Cultivation Begins From The Desert-Chapter 801 - 784: Revival of the Desert Sea, Rise of the Zhou Family

The matter of Yin Hanguang's impending end was no secret to the cultivators of the Anti-Light Alliance; naturally, they had channels to learn of it.

However, Zhouyang was genuinely curious about what price the Anti-Light Alliance would be willing to offer to recruit him and the Zhou Family.

But if he raised the question himself, it seemed somewhat inconsistent with the persona he had earlier established.

Therefore, at his hint, his son Zhou Guangcheng, who was watching his father receive outsiders, stepped forward to speak on his behalf: "Given my father's centuries-long friendship with Palace Master Yin, naturally, it won't be compromised by a few words from Fellow Daoists. However, I'm rather curious what price your Anti-Light Alliance is willing to offer to recruit the Zhou Family!"

"If the Zhou Family is willing to join our Anti-Light Alliance, we are prepared to offer a Vice Alliance Leader position to the Zhou Family and transfer the Haoyang Sect's mountain gate on Haoyang Mountain and the surrounding area of a hundred thousand li entirely to your family."

"Additionally, various resources from the Westernmost Cultivation Realm will flow unimpeded towards the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm."

"Moreover, in respect for Master Zhou, our alliance is willing to offer three top-grade spirit stones as a joining fee for Master Zhou!"

Cultivator Lin and Cultivator Cheng exchanged a glance, and then Cultivator Lin, as their representative, spoke the offered price on behalf of the Anti-Light Alliance.

This offer, in their view, was indeed exceptionally generous.

Offering the Zhou Family a Vice Alliance Leader position in the Anti-Light Alliance was tantamount to letting the Zhou Family directly replace the former Haoyang Sect's position, and Haoyang Mountain, this Tier Six middle-grade spirit mountain, plus the surrounding area of a hundred thousand li, was of immense value.

The three top-grade spirit stones could even help the Zhou Family create two or three Tier Six spirit mountains in the Boundless Sea of Sand.

In the eyes of the high-level members of the Anti-Light Alliance, the Zhou Family, which rose as a "nouveau riche" type family, even with Zhouyang's powerful late-stage Nascent Soul presence, was incapable of instantly catching up with the great sects that spanned thousands of years of heritage.

This is evident from the Zhou Family's current mountain gate on Lingxi Peak, which is still a Tier Five top-grade spiritual vein.

Now, they are offering stature, a Tier Six spirit mountain, and top-grade spirit stones — all things the Zhou Family urgently needs — their sincerity is undisputed.

However, after hearing Cultivator Lin's words, Zhouyang and Zhou Guangcheng were left speechless and highly disappointed.

The depth of the Zhou Family's heritage was not something an ordinary person could comprehend, nor was it as limited as outsiders perceived.

Though the Tier Six spirit mountain and top-grade spirit stones were indeed precious, it was not difficult for the Zhou Family to obtain them.

And the Vice Alliance Leader position of the Anti-Light Alliance was even more comical. Given Zhouyang's cultivation and power, joining the Anti-Light Alliance, he would certainly hold nothing less than a Vice Alliance Leader position; earning the Alliance Leader position would be well-deserved.

"We appreciate the Anti-Light Alliance's high regard, but Zhou and the Zhou Family must respectfully decline. About the Zhou Family joining the Anti-Light Alliance, do not mention it again in front of Zhou. Also, it would be best if the high-tier cultivators of the Anti-Light Alliance do not enter the area east of the Sea of Death without permission; otherwise, don't blame Zhou and the Zhou Family for being unkind!"

Zhouyang's face darkened, and he directly refused all the Anti-Light Alliance's conditions with a slightly cold tone, issuing a warning.

His attitude caught Cultivator Lin and Cultivator Cheng off guard, leaving them stunned and unsure of how to respond.

Stunned for a while, Cultivator Lin anxiously spoke: "What does Master Zhou mean by this? If Master Zhou finds our conditions unsuitable, we can renegotiate. Our alliance is sincere in inviting Master Zhou to join; why such a quick decision?"

Cultivator Cheng hurriedly nodded and agreed: "Fellow Daoist Lin speaks wisely. Before we arrived, our Alliance Leader and several Vice Alliance Leaders specifically instructed that if Master Zhou had any concerns with our alliance's conditions, we may compromise in certain areas. If Fellow Daoist Zhou feels we're unfit to negotiate, our alliance can send a Vice Alliance Leader here to talk with Fellow Daoist Zhou in detail!"

"It's not... Never mind, you go back first and have a Vice Alliance Leader come here to talk with Zhou."

Zhouyang shook his head, realizing these two were likely reluctant to return with just the previous answer. He decided not to say much more and directly gave them a reason to report back and sent them off.

