Beast Taming Immortal Clan

Chapter 370 Another Foundation Establishment Stage Achieved, Unexpected Twist Occurs [Please Subscribe]

In the wilderness, at the Jade Mountain stronghold.

Since Lin Hongyu, a Golden Core cultivator, settled in the Caiyu Mountain stronghold, the Zhou family cultivators here have felt extremely at ease and no longer worry about the safety of the stronghold.

In the world of cultivation, Nascent Soul stage cultivators are usually secluded and rarely venture out. Even if they do go out occasionally, very few people will be able to catch them.

Therefore, cultivators at the Golden Core stage became the highest level of cultivators that ordinary cultivators could encounter.

In peacetime, a place with a Golden Core cultivator stationed there is virtually impossible to be breached.

On this day, Xu Fu, the leader of the assassins who had been away from the Caiyu Mountain stronghold for some time, suddenly returned.

Xu Fu did not return alone. Accompanying him to the Caiyu Mountain stronghold were thirty-five bandit cultivators whom he, Zhou Zhengbo, and Zhou Xinlan had captured.

These 35 bandit cultivators were the first batch sent to the Caiyu Mountain stronghold; there will be a second, and even a third, batch afterward.

The person in charge of escorting these bandits was Zhou Chun, the head of the Zhou family.

Just like when Xu Fu and his group first arrived at Longxing Valley, those thirty-five bandit cultivators were only able to open their eyes and see where they were when they entered the Caiyu Valley stronghold.

Before this, they knew they had fallen for the enemy's trick of pretending to be weak and being captured, but they didn't even know who had captured them.

When he was awakened, he found himself abandoned in an unfamiliar place with many other cultivators. Some of the more hot-tempered and reckless ones immediately started shouting.

"What are you doing? What are you doing? Which faction do you belong to? And where is this place?"

"A head lost leaves a scar the size of a bowl. Since I dared to do this deadly business, I'm not afraid of death. If you have the guts, kill me! Don't try these underhanded tricks with me!"

"Where is this? And where did you come from?"

Shouts rang out from the crowd, but these bandits were unaware of the gravity of the situation.

But they soon realized it.

A tremendous tiger roar suddenly rang in their ears.

Roar! !

With a deafening roar, a giant golden tiger, several meters long with wings on its ribs, suddenly appeared at the edge of the crowd, its gaping maw gazing down at the bandits.

The menacing aura that swept over them instantly made these bandits, whose hands were once stained with blood, tremble with fear, and they all shut their mouths, not daring to utter a sound.

At this moment, Zhou Chun leaped onto the top of the Golden-Winged Tiger's head and looked down at the terrified bandits, shouting, "Listen up, you scum! From now on, this is the place where you will atone for the sins you have committed. Only by cleansing yourselves of your sins can you return to the world of cultivation."

As soon as he finished speaking, he said in a chilling tone, "Who was it that said they were tired of living? Step forward and let me see them. My spirit pet hasn't had any meat today, so I'll use you as a snack first!"

In the crowd, a burly man with a rugged face trembled and quickly lowered his head, afraid that Zhou Chun would see him.

After temporarily intimidating the bandits, Zhou Chun signaled Xu Fu to come forward and explain the situation to them, making them understand their predicament and what they needed to do next.

According to the plan, these bandits and cultivators would initially be confined to the stronghold and not allowed to leave.

Once they behave better and are willing to cooperate, their storage bags and wealth will be returned to them, giving them the opportunity to go on adventures together.

There's absolutely no need to worry about them taking the opportunity to escape when they go out.

The Caiyu Mountain stronghold is located in a remote area, surrounded by many monsters. Even Xu Fu and his companions, who had lived in the wilderness for decades, dared not say that they could escape the wilderness and reach Jing Kingdom, let alone these bandit cultivators.

The result of trying to escape is either being eaten by monsters or, after realizing there's nowhere to run, obediently returning.

As Zhou Chun expected, when they heard that he was now deep in the wilderness and unable to return to the cultivation world, the bandit cultivators were all agitated and revealed their vicious nature.

However, as the Golden-Winged Tiger's fierce gaze swept over them, they quickly calmed down.

When they later learned that there were Golden Core cultivators stationed at the stronghold, they became even more dejected.

Zhou Chun didn't care what these people were thinking at the moment. After confirming that no one dared to cause trouble, he left Xu Fu with some words and a Foundation Establishment Spirit Fruit, and then returned to his family.

Upon returning to his family, Zhou Chun received some good news.

It turned out that Zhou Xintie, who had received the Foundation Establishment Pill from him, had successfully established his foundation.

From then on, the Zhou family gained another Foundation Establishment cultivator, bringing the total number of Foundation Establishment cultivators in the family to ten.

