Song Changqiu

"Mm, since you know what you're doing, Fourth Uncle won't say much more. My Spiritual Roots are too poor; I'm no longer so obsessed with the path of cultivation in this life. All I can do is come out and do what little I can for the family. Don't be like me—you must cultivate diligently and strive to contribute more to the family." Song Changqiu looked at his young nephew and spoke with a hint of envy. If he were still as young as Song Qingming, he certainly would not have given up on cultivation so early.

Song Qingming nodded silently. Looking at this Fourth Uncle before him, his heart was filled with mixed emotions. He understood well that the path of cultivation placed far too much emphasis on talent and opportunity. Without the opportunities he had encountered these past few years, he would have been no different from the countless low-level cultivators like Song Changqiu in the Cultivation World—someone with no hope on the path ahead.

Seeing that Song Qingming had fallen silent, Song Changqiu smiled and changed the subject.

"You came this time mainly for talisman-making materials, right? Our family shop usually buys some in as well, but your timing was unfortunate. The Second Elder came to the Marketplace a few days ago, and most of them were handed over to him to take back to Funiu Mountain. You can take a look in the eastern part of the Marketplace. The shops there are larger and have a fairly complete selection of talisman-making materials, pills, and magical artifacts. It's already late today, so stay here for the night. You can go have a look there tomorrow."

"This nephew will trouble Fourth Uncle, then." Song Qingming grinned and cupped his hands toward Song Changqiu.

As the sun set in the west, night soon fell. It was rare for Song Qingming to visit Qinghe Market, so Song Changqiu had the shop close early that day and asked his cultivation partner to prepare a lavish dinner.

Song Changqiu's cultivation partner was named Wang Changhua. She was a Rogue Cultivator in Qinghe Market, and her ancestors had also belonged to a cultivation family in Qinghe County. More than a hundred years ago, the Wang Family had offended another, more powerful family. That family then joined forces with several highly cultivated Rogue Cultivators and destroyed the Wang Family's mountain gate.

Fortunately, the other side had been mindful of the moral codes of the Cultivation World and did not dare implicate mortals. In the end, some of those mortals left without cultivators to protect them scattered among nearby cultivation families, while the rest were relocated to Qinghe Market by Carefree Sect cultivators. Wang Changhua's ancestors had been among them.

Wang Changhua was also a cultivator with Five Spiritual Roots. Because her Spiritual Roots were too poor, she had not been accepted by the Carefree Sect and became a Rogue Cultivator, spending all year drifting about Qinghe Market. That was how she came to know Song Changqiu.

The life of a Rogue Cultivator had never been easy, with Spirit Stones needed at every turn. Wang Changhua also had to look after some of her mortal relatives in Qinghe Market. To live a somewhat better life in the Marketplace, she became Song Changqiu's cultivation partner. The two had now lived together for more than a decade and had given birth to a son and a daughter.

With no hope left on his own path, Song Changqiu placed all his hopes on the next generation. Not only had he taken Wang Changhua as his cultivation partner, he had also taken several concubines in the Marketplace. He already had four or five children, and his life could be considered quite full of flavor.

Now, he only hoped that one or two geniuses with Spiritual Roots would emerge among his children to inherit his mantle.

The dinner Wang Changhua prepared was quite good. Not only had she stir-fried several dishes she excelled at, she had also cooked a pot of Spirit Fish Soup. Spirit fish not only contained abundant Spiritual Energy and benefited cultivation when consumed, but when prepared by a Spirit Chef, they also became a rare delicacy. Song Qingming ate with great relish.

In her early years drifting through the Marketplace, Wang Changhua had learned the craft of a Spirit Chef in order to earn Spirit Stones. Seeing Song Qingming conquered by her cooking, she was greatly pleased. Ever since she and Song Changqiu had gotten together, she had lived in Qinghe Market and had never been very familiar with the Song Family clansmen over at Funiu Mountain. It was rare to have a chance to meet a young Song Family cultivator from Funiu Mountain, so naturally she wanted to make a good showing and win the favor of these younger cultivators, allowing her to have more standing before Song Family cultivators in the future.

Naturally, Song Qingming had not considered Wang Changhua's little thoughts. To him, it was rare to be able to eat such delicious spirit food, so of course he intended to enjoy it properly.

