Zhou Xuanhao's successful Foundation Establishment was a momentous occasion worthy of grand celebration for the entire Zhou Lineage. After Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan personally rushed to Haoyang Cave to verify the news, he returned to the Lineage and had invitations sent far and wide, inviting cultivators from all directions to witness and celebrate the occasion.
Throughout the Cultivation World surrounding Jade Spring Lake Oasis, nearly every Cultivation Family and eminent Rogue Cultivator on good terms with the Zhou Lineage received an invitation.
After receiving the invitations, some sent Lineage elders bearing gifts to attend and offer congratulations, while others personally brought their younger descendants along to broaden their horizons.
The Zhou Lineage's cultivators stationed elsewhere also set aside their current duties and hurried back to take part in this celebration, the first of its kind in decades.
The gathering of so many cultivators atop Jade Spring Peak transformed what had once been a rather desolate mountain into a bustling place overnight.
Taking advantage of the occasion, the Zhou Lineage also held a small exchange fair on Jade Spring Peak. They brought out accumulated pills, artifacts, spirit talismans, and other treasures from their treasury to sell to the Rogue Cultivators who had come, while purchasing all kinds of pill-refining and artifact-forging materials from them.
As for the Family Cultivators, since the major Cultivation Families generally trained their own Artifact Forgers and alchemists, the Tier 2 Spirit Pills and artifacts offered by the Zhou Lineage were not enough to entice them into making purchases.
Instead, the occasional unknown spirit items in the hands of Rogue Cultivators drew the interest of these Family Cultivators, who would buy a few.
The Rogue Cultivators would then take the spirit stones they had obtained and turn around to purchase artifacts and pills from the Zhou Lineage's stalls.
Yet Zhou Yang would not get to see this lively scene.
After gaining some insight from Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan's words that day, he revealed his feelings to his parents that very day, then followed the Old Clan Leader back to the Lineage.
After returning, Zhou Yang bade farewell to his adoptive mother, Zhou Xuanyu. Then, carrying the admonitions of the Old Clan Leader and his adoptive mother with him, he rode a Sand Camel Beast alone out of Jade Spring Lake Oasis.
Excluding the Lineage mission he had undertaken years ago to garrison Qingping Mountain Oasis, this was the first time Zhou Yang had traveled far alone in the thirty-two years since arriving in this mysterious, vast world of cultivation.
His destination was White Sand River Oasis, a desert oasis more than six thousand li from Jade Spring Lake Oasis. There stood Golden Sand Market, the largest cultivator market in the Cultivation World spanning tens of thousands of li around the region.
White Sand River Oasis was ruled by the White Camel Ridge Chen Family. The Chen Family was a Cultivation Family with a legacy seven or eight hundred years old, founded by a Purple Mansion Stage expert. Its current patriarch, Chen Yaohui, had surpassed his predecessors; his cultivation was even somewhat higher than that of the old ancestor who had founded the Chen Family.
The entire White Camel Ridge Chen Family now had one Purple Mansion Stage cultivator, twelve Foundation Establishment Cultivators, over a thousand Qi Refining Stage cultivators, and more than a million Secular Family Members. It was the largest Cultivation Family within tens of thousands of li.
When descendants of the White Camel Ridge Chen Family went out, even disciples of the Yellow Sand Sect had to give them a measure of face. This showed just how illustrious they were.
The Chen Family's status was exalted. A small Cultivation Family like the Jade Spring Zhou Family ordinarily would never even catch the eye of such a great family; the two simply did not exist on the same level.
However, Zhou Yuquan, the Zhou Family Ancestor who had founded the Zhou Lineage, had once done the current Chen Family patriarch, Chen Yaohui, a great favor when Chen Yaohui was young, owing to Zhou Yuquan's origins in the Yellow Sand Sect.
Thus, after he established the Jade Spring Zhou Family branch, Old Ancestor Chen remembered that past favor. Not only did he set aside two shops in Golden Sand Market, which the Chen Family had established, and gift them to the Zhou Lineage as congratulations, he also included the Zhou Lineage among the Chen Family's allied families, allowing it to share in the benefits of that alliance circle.
For instance, the Foundation Establishment Assembly the Chen Family was about to hold was an event only the Chen Family's allied families were qualified to attend.
