Earth Origin Spirit Milk

It was over.

The moment Zhou Minghan unleashed the ultimate move he had spent half an hour preparing, the outcome had already been decided.

About fifteen minutes after the thunderous roar rang out, Zhou Yang and the other Zhou Lineage cultivators saw the corpse of the Third-Rank Poison Fire Scorpion King that Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan had brought back.

The dark-red giant scorpion, originally as large as a calf, had been blown into four pieces and eight fragments, reduced to dozens of chunks of flesh. Of its entire body, only its two hardest pincers and its tail had barely remained intact.

"The Poison Fire Scorpion King's shell is tougher than an ordinary Tier 3 low-grade defensive artifact. What kind of formidable divine ability did the Old Clan Leader use to shatter such a hard shell into so many pieces?"

Looking at the Third-Rank Demonic Beast corpse Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan had tossed out, Zhou Yang was both shocked and regretful.

For an Artifact Forger, there was probably nothing more heartbreaking than seeing fine forging materials destroyed before his very eyes.

Given the Poison Fire Scorpion King's size, if its shell had remained whole, then with Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan's Artifact Forging Art, there would have been at least a fifty-percent chance of forging it into a full set of Tier 3 low-grade defensive battle armor.

Mind you, a full set, not a single piece!

A set of Tier 3 low-grade defensive battle armor included defensive artifacts for several parts of the body, such as a breastplate, helmet, arm guards, and leg guards. Each individual artifact possessed Tier 3 low-grade defensive power, but when worn as a complete set, its defensive effect was even better than that of a Tier 3 high-grade defensive artifact.

A Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivator wearing such a set of defensive battle armor could fight a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivator across a minor realm without difficulty.

Compared to a true complete set of artifacts like that, Zhou Yang's four-piece set of Armor Piercing Daggers was nothing more than a child's toy, utterly beneath comparison.

But how could Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan not feel heartache as well? Yet in order to eliminate the Poison Fire Scorpion King beyond all doubt, he had no choice.

Leaving aside how frustrated Zhou Yang and Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan, the two Artifact Forgers, felt, the other Zhou Lineage members all let out great sighs of relief and broke into delighted smiles upon seeing the corpse of the Third-Rank Poison Fire Scorpion King.

With the death of the Third-Rank Demonic Beast Poison Fire Scorpion King, their Zhou Lineage's operation to develop the Crimson Flame Iron Ore Vein had come to a perfect conclusion. What came next was harvest time.

In this battle, they had slain one Third-Rank Demonic Beast, dozens of Tier 2 Demonic Beasts, and hundreds of first-rank demonic beasts. The spoils of war could not have been more abundant.

To cultivators, demonic beasts were treasure from head to toe. Other than the few whose flesh and blood contained deadly poison, the meat of most demonic beasts could be eaten, and its effects were far superior to Golden Pearl Rice.

Demonic beast blood was the main material used to make the blood ink employed by Talisman Masters, while their hides and fur could both be used in artifact forging and made into blank talisman paper.

Even demonic beast dung could be used to fatten certain spiritual trees and spiritual herbs!

Because they had slain so many demonic beasts in this battle, even after the Storage Bags carried by the Zhou Lineage cultivators were filled, more than half remained that they had no way to pack away. In the end, they had no choice but to gather the materials together into piles and slowly transport them back to the Lineage later.

After cleaning up the battlefield, everyone gathered together again, each face brimming with excitement as they looked toward Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan.

Zhou Minghan naturally understood what they were thinking. Although the corpses of hundreds of demonic beasts were a rich haul, that depended on what they were compared against.

Compared with a natural Tier 3 spiritual vein and a Crimson Flame Iron Ore Vein, this little harvest was truly nothing.

"Come. Let us first go take a look at the spiritual vein."

He gave a slight nod, took the lead, summoned his flying sword, and flew toward the Poison Fire Scorpion colony's lair.

There were also some Poison Fire Scorpions left behind in the colony's lair. These were mostly female scorpions about to give birth, along with a small number of male guard scorpions, and they had no idea what had happened outside.

When Zhou Minghan barged into the scorpion nest from outside and saw this scene, he directed his flying sword and began slaughtering without mercy.

By the time Zhou Yang and the others arrived afterward, all they saw were headless Poison Fire Scorpion corpses strewn across the ground.

Without sparing even a second glance for the Poison Fire Scorpion corpses they had already grown sick of seeing, Zhou Yang, like the other Zhou Lineage cultivators, immediately cast the Heavenly Eye Technique to inspect the enormous underground cavern and carefully sense the abundant spiritual qi within it.

"What pure heaven and earth spiritual qi! Even the spiritual qi at the edge of the cavern is no less pure than that halfway up Jade Spring Peak. As expected of a natural Tier 3 low-grade spiritual vein. Though its rank is a notch lower, its spiritual qi is no worse than that of an artificially cultivated Tier 3 mid-grade spiritual vein!"

As Zhou Yang observed the cavern's surroundings, he heard the excited exclamation of his Fourteenth Uncle, Zhou Xuanhe, from beside him.

Hearing this, he could not help but silently circulate his cultivation method, draw a wisp of spiritual qi into his body, and refine it. Shock soon appeared on his face as well.

"How is it? You felt it, didn't you? Not only is the spiritual qi here dense, its attributes also lean more toward fire and earth. Cultivators like you and your father, whose spiritual roots and cultivation methods both lean toward the fire attribute, will achieve better results cultivating here than atop Jade Spring Peak, where the five elements are balanced!"

Zhou Xuanhao stood right beside Zhou Yang and naturally noticed his little action. Seeing the expression on his face, he smiled faintly and explained his doubts.

