character of his eldest disciple.
Since taking this disciple, Bai Jingyun has rarely sought help from Song Qingming. If it weren't for matters concerning his lifelong path in cultivation, he probably wouldn't have sent a message to request an audience.
Sure enough, after hearing his master see through his thoughts, Bai Jingyun immediately knelt down with Song Linyu, pleading as they spoke their minds.
Bai Jingyun and Song Linyu had already cultivated to the peak of Foundation Establishment several decades ago.
Over the years, the couple relied on their own accumulated spirit stones, as well as the help and support of Song Linyu's master Li Xuanyi and grandfather Song Yuanfang, to exchange for several Core Formation spirit items.
Unfortunately, both Song Linyu and Bai Jingyun failed to pass this hurdle on their first attempt at forming their core.
It wasn't until recent years, when the two had accumulated some spirit stones, that they decided to ask Song Qingming for a chance to form a Core Formation.
“Ancestor, when Master left, he left me some spirit stones.”
My husband and I went to Funiu Mountain a few years ago. We originally wanted to ask my grandfather to help us exchange for a Jade Dust Pill, but he said that the family no longer had any spirit pills.
We're out of options right now, which is why we wanted to ask if you could help us exchange some merit points for Core Formation items at Guyang Mountain.
Upon hearing this, and seeing that Song Linyu still seemed to harbor some resentment towards his grandfather Song Yuanfang, Song Qingming smiled slightly and immediately nodded to the two people in front of him.
“I’ve been away from the family these past few years, and all the affairs of Funiu Mountain have been handed over to Yuan Fang. As the family’s elder, he has to handle everything fairly, and he has a lot of pressure on his shoulders. So please don’t hold any grudges against Yuan Fang.”
Jingyun is my disciple, and you are also a descendant of my Song family. As the ancestor, I cannot ignore this matter, both out of courtesy and reason.
Here's what I'll do: I'll lend you 40,000 sect merit points first. After you go to the sect, ask Linxi for help and see if you can successfully exchange them for Core Formation spiritual items.
If that doesn't work, come back to me. There's always a way to solve this, so don't worry too much.
"Thank you, Ancestor! Thank you, Master!"
Seeing that Song Qingming offered to lend them 40,000 merit points, Song Linyu and Song Qingming, who had been somewhat nervous, quickly stepped forward and knelt down.
Seeing the note that Song Qingming had handed over, Song Linyu and his wife felt as if their hope of forming their core was within reach. They were so excited that they couldn't help but kowtow and thank the ancestor in front of them.
"The path to the Golden Core depends on individual opportunity. Whether it's me, your master, or any other elders, all we can do for you is our best."
Whether you can embark on the path to the Golden Core depends on your future personal fortune; do not be too attached to it.
Neither Bai Jingyun nor Song Linyu were particularly lacking in talent, but for them to embark on the path of the Golden Core was no easy feat for any cultivator.
Song Qingming has already done his best for them. Whether they will have a chance to get through this ordeal depends on whether they have the opportunity.
After handing the notes to Song Linyu and his wife, Song Qingming sat in the courtyard and gave them some pointers on core formation.
He only got up to say goodbye when the tea on the table was all gone.
After leaving Li's Teahouse, Song Qingming did not rush back to the mountaintop, but instead strolled around the streets.
Ever since Zhou Yuquan was exposed for having his disciples collude with merchants to commit fraud and deception.
Song Qingming then arranged for Song family cultivators to take over the market's "enforcement team." The many city-guarding cultivators from the "Tianji Sect" and "Xiaoyao Sect" have also gradually withdrawn from the market in batches over the years.
Currently, apart from Huang Siyuan who is still in seclusion, only five Golden Core cultivators—Song Yuanhao, Song Linrui, Zhang Yurong, Song Siyue, and Zhan Longying—remain on the entire "Red Cloud Mountain" to help manage the entire Ling Mountain Market.
Of these five people, Song Yuanhao, Song Linrui, and Song Siyue are all Golden Core cultivators from the Song family's "Funiu Mountain".
Since Zhang Yurong and Song Yuanhao became cultivation partners, Zhang Yurong is now practically a member of the Song family. Song Qingming naturally doesn't treat her as an outsider and trusts her implicitly.
