Beast Taming Immortal Clan

Chapter 725 Battle Against True Person Yinyue [Please Subscribe]

The passing of Lin Hongyu can be said to mark the end of an era for the Zhou family.

Compared to Zhou Chun, Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi felt this even more deeply.

Although the two had watched themselves grow old year by year, they subconsciously did not think about or avoid discussing the matter of their own passing away.

Now that Lin Hongyu has passed away, they are forced to face their own lives and think more about what will happen after they are gone.

Since neither of them has any children or descendants, their thoughts on what happens after their deaths are undoubtedly focused on their families.

So Zhou Mingde volunteered to gather people and begin compiling the clan history.

The Zhou family's history must now be divided into two parts: one part is during the Three Absolutes Sect period, and the other part is after they came to Jingguo.

For the Zhou family members today, the latter part is clearly more important.

As the person who single-handedly rebuilt the Zhou family, Zhou Mingde personally experienced all sorts of events, big and small, that had happened to the Zhou family over the past few hundred years. No one knew these things better than him.

He also wanted to use the last years of his life to compile a glorious chapter in history, so that future generations could learn about the deeds of their ancestors and remember their contributions to the family by reading the family history!

Zhou Chun naturally supported this.

When the Zhou family compiles its clan history, Zhou Zhengchun, as the central figure of the Zhou family, will inevitably become the most important protagonist in it.

He has no reason not to support something that will be remembered for generations to come.

While Zhou Mingde was compiling history, Zhou Chun sent an avatar to Zhou Daoquan's secluded cultivation place to visit this family elder who had switched to ghost cultivation.

Now, after the incident where Master Xuanzhen came knocking on his door, Zhou Chun has a clear understanding of why ghost cultivators have become a taboo in the cultivation world.

As far as he knew, the emergence of the Ghost Cultivation Method occurred precisely after the appearance of the turbid evil energy in this realm, which could be described as extremely strange.

At that time, a sixth-order being who called himself "Netherworld God" suddenly appeared in the cultivation world and spread the ghost cultivation method.

What happened next is not hard to imagine.

Because of the advantage that ghost cultivators do not have to worry about lifespan, many cultivators whose lifespan is about to end will choose to switch to ghost cultivation, including even Venerables in the Nascent Soul stage!

With the emergence of a large number of ghost cultivators, the insightful people in the cultivation world finally realized something was amiss.

First, if a cultivator wants to switch to the ghost cultivation method, he must find a place of yin and evil energy as his practice site.

However, natural Yin Sha lands are already scarce in the cultivation world. If too many people switch to ghost cultivation methods, and ghost cultivators have no worries about lifespan, then there will obviously be far too few places to go.

As a result, some people will naturally begin to commit mass killings and artificially create places of malevolence.

In the context of that time, this would undoubtedly have further damaged the living environment of the entire human race.

Secondly, those who switch to practicing ghost cultivation methods will have their consciousness tainted by the ghostly energy of the underworld, becoming increasingly evil and violent, making it difficult for them to get along and communicate normally.

Many cultivators who switch to the ghost cultivation method are often high-ranking members of a sect. Their initial motivation, besides not wanting to die, is also to continue protecting their sect and family.

But in reality, later on, they would destroy their own sects and families with their own hands!

At that time, it was not uncommon for some sects and families to have their entire clans sacrificed to their own ghost cultivator ancestors for cultivation techniques.

Third, some ghost cultivators would inexplicably perish and disappear. Later, a Nascent Soul cultivator discovered that the "Netherworld God Venerable" had grown in cultivation strength extremely rapidly, which was clearly inconsistent with the cultivation growth of Nascent Soul cultivators in this world.

Therefore, they deduced that the fall and disappearance of those ghost cultivators were all the work of the "Netherworld God," who relied on using other ghost cultivators as cultivation resources to achieve rapid progress in his cultivation.

This is outrageous!

At that time, due to the appearance of the turbid evil energy, those Nascent Soul stage Venerables were all unable to ascend and their cultivation was greatly affected.

But the "Netherworld God" still wants to scheme against them and exploit them!

