Beast Taming Immortal Clan

Chapter 160 Rat Extermination Master Bai Bai, Everything is Ready [Please Subscribe]

After leaving "Mushizhai", Zhou Chun did not immediately leave Jinquan Market. Instead, he continued to inquire about the two medicinal herbs in other pharmacies and general stores.

However, aside from learning in a pharmacy that one could exchange a medicinal herb of equal age for Golden Leaf Bamboo Grass, there was nothing else gained.

Thus, he had no choice but to temporarily leave Jinquan Market and head to the location of the gold-eating rats given to him by Luo Qingyi, using the map as a guide, in order to obtain the superior gold-eating rat gallbladder as a spiritual medicine.

The Gold-Eating Rat is a low-level demonic beast that likes to gnaw on various spiritual ores and metals.

Therefore, places where such monsters gather in large numbers must have mineral veins.

The locations of the gold-eating rat groups that Luo Qingyi provided were near several spirit mines within Cangzhou.

These demonic beasts are something that the owners of spirit mines deeply abhor. They dig holes all over the mine to steal spirit gold ore and also attack the cultivators who are mining.

Therefore, owners of spirit mines frequently issue missions to eliminate these monsters.

However, the Gold-Eating Rat is very good at digging holes, and its nests are often located hundreds of feet underground. They are also waterproof, fireproof, and smokeproof, so many Foundation Establishment cultivators have no way to deal with this beast.

But Zhou Chun didn't care about these ground rats at all.

His Silver Lightning Python is the natural enemy of these ground rats. As long as you find the passage to the rat's nest and put the Silver Lightning Python in, you can definitely wipe out the entire rat nest!

So instead of sneaking around catching rats, he openly went to a spirit gold mine and accepted a task to clear out rat nests.

The rewards for this task are quite substantial. You can get one spirit coin for each ordinary gold-eating rat carcass, and if you hand the carcass over to the mine, you can get two more spirit coins, making a total of three spirit coins.

After accepting the task, Zhou Chun left the mine under the expectant gaze of the Foundation Establishment cultivators guarding the mine, and went to scout out the locations of several gold-eating rat nests that he had speculated about.

Once they reached the vicinity of the location, Zhou Chun left behind some specially prepared rat-attracting food in certain places to lure the gold-eating rats to come and eat it.

He concealed his aura and hid in the shadows, monitoring the bait with his divine sense.

Less than half a day later, he discovered that two gold-eating rats had dug a hole in the ground and taken the food away.

However, those two gold-eating rats were only the size of an ordinary house cat, and the caves they dug were too big for the current Silver Lightning Python to squeeze into.

Therefore, Zhou Chun must find the main road leading to the rat's nest.

The main passageway is wider than other underground rat tunnels to facilitate the passage of the larger rat king. The Silver Lightning Python Bai Bai, at its current size, should be able to pass through it with difficulty.

So Zhou Chun continued to scatter bait everywhere, using the time and number of gold-eating rats to determine the approximate location of their nests.

After about three days, he had surveyed all the locations assigned to him by the mine and finally determined one of the spots.

It was a stone mountain about twenty miles away from the mine site, and the rat's nest was likely located deep underground beneath the stone mountain.

Because the gold-eating rats are active everywhere, the area around this rocky mountain is also full of rat holes, and even ordinary wild animals dare not approach this place.

Zhou Chun then patiently searched around the rocky hill for the rat hole that led to the main road to the rat's nest.

He knew that although the Gold-Eating Rat was an underground burrowing monster, it would occasionally come to the surface to enjoy the sunshine and forage for food, and the Rat King would have the same need.

Therefore, the large and small rat holes in the mountains must be the main roads leading to the rat nests.

After searching for two more days, he finally found his target.

On the mountainside, beneath a large rock, a rat hole, more than a foot wide, stretched diagonally downwards, leading to a rat nest located some unknown depth underground.

Zhou Chun looked at the rat hole in front of him, reached out and patted the spirit beast pouch at his waist, releasing the Silver Lightning Python in a flash.

Then he gently stroked the silver python's head and whispered, "Bai Bai, it's up to you now. Remember to capture the Rat King alive and bring him up; a dead one is useless!"

hiss--

The silver python raised its head and hissed a few times to indicate that it understood, then it darted into the mouse hole.

As Bai Bai burrowed into the mouse hole, the mental connection between Zhou Chun and it began to weaken. Eventually, Zhou Chun could only vaguely sense its presence, but could no longer communicate with it.

Deep underground, the Silver Lightning Python meandered down the rat hole and soon arrived near the rat's nest.

The arrival of the predator terrified the gold-eating rats guarding the nest, who hurriedly screeched to warn it before turning and running away.

Inside the rat's nest, the Gold-Eating Rat King, who had been fast asleep with a female rat in his arms, instantly woke up after the alarm sounded, a look of panic flashing in his eyes.