The remaining Zhan Longying was a Golden Core cultivator who came from the "Floating Cloud Mountains".
Zhan Longying settled in Chiyun Mountain more than a hundred years ago. During the great battle of Chiyun Mountain, facing the perilous situation of the demon army pressing in, he chose to risk staying to help.
After the war, Song Qingming also praised him highly, not only promising him the right to live permanently in "Chiyun Mountain", but also inviting him and many of his disciples to join the "enforcement team" of the market.
Compared to the other Golden Core cultivators of "Red Cloud Mountain", Zhan Longying was a person who was indifferent to fame and fortune and devoted himself to the pursuit of the Dao.
Although he held the title of Elder of the Law Enforcement Hall, he rarely took the initiative to participate in the management of "Red Cloud Mountain".
His choice to lead his disciples to stay in "Red Cloud Mountain" was merely to seek a place with abundant spiritual energy for long-term cultivation, and he had no intention of competing with others for power and profit.
Besides the numerous Golden Core cultivators, after most of the disciples from the "Tianji Sect" and "Xiaoyao Sect" evacuated, there are now only less than eight thousand people left on the "Chiyun Mountain" side.
Among them, the Song family and the cultivators who migrated from Wei State with them numbered only over two thousand.
The rest were all rogue cultivators recruited by Song Yuanhao and others from the Chiyun Mountain market over the years, and a small portion were disciples of Zhan Longying and others.
Although after Song Qingming's adjustments, the number of cultivators guarding "Red Cloud Mountain" is now far less than it was decades ago.
However, with the mutual entanglement of the three major forces eliminated, the entire "Red Cloud Mountain" law enforcement team is now firmly under the control of Song Yuanhao and other Song family cultivators.
Although the number of people and their strength seem smaller, the management of the "Red Cloud Mountain" market is significantly better than before.
As Song Qingming walked down the street, looking at the numerous cultivators coming and going, a look of satisfaction involuntarily appeared on his face.
Today, "Red Cloud Mountain" has long become the number one market town in the northeast of the "Floating Cloud Mountain Range", and the number of cultivators coming and going here is increasing year by year.
Not only "Red Cloud Mountain", but also many surrounding spiritual mountains, now have traces of human cultivators in most places.
Many independent cultivators and cultivators who intend to create immortal cultivation families have come to the vicinity of "Red Cloud Mountain" to purchase spiritual veins, hoping to leave behind their clan's legacy in this area.
As Song Qingming walked along the street, he soon arrived at a familiar shop and strode inside. The shopkeeper of the "Four Seas Merchant Alliance," who was still greeting customers, immediately and respectfully invited Song Qingming, a Nascent Soul cultivator, to a private room on the second floor upon seeing him enter.
"We were unaware of your presence, Ancestor. We have failed to greet you properly and hope for your forgiveness!"
"It's alright. I just happened to be passing by today and remembered that I had something to ask you, so I stopped by to take a look."
Seeing the shopkeeper, who only had the Foundation Establishment cultivation level, looking nervous and somewhat at a loss, Song Qingming quickly waved his hand at him.
"The elders of the alliance have already given instructions. Ancestor, please speak frankly if you have any orders."
"Yes! I was planning to purchase two Level 4 Earth Vein Beads. Could you please inform Elder Long about this? And let me know when you have any news?"
Upon hearing this, Song Qingming nodded slightly and directly stated the spiritual item he needed.
The "Red Cloud Mountain" spiritual vein is only a fourth-grade low-level spiritual vein. When there was only one Nascent Soul cultivator, Song Qingming, the spiritual energy required for cultivation was quite abundant.
However, as Song Qingming's cultivation level gradually improves, and Song Qingyu and the "Ice and Fire Dragon" have successively formed their Nascent Souls, the spiritual energy on the mountain has begun to become slightly insufficient.
If Huang Siyuan successfully forms her Nascent Soul, the spiritual energy left on the mountain will be insufficient for all of them, and they will have to send some back to Mount Funiu to cultivate.
In order to resolve this issue ahead of time, Song Qingming had the idea of further upgrading the spiritual vein grade of "Red Cloud Mountain".
However, upgrading the "Red Cloud Mountain" spiritual vein to the middle level of the fourth grade requires a considerable amount of spirit stones.
