Qinghe Immortal Clan.

When the large gray bird arrived in front of everyone, Song Qingming's face immediately lit up with a smile. He took the initiative to step forward and gently stroke the "Heavenly Fire Roc" that he hadn't seen for many years.

"It's been many years. I didn't expect that even you have successfully formed your core. It seems that things have changed a lot in the family over the years."

When Song Qingming and his companion left, "Tianhuo Peng" in Funiu Mountain had already reached the peak of Foundation Establishment and was beginning his seclusion to form his core.

Now, thirty years have passed in the blink of an eye, and "Tianhuo Peng" has indeed successfully formed his core, becoming a powerful Golden Core demon king who commands respect from all directions.

Seeing that the monster that Song Qingyu had picked up from the market years ago had achieved such success, Song Qingming and the others showed very gratified smiles.

"Reporting to the Ancestor! Tianhuo Peng had been in seclusion for more than 20 years and only successfully formed his core 6 years ago."

Fortunately, thanks to the elixirs left behind by Ancestor Siyuan, and the fact that the Grand Elder had specially invited Senior Sister Yun from the sect to provide guidance, Tianhuo Peng successfully overcame this hurdle.

"Hmm! Is Yuanfang at home?"

Upon hearing Song Linrui mention the family's Grand Elder, Song Yuanfang, Song Qingming quickly asked a question, to which Song Linrui nodded in response:
"Reporting to the clan leader, the Grand Elder is on the mountain, but he went into seclusion a little over a month ago. I will send someone to deliver a message to him immediately."

The Grand Elder has been constantly thinking of the Clan Chief and the other patriarchs these past years; he would surely be overjoyed to know this.

After nodding in agreement, Song Linrui turned around and cast a spell to open the "Mountain Protection Array" behind him, leading Song Qingming and the others into the array.

It wasn't until she saw Song Linrui casting a spell that Song Qingyu realized that it was because the family had changed the entry and exit techniques of the "Mountain Protection Array" over the years, which was why she hadn't been able to open the array at first.

These must be the rules for changing the "Mountain Protection Formation" technique. They were all set by Song Yuanfang after she left, which almost caused a misunderstanding.

After decades away, the Funiu Mountains have changed somewhat. Many tall buildings have sprung up in various places, making them much more impressive than before.

When Song Qingming and the others returned to the "Meeting Immortals Pavilion" on the mountaintop, Song Yuanfang, who had just received the news, immediately came out of seclusion and arrived at the mountaintop with an excited expression.

Another Golden Core elder of the Song family, Song Yuanhao, was unable to come and pay his respects to Song Qingming and the others who had just returned because he had gone to "Red Cloud Mountain" to guard it.

Despite not having seen him for many years, Song Yuanfang's appearance hadn't changed much.

His cultivation level is still the same as it was back then, still only at the first level of the Golden Core realm.

Upon meeting everyone, Song Yuanfang immediately noticed a difference in Song Qingyu's aura compared to before, and was so surprised that he knelt down in astonishment.

"Yuanfang, congratulations to my great-aunt on achieving the Great Nascent Soul stage!"

Previously, Song Linrui, having only recently formed his core, had a weaker spiritual sense than Song Yuanfang and had not noticed that Song Qingyu had already formed her nascent soul.

Upon seeing Song Yuanfang bow and pay his respects, Song Linrui quickly followed suit and knelt down to offer his congratulations.

Seeing this, Song Qingyu, who was sitting to the side, smiled slightly and immediately waved to the two of them.

"Alright, we're all family, no need for formalities, get up!"

"Yuanfang, Linrui, I haven't informed the sect about Qingyu's return yet. It's fine for the two of you to know this, but don't spread it around for now."

"Don't worry, Chieftain, we understand!"

Upon hearing the instructions from the clan leader Song Qingming, Song Yuanfang and his companion nodded earnestly, though they could not hide their excitement at having just learned of this.

Since Song Qingming achieved Nascent Soul, the Song family has flourished for over a hundred years, becoming the leading cultivation family in Wei Kingdom and even the entire northeastern part of the "Floating Cloud Mountains".

It has only been less than a hundred years since then, and the Song family has already produced a second Nascent Soul Ancestor. This situation is unprecedented in the cultivation world of the "Floating Cloud Mountain Range" for thousands of years.

