Clan Mission

Zhou Minghan had great expectations for Zhou Yang.

The Yuquan Zhou clan's leaders had always been Foundation Establishment cultivators ever since it was founded by Zhou Yuquan. That was how they had been able to develop so much over the past two hundred years.

However, after Zhou Minghan, there hadn't been a Foundation Establishment cultivator for over a hundred years. This was dangerous as a cultivation clan's biggest fear was the sudden loss of a high-level cultivator.

Without the protection of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, the Zhou clan might not even be able to defend Yuquan Lake Oasis and Yuquan Peak or continue to expand their clan.

Therefore, Zhou Minghan had secretly instructed to halt the development of the Zhou clan in recent years. They were afraid that their continued expansion would attract the attention of others which might lead to their destruction upon Zhou Minghan's death.

But that wasn't the best solution for the clan's survival. The best way was for the Zhou clan to produce a new Foundation Establishment cultivator to take over the clan in time.

As long as there was a Foundation Establishment cultivator to lead the clan, the clan would be able to fend itself with its Grade 3 Ten-Thousand Flora Array and dozens of Qi Refinement cultivators against the attack of other Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Zhou Minghan had initially placed his hopes on the cultivators of the Xuan generation. He had even made up his mind that if no one in the Zhou clan was able to advance to the realm of Foundation Establishment before his death, he would rather give most of Yuquan Lake Oasis and the Zhou clan's estates to Yellow Sand School in exchange for the latter's protection. He couldn't let the Zhou clan be the target of extermination by others due to their reputation and resources.

But now, Zhou Minghan realized that perhaps he should change his mind.

With Zhou Yang's potential, this kid's chances of reaching the realm of Foundation Establishment might just be higher than those of the Xuan generation if he was given another twenty to thirty years.

He carefully looked at the youth standing before him. Zhou Minghan could care less about Zhou Yang's pleasing appearance. What the former valued was the youth's confident yet humble temperament and his calmness in the face of scrutiny or challenge.

When he was done judging him, Zhou Minghan had only one thought left in his mind: this child could be of great use!

Of course, as an elder, no matter how satisfied and happy he was in his heart, he would not show it outwardly for fear of encouraging the youth's arrogance.

Therefore, his outward expression remained calm despite the happiness in his heart. He looked at Zhou Yang indifferently and asked, "Do you know why I asked you to come here?"

"Please enlighten me, Clan Leader," said Zhou Yang honestly.

"According to the rules of the clan, our young cultivators must train at the base of the mountain and serve the clan for a period of time before they can return to cultivate.

"However, your situation is special. Although you are only seventeen years old, you are already at Qi Refinement Level 6. No one has been able to make their way up the mountain at your age in the past twenty years.

"Now that you have broken through with the help of the Spiritual Qi of Earth Veins, you will need to spend at least five more years to temper your mana. If I let you stay on the mountain, wouldn't it be a waste of your potential?

"Therefore, I have decided to make special arrangements and let you go to the mountain base early to serve the clan. This is also for your training and will be of great benefit to your cultivation in the future."

Zhou Minghan's mouth curled up slightly as he instructed Zhou Yang who listened attentively.

As expected, Zhou Yang's expression changed. He did not expect that he would be called here for such a thing.

But it was hard to tell if he was happy or depressed. Still, he quickly regained his calm composure as he respectfully bowed to Zhou Minghan and said, "I understand. I am willing to obey the clan's instructions."

Zhou Minghan asked, "Don't you want to know where I plan to assign you?"

"I believe that no matter the clan leader's plans, it is ultimately for the good of the clan."

Zhou Yang's response made Zhou Minghan speechless.

After a long while, the latter laughed and playfully scolded the former. "You are indeed a little rascal. Xuanhao and his wife are both upright people and yet they gave birth to a little rascal like you!

"Your spiritual root is biased towards the Metal and Fire elements. You also cultivate the Golden Sun Blazing Fire Form which is a masculine and overbearing cultivation technique. Other than a lack of battle experience, your fighting skills are not inferior to any other cultivator of the same level.

"Since the cultivator stationed at Qingping Mountain is almost done serving his time, you will be the one to replace him for the next five years. Once you've served your time, I will send a replacement after you.

"I hope that you will be able to make good use of your time there to learn one of the hundred arts of immortal cultivation, the Artifact Refinement Technique. The clan currently doesn't have any good artifact refiners that can take my place. If you are able to make good progress in artifact refinement, it will be a great contribution to the clan."

Once he was done speaking, Zhou Minghan waved his hand to throw a gray storage bag and small silver shield into Zhou Yang's hand.

"There are some low-level materials to practice artifact refinement in the storage bag. I've also included some of my notes in learning the Artifact Refinement Technique as well as a copy of the clan's 'A True Understanding of Artifact Refinement' collection. You must take good care of these things and not let the knowledge get out.

