Chapter 578: Chapter 578
When Li Mubai was leaving the city with hundreds of heads from the Geng Family cultivators to honor his clan members, Zhouyang was busy looting various clan treasure vaults, including that of the Geng Family.
The reason Geng Zhong was eager to slaughter the Li Family was not only to follow Guo Jinhong’s orders and vent his anger from being defeated by Zhouyang but more importantly, to covet the Li Family’s wealth.
"Cangyuan Wanderer" Li Cangyuan was the founder of Cangyuan Immortal City, and over the centuries, the Li Family, because of this city, amassed an untold amount of wealth.
Even before his demise, Li Cangyuan handed over many items to Geng Zhong to spare the Li Family, but it still couldn’t satisfy him.
Now, most of the Li Family’s wealth was stored in a treasure vault beneath the City Lord’s Mansion.
Any treasure vault used to store a clan’s riches is always heavily fortified, and some even have "Bloodline Divine Bans" to prevent enemies from acquiring the treasures within.
But since Zhouyang had such plans, how could he not have prepared?
He destroyed the defense array outside Geng Zhong’s personal vault in the City Lord’s Mansion, burned through the thick alloy walls with the enhanced version of "Qianyang True Flame," and plundered it completely.
The Geng Family’s vault with a "Bloodline Divine Ban" was easily opened by him using Geng Zhong’s blood and the spell he learned through the "Soul Searching Technique" from Geng Zhong’s memory, and its valuables were plundered as well.
As for those Purple Mansion Clans, they hadn’t yet needed to use such advanced things as "Bloodline Divine Bans," and the vaults were broken into by Zhouyang with ease, not costing him much effort.
He moved quickly, taking less than half a day to complete the looting of all the eradicated clans and their city stores and properties.
Then he handed over Geng Zhong, who had become an idiot due to the "Soul Searching Technique," to Li Mubai to be beheaded. The head was placed at the top of the mound made from hundreds of Geng Family cultivators’ skulls, and he directly left Cangyuan Immortal City with Li Mubai, vanishing from sight.
Only after Zhouyang left with Li Mubai, did the other residents of Cangyuan Immortal City, who were terrified by the bloody revenge and trembling inside their homes, dare to come out to see the situation, inevitably leading to a massive looting.
Zhouyang managed to gather the essence of the treasures from the various exterminated clan vaults, but his storage ring was limited and couldn’t carry everything. In reality, he dropped many large but not particularly valuable spiritual objects, not even mentioning the spirit plants planted on various spirit mountains and the stockpiled spirit ore.
Additionally, he didn’t have time to loot the corpses of many slain cultivators, only managing to loot the storage spiritual artifacts carried by significant individuals.
Things he couldn’t take, nor destroy, became ownerless, allowing anyone to snatch them.
Moreover, without Geng Zhong, and without his trusted cultivators suppressing the city, the other residents of the Immortal City had no psychological burden when they began looting these things.
Even many cultivators from the original Cangyuan Immortal City’s Guard Team joined the looting, leading to numerous bloody conflicts.
Once the Golden Core Stage cultivators from other forces in Yu Country heard about the appearance of Zhouyang, a high-profile fugitive of the "Anti-Light Alliance," in Cangyuan Immortal City, they came to capture Zhouyang and used overwhelming force to stop the looting, restoring the order in Cangyuan Immortal City.
With the news spreading, various small clan forces, like the Zhou Family, which had previously fled Cangyuan Immortal City due to the change of the City Lord, gathered like wolves smelling blood, including several Foundation Establishment cultivators led by Li Hong.
There are more than a dozen Golden Core cultivators from Yu Country, backed by seven or eight different forces. With the sudden absence of a master for the prosperous Cangyuan Immortal City, everyone wanted to take the lucrative city into their own forces.
However, under mutual constraints, no one could succeed.
At this time, forces like the Zhou Family, who originally belonged to Cangyuan Immortal City, only needed to show a slight willingness to join a certain force to be gladly accepted.
The two sides hit it off: one needed to find a strong backing to rely on, and the other needed a legitimate excuse to meddle in Cangyuan Immortal City, mutually meeting each other’s needs.
