Chapter 1296
The Jade Shuttle of Ten Thousand Feet: Establishing Authority Through a Name
"Senior Brother Lin!"
"Elder!"
Seeing that Lin Yuan was trapped by Song Qingming's magic weapon, four other people nearby wanted to go forward to rescue him, but were firmly stopped by Long Ziyun, who was holding the "Azure Dragon Sword".
After Lin Jianfeng finally managed to cast a spell and break free from his opponent,
He could only watch helplessly as his own elder was killed on the spot by Song Qingming, and he was stunned on the spot.
Although Lin Yuan's cultivation level was not as high as Song Qingming's, he was still a peak expert at the ninth level of the Nascent Soul stage.
He also possesses several powerful level-four superior magic treasures and life-saving divine abilities, making him no weakling.
But now, this person with the highest cultivation level in the entire Four Seas Merchant Alliance was easily killed by Song Qingming after only a few dozen rounds of fighting.
This truly surprised everyone present.
Seeing how powerful Song Qingming was, the remaining people instantly lost the courage to fight him and abandoned Long Ziyun, turning to flee the main hall.
The fastest runner was Lin Jianfeng, who had just arrived as reinforcements.
He took a golden talisman and stuck it under his feet, instantly increasing his speed. In a flash, he bypassed Song Qingming's location.
Just as he was nearing the door, thinking he was about to escape,
Unexpectedly, a black thunder tiger suddenly appeared out of thin air not far from him and bit his shoulder.
The next moment, black lightning instantly enveloped Lin Jianfeng's entire body, rendering him unable to move.
"not good!"
Before Lin Jianfeng could break free from the black thunder tiger's entanglement, a powerful pressure had already enveloped him.
The golden sword light pierced through the opponent's body directly. Lin Jianfeng's "Nascent Soul" didn't even have time to escape before it was instantly killed by the "Golden Cloud Light Sword".
The movements were swift and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.
".
Seeing that Song Qingming was blocking the entrance to the main hall, his gaze turned to the other three people in the main hall.
The three elders of the Four Seas Merchant Alliance, led by "Master Yu Yuan," panicked instantly, as if they had been targeted by the Grim Reaper.
"Junior Sister Long, your senior brother is confused."
Previously, I was threatened by Lin Yuan and his group to destroy the Qingyuan Sect. In order to protect the sect, I had no choice but to help him take action against you.
Now that Lin Yuan is dead, Junior Sister has avenged Senior Brother Wang.
Please, for the sake of our Master, give us a chance to atone for our sins.
Now that the Azure Dragon Sword is in your hands, Junior Sister, I am willing to entrust the Azure Origin Sect to you. I will definitely help you reclaim the Merchant Alliance in the future!
“What Senior Brother Yu Yuan said is absolutely right. Over the years, we have been forced to join forces with Lin Yuan and his nephew, as well as the Zhang family, by coercion and threats.”
The Four Seas Business Alliance is in such a state now that we have already failed the late Elder Jin Chen.
"I implore Junior Sister Long to forgive our past transgressions and understand our situation. I am willing to help you return to the Four Seas Merchant Alliance, which would be a way of giving the Grand Elder an explanation."
"Don't worry, Junior Sister Long, I'm willing to help too."
Seeing Song Qingming act like a god of death, easily killing the two leaders, Lin Yuan and Lin Jianfeng.
The remaining three, including "True Man Yu Yuan," dared not confront him and could only turn to Long Ziyun to plead for mercy.
Having witnessed Song Qingming's prowess, it was virtually impossible for the three of them, with their extraordinary abilities, to escape from the main hall.
The culprits, the Lin family uncle and nephew, have already been executed on the spot; they were merely assisting the other side out of necessity.
Perhaps Long Ziyun will remember their past relationship and let them off the hook.
After all, the three of them are elders of the "Four Seas Merchant Alliance". If Long Ziyun wants to take back the alliance in the future, they can still help her to some extent.
Faced with the three people, including "Jade Yuan Zhenren," pleading for mercy, Song Qingming, who was standing at the door, did not choose to take immediate action but simply watched the scene quietly from the side.
Meanwhile, Long Ziyun, holding the "Azure Dragon Sword," calmly approached the three of them.
