Zhou Yang Offers a Plan

Zhou Xuanyu taking Zhou Yang as her adopted son was just a minor interlude before the main event. The real purpose of the Zhou Family's late-stage Qi Cultivation cultivators gathering at the ancestral hall today was to discuss the expansion of the Crimson Flame Iron Ore Vein.

Two years had passed since the Crimson Flame Iron Ore Vein was discovered. During this time, the Old Clan Leader, Zhou Minghan, had scouted the scale and numbers of the Poison Fire Scorpion swarm multiple times, and the situation was now largely understood.

According to Zhou Minghan's reconnaissance, the Poison Fire Scorpion swarm at the Crimson Flame Iron Ore Vein numbered between five hundred and seven hundred. This included one Third-Rank Poison Fire Scorpion King, thirty to forty Second-Rank Poison Fire Scorpions, and the rest were all First-Rank Poison Fire Scorpions.

First-Rank Poison Fire Scorpions were not a significant threat. Except for Zhou Yang, who had recently broken through to Qi Refining Layer Seven, all the cultivators gathered at the ancestral hall today were veterans who had entered the late stages of Qi Cultivation years ago. They all possessed Second-Rank defensive artifacts refined by the Old Clan Leader, Zhou Minghan. Even with a large number of First-Rank Poison Fire Scorpions, as long as they couldn't concentrate their stinger attacks, they wouldn't be able to inflict much damage.

Therefore, the main discussion points were focused on the Second-Rank Poison Fire Scorpions and the Third-Rank Poison Fire Scorpion King. These Demonic Beasts posed a fatal threat to them, and a preemptive plan was necessary before taking action.

After much deliberation, it was unanimously decided that the Old Clan Leader, Zhou Minghan, would first engage and contain the Third-Rank Demonic Beast, the Poison Fire Scorpion King. The others would then do their utmost to kill the First and Second-Rank Poison Fire Scorpions, cutting off their support, and finally, use the power of formations to encircle and kill the Poison Fire Scorpion King.

With the plan formulated, eighteen late-stage Qi Cultivation cultivators from the Zhou Family, including Zhou Yang, uniformly mounted Sand Camel Beasts and quietly departed from the Jade Spring Lake Oasis. They followed the Old Clan Leader, Zhou Minghan, who was flying on his sword, towards the Crimson Flame Iron Ore Vein.

With the speed of the Sand Camel Beasts, it only took a few days for the Zhou Family group to reach their destination.

To avoid alerting the enemy, the caravan stopped about ten kilometers away from the destination. Then, Zhou Xuantai, a First-Rank Upper-grade formation master in the team, set up a First-Rank formation, the "Illusionary Form Array," to conceal the beasts' forms. The group dismounted, abandoned their mounts, and uniformly used the "Breath Concealment Technique" to mask their auras, heading directly towards the Poison Fire Scorpion's lair on the ore vein.

The Poison Fire Scorpion's lair was located within a sandy slope on the Crimson Flame Iron Ore Vein. This sandy slope was covered with several meters of yellow sand, making it appear no different from ordinary sandy slopes in the desert, except perhaps for the denser and more lush desert vegetation around it.

However, according to the reconnaissance by the Zhou Family's Old Clan Leader, Zhou Minghan, beneath the surface of this ordinary-looking sandy slope lay a vast natural underground cave. Not only did an underground river flow through the cave, but it also connected to an underground Spirit Vein, with a spiritual energy concentration equivalent to that of a Tier 3 Low-grade Spirit Vein.

The swarm's lair was within this underground cave, and the desert plants and shrubs on the surface of the sandy slope served as their hunting grounds.

It was now dusk. The temperature in the desert had dropped by more than ten degrees Celsius compared to midday. Desert animals that had been buried beneath the sand and in their burrows during the day began to emerge from their nests, coming to the surface to search for food for the day.

The Boundless Sea of Sand was home to a wide variety of desert animals. In the sky, there were large, medium, and small birds such as sand chickens, sand gulls, sand swallows, sand sparrows, vultures, and ostriches. On the ground, there were various mammals of all sizes, including sand wolves, sand rabbits, camels, sand foxes, and sand rats. Additionally, there were many types of snakes, scorpions, centipedes, lizards, and spiders, as well as numerous insect species.

These desert animals, along with the equally diverse desert plants, formed the desert's ecological chain. Basically, wherever there were abundant desert plants, traces of these desert animals could be found.

The sandy slope where the Poison Fire Scorpion's lair was located had lush desert vegetation and an underground river flowing beneath it. Naturally, this held great appeal for the desert animals struggling to survive in the desert, attracting many of them to settle and live nearby.

Every evening at sunset and before sunrise, a wide variety of desert animals could be seen moving through the desert vegetation around the sandy slope, searching for food to fill their bellies.

Sand 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, sand rabbits, lizards, and sand chickens; sand wolves fed on all the ground animals. Thus, a complete desert food chain was formed.

However, the apex predator at the top of this food chain was not the agile sand wolf with its sharp claws and teeth, but the true master of this place—the Poison Fire Scorpion.

When the desert animals collectively went out to forage, it was also the peak activity period for the Poison Fire Scorpion swarm to emerge and hunt. Poison Fire Scorpions, ranging in size from human heads to buckets, spread across tens of square kilometers around the sandy slope.