Even without relying on the "Xiaoyao Sect," the Song family alone could become a top-tier Nascent Soul force in this cultivation world.

As someone who had followed several of his family's ancestors all the way, Song Yuanfang was naturally extremely excited at this moment.

After waving his hand and inviting Song Yuanfang and Song Qingming to sit down, Song Qingming asked them about the events that had happened in the family during their absence.

Upon hearing this, Song Yuanfang, the eldest elder who had been in charge of the family for many years, paused and began to slowly recount the events that had occurred on Mount Funiu after Song Qingming left.

Since Song Qingming and Huang Siyuan left Chiyun Mountain to travel thirty years ago, the biggest events that have happened to the Song family in recent years have naturally been Song Linrui and Tianhuo Peng successfully forming their cores.

Even before Song Qingming left, Song Linrui had already attempted to break through to the Golden Core realm with the support of his family.

In addition, he was a cultivator with two spiritual roots, one of the better spiritual roots in the Song family. His personal talent was no less than that of Song Yuanhao and Song Changze. Therefore, Song Qingming was not too surprised by Song Linrui's successful formation of the core.

In contrast, both Song Qingming and Huang Siyuan were somewhat surprised to see their family's guardian spirit beast, "Tianhuo Peng," reach the Golden Core realm upon their return.

It should be noted that demonic beasts cultivate much slower and find it far more difficult to break through to higher realms than human cultivators.

The bloodline of a demonic beast like the "Heavenly Fire Roc" is considerably inferior to that of Song Qingming's other spirit beast, the "Ice Fire Flood Dragon."

Being able to break through to the Golden Core realm at the age of over three hundred, the cultivation speed of "Heavenly Fire Roc" was indeed somewhat beyond the expectations of Song Qingming and the others.

The reason why "Tianhuo Peng" was able to cultivate so quickly was naturally due to the care that the Song family cultivators had given him over the years, as well as the high-level alchemist Huang Siyuan, who provided him with a continuous supply of various spiritual pills.

Otherwise, if left to live in the wild like other demonic beasts, it would be difficult for "Heavenly Fire Roc" to reach its current cultivation level even after another one or two hundred years.

In just thirty years, the family suddenly gained two more Golden Core cultivators, which naturally made Song Qingming and the other elders very happy.

Besides Song Linrui and "Tianhuo Peng" both reaching the Core Formation stage, the Song family has also gained more than a dozen Foundation Establishment cultivators in recent years with the support of Song Yuanfang and others who have lowered their requirements. The development of several important industries in the family has also been very stable.

Currently, the Song family has as many as seventy Foundation Establishment cultivators, and more than three thousand Qi Refining stage members, including those who have married into the family or become guest elders.

However, in the many years since Song Qingming and the others left, in addition to these newly added junior cultivators, many of the older generation of Song family cultivators have also passed away in their caves.

"May it last forever, may the new era flourish, and may your thoughts be fulfilled!"

Since the Song family's ancestor settled in "Funiu Mountain", six hundred years have passed, and the family genealogy contains twelve generations.

Among them, the cultivators of the first five generations, Wan, Gu, Chang, Qing, and Xin, all grew up during the period when their families were weak. Except for Song Qingming and Song Qingyu, all of them have passed away.

There are not many people in the Song family who can still remember their names nowadays.

By the time of the "Yuan" generation, under the leadership of Song Qingming, Song Qingyu, and others, the family had gradually emerged as a powerful and influential immortal cultivation clan in the northeast of Wei Kingdom.

Therefore, the cultivators of the "Yuan" generation were born during the period when their families were at their peak, and many of them reached the Foundation Establishment stage or even the Golden Core stage.

However, time marches on and years are merciless!
Even for Foundation Establishment cultivators, the lifespan is at most four Jiazi, or two hundred and forty years.

Of the Song family's "Yuan" generation cultivators, apart from Song Yuanfang and a few others who successfully formed their Golden Core, the only remaining Foundation Establishment cultivator, Song Yuanqian, had already exhausted her lifespan and passed away in her cave a few years after Song Qingming left.

Of the family's "Yuan" generation cultivators, only Song Yuanfang, Song Yuanhao, and Song Yuanli, who lives a little-known life outside the family, remain.

Of the cultivators of the "Chang" generation after the "Yuan" generation, apart from Song Changze, who has already formed his core in the East Sea, only Song Changlin and Song Changyue have successfully established their foundation.

