In Lingyuan Mountain, Song Changxin was pacing quietly in the small building, holding the message talisman he had received in the morning.
"The clan leader sent a message saying Qingming had left the mountain early in the morning. This kid hasn't returned even though it's almost dark. Could it be that he has sneaked back to Mujiao Town again?"
——
Song Qingming had no idea how long he had been running westward. He was now exhausted. Seeing that there seemed to be no one behind him, he found a big rock to hide behind and meditated to restore his own spiritual energy.
Unexpectedly, not long after he sat down, a red light flew straight towards his forehead. Song Qingming quickly dodged sideways, and the Lieyang Sword in his hand released a beam of fire to attack the enemy, but he was caught by a green shield erected by the opponent.
Looking at the black-clad robber not far away, Song Qingming felt a headache. This guy had been chasing him for several hours, from afternoon to dusk. Every time Song Qingming thought he had gotten rid of him, he would appear behind him again not long after. Every time this black-clad robber caught up with him, he was not in a hurry to keep him, as if he was deliberately teasing him slowly.
Song Qingming had suffered a lot of injuries all over his body at this time, and there was very little spiritual power left in his body. Although there was only one black-clothed robber chasing him, Song Qingming also understood that he was far inferior to this man in both cultivation and fighting ability.
He was caught up and fought with the opponent several times, and without exception he was completely suppressed by the opponent. His cultivation level was far inferior to that of this person, and he had no chance of winning in a head-on confrontation.
After Song Qingming ran north for a while, he felt more and more that something was wrong. The old man just said that running separately would increase the chances of each of them escaping successfully, but the road he pointed to was obviously a dead end.
To the north is a deserted area, and further ahead is Yunwu Mountain where monsters roam. There is no chance of asking for help if you run here, and you will definitely be caught up. At this time, Song Qingming felt as if he had already entered Yunwu Mountain.
If he ran towards the main road to the south, it would greatly increase his chances of survival. He didn't think much about it at the moment and fell into the trap of this old man. The old man had originally intended to ask him to help attract the other side to split their troops so as to increase his chances of successful escape.
After another hard fight, the exhausted Song Qingming fled to the edge of a cliff. Ahead lay a bottomless precipice, and behind him were the pursuing black-clad robbers. In his current state, if he rashly jumped off this unknown cliff, he would probably die even faster.
Looking at the danger slowly approaching behind him, just when Song Qingming was feeling a little desperate, he caught a glimpse of a place covered with vines not far away under the cliff, revealing a corner of a dark cave entrance, which looked like a cave abandoned by a large bird. Now that he was desperate, he didn't think much about it and jumped a few times along the steep cliff to hide in the cave.
"Boy, you've been running for so long, you must be tired now. Do you think I can't find you if I hide here? Don't worry, I will give you a quick death."
Just a moment after Song Qingming entered the cave, the arrogant voice of the black-clad robber could be heard inside.
The black-clad robber was named Zhu Wu. He was originally an ordinary cultivator from Wuling County. After being hunted by his enemies and fleeing to Yingchao Ridge more than ten years ago, he simply joined the notorious cultivator organization entrenched in the northeast of Wei State and started to commit murder and robbery.
After tasting the sweetness of easily obtaining spirit stones by hunting other casual cultivators, Zhu Wu became unstoppable. With the cultivation resources obtained in exchange for this life-threatening business, he was able to successfully cultivate his five spiritual roots to the peak of the fifth level of Qi Refining.
Zhu Wu walked slowly into the cave, released a small illuminating fireball with his left hand, and carefully opened a five-element shield with his right hand to protect his whole body. The cave was not big, and he reached the end of the cave after only a dozen steps.
Zhu Wu looked around and felt a little strange. He had turned around several times but still couldn't see where the prey was hiding.
"Is this kid hiding in..." Just as Zhu Wu was about to look up at the top of the cave, a green black iron sword came down from his head with an angry roar. It was Song Qingming who was hiding in the top of the cave.
Facing Song Qingming's full-strength attack with a sword in both hands, Zhu Wu did not dare to be careless. He quickly took out an iron shield magic weapon and held it above his head. After the two magic weapons clashed, there was a loud noise and sparks flew. It was not until a cloud of dust fell from the mountain walls on both sides that the two men took a few steps back to stabilize their bodies.
Zhu Wu still guarded the cave entrance tightly, looking at Song Qingming in the cave with a sneer of contempt.
"This is a good place to be buried. It's quiet and remote. I don't think it will be easy for your people to find it."
Facing Zhu Wu's verbal provocation, Song Qingming did not respond, but released spiritual power from his hands and wrapped it around the black iron in his hands. The black iron sword hummed softly, broke through the air and flew towards Zhu Wu at a high speed.
Humph, this kid is desperately trying all kinds of methods. With his current level of cultivation, using his spiritual power to control magic weapons, isn't this just giving his own magic weapon to his opponent?
Seeing the black iron sword flying in front of him, Zhu Wu took a few steps back and easily stopped it with the flying sword in his hand. Just when he wanted to put Song Qingming's black iron sword into his pocket, he suddenly found a burst of ochre light coming from under his feet.
