Letting the Rat Return to Its Nest

Zhou Yang did not know that he had already become a psychological shadow hanging over his peers in the clan.

Seeing Zhou Bao's behavior, he merely assumed it was due to the other man's introverted personality and did not pay it much mind.

At the end of the day, he did not have much of a relationship with Zhou Bao. Any care he showed him in the future would only be out of consideration for Third Grandfather Zhou Quan, and the two were destined to have little dealings with each other.

So, he only exchanged a few polite pleasantries before saying no more.

In truth, among all the Zhou family members of the "Yuan" generation, Zhou Yang was also an oddity.

Because of the memories from his previous life, he had been precocious since childhood. He did not enjoy playing with clansmen his own age, instead preferring to hide away alone in secluded places and cultivate quietly, often sitting for an entire day at a time.

His ability to reach his current cultivation at such a young age was due not only to his decent spiritual root aptitude, but also in large part to this.

Children were naturally playful and restless. How could they settle down to meditate and cultivate at such a young age? Apart from someone like Zhou Yang, who carried memories from a previous life, only those born cold and indifferent, who did not know what joy was, could maintain such intense cultivation during childhood.

Such unconventional behavior naturally made Zhou Yang distant from his peers in the clan. For a time, they had even collectively excluded and isolated him.

By the time those peers grew up, understood the reason behind it all, and apologized to him, that sense of distance had already formed. Even though he did not care, they were too ashamed to linger around him, and their relationship did not improve much.

As his cultivation grew higher and his reputation greater, this situation would only become increasingly severe.

By now, his peers could only raise their heads and look up at this genius clansman, older or younger, who had left them far behind in cultivation with a single rider racing through the dust. They had completely lost the courage to associate with him as equals.

No matter what, the arrival of this clansman Zhou Bao did indeed help Zhou Yang somewhat.

Although this clansman's cultivation was nothing impressive, he was still a Qi Refining Layer Four cultivator. With him around, Zhou Yang could safely hand over the dozen-odd acres of Spirit Fields on Qingping Mountain and some miscellaneous matters at the mine for him to manage, while he and Elder Zhou Quan went to wait in the mine tunnel for the Gold-Eating Rat demonic beast.

At this point, the cruelty of the Cultivation World revealed itself.

Even though they knew perfectly well that the Gold-Eating Rat's return would certainly cause the deaths of miners inside the tunnel, Elder Zhou Quan, in his insistence, ruthlessly rejected Zhou Yang's proposal to temporarily halt work and withdraw the miners from the tunnel.

Not only did the old man coldly reject his proposal, he also sternly taught him a lesson.

"Little Nine, you must remember this well. For cultivators like us, the greatest taboo is a soft heart and a weak hand. Whether they are these mediocre mortal miners today, or Family Cultivators like this old man, if abandoning us can bring strength to the Lineage and allow it to continue its inheritance, then you must abandon us without the slightest hesitation!"

"A lizard can regrow its tail after shedding it. So long as the Lineage's inheritance continues, we severed tails will sooner or later grow back upon the next generation!"

"You are the hope of our Zhou family. If you can achieve foundation establishment in the future, the position of Zhou family head will pass into your hands. If your soft heart and weak hand bring disaster then, the harm will not fall upon you alone, but upon the entire Zhou family!"

The old man, ordinarily kind and amiable, wore an indescribably cold expression as he spoke. It was as though he had become an entirely different person.

Zhou Yang knew that at this moment, the other man was no longer speaking to him as a kind elder, but as a clan elder.

As a descendant of a Cultivation Family, one had to place the Lineage's interests above all else in every matter. One must never cause immense losses to the Lineage because of personal softness of heart.

To be honest, he did not wholly agree with this theory that the Lineage's interests stood above all else. But he also knew that this was the normal way every cultivation family survived in this world.

Moreover, while Elder Zhou Quan's method seemed cold and devoid of human feeling, it was in fact the best choice for achieving their goal quickly.

Demonic beasts were not wild beasts. Wild beasts acted only on instinct, while demonic beasts possessed not only demonic power, but awakened intelligence as well. A Tier 2 Demonic Beast already possessed no small amount of intelligence and could perform simple thinking.

If they ordered the miners out of the tunnel and sealed it off, the Gold-Eating Rat would certainly realize something was wrong when it arrived and would never show itself again.

Therefore, to lure this demonic beast out, they had to use the miners as human bait. Someone had to be sacrificed for it!

Thus, Zhou Yang ultimately said no more and could only tacitly accept Elder Zhou Quan's decision.

Using miners as human bait was certainly not something the miners could be allowed to know. Therefore, after making the decision, Zhou Yang and Elder Zhou Quan both used the Breath Concealment Technique to suppress their auras and quietly hid in an unoccupied side tunnel to wait.

