After hearing the news, neither Song Qingming nor the monks present showed any surprise on their faces.
Lu Yunfei injured his meridians this time. It will take at least three to five years for him to recover from this injury. The Feiyun Guard will definitely send a new cultivator to take his place.
As the direct disciple of Liu Xingfeng, one of the three elders of Feiyun Guard, Xu Ziyan has cultivated to the ninth level of Qi Refining. With her strength, she is definitely more than qualified to take over Lu Yunfei's position.
Next, Xu Ziyan introduced everyone to each other. After seeing Xu Ziyan, the senior sister of the sect, several disciples of Xiaoyao Sect who had newly joined the Eleven Guards changed their arrogant attitude in front of Song Qingming and the others. Their faces became more serious and they also smiled more.
Although Xu Ziyan, Song Qingming and others had met several times before, they were all facing the pressure from the demon cultivator Yang Wuqi at that time. After returning to the camp, they were busy destroying the seized demon cultivator supplies and had no time to get to know each other.
Now that Xu Ziyan has become the captain of the Eleven Guards, it is inevitable that she needs to get to know everyone again. Fortunately, although she is also a disciple of the Xiaoyao Sect, she is naturally more approachable. Unlike those Xiaoyao Sect disciples who think they are superior to others, she quickly won the recognition of everyone.
Because Song Qingming and other independent cultivators had their lives saved by Xu Ziyan, they naturally had a better impression of her. The Xiaoyao Sect disciples had lower cultivation levels than her and they also respected her very much.
After some introductions, Xu Ziyan gradually became familiar with everyone. Then she found an opportunity to announce the new task issued by Feiyunwei.
The eleven guards will soon set out again, and the destination of this mission is another unexplored location in the Floating Cloud Mountains.
A few days later, Qingming followed the new eleven guards of Feiyunwei and came to Fuyun Mountains again. However, the location of this mission was slightly closer to Guiyunfang. According to everyone's walking speed, they could reach the new camp in seven or eight days at most.
When each team of Feiyunwei is carrying out a mission, the Feiyunwei elders directly above them need to first explore the second-level monster beasts in the area, and then assign the specific areas to each team of Feiyunwei.
Then, they were notified through the communication talisman to go to the divided area and explore in detail the information of other monsters in the area.
A few days after entering the Floating Cloud Mountains, Song Qingming and others came to a small river about five or six feet wide. Seeing that the sun was setting in the west and it was getting late, Xu Ziyan asked everyone to camp here and rest tonight, and continue their journey after dawn the next day.
After using their magic power to travel quickly for a whole day, everyone was a little tired. After nightfall, everyone made a fire and cooked some spiritual rice. After replenishing their magic power, they set up a few temporary tents and began to meditate and rest.
Song Qingming, Jia Sixing and several other familiar monks from the original Eleven Guards rested together in a tent.
After meditating until the second half of the night, Song Qingming got up and walked out of the tent. In order to prevent sudden attacks from monsters, Xu Ziyan arranged for everyone to take turns to stand guard outside the camp at night these few days.
It was his turn to be on duty at this time. Song Qingming went to the campfire in front of the tent and wanted to replace Wang Shouyun who was on duty.
When they arrived, they found that in addition to Wang Shouyun, there was also a beautiful red figure sitting by the fire. Seeing Xu Ziyan here, Song Qingming hurriedly bowed and greeted her.
When Wang Shouyun saw Song Qingming coming to replace him, he smiled and bowed to Xu Ziyan.
"Senior Sister Xu, I'm going back first."
Xu Ziyan stood up and nodded. Wang Shouyun turned around, glanced at Song Qingming, and quickly left.
Wang Shouyun was a cultivator from the Xiaoyao Sect who had recently joined the Eleven Guards. He had never paid much attention to cultivators like Song Qingming who came from a casual background. Song Qingming had long been accustomed to this, so he did not say anything but just nodded politely.
After Wang Shouyun left, Song Qingming walked to the side of the fire and sat down generously. With a beautiful fairy to help him keep watch at night, Song Qingming felt much more at ease.
"Junior Brother Wang and his companions have been cultivating within the sect since they were young, and rarely come outside to gain experience. They may be a bit arrogant, so I hope Fellow Daoist Song won't take offense."
Xu Ziyan sat cross-legged by the fire, her clear eyes flashing, and spoke to Song Qingming with some apology.
After hearing what Xu Ziyan said, Song Qingming smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Captain, you're too polite. We, as independent cultivators, are of humble origins and have long been accustomed to this."
"I heard from Junior Sister Gao that Fellow Daoist Song is also from Qinghe County, and she has seen him in Qinghefang. Fellow Daoist should not be a casual cultivator, right?" Xu Ziyan blinked and said with some doubt.
Seeing that Xu Ziyan seemed to have known that he knew Gao Yuyao, Song Qingming suddenly revealed a look of surprise, and replied somewhat awkwardly: "I am indeed not a casual cultivator. I am from the Song family in Funiu Mountain, Qinghe County. This time I came to Guiyunfang to gain experience outside the family."
This Gao Yuyao is really strange. When she came to find Song Qingming in the camp a month ago, she specifically asked Song Qingming not to let outsiders know that they knew each other before. How come in the blink of an eye, she told Xu Ziyan about it herself? Thinking of this, Song Qingming was very puzzled.
"That night, when Junior Sister Gao went to look for you, she happened to meet me on the way back. I asked her a few questions out of curiosity, and she told me that she knew you. However, she didn't say much. I am still very curious about the specific relationship between you two." Seeing that Song Qingming looked a little strange, Xu Ziyan couldn't help but chuckle and began to explain.
"Captain, please don't misunderstand me. Fairy Gao and I knew each other before. We exchanged a few spiritual objects in the market a few years ago. At that time, I didn't know she was a disciple of the Xiaoyao Sect. I was also very surprised to see her during the battle with the demon cultivator that day." After hearing Xu Ziyan's explanation, Song Qingming roughly understood the whole story. He also chose to tell Xu Ziyan the truth directly.
He did not tell Xu Ziyan the specific spiritual objects he and Gao Yuyao had exchanged, which meant he did not break his promise to Gao Yuyao.
"Oh, so that's how it is. I see that Brother Song is so young, but his cultivation has already reached the sixth level of Qi Refining. His magic power is also much stronger than that of Junior Brother Wang and the others. I wonder what kind of cultivation method he is practicing."
"Haha, the technique I practice is the Kunyuan Jue passed down in my family. It's nothing special. However, Fairy Gao has already reached the ninth level of Qi Refining. I guess it won't be long before I have to call you Senior."
Faced with Xu Ziyan's somewhat curious questions, Song Qingming really didn't dare to answer too much and could only carefully change the subject.
"Although I have cultivated to the ninth level of Qi Refining, my magic power has not yet been polished to the peak of Qi Refining, and I am still some distance away from building a foundation. Besides, building a foundation is not that simple. There are many Qi Refining disciples in the sect, and there are many talented disciples with outstanding spiritual roots every year. But not everyone has the opportunity to exchange for foundation-building pills. My spiritual root aptitude is only average. Even Junior Sister Gao has better spiritual roots than me." Xu Ziyan sighed and shook her head.
"Captain, as Elder Liu's direct disciple, Elder Liu will not ignore your path, right? I think when Captain builds his foundation, Elder Liu will definitely speak up for you."
"Then I'll take advantage of your good wishes, fellow Taoist." Xu Ziyan suddenly smiled at him, which made Song Qingming a little stunned.
