Beast Taming Immortal Clan

After experiencing the power of the supernatural abilities, Zhou Chun felt at ease recuperating at the Su family's residence.

During this time, he also visited the Moon Wheel Sect's mountain gate to pay his respects to the sect leader, Master Baiyue, and subtly inquired about the other party's opinion on Daoist Qingchen's Nascent Soul attainment.

Unfortunately, Master Baiyue was extremely tight-lipped, and Zhou Chun couldn't get any useful information out of him.

So all he could do was calm down, recover from his injury, and wait for the results.

During his recovery, in addition to nurturing and cultivating his magical treasures, Zhou Chun also began to study the cultivation methods of several supernatural arts.

After he completed the "reforging of the cauldron", he could also cultivate some of the powerful supernatural abilities recorded in the four outer chapters of the "Golden Cauldron Mystic Art".

For example, the "Golden Escape Technique" supernatural power that he had always longed for contained the method of cultivation.

There is also a supernatural power called "Falling Treasure Golden Light". After successful cultivation, it can knock down magical treasures made of spiritual gold, causing their owners to temporarily lose contact with the treasures. This is something that makes him very excited and envious.

It even records the famous supernatural power of "the art of turning stone into gold". When cultivated to a high level, it can even turn the enemy's supernatural powers into gold!

However, the more powerful these supernatural abilities are, the more difficult they are to cultivate.

After Zhou Chun's cultivation reached the Golden Core stage, his progress in comprehending and cultivating those secret techniques and supernatural abilities was very rapid, and he easily gained something from them.

However, even after half a year of painstaking study of the three supernatural powers mentioned above, he gained almost nothing.

The only small gain was that while comprehending the "Golden Escape Technique," I gained a deeper understanding of the escape technique I had previously cultivated, "Flowing Light Golden Rainbow," and found a direction to further refine it.

According to Zhou Chun's estimation, this "Flowing Light Golden Rainbow" escape technique should be a secret technique derived from the "Golden Escape Technique" supernatural power.

The secret technique he cultivated, the "Golden Lock of Unity," also seems to have some connection with the "Golden Light of Falling Treasures" supernatural power.

Zhou Chun also asked the Su family patriarch and Su Yuzhen about their cultivation of supernatural abilities such as "Water Escape Technique".

The answer he received offered him some comfort.

Even a seasoned Golden Core cultivator like the Su family patriarch, who has been in the Core Formation stage for hundreds of years, has successfully mastered the "Water Escape Technique," and his speed in water is no less than that of an ordinary third-tier high-grade water demon.

But this is the result of his persistent cultivation over hundreds of years!

Su Yuzhen has only obtained a superficial understanding so far, and the effect of the "Water Escape Technique" is only equivalent to that of a regular second-tier water demon.

Even the relatively simple "Water Escape Technique" was so difficult for these two Golden Core cultivators to cultivate, so it's quite normal that Zhou Chun's progress in cultivating the much more difficult "Gold Escape Technique" was also not going smoothly.

In fact, most supernatural abilities like the Five Elements Escape Technique are easy to learn but difficult to master.

If you only learn the basics, such as how to escape into the ground, into the water, or by using wood to escape, it's not particularly difficult. As long as a Foundation Establishment cultivator obtains the method, they can do it after a period of diligent study and practice.

However, mastering this skill is extremely difficult!

Taking the "Golden Escape Technique" as an example, the supernatural cultivation method that Zhou Chun obtained records that only when one cultivates this technique to the point of being able to escape a thousand miles at a time can it be considered a true minor success.

If one can cultivate this supernatural ability to a minor level, even if one is pursued by a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, there will be a considerable chance of escaping.

In reality, even for a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, it is not easy to cultivate this "Golden Escape Technique" to a minor level of mastery.

If one can cultivate the "Golden Escape Technique" to the highest level, then as long as one doesn't have no chance to use the escape technique, or encounter a powerful enemy who has also cultivated a powerful escape technique, or accidentally enter a region that restricts the use of escape techniques, then one can go anywhere in this vast world!

These supernatural abilities may seem ordinary, but they actually involve the laws of the Great Dao, and their upper limit is virtually infinite!

Many cultivators dedicate their entire lives to mastering one or two supernatural abilities, hoping to achieve something great in them.