Among them, Song Changlin had bad luck after achieving foundation building, and he had already died in the battlefield of the monster turmoil more than a hundred years ago.

The remaining Song Changyue was the daughter of Song Yuanxue, a previous family elder who was over a hundred years old. Her actual age was already similar to that of a cultivator of the "Si" generation.

Currently, Song Changyue is the only "Chang" generation cultivator still alive in the family on the mountain, while the rest have all passed away and been buried in the cemetery behind the mountain.

Among the cultivators of the "Xuan" generation, a relatively large number successfully established their foundation, including eight people: Song Xuanting, Song Xuanqing, Song Xuande, Song Xuanfeng, Song Xuanyu, Song Xuanling, Song Xuanying, and Song Xuanli.

However, the cultivation talent of this generation of cultivators was generally average.

Although many people have successfully established their foundation, only Song Xuanting has attempted to break through to the Golden Core realm so far, and he ultimately failed to achieve the Golden Core stage and was unable to pass this hurdle.

The five cultivators of the "Xuan" generation—Song Xuanting, Song Xuanqing, Song Xuande, Song Xuanfeng, and Song Xuanling—have all either reached the end of their lives or perished on the battlefield.

Of those still alive, only Song Xuanyu, Song Xuanying, and Song Xuanli remain.

However, the fall of one generation of cultivators in the family was accompanied by the growth of the next generation of cultivators.

Today, the three generations of cultivators in the Song family—Lin, Si, and Yu—have long become the backbone of the family, and there is also a new generation of young talents like Song Linrui who have successfully formed their core.

The family's growth remains unstoppable, and they have become the undisputed hegemon of the northeast of Weiguo.

Hearing that the family had developed so smoothly over the years, Song Qingming and the others immediately showed a sense of relief and praised Song Yuanfang and his companion.

"Yuanfang, it seems you've done a good job as the Grand Elder. These past few years, with the few of us gone, the family has indeed had a tough time."

Over the years, we've brought back quite a few things from our travels. Later, you and Yuanhao can each pick one item as a reward from the family.

The remaining spiritual items will be placed in the family's treasure vault for now; you can discuss and decide what to do with them yourselves.

Over the years, Song Qingming and Huang Siyuan traveled extensively, first to the cultivation world of "Donghuang Kingdom," and then spent nearly twenty years in "Xihua Continent." During this time, they acquired a considerable amount of spiritual items needed by their families, including pills, magical artifacts, cultivation manuals, and even a number of "Foundation Building Pills" and Core Formation spiritual items.

These spiritual items are not difficult to obtain in a large cultivation world like the "Eastern Phoenix Kingdom".

However, its importance is far different when placed in the "Floating Cloud Mountains," where spiritual resources are relatively scarce.

Upon seeing the numerous precious spiritual items that Song Qingming had brought out, Song Yuanfang and Song Linrui were immediately overjoyed and quickly put away their storage bags.

After learning about the family's recent situation, Song Qingming inquired about "Red Cloud Mountain" and the surrounding situation of Wei State.

Upon learning that "Red Cloud Mountain" had experienced some ups and downs over the years but remained safe and sound, the last trace of worry in my heart was finally relieved.

In the thirty years since Song Qingming and Huang Siyuan left, "Chiyun Mountain" also developed relatively steadily for the first ten years or so.

However, in recent years, with the once-in-a-century "monster turmoil" approaching, many monsters from the "Northern Frontier" have begun to migrate south.

The "Red Cloud Mountain" that Song Qingming and others seized from the demon race was the first to be affected because its geographical location was deep inside the "Floating Cloud Mountain Range" controlled by the demon race.

In recent years, monsters have frequently attacked the area around "Red Cloud Mountain". A few years ago, a monster army of tens of thousands suddenly marched south to besiege the market.

Fortunately, "Red Cloud Mountain" was well-defended, with a level four "mountain-protecting formation" and a large army of cultivators defending it. The demon beast army was not allowed to break through the formation, and the invaders were successfully repelled when reinforcements arrived.

Nowadays, the "Xiaoyao Sect" also attaches great importance to this, and in recent years has sent a lot more people to "Chiyun Mountain" for defense, including the family's Golden Core Ancestor Song Yuanhao, who was also arranged by the sect to guard the area.

