Beast Taming Immortal Clan

Chapter 624 Twelve Fourth-Order Demon Cores [Please Subscribe]

Just as Zhou Chun had predicted, Zhou Mingde was extremely excited and overjoyed upon learning that the Zhou family was likely to take control of the Qinglian Mountain Range.

He didn't have high hopes for this, because he knew how difficult it would be to accomplish!

Unexpectedly, Zhou Chun actually managed to accomplish this!

"Heaven truly blesses the Zhou family! Heaven truly blesses the Zhou family!!"

"It seems that this beast tide not only didn't cause our Zhou family much loss, but it also became an opportunity for our Zhou family to advance further!"

"Isn't this a blessing from heaven!"

Zhou Mingde spoke excitedly and joyfully, laughing heartily.

When he was forced to abandon Tuyunling and Jiufengling and retreat northward, he was filled with grief and heartache, feeling that the Zhou family's efforts over the past hundreds of years on these two sacred mountains and blessed lands had been destroyed in an instant.

In addition, many clansmen and their descendants died in the fight against the beast tide, which further weakened the clan's strength.

This left him feeling depressed and worried about the future of the Zhou family.

But now that they have learned that the Zhou family is likely to take control of the Qinglian Mountains, all their grief and worries have vanished.

Compared to the rich and vast Qinglian Mountains, what are the mere two sacred mountains and blessed lands of Tuyun Ridge and Jiufeng Ridge?

As long as the Zhou family can manage the Qinglian Mountains, this blessed land, well, their future is limitless.

"Yes, they say you can't catch a wolf without risking your cub. Now it seems our decision to retreat and abandon Tuyunling was absolutely correct and effective!"

Zhou Chun nodded with a sigh, her heart still unsettled.

The Qinglian Mountains, such a blessed and sacred place, are indeed extremely important.

The Zhou family's ability to take over the Qinglian Mountain Range means they will no longer have to worry about space, and the cultivation speed of their clansmen will also benefit from the spiritual vein's amplification effect, resulting in a significant improvement for all of them.

The Qinglian Mountain Range, stretching for thousands of miles, will become a pasture for the Zhou family to graze their spirit beasts, bringing the advantages of the Zhou family's inherited beast-taming skills to the extreme!

Even when Zhou Chun eventually forms his nascent soul and reaches the Nascent Soul stage, the presence of such spiritual mountains and blessed lands will provide some slight enhancement.

That's why he was so eager to take control of the Azure Lotus Mountain Range.

"Although this matter is almost certain and there shouldn't be any major problems, it's best not to mention it to other members of the clan for the sake of secrecy."

"Moreover, the condition for Master Tianjing's willingness to help is the extermination of the Qinglian Sect's lineage. Our Zhou family should also keep a close eye on the news of those remnants of the Qinglian Sect, and take advantage of the current chaos to eliminate them!"

After calming himself down, Zhou Chunping spoke his thoughts in a deep voice.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Mingde immediately nodded and replied, "Zhengchun, you're right. The sooner this matter is resolved, the better. I will immediately mobilize the family's intelligence network to search for the remnants of the Qinglian Temple!"

After spending half a day at the Su Family Mountain Gate, Zhou Chun set off for the Qinglian Mountain Range.

Although Master Tianjing said the war would not continue, there was still no official order. If Zhou Chun left the base for an extended period of time, it would easily become a target of gossip.

Especially since it's still uncertain whether the Yan Yang Sect will agree to the Moon Wheel Sect's proposal, Zhou Chun doesn't want to give them an excuse to oppose it!

After Zhou Chun returned to the Qinglian Mountains, he immediately informed Tianjing Zhenren of his experiences in the Moon Wheel Sect.

After listening to his account, Master Tianjing nodded in satisfaction and said, "Since the Moon Wheel Sect is willing to express its support, then this matter should be almost settled. Young friend Zhou, you can now consider how to manage the Azure Lotus Mountain Range."

"I hope so!"

Zhou Chun sighed softly, then said in a low voice, "I have already mobilized the resources of my family to search for the remnants of the Qinglian Sect. Once we find them and receive good news from the Yuelun Sect, I will personally fulfill my promise to you, senior!"

To his surprise, Master Tianjing did not show any joy upon hearing his words. Instead, he looked at him and said, "Young friend Zhou, you are kind, but there is no need to rush this matter. Now is not the right time to do it."

