Qinghe Immortal Clan.

Bai Jingyun choked up a little while speaking and looked very sad.

"The last time I saw Brother Bai, he was still in good health, but what happened?"

Hearing what Bai Jingyun said, Song Qingming showed a hint of surprise on his face. After taking the letter that Song Yuanfang handed over to him, he asked him another question.

Song Yuanfang, who was in charge of the family affairs, immediately bowed and replied, "Reporting to Seventh Uncle, the area around Baishiling has been relatively stable recently, and nothing major has happened.

Last year, I heard from Changze that Brother Bai was ill, so I asked him to send someone to send some elixirs to visit him.

At that time, Changze sent a message back saying that Fellow Daoist Bai had caught a cold, but it was nothing serious. He then stopped paying attention to the matter. I was a little careless on my part."

Song Qingming nodded slightly, opened the letter in his hand, glanced at it carefully, then stood up and said to Song Qingyu beside him: "Friend Bai and I were old friends in the past, and this is probably the last time we will see each other, so I should go and see him.

I will continue to play this game of chess with you when I come back from Baishiling!"

"Yes! Yu Xin will be back soon. I was just thinking of asking her to accompany me to visit Chiyanfang. Brother Qi, just go ahead and do your work. Don't worry about my little thing."

After saying hello to Song Qingyu, Song Qingming took Song Yuanfang and Bai Jingyun out, then went to "Chiyanfang" and took the teleportation array to "Baishiling" thousands of miles away.

As soon as he walked out of the teleportation array, Song Qingming saw Song Changze and several other elders of the Song family who were stationed in the market town and had been waiting there.

"Greetings to the ancestor!"

Song Changze has now cultivated to the ninth level of foundation building, and is the one with the highest cultivation among all the foundation building elders of the Song family. As long as he continues to hone his cultivation for a few more years, he will be ready to reach the golden elixir realm that all foundation building cultivators yearn for.

However, it is not easy for a cultivator to form a golden elixir. Even though Song Changze has good talent and broke through to the ninth level of foundation building early on, he still needs to be fully prepared if he wants to successfully step into the golden elixir path.

In recent years, in addition to daily practice, Song Changze has also been working hard to practice the "Cang Yuan Shu" passed down by Song Qingming. Although he has not yet perfected this technique, he has made some progress.

After Song Qingming's spiritual sense swept over Song Changze and the others, he nodded slightly in response, then immediately waved his hand for them to stand up.

Walking on the streets of the market town, Song Qingming looked at the crowds of cultivators coming and going around him. He felt that the "White Lion Market" was much more prosperous than a few years ago, and a look of satisfaction appeared on his face.

Since the Song family set up a teleportation array in the two places, "Chiyanfang" and "Baishiling" have been connected in the past few years. Not only has the Song family reduced the defense pressure on the front line, but the exchanges between the two markets have also become much closer thanks to this teleportation array.

Many cultivators living in the vicinity of Qinghe and Pingyang counties would organize themselves into groups and go to the vicinity of Baishiling to hunt monsters and search for opportunities to obtain spiritual objects.

Under the arrangement of Song Yuanfang, Liu Yuxin and others, the "White Lion Square" also began to imitate the "Guiyun Square" to set up Feiyun Guards, recruiting monks to go deep into the Floating Cloud Mountains to explore for information on the territories of various monsters.

Then all of them will be compiled into a book, and the tasks will be distributed to the market through the market law enforcement team to help encourage those monks who want to go deep into the Floating Cloud Mountains to hunt monsters.

When he was still in the Qi Refining Stage, Song Qingming joined the "Feiyun Guard" for a period of time during his first outing for training. Naturally, he was very familiar with their process of issuing tasks.

Therefore, when Song Yuanfang and others took the initiative to propose the formation of an exploration guard belonging to the "White Lion Square", Song Qingming immediately nodded in agreement and took the initiative to give them a lot of suggestions.

After the guard was established in the past few years, with the strong support of Song Changze and others, more and more monks came to the "White Lion Square" to hunt monsters. Not only did they clear out all the monsters around the market, but they also slowly extended the influence of human monks to the north for thousands of miles.

