Beast Taming Immortal Clan

Chapter 607 The Name of the Flying Tiger, Wilderness Crisis [Please Subscribe]

After breaking through to the fourth rank, the Golden-Winged Tiger not only greatly increased its supernatural powers and magic, but also refined the transverse bone in its mouth, enabling it to speak human language. This gain was considerable.

When Zhou Chun heard its voice, which sounded like that of a young boy, he was filled with surprise and joy.

Logically, he should not be so surprised, since he had already spoken face-to-face with a fifth-tier demon king like Chongxuan Demon King.

However, the Demon King Chongxuan was still in human form, and the two were not familiar with each other.

The Golden-Winged Tiger, however, was a true beast in form, and it was adopted by Zhou Chun when it was still a cub.

Now that his spirit pet, which he had raised for hundreds of years, was suddenly able to speak, how could Zhou Chun not be overjoyed?

He stared intently at the winged giant tiger in front of him, growing happier the more he looked.

Then, unable to resist, he reached out and touched the tiger's nose, which was bigger than his own head, and laughed, "Good, good, good! My tiger has really made something of himself; he can even speak now!"

Upon hearing his words, the Golden-Winged Tiger's eyes also revealed a look of joy.

Then, with wide, tiger-like eyes, it looked at him and said, "Master, I have a request, please grant it!"

"What is it? Tell me!"

Zhou Chun was slightly taken aback, then smiled and agreed.

Seeing that he agreed, the Golden-Winged Tiger quickly spoke up and asked for a name, "This little tiger wishes to ask Master to bestow a name upon me!"

Among Zhou Chun's several spirit pets, Lei Jiao Bai Bai, Jin Jia Fu Shan Gui Shi Tou, and even Mu Mei Mu Sang, all received names from Zhou Chun early on.

The Golden-Winged Tiger, though the third spirit pet to follow him, has never been named.

Zhou Chun might not care about this matter, but in the mind of the now-enhanced Golden-Winged Tiger, it was undoubtedly a big deal.

Therefore, the first thing it asked after breaking through to the fourth level was to ask Zhou Chun to give it a name.

Upon hearing its request, Zhou Chun quickly understood its meaning.

He immediately looked at it with a guilty expression and said, "This was my oversight. In that case, I'll think of a good name for Little Tiger right away!"

He then lowered his head and pondered.

Got it!

Soon after, Zhou Chun's eyes lit up, and he had already made up his mind.

He immediately looked up at the golden-winged tiger, whose eyes were full of expectation, and said, "How about I name you Zhou Feihu? From now on, you guys will all take my surname!"

"Thank you for bestowing a name upon me, Master. From now on, I will be called Zhou Feihu. I have a name now!!"

A gleam of joy flashed in the Golden-Winged Tiger's eyes, and it let out a series of delighted roars, scaring away countless birds and beasts from the vicinity.

After cheering wildly for a while, its excitement subsided, and it immediately knelt and bowed to Zhou Chun, saying, "Flying Tiger greets Master!"

"Well, Fei Hu, get up first, and then tell me about the current state of your supernatural powers and spells."

Zhou Chun smiled and waved his hand, then told the Golden-Winged Tiger to stand up and verbally describe the details of its supernatural powers.

After a detailed conversation with the Golden-Winged Tiger, Zhou Chun gained a thorough understanding of its supernatural abilities after breaking through to the fourth rank.

In terms of strength, it is difficult to confirm whether the fourth-tier Golden-Winged Tiger is stronger than Thunder Flood Dragon Bai Bai and Flame Prison Fire Phoenix.

Because each of the three has its own strengths, if they really fight to the death, anyone has a chance to win.

Overall, however, the Golden-Winged Tiger's spatial ability, [Spatial Blade], completely surpasses other spirit pets, and even Zhou Chun, who used a spirit treasure, in terms of attack power ceiling!

Spatial supernatural abilities are inherently very mysterious and unpredictable, and cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage generally find it very difficult to master such abilities.

Even Nascent Soul stage cultivators, apart from the "teleportation" supernatural power they automatically master after their Nascent Soul leaves their body, do not possess other spatial attack supernatural powers.

Therefore, if the Golden-Winged Tiger uses its [Spatial Blade] well, it can theoretically injure or even kill even a Nascent Soul stage cultivator!

