Chapter 124, Elder’s Affection and Zhengyong’s Sense of Duty

Translator: Raznick

 

Flying Stone Peak.

 

When Zhou Daoquan learned that Zhou Chun had come to visit him, he assumed the younger man needed his help with something.

 

But what he hadn’t expected was that after Zhou Chun had barely bowed to him, he produced a Heart Soul Fruit encased in a jade box and presented it before him.

 

Then, looking at him earnestly, he said, “You have always shown me favor, Elder, but I am troubled by my poverty and have no way to reply in kind.

 

“Fortunately, a heavenly opportunity allowed me to obtain a few Heart Soul Fruit during the Heaven Spirit Trial.

 

“Today, I offer this item as a token of my gratitude. I hope you won’t decline! ”

 

Heart Soul Fruit?

 

Hearing Zhou Chun’s words, Zhou Daoquan’s gaze sharpened, and he hastily took the jade box to examine it.

 

Upon seeing the unusual violet-red fruit inside, he couldn’t help but close the lid and looked at Zhou Chun with surprise, saying, “It really is a Heart Soul Fruit. How did you get this?”

 

Zhou Chun recounted the process of obtaining the Heart Soul Fruit.

 

“Such a pity! A pity that you didn’t catch a couple of Pale Ghost Apes!

 

“I have always only heard of such a rare demon beast but have never seen one!”

 

Zhou Daoquan, having listened to Zhou Chun’s words, couldn’t help but shake his head repeatedly, lamenting the missed opportunity.

 

He spent his life collecting and researching various exotic beasts, besides cultivation, and naturally harbored an extraordinary interest in a special exotic beast like a Pale Ghost Ape.

 

However, upon hearing his sigh, Zhou Chun could only smile wryly.

 

Within that trial ground, he could break into a confrontation with other cultivators at any moment. How could he bring along a demon beast like a Pale Ghost Ape, which could pose a tremendous threat to him?

 

Besides, this kind of exotic beast could only dwell and grow in places with dense yin energy; even if he brought it back to the Zhou Clan, there would be no place for it to inhabit and survive.

 

Fortunately, Zhou Daoquan was merely sighing out of habit and would not genuinely blame him.

 

At this moment, after briefly reminiscing, he looked at Zhou Chun with a look of gratification and nodded repeatedly: “It’s rare that you still remember the kindness I showed you. Since that’s the case, I gratefully accept this Heart Soul Fruit.”

 

When he spoke those words, he felt deeply moved inside.

 

He had entrusted Zhou Chun with the egg of a Silver Thunder Python not because he wanted to avoid the reputation of hoarding treasures from younger generations, nor because he wanted to break the clan’s rules.

 

He never took Zhou Chun’s mentioned promise of certain repayment seriously.

 

He never thought that, merely a little more than a decade later, Zhou Chun would genuinely repay his kindness.

 

Such a growth rate was truly astonishing.

 

It was also a cause for joy.

 

After gratefully accepting the Heart Soul Fruit offered by Zhou Chun, Zhou Daoquan twitched his eyebrows and immediately looked at Zhou Chun and said, “I am not accustomed to taking advantage of others. Since I have accepted your Heart Soul Fruit today, if you encounter any trouble that requires my help, feel free to come to me. As long as it’s within my ability, I will certainly do everything possible to help you.”

 

Hearing this, Zhou Chun quickly waved his hands and said, “Elder need not be so formal; it’s just a little token of my appreciation.”

 

However, when Zhou Daoquan heard these words from him, he immediately shook his head: “Kindness is kindness, and debt is debt; if you don’t agree, then I won’t dare to accept this Heart Soul Fruit!”

 

He then took the jade box once more.

 

Zhou Chun both admired the elder’s integrity and felt a sense of helplessness at his stubborn personality.

 

He could only force a smile and nod, saying, “I’ll remember Elder’s words; if there truly is a time when I need to seek Elder’s help, I won’t hesitate to ask.”

 

“That’s more like it.”

 

Zhou Daoquan nodded approvingly before putting away the jade box once more.

 

Thus, after chatting a bit about the experiences within the Heaven Spirit Trial with Third Elder Zhou Daoquan on Flying Stone Peak, Zhou Chun returned to his own residence on Pagoda Peak to rest.

 

Over the following month, because his internal injuries had not yet fully recovered, Zhou Chun did not rush to take a Heart Soul Fruit.

 

Instead, Zhou Daoyi and Zhou Daoquan both took a Heart Soul Fruit during this time, each increasing their Divine Sense by more than a small percentage.

 

After obtaining this opportunity, Zhou Daoquan gained a realization and sensed the opportunity to break through late Foundation Establishment, and had already entered seclusive intensive cultivation in preparation for the breakthrough.

