Beast Taming Immortal Clan

Chapter 599 Returning to the Family, Nine Years of Change [Long Chapter, Please Subscribe]

Above a desolate mountain in the far west.

As a golden beam of light descended from the sky, Zhou Chun, carrying the old man surnamed Du in yellow robes, landed on a desolate rocky mountain.

This place is thousands of miles away from the Fiery Sand Sea, and Zhou Chun even transformed into a moon toad and traveled hundreds of miles through a river.

Even if a Nascent Soul stage cultivator did catch up afterward, without being able to lock onto his soul, it would be very difficult to track his whereabouts based solely on his aura.

Therefore, Zhou Chun had prepared to stay here for half a day to recover his magical power and take care of some matters.

With time pressing, Zhou Chun didn't bother to create a temporary cave dwelling as usual. He simply scanned the area with his divine sense, found a natural cave, drove away the wild beasts that inhabited it, and then released the Golden-Winged Tiger to guard the outside.

Inside the cave, Zhou Chun sat cross-legged, holding a spirit crystal in each hand to absorb its spiritual power and meditate to recover his mana. The unconscious old man surnamed Du, dressed in yellow, was casually tossed aside.

After meditating for about two hours, and recovering about 30-40% of his nearly depleted magical power, Zhou Chun suddenly opened his eyes and put away the spirit crystal in his hand, which had been severely depleted of spiritual power.

Then he glanced at the elderly man in yellow surnamed Du who was still unconscious, and without hesitation immediately placed his hand on the man's head and forcibly began the soul search.

The old man in yellow surnamed Du was a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator. Although his strength was not much in Zhou Chun's eyes, he was still at the same level as Zhou Chun.

If it were an ordinary mid-stage Golden Core cultivator, they wouldn't even have a chance to successfully search his soul.

However, Zhou Chun's divine sense is powerful, having reached the late stage of the Golden Core realm, so it's worth a try.

After this series of attempts, Zhou Chun himself was pale and his back was soaked with sweat from the battle of will with the yellow-robed old man surnamed Du, looking extremely exhausted.

Fortunately, despite expending a great deal of divine power, he still managed to obtain the information he wanted.

He casually unleashed a golden light that pierced through the purple mansion of the yellow-robed elder surnamed Du, obliterating his soul and consciousness. Then, he lowered his head to ponder the information he had just obtained.

Because the old man in yellow surnamed Du resisted strongly, Zhou Chun's soul search was very difficult, and he only managed to obtain some scattered and useful information despite his hard work.

According to the information obtained from the soul search, the yellow-robed old man surnamed Du was indeed a rogue cultivator recruited by the Holy Fire Sect. He often helped the Holy Fire Sect to go beyond the Flowing Fire Sand Sea to exchange for various cultivation resources, and also helped them to kill Golden Core cultivators like Zhou Chun who traveled from afar.

On the day of the exchange meeting, this person sent a telepathic message to Zhou Chun, which was indeed at Xue Yan's behest.

However, the information about "Imperial Dew" that the other party mentioned at the time was not entirely fabricated!

According to the information obtained by the yellow-robed elder surnamed Du, a fourth-tier high-grade demon beast called the "Binghuo Divine Crow" within the Holy Fire Sect is preparing to undergo the Heavenly Tribulation, and the Holy Fire Sect intends to help this demon successfully pass the tribulation.

If this demon truly survives the Heavenly Tribulation, then the phenomenon of "Emperor's Dew" will naturally appear. At that time, it will be easy for the Nascent Soul cultivators of the Holy Fire Sect to obtain a portion of the "Emperor's Dew".

This "Emperor's Elixir" is a true wonder of heaven and earth, and it has a significant nourishing effect even on fifth-order demon kings. If demon beasts below the fourth order can refine some of this spiritual substance, their chances of breaking through to the fourth order will greatly increase.

Even fourth-order demonic beasts can refining this spiritual object benefit from various things.

The biggest benefit is the opportunity to use the power of "Emperor's Dew" to refine the transverse bone in the throat and gain the ability to speak.

