Beast-controlling fairy clan.

Chapter 510: Sacrifice is necessary [Subscription required]

Agree or disagree, that is not the question.

In the Zhou family, Zhou Chun’s current prestige can be said to be much higher than Zhou Mingde’s.

Perhaps in the hearts of Zhou Daoquan, Zhou Zhengyong and other older generation monks, they are still full of respect for Zhou Mingde, the highly respected ancestor of the family, and are deeply influenced by him.

But in the hearts of the younger generation of Zhou family cultivators, they only recognize patriarch Zhou Chun as the head of the Zhou family!

They grew up listening to the legends of Zhou Chun. When they grew up, they also witnessed with their own eyes how Zhou Chun, the patriarch, led the Zhou family to become bigger and stronger step by step, until it became the number one golden elixir family in Jingguo!

Yes, the number one golden elixir family in Jingguo!

After Zhou Mingde succeeded in forming the golden elixir, the Zhou family, which had three golden elixir-stage cultivators in the family, could be regarded as the number one golden elixir family in Jingguo according to the common calculation in the world of immortal cultivation.

After all, apart from the Zhou family, no other Jindan family can have three Jindan-stage cultivators in the family at the same time!
The importance of a Jindan-stage cultivator cannot be compared to that of ten Zifu-stage cultivators, not to mention a Foundation Establishment-stage cultivator!
Therefore, even though the Zhou family may not have completely surpassed some old-established Jindan families in terms of the number of Purple Mansion cultivators and Foundation Establishment cultivators, it can still be regarded as the number one Jindan family in Jingguo.

Under such circumstances, one can imagine how profound the prestige of Zhou Chun, who brought the Zhou family to such a height, is within the family.

So even though he said he could raise opinions at this time, no Zhou family cultivator dared to actually speak up.

Everyone knows that if their opinions are really sought on this matter, then a ready-made plan will not be directly presented to them. Instead, it should be discussed with them first.

Now if we tell them directly about the finalized plan and ask them to give their opinions, who among them would dare to do so?
This is not the way to commit suicide!

"I have no objection. The plan proposed by the clan leader is very practical and very suitable for the current family. I fully agree with this plan!"

Soon, Zhou Xinyi, the trusted acting clan leader, spoke up to express his agreement, his words full of praise for Zhou Chun.

Damn it, he got there first, this bootlicker!

Some Zhou family cultivators were secretly annoyed that someone else had gotten there first, and then they all immediately started to praise Zhou Chun's proposal.

Compared with the one-quarter cut in welfare benefits, they cared more about the opinion of Zhou Chun, the pillar of the family.

No one wants to leave a bad impression in front of the pillar of the family.

After all, if they still want to open up the Purple Mansion in the future, they still have to find a way from the family.

Zhou Chun had of course anticipated this result and it was not surprising at all.

As a Jindan-stage cultivator, sometimes there is no need for him to explain his actions to others!

It’s a dictatorship!

At this time, he just nodded slightly and said, "Very good, since everyone has no objection, then let's implement this plan. We will discuss the criteria for evaluating elite tribesmen later!"

Then we talked about revising the family rules.

The revision of the clan rules this time was mainly to revise some previous rules that restricted Zhou family monks from going out on adventures, as well as related restrictions on family monks' marriage and joining the sect.

In the past, when the Zhou family first arrived and had just established roots in Jiufengling, in order to avoid disasters and troubles and to prevent the loss of clan members, they formulated some strict rules according to the circumstances.

Now those rules are causing more harm than good to the Zhou family, and it is time to revise them.

Therefore, at this family meeting, Zhou Chun, on behalf of the family, proposed the abolition and modification of these relevant rules, and discussed with other middle and senior management of the family to formulate new rules.

After some communication, the new clan rules were finally negotiated and finalized.

According to the new clan rules, ordinary and elite members of the Zhou family no longer need to report to the clan leader when they go out during holidays. They only need to report to the clan leader if they go out for more than three days for non-personal holidays.

As for the core members of the clan who have reached the foundation-building stage or above, they still need to make a special report and apply before they can go out.

In terms of clan members' marriages, the family completely relaxed its control over marriages, allowing all clan members to freely decide their own marriages. Whether they marry out or even marry into another family, the family does not restrict them.

However, one thing worth noting is that marriages that are not approved by the family will no longer enjoy the family’s special dowry subsidies and bride price subsidies.

In other words, it is now difficult to marry into another family and receive a generous dowry from the family.

After all, the Zhou family is now a Jindan family and no longer needs to build a network of relationships through intermarriage between ordinary clansmen.

As for joining a sect, except for the Qinglian Temple, which is prohibited, members of the Zhou family can freely choose whether to join any other normal sect in the heavenly and earthly realms.

