Cultivation Begins From The Desert

Zhou Xuan Yu soon entered eternal meditation.

Her lifespan was already limited, and being able to hold on until now was largely due to sheer willpower.

But after returning to the Zhou Family, to Jade Spring Peak where she was born and raised, the soil that sustained her will to continue living was no longer there.

After learning from Zhouyang about the changes in the Zhou Family over the years, and knowing that everything was unimaginably well, her wishes were fulfilled, and she had no more attachments.

So, less than three months after returning to Yuquan Lake Oasis, she passed away peacefully with a smile on her face, sitting in meditation on Jade Spring Peak.

Since she had long been declared dead within the Zhou Family, after Zhou Xuan Yu's passing, neither Zhouyang nor Zhou Yuanyao could hold any memorial events for her, let alone invite representatives from various factions as they did for Zhou Xuanhao's passing.

In the end, they could only fulfill her last wish, with Zhouyang using the "Qianyang True Flame" to turn her remains into ashes, and burying them beside the grave of the old clan leader, Zhou Minghan, allowing the grandparent and grandchild, lost to each other for decades, to remain together in the afterlife.

After handling Zhou Xuan Yu's affairs, Zhouyang's life returned to normal.

Most of his time was spent in seclusion, enhancing his cultivation, and the rest was either spent with his Dao Companion, Xiao Ying, or on artifact refining, talisman-making, and sword practice, making his days quite leisurely and enjoyable.

During this period, he also studied the white treasure pearl suspected to be the "Eye of Light," but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't refine it, let alone use it.

This made him even more impressed with that old ghost Xu Song's insight, who, with just a few glances, determined that the item could only be refined by mastering light attribute power.

Another thing that made Zhouyang happy was that after nearly eighty years of cultivation, Zhou Yuanyao finally transformed her youthful affection for him into sibling-like affection and no longer viewed Xiao Ying with hostility.

She even, having nearly forgotten her alchemy due to being trapped in the underground ruins for almost eighty years, took the initiative to ask Xiao Ying for alchemy instruction, wanting to inherit the position Zhou Xuanhao had for the family's alchemy business.

Zhouyang was naturally pleased with this development and couldn't help but reflect on the powerful force of time.

Zhou Yuanyao, once such a headstrong young girl, had her edges smoothed by years of confinement, yielding to reality.

This might have to do with Zhou Xuan Yu's consistent teachings over the decades, but no one could deny the importance of the passage of time.

If it weren't for decades of calm reflection in seeing the truth, Yuanyao might still mistake Zhouyang's brotherly care for her as an expression of romantic love.

Just like that, twelve years went by in the blink of an eye.

Twelve years on, Zhouyang's cultivation was still at the Fifth Layer of the Purple Mansion, and he was not far from the Sixth Layer.

During this time, however, he finally understood the second upgraded sword array, the "Twelve Celestial Swords Array," in the "Great Derivation Sword Technique," advancing his sword control skills another step.

His talisman-making technique had also advanced to Tier Four after years of hard study and practice, becoming the first Tier Four Rune Master in Zhou Family history.

Another piece of good news was that half a year ago, his spirit pet, the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle, fell into a deep sleep, and if all goes well, it would formally enter its adulthood stage and form a demon pill to become a Tier Four Demon Beast upon awakening.

These were just the changes happening with Zhouyang himself and around him.

For the Zhou Family, twelve years later, they had added two more Foundation Establishment Cultivators, one of whom was Zhouyang's first disciple, Lu Xuewei.

The top-grade spiritual-root-talented Lu Xuewei easily succeeded in Foundation Establishment after consuming a Foundation Establishment Pill, and her age at the time of Foundation Establishment was, like Zhouyang, thirty-four. She even quickly became a Tier Three Lower-grade Talisman Maker after her Foundation Establishment.

As for the other Foundation Establishment Cultivator, his name was Zhou Tongyao, and both his parents were Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation Cultivators in the Zhou Family. He was also selected for the Zhou Family's "Seed Plan" due to his decent talent with arrays.

He was able to succeed in Foundation Establishment completely by inheriting clan contribution points from his parents, then using his status as a member of the "Seed Plan" to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill at half price, costing ten thousand clan contribution points.

In fact, over these years, besides Lu Xuewei and Zhou Tongyao, there was another Zhou Family cultivator who exchanged for a Foundation Establishment Pill and used it.

Unfortunately, despite the help of a Foundation Establishment Pill, that person ultimately failed.

Back then, following Zhouyang's advice, Xiao Ying made two batches of Foundation Establishment Pills, producing nine pills in total.

Of these, two were put up for auction at the marketplace, one was awarded to Huang Yi, two were used by Liu Xuanxuan for foundation establishment, and three were used by Lu Xuewei and the others, meaning that these two batches were almost completely used up. However, in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, Zhouyang had acquired several Foundation Establishment Pills by defeating numerous opponents, so there was no worry about future Zhou Family cultivating exchanging for them.

Counting the two newly established cultivators, the Zhou Family currently boasted as many as eight Foundation Establishment Cultivators, including Zhou Guangxiang, Zhou Guangxiang, Zhou Yuanyao, Zhou Guangtai, Zhou Guangqing, Zhou Tongyao, Liu Xuanxuan, and Lu Xuewei.

A dual Purple Mansion, and eight Foundation Establishment practitioners.

