Cultivation Begins From The Desert

The day has finally arrived!

As Zhou Yuanchen arrived at the Zhou Family once again, his emotions were extremely complicated.

Zhou Yuanchen is over twenty years older than Zhouyang. He celebrated his 200th birthday last year, and since he has never been seriously injured in his life, living to over 230 years should not be a problem for him.

However, compared to Zhouyang's several hundred years of long lifespan, his remaining lifespan of thirty-something years is nothing.

Even though his cultivation has reached the ninth layer of the Foundation Establishment stage, he harbors no fantasies about breaking through to the Purple Mansion.

If he doesn't attempt to break through to the Purple Mansion, given his physical condition, he might live to the maximum age limit of 240 years for Foundation Establishment cultivators.

And if he tries to break through to the Purple Mansion now and fails, injuring his divine soul, his lifespan could potentially arrive earlier by over a decade given his current physical state.

If he had no other worries, he might as well take the gamble.

After all, he knows well the importance of the possible loss of a dozen years of lifespan versus the gain of two hundred plus years upon success.

But he has many attachments he cannot disregard, all of which come from his children and grandchildren.

After marrying and having children, Zhou Yuanchen sent his eldest son Zhou Guangde to the Zhou Family to recognize ancestors and return to the clan, while some other children branched out within the Yellow Sand Sect.

Since the children from the Yellow Sand Sect did not enter the Zhou Clan Genealogy, they naturally have no connection with the Zhou Family, and the Zhou Family would not invest a single Spirit Stone in those people.

Their welfare entirely depends on whether Zhou Yuanchen is still alive.

As long as he is alive, those descendants without spiritual roots and those with poor spirit root talent could survive from the small benefits he leaks out.

If he dies, even if he leaves them substantial inheritance, without supervision, it won't be long before it's squandered away, which numerous examples from fellow sect members have demonstrated for him.

And there's his eldest son Zhou Guangde, who is the most talented and intelligent among all his children and grandchildren, and also the one he favours and looks after the most.

This time he came to the Zhou Family for matters concerning his eldest son's Foundation Establishment.

"Ninth brother, I know that with my current status, it's inappropriate for me to make such a request."

"But this is the only son of mine with hope of achieving Foundation Establishment, and if I don't approach about this issue, I fear he may resent me for his entire life!"

With a look of earnest pleading, Zhou Yuanchen gazed at Zhouyang, with a tremor in his voice indicating his intent for this visit.

He is here to petition for a Foundation Establishment pill for his son Zhou Guangde.

Zhou Guangde is already fifty-four years old, and his cultivation reached Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation over five years ago.

Unfortunately, due to Zhou Yuanchen's inability to obtain Zhou Family Contribution Points, Zhou Guangde, despite having his father's support with various treasures, finds it immensely challenging to gather enough points on his own side by side with cultivation.

Currently, the family contribution points he managed to gather through various methods barely amount to over fifteen thousand. To acquire the twenty thousand points needed to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill would require another ten years, possibly longer.

If it were other members of the Zhou Clan, being able to accumulate enough family contribution points to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill before the age of eighty would be a dream come true.

But Zhou Guangde is different. He has a Foundation Establishment cultivator father, something most Zhou Family cultivators don't have, leaving no need for agonizing waits of ten or eight years.

At fifty-something years old, consuming the Foundation Establishment Pill for establishment, his middle-grade spiritual root talent guarantees at least a sixty percent success rate.

If he waits till the age of sixty or seventy, the success rate will drop to just over fifty percent.

Moreover, between a cultivator who successfully establishes themselves in their fifties and one who does so in their sixties or seventies, everyone knows where the greater potential lies.

The simplest example is the contemporary Foundation Establishment success of Zhou Guangtai and Zhou Guangqing in the Zhou Family.

Now, thirty years later, Zhou Guangqing has reached third-layer Foundation Establishment cultivation while Zhou Guangtai remains at the second layer.

Moreover, Zhou Guangqing can keep cultivating at Red Tiger Mountain, receiving guidance from Supreme Elder Zhouyang, while Zhou Guangtai is assigned to station at Red Fox Ridge and cannot easily leave.

The disparities in such nuanced treatment are clear to all.

Even Zhou Yuanchen himself doesn't wish to see his son to establish himself that late.

"Originally, for brother to make such a request, the face must be given at all costs."

"But brother, are you aware of what Guangde has been up to recently?"

Zhouyang looked at Zhou Yuanchen with a serious expression, his tone furious as he said, "That kid, to earn family contribution points to exchange for the Foundation Establishment Pill, actually started a small gambling arena within the clan. Using the Thunder Talisman you gave him as rewards, he enticed other clan members into secret magical combats, then acted as the bookmaker to extract the participants' family contribution points!"

"According to the information gathered by the Law Enforcement Hall, at least five clan members have sustained serious injuries due to participating in his arranged gambles. There's even one who lost an arm, completely ruining their cultivation path!"

"Guangxiang, out of regard for your face, has suppressed the matter, but you tell me, if this kid caused such a big issue and can still get the Foundation Establishment Pill from the clan, what would other clan members think? Where would the clan's rules be placed?"

Boom!

Zhou Yuanchen's mind went blank.

He really had no knowledge of this matter.

Zhou Guangxiang actually played a clever trick in this matter. Although he suppressed Zhou Guangde's issue, he didn't immediately inform Zhou Yuanchen of the handling result, but instead left the final decision to Zhouyang, who was handling clan affairs on his behalf.

It could even be said that Zhou Guangxiang's attempt to break through to the Purple Mansion at this time was somewhat deliberately avoiding the situation.

After all, the matter involved Zhou Yuanchen, the highest-ranking elder of the Zhou Family, and as the Clan Leader, it was difficult for him to deal with this matter.