 

And after Zhou Daoyi took the Heart Soul Fruit, he began traveling to acquire the Foundation Establishment Pill for Zhou Chun.

 

According to his words, the most important thing for the Zhou Clan was to help Zhou Chun reach Foundation Establishment.

 

All other matters were minor.

 

This treatment made some informed elders envious.

 

But they could only be envious.

 

As elders, they knew how much Zhou Chun had contributed to the clan.

 

A clan member who made such a significant contribution and was inherently an outstanding junior of the clan was entirely deserving of the clan’s efforts on his behalf.

 

After such recuperation for over a month, Zhou Chun requested leave from the Clan Leader and devoted himself to refining the Heart Soul Fruit in seclusion.

 

In terms of taste, the Heart Soul Fruit was awful, like a moldy persimmon, making one want to vomit after just one bite.

 

But bitter herbs had effective properties.

 

In terms of effects, the Heart Soul Fruit lived up to its great reputation.

 

It took Zhou Chun nearly seven days to digest the medicinal properties of the entire Heart Soul Fruit, after which his Divine Sense increased by over thirty percent.

 

Originally, his Divine Sense’s range was less than three hundred meters; now, it had reached three hundred and thirty meters!

 

With such a powerful Divine Sense, no Qi Refining cultivator within the entire Zhou Clan could compare with him in Divine Sense.

 

With his powerful Divine Sense, when he reached Foundation Establishment, his Divine Sense was certainly much stronger than that of an ordinary early Foundation Establishment cultivator like Zhou Jiarui.

 

It could be said that he was a step ahead in every way.

 

Two months after Zhou Chun completed the Heaven Spirit Trial, the Dragonized Sect, which had previously suffered a major setback, unexpectedly resurfaced and created a great disturbance.

 

This time, the Dragonized Sect directly targeted a Violet Palace clan in Cloud Province, sending out three Protectors and over twenty Envoys, wiping out the entire clan with overwhelming force.

 

Subsequently, the cultivating clans and rogue cultivator camps that had previously hunted down Dragonized Sect members also suffered revenge from the Dragonized Sect Envoys and their forces.

 

In just half a month, the number of Foundation Establishment cultivators who perished in Cloud Province due to the Dragonized Sect’s revenge reached as many as a dozen.

 

The Green Lotus Monastery was enraged and dispatched five Violet Palace cultivators and over seventy Foundation Establishment cultivators to Cloud Province to maintain order.

 

The Dragonized Sect was undeterred, employing guerrilla tactics to force the people of Green Lotus Monastery to divide their forces for rescue operations, then seeking opportunities to engage in direct confrontation.

 

For a time, fights broke out across the land of Cloud Province, and many native rogue cultivators of Cloud Province suffered greatly, fleeing to neighboring provinces such as Mist Province and Ridge Province.

 

Ordinary rogue cultivators could flee, but those with families and businesses could not.

 

Green Lotus Monastery would not allow these cultivating clans to flee.

 

Thus, the orders to dispatch cultivating clan forces from Ridge Province, Mist Province, and Lotus Province to Cloud Province for support quickly reached the Zhou Clan.

 

“The order says that for every five Foundation Establishment cultivators, one is selected; if there are fewer than five, they are counted as five; if there are more than seven, they are counted as ten. My clan currently has five Foundation Establishment cultivators, so only one needs to be sent.

 

“However, concerning the Qi Refining cultivators, one is selected for every ten, meaning that a total of fourteen cultivators from the clan must be dispatched to Cloud Province!

 

“Esteemed elder, which members of the clan should be sent?

 

Within Central Palace, after Zhou Daoyi received the order from Green Lotus Monastery, he summoned all the elders except for Zhou Daoquan to convene and discuss the matter of this order.

 

This war order from a superior sect was entirely different in nature from the previous joint military campaign of the five major cultivating clans against the United Cloud Alliance.

 

At that time, it was a war for the interests of the clan, requiring the concentration of the clan’s most elite forces to participate, and victory was mandatory.

 

But now, this kind of war order, unless there were other plans, could easily dispatch elderly, infirm, and disabled individuals to fulfill the quota.

 

Winning would be inconsequential, and losses to the clan could be minimized.

 

However, if such a course of action were taken, it would undoubtedly chill the hearts of many clan members.

 

After all, these clan members chose to remain with the clan, serving the clan, precisely for the reassurance of solidarity.

 

Should there come a day when they are broken and old, having the clan as a reliance, they could live a life better than that of an ordinary rogue cultivator.

 

If the clan were to encounter trouble and push out the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled to be used as cannon fodder, who would still trust the clan? Who would still rely on the clan?

