Beast Taming Immortal Clan

Chapter 715 Sudden Bad News [Please Subscribe]

Zhou Chun wanted to exchange two [Longevity Grass] for the formula of [Jiazi Longevity Pill], but Master Gu Hong disagreed.

He paid a considerable price to obtain this formula.

He was hoping that after refining the [Jiazi Longevity Pill], he could use the extra pills to restore his health.

However, when Zhou Chun took out a "Longevity Grass" that was over five thousand years old, his attitude immediately changed.

As is well known, the longer the medicinal age of the "Longevity Grass," the better the longevity pills made from it will be.

The same [Jiazi Longevity Pill] uses [Longevity Grass] that is over three thousand years old to make the pill. For someone like Zhou Chun who has never taken any longevity-extending spiritual items, the pill may extend his life by sixty years.

However, for someone like Master Gu Hong who has already consumed several longevity-promoting spiritual substances, the effect may only be around 70% or 80%.

However, if the three-thousand-year-old [Longevity Grass] is replaced with a five-thousand-year-old [Longevity Pill], the resulting [Jiazi Longevity Pill] will be several times more potent, potentially extending Zhou Chun's lifespan by seventy or eighty years.

For Master Gu Hong, it could extend his lifespan by sixty years.

Therefore, attracted by this "Longevity Grass" that is over five thousand years old, it was difficult for Master Gu Hong to disagree with Zhou Chun's conditions.

Ultimately, the two agreed that Zhou Chun would provide two "Longevity Grasses" that were over three thousand years old as practice materials for him, while the "Jiazi Longevity Pill" that he successfully refined would belong to Zhou Chun.

Then Zhou Chun exchanged a medicinal herb with an age of over five thousand years for the recipe for the Longevity Pill in his possession.

After the agreement was reached, Master Gu Hong immediately stayed at the Zhou family's residence and began to attempt to refine the [Jiazi Longevity Pill] under the supervision of Luo Qingni, a master alchemist.

By observing him refine the [Jiazi Longevity Pill], Luo Qingni could gain some experience in refining this kind of elixir in advance, comparing it with the pill formula she had already exchanged with.

When Master Gu Hong first tried to refine the elixir, despite putting in all his effort and using all his strength, he still failed.

After this failure, he did not immediately start refining a second batch of elixirs. Instead, he exchanged experiences with Luo Qingni and discussed the difficulties in refining the [Jiazi Longevity Pill].

After a series of exchanges and discussions, and several months of rest and reflection, Gu Hong Zhenren finally began refining the second batch of elixirs.

He lived up to his reputation as a master alchemist, and after eighty-one days of alchemy, he finally succeeded in refining a "Jiazi Longevity Pill".

Elixirs like the "Jiazi Longevity Pill" are rarely produced in large quantities, ranging from one to two or three pills. In many cases, this depends on both the alchemist's skill and the potency of the elixir.

Master Gu Hong was worried about failure, so he chose the most conservative method of alchemy, refining only one elixir from one set of materials, which is understandable.

"Fellow Daoist Gu Hong truly lives up to his reputation as a master of alchemy; he successfully produced the pill in just two attempts."

Inside the cave, Zhou Chun examined the [Jiazi Longevity Pill] handed over by Master Gu Hong and praised it highly with a delighted expression.

According to Luo Qingni, the difficulty of refining the [Jiazi Longevity Pill] is much higher than that of the [Number Transformation Pill], and it would be difficult for her to succeed on the first try.

The fact that Master Gu Hong was able to successfully refine this elixir after only one failure demonstrates that his alchemy skills are exceptionally high.

At this point, Master Gu Hong became humble, waving his hands repeatedly and saying, "Fellow Daoist Zhou, you flatter me. I was able to successfully extract the pill this time thanks to Fellow Daoist Luo's help. If it weren't for her guidance, I might have failed again before I could figure out the trick!"

"Of course, I have never doubted Fellow Daoist Luo's alchemy skills."

Zhou Chun nodded slightly and said with certainty.

After saying that, he looked at Master Gu Hong and asked, "So, Fellow Daoist Gu Hong, do you plan to continue refining pills here, or...?"

"I have used up all the auxiliary medicines I prepared. I need to collect new ones before I can continue refining pills. I won't bother you any longer, Fellow Daoist Zhou."

Master Gu Hong immediately shook his head, indicating his intention to leave.

Hearing his answer, Zhou Chun did not press the matter further and immediately nodded slightly, saying, "In that case, I will not keep Fellow Daoist Gu Hong any longer."

He then personally escorted Master Gu Hong out of the mountain gate.