In addition, "Emperor's Dew" can also enlighten and enlighten monsters, greatly enhancing their intelligence.

Unfortunately, even with this information, Zhou Chun didn't seem to have much of a chance to get his hands on the "Emperor's Elixir".

Regardless of whether the [Binghuo Divine Crow] can successfully overcome the Heavenly Tribulation, even if it does, the majority of the "Emperor's Dew" that falls from the sky will definitely be refined by it to lay the foundation for its fifth-order demon king status.

Even if some of the rest are taken, they will probably end up in the hands of those Nascent Soul stage cultivators from the Holy Fire Sect.

Judging from the Holy Flame Sect's style of doing things, not to mention that Zhou Chun has already offended this sect to the death, even if he didn't have it and successfully exchanged other treasures for "Emperor's Dew", he would probably still be shot in the back later!

"Ultimately, my cultivation level is still insufficient!"

Shaking his head, Zhou Chun sighed and stopped thinking about the "Emperor's Dew".

He quickly burned the corpse of the old man in yellow surnamed Du to ashes with a ball of fire, then rode away from the place on his golden-winged tiger.

Several days later, Zhou Chun arrived at a large market town and settled down to rest.

Inside a secret room, Zhou Chun sat cross-legged, with several storage bags in front of him, all belonging to the two Golden Core cultivators he had previously killed.

However, he did not rush to examine these relics, but instead took out the [Heavenly Gang Thunder-Slaying Sword] to check it first.

In the previous battle in the Blazing Sands, this sword displayed its great power, helping him defeat and crush a powerful enemy, showing a style that was no less than that of a top-grade magic weapon!

However, after its glory days, the sword now appears somewhat dull and lackluster.

The Thunder Dragon Demon Soul sealed within the sword, after accumulating power, can no longer be awakened or activated; it will require time to regain its strength.

If Zhou Chun were a cultivator using lightning-attribute techniques, with careful nurturing, he might recover in ten or eight years.

But unfortunately, he wasn't.

Therefore, this sword may not be able to unleash such power again for the next twenty or thirty years.

Fortunately, given Zhou Chun's current strength, encountering situations requiring the activation of the Thunder Dragon Demon Soul should be extremely rare. Furthermore, he possesses the Moon Toad Pearl, so there's no need for him to be too concerned about this gain or loss.

After examining it, he put the sword into his body and slowly nurtured it.

Then Zhou Chun picked up the storage bags on the ground and began to examine the treasures inside one by one.

After a thorough inspection and inventory, Zhou Chun's harvest was tallied.

In this battle, he killed two mid-stage Golden Core cultivators and a mid-grade fourth-tier demonic beast.

They acquired a total of five complete magic treasures, including three mid-grade magic treasures, two low-grade magic treasures, and a fourth-grade mid-grade earth-attribute demon core!

Two of the three mid-grade magic treasures are natal magic treasures.

One of them is the yellow gourd magic weapon used by the old man surnamed Du, named the "Earth Divine Sand Gourd". The "Earth Divine Sand" inside is refined and nurtured using a secret method. It combines offense and defense and is extremely mysterious.

If it weren't for the high-grade magic weapon, the Heavenly Thunder-Slaying Sword, Zhou Chun wouldn't have found it so easy to capture and kill this person alive.

Unfortunately, after the old man in yellow surnamed Du passed away, without his own cultivation techniques and secret arts to refine the "Earth Divine Sand", the divine sand in the gourd will be used up one by one, and after it is used up, this treasure will be basically useless, and its power will probably not even be able to match that of an ordinary low-grade magic treasure.

Another natal magic weapon came from the beautiful woman in red. It was a fiery red hairpin magic weapon. This weapon was a flying sword type magic weapon. Its power was decent, but its design might not be to the liking of some male cultivators.

The last remaining mid-grade magic weapon also came from the beautiful woman in red. It was a fiery red chain, which should be a binding magic weapon. She didn't use it at the time, probably because she didn't find an opportunity to use it.