Zhou Xintie's successful foundation building means that the Zhou family's shortcomings in weapon forging have been addressed.

With his weapon-refining skills before he successfully established his foundation, it's only a matter of time before he can refine a second-tier magic weapon after he succeeds in establishing his foundation.

In this way, whether it's alchemy, weapon crafting, or array formation and talisman making, the Zhou family will have capable individuals to rely on.

From now on, the family will no longer need to purchase related items from outside; they can directly purchase raw materials and hand them over to these family members for refining.

On the one hand, it can save on purchasing costs, and on the other hand, it can help these people improve their skills and increase their income. It's a win-win-win situation.

"Not bad, not bad, Xin Tie, you've done a great job. It wasn't in vain that I trained you!"

Inside the Zhongping Hall, Zhou Chun received Zhou Xintie, who had just emerged from seclusion, and immediately began praising him with an undisguised smile.

Zhou Xintie, overwhelmed with gratitude for the praise, bowed deeply and said, "I will never forget the kindness of the clan leader in nurturing me. In the future, whatever the clan leader commands, just give the word, and I will serve him with all my might to repay the kindness of the clan leader!"

Unlike other Zhou family cultivators who successfully established their foundations by exchanging merits for Foundation Establishment Pills, Zhou Xintie's success in establishing his foundation was entirely due to the cultivation of his patriarch, Zhou Chun.

Therefore, compared to other Zhou family cultivators who had successfully established their foundations, his gratitude towards Zhou Chun was genuine and sincere.

Zhou Chun also noticed this, and immediately smiled with satisfaction, saying, "Your intention is the best thing that can be done."

After saying that, he patted him on the shoulder encouragingly and said, "Think carefully about choosing a cultivation method. If there's anything you don't understand, feel free to come and ask me for advice."

"Yes, I understand."

Zhou Xintie nodded emphatically and then withdrew.

Another month passed, and Zhou Chun received another piece of good news.

It turns out that the black jade toad tadpoles that Zhou Mingde was taking care of have finally begun to metamorphose into adult toads.

However, this evolutionary process is indeed somewhat bloody.

Because the original hundreds of tadpoles fought and devoured each other during the process of metamorphosis, only one male and one female tadpole had the last laugh and evolved into the real black jade toad.

All of this was accomplished in just seven days!

The newly evolved black jade toad is much smaller than the original pair, clearly indicating that it has not yet reached adulthood.

As for when it will produce toad venom, we'll just have to wait and see.

But no matter what, this is a great thing for the Zhou family.

After all, the Zhou family currently has as many as four cultivators at the Purple Mansion stage, and their demand for toad venom is extremely high.

It should be noted that once you reach the Purple Mansion stage, those pills that can improve your magical power and cultivation become extremely rare. Even in a place like the Great Zhou Kingdom, you can't buy them from ordinary shops.

Even the Li family, who have an excellent relationship with the Zhou family, may not be able to refine a batch of spirit pills in a hundred years, even though they possess the relevant pill formulas. This is because the materials are hard to find.

When Zhou Chun was in the Foundation Establishment stage, he never lacked pills that could improve his magical power.

However, even after reaching the Purple Mansion stage, he has never taken such a pill.

Obtaining such elixirs in the future will likely be extremely difficult, and it will certainly not be possible to continue taking them continuously as before.

In this situation, the secret-recipe incense made from black jade toad venom is almost the only spiritual item that Zhou family Purple Mansion cultivators can reliably obtain to improve their cultivation.

That day, Zhou Chun was secretly cultivating his secret techniques at his residence when suddenly the warning array was triggered, indicating that someone had come to visit.

Seeing this, he quickly stopped his practice, opened the formation, and let the person into the courtyard.

The visitor was none other than Zhou Jiarui, who was in charge of the Zhou family's affairs.

"Zhengchun, something terrible has happened! Zhengbai has been severely injured outside, and it was done by the Jiang family of Lingzhou!"

As soon as he entered the courtyard, Zhou Jiarui anxiously explained his purpose.

What?

Zhou Chun was stunned, also surprised by what he said.

His expression quickly darkened, and he immediately said, "Let's go to Zhongping Palace first."

Once back in the Zhongping Hall, which represents the power center of the Zhou family, Zhou Chun asked Zhou Jiarui for a detailed understanding of the situation.

It turned out that when Zhou Zhengbo was carrying out the mission of capturing bandits and cultivators arranged by Zhou Chun in Lingzhou, he was unfortunately discovered by the Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Jiang family and was attacked by them.

During the battle, Zhou Zhengbo realized that he was no match for the Jiang family cultivator, so he tried to scare him off by using the reputation of the Zhou family.