"Since my senior brothers are willing to help me reclaim the Merchant Alliance, it would indeed be unreasonable for me to not give you any chance at all."
But how can I believe that my three senior brothers are genuinely willing to help me this time, and not that they will turn around and sell me to others?
Okay then! I still have two soul contracts.
"If any senior brother is willing, you can come and sign this contract. Helping me reclaim the Merchant Alliance is a promise you cannot back out of, and it will put my junior sister's mind at ease."
"Soul Contract!"
Upon hearing that Long Ziyun wanted to sign a soul contract with them, the three "Jade Yuan True Man" looked rather grim.
However, their current situation leaves them with absolutely no room for negotiation.
Soon, a gray-robed man standing next to "True Man Yu Yuan" spoke first:
"Junior Sister Long, I am willing to sign a contract with you."
"Junior Brother Jiang, wait a minute!"
After the gray-robed man finished speaking, he was about to step forward when a voice beside him stopped him.
Just as he turned around to look at the other party with a puzzled expression, he was suddenly struck by a dangerous aura from behind, and was quickly blasted away by two powerful forces.
"Senior Brother Yu Yuan, you guys!"
"Junior Brother Jiang, there are only two soul contracts available, so I'm sorry!"
Upon recognizing that the attackers were his two companions, the gray-robed man's expression turned extremely ugly.
However, "True Man Yu Yuan" and another man in green robes didn't care about him at all and rushed directly towards the soul contract that Long Ziyun had taken out.
Just as the two were about to obtain the contract, before they could cast a spell to sign it, two more sharp sword lights flew from behind them.
This directly interrupted the spellcasting of "True Man Yu Yuan" and his companion.
"Hahaha, in the end, you still have to be someone else's dog. Since you two senior brothers like to fight so much, how can I let you have your way?"
The gray-robed man who had just been ambushed, although his cultivation level was lower than that of "True Man Yu Yuan," was now fighting for his life and charged directly at the two of them.
The three of them were instantly locked in combat!
Meanwhile, Long Ziyun watched everything unfolding before her with a calm expression, showing no intention of interfering in their battle.
After the previous internal strife within the business alliance and being hunted down by Lin Yuan and his group,
At this moment, Long Ziyun's mindset is no longer that of the simple woman who was once focused solely on cultivation and the development of the business alliance.
The fundamental reason she did this was because she didn't trust the three people in front of her.
They must be stained with the blood of their own people before Long Ziyun can seize any leverage against them, leaving them no choice but to serve her wholeheartedly.
".
The fight between the three finally subsided after a long time.
Somewhat surprisingly, neither of the two who survived was the "Jade Origin True Person" who had the highest cultivation level.
On the contrary, the cultivator surnamed Jiang and another man in blue joined forces to kill the other party and desperately snatched the soul contract.
However, after a fierce battle, both of them were also seriously injured by "Jade Yuan Zhenren's" counterattack.
Only after the battle in the main hall was resolved did Long Ziyun put away the storage magic artifact on "True Man Yu Yuan" and come to Song Qingming's side.
Meanwhile, Song Qingming was fiddling with the few spiritual items he had just acquired.
Seeing Long Ziyun suddenly take out another "storage magic item" and place it in front of him, Song Qingming looked at her with a hint of surprise on his face.
“This is not my spoils of war, Fellow Daoist Long, there is no need to be so polite.”
"If it weren't for Fellow Daoist Song's help, how could I have returned here? Please don't be shy about this little something."
However, if you see the Merchant Alliance elders and sect tokens inside, please return them to me!
The other spiritual items are a token of gratitude to Fellow Daoist Song for his help.
"Since Fellow Daoist Long puts it that way, I, Song, will not refuse."
Seeing that Long Ziyun insisted on giving him the storage artifact, Song Qingming pondered for a moment and then chose to accept it.
The agreement was to kill only one person, and now he has exceeded the target, so taking more spiritual items is not a loss for the other party.
After receiving the "storage artifact" from Long Ziyun, Song Qingming immediately found a quiet place in the main hall and began to cast a spell to break the restrictions above.
In just half a day, Song Qingming successfully opened all the storage artifacts in his hands and emptied out their contents.
Among the storage artifacts of "True Man Yu Yuan" and Lin Jianlong, Song Qingming only found a few hundred thousand spirit stones, plus a few level four or higher magic treasures and spiritual items.
