Cultivation Begins From The Desert
Chapter 209 - 207: Orderly

Chapter 209: Chapter 207: Orderly

Under normal circumstances, the price of a Tier Four Lower-Grade Spirit Talisman is generally between five to seven thousand Spirit Stones.

However, given the current situation where he needs assistance, Zhouyang doesn’t mind paying Jiang Yuyan half more of his Merit Points in exchange.

He spent 32,000 Yellow Sand Sect Merit Points to exchange for three Tier Four Lower-Grade Spirit Talismans from Jiang Yuyan, two of which are Defense Spirit Talismans, and one is an auxiliary type used for trapping enemies.

Adding to the Merit Points previously spent on redeeming the "Nether Blood Contract," he received 90,000 Merit Points from Cao Wenjin, leaving him with only 58,000 points now.

Having acquired the desired items, Zhouyang did not linger at the Yellow Sand Sect for long and immediately rode the Eagle Lion Beast back to his clan.

"Xiao Jiu, you’re back just in time. In recent days, I’ve studied that desert camel vehicle you made and found that while your idea is good, it’s not being applied correctly."

"The sled you have made for the camel vehicle is too heavy. Even if two Shatuo Beasts pull the vehicle, they need at least ten days of rest after one trip to recover."

"This is not feasible. We should use artifact refining techniques to reduce the weight of the sled, ideally to the point where a single Shatuo Beast can pull a vehicle. This way, we can migrate people quickly and efficiently."

On Jade Spring Peak, as soon as Zhouyang returned from the Yellow Sand Sect, the old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan called him over to discuss the issue of the "desert camel vehicle."

Migrating mortals is an urgent matter for the Zhou Family, and Zhou Minghan is deeply concerned about it.

When Zhouyang heard this, he was delighted and said, "To be honest with you, Great-Grandfather, I have had similar thoughts, but my knowledge is limited and I haven’t found a viable method until now. Do you happen to have any suggestions?"

"I currently have two methods in mind. The first is to focus on materials. During my past travels in the Cultivation Realm, I learned that there is a clan in the Flying Horse Great Oasis that produces a Tier Two Wind Attribute Spiritual Gold called [Wind Copper]. This metal is not as hard as Refined Iron but is light as willow wood, with excellent elasticity and toughness. We could purchase a batch of this material as the main material for the sled."

"The second approach is to focus on artifact-refining craftsmanship. We can use Wind Copper as the main material and set up a [Light Spirit] Restriction on the sled to further reduce the vehicle’s weight."

Zhou Minghan slowly explained his ideas and then looked at Zhouyang, saying, "Your father is currently preparing to advance to a Tier Three Alchemist, so the task of purchasing Wind Copper can only be done by me personally, while the clan is entrusted to you."

"I understand, Grandfather."

Zhouyang nodded, not arguing over such a small matter; instead, he handed two out of the three Tier Four Spirit Talismans he had acquired to the old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan.

Zhou Minghan has a Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment Cultivation; using a Tier Four Spirit Talisman can bring out its full power, while still retaining magical power for continued battle.

For someone like him, to fully unleash the power of a Tier Four Lower-Grade Spirit Talisman, he would need to inject half of his own magical power into it, which would make him quite passive in a battle.

Once Zhou Minghan left the clan for the Flying Horse Great Oasis to purchase Wind Copper, Zhouyang temporarily resided in his retreat to cultivate.

After several months of this, Zhou Minghan had not yet returned from purchasing Wind Copper, but Zhou Xuanhao sent good news while in seclusion attempting to advance to a Tier Three Alchemist.

"How is it? Ying’Er, how do you find this batch of [Nourishing Essence Pill] that I refined? Does it meet the standard for a regular Tier Three?"

On Jade Spring Peak, Zhou Xuanhao and Zhouyang were anxiously watching Xiao Ying, who daintily held a pale white Spirit Pill between two slender fingers to her nose for a scent check.

Xiao Ying, originally in the farmland below the mountain cultivating hybrid grain crops, was hastily called to the mountain by Zhou Xuanhao after his seclusion, to help identify his Tier Three Spirit Pill.

In fact, both he and Zhouyang could handle assessing whether the Spirit Pill reached Tier Three.

However, after this pill was made, only two pills emerged, and the color of the elixir seemed off. It left him feeling unsure, motivating him to request verification from Xiao Ying, a Tier Three Alchemist.

"It shouldn’t be a problem. It’s common for new Tier Three Alchemists to have fewer pills emerge. I was the same at that time. As for the pale color, it’s likely because the heat was slightly excessive during the alchemy process, causing some elixir liquid to dry up."

Xiao Ying set down the elixir in her fingers, smiling softly as she voiced her conclusion.

Upon hearing these words, before Zhou Xuanhao could respond, Zhouyang had already said, "See, Father? I told you there would be no problem. Ying’Er also says so; you can rest assured now!"

"No, I still need to verify it myself!"

A flash of determination appeared in Zhou Xuanhao’s eyes, and he suddenly snatched the Spirit Pill from Xiao Ying’s hand and swallowed it in one gulp.

"Father, this...! Are you messing around?"

Zhouyang was infuriated seeing this act.

How could one casually consume such a pill?

If this Spirit Pill was truly defective, wouldn’t it cause harm to himself?