There are more and more monster hunting teams in the market, and the spoils of these monks' monster hunting have made the entire "White Lion Market" and the surrounding "Red Flame Market" and other places more prosperous.

Today, "White Lion Square" is considered to be a large market town in the north of Wei State, second only to "Guiyun Square". It is not only famous throughout the entire Wei State, but also many sects from neighboring countries have opened shops here.

Although the "White Lion Market" is jointly operated by the Song family and the Xiaoyao Sect, the Song family still holds the largest share in the market and is the biggest beneficiary in the entire market.

The Song family has been developing rapidly in recent years, and there are more and more family monks. However, after expanding the territory to the north, the Song family has also added a lot of family businesses. So far, the operation of the entire family is relatively stable.

After coming out of the market town, Song Qingming refused the company of Song Changze and others, and only took Song Yuanfang and Bai Jingyun to the Bai family.

Hundreds of miles southeast of Baishiling, there is a high mountain standing among the peaks, named Yuping Mountain.

The mountain is hundreds of feet high, surrounded by clouds and mist, emitting bursts of spiritual light. From a distance it looks like a holy place for immortals.

There is a top-grade spiritual vein on this "Yuping Mountain", which was originally the place where the monsters in the Floating Cloud Mountains lived.

More than ten years ago, after the Jindan Immortal Clan Qinghe Song family expanded their territory northward, "Yuping Mountain" was soon incorporated into the territory of human cultivators. It is now the holy land of the Bai family, a family of immortal cultivators under the Song family.

Not far from the foot of "Yuping Mountain", two monks walked together towards the foot of the mountain and soon came to a plaque with a stone tablet.

"Hey! Something big has happened to the Bai family. There's no one guarding the mountain gate. Could it be that the ancestor of the Bai family has passed away?"

After the middle-aged man said something with a hint of profound meaning, he gently tapped his waist with one hand and took out a white sound-transmitting talisman, then cast a spell to send it into the mountain protection formation in the distance.

Another fat scholar with a chubby figure also sighed when he saw this:

"Alas, Senior Bai is approaching the end of his life, and it is only a matter of time before he passes away. I wonder if Yuping Mountain can still have peace after the ancestor of the Bai family passes away."

After hearing the worry from the fat scholar, the middle-aged man quickly shook his head and said, "Daoyou Lu, you are overthinking this.

I have heard for a long time that Bai Jingyun of the Bai family has already become a disciple of the old ancestor in Funiu Mountain.

Even if Senior Bai is gone in the future, no one in Baishiling will dare to plot against the Bai family. Otherwise, if Funiushan investigates the matter later, we will be in big trouble.”

“To be honest, I have heard something about this matter. It is said that Senior Bai had some friendship with the old ancestor of Funiushan when they were young, so he made an exception and accepted Bai Jingyun.

In the world of immortal cultivation, there are many cases where people become indifferent after they leave. If Senior Bai is gone, who knows whether the Song family will still care about the affairs of Yuping Mountain.

Otherwise, if the relationship with the Song family really existed, why would the Bai family specially invite us to discuss the alliance?

I think Senior Bai is well aware of this matter and knows that he cannot be relied upon in the future, so he invited our two families to prepare for a rainy day, so as to find more ways out for the Bai family."

The middle-aged man heard this, thought for a moment and nodded slightly, saying: "Brother Lu, what you said makes some sense. Although Bai Jinghua has a good talent for cultivation, it is hard to say whether he can build a foundation in the future.

Senior Bai took good care of our two families in the past, so we had to come and see them no matter what. Now that our families are all nearby, it would be beneficial for us to form an alliance.

However, apart from Senior Bai, the highest cultivation level of the Bai family is only at the seventh level of Qi Refining. I’m afraid he can no longer serve as our leader. From now on, we’ll have to rely on Brother Lu to take care of us.

Don't worry, Brother Lu. I will nominate you to take over as the leader when we form the alliance later. From now on, our three families will be headed by your Tiandu Peak."

