Cultivation Begins From The Desert Chapter 552 - 537: The Successor’s Problem [Two in One]

Under the powerful individual strength and prestige of Zhouyang, Zhou Guangxiang’s developnt plan for the Zhou Family was successfully implented.

In the short term, these plans may not show any results yet, but with the passage of ti, both Zhouyang and Zhou Guangxiang believe and are certain that the Zhou Family will greatly benefit from this, and the strength and quality of the clan cultivators will rise to a new level.

Moreover, the tactic of giving a sweet date after striking is always Zhouyang’s usual thod of managing the clan.

While he sternly scolded and intimidated all the clan mbers, he then instructed Zhou Guangxiang to focus on cultivating those clan mbers who progress quickly in future assessnts.

For those clan cultivators who reach the Mid-stage Qi Cultivation and can consecutively pass assessnts three tis within the prescribed ti, they can even be granted Foundation Establishnt Pills in the form of loans.

During these years when he was in seclusion, Xiao Ying did not rest at all.

The spirit herbs and elixirs Zhouyang brought from the Kunxu Realm, except for so particularly precious items, were entrusted together with many Tier Four Demon Pills to his Dao companion Xiao Ying for alchemy.

In a short span of three years, Xiao Ying used the spirit herbs and elixirs he provided, along with the Zhou Family’s stock of spirit herbs and elixirs, to refine five furnaces of Foundation Establishnt Pills and several furnaces of Tier Four Spirit Pills.

Having a substantial amount of Foundation Establishnt Pills in hand, and given that the Zhou Family has now beco the overlord of the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm, maintaining a certain number of Foundation Establishnt Cultivators is necessary for appearances, Zhouyang would not begrudge a few ager spirit pills.

The specific affairs no longer require Zhouyang’s involvent. After the family assembly, he returned to Lingxi Peak and went into seclusion with his Dao companion Xiao Ying.

During this seclusion, Zhouyang intends to use the power of "Qianyang Immortal Light" to help his Dao companion Xiao Ying ascend to the Ninth Layer of the Purple Mansion, while he himself also wants to see if he can make breakthroughs in his cultivation during this ti.

While Zhouyang is in seclusion, Zhou Guangxiang is boldly implenting the reform plans.

First is the production of clan apparel. The Zhou Family has been raising "Fla-devouring Spiders" for over two hundred years, and the clan treasure vault has accumulated a large volu of finished spider silk. After the family assembly, his Dao companion Liu Xuanxuan personally led several Tier Three Artifact Refiners of the Zhou Family to refine them into magic robes.

Following that is the expansion of personnel for the newly rged Eagle Lion Hall.

The Eagle Lion Hall was ford by rging the Zhou Family’s original Battle Hall and Security Hall. The number of cultivators from the two halls combined is nearly two hundred people, but to achieve Zhou Guangxiang’s plan, this number is far from sufficient.

Hence, over several years, the Zhou Family either recruited honored guest elders externally or selected from their own cultivators and those of several vassal clans, eventually adding close to one hundred people to the hall.

The three hundred mbers of the Eagle Lion Hall, with Zhou Guangxiang’s eldest son Zhou Tongxuan personally serving as the hall master, and the two vice hall masters, one being a recruited Foundation Establishnt Loose Cultivator Wang Biao and the other being Zhou Family Foundation Establishnt Cultivator Zhou Zerui.

However, these people are not the real strongest of the Eagle Lion Hall. The true foundation of Eagle Lion Hall is the Tier Four Lower-Grade Demon Beast, the Eagle Lion Beast.

The Eagle Lion Beast has been with the Zhou Family for hundreds of years, accustod to the homage of human cultivators, and now even without Zhouyang, the Zhou Family’s beast tars can communicate with and steer it to do tasks.

Zhouyang placed it in the Eagle Lion Hall as the hall’s honored spirit beast, giving it a stage to demonstrate its value, not wanting it to freeload in the clan.

It is worth noting that supporting a Tier Four Demon Beast consus quite a bit of demon beast at every year.

And after ascending to a Tier Four Demon Beast, the Eagle Lion Beast’s potential is exhausted, unlike Zhouyang’s Golden-winged Thunder Eagle, which still has the hope to advance to Tier Five.

Speaking of which, Zhouyang has never once treated these spirit beasts poorly.

If not for following him, the Eagle Lion Beast would have no hope of achieving Tier Four.