Squeak!

It let out a shriek, calling for the gold-eating rats still inside the nest to come and protect it.

In the past, cultivators who tamed snake-like demonic beasts had also taken on rat extermination missions to wipe out the gold-eating rats.

Even a first-tier high-grade demon snake, if it ventures alone into the rat's nest, will be bitten or killed by a large number of gold-eating rats, and will be unable to truly eliminate these scourges.

So although the Rat King was somewhat panicked at this moment, he did not immediately abandon the nest and flee.

After all, besides the adult gold-eating rats, there are also quite a few baby rats that haven't left the nest yet.

If they abandon the nest and flee, these baby rats will all be doomed.

However, it never expected that the demonic snake that had invaded the rat's nest this time was not a first-tier demonic beast, but a second-tier demonic beast!

When the figure of the Silver Lightning Python appeared in the rat's nest, the Rat King's body trembled, and extreme terror instantly appeared in his eyes. He turned around and tried to escape.

But it saw the Silver Lightning Python, Bai Bai, and Bai Bai naturally saw it too.

Bai Bai wasn't about to let the rat king, which Zhou Chun had specifically instructed them to capture alive, escape.

Immediately, a bolt of lightning shot out from its mouth and struck the Rat King.

To prevent instantly killing the Rat King, the power of this lightning bolt was deliberately weakened, reduced to about one-tenth of its original strength.

Even so, the Rat King, struck by lightning, instantly collapsed to the ground, its fur standing on end and emitting blue smoke.

This immediately caused an uproar among the other gold-eating rats.

Even the Rat King couldn't stop them, so how could they have the courage to attack the Silver Lightning Python that was radiating a second-tier aura? They scattered and tried to escape.

But how could the Silver Lightning Python let these delicious foods escape? It immediately unleashed a barrage of lightning, instantly killing a large number of gold-eating rats.

Before long, the rat's nest was filled with the aroma of roasted meat.

The Silver Lightning Python stared blankly at the roasted meat scattered on the ground, but instead of rushing to eat it, it went to check on the Rat King's condition first.

After discovering that the Rat King was only unconscious, it swam away to the nest of the baby rats and began to eat them.

After devouring dozens of baby mice in one go, it looked at its slightly swollen belly and then continued eating the dead mice.

It stopped eating when it was about 60% full, then snatched the rat king in its mouth and turned back the way it came.

Not long after, Zhou Chun, who was waiting on the mountain, saw it carrying the Rat King out of the rat hole.

"Well done!"

Seeing the rat king that had been spat out on the ground, Zhou Chun's face instantly lit up with a happy smile.

Then, instead of killing the Rat King, he took it directly to the mine.

"Fellow Daoist Hu, you see, this Rat King has been captured by me. Can I consider the task of destroying the rat's nest complete?"

Outside the mine, Zhou Chun placed the unconscious Rat King in front of the cultivator guarding the place and began to talk to him about the mission to destroy the rat's nest.

He learned from Bai Bai that there were dozens of gold-eating rat carcasses in the rat's nest.

It can be said that, apart from the gold-eating rats that went out to forage, he destroyed most of the rat nests.

Moreover, without the Rat King's leadership, these gold-eating rats can only regain their power once a new Rat King is born.

At this moment, the Foundation Establishment cultivator surnamed Hu, who was guarding the mine, was also shocked to see the Rat King that Zhou Chun had thrown out.

After examining it closely, he exclaimed in surprise, "It really is the Rat King!"

Then, with piercing eyes, he looked at Zhou Chun and said, "Fellow Daoist Jiang, you truly have impressive skills!"

"Could you tell me how you did it?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chun smiled faintly and said, "I'm sorry, this matter involves my personal secrets, so it's not convenient for me to disclose it to Fellow Daoist Hu."

After saying this, he confidently added, "I can guarantee that most of the gold-eating rats in the rat nest have been eliminated, and their corpses are still inside. Fellow Daoist Hu can arrange for people to go and dig up the mountain to collect evidence at any time!"

Seeing that he said this, the cultivator surnamed Hu did not press for details. He simply replied in a deep voice, "Why dig up mountains to collect evidence? We have people in our mine who train demonic beasts to enter rat nests for verification. Since Fellow Daoist Jiang is so confident, I, Hu, will take my people and go with you."

"That would be even better."

Zhou Chun responded and led the cultivator surnamed Hu and a Qi Refining stage cultivator toward the Stone Mountain.

Then, right outside the rat hole where the Silver Lightning Python had entered, the Qi Refining stage cultivator brought by the cultivator surnamed Hu put a Flame Rat Beast inside.

At first, because the aura of the Silver Lightning Python still lingered in the cave, the Flame Rat Beast refused to go in.

It was only after its owner forced it that it shakily crawled inside.

Not long after, the Flame Rat Beast crawled out of its hole, squeaking and squeaking as it told its master what it had seen and heard in the hole.