According to Song Qingming's own estimate, at least two level-four earth vein beads would be needed, along with an investment of around 800,000 spirit stones, bringing the total cost to over a million.
If Song Qingming were to pay for all these spirit stones by himself, it would be a considerable sum for him as well.
Song Qingming had had this idea in his mind for a long time, but he never dared to discuss it with others until now that the matter was about to be decided, and only then did he begin to prepare for it.
Regardless of when he could upgrade his spiritual veins, Song Qingming decided to get his hands on the two "Earth Vein Beads" first, just in case.
After explaining his requirements, Song Qingming left the "Four Seas Merchant Alliance" and then traveled around "Red Cloud Mountain" for a few days before returning to his mountaintop cave.
After walking for a while at the foot of the mountain, Song Qingming's depressed mood, which had been suppressed for a long time, immediately improved a lot.
Upon returning to his cave, he once again entered the secluded stone chamber and began cultivating the "Heavenly Penetrating Spirit Technique," a skill he had been diligently practicing for many years.
More than a decade has passed since I left the Tower of Babel.
During these ten years, Song Qingming practiced this technique almost every day, except for the occasional inconvenience.
However, even now, the "Heavenly Myriad Spirits Technique" within his body is still at the peak of the first level of the Nascent Soul stage, and he has not yet broken through to the second level of the Nascent Soul stage. His progress is far from as smooth as he had imagined.
After going into seclusion again, Song Qingming quickly entered a meditative state and began to activate the "Heavenly Myriad Spirits Technique" within his body to forge his soul.
Unfortunately, after more than half a month of seclusion, Song Qingming tried several times but still failed to break through the bottleneck of the cultivation technique, and had to give up cultivating this technique again.
Seeing that his cultivation of the "Heavenly Myriad Spirits Technique" was not going well, after resting for a while, Song Qingming took out two "Mysterious Realm Heavenly Books" that he had collected before.
I plan to use these two heavenly books to deduce another set of techniques I created, the "Azure Jade Refining Treasure Technique".
Previously, when he was at the Taixu Sect, Song Qingming had already deduced this technique to the mid-Nascent Soul stage.
Now that his cultivation has reached the sixth level of the Nascent Soul stage, he will need to deduce Chu's subsequent cultivation techniques before he can continue to cultivate the later stages of the Nascent Soul stage.
After covering the "Mysterious Realm Heavenly Book" in front of him with his divine sense, Song Qingming immediately activated his internal cultivation technique, and soon he was enveloped by a light green spiritual energy.
Apart from when he was at the Taixu Sect, Song Qingming, with the help of his master, Lingxu Daoren, advanced his cultivation technique to the mid-Nascent Soul stage.
Over the years, while cultivating, he also frequently tried to deduce the cultivation method and discussed this matter with his senior sister Li Xuanyi many times.
The "Azure Jade Refining Technique" is now not far from being deduced to the late Nascent Soul stage.
In less than half a year, with the help of the "Mysterious Realm Heavenly Book", Song Qingming successfully achieved this goal and smoothly advanced the cultivation technique to the late stage of the Nascent Soul stage.
"I didn't expect it to go so smoothly this time. It seems that this heavenly book is indeed of great help in deducing cultivation techniques. I wonder if it will be useful for cultivating techniques."
After successfully advancing the "Azure Jade Refining Treasure Technique" to the late Nascent Soul stage, Song Qingming suddenly had a flash of inspiration and wanted to try using the "Mysterious Realm Heavenly Book" in his hand to assist him in cultivating the "Heavenly Myriad Spirits Technique".
These two "Mysterious Heavenly Books" can help enhance one's own understanding and can be used to deduce cultivation techniques. Logically speaking, they should also be useful for cultivation techniques with higher difficulty.
With his mind racing, Song Qingming acted immediately, absorbing both "Mysterious Realm Heavenly Books" beside him into his body.
Next, Song Qingming once again activated the "Heaven-Reaching Myriad Spirits Technique" and began to manipulate the infant fire within his body to temper his divine sense.
Once the technique was activated, Song Qingming immediately allocated a portion of his magical power to activate the two "Mysterious Realm Heavenly Books" beside him.
Soon, a golden light appeared on the two "Mysterious Heavenly Books" and shone directly on Song Qingming's divine consciousness.
