Qinghe Immortal Clan.

Once a cultivator reaches the late Nascent Soul stage, they can attempt to condense a second Nascent Soul and cultivate the technique of creating an external avatar.

An external avatar is different from ordinary puppets or corpse puppets. It is controlled by the second nascent soul of a Nascent Soul cultivator, has independent self-awareness, and can cultivate normally.

Even if the cultivator's main body is not present, the avatar can help him accomplish many things on his own, such as alchemy, talisman making and other immortal cultivation skills, or fighting with others.

The only restriction is that the cultivation level of the avatar cannot exceed that of the cultivator, and once the original cultivator dies or perishes, the avatar will also perish directly.

Back then, Zhao Wuling of the "Wanling Sect", Yuan Luohua of the "Qingyang Sect" in the Tianhai cultivation world, and Lingxu Daoist, Song Qingming's master, all refined their own external avatars.

Moreover, the avatar of Lingxu Daoist had already reached the Nascent Soul stage. When Song Qingming first met him, he was already fascinated by this supernatural power.

Compared to puppets or corpse puppets that lack self-awareness, an external avatar is essentially a clone of a cultivator, far surpassing the former in both strength and potential for growth.

Once nurtured to the Nascent Soul stage, its benefits to oneself far surpass those of an ordinary puppet.

When Song Qingming advanced to the late Nascent Soul stage, he went to the "Ten Thousand Spirits Sect" to attend Zhao Wuling's funeral and also inquired about the secret technique of external avatars that the other party cultivated.

Unfortunately, the secret technique Zhao Wuling cultivated back then was obtained by him through an exchange of spiritual items with a sect in the "Eastern Phoenix Kingdom," and he signed a contract that it must not be passed on to outsiders.

Just as Song Qingming was about to try his luck at other sects that possessed this secret method, Qu Bai, who had awakened from the "Sacred Star Disc," unexpectedly told him that he had a secret method for cultivating an external avatar.

By sheer coincidence, this saved Song Qingming a lot of trouble.

With his divine sense probing the scroll in his hand, a complete secret method for cultivating an external avatar quickly appeared before Song Qingming's eyes.

The secret method given by Qu Bai not only explains how to condense a cultivator's second nascent soul, but also clearly outlines the various materials needed to refine an external avatar.

After a careful glance, Song Qingming realized that most of the required materials listed were familiar to him, and his previously tense expression immediately relaxed.

The main material is only a low-grade fourth-level spirit wood, and there just happens to be one in the herb garden behind the sect. The other third-level materials are not particularly hard to find either.

However, this method of cultivating the second nascent soul actually involves splitting a part of the body from the natal nascent soul and condensing it. It seems to carry a slight risk, so we need to be more cautious.

After withdrawing his divine sense from the scroll, before Song Qingming could speak, Qu Bai, who seemed to notice the worry on his face, immediately smiled and said to him:

"Fellow Daoist Song seems somewhat worried. Do you feel there are some risks involved in condensing a second Nascent Soul?"

"My little scheme cannot be hidden from you, Senior. I wonder if you have any way to avoid these risks?"

Looking at Song Qingming, who was humbly bowing and asking for advice, Qu Bai pondered for a moment and then shook his head, saying, "Cultivating the second Nascent Soul does indeed carry some risks, and there is no way to completely avoid them."

However, you don't need to worry too much. Condensing the second nascent soul only requires dividing a small portion of your natal nascent soul, so it shouldn't have a significant impact on you normally.

If you're worried about your natal spirit being injured, you can prepare a level four tribulation-resolving talisman in advance. Even if your natal spirit is damaged, it will absorb most of the damage.

"A level four Calamity Transformation Talisman, I see. I had forgotten about that. Thank you for your guidance, senior!"

Song Qingming, as a high-level talisman maker, had naturally heard of the "calamity-resolving talisman" that Qu Bai mentioned.

This talisman is a level four defensive talisman, which a Nascent Soul cultivator should carry close to their body to defend against attacks on their natal Nascent Soul.

Although the "Calamity Averting Talisman" is of average effectiveness among fourth-level talismans, some cautious individuals will carry it with them.

Song Qingming still had a lot of high-level talisman-making materials on him, but the "Xiaoyao Sect" did not have the method to make this talisman, so he had to ask other sects for it.