And the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle by his side enjoys the best care and nourishnt. Upon returning to the clan this ti, Zhouyang even fed it two Tier Four Middle-Grade Demon Pills in one go, and it is currently in a spirit beast ring, slumbering and refining the pills.

If everything goes smoothly, by the ti it awakens again, it will ascend to a Tier Four Middle-Grade Demon Beast.

Under Zhou Guangxiang’s arrangent, hundreds of Eagle Lion Hall cultivators patrol the roads between various Zhou Family oases in groups of twenty, divided into five groups, specifically targeting road robbing sand pirates, or assisting vassal clans in clearing invading demon beasts.

After the five groups complete their patrols, another hundred people rotate for patrol, with three shifts rotating continuously.

anwhile, as the Zhou Family officially becos the overlord of the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm, cultivation clans and loose cultivators voluntarily flock to seek allegiance one after another.

The Zhou Family also welcos these seeking cultivators without rejection, dispatching them to search for new oases in the surrounding desert sea or to build dium-sized oases relying on small ones.

The desert sea, though barren, still contains many unclaid oases waiting to be discovered and occupied.

Previously, no one discovered and occupied these oases because, far from the cultivators’ base camp, even if one occupies an oasis, there’s no guarantee in safety provision and it’s inconvenient to communicate with the outside world.

Now, with the Zhou Family providing safety protection and Rhino Horn Continent as a large oasis offering a venue for exchange and trade, there are naturally more cultivators willing to pioneer and adventure.

At the sa ti, Zhou Guangxiang did another major thing, which was the official excavation of the Spirit Stone mine discovered by Lu Xuewei.

The news of this Spirit Stone mine, once spread, unsurprisingly caused a sensation in the entire Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm. Many cultivation clans secretly envied the Zhou Family’s good fortune in discovering such a top-grade ore vein.

Upon hearing this news, many loose cultivators sharpened their wits, eager to beco miners in the Spirit Stone mine.

In short, for the Zhou Family, everything was developing in a favorable direction.

...

Zhou Tongxuan was able to secure the position of the Eagle Lion Hall Master, with his cultivation at the Third-Layer Foundation Establishnt, primarily because his father was the Zhou Family Patriarch.

Zhou Guangxiang and Liu Xuanxuan had five sons and three daughters, but only three sons and two daughters had spiritual roots that allowed them to cultivate. Among them, the eldest son, Zhou Tongxuan, had the best spiritual root talent.

With a wind attribute middle-grade spiritual root talent, his father was the Zhou Family Patriarch, and his mother was the second disciple of the family’s ancestor. In terms of background, Zhou Tongxuan was undoubtedly a top-tier second-generation immortal in the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm.

As a top-tier second-generation immortal, he never worried about cultivation resources from an early age. So even though he wasn’t a top-grade spiritual root cultivator, he still reached Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation at the age of thirty-one, and luckily succeeded in Foundation Establishnt with just one Foundation Establishnt Pill.

Compared to him, one of his brothers and one sister, although they reached Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation before sixty with a vast amount of resources, ultimately could not succeed in Foundation Establishnt due to having only lower-grade spiritual root talent.

Although Zhou Guangxiang was the Zhou Family Patriarch and a Mid-Stage Purple Mansion Cultivator, having many privileges in the family, it was impossible to use the entire family’s resources solely for his children.

Being able to prepare a Foundation Establishnt Pill for each of his sons and daughters was already the greatest care he could provide for them.

And since the other children seed unable to achieve much, Zhou Tongxuan, as the eldest son who succeeded in Foundation Establishnt at over thirty years old, naturally received more attention from Zhou Guangxiang.

He hoped his son Zhou Tongxuan could take over the position of the Zhou Family Patriarch from his hands.

If Zhouyang had left descendants, he would definitely not have this idea, but since Zhouyang did not, as the current Zhou Family Patriarch, he naturally hoped his son could retain this position for the main branch.

Thus, after the Zhou Family implented a new reform, he took the opportunity to let his son sit in the position of the Eagle Lion Hall Master, commanding the most elite force of the Zhou Family, allowing him to take advantage of the opportunity provided by Eagle Lion Hall’s patrols to accumulate reputation and achieve sothing impressive for others to acknowledge him.

