Qinghe Immortal Clan.

"Junior Zhou Daoping, greetings to Senior Song!"

The Zhou Daoping who appeared in front of him was the fiancé of senior sister Li Xuanyi whom Song Qingming met when he visited "Yunlong Mountain" that year.

After they parted in the pavilion that year, the two had not seen each other for decades.

Seeing Song Qingming who had successfully formed a fetus, Zhou Daoping, whose cultivation was still at the Golden Core stage, could not hide his envy on his face. He took the initiative to step forward and bowed to him respectfully.

Seeing this, Song Qingming hurried forward and helped him up.

"Fellow Daoist Zhou and I are old friends. Don't be so polite!"

After standing up, Zhou Daoping hurriedly took out a sealed letter from his body and handed it to Song Qingming.

"This is a letter that my ancestor asked me to deliver to you. I have been told to personally deliver it to you. Please check it."

Song Qingming took the letter, immediately removed the seal on it and opened it.

The content written inside was exactly as he had expected. It was a letter from Li Boying, the ancestor of the Li family, specially sent to invite him to "Yunlong Mountain" to accept an invitation.

A few years ago in the "Qingxin Pavilion" of Donghuang Kingdom, Song Qingming commissioned Li Boying to help refine magic weapons.

Now that so much time has passed, Li Boying specially sent someone to send a letter to invite Song Qingming to come. If nothing unexpected happens, his magic weapon should have been refined as he wished.

After reading the letter in his hand, Song Qingming put it away with a smile on his face, and then slowly said:

“Originally, I should have taken the initiative to visit Yunlong Mountain, but I was busy with my retreat and cultivation recently, and I missed the opportunity without realizing it.

I am really ashamed to have troubled Brother Zhou to make a special trip to deliver the letter.

If you are not in a hurry to go back, please stay here for a few more days. I will make arrangements here and then go to Yunlong Mountain with you."

“Senior Song, you are too polite. I just happened to want to travel to the Floating Cloud Mountain Range to explore the immortal world, so I came here to help.

Now that the letter has been safely delivered to the senior, I have completed my mission and plan to leave Chiyun Mountain tomorrow."

Facing Song Qingming's arrangement, Zhou Daoping simply shook his head and explained, then continued calmly:
"Senior Song, I am here to ask you something.

Is the painting I gave you still with you now?"

When Song Qingming heard Zhou Daoping mention the painting he gave him, he naturally knew what the other party wanted to ask, and the smile on his face suddenly became a little stiff.

After a moment's silence, Song Qingming nodded directly to him, then waved his hand and took out the portrait that had been placed in the storage bag for a long time.

"I feel ashamed for failing to live up to the trust of Brother Zhou in those days!
This painting has been with me all this time, but I'm afraid I can't help you, so why not return it to you, Brother Zhou!"

Although Song Qingming looked calm while speaking and there was nothing unusual on the surface, he was still feeling a little guilty at the moment and his eyes secretly glanced to the side.

"If that's the case, then just go with the flow!"

Faced with the scroll that Song Qingming took out, Zhou Daoping sighed slightly and took it.

Then he turned back into the room and took out several identical scrolls and placed them in front of Song Qingming.

"I came to visit Senior Song this time, but I didn't bring any decent gifts. These are the paintings I drew in my spare time in recent years. I hope you don't mind them."

When Song Qingming first met Brother Zhou, he knew that he was a person who loved painting.

At this moment, facing this sincere gift from him, Song Qingming did not refuse it, but immediately took it in his hands with a generous look.

"Brother Zhou Daoist has come all the way here, which means he thinks highly of me. How can he say he despises me?"

"Senior, you're welcome."

After the two chatted for a while, Song Qingming took Huang Siyuan and left, returning to the cave on the top of the mountain.

Not long after sitting down, Huang Siyuan brewed a pot of spiritual tea and brought it to Song Qingming who was appreciating calligraphy and painting with a happy look on her face.

When you look up, you will see that the landscape depicted in the painting is lifelike, like a fairyland.

