The next morning, Song Qingming packed his luggage early and set out on the journey back to Lingyuan Mountain.
Before returning, Song Qingming wanted to say hello to his eldest brother, fourth brother and others. Unexpectedly, the spiritual rice of the clan happened to be ripe in the past few days. Except for those who were outside, all the people of the Qing generation were captured by the third elder and taken to the spiritual fields to harvest the spiritual rice. After Song Qingming filled the gap, he had to go down Funiu Mountain alone.
Running quickly all the way, Song Qingming was soon more than ten miles away from Lingyuan Mountain. At this moment, suddenly, the sound of fighting with magical weapons came from a forest not far from the road ahead.
Song Qingming's face changed and he quickly used the "Breath Concealment Technique" and hid on a big tree nearby. He listened carefully to the movement in front of him, but found that the sound of fighting seemed to be closer to him, and he couldn't help but stamp his feet slightly.
If he encountered a fight among local cultivators nearby, he could still rely on the name of the Song family to protect himself, but he was afraid of encountering those vicious independent cultivator robbers. This kind of people would never easily let go of those who knew about it.
The sound of fighting was getting closer and closer. Song Qingming, who was hiding in a tree, was in a dilemma. If he showed his head now, he would most likely be discovered by the people fighting in front. He could only hide in the tree first and see if he could get away with it.
Not long after, hurried footsteps were heard approaching from a distance. An old man in yellow clothes ran to the base of the tree where Song Qingming was standing. Not far behind him, three even faster black figures were chasing him. After a few seconds, two of them were blocking the old man's way.
Seeing all this, Song Qingming couldn't help but be speechless. They were indeed robbers.
My luck today is really bad.
What made him feel even more terrified was that this old man really knew how to choose the direction and chose to escape towards where he was hiding.
The old man in yellow was a cultivator at the sixth level of Qi Refining. He was wearing the cheap robes commonly seen in the market, and looked like a casual cultivator. The three cultivators who blocked his way had fierce looks on their faces. They were obviously a group of robbers who specialized in robbing passing cultivators, and they all had the cultivation level of the middle stage of Qi Refining.
"Old Taoist, I advise you not to waste time. Just hand over the storage bag quickly. We brothers can still give you a quick death."
The leading robber in black, holding a black dagger about one foot long, slowly approached the old man in yellow from the front. The other two men in black also quickly surrounded the old man in yellow from two other directions.
At this moment, the old man in yellow suddenly shouted slowly towards the big tree on the right side of his head, almost making Song Qingming spit out blood on the spot.
"Fellow Daoist on the tree, I've been in danger today. I'd like to ask for your help. I'll definitely reward you handsomely afterwards."
Even the three black-robed monks who had just surrounded the old man and were about to launch an attack were startled when they heard the old man's shout, and looked towards the tree above the old man's head.
Song Qingming, who was hiding in the tree, almost called out the old man's eight generations of ancestors, with an expression of disbelief on his face. He had obviously hidden very well. Even if the old man had a higher cultivation level than him, it would not be so easy for him to find his hiding place so accurately.
Seeing the man in black below approaching the tree and about to come up to search, Song Qingming sighed, gritted his teeth and jumped down.
"Fourth Level of Qi Refining"
The three men in black were stunned at first when they saw someone really coming down, and then slowly showed contempt.
The old man in yellow looked at Song Qingming coming down, and his expression, which had just been relieved, became a little panicked again. He secretly complained in his heart. He had finally found a helper, but he didn't expect that it was a young man who had just broken through the middle stage of Qi Refining.
"My fellow Daoists, I am a cultivator from the Song Clan in nearby Funiu Mountain. I am on a mission with the clan elders today, and I happened to be waiting for them here. I have no intention of getting involved in your feud, so please don't misunderstand me."
Song Qingming estimated in his heart that even if he joined forces with the old man, it would be difficult for the two of them to resist the three black-clothed robbers. He could only try to use the elders of the clan to scare them so that he could get away smoothly. As for the old man in yellow who deliberately dragged him into this mess, his cultivation was too low and he really could not help.
"Oh, in that case, it's none of your business. We have some personal grudges with this old Taoist priest. Please leave on your own." The leader of the three black-clad robbers nodded to the other two, then pointed behind him and asked Song Qingming to leave.
The old man in yellow seemed not to hear the conversation between the three black-clad robbers and Song Qingming. He was not surprised at all to see that Song Qingming did not want to help him. He just stared at the three black-clad robbers surrounding him, looking for an opportunity to break through the siege.