How Li Hong managed to navigate among various major forces to secure benefits for the Zhou Family was something Zhouyang didn’t bother to pay attention to.
After withdrawing from Cangyuan Immortal City with Li Mubai, he began recalling the various Zhou Family Foundation Establishment cultivators who had been traveling in the Land of the Far West, ready to leave the Land of the Far West.
In the end, he brought seventeen Zhou Family Foundation Establishment cultivators to the Land of the Far West for training, of which fifteen returned, while two had their soul tokens shattered, proving they had been killed.
Regarding the two slain Zhou Family Foundation Establishment cultivators, except for expressing a bit of mourning, Zhouyang had no intention of avenging them.
He had no idea where the two were killed, let alone find their murderers. The Land of the Far West was not the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm where the Zhou Family had control and could search and hunt for murderers extensively.
Moreover, traveling through the Cultivation Realm inherently involves risks; even disciples from top major sects like the Profound Sun Immortal Sect do not always return intact from their journeys.
Identity and background can only bring safety and reliance in public settings; in the wilderness and desolate areas, facing life-and-death struggles, no one cares about the opponent’s background or origins.
Although they lost two Foundation Establishment Cultivators, the number of people returning to the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm with Zhouyang actually increased.
Li Mubai ultimately chose to leave this sorrowful place with Zhouyang to rebuild their Li Family in the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm. Accompanying them were himself and his two children, Li Zifeng and Li Zinan.
In addition, with Zhouyang agreeing to bring back Zhou Fuyun and Zhou Zeqian to the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm, the number of people naturally increased by a few.
In fact, the few Foundation Establishment Cultivators from the Zhou Family in the Land of the Far West, after hearing about the situation with the main family, expressed their willingness to follow Zhouyang to the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm to return to their roots, essentially unwilling to continue living in fear, seeking survival in the Land of the Far West.
However, considering that Li Hong needed manpower to develop the Zhou Family here, Zhouyang managed to persuade them with kind words to abandon this idea.
Of course, to appease them, he promised to elevate their treatment to the level of the Zhou Family’s main family, without subjecting them to the same assessments as the main family cultivators.
Simultaneously, he secretly allocated some of the treasures seized from the treasure vaults of Cangyuan Immortal City into the Zhou Family Treasure Vault as exchangeable items for clan contribution points, so these people could use them.
Speaking of it, this raid made Zhouyang quite wealthy.
He seized a total of 1.56 million low-grade spirit stones, along with 37 top-grade spirit stones.
As for other elixirs, magical artifacts, spirit talismans, cultivation techniques, spirit medicine and spirit ore, there were enough to fill three storage rings, valuing at least two to three million low-grade spirit stones.
That means after this task, not only did he completely recuperate the spirit stones invested in the Zhou Family in the Land of the Far West, but he also made a significant profit.
The person sending off Zhouyang and his group was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator from the Zhou Family. However, this person only waited outside the "Fallen Demon Valley". After Zhouyang and his group left, the Ghost Cultivator Xu Song removed the 36 top-grade spirit stones placed on the teleportation array and had a small ghost bring them out of the "Fallen Demon Valley" to hand to this Zhou Family Foundation Establishment Cultivator.
Thirty-six complete top-grade spirit stones could be used to activate the teleportation array three times. These spirit stones were left for the Zhou Family as emergency reserve funds and could be used to activate the teleportation array upon Zhouyang’s return.
On the other side, after returning to the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm, those Foundation Establishment Cultivators of the Zhou Family, as Zhouyang instructed earlier, first wrote their journey experiences of the Land of the Far West as journals to be placed in the Scripture Pavilion and school for all clan cultivators to read before returning to their original positions to resume work.
As for Zhouyang, he called Zhou Guangxiang to the cave dwelling on Lingxi Peak for a private conversation.
"Although this trip to the Land of the Far West was short, it surely broadened your horizons and made you aware of the vastness of the outside world. Let’s hear your thoughts."
In the cave dwelling, Zhouyang brewed a cup of spirit tea for himself and Zhou Guangxiang, savoring the aroma from this specialty of the Land of the Far West while inviting his nephew to share his thoughts on the journey.
