CHAPTER 284: CHAPTER 271: BUSINESS GENIUS ZHOUYANG!

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

In these four years, Zhouyang not only mastered the "Rainbow Light Gold Escape" completely but even achieved the "Qianyang Golden Body" within just two short years.

Speaking of which, the reason he could so quickly master the "Qianyang Golden Body" was largely thanks to the help of the treasure, the "Qianyang Treasure Pearl."

It was also during his cultivation of the "Qianyang Golden Body" that he discovered his body, refined by the "Qianyang Immortal Light," had become extremely suitable for employing the "Qianyang True Body," a physical defense divine technique.

Now, when he manifests the "Qianyang True Body," the power of the technique is significantly stronger than what’s recorded, which is a pleasant surprise.

He has now begun to both delve into the method of utilizing the "Qianyang Divine Thunder" and work on advancing his artifact refining skill tier.

Simultaneously, as Zhouyang progressed, the rest of the Zhou family did not stay idle.

Firstly, Xiao Ying, after becoming a Tier Three Middle-Grade Alchemist, also advanced her cultivation to the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment.

Then, Zhou Guangxiang, after several years of secluded cultivation, successfully raised his rank as an Array Master to Tier Three Lower Grade, gaining the ability to set up Tier Three Arrays.

At the same time, Zhou Guangxiang’s sister, Zhou Guangxiang, also followed Zhouyang’s advice, focusing her efforts on studying beast taming. Already a Tier Two High-Grade Spirit Plant Cultivator, she became a Tier Two High-Grade Beast Tamer.

Additionally, with Zhou family’s deep development of the Red Tiger Mountain Oasis, aided by the "Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rat" that Zhouyang once tamed, in recent years, the Zhou family discovered as many as three ore veins in the oasis and the surrounding desert sea and small oasis.

These three ore veins consist of a small Refined Iron Ore, a small Spirit Jade Ore, and a medium Red Brilliance Stone Ore.

Although these ore veins are not rare spirit ores, they serve as basic raw materials that are very handy for the Zhou family’s extensive development and construction, saving a lot of spirit stones that would otherwise be used to buy materials.

Today’s Zhou family is not what it used to be.

Previously, the Zhou family didn’t pay much attention to materials used, but now, be it to embellish the clan’s facade or for practical safety, various spiritual objects are used in constructing important buildings.

Take, for example, the two most important clan buildings, the Scripture Cave and the Clan Treasure Vault. Just building these two on Red Tiger Mountain is estimated to consume over a million catties of refined iron!

However, refined iron is just the basic building material. To enhance the safety of the Scripture Cave and the Treasure Vault, other precious materials need to be integrated, and specific arrays have to be set for protection.

Additionally, in constructing other relatively important places, such as ancestral halls and the Yingxian Tower for hosting important banquets and celebrations, spiritual woods and spiritual gold, among other spiritual objects, are used for construction and decoration.

Each of these places requires quite a few spirit stones to be properly constructed.

Even though Zhouyang hasn’t managed the clan affairs much in recent years, every disbursement involving over a thousand spirit stones required his personal review and approval before proceeding.

Therefore, he is well aware of how many spirit stones the Zhou family has spent these years and has witnessed the changes on Red Tiger Mountain firsthand.

With four years having passed, and less than half a year left until his Purple Mansion celebration, he has temporarily halted his cultivation and begun personally organizing the event.

This celebration holds great and significant importance for the Zhou family!

Though previously the Zhou family could rightfully be called a Purple Mansion Clan, they hadn’t formalized it in name.

Only after the Purple Mansion celebration is held and announced to the world will the status of the Zhou family as a Purple Mansion Clan be truly recognized and acknowledged.

At the same time, this Purple Mansion celebration is also a good opportunity for receiving gifts and gaining wealth.

When Zhouyang held the Foundation Establishment celebration, those families attending had to prepare Tier Three Spiritual Objects as gifts, let alone this time.