Zhou Guangxiang naturally discussed these plans with his son Zhou Tongxuan, so after Zhou Tongxuan assud the role of Eagle Lion Hall Master, he frequently participated in the patrol team personally, seizing every chance to enhance his reputation.

On this day, after finishing a patrol, Zhou Tongxuan returned to Lingxi Peak to rest and suddenly received a task assigned by the patriarch, instructing him to lead a team to an oasis where a vassal clan resided, to help that vassal clan deal with a Tier Three Demon Beast attacking the oasis.

The Zhou Family had only occupied the Rhino Horn Continent Cultivation Realm for over a hundred years. Besides the Demon Beasts in the Rhino Horn Continent and the surrounding thousands of miles being cleared by Zhou Family cultivators, the number of Demon Beasts outside in the desert was significantly more compared to the Baisha River Oasis Cultivation Realm, which had been developed for over a thousand years.

Such demon beast attacks on oases had been frequent over the years, and the Zhou Family’s Foundation Establishnt cultivators often received such monster elimination tasks. Zhou Tongxuan had experienced this since his Qi Cultivation Stage.

So when he received this task, he didn’t think much of it, assuming it was just an ordinary task arranged by his father Zhou Guangxiang to help him accumulate reputation.

However, when he led a team of twenty to the small oasis where the vassal clan resided, he found that things weren’t as simple as he imagined.

According to what he knew, the cultivation clan occupying this small oasis had the surna Yuan, with one Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation Cultivator, one Seventh-Layer Qi Cultivation Cultivator, three Mid-Stage Qi Cultivation Cultivators, and six Early-Stage Qi Cultivation Cultivators.

Before he arrived, it was said that two cultivators from the Yuan family on the small oasis had t with misfortune, and the rest huddled in fear, hiding in a Tier Three Lower Grade Array set by the Zhou Family, waiting for the Zhou Family’s reinforcents.

But upon his arrival, he discovered that the array had long been broken, all the Yuan family cultivators inside had disappeared without a trace, yet the spirit herbs and elixirs planted on the Spirit Mountain remained untouched.

Most suspiciously, the thousands of mortal mundane people from the Yuan family on the oasis were also nowhere to be found, and Zhou Tongxuan didn’t find a single bloodstain.

"Sothing’s not right. If it truly were a demon beast attacking the oasis, even if it devoured everyone, there should be so blood left on the ground, right?"

"Moreover, this protective array of the Yuan family was set by father himself. Even if the Tier Three Demon Beast ntioned in the report managed to break through the array, it shouldn’t leave not a single trace!"

Zhou Tongxuan keenly sensed sothing amiss, recalling the ssage he received.

If his mory was correct, it was said that a wolf-type Tier Three Demon Beast attacked the oasis because the Yuan family cultivators found wolf claw prints at the disappearance site of clan mbers.

"Did any of you find wolf claw prints?"

He glanced over the twenty Eagle Lion Hall cultivators he brought along, voicing his doubt.

Everyone shook their heads.

This small oasis wasn’t large, and twenty people could easily search through the entire oasis separately. If there were any demon beast claw prints left, these experienced cultivators would not miss them.

An elderly cultivator with a sowhat aged appearance seed to recall sothing, suddenly saying, "Reporting to the Hall Master, I didn’t find any wolf paw prints, but I did discover a large number of human footprints leading toward the desert on the western side of the oasis!"

"Really? Take there to have a look."

Zhou Tongxuan’s expression changed, and he imdiately had the elder cultivator lead the way.

The group quickly arrived at the western side of the oasis under the guidance of the elder cultivator and saw the footprints he ntioned.

On the soft sandy ground on the western side of the oasis, countless human footprints of various sizes led straight into the desert, as if a large group of humans had entered the desert from this place.

"Why would these people enter the desert? Could it be that the mortals from the Yuan Family who disappeared were fleeing the demon beasts and escaped into the desert from here?"

Looking at the densely packed human footprints on the ground, Zhou Tongxuan couldn’t help but have this suspicion flash through his mind.

On the surface, this suspicion seed credible. After all, it would be normal for a group of mortals to abandon the dangerous oasis and escape into the desert when their cultivator protectors had all perished at the hands of demon beasts.

No, sothing’s not right!

If they were truly fleeing in panic, they should have scattered in all directions. Why would they rally together for a migration-like escape?

Zhou Tongxuan furrowed his brows, feeling that sothing was definitely not as simple as he had guessed.

