Beast Taming Immortal Clan

Chapter 316 An Unexpected Letter [Please Subscribe]

"This is Dragon Rising Valley. From now on, this will be the only place you can rest and resupply in the wilderness."

In a valley overgrown with weeds and shrubs, dozens of Zhou family assassins and a dozen Zhou family cultivators, who were visiting for the first time, stared wide-eyed at the valley's interior with curiosity.

To be honest, without knowing the inside story, the valley didn't give these people a very good first impression.

Its area of ​​less than 100 acres is far too small.

Let alone fifty or sixty cultivators here, even five or six cultivators living here would be insufficient.

After all, cultivators are a group of people who value their personal privacy. Apart from dual cultivation partners, few people would live under the same roof with other people.

With an area of ​​less than 100 acres, if we were to build independent courtyards, it would be difficult to guarantee that each person could have their own independent courtyard.

Therefore, although no one said anything, most people had their brows furrowed, clearly dissatisfied with the place.

The elderly members of the Zhou family were the most obvious examples of this.

Although these elderly members of the Zhou family are considered to be among the most hardworking people in the family, they have never suffered such hardship since embarking on the path of cultivation.

The thought that they might spend most of their lives in such a place made these elderly people immediately regret agreeing to come here.

Zhou Chun, observing the situation, immediately spoke to reassure people.

"This place is indeed a bit small, but the location is excellent, greatly reducing the chance of being discovered."

"Besides, no outsiders will come here, so you don't need to worry about being disturbed during your daily cultivation."

"Of course, this is just a starting point. Once you've thoroughly investigated the surrounding area, the family will definitely choose another location to establish a larger base!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Daoquan immediately chimed in, "Zheng Chun is right. You should not only see the small size of this place, but also its advantages. This valley is the spiritual eye of the local spiritual vein. Cultivating here will be much better than where you were before."

"Besides, we've come here to make a name for ourselves, not to settle down and retire. Having a place to live and rest is enough; why ask for more?"

As the family's supreme elder and one of the most senior cultivators present, Zhou Daoquan would also be residing here permanently from now on. With his words, the Zhou family elders finally felt somewhat at ease and stopped giving him the cold shoulder.

As for Xu Fu and the other Zhou family assassins, they had already gotten used to the communal living environment inside the Zhou family's mountain gate, and they knew they didn't have much right to complain, so their mentality was quite peaceful.

After calming people down, the group immediately began construction.

The purification array used to cleanse the turbid and evil energy in Longxing Valley has not yet been set up, so the most urgent task is to establish this array and create a place where people can cultivate.

Because the array-setting equipment was readily available, the Cleansing Spirit Array was completed in less than three days under the arrangement of Zhou Daoyi and Zhou Xindie.

Compared to the massive purification array at Zhou Family Nine Peaks Ridge, this purification array is much smaller.

It has only three basic "sinking wells", which are distributed in a triangle on the outer peaks of the valley, connecting to the earth veins below.

This means that only nine people are needed to maintain the operation of this purification array.

This was clearly a special arrangement made with the limited manpower available in Longxing Valley in mind.

After the purification array was successfully activated, Zhou Chun and Zhou Daoyi left with Zhou Xindie.

From now on, everything in Longxing Valley will be handled by Zhou Daoquan and Zhou Zhengyong, with Zhou Zhengyong mainly in charge of managing Xu Fu and the others.

The relevant task plans have all been listed and handed over to them.

From now on, Zhou Chun and Zhou Daoyi only need to come over every two months to regularly collect their harvest and provide them with the necessary supplies.

After Zhou Chun and the others left, Zhou Zhengyong directed dozens of people to officially begin building the Longxing Valley stronghold.

He selected several family assassins, including Xu Fu, who were at the late stage of Qi Refining, and had them each lead four or five mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators out to scout the situation and draw detailed maps.

He himself, along with the elders of the Zhou family, led the remaining early-stage Qi Refining cultivators in a large-scale construction project, building residences, warehouses, and other structures within the valley.

In just one month, more than a dozen wooden and stone buildings, as well as several independent courtyards, were built in the small valley.

Those independent courtyards were naturally for Zhou Daoquan and Zhou Zhengyong to live in, since their cultivation levels and statuses were different and they could not live with other people.

The ten elderly members of the Zhou family moved into those buildings separately from Xu Fu and the others.

Meanwhile, after more than a month of exploration, Xu Fu and his team had thoroughly explored the entire area within a hundred miles of Longxing Valley and drawn up a very detailed map.