How could they possibly tolerate this!

As a result, the entire cultivation world soon began to destroy ghost cultivation methods and exterminate ghost cultivators in various places. Any force that collected ghost cultivation methods or protected ghost cultivators was listed as an enemy of the human race.

That "Netherworld God" was besieged by several Nascent Soul cultivators, and never appeared again after the great battle.

In this campaign to exterminate evil spirits and demons, more than 90% of the ghost cultivators in the cultivation world were exterminated. Almost every yin and evil place that could be found was searched more than once, and many yin and evil places were forcibly destroyed.

In the years that followed, any ghost cultivators who dared to show their faces were immediately suppressed and exterminated.

The methods of ghost cultivation were destroyed and forbidden, becoming an untouchable taboo in the cultivation world.

In the last few thousand years, due to the prohibition of ghost cultivation methods, ghost cultivators have become extremely rare.

As a result, the cultivation world has become less vigilant against ghost cultivators.

Many forces and cultivators with insufficient foundations do not know much about the "Netherworld Calamity" and are unaware of the harm that ghost cultivators once caused to the cultivation world.

Zhou Chun in the past was undoubtedly that kind of person.

In a sense, this is the price that smaller forces pay for growing.

Some so-called "taboos" in the cultivation world are not explicitly told to everyone. Once someone violates them, powerful forces can use this as leverage to control the other party.

Zhou Chun was grateful to Master Tianjing for helping him avoid trouble and allowing him to stop in time from spreading the ghost cultivation method.

However, knowing something is one thing, but being able to do it is another.

After learning about the dangers of ghost cultivation, Zhou Chun had no intention of having his family elders switch to ghost cultivation methods.

But now that he has discovered that his two closest elders are nearing the end of their lives, he can't help but have other ideas.

Visiting Zhou Daoquan at this time was also to verify the rumors about ghost cultivators and whether they were really that evil.

Speaking of which, it has been four or five hundred years since Zhou Daoquan switched to cultivating ghost cultivation methods.

When he first switched to the Ghost Cultivation method, he was just a Purple Mansion stage cultivator. Now, he has lived the lifespan of a Golden Core stage cultivator.

From this perspective, he definitely made a huge profit.

Over the past few centuries, Zhou Chun had visited Zhou Daoquan several times, as had Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi.

During their visit and conversation, all three could sense that Zhou Daoquan's temperament had changed.

The three of them hadn't bothered to investigate further, thinking that as long as he still recognized them and retained his memories, that was enough.

This time, Zhou Chun went to the Yin Sha Land where Zhou Daoquan lived and cultivated, but he did not show himself immediately. Instead, he secretly hid outside the Yin Sha Land and observed it.

Given the abilities of ghost cultivators within the Yin Sha Land, even a Nascent Soul stage cultivator entering the Yin Sha Land would be quickly discovered by Zhou Daoquan.

However, if he doesn't enter the Yin Sha Land, it won't be easy for Zhou Chun to find him, given his transformation abilities.

After observing in secret for several months, Zhou Chun's expression also became serious and grim.

This was because he discovered that Zhou Daoquan had secretly raised a squad of corpse soldiers in the Yin Sha Land, and had also sent that psychic zombie avatar to capture ordinary people in the wilderness!

This discovery sent a chill down Zhou Chun's spine.

He certainly knew why Zhou Daoquan was arresting mortals.

The Ghost Cultivation Method contains many secret techniques and supernatural abilities for cultivating the souls of mortals and forging ghost-path magical artifacts.

Zhou Daoquan is arresting ordinary people now, and that's definitely what he's doing!

Moreover, all he sees now is the psychic zombie avatar capturing mortals; no one knows whether Zhou Daoquan has also secretly captured cultivators who pioneered the Zhou family's land!

You should know that almost every year, people go missing or are injured or killed at the Zhou family's pioneering base in the wilderness!

Therefore, after discovering this, Zhou Chun completely gave up hope.

Even now, he deeply regrets giving Zhou Daoquan the complete ghost cultivation inheritance he had obtained.