After making up his mind to create an external avatar, Song Qingming immediately ordered his subordinates to start collecting the necessary spiritual items and sent messages to various sects to search for the method of refining the "Cataclysm Transformation Talisman".

Not long after, the Wu Kingdom's "Star Gate" quickly sent someone to reply to Song Qingming.

As a sect that split off from the "Nanyue Sect" of the Huashen Sect tens of thousands of years ago, the Xingchen Sect has the longest history of the existing sect in the entire "Floating Cloud Mountain Range". It just so happens that the sect has the method of refining the Huajie Talisman.

Upon hearing that the great cultivator Song Qingming was searching for the method of refining this talisman, Ye Linyuan personally brought the talisman-making manual to "Red Cloud Mountain".

Seeing that the other party was so willing to help, Song Qingming did not take advantage of them. He not only exchanged his fourth-level spirit talisman crafting method with them fairly, but also gave Ye Linyuan some pointers on the path of cultivation.

Ye Linyuan reached the Nascent Soul stage a little later than Song Qingming, exactly two hundred years after he advanced to the Nascent Soul realm, and his cultivation has now reached the fourth level of the Nascent Soul stage.

Such a cultivation speed is not considered slow among the many Nascent Soul cultivators in the cultivation world of the "Floating Cloud Mountains".

In Song Qingming's view, Ye Linyuan's personal potential seems to be even better than that of Zheng Zitong, the Grand Elder of the "Star Gate" who is already at the sixth level of the Nascent Soul stage.

If one can find an opportunity, there may be a chance to advance to the late Nascent Soul stage in the future.

Having obtained the method to refine the "Calamity Transformation Talisman," Song Qingming began to refine this talisman.

His talisman-making skills had already reached the mid-level of the fourth grade, so refining the low-grade fourth grade "Cataclysmic Transformation Talisman" was not difficult at all, and he drew the talisman without spending much effort.

Just in case of any unforeseen circumstances, Song Qingming took advantage of the extra materials he had and refined an additional sheet.

Once the "Calamity Averting Talisman" was finished, Song Qingming personally went to the sect to exchange for a level-four spiritual item from the "Spiritual Herb Garden".

Now, as a Supreme Elder, Song Qingming receives a lot of sect merits from the Good Deeds Pavilion every year, and has already accumulated hundreds of thousands of merits.

Exchanging for a level four spiritual item was no longer a difficult task for him, and it didn't require consuming any spirit stones.

After receiving Song Qingming's instructions, Zhang Yurong, Song Linyu, and others immediately ordered a search everywhere for the other necessary third-level materials, and quickly collected them all.

After Song Qingming advanced to the late Nascent Soul stage, the status of the "Red Cloud Mountain" market also rose in recent years, surpassing the "Seven Star Market" of Wu Kingdom to become the largest market in the eastern part of the Floating Cloud Mountain Range.

Almost all the sects, large and small, in the eastern part of the "Floating Cloud Mountain Range" have opened shops in "Red Cloud Workshop".

Today, there are over a thousand shops of all sizes in the "Red Cloud Mountain" market. Even level three spiritual items, which were once rare in the "Floating Cloud Mountain Range," are no longer considered particularly rare here.

After gathering all the materials needed to refine his external avatar and preparing the "Cataclysmic Transformation Talisman," Song Qingming immediately entered seclusion again.

After setting up the magic array around him, Song Qingming took a deep breath and cast a spell to release his natal nascent soul.

Soon, a three-inch baby with a face nine-tenths similar to his appeared directly above his head.

With a gentle tap of his hand, his "natal nascent soul" produced a golden talisman that instantly enveloped him in golden light.

Everything is in place; the next step is to begin differentiating the second nascent soul!

".."

While Song Qingming was in seclusion, focusing on refining his external avatar, a grand event was also taking place in the "Red Cloud Market" located at the foot of the mountain, and the entire market began to bustle with activity.

Nearly twenty years have passed since the "monster turmoil," and the cultivation world of the entire Floating Cloud Mountain Range has long since returned to peace.

In the past, whenever the "monster turmoil" ended, the major sects of the Floating Cloud Mountains would take the opportunity to hold a trade fair.

