Qinghe Immortal Clan.

From the very beginning, when Song Qingming learned about the side effects of Song Qingyu's cultivation technique in the Sword Palace, he had been deeply worried about her.

When Song Qingming saw Song Qingyu appear unharmed in front of him, he thought she had overcome the crisis and was safe and sound.

Unexpectedly, she had not yet completed her cultivation. In an instant, Song Qingming's initial relief and worry resurfaced on his face, and he hurriedly asked her anxiously.

Seeing the worry on Song Qingming's face, Song Qingyu quickly explained to him, "Seventh Brother, don't worry, I came here voluntarily."

Actually, I had already successfully trained my sword heart two years ago and had almost mastered this secret technique.

The reason I'm continuing my secluded cultivation here is because I want to draw upon the sword intent left behind by the many predecessors in the Sword Tomb, to comprehend my own sword intent, and to fill the last gap in my body.

"To comprehend one's own sword intent?"

"Qingyu, tell me the truth, is this your real purpose for coming here to cultivate?"

Faced with Song Qingming's earnest question, Song Qingyu remained silent for a moment before nodding slightly: "As expected, I can't hide anything from you, Seventh Brother."

After frankly admitting her true intentions, Song Qingyu sighed and continued:

"Seventh Brother, you know that I have the complete inheritance left by Senior Ling, the most important of which is a sword intent left by him."

In all my years at the Heavenly Sword Pavilion, besides seeking opportunities to form a Nascent Soul, what I've wanted most is to comprehend Senior Ling's sword intent.

The Sword Tomb is filled with the sword intent left behind by countless predecessors, making it the best place for me to cultivate in seclusion.

However, this place is a forbidden area within the sect, and disciples like myself are not allowed to cultivate in the Sword Tomb. That's why I agreed to Senior Liu's request to cultivate the secret method for forging the sword heart, and ultimately stayed here."

"Qingyu, aren't you being a little too reckless? Aren't you afraid that people will see through your intentions?"

"That Lady Yuhua isn't so easy to talk to. What will you do if she finds out?"

Upon hearing Song Qingyu reveal the secret she had been hiding, Song Qingming's expression changed slightly, and he couldn't help but reprimand her.

He had already sensed from his previous interactions with "Madam Yuhua" that she was extremely domineering and could turn on him in an instant.

If the hot-tempered "Madam Yuhua" were to find out that Song Qingyu had used her to enter this place while harboring her own ulterior motives, she would certainly not let the matter rest easily.

Faced with Song Qingming's rebuke, Song Qingyu remained calm and responded with composure:

"Seventh Brother, I know this is a bit risky, but it's my last chance."

Over the years, I have also been practicing the secret techniques that Senior Liu gave me here. If I don't say anything, she won't be able to tell anything from me.

If I can truly comprehend the sword intent that Senior Ling passed on to me here, and use it to make up for the last thing missing in my body, I will be very confident in forming a nascent soul.

Even if Senior Liu finds out about this, he probably won't be able to do anything to me.

Besides, Senior Liu isn't the only one who can make decisions within the Heavenly Sword Pavilion. If things really come to a head, I can simply tell my sect leader about it and go to the Enforcement Hall to accept the sect's punishment.

As long as there's hope of forming a Nascent Soul, I'm not afraid to take these risks.

After speaking, Song Qingyu's eyes revealed a hint of determination, clearly indicating that she had already considered the worst possible outcome.

From the moment he arrived at the "Heavenly Sword Pavilion" until now, Song Qingming has experienced many ups and downs. Looking at Song Qingyu in front of him, he thought for a moment and gradually put away the serious expression on his face.

In any case, the fact that Song Qingyu is safe and sound is the best outcome.

As for what might happen next, we can only consider it slowly and figure out how to deal with it.

After thinking for a moment, Song Qingming raised his head again and continued to speak seriously: "Qingyu, I remember a senior once told me that life's cultivation is like rowing against the current; if you don't advance, you fall behind."

