Chapter 397: Chapter 382: Zhou Xuanhao Passes Away!
The Eagle Lion Beast successfully advanced, meaning the Zhou Clan has gained another Purple Mansion combat power.
After this major event, Zhouyang naturally couldn’t care less about the Preaching Conference. He immediately waved his hand to have Elder Zhou Guangxiang take over answering the cultivators’ questions, while he himself flew directly to the top of Red Tiger Mountain.
When he reached the summit, he saw the Eagle Lion Beast pecking off its own feathers, one by one, from its wings.
"This is..."
Zhouyang saw this scene and was slightly startled.
Then, as if recalling something, he mumbled to himself with an enlightened look on his face, "Is it about to molt? Looks like this advancement really brought you quite some benefits, you beast!"
Ordinary birds molt every year, but the feathers of demon birds are hardened by magic power and rarely need to be replaced.
When a demon bird begins to molt, there’s only one reason: its former feathers can’t match its increased power, so it needs to shed the old ones and replace them with new ones that align with its current strength.
The Eagle Lion Beast advanced from Tier Three to Tier Four; this is not just about condensing a demon pill from Tier Three to Tier Four. It’s fundamentally breaking the bloodline shackles of the Eagle Lion Beast, enhancing its bloodline level from the bloodline aspect.
Therefore, it needs to shed the feathers grown from its previously inferior bloodline and replace them with feathers grown from its newly elevated bloodline.
"Wait, these feathers are excellent materials for artifact refining. You better peck them off properly, one by one. If you ruin one, I’ll personally pluck all your feathers!"
Zhouyang suddenly shouted, startling the Eagle Lion Beast, causing its beak to tremble and poke into the flesh of its wing, creating a fist-sized bloody hole.
This was quite painful for the beast, and it turned its head to look at Zhouyang with grievance, whimpered a few times, seemingly saying, "Look what you’ve done!"
Zhouyang, seeing this, chuckled with amusement and said, "Hey, you beast! It’s been years, and your intelligence has actually grown. You now know how to feign misery for sympathy!"
With that, he jumped onto the Eagle Lion Beast and started plucking the feathers from its wings himself.
If it were any regular Purple Mansion stage cultivator, this task would have been quite daunting, as those feathers are connected to the beast’s flesh, making them difficult to cut off even with a flying sword.
However, Zhouyang had mastered the first layer of the Azure Dragon Body Refining Technique, with arms capable of exerting immense strength, making feather plucking no difficulty at all.
Thus, Zhou Bapi could now be called Zhou Pluck-feathers!
When all the feathers on the Eagle Lion Beast’s wings were plucked, its body was covered in demon blood, appearing quite hideous and terrifying.
However, Zhouyang knew this was just a horrifying appearance; in reality, they were just flesh wounds that would heal quickly.
Indeed, the Eagle Lion Beast’s wings, streaming with demon blood, showed no signs of pain. Instead, as Zhouyang pulled off its last feather, it suddenly stood up, craned its neck, and let out a joyful eagle cry.
Its wings stretched out, and amidst the demon blood flowing on its flesh, pale turquoise feathers rapidly emerged, growing quickly long, about a foot in length, before gradually slowing down.
Zhouyang saw this amazing sight and was continuously amazed, clicking his tongue in admiration.
He knew, for an Eagle Lion Beast with wind-fire attribute magical powers, such strong regenerative ability was not innate.
The reason it could grow a full set of feathers so quickly now was due to being marked by the Heavenly Dao Laws.
Still, even with the favor of the Heavenly Dao Laws, these newly grown feathers would still take a considerable time to fully stabilize.
After the Eagle Lion Beast’s feathers stopped growing, Zhouyang waved his hand and took out a large, hard piece of frozen turtle meat from his storage ring, throwing it in front of the Eagle Lion Beast: "This piece of Tier Five Demon Beast meat will serve as a reward for your advancement. As long as you keep loyally guarding my Zhou Clan, there will be no lack of benefits for you."
The turtle meat was the spiritual flesh from the Tier Five Demon Beast "Gen Mountain Turtle," which Zhouyang had stored in his storage ring, originally intended to be used as feed for the adult Golden-winged Thunder Eagle in the future. Now it was first conveniently given to the Eagle Lion Beast.
Having just completed its advancement, the Eagle Lion Beast was in need of massive feeding to grow its body. Upon seeing the Tier Five Demon Beast meat, thick with spiritual qi, it paid no regard to its hardness or bland taste and immediately pounced to devour the frozen turtle meat in large chunks.
Over the ensuing three months, the Eagle Lion Beast demanded several Tier Three Essence Pills from Zhouyang every two to three days. After three months of such sustenance, it finally solidified its Tier Four Demon Beast form and strength.
By then, the Eagle Lion Beast, with wings spread wide, measured nearly fifteen or sixteen yards in width, with a length over eight yards, truly becoming a colossal beast.
This Eagle Lion Beast had previously been used by Zhouyang to transport people as a Camel Beast, managing to carry twenty to thirty people when packed tightly.
Now, its carrying capacity is undoubtedly more formidable, with its broad lion back being sufficient to accommodate fifty people.
Not only did its size increase dramatically, but its strength as well.
Thanks to the Barbaric Beast Heart given by Zhouyang, after advancing to a Tier Four Demon Beast, the Eagle Lion Beast not only awakened several wind-fire dual-attribute talent divine techniques but also mastered the universal talent divine technique of the Barbaric Beast and Barbaric Bird tribes, "Frenzy."
Relying on outstanding wind and fire two-system magic divine techniques and a powerful demon body, although the Eagle Lion Beast had just succeeded in its advancement, its combat power was not inferior to any early-stage Purple Mansion cultivator.
Of course, exceptions like Zhouyang do not count.
