Beast Taming Immortal Clan

Chapter 158 Dao Yi Emerges from Seclusion, Cloud Python Transforms into Dragon [Please Subscribe]

Time passed quickly, and soon the joint martial arts competition of the five major cultivation families was held at Jiufeng Ridge of Zhou Family Mountain.

Although it was a joint martial arts competition among the five major cultivation families, the Mu family of Biyun Mountain was actually just a participant due to the great calamity they had suffered.

In order to ensure the success of this event, the Zhou family invited many people with whom they had good relations to attend.

This also included the Li family, who were previously on good terms with the family of pill makers, and the You family, who were skilled in array formations.

As the Zhou family of Jiufengling has developed into a prominent and successful family, these two families have also begun to value their relationship with the Zhou family again, and their interactions have gradually increased.

The main reason is that Qinglian Temple is not as wary of these families now. Even if they visit each other, there is no need to worry about them reuniting into a force.

"Brother Chongshan, speaking of such a grand event today, why is Brother Daoyi not here to preside? I haven't seen Brother Daoyi for over ten years, and I miss him dearly!"

When the representative of the You family, an elder named You Jinfang, who was at the late Foundation Establishment stage, arrived, he frowned slightly upon seeing that the person representing the Zhou family to host the event today was Zhou Chun, a junior he had never met before. He asked the Zhou family's second elder, Zhou Chongshan, about the whereabouts of the Zhou family patriarch, Zhou Daoyi, with a hint of surprise.

"The clan leader is currently in seclusion, attempting to break through to the late stage of Foundation Establishment, and is therefore unable to preside over this grand event."

Zhou Chongshan responded to the question calmly, and then said firmly, "Moreover, Zheng Chun is the next patriarch of my Zhou family, and we all think it is very appropriate for him to preside over this grand event."

He naturally sensed the disdain for Zhou Chun in You Jinfang's words, which is why he was so determined to defend Zhou Chun's position.

When Eugene Fang heard this, he was slightly taken aback, then smiled faintly and said nothing more.

This attitude made Zhou Chongshan even more unhappy.

It's true that he studied under a cultivator from the You family, but that doesn't mean he can stand by and watch the You family humiliate the Zhou family.

Moreover, when he was learning his craft, the Zhou family paid his tuition in full, so they didn't owe the You family much.

"Young friend Zhengchun is quite remarkable. I've heard of him in the Li family as well. It's truly enviable that the Zhou family has such an outstanding junior!"

Just then, Li Cunguang, a cultivator representing the Li family, smiled and spoke up to ease the tension, thus helping Zhou Chongshan out of the predicament.

Compared to the You family, the Li family and the Zhou family have a deeper relationship and cooperate more closely.

Therefore, the Li family cultivators have a better understanding of the current situation of the Zhou family.

Li Cunguang had long heard that Zhou Chun, the deputy clan head, had been in charge of clan affairs for several years.

Hearing Li Cunguang's praise, Zhou Chongshan's complexion indeed improved considerably.

Then, seeing Li Cunguang nodding with a smile, he said, "Zheng Chun is not bad, but compared to the geniuses of your Li family, Brother Li, he is nothing. I heard that your Li family had a pair of twin boys a few years ago, and both brothers have top-grade spiritual roots. Such a thing is truly a once-in-a-millennium event!"

These words made Li Cunguang burst into laughter, "Hahaha, I didn't expect this matter to have reached your ears, Brother Chongshan. It seems those two lads have become famous before they've even finished their apprenticeship!"

Twin brothers in the cultivation world are few in number, but not impossible to find.

However, both brothers possessed top-grade spiritual roots, which, as Zhou Chongshan said, was extremely rare.

These two brothers, born into a prominent cultivation family like the Li family, are destined for extraordinary achievements in the future.

Li family cultivators like Li Cunguang were naturally overjoyed to have such a talented descendant in their family.

Seeing that the topic had come up, You Jinfang couldn't help but interject, "It's said that some people at Qinglian Temple, after hearing the news, want their brothers to join them. Brother Cunguang, will your ancestor agree to this?"

"I wouldn't know that. How the Ancestor acts is beyond my comprehension!"

A glint flashed in Li Cunguang's eyes, and he gently shook his head without saying a word.

Having been rebuffed, Eugene Fang's eyes darkened, and he fell silent again.

While these people chatted idly in the stands, cultivators from several families on the arena were already engaged in fierce combat.

The cultivators from the Wang, Sun, and He families participating this time are all very strong.