Since you've already made up your mind, I won't try to persuade you any further.

"You can focus on your seclusion and cultivation here. Don't worry about anything else for now. I'll stay at the foot of the mountain and wait for you to emerge."

Faced with Song Qingming's gentle words of comfort, Song Qingyu, who was sitting on the ground, nodded, and then looked at the countless flying swords stuck in the ground beside her.

"Seventh Brother! In the cultivation world, cultivators are as numerous as carp crossing a river, and every generation will produce outstanding talents!"
Even someone as exceptional as Senior Ling faces immense difficulties on his path to enlightenment. Compared to them, our talents are nothing more than broken-winged sparrows or ordinary fish eyes.

However, even a fish eye should have lofty ambitions.

Even if we can't leap over the dragon gate and ascend to immortality, we must still ride the waves and go against the current, so that we may not have lived in vain!

Hearing Song Qingyu's impassioned and eloquent speech, Song Qingming, sitting next to him, was also surprised.

"Qingyu, I will definitely support you as much as possible because you have the determination to brave the wind and waves."

But regardless of success or failure, I hope you won't be too fixated on it. After all, we have a long future ahead of us, and what's meant to be your path and opportunity will come eventually.

"The flowing water does not strive to be first, but to flow endlessly; the grass and trees do not strive to be tall, but to live on continuously."

".."

The two sat and chatted for a while at the bottom of the canyon. Song Qingming left Song Qingyu some spirit stones, pills, and a book on Nascent Soul cultivation that he had collected over the years. Only then did he get up and leave the Sword Tomb.
-
Half a day later, Song Qingming had left the "Heavenly Sword Pavilion" and returned to the inn he rented at the foot of the mountain.

Not long after, Huang Siyuan, having received the news, returned to the inn, her face still showing some worry.

"Husband, how is it? Have you seen Qingyu?"

"Don't worry, I've already met her."

After Song Qingming nodded with a smile, he briefly described how he met Song Qingyu, which dispelled the worry on Huang Siyuan's face.

Upon learning that Song Qingyu was safe and sound, Huang Siyuan, who had been like a sister to her for many years, was naturally very excited.

Unfortunately, Song Qingyu is currently in seclusion and cannot meet with her, so she can only put aside her eagerness to see her for the time being.

"Siyuan, Qingyu is still in seclusion, and it will probably take at least a few more years to see the results. You see, we're staying here to wait for her."

Should we go somewhere else first, and then come back to pick her up?

"Since my husband has already promised to wait for Qingyu, let's not leave Jinjianfang for now."

In case something happens to her, we can at least help her a little.

To be honest, since leaving the Floating Cloud Mountains, we have been traveling around for years and have never stayed in one place for too long.

"This market seems quite nice. Why don't we stay and explore it properly? I was even thinking of renting a small shop to see if I could collect some elixir recipes to take back."

"Alright! Let's open a shop here and wait for Qingyu to come out of seclusion!"

".."

Once they made up their minds, they acted immediately. Soon, Song Qingming found a small shop in a relatively good location in the market.

As a large market town located at the foot of the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain Range, "Golden Sword Town" has been peaceful and quiet for many years, and there are countless cultivators in the market.

The sudden appearance of two outside cultivators, Song Qingming and Huang Siyuan, opening a shop did not cause much of a stir; it was simply a matter of a new signboard appearing on the street.

Huang Siyuan is a high-level alchemist, and Song Qingming is also proficient in the skills of "array formation" and "talisman making".

The shop they opened naturally mainly dealt in these types of spiritual items.

In addition, Huang Siyuan also put up a sign in her shop to buy pill formulas, preparing to collect some pill formulas that were not available in the Floating Cloud Mountains in the "Xihua Immortal Continent" and bring them back to the "Floating Cloud Mountains".

As high-level cultivators who had cultivated for hundreds of years, the two had each run a shop in "Qinghefang" when they had just entered the Dao.

