Gathering Golden Energy, The Golden-Armored Pangolin Beast [Please Subscribe]

Chapter 85 Gathering Golden Energy, The Golden-Armored Pangolin Beast [Please Subscribe]

The news that Zhou Zhengyong's son, Zhou Xinlan, had been diagnosed with a mid-grade spiritual root quickly spread throughout the Zhou family.

To be honest, a mid-grade spiritual root aptitude isn't particularly outstanding; it's just enough to qualify one to join a major sect and has a certain chance of successfully establishing one's foundation in the future.

The Zhou family currently has twenty or thirty Qi Refining stage cultivators with mid-grade spiritual root aptitude, which is not a small number.

Even if Zhou Zhengyong's son were found to have this qualification, it would not reach the level of cheers from the entire clan.

The reason why the news that his son had been diagnosed with a mid-grade spiritual root aptitude spread so quickly throughout the clan was because this guy was so smug that he told everyone he met about it and boasted about it everywhere.

There was no other way; the Zhou family only had seven members in the "Xin" generation. His son was the second among them to have a mid-grade spiritual root aptitude, while the first had parents who were both mortals.

Therefore, his son Zhou Xinlan was actually the first cultivator with a mid-grade spiritual root among the descendants of the "Zheng" generation of cultivators in the Zhou family.

This gave him something to brag about.

The clan chief, Zhou Daoyi, was delighted with this outcome and even hoped that someone would come to him to complain.

If anyone dares to complain, he'll just say, "If you're so capable, go have a baby yourself," and give them a hardcore push to have a child.

Unfortunately, no one has the nerve to come forward and complain about this kind of thing.

Just as Xiao Zhou Xinlan turned one year old, Zhou Chun drank his first birthday wine and then quickly left Jiufengling.

This time, Zhou Chun left his family to go to an abandoned refined gold mine to collect high-quality gold energy for cultivating the "Xin Gold Sword Qi".

The refined gold mine was located in a mountain range in the northwest of Lanzhou, near Lingzhou, and originally belonged to the Qinglian Temple.

After all the refined gold ore in the vein was mined out, the vein was abandoned by the Qinglian Temple and is now occupied by a group of rogue cultivators.

These rogue cultivators lived around the abandoned mine, and whenever they had free time, they would go into the mine to dig, hoping to find some fine gold ore that had been left behind.

In fact, many spirit gold ores sold through independent cultivators come from this source.

It's not that some rogue cultivator had ore in his possession, or that he discovered a mineral vein.

This practice of handing over abandoned mines to independent cultivators to extract the last bit of resources from them is a common practice in the cultivation world.

In this way, the forces that control the mineral veins save costs and achieve their goals, while the independent cultivators can also profit from it.

The Crimson Iron Mine, currently being mined by the Zhou family and the other four major cultivation families, will likely end up being mined in the same way.

The distance from Jiufeng Ridge to the abandoned refined gold mine was over a thousand miles. Zhou Chun traveled alone for four or five days before finally arriving at his destination outside the mountain.

To avoid being recognized, Zhou Chun had disguised himself as a dark-skinned young man in a blue robe.

His sallow, dark complexion made him look much older, at least thirty-seven or thirty-eight.

This age is consistent with his current cultivation level of the tenth level of Qi Refining. Although it is still somewhat unusual, it is at least not as eye-catching as the cultivation level he possesses at his actual age.

His identity at this time had changed to that of Han Sanjue, a rogue cultivator.

The "Three Wonders" is a tribute to the former Three Wonders Sect.

"The Hidden Gold Mountain Range should be just ahead. Although the information says that the abandoned mine is large and easy to find, to save time, let's just ask the cultivators nearby."

Looking out at the rolling mountains from his horse, Zhou Chun quickly made up his mind.

He dismounted, released the horse he had bought from a nearby city into the wilderness, and then cast a "Wind Control" spell on himself, galloping swiftly through the mountains.

At the same time, Zhou Chun released a bluish-black eagle from its cage on his back, and it soared into the sky to search for traces of humans in the mountains and forests.

This tamed eagle was rented from his family before he left home, specifically for searching for humans and for guarding.

As for the "red-billed bird" he used before, it had already died of old age half a year ago.

Undoubtedly, compared to the smaller, lower-flying, and slower-moving red-billed finches, goshawks have a significant advantage in scouting and finding people.

Even thousands of feet in the air, it can easily see rabbits hopping around in the forests below, and its flight speed is extremely fast.

After Zhou Chun released the scout eagle, it found a target in less than an hour.

He was a rogue cultivator searching for herbs in the mountains. He only had a pitiful fourth-level Qi Refining stage cultivation, but he looked to be at least forty years old.