Those cultivators who achieved something in a certain supernatural power with the cultivation of the Golden Core stage were all famous figures in their country, and were even respectfully called "Little True Persons". Even Nascent Soul stage True Persons had to give them some face!

In fact, it is precisely because these supernatural powers are too difficult to cultivate that various secret techniques exist in the cultivation world.

Because compared to these supernatural powers that directly point to the Great Dao, secret techniques can often be quickly mastered by consuming certain spiritual objects, achieving effects similar to these supernatural powers.

Despite the difficulty of cultivating supernatural powers, Zhou Chun did not give up.

He now spends eight hours meditating and cultivating every day. He usually uses the remaining four hours to comprehend the "Golden Escape Technique" and cultivate the secret technique of "Beast Spirit Fusion Technique". He has temporarily put aside the other secret techniques.

This is the power of Golden Core cultivators. For them, sleeping only once a month or even every few months is sufficient, or they can even go without sleeping at all.

If they want to restore their energy through sleep, they can sleep for several days or even several months.

In short, once cultivators reach the Golden Core stage, they become completely different from mortals physiologically.

The recuperation period passed quickly, and more than a year went by in the blink of an eye.

With the help of healing pills and dual cultivation, Zhou Chun recovered 50-60% of his previously depleted vital energy in just one year, which was even better than expected.

At this time, Lin Hongyu and her husband also returned to the Zhou family, so Zhou Chun went back to his family home.

"Zhengchun, you've come back just in time. I heard you lost a lot of vital energy on this trip. Fortunately, we obtained some spiritual peaches that greatly replenish vital energy during our travels. Take two back and consume them."

Upon seeing Zhou Chun return from Tuyun Ridge, Lin Hongyu and Zhou Daoyi immediately shared with him the gains they had made on their trip.

Over the past decade, the couple has traveled to more than a dozen countries, covering millions of miles, and each has gained a great deal.

At this moment, Zhou Daoyi took out the spirit peach to replenish Zhou Chun's vital energy. It was a harvest they had obtained during their travels in a certain country, which came from a third-tier spirit peach tree.

If a cultivator at the Purple Mansion stage were to consume one of these spiritual peaches, it would be equivalent to one or two years of cultivation.

Even for a Golden Core cultivator like Zhou Chun, it can help restore his life essence.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Chun accepted the gift without any hesitation, and said with a smile, "It is a gift from an elder, and I dare not refuse it. Then this junior will not stand on ceremony."

"Haha, I love your personality, Zhengchun, you're so sensible!"

Zhou Daoyi smiled happily, actually quite pleased with Zhou Chun's impolite approach.

Since Zhou Chun opened his Purple Mansion, he has been the one delivering things to these elders.

Although it is not inappropriate for elders to accept gifts from younger people, it always makes people feel a little guilty for not reciprocating.

Therefore, Zhou Daoyi was very happy to be able to give Zhou Chun a gift that would be helpful to him.

Through conversations with the two, Zhou Chun learned that their travels to various countries over the years had mainly focused on broadening their horizons. Occasionally, they would participate in events such as auctions and underground treasure exchanges, or exchange their experiences and cultivation insights with local cultivators.

After this journey, neither of them had changed much in terms of cultivation level, but their vision and mental state had indeed improved considerably, and their relationship had also deepened.

Now that Zhou Daoyi has returned, he is also preparing to form his core.

Zhou Chun, of course, fully supported this.

Zhou Daoyi was the first benefactor in his life, an elder who had helped and cared for him all the way. He sincerely hoped that this elder could form a golden elixir and accompany him for hundreds of years.

It just so happens that several decades have passed since the Zhou family exchanged the Core Formation spiritual items, and logically, one of those three Core Formation spiritual items should be given to the Zhou family first.

As far as he knew, Lin Hongyu had previously prepared a Core Formation artifact for Zhou Daoyi.

Therefore, when Zhou Daoyi is about to form his core, gathering a set of spiritual items to aid in the process should not be a problem.

After this exchange, Zhou Chun returned to his cave and consumed the spirit peaches given to him by Zhou Daoyi and his wife.

These peaches look quite tempting, bright red, and each one is as big as two or three fists.

When you touch it, it seems like a crisp peach, but when Zhou Chun bites through the skin, the flesh inside instantly softens into juice, which he sucks up in one gulp, and his mouth is filled with the sweet aroma of peach.

