Eternal Beast Taming Family

Inside the ancestral hall.

Chu Jingyu held three incense sticks in one hand, bowed three times to the stone book on the offering table, and then inserted the incense sticks into the incense burner in front of the offering table.

"Please forgive me, Ancestor Chu, for not coming to pay my respects for so many days. I was summoned to the borderlands and have only just returned today."

"It's alright, as long as the person returns successfully." The stone book shimmered with colorful light, and Chu Mu's calm voice came from within.

In the past three months, the Chu family has experienced a great deal of events, far more than the long period of time Chu Mu was buried underground.

Colorful threads peeked out from the book and touched the foreheads of Chu Jingyu and Chu Shengfan.

After a brief period of hazy consciousness, the grandfather and grandson opened their eyes again and found themselves in an unfamiliar grand hall.

Inside the grand hall with its colossal pillars adorned with stone carvings of dragons and phoenixes, a figure stands on a cloud-shaped platform that juts outward from the hall.

"Ancestor Chu." Chu Jingyu and Chu Shengfan bowed to the figure on the cloud platform.

Chu Mu waved for them to come forward.

The two stepped forward and stood on the protruding cloud platform, where they could feel the clouds flowing past them.

Looking down from the cloud platform, one can see layers upon layers of white clouds and uneven mountain ridges.

At that moment, they seemed to become celestial beings looking down upon the human world, and even their own hearts involuntarily became open and expansive.

The three stood silently on Yuntai Mountain for a while, with two of them carefully observing the scene below.

One of the three knew that although the scene below looked real, it was an illusion, since the space was far from being that big.

After a long silence, Chu Mu spoke, "A new year, new missions, what are your plans?"

Chu Jingyu pondered for a moment, "Expand the shops and medicinal herb fields, train a group of loyal and close guards for the household, and make sure that Qin Hui and Xiao Fan break through to the Other Rank within this year."

Chu Mu nodded, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, and asked, "Does the Chu family have three villages under its jurisdiction as territory?"

Chu Jingyu was puzzled as to why Chu Mu suddenly brought up these three villages, but quickly replied, "Yes."

"The strength of the family itself is important, but the development of the territory under its rule should not be ignored. The prosperity and strength of the territory also have a crucial impact on the strength of the family."

The reputation section in the family description, and the rewards of Source Spirits for every major event that occurs within the family's history, demonstrate that family development involves more than just the development of family members themselves.

Furthermore, the development of subordinate territories plays a crucial role in the prosperity of a family.

Chu Jingyu didn't really care too much about the territories under his jurisdiction, because he had been imitating the practices of other aristocratic families and hadn't devoted much extra energy to managing them.

Let them govern themselves, and they can pay the corresponding taxes according to the schedule.

However, since Ancestor Chu had specifically mentioned it today, he couldn't help but pay attention. He respectfully asked, "Ancestor Chu, what do you think should be done in governing those villages?"

Chu Mu curled the corners of his lips into a smile, as if he had been waiting for Chu Jingyu to ask this question.

"Let's start by building roads and training source beasts that can help them farm."

……

The first day of 3398.

An unexpected event occurred at the Chu family mansion: the third young master, Chu Shengyuan, went missing.

All the servants of the Chu family, whether they were young boys, maids, or sturdy old women, were sent out to search for the person. For a time, the sound of calling could be heard everywhere on Qixia Mountain.

"Young Master, can you hear me?"

"Young Master Yuan, where are you?"

"Young Master Yuan... Young Master Yuan~"

The sounds rose and fell, startling the birds in the forest.

The news even reached Fuhe Village at the foot of the mountain. Hearing that the young master of the Chu family on the mountain had gone missing, many villagers spontaneously went into the mountain to search for him.

Early in the morning, Chu Jingyu took Chu Shengfan to town to pay New Year's respects to Sun Chunchen, so they missed the news that Chu Shengyuan was missing.

Chu Qinhui and Jiang Nian, who received the news from their servants, didn't pay much attention to it, because Chu Shengyuan would often go to the back mountain to play with the two pythons, and would naturally come back when it was time to eat.

But today was different; even as the sun shone brightly, Chu Shengyuan still hadn't returned home.

Jiang Nian realized something was wrong and sent the guards to search the back mountain, but the report they received was that there was no trace of Chu Shengyuan and the two pythons in the back mountain.

Upon hearing this news, Jiang Nian panicked. Although Xiao Yuan was lively and active, she was obedient and never left Qixia Mountain. There had never been a situation where she couldn't find her like this before.

That's why now, the mountains and fields are filled with people searching for Chu Shengyuan.

The Chu Qinhui couple have expanded their search area to the two neighboring mountains, but there is still no news.

Without bothering with New Year's greetings, Chu Qinhui ordered one of his guards to quickly go to town to inform Chu Jingyu, while the couple wanted to search in the nearby mountains.

"He didn't go anywhere else, but went through a strange passage to a very special place."

A girl's voice in the mountains made the couple stop their anxious steps.

They turned around and saw that it was Xu Yinyue, who was temporarily staying at their home, who had spoken.

Jiang Nian knew Xu Yinyue's eyes were unusual, and hearing her words was like grasping at a lifeline; she urgently pressed for details.

"Where did you see him disappear to? Where did he go?"

Xu Yinyue frowned, seemingly considering how to describe it. Chu Qinhui, however, calmed down slightly, grabbed his agitated wife, and asked in a deep voice,

"Take us to the place where he disappeared first."

Xu Yinyue nodded, then looked around at her surroundings, seemingly trying to find her way. She walked and stopped, constantly adjusting her direction.

The couple suppressed their anxiety and followed closely behind her.

Finally, Xu Yinyue stopped in her tracks under a giant tree halfway up the mountain, a tree so large that it would take three people to encircle it.

She pointed to the giant tree and slowly said, "This is it. In the darkness and amidst the snow, a crack appeared on this ancient tree, and beyond the crack was a mesmerizing, iridescent light."

Young Master Yuan appeared here and was pulled inside by a long, thin tentacle... Two giant pythons, in order to save Young Master Yuan, also rushed in.

But not long after, the crack disappeared.

As Xu Yinyue pondered, she tried her best to describe the scene at that time.

Chu Qinhui carefully observed the surroundings and found that there were indeed winding, curved marks on the snow on the ground. These marks were messy, as if two giant pythons had crawled across them one after the other.

He took two steps to the left, squatted down, and picked up a palm-sized bluish-gray scale. This familiar scale was undoubtedly left by Xiao Yuan's "Aomori Giant Anaconda".

Everything seemed to corroborate Xu Yinyue's words.

Jiang Nian arrived in front of the ancient tree and patted the rough trunk with both hands, but did not find any passage.

She turned to look at Xu Yinyue, took a deep breath, and said, "When did you see it? Why didn't you tell us beforehand?"

Hearing Jiang Nian's accusatory tone, Xu Yinyue cracked her knuckles. "I only tried to see with my own eyes after you said Young Master Yuan had disappeared. If I had seen him earlier, I wouldn't be saying it now."

Seeing Xu Yinyue's somewhat nervous expression, Jiang Nian knew that she had gotten carried away and had inadvertently affected others.

"Sorry, I got a little excited. Can you still use your special ability to see where Xiao Yuan is now, and... what state he's in?"

Xu Yinyue bit her finger. "I'll give it a try."