After seeing off Master Gu Hong and returning to his cave, Zhou Chun looked at Luo Qingni, who was still there, and asked, "Qingni, if you were to make your move now, what are your chances of successfully refining the [Jiazi Longevity Pill]?"

"That's hard to say. Refining pills yourself and observing others refine pills are two different things. If I were to try it now, the chance of success on the first try might not exceed fifty percent!"

Luo Qingni shook her head slightly, choosing her words very carefully.

Zhou Chun always obeyed her every word when it came to alchemy.

Upon hearing her say that the chances were slim, Zhou Chun immediately followed her lead and said, "In that case, let's not rush to refine this pill. Let Qingni study the pill formula more and improve her pill-refining skills before we start refining it."

"That's what I think too."

Luo Qingni nodded slightly, agreeing with his statement.

At this moment, Zhou Chun seemed to remember something and suddenly looked at her and asked, "By the way, how are those transplanted [Longevity Grass] doing? Will they survive?"

The [Longevity Grass] they obtained back then were all covered in soil. Zhou Chun entrusted Luo Qingni with planting several of the spiritual herbs that were less than three thousand years old.

He had previously inquired about this matter; although the transplanted medicinal herbs had not withered, they did not seem to have fully adapted to the new environment.

He got busy with other things after that and stopped paying attention to the matter.

At this point, because he only had three [Longevity Grass] left, he remembered this matter and wanted to find out what was going on.

Upon hearing this, Luo Qingni quickly replied softly, "Three of those [Longevity Grass] withered, and now only two of the younger ones have survived. They should be able to grow normally in the future."

"It's not bad that two plants survived."

Zhou Chun nodded slightly, showing no dissatisfaction with the result.

After chatting for a while, Luo Qingni returned to her cave.

Zhou Chun then summoned Zhou Mingde to his cave dwelling.

Inside the cave, facing Zhou Mingde who had summoned him, Zhou Chun directly took out the newly made elixir and said to the family patriarch, "This [Jiazi Longevity Pill] was recently refined by Fellow Daoist Gu Hong. Elder, your remaining lifespan is not much, so please take this pill first!"

Upon hearing his words, Zhou Mingde was slightly taken aback, then repeatedly waved his hands in refusal, saying, "This is unacceptable! I cannot accept this elixir!"

He looked at Zhou Chun with a serious expression and said, "Zhengchun, I appreciate your kindness, but there's no need to waste such a treasure on me. I should have passed away long ago. Living for several hundred years is already a blessing from heaven. Living a few decades longer would be meaningless!"

"Instead of wasting these treasures on me, I'd rather exchange them for Nascent Soul artifacts, or other treasures!"

However, Zhou Chun had already guessed he would say that, and upon hearing this, he immediately shook his head and said, "Your words are completely wrong! Leaving aside the fact that those [Longevity Grasses] were obtained because of you, your significance to the family cannot be measured by cultivation level alone!"

"Over the years, you have been a pillar of the family. If you were to pass away, it would certainly be a significant blow to the younger generation, which is not a good thing in the current situation!"

"Furthermore, I still have a few [Longevity Grass] plants. I can continue to refine the [Jiazi Longevity Pill] in the future, so you don't need to worry about not having any more elixirs to take after I've used them all up."

These words warmed Zhou Mingde's heart, making him feel Zhou's heartfelt respect and filial piety.

He couldn't help but sigh, "But I will eventually die of old age! Now that you are in charge of the Zhou family, as long as nothing earth-shattering happens, there's no need to worry about any trouble. Whether I leave a few decades earlier or a few decades later, it's really the same!"

"But now that I have this ability, of course I wish for you to live for several more decades!"

Zhou Chun looked at the elder in front of her and spoke her heartfelt words.

He truly regarded Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi as family, and he had heartfelt respect and gratitude for these two elders who had helped him many times.

Therefore, within his means, he really wanted these two elders to stay with him for as long as possible, even if it was just for a few decades!

That way, when these two elders finally pass away in the future, he won't have any regrets.

"Very well! In that case, I'll accept this elixir!"

Zhou Mingde seemed to have seen through Zhou Chun's thoughts, and finally nodded slightly and accepted the elixir.

Seeing this, Zhou Chun was relieved.

In the years that followed, Zhou Chun devoted himself to cultivating supernatural powers and secret techniques behind closed doors, rarely leaving the family's mountain gate.

During the years he stayed out of worldly affairs, many promising young people emerged from the Zhou family.

That year, to celebrate Zhou Daoyi's 800th birthday, the Zhou family specially invited guests from all directions and held a grand celebration.

Such a grand celebration would naturally include some lucky draw prizes.

