Beast-controlling fairy clan.

Chapter 436: The barrier reappears, a new stage of war [Subscription required]

Time flies, and six years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Six years have passed, and the intensity of the war between the two great immortal cultivation worlds has clearly escalated, and some Jindan-stage cultivators have begun to die in the war.

At the same time, the second batch of recruitment targets were also issued to various immortal cultivation families a year ago.

The targets given to the Zhou family this time are more than last time. The Zhou family needs to send a Purple Mansion cultivator and three Foundation Establishment cultivators to serve in the Tianling Legion.

Zhou Daoquan and Zhou Jiapeng, who had served for fifteen years, successfully retired and returned to their families.

As for Zhou Zhengyong, the Zhou family's foundation-building cultivator who originally replaced Zhou Jiahe, he will need to continue serving for fifteen years before he can retire.

Speaking of which, it was Zhou Chun's decision to let Zhou Zhengyong replace Zhou Jiahe.

At that time, many Zhou family foundation-building cultivators were coveting the unredeemed rewards and military merits left by Zhou Jiahe, and wanted to take a risk.

Zhou Zhengyong has the highest level of cultivation among them, and his will is the strongest.

Zhou Chun knew that Zhou Zhengyong was not coveting the reward and military merit, but wanted to build a future for his son Zhou Xinlan.

He himself frankly admitted this and begged him to help facilitate it.

Although Zhou Chun himself did not want his good brother to take such a risk, he could not resist the other party's pleading and had to agree to it.

As a person with advantages in seniority and cultivation, once Zhou Zhengyong participates in this competition, other younger cultivators of the Zhou family will naturally not be able to compete with him.

Naturally, those Zhou family cultivators who failed in the competition at that time did not expect that only a few years later, the second batch of recruitment targets would come out.

This time, even if they didn't want to go to the battlefield, they had no choice.

So after some discussion and dispute, Zhou Daoyi led Xu Fu, Zhou Xinyan and Zhou Xingtie, three Zhou family foundation-building cultivators, to Feng State.

To be honest, this final decision was made after a long debate among several senior executives of the Zhou family.

At that time, Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi first ruled out Zhou Chun as an option, and then both of them wanted to go to the battlefield, and each had their own reasons.

Zhou Mingde used Lin Hongyu and Qingjiao Qingqing as excuses, saying that Zhou Daoyi was more important to the family than himself.

Zhou Daoyi used Zhou Mingde's status and position as an excuse, believing that as the number one figure in rebuilding the Zhou family, Zhou Mingde must not get into trouble under any circumstances, otherwise the blow to the Zhou family would be enormous.

Moreover, he thought that with the protection of a third-order dragon, he would be more likely to survive on the battlefield than Zhou Mingde.

The two argued for several times but neither could convince the other. In the end, Zhou Chun felt that Zhou Daoyi's statement made more sense and supported Zhou Daoyi to go.

It is worth mentioning that sixteen years have passed. Although the Zhou family lost Zhou Jiahe, an elder in the late foundation building stage, they also gained two more foundation building cultivators.

The two newly added foundation-building cultivators are named Zhou Sijun and Zhou Sihan.

Among them, Zhou Sijun succeeded in building his foundation by exchanging for the "Foundation Building Pill", while Zhou Sihan succeeded in building his foundation by using the "Foundation Building Fruit".

Perhaps because they felt the pressure of war, when these two Zhou family cultivators were choosing their skills, one chose a top-level skill and the other chose a fighting skill.

The one who chose to practice the top-level martial arts was Zhou Sijun. He chose to practice a top-level martial arts called "Black Water Profound Art".

It is relatively easy to get started with this top-level technique. You only need to find some rare water-attributed spiritual objects and concoct a special spiritual liquid to assist in your practice.

However, this top-level technique is easy to get started with but difficult to master.

In the future, cultivators who practice this technique will need to condense a special kind of real water called "Xuanyin Black Water". Only when this special kind of real water is condensed to a certain amount can they break through to a small realm of cultivation.

Condensing the "Xuanyin Black Water" is not only extremely time-consuming, but also only works best in a place with rich water-attributed spiritual energy.

Therefore, the cultivation speed of cultivators who practice "Black Water Profound Art" is actually not as fast as that of cultivators who truly practice other top-level techniques. This technique is considered to be relatively mediocre.