Apart from the relatively turbulent "Red Cloud Mountain", other parts of Wei State were not greatly affected, including "White Dragon Valley" in the north and "Taiyue Ward" in the south.

Although demonic beasts occasionally attack, their scale and impact are far less than those at "Red Cloud Mountain," and they do not pose a significant threat to the "Free and Unfettered Sect."

Besides the invasion of monsters from the surrounding areas, several other major events have also occurred within the territory of Wei Kingdom in recent years.

The first major event was the emergence of a Golden Core family, the Gao family, in Gaoyun County, located in the north of Wei State.

Although the Gao family in this village shares the same name as the Gao family in Lianhuashan, Qinghe County, the two families are not closely related.

The Gao family of Gaoyun County was originally a Foundation Establishment family native to Guyang County. Their ancestors, like the Song family, were cultivators in the Xiaoyao Sect.

After the death of their ancestor, the younger generation of cultivators lost power and had to leave "Guyang Mountain," becoming just an ordinary cultivation family.

Back when Song Qingming had just formed his core, the "Ink Dragon Demon Emperor" led his army of demon beasts south to invade "Gaoyun County".

This resulted in the loss of millions of mortals in the entire "Gaoyun County," and countless cultivation families within its borders were destroyed, turning it into a desolate wasteland.

In order to fill the vacancy left by "Gaoyun County" after the war, "Xiaoyao Sect" relocated many cultivation families and mortals from the relatively densely populated "Guyang County" to "Gaoyun County".

It was around that time that the Gao family migrated from "Guyang County" to "Gaoyun County". At that time, they were just an ordinary Foundation Establishment family.

Unexpectedly, after more than two hundred years of development, the Gao family of "Gaoyun County" has actually cultivated a genius cultivator, Gao Yunfeng.

This person went into seclusion more than ten years ago to try to form a core, and surprisingly succeeded in forming a core and stepping into the Golden Core realm. This also made the Gao family rise to the top and successfully become a Golden Core family.

Now, Gao Yunfeng has become a guest elder of the "Xiaoyao Sect" and leads the Gao family to govern most of the "Gaoyun County", which has made many surrounding cultivation families envious.

It should be understood that although the entire Wei Kingdom is vast, with over a thousand large and small cultivation families, only a handful can become powerful Golden Core cultivators.

Since Song Qingming successfully formed his Golden Core and the Song family was promoted to a Golden Core family, in the past few hundred years in Wei Kingdom, there have been no cultivators who have successfully formed their Golden Core entirely through their own efforts and were not from a Golden Core sect.

There were only Zhou Ziyang and Gao Yunfeng.

It's easy to imagine how difficult it would be for cultivators from ordinary backgrounds to form a golden core!

Originally, the "Xiaoyao Sect" only had four major vassal Golden Core forces: the Song family of "Funiu Mountain", the Zhang family of "Tiexian Fortress", the Zhao family of "Taiyue Lane", and the Hu family of "Baoyuan Peak".

Now, with the addition of the Gao family of "Gaoyun County" led by Gao Yunfeng, and the Zhou family established by Zhou Ziyang of "Yufeng Mountain" who voluntarily submitted to him after the last monster turmoil, there are now six Golden Core vassal families.

In addition, Zhang Rong of "Camel Cloud Mountain", Liang Yuying of "Wandering Cloud Mountain" and Jin Quan of "Heavenly Silver Valley", these three Golden Core forces did not nominally submit to "Free and Unfettered Sect".

However, whenever a major event occurs within the territory of Wei, they also respond to and cooperate with the "Xiaoyao Sect's" call, making them one of the important forces under its command.

Upon hearing about Gao Yunfeng's Core Formation, Song Qingming, Huang Siyuan, and the others looked somewhat surprised, but they didn't pay too much attention to it.

Although the "Gaoyun County" under the Gao family is next to the "Jiangling County", it is not too far from the Song family's territory.

But now that Song Qingming has already formed his Nascent Soul, he naturally wouldn't take the small Gao family in the vicinity seriously, let alone worry about the Gao family's appearance having any impact on the Song family.

Aside from the Gao family of Gaoyun County suddenly advancing to the Golden Core Immortal Clan, the biggest event in the vicinity of Wei Kingdom in the past thirty years was the meteorite that suddenly fell from the sky near the Fuyun Mountains a few years ago.

