Beast Taming Immortal Clan

Chapter 509 Thirty Foundation Establishment Cultivators [Please Subscribe]

The day after Zhou Mingde emerged from seclusion, the invitations to the Golden Core Ceremony, which had already been prepared, were filled with dates and sent to various forces and individuals.

Because preparations had been underway for several years, this Golden Elixir Ceremony was scheduled for three months after he emerged from seclusion.

Just one month after he emerged from seclusion, most of the Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Zhou family gathered on Tu Yun Ridge to attend and participate in the family conference.

At this time, the Zhou family already had as many as twenty-six Foundation Establishment stage cultivators!

The oldest Foundation Establishment cultivator among them is Zhou Zhengyuan, who is over 230 years old and could pass away at any time, so he did not participate in today's family meeting.

The youngest Foundation Establishment cultivator is named Zhou Simu, and he is twenty-seven years old this year.

At only twenty-seven years old, and not possessing the qualities of a top-grade spiritual root cultivator, Zhou Simu was naturally a standard second-generation immortal.

His father, Zhou Xintie, was the most skilled cultivator in the Zhou family at refining artifacts. He had already reached the late stage of Foundation Establishment and had previously exchanged his personal battle merits for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

He did not disappoint his father's expectations, and successfully established his foundation on his first attempt, becoming the youngest foundation-establishing cultivator in the Zhou family.

At his age, and with the support of his parents, as long as he doesn't die prematurely, he will definitely have at least one chance to break through to the Purple Mansion realm in the future!

This is not an isolated incident; there will be more in the future.

Zhou Chun himself didn't have any aversion to this kind of thing.

Because wherever there are people, this kind of thing is inevitable.

What he could do was to provide decent cultivation conditions for other ordinary clansmen as much as possible, so that they wouldn't fall too far behind others in the initial stages.

Whether these ordinary clansmen can fight their way up depends entirely on their own luck!

In the cultivation world, as long as one passes the spiritual root test, a true genius cannot be buried.

At this moment, Zhou Chun and Zhou Mingde sat at the head of the table, their gazes sweeping over the Zhou family's Purple Mansion cultivators and Foundation Establishment cultivators gathered below. Their feelings were quite complex, and they were filled with emotion.

To this day, the Zhou family has three Golden Core stage cultivators: Zhou Chun, Zhou Mingde, and Lin Hongyu.

The six cultivators at the Purple Mansion stage are Zhou Daoyi, Zhou Daoquan, Lin Wan'er, Zhou Zhengyong, Zhou Xinlan, and Xu Fu.

There are as many as twenty-six Foundation Establishment cultivators: Zhou Zhengyuan, Zhou Zhengqing, Zhou Xindie, Zhou Xintie, Zhou Xinyan, Zhou Xinyi, Zhou Xinheng, Zhou Xintong, Zhou Xinchen, Zhou Sizhen, Zhou Siyu, Zhou Simiao, Zhou Sijun, Zhou Sihan, Zhou Xinfu, Zhou Siming, Zhou Sipu, Zhou Yuanyuan, Zhou Yuanquan, Zhou Yuanbin, Zhou Yuanliang, Zhou Yuanxia, ​​Zhou Yuanping, Zhou Yuansheng, Zhou Yuanlian, and Zhou Simu.

In addition, there are four Foundation Establishment cultivators—Zhang Liang, Liu Heng, Li Qi, and Lin Rongsheng—who are controlled and driven by the Zhou family.

Zhang Liang and Lin Rongsheng were both maternal relatives of the Zhou family after they had reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

Li Qi, like Xu Fu and Liu Heng, earned the Foundation Establishment Fruit by performing meritorious service as a member of the Zhou family's elite troops in the wilderness, and successfully established his foundation.

There are sixteen Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Zhou family present today; the other ten were unable to attend for various reasons.

After carefully observing and sizing up the group of Zhou family elites sitting at the lower level, Zhou Chun, the clan leader, finally spoke.

"The reason why I have gathered you all here today has already been notified in advance, and you are all prepared, so I will not go into details."