Early the next morning, Song Qingming gave Song Changqiu a quick greeting and headed to the eastern side of Qinghe Market. Listening to the cries of hawkers ringing in his ears, Song Qingming leisurely surveyed the shops lining both sides of the street. Before long, he found a rather large shop that sold talisman-making materials.

Though Qinghe Market could not compare to Guiyun Marketplace, the low-grade materials and pills Song Qingming needed were still not difficult to buy. He first visited several material shops and spent more than a hundred Spirit Stones on enough mid-grade talisman-making materials to last him several months. To avoid drawing attention, all the shops he chose had been opened by Rogue Cultivators.

Buying pills was somewhat more difficult. Alchemists were scarce even among Rogue Cultivators, and most of them had been hired by the major families of Qinghe County. To purchase pills, he could only visit shops opened by local cultivation families. After thinking it over, Song Qingming still found a shop belonging to a family that had rather distant ties to the Song Family and spent thirty Spirit Stones to buy a bottle of Qi Nurturing Pills.

The reason Song Qingming wanted to buy pills was that ever since he had gone to the Floating Cloud Mountain Range, nearly half a year had passed. Gao Yuyao, who had been supplying him with pills for the past two years, seemed to have vanished and had not come to Caolu Mountain again. Song Qingming did not know why.

He did not have many pills left in hand to begin with. Since he had come to Qinghe Market this time, he bought some along the way. If Gao Yuyao truly stopped coming to Caolu Mountain, he would not have to worry about pills for cultivation in the short term.

After spending a little over an hour, Song Qingming easily bought everything he wanted in Qinghe Market. Feeling the Storage Bag at his waist, which was already nearly full, Song Qingming left the last shop with satisfaction.

Song Qingming happily stepped out of the shop's main entrance, ready to leave, when a shop across the street unexpectedly caught his eye.

Though this shop was not large, its location was much better than that of the Song Family's shop. Yet although it was already well into the morning and all the nearby shops had opened their doors to welcome customers, this one was abnormally shut tight, with a sign reading "Closed" hanging outside.

"Liu Clan Spirit Treasure Pavilion... Could this be a Liu Family shop?"

Song Qingming looked at the several golden characters on the shop sign, and his heart immediately tightened. Yet outwardly, he still pretended to remain calm and quickly left the area. Fortunately, the shop had been closed at the time, so no Liu Family cultivators should have noticed him. Still, he could not help feeling nervous and fearful along the way, and he nearly even went the wrong direction.

During the trip to the Floating Cloud Mountain Range a few months ago, he had accidentally obtained the Storage Bag of Liu Tianlong, the Liu Family patriarch. Now that he had seen a Liu Family shop, he naturally felt somewhat guilty, afraid that a Liu Family cultivator would recognize his background.

When he returned to the Song Family shop, Song Changqiu happened to be there. Seeing Song Qingming return, Song Changqiu asked with concern about his purchases of spiritual items. He quickly got his answer from the smile on Song Qingming's face. Uncle and nephew went to find a room in the rear hall and began chatting again. Before long, Wang Changhua personally brewed two cups of Spirit Tea and brought them in.

"By the way, Fourth Uncle, last time I heard the Second Elder say that the Liu Family patriarch of Jingyuan Mountain had died. Is that true? Today, I saw that the Liu Family's shop in the Marketplace was actually closed in broad daylight."

After chatting for a while, Song Qingming casually asked about the Liu Family. If Liu Tianlong really had died as the Second Elder had said, that would be wonderful for him, and he would have one less worry weighing on his mind.

"I heard people in the Marketplace say earlier that their patriarch had been in bad shape ever since returning from the Floating Cloud Mountain Range. Whether he's dead or not isn't quite certain. The Liu Family suffered grievous losses in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range last time. They supposedly lost seven or eight cultivators. I'm afraid they won't be able to recover for over a decade. Liu Tianlong was a remarkable man of his generation. What a pity." Song Changqiu stroked the beard at the corner of his mouth and sighed.

Song Changqiu had always been quite well connected in Qinghe Market, and his sources of information were fairly extensive. Much of the news Funiu Mountain received had been gathered by him in the Marketplace. But not all the information he obtained was true. After all, the Marketplace was a place where all sorts of people gathered, and it was perfectly normal for a few to enjoy exaggerating. Those who received such news still had to judge its truth for themselves.