Cultivation Begins From The Desert
Chapter 206 - 204: Desert Camel Vehicle (Third Update, Please Subscribe)

Chapter 206: Chapter 204: Desert Camel Vehicle (Third Update, Please Subscribe)

After the family meeting, Zhouyang did not stop to rest.

First, he took the Zhou Family’s only Tier Two Middle-grade Array Master, Zhou Guangxiang, to Haoyang Mountain to set up the Tier Three Middle-grade Array "Earth Spirit Profound Gang Array" that he bought from the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, officially establishing this Tier Three Middle-grade Spirit Mountain as the Zhou Family’s second Spirit Mountain.

Afterward, Zhouyang busied himself with experimenting on transportation tools for migrating mortals.

He initially wanted to research this with the elder Clan Leader, Zhou Minghan, but Zhou Minghan was now in seclusion, refining the Jade Moon Fruit and Fire Flood Dragon Pill to advance to the Ninth Layer of Foundation Establishment, so he had to tackle this matter alone.

At the same time, Xiao Ying, aiming to share her husband’s burdens, utilized her spirit plant techniques to select seedlings of mortal food crops in hopes of cultivating a new variety that could increase yield.

Zhouyang, with memories from his past life, gave her tips on cultivating hybrid crops. As for whether they would succeed, it would have to depend on fate.

Zhouyang had just found a notion for an experiment when, that same day, he received news from Zhou Yuanchen, who had returned to the clan after being granted leave.

"The speed of your advancement in cultivation, ninth brother, is truly astounding! I’ve only established my Foundation a few years later than you, and now I’ve just recently advanced to the Second Layer, while you’ve already reached the Sixth Layer. Such a pace of cultivation is beyond even that of an Upper-Grade Spiritual Root cultivator!"

Zhou Yuanchen, upon seeing Zhouyang, was first struck with amazement at his cultivation growth.

When Zhouyang left the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm, he had just reached the Fourth Layer Foundation Establishment. Who would have thought that in just over a decade, he would have already progressed to the Sixth Layer? Such a rate of progress is enough to astonish anyone!

At least Zhou Yuanchen was astounded.

He originally thought that after establishing his Foundation, the gap with Zhouyang could be narrowed.

After all, although Zhouyang was a Tier Three Lower-Grade Artifact Refiner, he himself had recently been promoted to a Tier Three Lower-grade Talisman Maker, already capable of making Tier Three Lower-grade Thunder Talismans.

But seeing Zhouyang’s cultivation advancement speed now, he was genuinely impressed.

With Zhouyang’s current pace of cultivation, plus the fact that he is not yet seventy, Zhou Yuanchen now had no doubt that he could reach the Ninth Layer of Foundation Establishment before the age of one hundred.

A Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivator at one hundred years old!

The thought of this filled Zhou Yuanchen with a sense of powerlessness.

Even in the Yellow Sand Sect, none of those Upper-Grade Spiritual Root cultivators could reach the Ninth Layer of Foundation Establishment before the age of one hundred, usually achieving that stage only after reaching one hundred and twenty or thirty. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

He did not know why Zhouyang’s cultivation speed was so rapid, but he knew he would only be able to look up to this cousin for the rest of his life!

"It was just some fortuitous events by chance, that’s all. Brother Yuanchen, how long can you stay with the clan this time?"

Zhouyang smiled, not wanting to elaborate on his cultivation, as such discussion would indeed be disheartening.

Zhou Yuanchen, hearing this, didn’t press further. Instead, he followed along, saying, "There isn’t much happening in the sect now, and I’ve been stationed outside for over a decade. This time I applied for a year’s leave. If there’s anything within the clan that needs doing, just leave it to me!"

"That’s more than enough—a whole year is more than enough!"

Zhouyang nodded repeatedly, looking delightedly at Zhou Yuanchen, saying, "Then, for this year, Brother Yuanchen, you can help the clan produce a batch of Tier Three Spirit Talismans. I’ve acquired a lot of beast hides from Tier Three demon beasts on my recent trip. If you could help the clan craft these hides into Tier Three Spirit Talismans, the clan surely wouldn’t shortchange you!"

Zhou Yuanchen, upon hearing this, immediately waved his hands, saying, "The clan leader is too kind. I’m already grateful to the clan for providing materials for me to practice talisman-making techniques. How could I ask for more compensation? Am I someone who doesn’t understand the principle of repaying kindness?"

"Very well, then let’s not stand on ceremony. I’ll take you to collect those beast hides, and thereafter, you can make the talismans in my cave residence. I’ve already prepared the blood ink needed for talisman-making. If you need anything, just let me know!"

There are only three cave residences atop Jade Spring Peak. Currently, Zhou Minghan and Zhou Xuanhao are in their respective cave residences, in seclusion breaking through or healing, so Zhouyang had to offer his cave to Zhou Yuanchen for talisman-making.

Because talisman-making requires an extremely quiet environment, after a little back-and-forth, Zhou Yuanchen eventually agreed and accepted the offer.

Thus, Zhouyang promptly took him to collect the beast hides he got from defeating demon beasts in Zhenyue Immortal City.

At that time, after defeating those demon beasts, he specially kept the hides suitable for talisman-making, initially planning to have Zhou Yuanchen use them to advance to the Tier Three Talisman Maker realm. Unexpectedly, by the time he returned, Zhou Yuanchen was already a Tier Three Talisman Maker.

This turned out even better!

He had just encouraged clan cultivators at the family meeting to venture out and explore. If Zhou Yuanchen could create a batch of Tier Three Lower-grade and Tier Two High-grade Spirit Talismans now, those cultivators going out could trade for some talismans from the clan treasure vault for self-defense, greatly increasing their chances of survival.

