Chapter 64: 64th Chapter: Tremendous Gains, Generous Rewards

Due to the limited number of jade boxes he carried and the low value of some herbs with insufficient years, Zhou Chun did not completely harvest all the Spiritual Medicine in the medicinal valley.

After he and Liu Shiyun had finished picking the several dozen most valuable herbs, they left the valley.

On the way back, as the Green-Haired Giant Ape was carrying the bags containing Emerald Crown Flying Serpents, Zhou Chun and Liu Shiyun, at its repeated requests, sat on its shoulders, one on the left and one on the right, and were carried back by it.

Thanks to the Green-Haired Giant Ape’s cultivation level and physical strength, the journey that would have taken Zhou Chun and his group several days to travel on foot took less than two days.

This was because Zhou Chun and Liu Shiyun could not endure such severe jolting for long periods; otherwise, the ape could have traveled even faster.

After they returned to the Zhou Family at Jiufeng Ridge, Zhou Chun first settled Liu Shiyun in his residence, and then he and the Green-Haired Giant Ape, carrying the Emerald Crown Flying Serpents, went to Pagoda Peak to turn them over to the Clan Leader, Zhou Daoyi.

“You did well on this matter; the Emerald Crown Flying Serpents are indeed a Demon Beast population with significant cultivation value to the clan, and you have made another meritorious contribution to the family!”

Inside the “Central Peace Hall,” Zhou Daoyi continuously nodded in approval after inspecting the Emerald Crown Flying Serpents captured by the Green-Haired Giant Ape, very pleased with Zhou Chun’s thoughtful action for the clan.

Zhou Chun himself was also pleased with the praise, but did not dare take all the credit and sincerely said, “Clan Leader sees clearly, this matter also greatly owes to Elder Yuan. Without Elder Yuan, it would have been absolutely impossible for this junior alone to accomplish this.”

Upon hearing this, Zhou Daoyi waved his hand and said, “This seat naturally understands that, but the credit will only be awarded to you, and how you share it with him is your own affair.”

After all, the Green-Haired Giant Ape is a Demon Beast, and even though it holds a high status within the Zhou Family, it certainly does not have “human rights.”

Therefore, Zhou Daoyi’s current approach is the most appropriate.

Zhou Chun understood this and thus did not argue further about the matter.

He soon added, “During this outing, this junior has also collected a good number of Spiritual Medicines from the habitat of those Emerald Crown Flying Serpents. I am willing to donate the portion that is useful to the clan.”

Upon hearing this, Zhou Daoyi nodded in satisfaction and replied, “It’s very thoughtful of you. I will call Zhengyuan over to see which of these Spiritual Medicines are worth keeping for the clan.”

Having said that, he sent the blue parrot “Lan Lan” to Hundred Medicines Peak to send the message.

While Zhou Zhengyuan was on his way from Hundred Medicines Peak, Zhou Daoyi took Zhou Chun to Flying Rock Peak to hand over the Emerald Crown Flying Serpents to the Third Elder, Zhou Daoquan, for proper selection and arrangement of personnel to domesticate them.

Before long, Zhou Zhengyuan arrived at the “Central Peace Hall,” and he began to identify and inventory the Spiritual Medicines brought out by Zhou Chun.

In the end, seventy percent of the Spiritual Medicines that Zhou Chun had harvested from the valley were taken back to Hundred Medicines Peak by Zhou Zhengyuan, and the total purchase value of these medicines reached seven hundred and fifty-four clan merits.

“Including those Emerald Crown Flying Serpents you brought back, let’s make it a round number and call it one thousand clan merits,”

After looking at the summary paper given to him by Zhou Zhengyuan before he left, Zhou Daoyi pondered briefly and then told Zhou Chun the reward he would receive.

One thousand clan merits!

This was undoubtedly a considerable amount of merit reward.

It was likely that, apart from a few cultivators of the Zhou Family at the Foundation Establishment Stage, there were not many among all the Qi Refinement Realm cultivators in the family who could possess such a significant amount of merit rewards.

And with this merit reward included, the clan merits Zhou Chun possessed were now approaching fifteen hundred.

This did not even include the award for his previous discovery of the Red Shine Iron Mine!

Given the Zhou Family’s exchange rate of one Spirit Coin to one merit, this was fifteen hundred Spirit Coins.

And what could one thousand and five hundred Spirit Coins do?

To buy the Yellow Cloud Pills Zhou Chun was currently taking, he could purchase ten bottles, enough for him to slowly consume until he reached the twelfth level of the Qi Refinement Realm!

If used to buy Magic Artifacts, he could afford about four top-grade Magic Artifacts of the first rank like the Moon Blade Meteor Wheel.

Even according to what Zhou Chun knew, sometimes with a bit of luck, a Foundation Establishment Pill could be bought for only five or six thousand Spirit Coins!

Therefore, even with his temperament, upon hearing the reward announced by Zhou Daoyi, he could not help but show an extremely astonished and delightful expression.

Seeing the surprise on his face, Zhou Daoyi spoke with an odd expression, “Don’t act so surprised; when I calculated it myself just now, I was surprised too.”

