Setting Up a Spirit Beast Meat Supply! Now That's Luck

"What is it?"

Meng Ziwei blinked her beautiful eyes, gazing straight at Chu Zhou.

She wondered if she was imagining it, but this man seemed to be growing more and more attractive.

"Do you have a villa near the outskirts?" Chu Zhou flipped the Spirit Beast Meat.

"The outskirts?" Meng Ziwei looked puzzled. "Chu Zhou, we're in the age of Spiritual Energy Revival. Plants and animals are mutating and evolving. Government policy is to move rural residents into towns and cities. Living on the outskirts isn't safe."

"I know." Chu Zhou smiled. "That lack of safety is exactly what I'm after."

Meng Ziwei: ?

Chu Zhou plated the Spirit Beast Meat and asked with a smile, "Spirit Beast Meat is getting harder and harder to find on the market, isn't it?"

"Yes." Meng Ziwei nodded instinctively, helplessness in her eyes. "Information is controlled online, but not in the Firmament Ledger's Chat Channel. More and more people know that eating Spirit Beast Meat directly increases their dou qi. Not only have prices skyrocketed, there isn't nearly enough to go around."

"I heard a lot of people are planning to copy the cultivators on the Dou Qi Continent and set up mercenary groups, heading into the mountains and out to sea to hunt Spirit Beasts themselves. But the authorities have banned it."

"A First-Rank Spirit Beast is just like a First-Tier Magical Beast on the Dou Qi Continent. Its combat strength rivals a Dou Zhe's. All the meat available now comes from the military's hunting operations."

As she spoke, Meng Ziwei suddenly caught on. "Don't tell me you're planning to hunt them yourself?"

Had it been anyone else, the thought would never have occurred to her.

But Chu Zhou was the first "player" to reach the Dou Zhe level.

"Players" entered the game with their real bodies. The Firmament Ledger's protection merely gave them "ten lives," while any cultivation gains could genuinely be brought back.

"That's right." Chu Zhou admitted it openly. "Dou Techniques need honing. Going into the mountains or out to sea occasionally to practice on Spirit Beasts would also increase our stock of Spirit Beast Meat. That's better than living in the city, don't you think?"

"Besides, if we really run into danger, we can log into the Dou Qi Continent to take shelter."

Meng Ziwei had never thought along those lines before. She had always felt that living in the city guaranteed her safety, leaving her free to focus on improving her cultivation on the Dou Qi Continent.

But Spirit Beast Meat really was getting harder and harder to obtain. Even with her family's money and connections, her quota kept shrinking.

Although her father doted on her, he still prioritized developing his sons when it came to important matters. She understood and held no resentment.

"I have a villa in the city, but none on the outskirts. I'll call my dad and ask." Meng Ziwei's gaze grew resolute.

She knew perfectly well that Chu Zhou would be her greatest support in the future. A woman needed to understand where she stood.

"No rush." Chu Zhou slipped an arm around Meng Ziwei's waist. "Let's eat first. You can call your father afterward."

Chu Zhou's words seemed to carry some kind of magic. Meng Ziwei instantly softened against him, unable to voice any refusal.

The two finished dinner amid affectionate banter, and Chu Zhou circulated the Azure Flame Soul-Refining Art to digest the Spirit Beast Meat.

His Three-Star Dou Zhe cultivation fully stabilized and even improved a little.

Above the Dou Qi Continent is the Great Thousand World, where cultivation uses the spiritual energy of heaven and earth rather than Heaven and Earth Energy.

Blue Star is undergoing Spiritual Energy Revival, but I can't sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth when I circulate the Azure Flame Soul-Refining Art. The technique's level probably isn't high enough, yet I can absorb some by eating Spirit Beast Meat. Or perhaps my cultivation method is wrong.

Could the spiritual energy appearing in increasing amounts on Blue Star actually be on the same level as the Great Thousand World's?

Chu Zhou finished cultivating and let his thoughts wander.

Aside from the Emperor Grade Nascent Pill and the Ancient Emperor's Inheritance in Tou She Ancient God's Cave Mansion, the Dou Qi Continent currently had no emperor's origin that could allow a cultivator to break through to Dou Di.

But if Blue Star's power was on the same level as the Great Thousand World's, it might offer him an alternative path in the future.