"Why is that?"

Zhou Chun was slightly taken aback and looked at the other person with a puzzled expression.

But then Master Tianjing said in a slightly cold tone, "Old Ghost Qingxiao had an agreement with the Moon Wheel Sect and the Flame Sun Sect that after his death, neither sect could attack the Green Lotus Temple, and they would take care of the Green Lotus Temple for two hundred years!"

"Both factions were in dire straits during this beast tide, which is why they were unable to protect Qinglian Temple as promised. If Qinglian Temple comes to them for help afterward, they will definitely protect it to some extent."

"However, Old Ghost Qingxiao has been dead for many years, and more than half of the two-hundred-year period has passed. When the time is right, young friend Zhou, you can make your move without any problem!"

This was the first time Zhou Chun had heard of this, and he was quite surprised.

However, this also explains why the Moon Wheel Sect did not truly fulfill its responsibilities as sect leader when the Green Lotus Temple openly targeted the Zhou family.

After his initial surprise, he said with a look of relief, "I see! Fortunately, you reminded me, otherwise I would have almost made a grave mistake!"

"Since I have chosen you and the Zhou family as my partners, I will naturally not allow anything to happen to you."

Master Tianjing gave a pointed reply, and then ended the conversation with Zhou Chun.

In the days that followed, Zhou Chun traveled around the Qinglian Mountains, exploring the spiritual mountains in various places. He also participated in some exchange meetings between Golden Core cultivators, exchanging treasures with each other.

After waiting for nearly three months, the order to disband the Allied forces was finally officially issued.

With this order issued, reinforcements from various countries were the first to retreat.

Only the two major local powers of Jingguo, the Moon Wheel Sect and the Flame Sun Sect, jointly dispatched hundreds of disciples to form a patrol team to inspect the border with Yunzhou and prevent large-scale beast herds from crossing the border.

At the same time, the "Dragon Court Warriors" within Yunzhou also retreated back to Dragon Abyss Marsh along the river, leaving behind only the beast hordes that had invaded with the beast tide.

However, many fourth-tier demonic beasts stayed behind and did not retreat to the wilderness.

Furthermore, the fifth-tier demon kings also did not completely withdraw from Yunzhou.

It is obvious that for a long time to come, Yunzhou will likely become a demon realm.

For the cultivation world of Jingguo, losing Yunzhou meant not only losing a rich territory, but also losing a strategically important area.

Previously, with Yunzhou in front, the surrounding states were safe.

Now that Yunzhou has become a demon realm, the demonic beasts within can spread to neighboring states at any time.

If another massive beast tide were to erupt from Yunzhou, the entire Jing Kingdom could fall within days!

Zhou Chun did not believe that the Moon Wheel Sect and the Flame Sun Sect could not see this.

But since they knew this, they still failed to recover Yunzhou, which means there must be some unknown inside story.

Therefore, I can only stop thinking about things that are beyond my control.

After the war was over, he first returned to the Su family in Jiangzhou to bring his clansmen back to Tuyunling and Jiufengling to begin reconstruction work.

Regardless of whether the Zhou family ultimately succeeds in taking control of the Qinglian Mountains, these two sacred mountains and blessed lands will not be lost, and manpower and resources can still be invested in their reconstruction.

Almost all the surviving cultivation families throughout the Jing Kingdom did the same thing: they immediately returned to their ancestral homes and began rebuilding their mountain gates.

However, after this war, the various cultivation families suffered heavy losses in the places that were conquered or attacked by the beast tide, with many families and clans being destroyed.

Many sacred mountains and blessed lands will soon have new owners!

"Have you tallied up the family's losses from this beast tide? What's the situation?"

On Tuyun Ridge, Zhou Chun looked at the clansmen who were rebuilding various buildings in the mountains, and asked Zhou Mingde in a low voice about the extent of the clan's losses.

Since the outbreak of the beast tide, he has been busy traveling around and killing monsters, and has not paid much attention to the situation of his clansmen and their descendants.

But the disappearance of some faces made him realize that the Zhou family's losses were probably not small.

Sure enough, after hearing his words, Zhou Mingde sighed softly and said, "The family's loss is not small, it can even be said to be huge!"

"Although we knew about the beast tide several years in advance and made various preparations, the intensity of this beast tide is undoubtedly much stronger than we expected."

