Golden Sand Market Town

"Golden Sands Market Town" is located on Golden Cloud Mountain, south of the White Camel Ridge Chen Family's main base, less than five hundred miles away.

Originally, Golden Cloud Mountain had a natural spirit vein of third-grade low-rank. Later, as "Golden Sands Market Town" grew in scale, the Chen Family invested heavily to upgrade its spirit vein to third-grade high-rank.

The spiritual energy emanating from a third-grade high-rank spirit vein is sufficient to simultaneously satisfy the cultivation needs of several Foundation Establishment cultivators and hundreds of Qi Refining cultivators. Consequently, the number of resident cultivators in "Golden Sands Market Town" alone now exceeds five hundred, with various shops numbering over a hundred.

As the only cultivator market town within tens of thousands of miles, cultivators flock to "Golden Sands Market Town" daily to buy or sell cultivation resources. The "head tax" collected annually by this market town alone amounts to thousands of spirit stones.

It has been calculated that even without considering the spirit stones earned by the Chen Family's own businesses, the rent paid by the various shops and cultivation caves within "Golden Sands Market Town" annually, along with the "head tax" paid by cultivators entering and exiting the market town, can provide the Chen Family with a net income of ten to twenty thousand spirit stones.

Such a substantial income naturally attracts envy. Therefore, to protect this "golden goose," the Chen Family has not only set up a fourth-grade low-rank formation within the market town but also stationed more than three Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Chen Family there year-round.

With three Foundation Establishment cultivators stationed, coupled with the enforcement team established by the Chen Family within the market town, even if a Purple Mansion cultivator or a fourth-grade demonic beast were to attack, they could resist for several hours with the help of the formation, holding out until Ancestor Chen Yaohui, who is stationed at White Camel Ridge, arrives to rescue them.

After leaving the Chen Family's rendezvous point, Zhou Yang rode his Sand Camel Beast for another day before arriving outside the market town, which was enveloped by formation mist.

Outside the market town, Chen Family cultivators were specifically responsible for collecting the "head tax." Qi Refining late-stage cultivators had to pay an additional lower-grade spirit stone as a retention fee for every ten days they stayed in the market town. For stays less than ten days, the fee was also one lower-grade spirit stone.

However, as the Zhou Family is an allied family of the Chen Family, cultivators from the Zhou Family only needed to pay one-third of the "head tax" when entering the market town.

Zhou Yang was unsure how long he would stay in the market town, so he paid for a year in advance. Then, carrying his payment receipt and an iron token with a special mark, he slowly walked into the mist-shrouded market town.

A celestial market town is naturally vastly different from towns established by mortals in the secular world.

Upon entering the market town, Zhou Yang discovered that what appeared to be shrouded in mist from the outside was actually a spiritual mountain hundreds of meters high. Buildings stood in rows on the mountain, with precious light soaring into the sky. Various magnificent palaces, pavilions, and pagodas were situated on the same mountain, emitting dazzling spiritual light that attracted cultivators from all directions.

Day or night made no difference to this celestial market town.

"Where is our Zhou Family's Jade Spring Tower?"

After observing from the foot of the mountain for a while, Zhou Yang finally spotted his family's business, "Jade Spring Tower," among the many buildings.

The "Jade Spring Tower" was located by a pool on the mountainside of the market town. The entire tower was seventy feet high and constructed entirely from hundred-year-old ironwood. It had three floors. The lower two floors sold magical artifacts, pills, spiritual talismans, and other items refined by Zhou Family cultivators. The top floor was used to receive distinguished guests.

Of the two shops the Chen Family gifted to the Zhou Family, one was this "Jade Spring Tower," and the other was named "Drunken Immortal Tower," which was a restaurant previously managed by Zhou Yang's mother, Lin Yuting.

Before Zhou Xuanhao's Foundation Establishment, "Jade Spring Tower" was managed by him. After he returned to the family to prepare for his Foundation Establishment, the Zhou Family cultivator managing "Jade Spring Tower" became the newly promoted elder, Zhou Xuanlin.

Zhou Xuanlin ranked seventh among the "Xuan" generation and was also a second-grade artifact refiner in the Zhou Family, besides the Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan and Zhou Yang. However, his artifact refining talent was not very good. Even though his cultivation recently broke through to the ninth level of Qi Refining, he could only refine second-grade mid-rank magical artifacts, and his success rate was not very high.

Currently, besides Elder Zhou Xuanlin of the Zhou Family, "Jade Spring Tower" also had Zhou Xuanlin's wife's relative, Qian Hongyu, along with three juniors from the "Yuan" generation, Zhou Ping, Zhou Yu, and Zhou Xiong, working as sales assistants, responsible for selling items in the shop.

Qian Hongyu was the Dao companion of Zhou Xuanlin, who ranked twelfth among the "Xuan" generation of the Zhou Family. Zhou Ping, Zhou Yu, and Zhou Xiong ranked fourth, fifth, and thirteenth respectively among the "Yuan" generation. Among these people, Zhou Yang was only familiar with Zhou Xiong, his Thirteenth Brother, who was closest to his age.

Coincidentally, because Zhou Xiong was younger, he was specifically assigned to solicit business outside the "Jade Spring Tower," under the guise of honing his speaking and observation skills.

Therefore, when Zhou Yang led his Sand Camel Beast to the front of the tower, Zhou Xiong, his clansman, immediately recognized his renowned elder clansman.

"Oh my! Ninth Brother, why are you here at the market town too? Little brother didn't hear about this from Seventh Uncle or the others beforehand!"

Zhou Xiong was five years younger than Zhou Yang, only twenty-seven this year. He was also quite handsome and had a good appearance.

