Bai Bai, the Clan Leader's Childbearing Campaign

According to Zhou Daoquan, the demonic beast developing inside the snake egg in his hand was a Mid-grade Demonic Beast known as a Silver Lightning Thunder Python.

The Silver Lightning Thunder Python was proficient in lightning-element spells and possessed astonishing strength.

Even rarer was the fact that, like Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi's Azure Cloud Python, the Silver Lightning Thunder Python also possessed the Flood Dragon Bloodline, giving it the potential to advance into a High-grade Demonic Beast and even a Top-grade Demonic Beast.

As for why the Silver Lightning Thunder Python inside this egg had previously failed to develop normal life, Zhou Daoquan guessed that it might have been because the egg was premature.

Some pythons did not lay their eggs directly. Instead, they allowed the eggs to hatch inside their bodies.

The Silver Lightning Thunder Python happened to belong to this category.

But something unknown had happened, and this snake egg had been expelled ahead of time. The female snake had also failed to put it back inside herself.

That had made things troublesome.

Because it needed the mother's body to hatch, once this premature egg had left its mother, it no longer possessed the conditions required for incubation and naturally could not continue developing.

But perhaps because its Demonic Beast bloodline was powerful, or for some other reason, it had not exhausted its Life Force and become a dead egg despite failing to develop and hatch normally for such a long time.

As for how Zhou Daoquan had made it begin developing again, he had not explained. It probably involved some information that needed to remain confidential.

In any case, the snake egg had now finished developing normally and could be contracted and hatched by a cultivator.

After explaining the matter to Zhou Chun, Zhou Daoquan stuffed the snake egg in his hand into Zhou Chun's hands and said with deep reluctance, "Come on, contract it in front of me. With such a treasure, if you don't contract it, I really won't feel at ease letting you take it away!"

When he said this, his heart was truly filled with reluctance.

A Mid-grade Demonic Beast with immense potential for cultivation, like the Silver Lightning Thunder Python, was exactly the sort of demonic beast that a Beast Taming Cultivator like him loved most. Not to mention, this one was a dragon descendant that possessed the Flood Dragon Bloodline.

If he were to hatch and raise this Silver Lightning Thunder Python himself, he was confident that he could help it advance to a Second Rank Demonic Beast within ten years and to a Second Rank High-grade Demonic Beast within fifty years.

When he had confirmed that this was an egg of a Silver Lightning Thunder Python, he had even briefly entertained the thought of claiming it for himself, wanting to secretly keep it.

But in the end, he had overcome the greed in his heart and had not truly committed such a shameless act as swallowing up a junior's treasure.

Of course, Zhou Chun had no idea what struggles Zhou Daoquan had once experienced in his heart. At that moment, he was simply filled with gratitude and admiration for Zhou Daoquan.

After Zhou Daoquan's explanation, he also clearly understood just how precious the Silver Lightning Thunder Python egg in his hands was.

It was no exaggeration to say that if this item were put up for auction, it could fetch at least several thousand Spirit Coins. It might even sell for more than ten thousand.

Yet Zhou Daoquan had actually been able to return it to him for free, without accepting any payment. Such lofty personal integrity and morality naturally deserved his admiration and gratitude.

He had truly made the right choice by coming to the Zhou Family!

"Yes, Senior, I'll contract it now."

Zhou Chun nodded firmly, then began drawing the Soul Control Blood Array in front of Zhou Daoquan.

Once he had completed the contract with the Silver Lightning Thunder Python egg, the reluctance in Zhou Daoquan's heart was finally severed completely.

An egg could only be contracted once. Even if someone killed Zhou Chun now, Zhou Daoquan would no longer be able to contract this Silver Lightning Thunder Python egg.

"The relevant information on the Silver Lightning Thunder Python, along with some cultivation methods I've summarized, is all in this Jade Slip. Take it back and study it carefully. If you encounter any problems or anything you don't understand while raising it in the future, you can come ask me at any time."

As Zhou Daoquan spoke, he reached out and slapped the Storage Bag at his waist. He took out a Jade Slip shaped like a bamboo slip, about a foot long and two inches wide, and handed it to Zhou Chun.

This sort of Jade Slip was a medium through which cultivators recorded knowledge. Only cultivators could read the information within it using their divine sense.

Compared with paper books, stone tablets, and other mediums, it was convenient to carry and could contain a large amount of information. Its drawback was that it could not be preserved for a long time.

When he saw the Jade Slip Zhou Daoquan was handing him, Zhou Chun was deeply moved. He immediately bowed deeply from the bottom of his heart and said, "Elder, I will remember your great kindness for the rest of my life. I will surely repay you handsomely in the future!"

Only then did he extend both hands and respectfully accept the Jade Slip.

Zhou Daoquan had lived for more than a century and had seen every kind of person. Naturally, he could tell whether Zhou Chun's words were sincere or merely polite.

A gratified smile appeared on his face. He immediately patted Zhou Chun lightly on the shoulder and said, "Work hard. As long as you raise this Silver Lightning Thunder Python properly, once you achieve successful Foundation Establishment in the future, it shouldn't be much of a problem."

"Yes, Elder. I will certainly remember your teachings."

Zhou Chun nodded firmly. After thanking Zhou Daoquan repeatedly, he finally returned to his residence on Precious Lingzhi Peak with the snake egg, his heart filled with joy.

Over the next month or so, Zhou Chun looked at the snake egg he had brought back every day, hoping that it would hatch soon.

After forty-seven days had passed like this, the snake egg finally hatched by itself while he was cultivating a secret technique.

When he returned from the Quiet Room to his bedroom, a connection in his heart made him look toward the space beneath the bed at once.