Upon hearing Song Yuanfang mention this matter, Song Qingming immediately thought of the "Tongtian Order" that they had learned about on their way back not long ago.

Not only in the far west of Changping Kingdom, but also near Wei Kingdom to the east of the Floating Cloud Mountains, several meteorites fell from the sky, prompting many cultivators to venture deep into the Floating Cloud Mountains in search of treasures.

However, what Song Qingming didn't expect was that as soon as Song Yuanfang finished speaking, he carefully took out a "black iron plate" that he was very familiar with and placed it in front of Song Qingming and the others.

Seeing the familiar "Heavenly Decree" appear before their eyes again, not only Song Qingming but also Song Qingyu and Huang Siyuan beside him widened their eyes.

"Yuanfang, how did you obtain this item?"

"Reporting to the clan leader, this item was received by Yu Ping and Si Yue at the White Lion Workshop a few years ago."

At first, we didn't know what this thing was. It wasn't until later, when the sect sent us a document to search for the Heavenly Decree, that we realized that this thing was the very thing the sect was looking for.

Seventh Uncle, rest assured, I have already instructed Siyue and the others to control those who know the truth, and the sect is unaware of this matter yet.

"If it weren't for your timely return, Seventh Uncle, I would have already planned to hand this over."

"Don't worry, clan leader. The elder is telling the truth. We were just unaware of it at first and had no intention of greedily possessing it."

As soon as Song Yuanfang finished speaking, Song Linrui, who was standing to the side, hurriedly spoke up to help explain, fearing that Song Qingming and the others might not believe him.

Seeing this, Song Qingming, who already knew Song Yuanfang well, remained silent for a moment before putting away the "Tongtian Token" in his hand.

"Hmm! I trust Yuanfang to handle things, but this matter is of great importance. To avoid any misunderstandings with the sect, please don't spread it around."

If anyone asks about this item in the future, just say that I found it elsewhere. Don't let it slip.

As for Siyue and Yuping, don't officially award them family merits; just give them some rewards discreetly.

"Rest assured, Ancestor, we understand!"

Upon hearing Song Qingming's arrangements, Song Yuanfang naturally knew what he was worried about and quickly nodded in agreement.

After finishing this matter, Song Yuanfang seemed to remember something and said softly, "By the way, Seventh Uncle, there is something else I don't know whether I should say or not."

"We're all family, what's there to say or not say? Just say what you want to say. If you say something wrong, are we going to blame you?"

Seeing Song Qingming nod calmly, Song Yuanfang continued, "A few years ago, I heard that Senior Sister Xu of the sect had been in seclusion for five or six years, and now Senior Brother Zheng is handling all the affairs of the sect for her."

Senior Sister Xu's cultivation had already reached the peak of the Golden Core realm, and now she has been in seclusion for so long, I guess she may be in seclusion to form her Nascent Soul.

However, regarding Senior Sister Xu's matter, I've only heard rumors and don't know the details. I hope Seventh Uncle won't take offense at my words.

"Yes! I understand. But since this concerns sect secrets, don't speak carelessly when you're away."

Upon hearing the news that Xu Ziyan might be in seclusion to form her Nascent Soul, Song Qingming's expression didn't change much, and he calmly responded.

After chatting with Song Yuanfang for a while, Song Qingming saw that there was nothing else going on at "Funiu Mountain", so he got up to leave.

Compared to the relatively peaceful "Funiu Mountain", Song Qingming was still somewhat worried about "Chiyun Mountain".

After giving a few instructions to Song Yuanfang and the other person, he left Funiu Mountain with Song Qingyu and Huang Siyuan and returned directly to Chiyun Mountain through the teleportation arrays of Chiyanfang and Baishifang.

With a flash of white light, Song Qingming and his companions appeared on the teleportation platform of "Red Cloud Workshop".

Song Qingyu, who was still wearing a mask to conceal her true appearance, couldn't help but say as soon as she stepped off the "teleportation platform": "Seventh Brother is really amazing. It's so much more convenient to come from Funiu Mountain by taking the teleportation array now."

"Hehe! We spent quite a few spirit stones on this back then. I wonder if we've recouped our investment over the years?"

After replying to Song Qingyu beside him, Song Qingming, whose appearance had also changed, led the two behind him away from the "teleportation platform" and into the market ahead. (End of this chapter)