If he didn't know the cultivation methods of those ghostly secret techniques and supernatural powers, perhaps even if he had evil intentions, he wouldn't have a stage to perform them!

But now that the mistake has been made, Zhou Chun knows that regret is useless.

The most urgent task is to figure out how to handle this matter.

The best solution, of course, is to uphold justice even at the cost of family ties and send Zhou Daoquan's soul to the underworld!

However, thinking of the kindness Zhou Daoquan had shown him before his death, and that he had personally facilitated Zhou Daoquan's transformation into a ghost cultivator, Zhou Chun couldn't bring himself to kill him directly.

After agonizing over this for a while, Zhou Chun decided to first destroy his psychic zombie clone, severing its tentacles reaching out to the outside world.

We'll discuss the rest with Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi before making a decision!

After waiting for more than a month, Zhou Chun, in his physical form, took advantage of the zombie clone's absence and used all his strength to suppress and destroy it, without even giving Zhou Daoquan's split soul a chance to plead for mercy!

Zhou Chun then visited Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi to explain his discovery.

"I never imagined that this ghost cultivation method would be so evil. In that case, it was we who harmed Daoquan!!"

After listening to Zhou Chun's account, Zhou Mingde couldn't help but sigh deeply with a grim expression.

He wasn't exactly a good person; he used to ambush other cultivators in order to seize treasures.

However, Zhou Daoquan's current behavior of extracting living souls to cultivate secret techniques and refine magical artifacts is completely beyond his bottom line and cannot be accepted by him.

The Zhou family has never considered itself a prestigious and upright family, but it would never do anything so heinous and immoral.

"I have already destroyed Uncle Daoquan's zombie clone. He should be unable to harm people now, but he must know that it was my doing. I'm afraid I shouldn't appear in front of him again in the future!"

Zhou Chun spoke in a low voice about what she had done, and her mood was also very bad.

His bad mood wasn't entirely due to Zhou Daoquan's change in temperament, but more so because the path for Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi to extend their lives through ghost cultivation had been effectively blocked.

Zhou Mingde, of course, had no idea what he was thinking. Seeing his dejected appearance, he assumed he was simply blaming himself for advising Zhou Daoquan to switch to the Ghost Path. So he nodded slightly to him and said, "Well, Zhengchun, you shouldn't appear before Daoquan for now. I'll go see him myself and explain the situation to him!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chun didn't think much of it and simply replied in a low voice, "Then I'll have to trouble you, sir."

However, to Zhou Chun's surprise, after Zhou Mingde went to the wilderness, he came back and told him that he had sent Zhou Daoquan's soul to the underworld!

"None of you can do this, but as Daoquan's elder, since he has committed such an inhuman act, it is my responsibility to punish him!"

Faced with Zhou Chun's astonished expression, Zhou Mingde simply stated his reasons for doing so in a calm tone.

He then turned to Zhou Chun with a serious expression and said, "The path of ghost cultivation is inherently forbidden in the cultivation world. Back then, we were unaware of the true nature of the practice and it was understandable that we broke the taboo. But now that our family has grown to such a large size, with thousands of members, we must remember never to repeat such a taboo that could lead to the extermination of our clan!"

Upon hearing his words, Zhou Chun was slightly taken aback. After a long while, he seemed to understand and replied in a deep voice, "This junior understands. Rest assured, elder, if such a reckless person ever appears in the family in the future, this junior will certainly not hesitate to personally eliminate him!"

"I'm glad you understand!"

Seeing the change in his expression, Zhou Mingde knew that he had truly understood his meaning, and a look of relief appeared on his face.

He then said with feeling, "I have recently been revising the clan history. Looking back on the past, I have also learned some lessons from the forces that our Zhou family defeated."

"For a power to prosper and continue to thrive even in decline, besides having capable leaders, the most important thing is to maintain a good reputation and prevent its members from attracting powerful figures and bringing trouble upon themselves!"

"We had nothing before, and sometimes we had to do whatever it took to survive. It was a last resort."

"But now that our family is large and wealthy, with abundant resources, we can't always act too extremely and leave ourselves no way out!"

These words, coming from his mouth, greatly surprised Zhou Chun.

