Chapter 146: Chapter 144: Loose Cultivator Offers Treasure

The temporary marketplace was to last for half a day, with Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators conducting transactions on a flat piece of land on Jade Spring Peak. There, the Zhou Family had set up temporary stalls where anyone could freely choose a stall to display items for sale, without any charges from the Zhou Family.

Meanwhile, Zhouyang and the other Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators held a small exchange meeting inside a large hall on the mountain, with rules basically the same as those of the exchange meeting hosted by the Chen Family.

As the host, the Zhou Family also put up two Tier Three Spiritual Artifacts as a lead for inspiration, explicitly stating that they could be exchanged for spirit stones.

The spirit stones could be exchanged for Tier Three Spiritual Artifacts, which piqued the interest of the attending Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators, who all vied eagerly to bid higher for them. However, despite the competition, they all exercised restraint, not driving the prices too high.

Ultimately, the two Tier Three Spiritual Artifacts put up by the Zhou Family were sold for about twenty percent lower than the prices in the shops, earning the Zhou Family seven to eight thousand spirit stones.

Of course, with income comes expenditure. Should any treasures displayed by the Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators during the exchange attract the attention of the Zhou Family’s three cultivators, they would not hesitate to make a trade.

Zhouyang used a Tier Two High-Grade Puppet Beast to exchange from the hands of an independent Foundation Establishment cultivator for a pill formula of the Tier Two Top-Grade Spirit Pill “Clear Spirit Powder.”

The “Clear Spirit Powder” Spirit Pill has a special use, specifically designed for Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators to regulate the erysipelas within their bodies.

Suppose a Seventh-Layer Qi Cultivation Stage cultivator normally can only take one cultivation-enhancing elixir a year. In that case, after taking the “Clear Spirit Powder,” they can take an elixir once every six months.

However, all medicines have resistance. Although “Clear Spirit Powder” can help Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators remove erysipelas, it should not be taken excessively itself.

According to the pill formula, if a Qi Cultivation Stage cultivator consumes more than ten doses of “Clear Spirit Powder,” they can no longer rely on this pill to remove erysipelas.

Despite this resistance, which is not really a flaw, the importance of “Clear Spirit Powder” is still undeniable.

If the Zhou Family’s future cultivators could have this spirit pill’s assistance in their cultivation, the likelihood of reaching the Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation by the age of sixty would be greatly increased.

Why was Zhouyang able to trade just a Tier Two High-Grade Puppet Beast for something as good as “Clear Spirit Powder”?

The reason was that after the pill formula appeared, other clan cultivators attending the exchange meeting also participated in the competition and eventually, everyone had to offer a treasure each to trade with the formula’s owner, making them swear never to resell the formula to others.

Thus, after more than an hour of rotation trading, this small exchange meeting ended successfully, and the Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators, regardless of their gains, all bid farewell to Zhou Family’s Foundation Establishment cultivators.

After sending these Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators away, Zhouyang then went down to the temporary marketplace, hoping to find some gains there.

However, unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived at the vacant ground of the temporary marketplace, the Zhou Family elder, Zhou Xuantai, hurriedly came to report an important matter to him.

“Where are those two people now?”

Zhouyang asked Zhou Xuantai, his face serious, but a faint excitement was visible in his eyes.

Zhou Xuantai, aware of the matter’s significance, immediately said, “After learning the news from them, I have placed them at the ancestral shrine and had Eighth Sister watch over them.”

“Good, Second Uncle, you continue overseeing matters at the temporary marketplace here, and I’ll go with the old clan leader to see those two people.”

As Zhouyang spoke, he immediately called upon the old clan leader, Zhou Minghan, and went to the Zhou Family ancestral shrine.

“Old clan leader, clan leader, you have arrived.”

Outside the Zhou Family’s ancestral shrine, Zhou Xuan Yan saw Zhouyang and Zhou Minghan arriving and hurriedly stepped forward to pay his respects.

“Alright, Xuan Yan, your task is done, now go do your own things,” Zhou Minghan waved his hand, directly dismissing Zhou Xuan Yan.

Zhou Xuan Yan, although filled with curiosity about what had happened, had no choice but to obey the order and leave the place.

After Zhou Xuan Yan left, Zhouyang and Zhou Minghan finally stepped into the ancestral shrine.

In a room within the Zhou Family’s ancestral shrine used for receiving guests, an elderly and a young cultivator were pacing restlessly inside, speaking in low voices.

“Father, do you think the Zhou Family will agree to our request? What if they refuse?”

“Absolutely not. Our request is not high. The Zhou Family, such a big clan, surely won’t refuse so small a request.”

“But what if? What if they do refuse?”

“There’s no ‘what if.’ They will definitely agree. Can you shut it already?”

The conversation between the father and son in the small room held no secrets from the two Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators approaching.

Hearing this father-son dialogue, Zhouyang and Zhou Minghan exchanged a smile, deliberately making some footsteps to alert the people in the room.

“Hush, silence, someone is coming.”

The voices inside the room suddenly stopped, and it fell silent in an instant.

After just a dozen breaths of time, the door opened a crack, as if someone was peeking out.

Upon seeing Zhouyang and Zhou Minghan standing there with smiles, the person jumped in shock with an “Ah” and opened the door wide.

“Junior Lu Hushan and Lu Xiaoshan, greet the two seniors.”

