Cultivators did not have as many worldly rites as mortals. Even for a Cultivation Family like the Zhou Lineage, when Great Elder Zhou Qian passed away, they merely gathered all the Family Cultivators at Jade Spring Lake Oasis in the ancestral hall to keep vigil for him for three days. Then Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan personally used Foundation Establishment truefire to cremate Elder Zhou Qian's body, and his ashes were buried in the family graveyard.
Cremating the bodies of deceased Family Cultivators was a helpless necessity for small Cultivation Families.
Small Cultivation Families lacked the strength to protect their family graveyards and could not stop demonic cultivators who practiced corpse-refining arts from stealing the bodies of their forebears to turn them into zombies.
Once the bodies of family ancestors were refined into zombies by demonic cultivators, it would not only be an immense desecration of those ancestors' remains, but could also endanger the lives of the Family Cultivators and the mortals under the family's rule.
That was because newly refined zombies required great quantities of blood food to fuel their growth, and feeding them people of the same bloodline as the zombies produced even better results.
Therefore, whenever someone from a small Cultivation Family like the Zhou Lineage passed away, their body would be cremated before burial, lest it be exploited by demonic cultivators.
Only great sects and great families like the Yellow Sand Sect, with Golden Core Ancestors or even Great Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators standing guard, would bury the bodies of their high-ranking cultivators after they passed away, protecting them with formations and dedicated caretakers.
After settling Great Elder Zhou Qian's affairs, Zhou Yang was summoned by Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan into the mountaintop cave abode for a private discussion.
"You know why your granduncle passed away. The Lineage will soon mobilize people to clear out the demonic beasts at the Crimson Flame Iron Ore Vein. You have only just broken through to Qi Refining Layer Seven, and you are also our Zhou Lineage's hope for future Foundation Establishment. This old man can decide to exempt you from participating. What do you think?"
"Great-grandfather, please do not do that!"
Zhou Yang's expression changed. He bowed deeply to the Old Clan Leader, then raised his head and declared loudly, "This Crimson Flame Iron Ore Vein was discovered by your grandson, and I will receive a share of its profits in the future. If I do not fight yet reap the rewards, how can I convince the other clansmen? How can that demonstrate the fairness and impartiality of the Lineage's rules?"
"Though your grandson may be lacking, I am still willing to use everything I have learned in my life to contribute my humble strength toward expanding the Zhou Lineage's territory!"
By the end, Zhou Yang had involuntarily drawn an Armor Piercing Dagger artifact from his waist and gripped it in hand, as if using it to prove his determination.
Seeing his impassioned appearance, Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan felt both gratified and amused.
"All right, all right. This old man knows your resolve. Put the artifact away first. When the time comes, I'll count you in!"
The old man smiled and waved his hand. He actually rather appreciated Zhou Yang's audacity in daring to draw a blade before him.
For a Qi Refining Cultivator to dare draw a blade before a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, regardless of the reason, was an act of tremendous courage.
Moreover, this proved Zhou Yang's loyalty to the Zhou Lineage. If he did not truly identify with the Lineage, how could he have spoken such stirring words? How could he have involuntarily drawn his blade to declare his resolve before the Foundation Establishment Realm clan leader?
This brat had not been doted on for nothing!
The old man sighed inwardly in gratification. His expression softened at once, and the way he looked at Zhou Yang was filled with the affection one would have for a true grandson.
"Since Little Nine possesses such resolve, this old man will tell you something further. In roughly a dozen years, no more than fifteen, Old Ancestor Chen of Golden Sand Market will organize people to prepare for the refinement of Foundation Establishment Pills. Our Zhou Lineage is allied with the Chen family. As long as we send one Foundation Establishment Cultivator to take part, we will gain the right to bid for a Foundation Establishment Pill."
"Once the Lineage obtains a Foundation Establishment Pill through the bidding, it will certainly have someone consume it at once. Therefore, Little Nine, over the next dozen or so years, you must strive to cultivate to Qi Refining Layer Nine. Otherwise, this opportunity will slip away for nothing!"
Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan looked at Zhou Yang with a kindly expression and slowly revealed this secret, grave enough to shake every cultivator in the Zhou Lineage.
