Yunmeng Immortal Clan

After Song Daoxuan obtained the items needed for the Qi Gathering Immortal Gourd, Song Zhichu still bestowed upon him the low-grade spiritual weapon flying sword he had obtained from killing Xiang Renyao—the Qianlan Sword, along with his own low-grade spiritual weapon, the Zidian Sword, and the talisman.

Song Daoxuan was overjoyed and repeatedly bowed to the head of the family to express his gratitude. He was about to leave Tian Shu Peak when Song Zhichu called him back.

"Daoxuan, I have a question for you!" Song Zhichu took a deep breath and stared into Song Daoxuan's eyes.

"Whatever the patriarch has to say, this junior will listen attentively!" Song Daoxuan said, a hint of doubt appearing on his fair and jade-like face.

"Dao Xuan, actually, I was able to kill Xiang Renyao by using the Azure Lotus Ancient Lamp passed down from my ancestors, which burned through decades of my lifespan. Now, my lifespan is only a few decades left. I need to find a new head of the Azure Lotus Song Clan, and I intend to hand over the position to you. What are your thoughts?"

Upon hearing Song Zhichu's words, Song Daoxuan was immediately stunned. Was the patriarch serious? Did he really want to hand over the vast Qinglian Islands industry to him?

However, Song Daoxuan asked himself honestly whether he was truly envious of the high and mighty position of family head. He repeatedly examined himself in his heart.

A moment later, Song Daoxuan gave his choice to the family head.

"Thank you for your high regard, Patriarch. I am deeply humbled. I am only focused on cultivating the Dao and have no intention of spending too much time on the management of the family. Furthermore, I am truly incompetent and dull-witted. I believe that the family is not a perfect solution under my leadership!" These words from Song Daoxuan represented his attitude.

Song Daoxuan already found the affairs tedious when he became an elder of the clan's Law Enforcement Hall. If he were to become the head of the clan, he would have even more to deal with, and his cultivation time would have to be compressed.

Furthermore, the position of the Song family head is not simply about the top power of the Qinglian Song family and enjoying the cultivation resources of the entire clan. As the saying goes, if you want to wear the crown, you must bear the weight. Song Daoxuan may not be able to bear this responsibility.

Upon hearing Song Daoxuan's reply, a barely perceptible hint of regret appeared on the weathered face of the old fisherman, Song Zhichu.

"Alas! Dao Xuan is not only young, but his cultivation is also the strongest below the Hong generation. His methods are also quite ruthless and decisive. Such a person is most suitable to take on the position of patriarch of the Qinglian Song Clan. If he is willing, our Qinglian Song Clan may rise to another level and reach an unprecedented peak..."

"It's just a pity that this person is so devoted to the Dao and determined to cultivate diligently. I can't see his future clearly. Who knows, he might even be able to break through the Foundation Establishment limit and condense a Golden Core..." Song Zhichu was filled with anticipation for the future of this young man.

However, he quickly dismissed this idea.

"Alas! Perhaps I'm overthinking it. There are countless geniuses in the cultivation world, but how many can successfully cross the Foundation Establishment Great Perfection stage and condense their Golden Core? Moreover, my Song Clan has been established for eight hundred years, and we have had a few people who reached the Foundation Establishment Great Perfection stage, but in the end, they all died at the step of condensing their Golden Core!"

Song Daoxuan finally left Tian Shu Peak and returned to his own cave dwelling.

After these consecutive battles, during which he killed many Foundation Establishment stage cultivators, he should probably clean out his storage bag.

Song Daoxuan's divine sense entered the storage bag.

Besides the two Ink Bamboo Flying Swords that are comparable to spiritual weapons, he also has three low-grade spiritual weapons in his storage bag: the Purple Lightning Sword, the Azure Sword, and the Golden Crocodile Cauldron.

As for the top-tier magical artifacts below the low-grade spiritual artifacts, there were more than twenty of them. As for the magical artifacts below the top-grade magical artifacts, Song Daoxuan simply didn't bother to count them.

He also had more than thirty second-tier talismans on his body.

Once you reach the Foundation Establishment stage, aside from some functional talismans that are of great use to cultivators, offensive talismans are difficult to use against enemies and can only be used as one-time consumables.

Besides these, Song Daoxuan scanned these storage bags again and again and actually found a piece of extremely black wood. This wood emitted a black, turbid aura that lingered for a long time.

What is this wood?

Song Daoxuan took out a book called "Xuanhuang Tiantu Lu" from a bookshelf in the cave.

This book, whose author is unknown, is an extremely thick book that is widely circulated in the cultivation world. It records many rare treasures in the cultivation world, as well as their approximate geographical distribution.

Xuanhuangtian is a vast and boundless continent composed of hundreds of large countries, including the Dali Dynasty. Xuanhuangtian is further divided into five main regions: the Central Region, the Northern Border, the Western Hills, the Southern Brightness, and the Eastern Wilderness.

The reason why the cultivation world divides Xuanhuang Heaven into five regions is that there are extremely complex geographical factors that hinder the progress of the cultivation world.

Geographical factors aside, among the five regions, the Central Region has the most abundant spiritual energy and the most numerous cultivation forces.

Next are the North and the Western Hills.

Nanming and Donghuang are places where spiritual energy is extremely scarce. Although there are sparse forces of cultivation, overall, whether it is the content of spiritual energy or the many cultivation resources, they are far inferior to other regions.

The location of the Dali Dynasty was the southernmost point of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

The eastern and southern parts of the Great Li Dynasty are boundless seas, and only cultivators who have reached the Nascent Soul stage dare to cross these endless seas.

Song Daoxuan quickly scanned the catalog and finally found information about the wood on one of its pages.

After comparing it repeatedly with the illustrations, Song Daoxuan confirmed that this wood was indeed a top-tier second-order spiritual wood, the Soul-Splitting Wood.

"Soul-splitting wood? If I remember correctly, this wood is one of the three key materials in the secret technique of puppet making, the Three Corpse Puppet Making. I learned from the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion that to obtain this wood, one needs to venture into the Yuan Magnetic Mist Valley of the Cloud Dream Immortal Continent, but that place is extremely dangerous..."

"Now, I don't need to risk my life in the Yuan Magnetic Mist Valley anymore if I want to create the puppet for the Three Corpse Puppet Refinement!" Thinking of this, a look of surprise appeared on Song Daoxuan's face.

"It seems I need to make time to visit the Cangwu Valley in the South China Sea and the Heavenly Demon Cave in Chuzhou. After all, I am still short of the two key materials for crafting puppets, as mentioned by the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion: Cold Iron and Star Silk. If I can craft the puppets recorded in this puppet technique, I will have the combat power of a late Foundation Establishment stage cultivator. This will be another trump card for me to save my life."

This time, Song Daoxuan witnessed the spiritual power of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. If it weren't for the crucial moment when Song Zhichu, the head of the Song family, sacrificed his lifespan to temporarily improve his realm and made such a great breakthrough in swordsmanship, he would have been amazed.

It is likely that Xiang Renyao alone could wipe out the entire Qinglian Song Clan. In the cultivation world, there is no such thing as luck; one must be prepared for any eventuality. In any case, Song Daoxuan was determined to create the secret puppet recorded in the Puppet Technique.