Huang Siyuan was instantly attracted by the scenery in the painting and couldn't help but utter an exclamation of admiration.

“My dear, many people have come to visit and give gifts over the years, but this is the first time I have received such exquisite calligraphy and painting. This gift is not inferior to those people’s taste.

As a Nascent Soul cultivator, no matter where Song Qingming was over the years, there was always someone in "Chiyun Mountain" who would take the initiative to come to him and give him gifts to establish friendship with him.

However, these people basically came for their own interests, and most of the things they brought out were common spiritual items such as elixirs and magic weapons.

Although Song Qingming rarely takes advantage of this kind of thing, the two of them have naturally seen a lot of this over the years.

It was the first time that Huang Siyuan saw someone like Zhou Daoping who dared to use his own paintings as a gift, so she couldn't help feeling a little curious.

Hearing this, Song Qingming smiled and nodded slightly.

"Well! This fellow Daoist Zhou is indeed a talented person.

When I first met him, I saw his paintings. With my talent in this area, I am afraid I will never be able to catch up with him in this lifetime.

It is not easy for people like me who practice cultivation to find our own preferences on this path.

I envy Brother Zhou Daoyou for this."

After Song Qingming finished speaking, he put away the landscape painting in his hand, and then handed it to Huang Siyuan who was standing beside him along with several other scrolls of calligraphy and paintings in the storage bag.

"After all, I am still a rough man and cannot appreciate these elegant things. I might as well give them to you!"

Since he started practicing Taoism, Song Qingming's biggest hobby besides practicing is to satisfy his appetite. He is not that interested in things like calligraphy and painting.

He felt it was a bit of a waste to keep these excellent landscape paintings by Zhou Daoping on himself, so he decided to give them to Huang Siyuan, who was more interested in calligraphy and painting.

Seeing that Song Qingming gave her all these calligraphy and paintings, Huang Siyuan did not hesitate to be polite with him. She opened them and began to appreciate them while sipping tea.

While the two were sipping tea and chatting, Huang Siyuan opened one of the paintings and suddenly her expression became a little strange. She looked at Song Qingming who was sitting opposite her with a strange expression.

"Husband, why does this person look exactly like Senior Sister Li?"

"What Senior Sister Li?..."

Hearing what Huang Siyuan said, Song Qingming was slightly stunned.

After looking up, a look of surprise appeared on his face.

The portrait in Huang Siyuan's hand depicted a bamboo pavilion in a lake, with a beautiful and dignified woman in black standing in it.

It was the portrait of Senior Sister Li Xuanyi.

Seeing that the painting that he had just returned to Zhou Daoping suddenly appeared in Huang Siyuan's hands again, Song Qingming's face showed surprise and embarrassment.

"This, oh, why didn't I notice it at the time."

When Song Qingming saw Zhou Daoping taking the portrait from his hand, he thought that the other party had put it away.

He thought the matter was settled, but he didn't notice that Zhou Daoping later returned it together with several other scrolls.

At this moment, facing Huang Siyuan who was looking at him with a puzzled expression, Song Qingming sighed and could only nod to her.

“I heard before that this Daoist Zhou was from Yunlong Mountain, and I always thought I was mistaken.

I didn't expect it was really related to Senior Sister Li!"

Senior sister Li Xuanyi has been living in "Funiu Mountain" for many years and has already had a very good relationship with Song Qingyu and Huang Siyuan.

During this period, the few of them chatted a lot and naturally talked about the past. Huang Siyuan also knew that Li Xuanyi was born in a family of immortal cultivators in "Yunlong Mountain" in Donghuang Country.

When she heard that Zhou Daoping came here from "Yunlong Mountain" to deliver a letter, she felt a little confused.

However, Song Qingming and Li Xuanyi were both in seclusion at the time, and Huang Siyuan didn't know whether Zhou Daoping had any relationship with the Li family, so she had not been able to confirm this matter.

Seeing that Huang Siyuan had already guessed something, Song Qingming no longer concealed it from her and chose to tell her what happened between Li Xuanyi and Zhou Daoping.