On the other hand, Zhou Sihan, a cultivator of the Zhou family, is the first cultivator among so many foundation-building cultivators in the Zhou family who chooses to practice fighting techniques.

He has an ice-attributed spiritual root, and the technique he chose to practice is called "Xuanbing Jue". When practicing, he needs to use thousand-year-old mysterious ice as an auxiliary spiritual object.

It just so happens that there are a lot of these things in the ice cave in the wilderness.

Once the "Xuanbing Jue" is successfully practiced, one will be able to obtain two powerful magical powers. The Xuanbing magic power will also be greatly increased when casting ice spells.

In fact, the changes in Zhou Sijun and Zhou Sihan's choice of martial arts are a reflection of the changes in the strength of the Zhou family.

When the Zhou family was weak in the past, most of the new foundation-building cultivators chose to practice techniques that could quickly improve their magical powers. This way they could improve their cultivation level more quickly and required less resources.

By now, the Zhou family has become powerful and has a deep foundation. They have enough Purple Mansion cultivators and Foundation Establishment cultivators to provide shelter from the wind and rain, and they are also able to collect all kinds of rare spiritual objects. Naturally, the new Foundation Establishment cultivators have more choices.

This is also another way of saying that those who plant trees will enjoy the shade.

One day, in the cave on Tuyun Mountain, Zhou Chun woke up from his meditation and felt that his magic power was not advancing any further. He couldn't help but mutter to himself, "I have finally touched the barrier of the late Purple Mansion realm. The Grand Elder has been stuck at this step for more than 20 years and has no hope of breaking through. How long will I be stuck here?"

However, after sixteen years of practice, he had taken an average of one pill per year and, as initially expected, had raised his cultivation to the peak of the middle stage of Purple Mansion, but was stuck at the barrier of the small realm of the late Purple Mansion stage.

Having experienced being stuck in front of the barrier of the middle stage of Purple Mansion last time, Zhou Chun certainly knew that it was not easy to break through this barrier.

The last time, he spent nearly ten years honing his magic power, and finally broke through the barrier with his hard work.

If we choose to use this method this time, I'm afraid it will take even longer.

The key is that it may not be effective!

For example, Zhou Mingde, the supreme elder of the Zhou family, has been stuck at the barrier of the late Purple Mansion stage for more than 20 years and has not seen any hope of a breakthrough.

In fact, the further you go in your cultivation, the more obvious this kind of thing becomes.

For example, it is not uncommon for Jindan-stage cultivators like the Su family's ancestor to be stuck in this kind of small realm barrier for one or two hundred years.

Even some Jindan stage cultivators find it difficult to break through this small realm barrier in their entire life!

"It's a pity that I reached this barrier a year late, otherwise I should have been allowed to go to Feng Country in his place, and then use my military exploits to exchange for elixirs that can help break through the barrier!"

Although he thought so, Zhou Chun knew in his heart that even if he really reached the barrier of the late Purple Mansion a year in advance, Zhou Mingde and the others would not go directly to the battlefield by themselves.

However, his cultivation has encountered a realm barrier and is difficult to advance. He no longer needs to practice hard every day like before. He just needs to take out a little time every day to hone his own magic power.

This way he can have more time to practice secret techniques and handle clan affairs.

Now, as the intensity of the war between the two great immortal cultivation worlds has intensified, in order to replenish various consumptions, the Tianling Alliance has also issued various production task indicators internally.

For example, the Zhou family was ordered to provide the alliance with ten trained monster mounts every year, as well as various spiritual objects such as animal skin talisman paper, animal blood talisman ink, etc.

The purchase price given by the Tianling Alliance for these things is not high. It can only be said that they break even, but it is impossible to make a profit.

Because a large number of independent cultivators went to the battlefield of Fengguo, many businesses of the Zhou family and other families were affected, and their income generally declined sharply.

Even the income of the "Zhou Tong Tian Xia" trading company was greatly affected.

The impact of war on the economy is universal.

Even Zhou Chun had no good solution when faced with such a situation.

The Zhou family's situation meant that it would be difficult for them to make a fortune from the war.

At this time, those who can make a fortune from the war are those who refine magical weapons, elixirs, and talismans, because the front-line battlefield consumes a lot of these things.