Besides being able to collect large quantities of monster materials and various spiritual items obtained by rogue cultivators and immortal cultivation families during the turmoil,

They can also sell their own refined pills, magic weapons, talismans and other finished spiritual items at the trade fair, and plunder a large amount of spirit stones from those low-level cultivators.

In the past decade or so, many Nascent Soul sects, such as the "Wanling Sect" of the Qin Kingdom in the west and the "Star Gate" of the Wu Kingdom in the south, have held trade fairs in their respective territories.

Seeing that other sects had already made a fortune, "Red Cloud Mountain" naturally couldn't miss such an opportunity.

After receiving permission from the patriarch Song Qingyu, Zhang Yurong, Song Siqing, and others spent several years preparing, and soon the "Chiyun Mountain" market also ushered in its third trade fair.

Compared to the previous two trade fairs, there were significantly more cultivators visiting "Red Cloud Mountain" this time.

More than a month before the official start of the trade fair, thousands of cultivators had already flooded into the market, and many more were still arriving from all around.

The reason for this, apart from the "monster turmoil" in part, is that the biggest influence is on Song Qingming, a newly advanced cultivator.

As the undisputed number one cultivator in the entire "Floating Cloud Mountain Range" cultivation world, Song Qingming has long since become an idol figure in the hearts of many low-level cultivators.

Many of the cultivators who came to Chiyun Mountain to participate in the trade fair did so in order to catch a glimpse of this great cultivator.

Unfortunately, with the "Trade Conference" fast approaching, the gates of Song Qingming's secluded cave, which he had promised to attend, remained tightly shut.

The organizers, Zhang Yurong and Song Siqing, had no choice but to ask Song Qingyu to unveil the conference, which disappointed many cultivators who came to participate in the trade fair.

Fortunately, Chiyun Mountain was quite well prepared for this conference.

Not only did they bring out many good things themselves, but they also invited many chambers of commerce in the market, such as the "Four Seas Business Alliance" and the "Heavenly Pill Alliance," to participate in the preparation of the conference.

Seeing the many precious spiritual items at the trade fair, the cultivators who came to participate in the fair quickly shifted their attention away from their disappointment.

After the free trading sessions of the outer cabinet over the previous few days, the inner cabinet's "auction conference," which had attracted the most attention from cultivators, soon officially began on the west side of Chiyunfang.

The rules of this auction were almost the same as before, except that the number of cultivators participating was more than double that of the previous two auctions.

Fortunately, the three-story pavilion that Song Qingming had built back then was large enough that even if it accommodated thousands of cultivators, it would not feel too crowded.

In addition to the numerous Foundation Establishment cultivators below, there were also more than eighty Golden Core cultivators on the second floor who attended the conference.

Even before the auction began, Zhang Yurong and others had secretly spread the word that many exquisite magical treasures would appear at the event, and most of the Golden Core cultivators sitting on the second floor were there for this reason. On the third floor, in addition to Song Qingyu and Li Xuanyi, the two Nascent Soul elders stationed at "Red Cloud Mountain," another Supreme Elder of the sect, Bai Yuxian, was also present in the pavilion.

Previously, in order to take care of the "Wind Ape" in its Nascent Soul stage, Bai Yuxian had not left the sect for nearly ten years.

Since it was a rare opportunity to attend the trade fair held at "Chiyun Mountain," she secretly brought a few of her disciples to join in the fun.

The most surprising thing was that Chen Yunxiao was sitting on the other side of the third floor.

This Supreme Elder of the Jade Cloud Sect in the State of Lu has rarely appeared in public since the Battle of Lonely Moon Mountain. In recent years, he has been managing his own sect in the State of Lu.

Although the borders of Lu State have been relatively peaceful for the past few decades, the cultivators of the Jade Cloud Sect have not had an easy time in recent years because the spiritual vein of "White Meng Mountain" was destroyed in the great war, and the sect's strength has not yet recovered.

Fortunately, they still possess the large Gengjin mine of "Lonely Moon Mountain," from which they can harvest a considerable amount of spirit stones every year, making the situation much better than it was decades ago.

The fact that Chen Yunxiao would personally come to Chiyun Mountain to participate in the "auction" and even bid on a number of spiritual items was quite unexpected for Song Qingyu and the others.

