Yunmeng Immortal Clan

As Song Daoxuan settled down alone in the Yunmeng Immortal Gathering, he noticed that two of the five remaining cultivators from his Qinglian Island Song Clan who had reached the Foundation Establishment stage were present at the gathering. This indicated that the Immortal Gathering was undoubtedly an extraordinary event for immortals.

Of the seven Foundation Establishment cultivation families in Yunmeng Prefecture, apart from the Song family, the other six families also sent their Foundation Establishment cultivators to participate in this grand event.

The Song family of Qinglian Island, the Liu family of Liling, the Wang family of Yiling, the Xiang family of Shahe, the Tang family of Tangwan, the Mu family of Qingzhi, and the Gu family of Heishan.

Which of these seven cultivation families isn't a Foundation Establishment cultivation family that has been passed down for hundreds of years in Yunmeng Prefecture?

Besides Foundation Establishment cultivation families, the three major Golden Core immortal clans—Liu, Zuo, and Du—also sent many Foundation Establishment cultivators. These Golden Core immortal clan cultivators were also disciples of the Zhuxi Sect.

The remaining disciples were those who had no family background and had cultivated to the Foundation Establishment stage through their own efforts within the Zhuxi Sect. Quite a few of these cultivators also attended the Yunmeng Immortal Gathering.

The two elders sent by the Song family, one named Song Hongshu and the other named Song Zhiya, were both at the early stage of Foundation Establishment.

Song Hongshu is ranked sixth among the Hong generation, and Song Daoxuan should call her Sixth Aunt according to the rules. As for Song Zhiya, he is Song Hongshu's biological father and is ranked fifth among the Zhi generation. The family head of the same generation, Song Zhichu, is ranked second, and Song Zhimo is ranked third.

Therefore, these two elders are also a rare case of two Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Song family, both of whom have three spiritual roots.

Song Zhichu, the head of the Song family, was extremely busy with family affairs and had no opportunity to attend this grand Yunmeng Immortal Gathering.

Aunt Song Hongshu wore a dazzling Taoist dress, her black hair hanging down her back, revealing a very calm and composed expression.

Meanwhile, Fifth Grandfather Song Zhiya stared solemnly at the Foundation Establishment cultivators from the other cultivation families on the field, revealing a wary expression.

As for Song Daoxuan, his appearance was concealed by a black robe, and he was in a very inconspicuous position in the Yunmeng Immortal Gathering, so his two family relatives did not notice his location.

"Hong Shu! This time, it was your second uncle who instructed us. Three Foundation Establishment Pills and some Foundation Establishment spiritual items will appear at the Cloud Dream Immortal Gathering. Our Song Clan of Qinglian Island must seize them..."

"Father, I will do my utmost..."

Throughout the Great Li Dynasty, because some of the raw materials for refining Foundation Establishment Pills were monopolized by cultivation sects, ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators had to pay a considerable price to purchase a single Foundation Establishment Pill.

A Foundation Establishment Pill is a second-tier pill. The cost of one pill was originally between 1,500 and 2,000 low-grade spirit stones, but due to supply falling short of demand, the price has skyrocketed and is now being speculated to be 3,000 to 4,000 low-grade spirit stones per pill.

You should know that even top-tier magic artifacts start at around 300 low-grade spirit stones, while low-grade spirit artifacts only cost 2,000 low-grade spirit stones.

Foundation Establishment Pills are now being hyped up to the point that four thousand low-grade spirit stones are equivalent to two whole low-grade spirit artifacts.

Being able to establish one's foundation with a Foundation Establishment Pill is undoubtedly a very luxurious thing. For cultivators with three spiritual roots, establishing one's foundation with a Foundation Establishment Pill and establishing one's foundation independently without a Foundation Establishment Pill are two different things: one is to be on the safe side, and the other is to compete with the heavens for a living.

However, given the price of Foundation Establishment Pills, this is why countless cultivators at the Great Perfection of the Qi Refining Tenth Level in the cultivation world would rather establish their foundation on their own than take a Foundation Establishment Pill. It's not that they are unwilling to take it, but that they simply have no other choice.

"Twenty Gathering Breath Pills, starting bid eight hundred low-grade spirit stones..." As Qin Ruanruan's eyes darted around, a servant placed several small bottles of pills on the counter.

"Nine hundred low-grade spirit stones..."

"1300 low-grade spirit stones..."

In the end, these twenty Gathering Breath Pills were acquired by a Foundation Establishment cultivator for 1,300 low-grade spirit stones.

Even if twenty Gathering Breath Pills weren't sold at the Cloud Dream Immortal Gathering, they would be reasonably priced at a thousand low-grade spirit stones in a regular Cloud Dream Market. However, the price was inflated so much at the Immortal Gathering that people suspected either that this Foundation Establishment cultivator was incredibly wealthy and didn't care about such a small amount of spirit stones, or that he had suddenly lost his mind while competing with others and ended up being ripped off.