According to the unwritten rules among clans, during the Foundation Establishment or the Purple Mansion celebration held by clan cultivators, all expenses are borne by the clan, while the gifts received only need to be shared with the clan.

This rule doesn’t show much benefit to ordinary Foundation Establishment clans, but it offers significant advantages to large families like the Zhou family.

For instance, in Zhouyang’s case, the gifts he receives after this Purple Mansion celebration, in terms of value, are expected to exceed at least a hundred thousand spirit stones!

After sharing with the family, he would still receive at least fifty thousand spirit stones himself.

With these fifty thousand spirit stones, he could purchase two Tier Four Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts or one top-grade Tier Four Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact!

For loose cultivators, even if they are fortunate enough to successfully establish the Purple Mansion, even if they follow suit and hold a Purple Mansion celebration like him, the value of the gifts received, minus the spirit stones spent on hosting the celebration, leaving them a spare one or two thousand spirit stones would make them giddy with joy.

Such are the benefits for clan cultivators, a kind of advantage that many sect cultivators cannot rival.

Sects like the Yellow Sand Sect, even if someone establishes a Purple Mansion, would not make a grand announcement consuming spirit stones for a Purple Mansion celebration, at most, they would let the individual host a banquet, inviting fellow disciples and close friends to celebrate.

Only if a Purple Mansion Stage cultivator successfully condenses a Golden Core would the Yellow Sand Sect use sect resources to host a magnificent Golden Core celebration, where every family affiliated with the Yellow Sand Sect would have to prepare generous gifts to congratulate the new Golden Core cultivator.

Finally, this Purple Mansion celebration for Zhouyang and the Zhou family also serves to promote the newly built marketplace. Whether the new bazaar established by the Zhou family on Red Tiger Mountain will be a success depends entirely on this celebration!

Zhouyang has thus put a pause on all cultivation activities to specifically manage this matter.

He first went to the site of the marketplace.

This marketplace was personally chosen and constructed by Zhou Guangxiang, located in a valley less than three hundred miles away from Red Tiger Mountain.

The valley originally had only one Tier Two High-Grade Spiritual Vein. Zhouyang invested seventy thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones to elevate the vein to Tier Three Middle Grade.

The reason he did this was that Zhou Guangxiang mentioned that the Earth Vein Qi gathered around the valley, making it extremely suitable for setting up a Grand Array, especially enhancing the power of earth element arrays.

The Zhou Family currently cannot produce a Tier Four Array, and even a Tier Three High-grade Array is out of reach. The best array they can use to protect the marketplace is the Tier Three Middle Grade earth element array "Earth Spirit Profound Gang Array" dismantled from Haoyang Mountain’s Spirit Vein.

Generally speaking, important places like marketplaces should at least be guarded by a Tier Three High-grade Array to ensure safety.

Therefore, for the safety of the marketplace, Zhouyang decided to shorten the distance from the marketplace to Red Tiger Mountain to allow for quick support in case of an attack.

The other strategy was to leverage local advantages to amplify the array’s power.

The seventy thousand Spirit Stones used to upgrade the Spiritual Vein were considered a purchase of a Tier Three High-grade Array’s Spirit Stones.

"Ninth Uncle, as you can see, according to your requirements, a total of 49 shops were built within the marketplace, and I also found the location for the Earth Fire Opening, right there in that spot. You just need to connect the fire vein to bring up the earth fire."

"By the way, the marketplace’s name hasn’t been decided yet. Since it’s set to open in two months, shouldn’t you finalize the name?"

In the already constructed marketplace, when Zhouyang arrived, Zhou Guangxiang, who was responsible for constructing the marketplace, immediately approached to introduce its current construction status.

In terms of scale, this marketplace definitely doesn’t match the one at Baisha River Oasis, as that marketplace has existed for hundreds of years, and many surrounding oases have been developed, ensuring a sufficient base of cultivators.

