In a dense forest a few dozen miles west of Qinghefang, more than twenty monks gathered. The leader was an elderly monk in his nineties, wearing a black and white Taoist robe. His face was full of vicissitudes, and his eyebrows and beard were snow-white.
This old man is none other than Liu Tianlong, the current patriarch of the Liu family of Jingyuan Mountain in Qinghe County. He has reached the peak of the ninth level of Qi Refining and was a well-known talented cultivator in Qinghe County in his early years. He reached the ninth level of Qi Refining before he was fifty years old. Unfortunately, by the time he reached the ninth level of Qi Refining, his family had begun to decline and he failed to successfully establish his foundation.
The best age for a Qi Refining cultivator to build a foundation is before the age of sixty when his Qi and blood decline. After the age of eighty, he has basically lost the hope of building a foundation. At Liu Tianlong's age, unless he has a chance against the will of heaven, he will no longer have the chance to successfully build a foundation.
For veteran cultivators like Liu Tianlong who have broken through to the late stage of Qi Refining many years ago, their fighting ability is beyond doubt. In Qinghe County, except for those foundation-building cultivators, these people are the absolute top combat force.
As long as he doesn't suffer any serious injuries, Liu Tianlong can still maintain his peak combat power for at least another ten years. After he reaches the age of 110 in the Qi Refining Stage, his body will gradually lose its Qi and blood, and lose the ability to absorb spiritual energy. By then, he will no longer be able to attack at will. If he forcibly attacks and consumes too much spiritual energy, at the very least he will fall from his original cultivation level. In serious cases, it will affect the last ten years of his lifespan, and he will die early.
"Clan leader, news has come from the Song family that they have arrived." A middle-aged man next to Liu Tianlong was reporting to him the news he had just received.
Liu Tianlong stroked his beard and said solemnly, "Notify the monks from the Wu and Du families to prepare to depart."
The Liu family also had a foundation-building cultivator among their ancestors, and they were also a foundation-building family in Qinghe County a hundred years ago. However, the Liu family was unlucky, and they lost the only foundation-building cultivator in the family during the monster rebellion a hundred years ago.
Although the Xiaoyao Sect compensated the Liu family with a Foundation Establishment Pill after the war, the person chosen by the Liu family to establish their foundation failed to do so. The Liu family was reduced to a Qi Refining family, and had no choice but to give up part of their family property in exchange for the protection of other Foundation Establishment families. They became a vassal family of the Huang family and have remained so ever since.
The Liu family had been planning this trip to the Floating Cloud Mountains for years. As long as it went smoothly, they would have the opportunity to go to the Xiaoyao Sect and exchange it for Foundation Establishment Pills. As long as someone in the Liu family succeeded in building their foundation, the family's former glory would be restored in their hands. Everything about the family would change! Thinking of this, Liu Tianlong was also very excited.
Following the two elders, they galloped westward for hundreds of miles before arriving at the dense forest. Dozens of cultivators had already gathered there, including seven or eight in the late Qi Refining stage. They hadn't expected the Liu family to attach such importance to their trip to the Floating Cloud Mountains.
After meeting Liu Tianlong, the second elder Song Changfeng greeted each other and led the people of the Song family to join the team of cultivators headed by the Liu family. After everyone gathered, they left Qinghe County and headed north.
This time, the Liu family invited three nearby families to participate: the Song family, the Longtan Mountain Wu family, and the Baoshi Peak Du family. The Wu and Song families were of similar strength, led by their head, Wu Xiyun. The Du family was slightly stronger, with over thirty cultivators within its ranks, led this time by their second elder, Du Shaokang.
To the north of Qinghe County lies Pingyang County, the largest of Jiangling Commandery's four counties. Within the county alone are seven foundation-building families, controlling more than twice as many territories and cultivators as Qinghe County itself. A hundred miles further north lies the Floating Cloud Mountains, stretching for thousands of miles.
Monsters are rampant in the Floating Cloud Mountains, making it unsuitable for ordinary mortals to live here. However, this is the gathering place for many independent cultivators from the Wei State. Many independent cultivators from the four counties of Jiangling County like to come to the Floating Cloud Mountains to hunt monsters.
There are also many foundation-building cultivators who occupy spiritual veins and open caves here. The Wulong River north of Pingyang County is also the boundary between humans and the monster forces in the northern border.
The vast Floating Cloud Mountains attract many monks every year to hunt monsters. It is also a buffer zone every time monsters riot in the northern border.
Therefore, the Xiaoyao Sect also attaches great importance to this place. Not only did it establish several markets near the Floating Cloud Mountains to collect various resources and earn spirit stones from independent cultivators, it also appointed the Jindan elders in the sect to guard this place all year round.
