Azure Cloud Python, Soaring on a Flood Dragon

Secret arts could not be mastered in a day or two.

Even though neither the Forest Hidden Cicada Breath Art nor the Five Elements Spirit Armor Art was particularly difficult to cultivate, for a Qi Refining cultivator to practice them to the point of wielding them with ease without delaying their own cultivation would take at least a year.

Thus, after returning from Flying Stone Peak, aside from using the time he had previously spent reading and idling to cultivate the two secret arts, Zhou Chun's life did not change much.

Seven days after he returned from Red Cliff Market, the Zhou Family's internal selection tournament officially began.

The final results of the selection tournament were, in fact, not beyond the expectations of many Zhou Family cultivators.

They were all cultivators of the same family, and they inevitably sparred with one another and went adventuring outside from time to time. As long as they made a little effort to inquire, they could more or less get a general idea of everyone's strength.

Zhou Chun had not gone all out during the selection tournament. He had not even used the First-grade High-tier magic tool, the Moon Blade Meteor Wheel. Thus, he ultimately placed fifth in the Youth Group, ranking just behind his tenth brother, Zhou Zhengyong.

In the Elite Group, whose age limit was sixty, his close relative, Twenty-seventh Uncle Zhou Jiapeng, had taken second place.

After the internal selection tournament ended, Zhou Chun and the others who had been confirmed as participants each received a roster containing information on the participants from the other families.

At the same time, everyone received one First-grade High-tier Talisman and four First-grade Mid-tier Talismans from the family.

From this, it was not hard to see how seriously Patriarch Zhou Daoyi and the other Zhou Family leaders took this Daoist martial arts competition between the Five Great Cultivation Families.

Nearly another month passed. Early that morning, all twenty Zhou Family cultivators participating in the Daoist martial arts competition between the Five Great Cultivation Families gathered atop Pagoda Peak.

Today was the day they would set out for the venue of the competition.

This time, the competition was being hosted by the Wang Family of Red Medicine Valley, and the venue was located within the Wang Family mountain gate.

Once Zhou Chun and the other participating Zhou Family cultivators had gathered atop Pagoda Peak, Patriarch Zhou Daoyi first delivered an encouraging speech. He then took the Spirit Beast Pouch from his waist and gave it a shake.

In an instant, a violent wind rose. A massive azure python six or seven zhang long suddenly appeared in the square before Zhongping Hall.

The azure python's body was as thick as a barrel. Its belly was blue streaked with white and covered in clusters of white cloud patterns, resembling one white cloud after another.

A Second-tier Mid-grade Demonic Beast, the Azure Cloud Python!

This azure python was the Spirit Pet of Zhou Family Patriarch Zhou Daoyi—the Azure Cloud Python, an extremely rare mid-grade demonic beast that possessed the legendary Flood Dragon Bloodline.

Once demonic beasts reached the second rank, regardless of their species, they would master the ability to fly through the air, just like Foundation Establishment cultivators.

As a Wind Attribute demonic beast, the Azure Cloud Python was even faster than cultivators once it reached the second rank in adulthood, and it was especially adept at flying.

Thus, with its body stretching six or seven zhang, it could completely serve as a flying dragon boat, carrying Zhou Chun and the other nineteen Qi Refining cultivators on their journey.

After releasing the Azure Cloud Python, Zhou Daoyi immediately moved his feet and walked onto its head as it lay stretched out on the square.

He then waved to the Zhou Family cultivators behind him, who had been startled by the Azure Cloud Python's imposing entrance. "Come on up. Qingqing will take you to the Wang Family of Red Medicine Valley."

Hearing this, the cultivators of the "Jia" generation, such as Zhou Jiapeng, who had already seen the Azure Cloud Python more than once, quickly moved with the flow and walked onto the python's back, then sat down with their legs spread apart.

With these people leading the way, the young cultivators of the "Zheng" generation, including Zhou Chun, finally dared to follow after gathering their courage.

Once all twenty people had climbed onto the python's back and stood in a line with about a chi between each of them,

Zhou Daoyi said, "Hold on tight." The Azure Cloud Python beneath his feet immediately whipped its tail and twisted its head, raising a violent gale as it flew into the air from the ground.

"Ah!!!"

Shouts rang out through the sky. The Zhou Family cultivators who were riding an airborne snake for the first time had all cried out in alarm as the snake's body beneath them swayed, their nerves taut with tension.

In truth, this was mostly because they were too nervous. Although the snake's body swayed slightly, it was actually far steadier than a galloping horse, with none of the jolting.

Thus, after shouting to release their tension, everyone soon realized this and gradually returned to normal. They then grew excited instead, clamping their legs around the python's body and pointing at the mountains, rivers, and earth below with their eyes wide open.

To accommodate these Qi Refining cultivators, the Azure Cloud Python did not fly too high, maintaining an altitude of around six or seven hundred zhang. This height was below the clouds, allowing them to take in all the beautiful scenery of the mountains and rivers below.

Of course, this also meant that anyone on the ground who raised their head could see the massive python carrying more than twenty people through the sky.

Thus, whenever the giant python flew near settlements where mortals gathered, any mortal who happened to look up and witness the scene would invariably mistake the python for the True Dragon of legend and regard the Zhou Family cultivators on its back as immortals traveling on a dragon, bowing down in worship.

Even some cultivators who saw this scene were left shaken, many of them so stunned that their mouths fell open.

The reactions of the people below instantly filled the hearts of the Zhou Family cultivators with immense pride.

See? This was their Spirit Beast Zhou Family, a Cultivation Family with a legacy spanning more than seventeen hundred years. It was not something those rootless Rogue Cultivators and small households could compare with.

