Zhou Xuanyu taking Zhou Yang as her adopted son was merely a small interlude before business began. The true purpose of gathering all the Zhou Family's Late Qi Cultivation cultivators at the ancestral hall today was to discuss developing the Crimson Flame Iron Ore Vein.
Two years had passed since the Crimson Flame Iron Ore Vein was discovered. During those two years, Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan had made several trips there to scout the size and numbers of the Poison Fire Scorpion colony, and he had now more or less grasped the situation.
According to Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan's findings, there were between five hundred and seven hundred Poison Fire Scorpions at the Crimson Flame Iron Ore Vein. Among them were one Third-Rank Poison Fire Scorpion King, thirty to forty Second-tier Poison Fire Scorpions, and all the rest were First-tier Poison Fire Scorpions.
First-tier Poison Fire Scorpions were nothing to fear. Aside from Zhou Yang, who had only recently broken through to Qi Refining Layer Seven, everyone gathered at the ancestral hall today was a seasoned Late Qi Cultivation cultivator. They all possessed second-tier defensive artifacts refined by Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan. No matter how numerous the First-tier Poison Fire Scorpions were, so long as they could not fire their stingers in a concentrated barrage, they could not inflict much harm upon them.
Thus, the main focus of their discussion was the Second-tier Poison Fire Scorpions and the Third-Rank Poison Fire Scorpion King. These demonic beasts could pose a fatal threat to them, so they had to prepare targeted plans before acting.
After much deliberation, everyone finally reached a unanimous decision. Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan would first hold off the Third-Rank demonic beast, the Poison Fire Scorpion King, while the others would do their utmost to kill the First-tier and Second-tier Poison Fire Scorpions, cutting away its wings before borrowing the power of formations to encircle and kill the Poison Fire Scorpion King.
With the plan settled, the eighteen Late Qi Cultivation cultivators of the Zhou Family, Zhou Yang included, mounted Sand Camel Beasts and quietly departed Jade Spring Lake Oasis. Following Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan, who flew on his sword, they charged toward the Crimson Flame Iron Ore Vein.
With the Sand Camel Beasts' speed, it took only a few days for them to carry the Zhou Family party to their destination.
To avoid alerting the enemy, the camel caravan stopped over ten kilometers from their destination. Zhou Xuantai, the Tier 1 High-grade Formation master in the group, then set up a Tier 1 formation, the "Illusionary Form Array," to conceal the camel beasts. The group abandoned their mounts and proceeded on foot, all using the "Breath Concealment Technique" to hide their auras as they headed straight for the Poison Fire Scorpions' nest in the ore vein.
The Poison Fire Scorpions' nest lay within a sandy hill atop the Crimson Flame Iron Ore Vein. Its surface was covered by several meters of yellow sand and looked no different from the ordinary sandy hills scattered throughout the desert, save perhaps that the desert plants around it were denser and more luxuriant.
Yet according to the investigations of Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan, deep underground beneath this seemingly ordinary sandy hill lay a vast natural cavern. Not only did an underground river flow through it, but it was also connected to an underground spirit vein. The spiritual energy within was as rich as that of a tier 3 low-grade spirit vein.
The Poison Fire Scorpion colony's nest was inside that underground cavern, while the clusters of desert plants and shrubs on the sandy hill's surface served as their hunting grounds.
It was dusk now. The desert temperature was more than ten degrees lower than at noon, and the desert animals that had buried themselves in sand holes during the day emerged one after another from their hiding places to search for a day's food on the surface.
The Boundless Sea of Sand contained countless types of desert animals. In the skies flew birds large, medium, and small, such as Sand Chickens, Sand Gulls, Sand Swallows, Sand Sparrows, vultures, and ostriches. On the ground roamed beasts of all sizes, including Sand Wolves, desert rabbits, camels, Sand Foxes, and Sand Rats. There were also numerous types of snakes, scorpions, centipedes, lizards, spiders, and other reptiles and arthropods—while insects were even more varied.
These desert animals, together with the equally diverse desert plants, formed the desert's ecological chain. Wherever large numbers of desert plants grew, traces of these desert animals could generally be found.
The sandy hill above the Poison Fire Scorpions' nest was surrounded by flourishing desert vegetation, and an underground river flowed beneath it. Naturally, this held immense appeal for desert animals struggling to survive in the wasteland, drawing great numbers of them to settle nearby.
Whenever the sun set in the evening or before it rose in the morning, all kinds of desert animals would weave, dart, and fly through the vegetation around the sandy hill in search of food to fill their bellies.
Desert rabbits, Sand Rats, and insects fed on plant stems and leaves. Sand Sparrows and lizards fed on insects; snakes and Sand Foxes fed on Sand Rats, desert rabbits, lizards, and Sand Chickens; Sand Wolves fed on every kind of land beast. Thus, a complete desert food chain was formed.
Yet the existence at the very peak of this food chain was not the nimble, sharp-clawed sand wolf, but the true master of this place—the Poison Fire Scorpion.
When the desert animals collectively emerged to forage, it was also the peak period for the Poison Fire Scorpion colony to leave its nest and hunt. Poison Fire Scorpions ranging from the size of a human head to the size of water buckets were spread across more than ten square kilometers around the sandy hill.
Whenever prey passed nearby, these hunters, buried beneath the sand, would instantly spring up and seize it with their pincers. If the prey was too large, they would instead strike with their stingers.