Zhou Daoyi, the birthday celebrant, personally contributed dozens of third-tier magic talismans and a magic treasure as prizes, attracting many Zhou family cultivators and guests to sign up for the martial arts competition.

On the arena, a white-robed youth with late Foundation Establishment cultivation first raised his hand and patted the spirit beast pouch at his waist, releasing a second-tier low-grade [Silver Lightning Dragon Turtle] demon beast and a second-tier mid-grade Golden-Winged Iron Feather Eagle.

Then he rapidly formed hand seals and cast a spell, and the Silver Lightning Dragon Turtle immediately transformed into a jade-green turtle shell imprinted with silver-white patterns and attached itself to his body under the effect of his secret technique.

At first glance, with a turtle shell on his back, he looks like a fifth-order turtle demon king in human form!

At the same time, the Golden-Winged Iron-Feathered Eagle also let out a fierce cry and soared into the air. With each flap of its wings, wind blades rained down on the white-robed youth's opponent below.

Faced with such a display of power, the black-clad elder, who also possessed late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation, hurriedly activated a gleaming golden shield magic artifact to protect himself, blocking the attacks of those wind blades.

Then, he made a hand seal and waved his sleeve, and a stream of earthy yellow sand surged out from his sleeve, transforming into a giant yellow sand python that pounced on the white-robed youth.

Looking at the surging yellow sand python, the white-robed youth smiled slightly and raised his hand to summon a water-blue magic pearl. A circle of blue and white water light spread out from the pearl, rushing towards the yellow sand python like shimmering waves.

Surprisingly, the seemingly gentle water ripples possess an unexpected resilience.

The giant yellow sand python lunged forward like a mud dragon, each time pushing against the waves for dozens of feet.

However, whenever it gets close to the aquamarine jewel, it is pushed back by the water light.

After being pulled and tugged repeatedly, the giant sand python finally collapsed from exhaustion.

At this moment, the Golden-Winged Iron Feathered Eagle in the sky swooped down, its claws flashing with golden light as it fiercely struck the golden shield, causing the magical artifact to shake violently.

Upon seeing this, the old man in black immediately increased his magical output to maintain the stability of the shield, while simultaneously urging a crimson-gold axe to fly towards the young man in white.

The flying axe pierced through the air and quickly broke through the water barrier set up by the young man in white.

However, the young man in white showed no panic whatsoever, calmly allowing the sword to strike him.

Instantly, a clear metallic clang rang out, and the crimson-gold flying axe was flung away as if it had hit an iron wall.

The white-robed youth, who had blocked the attack with his spirit tortoise armor, quickly made hand seals and summoned a water dragon to pounce on the black-robed elder.

Under the combined attack of him and the Golden-Winged Iron-Feathered Eagle, the old man in black could not hold out for long before he had to admit defeat due to excessive consumption of his magical power.

"Zhou Baichuan wins!"

Outside the arena, Zhou Yuanxin, who had already reached the early stage of the Purple Mansion realm, calmly announced the results of the competition.

He was not surprised by the result.

Because Zhou Baichuan on the arena is the most outstanding junior among the "Bai" generation of the Zhou family. He not only has the aptitude of a high-grade spiritual root with water and wood attributes, but also has extremely high talent in magic cultivation. Less than ten years after entering the late stage of Foundation Establishment, he can already cast second-grade high-grade spells in battle!

For example, the "Mysterious Spirit Beast Armor" secret technique, even Zhou Yuanxin, a dignified cultivator at the Purple Mansion stage, is still not proficient in using it, yet he can already flexibly execute it.

With such talent, this young man will almost certainly be eligible to exchange for spiritual items that help open up the Purple Mansion when the next family special meeting is held.

Besides Zhou Baichuan, who is skilled in combat, the Zhou family has also produced Zhou Futong, a descendant with outstanding talent in formations, and Zhou Fule, whose talent in alchemy has been recognized by the alchemy master Luo Qingni, who has taken him in as an alchemy apprentice.

The emergence of these exceptionally talented younger generations demonstrates that the Zhou family is currently enjoying great fortune and is still in a period of growth.

Thus, amidst the lively celebrations, Zhou Daoyi's 800th birthday came to an end.

The only regret is that Zhou Chun, the head of the Zhou family, was unable to attend the grand ceremony because he was at a critical stage in cultivating the secret technique.

However, less than six months after the grand ceremony ended, Zhou Chun was forcibly pulled out of seclusion by an urgent message from Zhou Daoyi.

"What?! Xiao Lian's spirit tablet is broken!"

Inside the secret room, Zhou Chun looked at the urgent message Zhou Daoyi had sent him, his expression suddenly changed, and he abruptly stood up.

(End of this chapter)