Cultivation Begins From The Desert

The newborn infant is still very weak, and for the sake of the baby's health, it is generally not tested for the Spiritual Root at this time. Only when the baby is one month old and the body starts to develop can it withstand the 'Spirit Testing Technique'.

However, Zhouyang's 'Separation Fire Golden Eye' Divine Technique can see the Spiritual Root Talent of low-tier cultivators from a distance, so it's naturally unrestricted by this aspect.

After Zhou Guangxiang finished naming his son Zhou Tongxuan, Zhouyang cast his Divine Technique to look at the baby in Zhou Guangxiang's hands.

The result brought him a great sense of relief.

This newborn baby not only possesses a Spiritual Root, but also has a Wind Attribute Middle-grade Spiritual Root Talent.

Although this Spiritual Root Talent is not as good as his father Zhou Guangxiang's Top-grade Spiritual Root Talent, it ranks in the top ten among the Zhou Family's over seven hundred cultivators.

With such Spiritual Root Talent and having a Purple Mansion Stage father and a Foundation Establishment Stage mother, the infant Zhou Tongxuan will have no problem becoming a Foundation Establishment Cultivator with just a little effort, and might even look forward to reaching the Purple Mansion Stage.

Zhou Guangxiang was also aware of the effects of Zhouyang's 'Separation Fire Golden Eye' Divine Technique, and seeing him observe his son, he immediately became anxious.

After Zhouyang retracted his Divine Technique, Zhou Guangxiang nervously whispered, "How is it, Ninth Uncle? Does my child have a Spiritual Root?"

The moment he asked, not only did his breathing stop, but Liu Xuanxuan beside him also held hers.

Even though both parents are cultivators, it does not necessarily mean the child will have a Spiritual Root.

Spiritual Roots are only guaranteed for the descendants of Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators. Even descendants of Golden Core Stage Cultivators could still be mere mortals.

Therefore, after a child is born, every parent who is a cultivator feels anxious when testing for the child's Spiritual Root, fearing disappointing results.

Although Zhouyang had never been a father, he understood the mood of Zhou Guangxiang and his wife, and he had no intention of teasing them. Smiling, he directly congratulated them, "Congratulations! This child not only has a Spiritual Root but a Wind Attribute Middle-grade Spiritual Root Talent."

Whoo—

Both Zhou Guangxiang and Liu Xuanxuan exhaled a sigh of relief, and their faces immediately broke into smiles.

Afterwards, Zhou Guangxiang and his wife naturally took the child out to share the joy with other clan members who came to congratulate them.

Meanwhile, Zhouyang left Red Tiger Mountain silently and returned to Rhino Horn Continent.

He had long discussed with Zhou Guangxiang to start migrating mortals once the Rhino Horn Continent and the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm were officially connected.

The Zhou Family's caravan is now transporting grain to those artificial oases, and once all twenty-five artificial oases are interconnected, the migrating mortals will use each oasis as a supply station, taking four to five years to complete the long journey.

It is predictable that many mortals will perish on this long migratory path.

But as long as they reach Rhino Horn Continent alive, their children and grandchildren will benefit from the advantages of this great migration.

Arable land is always the greatest wealth for mortals.

In the Boundless Desert Sea, such land is particularly precious.

The fertile land on Rhino Horn Continent is currently ownerless, and any mortal who migrates here can freely claim land for farming with all harvested grain belonging to them.

In contrast, in already fully developed and densely populated oases like Yuquan Lake Oasis, all arable land is owned by the clan, and every mortal family receives grain distribution based on household or personnel, so even the most diligent farmer can only receive enough food for three people annually.

Besides migrating mortals, once the connection between Rhino Horn Continent and the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm is complete, Zhouyang will initiate a major reform within the Zhou Family, affecting all Zhou Family cultivators.

Over a dozen days later, Zhouyang returned to Lingxi Peak on Rhino Horn Continent, informed his Dao companion Xiao Ying and disciple Lu Xuewei of Liu Xuanxuan giving birth to a son, then proceeded to continue cultivation in the Seclusion Chamber.

In the past few decades, the Zhou Family had been involved in numerous major and minor affairs, many of which required his decision-making as the pillar and leader, making it difficult for him to enter seclusion lightly.

But now, the Zhou Family had grown into a giant in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm untouchable by anyone, so even if he went into seclusion for ten or twenty years, it wouldn't affect the clan's operations.

This time, his seclusion became the longest in his life.

Fifteen years, a full fifteen years!

After being in seclusion for fifteen years, he finally emerged successfully.

By then, his cultivation had reached the Seventh Layer of the Purple Mansion, officially entering the ranks of Late-Stage Purple Mansion.

"The path of cultivation indeed becomes increasingly difficult to advance in realm as one progresses!"

"This time, to breakthrough to the Late-stage Purple Mansion, I spent over twenty years in total seclusion and used Spirit Pills worth nearly ten thousand Spirit Stones, and this was accomplished while residing on a Tier Five Spiritual Vein and using Tier Four Jade Essence to aid cultivation speed!"

"But now I've run out of spirit pills to enhance my cultivation. Even with the assistance of a Tier Five Spiritual Vein and the Tier Four Jade Essence to boost my cultivation speed, it will probably take seventy or eighty years of hard work to reach the Ninth Layer of the Purple Mansion!"

Zhouyang thought of all the spirit pills he had used to enhance his cultivation over the years, and his expression became somewhat grim.