"Haha! No problem, no problem. Forming an alliance is also for everyone's benefit. As long as you agree, I won't refuse. From now on, the three of us will advance and retreat together."

Just as they were talking at the foot of the mountain, they suddenly felt a wave of spiritual energy coming from the mountain gate in front of them, and then an old man in a white shirt and wearing the clothes of the Bai family walked out quickly.

The middle-aged man and the fat scholar quickly stopped talking and greeted him with a bow.

"Fellow Daoist Lu and Fellow Daoist Zheng, thank you for your presence. I hope you will forgive me for not welcoming you in person!"

"Alas! Our three families have been connected for many years, why are you being so polite! I wonder how is Senior Bai? I'll go and pay my respects to him first."

Hearing the two people in front of him asking about his ancestor, the Bai family cultivator's face suddenly showed a trace of unpleasantness, and nodded slightly and said: "The ancestor is on the mountain, but he is not feeling well, I am afraid it is not convenient for him to see you now.

This time I invite you two to come here to discuss the alliance between the three families. Please come with me to the mountain first. After we have discussed it, I will see if I can lead you to meet the ancestor. "

"Oh! If Senior Bai is not convenient, then it's okay. Let's go up the mountain!"

Seeing the unhappy look on the face of the cultivator from the Bai family, Lu and Zheng, who came to visit, also had a meaningful look in their eyes.

Just as the three of them greeted each other and prepared to walk towards the mountain gate, a ray of light suddenly appeared in the distant sky and flew quickly towards the location of "Yuping Mountain".

Seeing this scene, the three of them showed surprise on their faces. The middle-aged man walking in front hurriedly smiled and asked:
"This is a foundation-building cultivator. Fellow Daoist Bai, you have a distinguished guest coming to Yuping Mountain today. Why didn't you tell me earlier? May I ask who is the senior who is coming?"

Hearing this, the cultivator from the Bai family quickly shook his head and said, "Well, you two fellow Taoists have misunderstood. There has been no major incident in my family recently. I am not sure which senior came to visit me."

Facing the answer from the cultivator from the Bai family, there was a slight change on the faces of Lu and Zheng. Seeing that the person was about to arrive, they hurriedly followed the cultivator from the Bai family and went forward to meet him.

After a flash of white light, Song Qingming appeared in mid-air with Song Yuanfang and Bai Jingyun, and then controlled the "Phantom Boat" to slowly land.

"Sixth Uncle, I'm back!"

"This is Patriarch Song! Why is he here?"

As the head of the Song family, Song Qingming rarely appeared in front of low-level cultivators, but Song Yuanfang managed many mundane things of the family and often came into contact with cultivators of the underground affiliated families. Seeing Song Yuanfang, the elder of the Song family, standing respectfully behind Song Qingming, the three people below immediately realized that the man in green robe standing in front should be the unattainable Song Patriarch they mentioned.

Seeing Song Qingming, the Jindan cultivator, suddenly appear, the three people standing below were all shocked. It was hard to believe that the high and mighty ancestor of the Song family actually came to "Yuping Mountain" in person.

Ever since the formation of the Dan, the people who manage the affiliated families in the family are basically the foundation-building elders such as Song Yuanfang, and Song Qingming has basically not interfered in these trivial matters in the family over the years.

Except for the time when a few fellow cultivators like Huang Shengyue, who had a friendship with him in the past, passed away and Song Qingming went to see them off, he basically did not show up in the affiliated families at other times.

Besides, the Bai family of "Yuping Mountain" is just a small immortal cultivation family that was established not long ago, and it cannot compare with the thousand-year-old family like the Huang family. How could it be worthy of Song Qingming, the Jindan ancestor, to pay so much attention to it and come here in person?

Even if Song Yuanfang, the great elder of the Song family, came today, it would be giving special face to the Bai family.

Not only were Lu and Li shocked by this scene, but even the cultivator from the Bai family stood there in shock when he saw Song Qingming appear.