The juice inhaled quickly transformed into a pure source of vital energy.

Zhou Chun threw away the fruit peel in his hand and immediately sat down to meditate and cultivate his internal energy.

Two months later, with the help of two spirit peaches, Zhou Chun successfully restored his depleted vital energy to its full potential and returned to normal.

At this moment, a piece of news arrived, which made several high-ranking members of the Zhou family nervous.

"Qinglian Temple suddenly activated its protective array, prohibiting everyone from sending messages out or entering or leaving? Is this the final moment?"

Inside the cave, Zhou Chun, Zhou Mingde, and other high-ranking family members gathered together because of this news.

Everyone present knew that if a Nascent Soul cultivator really reappeared at Qinglian Temple, the Zhou family's future would definitely not be easy. At the very least, their Jiufengling Mountain Gate, located in Lanzhou, would likely be taken away!

Even if Daoist Qingchen fails to achieve Nascent Soul, it's hard to say whether Qinglian Temple will launch an attack on the Zhou family.

After all, two tigers cannot share one mountain. Without a Nascent Soul cultivator to oversee things, the Zhou family, with three Golden Core cultivators, would definitely be a potential threat to the Qinglian Temple.

It should be noted that among the Golden Core stage cultivators in Qinglian Temple, there are several whose lifespans have exceeded eight hundred years, and they are also the group with the highest cultivation levels in Qinglian Temple.

If we don't eliminate the forces that threaten the sect while these people are still around, we'll be in trouble.

Once all these people pass away, the number of Golden Core cultivators in Qinglian Temple will drop to seven or eight, and there won't be a single late-stage Golden Core cultivator among them!

At that time, the Zhou family, with three Golden Core cultivators and a fourth-order Thunder Dragon, will have the ability to directly challenge the Azure Lotus Temple.

As for the other families that have submitted to Qinglian Temple, they will likely have their own agendas and no longer blindly follow Qinglian Temple.

Therefore, Qinglian Temple will definitely take action, and it must take action!

Qingweizi and the other Golden Core cultivators of Qinglian Temple were not all fools, lacking tolerance, or intolerant of the Zhou family.

Rather, they were afraid to gamble, afraid to risk the future of their sect on the Zhou family's character and morality.

If they do nothing in the face of the rising power of the Zhou family and allow the Zhou family to grow stronger, then the Zhou family, once it becomes powerful, will inevitably seek more land resources, just like the Heavenly Mirror Master did back then.

Resources are limited; if the Zhou family takes more, the Qinglian Temple will take less.

Therefore, when she discovered that the Zhou family's rise was too rapid and its future potential was too great, Qingweizi, who had previously treated the Zhou family and Zhou Chun fairly well, immediately decided to suppress the Zhou family and not allow them to continue to rise and become too powerful.

With the example of Master Tianjing before us, how big must Qingweizi and those Golden Core cultivators of Qinglian Temple be to continue to tolerate and watch the Zhou family grow stronger without doing anything!

That's often how it is; where you stand determines where you think, and self-interest trumps everything.

Those who think they have a clearer perspective from the sidelines often lose their clarity when they are actually in the thick of it.

At this point, after some discussion, Zhou Chun decided to go to the Qinglian Mountain Range himself, even if it was just to take a look outside the Qinglian Temple gate.

If you say you'll do it, then do it.

Not long after Zhou Chun made his decision, he arrived outside the gate of Qinglian Temple.

Of course, he wasn't so arrogant as to openly and directly monitor the sect's gate. Instead, he concealed his aura and hid dozens of miles away from the edge of the Qinglian Temple's gate formation, observing secretly.

Zhou Chun guessed that he wasn't the only one staking out outside the Qinglian Temple gate; the Moon Wheel Sect, the Flame Sun Sect, and even the Tianjing Manor must also have people staking out outside.

However, he had no intention of searching for those people. He simply kept an eye on the movements at the gate of Qinglian Temple while pondering the supernatural power of "Golden Escape Technique".

After about three months of surveillance, the sky above the Qinglian Temple suddenly changed, with large patches of dark clouds appearing out of nowhere, and streaks of blue and white lightning moving erratically within them.

