Beast Taming Immortal Clan

Chapter 563 The Missing Zhou Yuanlian [Please Subscribe]

The reason Zhou Chun marked the second level of the "Han Guang Sword Manual" as allowing only those who had mastered the second level to view the whetstone was simply to encourage his clansmen and select those with sword cultivation talent.

In reality, the whetstone was used by Shen Jianxing, a late-stage Golden Core sword cultivator who had comprehended sword intent. It was meant to inspire cultivators in their comprehension of sword intent and was something that Zhou Zhiqian, who was only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, could not possibly access.

To rashly examine such treasures is not only useless, but also harmful.

Therefore, after explaining the situation to Zhou Zhigan, Zhou Chun said, "My words have always been true. If you are able to successfully open your Purple Mansion in the future, you can come and observe that whetstone!"

After speaking, he turned to the thoughtful junior and advised, "Furthermore, the most important aspect of the swordsmanship path lies in sparring and exchanging swordplay with other swordsmen, honing your sword energy and skills through combat. If you truly wish to continue on this path and achieve something, I'm afraid you'll need to embark on a journey of travel as soon as possible!"

"I understand, thank you for your guidance, Clan Chief. I will apply to the clan for permission to travel in a few days!"

Zhou Zhigan's expression shifted, and he immediately bowed to Zhou Chun to express his gratitude before turning to leave.

But at that moment, Zhou Chun spoke again.

"Wait a minute."

Zhou Chun first called out to Zhou Zhiqian, then patted his storage pouch at his waist and handed him several third-tier magic talismans. "Take these talismans. If you encounter danger on the road, don't be stingy with your treasures. As long as you can save your life, you can discard mere material possessions!"

Zhou Chun has always been generous in helping and supporting talented and ambitious younger generations.

Since Zhou Zhiqian is indeed talented in sword cultivation and dares to fight and hone himself, Zhou Chun will naturally bestow upon him items for self-defense and life protection, so as not to let him perish easily.

"Thank you for the treasure, Chieftain. I will certainly remember your teachings!"

A flash of joy appeared in Zhou Zhigan's eyes. He immediately accepted the talisman, bowed solemnly with gratitude on his face to express his thanks, and then walked out of the cave with firm steps.

After Zhou Zhigan left, Zhou Zhiying suddenly blinked and looked at Zhou Chun, saying, "Master, it seems you don't think highly of my cousin Zhigan?"

"Oh, why do you say that?"

Zhou Chun's expression shifted, and he looked at the disciple with some curiosity.

Zhou Zhiying immediately said with a serious expression, "It's very simple. If you really think highly of Brother Zhiqian, you wouldn't just bestow a magic talisman, you should bestow a precious talisman. I've heard that precious talismans are much more powerful than magic talismans!"

Hearing this, Zhou Chun couldn't help but laugh and say, "I knew it! What profound insights could a little girl like you possibly have!"

Then, he raised his hand and flicked the girl's forehead from a distance, saying, "What do you know, little girl? Although talismans are powerful, with his early Foundation Establishment cultivation, how much killing power can he unleash? In reality, they are far less useful than the low-grade third-tier talismans I gave him!"

Then, looking at his disciple with annoyance, he lectured, "And what do you think talisman treasures are? Like cabbages you can just pick up on the street? Such treasures are more harmful than beneficial to a Foundation Establishment cultivator; they'll only bring disaster upon him!"

"Oh, is that so?"

Zhou Zhiying nodded thoughtfully, though it was unclear whether she had truly understood or taken it to heart.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Chun naturally wanted to quickly give this apprentice a good lesson, to let her know the value of money, rice, oil, and salt!

Three months later, Zhou Zhiqian indeed applied to his family for permission to travel, officially leaving the family to embark on the path of honing his swordsmanship.

According to the Zhou family's rules, if a core member or elder decides to travel and is away from the family for an extended period, their corresponding family benefits will be suspended during that time.

If it weren't for Zhou Chun's advice, Zhou Zhigan might not have made this decision so quickly, after all, he had only recently succeeded in establishing his foundation and was not currently well-off.

Several months later, Zhou Chun suddenly received a letter from Feng Kingdom. After reading the letter, he couldn't help but sigh, his expression slightly complicated.

