Chapter 138, Reforming the Clan and Practicing the Secret Arts of Taming Beasts

Translator: Raznick

 

After returning from Grand Elder Zhou Mingde’s cave, Zhou Chun had a heartfelt conversation with Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi.

 

Following this private discussion, Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi formally stepped down to focus on his own cultivation.

 

Zhou Chun then officially began to exercise the authority of the Clan Leader in his role as Deputy Clan Leader.

 

His first actions involved three things. First, he ordered the Spirit Beast Pavilion on the market to place an order for the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, procuring two artifacts capable of collecting and containing metal Qi.

 

Then, he posted a task on the clan, requesting clan Qi Refining cultivators to collect metal Qi using the gourd artifacts they had previously used.

 

Finally, he leveraged his own connections and those of the clan to purchase large quantities of Meridian Protection Pills, Meridian Nurturing Pills, and the refining materials for Metal Qi Dispersing Powder.

 

Once these arrangements for his own cultivation were in place, Zhou Chun began to implement reforms to the Zhou Clan’s administrative management.

 

He first invited several elders and Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi to the Central Palace and held a meeting where they approved a proposal to allow common clan members to travel to the mountains to work.

 

Then, he had a group of common clan members whom he had secretly arranged to have trained brought to the mountains.

 

Now, after three migrations of the population, the Zhou Clan had already migrated from the Feng Kingdom, bringing nearly fifty thousand common clan members, the vast majority of whom were young men and women.

 

The common clan members remaining in the Feng Kingdom were mostly the elderly and infirm, unable to adapt to large-scale, long-distance migrations.

 

Therefore, unless they possessed the determination to travel great distances to the Jing Kingdom to reunite with their families, the Zhou Clan would not be able to migrate any more common clan members.

 

With these fifty thousand common clan members as a base, within a hundred years, the Zhou Clan would be able to produce hundreds of thousands of common clan members in the Jing Kingdom!

 

Zhou Chun had selected seventy from those fifty thousand, most of whom were young and vigorous.

 

Six of them were retained on Pagoda Peak, with four skilled in calculations assigned as scribes to record the affairs handled daily by the Clan Leader.

 

Two burly men served as guards before the palace, responsible for delivering messages.

 

Twelve mortals, who were familiar with herbs, were dispatched to Medicine Peak to support the cultivation of herbs on the mountain and to do some odd jobs.

 

Thirty-six mortals were sent to the beast enclosure, responsible for helping to feed the demon beast and do various odd jobs.

 

Another sixteen mortals were sent to the remaining eight mountain peaks, assisting Peak Head with various statistical data.

 

This was the initial arrangement for the mortals ascending the mountain.

 

And Zhou Chun’s reform of the Zhou Clan extended far beyond this.

 

In his envisioned plan, the Zhou Clan would establish multiple halls, each corresponding to a specific area of responsibility, and the Peak Head of each peak would simply become a symbol.

 

However, to realize his plan, he needed to convince the Peak Heads and wait for them to select suitable leaders and responsible individuals for each hall.

 

Therefore, after these mortals were all in position, he undertook a few more tasks.

 

First, he instructed the Peak Heads to record the cultivation changes of each clan cultivator, with reports due monthly.

 

Second, he compiled a record of each cultivator’s expertise in skills, what spirit pet they possessed, and what clan missions they had undertaken.

 

On the other hand, he personally drew each clan member to the Central Palace to inquire about their interests and whether they had any plans to serve the clan in certain areas.

 

Zhou Chun also asked the clan members to recommend rogue cultivators they considered trustworthy and to record the information of those rogue cultivators and compile it into a catalog as a backup.

 

Finally, Zhou Chun proposed the establishment of a list called the clan contribution list.

 

The list would statistically record the top ten clan members who made the greatest contribution to the clan each year and give them additional rewards.

 

At the same time, it would also list the bottom five clan members who made the least contribution to the clan each year.

 

This list would be posted outside the Zhou Clan’s Ancestral Hall, and all clan members could go and check it at any time!

 

Because these measures and reforms did not touch on the clan members’ bottom lines, they only wasted some of their time, making adoption smooth.

 

As for the matter of the clan contribution list, because it was newly established and the first-year situation had not been officially posted and announced, it hadn’t attracted much attention.

 

While many Zhou Clan cultivators became busy because of Zhou Chun’s commands, he had gone to Flying Stone Peak.

 

The Peak Head of Flying Stone Peak, Zhou Daoquan, was currently in seclusion, attempting to break through to late Foundation Establishment.