Although the interval has been long now, I still have some experience, and I quickly adapted to the role of shop owner in just a few days.

Spring goes and autumn comes, and four years have passed in the blink of an eye.

On the street west of Jinshanfang, a middle-aged man with a kind face was leading a young couple walking briskly forward.

After the three arrived in front of a shop called "Tingyuxuan", the middle-aged man in front quickly stopped and turned around to look at the two behind him with a respectful expression.

"Seniors, this is a shop that has opened in our market in recent years. The shopkeeper is very fair and honest. You will definitely be able to find what you are looking for here."

"This shop seems a bit too small! Is it really as good as you say, that we can find the spiritual items we need?"

Seeing the young man in front of him looking at the sign with a strange expression, the middle-aged man quickly spoke up:

“Senior, don’t let the small size of this shop fool you. The shopkeeper inside is no ordinary person. If you’re not satisfied once you’re inside, I will definitely return these spirit stones to you.”

"Alright! I'll trust you this once and lead the way."

Seeing the middle-aged man in front of him making a confident promise, the young man in white nodded slightly and followed him into the "Listening to the Rain Pavilion".

As soon as they entered the shop, the three saw a man in a green robe holding a bamboo scroll standing in front of the counter.

Upon seeing a guest arrive, the man in the green robe quickly put down the bamboo scroll in his hand and beckoned a young waiter standing beside him to come over together.

"Gentlemen, what kind of spiritual items would you like?"

He glanced at the man in the green robe in front of him and saw that the man's aura was no weaker than his own. The white-robed man, who had just been arrogant, quickly raised his hand with a calm expression.

"Shopkeeper, does your shop sell Huangyang Pills?"

"Huangyang Pill, may I ask if this fellow Daoist intends to purchase Huangyang Pill for personal cultivation or for healing others?"

The man in the green robe glanced at the two people in front of him, but instead of answering their questions, he asked first, "I bought the Yellow Sun Pill to heal my sister's injuries. Why are you asking this? Is it because this pill isn't sold here?"

Seeing the white-robed man's disappointed expression, the green-robed shopkeeper quickly smiled and waved to the group, saying:
"Hehe! Fellow Daoist, you misunderstand. The Huangyang Pill is still available in our store."

However, your sister seems to cultivate water-attribute techniques. Taking the Yellow Yang Pill, a fire-attribute, extremely yang pill, to heal her injuries will likely be much less effective, wasting a lot of your healing time.

"How did you figure out, fellow Daoist, that I cultivate a water-attribute technique?"

Seeing that the shopkeeper in the green robe in front of her only glanced at her before revealing the attribute of his main cultivation technique, the young woman standing next to the man in white asked a question full of doubt.

The white-robed man standing to the side also looked surprised and said to the shopkeeper Gong Shou in front of him, "Shopkeeper, you really have a good eye. You were able to see the attributes of my sister's cultivation technique at a glance."

I know that the Huangyang Pill is incompatible with her cultivation method, but I can't find any other suitable antidote right now, so I can only use this pill to detoxify her for now.”

Hearing the somewhat embarrassed explanation from the man in white, the shopkeeper in green immediately nodded and replied:
"Fellow Daoists, our shop happens to have a second-grade superior water-attribute elixir that can detoxify, called the Emerald Cloud Pill."

"If this pill is taken to detoxify, this fellow Daoist could save at least two or three years of healing time. Would you two like to consider it?"

"A second-grade superior spirit pill. Shopkeeper, how many spirit stones does this pill cost?"

Upon hearing the shopkeeper in the green robe mention that there were water-attribute antidotes, the two men in white were initially delighted, but then cautiously inquired about them.

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper in the green robe immediately and calmly extended two of his fingers towards the two of them.

"The Emerald Cloud Pill costs two thousand spirit stones!"

"Two thousand spirit stones, that's so expensive!"

Upon seeing the shopkeeper quote a high price of two thousand spirit stones, the two men in white stood there, looking somewhat embarrassed.