It turned out that the Golden Core cultivator ancestor of the You family, who was in charge of array formations, had passed away. Now, a letter had been sent to invite Zhou Chun to attend the funeral.

The You family's move was clearly intended to leverage the Zhou family's influence to intimidate others and prevent anyone from targeting the You family after the passing of their patriarch.

But in Zhou Chun's view, this move was completely futile.

The Zhou and You families were indeed friends for a thousand years, but since the Three Absolutes Sect split up, their relationship has gradually weakened.

Even when the You family and the Li family "returned home in glory" and reclaimed the sacred and blessed land of Sanxian Mountain, the Zhou family simply sent an elder there.

Furthermore, since these two families returned to Fengguo, the interactions between the three families have decreased again.

This kind of thing can't be kept secret. Anyone who really wants to take advantage of the You family can find out with just a little investigation.

However, after thinking about it, Zhou Chun still went to visit Zhou Mingde and told him about the matter.

Somewhat unexpectedly, after learning about this, Zhou Mingde intended to go to Sanxian Mountain to attend the funeral of the You family patriarch.

After a moment's thought, Zhou Chun understood Zhou Mingde's idea and naturally wouldn't stop his elder from wanting to "return home in glory."

"Then I'll leave this matter to you."

He nodded with a smile and readily agreed.

Zhou Mingde then appointed two elders and brought along several Foundation Establishment cultivators, who, surrounded by a group of juniors, headed to the Three Immortal Mountains of Feng Kingdom.

This trip lasted for half a month.

When Zhou Mingde returned from Fengguo, his complexion was noticeably rosy, indicating that he was in a very good mood.

Upon seeing Zhou Chun, who was in charge of the family, he immediately chuckled and said, "Hehehe, Zheng Chun, you would never have imagined that during the You family's funeral, Li Jingxuan, one of the main figures of the Three Immortal Mountains, would actually take the initiative to offer me the seat of honor, praising me and the Zhou family repeatedly, adopting a humble and subservient attitude!"

At this point, his expression darkened again, and he coldly chuckled, "There's just one thing he might have forgotten, but I've never dared to forget!"

"Back then, when that scoundrel Yu Jinghua tried to usurp my Zhou family's legacy, I went to see him that very night, but he refused to see me, showing no regard for our thousand-year-old friendship and completely disregarding the matter!"

"Now that my Zhou family has regained its former glory and entered an unprecedented golden age, he has finally remembered the thousand-year-old friendship between our two families. How laughable!"

Zhou Chun really didn't know about this. It seems that Zhou Mingde had been holding back for a long time and finally found an opportunity to avenge his humiliation.

At this moment, as if suddenly remembering something, he abruptly spoke up: "If I remember correctly, Li Jingxuan should have already passed his 800th birthday. With only a hundred years left to live, he probably can't guarantee that he can definitely cultivate a Golden Core cultivator for the family. Now that he has seen the situation of the You family, he can't help but feel a sense of loss, and thus have some unrealistic ideas!"

"Exactly! Masazumi, you've hit the nail on the head!"

Zhou Mingde nodded repeatedly, expressing his admiration and even respect for Zhou Chun's quick thinking ability.

He then smiled and said, "Speaking of which, I also saw that pair of twin siblings with superior spiritual roots from the Li family, whom we used to envy so much. Although one of them is already at the late stage of the Purple Mansion realm and the other at the middle stage, they don't seem to have much confidence in successfully forming their core!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chun shook his head repeatedly, saying, "That would be difficult. With the Li family's resources, preparing a set of Core Formation spiritual artifacts shouldn't be too hard, but if the person attempting Core Formation lacks confidence, the success rate is hard to predict!"

"Hehehe, isn't that right? Li Jingxuan is probably having such a headache that he can't sleep at all!"

Zhou Mingde chuckled again, his laughter tinged with schadenfreude.

Just as the two of them were laughing at the Li family for having no successor, they were suddenly distracted by an internal family matter that completely ruined their mood.

It turns out that Zhou Sihan, who had previously offered a fifth-order Thunder Dragon tooth, failed to open his Purple Mansion after taking the "Spirit Opening Pill" bestowed by Zhou Chun!

This failure severely damaged his soul, and it is estimated that he will no longer be able to attempt to break through to the Purple Mansion again.