As soon as the auction began, Song Siqing, who was hosting the auction, appeared before everyone with a radiant level-three spiritual fruit in her hand, instantly causing a stir among the crowd.

"Fellow Daoists, the auction is now officially open!"

".."

As the magical items on the "auction platform" were sold one by one, Song Qingyu, Li Xuanyi, and the others sitting on the top floor also showed smiles on their faces.

In addition to the spiritual items provided by other partner merchants, Chiyun Mountain also brought out a number of precious spiritual items for this "auction," with more than a dozen magic weapons of level three or above appearing on the auction stage.

There are countless other high-level talismans, pills, and similar items.

Moreover, many of these spiritual items were personally crafted by Song Qingming, Li Xuanyi, Song Siqing, and others. Each time one item was auctioned off at a high price, they would receive a considerable amount of spirit stones.

In just two days, the number of spirit stones acquired at the "auction" alone approached one million, which also exceeded everyone's expectations.

On the last day of the auction, just as everyone's attention was focused on the "auction platform" below, a figure suddenly appeared in the third-floor attic.

"Oh! Junior Brother Song, you've arrived."

"Seventh Brother, you've finally emerged from seclusion."

".."

Upon seeing Song Qingming suddenly appear not far away, Bai Yuxian, Song Qingyu, and the others immediately stood up, a look of surprise appearing on their faces.

After everyone was seated, Song Qingming glanced at them before slowly speaking:

"I promised you I would attend the auction, but due to some unforeseen circumstances during my seclusion, I miscalculated the timing and almost missed the event."

Fortunately, with your help, the auction went relatively smoothly. It seems I was just being a bit overly anxious.

"Seventh Brother, you've really been a hands-off manager. These past few days have kept Senior Sister Li and me incredibly busy, entertaining guests, identifying spiritual items, and dealing with all those cultivators who come to visit you."

If Senior Sister Bai hadn't sent people to help, things might have really gotten out of hand.

"Oh! Thank you for your hard work, Senior Sister Bai. I will definitely reward you all well after the conference."

"Hehe! Junior Brother Song, you're too kind. How did your cultivation go after you came out of seclusion?"

Seeing Bai Yuxian looking at him with some curiosity, Song Qingming nodded slightly, then gently raised his hand towards the door, and a young man dressed in a green robe suddenly appeared in front of everyone.

This person looked about 70-80% like Song Qingming, but his gaze was somewhat blank as he looked at everyone.

"This is... Junior Brother Song, could this be the external avatar you've cultivated?"

Previously, when Song Qingming went to the sect to collect cultivation materials, he had told Bai Yuxian about his plan to cultivate an external avatar.

Upon seeing this person who bore a resemblance to him and exuded the aura of a Nascent Soul cultivator, Bai Yuxian immediately guessed the other party's identity and showed a hint of surprise.

Upon hearing this, Song Qingming quickly nodded and said, "Yes! I have made some progress in this seclusion. I have already refined this external avatar."

However, he has not yet cultivated any cultivation techniques or supernatural abilities, and his strength is still somewhat lacking compared to a normal Nascent Soul cultivator.

After nearly two years of seclusion, and after Song Qingming's meticulous refinement, his external avatar has been successfully created.

Apart from encountering some danger when differentiating the natal nascent soul, which was successfully blocked by the "Celestial Talisman," the entire process of refining the external avatar was not too unexpected.

However, his overly cautious approach to casting the spell took slightly longer than he had anticipated.

The avatar that has been refined is currently at the third level of the Nascent Soul stage. As long as Song Qingming uses some spiritual items and pills, there should be no problem in raising it to the middle stage of the Nascent Soul stage.

As for whether he can cultivate to the late Nascent Soul stage or even higher in the future, that depends on Song Qingming's own thoughts.

After all, while having an external avatar can be very helpful to a cultivator, improving their cultivation level also consumes a lot of resources, and not every cultivator is willing to spend too much effort on it.

"It has already reached the third level of the Nascent Soul stage after being refined. This external avatar is truly remarkable. No wonder those great cultivators would try to cultivate this divine ability."

Looking at Song Qingming's avatar before them, Bai Yuxian, Li Xuanyi, and the others all wore expressions of envy, and they also hoped that they could have such a day in the future.

