After finally getting a few days of free time in Funiu Mountain, Song Qingming returned to Mujiao Town to visit his family. Coincidentally, a happy event happened at home.
Song Qingming's fourth brother got married a year ago and recently gave birth to a son. The family was discussing when to hold a half-month-old banquet for the child. Song Qingming happened to come home, and his father Song Dezhang decided that it would be better to hold a banquet on the day instead of waiting for another day.
The banquet lasted for two consecutive days, with guests coming in an endless stream. Many relatives and friends in Mujiao Town came to give gifts. Because Song Qingming became an immortal, the Song family has become a well-known wealthy family in the area west of Mujiao Town. Naturally, there are now many people who want to curry favor with them.
After the banquet, Song's mother led her daughter-in-law and picked up her newly born grandson and came to a quiet house in the backyard. Looking at Song Qingming who was sitting in the room holding a book, Song's mother smiled and said.
"San'er, your father said you'll be leaving tomorrow, and he doesn't know when you'll be back."
The book in Song Qingming's hand flashed with a green light, and he put it into his storage bag. He paused and replied softly, "I have accepted the mission of guarding the sacred mountain outside the clan. I still have a year to return to the mountain. After I return, I will have two years of free training. Naturally, I won't miss you for too long."
His parents are already at the age of enjoying their grandchildren, which is considered quite old among mortals. Although they have consumed some low-level spiritual fruits that Song Qingming got in the mountains and there is no sign of aging, Song Qingming knows in his heart that the lifespan of mortals is no more than sixty years. He hopes that his two elders can let him care about them for a few more years.
"Your father discussed with me yesterday and decided to ask you for a name for this eldest grandson, so that he can get some of your immortal energy. Maybe this child will have the opportunity to ascend to heaven in the future." Mother Song took the child from her daughter-in-law's hands with a smile and presented it to Song Qingming.
The sister-in-law next to him was also a woman from a scholarly family. After entering the Song family, she had been doing her duty to manage the household, respecting her parents-in-law, and was deeply loved by Song's mother. At this moment, she looked at Song Qingming who was thinking, her eyes full of anticipation.
"A few months ago, our family went to the Floating Cloud Mountains. We were quite lucky, and I also gained a lot of opportunities. When we came back, this child was born. I think we should name this child Yunshan!"
"Song Yunshan" Song's mother read the name and felt it was okay, so she nodded and let her daughter-in-law take the child out first.
"San'er, I know you immortals don't like to be tainted by the vulgarity of us mortals. You have things you need to do. Thanks to you, our family is getting better and better. I don't have anything else to ask of you. I just hope you can come back often."
Although Song Qingming has been at home these days, he basically stays in his room. Except for a few family members, he has no contact with other people. Song's mother also understands that there is a difference between immortals and mortals after all, and her son does not belong in this little house after all.
"I haven't wanted to go out and see anyone these past two days. I'm simply afraid that someone in town will talk about our family. After all, everyone in the mountain has secular relatives, and what's happening down there will inevitably spread back up there, and people will accuse me of not following the clan rules and getting too involved in secular affairs."
"I also like this little house that my family left for me. I have set up a formation in this room these days. When I'm not here, don't let anyone in, lest they trigger the formation and suffer. Don't worry, mother. I will definitely come back often when I have time."
After listening to this, Mother Song nodded, sighed, and said, "Alas, you have grown up and become much more mature in your behavior, but I always feel that you are not as cheerful as you were when you were a child."
"Mom, everyone has to grow up, right?" Song Qingming said to his mother with a mischievous smile. His mother looked at him and he seemed to have returned to his youth.
After sending Song's mother away, Song Qingming took out his flying sword and carefully dug off a piece of stone brick floor in the house, then dug a small hole and placed the jade box containing the Water Spirit Fruit into it. He then slowly put the stone slab back to its original position. He had no use for this thing now, and it was not appropriate to carry it with him all the time, so he simply hid the Water Spirit Fruit in Mujiao Town, which was within the Funiu Mountain protection formation and was much safer than hiding it in Lingyuan Mountain.
After staying in Funiu Mountain for a few days, Song Qingming finally got permission from the fourth elder Song Gucai and returned to Lingyuan Mountain.
He hadn't been back for more than two months, and his ninth uncle Song Changxin missed him very much. During the time Song Qingming was away, the family lacked manpower and did not arrange for anyone else to come to Lingyuan Mountain to help him. In order to keep an eye on the normal operation of the mine, he had not been able to practice in seclusion for a long time during this period.
Seeing Song Qingming coming back, Song Changxin threw him a bunch of talismans and miscellaneous items, and immediately began to practice in seclusion again. Song Qingming also quickly began to resume his previous days of stationed practice.
But this time, Song Qingming brought back a bunch of spiritual objects from Guiyunfang, and he would be busy in the days to come.
More than half a month ago in Guiyunfang, Song Qingming spent hundreds of spirit stones in one day. His storage bag, which was originally rich, became empty again in an instant, and now he only had dozens of spirit stones left.
On the way back, Song Qingming had already decided that he should first find a way to expand his financial resources.
After thinking all the way, Song Qingming chose to improve his own talisman-making skills first. After two years of hard work, his talisman-making skills have reached a bottleneck that can be broken through. In the past six months, he has also begun to try to make mid-level talismans. Although he failed in the end, it was also due to the limitations of Caolu Mountain. The materials needed to make mid-level talismans are scarce and cannot be purchased in large quantities.
Now that he has exchanged for a lot of mid-level talisman paper in Guiyunfang, he finally has the confidence to break through to the level of a mid-level talisman maker. As long as he can produce a large number of mid-level talismans in the future, he won't have to worry about the problem of lack of spirit stones in the short term.
The price of a mid-grade talisman is several times that of a low-grade talisman. Although the production cost will also increase, as long as there is a 30% success rate, the profit will also be considerable, which is not comparable to Song Qingming's previous daily production of low-grade talismans.
Medium-grade talismans sell much better in the market than low-grade ones. Even in Caolu Mountain, Song Qingming doesn't have to worry too much about sales.
The Song family's art of talisman making is quite famous among the nearby Qi-refining families. The family has not only trained two top-grade talisman makers, but also six mid-grade talisman makers. Even Uncle Jiu, a hard-working monk who spends a lot of time on cultivation, can improve his talisman making skills to mid-grade in his spare time.
After returning to his residence, Song Qingming first took out the book on talisman making that he had obtained in Guiyunfang this time and began to study it.
This book on talisman making is called "Qingwu Talisman" and was written by Qingwu Taoist, a second-level low-grade talisman maker. Although there are not many types of talismans recorded in it and the market value is not high, it records in detail the talisman making experience of this casual talisman maker throughout his life, and also includes many of his personal insights into the art of talismans. The talisman making experience of a second-level talisman maker is still of some value to a low-level talisman maker like Song Qingming.
After reading it carefully several times, Song Qingming benefited a lot. He then took out the Song family's talisman books and compared them carefully. He found many similarities and clever methods. The senior cultivator named Qing Wuzi did have some unique understanding of the art of making talismans.
There are not many types of talismans recorded in "Qingwu Talismans", which is far less than what is recorded in the Song family's talisman-making books. However, the explanation of the talisman-making process is very detailed, which has been of great help to Song Qingming in improving his talisman-making skills.
Taking out the talisman pen that had not been used for several months and opening the various materials he had collected for making talismans, Song Qingming began his journey of improving himself in the art of talismans.