Unexpectedly, she didn't even have a chance to use this magic weapon before being instantly killed by Zhou Chun.

As for the two low-grade magic treasures, one came from the beautiful woman in red and was a dressing mirror. Its power was mediocre, and she had never been seen using it.

One of the items came from an elderly man surnamed Du, dressed in yellow. It was a yellowish-brown stone staff, a magical artifact that had previously been used to attack the Fiery Phoenix.

In addition to these magical treasures, the two Golden Core cultivators also contributed four fourth-tier magic talismans to Zhou Chun, including a fourth-tier mid-grade defensive magic talisman, eight kinds of magical treasure materials, more than a dozen thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, more than a dozen third-tier magic artifacts, and various other miscellaneous items.

Overall, neither of them had much in their storage bags, which was somewhat inconsistent with their mid-stage Golden Core cultivation level.

I guess either they were really poor, or they deliberately emptied their storage bags before coming out and didn't bring some important things with them.

Zhou Chun didn't care too much. In any case, he had already gained a great deal by acquiring several magic treasures, and the rest were just extras.

Speaking of which, Zhou Chun has accumulated nearly ten unused magical treasures. Apart from a few that he plans to replace for Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi, most of them can be disposed of.

So now, looking at these magical treasures in his hands, he quickly had some ideas in his mind.

After resting in the market for more than half a month, Zhou Chun embarked on his journey home again.

On the way back to Jingguo, Zhou Chun did not try to cross the Nieling Canyon again, but preferred to spend two or three months taking a longer route to bypass this dangerous area.

By the time Zhou Chun returned to Jingguo, nine years had passed since he left his family!

Upon returning to his family, Zhou Chun no longer concealed the fact that his cultivation had broken through to the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm.

He successfully formed his core over a century ago. While his breakthrough to the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm is surprising, considering he formed his core at just over two hundred years old, it's not too outrageous. It just makes people envious of his good fortune.

With Zhou Chun's current cultivation level, as long as he doesn't attract the attention of Nascent Soul stage cultivators, he doesn't need to worry about what other Golden Core stage cultivators think of him.

Whether you envy him or are jealous, anyone who dares to provoke him will only regret it in the end!

Although Zhou Chun had been away from the family for nine years, his family members were used to his seclusion and travels, and his return did not cause any disturbance.

Ultimately, given his current status and cultivation level, he is now on a completely different level from the vast majority of low- and middle-ranking clansmen. Whether he is in the clan or traveling, he will not affect the lives of these low- and middle-ranking clansmen, since they usually do not interact with each other anyway.

Just like the countries in his previous life, whether the head of state was in the country or visiting abroad, it had nothing to do with ordinary people. In short, the two rarely intersected.

However, nine years is a considerable period of time, and the changes that have taken place in the Zhou family and even in Jingguo are substantial.

Among them, the Zhou family has added two new cultivators at the Purple Mansion stage: Zhou Chun's disciple Zhou Zhiying, and Zhou Simiao, who belongs to the "Si" generation.

The success of these two in opening their Purple Mansions also broke the awkward situation that neither of their generations had a Purple Mansion stage cultivator.

With the successful opening of the Purple Mansion by these two, and including the two maternal relatives Zhang Liang and Xu Fu, the number of Purple Mansion stage cultivators in the Zhou family has reached ten!

Ten cultivators at the Purple Mansion stage—this number is just right for the Zhou family.

If there are too many cultivators at the Purple Mansion stage, it will not actually greatly improve the overall strength of the family, because the Zhou family does not have enough land to accommodate these cultivators, which could easily lead to a "talent surplus".

If we maintain this number of Purple Mansion stage cultivators, then we can select two or three cultivators who are likely to form the Core stage and focus on cultivating them, to see if we can cultivate another Golden Core stage cultivator for the family.

This method of concentrating resources to cultivate outstanding geniuses is the best way for cultivation families to ensure their own inheritance, and it is also an advantage of family cultivators compared to cultivators from most sects.