The Cloud Dream Immortal Gathering continued, with these Foundation Establishment cultivators scrambling to grab anything useful to Foundation Establishment cultivators.

According to Song Daoxuan's observation, most of the cultivators who spent spirit stones at the Yunmeng Immortal Gathering were disciples of the Zhuxi Sect and other sects in the Li Kingdom, and there were even quite a few cultivators with strange auras.

As for the so-called Foundation Establishment cultivation families, even those who have reached the Foundation Establishment stage are deterred by such high prices, having the will but not the means.

These Foundation Establishment cultivators from these Foundation Establishment cultivation families have only one goal: the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Soon, to Song Daoxuan's surprise, the Foundation Establishment Pill appeared at the Yunmeng Immortal Gathering.

"Three Foundation Establishment Pills, starting bid of two thousand low-grade spirit stones per pill, to be auctioned in three rounds. Fellow Daoists, do you know that these Foundation Establishment Pills are not that difficult to refine, but rather that the raw materials used to refine them are extremely rare and need to be collected from the Yunling Mountains. Do you all know what the Yunling Mountains are?" Qin Ruanruan held up her pipe with her slender jade hand, took a puff, exhaled a puff of smoke, and swayed her voluptuous body, speaking in an extremely seductive manner.

Upon hearing this, all the cultivators present were extremely excited.

For some cultivators, a single Foundation Establishment Pill is far more tempting than some second-tier pills or magical artifacts.

The rush to buy Foundation Establishment Pills was mainly driven by the seven major Foundation Establishment cultivation families and some Foundation Establishment cultivators who wanted to purchase them for their descendants.

"Three thousand low-grade spirit stones..." The first person to bid was a Foundation Establishment cultivator from one of the seven major cultivation families.

Then, Foundation Establishment Pills were quickly speculated up to four thousand low-grade spirit stones.

"Four thousand one hundred low-grade spirit stones!" Song Zhiya finally spoke, and as soon as he did, a family cultivator immediately started cursing.

"Song Zhiya, you knew I only brought four thousand low-grade spirit stones, didn't you? I'm going to fight you for them today..."

So the Foundation Establishment cultivator started vying with Song Zhiya for it, and the price of the Foundation Establishment Pill was driven up all the way until it reached 4,500 low-grade spirit stones.

The middle-aged man, Song Zhiya, slightly raised his hand and said, "Fellow Daoist, a gentleman does not steal what others have gained. Besides, even if you obtain this Foundation Establishment Pill, it doesn't guarantee you will achieve Foundation Establishment..."

"Heh..." The Foundation Establishment cultivator snorted coldly and left in disappointment. This Foundation Establishment Pill had almost exhausted all of his low-grade spirit stones. This amount of spirit stones was not all he had, but rather a small amount that his entire cultivation family had temporarily gathered together with the combined strength of the whole clan.

But halfway there, the Foundation Establishment cultivator began to regret his decision. The cost of purchasing a Foundation Establishment Pill was far beyond his expectations; earning spirit stones these days was no easy feat.

"Father! Are we just going to give up on this Foundation Establishment Pill like this?" Song Hongshu said indignantly from the side.

"You didn't even look at the price! This man is my enemy. We still have two Foundation Establishment Pills. Look, the price isn't nearly that high. I was just provoking him..."

The Yunmeng Immortal Gathering will proceed as scheduled.

As expected, things turned out that way.

The second Foundation Establishment Pill was acquired by the cultivator for 4,200 low-grade spirit stones. As for the third Foundation Establishment Pill, Song Zhiya suddenly appeared and put it into his storage bag for a mere 4,100 low-grade spirit stones.

However, just after Song Zhiya had exhausted the spirit stones.

A hint of pain still lingered on Song Zhiya's face.

"These high-level cultivators are pricing a mere Foundation Establishment Pill at such an exorbitant price! How are we, a Foundation Establishment cultivation family, supposed to survive?!"

The passing of the Supreme Elder Song Chuanyuan meant that the Song Clan had lost a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. However, this news was only being circulated among some of the Song Clan members on Qinglian Island, and these members were united in keeping quiet about it.

"It would be great if the Dao generation could produce a Foundation Establishment cultivator with decent aptitude, since the Hong generation, apart from Hong Shu, hasn't produced any other Foundation Establishment cultivators..."

After obtaining the Foundation Establishment Pill, Song Zhiya and Song Hongshu left the Yunmeng Immortal Gathering immediately. Having exhausted the spirit stones their families had gathered for them, they had no interest in staying at the Yunmeng Immortal Gathering any longer.

