The Elders of the Zhou Family

Chapter 22 The Elders of the Zhou Family

On Hundred Herbs Peak, just as Zhou Chun was looking at the various seedlings of spiritual herbs in the spiritual herb garden and reflecting on the lack of certain aspects of the Zhou family's resources,

A young man dressed in a gray-blue robe suddenly walked out from the palace in front.

The young man was slightly shorter than Zhou Chun, about 1.78 meters tall. Perhaps because he had been by the furnace for a long time, his skin was dark and reddish, like a blacksmith in the secular world.

After he came out of the palace, he smiled and waved to Zhou Chun, saying, "Thirteenth Brother, Master already knows why you've come. Come with me to pay your respects to him."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chun immediately cupped his hands in thanks and said, "Thank you for your trouble, Sixth Brother."

It turns out that this young man is also a member of the "Zheng" generation of the Zhou family, ranked sixth, named Zhou Zhengyuan. Eight years ago, he followed the Zhou family's eldest elder, Zhou Mingshan, to learn alchemy.

Therefore, despite his unassuming appearance, he actually holds a very high position in the Zhou family, even comparable to some core members.

After Zhou Chun followed Zhou Zhengyuan into the palace, they soon arrived at a hall where they met Zhou Mingshan, the eldest elder of the Zhou family.

Because his lifespan was running out, Zhou Mingshan looked like an old man in his seventies, with white hair, a face full of wrinkles, and an aged appearance.

After Zhou Chun entered and bowed, he merely glanced at the young junior before saying in a mild tone, "Since the clan leader sent you to collect the medicine, I will naturally obey the clan leader's orders."

After saying that, he instructed Zhou Zhengyuan, who was serving him, "Zhengyuan, go and fetch the medicine for him."

"Your disciple obeys."

Zhou Zhengyuan responded and immediately went to the pharmacy in the back where the pills were stored, and retrieved a bottle of Spring Sun Pill and three bottles of Beast Spirit Pill, which he handed to Zhou Chun.

After Zhou Chun received the pill and verified its authenticity in person, Zhou Mingshan waved his hand, indicating that he could leave.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Chun seemed not to have seen his signal. Instead, after putting away the pills, he bowed to him again and said, "Elder, please be wise. I have another spiritual item here that I would like to ask you to appraise."

Upon hearing Zhou Chun's words, Zhou Mingshan's eyebrows twitched slightly, but he did not refuse. He simply looked up at Zhou Chun and said calmly, "Oh, what kind of spiritual object? Show it to me."

"It is a hundred-year-old spiritual ginseng, which I obtained from a bandit cultivator."

As Zhou Chun spoke, he took out the wild ginseng he had bought from the street market in Hongyafang.

He had always thought that he would find a chance to sell this item when he had the opportunity to go to the market again in the future.

However, the experience at Wild Wolf Ridge made Zhou Chun realize that he should improve his cultivation level as soon as possible.

The cultivation world is unsafe everywhere. If your cultivation level is insufficient or your strength is weak, you could lose your life just by going out.

Therefore, it's best to use up anything that can be redeemed as soon as possible to strengthen your power.

At this moment, after Zhou Mingshan received the wild ginseng handed over by Zhou Zhengyuan, he examined it briefly and nodded slightly, saying, "Hmm, the quality is quite good. It looks like it's over 130 years old. It can definitely be used as the main ingredient in refining the Spring Sun Pill."

Is it only a little over 130 years old?

Zhou Chun felt a pang of disappointment.

He naturally wouldn't doubt Zhou Mingshan's judgment, so it must have been the old man who sold the medicine who exaggerated its age.

But this is a common situation in the cultivation world. When buying things at a street market, sellers can exaggerate whatever they want without any consequences or responsibility for their boasts.

Buying things at a street market truly tests a buyer's discernment; if you make a mistake, you'll lose everything.

The wild ginseng that Zhou Chun bought wasn't fake, it's just that its effects weren't as strong as the seller had claimed. All things considered, he still made a profit.

Therefore, after a brief moment of disappointment, he quickly rallied and looked at Zhou Mingshan, saying, "This junior wishes to offer this item to the family. I wonder if the elder could exchange it for a medicinal pill?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Mingshan pondered for a moment before nodding slightly and saying, "A hundred-year-old spirit ginseng should be worth more than sixty spirit coins on the market, and one Spring Sun Pill is worth twenty spirit coins. If you want to exchange it for pills, I can give you three Spring Sun Pills in exchange."

However, they did not inquire further about how Zhou Chun obtained this wild ginseng.

This left Zhou Chun, who had come up with several reasons, feeling both frustrated and delighted.

"Then this junior will thank the elder in advance."

Zhou Chun bowed and immediately agreed.

Not long after, Zhou Chun bid farewell to Zhou Mingshan and his apprentice Zhou Zhengyuan and returned to Baozhi Peak.

Upon returning to his residence, Zhou Chun immediately took out all the pills he had received.

There are five pills in one bottle of 【Spring Sun Pill】, and he exchanged three more with wild ginseng, making a total of eight pills.

【Beast Spirit Pills】One bottle contains ten pills, three bottles contain thirty pills.

Zhou Chun had previously fed the Rock Tortoise [Beast Spirit Pill], so he knew how to feed it to maximize its effect.

Therefore, at this moment, three [Beast Spirit Pills] were fed to the rock tortoise at once, and then it was allowed to enter a state of tortoise breathing to slowly digest the medicinal effects.