The He family of Qingzhu Mountain, in particular, were probably dissatisfied with their performance in the last martial arts competition and wanted to get revenge this time. The He family's participating cultivators were full of fighting spirit and performed exceptionally well.

When the top ten contestants in the youth group were announced, the He family had four, the Wang family had two, the Sun family had three, and the Zhou family barely managed to get one.

Meanwhile, in the elite group, the top three from the Zhou family's previous internal martial arts competition also successfully made it into the top ten, finally saving face for the family that was the organizer.

Seeing this, Wang Zhixiong, the patriarch of the Wang family, couldn't help but smile at Zhou Chun and said, "It's fortunate that Fellow Daoist Zhou has successfully established his foundation. Otherwise, if Fellow Daoist Zhou had participated in the elite group this time, I'm afraid the Zhou family would have taken up 40% of the top ten spots!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chun couldn't help but smile wryly and say, "Fellow Daoist Wang, I don't know whether to be happy or disappointed by what you say!"

Then he shook his head and said, "We managed to secure three spots in the elite group this time, but next time we won't have our trump cards, I'm afraid the Zhou family will be at the bottom!"

"Fellow Daoist Zhou, you are too modest. We have all witnessed the changes in the Zhou family over the past ten years. As expected of a thousand-year-old family, its foundation is indeed far beyond what we, a small family, can match!"

At this moment, Sun Zhongping, the head of the Sun family, also spoke up, his words full of emotion.

The Sun family and the Zhou family lived closest to each other, so he was more aware than the other clan leaders of how much the Zhou family had changed.

He used to think that the Sun family might not be inferior to the impoverished Zhou family.

However, after witnessing the changes in the Zhou family over the past ten years, he had to admit that the Sun family was indeed far inferior to the Zhou family in every aspect.

This feeling wasn't unique to Sun Zhongping; the He family patriarch and Wang Zhixiong, who were standing nearby, shared the same sentiment.

Mu Yuntian, the head of the Mu family, then spoke up, saying, "Fellow Daoist Sun is right. In terms of foundation and strength, the Zhou family is indeed far superior to ours. Forming an alliance with the Zhou family was the best decision our family ever made!"

The Mu family is currently deeply indebted to the Zhou family, so he naturally wouldn't hesitate to cheer for the Zhou family on such a occasion.

"Fellow Daoist Mu is right. Forming an alliance with the Zhou family was indeed the right thing we did back then."

Wang Zhixiong glanced at Mu Yuntian, smiled slightly, and gave him a round of applause.

The Zhou family's rise to prominence seems unstoppable. Whether they envy or are jealous, these other families will definitely want to strengthen their ties with the Zhou family.

"Fellow Daoists, you flatter us. We have always been very grateful for the recognition and acceptance we received from your families. We will always remember your help over the years."

"From now on, we must help each other, advance and retreat together!"

Zhou Chun cupped his hands in a gesture of respect and responded with a smile.

His response clearly pleased Wang Zhixiong and the others, who all wore satisfied smiles.

In the competition for the top three, the Zhou family in the youth group voluntarily gave up, while all three members of the elite group wanted to do their best to compete.

However, in the final competition for first place, Zhou Zhengyong unfortunately lost to the cultivator from the Sun family.

His cultivation was ultimately a level lower than the other party's, and the other party seemed to have been stuck at the twelfth level of the Qi Refining stage for many years. He was very proficient in his spells and had even mastered a secret technique whose power was no less than that of the "Xin Jin Sword Qi".

Even though he had refined the green bronze cauldron and the red bronze ball magic artifact given to him by Zhou Chun, he was still defeated by the opponent's secret technique.

The Wang family awarded the first place winner of the previous elite group a Foundation Establishment Pill as a reward.

But that's because they were confident of winning, so they offered this item as a reward to save face for the clan leader.

The Zhou family wasn't confident of winning this time, nor could they afford such a precious item as the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Therefore, the reward for the first place in the elite group was replaced with a second-tier low-grade magic weapon.

As compensation, the Zhou family offered a considerable amount of their reserves of demon beast eggs and cubs as rewards for the cultivators who followed.

In short, although the Zhou family gained a lot of face this time, they also paid a heavy price.

But this is something that must be paid for, because the Zhou family can also take their things for free when other families hold events next time.

After the event concluded, Zhou Chun led the elders of the Zhou family to personally escort all the cultivators who had come to witness the ceremony out of the mountain gate.

After seeing off all the guests, several senior members of the Zhou family gathered together to discuss the results of the event.

Zhou Chun spoke first: "Although we didn't win first place this time, our Zhou family has managed to save face and avoid making a big fool of ourselves."