Although the streaks of blue-white lightning had not yet struck, Zhou Chun, who was hundreds of miles away, already felt a pressure that made his heart tremble.

His expression, like the color of the sky, changed drastically in an instant.

"The Nascent Soul Tribulation! This must be the legendary Nascent Soul 'Minor Heavenly Tribulation'!"

He gasped in shock, his face paling, his eyes filled with astonishment.

When a cultivator in the Golden Core stage transforms their core and forms their nascent soul, they must undergo both a tribulation of lightning and a "tribulation of inner demons."

Because the power of the Nascent Soul Tribulation is much weaker than the Heavenly Tribulation that one undergoes when breaking through from the Nascent Soul stage to the Deity Transformation stage, it is also known by cultivators as the "Minor Heavenly Tribulation".

Although it was a "minor heavenly tribulation," the lightning tribulation's attack power was still at the Nascent Soul level. A Golden Core cultivator like Zhou Chun would undoubtedly die if he were hit by it!

The fact that it could trigger a tribulation clearly indicates that Daoist Qingchen had at least reached the stage of shattering the elixir and emerging from the nascent soul.

Next, as long as he can overcome the "Inner Demon Tribulation" and then the Nine Heavenly Thunder Tribulations, he will be able to truly achieve the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage and become a true Nascent Soul cultivator!

"It is said that the 'Inner Demon Tribulation' is the most difficult to overcome, and those who succeed often do so with a degree of luck. Even if a Nascent Soul cultivator were to undergo the 'Inner Demon Tribulation' again, they might not be able to overcome it. I wonder if this Daoist Qingchen's mental cultivation is up to par!"

As Zhou Chun's mind raced, he naturally hoped that Daoist Qingchen would fail in his tribulation and die under the "Heart Demon Tribulation".

Otherwise, if Qinglian Temple gains another Nascent Soul stage cultivator, especially one who has just successfully formed their Nascent Soul and has a lifespan of one or two thousand years, the Zhou family will be in real trouble!

Inside the Qinglian Temple, the previous abbot, Qingweizi, and the current abbot, Yiyang Daoist, along with other Golden Core cultivators, watched the cave dwelling beneath the thunderclouds from afar. Their faces were tense as they worried for Qingchen Daoist, secretly praying that he would succeed.

It has to succeed!!!

At this moment, all the Qinglian Temple disciples who sincerely hoped that a Nascent Soul stage cultivator would emerge to suppress the sect were secretly praying for Daoist Qingchen.

But it seems that fate played a huge joke on them.

After they had been waiting in seclusion for more than 20 years, and finally saw Daoist Qingchen's elixir shatter and his infant spirit emerge, taking a crucial step, what they were ultimately met with was a desperate roar!

"No, I'm not reconciled!!!"

With a desperate roar that echoed throughout the entire Qinglian Temple, a gray-black flame suddenly appeared on the newly formed nascent soul of Daoist Qingchen inside the cave. Then, the small nascent soul was burned by the gray-black flame and turned into a wisp of black smoke and dissipated.

Then his physical body turned to ashes as well!

Just as Qingchen Daoist's nascent soul and physical body were simultaneously reduced to ashes, the heavenly tribulation thunderclouds that had been gathering power in the sky suddenly dissipated as if they had appeared out of nowhere.

The bright sunlight shone into the Qinglian Temple gate again, but it couldn't bring Qingweizi, Yiyang Daoist, and the others any warmth.

At that moment, their hearts were filled with cold desolation, and they were all as if they had lost their parents, their eyes filled with loss and despair.

"How could this be! How could this be! Could it be... could it be that the heavens are against us...?"

A Golden Core cultivator from the Azure Lotus Sect muttered to himself, his body swaying, his eyes filled with despair.

It's no wonder they acted this way; the formation of Qingchen Daoist's Nascent Soul was no longer just a matter of his personal path of cultivation and life safety, but also of the fate of Qinglian Temple.

Moreover, the [Nascent Soul Pill] he used to form his Nascent Soul was something that True Person Qingxiao obtained by exchanging his own life, and it carried extraordinary significance.

Furthermore, if Daoist Qingchen hadn't even overcome the hurdle of shattering the nascent soul, it would have been disappointing, but not as despairing as it is now.

