Just as Song Qingming was thinking, a wave of spiritual energy suddenly came from the forbidden spell he set up at the entrance of the cave.
Song Qingming calmed down and quickly confirmed the location of the buried spirit stone. Finding nothing wrong, he stood up and walked out of the cave.
As soon as he walked out of the cave gate, he saw a man standing not far away who was much taller than him. He was wearing a green robe similar to his and had a square face.
Seeing this person, Song Qingming was somewhat delighted and said, "Fourth brother, you came to see me so early, what good news do you have?"
"Seventh Brother, how can you be sure it's a good thing? Aren't you afraid that Third Uncle is asking you to help draw the magic circle again?"
The person who was talking to Song Qingming was the fourth among the "Qing" generation cultivators in the Song family. His name was Song Qingrui. His cultivation was higher than Song Qingming's and he had reached the fourth level of Qi Refining.
"Didn't I just go there a few days ago? I don't think I need to go there again today." Song Qingming replied somewhat embarrassedly.
The third uncle mentioned by fourth brother Song Qingrui is also the eldest elder of the Song family. Because Song Qingming studies the art of formation, he usually likes to capture Song Qingming to help draw some small auxiliary spells on the robes he refines.
Although Song Qingming had some talent in the art of formations, he had only been learning for a short time and his level was barely adequate. For this reason, he was often scolded by his bad-tempered third uncle, leaving him blushing.
Song Qingrui smiled and said nothing more, directly stating the purpose of his visit.
"Uncle Thirteen said he's going to Qingzhu Mountain to roast snakes today. Big Brother has already gone there and is waiting for us."
"Well, Fourth Brother, wait for me to pack up my magic tools and go down the mountain with you guys."
——
Located in the northeast corner of Qinghe County, there is a green mountain that stretches for dozens of miles. It is called Qingzhu Mountain. The mountain is full of emerald green bamboos, like a sea of bamboo.
In Qingzhu Mountain, in a dense forest at the foot of the mountain, there is an open area that has just been leveled by a magic weapon. Three monks are nervously hiding in a pile of dense weeds nearby. From time to time, they stick their necks out, staring anxiously at a small path in front of them leading to the mountain.
"Brother, do you think Uncle Thirteen is okay? Why hasn't he come back in such a long time? Should we go pick him up?"
One of the three young men asked the older young man in the middle who was leading the group anxiously.
"Don't talk nonsense. Uncle Thirteen is at least a cultivator at the sixth level of Qi Refining. As long as he doesn't go deep into the territory of those high-level monsters inside Qingzhu Mountain, there is no way the monsters at the foot of the mountain can hold him back.
There aren't many monsters around here, so he probably hasn't found a suitable prey yet. Let's not go out yet. If we alarm a monster, all our efforts will be in vain." The older man scolded the boy softly.
The man's name is Song Qingshi. He is the fourth generation cultivator of the Song family in the nearby Funiu Mountain and has reached the fifth level of Qi Refining.
The two young men behind him were Song Qingrui and Song Qingming who had followed him down the mountain.
The cultivator who went to lure the monster mentioned by Song Qingshi was Song Changxiong, the thirteenth among the third generation of the Song family with the character "长" in the surname. He had already reached the sixth level of Qi Refining. In recent years, he often took his nephews of the "青" generation out to hunt monsters.
Song Qingshi looked at the empty ground not far away, feeling a little worried, but then he thought that he had followed his uncle Thirteenth for so many years to hunt monsters, and his uncle Thirteenth had a lot of experience in luring the enemy.
Besides, he has strong skin and tough muscles thanks to his defensive skills, and he carries a mid-level defensive magic weapon for self-defense, so there shouldn't be any big problems.
Song Qingshi took a breath silently and exhaled slowly, calming down some of the tension in his heart.
A few quarters of an hour later, a noise suddenly came from the bamboo forest at the end of the path, and a burly man suddenly jumped out. It was Song Changxiong.
But at this moment, he seemed a little disheveled, with green bamboo leaves all over his body, his clothes were torn in several places, and even a section of his right sleeve was missing.
Song Changxiong took a few steps to the left and right and jumped onto the path. Without looking back, he ran straight towards the hiding place of the three people at the foot of the mountain. As he ran, he shouted loudly:
"Hurry up and prepare to activate the formation. Damn, there are a lot of people coming this time."
The three people hiding in the grass breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Song Changxiong was safe and sound.
After hearing Song Changxiong's voice, Song Qingshi quickly turned around and instructed the two people behind him, "Prepare to activate the formation. This time, there will probably be a mid-level monster. Everyone be careful."
It was not until Song Changxiong ran to them that the three of them heard a hissing sound coming from behind Song Changxiong, and seven or eight large green snakes were chasing them relentlessly.
The two snakes in the front were even bigger than the others, with long and thin white stripes on their bodies, looking quite ferocious.
"There are two mid-level green bamboo pythons. This is a bit tricky. You two should be smart later. If the formation cannot trap the monsters, retreat quickly and escape separately."
"Don't worry, brother, we know what to do."
The two nodded repeatedly after hearing this. Obviously, this was not the first time they heard Song Qingshi speak so cautiously.
As soon as Song Qingshi finished speaking, Song Changxiong had already run to the open ground several feet in front of the three people, then turned around and stopped immediately, taking out a silver sword and holding it across his body.
