Beast Taming Immortal Clan

Chapter 724 Hongyu Passes Away [Please Subscribe]

Qinglian Peak.

That day, Zhou Chun, who was meditating and practicing his Qi in his cave, suddenly opened his eyes and a look of joy appeared on his face.

"Did you finally succeed?"

He muttered to himself, his attention immediately falling on his avatar in the far-off wilderness.

Suddenly, a powerful burst of extreme cold erupted from the ice cave where the avatar was located, accompanied by a deafening croaking of a frog.

It turned out that the third-tier superior-grade [Ice Moon Toad] that had swallowed the [Moon Gazing Ice Toad] demon core had finally successfully digested the fourth-tier mid-grade demon core and advanced to become a fourth-tier demon beast.

The monster's breakthrough to the fourth rank caused quite a stir, but because it was located deep underground in an ice cave, a place that Zhou Chun had cultivated for many years and was covered by layers of arrays and restrictions, there was no movement on the surface.

However, some of the Frostbees kept here were affected and all of them flew out of their nests, forming a cloud of insects to guard the area beneath the giant millennium-old jade.

Meanwhile, in an ice chamber not far away, four six-winged ice silkworms that had molted from their cocoons remained completely unaffected and made no sound whatsoever.

Zhou Chun was now sitting outside the ice chamber where the Ice Moon Toad was sleeping.

Zhou Chun didn't mention signing a contract or anything about the two Ice Moon Toads that the Ice Prison Gate sent him.

Because he only needs their essence and blood to cultivate secret techniques and supernatural powers, he doesn't have much need for other aspects.

However, these Ice Moon Toads have been raised by the Flying Snow Palace for thousands of years and have long since become aware of human nature. Relatively speaking, they are not as wild and untamed as those wild monsters.

Zhou Chun's incarnation was made from snow spirits, which naturally made them feel close to and fearful of him, and dare not disobey his commands.

However, all of that is based on the premise that the [Ice Moon Toad] only has the cultivation level of a third-tier demon beast.

Whether this fourth-tier [Ice Moon Toad] will still be so obedient is hard to say.

Therefore, once he realized that the aura of the demonic beasts inside had subsided and stabilized, Zhou Chun immediately opened the door to the ice chamber.

Whoosh!

As soon as the door to the ice chamber opened, a beam of white ice light shot straight towards Zhou Chun, giving him a real shock.

Fortunately, he was prepared for this.

He immediately opened his mouth and spat out a stream of the same white, icy air, which struck the white icy light like a sharp arrow, instantly shattering and dispersing it.

Without even checking on the Ice Moon Toad inside, he transformed into a one-horned white snake and plunged into the ice chamber.

A moment later, Zhou Chun, transformed into a one-horned white snake, tightly coiled around the Ice Moon Toad, which was brimming with confidence after its advancement, and made it behave itself again.

After subduing the newly evolved Ice Moon Toad, Zhou Chun slowly and carefully examined the monster.

After advancing to the fourth rank, the [Ice Moon Toad] already bore a striking resemblance to its original form, the "Taiyin Moon Toad," and its size had also increased considerably.

Judging from the exchange just now, its strength is quite good among fourth-tier low-grade demonic beasts, and it can be ranked in the upper-middle range.

Unfortunately, Zhou Chun already has four fifth-tier demon king spirit pets, so of course he wouldn't look down on this newly promoted fourth-tier low-grade demon beast.

After examining him for a while, he unceremoniously took some of his essence blood from his body, then threw down a few pills to restore his vitality before temporarily leaving the ice cave.

Soon after, the essence blood of those fourth-tier [Ice Moon Toads] was delivered to Zhou Chun's main body through the Zhou family cultivators at the Caiyu Mountain stronghold.

He immediately used this essence and blood as materials to cultivate the secret technique of "Nine Transformations of the Holy Spirit: Moon Toad Chapter".

The results showed that the effect was slightly better than the fourth-tier [Ice Moon Toad] essence blood he had previously exchanged from the Flying Snow Palace.

This made his face darken, and he couldn't help but sneer, "Hmph, the people from Flying Snow Palace are indeed no good either. The essence blood they gave me back then was actually substandard!"

Upon realizing this, the slight remorse he felt for forcing the Ice Prison Gate to steal the [Ice Moon Toad] vanished completely.

However, since the [Ice Moon Toad] has just advanced to the fourth rank, it's not advisable to frequently extract its blood. Zhou Chun's chances of mastering the "Nine Transformations of the Holy Spirit - Moon Toad Chapter" to the highest level in the short term are definitely slim.