"The Silver Shield is a magical armor and it's the best of the many Grade 2 magical armor I've refined. Think of it as my compensation for assigning you to the mountain at such a young age.

"Alright, if there's nothing else, you may leave. It's best to complete the journey to Qingping Mountain within a month."

Zhou Minghan's words and actions left Zhou Yang dumbstruck for a moment. He quickly gathered himself and the items the clan leader had given him. "Then I'll take my leave first, Clan Leader."

It was not until he had walked out of the cave and heard the sound of the door closing behind him that he fully came back to his senses and understood what had happened.

He recalled Zhou Minghan words in the cave but his eyes were full of confusion as he muttered to himself, "What happened to me just now? How could I not have any reaction as if I had lost my soul? This is not like me!"

His heart skipped a beat as he made a bold guess.

"Could it be that the clan leader had cast some spell on me?"

But he immediately stopped himself from thinking of such a dangerous idea.

Even if the clan leader had cast a spell on him, it must have just been a joke. There was no need to think too much about it. As the saying went, curiosity killed the cat.

He quickly cleared his head again and looked at the storage bag and magical armor in his hand before carefully putting them away. On his way out, he greeted Zhou Yun who was drinking tea under the tree by himself. Zhou Yang respectfully requested the elder to open the array formation for him to descend the mountain.

Before he took his final step out of the mountain, Zhou Yang turned back to look at the top and saw Zhou Yun standing under the tree and watching him leave with a smile.

"The kid seems to have noticed. Guess I can't use such tricks to tease him in the future, lest I cause a bad misunderstanding." Zhou Minghan had been observing Zhou Yang through his Divine Sense after the latter left the cave. The clan leader tugged at his beard awkwardly and a hint of regret appeared on his face.

He had indeed secretly cast the Soul-Absorbing Spell that he had learned in his early years to influence Zhou Yang's mind.

He did not do it because he was afraid that Zhou Yang would disagree with his instructions, but it was purely because he could not bear to see Zhou Yang's mature reactions. Zhou Minghan simply wanted to tease Zhou Yang.

Seniors would initially feel proud that they had successfully teased their juniors. But when they soon realize that their joke might have gone too far and affect the juniors' mentality in the future, the seniors would regret their decisions.

This was currently the case for Zhou Minghan.

Fortunately, Zhou Yang was quite mature psychologically. He did not blame the dedicated clan leader over one small joke.

Once he had descended the mountain, Zhou Yang quickly returned to his pavilion on the mountainside. He closed his door and began to take a good look at his new inventory.

First was the storage bag that the clan leader had given him. This kind of magical storage item was made from the skin of the demon beast, Spirit Void Rat, and was something that almost every immortal cultivator had. Even the poorest rogue cultivator would try their best to get one.

Of course, there were different sizes of storage bags. The storage bags used by ordinary rogue Qi Refinement cultivators usually had storage space of up to three square feet. It was barely enough to hold a few sets of clothes and miscellaneous items.

However, a Qi Refinement cultivator of the Yuquan Zhou clan would receive a storage bag with five square feet of space for free. Since Zhou Yang had a good father, he used a ten-square-foot storage bag on a daily basis.

And now, his storage bag had been upgraded.

The seemingly gray and unattractive storage bag given by the clan leader had a space of thirty square feet. Besides a cauldron for and the collection of books on artifact refinement, the storage bag was also filled with materials such as black iron, red copper, century-old ironwood, and other low-level refining materials.

Zhou Yang did a rough calculation in his head. If he only wanted to refine artifacts that used a minimal amount of materials, what he had would be enough for him to refine artifacts a hundred times over.

"Ordinary disciples learn the Artifact Refinement Technique with freely-provided materials which would give them a hundred chances to practice at most. But the amount of materials the clan leader gave me would allow even the dumbest newbie to succeed two or three times!"

Zhou Yang looked at the storage bag filled with materials. It would be a lie to say that he was not moved.

He knew that the old clan leader had always kept a clear line between personal and work affairs. Even if he was talented, the clan leader would not make an exception for him.

Then there was only one reason he was given so many materials to practice with. The clan leader had used his personal savings to exchange for these materials from the clan's treasury.

"It seems that the clan leader really wants me to be his successor as an artifact refiner of the clan. As the only Grade 3 artifact refiner in the clan, he must have noticed something in me. Perhaps I do have a talent in artifact refinement."

Zhou Yang recalled the cultivation method the clan leader had mentioned earlier, the Golden Sun Blazing Fire Form. He suddenly had an epiphany, and a knowing smile appeared on his face.

He carefully put away his new storage bag and looked at the other thing the clan leader had given him, the Grade 2 magical armor, the Silver Shield.