Thus, Zhouyang wasn’t aiming to build a hundred shops in one go, hoping for a quick profit by selling them.

To attract investments and lure other capable clans and cultivators to open businesses, he even prepared a ten-year rent-free plan.

Therefore, upon listening to Zhou Guangxiang, he nodded and said, "Not bad, Guangxiang, you’ve done well. I’m here this time to connect the earth fire."

"As for the marketplace’s name, I’ve already decided—let it be called [Liuyun Square]!"

The marketplace is named "Liuyun Square," clearly indicating.

It suggests that when other cultivators come to the marketplace, it will be like entering the legendary Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, where they can purchase any treasure they need.

The Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm has always been a place that cultivators in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm aspire to. Before Zhouyang visited it, he was filled with fantasies and expectations about the place.

Thus, he understands the fantasies and expectations of cultivators who have heard of the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm.

Now, naming the Zhou Family’s soon-to-open marketplace "Liuyun Square" is undoubtedly intended to capture these cultivators’ psychology and attract them here to "fulfill their dreams."

As long as people are drawn to the place, the purpose of the name is fulfilled.

"Liuyun Square, Liuyun Square..."

Zhou Guangxiang, being a smart person, murmured and repeated "Liuyun Square" several times, then his eyes lit up, and he couldn’t help but clap and exclaim: Ingenious! How did I not think of using this name? Ninth Uncle is truly extraordinary, not only being the foremost person in the Zhou Family in terms of cultivation but also unmatched in wisdom—truly admirable!

He looked at Zhouyang with a face full of admiration and utmost reverence for Zhouyang’s wisdom.

Being looked at like this, Zhouyang also displayed a faint smile on his face.

If the Deacon Elder system and the Zhou Family’s consistently implemented birth subsidy funds were merely borrowed from similar cases in his previous life, then naming the marketplace was truly a testament to his own wisdom.

Hence, Zhou Guangxiang’s praise was something he could graciously accept.

He simply smiled indulgently and said, "Alright, stop flattering, the urgent matters are pressing; now, come with me to connect the earth fire."

The Earth Fire Chamber is a necessary structure in any cultivator marketplace. Only with this structure can you attract Artifact Refiners, Alchemists to leverage earth fire for artifact refining and alchemy, practitioners who are generally wealthy, with spending potential far exceeding ordinary peers.

Although Zhouyang’s cultivation is merely at the First-Layer of the Purple Mansion, he possesses high-quality artifacts and formidable strength!

Typically, early-stage Purple Mansion cultivators need to be extra cautious while connecting earth fire to avoid accidental fire hazards.

But he had little apprehension in this regard, acting directly as an Artifact Master with the Thousand Blade Disc Spiritual Artifact to conduct a large-scale attack along the spot selected by Zhou Guangxiang.

After attacking downward to carve out a passage over three thousand zhang deep, he finally broke through the subterranean magma layer.

"Quickly, now’s the time!"

With a low shout, a wave of his sleeve, he launched the Tier Four High-grade Spiritual Artifact "Fire Separation Vermilion Bird Furnace" atop the passage opening to suppress the erupting earth fire, while Zhou Guangxiang, who had been waiting for several days, hurriedly activated the suppression array to aid in controlling the erupting earth fire.

After half a day passed, the erupting earth fire weakened to a level the array could withstand.

At this time, Zhouyang placed a Dragon Head Spiritual Artifact, refined with high-temperature resistant materials, atop the earth fire opening, cast a series of activation spells on the artifact, and the dark golden dragon head opened its mouth, expelling a purple earth fire, as thick as a baby’s arm, onto the bottom of the "Fire Separation Vermilion Bird Furnace" in the front.

Zhouyang, seeing this, nodded in satisfaction and said to Zhou Guangxiang, "Alright, the earth fire has been connected. From here, you can distribute this earth fire to the various fire chambers yourself. I’ll leave this task in your capable hands."