Such power in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm had not appeared three times in a millennium, except for the former Chen Family.

Furthermore, apart from these cultivation forces, the Zhou Family was also known for having a Tier Four Lower-grade Spirit Beast, the Eagle Lion Beast; a Golden-winged Thunder Eagle about to advance to Tier Four; and a Tier Three Middle Grade Demon Beast, the Flying Divine Leopard.

These powers combined, even if the number of Foundation Establishment Cultivators was not as high as the Yellow Sand Sect, their high-level strength was comparable to that of the ruling sect in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm.

Currently, when the cultivators of the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm mention the Zhou Family, no one is not envious, and no one is not in awe.

It took only over a hundred years for Zhouyang to elevate the Zhou Family from a clan nearly on the brink of losing its legacy to its current prestigious status, making him a legendary figure in the eyes of cultivators across the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm.

The younger generation of cultivators in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm might not recognize the name Cao Wenjin, the last Golden Core Stage cultivator of the realm, but they certainly have heard of Zhouyang of the Zhou Family.

"To have a son like Zhou Yuanyao" has already become a common phrase repeatedly uttered by elders in unknown numbers of cultivation clans.

"Look at Zhou Yuanyao; he is also a Middle-grade Spiritual Root cultivator, yet he succeeded in Foundation Establishment at just thirty-four. You, too, are a Middle-grade Spiritual Root cultivator; why can't you learn from him?"

"Son, you must strive to do your best. Father does not expect you to achieve what Zhou Yuanyao did, but you must succeed in Foundation Establishment to extend our family's legacy!"

"Wayward son, all you know is to fiddle around with useless things. You are already eighteen, and at your age, Zhou Yuanyao had already ventured out and proven himself! Are you trying to anger your old father?"

...

When someone becomes a legendary figure talked about by everyone, even their passing remarks are revered.

Ninety-nine percent of people would not know how Zhouyang succeeded; they are only eager to inquire about Zhouyang's youthful accomplishments and life stories, letting their descendants learn and emulate.

As if by doing so, their descendants could really become the next Zhouyang.

Zhouyang was, of course, unaware of these things.

He spent the past twelve years in isolated cultivation, focused solely on practicing, only participating in the annual Preaching Conference to teach and clarify Dao techniques for the younger Zhou Family cultivators, rarely seen by anyone below the Foundation Establishment Cultivation, let alone outsiders.

If it weren't for Zhou Guangxiang's sudden visit, expressing a desire to make another attempt at the Purple Mansion, he might not have realized that so many years had passed.

"Focus on breaking through, don't feel any pressure. Even if you fail, the Zhou Family still has me, your Ninth Uncle!"

In the Qianyang Cave, after handing over the exceedingly precious "Purple Heart Jade Marrow" to Zhou Guangxiang, noticing the tension on his face, he couldn't help but laugh and offer words of comfort to his nephew.

As he said, even if Zhou Guangxiang failed to break through the Purple Mansion again, the Zhou Family still had him as their steadfast anchor.

As long as he was alive, the Zhou Family's position would remain as steady as a mountain.

Thus, he had a good mindset about Zhou Guangxiang's attempt at the Purple Mansion, happy for success, but only slightly disappointed if failed.

"Nephew, I will not disappoint Ninth Uncle!"

Zhou Guangxiang nodded, firmly grasping the jade bottle containing the "Purple Heart Jade Marrow", turned, and left the Qianyang Cave, returning to his own cave to seclude himself.

As Zhou Guangxiang had not yet decided on a successor for the Clan Leader position, after his seclusion, Zhouyang had to continue performing the clan leader duties.

Upon reassuming the clan leader role, his first task was to understand the clan's situation.

He found the results rather satisfactory; the Zhou Family's cultivator population growth rate, though slightly slowed, due to the already large base population, had now exceeded six hundred. Including the foreign relative cultivators and honored guest elders, the total number was nearly a thousand.

With a larger cultivator population, the Spirit Mountains and Spirit Ores occupied by the Zhou Family were thoroughly exploited, leading to improvements in financial income compared to before.

Moreover, counting the time, it had been twenty-four years since the "New Homeland Plan" was implemented, and the Zhou Family had successfully created nine artificial oases in the Boundless Sea of Sand, on the way to Rhino Horn Continent.

The existence of these nine artificial oases had pushed the explorative area for cultivators in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm nearly sixty thousand miles deeper into the desert.

Many Zhou Family cultivators had ventured into those areas four or five years ago to explore resources, and they had found several Spirit Ores and multiple underground Spirit Veins.

"Calculating the time, there's only three years left until the planned date with Jiang Yuyan is due; I wonder how her preparations are going?"

"Three years should be enough for me to further advance to the sixth layer of the Purple Mansion, and the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle should be able to ascend to Tier Four Demon Beast during this time."

"Then, if Guangxiang successfully opens the Purple Mansion, our side will have far stronger high-tier beings than initially planned when we take action!"

Zhouyang counted his party's combat strength and found that, excluding the Foundation Establishment cultivators, their lineup in venturing to Rhino Horn Continent wouldn't be much inferior to the one Yellow Sand Sect organized back then.

And from what he knew, there were very few Tier Four Demon Beasts on Rhino Horn Continent currently.

"This battle is a sure win!"

His smile briefly flashed, his eyes full of confidence.