There was even a sense of relief.

In the past, Zhou Chun had often argued with this elder about matters of principle, and the two had each won and lost.

Sometimes Zhou Mingde would be persuaded by him and would compromise and agree with his approach.

Sometimes, when he realized he couldn't change the elder's decision, he had no choice but to back down.

These are the kinds of remarks Zhou Mingde would have made in the past, something he would never have said.

This also filled Zhou Chun with mixed feelings.

Indeed, people's thoughts change constantly with time and environment.

He couldn't help but sincerely agree, saying, "What you say is absolutely right, sir. That's what I've always thought too!"

With Zhou Mingde eliminating the threat of Zhou Daoquan, Zhou Chun was finally relieved.

Only a few of the older generation of cultivators in the Zhou family knew about this matter, and they all tacitly agreed not to mention it again, but simply destroyed the ghost cultivation method that was originally stored in the family's secret vault.

Three years later, a piece of information that surprised Zhou Chun suddenly came into his hands.

It turned out that a cultivator from the Zhou family who was traveling abroad had discovered the whereabouts of a person suspected to be a hidden successor of the Qinglian Temple!

According to the intelligence, Wang Shengnan, a female cultivator from the Zhou family who was a relative of the Zhou clan and was in the Purple Mansion stage, was ordered to go to Bamboo Leaf Island in the Kingdom of Le to help the people there eliminate a wicked monster. She unexpectedly discovered that the monster was actually a cultivator's spirit pet.

During her battle with that cultivator at the Purple Mansion stage, he was forced to use the signature Lotus Birth Secret Technique of the Azure Lotus Sect under her relentless pressure.

Over the years, the Zhou family has never given up on finding the hidden successor of the Qinglian Temple, and the relevant bounty missions have always been prominently displayed in the General Affairs Hall.

After discovering that her opponent might be a hidden successor of the Qinglian Temple, Wang Shengnan lost interest in fighting and let him go. She then quickly returned to her family to report the matter.

Zhou Xinyan was well aware of Zhou Chun's emphasis on the hidden lineage successor of Qinglian Temple, so after receiving Wang Shengnan's report, he immediately sent the information to Zhou Chun.

After reviewing the intelligence report, Zhou Chun personally summoned the female cultivator from the powerful family to his cave for questioning.

"This junior greets the clan chief, clan chief Sheng'an."

Inside Zhou Chun's cave, Wang Shengnan was visiting for the first time. Upon meeting Zhou Chun, a legendary member of the Zhou family, she was incredibly nervous and excited. She immediately knelt down and performed a grand salute in worship.

Zhou Chun glanced casually at the woman in black kneeling on the ground and said in a gentle tone, "No need to be nervous. I only asked you to come here to find out about the person you met in the Kingdom of Le who was suspected to be a successor of the Qinglian Temple."

"Yes, I will answer all your questions to the best of my ability!"

Wang Shengnan quickly and respectfully agreed, and then took the initiative to recount what had happened.

Through her detailed account, Zhou Chun gained a general understanding of the matter.

When he learned that the demonic beast that had plagued the Zhou family cultivators on Bamboo Leaf Island in the Kingdom of Joy was being driven by a suspected successor of the hidden lineage of the Azure Lotus Sect, he narrowed his eyes and muttered, "Interesting. As a successor of the hidden lineage, instead of diligently cultivating and restoring his sect, he actively came to provoke my Zhou family. Is he blinded by hatred, or does he have some other scheme?"

Being cautious by nature, he felt that this matter might not be so simple.

But now that he had finally discovered the intelligence, even if someone was plotting against him, Zhou Chun was determined to find out who was behind it!

Therefore, after pondering for a while, he decided to go to the Kingdom of Le in person to investigate.

Of course, to prevent the enemy from using a diversionary tactic, Zhou Chun only brought Feng Yuanjun and Mu Sang with him this time, while Fu Shanjun and Yin Longjun accompanied Luo Qingni to guard the mountain gate.

What Zhou Chun didn't expect was that as soon as he arrived at Zhuye Island, the Zhou family's enclave in Leguo, the person behind the scenes showed up on his own initiative!