"I hereby declare the current family assembly officially open!"

At this point, Zhou Chun glanced at Zhou Xinyi and slowly said, "Xinyi, why don't you report on the current situation of the family?"

"Yes, junior obeys."

Zhou Xinyi respectfully responded, then stood up and began to report on the current personnel and resources of the Zhou family, holding the documents in his hands.

"The Zhou family currently has three publicly known sacred mountains and blessed lands: Tuyun Ridge, Jiufeng Ridge, and Zhuye Island. Among them, Zhuye Island is a family enclave."

"Currently, the family has a total of 576 members who are cultivators within the family and 148 members who are cultivators from the maternal relatives. Among them, 26 are Foundation Establishment cultivators within the family and 2 are Foundation Establishment cultivators from the maternal relatives."

"At the same time, the family currently has a total of twenty-one second-tier demonic beasts registered."

"Currently, the family keeps thirteen rare and precious beast species: Horned Winged Serpent, Cloud-Stepping Dragon Steed, Crimson Flame Vajra Monkey, Crimson Flame Dragon Python, Wind Shadow Dragon Serpent, Unicorn Dragon Lizard, Crimson-Eyed Dragon Vulture, Dragon Claw Giant Lizard, Dragon Scale Horse, Green-Faced Ghost Ape, Iron Feather Eagle, Fragrant Spirit Musk Deer, and Five-Colored Pheasant!"

"Currently, the family raises eight rare demonic insects: Xuanjia Golden Feather, Flying Fire Scorpion, Blue Moon Butterfly, Corpse Moth, Jade Spirit Bee, Golden-Winged Xuan Bee, Azure Centipede, and Silver Silkworm."

"Currently, the family has cultivated 238 mu of medicinal fields, including 1,586 medicinal plants that are over 200 years old and 1,758 medicinal plants that are over 100 years old."

"Currently, the family cultivates eleven kinds of rare and precious trees, including Zhuyuan fruit tree, purple mulberry tree, snow jade pear, purple cloud apricot, jujube, and green tea tree."

"In addition, the family can now produce its own second-tier magic talismans, its own pills for Foundation Establishment cultivators, its own second-tier mid-grade magic artifacts, and its own high-grade formations."

……

Zhou Xinyi gave a very detailed report, and Zhou Chun and the others listened attentively.

The Zhou family of today is not the Zhou family of the past.

When the Zhou family first arrived at Jiufeng Ridge, they were extremely poor. Most cultivators who had been in the family for a few years knew exactly what kind of family they were.

However, the Zhou family now not only has a large number of members, but also enormous assets, and possesses countless spiritual objects.

Without looking at the statistics, even Zhou Xinyi, a cultivator who had long served as the acting clan leader, could not possibly memorize all of them.

Moreover, many data are updated every year, so even if he remembers the old data, it is difficult to match it with the latest data.

These figures alone demonstrate just how well the Zhou family has developed over the years.

Zhou Chunke remembered that when he first arrived at Jiufeng Ridge, his family didn't have a single rare spirit beast to boast about.

The then clan chief, Zhou Daoyi, gave him a rock turtle egg, which made him beam with joy.

At that time, the family's medicinal herb fields had not yet been developed. After returning to the family, he personally participated in the development and planting of the medicinal herb fields.

However, after nearly two hundred years of development, the Zhou family now possesses as many as thirteen rare monster species. While it's impossible to say that every member of the family can have one of these rare monsters, ensuring that the outstanding members all have one is not a problem.

It should be understood that what can be called a population means that they have achieved the ability to reproduce and thrive within the Zhou family.

In fact, the Zhou family also has many other rare and precious monsters that cannot form a population.

As for those spiritual herbs, the seeds of spiritual herbs that Zhou Chun and his two generations personally sowed back then have all become century-old spiritual herbs that have not yet been harvested.

If these medicinal herbs remain undisturbed, they can grow into medicinal herbs over five hundred years old in another two or three hundred years.

By then, they will become a very valuable asset to the Zhou family!