"What a Foundation Establishment Pill! It's fucking expensive. I can't even imagine how difficult it must have been for a rogue cultivator like Zhou Yunlan to establish his foundation..." But when he thought about how Zhou Yunlan was a second-tier talisman maker, Song Daoxuan's anxiety eased slightly.

Even a rogue cultivator must master one or two of the various cultivation arts; otherwise, if they cannot earn spirit stones, their path to immortality will likely be limited to the Qi Refining stage.

But that's the reality. In the world of cultivation, cultivators like Song Daoxuan, who have been discovered to have talent in alchemy, and Zhou Yunlan, who have talent in talisman making, are only a small minority.

Most family cultivators or independent cultivators who want to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage through their own efforts are basically doomed. Low-level cultivators are everywhere, while high-level cultivators are extremely rare. This is the cruel reality of the cultivation world.

At the subsequent Cloud Dream Immortal Gathering, one or two more Foundation Establishment spiritual items appeared.

However, these two Foundation Establishment spiritual items seemed to be far less effective than the three Foundation Establishment Pills in assisting Foundation Establishment. Therefore, the remaining Foundation Establishment cultivators only engaged in a brief scramble, which was far less intense than the previous competition for the Foundation Establishment Pills.

Then, at the Cloud Dream Immortal Gathering, many spiritual artifacts, talismans, formations, pills, and other items for Foundation Establishment cultivators appeared.

Although these items for immortal cultivators are very valuable, they are simply unattainable for Song Daoxuan, whose current cultivation level is only at the eighth level of Qi Refining, and he has little interest in them.

Until the Yunmeng Immortal Gathering reached its later stages.

At the Cloud Dream Immortal Gathering, a recipe for Yellow Sprout Pills finally caught Song Daoxuan's attention.

"This is the formula for the Yellow Sprout Pill. This pill is for Qi Refining stage cultivators and can be taken by Qi Refining cultivators. It is very useful for cultivators to break through their realm. However, its effect is still somewhat inferior to the Gathering Breath Pill!" Qin Ruanruan picked up a yellowish, ancient scroll and gave a simple introduction.

"This is exactly the pill formula I need. I must obtain it. Once I refine the Yellow Sprout Pill, it will only be a matter of time before I break through from the eighth to the ninth level of Qi Refining, or even reach the tenth level of Great Perfection..." Thinking of this, Song Daoxuan became somewhat eager.

However, only alchemists were somewhat interested in this item, but the effect of the Yellow Sprout Pill was far inferior to that of the Gathering Breath Pill, which was a widely circulated pill on the market. The starting price for the Yellow Sprout Pill was only set at two hundred low-grade spirit stones, and some Foundation Establishment cultivators present hesitated.

By sheer luck, Song Daoxuan only paid three hundred low-grade spirit stones to put the pill formula into his storage bag.

It's impossible that there's only one recipe for pills at the Cloud Dream Immortal Gathering. It's just that in order to maintain their ruling position, the cultivation sects in the cultivation world don't dare to openly circulate these recipes, which leads to a surge of pills outside the sects. This is similar to the inheritance of some talismans and formations.

Therefore, sects across the land have gathered these cultivation traditions in large numbers, thus forming their own sect characteristics and specialties.

However, just after Song Daoxuan put the Yellow Sprout Pill recipe into his storage bag, there were only two final auction items left before the Cloud Dream Immortal Gathering ended, and there was still plenty of time. Song Daoxuan was quite interested in what these two auction items were.

As time passed, the latter two items surfaced: a secret technique for creating puppets called "Three Corpses Puppet Refining" and a Five Thunder Dao Talisman.

All of them are of unknown grade.

However, after the introduction, Song Daoxuan was also extremely surprised. The so-called "Three Corpses Refining Puppet" was actually a secret technique that could condense puppets in the early stage of Foundation Establishment, and the so-called Five Thunder Dao Talisman was actually an extremely rare Core Formation talisman.

Although this talisman has a long history and only three uses, one of which has already been used and its power has been greatly reduced, according to Qin Ruanruan's introduction, its power is still comparable to that of a half-step Core Formation cultivator. This caused all the Foundation Establishment cultivators present to be greatly excited.

"This Yunmeng Immortal Gathering is truly extraordinary! I originally thought it was nothing special, but I didn't expect that at this final moment, they would actually bring out these precious puppetry techniques and Core Formation talismans, all to create a great spectacle for the Yunmeng Immortal Gathering!"

"Such rare items are simply beyond the reach of ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators like myself. Although I desperately want to possess them, it's a pity that my heart is willing but my strength is insufficient. It's truly a great pity!"

However, while all the cultivators hesitated to approach the two treasures, someone unexpectedly made a move to acquire them.