After dealing with the items in Liu Tianlong's storage bag, Song Qingming continued walking south for a few more days and entered a somewhat desolate hilly area. Seeing the sun setting in the west and the sky gradually darkening, Song Qingming stopped.
After observing the surroundings, he found a mountain wall, released the Fiery Sun Sword and hit the mountain wall for a while. After spending some time, he finally dug out a small cave. Then he set up a simple five-element maze formation outside the cave, placed a spirit stone to activate the formation, and then walked into the cave with satisfaction.
Ever since he was chased by a high-level demon crocodile last time, he would rather take a detour these days, try to walk through the barren mountains and plains, and avoid the deep mountain swamps where the demon beasts roam. At night, he would find a cave and set up a formation outside before he could go to sleep.
After lighting a bonfire, Song Qingming took out some spiritual rice from his storage bag and cooked it. Qi Refining cultivators could not practice fasting and needed to eat every few days. Fortunately, he still had a lot of spiritual rice on him, so he didn't have to worry about food for the time being.
After dinner, Song Qingming rested for a while, then took out a Qi-nourishing pill and swallowed it, then he practiced the Kunyuan Jue to slowly dissolve the medicinal power of the elixir.
It has been almost a month since I came out. In this deep mountain, there has been no spiritual vein for cultivation. I can only rely on the spiritual rice I carry with me to absorb a little spiritual energy. My cultivation has not improved much. Fortunately, today is finally the time when I can take the spiritual pill regularly every month.
After practicing for half a cycle, Song Qingming suddenly felt that the bottleneck of the fifth level of Qi Refining in his body seemed to have loosened a little. He thought that this might be his cultivation level, and it was time for a breakthrough.
According to the normal speed of cultivation, it would take Song Qingming at least two or three years to break through the fifth level of Qi Refining.
However, since he obtained the incomplete map, he has saved up a lot of spirit stones by making talismans in the past two years, and has exchanged five or six bottles of elixirs for improving his cultivation from Gao Yuyao. Except for taking two bottles of Qi-nourishing elixirs to the family's gold pavilion to exchange for some talisman-making materials, most of the elixirs are kept in his own hands. By taking elixirs continuously in the past two years, his cultivation has been raised to the peak of the fourth level of Qi Refining.
He took out a heart-clearing talisman and stuck it on himself. Then Song Qingming crushed a dozen low-level spirit stones in his hands. A large amount of spiritual power instantly filled the narrow cave.
When a cultivator breaks through his cultivation level, he needs to absorb a large amount of spiritual energy. The best place to break through is in a spiritual vein with abundant spiritual energy. Unfortunately, now in this desolate mountain and wilderness, Song Qingming couldn't find a spiritual vein at once, so he could only use the spiritual stones in his hand to provide spiritual energy. Although he now has a lot of spiritual stones in his hand, such extravagant behavior still made him frown.
With the help of this spiritual power, Song Qingming increased the speed of the internal exercises and felt that the fifth spiritual point in his body began to vibrate continuously.
Seeing this, Song Qingming was secretly delighted, and continued to patiently absorb the spiritual power into his dantian. Finally, after an hour, the spiritual energy in his meridians flowed into the river like a stream of clear water, successfully breaking through the fifth spiritual point. His cultivation level was raised to the fifth level of Qi Refining, and the magic power in his dantian also increased significantly.
Song Qingming did not expect that he would break through the fifth level of Qi Refining so smoothly this time. He was delighted. After twelve years of cultivation, he was now twenty-two years old, and his cultivation had finally caught up with most of the cultivators in the clan.
For Song Qingming, who has been on the path of cultivation for more than ten years, nothing can make him happier than a breakthrough in his cultivation. Without a strong enough cultivation base, no matter how many precious spirit stones he has on him, he will not be able to protect them. Instead, he will become a wedding dress for others. He has always been clear about this in his heart.
At the age of 22, he had cultivated to the fifth level of Qi Refining, which was considered a very fast cultivator in Qinghe County. If the items in Liu Tianlong's storage bag could be successfully exchanged for cultivation resources, Song Qingming already had a glimmer of confidence that he could cultivate to the ninth level of Qi Refining before the age of 60. Together with the Shuiling Fruit in the storage bag, he could then take it to Xiaoyao Sect to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill. His path now became very bright.
After his cultivation level broke through, Song Qingming did not rush to come out. He slowly circulated the spiritual energy dozens of times again to nourish the newly opened spiritual cave. It was not until five days later when his cultivation level was completely stabilized that Song Qingming walked out of the cave.
After putting away the magic circle, Song Qingming continued on his way, using the light body technique and felt that his magic power was much stronger than before.