After hearing the Old Clan Leader's words, Zhou Yang's pupils suddenly contracted, and his breathing instantly grew heavy.
That was a Foundation Establishment Pill!
Over all his years of cultivation, Zhou Yang had never been especially moved by any spiritual treasure. Yet the Foundation Establishment Pill alone was an item he cared about deeply and was determined to obtain.
In terms of grade, the Foundation Establishment Pill was merely a Tier 3 Low-grade Spirit Pill, but its appeal to the vast number of Qi Refining Cultivators was something even fifth-tier pills could not rival.
Foundation Establishment Pills were difficult to obtain. This was common knowledge.
To refine a batch of Foundation Establishment Pills, one not only needed a rare fourth-tier spiritual herb, the Condensing Yuan Fruit, or a Tier 4 Demonic Core as the main ingredient, but also thirty-six exceedingly precious third-tier spiritual herbs as supplementary ingredients. The combined value of those herbs exceeded even the value of the herbs needed to refine a batch of fourth-tier Spirit Pills.
Even a major sect like the Yellow Sand Sect, which had been passed down for thousands of years and possessed a Golden Core Ancestor, could only refine one batch of Foundation Establishment Pills every ten years. Each batch produced only five to seven pills.
Such a small quantity was not even enough for the Yellow Sand Sect's own disciples, much less a small Cultivation Family attached to the sect like the Zhou Lineage.
Thus, if small Cultivation Families like the Zhou Lineage wished to obtain Foundation Establishment Pills, they either had to trade for one using a main ingredient for refining the pill, or cooperate with other Cultivation Families to refine pills.
Zhou Yang had heard of the Chen family mentioned by Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan since childhood. The Chen family was a Cultivation Family with more than seven hundred years of history. Their current Old Ancestor Chen was not only a Late Purple Mansion Stage expert, but also a Tier 4 Mid-grade alchemist.
As a cultivator not born into a sect, even though Old Ancestor Chen was a Purple Mansion Stage expert, he could not obtain Foundation Establishment Pills from the Yellow Sand Sect for his family's younger generation.
Therefore, after Old Ancestor Chen advanced to the Purple Mansion Stage, he would organize a Foundation Establishment Assembly every thirty to fifty years. When that time came, invited Cultivation Families or Rogue Cultivator Foundation Establishment experts only needed to send people to form a team with Old Ancestor Chen and hunt Tier 4 Demonic Beasts in the Boundless Sea of Sand for Tier 4 Demonic Cores. Once he refined Foundation Establishment Pills, they would gain the right to bid and purchase them.
The Foundation Establishment Pill the Zhou Lineage had bought over sixty years ago had been acquired this way.
To purchase that Foundation Establishment Pill, they had not only drained the Zhou Lineage's savings, but also left Zhou Jian, the second Foundation Establishment Cultivator of the Zhou Lineage after Ancestor Zhou Yuquan and an ancestor of the Hua generation, severely injured. His lifespan was greatly reduced, and he passed away before reaching two hundred years of age.
That Ancestor Zhou Jian was the paternal grandfather of Zhou Qian, the Zhou Lineage's Great Elder who had passed away some days earlier.
Now that he had learned from Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan that the Zhou Lineage intended to participate in the Foundation Establishment Assembly, Zhou Yang was filled with excitement and exhilaration, yet he could not help revealing a trace of worry.
He was not worried that he had only a dozen or so years to prepare. He was worried about Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan participating in the Foundation Establishment Assembly.
Although Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan was already a Foundation Establishment Layer Seven, Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator, and even a Third-tier High-grade Artifact Forger, such strength was simply not worth mentioning before a Tier 4 Demonic Beast, whose power equaled that of a Purple Mansion Stage Cultivator. A Tier 4 Demonic Beast needed only one full-force strike to kill the Old Clan Leader.
As the Zhou Lineage's sole remaining Foundation Establishment Cultivator, if Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan were seriously injured or killed, it would be catastrophic news for the entire Zhou Lineage. It might even lead directly to the Lineage's destruction.