"In this war, although no elders or high-ranking members of the clan were killed, Zheng Yong and his son were both seriously injured, and as many as seven Foundation Establishment stage clan members perished!"

"As for the fallen Qi Refining stage cultivators of the family, including some relatives of the family, the number is approaching three hundred!"

"Leaving aside the other losses of property, the family's gains this time are more than enough to offset, and even far exceed, those losses!"

Zhou Chun's expression changed slightly, and she asked in surprise, "The losses are that severe?"

Then he shook his head and said with a wry smile, "It seems the family will have to strongly encourage its members to marry and have children again from now on!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Mingde immediately replied in a heavy tone, "Encouraging clansmen to reproduce is absolutely necessary, because the greater losses this time were suffered by the mortal clansmen!"

"Originally, our clan had hundreds of thousands of mortal members, but yesterday I learned from clansmen who went to investigate that almost all the underground shelters where the clan's mortals were hiding were discovered and dug up by the demonic beasts, and more than 80% of the mortals died in this beast tide!"

"Therefore, not only does the number of cultivators in the family urgently need to be replenished, but the number of mortals also needs to be restored as soon as possible!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chun remained silent for a long while.

Indeed, although the number of cultivators who perished in the Jing Kingdom's cultivation world during this beast tide invasion was large, it was not the most tragic.

The most miserable are the ordinary people!

Places like Yunzhou, Lanzhou, and Lianzhou originally had tens of millions of ordinary people.

However, during the beast tide, any large settlements inhabited by mortals were basically turned into dining tables by the monsters.

Of the ordinary people who managed to survive, it was less than one in ten!

For miles around, not a rooster crows, and white bones lie exposed in the wilderness—this is the current state of Lingzhou and other places.

Zhou Chun didn't dwell on the topic any further and immediately went to visit Zhou Zhengyong and his son.

During their previous battle, the father and son encountered a third-tier high-grade demon beast that self-destructed its demon core. If they hadn't had enough protective magic artifacts and talismans, they would have been taken down with it!

Even so, both of them suffered serious internal injuries.

After checking on the father and son and confirming that their injuries were not serious, Zhou Chun returned to his residence and took stock of his gains.

Zhou Chun clearly reaped huge rewards from this beast tide.

In the midst of the beast tide, he single-handedly killed more than ten fourth-tier demonic beasts, and now he has as many as twelve fourth-tier demonic cores in his possession.

Among these twelve demon cores, there are two high-grade fourth-tier demon cores, from the Golden Unicorn and the Azure-Eyed Golden Ape.

There are also four mid-grade fourth-tier demon cores, which came from the Blue Dragon, Armadillo Demon Beast, and Three-Legged Thunder Gull that were killed, as well as another fire-attribute demon core obtained by exchanging a water-attribute demon core.

After Zhou Chun's replacement, these twelve demon cores can be directly refined and consumed by his spirit pets to enhance their cultivation.

Among them are three metal-attribute demon cores, two of which are of the upper grade of the fourth rank and one of the lower grade of the fourth rank.

There are two earth-attribute demon cores, one of mid-grade fourth rank and one of low-grade fourth rank.

There are two wind-attribute demon cores, both of which are of the fourth rank and low grade.

There are two fire-attribute demon cores, one of medium grade fourth rank and one of low grade fourth rank.

There are two lightning-attribute demon cores, one mid-grade fourth rank and one low-grade fourth rank.

One water-attribute demon core, from a mid-grade fourth-tier blue dragon.

Besides these fourth-tier demon cores, Zhou Chun also has as many as twenty-three third-tier demon cores in his personal storage bag, all accumulated from casually killing some third-tier demon beasts.

With demon cores, there will naturally be no shortage of demon beast corpses.

Although Zhou Chun had several demon cores obtained through collaborations with others to kill fourth-tier demon beasts, he now possessed as many as seven fourth-tier demon beast corpses, including the corpse of a high-grade fourth-tier demon beast, the Golden Unicorn, and the corpse of a mid-grade fourth-tier blue dragon.

These monster corpses are also valuable spiritual materials.

However, too many demonic beasts perished in this beast tide. It is feared that the price of demonic beast materials in the Tianling Kingdom will drop for a long time to come, and may even spread to the regions of the Great Zhou Kingdom.

Fortunately, compared to materials from low- and mid-level demonic beasts, materials from fourth-tier demonic beasts are easier to preserve for a long time, so Zhou Chun was not in a hurry to make a move.

