Beast Taming Immortal Clan

Chapter 281 Journey to Yang Kingdom, Fierce Insect Plague [Please Subscribe]

After leaving Qinglian Temple in a hurry, Zhou Chun returned to his family's mountain gate with a belly full of worries.

Upon arriving at the family compound, he immediately informed Zhou Mingde, Zhou Daoyi, and Zhou Daoquan about the insect plague in Yang Kingdom that Qingweizi had told him.

Then the group began to discuss the matter.

"There are two countries between Yang Kingdom and Jing Kingdom. Even if the insect plague really spreads, it is unlikely to spread to Jing Kingdom. Therefore, the family does not need to worry about the threat of the insect plague."

Zhou Mingde began by talking about the threat of the insect plague, asserting that the Zhou family was not at risk.

The others generally agreed with his statement.

Then Zhou Daoyi quickly added his opinion, saying, "Insect plagues are often a once-in-a-millennium event. If we can ensure safety, it wouldn't hurt for the family to send a few people over to study it. Even if they can't find any useful methods to deal with insect plagues, they can still broaden their horizons and learn more about the situation."

Hearing this, Zhou Mingde couldn't help but chime in, "That makes sense, but since we're going to Yang Kingdom, facing swarms of demonic insects, who can guarantee our safety? If we're surrounded by a large group of demonic insects, even a Golden Core cultivator might not be able to escape unscathed!"

"That's easy to handle. Even if we send people to Yang Kingdom, they shouldn't be under anyone's command; they should have the freedom to act independently. That way, as long as we don't venture deep into the areas ravaged by the insect plague, we can basically eliminate the danger of this person being surrounded by demonic insects!"

It was Zhou Daoquan who said this, and his angle was quite unique. With just one sentence, he dispelled Zhou Mingde's worries, making the others applaud in admiration.

"Daoquan is right. If we really have to send someone to Yang Kingdom, we must do it this way. We must keep the initiative in our own hands!"

Zhou Mingde nodded repeatedly, agreeing with Zhou Daoquan's statement.

Hearing their comments, Zhou Chun chimed in, "Although Abbot Qingweizi didn't issue a direct decree, since he brought this up, we should, both morally and logically, consider his feelings and send a few people to make the trip, even if it's just for show!"

"So, Masaharu, who do you think should be sent?"

Zhou Daoyi looked at Zhou Chun and asked softly.

"In my opinion, we should definitely bring our fourteenth uncle. He has made great achievements in the field of poisons, and he has also made some minor improvements to the family's insect repellent prescriptions. In this respect, no one in the family can match his skills."

"One of the other three Supreme Elders must also go, otherwise the journey alone will take an unknown amount of time."

"If possible, I would also like to go there myself and broaden my horizons."

Facing the gazes of the three Supreme Elders, Zhou Chun calmly expressed his own views.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Daoyi immediately frowned and said, "Zhengchun, there's no need for you to go. Putting aside the dangers of going to Yangguo, the family itself will likely struggle to function without you."

"You're mistaken. In recent years, I've consciously trained several deputies to assist in handling family affairs and have rewritten the manuals for handling common matters. Now, no matter who takes over my duties, at least the family's daily operations won't run into problems."

Zhou Chun shook his head slightly and softly rejected Zhou Daoyi's opinion.

He has been committed to reforming and optimizing the Zhou family's institutional structure, and has made several adjustments to the personnel structure in certain aspects over the years.

He has now expanded the number of mortal copyists in Zhongping Hall to twenty-four, who can work in two shifts.

At the same time, three new family cultivators were added as assistants to the patriarch, to help him handle various family affairs.

Now, after several years of his training, the three clan chief assistants are fully proficient in handling various daily clan affairs, saving him a lot of energy.

Often, Zhou Chun could even see himself as a stamper, simply responsible for stamping the organized documents and notices.

The clan chief's handbook he compiled was a powerful tool he prepared for the person who would act as his clan chief in the future.

This manual clearly outlines the methods and standards for handling most family affairs. Anyone who follows the instructions in the manual will generally not make any mistakes.

So even if he leaves the family again like before, and stays away for several years, the family elders who act as patriarchs will no longer need to worry about handling various family affairs as much as before.

Upon hearing Zhou Chun's words, before Zhou Daoyi could say anything, Zhou Mingde spoke up again: "It's good to let him go out and broaden his horizons. Besides, with me by his side, there's no need to worry about him getting into trouble."

"Are you going in person?"

Zhou Daoyi was slightly taken aback, not expecting him to say that.