"Oh, so it's Fellow Daoist Silver Moon causing trouble again. I was wondering why the hidden lineage successor of the Azure Lotus Temple, who has been hiding for hundreds of years, would suddenly be so foolish as to jump out and provoke my Zhou family!"

In the sky, Zhou Chun looked at the suddenly appearing Silver Moon True Person and said with a gloomy expression.

As he spoke these words, his mind was extremely tense, and he spread his divine sense out to the fullest extent, searching for any possible hidden enemies.

He knew perfectly well that Master Yinyue's use of such methods to lure him out meant he had ill intentions!

So he is extremely nervous right now.

Seeing his nervous appearance, Master Yinyue said with a hint of sarcasm, "Zhou Zhengchun, since you have suspicions in your heart, you still dare to come and investigate directly. It seems you are truly skilled and daring, unafraid of danger!"

"Hmph! Enough with the nonsense, you old scoundrel Silver Moon, what trick are you trying to pull by luring me here!"

Zhou Chun let out a cold snort, no longer maintaining a polite facade, and directly questioned the other party's intentions with profanity.

Although he knew he had been tricked, just as Master Yinyue had said, he was highly skilled and daring, so he was not too panicked.

With his current abilities, and with Feng Yuanjun and Mu Sang by his side to assist him, even a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator would find it difficult to stop him.

The fact that Master Yinyue led him here actually illustrates something.

He did not carry the Heaven-Reaching Treasure of the Moon Wheel Sect with him.

Otherwise, if he possessed such a treasure, why would he need to lure him here? He could have been attacked directly once he left the protective mountain formation!

"Don't you know perfectly well what I want to do? I simply want you to die!"

Yinyue Zhenren stared indifferently at Zhou Chun, and said in a low voice.

"Just you alone?"

Zhou Chun seemed to have heard a joke, and his tone was full of mockery.

"Yes, I alone am enough!"

Master Yinyue nodded slightly and said with certainty.

Then he raised his hand and summoned a silver moon-shaped magic weapon, which was the [Holy Moon Wheel], a treasure passed down through the Moon Wheel Sect.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Chun couldn't help but sneer, "How laughable! Let me see where your confidence comes from!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand and patted the spirit beast pouch at his waist, releasing both Feng Yuanjun and Mu Sang.

"Oh, another unfamiliar fifth-tier demon king. Is that your Wood Sprite pet? You really were hiding your strength!"

Master Yinyue's gaze lingered on Mu Sang for a moment, and he sighed with slight surprise.

But from his words, it's clear that he wasn't surprised by this situation.

This made Zhou Chun even more confused, wondering where his confidence came from.

However, Zhou Chun always spoke of the enemy with contempt, but took them seriously in strategy.

Without saying a word, they immediately launched an attack.

With a cry of a phoenix, Feng Yuanjun spewed out a wisp of seven-colored divine fire from her mouth, which transformed into a seven-colored fire arrow that shot towards Yin Yue Zhenren.

Silver Moon True Person did not underestimate this either. With a slight turn of the [Holy Moon Wheel] above his head, a silver light blade shot towards the Seven-Colored Fire Arrow Cave.

Neither the seven-colored fire arrows nor the silver light blades looked particularly remarkable.

However, when the two collided and clashed in mid-air, an incredibly terrifying energy fluctuation suddenly erupted, with the sky filled with seven-colored firelight and silver moonlight vying for supremacy.

This is a characteristic of battles between Nascent Soul stage cultivators; their meticulous control allows them to condense the power of spells and divine abilities into an inconspicuous point.

A fireball that looks similar to the first-tier spell Fireball may actually contain world-destroying power!

Just as Feng Yuanjun's divine power clashed with Yin Yue Zhenren's, Zhou Chun activated the [Moon Toad Pearl] spiritual treasure, unleashing a "Taiyin Extinction Divine Light" to attack the opponent.

At the same time, Mu Sang also opened his mouth and spat out, directly urging the [Azure Profound Seal], which he had nurtured and restored to most of its power, to blast towards Silver Moon True Person.

(End of this chapter)