Zhou Yang's journey to White Sand River Oasis this time was not only to seek an opportunity to break through his bottleneck. He also bore the Lineage's important trust, inheriting his father's work by replacing his already Foundation Establishment father, Zhou Xuanhao, in overseeing the Lineage's shops in Golden Sand Market.
The route from Jade Spring Lake Oasis to White Sand River Oasis was already well established. Although there were no roads in the strict sense within the desert, through the joint efforts of several generations of Zhou cultivators, dozens of "signal towers" had been established across the thousands of li of desert between the two oases, ensuring that Zhou cultivators traveling between them would not lose their way midway.
Of course, "signal towers" was merely Zhou Yang's understanding. In truth, the Zhou Lineage's Formation Masters had refined dozens of Tier 1 High-grade Formations known as Yuan Magnetic Attraction Formations, then had them arranged throughout the thousands of li of desert between Jade Spring Lake Oasis and White Sand River Oasis.
As long as cultivators from the Zhou Lineage, or those with close ties to it, traveled this route carrying a specially refined First-Rank Artifact known as a Yin Yang Magnetic Needle, they could use the artifact to connect with any formation within a hundred li around them, leaving them with no fear of getting lost.
However, while the "signal towers" kept him from losing his way, the many dangerous and treacherous weather phenomena of the desert still made Zhou Yang, on his first long journey, suffer bitterly.
In the mere half month after setting out from Jade Spring Lake Oasis, he encountered three sandstorms. Whenever one struck, he could only hide beneath the Sand Camel Beast's belly like an ostrich, watching helplessly as endless yellow sand buried him alive.
And if sandstorms merely left Zhou Yang dusty and miserable, then the quicksand that could appear anywhere in the desert was truly deadly.
Unlike sandstorms, which revealed obvious signs before arriving, quicksand only let one know it was there after one had stepped into it.
The Sand Camel Beasts' innate special talent allowed them to detect abnormalities before a sandstorm arrived and warn their masters in time.
But when facing quicksand, even these demonic beasts that lived in the desert were helpless.
Before humans or animals stepped onto it, quicksand looked exactly like ordinary sandy ground and was extremely difficult to detect.
Once someone stepped into quicksand, an adult man of ordinary weight would disappear beneath the surface in less than ten seconds.
Zhou Yang and the Sand Camel Beast beneath him weighed over three tons combined. Once they fell into quicksand, they would sink into its depths in less than three seconds.
The first time man and camel beast alike fell into quicksand, Zhou Yang had no time to react at all before sinking beneath the sand together with the Sand Camel Beast.
Fortunately, before he left, Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan had repeatedly instructed him to keep several Earth Evasion Technique spirit talismans in his sleeves. In his panic, he managed to activate one in time and escape the quicksand with the Sand Camel Beast.
That experience of being trapped in quicksand truly terrified Zhou Yang. The horrifying, suffocating sensation of plunging into an abyss was simply more frightening than death itself.
From then on, whenever he traveled atop the Sand Camel Beast each day, he would release his spiritual sense to scan the ground ten meters ahead, while attaching Earth Evasion Technique spirit talismans to both his arms and legs.
Though doing so consumed his mental energy enormously, it at least gave him peace of mind.
But as a result, Zhou Yang's traveling speed dropped greatly. He could advance less than three hundred li a day, far below the Sand Camel Beast's normal pace of five hundred li per day.
That day, after traveling for a full day, Zhou Yang and his mount were both exhausted. He set up camp beneath a wind-sheltered sandy slope.
He first pitched his sleeping tent, then fed the Sand Camel Beast several Essence Pills, First-Rank spirit pills refined from the essence of demonic beast flesh and blood, to restore its strength, and hung a camel bell on it.
Only after finishing all this did he feel at ease leaving the Sand Camel Beast outside to keep watch while he entered the tent and sat in meditation to recover his depleted spiritual sense.
The desert was bitterly cold at night, with temperatures dropping below freezing. Zhou Yang was somewhat better off inside his sealed camel-hide tent, but the Sand Camel Beast lying outside had curled its limbs into a ball, and even the breath from its mouth and nose condensed into white mist.
