Cultivation Begins From The Desert-Chapter 681 - 665: The Secret of the Copper City Guo Family!

The same Thunder Technique Divine Techniques, the [Nine Heavens Qianyang Demon-Annihilating Divine Thunder] and the [Qianyang Divine Thunder] that Zhouyang once cultivated, have many differences.

The [Qianyang Divine Thunder] is a variant of the "Geng Metal Divine Thunder" in the Five Elements Divine Thunder, and is a Gold Attribute Divine Thunder.

Whereas the [Nine Heavens Qianyang Demon-Annihilating Divine Thunder] is a genuine Fire Attribute Divine Thunder, and to activate this Divine Thunder, one must use the [Qianyang True Flame] as a guide to succeed.

At the same time, the power of this divine technique did not disappoint Zhouyang, who always had high expectations of him.

Even the initially cultivated divine technique's power is not weaker than some Tier Six Lower Grade Fire Attribute Spell Attacks; if one could cultivate this divine technique to the Great Success Realm, this single divine technique could threaten Late-Stage Nascent Soul Cultivators.

However, cultivating a great divine technique to the Great Success Realm is extremely difficult and cannot be achieved merely by diligent practice, one needs to have some understanding and insight into the laws contained in the divine technique.

That is to say, for Zhouyang to cultivate the [Nine Heavens Qianyang Demon-Annihilating Divine Thunder] to the Great Success Realm, he must have some understanding and insight into the related Fire Law, so that when the divine technique is performed, he can leverage the Power of Laws and integrate it into the divine technique, greatly enhancing its power.

Understanding laws is no easy task, and Nascent Soul Cultivation only qualifies one to begin understanding the laws.

In fact, among ten Nascent Soul Cultivators, there may not even be one who truly understands and gains insight into a certain law.

Generally speaking, Nascent Soul Cultivators only begin to focus on this after reaching the Late-Stage Nascent Soul, before which their energy is primarily focused on improving their cultivation.

Another exceptional case is when some Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators are stuck at a bottleneck for a long time and cannot break through. To break through the bottleneck and enhance their strength, they are willing to invest a lot of time and energy into this.

Although Zhouyang, with the help of the [Qianyang Treasure Pearl], has a significant advantage over other Nascent Soul Cultivators in understanding the Fire Law, he apparently does not intend to invest too much energy in this aspect before encountering a conspicuous bottleneck in his cultivation.

The reason for spending more than a decade practicing this great divine technique, the [Nine Heavens Qianyang Demon-Annihilating Divine Thunder], is entirely to make up for his lack of attacking divine techniques.

"Husband, this is the news Cheng'Er had the disciples of the Profound Sun Immortal Sect deliver, saying that the intelligence that you instructed the intelligence cultivators of the Profound Sun Immortal Sect to collect has been gathered."

In the cave mansion on Fire Birch Mountain, only two months after Zhouyang left seclusion, his Dao Companion Xiao Ying came in with a Jade Scroll and handed it to him.

Now he lives a secluded life, and it is difficult for others to see him; all matters are handled by his Dao Companion Xiao Ying.

The matters of the Zhou Family are now managed by Li Hong, who succeeded in Core Formation, and Zhouyang rarely intervenes.

Upon hearing Xiao Ying's words, he showed a reaction and said, "Oh, has that matter finally been completed?"

After speaking, he took the Jade Scroll from his Dao Companion's hand and carefully examined the contents inside.

Over a decade ago, the Guo Family in Tong City, to make amends, offered him a Top-Grade Spirit Stone, which made him suspicious about its origins at the time. Subsequently, he personally sent a message asking the intelligence cultivators of the Profound Sun Immortal Sect to collect intelligence on the rise of the Guo Family.

Now that more than a decade has passed, the information has finally been gathered and delivered to him.

"It seems my initial suspicion was correct; the Guo Family indeed has significant issues!"

Zhouyang put down the Jade Scroll, his eyes glowing with insight.

According to the intelligence recorded in the Jade Scroll, the Guo Family in Tong City was a Purple Mansion Clan over thirteen hundred years ago.

About thirteen hundred years ago, the clan leader of the time succeeded in Core Formation, allowing the Guo Family to ascend to become a Golden Core Clan.

After that, the growth of the Guo Family became unstoppable. In just five hundred years, four Golden Core Cultivators emerged one after another; even now, the number of Golden Core Stage Cultivators in the Guo Family has never dropped below three.

