Cultivation Begins From The Desert-Chapter 691 - 675: Choosing the Treasure!
Returning alone to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, Zhouyang no longer needed to be overly cautious.
When he once again crossed the mountain range shrouded in , feeling troubled, he proactively sought out the group of , killing them fiercely and even raiding their hive.
Although he paid a certain price for this, the resentment in his heart was finally vented, and he unexpectedly gained some rewards.
The
naturally doesn't produce honey, but their hive is a rare treasure, made from a special Spirit Gold created by mature
after ingesting various Spirit Gold Ores, containing pure and rich Gold Attribute Spiritual Power.
This hive Spirit Gold possesses excellent metallic adhesion properties, whether used in repairing damaged metal magical artifacts or as an auxiliary spiritual object in refining flying swords or the like, it's a superb choice.
Also, the poison needle of the
is an excellent artifact refining material. Zhouyang knows of a special artifact, the , that can be refined from the poison needles of bees and scorpions into a disposable spiritual artifact.
Using the poison needle of a mature
combined with some hive Spirit Gold to refine a
can even break through the shielding divine techniques of an Early-Stage Nascent Soul Cultivator, making it an excellent sinister weapon.
Zhouyang obtained over a hundred intact poison needles this time, even if some fail in refining, he is sure to end up with dozens of , adding a new means to confront enemies.
Afterwards, on the way back to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, Zhouyang avoided causing further trouble and safely returned along the path he came, back to the Human Race Cultivation Realm.
Atop Fire Birch Mountain, everything remained the same; many people didn't even know Zhouyang had been away for five to six years.
To the low-middle tier cultivators, it's normal for a Nascent Soul patriarch to meditate in seclusion for decades; those Nascent Soul Stage cultivators who frequently appear in the sights of low-middle tier cultivators are instead seen as exceptions.
However, Xiao Ying was different. Knowing why her Dao companion went out this time, she was undoubtedly very curious about the process and results of Zhouyang's journey.
But Zhouyang, who usually doesn't hide anything from her, concealed part of the truth this time, only saying that Jiang Fengxian and her daughter Jiang Yufeng would be staying long-term with the
to resolve the hidden dangers of phoenix blood in their bodies.
Upon hearing that Jiang Fengxian and her daughter would be residing deep within the Wilderness Jungle's , Xiao Ying, though outwardly calm, undoubtedly felt a great sense of relief inwardly.
Having witnessed Jiang Fengxian's unparalleled beauty and noble demeanor, Xiao Ying undoubtedly felt a lot of pressure, often worried that Zhouyang would be taken away by her.
Now that Jiang Fengxian had voluntarily withdrawn, the weight in her heart was lifted, and she became radiant with joy.
Seeing the change in his Dao companion's expression, Zhouyang naturally guessed the reason behind her transformation, for which he could only chuckle wryly in his heart.
Fortunately, although Xiao Ying was inwardly overjoyed, she didn't truly forget herself and instead comforted him, "There's no need for you to worry, Zhou Lang. With your cultivation strength, if you miss Sister Jiang in the future, visiting her wouldn't be difficult. I'm sure Sister Jiang thinks the same too."
"Perhaps." Zhouyang shook his head noncommittally, unwilling to discuss the matter further, and intentionally shifted the topic elsewhere.
In the following years, Zhouyang either visited the cave houses and sects of other Nascent Soul cultivators with his wife and child or lectured and answered the questions of some Zhou family junior cultivators, finally living the life of a normal cultivator.
This greatly pleased the Zhou family cultivators. Since Zhouyang had gone to the Donghua Continent Cultivation Realm, he rarely appeared before many clan members, and only a few had the chance to witness the true face of this family patriarch. Many Zhou family cultivators, even throughout their lives, had no opportunity to see the true visage of their clan's patriarch.
Now that this patriarch, who sheltered the entire Zhou family, was finally willing to leave his cave mansion to impart wisdom and resolve doubts for the family juniors, how could the lucky Zhou family cultivators not be thrilled and ecstatic?
Especially since both Zhouyang and Xiao Ying were generous, often bestowing elixirs and artifacts upon promising or agreeable clan juniors.
Given their stature and cultivation, the items they presented were naturally the best of the best, each one being a true gem.
Moreover, to these Zhou family cultivators, items bestowed by their patriarch Zhouyang held greater symbolic meaning than practical value.
If a Foundation Establishment cultivator could receive an artifact from Zhouyang, even if it were only a Tier Three Spiritual Artifact, it would be enough to make Purple Mansion Stage cultivators envious, significantly elevating their status among the clan elders.