But this is only in theory.

In reality, while spatial abilities are powerful and virtually invincible among those of the same level, they are not truly unstoppable.

Even the defensive divine abilities of a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, or even top-grade magic treasures, could potentially block the [Spatial Blade] released by a fourth-tier Golden-Winged Tiger.

Furthermore, given the Nascent Soul stage cultivator's ability to sense danger and their powerful flight speed, the Golden-Winged Tiger would have a hard time hitting the opponent unless it launched a surprise attack at close range.

However, if we exclude Nascent Soul stage cultivators, within the Golden Core stage, without top-grade magic treasures, supernatural abilities, and secret talismans, I'm afraid 99% of Golden Core stage cultivators would find it difficult to directly block the attack of the [Spatial Blade]!

This spatial attribute ability is almost the same as the legendary "spatial rift," capable of cutting through space and briefly slicing open the void where the object is located!

To block such attacks, either the treasure itself must contain spatial power, or the material must be extremely hard and of extremely high grade, or the divine power itself must be powerful enough to temporarily offset the cutting force of spatial power!

Few cultivators at the Golden Core stage can achieve these points!

With the Golden-Winged Tiger's current cultivation and magical power, he can probably use the [Spatial Blade] three times, with an interval of more than 15 minutes between each use.

Nevertheless, if used well, these three uses of [Spatial Blade] can definitely play a crucial role in laying the foundation for victory in battle!

In addition to the [Spatial Blade], its "Flash of Space" ability can now flash a hundred feet in an instant, and it can be used dozens of times in a single battle without any problem.

Even the "spatial pouch" ability has been enhanced. The storage space inside is now comparable to the storage bag used by Zhou Chun. It can be used as a storage bag or a spirit beast bag!

In conclusion, the fourth-tier Golden-Winged Tiger's supernatural abilities are worthy of the hardships and efforts Zhou Chun made to help it break through.

After Zhou Chun understood the situation clearly, he was very satisfied.

However, before returning to the stronghold, he specifically instructed Golden Wing Tiger not to reveal his ability to speak to anyone other than himself, not even his apprentice Zhou Zhiying!

Before he possessed the strength to truly threaten a Nascent Soul cultivator, Zhou Chun did not want to reveal in Jing Kingdom that he had strength far exceeding that of a late-stage Golden Core cultivator, lest he attract suspicion and suppression from certain parties.

Therefore, even the fact that the Golden-Winged Tiger broke through to the fourth rank had to be kept secret as much as possible and not spread.

The same applies to the Golden Armor Mountain-Carrying Turtle Stone's breakthrough to the fourth level of cultivation.

But Zhou Mingde couldn't be kept in the dark any longer. Zhou Chun wanted to put his mind at ease, so he specially brought Golden-Winged Tiger to meet him.

After witnessing the Golden-Winged Tiger successfully break through to the fourth rank, Zhou Mingde gained more confidence in his old buddy's breakthrough.

The Vulcan Jackal's foundation wasn't actually that bad; it's just that breaking through to the fourth rank under normal circumstances depended heavily on luck.

With the aid of such a rare and precious item as "Emperor's Dew," the probability of a successful breakthrough is actually not low.

Sure enough, half a year after the Golden-Winged Tiger successfully broke through, the Fire God Jackal also successfully broke through to the fourth rank on Earth Cloud Ridge!

It is said that at that time, the sky above Tuyunling was ablaze with fiery clouds, and it almost caused a major fire on the mountain.

This is the second fourth-tier demon beast to successfully break through to the fourth tier in Tu Yun Ridge, following Lei Jiao Bai Bai.

This event greatly boosted the morale of the Zhou family cultivators, especially those who were dedicated to cultivating spirit pets, who now had even more confidence in their future path.

If Zhou Chun's Thunder Dragon was able to break through, it was because of its superior quality, which was difficult for others to imitate.

Therefore, the Fire God Jackal's breakthrough to the fourth rank is a successful example that many Zhou family cultivators can emulate and follow.

After all, Zhou Mingde's general process of raising this spirit pet had long been written down and placed in the family's library, which could be read and viewed by any core member of the family.

