Cultivation Begins From The Desert

The oasis where the Three-tailed Demon Fox was hiding was only a few thousand mu in size. Apart from a shallow water pool about half a mu in size, there were only some common desert plants. Zhouyang did not find any trace of a spirit vein aboveground.

However, he knew there must be a spirit vein here; otherwise, the Three-tailed Demon Fox wouldn't have made its lair here.

Thus, after hearing what Xu Song said, he immediately delved underground to investigate.

A moment later, he emerged from the ground with a white stone in his hand, looking at Xu Song with excitement and said, "It's a Forbidden God Stone ore vein. I did not expect there to be a Forbidden God Stone ore vein down here!"

The Forbidden God Stone is a Tier Three spiritual object, which has a strong isolating effect on a cultivator's divine sense. It's an excellent material used to build treasure vaults and construct buildings like auction houses.

Back when Zhouyang participated in an auction in Immortal Sun City, the Treasure Tower used for the event was constructed with a large amount of Forbidden God Stone.

As Zhouyang knew, the only small Forbidden God Stone ore vein in the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm was controlled by the Yellow Sand Sect, but that ore vein was exhausted hundreds of years ago.

This means that, apart from the Forbidden God Stone ore vein he just discovered, there are no other ore veins left in the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm.

"So it's a Forbidden God Stone ore vein. No wonder it almost cut off my connection with the Wolf Soul."

Xu Song looked at the white ore in Zhouyang's hand, nodded in realization, understanding the situation.

"Not only is there a Forbidden God Stone ore vein, but there's also a Tier Three high-grade spirit vein underneath. That demon fox is rather good at choosing hiding places."

Zhouyang mentioned this as he recalled the unique oasis at Red Fox Ridge.

This oasis, hidden by a natural illusion array, used to be the dwelling place of the Three-tailed Demon Fox.

"Could it be that the Three-tailed Demon Fox has some treasure-seeking ability?"

He thought to himself but shook his head, dismissing the thought.

Whether the Three-tailed Demon Fox had a treasure-seeking ability or not was no longer relevant since it was already dead.

Immediately, Zhouyang took his findings back to Red Fox Ridge and informed Zhou Guangxiang of the location of the oasis hiding the Forbidden God Stone ore vein, instructing him to arrange manpower to mine it immediately.

Spiritual ore like the Forbidden God Stone, belonging to Tier Three spiritual objects, can only be mined by cultivators. Mortals cannot break this hard ore, so the Zhou Family didn't need to establish an oasis there but simply recruited a batch of loose cultivators as miners to excavate the ore.

After giving these instructions, Zhouyang looked seriously at Zhou Guangxiang and said, "Now that the demon fox is vanquished, Guangtai's revenge is fulfilled. But we must attend well to the compensation and rewards for his descendants, not letting the clan members grow cold-hearted."

"Rest assured, Ninth Uncle, I've already planned the compensation for Guangtai and them," Zhou Guangxiang replied without hesitation, following Zhouyang's lead.

"Guangtai was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, and he fell protecting the family's legacy. Naturally, the family must compensate heavily."

"I know he had a grandson with a middle-grade spirit root talent. He had planned to give this grandson his slot for exchanging for a Foundation Establishment Pill. Since he fell, the family will reward his grandson with a Foundation Establishment Pill and allow his sons and grandsons to divide his estate."

"As for other Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators, as long as there are descendants or blood relatives, the family will give them two to five thousand clan contribution points based on their age at the time of their passing. What do you think, Ninth Uncle?"

Zhou Guangxiang glanced at Zhouyang and revealed the compensation plan he had already devised.

Since Zhouyang took over as clan leader, the Zhou Family has always been generous in compensating clan cultivators who sacrificed for the public good.

According to the compensation rules he established, any clan cultivator who died meeting the public sacrifice criteria would be granted a minimum of two thousand points in compensation.

Then, based on the age and cultivation of the sacrificing cultivator at the time, the clan would convert all the contribution points they could receive in the coming years into compensation for their descendants.

For example, a Zhou Family cultivator with fifth-layer Qi Cultivation who died at the age of forty would have their descendants receive a compensation sum of two thousand plus the clan contributions they could have received for the next twenty years, totaling three thousand in compensation.

At that time, this compensation system only applied to Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators. As there was no prior precedent for Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators in the Zhou Family, when Zhouyang established the compensation system, he hadn't considered how to compensate and didn't create a plan.

Upon hearing Zhou Guangxiang's compensation plan, Zhouyang was touched and murmured to himself, "So, Foundation Establishment cultivators bequeath a Foundation Establishment Pill to their descendants in public sacrifice?"

The value of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator is certainly more than a single Foundation Establishment Pill.

From this perspective, using a Foundation Establishment Pill as compensation for the descendants of Foundation Establishment cultivators who died in service is quite reasonable.

"Alright, let's follow the standards you've set. From now on, for all Foundation Establishment Cultivators who sacrifice their lives for the clan, the compensation will follow these standards!"

Zhouyang pondered for a long time, and finally agreed to Zhou Guangxiang's compensation plan.

Only generous rewards can make people willingly sacrifice their lives for the clan.

If the Zhou Family can ensure that the descendants of Foundation Establishment Cultivators who die in service receive a Foundation Establishment Pill, then the chances of those cultivators deserting or betraying in the face of life-or-death danger will undoubtedly be greatly reduced.