"Furthermore, after this event, our Zhou family has truly become one with the other families. From now on, at least those families won't treat our Zhou family as outsiders anymore!"

Then Zhou Chongshan nodded and said, "Zhengchun is right. Although this event cost the family a lot of money, it also demonstrated the family's influence. At least the Li family and the You family will know through this event that although our Zhou family is weaker now, we are not much worse off than them!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the Third Elder, Zhou Daoquan, expressed his deep agreement, saying, "The Second Elder is right. Although the Li family and the You family are powerful, they are basically isolated by the local forces."

"They can live off their past achievements now, so it doesn't seem like a big problem. But if they haven't integrated into the Jing Kingdom by a hundred years from now, it won't be so easy for them to support their large families once they've exhausted their resources!"

The greater the power, the more resources it needs to occupy to sustain itself.

However, the Li, You, and Zhou families were all outsiders. It was already very difficult for them to have a piece of land to settle down. It was simply impossible for them to expand their territory.

However, if they cannot expand their territory and occupy resource points such as mines and sacred mountains, they cannot open markets to collect rent.

Large families like the Li and You families, with hundreds of cultivators among their members, would have a very difficult time.

After all, the more people there are, and the more people with higher cultivation levels there are, the more resources are needed to support them.

If the Li family relied solely on their alchemy skills and the You family on their array formation skills, it would be unrealistic to support such a large family!

However, due to their sheer size, other cultivation families in Lanzhou neither dared to nor were qualified to form an alliance with them and engage in in-depth cooperation and exchange.

If they cannot absorb resources from local cultivation families, their family finances will be insufficient, and their savings will soon be exhausted.

At that time, the once-powerful Li and You families may very well split into several smaller families, each seeking their own way of life.

This is almost an obvious conspiracy, which many people can see through.

Therefore, Zhou Chongshan said with a hint of schadenfreude, "The Li family and the You family are like this, and so are those guys from the Spirit Beast Manor. They might even be in a worse situation than those two families!"

"In my opinion, if the Dragon Transformation Sect doesn't take any bigger actions, that's fine. But if they do, as long as the Green Lotus Temple offers them some incentives, these sects will probably have no choice but to obediently become cannon fodder and be worn down."

"Even their Golden Core stage elders will have to go to the front lines!"

He had connections with many cultivators from the three families, so he shouldn't have acted this way.

However, in recent years, when the Zhou family has fallen on hard times and encountered danger several times, none of the other families have come to their aid, disregarding past friendships.

Moreover, it seems that the cultivators from both families have developed a mindset of looking down on the Zhou family, feeling that the Zhou family is no longer worthy of being compared with them.

This infuriated him.

So it's not surprising that they're gloating now.

"Let's just ignore the Li and You families. If they want to maintain the relationship, fine; if not, we don't need to beg them, lest it seem like our Zhou family can't survive without them!"

Zhou Chun also didn't have much affection for these two families who had been friends for generations, so he didn't want to talk about their affairs anymore.

As for the Spirit Beast Manor, in his mind it was an enemy force, and if the Zhou family had the opportunity in the future, it would definitely be an object of attack. There was no need to discuss it now.

After briefly sharing the family's recent financial income and expenditure, as well as population changes, Zhou Chun then asked the elders to return home.

Another six months passed, and Zhou Daoyi, who had been in seclusion for several years, finally emerged from seclusion after successfully breaking through to the late stage of Foundation Establishment.

"Congratulations, Clan Chief, on your great advancement in cultivation! Our Zhou family now has another late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator."

Inside the Zhongping Hall, Zhou Chun saw Zhou Daoyi, who had successfully emerged from seclusion, and immediately bowed and offered his congratulations.

"It was just expected, there's nothing to congratulate."

Zhou Daoyi waved his hand, then looked at Zhou Chun and asked, "It seems that quite a few things have happened in the family during the years I've been in seclusion?"

"Some things have happened, but nothing serious, nothing to bother you, clan leader."

As Zhou Chun spoke, he briefly explained the various things that had happened in the past few years.

Finally, looking at Zhou Daoyi with anticipation, he asked, "Now that you've broken through, when will there be a result regarding the Azure Cloud Python's transformation into a dragon?"

"Two years ago, I gave Qingqing that Azure Dragon's inner core to consume. It is still dormant, digesting the power of the inner core. It may take another year or two before we see any results!"

After Zhou Daoyi finished speaking, he suddenly had a thought and said to Zhou Chun, "Since the Supreme Elder has summoned me, I won't chat with you any longer. Let's talk about it when I return."

First update of the day

(End of this chapter)