Originally, the Fire God Jackal had the bloodline of a mid-level demon beast. He found a corresponding spiritual object to help him break through to the next level, based on the experience and insights summarized by his family's senior cultivators.

Now that he has trained the Vulcan Jackal to the fourth rank, he has verified the correctness of this path, which greatly boosts the morale of the family!

With the addition of Lei Jiao Bai Bai and a fourth-tier Fire God Jackal, the Zhou family's reputation as a family of beast tamers was thus firmly established.

Anyone who says that the Zhou family's title of "Beast Taming Family" is undeserved is simply spreading rumors and slander.

This is also an important reason why Zhou Mingde chose to let the Vulcan Jackal break through at Tuyunling.

Because he did not conceal the news, Zhou Mingde quickly received congratulations from various forces. He even held a special breakthrough celebration for the Fire God Jackal, openly displaying this fourth-tier demon beast.

Unlike Zhou Chun, he was a Golden Core cultivator in the early stage with no future prospects. Even if he raised a fourth-tier spirit pet, he would not arouse any fear.

At the same time, the Fire God Jackal's own strength is mediocre. Even if it breaks through to the fourth level, its strength is only equivalent to that of an ordinary early Golden Core cultivator. It cannot produce dragon blood spiritual objects or cultivate dragon blood demon beasts like the Thunder Flood Dragon. It is not enough to make some major forces wary.

Zhou Chun also attended the celebration and confirmed that the Fire God Jackal did not have the same fortuitous opportunity as the Golden-Winged Tiger to successfully refine the Horizontal Bone and speak human language.

This shows that even with the same opportunities, differences in one's own background can still lead to differences in the final results.

Zhou Chun originally intended to go to the Great Zhou Kingdom to find Luo Qingni to refine pills after attending the breakthrough celebration of the Fire God Jackal.

But to his surprise, on the very day the celebration ended, Xu Fu from the wilderness sent him an urgent message.

After reading the intelligence, Zhou Chun had no choice but to temporarily abandon his plan to go to the Great Zhou Kingdom and immediately returned to the wilderness.

"What exactly happened? How did the Dragon Rising Valley stronghold suddenly get exposed?"

Inside the Caiyu Mountain stronghold, Zhou Chun rushed back and immediately summoned Xu Fu, the person in charge, to inquire about the situation.

It turned out that the urgent intelligence he had received earlier was about the Zhou family's first settlement in the wilderness being attacked by a horde of monsters.

According to intelligence, the Dragon Rising Valley stronghold was suddenly discovered by demonic beasts for some unknown reason, attracting several third-tier demonic beasts and a large number of first-tier and second-tier demonic beasts to attack!

The Zhou family has been secretly cultivating the wilderness for one or two hundred years, and this is the first time they have encountered such a thing, which cannot be ignored.

Zhou Chun naturally rushed over to find out what was going on.

Faced with his question, Xu Fu replied in a low voice with a grim expression, "This junior does not yet know why Dragon Rising Valley was exposed. All I know is that the stronghold has fallen, and all the cultivators inside have disappeared without a trace. I guess, I guess..."

He didn't say what he was guessing, but Zhou Chun understood.

This desolate land is the domain of demonic beasts. Now that Dragon Rising Valley has been exposed and trampled flat by demonic beasts, the fate of those Zhou family cultivators will certainly not be good.

But now is not the time to discuss this matter, nor is it the time to blame Xu Fu.

Zhou Chun quickly followed up with a serious expression, asking, "What's the situation in other places now?"

"There's also been no news about a silver sandstone vein near Dragon Rising Valley, but we can still contact the other veins!"

Xu Fu quickly explained the situation in a low voice.

Hearing his answer, Zhou Chun breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he looked at him and instructed, "Immediately send messages to all areas, telling them to stay within their strongholds and mines, and not to go out again. They should patiently wait for further instructions from the family."

"Yes, I'll take care of it right away!"

Xu Fu immediately acknowledged the order and went to handle the matter.

Zhou Chun hesitated for a moment before releasing the Wood Spirit Mu Sang to scout out the situation in Dragon Rising Valley.

But before he could find out the situation in Longxing Valley through Mumei and Musang, Xu Fu came to report another matter.

"Chieftain, I have just received several more messages reporting that several mortal settlements have been attacked by hordes of demonic beasts in the past few days, resulting in countless deaths and injuries!"

