Beast-controlling fairy clan.

Chapter 424: First Hearing of the Meta-Demon Realm [Subscription Request]

In fact, if Lin Hongyu had not come to Tianyuan Fairy City, Zhou Chunben had planned to find time to return to the family and return the Foundation Establishment Pill in his hand.

But now that Lin Hongyu has come to Tianyuan Fairy City, Zhou Chun naturally doesn't need to waste time making another trip.

After handing the Foundation Establishment Pill to Lin Hongyu, he wrote a few family letters on the spot and asked her to take them back to his elders and relatives, then said goodbye and left.

After returning to the cave, Zhou Chun took out the letters from home that Lin Hongyu brought and began to check them one by one.

There are three family letters in total, written by Zhou Mingde, Zhou Daoyi and Su Yuzhen respectively.

In Zhou Mingde's family letter, he was mainly concerned about Zhou Chun's cultivation, and also mentioned some important things that had happened in the Jingguo and Fengguo cultivation circles in the past ten years.

Zhou Daoyi's family letters were written by himself, mainly describing the subtle changes in the Zhou family's development over the years, including various data, etc. The content is the most lengthy, with tens of thousands of words.

Su Yuzhen's letters home are real family letters. They express his longing for his fellow Taoist partner and some changes in the Su family.

The first thing Zhou Chun read was Su Yuzhen's letter home.

Leaving aside the words of longing and concern in this family letter, there are two most valuable pieces of information. One is that Su Yuzhen's aunt, Su Yunniang, has successfully formed a golden elixir and has become a Jindan-stage elder of the Yuelun Sect.

Because of this incident, the status of the Jiangzhou Su family suddenly became even higher, and they were even known as the number one immortal cultivation family in Jingguo.

After all, no other Jindan family has two Jindan-stage cultivators.

One was that the Su family held a celebration ceremony to celebrate Su Yunniang's success in forming a golden elixir, and invited cultivators from the Zhou family and other in-law families to participate. They also let the younger generations of each family compete in martial arts competitions and gave out a lot of prizes.

Among the Qi Refining juniors of the Zhou family, a junior named Zhou Sizhen actually won the first place in the Qi Refining stage and took away the prize of the "Foundation Building Pill" prepared by the Su family.

The Su family's ancestor felt somewhat ashamed for this, and severely reprimanded the younger generations of the Su family. He also cursed Zhou Chun in private in front of Su Yuzhen.

Su Yuzhen only wrote this matter as an interesting story, saying that the ancestor of the Su family actually had no intention of blaming the Zhou family, but just hated them for not fighting back.

"I didn't expect that my aunt Su Yunniang actually succeeded in forming a pill. This is really a happy event!"

"And this kid Si Zhen, if I remember correctly, he seems to have the same wind-attributed spiritual root aptitude as Xu Fu, but his spiritual root is of a lower grade, only a medium-grade spiritual root. I didn't expect that he would be able to shine this time!"

Zhou Chun put down the letter from home and couldn't help but smile slightly when he thought about its contents.

After all, he and Su Yuzhen are Taoist companions. The success of Su Yunniang, Su Yuzhen's aunt, in forming the golden elixir means that he has another elder in the golden elixir stage, which is naturally a good thing.

Zhou Sizhen, a younger generation, won the first place in the martial arts competition held by the Su family. Not only did he greatly enhance the reputation of the Zhou family, but he also won a great benefit for himself. Zhou Chun, as the patriarch, was also happy for him.

Next, Zhou Chun checked the family letters of Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi one after another.

After watching like this for an unknown amount of time, Zhou Chun finally withdrew his consciousness. With a slightly solemn expression, he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to think.

A lot of things can happen to a family over a decade, both good and bad.

Over the past decade or so, the Zhou family has generally shown an upward development momentum.

Especially with the full expansion of the express delivery business, the Zhou family has made great progress in both income and reputation.

However, perhaps seeing that the Zhou family was developing too quickly, some forces were unhappy.

In recent years, there have been more and more attacks on Zhou family couriers and transportation teams, causing the Zhou family to lose a lot of manpower and money.

But these are nothing. Now the "Zhou Tong Tian Xia" trading company has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Even if letters and goods are lost due to some attacks, as long as the compensation is in place, many monks will choose to understand.

Even if someone wants to use this to cause trouble and damage the Zhou family's reputation, it is unlikely to be effective.

This is the benefit of first impressions.