This is undoubtedly very abnormal!

You must know that the ancestor of the Guo Family who succeeded in Core Formation at that time was by no means a particularly gifted individual. His cultivation was only at the Seventh-Layer Golden Core before his eventual death.

A Golden Core Cultivator of average talent being able to cultivate a new Golden Core Cultivator for the family before passing away can already be considered quite successful.

But in fact, before this not-so-gifted Golden Core Cultivator died, the Guo Family had already cultivated as many as five Golden Core Cultivators under his leadership!

How can a Guo Family, just elevated from a Purple Mansion Clan to a Golden Core Clan, cultivate so many Golden Core Cultivators in just five to six hundred years? Is it solely relying on the Ancient Cultivator's Cave Mansion Treasure discovered by the family ancestor mentioned by Guo Congyun?

Zhouyang indeed saw records in the intelligence of the Guo Family selling Ancient Cultivator's Treasures over the millennium, but the best of the so-called Ancient Treasures was only a Tier Five High-Grade Spiritual Artifact.

Furthermore, those transactions involving Ancient Treasures happened seven to eight hundred years ago. Even if the Guo Family secretly exchanged some treasures for certain rare spiritual objects back then, they should have been used up by now.

However, in recent centuries, the Guo Family shows no sign of decline; instead, they have continuously advanced Golden Core Cultivators, maintaining a consistent number of three to five at any given time.

This is undoubtedly very unusual.

In the Cultivation Realm, families and sects either rise like the Zhou Family after producing someone formidable, becoming unstoppable.

Or they decline over time due to lack of successors, eventually severing their legacy.

The Guo Family's steady situation is clearly extremely abnormal.

"It seems I must first take a closer look at this Guo Family before meeting with Impatiens in the Wilderness Jungle!"

Zhouyang made a decision, and immediately gave some instructions to his Dao Companion Xiao Ying, then left the cave mansion on Fire Birch Mountain alone.

He flew all the way and reached Tong City, where the Guo Family resided, in less than a month.

Guo Congyun of the Guo Family had already passed away; now, the highest cultivator in the Guo Family at Tong City was a Sixth-Layer Golden Core Cultivator who usually secluded himself in meditation on the most important Tier Five Top-Grade Spirit Mountain of the Guo Family.

Upon arriving at Tong City, instead of directly scouting the Spirit Mountain of the Guo Family, Zhouyang sought out an intelligence cultivator stationed here by the Profound Sun Immortal Sect.

"Take this [Void Stone]; no matter what method you use, you must bring it into the Guo Family Treasure Vault."

Disguising his identity, Zhouyang, after meeting with the intelligence cultivator from the Profound Sun Immortal Sect, flicked his hand and tossed a Tier Four Spiritual Object [Void Stone] to the other party.

The intelligence cultivator, having only Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation, didn't ask why, but simply received the fist-sized [Void Stone] tossed by Zhouyang with due respect and took his leave.

Days later, a Foundation Establishment Cultivator who had married into the Guo Family presented the family with a rare spiritual object, a [Void Stone] that could be used to refine a Space Ring. As a reward, he received a Tier Three Middle-grade Spiritual Artifact, which made many other external relative cultivators in the Guo Family envious.

After being authenticated by a Purple Mansion Cultivator from the Guo Family, that [Void Stone] was sealed and stored in the Guo Family Treasure Vault for future use.

The Guo Family's Treasure Vault was also constructed by an Array Master, and only direct lineage heirs within five generations of Golden Core Cultivators from the Guo Family could enter, utilizing the [Bloodline Divine Ban]. It housed various rare items collected by the Guo Family over a thousand years.

On this day, a Sealing Spirit Jade Box containing rare minerals in the Treasure Vault suddenly exploded with a "boom", and a teal-gray Treasure Pearl the size of a pigeon's egg flew out, hovering in midair.

The Treasure Pearl hovered midair, flashing light, and the empty Treasure Vault suddenly held an additional purple-haired, purple-eyed, green-robed man.

The green-robed man had an average appearance but possessed a Fourth-Layer Golden Core cultivation, his face always cold and devoid of emotion.

Upon appearing in the Treasure Vault, he immediately extended his hand, and the teal-gray Treasure Pearl vanished into his body in a flash.