In fact, for the Zhou family now, having one more or one less cultivator at the Purple Mansion stage doesn't have much of an impact.

However, such a failure is equivalent to ruining a clansman who has the potential to open the Purple Mansion, and also wasting a precious spiritual object that helps open the Purple Mansion.

Such a double loss could not help but make family leaders like Zhou Chun and Zhou Mingde feel depressed and regretful.

As the saying goes, good fortune never comes in pairs, but misfortunes never come singly.

Less than three months after Zhou Sihan's failure to open his Purple Mansion, another incident occurred in the Zhou family that Zhou Chun had to pay attention to.

It turns out that Zhou Yuanlian, who went out to collect poisonous herbs and substances for cultivation, has not returned for more than half a year!

As the only Foundation Establishment stage poison cultivator in the Zhou family, Zhou Yuanlian is qualified to leave a natal soul tablet in the family ancestral hall.

After learning from Zhou Xinyi that Zhou Yuanlian had gone missing, Zhou Chun quickly went to the ancestral hall to check on her spirit tablet.

The results showed that the soul tablet was intact and undamaged.

But this only means that Zhou Yuanlian is not in mortal danger at present.

If she is captured and imprisoned, or trapped in a formation, or even confined to a natural dead end, as long as her life is not in danger, it will not cause any problems with her soul tablet.

If the soul tablet really has a problem, it could be a fatal one.

Therefore, Zhou Chun did not let his guard down. He immediately ordered Elder Zhou Xinyan to lead a group of four core Foundation Establishment members and more than a dozen elite Qi Refining members to search for Zhou Yuanlian.

In Zhou Chun's eyes, Zhou Yuanlian, a junior poison cultivator who practiced the "Ten Thousand Poisons True Scripture," was more important than some family elders.

Because poison cultivators possess one ability that even Golden Core cultivators like them lack: the ability to inflict massive damage!

Zhou Yuanlian is currently at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. The poisonous smoke or gas she releases can kill hundreds or thousands of Qi Refining stage cultivators or first-order demonic beasts in an extremely short period of time.

This is something that many cultivators in the Purple Mansion stage cannot do!

Therefore, in many wars involving cultivation legends or demon beasts, Zhou Yuanlian is a strategic weapon that can directly determine the outcome of a war!

Therefore, as long as there is a possibility of saving her, Zhou Chun will absolutely not allow anything to happen to Zhou Yuanlian.

To date, several members of the Zhou family with poor spiritual root aptitude have chosen to cultivate the "Ten Thousand Poisons True Scripture," but none of them have been able to persist until the late stage of Qi Refining. The failures all resulted in death from the backlash of the poison techniques.

In this situation, Zhou Yuanlian, who is already at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, absolutely has an irreplaceable role.

Fortunately, because of Zhou Yuanlian's importance, Zhou Chun always had strict requirements for her going out, requiring her to report her destination and return time.

Therefore, when searching for this person, one shouldn't be running around like a headless fly.

According to the information left by Zhou Yuanlian, she was going to a place called Huochi Valley in Jinzhou to find several kinds of poisonous plants and insects that only grow there.

Jinzhou is the territory of the Yanyang Sect, bordering Yanzhou and Cangzhou. It is a relatively barren and desolate region.

There are no Golden Core families in this state; only three major cultivation clans lead the cultivation world. The Zhou family sent an elder to lead a team here, which means they are not afraid of any force in this area.

What Zhou Chun didn't expect was that Zhou Xinyan and the others sent to Jinzhou searched for half a month without finding any trace of Zhou Yuanlian.

According to the hawk messages sent back through the intelligence station, the man searched almost the entire Fire Red Valley and the surrounding area, but he could not find Zhou Yuanlian.

The only discovery was a battle site deep within the Fire Red Valley. Based on the traces of corrosion from the poison at the scene, it was determined that it was the work of Zhou Yuanlian.

This indicates that the person did indeed go there.

Under these circumstances, Zhou Chun had no choice but to take action himself.

He took Zhou Yuanlian's spirit tablet from the ancestral hall and took it directly to the Fire Red Valley in Jinzhou.

Less than a day later, Zhou Chun appeared in the sky above Fire Red Valley.

Zhou Xinyan was still in Fire Red Valley at this time. As soon as he saw Zhou Chun appear, he hurriedly stepped forward to pay his respects.