Zhou Mingde waved his hand slightly and said, "It is most appropriate for me to go. Dao Yi, you are more important to the family than I am now, and it is more suitable for you to stay in the family. As for Dao Quan, after all, he has only been in the Purple Mansion for a short time and needs to cultivate more to improve his strength."

"If you, the Supreme Elder, go in person, then this trip could be the safest of all."

Zhou Chun smiled and immediately expressed his agreement.

Seeing this, Zhou Daoyi and Zhou Daoquan could not say anything more and could only agree.

After further discussion and consultation with Zhou Jiawei himself, the Zhou family decided on the person to go to Yangguo.

The team will be led by Zhou Mingde, with Zhou Chun, Zhou Jiapeng, Zhou Jiawei, and Zhou Zhengqing accompanying them.

Zhou Zhengqing is a junior member of the "Zheng" generation in the Zhou family. He is only twenty-seven years old this year and has only the sixth level of the Qi Refining stage. His father is a cultivator of the "Jia" generation in the Zhou family.

He was Zhou Jiawei's chosen successor and also Zhou Jiawei's capable assistant.

Once the team members were confirmed, they immediately set off for the gate of Qinglian Temple, preparing to hitch a ride with Qinglian Temple to Yang Kingdom.

Qingweizi did not object to the Zhou family acting alone, and even agreed to their plan to hitch a ride with Qinglian Temple.

In response to the "humanitarian appeal" issued by Yang Kingdom, Qinglian Temple also dispatched a luxurious team to provide assistance.

The team was led by two Golden Core cultivators and included six Purple Mansion cultivators and thirty-six Foundation Establishment cultivators.

To Zhou Chun's surprise, Liu Shiyun was also among the thirty-six people.

Since he realized that Liu Shiyun was interested in him, he began to actively reduce his contact with her, and the two of them had less and less contact.

Especially after Liu Qingshan found out that Su Yuzhen had moved into his courtyard, Liu Shiyun never wrote to him separately again.

However, Liu Shiyun continued to accept the spiritual honey and spiritual tea that Zhou Chun sent her. You can't make friends without real friends.

When they set off, the two met again. After a slight hesitation, Zhou Chun took the initiative to greet him.

However, Liu Shiyun responded coldly to his greeting.

After being met with a cold shoulder, Zhou Chun wisely refrained from saying anything more.

Led by two Golden Core cultivators, the group flew for nearly two days before finally arriving at the border of Yang Kingdom.

Yang Kingdom is located in a unique region. One-third of its territory consists of snow-capped mountains and plateaus, with many mountains and few plains. Its population is far smaller than that of Jing Kingdom.

However, the cultivation world of Yang Kingdom is much stronger than that of Jing Kingdom.

This is mainly because there are many spiritual mountains and lands within the territory of Yang Kingdom, and the spiritual mineral resources are also abundant.

The abundance of resources there naturally attracted many powerful cultivators to establish their mountain sects and residences there.

Before this insect plague, Yang Kingdom was one of the most powerful countries in the vicinity. Some sects within the kingdom would even recruit disciples from neighboring countries.

However, this sudden insect plague dealt a heavy blow to the cultivation world of Yang Kingdom. Many small and medium-sized forces were wiped out by the plague, and even some large forces suffered heavy losses, abandoning their mountain gates and bases.

The essence of the cultivation world in Yang Kingdom is now concentrated on the snowy plateau.

It is said that the icy and snowy environment made the low-level demonic insects in the insect plague uncomfortable, which is why this territory was temporarily preserved.

However, this caused the insect plague to shift its attack direction towards the countries surrounding Yang Kingdom.

Now, the people who most want to eliminate the insect plague are actually the countries surrounding Yang Kingdom.

After Zhou Chun and his group arrived at the border of Yang Kingdom with the people from Qinglian Temple, they parted ways with them.

For the five members of the Zhou family, directly entering the Yang Kingdom, which was already plagued by insects, was undoubtedly a dangerous undertaking.

They just want to stay in Yangzhou for now, to gather as much information as possible about the insect plague, and to get some live low-level demonic insects for research.

The place where the Zhou family of five settled was the Great Yun Kingdom, located southeast of the Yang Kingdom. This kingdom was relatively weak, even weaker than the Jing Kingdom.

Meanwhile, in order to defend the border, the various sects and families of the Great Yun Kingdom sent most of their forces to the border area to set up camp and continuously sent people across the border into the territory of the Yang Kingdom to eliminate the demonic insects.

Until a way to eradicate the demonic insects on a large scale is found, cultivators can only use this most primitive method to weaken the insect plague.

Although this method is primitive, it is undeniably effective.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of numerous cultivators day and night, the spread of the insect plague was somewhat contained, preventing them from rushing out of Yang Kingdom so quickly.