Especially the magical instruments.

In the past, there was a surplus of magic tools in Jingguo and even in the surrounding countries. In order not to disrupt the market, no one took the risk of selling magic tools to make money. However, with the advent of war, especially the magic cultivators were generally good at defilement and corrosion of the magic tools of the cultivators, resulting in serious damage to the magic tools of many cultivators.

In the past, a suitable magical instrument could be used for decades or even passed down for generations.

But now it may not even last three years!

This made the magic weapon business extremely popular, and families that passed down the skills of refining weapons, such as the Zhu family that the Zhou family cooperated with in the Yanyang Sect area, made a fortune.

As a result, the prices of some magical instruments and materials have increased significantly.

The rest of the elixirs and talismans were also best-sellers, and many forces were stockpiling and buying them.

The Zhou family is undoubtedly far behind in these aspects.

Currently, Zhou Xintie, who has the best weapon-making skills in the Zhou family, can only refine a second-order, mid-grade magical weapon, and the success rate is not very high.

When it comes to alchemy, Zhou Zhengyuan and Zhou Xinlan are both pretty good. The alchemy inheritance they got from the Jiang family has greatly enhanced the Zhou family's foundation in this area.

In addition, the Zhou family also plundered a large number of spiritual medicines from the wilderness to give to the alchemists in the family to practice. Now the Zhou family's alchemy inheritance is very complete, and they can now often release some pills to the market to generate income for the family.

However, in terms of competitiveness, they are still far inferior to the Li family, a family that truly makes a living from this skill.

The same is true for talisman making. Although there are several Foundation Establishment cultivators who have dabbled in making second-level talismans, there are no particularly talented ones.

Moreover, in times of war, no family would have too many magic talismans. It was impossible for Zhou Chun to sell a large number of the family's strategic reserve of magic talismans just to earn spirit stones.

What's worse is that due to the impact of the war, the monster eggs and monster cubs that the Zhou family used to sell well are now in a completely bleak market.

During this period of war, the priority for cultivators is to improve their skills and their means of dealing with the enemy.

Spiritual pets that require resources and time to cultivate are definitely not within the consideration of most monks during this period.

That day, after Zhou Chun checked the family's financial accounts, he shook his head and sighed, "We can't go on like this. The family has a lot of expenses now. If the income can't keep up with the expenses, the family's savings will be gone in a few years!"

Hearing his words, Zhou Jiarui, who had been handling clan affairs for him, finally found an opportunity to complain. He sighed and complained, "Isn't it true? Because of the war, the main sources of income for the family have shrunk a lot, especially the rent for the training room and the sale of monster cubs, which have shrunk by half!"

At this point, he also tentatively proposed a suggestion: "In my opinion, if we can't improve this income reduction situation as soon as possible, we can only reduce the benefits of the tribesmen first. In this special period, I think the tribesmen will understand this!"

Zhou Chun frowned when he heard this, but did not respond immediately.

In fact, Zhou Chun also knows that many families are now doing just as Zhou Jiarui said, tightening their belts and reducing welfare benefits for their clansmen, calling on them to overcome the difficulties together.

But he didn't want the Zhou family to do the same.

Because if they did this, it would mean that the Zhou family had fallen into a financial crisis, which would be a big blow to people's morale.

"This matter still needs to be carefully considered. This measure should not be adopted unless it is absolutely necessary."

In the end, Zhou Chun decided to postpone the discussion and not to make a decision so quickly.

After separating from Zhou Jiarui, Zhou Chun returned to the cave. Looking at the vibrant purple mulberry tree in the valley, he began to think about ways to alleviate the Zhou family's financial crisis.

After some thought, he suddenly recalled something that had been put aside for a long time.

"Looks like we have to go to the Scale Frog Tribe again!"

He muttered to himself, and quickly told Zhou Mingde, who was practicing in Tuyunling, where he was going, and went to the wilderness alone.

Not long after, Zhou Chun appeared above a lake in the wilderness with the high priest Ukulu of the scaly frog tribe and some scaly frog warlocks and warriors.

This lake was the place where he killed the green-scaled dragon fish and discovered the crystal jade vein.

"This is the place. Fellow Daoist Wukulu, please go down with me to investigate the situation first, and then let these juniors try to see if they can go down."