Nowadays, who in the Zhou family doesn't know that the cultivation and divine techniques of patriarch Zhouyang are earth-shattering, ranking among the strong even among Nascent Soul Stage cultivators.
If they could capture his attention and receive even a hint of favor, not to mention forming a Golden Core, opening a Purple Mansion would be entirely feasible.
If it weren't for the fact that many Zhou family cultivators of Zhouyang's generation and those one or two generations younger had mostly passed away, and that Zhou family juniors had long missed the opportunity to witness the patriarch's true presence, their number would have overwhelmed the family with their eagerness.
In fact, even if they couldn't get close to him, some junior Zhou family cultivators would try every possible means to get near his son Zhou Guangcheng and his relatives to seek a chance to gain his attention and favor.
Anticipating that such incidents would only increase as the Zhou family grew larger, Zhouyang deliberately sought to avoid future issues and trouble for his clan juniors because of his influence and interference.
He knew deeply that sometimes a casual remark from someone in power could change the fate of the juniors at the bottom level, and many times this change would be more detrimental than advantageous for the group.
The Zhou family's systems had become well-established so that if a family descendant truly had abilities, they could succeed without any special attention from the powers above. But if one were to rise solely because of special attention from Zhouyang, it would lead others to think the individual only succeeded due to favoritism, setting a bad precedent.
To prevent such chaos from occurring, Zhouyang aimed to minimize such practices, opting instead for preaching conferences and martial arts tournaments to reward the outstanding, leaving everyone without complaints.
In fact, ever since the time patriarch Zhouyang went to the Donghua Continent Cultivation Realm, the Zhou family had standardized these tournaments.
A small competition every five years, open only to Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators under sixty, and a major competition every ten years, where both Foundation Establishment and Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators can register, along with special competitions in alchemy, artifact refining, talisman making, and other Hundred Skills of Cultivation.
Regardless of whether it's a small or large competition, the clan will offer generous tangible rewards to the winners, including precious items such as the Foundation Establishment Pill and the Purple Cloud Pill, which assist cultivators in establishing their foundation and opening the Purple Mansion.
Over centuries of development, the Zhou Family in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm has already produced multiple generations of cultivators. After Zhouyang's preaching this time, even a descendant named Zhou Changping excelled in alchemy and was bestowed a Tier Four Spirit Pill, the [Nourishing Spirit Pill], by Xiao Ying, allowing him to successfully open his Purple Mansion, garnering the envy of countless cultivators.
After staying at the Zhou Family for a while, Zhouyang then went to the Profound Sun Immortal Sect.
When Master Cyan Yang had initially invited him to become an Honored Guest Supreme Elder of the Profound Sun Immortal Sect, he mentioned that Zhouyang could choose three treasures from the sect's treasure vault. Over the years, due to various reasons, he hadn't gone to make his selection.
This time, having some free time, he decided to seize this benefit.
The Profound Sun Immortal Sect, with its millennial heritage, naturally accumulated numerous precious items in its treasure vault. Although the most precious items would certainly not be available for Zhouyang to select, he already felt it was worth the visit.
He was not even in a hurry to select his three treasures; instead, he treated this trip to the treasure vault as an opportunity to broaden his horizons, interestedly wandering through the vault, appraising those bizarre and rare items he had never seen before.
If an ordinary disciple of the Profound Sun Immortal Sect dared to do this, even other Golden Core Stage cultivators would be hurried along by the Golden Core elder guarding the vault.
However, with Zhouyang, the Golden Core elder did not dare show any dissatisfaction. In fact, he occasionally offered flattering introductions of certain treasures' origins and their usage taboos, with the utmost courtesy.
As the keeper of the vault, he had a complete inventory list, thus even if Zhouyang's cultivation realm was higher than his, he certainly couldn't be more familiar with the treasures than the elder.
"Senior, have you taken a liking to this piece of [Celestial Spirit Star Stone]? I must say, Senior has great insight. This head-sized [Celestial Spirit Star Stone] has been in the vault for nearly a thousand years, and countless artifact refining elders of our sect have wished to take it, but they've all regretfully given up after realizing the difficulty in handling such a spiritual object!"
When Zhouyang's gaze lingered on a head-sized silver-black stone for more than half a cup of tea's time, the vault elder following him immediately brightened, hurried forward two steps with the spiritual object list in hand, and respectfully explained the treasure's origins.
After fully recounting the background of this [Celestial Spirit Star Stone], he smiled fawningly towards Zhouyang, saying, "However, I know that Senior is also an artifact refining master and possess the [Qianyang True Flame], a top-tier True Fire Divine Technique, so you must have a way to refine this object."