These tamed Sand Camel Beasts were not only the finest riding mounts in the desert, but also exceptionally capable sentries.
In the silent darkness of the desert, their outstanding senses could clearly detect mice digging several meters underground. With them standing guard, desert demonic beasts seeking to launch surprise attacks from below the ground had virtually no chance of succeeding.
As the night deepened, the temperature fell ever lower. The Sand Camel Beast keeping watch outside the tent had already buried most of its body in the yellow sand, leaving only its head exposed above the ground.
Suddenly, the Sand Camel Beast, which appeared to be sound asleep, snapped open its eyes. With a wary gaze, it abruptly raised its head and looked toward the top of the sandy slope.
Jingle, jingle, jingle!
The urgent ringing of the camel bell, accompanied by the Sand Camel Beast's anxious whinnying, swiftly awakened Zhou Yang from his meditative rest inside the tent.
Without even thinking, he flicked his sleeve and immediately sent forth the Silver Gang Shield artifact that had saved his life many times before. Only then did he charge out of the tent beneath its protection.
Whoosh!
The moment he rushed out, Zhou Yang heard a piercing whistle of something cutting through the air explode beside his ear. He was intimately familiar with that sound—it was the sound of a cultivator controlling a flying sword through the air.
Sure enough, the next moment, he saw a streak of golden light strike his Silver Gang Shield artifact.
"Tier 2 High-grade defensive artifact!"
The golden light scattered against the Silver Gang Shield, revealing a golden cone-shaped artifact around two feet long. At the same time, an astonished cry rang out from nearby.
Zhou Yang looked toward the voice and saw two masked cultivators in black robes standing atop the sandy slope, gazing in his direction.
When they saw him looking over, one of the black-robed cultivators raised a hand and recalled the cone-shaped artifact whose sneak attack had failed. With greed filling his eyes as he stared at the Silver Gang Shield before Zhou Yang, he snarled viciously, "Kid, I'll give you a chance to live. Hand over that Tier 2 High-grade defensive artifact, and I'll spare your life!"
"Desert bandits?"
Zhou Yang frowned. He paid no heed to the black-robed cultivator's threats, merely studying the two uninvited guests with a thoughtful expression as he asked the question.
Hearing such blunt words, the eyes of both black-robed cultivators turned cold. The one who had not attacked immediately said in an icy voice, "You know we're desert bandits, yet you can remain so calm. It seems you're no ordinary Family Cultivator, little brother. Which family do you come from?"
"What? If I tell you, will you stop and leave?" Zhou Yang looked at them with a faint smile, his eyes full of mockery.
"Of course not!"
The black-robed cultivator who had spoken shook his head. Then he waved his sleeve, sending forth a crimson banner that shone with spiritual light, and sneered at Zhou Yang. "But if you clearly explain your origins, then after we kill you, if the harvest is good enough, perhaps we'll kindly send your corpse back to your clansmen!"
"So that's how it is!"
Zhou Yang nodded. Suddenly, he swept a hand, and the four Armor Piercing Daggers at his waist flew from their sheaths with a sharp response, transforming into four icy white streaks of light that shot toward the sand not far behind him.
Aah!
A shrill scream instantly rang out from beneath the ground behind Zhou Yang.
"Third Brother!"
"Third Brother!"
The expressions of the two black-robed cultivators atop the sandy slope changed, and they could not help crying out in alarm.
It turned out there had not been only two people here tonight, but three. One person had been hiding underground all along, waiting for a chance to launch a sneak attack.
They had calculated against the tiger, but the tiger had calculated against them. Zhou Yang had discovered long ago that someone was hiding underground.
Thus, while pretending to play along and stalling the two black-robed cultivators aboveground, he locked onto the enemy's location and suddenly unleashed his artifacts, returning their sneak attack in kind.
Thanks to readers Kuoyi Kuai Le, One Person's Night 97, Qing Feng Fu Luo Ye, and Bai Yi Xiao Zhan for their donations of 100 Qidian coins each. The first three readers have donated for the second time already—thank you, thank you! Lastly, please vote, bookmark, and join the new book investment group. The new book investment is still one short of a full hundred, yet it just refuses to move. So frustrating...
Before you continue