CHAPTER 291: CHAPTER 278: 5 YEARS!

After the family meeting, the atmosphere in the Zhou Family was visibly different.

Firstly, the number of cultivators taking concubines reached forty to fifty within just a month. Magical fireworks released by Zhou family members due to concubine taking could be heard and seen on various Spirit Mountains every day.

Although mortal women who marry cultivators don’t have high status in the family, taking a concubine is ultimately a joyous occasion. Releasing magical fireworks to make the new wife happy, many cultivators are willing to do so at their convenience.

Moreover, showcasing the powerful capabilities of cultivators in front of mortal women easily instills admiration and reverence, leading to a more harmonious family life afterwards.

While some are busy taking concubines and having children to earn generous fertility subsidies and special contribution point rewards, others are preoccupied with when Zhouyang’s promised Spirit Stone dividends from the family meeting will be received, often gathering to discuss this matter whenever free.

Of course, the topic most frequently discussed by these people is the feasibility of the Zhou Family producing Foundation Establishment Pills itself.

Throughout the entire Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm, up to now, the Yellow Sand Sect is probably the only force capable of self-producing Foundation Establishment Pills.

Of course, if the Purple Mansion Clans Chen Family and Nie Family were to cooperate, it’s also possible for them to self-produce Foundation Establishment Pills, considering both families have Tier Three Alchemists and Purple Mansion Cultivators.

If the Zhou Family could independently achieve self-production of Foundation Establishment Pills, the significance would be extraordinary.

Just like the Chen Family at White Camel Ridge, where the Chen Family Ancestor managed to self-produce Foundation Establishment Pills, the number of Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators and Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators in the Baisha River Oasis Cultivation Realm is far greater than in other large oases.

It could be said that in this Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm, whoever controls the Foundation Establishment Pills controls the fate of countless Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators.

If the Zhou Family could self-produce Foundation Establishment Pills, even if they didn’t intend to let them flow outside, merely sharing the news would naturally attract countless loose cultivators and small clan cultivators.

Who doesn’t have a streak of luck?

As long as the Zhou Family can refine Foundation Establishment Pills, their value to the Zhou Family would no longer be like how they were before, with a price but no market.

If someone were truly able to offer treasures that the Zhou Family couldn’t refuse in exchange, could the Zhou Family truly resist making the trade?

Although Zhou Family cultivators don’t want the Foundation Establishment Pills to flow outside, they are more eager for the Red Tiger Mountain Oasis to become as prosperous as the Baisha River Oasis. In that way, not only can the Zhou Family profit and become stronger, but they can also gain significant benefits.

Zhouyang heard the rumors among his clan members, but he didn’t care much.

Let the clan members discuss as they wish; he always has a plan in mind for what to do.

After the family meeting, he began to fully transfer family affairs to Vice Clan Leader Zhou Guangxiang to handle, while he focused on retreating in the "Qianyang Cave" to enhance his Artifact Refining Skill.

His Artifact Refining Skill was still at Tier Three Middle Grade, which was not in alignment with his status as a Purple Mansion Cultivator.

Moreover, after reaching the Purple Mansion Stage, although he acquired numerous powerful magical artifacts, his trump card - the "Great Derivation Sword Technique" - was unable to fully unleash its power due to the lack of sufficient Tier Four Flying Swords.

This undoubtedly made him uncomfortable, as he invested considerable time and effort into the "Great Derivation Sword Technique."

Therefore, now that he had free time, he wanted to advance his Artifact Refining Skill, gather materials, and refine a set of Tier Four Flying Swords most suited to his use, just like Jia Yunzhen, who taught him the "Great Derivation Sword Technique," refined a set of swords with the same attribute and materials.

Zhouyang had a large number of Tier Three Artifact Refining materials, and the Zhou Family Treasure Vault also had a substantial accumulation of Tier Three Artifact Refining materials, giving him a good precondition for improving his Artifact Refining Skill.

Moreover, during the time when his divine soul entered the Purple Mansion Daoist Palace, entering the "Divine Traveling Heaven and Earth" state, he had a profound understanding of Artifact Refining Skill, which greatly aided his current improvement.

The Tier Four High-grade Artifact Refining Cauldron "Fire Separation Vermilion Bird Furnace," obtained from the storage ring of "Golden Light Ascendant," was also an extremely valuable Tier Four High-grade Artifact Refining Cauldron, coveted by many Tier Four Refiners.

Paired with the "Qianyang True Flame" he controlled, considering external conditions alone, it’s doubtful one could find anyone in the Cultivation Realm better than him.

Thus, when he truly set his mind to improving his Artifact Refining Skill, his skill level evolved noticeably month by month.

After less than three months, he successfully advanced to become a Tier Three Top Grade Refiner.

However, becoming a Tier Three Top Grade Refiner was not his goal; his true aim was to become a Tier Four Refiner.

Therefore, after reaching Tier Three Top Grade Refiner, he didn’t stop refining artifacts but rather accelerated his refining speed.

After continuously retreating and refining for three years, not only did he exhaust his own many Tier Three Artifact Refining materials, but also consumed nearly half of the Tier Three Artifact Refining materials accumulated in the Zhou Family Treasure Vault.

