Spirit Cleansing Pavilion, Sha Subduing Well

"Surely you remember the old rules of our Zhou Family, Brother Chun. There's no need for this old woman to repeat them."

"Now that the family has put down roots here at Nine Peaks Ridge and will completely become a Cultivation Family in the future, the rules will certainly change. That will have to be discussed and revised by the Grand Elder, the clan leader, and the various elders."

"For the time being, the family has adapted to the local conditions and the circumstances, adding only a few rules."

"First, no one may leave Nine Peaks Ridge without a family assignment. This is mainly to protect all our clansmen and reduce the chances of provoking enemies as much as possible. After all, we're still unfamiliar with the area and don't yet understand the situation in Jing Kingdom."

"Second, without the family's permission, no one may show off or display the family's various methods before outsiders, disclose the family's internal information to outsiders, or bring outsiders back to the family. This rule is also meant to protect the family and its clansmen."

"Third, in order to concentrate our strength on accomplishing major tasks, the family will temporarily stop issuing Spirit Coins to clansmen as benefits and mission rewards. Instead, we'll use Merit Points for accounting. One Merit Point corresponds to one Spirit Coin. Once the family has completely established itself, exchanges between Merit Points and Spirit Coins will be opened."

All kinds of rules, large and small, as well as the taboos that needed attention, came out of Zhou He's mouth one by one and entered Zhou Chun's ears.

One of them explained everything clearly and in detail, while the other listened carefully and took notes as he did so.

In less than a day, Zhou Chun gained a relatively clear understanding of the Zhou Family's current situation.

It should be said that the Zhou Family's current circumstances were not too bad.

Excluding those family disciples who might still be wandering outside like Zhou Chun, the Zhou Family now had more than a hundred and thirty cultivators, including one Violet Palace cultivator, four Foundation Establishment cultivators, and the rest Qi Refining cultivators.

With such strength, even in the cultivation world of Misty Prefecture, Jing Kingdom, they could rank among the top ten of the many Cultivation Families.

However, the Zhou Family had just arrived, and they had forcibly occupied Nine Peaks Ridge, this treasured land, through violent means. As a result, their reputation among the rogue cultivators of Jing Kingdom was extremely poor.

Moreover, the surrounding sects and Cultivation Families of Jing Kingdom were wary and hostile toward this outside force, and were not very willing to associate or cooperate with the Zhou Family.

Fortunately, three other forces that had split from the Three Absolute Sect were sharing the pressure in this regard. For the time being, no one would likely dare to be the first to stick their neck out and openly make an enemy of the Zhou Family.

It seemed that the Zhou Family's higher-ups had a very clear understanding of the difficulties the family was currently facing. The rules they had formulated according to the circumstances were all meant to deal with these difficulties.

Zhou Chun believed they should have other measures aimed at outsiders to break through this predicament. He simply did not know about them yet.

Of course, it was not yet his place to worry about the Zhou Family. His cultivation and strength were still insufficient to influence the family's decisions.

For now, he only needed to follow the arrangements above, cultivate every day, and complete the various tasks assigned to him.

After explaining all the matters Zhou Chun needed to pay attention to, Zhou He also told him some news.

The group of rogue cultivators who had ambushed them near Nine Peaks Ridge had all been slain by Third Elder Zhou Quan. He had even followed the clues and killed more than a dozen rogue cultivators who likewise harbored hatred toward the Zhou Family.

It was another bright and sunny morning.

After finishing his meditation and cultivation on the cliff at the summit of Precious Lingzhi Peak, Zhou Chun first returned to his residence for breakfast.

His breakfast was simple: white porridge with steamed buns, along with some candied fruit and dried strips of meat.

In fact, quite a few cultivators had no habit of eating breakfast. At most, they would eat some wild fruit from the mountains and drink a few mouthfuls of clear spring water in the morning.

Once they reached the Foundation Establishment Realm and could abstain from food, it was common for them not to eat for an entire month.

But Zhou Chun was different.

To him, maintaining the habit of eating three meals a day was a way of commemorating his previous life, allowing him to remain clearly aware every day that he was different from everyone else.

Moreover, even if someone discovered this little habit, they would not care in the slightest.

Even if someone really asked about it, Zhou Chun had plenty of reasons to explain it.

After spending roughly two quarter-hours finishing breakfast, Zhou Chun strolled toward the Spirit Cleansing Pavilion halfway up Precious Lingzhi Peak.

The Spirit Cleansing Pavilion was located in a valley on the shaded side of Precious Lingzhi Peak. The surroundings were secluded and the flower fragrance was pleasant, with many beautiful flowers planted throughout.

After arriving in the valley, Zhou Chun saw three Zhou Family cultivators sitting cross-legged in a four-cornered pavilion in the center of the valley, surrounding a well at the pavilion's center.