After a slight contemplation, he said to his subordinates, "Follow these footprints into the desert sea and see if you can find anything."

He then paused and added, "Be careful not to venture too deep into the desert; the enemy’s strength is unknown, so prioritize your own safety."

Then, with a flash of sword light at his feet, he flew towards the Yuan Family’s Spirit Mountain to search again and see if there was anything overlooked.

What Zhou Tongxuan did not expect was that his perfectly normal decision directly led to the entire team’s demise!

After he searched around the Yuan Family’s Spirit Mountain and found nothing, he realized that none of his subordinates who went into the desert to search had returned.

What terrified him even more was that when he flew along their departure path in search, he found not a single trace of battle magic, let alone any sign of his subordinates.

This was truly a situation where the living were unseen and the dead were missing!

"Danger! Extre danger! I must notify my father and the clan imdiately!"

Zhou Tongxuan hurriedly flew towards the Yuan Family’s Spirit Mountain on the oasis, rembering that the communication array there had not been destroyed. Through that communication array, he could directly send a ssage to the clan, requesting them to send higher-level cultivators to rescue him.

Before Zhouyang went to the Land of the Far West, the Zhou Family had obtained the thod to set up communication arrays from the Yellow Sand Sect and had built one in each of the vassal clans at great expense to facilitate communication.

The Yuan Family was able to promptly report the demon beast attack on the oasis to the Zhou Family, thanks to that communication array.

Otherwise, who knows how long it would have taken the Zhou Family to discover the Yuan Family’s annihilation.

However, the hidden enemy seed to have noticed Zhou Tongxuan’s intentions and quickly launched an attack on him.

At that mont, while flying through the air, Zhou Tongxuan suddenly heard a delightful sound of immortal music in his mind. Consequently, his sword flight speed involuntarily slowed down, gradually leading to a descent toward the ground.

But just as the hidden enemy was preparing to strike him down once he landed, a jade pendant artifact he wore suddenly emitted a chilling energy that rushed to his head, helping him awaken from the enchanting immortal music.

"Not good, it’s the Illusory Sound Enchanting Technique!"

Regaining clarity, Zhou Tongxuan’s face drastically changed as he quickly understood what divine technique had caused the immortal music he heard earlier.

Not bothering to look for the enemy, he hastily patted his storage bag and took out a Tier Three "Soul Suppressing Talisman" to affix to himself before taking the ti to search for the enemy.

Soon, he found the foe who had used the Illusory Sound Enchanting Technique against him.

He saw in the desert below, a wolf-like creature with a fox’s head and a wolf’s body, looking up at him with a surprised expression. Its green eyes were filled with a human-like astonishnt.

"Not good, it’s the Jade-faced Fox Wolf!"

Zhou Tongxuan shuddered as his eyes t the fox’s green eyes, exclaiming in shock.

The Jade-faced Fox Wolf is an extrely rare demon beast, its rarity comparable to the Three-tailed Demon Fox that Zhouyang had once slain.

This demon beast is inherently proficient in the Illusory Sound Enchanting Technique, able to use it to control demon beasts or cultivators of the sa tier as slaves. Moreover, the intelligence of this demon beast is extrely high, not at all inferior to that of a human.

The Jade-faced Fox Wolf before Zhou Tongxuan’s eyes was already a Tier Three Top Grade Demon Beast, explaining why he was so easily entrapped by its Illusory Sound Enchanting Technique just now without any resistance.

If it weren’t for the jade pendant artifact he wore close to his body—a Clear Heart Spiritual Artifact ticulously refined by his mother Liu Xuanxuan specifically for this type of enchanting technique—helping him awaken from the enchanted state in ti, he feared he would have already been a al for this Jade-faced Fox Wolf, just like his disappeared subordinates.

Thinking of those subordinates, his expression changed, having already guessed where they had gone.

Sure enough, not long after, when the Jade-faced Fox Wolf recovered from its shock, he saw those lost subordinates again.

With a low growl from the Jade-faced Fox Wolf, the soft sandy ground in front of it erupted, and out ca a giant earth-yellow python over ten zhangs long. Those subordinates of his, along with a few strange cultivators from the Yuan Family, were currently hanging on the python’s back.

But these people had all been controlled by the Illusory Sound Enchanting Technique of the Jade-faced Fox Wolf, no longer following his command. As soon as they appeared, they attacked him under the orders of the Jade-faced Fox Wolf.