A Zhou Family cultivator of the "Jia" generation could not help sighing, "If the Patriarch's Azure Cloud Python could evolve into a Flood Dragon, that would be wonderful. Then we really would be traveling on a dragon!"

Hearing this, the Zhou Family cultivators on the python's back could not help imagining the scene he had described, their hearts yearning for it.

Only Zhou Daoyi, who had his back to everyone, wore a face full of wry smiles after hearing this.

A Flood Dragon? Of course he wanted that too!

The problem was that making the Azure Cloud Python evolve into a Flood Dragon was extraordinarily difficult.

Not to mention that he was merely a Foundation Establishment cultivator—even if he became a Violet Palace cultivator, he would still have little hope of accomplishing this.

Anything that could be called a Flood Dragon was at least a High-grade Demonic Beast, and even among High-grade Demonic Beasts, it was an exceptionally powerful existence.

Although the Azure Cloud Python possessed the Flood Dragon Bloodline, it was basically impossible for it to evolve into a Flood Dragon through its own power.

However, there was no need to dampen the ambitions of these family juniors at a time like this.

In reality, Zhou Daoyi had deliberately chosen such a grand and eye-catching method to bring the Zhou Family cultivators to the Wang Family of Red Medicine Valley. He wanted to use it to inspire these juniors while displaying the Zhou Family's deep foundation and strength to the outside world.

The Azure Cloud Python flew extremely fast, covering four or five hundred li in an hour. In less than two hours, it had traveled from Nine Peaks Ridge to Red Medicine Valley, where the Wang Family was located.

The Wang Family of Red Medicine Valley was famous for cultivating and selling spirit medicines. The Red Medicine Valley where their family resided was an especially suitable place for spirit medicines to grow.

In terms of family strength, the Wang Family was also quite formidable. Not only did they have a Grand Elder at the Violet Palace Stage, they also had as many as five Foundation Establishment cultivators. In addition, Green Lotus Temple had three Foundation Establishment cultivators who were born into the Wang Family.

It could be said that in terms of its apparent strength, the Wang Family was even stronger than the Zhou Family.

When the Zhou Family cultivators appeared outside Red Medicine Valley astride the Azure Cloud Python, the Wang Family cultivators guarding the formation were all utterly shocked and dumbfounded upon seeing them.

Only after Zhou Daoyi directed the Azure Cloud Python to land, let the people riding it dismount, and returned the Azure Cloud Python to the Spirit Beast Pouch did the stunned Wang Family cultivators come to their senses. They hurriedly reported the situation to Patriarch Wang and the other Wang Family leaders.

After waiting nearly a quarter of an hour outside the Wang Family mountain gate, Zhou Chun and the others finally saw the formation mist ahead roil violently, revealing a passage wide enough for several people to enter and exit side by side.

Then the Patriarch of the Wang Family of Red Medicine Valley, Wang Zhixiong, emerged from the passage with two Wang Family cultivators to welcome them.

"Hahaha, welcome Fellow Daoist Zhou and all the fellow Zhou Family Daoists to the Wang Family. Wang Zhixiong offers his respects."

With a prosperous-looking face, narrow eyes, a large round belly, and a loose yellow robe, this was what the Wang Family Patriarch Wang Zhixiong looked like.

He smiled broadly and cupped his hands toward Zhou Daoyi and the Zhou Family cultivators in greeting, then warmly ushered them into the mountain gate.

Unlike the varied scenery of the Zhou Family's Nine Peaks Ridge, the Wang Family mountain gate was located within a vast valley and had opened up a large number of medicinal fields, making the interior resemble a massive farmstead.

As soon as they entered the Wang Family mountain gate, they could smell the fragrance of various medicines. Looking around, they could also see many Wang Family cultivators watering, weeding, and removing pests from the medicinal fields.

At a glance, Zhou Chun saw that if one considered only the area, the medicinal fields of the Wang Family alone covered at least seven or eight times the area of the Zhou Family's medicinal fields. The spirit medicines planted within them were also numerous and varied.

"The Wang Family of Red Medicine Valley truly lives up to its reputation!"

Beside Zhou Chun, Zhou Jiapeng was also looking around at the various Spirit Fields. He let out a soft sigh.

Even Zhou Zhengyong was murmuring with undisguised envy, "With so many spirit medicines, the Wang Family cultivators must be very happy. At the very least, they certainly won't lack pills for advancing their cultivation!"

But was that really the case?

Considering the information he knew about the Wang Family, Zhou Chun felt that things were probably not as simple as Zhou Zhengyong had said.

After all, if they truly had no shortage of pills at all, then according to the information, the Wang Family's participating cultivators should all have been at the eleventh or twelfth layer of the Qi Refining Stage.

There was another possibility: these spirit medicines did not all belong to the Wang Family.

However, it would be inappropriate to say this aloud. After all, Wang Family Patriarch Wang Zhixiong was walking right in front of them.

In A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality, outside Tainan Valley, Han Li first encountered the Cultivation World. When I first read that part, I found it especially surprising and interesting, marveling at all those settings. But now that web novels have become so widespread, it is basically impossible to display novelty through settings in traditional xianxia anymore. So this time, I am trying something different: having the protagonist participate in one matter after another involving Cultivation Families as a junior of a family, giving everyone a detailed look at how a Cultivation Family develops, what life is like for its family cultivators, and what their social interactions are like. It seems no one has written about this before. If family missions only consisted of monotonously leaving home to fight monsters, level up, and obtain spirit medicines, wouldn't you find that too cliched?