However, the two things mentioned in Zhou Mingde's letter made Zhou Chun feel uneasy.

One thing is the actions of Qinglian Temple.

Just five years ago, Qinglian Temple suddenly announced that it would form a joint patrol team to crack down on bandit cultivators in the country.

The top leaders of this joint inspection team are all Purple Mansion cultivators from Qinglian Temple, but the inspection team members are all drawn from various immortal cultivation clans and families.

The Zhou family was also assigned two patrol team members.

And according to Qinglian Temple, the patrol team has the right to recruit monks from the immortal cultivation families under its command to cooperate in combat when enforcing the law.

This approach is equivalent to using people from various immortal cultivation families to form a standing army for Qinglian Temple, and the command is entirely in the hands of Qinglian Temple.

The key point is that Qinglian Temple does not spend a penny, and each family needs to give additional subsidies to the monks who go to the patrol team.

In Zhou Chun's opinion, Qinglian Temple's move was killing two birds with one stone.

Not only did they gain a mid-range combat force that could be deployed anywhere at any time without spending a penny, but they also weakened the development potential of the large and aristocratic families of immortal cultivators.

After all, with a limited number of foundation-building monks, if a few of them are assigned to patrol teams at a time, the remaining foundation-building monks will have to share the tasks with these people, thereby reducing their own training time and the time spent going out to look for opportunities.

That would be fine. In addition to the foundation-building cultivators, the Zhou family also has many useful second-level monsters, so they will not be affected too much by this.

But Qinglian Temple would definitely not do such a thing for no reason.

Since they are doing this now, it means there is another intention behind this matter.

Considering that Master Qingxiao's life span was running out, Zhou Chun felt that Qinglian Temple's move might be an advance preparation for the unrest that might occur after Master Qingxiao's death.

The second thing that made Zhou Chun feel uneasy came from Fengguo.

The Corpse Demon Cult of Feng State was originally at an absolute disadvantage under the joint attack of Zhengyang Palace and Jingyang Sect, and its position as the most powerful force in Feng State was about to be shaken.

But who would have thought that suddenly a force would intervene and enter Fengguo to help the Corpse Demon Cult.

The force that helped the Corpse Demon Cult was not a righteous force, but a large force called the "Blood and Bone Sect".

It is said that the disciples of the "Blood and Bone Sect" like to sacrifice and refine magical instruments such as the Blood-Transforming Knife, Blood-Transforming Sword, Blood-Transforming Banner, and White Bone War Puppets. These magical instruments have the potential to grow after being refined through the special secret methods of the "Blood and Bone Sect". They can grow by absorbing the essence, blood, and vitality of cultivators, and can even grow into magic weapons!

After receiving this help, the Corpse Demon Cult not only withstood the offensive of the Zhengyang Palace and the Jingyang Faction, but even showed signs of counterattacking.

According to the information revealed by Zhengyang Palace, the "Blood Bone Sect" is a force from the Yuanmo Realm west of Feng State. The inheritance of the Corpse Demon Cult also comes from the Yuanmo Realm. They believe that this is an invasion of the Tianling Realm by the Yuanmo Realm.

It is said that they have begun to convene Yuanying stage masters from all the Tianling countries to discuss, demanding a joint military effort to eradicate the two major evils, the Blood and Bone Sect and the Corpse Demon Sect, and completely cut off the minions of the Yuanmo Realm that have extended into the Tianling Realm.

This was also the first time Zhou Chun heard of the Yuanmo Realm, a place for cultivating immortals!

According to what Zhou Mingde said in the jade slip, the Yuanmo Realm and the Tianling Realm are not actually directly adjacent to each other. The two sides were originally separated by a vast desert that was tens of thousands of miles long, and only Jindan-stage cultivators could cross that area.

Precisely because of the existence of such a vast desert of absolute spirits, even many cultivators from Feng Country, which is adjacent to the absolute desert, are unaware of the existence of the Yuanmo Realm.

But no one expected that the Yuanmo Realm, which had kept peace with the Tianling Realm for many years, would suddenly invade the Tianling Realm.

Moreover, the inheritance of the Corpse Demon Cult actually came from the Yuanmo Realm, and now it can be said that it has become the guide of the Yuanmo Realm!
"This is really a mess, the waters of Feng Country are becoming more and more muddy!"

Zhou Chun couldn't help but sigh, feeling the situation was getting tricky.

