Five days later, in a deep yellow maple forest, Song Qingming was sitting on a dead tree, emitting a faint spiritual light.
After Song Qingming escaped from the pond that day, he found a nearly clean open space not far away and took a few blood-replenishing pills and recovery pills to recover from his injuries.
Then he followed the traces of the fleeing crowd, but before he had gone a few miles, he saw the black-feathered python in the sky returning to the pool from afar. He was so scared that he quickly lay down in the weeds on the spot and did not dare to show up until after dark.
In order to catch up with everyone in a hurry, Song Qingming had no choice but to continue his journey at night. However, in the dark, he couldn't see the way he came clearly, and he went in the wrong direction and lost track of everyone.
This was Song Qingming's first time in the Floating Cloud Mountains. He was very unfamiliar with the mountains and geography here. He didn't have a map with him, and he couldn't find the way back after searching for a long time. He was lost among the mountains.
Fortunately, he knew that to the north was the paradise of monsters and beasts deep in the Floating Cloud Mountains, and to the south was the territory of humans. He roughly knew that as long as he went south, he would eventually get out of the Floating Cloud Mountains.
Whether he went south to Pingyang County or the surrounding markets, as long as he got there, he would naturally find a way to return to Qinghe County.
Song Qingming had been walking south for several days. He wanted to find someone to ask for directions, but unfortunately he didn't see anyone along the way. The Floating Cloud Mountains were a place where monsters and beasts were rampant and dangers were lurking on every side. Two days ago, when he passed by a grassland, he happened to encounter a ferocious high-level giant crocodile. He was chased by the beast for a long time before he escaped from danger, which made him feel a little panicked.
Half an hour later, Song Qingming, who had been meditating for a long time, felt that his spiritual power had almost recovered to about 70%. He used his hands to mobilize his physical strength and magic power, and a green light instantly cast itself onto a small red bag beside him, slowly wrapping it in his spiritual power.
In the past five days, Song Qingming had also tried to open the red storage bag he picked up at the bottom of the pond to see if there was any treasure in it. Unfortunately, the restrictions set on this top-grade storage bag were indeed a bit troublesome. Song Qingming cast spells continuously for several days before he erased most of the restrictions on the storage bag.
Normal monks' storage bags would have secret restrictions that only they knew. If outsiders wanted to forcefully open them, they would have to use magic power to erase the restrictions.
Generally speaking, the restrictions set by cultivators with higher cultivation levels will be more advanced. If a cultivator with lower cultivation levels wants to erase the magical restrictions set by cultivators with higher cultivation levels, it will take time to slowly grind them away. The length of time required depends entirely on the difference in magical power between the two and a bit of luck.
The difference in magic power between cultivators of the same level will not be too big, and the restrictions can be successfully erased in ten days or half a month at most. If a Qi Refining cultivator wants to cross the level and break the restrictions set by a Foundation Establishment cultivator, it is hard to say, and it may take several years.
Three hours later, a slight sound was suddenly heard, and the red storage bag was seen to fluctuate with spiritual power, and a purple light was emitted. Song Qingming finally opened the storage bag today. He had to thank Cantu for helping him speed up the recovery of his spiritual power, otherwise he would have to spend a few more days.
Song Qingming poured out all the contents of the storage bag. Unexpectedly, just a quick glance at the contents of the storage bag shocked his eyes.
In this storage bag, there are nearly two hundred spirit stones alone, as well as a bunch of magic tools, talismans, pills and other items.
Whose storage bag is this? It is so rich. Song Qingming thought about the many cultivators who participated in the battle in the water pool that day, but still couldn't determine the owner of the storage bag. He could only look for the answer from the items in these storage bags.
One top-grade magic weapon, two mid-grade magic weapons, five top-grade talismans, more than a dozen mid-grade and low-grade talismans, and three bottles of elixirs that could not be identified at the moment.
There were also several jade slips of martial arts techniques, a black token, an ancient jade box, and several pieces of clothing.
Song Qingming picked up the black token and took a look at it, only then did he know who the owner of the storage bag was.
The two small words "Clan Leader" were clearly printed on the black token. Combined with the fact that the clothes in the storage bag were the black and white colors that all cultivators of the Liu family wore, Song Qingming could roughly guess that the owner of the storage bag was none other than Liu Tianlong, the head of the Liu family.
Song Qingming really didn't expect that the storage bag he picked up at the bottom of the pool would be so hot. He couldn't help but take a deep breath.
The storage bag of the Liu family head, it seems that I have to be more careful in the future. If these skills, magic tools, and items are recognized by others in the future, the Liu family will soon suspect me.