At this moment, after Zhou Zhengyong received the map and listened to Xu Fu and the others' explanation, a look of surprise immediately appeared on his face.

"No wonder my thirteenth brother said that if Dragon Rising Valley is developed well, the annual income alone could create a Foundation Establishment cultivator for the family. It seems that what he said was absolutely true!"

He thought about what Zhou Chun had once told him, and now he believed it even if he didn't want to.

According to Xu Fu and others, they discovered dozens of kinds of wild medicinal resources in just over a hundred miles of this area.

Within Lanzhou, even wild ginseng and polygonatum that are seventy or eighty years old are dug up by rogue cultivators and exchanged for spirit coins.

But in this desolate place, medicinal herbs such as century-old Solomon's Seal and century-old Ganoderma lucidum are easy to find.

On the map in Zhou Zhengyong's hand, a mountain peak was specially marked. In the annotation, it was noted that a large number of wild Solomon's seal plants grew on this mountain peak, and more than a dozen century-old Solomon's seal plants had been discovered.

The demonic beast occupying this mountain peak is merely a first-tier, high-grade demonic beast, the Wind Fang Tiger.

This is absolutely unimaginable within Lanzhou.

In addition, this wilderness is home to many wild sacred trees, some of which are thousands of years old.

These spirit trees, once felled, can be used as building materials, or for refining weapons and setting up formations; they can all be put to good use.

Now such a natural treasure trove is laid out here, and the Zhou family can take whatever they want.

Thinking of this, Zhou Zhengyong couldn't wait to personally lead a team out to hunt demons and gather herbs.

Just as Zhou Zhengyong began to make his mark, leading his men to collect various spiritual items from the wilderness, Zhou Chun encountered another problem.

On this day, a rogue cultivator suddenly arrived at Nine Peaks Ridge, claiming that he had been entrusted by a Foundation Establishment stage senior to deliver a letter to the Zhou family patriarch.

When Zhou Chun received the jade slip and read the information inside, his expression immediately changed.

Then he hurriedly went to the cave on the mountaintop to pay his respects to Zhou Mingde.

"You're saying that traitor Zhou Yu sent you a message, wanting to sell the Black Jade Toad they stole back then to their family?"

Inside the cave, Zhou Mingde was stunned after hearing Zhou Chun's purpose, and his face showed disbelief.

"That's exactly what she said in the letter. She said that as long as the family gave her a Foundation Establishment Pill, she would hand over the Black Jade Toad to the family."

Zhou Chun nodded slightly and spoke in a deep voice about the contents of the jade slip.

It turns out that the owner of the jade slip was Zhou Yu, a cultivator from the Zhou family who had defected from the Spirit Beast Manor more than ten years ago.

It is unknown what has happened to this person, but he suddenly wants to use the black jade toad he stole as a bargaining chip to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill from the Zhou family.

Because the matter involved a troublesome figure like Zhou Yu, as well as treasures like the Black Jade Toad and the Foundation Establishment Pill, Zhou Chun naturally dared not agree on his own initiative and could only come to Zhou Mingde to discuss it.

"The value of the Black Jade Toad is certainly far greater than that of a Foundation Establishment Pill, but the problem is that Zhou Yu first betrayed my Zhou family, and then betrayed the Spirit Beast Manor. How credible can the words of such a traitor be?"

Zhou Mingde frowned, his words full of doubt about Zhou Yu's letter.

This is understandable; others might not know the function of the Black Jade Toad, but he and Zhou Chun did.

These black jade toads were a pair of strange beasts that a cultivator in the Purple Mansion stage of the Zhou family's ancestor found in a foreign land. These strange beasts themselves were weak, and even many first-order high-grade demonic beasts could easily kill them.

However, they have a very long lifespan, and have been passed down in the Zhou family for more than four hundred years.

If that were all, it wouldn't be so surprising; there are plenty of long-lived creatures in the world.

However, the toad venom produced by the black jade toad has many wonderful uses.

This toad venom contains a considerable amount of toxins, enough to kill even a cultivator in the Qi Refining stage.

However, when combined with some spiritual herbs to make spiritual incense, it becomes a rare spiritual substance that can strengthen the soul of cultivators in the Purple Mansion stage.

In the past, if any Foundation Establishment cultivator in the Zhou family successfully opened their Purple Mansion, they would receive a small box of this spiritual incense as a family reward.