Waiting was torment, because neither knew when the Gold-Eating Rat would arrive. Neither Zhou Yang nor Elder Zhou Quan dared make the slightest sound, much less cultivate.

To ensure this stakeout went smoothly, Elder Zhou Quan had even prepared two bottles of Tier 2 Spirit Pills, Grain Abstinence Pills, in advance. A Qi Refining Cultivator could take a single pill and maintain their bodily needs for seven days without eating.

This wait lasted more than ten days.

On the afternoon of the fifteenth day, Zhou Yang was so bored that he took out the artifact-forging manual given by the Old Clan Leader and studied Artifact Forging Art. Then, amid the constant sounds of miners chipping and hammering away, terrified cries suddenly rang out through the mine tunnel.

"Ah! A demonic beast! The demonic beast is killing people!"

"Run! Go ask the immortal masters to slay the demon!"

The miners cried out, weeping for their fathers and wailing for their mothers as they threw away their mining hoes and other tools. Wishing only that their parents had given them two more legs, they desperately fled toward the mine entrance.

Yet none of them realized that the "immortal masters" they called for had long since appeared within the mine.

The instant they heard the miners' cries, Zhou Yang and Zhou Quan immediately withdrew their Breath Concealment Techniques and sprang into action.

Rather than squeeze through the narrow mine passage with the miners, they directly cast the Earth Evasion Technique, bypassing the miners and rushing straight toward the scene.

Before long, they arrived at the site of the Gold-Eating Rat's slaughter and saw the vicious demonic beast once more.

"Blood as the guide, blood spirit takes form—mark!"

The moment he saw the Gold-Eating Rat, Elder Zhou Quan bit through the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of essence blood, directly casting the Blood Spirit Mark spell.

A flash of bloody light appeared. Before the Gold-Eating Rat could react, a blood-red mark suddenly appeared on its body, gleaming brightly.

With Elder Zhou Quan's Qi Refining Layer Nine cultivation, the Blood Spirit Mark would remain on the Gold-Eating Rat for at least one day. So long as the mark remained, and the two sides were no more than a thousand li apart, Elder Zhou Quan could locate the Gold-Eating Rat at any time through an invisible sense of connection.

The Gold-Eating Rat clearly did not yet know what this seemingly insignificant blood-red mark represented.

When the bloody light touched its body, it truly was startled, believing that this human who had severely wounded it last time had used some other sinister technique against it.

When it discovered that the blood-red mark had not harmed it in the slightest, its fur relaxed. A humanlike trace of mockery flashed through its scarlet rat eyes as it bared its teeth at Zhou Yang and Zhou Quan.

Squeak, squeak, squeak!

It let out a shrill series of squeals, then moved and instantly burrowed into the earth, vanishing from Zhou Yang and Zhou Quan's sight.

"What a cunning beast. It has actually learned to be clever. But if you think you can play a feint to the east and strike to the west before this old man, you are still too green!"

Just as Zhou Yang solemnly brought out his Silver Gang Shield artifact and focused completely on guarding against a surprise attack from the Gold-Eating Rat, Elder Zhou Quan seemed to sense something. He let out a deep shout and exposed the beast's trail.

It turned out that after suffering a loss last time, the Gold-Eating Rat had developed a fear of the old man's Finger Points to Steel spell. It had no intention of facing them head-on again and instead played a game of feinting east and striking west.

It appeared to be using earth evasion to conceal itself and prepare an ambush, but in truth, it was secretly tunneling toward the mine entrance to hunt down the fleeing miners.

"Come, we're going to the mine entrance." With a low shout, the old man moved, directly putting away his Golden Gourd Great Hammer artifact and hurrying toward the mine entrance.

Zhou Yang, belatedly realizing what was happening, hurried after him.

At the mine entrance, the miners who had only just escaped death had not even had time to celebrate before they saw a black rat as large as a wolfhound burst out of the ground and open its jaws toward the nearest few people.

"Run!"

The sudden upheaval stunned the miners. Then someone shouted, and everyone immediately scattered in a mad flight in every direction like startled sparrows.

But how could these two-legged mortals outrun a four-legged demonic beast?

A huge black shadow darted and lunged across the ground. The fleeing miners screamed and fell in swathes like wheat, and in the brief span of a dozen breaths, nearly half of the several dozen miners had fallen.

At this rate, in less than a minute, all these miners would die beneath the Gold-Eating Rat's claws.

Fortunately, that did not happen.

As the Gold-Eating Rat burst onto the surface and began its killing spree, Zhou Yang and Elder Zhou Quan, having sensed that something was wrong, finally reached the surface.

Finger Points to Steel!