Song Qingming threw the token and clothes in the storage bag directly into a stream not far away. He did not dare to keep the three magic weapons for use. He planned to put them in the storage bag first, and wait for a while to go to a distant market, and then find a way to dispose of them together with this high-quality storage bag.
Song Qingming discarded several jade slips, all of which were ordinary Qi Refining techniques inherited from the Liu family. They were not valuable, so he chose to discard them all. Only one scroll, a manual on formation techniques inherited from the Liu family's foundation-building ancestor, was of some use to Song Qingming, so he kept it.
The classics not only recorded more than a dozen first-level formations, but also two second-level formations, which would be useful if he wanted to improve his formation skills in the future.
The other spirit stones and talismans were common items on the market, so he wasn't worried about others recognizing them, so he put them into his storage bag without worry. He couldn't identify the bottles of elixirs at the moment, so he didn't dare take them. He needed to take them to the market to find an alchemist to identify them. If they were useful to him, he would keep them, but if not, he would sell them directly.
When Song Qingming opened the last remaining jade box, he was shocked again.
"This is the Water Spirit Fruit. How could Liu Tianlong have such a spiritual object in his storage bag? What's going on?"
As soon as Song Qingming saw the item in the jade box, he recognized it immediately. "Shuiling Fruit, one inch and three fen square. When ripe, it's completely transparent and emits a blue glow."
He was indeed not mistaken. The thing in the box was a ripe water spirit fruit, a second-level spiritual object. As early as when Song Qingming had just started practicing Taoism, the great elder of the family school had repeatedly explained to him the various spiritual fruits and spiritual medicines in the world of cultivation. This object was also recorded in the family spiritual medicine book given to each of them.
Although this was Song Qingming's first time seeing a real thing, a cultivator's memory was several times better than that of an ordinary mortal, and he was already very familiar with most of the spiritual medicines recorded in the spiritual medicine classics. Pulling out the spiritual medicine classics from his storage bag, Song Qingming confirmed it again before he was completely sure of the item.
This water spirit fruit is a spiritual object whose value is equivalent to that of the Foundation Establishment Pill. How could the Liu family have such a spiritual object? It looks like this water spirit fruit was picked not long ago. Could it be that this is the spiritual object that Liu Tianlong just found in the pond? The Liu family is so lucky that they can find such a priceless spiritual object in just a pond.
Song Qingming thought about it. Although these were just his personal guesses, it was the only way to barely explain the origin of the water spirit fruit in Liu Tianlong's storage bag.
If the things found in Liu Tianlong's storage bag made Song Qingming rich, then this water spirit fruit gave him the hope of building a foundation in this life. This kind of spiritual object could definitely be easily exchanged for a foundation-building pill in the future when he took it to Xiaoyao Sect.
Song Qingming looked at the water spirit fruit and was shocked for a long time before he came to his senses. He carefully put it in a jade box and put it into the storage bag. He couldn't use it now, but fortunately, the water spirit fruit could be kept in this jade box for at least twenty years, so there was no need to worry about the damage of this spiritual object for the time being.
It was unlucky that day. He had finally picked the Water Spirit Fruit, but a level two black-feathered python suddenly appeared in the cave. Although he escaped with the desperate protection of two Liu family elders, the black-feathered python's breath still scratched his abdomen when he escaped from the cave. Not only did it injure his dantian, but the storage bag on his waist also accidentally fell to the bottom of the pool. He wanted to go back to look for it, but the black-feathered python had already chased him out, so he had to run for his life first.
After Liu Tianlong and the Liu family monks escaped from the pursuit of the black-feathered python, although he was unwilling to give up, he did not dare to go back and take the risk to look for his lost storage bag. The second-level black-feathered python in the pool was beyond their ability to deal with at the moment, so they could only embark on the return journey with the remaining monks of the family.
After returning to Qinghe County, Liu Tianlong had not been home for long when he vomited a mouthful of blood due to his serious injuries and lay on the sickbed.
The old patriarch who had guarded the Liu family for many years looked pale and listless. He seemed to have suddenly aged several years compared to when he left Qinghe County two months ago.
The Liu family suffered heavy losses during this trip to Floating Cloud Mountain. Only more than half of the twenty or so family backbones who participated in the mission returned, and two elders were killed. This trip was a serious blow to the Liu family, and it would take at least twenty to thirty years to recover.
Even Liu Tianlong, a peak Qi-refining cultivator who had been active in Qinghe County for decades, was injured in his Dantian this time. Even if he could recover from his injury in the future, it would be difficult for him to fight others easily again.