When Song Qingming heard the leading robber telling him to leave, he felt a little relieved, but it was still hard for him to believe that he had escaped this unexpected disaster so smoothly. Just as he walked cautiously to a place not far from the black-clad robber, suddenly another black-clad robber shot a strange black light from his hand from behind towards his chest.
Song Qingming, already on guard, remained calm. He quickly rolled backward, narrowly avoiding the black light. Although he was only at the fourth level of Qi training, he was a cautious person. Over the past six months at Lingyuan Mountain, Song Changxin had also taught him a lot about fighting techniques. Facing the sudden attack from the black-clad robber, he was well prepared.
The black light flew around Song Qingming and flew a few feet behind him, then turned a corner and quickly returned to the hands of the black-clothed robber, turning into a black short blade, which seemed to be a mid-grade magic weapon that was good at sneak attacks.
The black-clad robber was a little surprised to see Song Qingming dodge his attack. Ever since the three brothers started robbing houses, there weren't many cultivators who could dodge his sneak attack within a range of ten steps. He couldn't help but look up to Song Qingming.
"Fellow Daoist Song, these three are robbers from Eagle Nest Ridge. They specialize in killing people and stealing treasures. They are all vicious and cruel people. They will not easily leave anyone alive. Young friend, please don't be too naive."
The old man in yellow was also very surprised to see Song Qingming dodge the sneak attack. He quickly approached Song Qingming and said something to him loudly.
"Haha, well said. It's meat in our mouths, how could we let it go? Boy, I didn't want to attack you, but today you saw something you shouldn't have seen. You can only consider it bad luck."
The black-clad robber who had just ambushed Song Qingming let out a vicious laugh and moved towards Song Qingming and the other man as he spoke.
Song Qingming, who had escaped the sneak attack, was now covered in cold sweat on his back. If he had been a little closer, he would have been lying on the ground unable to move. Facing these unscrupulous villains, he had no idea how to escape.
The three black-clothed robbers in front of him had just attacked him and their cultivation had obviously reached the peak of the sixth level of Qi Refining. The other two were also at the fifth level of Qi Refining. If Song Qingming and the old man in yellow joined forces, they would definitely not be able to hold out for long in a head-on confrontation.
Looking at the black-clad robbers slowly approaching, Song Qingming, who was already at a loss as to what to do, heard the yellow-clad old man whispering in his ear.
"Fellow Daoist Song, I still have a high-grade talisman on me. When they get close, I will activate it to hold them back for a while. You should seize the opportunity and break out to the north. The talisman won't hold them back for long. If you want to survive, it depends on how fast we can run."
Song Qingming was also a little panicked at this time. When he heard that the old man had a top-grade talisman that could help him break through, he nodded in agreement without thinking much.
Sure enough, at the moment when the three men approached to launch an attack, the old man in yellow quickly threw out several low-level red talismans, and several fireballs rushed towards the three black-clothed robbers. However, these low-level talismans could not cause any damage. The three men calmly used defensive magic weapons to block in front of them. After several explosions, they were unharmed.
Taoist Chen took advantage of this opportunity and grasped a golden talisman in his hand. He quickly injected spiritual energy into it to activate this trump card that determined the fate of the two men at the moment. The three black-clad robbers were a little surprised to see the spiritual power fluctuations that erupted from the talisman. They didn't expect that the old man had hidden a top-grade talisman.
After the golden talisman was activated, it instantly turned into several iron chains that tied up the leading robber. It looked like it was just a defensive talisman, no wonder the old man didn't take it out directly at the beginning. If it was an offensive high-grade talisman, it would definitely be able to severely injure one of the robbers in an instant, and the chances of the two of them escaping would be greatly increased.
Song Qingming didn't have time to think too much. This talisman would definitely not be able to trap the opponent for long. Taoist Chen had already fled to the south before him. Seeing that the opponent's attention was on Taoist Chen, Song Qingming quickly used the light body technique to escape to the west.
"Third brother, go chase this guy. He is a monk from a nearby family. Be careful and avoid future troubles."
"Don't worry, big brother, he's just a young man at the fourth level of Qi Refining. Are you worried that I can't catch him?"
The leader of the robbers watched the two men escape without thinking too much. He ordered one of the men in black to chase Song Qingming. After he escaped, he led the other man in another direction to chase Chen Laodao.