Zhouyang, however, was not so easily swayed. He merely chuckled at the words, casting a teasing glance at the elder before saying, "Hehe, it's not as simple as you say. If refining this [Celestial Spirit Star Stone] were so easy, why would your sect's Nascent Soul Stage cultivators let it sit in the vault for a thousand years?"
Saying no more, he waved a hand, storing the head-sized [Celestial Spirit Star Stone] into his storage ring, ignoring the elder's awkward expression.
"Alright, let's go see what other spiritual objects there are."
Upon hearing this, the vault elder felt as though he had received great amnesty, quickly following behind him as Zhouyang continued choosing his remaining two treasures.
Later, accompanied by the vault elder, Zhouyang selected a piece of [Immortal Yellow Stone] from inside a Tier Five Ox Demon's body and a [Laurel Branch] cut from the [Star Moon Laurel Tree], a Tier Six Spirit Wood.
Bezoar can detoxify hundreds of poisons, and the [Immortal Yellow Stone] from a Tier Five Ox Demon can even alleviate the lifeforce poison of a poisonous flood dragon, making it an excellent material for refining high-tier antitoxic elixirs.
Tier Five Ox Demons are rare enough, but those that cultivate bezoar inside their bodies are even rarer. This kind of [Immortal Yellow Stone] is considered much more valuable than a demonic core by cultivators.
The piece of [Immortal Yellow Stone] Zhouyang chose was only the size of an egg, evidently a product of multiple divisions, but its efficacy wouldn't be reduced, and it could still be used several times.
The [Star Moon Laurel Tree] is also an extremely rare heavenly spirit wood, and the "Moon Wood Essence Qi" contained within its branches has miraculous effects on cultivators with wood attribute techniques, like Xiao Ying, breaking through their cultivation bottlenecks. Additionally, soaking it in water can endow the spiritual water with a significant antitoxic effect.
Zhouyang's choice of this item clearly targeted its primary purpose.
Xiao Ying's cultivation had been stuck at the Eighth-Layer Golden Core for some years now, and with the help of this item, the success rate of breaking through to the Ninth Layer would undoubtedly increase significantly.
After selecting the treasures, Zhouyang did not spend more time at the Profound Sun Immortal Sect and directly returned to the Fire Birch Mountain Cave Mansion with his Dao companion Xiao Ying.
Returning to the cave mansion, he naturally handed the [Immortal Yellow Stone] and the [Laurel Branch] over to Xiao Ying for her to handle, while he took the [Celestial Spirit Star Stone] into the artifact refining chamber.
At that time, Zhouyang hadn't deceived the treasure vault guardian elder. Refining such a spiritual object as the [Celestial Spirit Star Stone] really isn't something an ordinary Nascent Soul Stage cultivator can achieve.
This is because extracting the Tier Six Spiritual Object [Celestial Spirit Silver] from the [Celestial Spirit Star Stone] not only requires a high level of mastery in True Fire for the artifact refiner but also demands an equally powerful divine sense.
In general, to perfectly extract all of the [Celestial Spirit Silver] from the [Celestial Spirit Star Stone], it requires the personal intervention of an artifact refiner with cultivation at the peak of the Mid-Stage Nascent Soul.
Currently, within the Profound Sun Immortal Sect, only Wang Lingxiao meets these conditions, but his artifact refining skills are not particularly advanced, nor might he have the time to undertake such a task.
So this object fell into Zhouyang's hands.
Zhouyang naturally met the conditions to refine the [Celestial Spirit Star Stone], otherwise, he wouldn't have opted to bring it out.
Spending nearly a year in the artifact refining chamber, he finally extracted all the [Celestial Spirit Silver] within the head-sized [Celestial Spirit Star Stone], obtaining a total of three taels of [Celestial Spirit Silver].
Adding that to the one tael of [Celestial Spirit Silver] presented by the Liu Family of the Liuyun Commerce Alliance during the Nascent Soul Ceremony, he now possessed four taels of [Celestial Spirit Silver].
[Celestial Spirit Silver] boasts a powerful resistance to magic. There was once a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator in the cultivation realm who used a large amount of [Celestial Spirit Silver] to refine a Tier Six Spiritual Artifact, the [Celestial Spirit Shield], resulting in powerful Tier Six magic attacks being reduced to only ten percent of their original power upon hitting the shield.
Though Zhouyang's four taels of [Celestial Spirit Silver] were not enough to forge a spiritual artifact, by integrating them into his lifebound spiritual artifact, the [Qianyang Golden Tower], it would still enhance the artifact's magic resistance, significantly boosting its defensive capabilities.
