Cultivation Begins From The Desert-Chapter 683 - 667: The Ingenious Use of Long Wei
Under Zhouyang's powerful coercion, Guo Xianlong actually had no choice.
By cooperating with Zhouyang, their Guo Family could still retain a forty percent share of the giant spirit stone vein, an enormous amount of spirit stones that would drive even a large sect mad.
If he didn't agree to Zhouyang's demands, even if Zhouyang did not kill him, just spreading the news that the Guo Family controlled the giant spirit stone mine would leave their family struggling to survive, let alone keep their share intact.
Therefore, after secretly recalling another Golden Core Stage Cultivator from the family to replace him as the guardian of the family's spirit mountain, Guo Xianlong departed from the Guo Family's spirit mountain in Tong City alongside Zhouyang.
It is worth mentioning that the two boxes of top-grade spirit stones and Spirit Marrow Stone were not returned to Guo Xianlong by Zhouyang, nor did Guo Xianlong dare to question the matter further.
After leaving the Guo Family with Guo Xianlong, Zhouyang did not head directly to the Wilderness Jungle but first detoured to the Zhou Family in Daoxuan Country.
The Zhou Family in Daoxuan Country is currently managed by Li Hong, and more than half of the Zhou Family's Foundation Establishment Cultivators and Purple Mansion Stage Cultivators have now migrated to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm.
To accommodate these Zhou Family cultivators, besides Chongxuan Mountain, which is a Tier Five Top-Grade Spirit Mountain, the other Tier Four Top-Grade Spirit Mountain within the Zhou Family's territory in Daoxuan Country has been upgraded to a Tier Five.
With these two Tier Five Spirit Mountains as their foundation and Zhouyang, a Nascent Soul Ancestor, as their backing, it's hard for the Zhou Family not to prosper.
Not to mention, Li Hong himself is also a highly capable person who, after taking over the management of the Zhou Family in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, implemented a series of drastic reforms.
It's rare for Zhouyang to visit the Zhou Family upon coming out of seclusion, so Li Hong seized the opportunity to report to Zhouyang his reform achievements over the years.
"Old Ancestor, as you know, in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, especially within the Profound Purity Dao Alliance, all the various forces have long been established. Although our Zhou Family secured two Tier Five Spirit Mountains as a foundation in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm thanks to your connections, aside from these two mountains and the surrounding lands, we have no ore veins or Tier Four Spirit Mountains!"
"Without income from the ore and spirit elixirs produced by ore veins and spirit mountains, the Zhou Family in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm relies on transporting resources from the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm to pay family benefits, which is manageable in the short term but impossible to sustain in the long term."
"Given the situation in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, for our Zhou Family to acquire such resources, family cultivators would have to participate in the Profound Purity Dao Alliance's external expansion wars to gain them. However, those wars might occur only once every few hundred years, and the Zhou Family missed the last one."
"Thus, after taking over the Zhou Family here, I imposed certain requirements on all family cultivators, starting with those who have mastered any of the Hundred Skills of Cultivation above Tier Three – they must take turns stationed in clan-operated shops within various Immortal Cities to earn spirit stone income for the family. To motivate them, I've promised a share of the shop's profits!"
"Additionally, for those requesting extended journeys outside the family, we assign tasks based on their cultivation level, such as slaying a demon beast of the same tier or collecting specific spiritual materials. Only those who complete their tasks and return with specified items can receive full clan contribution points for their journey!"
"Thirdly, to hone the combat abilities of family cultivators and increase family wealth, the family organizes a certain number of Foundation Establishment cultivators to hunt demon beasts and gather spiritual objects in areas, such as the Broken Cloud Mountain Range, Endless Snowfield, or Wilderness Jungle, every few years. The family takes a thirty percent share of the spoils, with the remainder belonging to the individual."
"Fourthly, the family acts as a guarantor to accept non-combat external tasks from sects like the Profound Sun Immortal Sect, then passing these onto family cultivators, from whom we draw task commissions."
"Now, the family has opened shops in over thirty Immortal Cities, not only selling items brought from the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm but also accepting commissions for artifact refining, alchemy, talisman making, array formation, and other tasks."
"According to my calculations, if everything goes smoothly, it should take about forty to fifty years for the family in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm to balance its finances!"
Inside the quiet room, Zhouyang sat at the head, listening quietly to Li Hong reporting on the current situation of the Zhou Family, without showing any change in expression, making it difficult for others to gauge his true thoughts.
Not until Li Hong finished reporting did he respond lightly, "Since the Ancestor entrusted the Zhou Family to you to manage, it certainly affirms and trusts in your abilities. How you choose to handle it is your affair; I only look at the results."
