Chapter 64, Massive Harvest and Generous Reward

Translator: Raznick

 

Due to the limited number of jade boxes and the fact that some herbs were not old enough to be valuable, Zhou Chun didn’t harvest all of them. 

 

He and Liu Shiyun gathered several dozen of the more valuable herbs before leaving the herb valley.

 

On their way back, since the Azure Giant Ape had to carry the bags containing the Green-crowned Flying Snakes, Zhou Chun and Liu Shiyun sat on either side of its shoulders at its insistence, letting it lead them home.

 

With the Azure Giant Ape’s cultivation level and physical strength, the journey that would have taken several days to complete was finished in less than two days.

 

This was still slow because Zhou Chun and Liu Shiyun couldn’t withstand the intense jolting for too long; otherwise, the ape could have traveled even faster.

 

Upon returning to Nine Peaks Zhou Clan, Zhou Chun first settled Liu Shiyun at his residence. Then, he accompanied the Azure Giant Ape, which was carrying the Green-crowned Flying Snakes, to Pagoda Peak to hand over the captured snakes to Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi.

 

“You did a good job. Green-crowned Flying Snake is a demon beast with high value for the clan. This time you have made great contributions to the clan!”

 

In the Central Palace, after Zhou Daoyi examined the Green-crowned Flying Snakes captured by the Azure Giant Ape, he nodded repeatedly, pleased with Zhou Chun’s consideration for the clan.

 

Zhou Chun, receiving praise, felt happy but dared not claim sole credit. He sincerely said: “Clan Leader, this is all thanks to the Ape Elder. If it weren’t for the Ape Elder, it would be impossible for me to accomplish this.”

 

Zhou Daoyi waved his hand and said: “I understand, but I will only reward you for the credit. How you want to share it is up to you.”

 

After all, Azure Giant Ape was a demon beast. Even if it had a high status in the Zhou Clan, it certainly didn’t have human rights.

 

Therefore, Zhou Daoyi’s current approach was the most appropriate.

 

Zhou Chun also understood this, so he did not argue about it anymore.

 

He added, “During this outing, I also collected a lot of herbs from the places where these Green-crowned Flying Snakes live. I would like to donate some of them that are useful to the clan.”

 

Zhou Daoyi nodded with satisfaction. “It’s rare that you’re so thoughtful. I’ll call Zhengyuan over right now and have him show you which herbs are worth keeping.”

 

he had the big blue parrot, Blue, to go to Baiyao Peak to deliver the message.

 

When Zhou Zhengyuan came from Medicine Peak, Zhou Daoyi took Zhou Chun to Flying Stone Peak and handed the Green-crowned Flying Snakes to the Third Elder Zhou Daoquan, asking him to choose a place and arrange people to tame them.

 

Not long after, Zhou Zhengyuan rushed to the Central Palace and began to identify and count the herbs that Zhou Chun had taken out.

 

In the end, 70% of the herbs picked from the valley were brought back to Medicine Peak by Zhou Zhengyuan, and the total purchase value reached 754 merits.

 

“Adding the Green-crowned Flying Snakes you brought back, and I’ll round it up to a thousand clanmerits!”

 

Zhou Daoyi looked at the paper Zhou Zhengyuan handed to him before leaving, pondered for a moment, then looked at Zhou Chun and told him the reward for him.

 

One thousand clan merits!

 

This was undoubtedly a huge reward.

 

It was very likely that except for a few Foundation Establishment cultivators, there were not many Qi Refining cultivators in Zhou Clan who can have so many merit rewards.

 

After adding this merit reward, Zhou Chun’s merits reached nearly 1,500.

 

This did not even include the reward for his previous discovery of the Scarlet Glow Iron vein!

 

According to Zhou Clan’s one-to-one conversion ratio between merits and spirit coins, this would be 1,500 spirit coins.

 

What could one thousand five hundred spirit coins offer?

 

Use it to buy the Urging Cloud Pill that Zhou Chun was taking now, ten vials of them, enough for him to slowly take it until the Twelfth Layer of Qi Refining Stage!

 

If you used it to buy artifacts, you could buy about four superior first-grade artifacts like Shooting Moon Edge.

 

Even according to Zhou Chun’s knowledge, with a little luck, a single Foundation Establishment Pill could be bought for just six thousand spirit coins!

 

Therefore, even with his calm demeanor, after hearing what Zhou Daoyi had to say about this reward, he too displayed an expression of extreme surprise and delight.

 

Zhou Daoyi spoke in a peculiar tone, “Don’t be surprised; I was equally astonished after calculating it myself.”

 

“Your current merits have made you the third richest among the clan’s Qi Refining cultivators, with the other two being Seniors who are decades older than you!”

 

Two Seniors had more merits than him?