Under the golden light, Song Qingming clearly felt his originally painful consciousness being enveloped by a warm current of magical power, and his whole body felt warmer, and the pain in his consciousness was also reduced.
"This actually works!"
Upon discovering that the pain of cultivating his technique had lessened considerably after activating the "Mysterious Realm Heavenly Book," Song Qingming was overjoyed and quickly increased the intensity of his cultivation.
After several days of desperate attempts, Song Qingming suddenly felt a burst of spiritual light emanating from his body, and his spiritual sense was also greatly enhanced compared to before.
After so much hard work, I have finally broken through the bottleneck of my cultivation technique and successfully cultivated the "Heavenly Myriad Spirits Technique" within my body to the second level of the Nascent Soul stage.
"Hard work pays off! All that effort has finally been worth it!"
Seeing that he had finally broken through the bottleneck of his cultivation technique that had tormented him for so long with the help of the "Mysterious Realm Heavenly Book", Song Qingming couldn't hide his joy and a smile appeared on his face.
If I had known earlier that the "Mysterious Heavenly Book" could be so helpful to my cultivation, I wouldn't have suffered so much pain all these years.
Thinking about it, Song Qingming couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time, and shook his head inwardly.
However, for Song Qingming, being able to think of this was still a great thing.
With the help of the "Mysterious Realm Heavenly Book", he has at least increased his confidence in cultivating the "Heavenly Myriad Spirits Technique" to the late Nascent Soul stage.
Thinking of this, Song Qingming felt a surge of excitement.
After breaking through the bottleneck in his cultivation technique, Song Qingming recovered his condition slightly and originally intended to continue cultivating for a while longer.
Of course, what he didn't expect was that before he could cultivate for long, a "transmission talisman" suddenly flew in from outside the cave, interrupting Song Qingming who was casting a spell.
After opening the "transmission talisman" in front of him, Song Qingming's initially happy expression quickly disappeared, replaced by a look of seriousness.
After putting down the "transmission talisman," Song Qingming immediately withdrew his magic power, stood up, and left the secluded stone chamber.
Before long, Song Qingming appeared outside Huang Siyuan's secluded cave and met Song Qingyu, who was already waiting there.
At this moment, Song Qingyu's gaze was fixed on the cave not far away, and her expression was rather unpleasant. Even "Crimson Flame," which was following her, was also staring nervously ahead.
Upon seeing Song Qingming approach, Song Qingyu immediately stepped forward and spoke to him:
"Seventh Brother, while I was cultivating today, I suddenly sensed an unusual fluctuation of spiritual energy coming from my sister-in-law's side, so I came to investigate."
That's when I noticed the spiritual energy around her secluded cave had suddenly become very chaotic, something seemed wrong, so I quickly sent you a message."
Upon hearing Song Qingyu's anxious explanation, Song Qingming quickly closed his eyes and released his divine sense. Soon, he also sensed that the spiritual energy around Huang Siyuan's secluded cave was suddenly showing signs of disorder.
Upon sensing this unusual situation, Song Qingming frowned slightly, momentarily at a loss for words.
Over the years, whether it was myself, Song Qingyu, or Li Xuanyi, none of them had ever encountered such an unusual situation when they broke through to the Nascent Soul realm in seclusion.
Thinking of Huang Siyuan, who was still in seclusion inside trying to break through her cultivation level, Song Qingming couldn't help but feel a little more worried.
"How are you, Seventh Brother? Is your wife alright?"
"Don't rush. We can't tell anything yet, and we can't be sure what's wrong with Siyuan. Let's wait and see, and don't jump to conclusions."
Don't worry, even if Siyuan fails this time, it's not a big deal, as long as her life is safe!
Faced with Song Qingyu's anxious expression, even though he was equally anxious himself, Song Qingming still managed to regain some composure and offered her some words of comfort.
Although there is a considerable risk of injury when forming a Nascent Soul, as long as one does not encounter a "Heavenly Tribulation," those who fail are generally not in danger of losing their lives, so the two of them do not need to worry too much about this.
After replying to Song Qingyu, Song Qingming found a place to sit cross-legged in front of Huang Siyuan's secluded cave, preparing to personally oversee the area.
Whatever the outcome, he would wait here for the other party to emerge from seclusion. (End of Chapter)