After taking stock of his gains during the beast tide, Zhou Chun fed each of his four spirit pets, except for Mu Mei and Mu Sang, a low-grade fourth-tier demon core as a reward for their contributions in the war.

As for the Wood Spirit Wood Mulberry, replacing its core with a wood-attribute demon core would be too wasteful. Zhou Chun planned to make up for it after his disciple Zhou Zhiying became the master of that secret island.

Just as the Zhou family began rebuilding the two spiritual sites of Tuyun Ridge and Jiufeng Ridge, the Moon Wheel Sect and the Flame Sun Sect were also negotiating and discussing the ownership of the Azure Lotus Mountain Range.

After the Zhou family had almost finished repairing all the damaged buildings and setting up the purification array, good news finally came from the Moon Wheel Sect.

The Yan Yang Sect agreed to the Moon Wheel Sect's proposal to allow the Zhou family to take control of the Qinglian Mountain Range, but also put forward new conditions.

That is, the Zhou family will no longer be a vassal of the Moon Wheel Sect, but must become an independent third-party force, and must no longer have any subordinate relationship with the Moon Wheel Sect, and will also accept their sending people to the Green Lotus Mountains for supervision.

At the same time, the Zhou family was also required to assume some of the social responsibilities previously undertaken by the Qinglian Temple, and to provide a certain number of Foundation Establishment Pills every ten years to benefit the rogue cultivators in the cultivation world of the several states under its jurisdiction.

These two new conditions have both advantages and disadvantages for the Zhou family.

The advantage is that since the vassal relationship with the Moon Wheel Cult has been nominally severed, there will be fewer constraints on what we do in the future.

The downside is that it's no longer good to use the Moon Wheel Cult's name to intimidate other major powers.

However, considering that Master Tianjing would be residing in the Qinglian Mountains in the future, Zhou Chun believed that this disadvantage was still acceptable.

As for the matter of using Foundation Establishment Pills to benefit the rogue cultivators under its jurisdiction, it can only be considered a minor issue. For the Zhou family now, it is not a big deal at all.

On the contrary, with the matter of taking over the Qinglian Mountain Range settled, a very real problem was placed in front of him.

How should the Zhou family manage this blessed land?

Who should be asked to set up the mountain-protecting formation?

The former can be planned slowly, but the latter is an urgent matter!

After all, even with a Nascent Soul stage cultivator in charge, a blessed land without a protective mountain formation cannot inspire confidence.

Even a low-level monster could easily get inside and cause trouble.

Therefore, after learning that he could take control of the Qinglian Mountain Range, Zhou Chun breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, he had to immediately consider this issue.

"We now have two options. One is to ask the array masters from the Moon Wheel Sect and the Flame Sun Sect to help us build a protective array for our mountain. They certainly won't refuse. But if we do that, it means they'll know all the details of our family's protective array!"

"The second option is to invite a formation master from a distant land to set up a protective formation for the mountain!"

On Tuyun Ridge, after some thought, Zhou Chun shared his views with Zhou Mingde.

After hearing his words, Zhou Mingde pondered for a moment, then looked at him firmly and said, "Let's choose the second option. The mountain-protecting formation is of utmost importance. Even if it might cause disagreements between the two factions, we can't dig a hole for ourselves!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chun immediately nodded and said, "This junior also prefers the second option. If that's the case, then this junior will have to make a trip to the Great Zhou Kingdom, where it's easier to find a formation master capable of setting up a forbidden grand formation!"

"Sure, since the fighting has subsided now, you don't need to do much for the reconstruction. You can go over there and inform Dao Yi to bring back the clansmen who were previously sent out!"

Zhou Mingde continued, "Furthermore, Zheng Chun, if you go to the Great Zhou Kingdom, you can purchase more pills to enhance the cultivation of Qi Refining stage cultivators. If we want to complete the construction of the Azure Lotus Mountain Range as quickly as possible, we will definitely need to recruit a large number of rogue cultivators to help us. These things are the most attractive form of hard currency!"

"I understand. Then I will go and see Senior Tianjing first, and then head directly to the Great Zhou Kingdom."

As Zhou Chun spoke, he immediately set off for the Qinglian Mountains.

This temperature drop is really sudden! But after watching today's game, my heart is even colder!

(End of this chapter)