Cultivation Begins From The Desert

Except for Flood Dragons and other demon beasts with inherently powerful bloodlines, direct descendants of Tier Five demon beasts must undergo the Celestial Thunder Tribulation when advancing to Tier Five, using its power to purify and elevate their bloodlines.

The "Earth Dragon Worm," like the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle, is a high-tier demon beast that becomes a Tier Four demon beast upon reaching maturity. Its bloodline level is quite high, but to advance to Tier Five, it too must undergo the Celestial Thunder Tribulation.

Zhouyang is not unfamiliar with such demon beasts, because once, at his Foundation Establishment Cultivation stage, he was swallowed whole by an immature "Earth Dragon Worm," almost perishing in its stomach space filled with corrosive acidic fluid.

As fate would have it, the culprits who caused him to be swallowed by the "Earth Dragon Worm" were none other than the parents of the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle he now rides.

And now, he is about to ride the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle to the place where the "Earth Dragon Worm" fell during its Crossing the Tribulation, seeking the leftover remains from its demise.

Zhouyang had not forgotten that it was only a small part of the remains from an immature Tier Three High-Grade demon beast "Earth Dragon Worm" that allowed him to trade for a Foundation Establishment Pill and seventeen thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones.

Later, after investigating the uses of these "Earth Dragon Worm" remains, he did indeed discover some information—that they can be used as key ingredients in refining top-grade Healing Spirit Pills capable of regrowing limbs for cultivators.

"The Earth Dragon Worm naturally possesses the Divine Technique of limb regeneration; otherwise, the one that swallowed Zhouyang wouldn't have used a Tail-Breaking Escape to flee by sacrificing nearly a quarter of its body to escape underground when in danger.

Knowing this, the remains of the "Earth Dragon Worm" that failed in its Crossing the Tribulation hold immense allure for Zhouyang.

It must be understood that demon beasts, when ascending to Tier Five, must undergo the Celestial Thunder Tribulation, aiming to use the vitality of the thunder to help evolve and elevate their bloodlines.

That "Earth Dragon Worm" perished during its Celestial Thunder Tribulation, and its corpse must retain the vitality of the Celestial Thunder. Such remains, when refining pills, might have effects stronger than those from an actual Tier Five "Earth Dragon Worm" remains.

Such a treasure, Zhouyang naturally couldn't let it be wasted by a bunch of demon beasts.

The Golden-winged Thunder Eagle flies extremely fast; the journey that Lu Xuewei took two days to complete was covered in just over half a day when it flew at full speed.

Since less than three days had passed since the "Earth Dragon Worm" underwent its Celestial Thunder Tribulation, Zhouyang's Divine Sense could still feel the lingering power of the thunder at the site, even though it was only a trace, causing him some astonishment.

"Cultivation of the demon races is indeed much more difficult than for humans; among ten demon beasts undergoing the Thunder Tribulation, having one survive is a mercy from the heavens!"

Secretly lamenting the difficulties of cultivation, Zhouyang expanded his Divine Sense, searching meticulously around for clues to the demon beasts that attacked Lu Xuewei.

After searching for a while, Zhouyang found quite a few useful clues.

But he didn't immediately pursue these clues, instead continuing to expand his search.

Finally, after nearly three-quarters of an hour of searching, Zhouyang made a new discovery.

He hovered above what seemed like ordinary sandy ground, then with a wave of his sleeve, a whirlwind formed by Magical Power swept across the ground, blowing away a large amount of yellow sand to reveal a sand-filled hole.

"This is..."

Curious about Zhouyang's actions, Lu Xuewei followed him to take a look at the hole, her beautiful eyes flashing with doubt and a look of uncertainty as she glanced at Zhouyang.

"This is the entrance left by that 'Earth Dragon Worm' when it emerged from the ground."

Meeting his disciple's puzzled gaze, Zhouyang nodded and explained the origin of the hole.

Then a gleam flashed in his eyes as if confirming his speculation or explaining to his disciple, he self-spoke: "For a mature 'Earth Dragon Worm,' only a Tier Four demon beast, to trigger the Celestial Thunder Tribulation and attempt to advance to a Tier Five demon beast, it must have had a huge opportunity to devour some incredible Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures."

"Generally speaking, demon beasts have fixed lairs, and even if they devour Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures outside, they will return to their lairs to digest them."

"Once a demon beast has digested the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, the Celestial Thunder Tribulation will soon follow; do you think it can travel far from its lair to undergo the tribulation?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Xuewei's eyes lit up, filled with excitement, she couldn't help but say: "So, Master, you are suggesting that this hole leads to the lair of that 'Earth Dragon Worm'?"

Zhouyang nodded slightly and said: "There is an eighty percent chance it's its lair, and a twenty percent chance it's the place where it devoured the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures; either way, it's worth exploring."

Upon hearing this, Lu Xuewei became even more excited; whether it's the lair of a Tier Four High-Grade demon beast or a site where it gathered Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures capable of promoting a Tier Four High-Grade demon beast to Tier Five, it would surely bring them substantial gains.

