Cultivation Begins From The Desert
Chapter 99 - 98: Apprenticeship

Chapter 99: Chapter 98: Apprenticeship

To describe Zhou Yuanchen’s current mood as "a pie falling from the sky" would probably be the most appropriate!

When he heard Zhouyang say that he could temporarily lend him eight to nine thousand Yellow Sand Sect merit points to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill, despite having had some vague speculations earlier, he was still surprised and delighted, immediately standing up from his seat, looking at Zhouyang and his father, Zhou Xuanbin, with a face full of joy.

It wasn’t until he saw the bright smile blooming on his father Zhou Xuanbin’s face that he finally believed he hadn’t misheard, that all this was true!

And when he further heard that Zhouyang was willing to use personal connections to find a Foundation Establishment Cultivator from the Yellow Sand Sect for an apprenticeship to exchange for the pill, his initial delight instantly turned into ecstasy, he was almost unable to keep from laughing out loud happily.

Originally, if he were only assisted in gathering enough merit points, the probability of him finally exchanging for the Foundation Establishment Pill would be less than thirty percent.

But if a cultivator with years of experience at the Foundation Establishment Stage helped him exchange, then this probability would increase to over sixty percent, how could this not make him wildly happy.

He was also a clever person, naturally understanding that there is no free lunch in the world, after the initial joy, he immediately offered Zhouyang a deep bow, saying: "Great kindness from the Clan Leader, Yuanchen will never forget. If this endeavor leads to a successful Foundation Establishment, should the clan require my services in the future, Yuanchen shall comply without hesitation!"

This time, Zhouyang did not avoid the courtesy.

Because, as the Clan Leader, he was representing the entire clan in accepting Zhou Yuanchen’s respectful gesture this time.

Immediately, Zhouyang had Zhou Xuanbin find a place nearby the tea house to temporarily stay, while he himself controlled his sword, taking Zhou Yuanchen to visit the abode of the cultivator with the surname Ma, Ma Jingtao, explaining his intent.

Upon hearing Zhouyang use personal connections merely for this kind of matter, Ma Jingtao instantly smiled lightly, saying: "This matter is simple, I have a friend who happens to also have a Thunder Attribute Spirit Root talent and has not yet exchanged for a Foundation Establishment Pill after his establishment. Given Yuanchen’s Spirit Root being the same, and with the support from Fellow Daoist Zhou’s family, he would definitely be willing to accept Yuanchen as a disciple."

Ma Jingtao was indeed not exaggerating; when he brought Zhouyang and Zhou Yuanchen to meet his friend, this Foundation Establishment Seventh-Layer cultivator named Li Feiyu, after assessing Zhou Yuanchen alone in a quiet room, promptly agreed to take him as a disciple.

Thus, under the witness of Ma Jingtao and Zhouyang, Li Feiyu informed the sect about taking a disciple, then invited fellow cultivators nearby to jointly witness, accepting Zhou Yuanchen as his disciple on the spot.

Taking a disciple must certainly involve a Master-Acceptance gift, and Zhou Yuanchen’s gift was a small piece of Tier Three Lower Grade Demon Beast fur chosen by Zhouyang from his collection.

This was especially selected as the most suitable Master-Acceptance gift upon hearing from Ma Jingtao that Li Feiyu was a Tier Three Middle-grade Talisman Master.

This carefully prepared gift certainly pleased and satisfied Li Feiyu; in his merriness, he immediately took out a Tier Three Lower-grade Thunder Talisman he had drawn and bestowed it upon Zhou Yuanchen.

A small piece of Demon Beast fur traded for a Tier Three Lower-grade Thunder Talisman was definitely a large profit for Zhou Yuanchen.

As he received the Thunder Talisman shimmering with streaks of electricity, he visibly felt the fervent gaze from fellow cultivators witnessing the ceremony, causing him to tense up and quickly stash the Talisman into his Storage Bag.

Zhouyang envied Zhou Yuanchen’s luck immensely; the power of the Tier Three Lower-grade Thunder Talisman certainly wasn’t inferior to that of a typical Tier Three Middle-grade Spirit Talisman, and when dealing with Demonic Cultivators who are inherently restrained by Thunder Magic, the effect might even compare to Tier Three Top-grade Spirit Talismans.

However, although he envied him, he didn’t forget the business at hand; after Zhou Yuanchen’s Master-Acceptance ceremony concluded, he immediately brought him to the Yellow Sand Sect’s Ministry Hall, and under the testimony of the Hall Master, Purple Mansion Stage Cultivator Guo Shuyun, transferred all of the merit points from three Zhou family cultivators to Zhou Yuanchen.