The cultivators present all knew that the data Zhou Xinyi reported today was actually withheld and did not represent the full picture of the Zhou family.

There is no publicly available data on the mines and blessed lands in the wilderness, or the servant cultivators trained by the Zhou family there.

These are all hidden forces within the Zhou family, known and controlled only by the family's true upper echelons.

At this moment, the many Zhou family cultivators who had listened to Zhou Xinyi's report were all extremely unsettled.

Cultivators like Zhou Mingde and Zhou Chun, who personally experienced the entire process from nothing to something, felt a surge of gratifying and satisfying pride.

The Zhou family's current success is the result of their hard work and dedication, built up bit by bit from scratch.

They are like parents raising children, watching their children grow up day by day and eventually become successful people!

The satisfaction and pride they felt from this achievement were far greater than if they had obtained a powerful magic weapon or some precious spiritual object.

Unable to contain themselves, Zhou Mingde, Zhou Chun, and the others all wore smiles, genuinely happy for the Zhou family's current achievements.

Although the younger generation of Zhou family Foundation Establishment cultivators did not fully experience the creation process of the Zhou family from scratch, they witnessed and participated in the great revival of the Zhou family and had a sense of participation.

Now that they have discovered how wealthy the Zhou family has become and how prosperous their family business is, they are just as excited and proud as they are, filled with a sense of honor.

They were proud to be cultivators of the Zhou family!

Although cultivators are generally selfish, humans are emotional beings after all. Many times, for the sake of certain emotions, even those Nascent Soul stage cultivators who have lived for thousands of years will risk their lives to protect something.

Just like the already fallen Qingxiao Zhenren, in order to protect the lineage of Qinglian Temple, he could have lived for many more years, but he chose to self-destruct his nascent soul to destroy the spatial teleportation channel.

On the Zhou family's side, when Zhou family cultivators are truly proud of their surname and bloodline, then when the family encounters danger and needs them, the vast majority of them are willing to fight to the death to protect their inner pride!

Just like the Jiang family, a cultivation family that was destroyed by the Zhou family, when they faced the crisis of their family's destruction, there were also family members who were loyal to the family and dared to fight against powerful enemies!

Therefore, when Zhou Chun saw the gleam in the eyes and the expressions on the faces of the younger generation below, he couldn't help but nod repeatedly, feeling even more satisfied and happy.

People's hearts can be won over!

He sighed inwardly, his expression gradually calming down as he spoke in a composed tone: "After Xin Yi's report, I believe everyone has a general idea of ​​the current situation of the family."

"It's no exaggeration to say that my Zhou family can now firmly hold its position as a Golden Core cultivation family based solely on this foundation!"

"These are the fruits of generations of our family's hard work and accumulation, a precious legacy that can be passed down to future generations!"

At this point, Zhou Chun paused slightly before continuing, "However, you should all know that if we sit idly by and live off our past achievements, even mountains of gold and silver will eventually be exhausted. If we become complacent with our past accomplishments, lose our ambition, and are satisfied with the status quo, then our current wealth and prosperity will be like fleeting clouds, disappearing in no time!"

Upon hearing his words, the Zhou family cultivators sitting below were all startled, but quickly calmed down.

Then Zhou Chun continued, "The family's current wealth is indeed quite substantial, but as you all know, the number of cultivators in the family has also increased many times over, and there has been a significant increase in the number of mid-to-high-level cultivators compared to before."

"Supporting so many family cultivators and providing them with the best possible training requires a considerable amount of money and resources!"

"In particular, as you all know, prices in the entire Tianling region are abnormal right now, and many of our family businesses have been affected, resulting in a sharp decline in income."

"By now, the family's annual expenses exceed their income, leading to a situation where income cannot cover expenses!"

At this point, Zhou Chun's tone became much heavier.

The smiles on the faces of everyone inside the hall had completely vanished.

Feelings can't put food on the table; this is a simple and easy-to-understand truth.

The youngest Zhou family cultivator present here today is twenty-seven years old; no one is unaware of this.

They're praising the Zhou family to the skies now, but if they can't even provide welfare and offerings to their clansmen, how can they expect people to truly love and be loyal to the family?