Unexpectedly, after hearing him introduce himself, the Jiang family cultivator became even more ruthless, determined to kill him.

Finally, Zhou Zhengbo had no choice but to use a secret technique to unleash his potential, forcibly increasing his magical power and using two second-tier mid-grade magic talismans bestowed upon him by the family's Supreme Elder after he successfully established his foundation.

Despite his desperate efforts, Zhou Zhengbo finally managed to escape into the market town of Lingzhou and informed the cultivators at the Zhou family's intelligence station.

When this intelligence was transmitted back to the Zhou family's mountain gate in Jiufengling via eagle message, Zhou Zhengqing, who received the intelligence, knew that it was of great importance and hurriedly reported it to Zhou Jiarui.

Then Zhou Jiarui rushed over to find Zhou Chun.

After explaining the situation to Zhou Chun in detail, Zhou Jiarui said in a low voice with a worried expression, "Lingzhou is now the territory of the Tianjing Sect, and the Jiang family has already submitted to the Tianjing Sect. Even if Zheng Bai has escaped into the market, I'm afraid he may not be safe!"

"I understand the situation. I'll go see the Supreme Elder right away."

Zhou Chun nodded, and then immediately set off to the mountaintop cave to pay his respects to Zhou Mingde.

Once inside the cave, Zhou Chun repeated what Zhou Jiarui had said, then added, "The Jiang family needs to be taught a lesson, otherwise outsiders will think my Zhou family is just a paper tiger, all show and no substance!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Mingde, whose face was already contorted with anger, immediately nodded and hissed, "Zhengchun, you're right. The Jiang family keeps provoking our Zhou family. If we don't teach them a lesson, wouldn't everyone dare to follow suit?"

At this point, he frowned slightly and said, "However, the Jiang family has now pledged allegiance to the Heavenly Mirror Sect. If we were to venture deep into their territory to deal with them, I'm afraid the Heavenly Mirror Sect might not just stand by and watch!"

Zhou Chun was well aware of this, and upon hearing this, he quickly replied, "Therefore, this junior plans to visit Qinglian Temple to personally pay my respects to Abbot Qingweizi and gauge their attitude!"

"That's good. I'll have Daoyi go and call Daoquan over. No matter what Qinglian Temple's attitude is, we must rescue him!"

Zhou Mingde nodded slightly and also shared his opinion.

After the agreement was reached, Zhou Chun immediately set off for the Qinglian Temple in Lianzhou.

This was Zhou Chun's first visit to the Qinglian Temple gate since he opened his Purple Mansion.

This time, after he arrived at the gate of Qinglian Temple as a cultivator in the Purple Mansion stage, he only stated that he wanted to pay his respects to Qingweizi, the abbot of Qinglian Temple. The Qinglian Temple disciple in charge of receiving him immediately arranged for someone to go and report.

While waiting, Zhou Chun looked at the continuous peaks inside the gate of Qinglian Temple and couldn't help but think of the old friend he hadn't seen in a long time.

Since he and his Daoist partner Su Yuzhen held a grand dual cultivation celebration, he has never seen Liu Shiyun again.

The two didn't even exchange another letter.

It wasn't that Zhou Chun was so heartless, but rather that the letters he sent had received no reply.

After this happened several times, he stopped sending messages.

"With her talent and aptitude, plus Senior Mingxia's guidance, she should be at least at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage by now!"

Zhou Chun pondered this in his heart, but ultimately decided against meeting the other party.

It wasn't that he was afraid his Daoist partner, Su Yuzhen, would be jealous if she found out about this, but rather that he didn't want to cause Liu Shiyun any more trouble because of his impudence.

On the other hand, Qingweizi still gave Zhou Chun face, or rather, he knew that unless something important happened, Zhou Chun, the head of the Zhou family, would not have traveled a long distance to pay his respects.

Therefore, Zhou Chun only waited for less than three hours before receiving the notice that he could enter the mountain to pay his respects.

After receiving permission, he quickly entered the Qinglian Temple's mountain gate and, guided by a Foundation Establishment cultivator, flew all the way to the location of the sect leader's main hall.

Not long after, Zhou Chun met Qing Weizi, the head of Qinglian Temple, again after many years.

Whether it was just his imagination or not, when Zhou Chun saw Qing Weizi again, even though Qing Weizi's appearance hadn't changed at all, she seemed to have aged a lot.

It seems that the head of Qinglian Temple has been under a lot of pressure these past few years!

Zhou Chun sighed inwardly, then immediately bowed and said, "This junior pays respects to the Abbot. I apologize for my presumptuous visit."

(End of this chapter)