Three Reforms

Within the Zhou Family Ancestral Hall at Nine Peaks Ridge.

Before the vast majority of the Zhou Family clansmen, Zhou Wende, the Zhou Family Grand Elder, solemnly announced the various reform measures for the Zhou Family.

According to him, since the Zhou Family would now formally continue its legacy as a Cultivation Family, it should henceforth preserve its inheritance as the major Cultivation Families did.

Thus, the first reform was the arrangement of generational characters and the alteration of forms of address.

Heaven and earth clear and bright; honor the Dao and guard the family; rectify the heart and seek the source—these twelve characters were the generational sequence for the Zhou Family, decided upon by Zhou Wende, the patriarch, and the elders.

From Zhou Wende onward, down to newly born children, everyone would have to be named according to these twelve generational characters.

Since the current Zhou Family cultivators varied greatly in age, however, the specific generational character each person should use was divided beginning with Zhou Wende's ancestors, with every fifty years constituting one generation.

Under this division, the Zhou Family currently had two members of the "Ming" generation: Grand Elder Zhou Mingde and Grand Elder Zhou Mingshan.

There was one member of the "Chong" generation: Second Elder Zhou Chongshan.

There were two members of the "Dao" generation: Third Elder Zhou Daoquan and Patriarch Zhou Daoyi.

There were three members of the "Shou" generation, all Zhou Family clansmen over a hundred years old.

The "Jia" generation was the largest, with sixty-seven members.

There were also thirty-three cultivators in the "Zheng" generation, and this generational character would remain in use for more than ten years.

Following this arrangement, Zhou Chun, Zhou Yong, and the other cultivators of their age, along with the thirty-five-year-old Zhou Jingwen, were placed in the "Zheng" generation.

As for Zhou Fei, whom Zhou Chun had known before, he was placed in the "Jia" generation.

Zhou He, the Peak Master of Precious Lingzhi Peak, was also placed in the "Jia" generation.

Once the generations had been arranged, clansmen within three generations of one another would henceforth have to address each other as grandparents, uncles and aunts, or brothers and sisters.

Among those of the same generation, seniority would be determined by age.

As a result, Zhou Chun ranked thirteenth among the cultivators of his "Zheng" generation, making him somewhat older than most of his peers.

To ensure that every Zhou Family cultivator had a clear understanding of the members of each generation, each person present was specially issued a handbook listing in detail the current cultivators of the Zhou Family, their generational characters, and their rankings among their peers.

Those Zhou Family cultivators who had not attended would likewise receive one later.

Clearly, the purpose of arranging generational characters and changing forms of address was to unite all Zhou Family cultivators, both high and low, within and without, and strengthen their sense of identification with the Lineage and with their fellow clansmen.

Using blood ties as the bond and familial forms of address as the buttons, they sought to string all Zhou Family cultivators together and make them truly acknowledge the Zhou Family as one great household.

Zhou Mingde and the other higher-ups of the Zhou Family had truly gone to great pains.

Moreover, because Zhou Mingde and the other higher-ups had taken the lead in changing their own names, even if some Zhou Family cultivators felt uncomfortable at suddenly gaining a number of elders from the grandfather and uncle generations, they could only swallow it and had no way to object.

Of course, to dispel the discomfort in the hearts of those Zhou Family cultivators, Zhou Mingde had also solemnly stated on the spot that no Zhou Family cultivator would be permitted to rely on a higher generation or greater age to bully clansmen of lower generations.

And considering that some names might become awkward or unpleasant to say after a generational character was added, current Zhou Family cultivators were permitted to continue using their original names when introducing themselves outside.

In short, generational characters had been created to unite the Zhou Family cultivators; they absolutely could not be allowed to become something that hindered their unity.

After discussing the generational characters, Zhou Mingde swiftly announced the second reform.

It was to classify the identities of existing Zhou Family cultivators based on three factors: cultivation, merit, and aptitude.

At the highest rank were the Grand Elders, followed by the patriarch, then the elders.

Below the elders were three further ranks: Core Clansmen, Elite Clansmen, and Ordinary Clansmen.

Henceforth, whether it was the benefits and stipends issued each year, the rights to exchange for and use certain Lineage resources, or the rights to cultivate techniques and secret arts, all would be graded according to each Zhou Family clansman's status rank.

Even if conflicts arose between clansmen in the future and it proved difficult to determine who was right and who was wrong, when the patriarch and elders judged the matter, they would favor the party with the higher status rank.

Under these rules, the Peak Masters of every spirit peak at Nine Peaks Ridge aside from Pagoda Peak would automatically become Core Clansmen of the Lineage.