"The most significant feeling, as you mentioned, Ninth Uncle, is like a frog in the well witnessing the vastness outside, utterly shocked!"
"Especially during the trip to Jinyang Country. Observing that massive Glazed Celestial Pit, I got to understand the true might of Nascent Soul Stage experts and why you, Ninth Uncle, insisted on journeying to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm for your path."
"I remember, Ninth Uncle, you taught me how to enhance clan cultivators’ sense of identity and loyalty to the clan: the best way is to provide them a path for advancement, letting them know that as long as they remain loyal to the clan and contribute sufficiently, they can keep progressing with the clan’s aid, reaching higher realms."
"Now I understand the real purpose behind your teachings and appreciate your well-intended efforts, Ninth Uncle!"
"You’re not abandoning the Zhou Family; instead, you’re solely shouldering the burden to forge a path to True Immortal Dao for our clan’s successors, a path filled with hope and brightness!"
Zhou Guangxiang looked at Zhouyang with reverence, his expression full of admiration and his words brimming with passion.
Is this what you think?
Zhouyang, looking at his nephew gazing at him with a disciple’s admiration, felt a peculiar sense of delight.
His main reason for going to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm was, of course, to advance his cultivation and find the spiritual objects he needed.
Only then did he consider opening a path for the Zhou Family to the outside, allowing younger generations to step beyond the Boundless Desert Sea and witness the vast and vibrant world.
As for single-handedly shouldering everything to carve a path to the True Immortal Dao for the successors, that was entirely Zhou Guangxiang’s over-imagination.
Perhaps when he becomes immortal and a forefather, this could be said.
But now, mentioning it casually could turn into a joke among high-tier cultivators.
But now, regarding Zhou Guangxiang’s over-imagination, Zhouyang didn’t deny anything. He just slightly nodded and shared his views.
"It’s good that you understand this. Given the Zhou Family’s current power, the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm has become a cage trapping us. What we need to do is break this cage and explore the broader world outside."
"Ninth Uncle, I can be the hammer to break this cage, but after escaping it, whether the Zhou Family can find footing and survive in the harsher world outside will depend on your own skills."
"In an environment surrounded by the strong, how to lead the family to survive and develop is something Li Hong in the Land of the Far West has done well. This time, Mother and Son Fu Yun have also returned. You can learn from them about the Zhou Family’s experiences over the years on that side and extract useful strategies to help optimize your family management methods."
"You must have learned about the past wars between the Great Brightness Immortal Palace and the Anti-Light Alliance in the Land of the Far West. From what I know, the wars among cultivators in this realm’s major cultivation environments are quite similar. In the future, when the Zhou Family walks out of the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm, they will inevitably participate in cultivator wars. You should organize large-scale war drills with the family cultivators to form a family tradition so that when we truly step out, much less blood will be shed."
"This might be the last time I teach you these matters. The future of the Zhou Family is truly and wholly handed over to you!"
As Zhouyang spoke the last part, he couldn’t help but let out a gentle sigh, with a feeling of reluctance, fondness, and also a sense of relief.
As his cultivation grew higher, there were more and more matters in cultivation to attend to, leaving him with no free time to worry about family affairs.
Given the time, he would rather learn more divine techniques or improve his artifact refining and talisman making skills, or even travel the cultivation realm with his Dao companion, than worry about these matters.
Most importantly, these activities benefit his cultivation significantly, from which he can gain real benefits.
In contrast, worrying about family affairs not only does not aid his own cultivation but might also stifle the potential of younger cultivators in these areas.
The Zhou Family has developed to this point, with various systems in place, and Zhouyang does not think his personal involvement could surpass what Zhou Guangxiang has achieved.
As he said, the factors limiting the Zhou Family’s further advancement lie in the geographic constraints of the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm, which he and the Zhou Family currently lack the capability to alter or overcome.
Given this, he can only temporarily withdraw, striving to improve himself, and when he attains the power to break these constraints, he will lead the Zhou Family to break through and enter a new world.