But if you join a sect, forget about the family's resources, unless you can show your value worthy of the family's investment!
Of course, if one joins the Moon Wheel Sect, the family will still provide certain assistance. After all, the Zhou family is now a vassal family of the Moon Wheel Sect, so even if they just pretend to be, they have to do it decently.

Finally, the subsidy measures that the Zhou family originally implemented to encourage their members to have children have now been officially announced to be abolished.

Now there are enough cultivators in the Zhou family, and the number of mortals in the family has also increased a lot in the past two hundred years.

Nowadays, every year, there are seven or eight children with spiritual roots detected among ordinary children, and sometimes there are even more than ten!

There is absolutely no need to implement the birth subsidy system anymore.

The modification and abolition of these rules not only gave the Zhou family monks the freedom to choose in certain aspects, but also saved the family expenses in some areas.

It can be said that it not only won people's hearts but also saved money.

Therefore, when these new clan rules were being revised, the Zhou family monks present, especially the younger generation, were very supportive.

After the rules were set, Zhou Chun asked everyone to discuss the criteria for judging the elite members of the tribe.

According to Zhou Chun's opinion, the number of elite clan members should not exceed one-fifth of the total number of Qi Refining cultivators in the family, which is more than one hundred people.

This number is not small, and many Zhou family cultivators have the opportunity to compete for it.

After unanimous discussion, it was decided that the elite members of the tribe would be identified using a dual standard of recommendation and assessment.

If a certain clan member reaches the late stage of Qi Refining, his character and achievements are highly praised and recognized by the clan elders, and five core clan members or one elder are willing to recommend him to become an elite clan member, then he can become an elite clan member.

Each core tribe member and elder can only use the power to recommend others to become core tribe members once every three years.

The assessment system is simple. Any Zhou family cultivator who feels that he is qualified to become an elite clan member can apply to the family for an assessment. The assessment is divided into practical assessment and skill assessment. If you pass the assessment, you can become an elite clan member!

When the number of elite tribesmen reaches the upper limit, other ordinary tribesmen can challenge the elite tribesmen to seize their elite status.

Compared to ordinary members of the tribe, elite members of the tribe enjoy the right to exchange spiritual objects for foundation building first, the right to practice a variety of precious secret arts, more holidays, and their own treatment will be higher than that of ordinary members of the tribe!
It is foreseeable that in the future, those Qi-refining cultivators of the Zhou family will fight for their lives in order to compete for the status of elite clan members.

After discussing all the important issues, Zhou Chun announced the adjournment of the meeting.

Subsequently, the revision of clan rules and the rules for determining clan members’ identities and status were quickly notified to clan members in various parts of the family in the form of an official announcement.

In less than a month, even those Zhou family cultivators who were adventurously traveling outside, as long as they were still in Jingguo, knew about these things.

As Zhou Chun expected, these revised new clan rules quickly gained the support of the clan members, who praised his wisdom.

As for the subsequent re-arrangement of the family's status, although some monks who were originally designated as elite clan members secretly complained, on the surface everyone supported this fair and just selection method.

However, the actual nomination and assessment cannot be carried out now, because Zhou Mingde’s Golden Elixir Ceremony is about to take place.

At dawn that day, twenty-four bells rang out one after another in Tuyun Ridge.

The Zhou family monks, who had already had this experience once, immediately took their positions after the bell rang and entertained the guests who came to congratulate them.

In just ten years, two Golden Elixir Ceremonies were held in succession, which made many low-level cultivators in Lingzhou, Lanzhou, Yunzhou, Cangzhou and other places very happy.

Because the Dragon Fish Banquet of the last Golden Elixir Ceremony was so famous, the number of independent cultivators who came to eat and drink for free this time was much greater than last time.

Fortunately, the Zhou family had a long time to prepare this time, and had made sufficient preparations for the food and supplies for the low-level cultivators, so they did not have to worry about the expenses they spent on food and drink.

It is not known whether it was because the Zhou family's influence further expanded after Zhou Mingde formed his golden elixir, or because they knew they did not need to send generous gifts this time, or because they were simply curious about this Jindan-stage cultivator who succeeded in forming his golden elixir at the age of four hundred and fifty or sixty.

The number of Jindan stage cultivators who came to attend Zhou Mingde's Jindan Ceremony this time was as many as sixteen, and several of them came uninvited!

Zhou Chun and Zhou Mingde are both happy to see this situation and welcome it very much.

They did not disappoint the Jindan stage monks who came here. Although they could not provide the [Bi Bo Cleansing Tea], they still took out the meat of the five-colored dragon fish to entertain these distinguished guests.

This Golden Elixir Ceremony lasted for several days and ended with both the guests and hosts enjoying themselves.

After the Golden Elixir Ceremony was over, Zhou Chun and Zhou Mingde had an in-depth conversation in Zhou Chun’s cave.

