Clan Cultivation: Starting from Beast Taming

Time flies swiftly, and in the blink of an eye, another six years had passed.

During these six years, the intensity of the war between the two Cultivation Worlds had clearly escalated, and Golden Core Stage Cultivators had begun to perish in battle.

At the same time, the second round of conscription quotas was issued to the various Cultivator Families a year ago.

The quota allocated to the Zhou Family was even larger than before; the Zhou Family needed to dispatch one Purple Mansion Phase Cultivator and three Foundation Establishment Cultivators to serve in the Heavenly Spirit Legion.

As for Zhou Daoquan and Zhou Jiapeng, who had originally served for fifteen years, they had successfully retired and returned to the family.

Zhou Zhengyong, the Foundation Establishment Cultivator who had replaced Zhou Jiahe, still had to complete his fifteen-year service before he could retire.

Speaking of which, choosing Zhou Zhengyong to replace Zhou Jiahe had been Zhou Chun's decision.

At the time, many Foundation Establishment Cultivators of the Zhou Family had coveted the unredeemed rewards and Battle Merits left by Zhou Jiahe and wanted to take a chance.

Among them, Zhou Zhengyong had the highest Cultivation Level and was the most determined.

Zhou Chun knew that Zhou Zhengyong was not merely lured by the rewards and Battle Merits; he wished to secure a future for his son, Zhou Xinlan.

He had frankly admitted as much and earnestly requested Zhou Chun's help to facilitate this.

Although Zhou Chun himself did not want his good kinsman to take such a risk, he ultimately could not withstand the other's fervent pleas and could only agree to the arrangement.

As someone with advantages in both seniority and Cultivation Level, once Zhou Zhengyong entered the competition, the younger generation of the Zhou Family naturally could not compete with him.

And those Zhou Family Cultivators who had failed in the competition certainly did not expect that just a few years later, the second round of conscription quotas would come down.

This time, even if they did not wish to go to the battlefield, they simply had no choice.

After some discussions and arguments, Zhou Daoyi led Xu Fu, Zhou Xinyan, and Zhou Xintie, three Foundation Establishment Cultivators from the Zhou Family, to Fengguo.

To be honest, this final decision also caused quite a long dispute among several high-ranking members of the Zhou Family.

At first, Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi had jointly ruled out Zhou Chun as an option, then both vied to go to battle, with each having their own reasons.

Zhou Mingde used Lin Hongyu and the Green Flood Dragon Qingqing as his reason, saying that it was more important for Zhou Daoyi to stay with the family than himself.

Zhou Daoyi, on the other hand, cited the identity and status of Zhou Mingde, arguing that as the principal figure in the reconstruction of the Zhou Family, Zhou Mingde could not afford any mishaps at all costs, as it would be a tremendous blow to the family.

He also believed that with a Third Order Flood Dragon to protect him, he would have an easier time surviving on the battlefield than Zhou Mingde.

The two of them argued back and forth, neither able to persuade the other, until in the end, Zhou Chun felt that Zhou Daoyi's argument made more sense and supported Zhou Daoyi's departure.

It is worth mentioning that, after sixteen years, although the Zhou Family lost Elder Zhou Jiahe, who was at the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment, two more Foundation Establishment Cultivators were added.

These two new Foundation Establishment Cultivators were named Zhou Sijun and Zhou Sihan.

Zhou Sijun achieved Foundation Establishment through the use of a "Foundation Establishment Pill," while Zhou Sihan succeeded with a "Foundation Establishment Fruit."

Perhaps feeling the pressure of war, these two Zhou Family Cultivators chose their Cultivation Techniques, with one selecting a top-tier technique and the other a combat-oriented technique.

The one who chose the top-tier technique was Zhou Sijun, who decided to cultivate a method known as the "Blackwater Profound Technique."

This top-tier Cultivation Technique was relatively easy to commence; it simply required the concoction of a special spirit fluid using rare water attribute Spiritual Objects to aid in cultivation.

However, this technique was easy to start with but difficult to master to a high degree.

Cultivators who subsequently practiced this technique needed to condense a special true water called "Profound Yin Darkwater." Only by accumulating sufficient quantities of this special true water could one break through minor Cultivation Realm barriers.

Condensing "Profound Yin Darkwater" was not only extremely time-consuming but also required a place rich with water attribute Spiritual Energy to be effective.

Therefore, the Cultivation speed of those practicing the "Blackwater Profound Technique" could not compare with those truly cultivating other top-tier techniques, rendering this method somewhat mediocre.

On the contrary, Zhou Sihan, a Cultivator from the Zhou Family, was the first among many Foundation Establishment Cultivators to choose a combat-oriented Cultivation Technique.

He possessed an ice attribute variant Spiritual Root Aptitude and chose to cultivate a technique called the "Mystical Ice Technique," requiring Millennium Profound Ice as a supplementary Spiritual Object during cultivation.

Coincidentally, there was an abundance of this material in the ice caves of the Wasteland Territory.

Once the "Mystical Ice Technique" was cultivated successfully, one would gain two powerful Spell Divine Skills, and the ice attribute Mana would also greatly enhance the power of Ice Element Techniques.

The changes in the choice of Cultivation Techniques by Zhou Sijun and Zhou Sihan actually reflected the shifts in the power and foundation of the Zhou Family.

In the past, when the Zhou Family was weak, newly advanced Foundation Establishment Cultivators mostly chose techniques that allowed for rapid advancement of Mana and Cultivation Level, as it enabled faster promotion and required fewer resources.

Now, with the Zhou Family's great power and deep foundation, having a sufficient number of Purple Mansion Cultivators and Foundation Establishment Cultivators to shield them from the brunt, and with the resources to collect various rare Spiritual Objects, the newly advanced Foundation Establishment Cultivators naturally had a wider range of choices.

This was, in another sense, the embodiment of the proverb: "One generation plants the trees under whose shade another generation rests."

One day, within the cave dwelling on Tuyun Ridge, Zhou Chun awakened from his meditative cultivation and, feeling his Mana unable to progress further within his body, murmured to himself, "The barrier to the Late Stage of the Purple Mansion Phase is finally within reach. The Supreme Elder has been stuck at this step for over twenty years without any hope of breakthrough. How long will I be hindered by it?"