Qingping Mountain Oasis.
Ever since Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan adopted Zhou Yang's plan and began putting it into action that day, more than a dozen of the Zhou Lineage's Late Qi Cultivation cultivators had withdrawn in advance to this oasis, lest the Tier 3 Poison Fire Scorpion King strike back in retaliation.
The spirit vein at Qingping Mountain Oasis was only Tier 2 Low-grade. The spiritual qi it produced each day could only support one Late Qi Cultivation cultivator and seven or eight early- or middle-stage Qi Refining cultivators. Now that more than a dozen Late Qi Cultivation cultivators had gathered here, the spirit vein's spiritual qi immediately became insufficient.
The importance of spirit veins and spiritual qi to cultivators was beyond question.
If a cultivator wished to steadily improve their cultivation, they had to cultivate atop a spirit vein corresponding to their own realm.
Taking Qi Refining Stage cultivators as an example, if they did not cultivate on a Tier 2 spirit vein like Qingping Mountain, but only in outside oases or the wilderness of the desert, their cultivation speed would decrease tenfold. Conversely, if they cultivated on a mid-grade Tier 3 spirit vein like Jade Spring Peak, their cultivation speed would increase slightly above the normal level.
As for cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Realm or above, if they left a spirit vein, then with the scant heaven and earth spiritual qi of the outside world, wanting to make further progress in cultivation was simply a dream.
Therefore, in the Cultivation World, any cultivator who still wished to advance their cultivation realm would rack their brains to occupy a spirit vein for cultivation.
Moreover, depending on its grade, a spirit vein could only produce a limited amount of spiritual qi each day. Once there were too many cultivators on it and their daily consumption exceeded that limit, the spirit vein might fall in grade or even wither away and vanish.
The Qingping Mountain spirit vein had been cultivated by the Lineage at the cost of an enormous amount of spirit stones. Naturally, the Zhou cultivators would not commit such a foolish act as drinking poison to quench thirst.
Thus, after discussion, everyone unanimously decided to leave the spirit vein to Zhou Yang, the future hope of the Zhou Lineage, for cultivation. Everyone else, including his parents, withdrew to the oasis outside the mountain and refined the spiritual qi within spirit stones for cultivation themselves.
Spirit stones were spiritual treasures formed from heaven and earth spiritual qi condensed and compressed to an extreme degree. The total amount of spiritual qi contained in a single low-grade spirit stone was comparable to the spiritual qi a Foundation Establishment Cultivator required for one day of breathing exercises, enough for a Qi Refining Layer Seven cultivator to cultivate for ten days.
Thus, many low-level Rogue Cultivators unable to occupy a spirit vein for cultivation could only absorb the spiritual qi within spirit stones every day to improve their cultivation.
Naturally, doing so consumed a great deal of spirit stones. Few Rogue Cultivators possessed enough wealth to use this method to improve their cultivation year-round.
The greatest reason low-level Rogue Cultivators had lower cultivation than sect and Family Cultivators of the same age, and were poorer as well, lay precisely here.
The Zhou Lineage's Late Qi Cultivation cultivators were all fairly well-off. Refining spirit stones for cultivation over a short period was merely a trivial matter to them, and no one had any objections.
Zhou Yang also knew how heavy the responsibility he now carried was. He silently accepted his elders' goodwill and did not hypocritically utter any words of refusal.
Meanwhile, after Zhou Yang and the others left, Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan immediately flew above the sandy slope and began setting fires.
There was no need to use a butcher's cleaver to kill a chicken. He was merely burning some ordinary desert plants, so Zhou Minghan had no need to waste spiritual power by releasing Foundation Establishment true fire. He only needed to cast the simple Tier 2 High-grade spell, the Sea of Fire Spell, along with a minor Tier 2 Low-grade spell, the Gale Spell, and raging flames shot into the sky all over the sandy slope.
Crackle! Pop!
As the flames spread everywhere, some desert animals hiding on the sandy slope had their fur instantly set ablaze, releasing popping sounds like exploding beans along with the scent of roasting flesh.
For a time, beast roars, snake hisses, and bird cries rang out in a chaotic chorus. The sounds were incomparably miserable and filled with despair.
Standing hundreds of meters in the air, Zhou Minghan looked down. Everywhere he looked, desert animals fled madly with flames clinging to their bodies. At this moment, the thick fur that had protected them against the desert's bitter night cold and scorching daytime heat instead became a death-summoning talisman.
Apart from a few animals such as Sand Rats and Sand Foxes, which dug extremely quickly and managed to burrow into the thick yellow sand to extinguish the flames on their bodies, seventy to eighty percent of the desert animals turned into charred corpses amid the blazing inferno.
Even among the Poison Fire Scorpions hiding in the sand, quite a few were burned alive by the soaring flames.
This sudden change on the sandy slope quickly alerted the Tier 3 Demonic Beast, the Poison Fire Scorpion King, which had been cultivating in a cavern deep beneath the slope.
After hearing the hissing screams of its kin, this Tier 3 Demonic Beast swiftly rushed out of its hidden cavern. The blazing flames on the sandy slope posed no threat whatsoever to its powerful demonic beast body.
Hisss!