After sending away these two Nascent Soul cultivators of the Anti-Light Alliance, Zhouyang said to his son Zhou Guangcheng: "You can now return to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm. If Elder Qingyang asks about the progress of your cultivation, explain truthfully, and also inform him that your father will not return to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm in the short term. If he needs to contact me urgently, he can use the Immortal Spirit Jade Book to reach me."

"If the Master inquires about the Zhou Family's establishment in the Boundless Sea of Sand, how should the child respond?"

"If Elder Qingyang asks about this, just modify what you've said to those from the Great Brightness Immortal Palace and answer him. He will understand your father's meaning after hearing it."

"With this, the child understands what to do."

Zhou Guangcheng has spent a hundred years forming his Nascent Soul, and his cultivation has increased by two levels during that time, which indeed was a rather fast pace.

He needs to retreat and further digest his gains from this century to ensure no future troubles when pushing towards mid-stage Nascent Soul.

Concerning his son's path, Zhouyang naturally wouldn't be careless.

After determining his son Zhou Guangcheng's course, Zhouyang summoned Cyan Flood Dragon Green Luo and sent her with his token to visit the Heaven-Reaching Demon King in the Broken Cloud Mountain Range.

After handling these urgent matters, Zhouyang finally had time to meet with the Zhou Family Patriarch Zhou Liangyu and listen to his reports on various information.

"Life in the Desert Sea has been recovering for over eighty years, and now, the number of discovered oases in the Desert Sea has reached over ten thousand, and the sizes of previously existing oases have also greatly increased. Some oases are now even reachable by ordinary mortals riding camel beasts."

"Meanwhile, we have monitored a phenomenon of spiritual resurgence in many places within the Desert Sea, bringing forth numerous low-tier spiritual veins, with many completing elevation of tier automatically."

"Moreover, after verification and statistics, the number and volume of underground dark rivers are increasing annually, and the annual rainfall throughout the Desert Sea has at least doubled compared to over eighty years ago, while occurrences of sandstorms have decreased two or threefold."

"Additionally, we have detected a significant reduction in the frequency of black sand storms within the Sea of Death, and their power seems to have weakened as well. Perhaps in a few more years, Foundation Establishment Cultivators might risk trying to cross the Sea of Death!"

"However, the recovery of life in the Desert Sea has also brought many new problems. For instance, many spiritual mountain blessed lands originally on oases have suffered varying degrees of damage due to geographical shifts, with some having lost their spiritual veins to other locations, leading to extremely serious losses."

"Furthermore, the revival of life in the Desert Sea has increased the chances of beasts transforming into demons, and due to the increased abundance of food, the reproduction rates of demon beasts and beasts have simultaneously surged, causing considerable trouble for low-tier cultivators and ordinary mortals."

"In addition, the areas near the Broken Cloud Mountain Range have seen the emergence of vast grasslands, and some snow-capped mountains have collapsed, creating passable routes. Many low-tier demon beasts and wild animals have come out from within the Broken Cloud Mountain Range, occupying those places."

...

Zhou Liangyu's report was very detailed, covering everything big and small in minute detail for Zhouyang, so that Zhouyang could use this information as a reference for making subsequent plans and arrangements.

In fact, as Zhouyang came all the way from the Secret Realm Space, he also discovered many changes that ordinary cultivators would find difficult to notice.

After listening to Zhou Liangyu's words, he added, "You have overlooked something, which is the change in spiritual qi concentration and spiritual attribute in the Desert Sea. These subtle changes may not seem important now, but they will be extremely important in the future!"

Why is the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm resource-poor?

Besides the desertification of the land and the lack of vibrant flora, it is also related to the fact that the spiritual qi concentration here is generally lower than in other cultivation realms.

Not to mention anything else, but the fact that there is not a single Tier Six Spirit Mountain here until now shows the difference between this place and other cultivation realms.

Moreover, the spiritual qi attribute here is extremely unbalanced. The concentration of fire, earth, and metal attributes is far higher than that of wood and water attributes.

This imbalance in spiritual qi attributes not only affects the growth and production of spiritual resources, but it also affects the spiritual root attributes and quality of ordinary mortals' offspring, even impacting the lifespan of ordinary mortals.

Zhouyang has now visited all major cultivation realms in the Spirit Realm, gaining insight into the conditions of each.

He has thus discovered that, excluding human factors like war, the average level of cultivators in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, Donghua Continent Cultivation Realm, Celestial South Continent Cultivation Realm, and the Westernmost Cultivation Realm is higher than that in the Beiting Continent Cultivation Realm and the Overseas Cultivation Realm by a notch.

The emergence of this situation might have other objective human causes, but he believes the main reason is the extreme nature of the spiritual qi attributes in the latter two cultivation realms.

Zhou Liangyu certainly wouldn't know these things, but he knew that his ancestor Zhouyang wouldn't make baseless statements. Therefore, upon hearing this, he immediately acknowledged his oversight and respectfully said, "Ancestor's correction is right; this was indeed my negligence. I will definitely send people to investigate and compile the relevant data."