A First-tier Poison Fire Scorpion the size of a human head needed around a pound of fresh meat per meal, and after eating its fill, could go at most ten days without food. A Second-tier Poison Fire Scorpion the size of a water bucket needed more than ten pounds of fresh meat per meal, and could go seven days without food after eating its fill.
As for the Third-Rank Poison Fire Scorpion King, it no longer ate ordinary beasts. Instead, it fed exclusively on the old, weak, sick, and crippled among its own colony, devouring one First-tier Poison Fire Scorpion of its own kind every half month.
It was precisely because the Poison Fire Scorpion King had the habit of feeding on its own kind that the desert food chain around this sandy hill had not collapsed. Otherwise, if the scorpion colony had been allowed to grow without limit, the final result would have been that all the First-tier and Second-tier Poison Fire Scorpions ate every ordinary animal, then starved to death in great numbers or killed one another after losing their food source.
Of course, in this world, no one apart from Zhou Yang, the transmigrator, understood what a "food chain" was.
Though he knew the terrifying consequences brought about by the collapse of a food chain, he was unfortunately in a cultivation world. As a cultivator who himself wielded powerful strength, his habitual way of thinking had changed greatly. When trouble arose, he was more inclined to view and solve it from a cultivator's perspective and by a cultivator's methods.
For cultivators, Great Power Resides Within Oneself. If a problem could be solved with spells and divine abilities, naturally they would not waste their minds thinking of other methods.
Therefore, even Zhou Yang's first thought upon learning that the Poison Fire Scorpion colony as a whole was weaker than the Zhou Family was to gather the Lineage's experts and wipe them out together.
It was not until he followed the Lineage elders to the outskirts of their destination, observed the Poison Fire Scorpions hunting from afar with the "Heavenly Eye Technique," and discovered the fragile desert food chain on the sandy hill that he suddenly awoke to the realization that, aside from solving the Poison Fire Scorpion colony through force, there were other ways to weaken or exterminate it.
I'm such an idiot! Why didn't I think of this earlier? If I had thought of this method sooner, why would Old Clan Leader have needed to take the risk of summoning all the elders back? He only needs to go over there alone and set a few fires to burn away the desert plants on the sandy hill, and most of the Poison Fire Scorpions can be starved to death alive!
Zhou Yang smacked his forehead in frustration, then hurriedly sought out Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan and told him of his discovery and idea.
Naturally, he would never utter a term like "ecological food chain." Instead, he expressed what he wanted to say in a manner cultivators of this world could understand.
"Wonderful! This plan is truly wonderful!"
Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan was indeed a Foundation Establishment Cultivator who had lived for more than a hundred years. Zhou Yang only needed to explain it once for him to immediately understand its intricacies. He was also unstinting in his praise for Zhou Yang, who had offered the plan.
"Little Nine, you truly are the lucky star Heaven bestowed upon our Zhou Family. You could even devise such a brilliant plan. This old man has truly never heard of it before, never heard of it before!"
After saying that, he secretly transmitted his voice to the others. "Come, come, Quan, Xuanhao, all of you come listen to Little Nine's brilliant plan and see whether it is feasible."
"It truly is a brilliant plan. This scheme links ring upon ring and begins from the smallest details. Let alone demonic beasts whose intelligence has only just awakened, even we cultivators would not realize we had fallen into the trap until the disaster truly erupted later on. A fine plan, a fine plan indeed!" After Second Elder Zhou of the Zhou Family, Zhou Quan, heard Old Clan Leader's recounting of the plan, he quickly grasped it, stroked his beard, and loudly praised it.
"The plan is excellent and easy to carry out. It can even be used not only here, but against other gregarious demonic beast colonies in the Sea of Sand in the future. However, this plan harms the harmony of Heaven. If it need not be used, it is best not to use it!" Fourth Elder Zhou Yun nodded as well, holding Zhou Yang's plan in high regard. Yet as a Second Spirit Planter, he instinctively recoiled somewhat from such complete destruction of a plant ecosystem and remained highly wary of it.
However, the person who truly struck at the heart of the matter was Zhou Yang's father, Zhou Xuanhao. "Let me add one thing. This plan must never be carried out in an oasis, and it must be kept strictly secret. Otherwise, we will surely earn the hostility of every cultivator in the Boundless Sea of Sand and bring a Calamity of Clan Annihilation upon the Lineage!"
In the Boundless Sea of Sand, oases were the most important strategic resource. Only where an oasis existed could ordinary people be sustained, and only when there were more ordinary people could more cultivators with spirit roots emerge.
Therefore, whoever dared destroy an oasis in the Boundless Sea of Sand would certainly be hated and hunted by all cultivators. Even a great sect like the Yellow Sand Sect would not dare commit such an act that provoked public outrage.
The Zhou Family cultivators had grown up in the desert since childhood and knew very well how important oases were. After hearing Zhou Xuanhao's words, everyone, including Zhou Yang, who had proposed the "ecological chain" tactic, felt their hearts tighten, and the excitement on their faces instantly faded considerably.
Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan nodded with a grave expression. "Very good. Xuanhao speaks well. Such a plan truly must be used with caution. It is naturally best if we do not use it, but if we do, we must keep it secret and not let word leak out for outsiders to learn of it!"
After saying that, he narrowed his eyes and looked toward the sandy hill beneath the slanting evening sun. "You all return to Qingping Mountain first. Leave this place to this old man. Whether Little Nine's plan will work can be determined with a single trial!"
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