Beast Taming Immortal Clan

Chapter 354 Making a Fortune [Please Subscribe]

Inside the Hongyufeng stronghold.

In the room, Zhou Chun had seven or eight storage bags lined up in front of him, and he was counting the treasures inside one by one.

The reason there are so many storage bags is, of course, because the relics of the several Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Huang family that he killed in Shen Kingdom are also here.

He had been too busy traveling to check the contents of the items, so this was a good opportunity to do so all at once.

To be honest, Zhou Chun hadn't experienced counting the storage bags of seven or eight Foundation Establishment cultivators at once in many years.

The last time was during the war to suppress the Hualong Sect.

However, this joyful experience is unforgettable.

After taking stock, Zhou Chun's face was beaming with joy.

After returning from the Great Zhou Kingdom, he and the Zhou family became destitute.

He himself, in particular, went from being a wealthy man with a fortune of 200,000 spirit coins to a penniless man with less than 10,000 spirit coins in his entire personal assets.

He urgently needed to earn a large amount of spirit coins to fill his wallet in order to support his purchase of treasures that could help him open up his Purple Mansion.

But in recent years he has been busy with family matters and hasn’t had much opportunity to earn any extra money.

Unexpectedly, his appointment to oversee things in Yang Kingdom during this critical time turned into a huge windfall!

Even without mentioning the priceless wood spirit, the spirit coins in these seven or eight storage bags alone add up to more than 76,000!

There are as many as ten other second-tier magical artifacts in total.

There are also various talismans, pills, elixirs, and spiritual materials, in considerable quantities.

With such a harvest, how could Zhou Chun not be overjoyed and extremely happy?

With these gains in hand, it seems that in three to five years, he will be able to start looking for spiritual objects to assist in opening up the Purple Mansion.

After happily collecting all the harvested supplies, Zhou Chun began to think about what to do next.

He has now quelled the chaos within the stronghold with violent means. Fu Changqing and the other two have been terrified of him and should not dare to cause any more trouble under his nose.

However, external pressures cannot be ignored.

If that Fire Yang Hermit learns that all those close to him in the Red Jade Peak stronghold have been killed, he might very well decide to come and visit in person.

Faced with a late-stage Purple Mansion cultivator, Zhou Chun had no power to resist.

In addition, the mining of the [Earth Element Crystal Jade] vein also urgently needs to be resumed. After all, Shan Yangzi is waiting for the Zhou family to deliver goods to his door regularly. If it is delayed for too long, it will definitely annoy him.

Finally, there's the matter of taming the wood spirit. If this monster isn't tamed, it could escape, and its exposure could easily bring Zhou Chun to his death.

These are probably the main things he needs to do next.

Things should be done one by one, and priorities should be set.

The most urgent thing right now is to deal with the potential external pressures.

After thinking for a long time, Zhou Chun felt that he could not passively accept the situation, but had to take the initiative.

So he took the initiative to write a letter to Huoyang Sanren, explaining the relationship between Lin Hongyu and the Zhou family, and mentioning that the Zhou family had three Purple Mansions and two third-tier demonic beasts.

Clearly, Zhou Chun's intention in writing this letter was to intimidate Huo Yang Sanren and let him know that even if Lin Hongyu was not at the Hongyu Peak stronghold, this place was not one he could arbitrarily interfere with.

After the letter was written, Zhou Chun had the old man in blue, Yang Jincai, personally deliver it to Huoyang Sanren.

This was undoubtedly a difficult task, but the old man in blue, Yang Jincai, knew he had no choice but to go to the stronghold established by Huoyang Sanren with a bitter face.

The reason why Huoyang Sanren clashed with Lin Hongyu was because he coveted Hongyu Peak and wanted to seize it.

Unfortunately, he was ultimately outmatched and was beaten and wounded by Lin Hongyu, forcing him to flee.

After that, he could only establish a stronghold in another place more than 700 miles away from the Red Jade Peak stronghold, and gathered a group of rogue cultivators to establish his own Fire Sun stronghold.

Yang Jincai arrived at the Huoyang stronghold with Zhou Chun's letter on the third day after Zhou Chun rectified the chaos. Huoyang Sanren at the Huoyang stronghold had only recently learned of this from his informant at the Hongyufeng stronghold.

Just as he was about to personally visit the Hongyufeng stronghold to check on the situation, he received news that Yang Jincai had come to pay his respects.