He then swept his wide sleeves, gathering all the fragments of the shattered Jade Box into his Storage Ring.

After completing all this, the green-robed man swept his gaze across the dazzling treasures in the vault and muttered in a low, deep voice, "So this is the Guo Family's Treasure Vault? The space is indeed large; I wonder if I can find the clues I need here!"

It turned out that this green-robed man was Zhouyang's External Incarnation, which he had cultivated for decades.

He concealed his External Incarnation within the [Dongxuan Pearl], a Pocket World Spiritual Artifact, and then used an Artifact Refining Secret Technique to refine the [Dongxuan Pearl] into the [Void Stone] to infiltrate the Guo Family Treasure Vault.

As for choosing the [Void Stone] as the vessel, naturally, it was because, as a Spatial Attribute Spiritual Object, it couldn't be stored in a Storage Bag and could perfectly conceal the [Dongxuan Pearl], which couldn't be housed in a Storage Spiritual Artifact.

A mere [Void Stone] might not alarm the Golden Core Stage cultivators of the Guo Family, and it was most likely to be sealed in the vault like now.

The cultivators of the Guo Family would never dream that a Golden Core Clan like theirs would attract the attention of a Nascent Soul cultivator, who would go so far as to employ a Pocket World Spiritual Artifact and an External Incarnation—rare even among Nascent Soul cultivators.

Not wanting to prolong the risk, Zhouyang's Incarnation began searching the Guo Family Treasure Vault for what he sought upon emerging from the [Dongxuan Pearl].

The Treasure Vault was vast, divided into several sections storing elixirs, artifacts, spirit talismans, minerals, miscellaneous items, and more.

Many of the more precious items were preserved in Jade Boxes or similarly sealed wooden boxes, and larger spiritual objects were kept in equally functional chests.

Yet, Zhouyang's target was not those smaller spiritual objects, not even sparing a look at a Jade Box containing a Tier Five Spiritual Object right before him.

He swiftly moved through the vault, soon finding what he was looking for deep within.

It was rows of neatly arranged large chests, made from Tier Three Spirit Wood [Obsidian Wood], capable of sealing spiritual qi. Each chest was a zhang long, a half zhang wide, and three chi high. There were thirty-nine such chests in total.

Zhouyang waved his hand, and a massive force opened seven or eight boxes at the front, revealing their contents.

Inside were neatly stacked Spirit Stones, all of Middle-grade!

With the volume of these chests, if filled, each could hold five to six thousand Middle-grade Spirit Stones; ten chests amounted to fifty to sixty thousand Middle-grade Spirit Stones, and thirty-nine boxes equaled nearly two hundred thousand Middle-grade Spirit Stones!

Two hundred thousand middle-grade Spirit Stones converted into lower-grade Spirit Stones amounts to twenty million lower-grade Spirit Stones!

Even though Zhouyang is a Nascent Soul Cultivator with wealth far surpassing this number, seeing so many Spirit Stones placed here still doesn't leave him unfazed.

The Zhou Family is also considered wealthy, owning a small cultivation realm and excavating a large Spirit Stone ore. However, the total number of middle-grade and lower-grade Spirit Stones in the Zhou Family Treasure Vault wouldn't exceed ten million.

Even if the Guo Family established their clan seven or eight hundred years earlier than the Zhou Family, it's unreasonable for them to have accumulated so many Spirit Stones.

Something's not right!

Zhouyang's incarnation flashed a sharp look, as if discovering something, and with a wave of his sleeve, he moved the pile of boxes full of Spirit Stones aside.

Then he looked at the floor uncovered by the boxes, waved his sleeve, and a Cui Bamboo Flying Sword, green with a hint of gold, sliced across the floor, creating a crack over a zhang long.

The Cui Bamboo Flying Sword was a Tier Six Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact named the Golden Bamboo Sword, which Zhouyang obtained after defeating the Nascent Soul Cultivator Shen Luoyan from Divine Lady Palace. This sword was refined from the rare Spirit Bamboo, Golden Stone Bamboo, possessing both Metal and Wood attributes, making it the best material for a Wood Element Cultivator to refine a Flying Sword.

Zhouyang originally prepared this for his Dao Companion, Xiao Ying. However, Xiao Ying disliked fighting, and since the incarnation practicing Wood Element Techniques lacked a suitable magical artifact, Zhouyang gave this Flying Sword to the incarnation for use.