 

Luckily, the guardian of the library, the Wood Spirit Ape, was still diligently protecting the area.

 

Upon his arrival, Zhou Chun reached into his storage bag and took out a few spirit fruits and a jar of spirit fruit wine.

 

Then, he smiled slightly at the Azure Giant Ape, who was practically salivating, and said, “Ape Elder, these spirit pears and this hundred-fruit wine were especially collected and purchased for you; try them and see how they taste.”

 

Hearing his words, the Azure Giant Ape immediately made an oh sound. “Good boy, it seems your Deputy Clan Leader isn’t slacking off; let this old ape taste them!”

 

Although it was in Ape language, Zhou Chun, who was already quite familiar with it, understood its meaning.

 

He immediately handed the items into its hand and nodded: “Then, Ape Elder, please savor them slowly; I’ll go upstairs to choose a secret art.”

 

Initially, Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi had promised Zhou Chun that after he reached Foundation Establishment, all of the Zhou Clan’s cultivation methods and secret arts would be open for him to choose and cultivate.

 

He came to the library today to select secret art.

 

Since he couldn’t learn the Golden Cauldron Mystic Art for now, and his cultivation could not improve, Zhou Chun planned to use the time to cultivate several secret arts.

 

Of course, with his current cultivation level, he definitely wouldn’t cultivate the ordinary secret art on the second floor but rather a secret art that would also be beneficial to a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

 

After Zhou Chun assumed the position of Deputy Clan Leader, Zhou Daoyi had imparted to him the arts that opened restrictions on places like the library.

 

He had mastered them all these days.

 

He opened the restricted arts of the library’s second floor himself, and all the secret art and cultivation methods stored within appeared before his sight.

 

Looking at the bookshelf labeled with the words “cultivation methods,” a strange light flashed in Zhou Chun’s eyes, and he immediately walked over.

 

Although he came this time to select secret art, there was no harm in taking a look at these cultivation methods.

 

He saw him pick up a cultivation method called Stone Dragon and opened it to look.

 

Stone Dragon Arts cultivation method offered an incredible ability, and if the first layer of cultivation is successful, it will be accompanied by two abilities of impressive power, Stone Dragon and Stone Dragon Armor.

 

Just looking at the description of these two abilities, the power of them would likely not be inferior to the two abilities attached to Ancient Wood True Art.

 

However, to cultivate the Stone Dragon Arts, it would also require expensive spiritual materials such as the Elemental Stone of Garrison and Earth Jade to support it, and there was no record of how dangerous the cultivation was.

 

However, the cultivation speed of the Stone Dragon Arts was very slow!

 

There were examples left by the Zhou Clan’s cultivators; even if the cultivator with the superior spirit root tried it, without taking any pills to help with cultivation, it might take almost a hundred years to break through to mid Foundation Establishment!

 

The time needed to advance from mid Foundation Establishment to late Foundation Establishment would be even longer.

 

Even if he could rely on pills to use them to reach the Violet Palace Stage, the slow cultivation speed would make it incredibly difficult to improve his cultivation later.

 

After all, as one advanced, fewer and fewer refined pills suited for high-level cultivators were available.

 

Zhou Chun could easily purchase pills when he was in the Qi Refining stage.

 

However, pills for Foundation Establishment were scarce and difficult to purchase from ordinary market shops.

 

Zhou Chun shook his head and put it away.

 

Then, he took out another cultivation method, titled Convergence Art, and began to read it.

 

Compared to the earlier Stone Dragon Arts, this Convergence Art was completely different.

 

To cultivate the Convergence Art, no spiritual materials were needed, and any cultivator who had just reached Foundation Establishment could cultivate it.

 

However, after successfully cultivating this cultivation method, it would only grant a Spirit Gathering Technique special skill with no combat ability, which could rapidly gather spiritual energy to accelerate cultivation.

 

Even for an average spirit roots cultivator, cultivating this cultivation method with the blessing of the Spirit Gathering Technique could cultivate to mid Foundation Establishment within fifty years without taking any pills.

 

Even to advance from mid Foundation Establishment to late Foundation Establishment would only take eighty years, and there would be few bottlenecks along the way.

 

In other words, if an average spirit root cultivator reached Foundation Establishment at the age of sixty and chose to cultivate the Convergence Art, he would most likely cultivate to late Foundation Establishment before the age of two hundred and would have a chance to challenge the Violet Palace.

 

It seemed quite good!

 

But in reality, unless he was the descendant of a high-level cultivator and could avoid combat and cultivate within his estate, it would be difficult to realize its full potential.