Upon learning that the rat nest was indeed filled with the corpses of gold-eating rats, the cultivator surnamed Hu instantly believed Zhou Chun's words.

After a moment of contemplation with a flickering gaze, he looked at Zhou Chun and said, "Fellow Daoist Jiang, I can conclude that you have completed the task of destroying the rat's nest. However, you must leave the rat king's corpse with me to report to my family. Moreover, since the corpses of the gold-eating rats inside are difficult to bring out, I can only give you a basic reward of three hundred spirit coins."

"That works too. Please wait a moment, Fellow Daoist Hu."

Zhou Chun nodded and immediately took the unconscious Rat King to the side, where he cut open its abdomen and extracted a black rat gallbladder about the size of a thumb.

He then processed the fresh rat gallbladder and put it into a jade box, and handed the rat king's corpse to the cultivator surnamed Hu.

Seeing this, the cultivator surnamed Hu was quite decisive. He immediately took out spirit coins from his storage bag and handed them to Zhou Chun, saying, "Here are three hundred spirit coins. Fellow Daoist Jiang, please keep them safe."

"Fellow Daoist Hu is so kind; then I, Jiang, will take my leave now."

Zhou Chun put away the spirit coins, cupped his hands in greeting to the cultivator surnamed Hu, and prepared to leave.

Unexpectedly, the cultivator surnamed Hu suddenly said, "Fellow Daoist Jiang, could you leave your contact information? Perhaps I will need your help in the future."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chun immediately understood what he meant.

After a moment's thought, he smiled and said, "Then Fellow Daoist Hu can send someone to the Spirit Beast Shop in Hongya Market, Lanzhou, to deliver the letter. The shopkeeper there will naturally forward the letter to me."

"The Spirit Beast Shop in Hongyafang?"

The cultivator surnamed Hu glanced thoughtfully at the spirit beast pouch at Zhou Chun's waist, then nodded and said, "Alright, I'll remember that."

"Then we'll meet again someday."

"See you again someday."

The two exchanged greetings, and then Zhou Chun took off and left the stone mountain under the watchful eyes of the cultivator surnamed Hu.

Only after watching Zhou Chun leave did the cultivator surnamed Hu wave his hand and say, "Let's go too. When we get back, we'll have people come and dig a hole in the mountain. We can't just let the corpses of the gold-eating rats and the spirit gold ore they stole go to waste."

Without worrying about disturbing the gold-eating rats and causing them to move, digging a passage hundreds of feet underground is not actually too difficult for cultivators.

On the other hand, after leaving Shishan, Zhou Chun returned directly to his family.

He couldn't possibly go alone to exchange for the golden bamboo root; otherwise, he might not be able to leave Cangzhou alive.

Therefore, he planned to ask the Third Elder Zhou Daoquan to bring the Supreme Elder's Fire God Jackal when he returned. That way, if anyone dared to attack them for a five-hundred-year-old Golden Leaf Bamboo Grass, they wouldn't be so ruthless.

Half a month later, Zhou Chun, accompanied by the Third Elder Zhou Daoquan, returned to Cangzhou and successfully exchanged a five-hundred-year-old spiritual ginseng for a Purple Mansion family in Cangzhou, obtaining Golden Leaf Bamboo Grass.

Compared to the rare golden bamboo root, the 500-year-old ginseng with its wide range of uses is undoubtedly more valuable.

The five-hundred-year-old spirit ginseng that Zhou Chun used in this exchange was also obtained from the Wang family of Red Medicine Valley. The item he exchanged was the remaining one tael and four qian of fragrant spirit musk.

The Wang family also made a considerable profit from this deal.

So in the end, neither of the two families that made the deal with Zhou Chun suffered a loss; only he himself had to pay a price for this essential item.

Whether it was Zhou Daoquan's late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation that had a deterrent effect or not, after the transaction was completed, Zhou Chun and his group had a smooth journey without encountering any attacks.

With the two main ingredients for refining the Golden Spirit Qi-Regulating Powder in hand, Zhou Chun quickly asked the clan leader, Zhou Daoyi, to take the formula to the Li family of alchemists and ask their master alchemist to personally refine the medicine.

Because the Zhou family provided the pill formula, the Li family's alchemy master readily accepted the job and did not charge a penny.

Less than half a month later, the perfectly refined Golden Spirit Qi-Regulating Powder was in Zhou Chun's hands.

At this point, he had completed all the preparations needed to switch to cultivating the "Golden Cauldron Profound Technique." He was only waiting for the clan leader Zhou Daoyi's spirit pet, the Azure Cloud Python, to successfully transform into a dragon before he could go into seclusion to cultivate this top-tier technique.

First update of the day! The next plot point is about to unfold, not the transformation into a dragon, but a foreshadowing that has been laid out earlier!

(End of this chapter)