Ideally, the remaining mid-grade third-tier [Ice Moon Toad] should also be trained to the fourth tier, with the two taking turns to draw blood. This would greatly shorten the time required to master the secret technique.

And it seems that this matter is not particularly difficult at present.

Thanks to the increased ability of the mulberry tree to accelerate the ripening of spiritual herbs, and the fact that they had previously obtained some pill formulas suitable for demonic beasts from the Yuling Sect and Yuling Clan, the Zhou family now has more than just the [Ancient Dust Pill] suitable for third-tier demonic beasts.

If Zhou Chunru has any needs, these pills will naturally be supplied to him first.

Perhaps the only troublesome part is how to advance the Tier 3 superior-grade [Ice Moon Toad] to Tier 4.

After all, he didn't have a second mid-grade fourth-tier demonic beast core, the Moon-Gazing Ice Toad.

But there is a solution.

Don't forget, the Golden-Winged Tiger hasn't yet undergone the Heavenly Tribulation.

If he successfully survives the Heavenly Tribulation, Zhou Chun can use some "Emperor's Essence" to feed the Ice Moon Toad, thus giving it a helping hand.

Zhou Chun had planned this all along and was confident of success.

However, his good mood, which was due to the advancement of the Ice Moon Toad to a fourth-tier demon beast, was soon overshadowed by another heavy matter.

Lin Hongyu is dying!

Yes, this elder, who was once the first Golden Core cultivator in the Zhou family, is now nearing the end of his life.

As a former protector of the Hualong Sect, Lin Hongyu was older than Zhou Mingde.

Her Zhou Daoyi had just celebrated his 800th birthday a few years ago, but she had actually lived to be over 900 years old long ago!

For nearly a century, she has deliberately reduced her public appearances, seemingly to downplay her influence within the Zhou family.

Because Zhou Daoyi had to take care of family affairs, she often traveled alone to experience the various aspects of life.

In the last two or three decades, she has moved to Tuyunling to live alone, raising flowers and birds and enjoying the rest of her life in peace.

Now that her lifespan is coming to an end, she informed her family of the news a year or two in advance.

After learning about this, Zhou Chun's mood inevitably became much heavier.

It wasn't that he had a particularly deep relationship with Lin Hongyu, but rather that he could see the future of his two closest elders, Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi, in Lin Hongyu's present situation!

Zhou Mingde was less than a hundred years younger than Lin Hongyu. Since Lin Hongyu was about to leave, it meant that his lifespan was also running out.

Even if Zhou Chun had given him a "Longevity Pill" before, it would only extend his life by sixty years at most.

At that time, he and Zhou Daoyi may both pass away one after the other within a few decades!

Although birth, aging, sickness and death are things that no one who cannot truly live forever can avoid, Zhou Chun had long since experienced the passing of his relatives and friends.

But whenever he thought about how his two closest elders might have passed away one after the other within a hundred years, he couldn't shake off his bad mood.

Many low-level cultivators, and even ordinary people, have a misconception.

They believed that high-level cultivators, having lived for hundreds or even thousands of years, had seen and experienced countless life-and-death situations, and thus had become indifferent to emotions and even to life and death.

actually not.

As a Nascent Soul cultivator, Zhou Chun naturally takes a very detached view of the lives and deaths of unrelated outsiders, or even ordinary family descendants.

After all, he wasn't very familiar with these people. Even if he had interacted with them before, it was only out of respect for the younger generation, and there was no personal feeling involved.

However, if it is a close friend or relative with whom they have a very deep connection and have built a profound bond over hundreds of years, then they are actually just like ordinary people when faced with the death of a close friend or relative, and may even be more emotional.

To take life and death lightly is simply to not care!

Even a Nascent Soul cultivator or a Divine Transformation cultivator would feel heartbroken and shed tears for the life and death of someone they care about, or the safety of someone they cherish!

In some ways, the emotional desires of cultivators are actually much stronger than those of ordinary people, and high-level cultivators are much stronger than low-level cultivators!

"Grand-aunt, do you have any unfulfilled wishes? If so, please feel free to speak up. As long as it is within our power, the Zhou family will do our utmost to fulfill them for you!"

On Tuyun Ridge, Zhou Chun, who had come to visit Lin Hongyu, an elder, also expressed his sincere greetings.

At this moment, Lin Hongyu was already old and wrinkled, with a face full of wrinkles and a very poor complexion.

However, her mental state was very good; her eyes were not cloudy or dull, and her consciousness was very clear.