"Fellow Daoists, the Emerald Cloud Pill is a second-grade superior spiritual pill. Although two thousand spirit stones is not a low price, it will not be a loss for you to use it on your fellow Daoists."

If you feel that our prices are too high, you are welcome to go and ask elsewhere.

"If you can find it cheaper in the market, I won't charge you a single spirit stone for this pill."

"This, shopkeeper, you've misunderstood. It's not that we don't trust you, fellow Daoist, but we're simply short of funds and can't afford so many spirit stones."

"That's fine. If you two are not too far apart, you can pawn any valuable spiritual items or pill formulas you have on you, or we can buy them directly."

Seeing that the two were having trouble because they couldn't come up with so many spirit stones all at once, the shopkeeper in the green robe didn't look too upset. Instead, he smiled and offered a friendly reminder.

"Oh! Your shop also accepts pill formulas, that's wonderful!"

Upon hearing this, the white-robed man's expression suddenly changed from worry to joy, and he took out a scroll from his person.

A moment later, the white-robed man, having completed the transaction and received the desired elixir, bowed to the shopkeeper before leaving the shop with his companion, beaming with joy.

After the two left, the shopkeeper in the green robe took out a dozen or so spirit stones from the ones he had just received and tossed them to the shop assistant standing nearby.

"Zhou Cheng, you watch the shop for now. When the person who led the way comes back, just give him these spirit stones."

"Don't worry, shopkeeper, I know everything."

The shop assistant who accepted the spirit stones quickly nodded slightly to the shopkeeper in blue, and then watched him go up to the second-floor pavilion.

Upon arriving at the second floor, the innkeeper in his green robe quickly appeared in front of a private room and gently pushed the door open to enter.

"I just received another level-two pill formula. I don't think I've seen it before. I don't know if it will be useful to you."

Huang Siyuan, dressed in plain clothes, saw the prescription that Song Qingming offered her and quickly opened it to take a look.

"The second-grade low-level Cloud Deer Pill is just an auxiliary pill formula that can temporarily enhance a cultivator's strength. It seems a bit of a loss to price it at nine hundred spirit stones."

Faced with Huang Siyuan's puzzled smile, Song Qingming quickly waved his hand and said, "Considering that he was in a hurry to detoxify and heal his sister, we won't hold it against him."

"Oh! My husband is worried about Qingyu again. Has news come down from the mountain?"

Upon hearing what Song Qingming said, Huang Siyuan immediately thought of Song Qingyu, who was still in seclusion on the mountain, and asked with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Song Qingming gently shook his head and said, "It's been so long, and Qingyu still hasn't come out of seclusion. It is indeed a bit worrying."

I asked Zhou Cheng to send another letter yesterday; we should have news soon!

After replying, Song Qingming was about to sit down and have a sip of tea when he suddenly heard footsteps outside. He quickly turned around and went to the doorway.

As soon as I opened the door, I saw Zhou Cheng walking over from not far away with a letter in his hand.

"Shopkeeper, this was sent to you by someone from Yujianlou."

"Okay! You can go now."

Song Qingming had just returned to his room after receiving the letter when Huang Siyuan, who was not far away, immediately walked over with some curiosity.

"My lord, the Imperial Sword Pavilion is looking for you. Could it be that news has come down from the mountain?"

"It's not news from the mountain, it's that Fellow Daoist Liang from Purple Sword Peak invited me to the Imperial Sword Pavilion for an exchange meeting!"

"Strange, this Fellow Daoist Liang rarely goes out. Why would he suddenly send me an invitation to an exchange meeting today? Could it be that he needs to see me about something?"

Song Qingming, his gaze fixed on the letter in his hand, showed a slight look of doubt on his face.

Standing to the side, Huang Siyuan glanced at the letter in front of her and immediately replied, "Anyway, we're just idling around. Husband will find out when we get there!"
-
Even with the moon high in the sky and the night sky above the "Golden Sword Workshop" streets still bustling with people, it was still a lively scene.