Because the production of toad venom from the Black Jade Toad is limited, and due to the need for secrecy, this spiritual fragrance has almost never been leaked out. Even within the Zhou family, there are not many cultivators who know about it.

In other words, after the Zhou family was forced to split up, Yu Jinghua gave this spiritual fragrance to Xiao Lingyan and other Purple Mansion cultivators as a bargaining chip in order to win them over.

With such great uses, the Black Jade Toad is truly more valuable than the spiritual objects used by Zhou Daoyi and Zhou Daoquan when they opened their Purple Mansions.

Now Zhou Yu is only offering it in exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill; how can anyone believe it?

Not only did Zhou Mingde not believe it, but Zhou Chun also dared not believe it.

But he still said, "Regardless of how credible this matter is, I think we should treat it as 'better safe than sorry,' after all, the black jade toad is a legacy left to us by our ancestors!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Mingde's eyes narrowed immediately, and he nodded, saying, "Yes, Zhengchun, what you said makes sense. Regardless of whether this is true or not, as long as there is a glimmer of hope, we should do our best to fight for it."

After saying that, he looked at Zhou Chun and asked, "Did she say how the transaction should be conducted? And where should the transaction take place?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chun immediately replied, "She said in the letter that if we agree to this deal, we should take the items to Jinchang Market in Feng Kingdom to participate in an underground treasure exchange."

"Oh, so she's been fleeing back to Feng Kingdom all these years?"

Zhou Mingde's expression shifted, and a look of realization appeared in his eyes.

Previously, Zhou Yu and others had defected from the Spirit Beast Manor and their whereabouts were unknown. Both the Spirit Beast Manor and the Zhou family had put up a large-scale bounty for their capture, but there had been no news since.

It now appears that they chose to flee back to Feng to evade the warrant for their arrest.

At this moment, he couldn't help but sneer, "They're not stupid; they know that the Zhou family and the people of the Spirit Beast Manor don't dare to show their faces in Feng Kingdom easily!"

After saying that, he nodded to Zhou Chun and said, "In that case, I will personally go to Jinchang Market!"

Unexpectedly, Zhou Chun shook his head with a wry smile after hearing this, saying, "I'm afraid that won't work. She said in her letter that she will only accept the Fifth Elder for transactions. If a cultivator from the Zhou family at the Purple Mansion stage appears, she will cancel the transaction!"

The fifth elder of the Zhou family is Zhou Jiahe. It was she who had to take Zhou Chun to see Zhou Yu because she owed him a favor.

Zhou Yu has now specifically requested that she conduct the transaction with him, clearly because he believes he is more familiar with Zhou Jiahe and that the transaction will be safer.

"Hmph, she certainly has a lot of conditions!"

Zhou Mingde gave a somewhat disgruntled snort, then said, "Then I'll personally take Jiahe to Jinchang Market and see what tricks she's up to this time!"

Unexpectedly, Zhou Chun shook his head again and said, "It would be safer for you to go in person, Elder, but I'm afraid it might alert her and make her afraid to show herself."

"In my humble opinion, I might as well accompany the Fifth Elder on this trip. That way, even if she discovers me, she probably won't be as wary of me as she is of you."

"Furthermore, I can take this opportunity to use the Blue Moon Butterfly to track her down, and perhaps find her hiding place!"

When Zhou Chun chose to cultivate the "Blue Moon Butterfly" demonic insect through a contract, he valued not only its ability to create illusions but also the tracking effect of its butterfly powder.

Once the pollen of an adult male Blue Moon butterfly detaches from its wings, it turns into colorless and odorless particles. These particles stick to something, and female Blue Moon butterflies can smell them from miles away.

Therefore, when Zhou Chun finished reading Zhou Yu's letter, this plan had already come to mind.

He didn't want to gamble on whether Zhou Yu would really exchange the Black Jade Toad for the Foundation Establishment Pill; he just wanted to find an opportunity to capture Zhou Yu.

In this way, both the Black Jade Toad and the Foundation Establishment Pill will fall into his hands.

Upon hearing his words, Zhou Mingde pondered for a moment before nodding slightly and saying, "Since you have this plan, Zhengchun, let's go together. I won't enter the market; I'll just wait for you outside. That way, we won't be discovered, and I can secretly protect you from being ambushed."

He was still worried about Zhou Chun's safety and insisted on going with her in person.

Zhou Chun, of course, would not refuse the covert protection of a Purple Mansion stage cultivator, and immediately replied respectfully, "Yes, junior obeys."

That's only one update today. Two updates tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)