Song Qingming told everything without reservation, including the fact that he had met Li Boying by chance in the "Qingxin Pavilion" and asked him to help refine magic weapons.

When Li Xuanyi came to Song Qingming for help, Huang Siyuan and Song Qingyu knew that she had encountered some troubles and had not returned to the family.

However, due to the relationship of "Taixu Sect", there are too many things between Song Qingming and Li Xuanyi that are not convenient for others to know, so she has not specifically asked about this matter over the years.
This time, Huang Siyuan finally learned the truth from Song Qingming. She felt relieved and understood why Li Xuanyi had been staying in "Funiu Mountain".

"Siyuan, Senior Sister Li did me a favor in the past, and this matter concerns her safety. I hope you can understand a little and don't mention Senior Sister's affairs in front of other people in the future.

Otherwise, if the Li family knew that Senior Sister was here, I would be hard-pressed to protect her by myself."

"Don't worry, my husband, I know the seriousness of this matter!

Besides, Senior Sister Li helped us resolve crises several times back then. She is not just your benefactor. Qingyu and I also have to thank her for our kindness.

I didn’t know before that Senior Sister Li was such a strong person. She refused to succumb to fate even after leaving the family alone. Now I admire her even more.

Husband, no matter what, we must do our best to help Senior Sister Li to form a baby from now on, and we must not let the people of the Li family look down on Senior Sister."

Back then, Huang Siyuan was abandoned by the Huang family because of her low status in the family, and had no choice but to become a victim of family marriage.

Now, after hearing about what happened to senior sister Li Xuanyi and knowing that she was also someone manipulated by fate, Huang Siyuan couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for her.

Hearing Song Qingming's instructions, Huang Siyuan nodded immediately, with a firm look in her eyes. After explaining Li Xuanyi's matter to Huang Siyuan, Song Qingming was slightly relieved when he saw that she had no objection.

No matter what choice Li Xuanyi makes in the future, he has promised his master "Taoist Lingxu" to do his best to help her condense her Nascent Soul.

At this critical juncture, Song Qingming didn't want to cause any more trouble.

But no matter how careful you are, sometimes you are bound to be careless over time.

Just like what happened today, fortunately, only Huang Siyuan noticed this, otherwise if the news got out and the Li family came knocking on the door in the future, things would be troublesome.

"Siyuan, during the time I was in seclusion, has Senior Sister Li come out? How is her recovery going?"

After chatting with Huang Siyuan for a while, Song Qingming changed the topic and asked about the news of his senior sister Li Xuanyi's retreat to recuperate.

Nearly four years have passed since Song Qingming returned from the immortal world of "Donghuang Kingdom".

During this period, Senior Sister Li Xuanyi spent most of her time in seclusion healing her injuries, and only occasionally went out to the top of the mountain to get some fresh air.

After these years of seclusion and healing, and with Huang Siyuan finding some healing pills for her in the Tiandan League, Li Xuanyi's injuries have now almost healed.

According to her own estimation, it should take another two to three years for everything to recover.

However, even if his injuries are fully recovered, Li Xuanyi will still need some time to hone his magic power and adjust his condition if he wants to reach the Nascent Soul stage again.

Hearing that Li Xuanyi's injury was getting better, Song Qingming felt relieved. He then asked Huang Siyuan about the family's situation during his retreat in the past few years.

After obtaining a fourth-level "Earth Vein Pearl" from the "Qingxin Pavilion" last time, Song Qingming returned to his family and discussed with Song Yuanfang and others about improving the family's spiritual veins.

However, in order to improve the spiritual vein, in addition to the fourth-level "Earth Vein Bead" and "Spirit Gathering Array", you also need to collect at least 300,000 spirit stones.

This is also not a small amount of money for the Song family.

The hundreds of thousands of spirit stones that the family had accumulated last time had been used by Song Qingming to purchase the "Infant-Nourishing Pill", and there were not many spirit stones left, including the ones he had on him.