Upon seeing Zhou Yang approaching with his Sand Camel Beast, he first exclaimed in surprise, then eagerly ran forward to take the reins from Zhou Yang, saying warmly, "Ninth Brother, you must have had a tiring journey. Little brother will take this camel beast to the backyard to care for it. Coincidentally, Seventh Uncle is upstairs today, so you can see him on the third floor."

Zhou Yang was now a prominent figure in the Zhou Family. Even though the news of Zhou Xuanhao's Foundation Establishment had not yet reached the White Camel Ridge Oasis, his reputation as a second-grade high-rank artifact refiner and his cultivation level of eighth-level Qi Refining were enough for his peers like Zhou Xiong to look up to him.

Now, everyone in the Zhou Family knew that if nothing unexpected happened, Zhou Yang would definitely be the next Clan Leader of the Zhou Family.

In such a situation, if they could build a good relationship with Zhou Yang in advance, wouldn't they benefit when he took charge of the family's power?

Therefore, not to mention juniors like Zhou Xiong, even many elders of the "Xuan" generation, except for a few, no longer dared to put on airs of seniority to suppress him in front of Zhou Yang.

After all, the Cultivation World respected the strong. The status of an elder was not a reason for them to act recklessly. If they dared to suppress Zhou Yang with their elder status today, wouldn't they fear Zhou Yang's severe retaliation after he achieved Foundation Establishment and became Clan Leader?

Even if they themselves were not afraid, wouldn't their descendants be afraid?

Therefore, even for the sake of their descendants, now that Zhou Yang had been confirmed to be able to take the "Foundation Establishment Pill" to attempt Foundation Establishment, few elders in the Zhou Family dared to put on airs in front of him. This was even more so for peers like Zhou Xiong.

Having lived two lives, Zhou Yang's actual age was much older than his apparent age, so he didn't feel that this was too inappropriate.

He himself would not use his status to suppress others, but he also disliked others deliberately suppressing him with their elder status. If the elders could set aside their status to treat him well, he would naturally show filial respect to the elders and maintain proper human relationships.

"Then I'll trouble you, Thirteenth Brother. I do have something to discuss with Seventh Uncle." He nodded slightly, thanked him, let go of the reins, and walked into the building.

Hearing footsteps entering, Zhou Ping and Zhou Yu, who were listless due to the lack of customers, also perked up, thinking a customer had arrived. They quickly straightened up, ready to greet the guest.

"Your Excellency is... you're Ninth Brother!"

"Ninth Brother, why are you here at the market town?"

Seeing that the visitor was Zhou Yang, whom they hadn't seen in years, Zhou Ping and Zhou Yu were both stunned. Like Zhou Xiong, they had not received any prior notice, and they were extremely surprised by the sudden visit of Zhou Yang, the genius of the Zhou Family.

"Fourth Brother, Fifth Brother, it's been many years. Are you well?" Zhou Yang smiled and greeted these elder clansmen warmly.

Seeing his demeanor, Zhou Ping and Zhou Yu shivered, their faces filled with flattered surprise as they repeatedly returned the greeting, "Ninth Brother, you're too kind. It's been many years, and we've missed you too."

Saying they missed him wasn't untrue. They had been away from home for many years, returning to the family only once every three to five years on average. Normally, they relied on merchant caravans to bring news from the family, and in recent years, the most frequent news brought by the caravans had been about the Ninth Brother before them.

Every time they heard news about this Ninth Brother, they couldn't help but wonder how the once silent and somewhat reclusive young man had managed to accomplish what countless elders in the Zhou Family had failed to do in the past two hundred years.

"Heh heh, our younger brothers and sisters in the family also miss you both very much, especially Little Fourteen and Little Fifteen. They often clamor to grow up quickly and come down the mountain to the market town to venture into the cultivation world with you two."

Zhou Yang chuckled. Seeing their nervousness, he smiled and shared some amusing anecdotes about their younger peers to help them relax.

Indeed, upon hearing these lighthearted stories unrelated to cultivation, Zhou Ping and Zhou Yu's nervous expressions eased slightly, and they eagerly joined in, recounting some childhood anecdotes from their shared past.

After chatting for a while like this, the slight estrangement from not seeing each other for many years quickly disappeared. Once they became familiar, Zhou Ping and Zhou Yu also quickly displayed the conversational skills they had honed over years of working as shop assistants. They vividly described the grand scenes they had witnessed in the market town over the years and their experiences working at "Jade Spring Tower."

Of course, during their conversation, they couldn't help but express their envy at Zhou Yang's rapid cultivation advancement and sought his advice on some cultivation problems they had encountered.

Zhou Yang didn't hold back either. He answered as many questions as he could for the two of them and even lent them his cultivation notes for them to read.

After the three of them had been talking for about half an hour, Zhou Yu, who was enjoying the conversation, suddenly slapped his forehead and exclaimed, "Ah! I got so caught up catching up with Ninth Brother here that I forgot about the main reason for your visit! You must have important matters to discuss, Ninth Brother, right? Seventh Uncle is upstairs, so we won't hold you up from your business."

Zhou Ping, standing nearby, was also taken aback by this. He quickly nodded in agreement, "Fourth Brother is right. Ninth Brother, your business is more important. We can catch up later; there will be plenty of time to chat once you're done."

Hearing this, Zhou Yang also felt that their reunion had gone on long enough. Through his conversation with his two elder cousins, he had gained a little understanding of the current situation at Jade Spring Tower. He smiled and nodded, "Since you two brothers say so, then I'll go up and pay my respects to Seventh Uncle first. I'll see you later."

Uh, I was too tired last night and fell asleep directly, forgetting to update... Continuing to ask for recommendation tickets and to join the new book investment group.