 

These principles were clear to all the Zhou Clan leadership present.

 

After Zhou Daoyi finished speaking, the elders pondered and contemplated and remained silent for a short time.

 

Zhou Chun was also contemplating this matter, but he could not think of any perfect solution.

 

Such matters were always about making hard choices for any ruler, with no perfect solution.

 

“I think we should still use the lottery method; let all clan members over the age of twenty draw lots, including each family’s Dao companion; whoever is drawn goes.”

 

After a long contemplation, Second Elder Zhou Chongshan was the first to speak, expressing his opinion.

 

The method he proposed was considered a viable one and appeared to be fair.

 

But how could such a major clan affair be dealt with using a method that seemed fair but actually caused great loss to the clan?

 

It was because Zhou Chongshan himself had no children and was usually immersed in the way of arrays that he would suggest such a seemingly fair method.

 

Therefore, after he finished speaking, the other elders remained silent.

 

This made him quickly regain his senses, and he could not help but shake his head repeatedly and remained silent.

 

“I have a suggestion.”

 

Finally, Zhou Daoyi spoke and proposed his method: “Of the fourteen places, first select half from the cultivators over the age of fifty and below late Qi Refining in the clan, and let them draw lots to decide who goes.

 

“As for the other half, one from the core clan members, two from the elite clan members, and four from the common clan members, all decided by drawing lots!”

 

His method was still skewed toward gathering people to reduce clan losses.

 

But it was entirely different from letting the old, weak, and infirm fill the quota.

 

At the very least, it partially considered the feelings of that half of the elderly cultivators, preventing them from feeling that the clan completely disregarded their lives and simply abandoned them all when faced with a problem.

 

And the elite and core clan members would also feel more loyal to the clan and cherish their current status more because of their different treatment from the common clan members.

 

Although it sounded cruel to say so, for a force, the truly important ones were those few elite and core members, not the vast majority of common members.

 

In the cultivation world, where personal strength was paramount, this was even more apparent.

 

Therefore, after thinking about Zhou Daoyi’s method for a moment, Fourth Elder Zhou Jiarui quickly spoke up, saying, “The Clan Leader’s method is good; I agree.”

 

“I agree as well.”

 

Fifth Elder Zhou Jiahe, who had already been granted elder status, also nodded in agreement with Zhou Daoyi’s method.

 

Thus, Second Elder Zhou Chongshan could only wave his hand and say, “Then we’ll do as the Clan Leader said; I have no objections.”

 

With the method confirmed, Zhou Daoyi had Zhou Chun begin counting the number of people who met the various lot-drawing conditions and then made wooden slips and a sign drum for everyone who met the conditions to begin drawing lots.

 

According to the plan, first, that half of the elderly and infirm would draw, followed by the common clan members, then the elite clan members, and finally all the core clan members would gather together to draw that last slip.

 

However, what no one expected was that after all the core clan members drew their slips, none of them drew the red slip.

 

And at this time, only the last slip remained in the slipcase.

 

A moment passed, and everyone’s gaze involuntarily turned to the wooden stick and Zhou Chun, who was holding the stick case, their expressions quite strange.

 

“It seems my luck failed me.”

 

A fleeting grimace appeared on Zhou Chun’s face as he reached out and took the wooden stick from the stick case.

 

It was indeed a red stick!

 

Zhou Daoyi was speechless at this result.

 

He had specially arranged for Zhou Chun to carry the stick case, allowing the other clan members to draw first, out of worry that Zhou Chun would draw the red stick first.

 

He hadn’t expected that even so, the red stick would fall into Zhou Chun’s hands.

 

He genuinely didn’t know what to say at this point.

 

With so many clan members looking on, and all of the core clan members, he couldn’t publicly contradict himself even though he was very reluctant to let Zhou Chun participate in this dangerous mission.

 

He was hesitant to announce the results.

 

Zhou Zhengyong suddenly gritted his teeth and stepped forward to loudly say, “Thirteenth Brother is the clan’s hope and also the clan’s most promising individual to achieve Foundation Establishment. How can one allow him to participate in a dangerous matter like this!”

 

After speaking, he bowed deeply to Zhou Daoyi and said, “Clan Leader is wise. As a junior, I am also a core clan member and volunteer to substitute for Thirteenth Brother and go to Cloud Province. I ask for the Clan Leader’s permission.”

 

“Brother Yong…”

 

Zhou Chun’s expression changed, and he wanted to say something to Zhou Zhengyong.

 

But Zhou Daoyi interjected, his voice solemn.

 

“Since Zhengyong has this intention, then I will fulfill your wish!”