It was not until Bai Jingyun, who had just returned, called out to him again that he reacted and hurriedly stepped forward to kneel and bow to Song Qingming.

"Junior, I pay my respects to the ancestor!"

Seeing this, Song Qingming glanced at a few people, waved his hand gently to signal them to stand up, and then asked Bai Jingyun to lead the way and walk up to "Yuping Mountain" first.

Only after Song Qingming and the other two had gone far away did Lu, Li and the other two who remained there slowly recover from their shock. They looked at each other, as if they still couldn't believe what had just happened.

"Uh, Fellow Daoist Lu, Fellow Daoist Zheng, let's go up the mountain first! You two go first."

"Ah! Brother Bai, please go first."

After hearing what the cultivator from the Bai family said, Lu and Li reacted and immediately smiled and nodded in response.

After just two steps forward, they stopped on their own initiative, and only bowed and followed when the cultivator from the Bai family walked in front.

In a cave on the top of "Yuping Mountain", Bai Yunhua, with a head full of white hair and as thin as a stick, was lying on a hospital bed. With his eyes closed, it seemed that only a faint breath of life remained in him that was connected to this world.

In a hall outside the bed, three Bai family cultivators were sitting together, all with somewhat ugly expressions on their faces.

One of the middle-aged men with a full beard stood up and paced around twice, then turned around and asked:
"Brother, do you think Jingyun can invite people from the Song family to go to Funiushan this time? People from the Lu and Zheng families will probably be here soon. If no one from the Song family comes, it will be difficult for us to discuss an alliance with them."

An old man sitting beside the stone table sighed and said, "You all know that although Jingyun is the disciple of the Song family's ancestor, he is just a nominal disciple. How can I be so sure about this matter?

The ancestor had repeatedly warned us not to alarm the Song family about this matter.

It was you who had to come up with this idea, asking Jingyun to go to Funiushan to report the news, and now you are asking me about it."

After the old man in white finished speaking, there was a flash of displeasure in his eyes, as if he was somewhat dissatisfied with the question just now.

The middle-aged man was not happy to hear this and said, "Brother, don't you know the current situation? Once the ancestor passes away, do you think the Lu and Zheng families will still follow our lead like before?

How can we maintain our current position relying on just a few of us? We have to resort to this last resort.

If you have a better idea, just tell us. We are not refusing to listen to you."

"Alright! Fourth brother, you should stop talking. You have been arguing for so many days, aren't you tired? Big brother, the matter is settled now. Don't think too much. Just wait for the result!"

When the people from the Lu and Li families come up, I will go and deal with them first and hold them back. We can discuss everything after Jingyun comes back."

The other old man sitting at the stone table spoke to comfort the two of them, then stood up and walked out.

Just as he reached the door, a teenager of about fifteen or sixteen suddenly walked in quickly.

"Uncle, my second brother is back. I saw he brought two people with him. They will be here soon."

"Oh! That's great, it must be someone from the Song family. I knew that Jingyun was smart and wouldn't let us down.

Big brother, you stay here first, and Fourth Brother, come with me to greet them. We must not let them think that we are being impolite."

After hearing what the young man said, the people in the hall immediately changed their sad expressions to happy ones and walked out of the cave quickly.

A quarter of an hour later, Song Qingming, who was sitting in front of Bai Yunhua's bed, was using his spiritual sense to carefully examine Bai Yunhua lying on the bed.

The few Bai family cultivators who had just appeared stood carefully aside with Bai Jingyun, lowering their heads and not daring to look at Song Qingming.

Before, they asked Bai Jingyun to go to Funiu Mountain to report the news, just to try their luck and see if the Song family would send one or two cultivators to check on Bai Yunhua as they did in the past.

By using the people from the Song family, they could let the surrounding immortal cultivation families know about the relationship between the Bai family and "Funiu Mountain", so as to keep the current status of the Bai family from being shaken in the short term.

None of them had expected that Bai Jinghua, a nominal disciple, could actually invite Song Qingming over. This really shocked them.