Whenever prey passed by, these hunters, buried beneath the sand, would instantly spring up, clamping their pincers onto the prey. If the prey was larger, they would use their stingers.

A human-head-sized First-Rank Poison Fire Scorpion required about half a kilogram of fresh meat per meal and could go up to ten days without eating after a full meal. A bucket-sized Second-Rank Poison Fire Scorpion required over five kilograms of fresh meat per meal and could go up to seven days without eating after a full meal.

As for the Third-Rank Poison Fire Scorpion King, it no longer consumed ordinary wild beast meat. Instead, it preyed exclusively on the weak, old, and sick within its own swarm, consuming one First-Rank Poison Fire Scorpion fellow every half a month.

It was precisely because the Poison Fire Scorpion King had the habit of preying on its own kind that this desert food chain on the sandy slope had not collapsed. Otherwise, if the scorpion swarm's population continued to grow unchecked, the ultimate result would be that all the First and Second-Rank Poison Fire Scorpions would consume all the ordinary animals, lose their food source, and then die in large numbers from starvation and infighting.

Of course, in this world, apart from Zhou Yang, the transmigator, no one understood what a "food chain" was.

Although he knew the dire consequences of a food chain collapse, being in a world of cultivation and possessing great power himself, his ingrained way of thinking had changed significantly. When encountering problems, he was more inclined to view and solve them from the perspective and methods of a cultivator.

Cultivators' power came from within themselves. When facing problems, they could use spells and divine abilities to resolve them, naturally not wasting their brains thinking of other methods.

Therefore, even Zhou Yang, upon learning that the overall strength of the Poison Fire Scorpion swarm was weaker than the Zhou Family, first thought of gathering the family's experts to eliminate them together.

It wasn't until he arrived outside the destination with his elders and observed the Poison Fire Scorpions hunting from afar using the "Heavenly Eye Technique" that he suddenly realized that besides using force to deal with the Poison Fire Scorpion swarm, there were other ways to weaken and exterminate them.

"I'm so stupid! How could I not have thought of this earlier? If I had thought of this method sooner, why would the Old Clan Leader have risked gathering all the elders back? If the Old Clan Leader had just gone and set a few fires to burn the desert plants on the sandy slope, most of the Poison Fire Scorpions would have starved to death!"

Zhou Yang slapped his forehead in annoyance and quickly found the Old Clan Leader, Zhou Minghan, to inform him of his discovery and idea.

Of course, he wouldn't mention terms like "ecological food chain." He simply rephrased his intended message in a way that cultivators of this world could understand.

"Brilliant! This plan is absolutely brilliant!"

The Old Clan Leader, Zhou Minghan, was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator who had lived for over a hundred years. Zhou Yang had only explained it once, and he immediately understood the intricacies. He was also unstinting in his praise for Zhou Yang, who had offered the suggestion.

"Little Nine, you truly are a lucky star bestowed upon our Zhou Family by heaven. To think of such a brilliant plan! I have never heard of anything like it, never!"

Afterward, he secretly transmitted a message to others, "Come, come, Quan'er, Xuanhao, all of you come over and listen to Little Nine's brilliant plan. See if it's feasible?"

"It is indeed a brilliant plan. This plan is a chain reaction, starting from minor details. Forget about those Demonic Beasts with nascent intelligence; even we cultivators wouldn't realize we've been tricked until the disaster truly erupts. A good plan, a very good plan!" The Second Elder Zhou of the Zhou Family, Elder Zhou Quan, stroked his beard and exclaimed loudly after listening to the Old Clan Leader's retelling of the plan, quickly grasping its brilliance.

"The plan is excellent and easy to implement. It can even be used against other clustered Demonic Beast groups in the sea of sand in the future. However, this plan goes against the natural order. If it can be avoided, it should not be used!" Elder Zhou Yun, the Fourth Elder, also nodded in agreement. He thought highly of Zhou Yang's plan, but as the Second Spirit Planter, he instinctively felt some repulsion towards actions that completely destroyed the plant ecosystem and was also cautious.

However, the person who truly hit the nail on the head was Zhou Yang's father, Zhou Xuanhao: "I would like to add one point: this plan absolutely cannot be implemented in the oasis, and it must be strictly kept secret. Otherwise, we will face the hostility of all cultivators in this Boundless Sea of Sand, bringing about the destruction of our family!"

In the Boundless Sea of Sand, oases were the most crucial strategic resources. With oases, mortals could be sustained, and with more mortals, more cultivators with Spiritual Roots could emerge.

Therefore, anyone who dared to destroy an oasis in the Boundless Sea of Sand would face the hostility and pursuit of all cultivators. Even major sects like the Yellow Sand Sect would not dare to do something that angered the masses.

The cultivators of the Zhou Family, having grown up in the desert, were well aware of the importance of oases. Upon hearing Zhou Xuanhao's words, Zhou Yang, including the one who proposed the "food chain" tactic, felt a chill. The excitement on their faces instantly subsided considerably.

The Old Clan Leader, Zhou Minghan, also nodded with a solemn expression, "Very good, Xuanhao, you've spoken well. This kind of plan indeed requires careful execution. If it can be avoided, that's best. If it must be used, it must be kept secret and not leaked to outsiders!"

After speaking, he narrowed his eyes and looked at the sandy slope under the setting sun, saying in a low voice, "You all retreat to Qingping Mountain first. This place is left to me. Whether Little Nine's plan works or not, we'll know with one try!"

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