Originally, the Eagle Lion Beast advancing to become a Tier Four demon beast was worth celebration for the entire Zhou Clan, since this was undoubtedly a Purple Mansion stage combat power.
However, Zhouyang thought of the big auction the Zhou Clan had been preparing, which was less than a year away, he put this idea aside and focused on preparations for the event.
News about this big auction had spread throughout the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm, and anyone who was not completely isolated had already heard the news that a Foundation Establishment Pill would be auctioned at this event.
Therefore, even though there were still more than six months until the official date of the auction, many cultivators had already begun their journey to the Red Tiger Mountain Oasis in advance.
A large number of cultivators heading to Red Tiger Mountain Oasis was obviously a good thing for the Zhou Clan, because once these people arrived, few would leave empty-handed, and the Zhou Clan could collect a considerable sum merely from the marketplace ’head tax’.
However, the gathering of many cultivators could easily lead to disputes and also attract the attention of sand bandits, who might ambush cultivators traveling to the Red Tiger Mountain Oasis along the way.
Zhouyang naturally did not want such events to occur, lest it tarnish the clan’s reputation and scare away those cultivators coming from afar.
Therefore, with a single command, Zhouyang had the newly formed Battle Hall cultivators of the Zhou Clan divided into three teams to patrol the main roads leading to the Red Tiger Mountain Oasis in turn, providing protection against sand bandit attacks.
Additionally, Zhouyang conscripted five clan leaders from vassal Foundation Establishment clans, such as Guo Shaoyang and Ma Xingrui, for a year, ordering them as mobile patrol cultivators to strike at hidden sand bandits.
Yet, when Zhouyang was ambitiously planning to make this auction the once-in-a-thousand-years event of the Desert Sea Cultivation Realm, a devastating news suddenly arrived.
After living through 214 spring seasons, the last surviving elder of the ’Xuan’ generation in the Zhou Clan, Zhouyang’s father, Zhou Xuanhao, passed away!
The typical lifespan limit for Foundation Establishment cultivators is 240 years. Although few Foundation Establishment cultivators truly live to this age without issues, most naturally transitioning Foundation Establishment cultivators manage to live until 230.
For example, Zhou Minghan, the third-generation clan leader of the Zhou Clan, who took his own life, still managed to reach over 230 years before his demise.
Unfortunately, Zhou Xuanhao was different. He had succeeded in Foundation Establishment at more than 90 years of age without using a Foundation Establishment Pill, making him the first in the Zhou Clan to do so.
This achievement certainly brought him a place in the Zhou Clan’s history and served as a great inspiration for future generations.
Yet, during Foundation Establishment, he damaged his Primordial Qi, which made his lifespan less than that of a typical Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Later, during the extermination war against demon cultivators that swept through the entire Desert Sea Cultivation Realm, Zhou Xuanhao was unfortunately infiltrated by demonic Qi from a Purple Mansion stage demon cultivator, damaging his meridians further and harming his Primordial Qi, which even the healing Spirit Pill Zhouyang found later could not repair completely.
These two instances of harm to his Primordial Qi resulted in him living only to 214 years before passing away in the cave abode on Red Tiger Mountain.
As the last surviving ’Xuan’ generation cultivator of the Zhou Clan, and a Foundation Establishment elder, Zhou Xuanhao’s passing naturally could not be dealt with lightly.
According to the Zhou Clan’s rules, when an elder passes away, unless a war is ongoing, all clan members must dress in mourning attire and send notifications to vassal clans and allied clans, holding the spirit for a month.
The Zhou Clan is now undeniably the leading cultivation clan of the Desert Sea Cultivation Realm, so these rules must certainly be followed.
Thus, the funeral had to be grandly and gloriously conducted, inviting forces from all directions to offer their condolences, thereby enhancing the Zhou Clan’s influence and fostering greater loyalty and affection among the living members of the Zhou Clan.
It’s important to understand that even in large clans like the Zhou Clan, most cultivators never progress to the Purple Mansion stage, let alone the Golden Core stage, with the Foundation Establishment stage often being the pinnacle they dream of reaching.
Under such circumstances, when cultivation progression becomes impossible, most cultivators turn to seeking fame and fortune. The Zhou Clan holding a grand funeral for a departed elder and inviting many external cultivators to attend and mourn is, of course, of no consequence to the deceased.
Yet, from the perspective of the living, it may lead many to think, "If I were to die and so many people mourned me, my death would be worthwhile."
A funeral is never conducted for the deceased!
Thus, due to Zhou Xuanhao’s passing, many cultivators from various cultivation clans who originally planned to depart in six months had to set out earlier to get to the Red Tiger Mountain Oasis.
If Zhou Xuanhao was merely a Foundation Establishment elder of the Zhou Clan, they might have sent a Qi Cultivation Stage junior to pay respects.
However, one of Zhou Xuanhao’s identities also includes being the father of Purple Mansion cultivator Zhouyang, which prompted even Zhang Yunpeng, Sect Leader of the Yellow Sand Sect, to personally travel to the Zhou Clan on Red Tiger Mountain to pay his condolences upon hearing the news.
Zhouyang disregarded all these matters, leaving them to Zhou Guangxiang, the clan leader, and the elders to arrange everything.
After Zhou Xuanhao’s death, Zhouyang followed his father’s last wish to have his remains cremated and buried alongside his mother Lin Yuting, then continued to sit before his parents’ tomb, reflecting on his experiences this lifetime.
A hundred years ago, he bade farewell to his mother Lin Yuting with his own hands, and now he personally sent off his father Zhou Xuanhao. The joys and sorrows, the partings between life and death in this world, he had experienced all and deeply contemplated once more.
ps: I was kept for overtime tonight, so could only write one Chapter, the second Chapter will come in the afternoon!