At this moment, they were still trembling with fear as they stood in the cave. Facing Song Qingming, the Jindan ancestor, they really didn't dare to step forward to talk to him. They could only lower their heads and stay by his side.

After checking Bai Yunhua, Song Qingming's face gradually showed some doubts. He turned to several Bai family cultivators not far away and asked:
"When Jingyun became my disciple, I gave Brother Bai a second-grade, top-grade longevity pill. Have you ever seen this?"

Bai Yunhua is a cultivator of about the same age as Song Qingming. Although his life span is almost over, Song Qingming once gave Bai Yunhua a level two longevity pill, which should be able to extend his life by at least five more years.

When Song Qingming heard the news that Bai Yunhua was dying in "Funiu Mountain" before, he always felt something strange in his heart, so he came to check it out in person.

Through his spiritual sense investigation just now, Song Qingming felt that there was no vitality left in Bai Yunhua's body, and his face was gray and pale, which was obviously a sign that his lifespan had run out.

After realizing that Bai Yunhua did not take the life-extending spiritual object, Song Qingming became more curious about the whereabouts of the second-level "life-extending pill" given by himself, Cang Nian. He looked at the Bai family members standing beside him with cold eyes.

"A second-grade, top-grade longevity pill? Well, well, I have never heard of this thing before."

"Yes! Old Ancestor, please understand. When Grandfather came back, he didn't mention any longevity pills to us. Besides, all of our old ancestor's relics are here. There is no second-class elixir."

In response to Song Qingming's question, several Bai family cultivators standing nearby hurriedly knelt on the ground to explain, and even took out the storage bags left by Bai Yuhua.

After a while, there were clanging sounds, and several people poured out the contents of Bai Yunhua's storage bag and carefully brought them to Song Qingming.

Song Qingming took a quick glance and found that these were all worthless ordinary spiritual objects. Only a few talismans and magical instruments of ordinary second-level low quality had some value, and there was no "longevity pill" at all.

Seeing this, Song Qingming turned around and looked at everyone again, saying in a cold tone:

"I originally gave this pill to Fellow Daoist Bai, but Fellow Daoist Bai did not take the longevity spiritual item. Now the pill is nowhere to be found, so there must be an explanation.

To tell you the truth, this second-grade top-grade longevity pill was refined by my Song family. As long as it is still on Yuping Mountain, I will definitely find a way to find it.

If any of you have taken it, or know where the pill is, just tell me now and I can give Brother Bai a favor and let it go."

When Song Qingming gave Bai Yunhua the longevity elixir, he simply wanted him to live a few more years so that he could give Bai Jingyun more teachings.

Unexpectedly, Bai Yunhua did not take the elixir of longevity, which caused his death to be advanced by several years. Now his life force is gone and there is no way to save him.

Bai Yunhua practiced cultivation for his entire life, and it was not too sad that he was able to pass away peacefully in his own home.

However, he clearly had a second-grade top-grade "longevity pill" in his hand, but he did not have time to take it and refine it. This really made Song Qingming a little confused about where this valuable pill had gone.

Seeing that Song Qingming's face was already somewhat unhappy, several Bai family cultivators present hurriedly knelt on the ground and begged for mercy, all claiming that they had never seen or heard that their ancestor had such a precious second-grade top-grade elixir in his hands.

Seeing that the people of the Bai family were already frightened and did not seem to be talking nonsense, Song Qingming's doubts on his face intensified a little, and he asked again:
"Since you didn't take it, do you know where Brother Bai has been in these years, or if he has encountered any trouble?"

"Reporting to the old ancestor, since moving to Yuping Mountain, my grandfather has rarely gone out. In recent years, except for the area around Yuping Mountain, we have indeed not seen him travel far."

"Oh! This is really strange. A good second-grade top-grade elixir can't disappear without a trace!

Since you can't find it yourselves, I'll send someone to help you look for it!"

"Master, I think I know where the elixir is!"

Just as Song Qingming was about to turn around and leave the cave, Bai Jingyun, who had been standing next to him without saying anything, suddenly spoke. (End of this chapter)