Chapter 389: Chapter 374: Zhouyang Takes on a Disciple [2 New Chapters - Subscribe!]
Becoming the disciple of Zhouyang is a surefire way to become a Foundation Establishment Cultivator!
When Zhouyang heard the Patriarch Lu utter this sentence, he raised an eyebrow, gave him a faint smile without saying a word.
Patriarch Lu blushed immediately under his gaze, realizing his intentions had been seen through, but for the sake of his daughter’s path, he could only keep his head down, pretending nothing had happened, and dared not look at Zhouyang.
His daughter, Lu Xuewei, understood what was happening after his urging.
The little girl was clever. She had picked up on some of the happenings in the Lu family from the occasional conversations of adults over the past two years. Now, upon hearing that her father had "sold" her to Zhouyang, this extremely handsome uncle, as a disciple, she did not cry or make a fuss.
She simply glanced around before looking at Zhouyang and said crisply, "Master, please accept the bow from your disciple, Lu Xuewei."
"Very well, very well. From today on, you are my first disciple, Lu Xuewei."
Zhouyang, showing a joyful expression, repeatedly expressed his approval, then personally went forward to help the kneeling little girl, Lu Xuewei, up and then, with a flip of his hand, took out a pair of Tier Two High-Grade Spiritual Artifacts, the "Profound Ice Bracelets," made from Ice Jade, and bestowed them upon her.
He had many such Tier Two High-Grade Spiritual Artifacts in his storage ring, all acquired from looting enemies slain in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm.
Because he had enough storage rings, he was too lazy to spend time sorting out these items, so he had always kept them stored in the rings, intending to reward them to low-tier cultivators later, never expecting to find a perfect use for them just now.
"Your cultivation is too low. This pair of ’Profound Ice Bracelets’ is just right for you. You just need to inject a sliver of magical power to activate them, which will unleash a Profound Ice Shield for protection, capable of blocking thrice the attacks of a Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation Cultivator."
"The other bracelet can also be activated in the same manner. Once activated, it can release a sword-qi type magic, the Profound Ice Slash, to attack enemies. An average Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation Cultivator without a Tier Two High-Grade Defense Spiritual Artifact or defensive magic would definitely be unable to withstand this attack."
Zhouyang handed the pair of blue and white bracelets to the little girl, Lu Xuewei, and, seeing her joyful face, he chuckled and explained the effects of this set of magical artifacts.
And when the little girl, Lu Xuewei, received the gifts bestowed by Zhouyang and heard his explanation of the effects of the two artifacts, her face instantly lit up with a happy smile. She quickly reached out her two small white hands, putting on the jade bracelets.
Her wrists were only two-thirds the size of an adult woman’s, making wearing the jade bracelets seemingly too loose and unattractive.
However, since this pair of "Profound Ice Bracelets" was a Tier Two High-Grade Spiritual Artifact, it had the function of resizing to the wearer’s wrist size, quickly adjusting to fit her wrists snugly on both sides.
Meanwhile, seeing his daughter’s joyful disposition, the Patriarch Lu’s face was exceedingly complex.
He knew that once she wore the jade bracelets, his daughter would no longer be a member of the Lu family, and the affairs of the Lu family would no longer concern her. If she engaged in any misconduct, Zhouyang, her master, would have the authority to impose strict discipline and harsh punishment on her, making her suffer greatly.
However, just as Patriarch Lu was contemplating these matters with mixed feelings, Zhouyang, as if possessing mind reading ability, seemed to know what he was thinking and immediately said something to Lu Xuewei that surprised and delighted both father and daughter.
"Little Wei’er, I will add your name to the Zhou Clan Genealogy. From now on, within the Zhou family, your name will be Zhou Guangwei. As for outside, you can still use the name Lu Xuewei if you like."
Zhouyang smiled slightly as he gently patted the head of his little disciple, offering this generous gesture to the father and daughter.
In any world, changing one’s name and surname is always an uncomfortable matter.
Even for a little girl like Lu Xuewei, who was not yet worldly-wise, and used to her name, learning suddenly that she had to change her name to another that didn’t flow as easily would naturally instill resistance and unhappiness.
Not to mention the deeper implications of such a change.
Now, with Zhouyang’s offer, he took utmost emotional care of the Lu father and daughter.
"Thank you, senior, thank you, senior, with such great grace, my daughter and I are indebted beyond measure. From now on, we are willing to serve you in any way possible!"
Patriarch Lu immediately knelt down, kowtowing continuously with immense joy, to express gratitude for this immense favor.
And when Lu Xuewei heard that she didn’t have to change her name, she saw her father kneeling down and promptly followed suit, dutifully kowtowing to Zhouyang and expressing her gratitude: "Disciple thanks Master for the bestowed treasure, thanks Master for the given name!"
"Alright, let’s settle it for now. The official disciple initiation ceremony will be five years from now, coinciding with a grand auction we are holding in Zhou family. At that time, we will invite fellow Taoists from all quarters to witness the occasion. You, Lu kid, can bring your cultivators from the Lu family to observe as well."
Zhouyang nodded slightly as he outlined his plan.
Patriarch Lu, hearing this, dared not refuse, and quickly replied respectfully, "Yes, we will follow senior’s instructions!"
After accompanying his daughter Lu Xuewei for a few days on Red Tiger Mountain, the Patriarch of the Lu Clan was reassured about the family and hurried back.