So it's better to let Zhouyang, who is also an elder, handle it. With Zhouyang's prestige within the Zhou family, no matter how he handled it, there was no fear of relatives gossiping.

As Zhou Yuanchen had been cultivating at the Yellow Sand Sect for many years, he would only occasionally visit every few years to see his son Zhou Guangde.

He never worried about Zhou Guangde being bullied in the Zhou family because he knew that no matter if it was Zhouyang, Zhou Guangxiang, or other authoritative cultivators of the Zhou family, they would take extra care of his son out of respect for him.

In fact, the reason he minimized his visits to the Zhou family was also to avoid spoiling his son with frequent interactions.

But he never expected that his own son would do such a thing as Zhouyang described!

Setting up an illegal casino wasn't even the main issue; the Zhou family's rules didn't prohibit relatives from gambling, at most, it would be a moral denunciation.

However, setting up a private casino that caused fellow clan cultivators to get injured in magical combat was a serious crime.

In any clan or sect, fellow members harming each other is an absolute taboo.

Even if those Zhou clan members who participated in Zhou Guangde's gambling matches did not attack each other to cause injury out of enmity, in practical terms, they were indeed engaging in the act of internal conflict.

Zhou Guangde, as the organizer, could not escape responsibility no matter what.

And just as Zhouyang said earlier, if not for Zhou Yuanchen's face-saving, Zhou Guangxiang and the Law Enforcement Hall would have tried to cover up this disgraceful affair. Otherwise, Zhou Yuanchen wouldn't be here begging Zhouyang for the Foundation Establishment Pill, but begging Zhouyang not to cripple or exile his son.

"How could this be! How could this be..."

Zhou Yuanchen murmured with trembling lips, his face turning as pale as snow.

After muttering to himself for a long time, he finally raised his head to look at Zhouyang with a ghastly pale face, closed his eyes, and let out a long sigh: "I understand now, Brother! Thank you, Ninth Brother, and Guangxiang, for giving me this courtesy. I will take that little beast back to the Yellow Sand Sect for strict supervision, and will never let him step into the family again!"

He no longer mentioned the matter of the Foundation Establishment Pill.

After such an incident, Zhou Yuanchen didn't even have the face to stay in the Zhou family, and forcibly took Zhou Guangde back to the Yellow Sand Sect that very day, not allowing him to set foot in the Zhou family for several decades.

Without a doubt, Zhou Yuanchen had a clear sense of self-awareness. In today's Zhou family, his presence as a Foundation Establishment cultivator wasn't essential, but neither would the family suffer in his absence.

If not for his seniority and some former respectability, the matter of Zhou Guangde would not have been so easily resolved.

Thus, he didn't even mention giving his son a chance to redeem himself; doing so would not only be futile but would completely ruin both his and the Zhou family's relationship.

He had more than just Zhou Guangde as a son and couldn't let one reckless son ruin the future of his other offspring.

Retaining a good relationship with the Zhou family meant that at least when he passed away, Zhouyang would remember this relationship and ensure his bloodline wouldn't be severed at the Yellow Sand Sect.

The lesson from Zhou Guangde's case was also a wake-up call for other Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Zhou family and some Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators who knew the inside story, making them pay more attention to educating their descendants.

Zhouyang was able to deal with Zhou Yuanchen's son in such a manner, not giving face even when Zhou Yuanchen personally came over; needless to say what it meant for the younger generation.

Later, Zhouyang took advantage of the situation with Zhou Guangde to strictly enforce the family discipline, severely punishing some Zhou family members who had damaged the family rules, demonstrating a zero-tolerance attitude towards such behavior.

After this reform movement, the family discipline and ethos of the Zhou Family indeed improved significantly, earning the favor of many loose cultivators and small clan cultivators from outside.

During his rectification of the family style, Zhouyang also dealt with some Zhou family disciples who were bullying others by virtue of their family status.

These Zhou family disciples, without much ability of their own, often used the identity of Zhou family cultivators to act arrogantly in front of loose cultivators and small clan cultivators, even resorting to robbery and murder.

However, these people acted secretly, and without any victims coming forward to complain, and without a thorough investigation by the Zhou family, no one knew about these things.

But this time, during Zhouyang's family style rectification, when these scoundrels were caught, under the use of the "Heart Inquiry Skill," they confessed to all the evil deeds they had done.

For any cultivators who engaged in such acts of robbery and murder, Zhouyang, regardless of whose son or grandson they were, immediately killed them on the spot and erased their names from the genealogy, not allowing their spiritual tablets to enter the Zhou Family's Ancestral Hall after death.

This kind of affair could be considered a family scandal, and Zhouyang did not deliberately publicize it.

However, the Zhou family is currently very prominent, with countless eyes watching them, and such events witnessed by many Zhou family cultivators naturally spread quickly beyond the clan.

Some cultivators from jealous cultivation clans, upon hearing these events, couldn't help but ridicule the Zhou family's lack of strict family discipline, even attempting to tarnish Zhouyang's reputation.

But for those loose cultivators and small clan cultivators, Zhouyang's actions made them feel immensely satisfied and vindicated, praising his act of sacrificing personal connections for the greater good, and they became even more willing to interact with the Zhou family.

Simply put, such acts of robbery and murder were not exclusive to the Zhou family; other cultivation clans and even many loose cultivators would engage in them if given the chance.

Anyone who had been in the Cultivation Realm for some years would know this fact.

Now, Zhouyang showed the courage to directly deal with his family members involved in such activities, whether he was putting on a show or genuinely detested evil acts, he could still win the goodwill of outsiders.

After all, even bad people prefer to deal with good people.

In the eyes of many cultivators, Zhouyang is synonymous with the Zhou Family.