Ok?

Zhou Chun's gaze sharpened as he keenly caught a crucial piece of information. He immediately fixed his eyes on Xu Fu and asked, "You just said you encountered an attack by a horde of demonic beasts? Was it a horde composed of the same type of demonic beast?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Fu replied somewhat awkwardly, "This subordinate is not clear on this either. The message was sent by some Qi Refining stage cultivators, and they did not mention this matter in detail."

"Then immediately send in skilled investigators to gather more detailed information!"

Zhou Chun issued the order in a cold tone.

"Yes, I'll take care of it right away!"

Xu Fu couldn't help but wipe his forehead with his sleeve, and hurriedly retreated.

After waiting for most of the day, it was the Wood Spirit Musang who first came over to relay its findings to Zhou Chun.

According to its reconnaissance, the Longxing Valley stronghold had indeed been completely razed, and there wasn't even a single skeleton left at the scene!

However, there are no third-tier demonic beasts there now. Only three second-tier demonic wolves and hundreds of first-tier demonic wolves are entrenched there, seemingly planning to settle down there.

However, Mu Mei Mu Sang discovered as many as five hidden third-tier demonic beasts and a fourth-tier badger demon within a radius of hundreds of miles!

Clearly, these demonic beasts are fishing, trying to lure out more human cultivators!

"It seems that these demonic beasts' sudden attack on the Dragon Rising Valley stronghold was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but rather a premeditated act!"

"Has the smooth sailing of the last hundred or two hundred years made people lose their vigilance?"

Zhou Chun muttered to himself, his mood somewhat heavy.

The loss of Dragon Rising Valley is not a major blow to the Zhou family, even though two Foundation Establishment cultivators have perished there!

However, if the monsters in the wilderness realize that there are other human cultivators in the wilderness and begin to purposefully clear out human cultivator strongholds and ambush human cultivators, then the blow to the Zhou family would be too great!

To put it extremely, the Zhou family might even have to temporarily withdraw from the wilderness to avoid being tracked down and their stronghold attacked.

"I hope it won't come to that!"

Zhou Chun sighed and sent Mu Mei and Mu Sang away again, instructing them to continue scouting around the Caiyu Mountain stronghold to see if there were any unusual occurrences there as well.

Since those monsters were able to discover Dragon Rising Valley, it's hard to say they won't discover Jade Mountain. We must be on guard against this!

In the following days, more and more intelligence was gathered on Zhou Chun's side, which gradually gave him a new perspective on the attack on Longxing Valley.

Based on intelligence, the attack on Dragon Rising Valley by monsters, while premeditated, was likely an unexpected disaster.

According to intelligence gathered from various sources, the number and population of demonic beasts are increasing dramatically in the vast wilderness area near Yasukuni.

Many monster species migrated from other distant regions, driven and propelled by fourth-tier monsters.

Furthermore, the number of third-tier and fourth-tier demonic beasts is also increasing significantly, and there have even been instances of different types of fourth-tier demonic beasts coexisting in a single sacred mountain.

All these signs point to one word—beast tide!

Zhou Chun had reason to suspect that the mastermind behind all this was a fifth-order demon king, and it should be the dragon clan!

Counting the time, it has been almost a hundred years since the Thunder Dragon King perished in Jing Kingdom.

The fact that a fifth-tier demon king like him perished in Jing Kingdom, and that even the legendary Golden Horned Dragon King suffered a great loss there, shows how deep this grudge has become!

Given the vengeful nature of demonic beasts, how could they not think of taking revenge!

Shortly after the destruction of the Dragon Transformation Sect, Zhou Chun discovered that many demon beast groups had migrated from the depths of the wilderness, suspecting that a beast tide might break out in the future.

Now, those demon beast clans have indeed grown stronger after more than a hundred years of development.

Now that a large number of monsters have migrated here again, leading to the exposure and destruction of Dragon Rising Valley, Zhou Chun is basically certain that a beast tide will break out in the near future.

Moreover, judging from the fact that the Jiaolong clan endured for a hundred years before launching their revenge, this beast tide will definitely be a massive one, and it remains to be seen whether the Jing Kingdom can withstand it!

Of course, those are things for the future.