Every so often, a white jade pillar mottled with black and white would spring out of the well.

At that moment, the three Zhou Family cultivators would strike the pillar with one controlling spell formula after another, pressing it back into the well. This repeated without end.

That well was one of the formation bases of the Spirit Cleansing Array protecting the Zhou Family at Nine Peaks Ridge. It was also known as the "Sha Subduing Well."

Each of the nine spirit peaks at Nine Peaks Ridge had a Spirit Cleansing Pavilion like this, along with a Sha Subduing Well.

At every moment, Zhou Family cultivators stood guard beside the wells and manipulated the formations, sinking the Turbid Fiendish Energy absorbed by the formations deep underground. This ensured that the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy absorbed and refined by the Zhou Family cultivators on the mountains was all pure spiritual energy.

This work was exhausting. It consumed both effort and concentration, and also made it impossible to meditate and cultivate normally or attend to other matters.

Therefore, the Zhou Family's current rule was that every Zhou Family disciple at the mid Qi Refining Stage had to stand guard in the Spirit Cleansing Pavilion for at least three hours each day.

Zhou Chun had now settled down and cultivated on Precious Lingzhi Peak, so he would have to stand guard at this nearby Spirit Cleansing Pavilion every day from then on.

When one of the Zhou Family cultivators who had already stood guard for the required amount of time saw him arrive at the Spirit Cleansing Pavilion on schedule, he immediately smiled and nodded at him in greeting before leaving.

Zhou Chun took over his task, sitting on the meditation mat where the man had been seated and guarding the "Sha Subduing Well" together with the other two Zhou Family cultivators.

Besides guarding the Spirit Cleansing Pavilion, Qi Refining cultivators like Zhou Chun also had to take turns standing guard at several locations of the Mountain Protecting Grand Formation.

They also had to take the spirit beasts raised within the mountain gate out hunting, construct various buildings, open mountain paths between the peaks, cultivate medicinal gardens, and handle a series of other tasks.

However, aside from guarding the Spirit Cleansing Pavilion, where they could not be careless in the slightest, the other work was not difficult. No one supervised them, and doing a little each day was enough.

After all, if cultivators had anything in abundance, it was time.

While doing these tasks, Zhou Chun naturally met more and more Zhou Family cultivators and gradually became familiar with them.

One day, Zhou Chun returned from hunting in the mountains outside Nine Peaks Ridge with several Zhou Family cultivators. After sending most of the prey to the Beast Garden, he returned to his residence.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw the Rock Earth Turtle gnawing on tree bark.

By then, three months had passed since Zhou Chun returned to the Zhou Family at Nine Peaks Ridge.

The Rock Earth Turtle Spirit Egg, which had once been merely an egg, had now hatched and grown into a gray-brown little turtle the size of a washbasin. Its appearance somewhat resembled the snapping turtles of Zhou Chun's previous life.

An adult Rock Earth Turtle could have three or four people standing on its shell without seeming crowded, so a turtle this size truly was only a "little turtle."

But although the little creature was still small, its bite was not weak.

With sharp teeth and powerful jaws, it could easily crush goose eggs and stones.

Thus, even though it had yet to awaken and master the innate spell of the Rock Earth Turtle race, this little turtle already posed a great threat to ordinary people.

The easiest thing about raising a Rock Earth Turtle was that it ate almost anything.

Beast flesh, tree bark, and even soil could all go into its mouth and be swallowed. Its digestive ability was extraordinarily strong.

At that moment, sensing that its master Zhou Chun had returned, the little turtle, which had been wreaking havoc on a small tree in the courtyard, immediately wagged its tail and turned to look at him, conveying the emotion of "hungry, hungry."

Generally speaking, spirit beasts hatched and raised by cultivators from a young age suffered very little erosion from Turbid Fiendish Energy, so their intelligence was considerably higher than that of wild demonic beasts.

Some demonic beast species that were naturally highly intelligent could even possibly acquire wisdom no less than that of humans.

However, the intelligence of Rock Earth Turtles was not particularly renowned. Thanks to the mental contract between them, being able to convey an intelligible emotion was already the best performance this three-month-old little turtle could produce.

Fortunately, Zhou Chun had never expected much from the Rock Earth Turtle's intelligence. He valued only its talent for having thick skin and tough flesh, as well as its ability to withstand blows and fight. As long as it could help him fight in the future, that was enough.

He immediately walked over, took out some beast hearts, livers, and other nourishing items that he had deliberately saved from his Storage Bag, and tossed them into the feeding basin, letting the little turtle gnaw and eat at its own pace.

He then went into the kitchen and started a fire to cook.

Two quarter-hours later, Zhou Chun had stir-fried, roasted, and boiled several dishes. He then savored this sumptuous dinner alone, chewing slowly.