Family Summons

Spring gave way to autumn, and in the blink of an eye, Song Qingming had been at Lingyuan Mountain for two years.

Thanks to the Incomplete Map's special effects, Song Qingming's talisman-making skills improved rapidly. His success rate had now reached fifty to sixty percent. By selling Spirit Talismans, he had saved over a hundred Spirit Stones and had long since repaid the Spirit Stones he had borrowed from Thirteenth Uncle and the others.

With Spirit Stones in hand, Song Qingming naturally began trading his old musket for a cannon and properly arming himself. Not only had he exchanged for several mid-grade talismans at the family's Treasury Pavilion, but he had also picked up a mid-grade Defensive Magic Tool at Caolu Mountain. He was no longer the impoverished young man he had been two years ago.

Gao Yuyao did not come to Caolu Mountain often. Sometimes, several months passed between her visits, but fortunately, their few pill transactions went very smoothly.

With the pills he had traded from Gao Yuyao, Song Qingming's cultivation had now reached the peak of the Fourth Level of Qi Refining. Before long, he was confident he could break through to the Fifth Level of Qi Refining.

Over the past two years, a major event had also occurred in Qinghe County. Half a year ago, Qian Guangyao, the Qian Family Patriarch, successfully achieved Foundation Establishment, becoming Qinghe County's sixth Foundation Establishment Cultivator. The Qian Family consequently soared into the blue skies overnight and advanced into a Foundation Establishment Family.

After a cultivator achieved Foundation Establishment, their Lifespan increased dramatically. Following Qian Guangyao's breakthrough, the Qian Family would enjoy at least two hundred years of prosperity.

Qinghe County had originally possessed only three Foundation Establishment Families. Now that Qian Guangyao had successfully achieved Foundation Establishment, the Qian Family smoothly became Qinghe County's fourth Foundation Establishment Family and gained the opportunity to offer tribute directly to the Carefree Sect.

The several dozen Qi Refining Families of varying sizes, such as the Song Family, were publicly all vassal families of these four great 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 Song Qingming belonged to was a vassal Qi Refining Family under the Huang Family.

Among these four great Foundation Establishment Families, the Huang Family was now the strongest. They had three Foundation Establishment Cultivators in total. Their patriarch, Huang Shengxin, possessed Foundation Establishment Layer 7 cultivation and was the only Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator in all of Qinghe County. The Huang Family was also an old-established Foundation Establishment Family in Qinghe County. Their clan had never lacked Foundation Establishment Cultivators over the past thousand years, making them the unquestioned overlord of Qinghe County.

The Gao Family had originally been roughly as strong as the Huang Family. However, more than twenty years ago, the Gao Family's previous patriarch, a Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator, had accepted an invitation to explore an Ancient Cultivator's Cave Mansion and unexpectedly perished outside. This greatly damaged the Gao Family's strength, and now only one Mid Foundation Establishment Cultivator remained in their clan.

The Lu Family was much like the newly established Qian Family. Both had only advanced into Foundation Establishment Families within the past few decades. In terms of family foundations, they fell far short of the Huang and Gao Families.

The four great Foundation Establishment Families had six Foundation Establishment Cultivators in total. Adding the Foundation Establishment Cultivator dispatched by the Carefree Sect to guard and administer Qinghe Market, Qinghe County had seven resident Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

When Song Qingming heard that Qian Guangyao had successfully achieved Foundation Establishment, his heart stirred as well. Becoming a Foundation Establishment Cultivator not only granted one the power to fly through the skies and burrow through the earth, but also allowed one to enjoy twice as much Lifespan. This was the dream of countless cultivators, and naturally included him.

Over the past two years, the Song Family had also gained another cultivator. He was Song Qingwen, eleventh in the Qing Generation, possessed Five Spiritual Roots, and came from a small village under Mujiao Town.

Two cultivators had joined the family in two years, so the Song Family could be said to have one happy event after another. Fourth Elder, who managed the family's miscellaneous affairs, even distributed supplies specifically so that the two villages could celebrate extravagantly.

For this reason, work at the Lingyuan Mountain mine stopped for two days. Several hundred miner villagers living there took turns surrounding Little Rain's parents to offer their congratulations.

Song Qingyu's family was now just like Song Qingming's family had been back then: when one person attained the Dao, even the chickens and dogs ascended to heaven. Little Rain's father had become one of the mine's overseers last year, responsible for managing dozens of miners. He no longer needed to enter the mines himself, and the family had long since moved into the grand residence bestowed by the clan.

One morning, while Song Qingming was in seclusion cultivating, he suddenly received a message from the family's Second Elder, ordering him to return to Funiu Mountain that day.

Song Qingming did not dare delay. After greeting Ninth Uncle Song Changxin, he returned to Funiu Mountain alone.

Not long after climbing the mountain, he happened to run into Thirteenth Uncle Song Changxiong, who was likewise heading for the family Council Hall.

"Qingming, why have you come back? Are you going to the Council Hall too?" Song Changxiong asked in surprise when he saw Song Qingming.