Even though Song Yuanfang and others have been frugal and trying to find ways to collect spirit stones in the past few years, the family has only accumulated less than 50,000 spirit stones so far.

It is still a long way from the 300,000 spirit stones needed to upgrade the spirit vein.

Song Qingming was somewhat helpless about this. Although he wanted to get this done as soon as possible, he didn't know how to get the remaining spirit stones.

After thinking hard for a while, Song Qingming took out several third-level inferior "puppet beasts" that he had replaced from his body, and whispered to Huang Siyuan:

"Siyuan, I still have a few level 3 puppet beasts that I can't use for the time being. You can take them to Tiandan City and ask if you can exchange them for some spirit stones.

I will tell Yuan Fang and the others if they can borrow some spirit stones from other places first, so that they can gather enough spirit stones for upgrading their spirit veins as soon as possible."

"My dear husband, you have worked so hard to refine these level 3 puppet beasts. Once you sell them, it will not be easy to buy them back in the future.

It would be better to keep these puppet beasts for now. They will definitely be useful to the family when they encounter demon beast riots in the future."

Seeing Song Qingming taking out the high-level "puppet beast" on his body to exchange for spirit stones, Huang Siyuan's face suddenly showed a trace of reluctance.

You should know that it is not so easy to refine a "puppet beast" above level three, and you can't buy it in ordinary markets.

Normally, when a family or sect obtains this kind of spiritual object, they would store it as family heritage.

However, Huang Siyuan did not know that Song Qingming's "puppet skills" had greatly improved, and she did not know that refining these puppets was not that troublesome for him now.

If an ordinary cultivator wants to refine a "puppet beast" of level three or above, it may take at least two or three years to complete the task after collecting the necessary materials.

But because Song Qingming has the incomplete map to help him quickly recover his magic power, he can shorten this time by five or six times, and he can successfully refine a third-level "puppet beast" in a few months at most.

As long as he can find enough materials, Song Qingming can be at least as good as five or six "puppet masters" of the same level, and refining these high-level puppets is not a big problem at all.

Facing Huang Siyuan's reluctant expression, Song Qingming could only speak to comfort her:

"Now that we have the Spirit Gathering Array and the Earth Vein Bead, the sooner the family's spiritual vein is upgraded, it will also be of some help to Yuan Fang and the others in their cultivation. We should not delay this matter for too long.

It is still too early for the monsters to cause chaos, so these puppets are of no use for the time being.

Don't worry, my puppet skills have improved a lot now. Once I collect the materials, I will be able to refine it."

Seeing that Song Qingming had made up his mind, Huang Siyuan could only nod slightly and took the several "puppet beasts" from Song Qingming.

"Don't worry, my husband. I have refined a lot of elixirs in the past few years. If you don't need them later, you can exchange them for spirit stones in the alliance.

With these puppet beasts, it shouldn’t take long to gather enough spirit stones to upgrade the spirit vein.”

Seeing that Song Qingming even took out his treasured high-level "puppet beast", Huang Siyuan also decided to spend a lot of money and planned to exchange all the elixirs that he could not use temporarily for spirit stones.

In response, Song Qingming did not say much, but just nodded with gratitude.

After coming out of seclusion and spending a few days with Huang Siyuan, Song Qingming did not delay and set off for the "Donghuang Kingdom".

He prepared to go to "Yunlong Mountain" to retrieve the magic weapon that he had given to Li Boying to refine.

Before leaving, Song Qingming originally wanted to inform his senior sister Li Xuanyi.

It was just that the other party seemed to be recovering at a critical moment. A few days after Song Qingming sent the message, he did not wait for Li Xuanyi to come out of seclusion, but set off directly to "Donghuang Country".

Although he was traveling alone this time, Song Qingming's speed was no slower than a few years ago.

It took less than three months for Song Qingming to cross the "Fantasy Sea Desert" and reach the territory of Donghuang Kingdom, and then headed south to the territory of Nanzhou.

When Song Qingming first came to "Yunlong Mountain", his cultivation was only at the Golden Core Realm.