After walking north for a few days, the group entered the territory of Pingyang County. It took them nearly ten more days to pass through Pingyang County and enter the Floating Cloud Mountains.
This was also the first time that Song Qingming left Qinghe County to carry out a mission. The cultivators he saw along the way, whether they were traveling in groups like them or acting alone in groups of three or two, all had the same destination, the Floating Cloud Mountains, which were full of dangers and opportunities.
When Song Qingming was in Lingyuan Mountain, he often heard his ninth uncle Song Changxin talk about the various strange things he encountered when he was practicing in Ziyu Mountain in Fuyun Mountain Range. He was also very curious about this place. However, since he set out with everyone this time, he had been rushing on the road and had no chance to pay attention to the various scenery along the way.
Half a month after entering the Floating Cloud Mountains, everyone came to a dense forest in a mountain bay. Liu Tianlong announced that everyone would rest there for one night. The target of this hunting was in a pool not far ahead. It was a second-level low-grade silver-armored crab monster.
According to the cultivators of the Liu family, this silver-armored crab advanced to the second-level demon beast in just a few decades, and its magical powers are not difficult to deal with.
They rushed all the way and it was rare for them to have a night's rest. At night, they lit bonfires and formed several circles around them, laughing and talking happily. The excitement did not die down until midnight.
The next morning, led by the Liu family, everyone came to the edge of a pond. The pond was only a few dozen feet in radius. Near the center, there was a huge black reef protruding above the water surface. Several low-level monsters were lying on it, leisurely basking in the rising sun.
Under the direction of several Liu family elders, they began setting up the "Golden Net Demon-Subduing Formation" in a patch of grass near the pond. This low-grade, second-level formation had been purchased by the Liu family from the Jiangling County market many years ago. With the combined efforts of sixteen Qi Refining cultivators, it could quickly trap a typical low-grade, second-level demon beast. This was the Liu family's primary reason for attempting to capture a second-level demon beast.
The second-level formation is relatively complicated, and the Liu family has made very thorough preparations for this operation. The Liu family alone sent two top-grade formation masters, plus two other top-grade formation masters from the Wu and Song families. The four of them led Song Qingming and more than a dozen low- and medium-level formation masters, and it took them nearly an hour to set up this second-level formation.
This was also the first time that Song Qingming participated in setting up a second-level formation. Originally, his formation level as a low-grade formation master was only at the entry-level level. This time, he benefited a lot from following four high-grade formation masters to jointly set up the formation.
Although he was only helping out in this formation operation, he gained a lot of insights into the art of formation and was inspired by it.
There are more than 40 cultivators participating in this mission, including nine cultivators in the late Qi Refining stage and the others are all cultivators in the middle Qi Refining stage. There is not only this second-level silver-armored crab monster in this pool, but also many first-level monsters.
According to the Liu family's on-site distribution, some of the formation masters brought were responsible for activating the formation at any time, and the other cultivators, led by several cultivators in the late Qi Refining stage, first strangled the first-level monster in the pool.
Before the battle begins, everyone must try their best to kill the first-level monsters. Otherwise, when the second-level monsters come out, too many first-level monsters will tie up the formation, and it will be difficult to trap the second-level monsters when the formation is deployed.
"Qingming and Changyun stay to help us activate the formation, and the others will follow Changfeng." Seeing that the Liu family cultivators had begun to organize people to attack the pool, the great elder Song Gubai quickly made proper arrangements.
Twelve Aunt Song Changyun is also a low-grade formation master like Song Qingming. Although she has reached the sixth level of Qi Refining, she practices wood-attributed skills. Her fighting skills are average, and she rarely participates in such dangerous missions.
The eldest elder, Song Gubai, is the only top-grade formation master in the family, so naturally he has to stay and help activate the formation.
The other five people had rich experience in hunting monsters and fighting enemies. Led by Song Changfeng, they quickly gathered at the edge of the pond.
"Kill!" At Liu Tianlong's command, everyone quickly rushed towards the pool.
A black-robed monk took the lead in attacking a low-level fish monster that was resting by the pond. This man was a veteran late-stage Qi Refining monk of the Du family, and his cultivation had reached the peak of the seventh level of Qi Refining.
He took a few quick steps and carefully moved behind the squinting fish monster. Taking advantage of the monster's unpreparedness, he quickly took out a black circular magic weapon and put it around the monster's neck.
The black ring suddenly grew several times larger in the air and got stuck on the fish monster's neck. The fish monster felt something unusual on his neck and was about to get up, but suddenly he stopped moving the next moment. A burst of blood rained out and the huge fish head fell off his neck.
Song Qingming was shocked after reading it. What a powerful method.