Before that, the Zhou Family just needs to stabilize its internal situation, and in this regard, Zhouyang believes that his nephew Zhou Guangxiang is fully capable of doing so.
Zhou Guangxiang, at this point, already understood his intentions and highly appreciated and agreed with his decisions.
Therefore, after listening to his final words of advice, he immediately rose and gave him a deep bow, solemnly saying, "Your nephew will do my utmost to guard the family for Ninth Uncle, patiently waiting for the day when Ninth Uncle returns as a king!"
"It’s to return enlightened!"
Zhou Guangxiang promptly amended, "Yes, your nephew will do my utmost to guard the family for Ninth Uncle, patiently waiting for the day when Ninth Uncle returns enlightened!"
Then, the uncle and nephew exchanged smiles, understanding each other without words.
Following this, Zhouyang did not linger much in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm. After entrusting everything to Zhou Guangxiang, he left together with his disciple Lu Xuewei and five young cultivators of the Zhou Family to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm.
This time, leaving, Zhouyang left the "Illusory Cloud Ship" magical artifact to Zhou Guangxiang, to facilitate Zhou Family cultivators crossing the Broken Cloud Mountain Range to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm in the future.
Unless a significant event occurs in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm, which requires Zhouyang to return to resolve, he would not easily return. The task of connecting the two places will then be handed over to Zhou Guangxiang and those Purple Mansion Stage cultivators.
The uncle and nephew had already agreed that every thirty to fifty years, someone would go to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm to report some family affairs to him and bring various spiritual objects bought on behalf of the family from him.
Without the "Illusory Cloud Ship" magical artifact, bringing multiple people across the Broken Cloud Mountain Range indeed became more perilous. They encountered demon beasts several times along the way.
Fortunately, his divine sense was strong, always allowing him to detect the presence of demon beasts early, either to take them down abruptly or turn away in time, so no incidents occurred.
Upon reaching the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, Zhouyang parted ways with his disciple Lu Xuewei in Zhenyue Immortal City.
Since Lu Xuewei was no longer suitable to appear in the territory of the "Liuyun Commerce Alliance," Zhouyang instructed her to take the accompanying five Zhou Family juniors to Immortal Sun City and wait for his next arrangement.
He headed straight to Liuyun Immortal City on his own.
Outside Liuyun Immortal City, Zhouyang, disguised as a cultivator from the Land of the Far West, indeed discovered the Guo Family’s wanted notice against him. However, the appearance on the wanted notice was still his last disguise.
The Guo Family was not foolish either, having guessed that he might have disguised himself, so the wanted notice also included a portrait of Lu Xuewei, as well as detailed magical artifacts and divine techniques he used during the battle outside Yanyun Mountain.
However, such a wanted notice without specific names serves more symbolic than practical significance. Finding the perpetrator would be quite unlikely.
When the Beast Taming Sect issued a warrant for Zhouyang, they at least posted all his information on the warrant. Even so, they only managed to capture him once by sheer luck.
After all, the Cultivation Realm is vast, and the number of cultivators is enormous, with a high degree of mobility.
Unless they possess the wanted person’s blood, hair, etc., and use various secret techniques to track them, relying solely on a warrant to find someone is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Whether they find the person depends entirely on luck.
However, just in case, Zhouyang did not rush to meet his Dao Companion Xiao Ying. He only sent her a message through the "Spirit Rhinoceros Jade Pendant" to assure her of his safety before he began a spree of procurement in Liuyun Immortal City.
During this trip, he brought all twenty-three Spirit Fruits from the "Yuan Condensing Fruit" tree of the Zhou Family, all of which were to be used to refine Foundation Establishment Pills. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by novelFɪre.net
Even with the main ingredients, the auxiliary materials required for refining dozens of furnaces of Foundation Establishment Pills were not something that could be easily gathered just anywhere.
Fortunately, he was now in Liuyun Immortal City, a place where you can buy most spiritual objects in the Cultivation Realm if you have spirit stones.
By spending hundreds of thousands of low-grade spirit stones, he procured a full thirty sets of auxiliary materials for refining Foundation Establishment Pills.