He originally possessed quite a variety of spirit pills for enhancing cultivation, especially during his journey through the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm. He had killed more than a handful of Purple Mansion Stage cultivators, including two Tier Four alchemists.

Moreover, later he was introduced by Xu Zhengyang and exchanged some Tier Four spirit pills with high-tier alchemists from the Profound Sun Immortal Sect.

He initially believed that having these Tier Four spirit pills would be enough to support his cultivation up to the Ninth Layer of the Purple Mansion.

But now the facts proved that he had underestimated the difficulty of cultivation at the Purple Mansion stage, or you could say, he overestimated his cultivation speed.

Originally, being endowed with the "Qianyang Treasure Body," his cultivation speed during the Qi Cultivation Stage and Foundation Establishment Stage was comparable to cultivators with a Top-grade Spiritual Root.

However, upon reaching the Purple Mansion stage, even Xiao Ying with her Top-grade Spiritual Root had to spend over twenty years to increase one layer of cultivation, let alone himself with a Middle-grade Spirit Root Talent.

When his cultivation was low, he could still rely on various elixirs to advance swiftly, breaking through continuously.

But as his cultivation level increased, the time and spirit pills required for each breakthrough grew exponentially, far beyond his previous expectations.

He initially thought he could reach the Ninth Layer of the Purple Mansion before turning two hundred and fifty, based on the premise of having abundant spirit pills to enhance his cultivation.

Yet now, at already two hundred and three years old, he realized that achieving this goal in the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm was basically impossible.

"Fifteen years have passed, and Rhino Horn Continent should have officially connected with the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm, so as long as I complete that transformative matter, I'll be able to venture out again to seek opportunities!"

Zhouyang murmured to himself, unconsciously standing up and exiting the seclusion chamber.

Upon coming outside, he learned that his Dao Companion Xiao Ying had also entered seclusion two years earlier, preparing to break through to the Fourth Layer of the Purple Mansion.

Currently, the highest authority on Lingxi Peak was instead his youngest disciple Lu Xuewei.

Lu Xuewei was already sixty-six years old this year, and her cultivation had reached the Fourth Layer of Foundation Establishment.

After coming out of Xiao Ying's bedroom, Zhouyang went to the Cold Spring to find her.

However, since she was absorbing the cold aura from the Cold Spring at that time, Zhouyang did not disturb her, but instead observed her situation from afar.

He saw Lu Xuewei, seated cross-legged on an ice lotus within the Cold Spring, forming seals with both hands. With each breath, strands of white cold air emanated from the Cold Spring, absorbed into her body and refined.

As the amount of cold air she absorbed increased, layers of white frost gradually covered her entire body, almost freezing her solid.

Zhouyang knew that this was a unique phenomenon during the cultivation of the "Ice Soul Scripture" practiced by Lu Xuewei.

If Lu Xuewei in the future successfully established her Purple Mansion, when she channels her cultivation, a layer of solid ice would envelop her.

At that time, even if attacked during seclusion, the solid ice could help her resist the enemy's attacks, gaining a chance to retaliate.

"This Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm is indeed unsuitable for cultivators like Xuewei who possess an Ice Spiritual Root. Otherwise, with her Top-grade Spiritual Root Talent, she might have had the chance to establish her Purple Mansion before a hundred years of age, but why is she still at the Fourth Layer of Foundation Establishment!"

Zhouyang looked on from afar, sighing repeatedly in his heart.

The environment of the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm was indeed a major issue, not only making it difficult for cultivators of ice element techniques and water element techniques to find suitable environments for cultivation but also posing some limitations for wood element technique cultivators like Xiao Ying.

The environment here is most suitable for cultivators practicing metal, fire, earth, and wind element techniques.

The spiritual attribute of the Tier Five Spiritual Vein on Lingxi Peak itself leans towards earth and metal elements, making it suitable for Zhouyang to cultivate, but the effects for Lu Xuewei, who practices ice element techniques, are very poor.

If not for the cold aura emitted by this Cold Spring aiding her cultivation, the effects of Lu Xuewei's cultivation here might not even match the Tier Four High-Grade Spiritual Vein on Red Tiger Mountain, which is more balanced in the five elements.

It should be noted that due to the high grade of the Spiritual Vein reaching Tier Five Lower Grade, unless the Zhou Family paid millions of Low-grade Spirit Stones to raise the Spirit Vein's grade to Tier Five Middle Grade, it would be impossible to transform the Spiritual Vein of Lingxi Peak into a balanced five-element Spiritual Vein.

After observing Lu Xuewei for a while, Zhouyang realized she wouldn't be finishing her cultivation anytime soon, so he didn't wait and directly left the cave dwelling to inspect the changes outside.

Outside the cave dwelling, he discovered that in fifteen years, Lingxi Peak had indeed undergone significant changes.

Originally, Lingxi Peak, despite being a Tier Five Spirit Mountain, was barren, with only some resilient weeds surviving, and it was challenging to see any trees.

However, fifteen years later, Zhou Family cultivators had already established numerous palace pavilion buildings on both the mountain and at its base, and they had cleared rocks, laid soil, and planted a large number of low-tier Spirit Grasses and Spirit Woods that were easy to grow.

At a glance, although this Spirit Mountain was still far from being like an Immortal Mountain Blessed Land, at least it appeared much more agreeable than before, and a lot more vibrant with life.