This person's cultivation level at this age indicates that not only is their spiritual root aptitude poor, but they must have been quite old when they embarked on the path of cultivation.

Sure enough, when Zhou Chun went to find him and talked to him, he learned that he had only started to learn about the path of cultivation after he turned twenty.

This cultivator surnamed Geng was originally an ordinary herb gatherer. He happened to save a rogue cultivator who was injured while gathering herbs in the mountains, and that's how he received cultivation techniques from the other party and came into contact with the cultivation world.

Unfortunately, his spiritual root aptitude was low, and without anyone to guide or mentor him, he wasted nearly twenty years before finally reaching the fourth level of the Qi Refining stage.

However, he was extremely persevering and had great integrity. After learning about the dangers of the turbid evil energy from the rogue cultivators he had rescued, he never meditated or cultivated in the wilderness, even when he wasn't actually cultivating.

Otherwise, even with the worst aptitude, twenty years of cultivation would not have resulted in such a low level of mastery.

After learning this, Zhou Chun greatly admired the perseverance of the cultivator surnamed Geng.

He couldn't help but sigh, "The path to immortality is elusive and difficult to attain. I admire Fellow Daoist Geng's perseverance. Consider these three spirit coins as a token of my gratitude for your guidance. I hope to meet you again someday!"

After saying that, he forcefully stuffed three spirit coins into the other person's hand, then clasped his hands in a fist salute and took his leave.

Watching his departing figure and glancing at the spirit coins in his hand, the cultivator surnamed Geng was both pleased and grateful, bowing respectfully and saying, "Fellow Daoist Han, take care on your journey!"

After parting ways with the cultivator surnamed Geng, Zhou Chun followed his instructions and found the abandoned refined gold mine in the Hidden Gold Mountain Range in less than half a day.

This fine gold vein was originally a medium-to-large-sized vein with abundant reserves, stretching for dozens of miles, and more than a dozen mine shafts were dug out to produce ore.

Later, after Qinglian Temple abandoned the area, a large number of independent cultivators came to work there, and the number of mines dug out among the mountains increased tenfold or even dozens of times.

Therefore, when Zhou Chun arrived at the abandoned mine, he easily saw one abandoned mine shaft after another.

Now most of those mines have become habitats for wild animals, while some secluded ones have been transformed into temporary dwellings by the cultivators who are still mining there.

In short, this region is not peaceful.

However, Zhou Chun doesn't need to worry about this.

With his cultivation at the tenth level of the Qi Refining stage, he could practically do whatever he wanted in this abandoned mine, and certainly no one would dare to provoke him.

After all, most rogue cultivators who reach this level of cultivation can hunt monsters to earn spirit coins, and there is no need for them to linger in such abandoned mines.

This is where those truly low-level, independent cultivators mingle, and where they seek their fortune.

After walking and stopping for several hours in the mountains and forests, Zhou Chun found a main mine shaft.

The so-called main mine shaft refers to the mine shaft that Qinglian Temple dug when it first started mining.

Only deep within such mines, where large quantities of refined gold ore once existed, would the high-quality gold energy that Zhou Chun desired remain.

Hiss~ Hiss!

A low hissing sound rose slowly from inside the mine.

Along with the sound, there were also light footsteps.

Zhou Chun held the "Sunstone" in his hand and walked step by step along the abandoned mine tunnel into the depths of the earth.

Several feet ahead of him, the Silver Lightning Python Bai Bai acted as the trailblazer, driving away the snakes, insects, rats, and bats that lived in the mine tunnels.

The Silver Lightning Python is now over three zhang long and its cultivation level is comparable to that of a sixth-level Qi Refining cultivator.

Zhou Chun gradually began to allocate more resources to it, feeding it medicinal pills and spiritual items that could help it grow, such as Beast Spirit Pills.

However, Zhou Chun doesn't need it to help in the battle at the moment.

At most, it's used to help with small, harmless tasks, like it is now.

Driving the snakes downhill, Zhou Chun walked for more than twenty miles through the underground mine tunnels before finally finding his target.

He was currently in a branch tunnel above the main mine tunnel, and the end of this branch tunnel was just ahead of him.

Here, Zhou Chun sensed a faint but barely adequate amount of residual metal energy.

"Little Whitey, go ahead and keep watch. If you find anything, be sure to let me know immediately."

With a thought, Zhou Chun immediately gave the Silver Lightning Python a warning order, instructing it to stand guard at a distance of several dozen feet.

After the silver lightning python left, he reached into his storage bag and took out a light golden gourd magic artifact.