He himself went into the meditation room, took out a Spring Sun Pill, and swallowed it.

Swallowing a thumb-sized, yellowish-brown pill fills the mouth with a faint sweetness of honey and the taste of Chinese medicine.

Zhou Chun swallowed the still-undissolved pill whole, then silently circulated the Five Qi Rising Sun Scripture, using the medicinal power to cultivate.

This practice brought forth experiences completely different from ordinary meditation.

When meditating and cultivating, one usually absorbs the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. This spiritual energy seems like a lot of cotton candy, but in reality, very little of it can be refined and converted into magical power.

However, the pure medicinal power contained in the Spring Sun Pill is as dense as mercury, of extremely high quality, and very easy to absorb and refine.

It took Zhou Chun almost three days to completely refine the medicinal power of one Spring Sun Pill.

This single [Spring Sun Pill] directly saved him two or three months of cultivation time, helping him open up an acupoint.

The powerful effects of the medicine both surprised and delighted Zhou Chun.

He seemed to have found a shortcut to quickly improve his cultivation!

"No wonder that among the four great cultivation techniques of alchemy, artifact crafting, talisman formation, alchemy is ranked first!"

"If we disregard the special nature of the Spirit Purification Array, for cultivators, the effects of elixirs are indeed far more important than magical artifacts, talismans, and arrays!"

Zhou Chun couldn't help but feel a deeper understanding of the importance of elixirs.

However, even though the elixir is good, it should not be taken in excess.

As the saying goes, every medicine has some degree of toxicity. Although pills can save cultivators a lot of time spent meditating and cultivating, no matter how skilled the alchemist is, they cannot completely remove the toxicity from the pills.

Therefore, even if cultivators like Zhou Chun obtain a large number of pills at once, they generally do not dare to take them in quick succession to avoid the accumulation of drug toxins and the irreparable damage to their bodies.

According to the research and experiments of senior cultivators, pills like the [Spring Sun Pill] are suitable for cultivators in the middle and late stages of Qi Refining. A cultivator in the middle stage of Qi Refining can take one pill every one or two months without worrying about the harm of the drug's toxicity.

Therefore, even though Zhou Chun still had seven Spring Sun Pills in his hand, he did not continue to take the medicine.

In contrast, demonic beasts and spirit pets have very few concerns in this regard. This is probably because demonic beasts are physically strong and have followed the path of bloodline sublimation, so their ability to self-expel poisons far exceeds that of human cultivators.

A few days later, Zhou Chun had some free time and went to Feishi Peak again.

Zhou Chun did not come to Feishi Peak to read books in the library, but came specifically to pay respects to Zhou Daoquan, the third elder of the Zhou family.

The three elders of the Zhou family each possess a unique skill.

The eldest elder, Zhou Mingshan, was highly skilled in alchemy, and most of the pills used in the Zhou family came from his hands.

Second Elder Zhou Chongshan was skilled in formations. He had once studied under a Purple Mansion stage cultivator from the You family, a family of formation experts. He was the one who set up the Zhou family's mountain-protecting formation and the spirit-purifying formation.

The Third Elder, Zhou Daoquan, inherited the Zhou family's beast-taming techniques. His mastery of these techniques rivaled that of the Supreme Elder, Zhou Mingde, and he alone cultivated two second-tier spirit pets.

The clan leader, Zhou Daoyi, is said to have excellent skills in making talismans, and his mastery of beast taming is second only to the third elder, Zhou Daoquan.

Zhou Chun came to Feishi Peak to visit the Third Elder Zhou Daoquan, hoping to ask him to take a look at the mysterious snake egg he had obtained from the Mu family, and to see if this master of beast taming knew anything about the egg.

"Oh, such a strange thing? Take out that snake egg and let me have a look."

On Flying Stone Peak, Zhou Daoquan met with Zhou Chun. After hearing his purpose, Zhou Daoquan was surprised and immediately asked him to bring out the snake eggs.

"Elder, please take a look."

Zhou Chun reached into his storage bag and took out the jade box containing the snake eggs, then handed it to Zhou Daoquan with both hands.

Zhou Daoquan took out the snake egg and held it in his hand. He first closed his eyes and used his divine sense to examine it. Then he made hand seals and used several secret techniques that Zhou Chun recognized or did not recognize to test and identify the snake egg.

"That's strange, this is the first time I've ever seen something like this!"

With a furrowed brow, Zhou Daoquan stared at the snake egg in his hand. After a moment's thought, he looked at Zhou Chun and said, "This snake egg is indeed of great research value. If you agree, you can leave it with me for now, and I will conduct research and experiments on it."

"If I can figure out a way to hatch it, I will naturally let you come and subdue it through a contract."

"If my research causes it to be damaged, I will compensate you with five hundred spirit coins. What do you say?"

Zhou Chun naturally wouldn't refuse such a good deal.

He immediately agreed, saying, "Elder, please feel free to conduct your research. I have absolutely no objections."

Zhou Daoquan was satisfied with his answer and nodded immediately, saying, "Well, you may leave now. I will inform you of the results."

"Yes, this junior will take his leave."

Zhou Chun bowed and then left Feishi Peak.

By the way, for those readers who still have investment opportunities in the new book's investment section, feel free to add your investment. It seems that once we reach 500 people, we'll advance to the next level of exposure, and I see we're almost at 200 already! Thank you all for reading as usual!

(End of this chapter)