A cultivator's spiritual root had attribute inclinations, and spiritual veins naturally did as well. Natural spiritual veins, depending on their surroundings, would more or less develop certain attribute tendencies.

For example, within seas rich in water vapor, or beside great rivers and lakes, the spiritual qi of a spiritual vein would lean toward the Water Attribute, making it more suitable for cultivators who practiced Water Element Cultivation Methods.

As for spiritual veins in volcanic, blazing regions, their spiritual qi attributes would lean toward fire, making them suitable for cultivators who practiced Fire Element Cultivation Methods.

The natural spiritual veins within the Boundless Sea of Sand likewise mostly leaned toward fire, earth, and metal. Natural spiritual veins inclined toward the Water Attribute or Wood Attribute were exceedingly rare.

Generally speaking, after cultivators occupied a spiritual vein, unless they were Rogue Cultivators whose disciples all practiced cultivation methods of the same attribute, they would alter the spiritual vein using spirit-gathering formations and spirit stones for the sake of future generations, causing the spiritual qi attributes of the vein to trend toward a balanced five elements state.

Jade Spring Peak, occupied by the Zhou Lineage, had originally also been a natural Tier 2 High-grade spiritual vein, with spiritual qi leaning toward earth and wood. Only after the Zhou Lineage invested a great quantity of spirit stones to transform it did it slowly become a Tier 3 mid-grade spiritual vein with balanced five elements.

As Zhou Yang recalled this knowledge about spiritual veins that he had read before, his expression suddenly shifted. He had remembered another matter related to natural spiritual veins.

His gaze swept around the area, and he asked curiously, "Father, I read in the records that some special Heaven and Earth Spiritual Items generally grow on natural spiritual veins. The Dragon Scale Tree on Jade Spring Peak is one such example. I wonder whether there might be something like that here as well?"

"Mm, your father cannot easily answer that question either."

An awkward look flashed over Zhou Xuanhao's face. He had no way to answer Zhou Yang's question, and to prevent Zhou Yang from asking more difficult questions of this sort, he simply flicked his sleeve and said, "Come. Hasn't the Old Clan Leader already gone inside? We will know once we follow him in and take a look."

This underground cavern was quite deep. The Poison Fire Scorpion colony's nest was primarily located in the spacious cavern hall around its outer edge, while numerous underground passageways spread in all directions through the walls surrounding the hall.

Some of those underground passages had formed naturally, but most were dead ends excavated by the Poison Fire Scorpion colony.

There were two relatively spacious passages. One had formed naturally, and even without entering it, Zhou Yang could sense the cool, damp vapor emanating from its depths. Needless to say, that passage had to lead to the underground river.

The other passage was also two or three meters wide and could accommodate several people walking abreast. However, it had been forcibly carved out from the stone wall by tremendous external force. The cavern's dense spiritual qi was spilling out from this passage, so the spiritual eye of the spiritual vein presumably lay within.

It was this passage that Zhou Yang and Zhou Xuanhao entered.

After father and son traveled several hundred meters deeper along the passage, a stone chamber large enough to accommodate dozens of people sitting cross-legged in cultivation appeared ahead. Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan and several elders of the Zhou Lineage's Guang generation were presently gathered around an object inside, studying it.

"Old Clan Leader, did you discover some treasure?"

Zhou Xuanhao led Zhou Yang closer. As he craned his neck to look at the object surrounded by Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan and the others, he casually asked the question.

Zhou Yang stretched his neck and looked over, only to see that the object at the center of the group was a milky-yellow stalactite pillar protruding about three feet from the ground.

"Eh, this is... could this be..."

All at once, Zhou Xuanhao's eyes widened. Filled with surprise and delight, he stared at the stalactite pillar, then looked toward Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan, as though afraid he had seen it wrongly.

"That is correct. This is the exceedingly rare Tier 3 spiritual item, Earth Origin Spirit Milk!"

Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan nodded slightly and spoke the name Zhou Xuanhao had wanted to say in a low voice.

Hiss—

Zhou Xuanhao could not help sucking in a sharp breath, his entire body trembling faintly.

Seeing his father like this, Zhou Yang was startled as well. Since childhood, this was the first time he had ever seen his father lose his composure so completely.

"Father, what is Earth Origin Spirit Milk?"

He looked at the milky-yellow stalactite pillar in astonishment, his eyes full of confusion.

"Earth Origin Spirit Milk is an extremely rare Tier 3 spiritual item, a Heaven and Earth Spiritual Item nurtured by Earth Vein Spiritual Qi through ten-thousand-year stalactites. Not only can it serve as a substitute main ingredient for many Third-tier spirit pills, it is also an important supplementary spiritual medicine for refining many fourth-tier and even fifth-tier spirit pills. You know about the Foundation Establishment Pill, right? When refining a Foundation Establishment Pill, Earth Origin Spirit Milk is one of the supplementary medicines that must be used!"

Knowing that Zhou Yang was still young and usually devoted most of his time to cultivation, and thus might not know much about rare spiritual items in the cultivation world, Zhou Xuanhao quickly explained the uses of Earth Origin Spirit Milk to him.

After speaking, he patted the Storage Bag at his waist, took out a jade slip used by cultivators to record important knowledge, and handed it to Zhou Yang. "This Record of Heavenly Treasures records more than three thousand rare heavenly treasures, ranging from first-rank to seventh-rank. Yang'er, read it more when you have time. Do not enter a treasure mountain only to return empty-handed in the future, or you will become a laughingstock."

As he did this, Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan looked at him meaningfully and said, "Xuanhao, you left out one more use of Earth Origin Spirit Milk!"

In an instant, Zhou Xuanhao's expression changed.

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