"However, I must remind you of one thing: it has not been easy for the Zhou Family to reach its current position. If certain actions of yours cause significant loss to the clan, even though you are already a Golden Core Stage Cultivator, you cannot escape punishment!"
His words ended with a stern and piercing look sweeping over Li Hong, a clear warning within his gaze.
Li Hong immediately quivered, quickly lowering his body, responding respectfully, "Yes, I will certainly remember the Ancestor's teachings and will not betray your trust!"
Zhouyang glanced at him before continuing, "Also, concerning amassing wealth for the clan, you need not concern yourself too much. I have another plan in place. The most important thing for the Zhou Family right now is to have a few more Golden Core Stage Cultivators with potential. You should pay more attention to this aspect and consider selecting some cultivators with the potential to become Golden Core Seeds for focused cultivation!"
Hearing this, a flash of curiosity appeared in Li Hong's eyes, as he wondered what kind of plan Zhouyang might have.
Yet, despite his curiosity, Li Hong dared not ask further. Instead, he focused on Zhouyang's latter words and said, "In this respect, I've already taken steps. According to my observations, among the ten Purple Mansion Stage Cultivators in the family now, only three have real potential to advance to the Golden Core Stage: Zhou Shengyu, Zhou Shengfan, and Zhou Rongxiang, with those like Zhou Shengyu and Zhou Rongxiang, who have top-grade spiritual root talent, having the greatest chance!"
The three people he referred to, excluding Zhou Rongxiang from the Land of the Far West, were reasonably familiar to Zhouyang.
Hearing this information, Zhouyang slightly pondered before nodding, "These three young ones are indeed quite promising; you may take care to give them additional attention, but don't make it too obvious. Otherwise, it may cause dissatisfaction among other family cultivators and prevent them from becoming arrogant due to special favor, sowing the seeds of pride and haughtiness."
Having finished, without waiting for Li Hong to respond, Zhouyang waved his hand grandly and said, "Forget these matters for now. Let's talk about the real business. The reason I came here this time is to assign you an important task to complete immediately."
"You have one month to pick twenty trustworthy Foundation Establishment Cultivators and two Purple Mansion Stage Cultivators from the family. I need them to undertake a major task on behalf of the Ancestor, a task that might take decades, so it is best to select some younger clan members without family obligations!"
The giant spirit stone mine is of significant importance, and Zhouyang did not plan to disclose it to Li Hong yet.
Even those selected for the task will only learn about the mission once they reach the giant spirit stone mine location.
Li Hong, being a wise person, did not pursue questions about the task's reason as Zhouyang did not explain, and quickly took his leave to accomplish the task.
A month later, Zhouyang gathered the selected Zhou Family cultivators and, along with Guo Xianlong, who had been waiting at the Zhou Family, departed using the Misty Cloud Vehicle towards the Wilderness Jungle.
The Wilderness Jungle is vast and boundless, and the area containing the giant spirit stone mine was neither near where Zhouyang had previously visited in the Nanman Country nor was it located within sight of tens of thousands of miles away in another region.
Upon reaching the outskirts of the Wilderness Jungle, Zhouyang released Guo Xianlong from the Misty Cloud Vehicle to guide him from the front.
Regarding the Zhou Family cultivators inside the vehicle, they remained completely shielded from perceiving the outside, having no idea where they were being taken.
Guo Xianlong had visited the giant spirit stone mine multiple times for mining, so he was quite familiar with the way. Under his guidance, Zhouyang piloted the Misty Cloud Vehicle deep into the wilderness, quickly reaching an area two to three hundred thousand miles into the Wilderness Jungle.
Recalling the past, when Zhouyang was still at the Purple Mansion Stage, he ventured into such regions with Jiang Fengxian and others. Those were times fraught with danger at every turn.
But now, with his Nascent Soul Cultivation, even in such regions, by activating the illusionary divine techniques of the Misty Cloud Vehicle, even Tier Five demon beasts and Tier Five barbaric beasts found it hard to detect the vehicle flying high above.
Following Guo Xianlong's guidance, the vehicle flew until it reached the outskirts of a swamp shrouded in seven-colored mist. Guo Xianlong, seated at the front, promptly called out, "We've arrived. The swamp ahead, filled with miasma, is where the giant spirit stone mine is located."
Upon hearing this, Zhouyang immediately halted the vehicle and asked Guo Xianlong, "What can you tell me about this swamp?"
"The Guo family ancestors named this swamp the Mystic Poison Swamp. The seven-colored miasma within is highly toxic. It can corrode a cultivator's physical magical power and has strong hallucinogenic effects, enough to affect even Purple Mansion Cultivators if they're not careful. The deeper miasma can even impact Golden Core Cultivators."