"Don’t worry, Zhou Lang. The Spirit Herbs used to refine [Nourishing Essence Pill] are all mild in nature. Even if there is any fault with the Spirit Pill, your father has plenty of time to expel the medicinal power from his body."

Xiao Ying gently reached out and held her Dao companion’s hand, calmly speaking to guide him. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Hearing this, Zhouyang finally felt a bit relieved.

About a quarter of an hour after taking the Spirit Pill, Zhou Xuanhao also opened his eyes, full of joy, exclaiming repeatedly, "That’s right, the effect is pretty much the same as the Nourishing Essence Pill I used before. This is indeed a true Tier Three Spirit Pill!"

After speaking, he smiled and looked at Zhouyang, saying, "Yang’Er, you all carry on, I’ll go back and refine the medicinal power first."

"This father of mine really doesn’t let anyone rest easy!"

Zhouyang looked at the hurriedly retreating figure of Zhou Xuanhao heading back to the cave abode, smiling wryly.

Then he looked at the Dao companion beside him and asked, "Ying’Er, how is your cultivation of hybrid crop varieties going? Any good news?"

"There’s not much progress at the moment. Zhou Lang, are you sure that hybridizing two different crop varieties can really breed crops with higher yields?"

A flash of doubt crossed Xiao Ying’s beautiful eyes, finally using this opportunity of Zhouyang’s inquiry to voice the question she had been embarrassed to ask these past days.

She had followed Zhouyang’s ideas and conducted numerous experiments, but the resulting crops were either inedible or had yields several times lower than the original, which made her doubt Zhouyang’s hybrid crop cultivation plan, questioning whether it could really succeed.

However, upon hearing her doubts, Zhouyang confidently said, "My idea definitely has no problems, Ying’Er. You don’t need to rush, take it slow. As cultivators, we have plenty of time to work on this!"

Hearing his confident words, Xiao Ying’s doubts disappeared instantly, and she couldn’t help but nod firmly and say, "Hmm, I trust Zhou Lang."

Cultivating a high-yield hybrid crop variety from scratch is certainly difficult.

But Zhouyang believed that with the myriad methods available to cultivators, as long as they followed this direction, success was inevitable.

Not to mention anything else, just in terms of accelerating the growth of ordinary crops, none of the methods from his previous world could compare to the effectiveness of a Tier Two Spirit Plant Cultivator’s Spring Rain Technique.

It didn’t matter if Xiao Ying’s dozens or hundreds of experiments didn’t succeed. When she had tried several hundred or even a thousand times, Zhouyang believed good news would certainly come.

Half a month later, the old Clan Leader, Zhou Minghan, finally returned to the clan after going out to purchase Wind Copper.

Seeing this, Zhouyang immediately put aside all chores and researched the renovation of the Desert Camel Vehicle with Zhou Minghan.

As Zhou Minghan said, the two planks of the Desert Camel Vehicle were long and wide enough to allow the two of them to set up the Light Spirit Restriction.

After more than a dozen experiments, the two successfully set up the restriction on one of the planks.

But don’t think that means they’ve successfully created a magical artifact. If it were that simple, any artifact refiner could do it.

They were able to add a Light Spirit Restriction to the plank because they treated the plank like a large Flying Sword in the refining process, just tweaking the approach without changing the core principle.

However, no matter how it’s done, adding the Light Spirit Restriction to the plank achieved their goal.

The two planks, made from refined iron and Wind Copper, saw their total weight drop below two thousand pounds after the Light Spirit Restriction was added to the whole Desert Camel Vehicle.

But this was still not enough for a single Shatuo Beast to pull one vehicle, so Zhouyang reduced the passenger count of the Desert Camel Vehicle by twenty, to carry sixty people per vehicle.

With the planned production of forty Desert Camel Vehicles, they could transport 2,400 people in one trip without overtaxing the Shatuo Beasts, and the speed would be a third faster than before.

Having resolved this major issue, both Zhouyang and Zhou Minghan breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright, since the transportation for migrating the population is ready, we can start developing that New Oasis after we finish attending the Foundation Establishment Conference!"

After testing the performance of the newly manufactured Desert Camel Vehicles, Zhouyang said the next plan with a beaming smile.

Hearing this, Zhou Minghan furrowed his brows slightly, pondered briefly, and still nodded, saying, "The development of the New Oasis indeed needs to be completed as soon as possible, but before that, we need to quickly finish refining the Tier Three Puppet Beasts."

"Great-grandfather is right, but refining Tier Three Puppet Beasts requires you to personally handle it. I fear this time I can only assist you!"

Recalling his own Artifact Refining Skill being stuck at Tier Three Lower Grade, Zhouyang said with a slight frustration. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

With his current Artifact Refining Skill, the chances of successfully refining Tier Three Puppet Beasts were too low, and the Zhou family’s collection of refining materials over the years wasn’t abundant. If too many were wasted, they could forget about fully refining the three Puppet Beasts.

Seeing this, Zhou Minghan couldn’t help but chuckle and offer solace, "Hehe, Xiao Jiu, don’t be disheartened. You’re still young, and it doesn’t matter if your Artifact Refining Skill breaks through a few years later. This time, you and the old man refining the Tier Three Puppet Beasts together will allow you to accumulate some experience, which will be beneficial for your independent refining of Tier Three Puppet Beasts in the future."