Otherwise, if the insect plague is allowed to spread in all directions and countries, it may become a major disaster of the "soul-devouring locust plague".

At this point, after the Zhou family and the group from Qinglian Temple separated, they sought out people nearby to inquire about the situation and went to the nearby market town of Dayun Kingdom.

At this time, all forces in the Great Yun Kingdom were more united than ever before, and all markets and strongholds were open to cultivators who were willing to eliminate the demonic insects free of charge, under certain conditions.

As long as you hand over the corpse of a low-grade first-tier demonic insect, you can cultivate for two hours for free.

Moreover, this free training time can be accumulated and stacked, meaning that even if the insect plague is eradicated in the future, the training time accumulated through this method can still be used.

It was precisely because of this that, even knowing the severity of the insect plague, the vast majority of the independent cultivators of the Great Yun Kingdom stayed behind to protect the country and strived to eliminate the demonic insects within the territory of the Yang Kingdom.

Upon learning that the five members of the Zhou family had come all the way from Jing Kingdom to Dayun Kingdom to provide assistance, the guards of the market town were extremely hospitable to them. They not only helped them find a place to rest, but also offered to provide them with information about the insect plague free of charge.

This was an unexpected surprise for the five members of the Zhou family, and it made them realize the impact of the insect plague even more.

Through conversations with the cultivators from the Great Yun Kingdom, Zhou Chun and his group quickly gained a lot of information that Qing Weizi had never mentioned.

For example, before the arrival of the Zhou family, cultivators from countries such as Yang Kingdom and Dayun Kingdom had also gathered a large number of alchemists and poison-using cultivators to develop poisons targeting demonic insects.

In the beginning, they did indeed develop quite a few useful poisons.

However, everyone soon discovered that because the swarm was so large, it was simply impossible to find enough raw materials for poison to achieve a large-scale eradication of the swarm.

Furthermore, the demonic insects in the insect plague are extremely adaptable. After a poison kills a large number of demonic insects, the surviving insects will develop resistance, and this resistance will be passed on to the next generation of demonic insects.

In this way, if a sufficient number of demonic insects cannot be poisoned at once, the same poison will be less effective against the insect swarm later.

As for the kind of poison that can kill a sufficient number of demonic insects, no one has ever been able to develop it.

The best methods for pest control, as currently recognized, are burning and freezing.

Within the present Yang Kingdom, wherever fire could be burned, the cultivators set it ablaze. This served two purposes: first, to kill the low-level demonic insects and some of their eggs; and second, to reduce the food supply for the insect swarm.

The freezing effect is due to the fact that demonic insects are generally afraid of the cold. When attacking demonic insects with ice magic, except for some demonic insects that have mutated to the ice attribute, they are easily hit with critical damage by ice magic.

"Seeing is believing. Tomorrow, I will go with Zhengchun to Yangguo to contact the insect swarm and capture some live insects for research. Jiapeng, you and the others will continue to inquire and gather information about the insect plague in this market."

Inside the room, after learning about the insect plague in Yangguo, Zhou Mingde gathered Zhou Chun and the other three to make arrangements.

The others naturally had no objections to his arrangement.

So the next day, Zhou Chun and Zhou Mingde set off for Yang State.

Since they were dealing with demonic insects, the two of them didn't care whether they were low-key or high-profile; they just did whatever was convenient for them.

The two rode Zhou Chun's golden-winged tiger together to Yang Kingdom, arriving within its borders at noon.

At this time, there was a very clear boundary between the territories of Yang Kingdom and Dayun Kingdom: the land burned to ashes was Yang Kingdom, while the land with green mountains and clear waters was Dayun Kingdom.

After Zhou Chun and his companion entered the Yang Kingdom, which had been burned to ashes, about fifty or sixty miles into the territory, they had already detected the figures of demonic insects foraging on the ground using their divine senses.

Although the fire destroyed the vegetation, it also killed many birds and beasts, and there are now many of their carcasses on the land of Yang Kingdom.

And those demonic insects naturally wouldn't let go of such free food.

Upon seeing the demonic insects, Zhou Chun wanted to test their quality.

But Zhou Mingde stopped him.

"Don't rush into action. Let's see if we can follow these demonic insects to their nest. It would be great if we could catch a few second-tier demonic insects."

Hearing this, Zhou Chun had no choice but to stop, put away the Golden-Winged Tiger, and together with Zhou Mingde, concealed their auras and secretly observed and tracked the foraging demonic insects.

After some time had passed, as darkness fell, the two finally followed the foraging insects to their lair.

Second update!

(End of this chapter)