"Chu Zhou, I asked." Wearing an oversized shirt, Meng Ziwei walked barefoot across the carpet to his side, her legs bare and her phone in hand. "The villas on the outskirts have either been sold or requisitioned. My dad still has a riverside villa backing onto a small mountain. He said I could have it."

"That works too." Chu Zhou nodded slightly. "There are Spirit Beasts in the river, and there should be some on the mountain too. As long as we have opportunities. Shall we leave now?"

Meng Ziwei had no objections. She had now made up her mind to follow Chu Zhou.

After quickly packing a few things, they left the room and took the elevator down to the underground parking garage.

"Meng Ziwei, who's this?"

As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, a man in a suit and polished shoes walked up to Meng Ziwei, his tone stern.

Chu Zhou's gaze sharpened. Am I about to run into one of those show-off-and-face-slapping scenes from novels?

"Eldest Brother, what brings you here?" Meng Ziwei blinked her large eyes and wrapped her arms around Chu Zhou's arm. "This is my boyfriend, Ah Zhou. We haven't reached the point of discussing marriage yet, so I haven't told the family."

Meng Ziwei knew Chu Zhou didn't want to reveal his identity, so she hadn't used his full name in public.

"What brings me here?" The suited man nudged the combination-lock case at his feet. "Delivering food to a certain heartless little sister who hasn't come home in ages."

Then he turned toward Chu Zhou, his gaze sharpening. "I'm Ziwei's elder brother, Meng Zihan. Since she's chosen you as her boyfriend, I won't say much. But if you mistreat her or hurt her, you won't want to find out what I can do."

Chu Zhou smiled faintly at that. "Understood, brother-in-law."

Meng Zihan: This guy has some nerve.

Seeing that Chu Zhou wasn't angry, Meng Ziwei breathed a sigh of relief. She deliberately scowled at Meng Zihan. "Eldest Brother, don't you trust my judgment?"

"I'm just worried someone might bully you. I'm letting him know you've got someone backing you up." The corner of Meng Zihan's mouth twitched.

His little sister had been whisked away after all.

"Anyway, treat my sister well." Meng Zihan raised a hand and patted Chu Zhou on the shoulder.

After chatting for a while, Chu Zhou loaded the combination-lock case into Meng Ziwei's Prado, and they drove toward the riverside villa.

Once the car disappeared around the corner, Meng Zihan reappeared and called his father. "Dad, I've met him."

"What do you think?"

"He's no ordinary man."

"Oh?"

"He isn't the sort of man who lives off a woman. You know Ziwei's personality. She isn't someone who loses her head over love, or she'd have dated someone long ago. But just now, she was afraid I'd anger him, not that I'd disapprove of him."

"Oh?"

"Should we hold off on arranging Ziwei's marriage?" Meng Zihan lowered his voice.

"Do you and your second brother think I want this?" Meng Shanhe sighed deeply. "In the past, Ziwei's happiness mattered most, and our Meng family had no need for a marriage alliance. But times have changed. Everything is going to be reshuffled. That boy from the Jiang Family has good cultivation talent and a very good standing on the Dou Qi Continent. He's always liked Ziwei, too. The Jiang Family can also help your second brother in the military..."

"Forget it. Let's wait a little longer."

Meanwhile, in the Prado, Chu Zhou sat in the passenger seat and turned toward Meng Ziwei. "Your brother came specifically to see me."

"You noticed?" Meng Ziwei didn't deny it.

"I'm an Alchemist," Chu Zhou replied.

"I almost forgot you have that rare soul perception." Meng Ziwei glanced sideways at Chu Zhou, smiling with two sweet dimples. "Then I won't hide anything from you. After all, you're the man I've chosen to spend my life with."

"My dad hinted that he wanted me to enter a marriage alliance for the Meng family. I made excuses and brushed it off. Looks like they've discovered the handsome man I've been keeping hidden away."

"A marriage alliance?" Chu Zhou narrowed his eyes.

No matter the era, matching social standing and pooling resources mattered.

Marriage alliances joined the interests of two families or two powerful groups.

"I'll help you resolve it." Chu Zhou made her a promise. He had the ability to keep it.

"I believe you." Meng Ziwei's eyes curved with her smile.

After all, her man stood above everyone else.

"Oh, right. The person my dad wants me to marry is called Jiang Tianhao. He happens to be in the same place as you. I think he's a Mo Family Reserve Guard. That Mo Clan seems to have some connection to the Misty Cloud Sect."

Chu Zhou: "..."

"He really is lucky, then."