The moment the dark-red giant scorpion, as large as a calf, appeared, it waved its enormous pincers and shrieked angrily at Zhou Minghan in the sky. The powerful aura emanating from Zhou Minghan made this demonic beast, whose intelligence was already considerable, feel an immense threat.
Yet Zhou Minghan could not even be bothered to acknowledge it. He merely released a gleaming Third-tier Flying Sword and began harvesting the low-level Poison Fire Scorpions right before its eyes.
This provocation thoroughly enraged the Poison Fire Scorpion King. Its two pincers smashed fiercely into the ground, and the entire sandy slope began to shake as if mountains were swaying and earth was splitting. In an instant, a massive sandstorm erupted.
Yellow sand filled the heavens. Not only did it block Zhou Minghan's vision in the sky, it also swiftly smothered more than half the spreading flames.
Just as there was a difference as vast as heaven and earth between the Foundation Establishment Realm and the Qi Refining Stage, there was likewise an enormous gap in strength between Tier 3 Demonic Beasts and Tier 2 Demonic Beasts.
With every movement, a Tier 3 Demonic Beast could shatter mountains and split the earth, triggering a small-scale natural disaster. Without a cultivator of the same rank to oppose it, a single Tier 3 Demonic Beast could destroy a small oasis like Qingping Mountain Oasis.
Seeing the Poison Fire Scorpion King attack in fury, Zhou Minghan did not fear it, but neither did he rashly begin a battle. Instead, he swiftly recalled his flying sword and directly rode it away from the battlefield.
Unlike cultivators, who could learn to ride swords through the air upon reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm, most terrestrial and aquatic demonic beasts could not master flight before Tier 4, aside from avian demonic beasts and a few demonic beasts with special innate abilities.
Therefore, when Foundation Establishment Cultivators faced terrestrial Tier 3 Demonic Beasts like the Poison Fire Scorpion King, so long as they did not battle inside the creature's underground lair, they could easily seize the initiative on the battlefield.
Naturally, the reverse was also true. Though the Poison Fire Scorpion King could not fly, if it wished to burrow underground and flee, Foundation Establishment Cultivators would find it difficult to keep it aboveground unless they had set up an array in advance to stop it.
On the sandy slope, when the Poison Fire Scorpion King saw Zhou Minghan leave, it assumed its display of power had frightened him away. After proudly hissing and waving its two huge pincers at its underlings in a bout of showboating, it extended its demonic claws toward a nearby First-tier Poison Fire Scorpion that had been burned half to death.
This pitiful Poison Fire Scorpion had barely escaped the blaze and had not yet had time to rejoice before its own "king" devoured it cleanly as dinner.
After eating an injured member of its own kind, the Poison Fire Scorpion King swept its vicious, gleaming gaze over the other ordinary Poison Fire Scorpions trembling in fear. It hissed several commands, then returned to its underground cavern to sleep.
After the Poison Fire Scorpion King departed, the entire Poison Fire Scorpion swarm immediately welcomed a wild feast. The desert animals Zhou Minghan had burned to death were the main course of this revelry, including even the corpses of the dead Poison Fire Scorpions.
None of the Poison Fire Scorpions, including the Poison Fire Scorpion King, realized how much harm the destruction of the desert vegetation around the sandy slope would bring to their swarm.
In the eyes of these demonic beasts, today's battle was no different from when the scorpion swarm had encountered attacks by powerful demonic beasts in the past. Although the invader had killed some members of the swarm, it had still been driven away by their mighty "king." As for those dead kin, as long as the swarm remained, new members would soon be born to join it.
It was not until half a month later, when the Poison Fire Scorpion King awoke from its slumber and discovered that the swarm's numbers had plummeted and that they were killing one another due to a lack of food, that it realized the venomous malice of that fire.
But by then, the bitter fruit had already appeared. Though the Poison Fire Scorpion King was powerful, it could not conjure a great quantity of food from thin air to save the swarm.
With no other choice, the Poison Fire Scorpion King could only personally cull the old, weak, sick, crippled, and small members of the swarm for the stronger ones to eat. It then drove all the surviving Poison Fire Scorpions out of the underground cavern, making them head into the depths of the desert to forage and hunt on their own.
However, the Poison Fire Scorpion King had not expected that the moment it drove the swarm out of the underground cavern, Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan, who had been monitoring the sandy slope all along, would immediately seize the opportunity to kill dozens of those Poison Fire Scorpions that had left the nest. Then, before it could arrive after hearing their distress signals, he calmly rode his sword away from the scene.
After this lesson, how could the Poison Fire Scorpion King not understand that it and its swarm had been targeted? It was an intelligent demonic beast as well, so it immediately changed its orders. Whenever the swarm left the nest to hunt, they were forbidden from moving aboveground. It also secretly followed behind the swarms leaving to hunt, waiting for chances to launch sneak attacks.
With the Poison Fire Scorpions tunneling through the sand, Zhou Minghan found it difficult to detect them. The Poison Fire Scorpion King's ambushes even nearly caused him to stumble badly.
After attempting several more attacks and finding that he could no longer gain any advantage, Zhou Minghan finally turned around and returned to Qingping Mountain Oasis.
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