No matter how loudly you shout slogans, nothing beats actually giving out money!

Therefore, when everyone learned that the Zhou family's finances were now running into deficits, they realized the seriousness of the problem.

Zhou Chun looked at everyone and said in a deep voice, "I have already informed you all, asking you to think about how to generate income for the family. I wonder if any of you have come up with any good ideas?"

"If you have any ideas, please feel free to speak them out. Whether they are feasible or not, they can provide me and others with some reference!"

After hearing his words, the room fell into a brief silence.

Then Zhou Xinlan spoke up, saying, "In my opinion, the clan currently has a large number of members, but the amount of spiritual land it occupies is relatively small. If possible, we should open up new spiritual land to distribute the clan members, and at the same time, we can generate income by renting out the cultivation grounds and planting spiritual herbs in the new spiritual land!"

Upon hearing this, many Zhou family cultivators nodded in agreement, clearly showing their strong agreement.

Zhou Xinyi quickly shook his head and said, "Opening up new spiritual lands is certainly a good thing, but it's impossible for these new spiritual lands to provide income for the family and alleviate their immediate crisis!"

He then explained, "The Jing Kingdom and even the surrounding countries have lost a large number of cultivators due to the war. The problem with each stronghold is that there are no people coming to cultivate, not that there are no available spaces!"

After hearing his explanation, Zhou Xinlan fell silent, which was considered an admission of his statement.

But with Zhou Xinlan setting the precedent, the others had nothing to worry about.

Zhou Xinyan, one of the Foundation Establishment cultivators, quickly spoke up, "How about increasing the delivery fees for 'Zhou Tong Tianxia' Trading Company? The current fees are so low; I think raising them by one-fifth or even one-third should be feasible. We could even try expanding our delivery business to other countries!"

He seemed to have done some research, and his tone was quite firm and confident.

Zhou Xinyi nodded slightly and said, "This method is not impossible. Many things are going up in price now, and express delivery is a business that our family monopolizes. Even if some people are dissatisfied with a reasonable price increase, it shouldn't cause any trouble."

He had actually thought of this method before and even submitted it to Zhou Chun for approval.

However, Zhou Chun did not rush to make a decision at the time, but instead suggested waiting until after the family meeting.

He was well aware of Zhou Chun's intentions in doing so.

The goal is simply to involve more senior family members in advising on matters concerning the family, so as to prevent a situation where one person holds absolute power within the family.

Although he didn't understand the meaning behind Zhou Chun's actions, as a junior and subordinate, he could only watch quietly.

So instead of trying to claim credit, he offered some support for Zhou Xinyan's suggestions.

Sure enough, after seeing that Zhou Xinyi thought there was no problem, most of the others nodded in agreement with Zhou Xinyan's suggestion.

This brought a smile to Zhou Xinyan's face, and a sense of satisfaction from being recognized welled up in her heart.

This also inspired other Zhou family cultivators to express their opinions, and regardless of whether their suggestions would be accepted, they all put forward their own suggestions and views.

This is the effect Zhou Chun wanted.

He didn't intend to hold any democratic symposiums or democratic voting meetings; he simply wanted to give these elite clansmen, who usually focused on cultivation, more exposure to clan management affairs and to give them a sense of participation.

People like Zhou Mingde might not understand the significance of this sense of participation, but Zhou Chun knew how important it was.

When clan members participate in the formulation of clan rules and the decision-making of important clan matters, even if it is just participation, it will make them wholeheartedly support the clan.

Furthermore, the people responsible for managing family affairs in the future will have to be selected from these people. Letting them participate more in major family decision-making now will allow us to better assess their abilities.

Why not do something that kills two birds with one stone?

At this point, with everyone pooling their wisdom and efforts, and with Zhou Chun and Zhou Xinyi offering some good suggestions, they came up with quite a few ways to increase revenue and reduce expenditure.

After discussing this for a while, Zhou Chun waved his hand and said, "Alright, let's stop discussing how to generate revenue and reduce expenses for the family. Next, let's talk about revising the family rules."