Although it is only Feng State that is in chaos at the moment, everyone knows that if the Yuanmo Realm really wants to invade the Tianling Realm, then Jing State, which is adjacent to Feng State, will definitely not be able to escape.

Not to mention Jingguo, even Chengguo, Shenguo and other countries that belong to the same realm of heaven and earth will not be able to escape.

After all, the war capabilities of the immortal cultivation world far exceed those of a sect like the Hualong Sect.

"I hope the war won't come too soon, so I can have a few more decades to prepare!"

Zhou Chun said silently, but did not dare to hold too much hope.

But in this way, the things he came to the Great Zhou Kingdom to do should be completed faster.

If there are enough elixirs prepared, even if a war really breaks out, he can find an opportunity to take the elixirs to improve his cultivation.

There is also the magical material "Yellow Dragon Stone". If enough of it is gathered to successfully complete the forbidden formation of the Nine Palaces Yellow Dragon Formation, the Zhou family will truly have an unbreakable mountain gate and will not have to worry about harassment from enemy personnel behind enemy lines during the war.

In view of this, Zhou Chun pondered for a moment and then went to visit Luo Qingni's cave.

"You want me to help you exchange for magical materials like [Yellow Dragon Stone]?"

In "Qingni Residence", after Luo Qingni learned the purpose of Zhou Chun's visit, she was slightly stunned and was very surprised by his request.

After all, she is only a master of alchemy, not a master of refining equipment. Wouldn't it be more appropriate to ask the masters of refining equipment to find magical weapons and spiritual materials?

Zhou Chun saw her expression change and knew that this matter was a bit embarrassing, but he still said: "Zhang also knows that this matter is a bit difficult, but Zhang is really anxious to exchange for this item now. If Luo Daoyou can help, Zhang will definitely reward you generously!"

"Well, since Fellow Daoist Zhang has said so, Qing Ni will give it a try. However, magical materials like the Yellow Dragon Stone have many uses, and those who own them may not be willing to exchange them easily. Fellow Daoist Zhang must come up with something that can impress others!"

Luo Qingni looked at Zhou Chun, hesitated for a while, and finally agreed.

"Thank you, Brother Luo!"

Zhou Chun bowed slightly and saluted deeply to express his gratitude.

Then he immediately took out a prepared exchange list and handed it to Luo Qingni.

On this list, he listed all the things he had that he could exchange, including many spiritual medicines produced by ancient ruins. If he took these things out to exchange with others, it might easily arouse suspicion.

But if it was taken out by Luo Qingni, a master alchemist in the Jindan stage, and exchanged with others, there would be no doubt.

Luo Qingni should have already seen through the spirit wood core that he had obtained the opportunity in the ancient ruins, so after looking through the items on the list, she just looked at him deeply, nodded, and accepted the list.

However, Zhou Chun did not place all his hopes on Luo Qingni, so after leaving "Qingni Residence", he went to "Tianzhi Tower" again and bought information on high-end auctions and exchanges to be held in major markets within the Great Zhou Kingdom, in case Luo Qingni didn't perform well, he would try his luck at the auctions and exchanges.

Originally, he could have gone to the well-known chambers of commerce in Tianyuan Fairy City to make an appointment to order the [Yellow Dragon Stone], because sometimes these magical materials would indeed leak into the market.

However, considering his cultivation level of the middle stage of Purple Mansion and the dedication of those weapon-refining masters in the city to refining magic weapons, he gave up the idea.

If he really wanted to compete in the Chamber of Commerce shop, he would definitely not be able to compete with those weapon refining masters and Jindan stage cultivators.

At this time, the benefits of Zhou Chun's choice to make friends with Luo Qingni, the Jindan-stage alchemy master, became apparent.

With Luo Qingni helping him mobilize his network of contacts to collect the [Yellow Dragon Stone], only three months had passed and he had received responses from three places.

"Brother Zhang, keep these two pieces of [Yellow Dragon Stone]. As for the Xiahou family's request, whether or not you agree to it is up to you!"

Inside "Qingni Residence", Luo Qingni waved her hand, and the two exchanged [Yellow Dragon Stones] were handed to Zhou Chun by her, and she explained the exchange process.

It turned out that out of the three responses she received, two accepted the exchange of treasures on the list given by Zhou Chun.

However, there was a family of immortal cultivators, the Xiahou family, who did not want to exchange treasures, but instead wanted to use the [Yellow Dragon Stone] as a reward, and asked Zhou Chun to help them kill a purple mansion period bandit cultivator.

