Chapter 59, Rock Turtle Advancement

Translator: Raznick

 

The five cultivating clans surrounded the United Cloud Alliance estate, preparing to eliminate the alliance entirely.

 

But just as the cultivation world’s onlookers in Mist Province thought they would witness an intense and thrilling clan extermination spectacle, the matter suddenly ended.

 

Yes, it was over!

 

Because the real force behind the United Cloud Alliance stepped forward and spoke up.

 

It turned out that Tang Yuan, the Alliance Leader, was actually a disciple of Heaven’s Mirror Hermit, a Golden Core cultivator from Ling Prefecture in Jing Kingdom. The United Cloud Alliance was established at his command.

 

Heaven’s Mirror Hermit was an extremely famous figure across the entire Jing Kingdom, with cultivation at late Golden Core Stage, one of the strongest rogue cultivators of the Jing Kingdom’s cultivation world.

 

The Heaven’s Mirror Villa he had established in Ling Prefecture itself was a powerful rogue cultivator force.

 

Now that this highly esteemed late Golden Core Stage cultivator from the Jing Kingdom’s rogue cultivator community had spoken up, none of the five cultivating clans in Mist Province dared to make any moves against the United Cloud Alliance.

 

However, despite leaving in a somewhat disheveled state, the leadership of the five cultivating clans were not at all panicked—not even remotely concerned. On the contrary, they were exceedingly pleased.

 

Heaven’s Mirror Hermit had been forced to step forward and protect the United Cloud Alliance. Henceforth, there would be no need for them to act against it.

 

Whether it was the Green Lotus Monastery or those forces in Mist Province that possessed Golden Core Stage cultivators, they would not tolerate the United Cloud Alliance continuing its expansion within Mist Province.

 

Even if the United Cloud Alliance were to survive in Mist Province, they would dare not seek retribution against the five cultivating clans anymore.

 

This was a universally understood tacit rule within the cultivation world.

 

Sparring between minor factions was acceptable—they could fight and feud as they pleased.

 

But when Golden Core Stage cultivators were involved, especially in a place like Mist Province which was “under jurisdiction,” it was impossible to let outside Golden Core Stage cultivators run rampant.

 

That’s why the Three Absolute Sect had been forcibly split by the Green Lotus Monastery.

 

Soon after the incident, Jiasheng returned to Red Cliff Market.

 

“Thank heavens, Sixteenth Uncle, you’re safe and sound!” Zhou Chun exclaimed inside the Spirit Beast Pavilion.

 

With a concerned look, he asked, “How is it? What’s the situation with the clan? I heard that in the battle against the United Cloud Alliance, many people died. Are we of the Zhou Clan alright?”

 

Jiasheng sighed with a wry smile： “How could everything be fine?” Then his tone turned somber as he recounted, “In this clash, our clan lost three of our kin, one had an arm severed, several others were injured and will need long-term recuperation. Many of our spirit pets also perished or sustained serious injuries. The losses are immense.”

 

Jiasheng looked at Zhou Chun and said, “Originally, Clan Leader intended to have you return to the clan after everything settled to receive your reward.

 

“But now, with all these matters needing his attention, he is preoccupied and unable to focus on such things in the short term. I hope you can understand.”

 

Zhou Chun assured him, “Rest assured, Sixteenth Uncle. I understand.”

 

Jiasheng Zhou nodded slightly, then turned to Zhou Chun and inquired, “How has business been going in the store lately? Bring me the financial records from this period for inspection.”

 

As he was the store manager, upon his return, it was customary for him to review the accounts.

 

Zhou Chun anticipated this and retrieved the relevant financial documents for his examination. Even his personal acquisition of Red Crystal Mushroom and subsequent resale were not hidden.

 

Furthermore, Zhou Chun did not conceal his own use of private funds to purchase Red Crystal Mushroom and resell it at a profit.

 

The manager of Li’s Pharmacy, Li Siyuan, was waiting for an opportunity to settle the score. If Zhou Jiasheng found out about this while he was away, who knew how he would react?

 

Upon learning about Zhou Chun’s dealings in reselling Red Crystal Mushroom, Zhou Jiasheng was both surprised and envious of his luck. He nodded slightly and remarked, “That’s your personal fortune. Even if the Clan Leader were to find out, he wouldn’t say much.”

 

In truth, this kind of business transaction was common practice among store managers in such markets. If a manager hadn’t dabbled in such activities before, why would the position of store manager be so sought after in various circles?

 

Only some individuals went to extremes, directly embezzling funds from the store for personal gain. Others, like Zhou Chun, chose to do this with their own savings.

 

Those who were caught skimming would be punished directly.

 

However, if the latter were discovered, they would not pursue it. After all, just as the saying went, “You have to let the horse graze if you want it to run.”

 

One must offer incentives to the shop manager and assistants to motivate them to operate the store with dedication and establish its reputation.