Settling down the returning Zhou Yuanchen, Zhouyang continued to immerse himself in the research of transportation tools.

According to his initial plan, he intended to lay desert rails, imitating the train from his previous life to transport mortals.

However, after some experiments, he had to abruptly abandon this notion.

Because the idea was completely infeasible!

Firstly, the sand layers in the desert were thick, and the rails, once laid on top, would sink immediately. Even with sleepers and stone bases for support, the rails were vulnerable to being buried by wind-blown sand.

Moreover, installing rails would publicly expose the oasis location that the Zhou Family had yet to explore, potentially leading to untold troubles.

Therefore, Zhouyang quickly abandoned the idea of iron tracks, turning his focus to developing the "Desert Ship".

In the boundless desert sea, with sand so thick, vehicles can’t pass, but what about ships?

Still not possible!

After testing, Zhouyang found that empty ships might sail through the desert using wind power; however, once pressed with dozens or hundreds of people, even if he replaces the masts with spirit wood harder than iron and the sails with tough low-tier demon beast hides, the wooden ship would still break.

Moreover, the wind in the desert is not as predictable as sea winds; if the wind direction is unfavorable, the ship could easily be blown over.

Yet, while experimenting with the "Desert Ship," Zhouyang was inspired with another mode of transportation: the sled.

Originally a means of snow travel, sleds share many similarities with the desert; the sand isn’t quite as lubricated as snow.

However, a sled can only transport a few people, and even if the Zhou Family used camels to pull sleds, it couldn’t transport many people at once.

Thus, copying the sled design wouldn’t work.

What Zhouyang needed was merely inspiration from the sled.

Fueled by this inspiration, after a bout of busy work, he created a unique form of transportation, the "Desert Camel Vehicle".

The so-called "Desert Camel Vehicle" is shaped like an "H," with sideboards twenty meters long, one meter wide, and forty simple seats; together they make eighty seats in total. The middle line was designed as five inverted "U"-shaped balance bars.

This "Desert Camel Vehicle" weighs over two thousand kilograms on its own; with eighty passengers, the total weight rises to seven to eight thousand kilograms.

A vehicle weighing seven to eight thousand kilograms, naturally, cannot be pulled by camels but must be drawn by Tier One High-Grade Demon Beast Shatuo Beasts.

A single Shatuo Beast can bear a weight of four to five thousand kilograms; two of them would easily pull the vehicle, running through the desert sea.

The Zhou Family currently has over forty Shatuo Beasts; if calculated as two beasts per vehicle, they could craft over twenty "Desert Camel Vehicles," transporting nearly two thousand people at once.

Two thousand people, that’s just the right number; with only this number of people transported, Zhou Family cultivators can use storage bags to carry enough water and food for the journey.

The distance from Yuquan Lake Oasis to the natural oasis discovered by the Lu Family is just over nine thousand miles; Shatuo Beasts can make a round trip in two months and transport people five to six times a year, sending tens of thousands across.

Considering the creation of "Desert Camel Vehicle," Zhouyang decided to make sandboards as well, so when the "Desert Camel Vehicle" encounters sand dunes, mortals can disembark to climb up and slide down using sandboards.

Of course, these creations are merely temporary inventions by Zhouyang; he isn’t satisfied with just creating things that don’t reflect the power of cultivators.

His real ambition is to create sand transportation tools powered by spirit stones instead of using beasts.

However, due to time constraints and his artifact refining skills, this idea had to wait for gradual experimentation and improvement in the future.

As Zhouyang tinkered with the "Desert Camel Vehicle," those who ordered "Profound Pure Pill" brought spirit stones for transactions and wanted to inquire about the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm.

Unfortunately, this idea was bound to fail. The Yellow Sand Sect strictly controlled information from the outside world; how could they allow outsiders to know?

If these people knew how exciting the outside world was, with unrest in their hearts, how could they lead the team?

Once Zhouyang received the spirit stones, he quickly sent his father, Xuan Hao — who had recovered and returned from seclusion — riding the Eagle Lion Beast to deliver spirit stones to the debtors, thoroughly settling the Zhou family’s external debts.

"Are you truly prepared? Let me remind you, success is all well and good; past matters can be amended. If you fail, even if you survive by sheer luck, the Zhou Family will never let you live in disgrace!"

On this day, Zhouyang met Huang Yi, a Zhou Family outsider cultivator, in his father Xuan Hao’s cave mansion.

"Rest assured, Clan Leader. If Huang fails, he will surely die in pursuit of the Dao, and will not continue a miserable existence in this world!"

Huang Yi understood the extent of his past offenses. Listening to Zhouyang’s harsh words, he didn’t show any panic but firmly expressed his stance.

"Given that, I shall temporarily lend you this cave mansion for seclusion. Best of luck."

Zhouyang cast a deep look at this Qi Cultivation Stage cultivator who had once deceived him, then turned and left the cave mansion.

Truth be told, had Huang Yi’s past behavior not been so egregious, Zhouyang would greatly admire his valiant effort in pursuing Foundation Establishment, possibly even offering additional assistance.

If any Zhou Family cultivator had such courage, Zhouyang would not hesitate to provide a Foundation Establishment Pill for their progression.

However, at present, even if Huang Yi succeeds in Foundation Establishment, Zhouyang would never forgive his past actions nor consider him a true Zhou Family insider—merely a subordinate, a pawn.

Huang Yi believed that by merely succeeding in Foundation Establishment and leveraging his status as a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator, the Zhou Family would overlook his past misdeeds.

Little did he realize that when he chose to deceive Zhouyang and the Zhou Family, he severed his connections with them forever; even if he succeeds in Foundation Establishment, he could never be wholly accepted as Chen Ting was by all Zhou Family members.