The news that Lu Xuewei became Zhouyang’s first disciple quickly spread throughout the Zhou Family, and with Zhouyang’s intentional publicity, even the Chen Family and Yellow Sand Sect learned about it.
The cultivators of the Zhou Family were naturally overjoyed to learn that they had gained a genius female cultivator with an Ice Attribute Top-grade Spiritual Root.
Lu Xuewei’s reputation had circulated within the Zhou Family over the years, and now the meat had finally been brought to their mouth, many Zhou Family cultivators regarded it as a good omen for the family’s prosperity.
Originally, there weren’t any particularly outstanding talents among the Zhou Family’s "Tong" generation, but now with Lu Xuewei joining, the younger generation of the Zhou Family had once again gained a spiritual root genius cultivator, which was undoubtedly beneficial to the Zhou Family’s legacy and development.
Upon hearing this news, though disappointed, the Chen Family and Yellow Sand Sect, as Zhouyang had anticipated, would not act against the Zhou Family, nor could they retaliate against the Lu Family.
The Zhou Family now had Zhouyang and Xiao Ying, both Purple Mansion Stage cultivators, sitting in command, even excluding any hidden combat strength Zhouyang might have. Moreover, the two were still relatively young compared to most cultivators at the Purple Mansion Stage.
Under such circumstances, unless the leaders of the Chen Family and Yellow Sand Sect were fools, they were unlikely to antagonize a thriving family like the Zhou Family for a spiritual root cultivator whose future path was uncertain.
Although Zhouyang unexpectedly accepted a disciple, it was obvious he was not prepared to be a teacher.
Apart from assigning Lu Xuewei the Ice Element Low-Level Technique "Cold Ice Technique" to cultivate, he only spent half a day each month assessing her cultivation progress and correcting some mistakes.
Everyday cultivation was taught by the old masters of the Zhou Family academy.
Of course, as Zhouyang’s disciple, Lu Xuewei’s status meant that she could always consult with any Zhou Family Foundation Establishment cultivator, including the Clan Leader Zhou Guangxiang, if she had any doubts about her cultivation.
Two months later, Zhouyang instructed Zhou Guangqing, a Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Zhou Family, to collect low-tier artifact refining materials and fly by sword across various oases, eventually delivering them to Red Tiger Mountain. Zhouyang then formally began his plan to create a unique magical artifact.
Meanwhile, Zhou Guangxiang temporarily handed over clan affairs to his sister Zhou Guangxiang and several Law Enforcement Elders to focus on seclusion and ingest the Refining Cultivation Spiritual Pill given by Zhouyang, aiming to reach the eighth layer of Foundation Establishment.
Creating unique magical artifacts is not an easy task, as Zhouyang had learned from the difficulty involved when he first attempted it during his Foundation Establishment cultivation.
Nevertheless, now retrying with his fourth-layer Purple Mansion cultivation, he found it much easier than before.
Firstly, at his current cultivation level, refining a Tier Two High-Grade Spiritual Artifact took him less than half an hour.
Secondly, his Divine Sense had grown stronger and more acute, enhancing his artifact refining skill, which made it easier to discover previous mistakes.
Thirdly, the materials available for experimentation now were entirely different from before.
Lastly, he had Xu Song, a Tier Five Refining Master, to provide guidance and suggestions.
With these advantages combined, the process of creating a unique magical artifact was naturally tenfold or hundredfold smoother than before.
In just half a year of semi-seclusion, using materials worth approximately thirty thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones, Zhouyang successfully crafted his first original magical artifact, the "Primordial Yang Shield."
Named "Primordial Yang Shield," the artifact was classified as Tier Two High-Grade, not only outstanding in defense—it could easily block attacks from ordinary Tier Two High-Grade Flying Swords—but could also unleash a "Solar Flare Ray" equivalent in power to a Tier Two High-grade Fire Magic to counter enemies.
Of course, one gets what one pays for, and the power of the "Primordial Yang Shield" is inseparably linked to its refining cost.
Not to mention other costs, the raw material alone to enable the shield to unleash "Solar Flare Ray" involved investing a Tier Three Spiritual Object "Fire Crystal Stone," with a base value of five hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones.
All things considered, even excluding the artificer’s labor cost and the wasted material cost from failed attempts, the normal production cost of a "Primordial Yang Shield" reached nearly six hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones!
Meanwhile, in Liuyun Marketplace on Red Tiger Mountain Oasis, a normal Tier Two High-grade magical artifact had a market price of just four to five hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones!
Calculating in this way reveals that from the perspective of utility value, a magical artifact like the "Primordial Yang Shield," with its enormous refining cost, could never be normally traded in the marketplace, as no Qi Cultivation Stage cultivator would afford to spend more than a thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones to purchase a Tier Two High-grade Spiritual Artifact.
However, Zhouyang didn’t care about these issues since he never intended for such an artifact to circulate outside.
This "Primordial Yang Shield" was specifically designed and created for use by the Zhou Clan’s future battle hall cultivators, ensuring only they would wield it, becoming a hallmark for the Zhou Family Martial Hall’s cultivators.
For this reason, he also meticulously painted the round shield a light golden color, with the center inlaid with a cat’s-eye-sized fiery red "Fire Crystal Stone." This combination of gold and red was precisely Zhouyang’s favorite style.