The two leading intermediate-level green bamboo pythons following behind him were also quite fast. They caught up with him in a moment and opened their huge mouths to pounce on Song Changxiong.
The two green bamboo pythons were located on the left and right, with their huge mouths aimed at Song Changxiong's neck and thighs respectively.
Seeing this, Song Changxiong quickly responded. He first turned his body sideways to avoid the venom spraying from the left side of his neck. At the same time, the magic weapon, the large ring knife in his hand, quickly slashed at the giant python that was rushing towards his thigh from the other side, forcing the giant python that was about to succeed to change the direction of attack.
Unexpectedly, when the giant python saw the big knife coming, it did not retreat immediately. Its big green head just shrank slightly, opened its mouth and sprayed out a stream of venom.
With a loud "bang", although Song Changxiong tried his best to chop the green bamboo python, he did not cause much damage. When he turned around to avoid the venom, another green bamboo python that had just missed turned around and hit his waist with its tail. He retreated dozens of steps and quickly stabilized his body.
After several fierce collisions between the man and the two snakes, Song Changxiong faced two mid-level monsters alone and gradually fell into a disadvantage, with several scars appearing on his body.
At this time, another five or six low-level green bamboo pythons had also arrived, and seven or eight green bamboo pythons surrounded Song Changxiong in a blink of an eye.
Song Changxiong's condition at the moment was somewhat precarious. His outer clothes were already tattered, and a black soft armor was revealed on the exposed parts.
At this moment, three red fire walls suddenly jumped up from the empty ground, forming a triangle shape, instantly surrounding Song Changxiong and the seven or eight green bamboo pythons within the fire walls.
It was Song Qingming and the other two who had been waiting for a long time. They activated the formation that they had set up here earlier, the Flame Formation.
Seeing this, Song Changxiong was overjoyed. He raised his sword and swung it forward with force, forcing back the low-level green bamboo pythons. Then he quickly took out a fire-avoiding talisman and stuck it on his chest. He turned around and passed through the wall of fire behind him and came out of the wall of fire.
Three red formation flags were inserted into the ground outside the fire wall, and a white formation plate was flying above it. The three fire walls connected by the formation plate were emitting blazing flames. Song Qingshi and the other two were sitting cross-legged behind the red formation flags, injecting their own spiritual energy into the flags.
The green bamboo python is afraid of fire by nature, and this flame formation is the perfect weapon to deal with it.
The erected wall of fire could easily block even the venom sprayed by the two mid-level demon pythons. The four of them had used this formation many times in the past to hunt demon beasts here, and now they were extremely proficient in activating this formation.
"I'll recover my spiritual power first, you guys hold on for a while."
After Song Changxiong jumped out of the wall of fire, he said something to Song Qingshi and the other two, then walked to the side, took out a few pills and stuffed them into his mouth. He then sat cross-legged and used his internal energy to slowly dissolve the medicinal power.
The three of them just nodded when they saw this, and did not pay any attention to him, but just continued to increase their strength to activate the formation.
The fire in the Sky Fire Formation suddenly grew stronger. The low-level monsters in the fire wall were frightened by this and panicked, and retreated backwards one after another.
Seeing this, the two mid-level monsters let out a few low growls at their low-level counterparts behind them. The low-level green bamboo python was so scared that it quickly froze.
Driven by the two mid-level monsters, they bounced up and crashed into the wall of fire, but were bounced back by the wall of fire with great force, and burn marks appeared on their bodies.
Although low-level monsters are still unable to drive spiritual energy, their physical fitness is several times that of ordinary beasts. The constant collisions also consume a lot of spiritual energy of the formation.
Seeing this, Song Qingshi and the other two used their spiritual energy to activate a small red flag in their hands. Three fire dragons suddenly flew out of the wall of fire and pounced on the monster that leaped over. For a moment, the fire dragons and the monster fought together.
Although there were many monsters, one of the three fire dragons was soon defeated.
However, this fire dragon was formed by absorbing the spiritual energy of the formation. As long as there is a stable injection of spiritual energy, it can recover quickly.
Half an hour passed slowly, and most of the low-level monsters in the Sky Fire Formation had been killed by the fire dragon, and the rest had lost their combat effectiveness.
Only the two mid-level green bamboo pythons had some injuries on their bodies, but it did not affect their combat effectiveness much, and they were still fighting hard with the three fire dragons.
At this time, Song Qingshi, who had the highest cultivation level among the three, had sweat all over his forehead, and the speed at which he input spiritual energy into the formation had slowed down a lot.
On the other two sides, Song Qingming and Song Qingrui had lower cultivation levels. At this moment, it seemed that they had very little spiritual energy left in their bodies and were struggling to hold on.
Song Qingming's cultivation was only at the third level of Qi Refining. At this moment, the luster of the fire wall in front of him had become very dim. Seeing this, the two monsters attacked him desperately again.
Not long after, Song Qingming was attacked by the formation, and a trace of blood suddenly flowed out of his mouth. His face was as pale as paper and his expression was a little listless.
At this moment, a broad hand supported his back, and Song Qingming suddenly felt a strong spiritual energy flowing into his body. The crumbling wall of fire in front of him also quickly regained its original brightness.
Song Qingming was pleasantly surprised. "Uncle Thirteen, if you hadn't come soon, I would have collapsed first."
"That won't do. If we let them out, all our efforts will be in vain. After I go in, you will all activate the formation with all your strength to help me kill these two beasts."