"Many of the family's current rules were established out of necessity when the family was weak and needed to protect itself. They are no longer suitable for the family's current development and only severely restrict the lives and cultivation of its members, causing resentment among them!"

"Therefore, revising the family rules is an urgent matter that cannot be delayed; the sooner it is done, the better!"

Upon hearing his words, the Zhou family cultivators in the hall immediately became serious.

In the Zhou family, clan rules are the law, so amending clan rules is like amending the law, and everyone understands the importance of it.

When it comes to such an important matter, no amount of caution is too much!

But just as everyone was holding their breath, preparing to hear Zhou Chun explain how the clan rules should be revised, he suddenly changed the subject and said, "Before we talk about revising the clan rules, I have also discussed with the Supreme Elder the matter of re-ranking the clan cultivators within the clan. We have tentatively finalized a plan, and you can all see if you agree to it."

Upon hearing this, many of the Foundation Establishment cultivators changed their expressions slightly, as if they had realized something.

Meanwhile, cultivators at the Purple Mansion stage, such as Zhou Daoquan and Zhou Zhengyong, remained calm and composed, showing no signs of distress.

Zhou Chun acted as if he hadn't noticed the change in the expressions of the people below him.

He continued, "In the past, the only cultivator with the highest cultivation level in the family was the Supreme Elder Zhou Mingde. That's why we established the rule that cultivators in the Purple Mansion stage are Supreme Elders and cultivators in the Foundation Establishment stage are family elders."

"But now the family has three Golden Core cultivators, six Purple Mansion cultivators, and as many as twenty or thirty Foundation Establishment cultivators. The old rules are clearly no longer valid and need to be reformed!"

"Therefore, after discussions between myself and the Supreme Elder Zhou Mingde, it has been decided that the standard for Supreme Elders will be raised to the Golden Core stage, and the standard for Elders will be raised to the Purple Mansion stage. Foundation Establishment stage members will be changed to core members. Late Qi Refining cultivators or members with excellent spiritual roots and exceptional talent in their skills may be promoted to elite members at the discretion of the authorities. All other members will remain ordinary members!"

At this point, Zhou Chun ignored the rapidly changing expressions of the Foundation Establishment cultivators and continued, "Of course, although Foundation Establishment clan members no longer hold the status of elders, their treatment naturally cannot be entirely the same as that of the core clan members. My suggestion is to reduce it by one-quarter from the original amount!"

Upon hearing that their treatment would only be reduced by a quarter, the Foundation Establishment cultivators' expressions improved somewhat, but they still wore long faces.

After all, Zhou Chun's plan dealt them a heavy blow, both in terms of appearance and substance.

They were so enthusiastically discussing how to increase their income and earn spirit coins, but they probably never imagined that the first blow of cost-cutting would befall them!

But in reality, any knowledgeable Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Zhou family knew that this blow was bound to come sooner or later!

After all, no Golden Core family would have dozens of "elders"!

However, the reduction of their welfare and sustenance was something that some of them had not anticipated.

From Zhou Chun's perspective, most of these Foundation Establishment cultivators from these families succeeded in their foundation establishment thanks to their families' influence.

If it weren't for the family providing them with Foundation Establishment Pills and Foundation Establishment Fruits relatively easily through various means, many of them would never have been able to successfully establish their foundation.

Even their spirit pets' ability to advance to the second tier was achieved through obtaining the relevant spirit items from their family in a relatively easy manner.

Since their foundation-building process benefited so much from the family's influence, they should now reduce some of their own welfare offerings in order to alleviate the family's financial pressure.

Moreover, even after reductions, their welfare and provisions will not be much worse than those of Foundation Establishment cultivators from other Golden Core families.

With their Foundation Establishment stage cultivation and the backing of the Zhou family, they could easily earn enough in other ways to cover the reduced benefits and offerings, provided they put in a little effort.

"This is my initial plan. If you find anything wrong with it, you can raise it now."

After saying this, Zhou Chun glanced calmly at everyone in the hall and said nothing more.

(End of this chapter)