Ten Purple Mansion stage cultivators and over fifty Foundation Establishment stage cultivators—this is the Zhou family's greatest strength right now!

Barring unforeseen circumstances that lead to significant losses among these individuals, the Zhou family, with its current resources, is highly likely to be able to cultivate one or two more Golden Core cultivators from among them.

This does not even include Zhou Zhiying, a clansman who is destined to successfully form a golden core.

It can be said that even without Zhou Chun, the Zhou family today, without considering external influences, can still continue to be a Golden Core family for another one or two thousand years, just like the Zhou family of the Three Absolutes Sect two thousand years ago!

"This is all thanks to Jung-jun!"

"If it weren't for the spiritual items you brought back to aid in opening the Purple Mansion, and those Foundation Establishment Pills, the number of these younger generations would be reduced by at least half!"

"How fortunate my Zhou family is to have produced such an outstanding member as you!"

When Zhou Chun inquired about the family's situation from Zhou Mingde, Zhou Mingde also expressed such感慨 (gǎnkǎi, deep emotion) with a face full of emotion.

This wasn't the first time he'd said similar things in front of Zhou Chun.

But every time he thinks about the changes that have occurred in the Zhou family because of Zhou Chun, he feels deeply grateful to Zhou Chun and extremely glad that he made that choice.

If he hadn't believed Zhou Daoyi's recommendation and given Zhou Chun full support and trust, Zhou Chun probably wouldn't have been so dedicated to giving back to the family after he became successful!

That's often how it is; a single decision, a single choice, can change a person's destiny, or even the destiny of a powerful force!

Faced with Zhou Mingde's praise and admiration, Zhou Chun replied with a mix of humility and seriousness, "You flatter me, elder. The family's current foundation and achievements are inseparable from your contributions and efforts as well as those of other clansmen. If those clansmen weren't outstanding and hardworking enough, even if I, as a junior, could provide some resources for the family, I probably wouldn't be able to help them!"

A person's success requires both hard work and opportunity.

If an individual doesn't work hard enough, even if an opportunity arises, they may not be able to seize it.

Just like studying, if a person doesn't work hard and put in the effort, even if they go to the best school and have the best teachers, they won't achieve anything!

Therefore, Zhou Chun was very clear that he could not negate the efforts of the younger generation just because of the resources he provided.

It can only be said that those younger generations were very lucky to be born in a good era. With their own efforts, they were able to obtain the opportunity to establish their foundation and open their purple mansion relatively easily from within their families.

"If Masaharu can think like that, I am even more ashamed of myself!!"

Zhou Mingde looked at Zhou Chun with deep emotion, feeling immense admiration for his perspective and magnanimity.

Zhou Chun simply smiled and didn't bring it up again.

Having recounted the changes in the Zhou family, Zhou Chun's expression gradually turned serious when he spoke of the changes in Jingguo.

The biggest change in Jingguo in these nine years was the death of the previous leader of the Moon Wheel Sect after failing to achieve Nascent Soul formation!

According to inside information obtained by the Zhou family through Su Yunniang, the sect leader, like the Qingchen Daoist of Qinglian Temple, perished in the "Heart Demon Tribulation".

This is also the most common way for cultivators who embark on the path of Core Formation and Nascent Soul Formation to perish.

Zhou Chun had no idea that this sect leader, with his exceptional spiritual root talent, would perish at the stage of Core Formation and Nascent Soul Formation.

In this way, he gained a new understanding of the difficulty of transforming the core into the nascent soul.

If he wants to achieve the Golden Core and Nascent Soul stage in the future, he really needs to pay special attention to the danger of the "Inner Demon Tribulation" stage.

The consequences of this sect leader's failure to achieve Nascent Soul formation were far-reaching.

It should be noted that even for a powerful force like the Moon Wheel Sect, resources that can help with Nascent Soul formation are extremely scarce, and it may take hundreds of years to gather a single set.

Given the qualifications and status of that sect leader, he must have utilized all the resources of the Moon Wheel Sect when he formed his Nascent Soul.

