The Zhou Family's Elders

On Hundred Medicine Peak, just as Zhou Chun was observing the various spirit medicine seedlings in the Spirit Medicine Garden and reflecting on the Zhou Family's lack of foundation in certain areas,

a young man in a blue-gray robe suddenly emerged from the hall ahead.

The young man was slightly shorter than Zhou Chun, around five feet ten. Perhaps because he had spent long periods beside a furnace, his skin was dark and ruddy, making him look like a blacksmith from the mortal world.

After coming out of the hall, he smiled and waved at Zhou Chun. "Thirteenth Brother, Master already knows why you have come. Hurry and follow me to pay respects to him."

Hearing this, Zhou Chun immediately cupped his hands in thanks. "Thank you for the trouble, Sixth Brother."

This young man was also a member of the Zhou Family's Zheng generation. Ranked sixth, his name was Zhou Zhengyuan. Eight years ago, he had begun studying Alchemy Skill under the Zhou Family Grand Elder, Zhou Mingshan.

Thus, though he appeared unremarkable, his status within the Zhou Family was actually quite high, not even inferior to some Core Clansmen.

After following Zhou Zhengyuan into the hall, Zhou Chun soon arrived at a reception chamber, where he met the Zhou Family's Grand Elder, Zhou Mingshan.

Because he had little lifespan remaining, Zhou Mingshan now looked like an elderly man in his seventies, with snowy white hair, a face full of wrinkles, and an air of deep old age.

After Zhou Chun entered and finished paying his respects, he merely raised his eyes to look the young junior over before saying slowly, "Since the patriarch sent you here to collect medicine, this old man will naturally comply with the patriarch's order."

Having said that, he instructed Zhou Zhengyuan, who was attending at his side, "Zhengyuan, go fetch the medicine for him."

"This disciple obeys."

Zhou Zhengyuan answered, then immediately went into the medicine room in the rear where the pills were stored. He returned with one bottle of Spring Sun Pills and three bottles of Beast Spirit Pills, handing them to Zhou Chun.

Once Zhou Chun accepted the pills and verified them in person, Zhou Mingshan waved his hand, signaling that he could leave.

Yet Zhou Chun acted as if he had not seen the gesture. After putting away the pills, he bowed again and said, "Elder, please judge fairly. This junior has another spirit item and wishes to ask the Elder to appraise it."

At Zhou Chun's words, Zhou Mingshan's brows twitched. He did not refuse, merely lifting his eyes to look at him as he said mildly, "Oh? What spirit item is it? Take it out and let this old man have a look."

"It is a hundred-year spirit ginseng, something this junior obtained from a rogue cultivator."

As Zhou Chun spoke, he took out the Wild Spirit Ginseng he had bought at the Stall Market in Red Cliff Market.

He had originally intended to wait until he had another chance to visit the market before finding an opportunity to sell it.

However, what he had encountered during the trip to Wild Wolf Ridge made Zhou Chun realize that he needed to raise his cultivation as soon as possible.

The Cultivation World was unsafe everywhere. Without sufficient cultivation or strength, one might lose one's life merely by stepping outside.

Therefore, anything that could be quickly converted into resources should be used as soon as possible to strengthen himself.

At this moment, after Zhou Mingshan accepted the Wild Spirit Ginseng passed over by Zhou Zhengyuan, he inspected it briefly and nodded slightly. "Mm, its quality is fairly good. It appears to have more than a hundred and thirty years of medicinal age. It can certainly serve as the main ingredient for refining Spring Sun Pills."

Only a hundred and thirty years of medicinal age?

Zhou Chun immediately felt somewhat disappointed.

Naturally, he did not doubt Zhou Mingshan's discernment. It was surely that the old man selling the medicine had exaggerated its age.

But this was a common occurrence in the Cultivation World. When buying things at the Stall Market, sellers could boast however they pleased and bore no responsibility for the lies they told.

Buying things at the Stall Market truly tested the buyer's eye. Once one misjudged an item, one would lose everything.

At least Zhou Chun's Wild Spirit Ginseng was not counterfeit. Its effects were simply not as powerful as the seller had boasted. All things considered, he had still profited.

Thus, after his brief disappointment, he quickly rallied and looked at Zhou Mingshan. "This junior wishes to offer this item to the Zhou Family. Would Elder be willing to exchange pills for it?"

Hearing this, Zhou Mingshan pondered briefly before nodding slightly. "A hundred-year spirit ginseng should be worth more than sixty Spirit Coins at market price. One Spring Sun Pill is worth twenty Spirit Coins. If exchanging for pills, this old man can give you three Spring Sun Pills."

He did not ask how Zhou Chun had obtained the Wild Spirit Ginseng.

This left Zhou Chun, who had prepared several explanations, both depressed and delighted.

"Then this junior shall thank Elder in advance."

Zhou Chun bowed and immediately agreed.

Not long afterward, Zhou Chun bade farewell to Zhou Mingshan and Zhou Zhengyuan, master and disciple, then returned to Precious Lingzhi Peak.

Upon returning to his residence, Zhou Chun immediately took out all the pills he had received.

A bottle of Spring Sun Pills contained five pills. With the three pills he had exchanged for using the Wild Spirit Ginseng, he now had eight in total.

A bottle of Beast Spirit Pills contained ten pellets, making thirty pellets in three bottles.

Zhou Chun had previously fed Beast Spirit Pills to the Rock Earth Turtle and knew how to feed them for maximum effect.

Therefore, he directly fed the Rock Earth Turtle three Beast Spirit Pills at once, then had it enter a Tortoise Breath State to slowly digest the medicinal power.