“Because the amount of merits you now possess has made you the third person among the Qi Refinement cultivators in the family, and the other two are elders who are several decades older than you!”

There are two elders with higher merits than his own?

When Zhou Chun heard this, much of his initial surprise dissipated.

At this moment, the thought in his mind was, how many more years would it take for him to become the cultivator with the highest merit points among the Qi Refinement Realm cultivators of his clan?

Three years?

Five years?

Either way, it couldn’t be too far off, right!

Zhou Daoyi, of course, didn’t know what was going through his mind at this moment, or else he probably would have been speechless.

After the initial surprise, Zhou Daoyi looked at Zhou Chun and said, “Keep these merit points for the time being. Otherwise, if you start spending freely, there will be much less left for the other members of the family to exchange.”

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chun immediately responded respectfully, “Junior understands; I will certainly follow the Clan Leader’s instructions.”

“Now, let’s talk about your reward for discovering and reporting the Red Shine Iron Mine!”

Zhou Daoyi nodded, then started to discuss the pending reward for discovering the Red Shine Iron Mine.

“With the official launch of mining operations, the family’s share of the profits from the Red Shine Iron Mine is estimated to be around fifty thousand Spirit Coins.”

“After discussing with the Supreme Elder, we have decided to elevate your family status and additionally reward you and Zhengyong with items worth about two thousand Spirit Coins.”

“Since you were the direct discoverer, and Zhengyong also acknowledged that the main credit belongs to you, your reward amounts to roughly one thousand five hundred Spirit Coins.”

As Zhou Daoyi was speaking, he suddenly slapped his storage pouch and took out about a dozen assorted items, laying them out in front of Zhou Chun.

“Now, there are some magic artifacts, talismans, and elixirs for you to choose from—it’s up to you to decide which ones you want!”

The items Zhou Daoyi had brought out for Zhou Chun to choose from were naturally the cream of the crop.

Most of them were obtained from killing several Foundation Establishment Cultivators from the Qiyun Alliance.

In the previous battle between the Qiyun Alliance and the five major cultivation families, the Zhou Family suffered casualties, but the gains far outweighed the losses.

Not only did Zhou Daoyi secure the belongings of the three Foundation Establishment Cultivators he killed, but Zhou Mingde also killed two Foundation Establishment Cultivators in the subsequent pursuit.

Moreover, Qi Refinement Realm cultivators of the Zhou Family killed more than thirty Loose Cultivators from the Qiyun Alliance, and their gains were similarly significant.

Now Zhou Chun, who had not participated in the battle, also had the chance to share in the spoils.

He looked over the pile of items in front of him, asking about one and then another, and eventually picked out four.

They were a bright yellow jade pendant magic artifact, a pale golden ring-shaped magic artifact, a bottle of elixir, and a talisman.

The jade pendant magic artifact was called the Bright Dawn Pendant, a defensive dharma artifact with an automatic protection feature. Worn around the neck, one only needed a thought to release a protective glow capable of withstanding an attack from a top-tier first-grade spell once.

If one continued to infuse mana afterward, the protective glow would significantly strengthen, making it possible to withstand attacks from regular top-tier first-grade magic artifacts.

This item, combined with the secret technique of the Five Elements Spiritual Armor Technique that Zhou Chun had already learned, would make it almost impossible for a Qi Refinement Realm cultivator to kill him with a single blow.

The pale golden ring-shaped magic artifact was called the Locking Gold Ring, capable of changing size to trap enemies, particularly effective against Demon Beasts.

The elixir was the Rejuvenation Pill, which could be refined to recover mana. Just one could allow Zhou Chun to restore eighty percent of his mana in a quarter of an hour, and there were a total of three pills.

This Rejuvenation Pill was extremely precious, worth eighty Spirit Coins each, usually affordable only by Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators.

The last talisman was a second-grade Wind Walking Talisman, a type of talisman that, once activated, allowed a Qi Refinement Realm cultivator to fly with the wind. Its flying speed was even faster than that of an average Foundation Establishment early-stage cultivator’s instrument flight, making it a very practical item for escape.

The combined value of these four items was about one thousand four to five hundred Spirit Coins.

“The value of these four items is roughly comparable. I’ll give you two more top-tier first-grade talismans to make up the difference,” Zhou Daoyi said, looking at the items Zhou Chun had chosen. He then slapped his storage pouch again and took out a Golden Armor Talisman and a Fire Serpent Talisman to give him.

Zhou Chun was, of course, endlessly grateful and repeatedly thanked Zhou Daoyi.

After he had stored all the items in his storage pouch, Zhou Daoyi looked at him and earnestly advised, “Now that you should have no shortage of magic artifacts and elixirs, focus on your cultivation. Strive to reach the twelfth layer of the Qi Refinement Realm before you turn thirty-five. That way, you will have plenty of time to prepare for Foundation Establishment.”

“Yes, Junior will surely keep the Clan Leader’s teachings in mind,” Zhou Chun seriously nodded in agreement, and then silently exited the Central Peace Hall, returning to Baozhi Peak with his rich haul of items.