Finger Points to Steel!

Seeing the black shadow pursuing miners across the ground, the two used the Finger Points to Steel spell at the same time to seal the earth.

The difference was that Elder Zhou Quan cast the spell himself, while Zhou Yang used a Tier 2 talisman Elder Zhou Quan had given him.

This Tier 2 spell talisman containing the Finger Points to Steel spell had been personally drawn by the Zhou family's Third Elder of the "Guang" generation, Zhou Dan, a Tier 2 High-grade Talisman Master. When Elder Zhou Quan returned to the Lineage last time, he had specifically asked this fifth brother for it.

With the two Finger Points to Steel spells used together, the earth and stone within more than a hundred square meters around the Gold-Eating Rat instantly transformed into hardened steel, rendering its earth evasion technique useless.

Before it could recover from this sudden change, Elder Zhou Quan's Golden Gourd Great Hammer artifact was already smashing through the air toward its head.

"Crimson Flame Sword, go!"

Zhou Yang gave a low shout and did not merely stand by. He decisively sent out the Tier 2 Mid-grade flying sword, the Crimson Flame Sword, which his father had given him on his fifteenth birthday.

A flash of fire appeared. The Crimson Flame Sword Zhou Yang sent forth instead struck the Gold-Eating Rat first as it tried to flee.

Yet just as Elder Zhou Quan had said, the Gold-Eating Rat's fur was tough, and nothing below a Tier 2 High-grade Artifact could pierce it.

The Tier 2 Mid-grade Crimson Flame Sword only cut away a small tuft of rat fur and left a faint white mark on its body. It could not harm the beast itself at all.

But Zhou Yang was not discouraged, because this strike had only been meant to restrain the Gold-Eating Rat for a moment and create an opportunity for Elder Zhou Quan's Golden Gourd Great Hammer artifact.

Sure enough, blocked by his strike, the Gold-Eating Rat's movements inevitably slowed for a brief instant. That instant was enough for the Golden Gourd Great Hammer pursuing it from behind to smash heavily into its spine.

Squeee—

With the heavy hammer upon it, the Gold-Eating Rat immediately let out a miserable cry and collapsed to the ground, vomiting blood in great mouthfuls. There were even fragments of mangled internal organs mixed within.

The "Earth Quake" in Elder Zhou Quan's Earth Quake Hammer artifact was not an empty name. Once this artifact struck an enemy, it triggered the artifact's Earth Quake divine ability, generating a powerful shockwave that inflicted a second round of damage.

Because the Gold-Eating Rat grew by devouring metal, its fur and bones were exceptionally resilient and hard, making it difficult for ordinary artifacts to injure it.

But no matter how powerful its bodily defenses were, organs such as its innards could not possibly be as hard as metal. Once the shockwave generated by the Earth Quake divine ability struck it, it instantly inflicted tremendous damage on its internal organs, causing severe internal injuries.

This was already the second time it had fallen to the same move.

"Amazing! Third Grandfather truly remains vigorous in old age, tougher with every passing year. After all, old ginger is still the spiciest!"

Zhou Yang retrieved his flying sword and lavishly praised the old man with admiration all over his face.

Of course, he was not entirely flattering him. The old man's strength truly far surpassed his own. Even without considering the difference in their artifacts, their cultivation levels were three full layers apart: one was at the Mid Qi Refining Stage, Layer Six, while the other was at Late Qi Cultivation, Layer Nine.

And to receive such praise from Zhou Yang, the foremost member of the Zhou family's younger generation, even knowing that there was some exaggeration in it, Elder Zhou Quan could not help feeling pleased. Stroking his beard, he chuckled and said:

"Ha ha ha, Little Nine, you flatter this old man. I merely have the advantage of being a few years older than you. In another eight or ten years, once your cultivation rises, Little Nine, dealing with such a beast will surely be as easy as reaching into a bag and taking something out."

"Then I shall borrow Third Grandfather's auspicious words. This grandnephew will certainly take Third Grandfather as his example and cultivate diligently."

Zhou Yang smiled faintly and accepted the old man's praise without ceremony.

The two of them flattered each other here, while neither paid any attention to the severely injured Gold-Eating Rat.

Only after the Gold-Eating Rat dragged its grievously injured body away, vomiting blood all the while, escaped the range of the Finger Points to Steel spell, and burrowed underground to vanish, did the two exchange smiles. Their faces blossomed with delight like foxes that had stolen chickens.

A four-thousand-word mega chapter, full of sincerity! Could my readers give me some encouragement too, perhaps with a few recommendation votes?

I also want to thank the two readers who gave rewards today. Your support pushed this book ahead by more than twenty places on the New Book Ranking at once. Thank you so much!