Luo Qingni couldn't make the decision on this matter herself, so she could only let Zhou Chun decide for himself.

"Zhang understands. Thank you again for your help, Brother Luo!"

Zhou Chun bowed again to express his gratitude, then took the things and returned to his cave.

After returning to the cave, Zhou Chun took out three pieces of [Yellow Dragon Stone] and compared them. He found that it was still one-fifth short of the number required by the [Nine Palaces Yellow Dragon Formation].

The feeling of being just one step away from success is really uncomfortable.

Zhou Chun took the three pieces of [Yellow Dragon Stone] in his hands and examined them repeatedly. Finally, he had to put them down and sighed helplessly: "Why is it just a little bit short? It seems that I really have to be someone's thug for once!"

He is not a collector, but collecting [Yellow Dragon Stone] is indeed very important to the Zhou family.

Especially under the current circumstances, this matter cannot afford to make any mistakes.

For this reason, he had no choice but to accept being a thug!

Immediately, after Zhou Chun made up his mind, he went to "Tianzhi Tower" again and bought a first-class intelligence file about the Xiahou family.

Otherwise, how can we say that the Great Zhou Kingdom is the Great Zhou Kingdom!

Before this, Zhou Chun had never heard of the name of the Xiahou family.

But after reading the intelligence information of "Tianzhi Tower", he discovered that this was actually a Jindan family with a history of more than 2,000 years. The family once had three Jindan-stage cultivators at the same time.

However, the Xiahou family has fallen into decline now, with only one Jindan-stage cultivator barely maintaining the status of a Jindan family.

According to the information provided by Luo Qingni, the bandit cultivator that the Xiahou family wanted to ask for help in hunting down was a cultivator in the late Purple Mansion stage.

That fellow was so daring that he actually used the method of replenishing yin with yang to kill a purple-mansion female cultivator from the Xiahou family who had top-grade spiritual roots and the potential to become a golden elixir, and he made it known to everyone.

The Xiahou family is a Jindan family with a history of more than 2,000 years. They are also a well-known force in the local area. How could they tolerate such humiliation!
Therefore, the Xiahou family did not hesitate to use their wealth, took out many of the family's treasures, and offered a reward for hunting down the bandit.

But that man was really capable. He had escaped the pursuit several times and now had fled into the Black Mist Swamp, causing the Xiahou family to lose track of him.

"Hei Wu Ze, it really is fate!"

Zhou Chun narrowed his eyes slightly, and an idea gradually came to his mind.

He quickly went to Luo Qingni, got a letter of introduction from her, and handed her the two dragon-born monster inner cores in his hand, letting her handle it herself.

Then he took the letter of introduction and rushed straight to the Xiahou family's mountain gate headquarters.

Before leaving, in order to prevent himself from being held up by this matter for a long time, Zhou Chun specially renewed the rent of the cave for a few more years, and left a message to the evolving stone that he had to go out for something, in case it woke up and didn't see him and ran around in a hurry.

About half a month after leaving Tianyuan Fairy City, Zhou Chun arrived at the Xiahou family's mountain gate residence.

As a Jindan family with a heritage of more than two thousand years, the Xiahou family's mountain gate residence is quite good. Not only does it cover a large area, but the concentration of spiritual energy is also very high.

After Zhou Chun arrived with Luo Qingni's letter of introduction, he was soon received by Xiahou Bao, the Jindan cultivator of the Xiahou family.

The pillar of the Xiahou family is a cultivator in the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm. Judging from his age, he should be quite old, with white hair already growing on his head.

After reading Luo Qingni's letter of introduction, Xiahou Bao looked at Zhou Chun with a puzzled look and asked, "Fellow Daoist Zhang, are you going to hunt down that villain Murong Luo by yourself? Did you know that he is a late Purple Mansion cultivator?"

Hearing his words, Zhou Chun immediately replied calmly: "Senior Xiahou, I understand your concerns, but since I dare to take this mission, I must have my support."

Hearing this, Xiahou Bao couldn't help but look at Zhou Chun deeply, then nodded and said: "Well, since Fellow Daoist Zhang is so confident, I will naturally not refuse."

Seeing that he agreed, Zhou Chun immediately clasped his fists and bowed, saying, "Thank you, Senior Xiahou, for your understanding. However, I am a little daring and would like to take a look at the size of the [Yellow Dragon Stone] of the Xiahou family first. I wonder if Senior Xiahou can accommodate me?"