A small white snake as thick as a thumb was coiled around one of the bed's legs, flicking its tongue as it gazed toward him.

Seeing this, Zhou Chun revealed a delighted smile and said, "Little fellow, you're finally willing to come out!"

He then walked to the bedside and reached out his hand.

Because of the contract, the white snake felt no aversion or fear toward his approach. Instead, it quickly pressed its cool head against his palm, then crawled along the back of his hand to his wrist, soon winding itself around it several times.

It looked as though Zhou Chun were wearing several silver bracelets on his left hand.

"I'll call you Bai Bai from now on—a little Bai Bai."

Zhou Chun extended a finger and gently touched the white snake's head, smiling as he gave it a name.

Newborn pythons needed careful feeding and care.

Following the diet Zhou Daoquan had prescribed to the letter, Zhou Chun fed it appropriately sized bird eggs every day, along with a special type of infant-snake ration made by the Zhou Family. In truth, it was something resembling chopped-meat ham sausages.

After another half a month had passed, when Bai Bai had grown to the thickness of two fingers, Zhou Chun finally added live food such as fledglings and young mice to its diet.

Like turtles, snakes also preferred stillness to movement.

Thus, Bai Bai usually slept while coiled around Zhou Chun's wrist.

Their contractual relationship made it instinctively regard Zhou Chun as its mother. Only when it smelled Zhou Chun's scent did it feel safe and relaxed.

After initially feeling unaccustomed to it, Zhou Chun gradually grew used to having a snake wrapped around his arm.

On this day, Zhou Chun received an invitation, asking him to attend a full-month celebration on Incense Wood Peak three days later.

The person who had sent the invitation was Zhou Zhengjie, ranked ninth among their "Zheng" generation. Like Zhou Chun, he was also at the Qi Refining cultivation level.

More than two years earlier, this man had married a female cultivator from the Sun Family of Golden Maple Ridge. A month ago, she had given birth to a son, so he had invited Zhou Chun and his fellow Zhou Family clansmen of the same generation to attend the child's full-month celebration.

Zhou Chun naturally could not refuse such a matter, so he prepared a gift as well and went to Incense Wood Peak with Zhou Zhengyong three days later.

Only after arriving at Incense Wood Peak did Zhou Chun discover that his Ninth Brother had invited not only cultivators of their generation but also quite a few elders. Even Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi had come.

Moreover, before the banquet began, Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi personally gave the Ninth Brother's child a name and delivered a speech.

"Today is a fine day worthy of being recorded in the history of our Zhou Family. Zhengjie's child, Zhou Xinyuan, is the first Zhou Family clansman born after our Zhou Family came to Nine Peaks Ridge and put down roots here. He is also the first clansman of the Xin generation born with spiritual roots!"

"Whether a family can prosper and flourish depends not only on how many high-level cultivators it possesses but also on whether its population is flourishing and whether talented younger generations continue to emerge!"

"The birth of Zhengjie's child proves that our Zhou Family has successors. It proves that the roots of our Zhou Family's great tree have taken firm hold and that it can now flourish and bear abundant fruit!"

"As Clan Leader, I am extremely gratified and delighted by this matter. On behalf of the family, I hereby reward Zhengjie and his wife with one hundred Merit Points each. At the same time, I sincerely hope that our other Zhou Family clansmen can also contribute their own strength to the family's reproduction and continuation!"

At the banquet, Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi gazed happily at the gathered guests and clansmen as he delivered a speech urging them to have children.

That was right. Zhou Chun could see that Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi had attended this full-month celebration precisely to urge everyone to have children.

Among the current Zhou Family cultivators, most of those from the "Jia" generation were either too advanced in age and had no intention of having children, or had already had them.

But only a few of the cultivators from the "Zheng" generation had married and had children.

If this had been during the former era of the Three Absolute Sect, it would not have been a problem. After all, the Zhou Family's ordinary clansmen in Feng Kingdom had multiplied for more than a thousand years, and their number had long since reached several hundred thousand.

Even if the cultivators did not have children, there were still plenty of ordinary people who would.

With enough ordinary people having children, some clansmen possessing Spiritual Root aptitude would eventually appear among the Zhou bloodline.

But now, the Zhou Family had no way to move all those Zhou Family clansmen here, nor could they conduct large-scale Spiritual Root aptitude tests on the Zhou Family members born there as frequently as before.

Therefore, if the family wanted to replenish its ranks with fresh blood, the only option was to urge its current members to have children.

After all, if both parents were cultivators, their descendants still had a fairly high chance of possessing Spiritual Root aptitude.

Thus, urging the family's cultivators to have children was far more efficient than relying on ordinary people to gamble on the odds.

But all of this depended on whether these Zhou Family cultivators were willing to have children!

Thinking of this, Zhou Chun could not help looking at the many cultivators from the "Zheng" generation present, as well as some of the "Jia" generation cultivators under sixty.

To his surprise, quite a few people had truly been moved by Zhou Daoyi's words, revealing thoughtful expressions. Even Zhou Zhengyong beside him was the same.

This first made him pause slightly, then he suddenly lowered his head in embarrassment.

He had judged others by himself and gotten it completely wrong!

This was not the world of his previous life. In this world, even ordinary people had a strong clan-centered atmosphere, and the saying that more children meant more blessings was no empty claim.

Even for a cultivation family like the Zhou Family, if someone had several direct blood relatives, they would most likely fare better within the family than any individual clansman alone.

Thus, when it came to having more descendants, no one felt any real resistance.

Perhaps the thing truly hindering them from having children was figuring out how to find a suitable Dao companion they liked.