 

As for the clan’s interests, the better the shop’s reputation, the higher its turnover, resulting in greater profits for the clan.

 

Zhou Chun understood these ins and outs, which is why he dared to confidently sell Red Crystal Mushroom at Li’s Pharmacy, and now had the audacity to discuss this matter with Zhou Jiasheng directly.

 

After resolving this issue, Zhou Chun resumed his role as an assistant.

 

This went on for over a month before Zhou Chun’s first spirit pet, the Rock Turtle, finally woke up from its slumber and evolved into a superior first-grade demon beast.

 

Upon reaching the superior first-grade demon beast tier, it marked adulthood for the Rock Turtle.

 

The Rock Turtle’s back was nearly eight feet wide, and its length from head to tail had reached thirteen feet. Its body was covered with inverted triangular spikes, the shortest of which was only one finger long.

 

An ordinary demon beast would have no way to bite such a giant turtle that was armed to the teeth.

 

This heavily armored turtle left ordinary demon beasts with no place to attack.

 

Size wasn’t the only change, with strength increasing as well.

 

After being promoted to a superior first-grade demon beast, Rock Turtle awakened and mastered several earth mystical arts, including Rockfall with high attack power, Stone Armor with very strong defense, and even a relatively rare earth-based mystical art Earth Prison.

 

With these mystical arts and its own strong defense, Rock Turtle could now fight evenly with a cultivator at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining and have a good chance of winning even if it faced off alone.

 

If one were to count Zhou Chun into the mix, their combined efforts would make them a match even for those cultivators at the eleventh or twelfth layer of Qi Refining.

 

“Wonderful, rock turtle! You certainly weren’t a wasted effort to raise. Excellent, excellent!”

 

He actually wanted to go up and touch the giant turtle’s head, but when he saw the thorns all over its head, he gave up the idea.

 

Instead, he kicked playfully at one of the gaps on its shell, as a gesture of affection.

 

At that moment, Silver Thunder Python Whitey sensed its master’s arrival and crawled out from the open window of Zhou Chun’s bedroom. It quickly climbed up Zhou Chun’s legs and settled on his shoulders, its forked tongue flickering against his face, leaving several wet trails.

 

“Whitey, stop, I can’t carry you now,” said Zhou Chun as he gently patted the silver-white python’s head, urging it to move down.

 

Whitey had grown to nearly seven meters and weighed over three hundred pounds. Even though Zhou Chun was a cultivator with physical strength far greater than that of ordinary people, having such weight on his frame was still quite taxing.

 

It hissed in reluctance but slid down to the ground. It communicated its intention to feed through its body language.

 

As it turned out, Whitey had not eaten for days. Generally, pythons could go weeks without eating after a meal. However, being less than one year old and in a rapid growth phase, it required more frequent meals.

 

Zhou Chun had to guard the shop and was unable to take it out for hunting. Instead, he would spend some spirit coins purchasing demon beast meat from rogue cultivators to feed it.

 

Due to the presence of Savage Qi, demon beast meat had become something that ordinary cultivators could not consume.

 

Often, rogue cultivators would only take the skin, fur, and claws of the demon beasts they hunted in the wilds for making talismans or crafting weapons. They would only carry some demon beast meat or bones with them if their storage bags happened to be large enough.

 

This made it difficult for Zhou Chun to easily acquire these items.

 

He had even considered whether to specifically place orders with the rogue cultivators outside the market who ventured into the wilds, asking them to bring him some demon beast meat whenever they returned to the market.

 

After all, the nutritional content of demon beast meat was far superior to that of ordinary game. Many types of spirit beasts feed produced by the Zhou Clan utilized demon beast meat as their primary ingredient.

 

But since the demand for spirit beast feed wasn’t particularly high, the Zhou Clan cultivators who went out hunting demon beasts themselves could suffice in providing the required meat. As a result, the Spirit Beast Pavilion hadn’t yet begun purchasing this item.

 

The main issue was that preserving such meat over the long term wasn’t convenient and would require constructing a freezer.

 

However, building a large underground freezer within themarket would mean paying additional rental fees to the market management, which wasn’t something the Zhou Clan was willing to undertake.

 

Therefore, when the Zhou Clan did engage in purchasing beast meat, it was exclusively from those rogue cultivators who came to cultivate at the Zhou Clan’s facilities.

 

At this time, Zhou Chun looked at the python that looked up at him eagerly, and after a moment’s hesitation, he nodded and said: “Well, since you are hungry and Stone has also broken through, let’s take a leave today and go hunting by ourselves!”

 

He put both spirit pets into the spirit beast pouch, and went to the shop in front to ask for leave from Zhou Jiasheng. Knowing that Zhou Chun was going out to hunt and feed the spirit pets, Zhou Jiasheng didn’t say much, but asked him to pay attention to safety and not go too far.