By then, even if Zhou Yang successfully obtained a Foundation Establishment Pill and achieved Foundation Establishment, he would find it difficult to live with peace of mind for the rest of his life.
Therefore, after thinking it over and over, he finally could not resist asking, "Great-grandfather, your grandson has heard that if one crosses the Eastern Forty Thousand Li Sea of Sand and traverses the Cloud Severing Mountain Range, which rises into the clouds, one can reach the Cultivation World of the Flowing Cloud Continent. Cultivation resources there are abundant, and even Foundation Establishment Pills can be bought with spirit stones in the markets. Why do we not go there to purchase a Foundation Establishment Pill? Why must a Foundation Establishment Cultivator such as yourself risk hunting Tier 4 Demonic Beasts?"
Zhou Yang had learned of the Cultivation World of the Flowing Cloud Continent only by chance several years ago, while reading artifact-forging texts. He had found it in the notes of an Artifact Forger.
Later, he had asked Elder Zhou Quan, but even Elder Zhou Quan, who had lived for more than a hundred years, only knew that the Cultivation World of the Flowing Cloud Continent was a place name. He knew even less of the specifics than Zhou Yang did.
When Zhou Yang returned to the Lineage this time, he had originally wanted to ask Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan about it. Unfortunately, he had entered seclusion soon after returning and temporarily forgotten the matter. Only now, upon hearing the Old Clan Leader mention Foundation Establishment Pills, did he remember it again.
And just as he had expected, as both a Foundation Establishment Cultivator and the head of a clan, Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan indeed knew quite a bit about the Cultivation World of the Flowing Cloud Continent.
"It is rare that Little Nine knows of the Cultivation World of the Flowing Cloud Continent as well. Unfortunately, you know only of its prosperity, not how many perilous lands lie between here and there!"
"Not to mention the many powerful demonic beasts and road-robbing sand bandits hidden within the Forty Thousand Li Sea of Sand, the Cloud Severing Mountain Range alone is filled with third-tier and fourth-tier demonic beasts everywhere one looks. It is even said that Tier 6 Demonic Beasts, comparable to Great Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, dwell in seclusion deep within the mountains!"
"To cross the Cloud Severing Mountain Range without Purple Mansion Stage cultivation is to gamble with your life, gambling on whether demonic beasts will discover you and make you their rations!"
"And even if you truly managed to cross the Cloud Severing Mountain Range by sheer luck, reached the Cultivation World of the Flowing Cloud Continent, and bought a Foundation Establishment Pill, do you think an outsider Foundation Establishment Cultivator carrying such a treasure could safely return to the Land of Extreme West?"
Zhou Yang was immediately left speechless.
A common man was innocent, but possessing a jade brought guilt!
The Old Clan Leader was right. A spiritual treasure like a Foundation Establishment Pill was too precious—so precious that even a Foundation Establishment Cultivator carrying it would easily invite a fatal disaster.
If a small family like the Zhou Lineage obtained such a treasure, it would generally have a Qi Refining Layer Nine cultivator from the clan consume it immediately. Otherwise, if outsiders learned of it, the Lineage might very well invite the Calamity of Clan Annihilation.
That was why the Old Clan Leader had told him earlier that he absolutely had to cultivate to Qi Refining Layer Nine before the Foundation Establishment Assembly more than a decade later. Otherwise, even if the Lineage obtained a Foundation Establishment Pill then, it would certainly not be his to use.
"Your grandson understands. Please rest assured, Great-grandfather. I will certainly cultivate to Qi Refining Layer Nine before the Foundation Establishment Assembly and will never let your and the Lineage's efforts go to waste!"
He pressed his lips together and looked at the Old Clan Leader with resolute eyes as he made a military pledge.
Thanks to Kuai Le, Yige Ren De 97, and the three readers Snafu for their 100 Qidian coin rewards. Here is the second chapter. In the xianxia category, new books like mine that update six or seven thousand words daily seem to number only two or three. I suddenly feel a little impressive—after all, I still have to work during the day, and I write on my phone in secret behind my boss's back... Well, saying all this is only to say that I should have earned these rewards, right? At ease with my conscience. Finally, the usual request for recommendation votes.
Before you continue