"What is this? Damn, where did this earthen prison talisman come from?" Zhu Wu turned around and looked at Song Qingming with some annoyance. He saw Song Qingming put his hands on the ground, and the spiritual power in his body instantly activated the earthen prison talisman buried under his feet.
The Earth Prison Talisman is a mid-grade defensive talisman that can use spiritual power to instantly wrap the nearby earth blocks and trap the target for a moment. Zhu Wu was soon wrapped into a ball by the surrounding earth blocks.
At this moment, Song Qingming, who had been waiting for a long time, used up his remaining spiritual power, and with both hands, he pushed the huge ball out of the cave and kicked it down the hundred-foot cliff outside the cave.
Seeing the huge ball of earth slowly disappearing from his sight, Song Qingming sat down at the entrance of the cave and breathed a sigh of relief.
Song Changxin had originally given this talisman to Song Qingming because he was afraid that the two of them would encounter monsters when they went to Funiu Mountain. Unexpectedly, it was used when he came back alone. In the previous fights, Song Qingming did not have the chance to use it to escape.
It was not until he saw this cave that he had an idea and used the only trump card he had to set this trap.
About an incense stick of time later, a somewhat disheveled figure flipped over from the bottom of the cliff and jumped into the cave. The cave was already empty at this time. The collapsed mountain soil after the battle had even blocked half of the cave entrance.
This man was none other than Zhu Wu, who had been ambushed by Song Qingming and fallen off a cliff. However, at this moment, he had lost his previous confidence and arrogance. His black robes were torn a lot, and there was a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth. His furious eyes were filled with viciousness.
"You're really careless, damn kid! When I catch you, I'll make sure you're left with a fate worse than death."
Zhu Wu jumped onto the cliff, released a spiritual power, uttered a few harsh words, and quickly chased after him in the depths of Yunwu Mountain.
Shortly after Zhu Wu left, a sound of cracking soil came from the originally silent cave on the edge of the cliff. A thin figure slowly emerged from the deepest pile of soil in the cave. It was Song Qingming who had pretended to escape to the depths of Yunwu Mountain not long ago.
Song Qingming knew very well that he was covered in wounds and had very little spiritual power left in his body. The Earth Prison Talisman would definitely not be able to trap the opponent for long. If he ran away in his current state, he would most likely be caught up by the opponent.
Previously, the other party had been able to accurately grasp the direction of his escape. He must have unique tracking skills. In his current state, he no longer has any trump cards. If he is caught up by him again, he will be like a fish on the chopping board.
Faced with such a crisis situation, Song Qingming, after calming down, decided to gamble his luck. He first ran wildly across several hills in the direction of Yunwu Mountain, intentionally leaving some traces of escape along the way.
Then he turned back to the cave where he had been hiding, and hid in a pile of mud that had collapsed during the fight between the two men. Fortunately, he was lucky this time and was able to deceive Zhu Wu who was anxiously chasing him.
After removing the dirt from his body, Song Qingming carefully walked out of the cave. After confirming that there was no danger nearby, he quickly left in the direction he came from.
One day later in the morning, Song Qingming, who had escaped, appeared outside Lingyuan Mountain. Looking at the extremely familiar mountain protection formation in front of him, the heart that had been hanging in the air for the past two days finally settled down. Although he suffered huge losses this time, including the black iron sword that had been with him for almost ten years and the earth prison talisman given to him by his uncle Jiu, he finally returned safely.
He passed through the formation and found a small path to go back to his small bamboo house to treat his injuries first. He really didn't want these mortals in the family who relied on the protection of his immortal masters to see him in such a miserable state.
Just as he was getting closer to his hut, he unexpectedly found a tall figure standing in the yard outside his house.
"Uncle Jiu, I..."
Seeing that Song Qingming's body was covered with scars, Song Changxin raised his hand to interrupt Song Qingming's next words and told him to go back to the house to heal his wounds first.
Half an hour later, under Song Changxin's careful care, Song Qingming's face turned rosy after taking a few blood-restoring pills, and the external injuries on his body were all healed after Song Changxin's careful treatment.
The external injuries caused by the magic weapon on his body were not serious and he would recover soon. However, the continuous fighting had overdrawn his spiritual power and damaged his vitality. It would take at least one or two months of patient recovery to recover.
After a careful examination and confirmation that Song Qingming had no other serious injuries, Song Changxin finally let go of the worry that had been hanging in the air for the past two days.
While Song Qingming was healing, he slowly told Song Changxin word for word about the life-and-death crisis he had encountered yesterday.
"These Eagle Nest Ridge bandits are becoming more and more lawless. They actually dared to come to our Qinghe County to kill and rob. It seems that the occasional disappearance of cultivators in the past one or two years is probably related to them. I must quickly inform the clan leader of this news.
Fortunately, you managed to stay calm and return safely this time. The world of immortal cultivation is full of dangers, and you all need to grow up quickly to have more ability to survive."
After listening to Song Changxin's teachings, Song Qingming nodded thoughtfully. In the final analysis, the reason why he was in such a mess this time was that his cultivation was too low. If he had reached the late stage of Qi Refining at that time, it would have been the other party who ran away, and this crisis would not have existed.
The path to becoming an immortal is one of survival of the fittest. The weaker you are, the more dangers you face.