Even though this incarnation only possessed Golden Core Stage Cultivation, using a Tier Six Spiritual Artifact in advance was not difficult for the incarnation of a Nascent Soul Cultivator.

"Just as expected!"

The Zhouyang incarnation approached the crack on the ground and looked down, only to see another realm below the crack, revealing a hidden compartment.

The stone material on the treasure vault's floor originally integrated a large amount of Forbidden God Stones. Even a Golden Core Stage Cultivator within the treasure vault would find it difficult for their Divine Sense to penetrate the floor's slabs to discover the hidden compartment below.

Though this incarnation only had Golden Core Stage Cultivation, the quality of his Divine Sense was that of a Nascent Soul Cultivator.

Despite the hidden compartment being cleverly concealed, the abnormality was still detected by his Divine Sense scanning, and this exploratory sword stroke brought a significant find.

The space within the hidden compartment wasn't large, storing two small boxes, with special Spirit Locks hanging on them.

These Spirit Locks are a method applying Array Restrictions, and without the relevant Unlocking Technique, the boxes can't be opened. Forcing them open would damage both the boxes and their contents.

"This is a bit tricky. With the strength of this incarnation, opening the treasure chests without damaging the treasures inside is indeed challenging. It seems I'll have to take them to my main body to handle."

After studying the two boxes with a peculiar expression, Zhouyang's incarnation waved his hand and stored them in his Storage Ring. He then restored the damaged floor and returned the moved boxes full of Spirit Stones to their original position.

As for the Spirit Stones inside, he didn't touch a single one.

This was not out of fear that moving the Spirit Stones would alert others, but because he currently didn't lack Spirit Stones and there was no need to do such a low-class thing.

If the two boxes he took away didn't contain what he wanted, he would eventually return them to the Guo Family.

Half a year later, a Purple Mansion Cultivator from the Guo Family entered the treasure vault, heading straight to the area storing Spirit Talismans, seemingly intending to select a specific Spirit Talisman to take out.

After about a quarter of an hour, the person selected the desired Spirit Talisman and then took the Jade Box containing the Talisman out of the treasure vault.

However, neither the cultivator entering the vault nor the vault-keeper routinely checking the selected Spirit Talisman noticed a green-gray Treasure Pearl on the Jade Box held by the cultivator.

Upon leaving the vault's entrance, preparing to store the Jade Box in his Storage Bag, the cultivator suddenly found he failed to retrieve it!

"Huh, what's going on?"

He stared with surprise at the Jade Box in his hand, skeptically attempting to insert it into his Storage Bag again, succeeding this time.

"Truly strange! Could this Storage Bag have been used for too long?"

Glancing oddly at the Storage Bag on his waist, the cultivator didn't dwell on it and soon left.

He naturally didn't notice that the green-gray Treasure Pearl on the Jade Box had quietly fallen to the ground when he stored the Jade Box in his Storage Bag.

Days later, Zhouyang's main body retrieved the Dongxuan Pearl hidden by an Illusion Technique Divine Technique from a Qi Cultivation Stage Cultivator leaving the Guo Family Spirit Mountain.

Due to the materials used in refining his External Incarnation, Zhouyang could learn various Wood Attribute Techniques and Divine Techniques effortlessly. The method used to hide the Dongxuan Pearl earlier was an Illusion Technique Divine Technique of the Wood Attribute.

Using Illusion Techniques to disguise and conceal with this incarnation's Golden Core Stage Cultivation naturally wouldn't be easily detected by a mere Purple Mansion Cultivator.

"Let me see what exactly is inside this treasure chest!"

In a secluded courtyard of the Immortal Inn in Tong City, after retrieving the [Dongxuan Pearl], Zhouyang couldn't wait to take out the two treasure chests inside and prepare to open them to see what was inside.

These two treasure chests, one large and one small, the large one was half a zhang long, three chi wide, and two chi high, while the small one was also three chi long, two chi wide, and one chi high.

The spirit lock on the treasure chest could stump Zhouyang's external incarnation, but it couldn't protect the treasures inside after his main body personally made a move.

Zhouyang personally made a move, and soon used a special method to erase the spirit lock on the treasure chest, successfully opening the chest.

He first opened the large treasure chest.

The large treasure chest contained spirit stones, but they were top-grade spirit stones, as many as over a thousand pieces of top-grade spirit stones!