After climbing over a high mountain, Song Qingming suddenly spotted several figures in the valley below. From time to time, he could hear the roars of monsters. A smile of surprise instantly appeared on his face. Ever since Song Qingming was dragged into the pool by the black-feathered python, he had been walking alone in this dangerous mountain range for nearly ten days. Finally, seeing someone appear before his eyes, he couldn't help but feel a little excited and quickly headed down the mountain.
When I got closer, I found that several cultivators were besieging a giant bear. The leader was a burly man with a high level of cultivation, already in the late stage of Qi Refining. He had always been the main force on the battlefield. The other three who assisted in the attack were all cultivators in the middle stage of Qi Refining. There was also a woman who was only in the third level of Qi Refining who did not participate in the battle. She stood not far away and watched the battlefield.
Seeing this situation, Song Qingming did not show up immediately. He stopped on a tree nearby and watched from afar. Only after the high-level giant bear was knocked down by these people did he jump off the tree trunk and walk towards them.
"Stop, who are you?"
Just when Song Qingming walked to a distance of about ten feet, the burly man with the highest cultivation level discovered him first and shouted loudly with some hostility in his tone.
A few people on the side were still collecting materials from the giant bear. When they heard someone was coming, they quickly released their magic weapons to guard the surroundings, fearing that Song Qingming had bad intentions and had other accomplices.
Seeing that these people were very wary of him, Song Qingming stopped and spread his hands to explain:
"Please don't misunderstand, fellow Daoists. I'm a casual cultivator from Qinghe County, and I'm here to hunt monsters. A few days ago, our monster hunting team encountered a Level 2 monster, and we accidentally got separated from our teammates while fleeing. I didn't have a map with me, and I walked in the mountains for several days without finding my companions. I just happened to meet you today. May I ask which direction Pingyang County is in and how far it is from here?"
"It turns out to be a fellow cultivator. I was startled. Don't blame me, fellow Daoist. I thought you were one of those bastards from the Fire Wolf Gang." The leading man saw that Song Qingming was the only one around, so he let down his guard and asked his companions to put away their magic weapons.
This burly man looked like a straightforward person. Song Qingming had been in Caolu Mountain for two years and he really liked dealing with this type of people.
"This place is quite far from Pingyang County. It's about five or six days' walk to the southeast. If you don't have a map, it might be difficult to get there. I think you should wait for us at the mountain pass behind for a day. We'll be returning to Guiyunfang tomorrow, so I can just take you along."
The one who spoke was a middle-aged Confucian scholar. He had a flowing Confucian robe and held a green sword in his hand. He was at the fifth level of Qi Refining and had a scholarly air on his face. He spoke slowly and unhurriedly, and it was obvious that he was a man of great knowledge.
"Okay, I would like to thank all my fellow Taoists here first." Song Qingming nodded. As long as he could get out of the dangerous Floating Cloud Mountains faster, it would not matter to him to wait one more day.
The other people, including the big man with the highest cultivation level, did not object when they heard that the middle-aged Confucian scholar wanted to take Song Qingming with him. It was obvious that although the Confucian scholar's cultivation level was not high, he was the one whose words were trustworthy among the five.
After parting with a few people, Song Qingming walked out of the valley to the east for a meal's time, and saw a red tree more than ten meters high in front of him. It was the meeting place he had just agreed with the Confucian scholar for the next day.
Song Qingming found a few dead trees nearby, borrowed some branches and leaves from the big tree, and built a simple hut under the tree.
On the morning of the second day, Song Qingming was meditating in the hut when he suddenly heard a fluctuation of spiritual power coming from the magic circle outside the hut. Song Qingming went out to look and saw a girl in green in front of him, slashing wildly in the mist of the formation with a flying sword in her hand, and casting a few low-level spells from time to time.
The woman was about twenty years old. She had a green jade hairpin in her hair, which was braided into two black pigtails behind her. She was wearing a green skirt. She was the girl at the third level of Qi Refining who was among the group of wandering cultivators that she met in the valley yesterday.
But at this moment, the woman seemed to be trapped by the formation and her face showed a little panic. Several of her companions were standing not far outside the formation, and seemed to be discussing how to rescue her.
Seeing this, Song Qingming gave a wry smile. He had set up this formation to guard against attacks from mountain monsters, but he had never imagined this woman would be so careless as to plunge headfirst into the formation and be trapped. It would be difficult for someone like her, who was unfamiliar with formations, to escape without more than two or three hours.
Song Qingming quickly made a few gestures and put away the formation. The fog that surrounded the tree for several feet instantly dissipated between heaven and earth, revealing the red tree in the formation and Song Qingming under the tree.