"I have recently heard that an internal conflict has broken out at the Red Jade Peak stronghold, and fellow Daoists such as Tian Fengyi have even died in the conflict. Since Fellow Daoist Yang comes from the Red Jade Peak stronghold, do you know the details of this matter?"

Inside the room, Huo Yang Sanren, dressed in a crimson robe and with crimson hair, calmly looked at Yang Jincai standing below, speaking in a flat tone as if he had never interfered in the affairs of the Hongyufeng stronghold.

But Yang Jincai dared not believe that his mood and tone were as calm as they seemed.

Upon hearing this, he replied very respectfully, "Senior, you are wise. This is precisely why I have been ordered to come and pay my respects to you today."

As he spoke, he took out the letter Zhou Chun had written to Huo Yang Sanren from his sleeve, held it out with both hands and handed it forward, saying, "This is a letter from Fellow Daoist Zhou Zhengchun, who has just arrived at the Hongyu Peak stronghold, to Senior Huo Yang. He specially ordered me to come and deliver it."

"Fellow Daoist Zhou Zhengchun?"

Upon hearing Yang Jincai's words, Huo Yang Sanren seemed to have grasped a key point. He immediately glared at Yang Jincai and shouted, "Are you saying that the deaths of fellow Daoists Tian Fengyi and others were not the work of Purple Mansion stage cultivators?"

It's not hard to tell from his words that he doesn't actually know much about what happened inside the Red Jade Peak stronghold.

Yang Jincai knew why he was reacting so strongly, and immediately nodded in agreement, "Yes, Fellow Daoist Zhou Zhengchun, who killed Fellow Daoists Tian Fengyi and the others, was indeed only at the late Foundation Establishment stage!"

"Is he alone?"

Huo Yang Sanren asked again, somewhat incredulously.

"It is indeed one person, but he is a beast cultivator who has tamed several second-tier demonic beasts!"

As Yang Jincai spoke, he couldn't help but recall what he had witnessed that day.

The majestic figure of that lightning dragon, and the ferocious image of that golden-winged tiger that swallowed a Foundation Establishment cultivator whole, still send chills down one's spine when recalled.

Hearing his words and seeing his trembling expression, Huoyang Sanren became even more curious about Zhou Chun.

He immediately waved his hand and said, "I won't read this letter right away. Fellow Daoist Yang, please tell me in detail what happened that day, without omitting anything!"

The way you're saying this makes it sound like Yang Jincai is his subordinate.

Although Yang Jincai was not his subordinate, he dared not disobey his orders at this moment and could only honestly tell him what he knew that day.

After speaking, he bowed and excused himself, saying, "Senior Huoyang, you are wise. This is all I saw that day. As for what happened before that, I have no idea."

Huoyang Sanren made no response to his words, as he was still shocked by what he had described.

To be honest, if Huoyang Sanren hadn't known that Yang Jincai had no reason to deceive him, and probably wouldn't dare to deceive him, he would have definitely thought he was talking nonsense.

One person single-handedly stormed a stronghold guarded by seven Foundation Establishment cultivators to rescue people, and killed four Foundation Establishment cultivators in succession, forcing the remaining three who controlled the protective formation to surrender. This is something a Foundation Establishment cultivator can do.

Let alone Huo Yang Sanren finding it hard to believe, any Purple Mansion stage cultivator who hears this for the first time would probably find it hard to believe as well.

However, Yang Jincai's account seems to make people believe it, since if a Foundation Establishment cultivator really had Zhou Chun's configuration, he would indeed have the ability to fight against many opponents.

This aroused Huoyang Sanren's great curiosity about Zhou Chun's origins.

So, he, who was originally uninterested in the letter in Yang Jincai's hand, raised his hand and directly took the letter to examine it.

He was shocked and furious when he finally saw it.

To everyone's surprise, Lin Hongyu was not a rogue cultivator at all; she actually had a powerful immortal cultivation family behind her.

What angered him was that Zhou Chun, a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, dared to threaten him with such a letter!

He slammed the letter to the ground with a "bang," and roared angrily, his face full of rage, "How dare you, you brat!"

This sudden movement startled Yang Jincai, causing his legs to tremble. He immediately knelt down and cried out, "Senior, spare my life! I didn't know anything! I was just here to deliver a message!"

A seasoned veteran like him has no psychological barriers to kneeling and begging for mercy; he's long been used to it.

Upon seeing this, Huo Yang Sanren glared at him and shouted, "Go back and tell that brat that he must come to apologize to me personally within half a month, or I will personally go to Hongyu Peak and teach this ignorant brat a lesson on behalf of Lin Hongyu!"