As he wanted to meet his senior sister Li Xuanyi but to no avail, he decided to secretly kidnap a cultivator from the Li family in a moment of desperation, which almost caused a misunderstanding.

Now that Song Qingming has come to the foot of "Yunlong Mountain" again, he is no longer as cautious as before and walks directly to the "Yunlongfang" at the foot of the mountain.

After explaining his purpose to the gatekeeper monk, Song Qingming soon entered the market smoothly and met a Jindan elder of the Li family who was guarding the place.

I don’t know if Li Boying had explained it before, but Song Qingming just said his name and the Li family elder immediately knew his identity.

As a voice was transmitted, a figure that Song Qingming was somewhat familiar with soon appeared in front of him.

“I haven’t seen you for many years. I didn’t expect that it was really Brother Song who came.

Li Family, Li Xuanfeng meets Senior Song, congratulations on your Nascent Soul achievement! "

"Friend Li, don't be polite!"

Li Xuanfeng, although his face was still full of smiles like before, he had not yet formed his Nascent Soul, and his appearance was obviously much more weathered than it was decades ago.

The originally jet-black long hair had a hint of gray at the ends of his forehead, making Li Xuanfeng look much older than Song Qingming in front of him.

The two have not seen each other for many years, and their status is no longer on the same level. Li Xuanfeng could not hide a hint of envy in his eyes when he looked at Song Qingming at this moment.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, under the guidance of Li Xuanfeng, Song Qingming quickly came to the back mountain of "Yunlong Mountain" and met Li Boying who had just come out of seclusion, and Li Mengliang, another Nascent Soul ancestor of the Li family.

"I've met the two seniors!"

"It was agreed upon that it would take two years, but Fellow Daoist Song has not come yet. Could it be that he is worried that I am not capable enough to refine the magic weapon you want within two years?"

"Senior, you are joking. I happened to be busy with some things after I went back, so I came here a little late. It was not intentional.

I hope you will forgive me, senior!"

Li Boying's temper is still the same as before, his words are sharp and he is unyielding even when he is right.

Fortunately, Song Qingming already knew him well, so he quickly lowered his attitude and apologized in person, which made his expression look a little better and he stopped pestering him.

Seeing this, Li Mengliang, who was standing on the other side, hurriedly stepped forward and bowed to Song Qingming to smooth things over.

"Fellow Daoist Song, you are too polite. You are already a Nascent Soul cultivator now. We two dare not call you a senior. Let's just call each other peers!"

"Meng Liang! After all, he is still Xuan Yi's junior fellow apprentice of Taixu Sect. It is understandable for him to call us seniors based on seniority. Don't be polite to him."

“What you said is right, even if Senior Sister Xuan Yi is in person, I still have to respectfully address you two as seniors.

Two seniors, there is no need to be polite to me anymore."

Li Boying and the other man were much older than Song Qingming, and they were also the elders of Senior Sister Li Xuanyi's family. Song Qingming did not dare to be too rude in front of them, and insisted on addressing them as seniors.

Li Mengliang smiled and said nothing more. He then invited Song Qingming to enter a cave together.

When the ban outside the cave fell, Li Boying waved his hand, took out a palm-sized blue shield magic weapon from his body, and sent it in front of Song Qingming.

There are many circular patterns engraved on the top of this blue shield, like a tortoise shell, and a strong water-attributed aura emanates from all around.

Seeing Song Qingming looking at the shield magic weapon in front of him with some excitement, Li Boying stroked his white beard and introduced it to him with a smile:

"Fellow Daoist Song, this is the magic weapon I refined for you, called the Black Tortoise Spirit Armor Shield!

Although the quality of this magic weapon is only level four mid-grade, but in terms of defensive capabilities alone it is definitely the best among magic weapons of the same level. Even when compared with an ordinary level four high-grade magic weapon, it is not much worse.

You can find out the specific power by trying it yourself!"

After Li Boying finished speaking, he used his magic power to move the blue shield, which immediately grew several times larger. Then a giant turtle with an armored back appeared above it. (End of this chapter)