The total value is roughly a little over one million spirit stones.
For two mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators, this net worth wasn't considered wealthy, but it wasn't exactly poor either.
Song Qingming did not seem too disappointed.
When Lin Yuan opened his "storage artifact," Song Qingming, whose expression had been relatively calm, couldn't help but show surprise upon seeing the spiritual items inside.
When Song Qingming killed Lin Yuan earlier, he acted too quickly and didn't give his opponent much of a chance to retaliate.
This led Song Qingming to believe that the other party didn't have much of a good stuff on them.
It wasn't until he opened his "storage artifact" that Song Qingming suddenly realized he had underestimated his opponent.
Inside the storage artifact, there were at least two million neatly arranged spirit stones.
In addition, Lin Yuan also possessed two high-grade level four magic treasures and a high-grade level four spiritual herb.
There are more than a dozen spirit talismans that are of grade four or higher.
These do not include other spirits of lower rank.
A rough estimate suggests that the "storage artifact" on Lin Yuan's body is worth at least seven or eight million spirit stones.
The contents of this single "storage artifact" are enough to overwhelm one or two ordinary Nascent Soul sects.
Lin Yuan, the Grand Elder of the "Four Seas Business Alliance," possesses a wealth that is truly somewhat terrifying.
Even Song Qingming, who already had no shortage of spirit stones, couldn't help but feel excited and showed a hint of joy on his face.
With so many spirit stones suddenly appearing on his person, he could probably exchange them for many of the spiritual items he wanted.
At least for now, Song Qingming won't have to take spirit stones out of his own pocket to help Li Xuanyi buy one or two "Mystic Spirit Pills".
After taking out the two high-grade level four magic artifacts from Lin Yuan's body, Song Qingming glanced at them.
They are a silver-white spear with wood attributes and a palm-sized, slender wooden magic weapon.
That silver-white spear, named "White Moon Wind-Breaking Spear," is clearly a high-grade, level-four offensive magic weapon.
For Song Qingming, who already possessed the "Golden Palace Cloud Light Sword," a more powerful imitation spiritual treasure, the "White Moon Wind-Breaking Spear" was no longer of much help.
Bai Yuxian, who has always cultivated wood-attribute techniques, is perfectly suited to this magic weapon. We'll give it to her to refine once we get back.
After putting away the "White Moon Wind-Breaking Spear", Song Qingming's gaze quickly fell on another fourth-grade high-quality magic weapon, which he took directly out of his storage magic artifact.
The object before him, resembling a blue wooden plaque, did not appear to be an offensive magical artifact, and for a moment Song Qingming could not discern its origin.
Unable to identify the object, Song Qingming rapidly channeled his magical power into the cyan wooden tablet.
A moment later, the cyan wooden plaque reacted quickly, flying directly into the air and growing dozens of times larger.
Seeing the cyan jade shuttle floating in front of him, Song Qingming finally understood, and a smile appeared on his lips.
"A ten-thousand-foot jade shuttle! This is indeed a fine treasure, but I wonder how powerful it is."
The treasure before them, named "Ten Thousand Feet Jade Shuttle," was clearly a flying boat, a treasure that could be used to speed up a cultivator's journey.
Song Qingming stepped onto the "Ten Thousand Feet Jade Shuttle" and quickly arrived outside the main hall.
Before long, the jade shuttle transformed into a streak of white light and sped away, disappearing into the horizon.
Standing on the "Ten Thousand Feet Jade Shuttle," Song Qingming felt that his escape speed had increased by about 50% to 60% compared to before, and a look of surprise immediately appeared on his face.
In the world of cultivation, flying boats of grade four or higher are extremely rare.
Song Qingming has been cultivating for many years and has participated in at least a dozen large-scale auctions.
The best flying boat he encountered was only at the mid-level of the fourth grade, with a speed similar to the bone boat he was currently using.
The flying boat in front of him instantly increased his speed by 50-60%, and the effect was immediate.
If Song Qingming had had this item under his feet when he was being chased by the white-clad woman from the "True Dragon Clan," his escape wouldn't have been so arduous.
This "Ten Thousand Feet Jade Shuttle," if paired with the "Sacred Star Disc" in Qu Bai's hands that can shatter spatial rifts...