The results of consuming such a multitude of materials included over fifty various Tier Three Spiritual Artifacts, along with a success rate of fifty percent for refining Tier Three High-grade Spiritual Artifacts.

A fifty percent success rate for refining Tier Three High-grade Spiritual Artifacts was a realm the previous Zhou Family Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan had not attained.

Basically, it was the limit Zhouyang could achieve using materials alone; further improvement in success rate would depend on talent and understanding, not just on mastery through practice.

This artifact refining success rate, although it has already met the conditions to advance to a Tier Four Refiner, but to truly succeed in advancing to a Tier Four Refiner, it might be impossible without wasting dozens of materials.

And the materials for refining Tier Four Spiritual Artifacts are not cheap. A set of materials for refining Tier Four Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts costs at least four to five thousand Spirit Stones, and they are often rare in the market.

Zhouyang’s materials, along with the materials accumulated by the Zhou Family, are only enough for him to refine Tier Four Spiritual Artifacts seven or eight times.

In this situation, how dare he easily challenge the Tier Four Refiner?

Not being able to easily challenge the Tier Four Refiner doesn’t mean that Zhouyang will give up his goal.

The temporary rest is merely to prepare for a better outburst.

Therefore, he paused his artifact refining and began to cultivate the Fire Manipulation Secret Technique "Profound Sun Fire Manipulation Technique" that Master Cyan Yang had passed on to him.

This "Profound Sun Fire Manipulation Technique" is quite profound and obscure, originally a secret technique that only Golden Core Stage Cultivators have the qualification to practice. It is very difficult for Purple Mansion Stage Cultivators to cultivate.

However, the power of this secret technique is quite impressive.

Although Zhouyang possesses the domineering and unparalleled "Qianyang True Flame", he seldom uses this method in his daily magical combat.

This is partly due to his desire to conceal his possession of the "Qianyang Treasure Body", but more importantly, he lacked a good Fire Manipulation Technique to fully unleash the power of the "Qianyang True Flame".

After he cultivated the "Profound Sun Fire Manipulation Technique", this situation changed.

The "Profound Sun Fire Manipulation Technique" not only contains many fire control and manipulation spells allowing him to better tame and control the "Qianyang True Flame", but also several secret skills to bring the "Qianyang True Flame" power into extraordinary play.

Zhouyang cultivates the "Profound Sun Fire Manipulation Technique" not only to enhance his abilities in fire manipulation and control but also to enrich his combat methods, letting the fire element divine technique "Qianyang True Flame" display its deserved might.

About two years after cultivating the "Profound Sun Fire Manipulation Technique", he finally greatly improved his fire manipulation and control abilities and successfully mastered a secret skill "Flaming Dragon Burst".

Upon experimentation, Zhouyang found that "Flaming Dragon Burst" possessed instant destructive power comparable to Tier Four High-grade Spells, and the sustained "Qianyang True Flame" burning damage surpassed any Tier Four Magic.

The only drawback of this secret skill is its high magical power consumption, requiring at least thirty percent of his magical power to exert this secret skill, meaning he has only the strength for three strikes even at his peak state.

However, as his cultivation improves, this disadvantage will inevitably cease to be a disadvantage, so he is quite satisfied with this outcome.

After achieving results in the "Profound Sun Fire Manipulation Technique", Zhouyang attempted refining Tier Three High-grade Spiritual Artifacts again, and sure enough, his artifact refining success rate improved, though not by a full ten percent, at least half a percent.

With a fifty-five percent success rate in refining Tier Three High-grade Spiritual Artifacts, Zhouyang felt he could try refining Tier Four Spiritual Artifacts.

However, before he could implement his plan, Ma Shaoyang, a Foundation Establishment Cultivator affiliated with the Zhou Family, unexpectedly visited him.

"Fellow Daoist Ma suddenly visits, what brings you here?"

Zhouyang sat upright on the Cold Jade Bed, looking curiously at Ma Shaoyang in front of him, who humbly and respectfully bowed his head.

This Ma Shaoyang made quite a splash during his Purple Mansion celebration, and that Tier Four Spirit Elixir "Earth Fire Reishi" is still in his Storage Bag, intended for future treasure exchanges.

Of course, he didn’t take this generous gift for free; afterward, he not only granted Ma Shaoyang a hundred-year use of a shop in "Liuyun Square" but also sent Zhou Guangxiang to arrange a Tier Three Array on the Tier Three Spirit Mountain Ma Shaoyang occupied.

From a value point of view, Ma Shaoyang certainly profited from this return gift.

"Respected Senior, I have come to visit you, wishing to make a transaction with you!"

Ma Shaoyang slightly raised his head to glance at Zhouyang before quickly lowering it again, solemnly stating his purpose for suddenly visiting.

"Oh, you want to make a transaction with me? Trading what?"

Zhouyang showed interest immediately.

Generally speaking, when Low-Tier Cultivators seek trade with High-Tier Cultivators, the traded item is definitely suitable for use by High-Tier Cultivators.

In such transactions, the High-Tier Cultivator will definitely be the party that profits, just a question of how much.

"I want to exchange news about a Heaven and Earth Spiritual Fire from you in exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill!"

Ma Shaoyang looked at Zhouyang with fervent eyes and stated the trade content.