Storm Approaches

With Zhou Yang's guarantee, Zhou Xuanjing and Zhou Xuankun felt relieved and returned to the family with the invitation from Old Ancestor Chen.

However, although Zhou Xuanjing and Zhou Xuankun left, the other cultivators from the Zhou Family who accompanied him to the Yellow Sand Sect stayed in the market town to rest, planning to return to the family after a month or two of recuperation.

Among these Zhou Family cultivators were his second brother Zhou Bao and third brother Zhou Qi, whom Zhou Yang had met when he was stationed at the Qingping Mountain Oasis.

As for Zhou Yang, due to the care and instructions from Elder Zhou Quan, he visited his second brother Zhou Bao, who was resting in the backyard, after Uncle Eleven Zhou Xuankun left.

"Second Brother, I heard from Uncle Eleven that you plan to start a family after returning home this time?"

In the courtyard, Zhou Yang looked at his second brother Zhou Bao, whom he hadn't seen in nearly ten years. After ten years, his second brother appeared much older, with even white hairs appearing on his head.

"Yes, I'm not young anymore, and it's time for me to start a family for the Zhou Family. Grandfather was right, my temperament is not suited for the Cultivation World at all; it's more suitable for me to return to the family and farm."

Perhaps it was due to his age, but Zhou Bao now faced Zhou Yang, the most dazzling clansman among his peers, with much more composure than before. At least he no longer lacked the courage to meet Zhou Yang's gaze, as he had in the past.

However, looking at Zhou Bao now, Zhou Yang felt a sense of nostalgia for the dull and introverted second brother he used to be.

The reason Zhou Bao dared to meet his gaze now was that he had completely abandoned the pursuit of cultivation advancement and had lost all ambition.

But since this was Zhou Bao's own choice, Zhou Yang couldn't say anything more. He could only nod and say, "Since you've made up your mind, Second Brother, then apply to the family to go to the [Haoyang Cave]. I'll explain the situation to the Old Clan Leader and have you become the City Lord of the mortal city there. That way, you won't have to leave the family for missions anymore!"

Elder Zhou Quan had repeatedly asked him to take care of his second brother. He had originally intended to find an opportunity to arrange a more relaxed and safer job for his second brother after he himself had established his foundation and gained power, such as working as an employee at the "Jade Spring Tower" for a long time, or becoming an introductory teacher for the next generation of cultivators.

However, since Zhou Bao had now decided to give up on cultivation, he could only let him be the City Lord of a mortal city.

"Thank you, Ninth Brother, thank you!"

Zhou Bao also knew that this was the greatest help Zhou Yang could provide within his capabilities. After all, the family belonged to everyone in the Zhou Family, not just one person. It was impossible for Zhou Yang to simply say a word and have the family support him without him doing anything, as that would reflect poorly on other clansmen.

He was only giving up on his pursuit in cultivation, not truly abandoning his identity as a cultivator or the Spirit Stones provided by the family.

"Sigh! Then Second Brother, you should rest well. Little Brother won't disturb you any further."

Zhou Yang let out a long sigh, shook his head, and had nothing more to say. He got up and left the courtyard.

It wasn't until he returned to the third floor of the "Jade Spring Tower" and picked up the Record of Strange Items he had been reading halfway through that he was still recalling the words Elder Zhou Quan had said to him the day before he passed away.

At that time, Elder Zhou Quan had already foreseen his approaching end and specifically called him to his side to admonish him, saying, "Little Nine, my greatest regret in this life is that I was not ambitious enough when I was young and did not have the courage to break through to Foundation Establishment!"

"I'm beyond hope now, and the Zhou Family can only rely on you juniors in the future. Even if you establish your foundation in the future, you must never slack off in your cultivation!"

"To put it selfishly, why do we cultivators establish sects and families? Isn't it to gather the strength of many to facilitate our own cultivation! Little Nine, you have extraordinary talent. As long as you are willing to cultivate diligently, it's not impossible for you to surpass all your ancestors in the Zhou Family in the future. You must not end up like your Third Grandfather, regretting in your old age that you didn't give your all in life, leaving only regret!"

"I am leaving now, and I entrust your second brother to your care, Little Nine. I don't ask for him to achieve anything in his cultivation, I only hope that he can eventually die of old age like me!"

Recalling the might of Elder Zhou Quan when he hammered the Tier 2 High-grade Demonic Beast "Gold-Eating Rat" to death, and then contrasting it with his dying state, Zhou Yang couldn't help but sigh again.

Alas!

He was now at Qi Refining Layer Nine. In terms of strength, he was probably even stronger than Elder Zhou Quan was back then. And if nothing unexpected happened, he would soon be able to consume a Foundation Establishment Pill to attempt a breakthrough to Foundation Establishment.

But what good would it do to establish a foundation?

Although cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Stage had twice the lifespan of those at the Qi Refining Stage, without opening up a Violet Palace, their lifespan would only reach just over two hundred years.

Even a cultivator at the Purple Mansion Stage like Old Ancestor Chen Yaohui only extended his lifespan by another double. If he didn't reach the Golden Core stage, he would still turn to dust in five hundred years.

Even if he were lucky enough to become a Golden Core cultivator and borrow another five hundred years of lifespan to reach a thousand years, what then?

Nascent Soul Stage?

In the nearly two thousand years of the Boundless Sea of Sand's Cultivation World, there had never been a cultivator at the Nascent Soul Stage!