With both treasures fully activated, even against Nascent Soul cultivators who are not skilled in speed-escaping techniques, their speed would be comparable.
For Song Qingming, who might face pursuit from the "True Dragon Clan" at any moment, this treasure was indeed timely.
If he were to encounter the other party again, Song Qingming was confident that he could successfully shake them off.
No wonder when I fought Lin Yuan before, even though he had so many treasures on him, he didn't want to fight me at all and only wanted to run away.
If he were to escape the main hall, with the help of this "Ten Thousand Feet Jade Shuttle," Song Qingming would likely find it very difficult to catch up.
Unfortunately, Song Qingming had already taken precautions against the enemy's escape, using the "Purple Sun Token" to lock the entrance to the main hall, giving the enemy no chance to escape the battlefield.
Otherwise, it would be hard to say what the outcome of today's battle would have been.
Besides the "Ten Thousand Feet Jade Shuttle" and the "White Moon Wind-Breaking Spear," Lin Yuan also possessed a high-grade level four magic weapon, a golden shield with outstanding defensive capabilities.
However, this item had already been cut in half by the "Golden Cloud Light Sword" in the previous battle, and the fragments had been collected by Song Qingming long ago.
I wonder if I can give it to Li Xuanyi for repair when I take it back in the future.
Apart from these few top-grade level four magic treasures, Song Qingming naturally looked down on the other magic treasures of lower grades.
They were all stored away in their storage artifacts, and they would figure out a way to deal with them slowly after returning to Qingyun Mountain.
".
As the light returned, Song Qingming quickly returned to the main hall of "Xuanyun Island".
Several days later, Long Ziyun, who had successfully taken over the "Qingyun Sect", came to the main hall again.
"Fellow Daoist Long, you've come at the right time. I just found these tokens inside. Please keep them safe!"
Upon seeing Long Ziyun arrive, Song Qingming returned the token he had recently found among several "storage artifacts" to her without saying a word.
Seeing the familiar elder token in her hand, Long Ziyun quickly and carefully took it back, her face showing a slight excitement.
After a while, Long Ziyun finally composed herself and turned to look at Song Qingming with a smile.
"Fellow Daoist Song, there's no rush to go back now!"
"Yes! I don't really have anything urgent to do right now."
However, I was only invited by you to help, and now that I have fulfilled my promise to you, it seems it's about time to consider returning home early.
Now that Fellow Daoist Long has successfully avenged himself, will he continue to remain in the cultivation world of "Thunder Origin Sea"?
Or are you planning to go somewhere else?
He had previously promised Long Ziyun that he would help her kill Lin Yuan to avenge her.
Now that Song Qingming has successfully fulfilled his agreement with the other party, there is no need for him to stay in "Lei Yuan Hai" any longer. He can consider returning to Donghuang Immortal Continent ahead of schedule.
Upon hearing that Song Qingming wanted to leave early, a hint of disappointment flashed across Long Ziyun's eyes, and she suddenly fell silent.
"Although Fellow Daoist Long and I are close friends, all good things must come to an end, and we will eventually have to go back."
However, Fellow Daoist Long, rest assured, no matter where you are in the future...
"As long as you are willing to come to Qingyun Mountain to find me, I, Song, will certainly treat you well and will never consider you an outsider."
"It is understandable that Fellow Daoist Song wants to return early, so there is no need to explain too much to me about it."
However, before you leave, Fellow Daoist, Zi Yun has one more request.
"If it's convenient for Fellow Daoist Song, I'd like to make another deal with you."
"Oh! What other deals are there? Fellow Daoist, please tell me."
Having just obtained the "Ten Thousand Feet Jade Shuttle" and numerous spirit stones and treasures, Song Qingming was in an excellent mood and immediately asked Long Ziyun a question.
Upon seeing this, Long Ziyun immediately began to explain:
"I have contacted the headquarters of the Business Alliance in the past few days. They have agreed to reconcile with me and promised to let me inherit the position of Grand Elder."
However, I have just returned and my position in the alliance is still unstable.
Zi Yun wants to ask fellow Daoist for help to accompany me to the headquarters of the Merchant Alliance to serve as a guest elder of the Four Seas Merchant Alliance.
Fellow Daoist, rest assured, from now on you only need to register your name here, the Merchant Alliance will not trouble you with anything.