Now Zhou Chun is facing a crucial decision: whether to take advantage of the fact that the Caiyushan stronghold has not yet been exposed and evacuate the relevant personnel in time!

It should be noted that after one or two hundred years of continuous development and investment, the number of cultivators in the Wilderness now under the Zhou family's control has reached several hundred!

Even though Dragon Rising Valley was destroyed and dozens of people were lost, there are still hundreds of people here.

If these people don't leave, and the Caiyushan stronghold and those smaller strongholds are all discovered, repeating the same mistake as the Longxing Valley stronghold, then the Zhou family will suffer enormous losses, absolutely crippling.

But if we withdraw people now, not to mention how to settle them down and how to ensure that they will not leak secrets after returning to Jingguo, the blow to the Zhou family's finances alone would be enormous!

It should be noted that the fiscal revenue contributed by the Wilderness Land has now reached 20-30% of the Zhou family's total fiscal revenue, and this does not include the part of trade with the Scaled Frog alien race!

If the Zhou family were to completely abandon its strongholds and mines here, its financial deficit would skyrocket, making a deficit inevitable and virtually impossible to alleviate.

The enormous consequences made Zhou Chun hesitant to make such a decision.

After pondering for a long time with a heavy expression, he summoned Xu Fu and instructed him: "In this way, for the time being, abandon the mines and strongholds that are on the same line as Longxing Valley, and have the relevant personnel secretly withdraw. I will have my spirit pets help cover for them."

Then they released the Wood Spirit and Wood Mulberry to help with the evacuation.

He then personally visited the Scaled Frog tribe and met with their high priest, Bahar.

Through his conversation with Bahar, Zhou Chun learned that the situation in the Longyuanze waters was currently relatively stable and not much different from usual.

This made him realize that the dragon clan was not fully prepared yet, and the beast tide should not break out for the next two or three years!

This secretly relieved him, knowing that he still had time to weigh the pros and cons.

He immediately instructed Bahar to monitor the waters and to notify the Zhou family promptly of any unusual activity.

Then, with a heavy heart, he returned to the Caiyushan outpost.

Several days later, after Mu Mei and Mu Sang successfully escorted the retreating cultivators back, Zhou Chun left them temporarily around the Caiyu Mountain stronghold to provide security, while he himself returned to Tu Yunling first.

Upon returning to his family, Zhou Chun immediately explained the situation to Zhou Mingde, who was waiting for news, and discussed whether to completely evacuate the wilderness.

"A complete withdrawal of personnel from that area is probably not realistic at the moment!"

"Firstly, the family doesn't have enough space to accommodate so many unfamiliar cultivators, and secondly, every extra year the family can hold out there provides an extra year of financial buffer!"

"Furthermore, the family has invested a considerable amount of resources there over the years; to abandon it all would be a huge loss!"

Inside the cave, after listening to Zhou Chun's proposal, Zhou Mingde quickly frowned and expressed his opposition.

Over the years, he has been in charge of overseeing the family in place of Zhou Chun, and he is very clear about all aspects of the family's situation. He is well aware of some serious consequences that Zhou Chun may not have considered.

After initially expressing his opposition, he quickly followed up, saying, "My opinion is to abandon some less important mineral veins and outposts, and at the same time, stop searching for resources in the wild, and increase manpower for mining the remaining mineral veins!"

"On the other hand, those clansmen with good potential, and even the family's loyal followers, can be withdrawn first to prevent them from dying there."

"Finally, the clan has begun to coordinate in advance, planning to gradually reduce unnecessary expenditures in various aspects, cut welfare and offerings to clan members, and stockpile war supplies!"

At this point, as if he had thought of something, he quickly added, "Furthermore, the family should prepare an escape route in advance, arranging for some of the younger generation to leave. In case we really can't hold on, the family will still have a chance to make a comeback!"

"What you say makes a lot of sense, so let's make the preparations as you suggest!"

Zhou Chun nodded thoughtfully and quickly agreed to his suggestions.

Ugh! This is ridiculous! I woke up this morning to find that the power was out in my neighborhood, and it didn't come back on until 7 p.m. Even though I prepared a detailed outline for today's writing during the day, with four hours of writing time, I can only manage to write 6,000 words!

(End of this chapter)