Over the years, the large spirit stone ore belonging to the Zhou Family in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm had almost been exhausted, but even so, the top-grade spirit stones extracted from such a large spirit stone mine totaled only a little over a hundred pieces.

However, in front of Zhouyang now, the treasure chest contained as many as over a thousand pieces of top-grade spirit stones!

If the numerous mid-grade spirit stones in the Guo Family's treasure vault could be explained by the family's accumulation over several hundred to a thousand years, then the explanation for over a thousand top-grade spirit stones was far beyond reason.

The circulation rate of top-grade spirit stones is extremely low, unlike mid-grade spirit stones that can be exchanged using lower-grade spirit stones. To collect as many as thousands of top-grade spirit stones, one either has to pillage like Zhouyang by killing a large number of Golden Core and Nascent Soul Cultivators or mine spirit stone ores.

Large spirit stone mines may not produce many top-grade spirit stones, but the reserves in giant spirit stone mines are quite abundant.

According to Zhouyang's knowledge, it is not uncommon for a complete giant spirit stone mine to have reserves of over ten thousand top-grade spirit stones.

The Guo Family first revealed their top-grade spirit stones, and now Zhouyang discovered a large number of mid-grade and top-grade spirit stones in their clan's treasure vault, indicating that they most likely found a giant spirit stone mine in secret, which has been mined covertly for over a thousand years.

"Now let me see what this small treasure chest contains!"

Zhouyang's eyes gleamed as he couldn't wait to open the small treasure chest as well.

When the small treasure chest opened, what appeared before Zhouyang's eyes was a half box of white crystal stones, approximately twenty to thirty pieces in number, each about the size of an adult's fist.

These white crystal stones contained astonishing spiritual power, with each stone's spiritual power even surpassing that of top-grade spirit stones by quite a bit, but still far inferior to top-grade spirit stones.

"Hmm, what are these things? Could they be [Spirit Marrow Stones] that can quickly restore magical power!"

Zhouyang's face was filled with surprise and uncertainty as he looked at those white crystal stones, his eyes full of amazement.

The so-called [Spirit Marrow Stone], can also be considered a spirit stone. They are special accompanying spirit stones that only appear in giant spirit stone mines.

The spiritual power contained in [Spirit Marrow Stones] is a rare attributeless spiritual power that can be easily absorbed and converted into magical power by cultivators practicing any cultivation technique.

For Zhouyang, a fire element technique cultivator, the [Spirit Marrow Stone] is slightly inferior if used to restore magical power compared to a fire attribute top-grade spirit stone, but far superior to top-grade spirit stones.

Moreover, the concentrated spiritual power contained in [Spirit Marrow Stone], a fist-sized piece, can roughly replenish half of his current magical power within half an hour.

To confirm whether these white crystal stones are [Spirit Marrow Stones] is also quite simple. Zhouyang took out one from the treasure chest, held it in his hand, and operated his cultivation technique to absorb and refine the spiritual power within.

After a while, he stopped refining, his eyes full of excitement as he looked at the box of white crystal stones and shouted, "They are indeed [Spirit Marrow Stones]. I didn't expect the Guo Family to actually have secretly hoarded a giant spirit stone mine!"

A giant spirit stone mine!

The Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm hasn't discovered such a treasure in over two thousand years. The last time a giant spirit stone mine was discovered, there were over ten major sects that fiercely fought over it, causing even two Nascent Soul Cultivators to fall.

And now, the Guo Family, which doesn't even have a Nascent Soul Cultivator, has monopolized a giant spirit stone mine for over a thousand years without anyone knowing.

If this news were known to those large forces, the Guo Family would likely be exterminated in the blink of an eye.

Not to mention the Guo Family, even Zhouyang now can't possibly monopolize a giant spirit stone mine, and neither can the Profound Sun Immortal Sect.

"Guo Family, oh Guo Family, now it's up to you to be sensible or not. If you're sensible, your Guo Family can continue to prosper and pass on your legacy, but if not, don't blame this Zhou for being ruthless!"

Zhouyang's eyes flashed with a cold light, and his gaze unconsciously turned to the location of the Guo Family's Spirit Mountain.

Originally, he naturally didn't want to trouble the Guo Family any further, but now that he knew the Guo Family was secretly hoarding a giant spirit stone mine, he couldn't help but pay a visit himself.