Now that he has failed to achieve Nascent Soul and died, it means that for the next few hundred years, the Moon Wheel Sect will find it difficult to obtain Nascent Soul resources through conventional accumulation methods to support other Golden Core elders in achieving Nascent Soul.

However, at the same time, the Nascent Soul stage elder of the Moon Wheel Sect, whose lifespan was nearing its end, could not delay any longer.

When this Nascent Soul stage elder also passed away, the Moon Wheel Sect was left with only two Nascent Soul stage cultivators, exactly the same as the Flame Sun Sect.

Whether the situation in Yasukuni will remain as stable as it is now is something no one can say for sure.

"Turbulence is both danger and opportunity!"

"Although the wilderness is vast and fertile, it cannot see the light of day. If my Zhou family wants to advance further and truly join the ranks of the nation's elite, we must not be confined to this small Tuyun Ridge!"

Zhou Chun muttered to himself, his gaze unconsciously drifting eastward.

That's the direction of the Qinglian Mountains in Lianzhou!

Upon seeing this, Zhou Mingde instantly understood his meaning, and was also startled by his idea.

She stared at him in shock and said, "Zhengchun, you want to take over Qinglian Temple? Is that even possible?"

"Whether it works or not, you'll only know by trying!"

Zhou Chun said calmly.

Then he turned his gaze to the northeast, the direction where Tianjing Manor was located.

"You want our Zhou family to side with True Immortal Tianjing? So he can seize the Azure Lotus Mountain Range?"

Zhou Mingde's mind stirred, and he seemed to have guessed Zhou Chun's thoughts. He couldn't help but blurt out his inner guess.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Chun shook his head slightly and said, "No, Master Tianjing cannot be our Zhou family's backer! On the contrary, he might be our competitor!"

"This...this..."

Zhou Mingde was completely bewildered by Zhou Chun's words, staring at him with his mouth agape, unable to describe the shock he felt at that moment.

How could he tell from Zhou Chun's words that he wanted to be an enemy of a Nascent Soul stage cultivator?

Have they really been blinded by the Zhou family's current prosperity and started to get carried away?

After hesitating for a moment while looking at Zhou Chun, he couldn't help but whisper a reminder: "I think you should be more cautious, Zheng Chun. The difference in strength and status between a Nascent Soul cultivator and a Golden Core cultivator is too great. Although blessed lands like the Azure Lotus Mountains are good, they are not places that no Nascent Soul cultivator can occupy!"

His words were already very tactful.

If Zhou Chun's cultivation level hadn't far surpassed his own, and if he hadn't single-handedly led the Zhou family to unprecedented heights, his tone certainly wouldn't have been so tactful.

It's already a miracle that they didn't point their fingers at Zhou Chun and yell at him, asking if he was crazy.

Zhou Chun naturally understood the meaning behind Zhou Mingde's words, and immediately smiled slightly at him, saying, "Elder, please rest assured, this junior is not arrogant or presumptuous enough to believe that the Zhou family can already contend with Nascent Soul stage cultivators!"

After saying that, he explained, "But think about it, if the Moon Wheel Sect and the Flame Sun Sect were to fight each other, whose side would the Green Lotus Temple side with?"

"If they remain neutral, neither side will be satisfied; both are afraid of being laughed at and taken advantage of!"

"But if they side with one side, what will the other side do?"

"As you yourself said, a blessed land like the Azure Lotus Mountains is unworthy of its position if it doesn't have a Nascent Soul stage cultivator in charge; it would be difficult for them to maintain their position!"

At this point, Zhou Chun shook his head and said, "Of course, I can only think about this now. If we really want to occupy this treasure land of the Azure Lotus Mountains, my Zhou family must master fifth-tier techniques to even have a chance!"

Hearing his words, Zhou Mingde breathed a sigh of relief and exclaimed, "Phew! It's good that you can maintain this clear-headedness! I was really afraid that you might make a mistake you'd regret later if you acted impulsively!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chun replied with a serious expression, "Your concerns are not without merit. If I ever become arrogant and conceited in the future, please do not hold back, lest I make a grave mistake!"