The key point is that he has already taken this crucial step, and it seems that he will succeed as long as he gets through this ordeal.

But who would have thought that just when he gave everyone hope, he would suddenly perish under the "inner demon tribulation"!

His demise plunged many of his fellow disciples in the Qinglian Sect, who had just begun to see a glimmer of hope, into an abyss of despair.

At the same time, while there was wailing and despair inside the Qinglian Temple, Zhou Chun, who was watching the changes in the thunderclouds in the sky with a tense expression, also quickly noticed that the thunderclouds were dissipating.

Seeing that the thunderclouds had dispersed before the tribulation lightning even struck, he quickly realized what had happened.

His expression immediately relaxed, and he exclaimed with a joyful smile, "Hahaha, it really failed! The 'Inner Demon Tribulation' truly lives up to its name!"

It was even more joyful than celebrating the Lunar New Year.

He certainly had reason to be happy.

The failure of Daoist Qingchen to form his Nascent Soul and his demise under the "Heart Demon Tribulation" not only proved that the decline of Qinglian Temple's fortune was inevitable, but also caused Qinglian Temple to lose a very powerful late-stage Core Formation cultivator.

In this way, even if Qinglian Temple were to attack the Zhou family later, the Zhou family would have one less powerful enemy to face!

Overjoyed, he couldn't help but take out a gourd of spirit wine from his storage bag, take a big gulp, and then leave the Azure Lotus Mountain Range with a smile on his face.

Now that the results are in, he and the Zhou family only need to wait for Qinglian Temple to make its move.

It is believed that after Daoist Qingchen failed to achieve Nascent Soul and died, the closure of Qinglian Temple could no longer be maintained, and further news from the mountain would soon come out.

When Zhou Chun returned to the Zhou family's Tuyunling, he immediately informed the family's higher-ups of the news that Daoist Qingchen had failed to achieve Nascent Soul.

Like him, the Zhou family's higher-ups were overjoyed upon hearing the news and immediately took out some spirit wine to celebrate.

A few days later, news of Qingchen Daoist's failure to achieve Nascent Soul and his demise under the "Heart Demon Tribulation" quickly spread throughout the Jing Kingdom.

For a time, this matter became the hottest topic in the cultivation world of Jingguo.

While the outside world was abuzz with discussions about Daoist Qingchen's failure to form his Nascent Soul, inside the Qinglian Temple, a group of Golden Core cultivators had recovered from their grief and despair and held a high-level meeting under the leadership of Abbot Yiyang.

Daoist Yi Yang first surveyed the assembled elders, then said in a deep voice, "Senior Brother Qingchen failed to form his Nascent Soul. In accordance with his dying wish, all his belongings will be donated to the sect, as his final act of service to the sect!"

"Next, the sect will erect a cenotaph for him and have all the cultivators in the sect mourn for him."

He paused slightly, then continued, "Of course, all of this was prepared beforehand. Now, let's talk about the main point of today's gathering!"

"Now that Senior Brother Qingchen has failed to form his Nascent Soul, the prestige of our Qinglian Sect will surely suffer another blow. Various pessimistic discussions have emerged within the sect, and people's hearts are unsettled. I'm sure all the elders have noticed and heard about this in recent days."

"If we don't do something to restore the sect's prestige and authority, then both the vassal forces outside and the disciples within the sect who are wavering will inevitably question and neglect the sect, directly affecting the sect's interests and reputation!"

"More importantly, during the more than twenty years that the sect has been in seclusion, a force has emerged outside that can seriously threaten the sect's interests. If they are given the opportunity to continue developing steadily, once the two-hundred-year safety protection period that Patriarch Qingxiao secured for the sect expires, the sect's status will inevitably be challenged by this force!"

As Yi Yang Daoist spoke, his gaze suddenly turned to Qing Wei Zi.

Then, in a calm tone, he asked, "Junior Brother Qingwei, you were the previous abbot of our sect. Zhou Zhengchun, the current patriarch of the Zhou family, was once your disciple. You should know him and his family best. Do you have anything to say now?"

Upon hearing this, Qingweizi immediately replied without hesitation, "If Senior Brother Abbot wants to know my opinion, then my opinion is that we must severely punish the Zhou family. Even if we cannot destroy the entire family, we must ensure that they can no longer pose a threat to my Qinglian Temple!"