Clansmen at the late Qi Refining Stage would likewise automatically become Elite Clansmen, while all others would be Ordinary Clansmen.

For the next ten years, this set of standards for determining status ranks would remain in effect.

That meant Ordinary Clansmen like Zhou Chun only needed to reach the late Qi Refining Stage within ten years to automatically advance to Elite Clansman status.

Of course, if an Ordinary Clansman performed outstandingly and rendered sufficiently great service to the Lineage, or possessed exceptional aptitude, then even without reaching the late Qi Refining Stage, they could still be promoted to Elite Clansman or even Core Clansman.

Clearly, compared to generational rankings that were merely something to hear spoken aloud, this classification of status ranks offered tangible benefits.

This system somewhat resembled the elite disciples, inner disciples, and outer disciples of sects—or rather, it was simply the same thing under different names.

With this system of status ranking in place, those Ordinary Clansmen and Elite Clansmen would surely strive to improve their cultivation and accumulate merit in order to raise their treatment, obtain more cultivation resources, and hopefully become Core Clansmen.

This highly incentivizing reform was, without question, accepted on the spot by all Zhou Family cultivators.

After that, Zhou Mingde announced the third reform.

This reform concerned regulations for Zhou Family cultivators joining sects and marrying in the future.

The Zhou Family would not prevent its clansmen from entering other sects in the future. On the contrary, it would provide a certain amount of assistance and subsidies.

But these were not given freely.

If a Zhou Family cultivator joined a sect, accepted subsidies and assistance from the Zhou Family, yet failed to achieve successful Foundation Establishment before the age of sixty and failed to become an inner disciple of the sect, they would have to return to the Lineage and devote themselves to serving it thereafter, or repay the money and items the Lineage had subsidized them with.

Likewise, if a Zhou Family cultivator wished to leave the Lineage due to personal marriage, they had to compensate the Lineage for the various resources it had spent on them over the years, and they were forbidden from privately spreading Lineage secret arts or leaking Lineage secrets.

Conversely, if a marriage brought an affiliated cultivator into the Lineage, the Lineage would also issue a reward.

From this third reform, the Zhou Family's family customs were still exceptionally open-minded. At the very least, higher-ups like Zhou Mingde were all broad-minded people.

At least, if Zhou Chun put himself in that position—if he wished to join some sect, or leave the Lineage for a woman he loved—the Lineage's open-minded approach would make him deeply grateful, and he would remember it for the rest of his life.

Of course, he certainly would not do such a thing.

Putting aside whether cultivation sects were easy to enter, once inside, anyone without extraordinary aptitude might not receive treatment better than they did in the Zhou Family, and might even suffer greater exploitation and restrictions.

Once these three major reforms had been announced, Zhou Mingde proceeded to declare a number of new clan rules.

For example, it was strictly forbidden to provoke major sects and great families such as Green Lotus Temple of the Jing Kingdom, which had Nascent Soul Cultivators and Golden Core cultivators in their midst. It was strictly forbidden to take the initiative in provoking powers within the Jing Kingdom that had Violet Palace cultivators in their midst. It was strictly forbidden to swindle others under the Zhou Family's name, commit murder and treasure seizing, tarnish the Zhou Family's reputation, and so on.

Correspondingly, the restriction forbidding Zhou Family cultivators from leaving the mountain gate of Nine Peaks Ridge was lifted.

From now on, if Zhou Family cultivators wished to leave the mountain gate of Nine Peaks Ridge, they only needed a legitimate reason and had to apply to the patriarch in advance. Once approved, they could leave.

And so, after remaining within the Ancestral Shrine for more than two hours and listening to Grand Elder Zhou Mingde announce and explain the various reform decisions and clan rules, Zhou Chun and the other Zhou Family cultivators were finally permitted to disperse.

Naturally, the matters announced at this clan assembly within the Ancestral Shrine sparked heated discussion among cultivators throughout the entire Lineage.

Even while stationed at the Spirit Cleansing Pavilion, Zhou Chun would hear several clan uncles and clan brothers discussing the matter.

He also voiced some of his own opinions, most of them in agreement and support.

Without rules, there could be no square or circle. At least in Zhou Chun's view, the reforms carried out by Zhou Mingde and the other higher-ups of the Zhou Family had positive effects, with the benefits far outweighing the drawbacks.

The Zhou Family cultivators were now abuzz with discussion only because they had yet to grow accustomed to these reform measures.

Once they grew used to them, they would no longer concern themselves with such matters.