"This junior greets the clan leader. I apologize for my poor performance this time!"

Zhou Chun had no interest in pleasantries and simply waved his hand, saying, "This is not your fault. Go and gather the clansmen together. I will use my magic to find Xiao Lian's whereabouts!"

After saying that, he took out Zhou Yuanlian's soul tablet and used it as a medium to perform a secret technique for finding people.

As Zhou Chun cast his spell, the soul tablet in front of him began to sway slightly. Then, it spun around in mid-air and pointed the arrow in a certain direction.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Chun immediately reached out and grabbed the soul tablet, flying towards that direction.

After that, Zhou Chun would cast a spell every so often, and then proceed according to the direction indicated by the soul tablet.

After seven spells, the others arrived at a mountain range at the border of Jinzhou and Yanzhou.

"This place is more than 700 li away from Fire Red Valley. There's no reason for Xiao Lian to come here on her own. It seems she's been captured by someone!"

"Given her cultivation level, even a cultivator in the early stages of the Purple Mansion realm couldn't capture her alive without harming her. If she possessed such cultivation, why would she hide in such a desolate place?"

Upon realizing this, Zhou Chun immediately cast a spell again to pinpoint Zhou Yuanlian's true location.

With a flash, he flew to the sky above a pine forest in the mountains.

Looking down from this sky, one sees an endless forest of red pines, with trees reaching over ten feet in height.

In reality, these are all illusions. A sophisticated illusion array has been set up here, and even a cultivator at the Purple Mansion stage might not be able to see through it.

However, Zhou Chun was a Golden Core cultivator, and his divine sense was stronger than that of an ordinary mid-Golden Core cultivator. This illusion array was naturally useless in his eyes and could be seen through at a glance.

However, although he easily saw through the illusion array, it didn't mean he could enter it without alerting the cultivators inside.

Such sophisticated illusion arrays all have early warning functions; once someone enters them, an immediate warning will be issued.

Zhou Chun was worried about Zhou Yuanlian's safety, so he couldn't rashly rush into the formation at this time.

After observing from outside for a while, he left the place and went to find Zhou Xinyan and other younger members of the family.

Subsequently, under Zhou Chun's arrangement, Zhou Xinyan and the others searched slowly along the way and gradually found the vicinity of the red pine forest.

Then, by sheer chance, Zhou Xinyan and the others discovered the existence of the illusion array and worked together to break it.

As Zhou Chun expected, once it was discovered that Zhou Xinyan was the only early-stage Purple Mansion cultivator among those attacking the formation, the master inside immediately appeared and took him away.

To Zhou Chun's great surprise, the late-stage Purple Mansion cultivator who came out of the Red Pine Forest was actually wearing the robes of the Flame Sun Sect!

"What's going on? Why are the people from the Flame Sun Sect trying to capture Xiao Lian?"

Zhou Chun's expression darkened, realizing how troublesome the situation was.

But he didn't hesitate at all when he started.

They quickly appeared and immediately used the [Golden Lock of Unity] secret technique to seal the cultivation of the Yan Yang Sect cultivator, preventing him from sending a warning message to call for help.

After capturing the man, Zhou Chun carried the ugly Yan Yang Sect cultivator into the formation.

Although he did not have a pass token, he could easily pass through the illusion array and enter the inner room without being affected by it.

Inside the illusion array, instead of a red pine forest, was a mountain peak planted with a large area of ​​hexagonal fire maple spirit trees, whose spiritual energy was no less concentrated than that of the Zhou family's Nine Peaks Ridge.

Besides the ugly giant captured by Zhou Chun, there were also many mid- to low-ranking disciples of the Yan Yang Sect here.

At this moment, because the ugly giant was captured in an instant, all the disciples of the Yan Yang Sect were in a daze and had not yet come to their senses.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Chun immediately knew that this must be a resource point of the Yan Yang Sect.

After a moment's hesitation, he suddenly proclaimed in a loud voice, "I am Zhou Zhengchun, the patriarch of the Zhou family of spirit beasts. You have no need to panic. My purpose in coming here today is none of your concern. Just proceed as usual!"

I'm exhausted! I can't go on about all the bad luck that happened today, I've already mentioned it in the group chat. Anyway, I'll start making up for it tomorrow!

(End of this chapter)