The transfer of merit points within Yellow Sand Sect had quite a few restrictions, allowing free transfers among relatives and master-disciple relationships, but requiring a ten percent transfer fee for transfers among fellow disciples or senior-junior disciple relationships without these bonds.

Zhouyang possessed proof issued by Zhang Yunpeng, demonstrating that the merit points from the Zhou family’s three cultivators could be handled by him, and since Zhou Yuanchen still had his name inscribed in the Zhou Clan Genealogy, this time the transfer didn’t incur any transfer fees.

And once Zhou Yuanchen received the transferred merit points from Zhouyang, he immediately transferred them to his newly-accepted master, Li Feiyu, who then used his own exchange privileges to apply to the sect for a Foundation Establishment Pill for disciple Zhou Yuanchen’s cultivation.

"The decision for exchanging Foundation Establishment Pills ultimately requires approval from Elder Cao, you should go back and wait for the result; you will likely be informed within three days."

Guo Shuyun blandly glanced at Li Feiyu and his disciple, stating this rule in a calm tone.

Understanding the rule, Li Feiyu, his disciple, and Zhouyang among others dared not to voice any objections, and dutifully left the Ministry Hall, returning to wait for the news.

Yet during the waiting period, Zhouyang set about finding Ma Jingtao again, explaining his intention to hire a Tier Three Array Master to establish a "Seven-Star Spirit Measuring Array" for the clan.

"This matter is rather difficult; within the sect, there are only five Tier Three Array Masters, one of whom is a Purple Mansion Stage martial uncle, and in the current environment of demon intrusion, these Array Masters have been assigned duties within the sect, and the sect won’t easily allow them to leave the range of the mountain gate, to avoid unexpected incidents."

Ma Jingtao shook his head with great difficulty, unfavorable about the request Zhouyang made.

The profession of Array Master is too hard to nurture; it relies heavily on talent, if the talent is lacking, no amount of resources can make up for it.

Whereas, in Artifact Refining or Alchemy, as long as the materials are provided, it can elevate someone to Tier Three!

Given Yellow Sand Sect’s resources, Tier Three Array Masters are rare talents, with sects treating them on par with Purple Mansion Stage cultivators.

With such special attention from the sect, these Tier Three Array Masters are generally wealthier than their peers by a level, and ordinary people trying to employ them with Spirit Stones to aid in arranging formations outside the mountain gate would likely find them unwilling to make such a distant trip.

These principles Zhouyang also understands, otherwise he wouldn’t have initially planned to use Yellow Sand Sect’s merit points to hire an Array Master, after all, for Yellow Sand Sect’s cultivators, merit points are far more useful than Spirit Stones.

Therefore, now hearing Ma Jingtao’s words, he could only sigh and nod, saying: "I understand, this matter evidently requires long-term consideration."

"Fellow Daoist Zhou need not sigh; if Yuanchen successfully obtains the Foundation Establishment Pill this time, with his identity as a Thunder Cultivator and Talisman Maker, he will surely attract a lot of fellow disciples willing to associate with him in the future. When the time comes, having him invite an Array Master to help your Zhou family establish a formation will definitely have a much higher success rate than if you or I do!"

"Then I’ll borrow Fellow Daoist Ma’s auspicious words, hopefully, Yuanchen truly succeeds!"

Zhouyang smiled, accepting Ma Jingtao’s goodwill.

Then, his mind turned, recalling something and quietly asked: "Fellow Daoist Ma, when I came by, I observed that the Copper Mirror Spiritual Artifact your sect uses to identify identity information was quite exquisite, I wonder if your sect is willing to sell or exchange this artifact’s refining method with us vassal clans?"

Upon hearing him mention this, Ma Jingtao’s expression instantly turned solemn, looking at him seriously and speaking: "Are you referring to the ’True Mirror’? I advise you to give up this idea; the refining method for the ’True Mirror’ was procured by the sect’s predecessors at great expense from the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, it will never be open for external access, for reasons you should understand!"

Zhouyang’s heart tightened, quickly nodding and saying: "Thanks to Fellow Daoist Ma for the reminder, I understand, this matter will be forgone."

Being an Artifact Refiner, he certainly understood the reason Ma Jingtao mentioned.

The so-called "True Mirror" is after all just a Tier Two Top Grade Spiritual Artifact, if its refining method were leaked to outsiders, some skilled Artifact Refiners might comprehend the method and potentially decipher its secrets, then devise a way to modify temporary identity tokens and alter the identity information on Yellow Sand Sect’s disciple tokens.

If someone with malintent toward Yellow Sand Sect infiltrated its mountain gate using forged identification, the consequences would be dire.