Beast Taming Immortal Clan

Chapter 326 Zhou Xinlan's Fortuitous Encounter, The Heavenly Mirror Dharma Assembly [Please Subscribe]

The fact that "Tianjing Sanren" successfully shattered his core and formed his nascent soul became a hot topic of discussion throughout Jingguo.

Many forces that are sensitive to this matter are waiting to see how things develop.

For example, the Zhou family had already sent cultivators to stake out the area around "Tianjing Manor" in Lingzhou to obtain firsthand information.

News about what happened next quickly spread like wildfire.

Some say that the Nascent Soul stage cultivators from the three major powers came to visit Heavenly Mirror Master and "persuaded" him to become a guest elder of the three powers, monopolizing a state.

Some say that Master Tianjing fought against the Nascent Soul stage masters of the three major forces and was taught a lesson by those veteran Nascent Soul stage masters, and that the status quo will continue in the future.

Some people say that Master Tianjing is currently in seclusion to consolidate his cultivation and has no intention of meeting other Nascent Soul stage masters.

In short, all sorts of true and false news are everywhere, making it impossible to distinguish between them.

Zhou Chun also went to the Su family in Jiangzhou to inquire about the situation, but even a figure like the Su family patriarch did not know much about the inside story. He only knew that Nascent Soul stage cultivators from three major forces had indeed gone to Tianjing Manor.

So he could only order his men to continue gathering more information while waiting to see how things would develop.

Another six months passed, and while there was still no further useful news from Master Tianjing, the Zhou family received some good news.

"Are these the eggs laid by the Black Jade Toad?"

Inside the cave at the top of the mountain, Zhou Chun stared in astonishment at the pool of dark toad eggs in the jade box before him.

The toad eggs in front of him looked just like ordinary frog eggs, only slightly larger.

Generally speaking, the eggs laid by monsters contain some spiritual power.

"They are indeed eggs laid by the Black Jade Toad, but as you can see, it won't be that easy for these eggs to hatch into real Black Jade Toads!"

Zhou Mingde said with a solemn expression.

It turns out that the reason he called Zhou Chun over today was because the female toad among the two black jade toads suddenly laid toad eggs last night.

Moreover, the female toad died soon after laying her eggs.

The male toad is now refusing to eat or drink, and its vitality is rapidly declining. It is estimated that it will not live for more than a few days.

But no matter what, the toad eggs laid are better for the Zhou family than holding two dying black jade toads.

So this is indeed good news.

Zhou Chun then said, "It's a good thing that they can lay toad eggs. As for whether these toad eggs can hatch into real black jade toads, we can verify and cultivate them slowly in the future."

These toad eggs were also entrusted to Zhou Mingde for incubation and cultivation, without relying on anyone else.

Six months later, all the toad eggs hatched into tadpoles and began to metamorphose.

But at this moment, Zhou Mingde, who was raising these tadpoles, discovered that the tadpoles were growing and evolving very slowly.

He fed them the best spirit beast food the Zhou family owned, and the tadpoles ate happily, but they grew very slowly.

This result made Zhou Mingde's heart sink, and he had a bad feeling.

He remembered the Black Jade Toad's long lifespan!

Is the reason why the tadpoles grow so slowly now because the lifespan of the black jade toad is too long, which causes its juvenile period to be much longer than that of other frogs?

If that's the case, it's not good news for him or the Zhou family.

One day, Zhou Chun was working in the Zhongping Hall when a report came from outside that Zhou Xinlan, a core member of the family, was requesting an audience.

After he agreed, Zhou Xinlan rushed into the hall with a joyful expression.

Upon seeing this, he felt a stirring in his heart, knowing that something joyous must be about to happen.

But he remained calm and waited until Zhou Xinlan finished bowing before slowly speaking, "Speak, what makes you so happy?"

"Reporting to the clan leader, this junior went to the pioneering stronghold for training and explored the wilderness. By chance, I discovered a mid-level demon beast, the Blue Feather Fire Kite, that was laying eggs. The Sixth Elder then personally lured the two Blue Feather Fire Kites away, and this junior managed to steal the two bird eggs. Please take a look, clan leader!"

As Zhou Xinlan spoke, she raised her hand, patted the storage bag at her waist, took out a jade box, and handed it to Zhou Chun.

Zhou Chun took the jade box and opened it. Inside, wrapped in soft animal hide, were two blue and white bird eggs, each about the size of two adult fists.

Although it's unclear whether this is truly a Blue Feather Fire Kite egg, judging from the spiritual energy contained within it, it is undoubtedly a mid-level demon beast egg.

He immediately smiled and nodded, saying, "Very good. It seems that sending you to the outpost for training was the right thing to do. Otherwise, how would you have encountered such an opportunity!"

After a moment's thought, he asked in a deep voice, "So, are you going to offer these two bird eggs to the family?"

"Yes, the Sixth Elder said that such a treasure should be offered to the clan and distributed by the clan head and the supreme elders!"

Zhou Xinlan nodded without hesitation, her face showing no sign of reluctance.