"Yes, yes, yes, this junior will definitely convey the message and relay it truthfully to Fellow Daoist Zhou!"

Yang Jincai nodded repeatedly in agreement, then hurriedly got up and left the Huoyang stronghold as if his life depended on it.

After returning to the Red Jade Peak stronghold, he vividly recounted to Zhou Chun the various reactions of the Fire Sun Hermit upon seeing him.

After speaking, seeing that Zhou Chun remained silent in thought, he cautiously added, "In my opinion, Huo Yang Sanren is indeed angry, but I'm afraid he doesn't really intend to seize the Hongyu Peak stronghold. Those words were mostly just him finding a way to save face and extort money from us!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chun glanced at him, clearly understanding the meaning behind his words.

Yang Jincai's intention was undoubtedly to have Zhou Chun, as Huoyang Sanren had said, prepare generous gifts and personally visit Huoyang's stronghold to apologize, giving Huoyang Sanren face and substance, so that he would no longer have any ideas about Hongyufeng's stronghold.

To be honest, doing this isn't entirely impossible. If it could truly settle things peacefully, Zhou Chun wouldn't be so reluctant to sacrifice his pride and dignity.

However, Zhou Chun was more worried that this show of weakness would only embolden Huo Yang Sanren, making him think that the Zhou family was powerless to send stronger forces to the Hongyu Peak stronghold, and thus fostering even greater greed.

Therefore, Zhou Chun did not give Yang Jincai any response, but simply said, "I understand. I will consider this matter. Fellow Daoist Yang, you should go back and do your own job first!"

Seeing that he did not respond, Yang Jincai was somewhat disappointed and worried, but he did not show it on his face and quickly replied, "Yes, yes, then I will take my leave."

In the following days, Zhou Chun showed no intention of going to the Huoyang stronghold to apologize; he simply stayed at his residence, meditating and cultivating.

His calm demeanor made Yang Jincai, Fu Changqing, and the other two wonder what he was thinking.

However, Huoyang Sanren was only targeting Zhou Chun. Even if they really came to kill him, as long as the three of them surrendered quickly, they would not be in any danger. Therefore, he was not too worried.

Five days later, Lin Wan'er finally emerged from seclusion.

Her depleted energy had not yet fully recovered, but it no longer affected her pure thinking and activities.

Upon seeing her emerge from seclusion, Zhou Chun relayed Huo Yang Sanren's reply to her.

Then he said, "I don't know much about this Huoyang Sanren, and I don't know if he's just trying to save face or if he's deliberately testing me. Elder Lin, what are your thoughts on this?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Wan'er pondered for a moment, then shook her head and said, "Actually, I don't know much about Huo Yang Sanren's temperament, so I can't tell what he really means."

After saying that, she looked at Zhou Chun with a serious expression and said, "But if it were up to me to decide, I believe the clan leader has no need to apologize to him. Doing so would only make him look down on the clan leader and the Zhou family!"

"Oh, Elder Lin, why do you say that?"

Zhou Chun raised an eyebrow, looking at Lin Wan'er with an expression of eager interest.

Lin Wan'er didn't keep them in suspense and immediately explained, "Because Huo Yang Sanren is a true rogue cultivator, and based on my years of experience dealing with these rogue cultivators, most of them have a sense of awe when facing those sects and families."

"If a sect or family were to yield to them, they would likely demand even more benefits!"

She herself probably didn't understand why, but Zhou Chun understood immediately after hearing her words.

Because Zhou Chun had seen similar people in his previous life.

A person who was originally bullied at the bottom of society will become even more ruthless when he turns his life around and gains the power to bully others.

Often, only those who have been oppressed and exploited know how to better oppress and exploit others.

It's ironic, but it's a reality.

Even in the world of cultivation, the most ruthless exploiters of ordinary rogue cultivators are not the various sects or families like the Zhou family, but rather the high-level rogue cultivators who have risen from the bottom.

It seems that the low-level rogue cultivators at the Red Jade Peak stronghold are responsible for guarding the "Pure Spirit Pavilion," but the rent collected by the stronghold doesn't amount to much of what they receive.

The real benefit they can gain is probably that, outside of missions, they or their families have unlimited free cultivation rights, and the convenience of occasionally asking Foundation Establishment stage cultivators for advice on cultivation-related difficulties.

"I understand what Elder Lin means. Then let's ignore his answer and see if he dares to actually come knocking on our door!"

Zhou Chun nodded and made his decision immediately.

First update!

(End of this chapter)