Zhouyang understood the importance of this matter, which is why he agreed to Zhou Guangxiang's plan.

After agreeing to the plan, he seemed to recall something and suddenly looked at Zhou Guangxiang and asked, "By the way, it's been five years, haven't you and Xuanxuan had any children yet?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Guangxiang's face immediately lit up with smiles, and he said with great joy, "Yes, Xuanxuan became pregnant with a male baby more than half a year ago. Based on the timeline, it should be born in no more than three months!"

Upon hearing this, Zhouyang was overjoyed and couldn't help but exclaim repeatedly, "Good, good! In that case, Ninth Uncle will not return to Rhino Horn Continent yet. It won't be too late to go back after your child is born."

He had been waiting for this day for a long time, and now hearing this joyous news, he finally felt a weight lifted off his chest.

Subsequently, Zhouyang and Zhou Guangxiang returned to the Red Tiger Mountain Oasis together, while Xu Song purposely stayed behind to study the natural illusion array outside the Red Fox Ridge Oasis, to see if he could gain new insights into arrays from it.

In the Cultivation Realm, many arrays are created by senior Array Masters who gain inspiration from various natural danger zones. A natural illusion array like this is as enticing to Array Masters as Heaven and Earth Spiritual Fire is to Artifact Refiners.

"In the past five years, the clan has exchanged five Foundation Establishment Pills, but unfortunately, only two people successfully established foundations. One is a member of the clan, Zhou Tonghua, and the other is a foreign relative cultivator!"

While flying back to Red Tiger Mountain, Zhou Guangxiang and Zhouyang discussed who should replace the late Zhou Guangtai in overseeing the Red Fox Ridge Oasis and briefly mentioned the Zhou Family's developments over the years, including the two newly successful foundation establishment cultivators.

"Oh, a foreign relative cultivator exchanged a Foundation Establishment Pill to establish foundation? Who is their Dao Companion?"

Zhouyang looked at Zhou Guangxiang in surprise and asked, genuinely curious about the matter.

Although foreign relative cultivators of the Zhou Family can enjoy most of the benefits of Zhou Clan Members, including exchanging Foundation Establishment Pills and other precious treasures,

the privileges for foreign relative cultivators are notably lower than those for Zhou Clan Members. It's no easy feat to gather enough clan contribution points to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

"It's the Dao Companion chosen by Aunt Yuan Yao three years ago. The Foundation Establishment Pill used for their foundation establishment was exchanged by Aunt Yuan Yao with her own clan contribution points."

Zhou Guangxiang glanced at Zhouyang with a flicker in his eyes and whispered the answer.

He was actually older than Zhou Yuanyao, so he of course knew about the past feelings between Zhou Yuanyao and Zhouyang, which is why his expression was somewhat peculiar at the moment, and understandably so.

And Zhouyang was indeed taken aback upon hearing the news.

Finding out that Zhou Yuanyao had chosen someone she liked as a Dao Companion made him happy as her brother.

But Zhou Yuanyao became someone's Dao Companion without even informing him as her brother, nor inviting him to officiate the wedding, leaving him with a somewhat bitter feeling.

However, he only hesitated for a moment before regaining his composure and then, with a complex expression, looked at Zhou Guangxiang and asked, "What is his name? What is his background? How is his character?"

"His name is Pang River, sixty years old, has a Gold and Fire dual-attribute middle-grade spiritual root talent, his father is a Foundation Establishment Loose Cultivator, his character is quite good, open and generous, making him a worthy acquaintance."

Zhou Guangxiang, as if expecting these questions, immediately detailed the situation of Zhou Yuanyao's Dao Companion.

After explaining, he proactively added, "Aunt Yuan Yao went out to relax three and a half years ago and coincidentally met Pang River. She was attracted by his courageous act of helping weak loose cultivators and quickly became emotionally involved, forming a Dao Companion relationship with him and exchanged a Foundation Establishment Pill for him to use for foundation establishment."

After speaking, he took a discreet look at Zhouyang's face and, seeing no significant change in Zhouyang's expression, cautiously continued, "Moreover, after Aunt Yuan Yao formally commenced combined dual cultivation with Uncle Pang, she birthed a daughter with lower-grade spiritual root talent last year, named Zhou Guangying!"

Zhouyang's expression finally changed slightly, a bitter smile flashed across his face, and he couldn't help but murmur to himself, "Guangying, Guangying, does she still somewhat resent Ying'Er in her heart?"

Zhou Guangxiang dared not respond to this remark and simply stared straight ahead, pretending he hadn't heard anything.

Fortunately, Zhouyang didn't dwell too much on this matter and soon returned to normal, looking at Zhou Guangxiang and saying, "I understand. Since the Purple Cloud Fruit vine at Red Fox Ridge has been destroyed by the demon fox, this place is no longer of much importance to the clan. From now on, the places where Foundation Establishment Cultivators are stationed will be in the Yuquan Lake Oasis. Let Yuan Yao and her husband reside at the Yuquan Lake Oasis."

"After all, Yuan Yao is the legitimate direct descendant of the late Clan Leader. After the announcement of that matter, the responsibility of Yuquan Lake Oasis should be handed over to her line."