Only Song Qingyu, who cultivated the path of swordsmanship, showed no interest in this. She merely asked with a hint of curiosity:

"Seventh Brother, I heard that avatars have self-awareness. Will this guy be like Little Jin, only listening to you and ignoring us once his cultivation level is high?"

"Don't worry, although the Avatar Technique has self-awareness, it is still controlled by my natal nascent soul and is not a completely independent personality."

As long as I get him to listen to me, he will definitely listen to what I say and will never have any rebellious thoughts.

Besides, if you didn't pick fights with Xiao Jin every other day, it wouldn't be avoiding you every day now!

Since Song Qingming brought back many spiritual items from the "Eastern Phoenix Kingdom" more than a decade ago, not only did Li Xuanyi successfully break through to the third level of the Nascent Soul stage during her seclusion, but Song Qingyu's cultivation also rose to the peak of the third level of the Nascent Soul stage.

In recent years, Song Qingyu has been unable to advance due to a bottleneck in his cultivation, so he often seeks out people to compete and fight, trying to find an opportunity to break through his cultivation.

Besides Li Xuanyi, the most unlucky one was "Ice and Fire Dragon". Even though he was already thick-skinned at the Nascent Soul stage, he was still often beaten black and blue by Song Qingyu's sword light.

In recent years, the "Ice and Fire Dragon" has often hidden in its cave in the back mountain, afraid of being captured by Song Qingyu for a contest.

After rebuking Song Qingyu, Song Qingming gently raised his hand, and his avatar, which was not far away, immediately turned around and left the pavilion.

Everyone's attention quickly shifted to the "auction stage" below, and they continued to watch the auction.

On the last day, the quality of the spiritual items on the "auction stage" was much higher than in the previous two days.

Not only have several powerful Grade 3 high-grade magic treasures appeared one after another, but spiritual items that help break through realms, such as Five Elements Core Formation Spiritual Items, "Jade Dust Pills" and "Foundation Building Pills", have also begun to appear frequently.

Finally, a level-four magic weapon, intended as the grand finale, fetched a staggering price of 200,000 spirit stones and fell into the hands of Chen Yunxiao, who had been preparing for this.

The auction resulted in the sale of over a million spirit stones, which brought a sense of satisfaction to Song Qingming and the others.

After the last item in the "auction" was auctioned off, Song Qingming, a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, made a grand finale appearance on stage to meet everyone.

This can be considered as fulfilling the wishes of many cultivators who came for this purpose.

After the entire trade fair concluded, Song Qingming and the others returned to the mountaintop, their smiles never fading as they looked at the ledgers compiled by Zhang Yurong and the others.

Including the gains from the transactions over the past few days, the number of spirit stones obtained at this conference at "Red Cloud Mountain" has exceeded three million, which is more than the previous two conferences combined.

After deducting the portion of spirit stones that need to be distributed to various merchant partners, the "Red Cloud Mountain" treasury still has a surplus of 1.7 million spirit stones.

After deducting all costs and expenses incurred during the conference, it is preliminarily estimated that Song Qingming and his group have earned as many as one million spirit stones from this trade conference.

Even though he had already become a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, earning so many spirit stones in one go still excited him.

Looking at the numerous spirit stones in the ledger, Song Qingyu and Li Xuanyi were equally excited.

"Seventh Brother, we've earned quite a few spirit stones this time. How should we distribute them?"

"I heard that the Eastern Phoenix Sword Tournament is about to be held. I think we shouldn't distribute these spirit stones yet. Let's save them to participate in the trade fair and see if we can buy some good items there!"

“Yes! We don’t lack spirit stones now, so let’s listen to Junior Brother Song and keep them for now.” Li Xuanyi nodded in agreement upon hearing Song Qingming’s suggestion.

"Then let's listen to Seventh Brother and save these spirit stones for now. I've heard that the Eastern Phoenix Sword Gathering is a once-in-a-century event. I'd like to go and see if I can buy some good stuff."

Seeing that neither of them wanted to distribute the spirit stones now, Song Qingyu didn't say anything more, and the three of them quickly reached a consensus.

After making a fortune of spirit stones at the "Trade Conference," Song Qingming returned to his cave and was still thinking about what useful things he should use those spirit stones to buy.

Unexpectedly, just a few months later, a letter from the East China Sea quickly interrupted his train of thought. (End of Chapter)