"Second Elder summoned me back to the mountain. I still don't know why," Song Qingming answered truthfully.

"Sixth Brother called you back? Could it be that you're involved in this mission too?" A strange look appeared on Song Changxiong's face.

"A mission? Your nephew does not know. Second Elder did not mention it in his message. Does Thirteenth Uncle know what mission it is?"

"Oh, yesterday the patriarch accepted an employment mission from the Liu Family. Perhaps you'll be taking part as well. Sixth Brother may also have other arrangements for you. You'll find out once we reach the Council Hall."

Seeing Song Qingming's face full of confusion, Song Changxiong did not continue explaining. He merely urged him toward the Council Hall.

At the summit of Funiu Mountain, more than a dozen Song Family cultivators, including Song Qingming, stood within the Song Family Council Hall, discussing the employment mission from the Liu Family. Aside from Song Qingming, there was another member of the Qing Generation among them: Third Brother Song Qingze.

When he had come to Funiu Mountain half a year ago, Third Brother had only been at the Fifth Level of Qi Refining. Who would have thought that after half a year apart, he had already broken through to the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining? He truly deserved to be called the Song Family's most talented cultivator of the next generation.

Like the patriarch, Song Qingze cultivated the family's sole Foundation Establishment cultivation art, the Crimson Flame Art. A Foundation Establishment cultivation art was far more powerful than the commonplace Qi Refining cultivation arts and divine abilities they practiced. Song Qingze's combat abilities now did not lose in the slightest to those Chang Generation elders present. His appearance here did not surprise Song Qingming.

Yet Song Qingze was somewhat surprised to see Song Qingming here. With some confusion, he greeted Song Qingming.

Song Gushan, the patriarch standing before the crowd, saw that everyone had arrived. He waved a hand to calm their discussions, looked over those in the hall, and loudly announced the purpose of gathering them.

It turned out that the Liu Family of Jingyuan Mountain, another Qi Refining Family in Qinghe County, had posted an employment mission at Qinghe Market several days ago. They had secretly invited several nearby Qi Refining Families to head together into the Floating Cloud Mountain Range and hunt a Grade 2 Low-grade Demonic Beast.

Like the Song Family, the Liu Family was a vassal family under the Foundation Establishment Huang Family. They were considered one of Qinghe County's more established cultivation families, having been passed down for nearly four hundred years. Their clan had over forty cultivators in total, and their foundations were much stronger than a cultivation family like the Song Family, which had been passed down for only two hundred years. It was precisely because of this that they had the confidence to set their sights on a Level 2 Demonic Beast.

The classification of Demonic Beast levels was the same as that of human cultivator realms. A Grade 2 Low-grade Demonic Beast was already equivalent to a Foundation Establishment Early Stage Cultivator among humans, though Demonic Beasts clearly awakened their intelligence more slowly than humans.

Level 1 Demonic Beasts basically relied on instinct to fight. Level 2 Demonic Beasts possessed intelligence equivalent to that of a ten-year-old human child. When fighting human cultivators, they were often easily suppressed by all manner of techniques, traps, and array formations. Qi Refining Cultivators could even rely on superior numbers to activate a Second-grade Array Formation and defeat a Level 2 Demonic Beast of the Foundation Establishment Realm across realms.

Conversely, once Level 3 Demonic Beasts reached the Core Formation Stage, their intelligence opened fully. They could speak human language, and their intelligence was basically no different from that of ordinary people. They would no longer be easily trapped by low-level human cultivators using array formations. Relying on their own powerful bodies, they instead held the advantage when facing human cultivators of the same level.

Hiring cultivators from nearby Qi Refining Families to hunt Demonic Beasts together was not a common type of employment mission, but neither was it anything strange. To employers, compared to Rogue Cultivators drifting everywhere like fallen leaves, family cultivators with homes and livelihoods were certainly more trustworthy.

Many Qi Refining Families in Qinghe County had issued such missions before. It was only because the Liu Family's offer for this mission was quite generous that the patriarch and several elders, after discussing it, decided to accept the employment mission.

A difficult mission like this naturally carried great risks. Song Qingming's cultivation was not high, and the family should not have let him participate. However, the Liu Family required every family participating in the mission to send at least three Formation Masters. The Song Family only had a few Formation Masters in total, so they summoned Fourth Level of Qi Refining Song Qingming here to make up the numbers.

After a round of discussion in the Council Hall, the final candidates for this mission were quickly decided. The patriarch would remain behind to guard Funiu Mountain, while the First Elder and Second Elder would lead the team on the mission.

In addition to First Elder Song Gubo and Second Elder Song Changfeng, there were four Chang Generation cultivators including Thirteenth Uncle Song Changxiong, as well as Song Qingze and Song Qingming of the Qing Generation. Half of the Song Family's elite had been mobilized for this mission, making it the Song Family's largest operation in nearly ten years.

Half a day later, the group of eight from the Song Family quietly departed Funiu Mountain under First Elder Song Gushan's lead and headed west toward Qinghe Market.