Song Qingming walked through the crowd and soon arrived in front of a tall building, where he went straight inside.

A Golden Core cultivator standing at the door saw Song Qingming walk in from outside, and hurriedly stepped forward, bowing respectfully before leading him to a secret room at the back of the building.

As a teleportation array placed in the secret room emitted a white light, Song Qingming's figure soon appeared in a completely unfamiliar house.

"Fellow Daoist Song, you actually arrived just one step later than me. What a coincidence."

Just as the white light around Song Qingming dissipated after he was teleported there, a somewhat aged voice came from ahead.

Looking up, Liang Jianxuan saw the former peak master of "Purple Sword Peak" standing not far away. He took the initiative to walk over and quickly raised his hand.

"Greetings, Fellow Daoist Liang!"

"Fellow Daoist Song, there's no need for such formalities. I thank you for the honor of your presence."

Although four years have passed, the old man is still the same as before. Although he looks like he can't even stand up straight, the aura he exudes is no less than that of Song Qingming in front of him.

After greeting Song Qingming, Liang Jianxuan took the initiative to lead him to a hall not far away that was concealed by a magic array, and then had someone serve him spiritual tea.

"Fellow Daoist Liang, I wonder if you sent me here today because something happened with Qingyu?"

Song Qingming, who had just sat down, glanced around at his surroundings and immediately asked a question.

Upon hearing this, Liang Jianxuan quickly put down his teacup and said, "Fellow Daoist Song, rest assured, Junior Nephew Qingyu is doing well and is currently in seclusion."

I have specially invited you here today, fellow Daoist, mainly to bring you to the exchange meeting so that you can make some new friends.

"Fellow Daoist, please don't be impatient. The others should be arriving soon."

Just as Liang Jianxuan finished speaking, footsteps suddenly came from outside the hall, and a male and a female cultivator walked in from a distance.

The two men were around forty years old, very tall and burly, wearing sleeveless gray cloth shirts with their two thick arms exposed.

The woman was a woman in her thirties dressed in black, very flamboyantly, and followed closely behind the burly male cultivator.

Both of them were at least at the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm, and they looked like a couple with a good relationship.

Upon seeing Liang Jianxuan and Song Qingming sitting not far away, the woman in black walking ahead immediately smiled and stepped forward to bow to the two of them.

"Fellow Daoist Liang, it has been quite a few years since I last saw you. I never expected that you would come in person today. I thought I would run into Fellow Daoist Yuhua instead."

"Hehe! Your courtesy is kind, fellow Daoists. Junior Sister Yuhua just happened to be in seclusion and had no time to spare, so I came out on her behalf to stretch my muscles and bones."

This is Fellow Daoist Song, a distinguished guest from afar. He happens to be staying in the market, so I invited him to come along.

These two are Fellow Daoist Xu and his wife from Xuanlong Valley. They came here specifically to attend our market exchange meeting.

"Oh! No wonder Fellow Daoist Song looks unfamiliar. So you are a cultivator from out of town. Greetings."

Upon hearing Liang Jianxuan's introduction, the woman in black immediately cast a curious glance at Song Qingming.

Seeing this, Song Qingming immediately stood up and cupped his hands in return, saying, "Greetings, Fellow Daoist Xu and Madam Xu!"
"I am a cultivator from Donghuang Immortal Continent. I was fortunate enough to attend this conference today thanks to Fellow Daoist Liang's introduction. I hope you two will take care of me."

"Of course, of course!" The woman in black nodded with a smile and sat down with her companion.

The burly man beside her remained silent throughout, except for the usual greetings to Song Qingming and Song Qingming, as if he didn't like talking much.

After Mr. and Mrs. Xu arrived, footsteps were heard outside the hall, and soon three more people walked in together.

Upon seeing the person leading the group appear before him, Song Qingming, who had just stood up, was momentarily stunned.

"How could it be her?" (End of Chapter)