This made Zhou Chun even more satisfied.

Then he chuckled and said, "In that case, each bird egg will be worth four thousand points of family merit. You and the Sixth Elder will each receive four thousand points!"

After saying that, he looked at Zhou Xinlan meaningfully and asked, "You now have over seven thousand merit points. Do you have anything to say?"

Upon hearing his almost explicit words, Zhou Xinlan immediately understood and respectfully replied, "Your Excellency, I wish to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill!"

"Alright, then this Foundation Establishment Pill is yours!"

Zhou Chun exclaimed "Good!" and immediately patted the storage bag at his waist, taking out a jade bottle containing Foundation Establishment Pills and tossing it to Zhou Xinlan.

After Zhou Xinlan received the jade bottle and happily opened the stopper to check the pills inside, Zhou Chun said again, "Now that you have the Foundation Establishment Pill, prepare to begin your Foundation Establishment. Don't leave the family's mountain gate again."

"Yes, junior obeys."

Zhou Xinlan responded loudly with delight and left Zhongping Palace with a happy smile.

Zhou Chun looked at the two blue-feathered fire kite eggs in his hand and fell into deep thought.

As a mid-level demon beast, the Blue Feather Fire Kite is not only an excellent mount, but also a combat spirit pet whose potential and strength are in no way inferior to Zhu Yunhe.

Zhou Chun really needs to think carefully about who should be assigned to incubate these two Blue Feather Fire Kite eggs.

Currently, among the elders of the Zhou family, only the Sixth Elder, Zhou Jiapeng, has a second-tier demonic beast, the Golden-Winged Iron-Feathered Eagle. Although the other elders all have first-tier high-grade demonic beasts as their spirit pets, none of them have yet managed to raise their spirit pets to the second tier.

Therefore, the Blue Feather Fire Kite egg, which will become a second-tier demon beast upon reaching adulthood, is definitely something that all these elders want.

However, Zhou Chun felt that giving both of the monster eggs to the elders would not allow them to be used to their full potential.

"Xin Yan is almost an adult. At his rate of cultivation growth, he'll reach the twelfth level of the Qi Refining stage by the age of thirty at the latest. If we give him a Blue Feather Fire Kite egg now, this demonic beast will be almost an adult by the time he successfully establishes his foundation!"

"Giving the most promising junior member of the family a mid-level demon beast egg should be acceptable to all the elders, right?"

He muttered to himself, gradually forming a plan in his mind.

Soon, the news that Zhou Xinlan had offered two Blue Feather Fire Kite Eggs and exchanged them for Foundation Establishment Pills spread throughout the Zhou family's mountain gate. Every Zhou family cultivator who heard the news envied his good fortune.

Then many Qi Refining stage cultivators began to worry about the number of Foundation Establishment Pills their families had.

Because the two Foundation Establishment Pills given by Lin Hongyu could not be made public, the Zhou family only had two Foundation Establishment Pills purchased from Rongguo and two Foundation Establishment Pills exchanged from Qinglian Temple.

Of these four Foundation Establishment Pills, Zhou Zhengyong and Zhou Zhengtao each used one, and now Zhou Xinlan has exchanged for another one.

In the eyes of those Zhou family cultivators who were unaware of the truth, this was the only Foundation Establishment Pill left in the family.

But don't forget, the Zhou family now has a member with a superior spiritual root, Zhou Xinyan.

According to family rules, family members with superior spiritual root aptitude are directly considered "foundation-building seeds" of the family, and must be given priority in being supplied with a foundation-building pill.

If Zhou Chun insists on this rule now, it means that even if other Zhou family cultivators have accumulated 5,000 points of family merit, they will not be able to exchange them for Foundation Establishment Pills.

With this in mind, the Zhou family Qi Refining stage cultivators, who were just a few merits away from reaching 5,000 points, couldn't sit still any longer and went to Zhou Chun to ask him about this issue, both openly and secretly.

"Don't worry, the family still has two Foundation Establishment Pills left. As long as you can accumulate enough merit points in time, you still have a chance to exchange for them!"

Since the matter concerned the family's reputation, Zhou Chun still responded at this time to reassure people.

After receiving his assurance, the clansmen were relieved.

Three more months passed, and Zhou Xinlan successfully completed her Foundation Establishment cultivation and emerged from seclusion, becoming the seventh Foundation Establishment cultivator in the Zhou family.

His success made Zhou Zhengyong and his son a celebrated story for a time.

Two members of the same family have reached the Foundation Establishment stage; both father and son are elders.

Such a situation is not very common, even among those families specializing in Golden Core cultivation.

This success story has further inspired the other Zhou family cultivators to strive harder.

Since Zhou Xinlan can discover the eggs of intermediate-level demonic beasts outside, and thus gain great merit through the help of the family elders, she can achieve this.

Why can't they?

As long as Zhou family cultivators offer spiritual items to the family, they can receive varying amounts of merit rewards. Even if they don't have the same gains as Zhou Xinlan, they can accumulate small amounts until they achieve their goal.