"Speak about the inflation situation you mentioned last time. Have your measures been effective now?"

Zhouyang waved his hand, diverting the topic to another matter.

When Zhou Liangyu heard this, his face immediately showed a smile, and he answered, "Thanks to our ancestor, once your news of reviving the vitality of the Desert Sea spread, all the family's measures to control prices were implemented smoothly. Now, prices have fallen back to levels seen over two hundred years ago, and our family's inventory of low-grade Spirit Stones has also risen back to more than 23 million pieces!"

"That's good, this way the implementation of the other plans can proceed smoothly."

Zhouyang slightly nodded, affirming the results of Zhou Liangyu's work. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Then he pondered for a moment before looking at Zhou Liangyu and asking, "As the Clan Leader of the Zhou Family, do you know how many cultivators, mortals, spirit mountains, and industries our family currently has? How many vassal cultivators are there?"

"Ancestor, for your insight, the Zhou Family consolidates statistics every five years on the number of Zhou Clan members worldwide and the number of spiritual mountain industries, while the number of mortals is only counted every twenty years."

"According to the latest statistics from three years ago, the Zhou Family now has a total of 8,756 cultivators from our own clan, with another 2,933 foreign relative cultivators."

"Excluding Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators, our clan now has 678 Foundation Establishment Cultivators, 45 Purple Mansion Stage Cultivators, and 5 Golden Core Stage Cultivators, as well as 165 Foundation Establishment Cultivators, 7 Purple Mansion Stage Cultivators, and 1 Golden Core Stage Cultivator from foreign relatives!"

"As per the statistics from eight years ago on the number of mortals, the Zhou Family currently has about 34.7 million mortals, with approximately 25.4 million residing in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm."

"As for the Zhou Family's current spiritual mountains, there are about 4600 Tier Two Spirit Mountains, 276 Tier Three Spirit Mountains, 48 Tier Four Spirit Mountains, and 7 Tier Five Spirit Mountains."

"There are also over 840 Tier Two Ore Veins, 93 Tier Three Ore Veins, and 11 Tier Four Ore Veins."

"Additionally, the Zhou Family is currently breeding 73 types of Tier Two Demon Beasts and 8 types of Tier Three Demon Beasts; cultivating over 350 kinds of Tier Three Spirit Elixirs, 170 kinds of Tier Four Spirit Elixirs, and 66 kinds of Tier Five Spirit Elixirs; and has established forest areas with 69 kinds of Tier Two Spirit Wood and 5 kinds of Tier Three Spirit Wood."

"If we add the various shops and industries the Zhou Family has established in various places, even without counting the output of Spirit Stone mines, the Zhou Family's annual income in Spirit Stones now exceeds 2 million low-grade Spirit Stones, with a net income of over 300,000 low-grade Spirit Stones!"

"Currently, the nominally affiliated vassal cultivators of the Zhou Family number over 50,000, including more than 550 Foundation Establishment Cultivators, 17 Purple Mansion Stage Cultivators, and 2 Golden Core Stage Cultivators!"

Thanks to Zhou Liangyu being a Golden Core Stage cultivator with powerful photographic memory, he could list all these aspects of the Zhou Family purely from memory without needing to consult jade scroll records.

From the data he outlined, one could tell just how vast and wealthy the Zhou Family has become now!

Perhaps compared to a major sect like the Profound Sun Immortal Sect, which has a heritage of tens of thousands of years, these resources still fall short, but they are notably superior to those of major sects like the Suyun Sect.

"Sounds pretty good. It seems that even from the quantities of cultivators at all levels and the numbers of resource veins, the Zhou Family has indeed built a foundation to establish dominance!"

Zhouyang expressed satisfaction, nodding approvingly at the current situation of cultivator numbers and industry income in the Zhou Family.

Ever since reaching the Core Formation stage, Zhouyang had largely adopted a laissez-faire approach to the Zhou Family, aside from occasionally bestowing some spiritual objects upon them without interfering in its specific development affairs.

Therefore, that the Zhou Family could accumulate such significant assets now attests to his indelible contributions, but the other Zhou Family cultivators also deserve substantial credit.

"Now that the Desert Sea's vitality is recovering, it has attracted the interest of many outsiders. Whether we like it or not, the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm will be opened to the world, bringing many foreign cultivators here for exploration and adventure."

"As for Nascent Soul Stage-level enemies, I will handle them by myself. However, for conflicts below the Nascent Soul Stage, it isn't convenient for me to intervene."

"Whether the Zhou Family can fully achieve its ambition to establish dominance and become one of the top forces in this realm, the leading cultivation family here, actually no longer hinges on my strength as an ancestor but rather on whether you younger generations can prove to other powers that you and the Zhou Family are worthy of this title, worthy of this status!"

Zhouyang gazed deeply at Zhou Liangyu, the Clan Leader of the Zhou Family, with a tone filled with expectation and anticipation, as well as doubt and concern.