If Fellow Daoist Song can agree to this, Ziyun is willing to contribute 10% of the Merchant Alliance's profits annually as a token of gratitude for your help.
"Accompanying Fellow Daoist Long to the Merchant Alliance is not difficult, but I don't think it's necessary to serve as a guest elder of your alliance!"
Now, Fellow Daoist Long has avenged his great grudge and eliminated his inner demons.
Advancing to the late Nascent Soul stage in the future should not be a problem.
Otherwise, if I'm just here nominally, and you expect me to take a 10% cut of your alliance's annual earnings of spiritual resources, wouldn't that be taking advantage of you too much?
Upon hearing Long Ziyun's offer to appoint him as a guest elder of the "Four Seas Business Alliance," Song Qingming felt somewhat embarrassed and quickly shook his head.
Seeing this, Long Ziyun quickly spoke up:
"Fellow Daoist Song, to be honest, since our master passed away, there has been constant infighting within the Merchant Alliance."
Zi Yun's plan to reclaim the Merchant Alliance is something she certainly cannot accomplish alone.
The current 10% profit is intended to be used by taking advantage of Fellow Daoist Song's name.
In this way, Zi Yun will be able to regain control of the Merchant Alliance as she wishes, and prevent outsiders from taking advantage of the situation again.
Fellow Daoist Song can earn an extra sum of spirit stones every year simply by registering his name here.
This should be considered a mutually beneficial cooperative transaction for both of us.
Zi Yun earnestly pleaded with fellow Daoist not to refuse, saying that if there was anything she was dissatisfied with, they could discuss it further later.
Although Lin Yuan and his nephew had both died at the hands of Song Qingming, the "Four Seas Merchant Alliance" was originally an alliance composed of multiple sects.
Besides Lin Yuan, there are many other forces inside.
Although Long Ziyun possesses the Grand Elder's token and the last words of the previous Grand Elder, she is nominally entitled to succeed as the Grand Elder of the Merchant Alliance.
However, her cultivation level is still somewhat insufficient, and she has not yet broken through to the late Nascent Soul stage.
For someone like her, winning over the masses will certainly not be easy, and it's likely that she will have a hard time maintaining her position as the Grand Elder.
It was precisely because of this weakness that Long Ziyun went to the expense of spending one-tenth of the entire merchant alliance's profits to invite Song Qingming to serve as a guest elder.
He wanted to use his name to help himself stabilize the situation and successfully take over the position of Grand Elder of the Business Alliance.
After all, Song Qingming's cultivation had already advanced to the half-step Nascent Soul realm.
With such a skilled person serving as a guest elder, even if the other elders might look down on her, they wouldn't dare to offend her easily.
Song Qingming could immediately see through Long Ziyun's intentions.
For Song Qingming, this was probably just a simple matter.
By simply lending your name and making an appearance, you can easily earn a substantial amount of spirit stones every year.
However, for Long Ziyun, whether she can successfully take over the position of Grand Elder is a matter concerning her future path and destiny.
Facing Song Qingming at this moment, Long Ziyun's tone was particularly humble, and even carried a hint of pleading.
"Fine! Since I'm already here in Lei Yuanhai, I might as well go with you again!"
After thinking about it for a while, Song Qingming finally agreed.
"If Zi Yun's wish is fulfilled, I will never forget your great kindness in this lifetime!"
Seeing that Song Qingming had agreed, Long Ziyun's face immediately showed a smile.
Time flies, and half a month has passed in the blink of an eye.
After some communication, Long Ziyun quickly confirmed the date for her to succeed as the Grand Elder.
Soon, she took Song Qingming to the headquarters of the "Four Seas Business Alliance".
Under Long Ziyun's personal guidance, Song Qingming followed her to a place called the Volcanic Sea.
Just as the airship docked at a port on a nearby island, several streaks of light rushed toward it from afar.
The leader was the Jiang man who had narrowly escaped death from Song Qingming and Long Ziyun that day.
"Junior Sister Long, Fellow Daoist Song is very polite. Please come in!"
"Thank you for leading the way, senior brother!"
As soon as I entered the hall, I saw more than a dozen figures.
Upon seeing the Nascent Soul cultivator sitting in the chair, Song Qingming couldn't help but smile slightly. (End of Chapter)