Zhou Chun was happy to see this situation.

As the clan leader, he hoped to see his clansmen strive for excellence, for only in that way could the clan appear vibrant.

Time passed slowly, and three years after the news of Tianjing Zhenren's shattered core and formed his nascent soul, "Tianjing Manor" finally issued an official announcement.

On this day, Zhou Chun was cultivating in his room with his Daoist partner Su Yuzhen, who had come to visit him at the Zhou family home, when suddenly the warning array outside his courtyard gate was triggered one after another.

Generally speaking, if you're just coming to see him because you have something to discuss, you'll only need to trigger the warning array once and wait for him to open the door.

Only when something extremely important to the family happens will the visitor continuously trigger the warning array to indicate an emergency.

Upon realizing this, Zhou Chun immediately stopped his practice and stood up, saying to his Daoist partner who was also preparing to stop, "My lady, you can continue your cultivation. Perhaps something has happened in the family. I'll go and take a look."

After saying that, he quickly walked out of the room, went into the courtyard, and opened the gate.

Outside the courtyard gate, the younger generation of the family responsible for recording documents for him inside the Zhongping Hall were looking anxiously at the gate.

Upon seeing him open the door and appear, the man hurriedly bowed respectfully and said, "The Tianjing Manor has sent someone to deliver an invitation. The Fourth Elder is already keeping us company and has specially ordered this junior to come and respectfully invite the clan leader."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chun's gaze sharpened, and then he nodded slightly and said, "I understand."

After saying that, he took off and flew towards the place where the family was entertaining guests.

When he entered the guest hall, he saw Zhou Jiarui and a middle-aged man in blue sitting opposite each other, enjoying the Zhou family's secret honey flower tea together.

Upon seeing him approach, Zhou Jiarui hurriedly stood up and introduced him to the middle-aged man in blue: "Fellow Daoist Yan, this is Zhou Zhengchun, the patriarch of my Zhou family."

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man in blue immediately stood up, cupped his hands in a salute to Zhou Chun, and said, "Yan Chu greets Clan Chief Zhou."

"Greetings, Fellow Daoist Yan."

Zhou Chun raised his hand in return, then immediately asked, "May I ask what brings Fellow Daoist Yan to the Zhou family today?"

"Of course it's a good thing!"

Yan Chu smiled, then patted his storage pouch at his waist and took out an exquisitely crafted invitation, handing it to Zhou Chun.

"After my ancestor shattered his core and formed his nascent soul, he was grateful for the hardships we cultivators faced in our cultivation. Therefore, he specially granted the privilege of holding a Dharma assembly to guide the younger generation of cultivators who are still in a state of confusion, and to impart the Dao and resolve their doubts."

"This invitation is your admission ticket to the Dharma assembly. You may bring ten people with you to attend the lecture. Please keep it safe, Clan Chief Zhou."

Is the Celestial Mirror Master going to hold a sermon?

Zhou Chun was taken aback by what Yan Chu said and took the invitation into his hand.

The invitation bore the striking words "Heavenly Mirror Dharma Assembly," so prominent that a single glance stung Zhou Chun's eyes. He quickly closed them and turned his head away, unable to bear looking any longer.

He was utterly horrified.

Is this the supernatural power of a Nascent Soul stage cultivator?

Just a few words were enough to make this mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator unable to see or resist them; it was truly terrifying!

He quickly covered the invitation with his sleeve, then narrowed his eyes and looked at Yan Chu, asking, "May I ask, Fellow Daoist Yan, do every cultivation family receive this invitation? Do the three major sects have them?"

Upon hearing this, Yan Chu replied with a smug look, "The ancestor prepared a total of three hundred invitations, inviting only three thousand cultivators to participate in this Dharma assembly, so not every cultivation family is qualified to attend."

After a slight pause, he looked at Zhou Chun with a meaningful gaze and said, "As for the three major sects, naturally several of our senior uncles have also gone to deliver invitations!"

"I see, I understand now. Thank you, Fellow Daoist Yan, for traveling so far to deliver this invitation, and thank you, Senior True Person Tianjing, for your high regard for the Zhou family. I am deeply grateful!"

After Zhou Chun finished speaking, he immediately bowed deeply to Yan Chu to express his gratitude.

However, he did not indicate whether he would attend the Dharma assembly.

This made Yan Chu frown slightly, then he nodded gently and said, "Since Clan Chief Zhou has accepted the invitation, then I won't bother you any longer. I have other matters to attend to, farewell!"

"Fellow Daoist Yan, please take care. I, Zhou, will see you off."

As Zhou Chun spoke, he truly escorted Yan Chu all the way out of the mountain gate.

Only after watching Yan Chu's figure gradually turn into a small black dot and disappear into the distance did Zhou Chun look down at the back of the invitation in his hand, his eyes filled with solemnity.

"A sermon by a Nascent Soul stage cultivator—this is truly a once-in-a-millennium opportunity!"

He muttered to himself and immediately took the invitation to the cave on the mountaintop.

I finally managed to finish this update on time!

(End of this chapter)