Since cultivators from sect clans all over the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm frequently came to Liuyun Immortal City for large-scale procurement of supplies, Zhouyang’s mass purchase of materials for refining Foundation Establishment Pills did not arouse any suspicion.
His Golden Core Stage cultivation was enough to deter many ill-intentioned individuals from harboring malicious thoughts.
If he didn’t want to make a high-profile trouble now, Zhouyang would even consider placing a high-priced offer for the "Jade Liquid Golden Pill" on the "Exchange Stone" in the central commercial district of Liuyun Immortal City.
He now had nearly five million low-grade spirit stones on him!
The "Exchange Stone" is a special magical artifact. If cultivators require any treasure they cannot obtain through normal channels, they can pay a usage fee to enter the name of what they seek and the price they are willing to pay. If someone wants to sell, they can learn the contact details of the one seeking the treasure through the keeper of the "Exchange Stone" and arrange a deal privately.
It’s just that such transactions are unsecured, so choosing to trade privately carries the risk of being killed for the treasure.
Zhouyang only wants to quietly find a place now to learn the "Azure Dragon Body Refining Technique" and several other divine techniques. Once he achieves this and greatly increases his strength, fearing no cultivator of the same realm, he will naturally return to Liuyun Immortal City to purchase whatever treasures he desires at a high price.
Once he had finished his procurements, Zhouyang sent a message to his Dao Companion Xiao Ying, asking her to leave the cave abode to meet him. Then the two left Liuyun Immortal City and headed to Immortal Sun City together.
However, a few days into their journey, just after officially leaving the territory of the "Liuyun Commerce Alliance," Zhouyang suddenly stopped, looked seriously at his Dao Companion beside him, and asked, "Ying’er, did you really leave without notifying the Liu Family as I instructed?"
Xiao Ying, who had been his Dao Companion for many years, immediately realized what was happening upon hearing his sudden question. Her face turned pale, and she shook her head repeatedly, saying, "No, ever since I received your message, husband, I followed your instructions, placing the recently refined spirit pills for the Liu Family and the access token for the cave abode inside the cave, without informing the Liu Family of anything."
"Since that’s the case, your husband understands. Protect yourself with all your might and stay close by my side, never leaving the cloud beneath my feet," Zhouyang said, nodding slightly to reassure his Dao Companion before smiling coldly and saying, "Since someone is tired of living and wants to court death, let’s help them out!"
As soon as he finished speaking, as if realizing he had been discovered, a flash of white light appeared twenty or thirty miles behind him, revealing an ugly big man with a ferocious scar on the right side of his face.
Although this ugly big man looked grotesque, his cultivation was genuinely at the seventh layer of the Golden Core, and his unique appearance even seemed familiar to Zhouyang.
When he recalled where this sense of familiarity came from, Zhouyang couldn’t help but squint his eyes and ask, "Are you the one known as ’Tattooed Face Butcher’ Wu Biao, who once massacred the Luoxing Sect and plundered Red Moon City?"
"Tattooed Face Butcher" Wu Biao, whose true background is unknown, once slaughtered the small sect Luoxing Sect, which had a Golden Core Stage cultivator in residence, killing all 708 disciples within the sect, leaving no one to escape.
He later infiltrated Red Moon Immortal City, killed the Golden Core Stage cultivator defending the city, and plundered the entire city, killing hundreds.
These are just two of the worst deeds "Tattooed Face Butcher" Wu Biao has committed. He has done countless other evil deeds, probably too many for even himself to count.
A man so wicked and merciless was jointly wanted by many powerful forces in the cultivation realm of Liuyun Continent. The reason Zhouyang found him familiar was that when he entered Liuyun Immortal City, he saw this wanted notice next to the Guo Family’s warrant for him.
If he remembered correctly, this person’s head was almost as valuable as his own.
Facing Zhouyang’s inquiry, the scar-faced big man Wu Biao slightly twitched the worm-like scar on his face, looked at Zhouyang with fierce eyes, and replied, "Since you recognize me and remain so calm, it seems you indeed cannot be judged by a typical Mid-Stage Golden Core cultivator’s standards as they said!"
Zhouyang’s face showed a trace of surprise, then a look of contemplation.