"This is a trivial matter. I will have someone bring the things for you to examine."

As Xiahou Bao spoke, he gave an order to a Xiahou family foundation-building cultivator who was serving beside him, asking him to have someone bring the [Yellow Dragon Stone] to his cave.

Less than two quarters of an hour later, a Purple Mansion cultivator from the Xiahou family took out the [Yellow Dragon Stone] from the treasury and brought it to the cave.

Xiahou Bao was also very straightforward. He raised his hand and waved it, bringing the Yellow Dragon Stone to Zhou Chun. “Brother Daoist Zhang, please take a look. This is the Yellow Dragon Stone that my Xiahou family has collected.”

Zhou Chun looked at it carefully and found that this piece of [Yellow Dragon Stone] was probably the largest one he had ever seen. It was even bigger than the one he got at the exchange meeting with Tianzhi Sanren.

Xiahou Bao also introduced at the right time: "This piece of [Yellow Dragon Stone] is very heavy. If it is used to refine some smaller magic weapons, it is enough to refine three times. Even if it is used to refine heavy magic weapons such as Mountain and River Seal and Qiankun Brick, it is completely sufficient. If it is put at the auction, it can be sold for at least 200,000 or 300,000 spirit coins!"

Zhou Chun knew that he was not bragging.

[Yellow Dragon Stone] Although it is not considered a top-level spiritual material, it is widely sought after by Jindan-stage cultivators who practice earth-attributed techniques due to its versatility.

In addition, many forbidden formations also require this item to carve the formation plates and suppress the earth veins.

Therefore, it is really not easy to collect enough of this thing.

After Zhou Chun took a look at it, he nodded and praised: "It is indeed a good treasure!"

Then he said in a deep voice: "Then let's sign the spiritual contract. I will set out to Black Mist Lake to look for Murong Luo later!"

Hearing his words, Xiahou Bao immediately said: "It's fine to sign a spiritual contract, but I want to remind you, Fellow Daoist Zhang, that although Murong Luo's cultivation is only in the late Purple Mansion, his actual means are extraordinary. There may be his accomplices hiding in the Black Mist Lake. If anything happens to you, it has nothing to do with our Xiahou family!"

"That's natural. If something happens to me, I can only blame myself for not being as skilled as others!"

Zhou Chun replied in a very firm tone.

So Xiahou Bao immediately took out the talisman paper, wrote a spiritual contract, and imprinted his own magic power on it.

This kind of bounty spiritual contract does not need to be in duplicate, nor does it require Zhou Chun to leave his own magical mark.

Even after completing the task, he didn't need to come to the Xiahou family again. He just needed to give a notification and the Xiahou family would send someone with the agreed treasure to exchange for Murong Luo's body.

Doing so is also a protection for those who complete the task.

Therefore, after obtaining the spiritual contract, Zhou Chun left the Xiahou family and went straight to the Black Mist Lake.

On the way, Zhou Chun also took the time to read the jade slip that Xiahou Bao gave him, which recorded some intelligence information about the bandit cultivator Murong Luo.

As for his appearance and magical aura, Xiahou Bao had already shown it to him through a magical instrument that could take photos after he obtained the spiritual contract, and he also remembered that aura.

The Xiahou family’s mountain gate was not very far from the Black Mist Lake, and Zhou Chun arrived at the Black Mist Lake in just three days.

According to the information of the Xiahou family, the bandit Murong Luo was most likely a member of the bandit organization in the Black Mist Lake.

It is said that the bandit organization has a secret base in the Black Mist Lake, which contains formations that can purify spiritual energy and poisonous energy.

But this is just a rumor, and no one has been able to actually find the secret base.

But what is certain is that the leader of the bandit organization is a Jindan-stage cultivator!

Therefore, this made it much more difficult for Zhou Chun to kill Murong Luo, and was also the reason why Xiahou Bao was not optimistic about him.

However, everything depends on human efforts. Zhou Chun believed that as long as he found Murong Luo, he would have a chance to kill him.

At the same time, we are also prepared to fight a protracted battle in the Black Mist Lake.

In order to lure out Murong Luo and his accomplices, after Zhou Chun entered the Black Mist Swamp, he did not release the Thunder Dragon to lead the way. Instead, he flew around in the swamp by himself, pretending to be an adventurous cultivator looking for treasure.

Those bandit cultivators were so bold that they dared to attack Purple Mansion Stage cultivators outside, let alone inside the Black Mist Swamp.

(End of this chapter)