Since the Zhou family possesses the secret technique "Xin Jin Sword Qi," they will naturally consider the need for high-quality metal energy for their family's cultivators to practice the technique in the future.

The gourd artifact in Zhou Chun's hand was specially crafted to collect metal energy.

At this moment, he opened the lid of the gourd magic artifact, placed it face up in front of him, then sat cross-legged and began to gather and absorb the free-floating metal energy in the area by circulating the "Xin Jin Sword Qi" secret technique.

Under the effect of the secret technique, not long afterward, wisps of invisible golden energy were gathered in front of Zhou Chun, and then absorbed by the gourd magic artifact in front of him.

Actually, he possessed a purification stone jar, so he didn't need to go through all this trouble; he could have simply cultivated his secret techniques right here.

The problem is that the existence of the purification jar cannot be revealed. If he cultivates here, it will be difficult to explain when he returns.

After all, Zhou Daoyi had instructed him to collect enough golden energy and bring it back to his family, where the family would help purify the turbid and evil energy it contained before giving it to him for cultivation.

It took Zhou Chun about half a day to collect all the nearby golden energy into the gourd artifact.

However, he needs a considerable amount of metal energy, and he also needs to consider the replenishment after using the secret technique. This time, he must collect as much metal energy as possible.

For the next two weeks, Zhou Chun went in and out of several mine shafts in the abandoned mine, constantly collecting the gold energy he needed.

Through his tireless efforts in collecting energy, the amount of golden energy stored inside the gourd artifact increased day by day, nearing its capacity limit.

That day, Zhou Chun went down into a mine again to search for the remaining gold.

Then, he found usable gold energy in a branch mine tunnel.

But just as Zhou Chun was gathering and collecting the golden energy as usual, an accident occurred!

At that time, Zhou Chun was using a secret technique to collect metal energy when suddenly a strange noise came from the wall of the mine tunnel about ten feet away from him.

Before the startled Zhou Chun could finish his practice and stand up after hearing the noise, a pangolin-like monster covered in golden scales burst out of the wall and pounced on him.

This situation terrified Zhou Chun.

Because he recognized the origin and background of the monster as soon as he saw it.

It was none other than the extremely rare Golden Armored Pangolin, a monster with both metal and earth attributes, and it was already in its fully mature form.

A fully mature golden-armored pangolin is no less powerful than a cultivator at the twelfth level of the Qi Refining stage. Moreover, its combat strength in this underground environment is something that two cultivators at the twelfth level of the Qi Refining stage might not be able to match.

Even if I were in a normal situation, let alone now that I am unable to move around easily, I am not sure if I could deal with this monster in this underground environment.

Therefore, Zhou Chun was shocked and hurriedly activated the [Bright Cloud Pendant] magic artifact he was wearing, releasing clusters of rosy light to protect himself.

Just as he finished doing all this, the golden-armored pangolin pounced in front of him.

Only then did Zhou Chun realize that the golden-armored pangolin's target was not him, but the gourd magic artifact placed in front of him.

Its target is the golden energy inside the gourd!

A flash of inspiration struck Zhou Chun, and he instantly understood the golden-armored pangolin's intention.

Then he got anxious.

Let's not even talk about how much time he spent collecting the golden energy inside the gourd.

This gourd-shaped magical artifact is the only one of its kind that the Zhou family still possesses.

If this item is lost, it will be very troublesome to forge another one, and it will cost a lot of spirit coins.

So much so that Zhou Chun would have to lose at least half of all the good deeds his family had accumulated!

How could Zhou Chun not be anxious?

But there was no use in him being anxious at this point.

The golden-armored pangolin opened its mouth and bit down on the gourd, then picked it up and ran away.

As it turned to flee, its flat, narrow tail slapped Zhou Chun hard, causing the protective glow released by the [Mingxia Pendant] to shake violently.

Having failed in his attack, the golden-armored pangolin completely gave up on attacking Zhou Chun and pounced on the hole it had dug to escape.

But at that moment, a serpentine bolt of lightning suddenly tore through the darkness of the cave and struck the golden-armored pangolin on the head.

Struck by lightning, the golden-armored pangolin trembled, and the gourd it was holding in its mouth fell to the ground.

By the time it recovered from the paralysis caused by the lightning strike and picked up the gourd again, Zhou Chun had already forcibly stopped his practice and stood up.

This is the first update of the day. Please subscribe to all chapters! The five chapters released on the first day of release have reached a peak subscription rate of 1100, but the lowest subscription rate is almost 200 less! I'm devastated!! Please, everyone, don't skip subscribing!

(End of this chapter)