 

Zhou Chun’s initial astonishment diminished considerably.

 

His thoughts at that moment were: How many years would it take for him to become the highest-ranked Qi Refining cultivator in terms of merits within the clan?

 

Three years, five?

 

In summary, it shouldn’t be too far away by now! Ironically, Zhou Daoyi had no idea what he was thinking at the moment. After overcoming his initial surprise, he turned to Zhou Chun and said, “You should hold onto them for now. If you were to spend them freely, the clan’s other members would have fewer things to exchange for.”

 

Zhou Chun responded with respect, “Yes, I understand. I will certainly follow Clan Leader’s instructions.”

 

“Then let’s talk about the rewards for reporting the Scarlet Glow Iron mine!” Zhou Daoyi nodded and began addressing the long-delayed matter of the Scarlet Glow Iron mine rewards.

 

“The Scarlet Glow Iron mine has officially started its operations. The clan can expect a profit share of approximately 50,000 spirit coins.

 

“I discussed with Grand Elder and we’ve decided to upgrade your clan status. Additionally, you and Zhengyong will receive rewards valued at around 2,000 spirit coins.

 

“However, since you were the direct discoverer, Zhengyong also acknowledged that the main credit goes to you. Therefore, your reward will be roughly 1,500 spirit coins.”

 

As Zhou Daoyi spoke, he suddenly touched his waist’s storage bag and took out a series of scattered items, placing them before Zhou Chun in an assortment of items.

 

“Here are some artifacts, talismans, and pills for you to choose from. It all depends on your selection!”

 

The items Zhou Daoyi had brought out for Zhou Chun to choose from were naturally all high quality items.

 

Most of them were obtained from Zhou Daoyi killing several Foundation Establishment cultivators from the United Cloud Alliance beforehand.

 

During the previous battle between the United Cloud Alliance and the five cultivating clans, although the Zhou Clan suffered some casualties, their gains far outweighed their losses.

 

Not only did Zhou Daoyi obtain spoils from three Foundation Establishment cultivators he personally slew, but Zhou Mingde also killed two Foundation Establishment cultivators in subsequent pursuits.

 

Moreover, the number of United Cloud Alliance rogue cultivators slain by Zhou Clan Qi Refining cultivators was as high as thirty, with their own substantial gains.

 

Now, Zhou Chun, who had not participated in the battle, finally got a chance to share in these benefits.

 

He examined the items in front of him one after another, asking about this and that, and ultimately selected four things.

 

They were: a yellow jade artifact shaped like a pendant, a golden artifact shaped like a circular ring, avial of pills, and talisman.

 

The jade artifact was called Augur Pendant, a defensive artifact with an automatic protective function. It could be worn around the neck, and upon sensing danger, with a mere thought, it would release a protective glow capable of withstanding a superior first-grade mystical art attack.

 

If spiritual power was continuously supplied, the power of the glow doubled, enough to deal with ordinary superior first-grade artifact attacks. This item combined with the Elemental Armor Art that Zhou Chun learned, made it almost impossible for a Qi Refining cultivator to kill him in one blow. The pale golden ring artifact was called Binding Golden Hoop, which changed size to trap the enemy, and was effective against demon beasts.

 

The pills were Qi Restoring Pills, a kind of pills that restored spiritual power after refining. One pill allowed Zhou Chun to restore 80% of his spiritual power in a quarter of an hour. This vial contained three pills. The Qi Restoring Pill was extremely precious, one pill was worth 80 spirit coins, and usually only Foundation Establishment cultivators could afford it.

 

The last talisman was the second-grade Wind Talisman, a talisman that allowed Qi Refining cultivators to fly on the wind. Its flying speed was even faster than that of ordinary early Foundation Establishment cultivators, and it was an extremely practical escape item. The total value of the four items was about 1,400 to 1,500 spirit coins.

 

“The values of these four items are almost the same. I’ll give you two more superior first-grade talismans.” Zhou Daoyi took a look at the four items Zhou Chun selected, and immediately patted the storage bag on his waist. He took out a Golden Armor Talisman and a Fire Snake Talisman and handed them to him.

 

Zhou Chun was grateful and kept thanking him.

 

After he had stored all items into the storage bag, Zhou Daoyi looked at him with earnest: “Now you should no longer be lacking in artifacts and pills. From now on, focus on your cultivation. Aim to reach the Twelfth Layer of Qi Refining Stage before the age of thirty-five. That way, you’ll have ample time afterward to prepare for Foundation Establishment.”

 

“I will take Clan Leader’s teachings to heart,” Zhou Chun replied solemnly, nodding in agreement.

 

Zhou Chun then respectfully withdrew from the Central Palace, returning to Ganoderma Peak with his lavish bounty.