 

Otherwise, he would inevitably have to venture out and spar with other cultivators and demon beasts.

 

If he were a rogue cultivator, lacking even a second-grade artifact upon reaching Foundation Establishment, cultivating the Convergence Art would likely only allow him to pick on weaker demon beasts; encountering even a slightly stronger second-grade demon beast would force him to flee for his life.

 

Even a clan cultivator, armed with a second-grade artifact issued by his clan, could only fight weaker second-grade demon beasts; against stronger ones, he would still be outmatched.

 

And if he encountered a Foundation Establishment cultivator with a second-grade artifact who also cultivated a cultivation method with a potent offensive special skill, he would likely find it difficult to escape.

 

Like Zhou Chun, he had battled against that Foundation Establishment rogue cultivator, Shen Han, who apparently never used any powerful special skill against him, relying solely on his artifact and mystical art.

 

He was likely a rogue cultivator who prioritized cultivation speed, cultivating a cultivation method like the Convergence Art.

 

Of course, a cultivation method as extreme as the Convergence Art, focused entirely on cultivation speed, was not the dominant choice.

 

Many second-grade cultivation methods also pursued cultivation speed but often took defensive measures into account as well.

 

Like the cultivation methods cultivated by the several Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Zhou Clan, which offered almost seventy percent of the Convergence Art’s cultivation speed, while also incorporating special skills for defense and escape, significantly enhancing their ability to survive danger.

 

In total, after reviewing the introductions of these cultivation methods, Zhou Chun felt even more fortunate to have chosen to cultivate a top cultivation method, and his resolve strengthened.

 

He quickly left the cultivation method area and arrived at the section storing secret arts.

 

The Zhou Clan had collected quite a few secret arts suitable for Foundation Establishment cultivators, but many had stringent cultivation requirements.

 

With the cultivation of a single Golden Cauldron Mystic Art already proving challenging, he had no time to spare for cultivating more complex secret arts.

 

Therefore, his objective this time was clear: to cultivate the Zhou Clan’s hereditary beast-taming secret art.

 

Although the Zhou Clan was a beast-taming clan, apart from most clan members taming demon beast spirit pets and knowing some skills in beast-taming, they had never revealed any particularly powerful beast-taming secret arts.

 

It gave the impression of being more than it was.

 

Actually, that was just a false impression!

 

Since the Zhou Clan regarded beast-taming as a clan legacy and skill, it naturally possessed complementary beast-taming secret art.

 

Not to mention the Soul Controlling Blood Array that Zhou Chun had previously used; the truly powerful beast-taming secret art of the Zhou Clan required Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation to cultivate, and many also had requirements for the strength of the demon beast spirit pet.

 

For instance, the beast-taming secret art that Zhou Daoyi once used could stimulate the Flood Dragon bloodline within a Sky Cloud Python, allowing it to transform into a Flood Dragon and wreak havoc.

 

Zhou Chun’s visit to the library was to search for this type of secret art.

 

After a search of the bookshelves, he found the jade slip containing this secret art.

 

Ancestral Awakening, when used on demon beasts with top demon beast bloodlines within them, could stimulate the blood of their ancestors, allowing them to briefly enter an ancestral state and master some of the special skills that their ancestors possessed at that level.

 

The demon beast required a minimum cultivation of second-grade, must have a contract relationship with the cultivator, and must not resist.

 

At the same time, the concentration of the ancestor’s bloodline within the demon beast must also reach a certain level; the higher the bloodline concentration, the greater the increase in strength after the process.

 

The secret art that Zhou Daoyi once used wasn’t the secret art that Zhou Chun originally thought was specifically used for the Flood Dragons, but a secret art that was useful for many kinds of demon beasts with great potential.

 

However, while this secret art could be cultivated by every Zhou Clan Foundation Establishment cultivator, the Zhou Clan cultivators who had a demon beast spirit pet that met the conditions were few, so it was not something that anyone could use.

 

And in addition to this kind of art, Zhou Chun also selected another beast-taming secret art, Beast Spirit Battle Armor, for himself.

 

It stimulated the demon beast’s spiritual power, condensing a Spiritual Armor with powerful defensive capabilities to protect the demon beast; the strength of the defense depends on the cultivation of the demon beast and the cultivation of the master.

 

In fact, the beast-taming secret art of the Zhou Clan had several other kinds, but Zhou Chun knew that greed led to ruin, and it wasn’t too late to cultivate the other secret art after perfecting these two first.