He himself also entered his Quiet Room and took out a Spring Sun Pill, swallowing it.

The thumb-sized yellowish-brown pill entered his mouth, filling it with a faint honey sweetness and the flavor of Chinese medicine.

Zhou Chun worked his throat and swallowed the still-undissolved pill whole. Then he silently circulated the cultivation method of the Five Qi Facing the Sun Scripture, cultivating with the aid of its medicinal power.

The moment he began cultivating, he experienced something entirely different from ordinary meditative cultivation.

When he usually meditated and absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, that spiritual energy was like cotton candy—seemingly abundant, yet after refinement, very little of it could actually be transformed into spiritual power and cultivation.

However, the pure medicinal power contained within the Spring Sun Pill was dense like mercury, of exceptionally high quality, and extremely easy to absorb and refine.

From beginning to end, Zhou Chun spent nearly three days completely refining the medicinal power of a single Spring Sun Pill.

Yet that one Spring Sun Pill directly saved him two or three months of cultivation time and helped him break through an acupoint.

The powerful efficacy of the pill both shocked and delighted Zhou Chun.

He seemed to see a shortcut toward rapidly improving his cultivation!

"No wonder among the four great cultivation arts of Pill, Artifact, Talisman, and Formation, the pill path stands first!"

"If one does not consider the special nature of the Spirit Cleansing Array, then for cultivators, pills truly are far more important than magical artifacts, talismans, and formations!"

Zhou Chun could not help sighing with emotion, gaining a deeper understanding of the importance of pills.

However, no matter how good pills were, they could not be consumed greedily.

As the saying went, every medicine carried some poison. Although pills could save cultivators much time spent meditating and cultivating, no matter how skilled an alchemist was, they could not completely remove the medicinal toxins contained within pills.

Therefore, even if ordinary cultivators obtained many pills at once like Zhou Chun, they would not dare take them continuously within a short period, lest the medicinal toxins accumulate and cause irreparable harm to their bodies.

According to the research and experiments of senior cultivators, for pills like Spring Sun Pills, which suited mid Qi Refining Stage and late Qi Refining stage cultivators, a mid Qi Refining Stage cultivator could take one every month or two without needing to worry about harm from medicinal toxins.

Thus, although Zhou Chun still had seven Spring Sun Pills in hand, he did not continue taking pills.

Demonic Beasts and Spirit Pets, on the other hand, had far fewer concerns in this regard. Perhaps because demonic beasts possessed robust physiques and followed the path of bloodline ascension, their ability to purge medicinal toxins far surpassed that of human cultivators.

Several more days passed. One day, when Zhou Chun had some free time, he went to Flying Stone Peak again.

This time, Zhou Chun was not going to the Book Repository to read. He had come specifically to visit the Zhou Family Third Elder, Zhou Daoquan.

The Zhou Family's three elders each possessed their own unique specialty.

Grand Elder Zhou Mingshan was highly skilled in alchemy, and more than half of the Zhou Family's pills came from his hands.

Second Elder Zhou Chongshan was proficient in formations. He had once studied under a Violet Palace cultivator from the Formation You Family, and the Zhou Family's Mountain Protecting Grand Formation and Spirit Cleansing Array had both been laid down by his own hand.

Third Elder Zhou Daoquan had inherited the Zhou Family's Beast Taming Arts. His attainments in Beast Taming Arts nearly matched those of Grand Elder Zhou Mingde, and he alone had cultivated two second-tier Spirit Pets.

As for Patriarch Zhou Daoyi, it was said that he also possessed considerable skill in the Talisman-making Arts, while his attainments in Beast Taming Arts were second only to Third Elder Zhou Daoquan.

Zhou Chun had come to Flying Stone Peak this time to visit Third Elder Zhou Daoquan because he wanted him to examine the mysterious snake egg he had obtained from the Mu Family, to see whether this beast-taming master knew what was going on with it.

"Oh? There is actually such a strange matter? Take out that snake egg and let me have a look."

On Flying Stone Peak, after Zhou Daoquan received Zhou Chun and heard his purpose, he too revealed an expression of surprise and curiosity. He immediately had Zhou Chun take out the snake egg.

"Please examine it, Elder."

Zhou Chun raised a hand and patted his Storage Bag, taking out the jade box containing the snake egg. He held it in both hands and presented it to Zhou Daoquan.

Zhou Daoquan took the snake egg into his hand. First, he closed his eyes and released his divine sense to inspect it. Then he formed hand seals and successively used several secret arts, some Zhou Chun recognized and some he did not, to test and identify the snake egg.

"Strange. This truly is the first time I have seen such an odd thing!"

Frowning tightly at the snake egg in his hand, Zhou Daoquan thought for a moment, then looked at Zhou Chun. "This snake egg indeed has great research value. If you agree, leave it here with this old man for now, and let this old man conduct research and experiments on it."

"If this old man can discover a method to hatch it, I will naturally have you come over to form a contract with it and subdue it."

"If my research damages it, this old man will compensate you with five hundred Spirit Coins. What do you think?"

Naturally, Zhou Chun would not refuse such a good arrangement.

He immediately agreed without hesitation. "Elder, please conduct your research without concern. This junior has no objections whatsoever."

Zhou Daoquan was also very satisfied with his answer and nodded at once. "Mm, then withdraw for now. Once there are results, this old man will notify you."

"Yes, this junior takes his leave."

Zhou Chun bowed and immediately departed from Flying Stone Peak.

By the way, fellow readers who still have investment opportunities for the new book, feel free to add an investment. It seems that once we reach five hundred people, it will advance and receive the next level of exposure. We are already nearing two hundred! As always, thank you all for following along!