And given Zhouyang's generosity and affection for her as a disciple, if there were gains, she would certainly benefit.

However, after being excited for a while, she regained her composure and remembered the reason she came here; she couldn't help but ask: "But what about those escaped demon beasts? Are we just going to let them go?"

"That's simple; have the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle follow the tracks left on the ground to pursue them. With its power, it can easily deal with those demon beasts!"

Zhouyang said this and then commanded the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle.

The Golden-winged Thunder Eagle has been fed with the "Spirit Awakening Pill" since young, its spiritual wisdom far surpassing many Tier Four Demon Beasts.

Additionally, following Jiang Fengxian's advice, great attention has been given to the enlightenment education of this spirit pet, enabling it to easily understand human language and accurately execute commands.

Upon hearing its master's command, the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle nodded knowingly and, with a cry, spread its wings to chase after the traces left by a certain demon beast on the ground.

"Alright, let's go down too."

Zhouyang watched the departing figure of the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle and then withdrew his gaze, softly calling out to his apprentice.

After speaking, he immediately formed a spell and employed the Earth Escape Technique to dive underground through the cave entrance.

A moment later, the figures of Zhouyang and his apprentice, Lu Xuewei, appeared in an underground tunnel hundreds of feet deep.

The sand only filled a short section of the underground tunnel and exit; after passing through the blocked areas using the Earth Escape Technique, they emerged into this wide underground passage.

"Such dense spiritual qi! Could this underground passage lead to a Tier Five Underground Spiritual Vein?"

Lu Xuewei's beautiful eyes sparkled as she looked at Zhouyang, her expression rather excited.

This kind of adventure in a high-tier demon beast nest was incredibly thrilling for her, a cultivator who usually devoted herself to solitary cultivation at home.

As a result, affected by curiosity, even someone like her, normally disinclined to speak due to cultivation technique reasons, was now filled with a robust thirst for knowledge like a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl.

"It's too early to conclude; though the spiritual qi here is rich, it is at most equivalent to a Tier Three Spiritual Vein. Let's delve deeper to observe."

Zhouyang slightly shook his head, refusing to make rash conclusions, then moved his steps, quickly advancing deeper down the tunnel.

Seeing this, Lu Xuewei naturally swiftly operated the Light Body Technique to follow.

Thus, the two continued to delve further down, encountering increasingly intense concentrations of spiritual qi in the tunnel, and eventually, as Zhouyang and Lu Xuewei reached the tunnel's end, the richness of the spiritual qi here surpassed that of Lingxi Peak, the Tier Five Lower Grade Spirit Mountain!

However, Zhouyang knew that there was no spirit vein here.

"A Spirit Stone Mine, it's a Spirit Stone Mine!"

His face was agitatedly murmuring, eyes gleaming with astonishment.

Zhouyang had previously discovered a spirit stone mine, which was on Rhino Horn Continent, a mine that had been hollowed out by demon beasts, where he had excavated several top-grade spirit stones.

Now, he found yet another spirit stone mine deep underground, whose unknown depth was again revealed!

He extended his divine sense but even with his powerful divine sense, here it could only spread out less than a hundred feet!

This made him even more delighted.

According to the principle that the larger a spirit stone mine is, the greater its suppression of divine sense, the spirit stone mine before him was certainly not smaller than the one he found on Rhino Horn Continent, and likely a medium-sized spirit stone mine with reserves over ten million low-grade spirit stones!

"It's truly a spirit stone mine! Our Zhou Family is about to have its own spirit stone mine!"

Lu Xuewei's beautiful eyes widened, looking around the pitch-black cave walls, filled with shock and delight.

The hollowed-out spirit stone mine on Rhino Horn Continent had always been a sore point for Zhouyang and many Zhou Family cultivators.

If that spirit stone mine hadn't been depleted, the Zhou Family's status as a centuries-old family would truly be solidified.

Lu Xuewei was now part of the Zhou Family's upper echelon, and she naturally understood the significance of a spirit stone mine to the Zhou Family.

Of course, she hadn't forgotten her and Zhouyang's intentions, and after managing her shock, she couldn't help asking Zhouyang: "Master, why would the Earth Dragon Worm nest within the spirit stone mine? Could it be that its opportunity to ascend to Tier Five Demon Beast was found within this spirit stone mine?"

"This even I don't know, but there's a saying that within large spirit stone mines, rare accompanying spiritual objects sometimes appear. Perhaps the Earth Dragon Worm found such an accompanying spiritual object within it, consumed and absorbed it, and thereby triggered the Celestial Thunder Tribulation!"

Zhouyang shook his head, uncertain yet expressed his inner speculation.

Naturally, he wasn't concerned about this matter anymore, for compared to the accompanying spiritual objects likely already devoured by the Earth Dragon Worm, understanding this spirit stone mine's reserves and its depth was of greater importance.

The reserve of a spirit stone mine determines its ultimate value, while its depth dictates the difficulty of its extraction.