"I have successfully formed a golden elixir, which means my life is complete. My personal practice is no longer important, so I plan to spend the rest of my life studying the art of refining instruments. In the future, whether I leave more instruments as a foundation for the family, or use the golden elixir fire to refine gold essence, iron essence and other magical materials, I can provide some help to you, Zhengchun, and other golden elixir cultivators in the family in the future." "As for family affairs, if you don't have time to worry about them in the future, I can take care of them for you, so you don't need to waste your energy on this."

"In short, even if the family can no longer provide any support for your cultivation, it will never become a burden that hinders your cultivation!"

Inside Zhou Chun's cave, Zhou Mingde stared at him with a serious face and expressed his thoughts after much consideration.

As the founder of the current Zhou family, Zhou Mingde also deeply understands one thing, that is, if a family wants to continue to grow and develop, someone must sacrifice his or her own path.

Knowing this, he had never dared to dream about forming a pill before. He only thought about how to expand his family, even if it meant delaying his own cultivation time.

Because of this, he won the respect and esteem of younger generations such as Zhou Daoyi, Zhou Daoquan, and Zhou Chun, and the love of his clansmen.

But he also knew in his heart that not everyone could sacrifice their own path for the development of the family.

This is especially true for those monks who have a long way to go and hope to make further progress.

Zhou Chun, who had successfully formed a golden elixir when he was just over 200 years old, was undoubtedly a cultivator with a bright future ahead of him and a hope of reaching the Nascent Soul stage!

If Zhou Chun continues to be distracted from family affairs and devotes his energy to supporting the development of the family, it will certainly be of great help to the family. I believe he himself will not care about this particularly.

However, after two or three hundred years, Zhou Chun discovered that because he was distracted by taking care of his family, his cultivation progress was not as good as expected, and he might even lose the hope of reaching the Nascent Soul stage.

By then, no matter how deep Zhou Chun's feelings for his family are, he will inevitably feel resentful, or even cut ties with the family directly and leave the family to concentrate on pursuing the Nascent Soul path!

If that kind of thing really happened, the Zhou family’s loss would be much greater than what they have obtained now.

This kind of example has happened in the world of immortal cultivation before, and it is even quite common!
If Zhou Mingde failed to form the elixir, there would be no good solution even if he saw this.

After all, as the only Jindan-stage cultivator in the Zhou family at that time, Zhou Chun inevitably had to devote his energy to taking care of family affairs, including preaching and teaching the younger generation of cultivators in the family and answering their questions about cultivation.

But now that he has succeeded in forming the elixir, his life span has been greatly extended and he can live for at least another 500 years.

In this way, he can completely take over the things that were supposed to distract Zhou Chun.

Anyway, given his situation, there is no possibility of forming a fetus at all, so there is no problem in sacrificing some time for cultivation.

So after thinking for a long time, he chose this time to talk about these things with Zhou Chun.

Zhou Chun didn't expect that when Zhou Mingde said he had something to discuss with him, it would be this matter.

After Zhou Mingde finished speaking, he was stunned.

Then he looked at Zhou Mingde with a complicated expression, his throat surging. He didn't know what to say for a moment and was deeply moved.

After pondering for a while, he said affectionately, "I have never felt that my family is a burden to me!"

"I have always been grateful to you and your family for taking care of me and helping me when my cultivation was low. I have always liked the atmosphere of mutual help among the family members, and I have always been proud to be a member of the Zhou family!"

"Although the family can no longer provide me with much support in terms of cultivation resources, the help they provide me in other aspects still exists. I have never thought about leaving the family."

These were not words of modesty, but what he really meant.

Just as he said, although the Zhou family can no longer provide him with any resources for cultivation, he does not have to pay rent for his cave in the family, and he can also receive high welfare offerings paid by the Zhou family every year.

In addition, no matter what materials he wants to collect or what information he wants to find out, hundreds of cultivators from the entire Zhou family will serve him.

Even the food for his spiritual pets was provided by the Zhou family.

These conveniences are difficult for a casual cultivator to have.

If you join a sect, you can enjoy these conveniences, but once you enjoy these conveniences, don’t you have to help those sects do things?
In this case, it would be better for you to stay in the Zhou family and be honored as the ancestor!

Zhou Mingde could naturally tell whether Zhou Chun's words were true or false, and he nodded with a look of relief and said, "Yes, I believe that with your feelings for the family, it is impossible for you to leave the family."

After that, he changed the subject and said, "But the family and the clan members should achieve mutual success."

"You have now brought the family to an unprecedented level of prosperity, but the family's help to you is getting less and less. Whether for the sake of your path or for the long-term interests of the family, you should not spend more energy on trivial family affairs!"