"Without achieving Immortality, one will ultimately be an ant!"

These eight words suddenly appeared in Zhou Yang's mind. These simple eight words revealed the true meaning of why cultivators cultivate.

"An ant? Even if I am an ant, I will be a bigger and stronger ant. Know that even ants can defy the heavens!"

He muttered to himself, and then a smile suddenly appeared on his face, a smile of great joy.

At this very moment, Zhou Yang felt that his state of mind cultivation had improved significantly.

State of mind cultivation was different from mana cultivation. For cultivators at the Qi Refining Stage who reached Qi Refining Layer Nine, if they did not attempt to break through to Foundation Establishment, their mana would not advance further. However, state of mind cultivation was not limited by this.

State of mind cultivation was a very vague concept. It referred to the cultivator's understanding and comprehension of cultivation and the Great Dao. There were no level divisions like Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment.

However, according to the summaries of previous cultivators, the higher a cultivator's state of mind cultivation, the lower the probability of suffering Qi Deviation during cultivation, and the fewer bottlenecks they would encounter in their future cultivation compared to those with lower state of mind cultivation.

Those with low state of mind cultivation might not necessarily be unable to establish their foundation or form a Golden Core.

But under the same conditions, those with high state of mind cultivation would definitely have a higher success rate in establishing their foundation and forming a Golden Core than those with low state of mind cultivation.

Whether a cultivator's state of mind cultivation has improved is only known to himself. Even if an outsider's cultivation is higher, they cannot know. Furthermore, improving state of mind cultivation depends entirely on the cultivator's own comprehension and opportunities; external forces can only influence it to a very small extent.

Therefore, although everyone knew the benefits of improving state of mind cultivation, no one deliberately pursued it, nor could it be forced.

After all, no matter how high one's state of mind cultivation became, it couldn't directly increase a cultivator's success rate of establishing a foundation by several tenths like a Foundation Establishment Pill. For cultivators at the Qi Refining Stage, it was better to spend their time earning Spirit Stones than trying to figure out how to improve their state of mind cultivation.

Zhou Yang did not pay particular attention to the improvement of his state of mind cultivation. After smiling, he picked up the Record of Strange Items again and continued reading.

The black ore he had obtained from the burly middle-aged man Zhong Quan that day, Zhou Yang always felt that it was not simple. Therefore, in his free time these days, he had been flipping through various ancient texts to find information, hoping to find records related to this unknown strange item.

Unfortunately, despite searching through all the texts he could find on the market, he had not found any information about it yet.

In any world, knowledge is the most precious wealth. Zhou Yang knew that his failure to find the information he wanted did not mean that there were no records of the black ore in the Cultivation World, but rather that the ancient texts recording the origin of the black ore were relatively valuable and were only collected by some major powers with long histories, and would not be widely circulated and collected like the "Record of Heavenly Treasures" in his hand.

Just like the Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation techniques collected by his Zhou Family, and the Tier 4 Artifact Forger inheritance obtained by the Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan, Zhou Family cultivators could not access this high-level knowledge unless they cultivated to the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Over the next few months, perhaps due to rumors of an impending event, the number of cultivators in the Golden Sand Market town began to noticeably increase. People even spotted Foundation Establishment stage cultivators, who were rarely seen in the market town on normal days.

This increase in cultivators was naturally good news for the shops in the market town. Each shop seized the opportunity, launching various promotional measures to attract customers.

However, this did not include the Jade Spring Tower. Thanks to the immense popularity Zhou Yang had generated with his previous artifact forging spree, most of the spiritual items accumulated in the Jade Spring Tower had already been sold. They hadn't had time to replenish their stock, so even if Zhou Yang wanted to join the excitement, he lacked the capital.

It was under these circumstances, with an air of impending change, that Zhou Yang finally received support from his family, several months after his Sixth Uncle Zhou Xuanjing and Eleventh Uncle Zhou Xuankun had departed.

The Zhou Family had been preparing for this "Foundation Establishment Assembly" for decades. Therefore, as soon as Zhou Xuanjing and the other returned to the family with the invitation from Old Ancestor Chen and the good news of Zhou Yang's breakthrough to Qi Refining Layer Nine, the Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan immediately assembled their people and set off according to plan.

To ensure the successful acquisition of Foundation Establishment Pills at this "Foundation Establishment Assembly," the Zhou Family dispatched not only the Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan, a cultivator at the seventh level of Foundation Establishment, but also five elders at Qi Refining Layer Nine: Zhou Yun, Zhou Qi, Zhou Xuantai, Zhou Xuanjing, and Zhou Xuanbin.

Additionally, Zhou Xuanyu, a Steward Elder of the Zhou Family, also arrived at the market town. She would take over the management of the Jade Spring Tower and the Drunken Immortal Restaurant from Zhou Yang once the "Foundation Establishment Assembly" concluded.

The lowest cultivation level within their group was Qi Refining Layer Nine, and with the experienced Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan leading the way, their journey to the White Sand River Oasis took considerably less time than Zhou Yang's initial trip.

Upon reaching the White Sand River Oasis, Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan went directly to the White Camel Ridge Chen Family to meet with Old Ancestor Chen and discuss the details of the "Foundation Establishment Assembly." The rest of the group headed to the market town to await news while also restocking the Jade Spring Tower's shelves with spiritual items brought from the family's treasure vault.