"Should any cultivator lose their mind to the miasma upon entering, it's easy to get lost. Continued inhalation only leads to the inevitable outbreak of the poison, ending in death."
"Yet, the miasma is merely the swamp's least noticeable killing move. It's the cyan-eyed poison flies, purple-skinned toads, black blood poison mosquitoes, and various swamp monsters that are the true, unpredictable threats within."
"Even though the Guo Family has researched this swamp for over a thousand years, they haven't managed to devise complete countermeasures for all the monsters within. Cultivators from our clan still get lost in the swamp every few years!"
Having chosen to compromise, Guo Xianlong didn't hide what the Guo Family knew. Moreover, he was acutely aware that no matter how perilous the Mystic Poison Swamp was, it couldn't threaten a Nascent Soul Cultivator like Zhouyang with vast divine techniques.
Indeed, after hearing this, Zhouyang showed no sign of surprise, merely nodding lightly, "I understand. You continue to guide the way; I'll handle the miasma and monsters myself."
With that said, Zhouyang willed his silver flying vehicle, which emitted a layer of silver spiritual light enveloping the entire vehicle, and plunged into the swamp.
The formidable seven-colored miasma, described by Guo Xianlong, clearly couldn't corrode the protective shield of the Tier Six Spiritual Artifact — the Misty Cloud Vehicle — even though it wasn't a defensive artifact.
However, the silver spiritual light emitted by the vehicle was so dazzling that upon entering the swamp, it attracted numerous flies' attacks.
The exotic flies inhabiting the swamp were massive, almost the size of sparrows, sporting large bluish-grey eyes capable of spitting black corrosive venom at their enemies.
This was exactly what Guo Xianlong referred to as the cyan-eyed poison fly.
As long as one avoided their venomous spit, even ordinary mortals could kill these flies.
Yet, their numbers in the swamp were beyond billions. Once they swarmed, tens or hundreds of thousands would attack simultaneously.
When the poison flies took to the sky en masse, a ten-acre cloud of bluish-grey insects formed above the miasma-shrouded swamp.
The sheer number of attacking flies would force most Purple Mansion Cultivators to shy away from confronting them.
But these flies were unfortunate to meet Zhouyang.
If they dared to assault the silver flying vehicle, they would be instantly slain by the dragon's might emanating from Zhouyang.
Zhouyang accidentally discovered that after refining several portions of True Dragon Essence Blood, the dragon's might was extremely effective against these weak-bodied poison insects.
Unleashing the dragon's might to smite these insects was much faster than directly using fire.
Besides the cyan-eyed poison flies, another major swarm within the swamp was the black blood poison mosquitoes.
The black-blood poison mosquitoes could grow as large as a fist, and their sharp mouths could pierce through the thick skin of Tier Three wild bulls.
These mosquitoes were filled with pollutant toxic blood, which typically could only be burned to ash using fire magic.
Using flying swords or other artifacts to kill them would cause their bodies to burst, spilling toxic blood that could contaminate the artifact, which even Tier Five artifacts couldn't entirely resist.
According to Guo Xianlong, when Guo Family cultivators encountered such swarms, they would rely on specially crafted incense to disperse the mosquitoes.
But for Zhouyang, any mosquitoes daring to approach within ten miles were immediately smitten by the dragon's might.
As for other swamp monsters, upon sensing the dragon's might, they all hid away, shivering, not daring to seek their doom by attacking Zhouyang.
Only these utterly mindless poison insects would foolishly dare to assault a Nascent Soul Cultivator.
After recklessly blasting through several hundred miles of the swamp, under Guo Xianlong's guidance, Zhouyang drove the flying vehicle onto an island.
Upon arriving on this hundred-mile-wide island, Zhouyang, sweeping with his divine sense, quickly located the formation set up by the Guo Family at the entrance to the giant spirit stone mine without Guo Xianlong's guidance.
His grand arrival aboard the silver flying vehicle over the island attracted the attention of Guo Family cultivators within the formation, as probing gazes were cast from the formation towards the silver vehicle.
"According to Guo Family rules, there should be at least two cultivators at the mine. One for mining and another on guard. When we were outside the swamp, I already sent a message to the guard inside. Please allow me to step out and invite him to welcome you, Senior!"
Aboard the vehicle, Guo Xianlong hurriedly explained the internal situation to prevent his family cultivators' probing from causing any misunderstanding with Zhouyang.
"Go ahead."
Zhouyang waved his hand, showing no concern over this matter.
