Yunmeng Immortal Clan

"After burying Hong Sheng, everyone collect the demon wolf's corpse, secretly find a market, sell some of the materials on its body in exchange for spirit stones, and then leave its body to participate in the clan shrine!" Song Hongding said, staring at the people of Qing Sui Peak.

After burying Song Hongsheng, Song Daoxuan easily took out dozens of low-grade spirit stones to fill the gap in reactivating the Fire Nail Head Array.

Song Daoxuan's mere act of producing a high-grade magic weapon startled the cultivators of Qing Sui Peak. However, considering that Song Daoxuan was now the only first-tier alchemist on the entire Qinglian Island since Song Chuanyuan's passing, they quickly accepted it.

A few days later, the Foundation Establishment cultivators of Qinglian Island gathered at the ancestral hall atop Tian Shu Peak to hold their annual clan sacrifice.

Previously, the clan rites were presided over by Song Chuanyuan, the eldest member of the family. Now, this responsibility has been handed over to the family head, Song Zhichu.

"There is the Qinglian Song Clan, which has been established for eight hundred years. It originated from the Qinglian Immortal Sect in the Central Plains. After the Immortal Sect was destroyed, the Song Clan's ancestor, Song Daxu, fled to Yunmeng in the Southern Region. On his deathbed, he passed on his Core Formation to Ancestor Zhuxi. Ancestor Zhuxi was grateful and allowed his descendants to establish a clan in his clan, thus laying the foundation for the Immortal Clan's legacy."

"Today, the descendants of the Immortal Clan, from the very beginning of the Song family, more than three hundred people with the immortal roots of the Immortal Clan, ascended the ancestral shrine together, prepared offerings, and offered their lives in gratitude for the blessings of their ancestors, wishing that our Immortal Clan would live on forever!"

In the middle is Song Zhichu, a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator, and on either side are Song Zhimo, Song Zhiya, Song Hongshu, and Song Hongdong, the five remaining early-Foundation Establishment cultivators.

According to the Song family tradition, anyone with spiritual roots can enter the eight famous peaks of the inner island from the outer peaks to cultivate. The family will arrange their promotion to the main lineage. All mortals without spiritual roots are considered commoners and are not allowed to enter the inner island. They can only make a living on the outer island.

However, among cultivators, if both parents are spiritual root cultivators, the probability of their offspring being born with spiritual roots is greatly increased. Therefore, families actively organize marriage alliances with cultivators from other families in the cultivation world, thus binding their bloodlines together and ensuring that the probability of a child with spiritual roots being born in a Foundation Establishment cultivation family increases.

The three major Foundation Establishment cultivation families, Jiang, Xiao, and Mu, have maintained good relations with the Song family for generations, and have formed numerous marriage alliances.

Under the Song family, there are four major Qi Refining families: the Jin family, the Fan family, the Xu family, and the Li family. Although none of them have reached the Foundation Establishment stage, the Song family often marries off their daughters. Over the centuries, even though none of these four families have ever reached the Foundation Establishment stage, they eventually submit to the Song family and become its subordinate families.

However, apart from these four major Qi Refining families who are local to Yunmeng Prefecture and have close ties with the Song family, the other three families, Jiang, Xiao, and Guo, are all from other prefectures and have more of a business-related cooperative relationship, bound by mutual interests.

The saying goes, "A woman follows her husband wherever he goes," and this applies to Song Daoxuan's mother, Jiang Ruyi. After marrying her father, Song Honghu, she was completely separated from the Jiang clan and truly became a member of the Song clan.

The ancestral hall of the Song family is a large hall built of blue bricks, with many memorial tablets inside.

Incense burned continuously over the huge incense burner, which was covered with densely packed characters in sacrificial script.

At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, incense, spirits, blood, and many other offerings were placed in the furnace, along with a first-level fireball talisman. All of these were burned while chanting incantations to worship the ancestors and the deceased spirits of the Song family.

Standing at the back of the hall, Song Daoxuan only vaguely glimpsed some characters on the huge incense burner:

"May our ancestors live on forever, their legacy flourishing to this great age, their glory enduring for ten thousand generations, and their immortality ascending to heaven..."

After the clan ceremony officially ended, Song Daoxuan lingered in the ancestral hall for a while longer.

At the very bottom of the ancestral hall is a brand-new memorial tablet, which is the memorial tablet of the Supreme Elder Song Chuanyuan.

Song Daoxuan took a stick of incense and offered it up.

The clan ceremony of the Song family had just ended, and Song Daoxuan returned to his cultivation cave. He had two very important things to do next.

First, he comprehended the Five Elements Reincarnation Technique to the ninth level. Second, he continuously cultivated, broke through the ninth level of Qi Refining, and became a cultivator at the tenth level of Qi Refining, reaching the Great Perfection.

But before that, Song Daoxuan went to Haoyue Peak, where there were no Foundation Establishment cultivators guarding it.

But it is quite special because it is the place where Jiang Ruyi and Song Honghu opened their cave dwelling.

Before he turned sixteen, Song Daoxuan lived on Haoyue Peak with two other people. It can be said that everything related to cultivation was inseparable from the personal guidance of his parents.

Song Daoxuan arrived at the foot of Haoyue Peak, where he saw a vast expanse of reeds, with many egrets foraging among them.

Haoyue Peak hangs in the middle of this mudflat.

Upon reaching the halfway point of Haoyue Peak, they encountered Song Honghu and his family of cultivators returning from a hunting trip.

"Father!" Song Daoxuan called out to the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man, carrying the carcass of a demonic deer, heard someone calling him. He put down the carcass, turned around, and exclaimed in surprise, "Why are you back!"

"Of course I came to see my father and mother. I will soon be going into seclusion again, and I'm afraid I won't be able to see them for a while."

"Come inside with me first, and we can chat slowly later!" Song Honghu glanced at his son's cultivation level with his divine sense. He was surprised that his son's cultivation level had grown to such a level after not seeing him for a while.

"My dear wife, your son is back..." Song Honghu shouted as he arrived at the cave entrance, carrying the demon deer.

"It's Mom's little Dao Xuan back! How's your cultivation on Qing Sui Peak? Why do you suddenly have time to visit Mom? Little Dao Xuan, tell me the truth, have you encountered a bottleneck in your cultivation and are you short of spirit stones again?" Jiang Ruyi, dressed in a traditional Chinese dress, showed a face full of joy and surprise when she saw her son return.

"No, no, it's just that the path of cultivation is so lonely, and I miss my parents a bit!" Song Daoxuan said somewhat embarrassedly. In recent years, he had been busy with cultivation and alchemy, and had only visited his parents a few times.

"My dear wife, just look at this boy's current cultivation level. Plus, he's the only first-tier alchemist in the clan. Do you think he's someone who lacks pills and spirit stones?"

"Oh! The little man your parents saw back then has grown up to be this big?" Jiang Ruyi glanced at her son with her beautiful eyes, and then revealed a proud expression.

"Go inside quickly. You two are too talkative. I'll go prepare some spiritual dishes and some spiritual wine. I'll have a drink with you two tonight. We're happy today, so let's make an exception and drink more!" After saying that, Jiang Ruyi went off to busy herself.

Song Daoxuan then went inside to the stone room and stone benches, all of which exuded the air of a hermit.

"Tell me about your experiences over the years!" Song Honghu said, gazing expectantly at his son.

As Jiang Ruyi sat down, Song Daoxuan recounted some of the astonishing and thrilling events of the past few years, but deliberately concealed the extremely secretive matter of the Qi-gathering gourd, making Jiang Ruyi and Song Honghu feel as if they were there themselves.