He had spoken so bluntly, if Zhou Chun continued to shirk responsibility, it would be a bit immature of him to say so.

He bowed to him solemnly and said, "I am grateful for your advice. No matter what I achieve in the future, you will always be my most respected elder, and the Zhou family will always be my home!"

"Okay, okay, with your words, I am satisfied!"

Zhou Mingde cheered repeatedly and helped him up with a look of joy.

After their respective tasks for the future were determined, Zhou Mingde began to take care of family affairs on behalf of Zhou Chun in the days that followed.

However, Zhou Chun still holds the title of clan leader and has not removed it.

That is, in the third month after the end of Zhou Mingde's Golden Elixir Ceremony, Zhou Zhengyuan, the most senior cultivator in the Zhou family's "Zheng" generation, passed away.

Although Zhou Zhengyuan never fought on the battlefield for his family, he worked diligently to make pills for his family throughout his life, which can be considered as his hard work and great contributions.

Therefore, his funeral was treated in the same manner as Zhou Jiapeng who had passed away earlier. The whole family observed mourning for three days to commemorate the deceased elder of the family.

"Now that Sixth Brother is gone, there are only you and me left among the people of the same generation in the family!"

At the location of the Zhou family cemetery, Zhou Zhengyong and Zhou Chun stood together in front of the tomb of Zhou Zhengyuan who had just been buried. The two looked at the newly piled grave in front of them, feeling a little melancholy.

Then Zhou Zhengyong muttered, "Among so many people of the same generation, neither you nor I were the most talented. I didn't expect that you and I would go the furthest and survive to the end!"

The peers he mentioned were obviously only those who were born before the Zhou family came to Jiufengling.

A member of the clan like Zhou Zhengqing, although of the same generation as them, is actually 20 to 30 years older than them, so he cannot be considered their true peer!

After hearing Zhou Zhengyong's words, Zhou Chun sighed and said, "Yeah, who could have thought that the ones with the greatest achievements among our peers would be you and me, Brother Yong!"

As he spoke, names and faces flashed through Zhou Chun's mind one by one.

Zhou Zhengkang, Zhou Zhengtao, Zhou Zhengjie...

In the Zhou family back then, these peers competed with Zhou Chun, all hoping that they could get support from the family and thus successfully build a foundation.

In the end, Zhou Chun had the last laugh and became the one who was unanimously favored and supported by the elders.

And Zhou Chun did not disappoint the expectations of those elders and successfully brought the Zhou family to an unprecedented height, which was worthy of the efforts and expectations of those elders!
"That's different. Thirteenth brother, you were able to form the golden elixir because of your own ability. I am able to live to this day because of your blessing!"

Zhou Zhengyong shook his head slightly and spoke his true feelings with a look of deep emotion.

He knew very well that although he was not outstanding in talent among his peers, he was able to get to where he is today because he had established a good relationship with Zhou Chun before he became famous, and received Zhou Chun's support and care.

Otherwise, he would have been like those of his peers who had long passed away, dying early because of being unable to successfully build a foundation.

"Luck is also a kind of strength. Brother Yong, the fact that you have come this far is enough to explain a lot of things. Why should you belittle yourself?"

Zhou Chun shook his head slightly and comforted Zhou Zhengyong softly.

However, Zhou Zhengyong moved his lips, but finally just sighed softly and said nothing more.

In this way, the two of them paid tribute to Zhou Zhengyuan at his tomb and then left together.

Just one month after Zhou Jiapeng passed away, the second [Xuanxin Zihuan Dan] that the Zhou family had exchanged was also distributed.

Since this elixir had been promised to Zhou Zhengqing a long time ago, Zhou Chun personally handed it to him after the elixir was distributed.

Zhou Zhengqing, who was already quite old, went into seclusion soon after receiving the elixir.

However, Zhou Chun did not stay in the family to wait for the results of Zhou Zhengqing's retreat. Instead, after explaining things to Zhou Mingde, he quietly went to the Great Zhou Kingdom.

This time when going to the Great Zhou Kingdom, Zhou Chun must find Luo Qingni to refine the [Ancient Dust Pill] and the Foundation Establishment Pill. At the same time, he must also urge Sun Yuanjing to speed up the collection of the [Taiyi Xuanjin Qi], even if it costs more money!

In addition, he also had to purchase and exchange materials for Zhou Mingde to refine his own magic weapon, and he had to collect the remaining materials for his own magic weapon.

In order to achieve these goals, Zhou Chun carried with him all the precious spiritual objects collected by himself and his family, as well as a large amount of spiritual coins.

He had made sufficient preparations and was determined to complete the "recasting of the broken cauldron" and the refining of his own magic weapon in the Great Zhou Kingdom in one go, and then return to Jingguo in the strongest condition to face the changes in Qinglian Temple.

(End of this chapter)