After hearing Zhou Chun's words, she simply shook her head slightly and said, "What last wish could I possibly have? To have lived to be over nine hundred years old, to have witnessed the vastness of the entire cultivation world, to have personally seen Nascent Soul stage cultivators and fifth-order demon kings attain enlightenment, and to have received your respect and care—I have already lived a more exciting life than most Golden Core stage cultivators. It has all been worthwhile!"

At this point, she looked at Zhou Chun with deep emotion and said, "When I first met you, Zheng Chun, I absolutely could not have imagined that the little Qi Refining cultivator would become a Nascent Soul cultivator revered by all cultivators!"

As she spoke, a smile appeared on her face as she whispered to Zhou Daoyi, who was beside her, "To be able to form a connection with the Zhou family in this life is my greatest opportunity and blessing, and also the most correct decision I have ever made!"

Finally, she nodded slightly to Zhou Chun and said, "If I truly have any last wish, it is that the Zhou family will prosper and that you, Zheng Chun, will have a smooth path in your cultivation, reach new heights, and truly ascend to the pinnacle of the realm!"

"Yu'er, you..."

Zhou Daoyi, whose hair was also completely white, couldn't help but reach out and hold his wife's hand, deeply moved by her heartfelt words.

Their union could be described as a tragic one, fraught with hardship.

But after weathering storms and hardships together for hundreds of years, their feelings for each other have only deepened. They have long since opened their hearts to each other and accepted one another.

Now, seeing his Daoist companion of hundreds of years about to pass away peacefully, and hearing his heartfelt words of gratitude, how could Zhou Daoyi not be moved and shed tears!

Seeing this, Zhou Chun silently left the cave.

For the next two years, Zhou Daoyi also put aside family affairs and devoted himself to accompanying his wife through the last stage of her life.

Family affairs were entrusted to Elder Zhou Xinyan for management.

After years of reflection, or rather, after some harsh treatment, Zhou Xinyan has come to realize some realities and is no longer as full of confidence as he was when he first successfully formed his core, believing that his future was bright.

His talent and aptitude could be said to have been fully realized after he successfully formed his core.

The Zhou family already had relatively few resources available for Golden Core cultivators to improve their cultivation, and they also had competition from Zhou Zhiying and Xu Fu, father and daughter, and later Zhou Zhigan joined the fray.

This means he can no longer expect to receive usable spiritual items and pills from his family from time to time to improve his cultivation, just like when he was at the Purple Mansion stage.

On the other hand, after traveling and seeing the vast world outside, he realized that his talent, aptitude, cultivation techniques, and supernatural abilities were only at the normal level of a Golden Core cultivator in a major power, and he had nothing particularly outstanding about him.

In reality, a Golden Core cultivator like him might not even be able to reach the late Golden Core stage, let alone the Core Formation and Nascent Soul stage.

Furthermore, he has a fatal flaw: the "Jia Mu Xuan Gong" he cultivates will cause a "wood transformation" tribulation at the Golden Core stage.

This "wooden transformation" tribulation usually occurs in the middle or late stages of the Golden Core realm. Once it occurs, it is difficult to overcome on one's own and requires the help of an elder with higher cultivation.

So in recent years, after returning to the family, he quietly began to devote his energy to the family's internal affairs, helping Zhou Daoyi with a lot of things.

Zhou Chun didn't hold it against him, only telling him to learn from Zhou Daoyi and that he would naturally help him if he ever encountered any difficulties in the future.

After all, the Zhou family did need someone capable of handling things after Zhou Daoyi to succeed him.

Neither Zhou Zhiying, nor Xu Fu, nor Zhou Zhigan were clearly suitable candidates.

Sunrise and sunset, moonrise and sunset, two years have passed in the blink of an eye.

On a rainy night, Lin Hongyu passed away peacefully.

In accordance with her personal wishes, the Zhou family did not hold a grand funeral for her. Instead, the elders and core members of the Zhou family accompanied Zhou Daoyi to bury her remains in the Zhou family cemetery.

According to the Zhou family rules, female cultivators or male cultivators who are related to the Zhou family cannot be buried in the family cemetery if they have never had children with a Zhou family cultivator.

However, Lin Hongyu is of extraordinary status and has made great contributions to the Zhou family, so it is normal to make an exception for her once.

After the news was made public, some members of the Zhou family who had received kindness from Lin Hongyu spontaneously took time out of their busy schedules to come to the family cemetery to pay their respects.

Lin Hongyu became the first Golden Core cultivator to pass away naturally after the Zhou family was rebuilt.

(End of this chapter)