After saying that, the two of them couldn't help but laugh.

After recounting the major events that had occurred, Zhou Chun then began to talk about his experience traveling to the Kingdom of Huoluo.

When he heard that Zhou Mingde had discovered the truth of "Qi gives birth to all things" in the Netherworld Valley and killed two Golden Core stage bandit cultivators, he was shocked and dumbfounded.

Upon hearing that the "Pure Spirit Immortal Osmanthus" had been destroyed, Zhou Mingde couldn't help but lament the loss of such a spiritual root of heaven and earth.

Later, when Zhou Chun mentioned the miraculous nature of the remaining tree stump, he was overjoyed and immediately asked Zhou Chun to take it out and experience it. He then exclaimed, "What a treasure!"

When Zhou Mingde later heard that Zhou Chun had obtained three high-grade magic treasures and killed the Holy Fire Sect cultivators, he was both amazed by his good fortune and saddened by the treacherous nature of the world and the unpredictability of human hearts.

After recounting his own experiences, Zhou Chun took out the two magical treasures he had prepared for Zhou Mingde.

One was the repaired Flame Pearl, and the other was a fiery red chain magic weapon obtained from the Holy Fire Cult female cultivator.

But Zhou Mingde shook his head and said, "My cultivation and magical power are weak, and I would find it difficult to control a mid-grade magic weapon. I'll just take this pearl!"

Because of the cultivation method he practiced, his magical power was inferior to that of top-tier cultivators like Zhou Chun. Furthermore, he had already nurtured and refined four natal magic treasures: the Crimson Flame Heaven-Burning Blade, the Three Yang True Fire Bottle, the Earth Vajra Shield, and the Blazing Gloves. He simply could not refine and nurture another mid-grade magic treasure.

Furthermore, he was well aware of his own abilities; the chain magic weapon, primarily designed to trap enemies, was clearly unsuitable for a cultivator like himself with weak magical power.

Seeing this, Zhou Chun did not force him and agreed to his choice.

"By the way, speaking of treasures, I also have something to give to you, Masaharu."

At this moment, Zhou Mingde seemed to remember something and suddenly took out a bronze beast and handed it to Zhou Chun.

"What is this?"

Zhou Chun looked at the bronze beast in front of him, which was only about a foot long and resembled a Qilin, and couldn't help but show a look of doubt in his eyes.

But Zhou Mingde smiled and said, "This item is a treasure that Zheng Yong obtained during his travels. It contains a special beast-taming technique that allows a cultivator's spirit pets to form a combined attack formation, unleashing combat power far exceeding their own cultivation level. It's perfect for you, Zheng Chun!"

"That sounds really good. Yong-ge is lucky!"

Zhou Chun's expression shifted, and he immediately took the bronze beast, infusing it with his magic power as instructed by Zhou Mingde to examine the beast-taming technique.

This beast-taming secret technique is called the "Heavenly Annihilation Four Symbols Formation," a name that is indeed very grand and majestic.

This formation requires at least four different types of demonic beasts to be successfully set up. These beasts must cultivate a common secret technique to connect their magical energy.

Once the battle formation is formed, it can create a domain that traps the enemy within, and then unleash several powerful formation techniques to destroy them.

From this point of view alone, this beast-taming technique requires a very high level of cultivation from the beast itself.

Even with a master's guidance, a third-tier demon beast would likely struggle to cultivate successfully; at least a fourth-tier demon beast would be needed to understand and achieve this.

This also indirectly illustrates the power of this beast-taming secret technique. Its preciousness and power are probably no less than the Zhou family's "Beast Spirit Fusion Technique".

However, compared to the "Beast Spirit Fusion Technique", the "Heavenly Absolute Four Symbols Formation" is obviously much more difficult to cultivate successfully.

Leaving aside how to get the monsters to comprehend and learn the relevant secret techniques, just the task of gathering four fourth-tier monsters with different attributes is enough to give many Nascent Soul stage cultivators a headache.