Above the water, Zhou Chun pointed to the lake below and told them his plans.

Hearing his words, High Priest Wukulu immediately nodded and said, "No problem, Brother Zhou, you can arrange it."

So Zhou Chun slapped the spirit beast bag on his waist, summoned out the Thunder Python Baibai, which had been transformed into a third-level Thunder Python using the "Hundred Illusion Pearls", and rode it into the water.

Perhaps it was the nature of his race, but after seeing the third-order thunder python, High Priest Ukulu immediately showed a look of fear and trepidation.

But he also knew that this was Zhou Chun's spiritual pet, so he quickly adjusted his mentality and followed it into the water.

The man and the frog dived deep into the water, and soon arrived at the place where the green-scaled dragon fish's nest was.

Many years passed, and this place was occupied by the monster in the lake and became its lair, but it was just a second-level, top-grade mud dragon monster.

When the monster suddenly sensed the breath of the Thunder Python Baibai, it was scared half to death. It quickly used its natural magical powers to drill into the mud and rocks at the bottom of the lake and escape from its nest.

Zhou Chun was too lazy to care about this little demon and directly took the High Priest Ukulu into the nest.

Then he pointed at the exposed crystal jade ore and said, "This is it. What do you think, fellow Daoist Wukulu? Can your ordinary people come here to mine the crystal jade ore?"

"It may be a little difficult for ordinary tribesmen, but some strong tribal warriors may be able to stay here for a while, and a first-level warlock should be able to reach this place without any problems!"

After carefully sensing it, High Priest Ukulu whispered his own opinion.

This is actually not much different from what Zhou Chun guessed.

So he quickly looked at him and said, "In that case, let's let the people you brought with you, Daoist Wukulu, come over and give it a try first."

Naturally, Ukulu had no objection to this, and he quickly returned to the surface of the water and brought the tribesmen he brought to the demon's nest.

After testing, the situation was generally the same as what Ukulu said.

A strong Scale Frog warrior can probably stay underwater for an hour, while a first-level warlock can stay for more than three hours.

Seeing this, Zhou Chun quickly looked at High Priest Wukulu and said, "In this case, let's proceed according to the cooperation plan we discussed before. The Scaled Frog Tribe will be responsible for mining the Water Crystal Jade Mine, and my Zhou Family will exchange it with elixirs and magical instruments of corresponding value. What do you think, Fellow Daoist Wukulu?"

"No problem. Wukulu and the Scaled Frog Tribe have always believed in the credibility of Fellow Daoist Zhou and the Zhou family. Just leave this matter to Wukulu!"

High Priest Ukuru agreed without hesitation.

So Zhou Chun asked Ukulu to go back and recruit miners, and then he returned to the family and ordered the family's equipment refiners to make suitable mining tools for the Scaled Frog miners.

Soon after, the mining of the Shuijing jade mine was officially on track.

However, just when Zhou Chun thought that he could alleviate the financial crisis of the Zhou family with the help of the new source of income from the Shuijing Jade Mine, the thing he had been worried about finally happened!
On this day, a shocking piece of news suddenly spread to all the major immortal cultivation families in Jingguo.

It turned out that in Yunzhou, which borders Feng State, five immortal cultivation families were slaughtered overnight, including a well-known immortal cultivation family!

It is said that the person who did such a great thing was Jiang Zhong, the "General Corpse Demon" among the "Seven Demons of Yuanmo"!
This "Corpse Demon General" Jiang Zhong was practicing the Corpse Demon Cult's top-level martial arts technique called "Earth Zombie Mysterious Art". When he practiced this technique, his physical body was comparable to zombies of the same level, and he could even control groups of zombies.

The reason why he was called "Corpse Demon General" was because he could control hundreds of refined corpses by himself and possessed the ability to form an army by himself.

It is also because of this that he was able to slaughter five immortal cultivation families in one night.

"Is it finally starting? The thing I've been worrying about is finally happening!"

In Tuyunling, after Zhou Chun read the urgent news sent by Yunzhou Intelligence Station, his expression suddenly became extremely solemn.

He knew clearly in his heart that with the massacre of the five major immortal cultivation families by the "Corpse Evil General" Jiang Zhongye, the war had entered a new stage!

(End of this chapter)