Cultivators selected into the Zhou Family’s Eagle Lion Hall are the fiercest among Qi Cultivation Stage Cultivators. Though those twenty were only Qi Cultivation Stage Cultivators, when they attacked together, even an Early-Stage Foundation Establishnt Cultivator would find it challenging and might not win.

If it were just this, it would be manageable. Although Zhou Tongxuan’s cultivation was only at the Third Layer Foundation Establishnt, he possessed so many treasures that even Late-Stage Foundation Establishnt Cultivators might not be his match.

But the Jade-faced Fox Wolf, a Tier Three Top Grade Demon Beast, along with the Tier Three Top Grade Giant Python it controlled, were not rely onlookers.

Especially the Jade-faced Fox Wolf. Though Zhou Tongxuan, relying on the Clear Heart Spiritual Artifact and the "Soul Suppressing Talisman" refined by his mother Liu Xuanxuan, wasn’t controlled by its Illusory Sound Enchanting Technique, he inevitably suffered so interference.

And in battle, even a slight distraction could be fatal.

This was an exceedingly arduous battle.

Zhou Tongxuan endured imnse pressure in combat.

For him, the formidable strength of the enemy was secondary; what was most unbearable was personally killing his subordinates, killing his fellow clan cultivators.

He knew in his heart that those people, although under the control of the Jade-faced Fox Wolf, were still alive.

As long as soone could kill the Jade-faced Fox Wolf, these people could break free and return to normal.

But how cunning was the Jade-faced Fox Wolf; it never fought head-on with him, always hiding behind the giant python and nurous human cultivators to attack him.

Moreover, as the battle progressed, a Tier Three Rat Demon and a Tier Three Demon Wolf, both over a zhang in length, were summoned by the Jade-faced Fox Wolf to join the battle.

Though these newly-joined demon beasts were only Tier Three Lower Grade, in a situation where Zhou Tongxuan was outnumbered, even with nurous spirit talisman artifacts bestowed by his parents and an invaluable Tier Three Puppet Beast, he still fought a gruelling and tragic battle.

Eventually, after more than half an hour of fighting, Zhou Tongxuan, out of desperation, used the Demonic Secret Technique "Blood Boiling Technique" that Zhouyang had employed in a desperate situation before. Using this secret technique to burn his essence blood for magical power, he consecutively activated two Tier Four Attack Spirit Talismans, and with the power of the Tier Four spirit talismans, he finally succeeded in killing the cunning Jade-faced Fox Wolf.

Although he had killed the disruptive Jade-faced Fox Wolf, Zhou Tongxuan was not at all happy.

Because before the Jade-faced Fox Wolf died, those human cultivators it had controlled had already died at the hands of this fellow clansman of his.

Moreover, he himself was injured in the battle, and after using the "Blood Boiling Technique," he suffered serious injuries and lost the ability to act.

Yet he dared not stay there to heal, as the intense sll of blood on the battlefield could easily attract other demon beasts, and in his current state, even a Tier Two Top Grade Demon Beast could take him down.

Thus, he could only muster up the strength to release a Tier Two Wolf-shaped Puppet to carry him towards the Yuan Family Spirit Mountain on the small oasis.

By the ti Zhouyang on Lingxi Peak received the ssage and hurried to the Yuan Family’s small oasis, Zhou Tongxuan, due to his severe injuries, had already fallen into a coma.

"Phew, fortunately, it’s just a case of severe blood essence depletion causing him to faint, otherwise if this kid really ca to harm, Guangxiang would probably feel guilty for the rest of his life!"

After checking on the unconscious Zhou Tongxuan, Zhouyang couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, then recalling this junior’s performance in the battle, a faint smile appeared on his face.

Zhou Guangxiang wanted to support his son to inherit the position of Zhou Family Patriarch; he didn’t oppose it, but the premise was that Zhou Tongxuan must have real abilities.

Now, it seems, aside from other skills, this kid’s abilities in magical combat are at least satisfactory to him.

Having personally used this Demonic Secret Technique "Blood Boiling Technique" before, he had also written about his experience using this secret technique in the notes afterward.

Zhou Tongxuan, knowing the aftereffects of the "Blood Boiling Technique," dared to use such a desperate technique to battle the enemy. Suffice it to say, this resilience alone already proved he wasn’t the type to rely rely on parental shadow, a pampered second-generation immortal.