Moreover, even if a Nascent Soul cultivator were to spend a great deal of money to gather four fourth-order demonic beasts of different attributes and successfully guide them to cultivate the "Heavenly Absolute Four Symbols Formation" combined attack formation, what difference would it make?

Could it be that four fourth-order demonic beasts forming an array could trap a Nascent Soul stage cultivator?

This is simply a thankless and futile endeavor!

Therefore, apart from extremely special beast-taming cultivators like Zhou Chun, most beast-taming cultivators would probably find the "Heavenly Absolute Four Symbols Formation" to be extremely useless and completely unusable.

As for Zhou Chun, if you include the Golden Armor Mountain-Carrying Turtle Stone, he has just collected four fourth-tier demonic beasts of different attributes!

This is probably why Zhou Mingde said that this secret technique was most suitable for him.

Since he had met the requirements and didn't need to do the cultivation of the secret technique himself, Zhou Chun was happy to assign some tasks to his spirit pets to keep them from running around aimlessly or sleeping.

After accepting the bronze beast, he quickly went to the wilderness.

Since Zhou Mingde needs to be stationed at Tuyunling, and Zhou Daoyi cannot be seen in the light of day, Lin Hongyu is now the one stationed in this desolate place.

After arriving in the wilderness, Zhou Chun naturally headed straight for the Caiyu Mountain stronghold where Lin Hongyu was stationed.

In fact, by today, the Zhou family has discovered no fewer than dozens of auspicious sites suitable for building a stronghold.

However, building a large-scale stronghold like the Caiyushan stronghold would be too costly and unnecessary, so the Zhou family has only built this one stronghold so far.

Upon arriving at the Caiyu Mountain stronghold, Zhou Chun had not yet met Lin Hongyu, but instead met his disciple Zhou Zhiying, who was cultivating there.

"Disciple greets Master! Master, you've finally returned!"

Dressed in a blue robe, Zhou Zhiying, having achieved Foundation Establishment very early, now looks like a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl, full of youthful vitality.

Looking at the disciple he had raised, Zhou Chun couldn't help but smile with satisfaction. He immediately praised him, "Not bad, not bad. You've successfully opened your Purple Mansion so quickly. You haven't disgraced your master."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhiying immediately beamed and replied, "Of course! You are the number one cultivator in the Zhou family, and as your only disciple, I would never allow you to lose face!"

"With such a sweet tongue, it seems you have ulterior motives. What on your teacher have you set your sights on this time?"

Zhou Chun narrowed his eyes and immediately voiced what the disciple was thinking.

Zhou Zhiying, having her thoughts exposed, wasn't embarrassed at all. She immediately looked at him expectantly and said, "Disciple doesn't want any treasures from Master. I just want Master to have mercy and let me return to Jing Kingdom. Disciple doesn't want to stay here anymore; it's too boring here!"

Zhou Chun, of course, understood what she meant by "boring".

The cultivators in this desolate land, whether they are members of the Zhou family or the family assassins trained by the Zhou family, are all focused on accumulating merits so that they can escape this sea of ​​suffering as soon as possible!

Even if those people dared not neglect any of her requests because of her noble status, they certainly could not bring Zhou Zhiying any joy if she stayed here. Lin Hongyu also rarely allowed her to leave the Caiyushan stronghold.

This kind of prison-like life was extremely boring for a cultivator like Zhou Zhiying, whose playful nature had not been extinguished.

Zhou Chun, having high hopes for Zhou Zhiying, didn't want to disappoint her over such a trivial matter. He immediately turned to her with a stern face and said, "Of course I can let you go back, but if you misbehave again and reveal your true cultivation level, don't blame me for making you cultivate here until you reach the Core Formation stage!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhiying's face immediately lit up with joy, and she nodded repeatedly, assuring him, "I definitely won't! Your disciple will never reveal my cultivation level again!"

"Then we'll see how you perform."

Zhou Chun said slowly, and then led her to Lin Hongyu's cave.

(End of this chapter)