Inside the room, Zhouyang and Zhou Minghan sat upright in the grand chairs, while the Lu father and son, who were temporarily staying in the room, bowed with a respectful demeanor to greet the two.

Zhouyang looked up and saw the Lu father and son, one with a cultivation of the Qi Cultivation Seventh Layer, wearing a round-collared robe, appearing somewhat like a shrewd merchant from the mundane world. The other had a cultivation of the Fourth-Layer Qi Cultivation, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, resembling a wandering hero from the martial world.

“Both Daoists need not be formal. Now that both I and Xiao Jiu are here, you may speak openly about what you couldn’t fully express before Xuantai.”

While Zhouyang was observing the Lu father and son, Zhou Minghan smiled slightly, his face warm as he spoke.

Hearing this, the tension on the faces of the Lu father and son eased significantly, and Lu Hushan immediately said, “May the seniors perceive clearly, then I shall speak.”

Upon saying that, he took a deep breath and slowly recounted their reasons for seeking the Zhou Family.

It turned out that Lu Hushan and his son originated as independent cultivators from a small oasis.

The oasis was very small, with only a Tier Two Lower-Grade Spirit Vein, shared by the Lu father and son and two other loose cultivators, with whom they had quite a harmonious relationship.

However, over ten years ago, when one of the loose cultivators from the small oasis went out, he was captured by sand bandits, who forced him to reveal the location of the oasis, leading the sand bandits there.

At that time, the Lu father and son were fortunate enough to be in a small mortal village outside the spiritual vein and thus were not the first targets of the sand bandits’ attack and managed to escape the oasis unscathed.

Yet after fleeing the small oasis, they feared being ambushed by the sand bandits upon returning and dared not go back, so they were forced to wander the Desert Sea.

In this way, they wandered the Desert Sea for two to three years until, while avoiding a massive sandstorm, they discovered a medium-sized oasis hidden by a natural illusion array.

The medium-sized oasis was only less than one-fifth smaller than the Yuquan Lake Oasis, possessing mountains and water, and naturally, demon beasts were present.

The Lu father and son, with their lowly cultivation, were terrified upon witnessing a Tier Three Demon Beast hunting low-tier demon beasts on the oasis.

Frightened, they didn’t dare linger in the oasis but only hunted mortal beasts for food and water, and then swiftly retreated from the oasis.

Later, the father and son got lost in the desert several times and every time relied on sneaking back to the oasis to replenish food and water. Through four or five years of trial and error, they finally found the correct path back to the Baisha River Oasis.

It could be said that this father’s and son’s luck was truly remarkable; when they returned to the Baisha River Oasis, the demon chaos that had lasted several years had just subsided.

After returning to the Baisha River Oasis, they planned to sell the discovery for a good price.

However, after probing and inquiring within the loose cultivator community for one or two years, they couldn’t decide which family to sell the information about the ownerless medium-sized oasis to.

Then, upon seeing the Zhou Family announce a Foundation Establishment celebration, they decided it wouldn’t hurt to join the festivities and came along.

Having had their fill of food and drink, the father and son observed and inquired these past days and decided to take a risk and choose the Zhou Family as the object of their trade. They approached the Zhou Family’s Grand Elder Zhou Xuantai after Zhouyang announced the temporary marketplace.

“So, what are your demands?”

Upon hearing Lu Hushan’s narrative, Zhouyang narrowed his eyes and posed the critical question to the father and son.

Upon hearing this question, Lu Hushan immediately perked up, quickly bowed his head, and replied, “Perceptive seniors, my father and I seek not much. We only wish for the Zhou Family to allot a Spirit Mountain with a Tier Two Middle-Grade Spiritual Vein for us to cultivate upon the occupation of the oasis, allowing us to establish our family!”

“Oh, you also wish to establish a family?”

Zhouyang looked at the father and son in surprise, quite taken aback by their request.

Establishing a family is no child’s play. Even if he agreed to allocate a Tier Two Spirit Mountain to the Lu father and son, with only the two of them, there would still be many challenges in establishing a cultivation clan.

“Junior understands this idea might make someone like senior laugh, but after experiencing so much, junior has come to deeply understand the hardships of being a loose cultivator. Thus, no matter how arduous the path ahead, junior is willing to make a desperate gamble, to forge a way out for descendants!”

Lu Hushan looked up at Zhouyang with a determined gaze, his eyes full of resolution.

“Great-grandfather, what do you think?”

Zhouyang turned to the old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan beside him, leaving his own opinion unsaid.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Minghan looked at Lu Hushan and said, “Fellow Daoist Lu’s courage is admirable, but if your wish is for the Zhou Family to accept your conditions, you must meet a small condition of mine first!”

“Senior, please speak.”

Lu Hushan’s face tensed, accompanied by his son Lu Xiaoshan, both looking at Zhou Minghan with concern, fearing he might set an unbearable condition.

“Daoist friends need not worry; my condition is quite simple. Should the two of you establish a family, you can only marry secular mortal women of the Zhou Family to propagate and continue your lineage. The future Lu Family must also become a vassal clan of the Zhou Family!”

Zhou Minghan remarked calmly, casting a glance at the father and son as he uttered his condition.

Hearing this condition, even before the Lu father and son could respond, Zhouyang’s eyes brightened, and he promptly added, “Indeed, unless you’re willing to accept this condition, there’s nothing more to discuss!”