Cultivation Begins From The Desert

Chapter 68: Chapter 68: Between Gains and Losses

Creating a magical artifact is undoubtedly an extremely costly endeavor.

In the legacy of the Tier Four Refiner obtained by Zhou Minghan, there is precisely an experiential summary on creating magical artifacts, which is why he suggested Zhouyang try creating his own artifact.

According to the records on artifact refining heritage, when a refiner wants to create a magical artifact, it is best to choose common artifact types like swords and sabers for experimentation. This is because the materials required for these artifacts are usually not excessive, and their margin for error is greater than that of small artifacts like flying needles and daggers.

Even so, the spirit stones that need to be spent still have to be spent, and refiners with average assets can hardly afford such a costly game.

Zhouyang dares to use this method for cultivation because his family has mines.

To create his own magical artifact, he directly commandeered thirty percent of the output from the Red Flame Iron Ore Vein and the Refined Iron Ore Vein to refine the Tier One Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact "Flame Sword".

With his current cultivation and artifact refining skills, crafting a Tier One Artifact takes no more than two-quarter hours at most, and the success rate is one hundred percent.

But that refers to refining artifacts that already have artifact refining diagrams; when creating your own artifact, you certainly cannot proceed in the same manner.

Thus, he intentionally extended the time for refining a single artifact to one hour, and to enhance the success rate, he did not hesitate to employ "Qianyang True Flame" to purify the impurities in the raw materials.

In his envisioned "Flame Sword," there should be a magic ban called "Fiery Flame," which consists of six rune nodes and twelve linked rune node spirit patterns. These runes and spirit patterns must be seamlessly integrated into the sword embryo to form a perfect cycle.

The original structure and appearance of the Tier One Artifact "Flaming Saber" are the ideal form for the "Fiery Flame" magic ban.

But now, Zhouyang has to modify the original arrangement of the "Fiery Flame" magic ban and make trial-and-error adjustments without altering the overall shape of the sword embryo, ultimately creating a "Fiery Flame" magic ban suitable for sword-type artifacts.

This is undoubtedly extremely difficult, as the arrangement method of the "Fiery Flame" magic ban within the "Flaming Saber" was the optimal choice found by senior refiners after countless attempts, and it is already very stable and mature.

Any change in the arrangement of the "Magic Ban," even a minor adjustment to the position of a rune node or the curvature of a spirit pattern, could render the magic ban ineffective and subsequently destroy the artifact’s embryo.

Each time he failed, Zhouyang would use his divine sense to record the points of failure in a blank jade scroll, and then compare the results recorded daily to experiment with new combinations.

At times like these, Zhouyang greatly missed the cell phones and computers from his previous life. Although jade scrolls can also store a lot of knowledge and information, they are incomparable to computers and phones in terms of storage capacity and convenience.

Why must cultivators have Foundation Establishment stage cultivation or higher to use jade scrolls to record knowledge?

The reason is that only the divine sense of Foundation Establishment cultivators, which has undergone transformation and tempering, can ensure the information left in the jade scrolls is preserved long-term and does not quickly dissipate.

Spring passed, autumn came, winter passed, and summer arrived. In the blink of an eye, Zhouyang had already filled an entire three-story cabinet with blank jade scrolls for recording information, with the number of jade scrolls adding up to over eight hundred!

Eight hundred jade scrolls, representing eight hundred Tier One Artifacts, calculated at the market price of ten low-grade spirit stones per Tier One Artifact, amounts to eight thousand low-grade spirit stones!

Even with the family’s mines, burning through eight thousand low-grade spirit stones in two years was something even Zhouyang could not sustain, forcing him to pause this costly game.

As the clan leader, he indeed has the right to use clan resources for cultivation, but even a clan leader should not squander clan resources so extravagantly!

So the spirit stones he has burned are actually accounted for in the clan’s finances.

Calculating with the cost of Red Flame Iron materials valued at three spirit stones per artifact, these more than eight hundred jade scrolls cost over two thousand five hundred low-grade spirit stones. Adding the production and purchasing costs of the blank jade scrolls, he owes the clan at least three thousand low-grade spirit stones in debt.

This debt doesn’t require immediate repayment, but it will be deducted from his future clan offerings.

Due to previous purchases of Foundation Establishment Pills and several Tier Three Artifacts taken from the clan treasure vault, the family contribution points he now owes have reached more than twenty thousand points, even after deducting ten thousand points with the "Blood Demon Secret Technique" he offered back then.

Assuming an annual offering of three hundred contribution points, it would take seventy to eighty years to pay off this debt.

This is only possible because he is both a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator and the clan leader. Otherwise, clan cultivator Zhou Xuanlin, responsible for managing clan finances, would have personally come to demand repayment long ago.

What makes Zhouyang most frustrated and pained is that despite burning through so many spirit stones for experiments, he has achieved only minimal results, with not a single success.

Progressing to become a Tier Three Refiner currently seems like an unattainable hope.

The only thing that comforted him was that although his own career was not smooth, the family’s business had been thriving and going smoothly over the past few years.

It had been more than five years since he returned to the clan to take on the role of Clan Leader after achieving Foundation Establishment.

In those five years, the family’s branch at Baisha River Oasis had officially stabilized, and through "Fengyue Tower," provided the clan with six newborns possessing Spiritual Roots, including one baby girl with a Middle-grade Spiritual Root.

Additionally, after five years of preparation, the Chen Family rebuilt a Cultivator Marketplace on a Tier Three Middle-grade Spirit Vein at White Camel Ridge, naming it "Ping’an Marketplace." Reportedly, Chen Ping’an, the first Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Chen Family, planned to reside there permanently.

According to the original promise of the Chen Family, the Zhou Family received two shops for free in the newly established "Ping’an Marketplace," and they reinstated the signs for "Jade Spring Tower" and "Drunken Immortal Tower." Zhouyang’s father, Zhou Xuanhao, officially became one of the stationed cultivators at the marketplace.

On the Zhou Family’s side, the current Grand Elder Zhou Xuantai successfully ascended to become a Tier Two Lower-grade Array Master, and Seventeenth Uncle Zhou Xuanzhao, through rearing the Flame-devouring Spider, successfully advanced to become a Tier Two Beast Tamer, thereby strengthening the family’s foundation in these two areas.

Eleventh Uncle Zhou Xuan Kun also broke through to the Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation, becoming the fifth Elder of the Zhou Family. Among the cultivators with the names starting with "Xuan" and "Yuan," many others also experienced breakthroughs and growth in their cultivation.

Furthermore, over the past five years, the number of family newborns significantly increased, with as many as twelve newborns possessing Spirit Root talent, including one with a Top-grade Spiritual Root and two with Middle-grade Spiritual Roots.

This brings the number of next-generation "Guang" named cultivators to fifteen, excluding five "Yuan" named infants born from the "Xuan" lineage.

Because of the large number of infants born simultaneously, Zhouyang had to have former Clan Leader Zhou Minghan establish a Cultivator Academy on Jade Spring Peak, where all children five years and older were sent to learn cultivation knowledge. He even personally taught a few classes.

On this day, while Zhouyang was cultivating in his bedroom, he suddenly received a flying sword communication from former Clan Leader Zhou Minghan, asking him to come to Jade Spring Peak to discuss an urgent matter.

Upon receiving the communication, he did not dare to delay, and immediately went to inform his mother Lin Yuting and Eighth Aunt Zhou Xuanyan about the situation, then dispatched his flying sword toward the Yuquan Lake Oasis.

As soon as he returned to Jade Spring Peak, he was called into the cave mansion by the former Clan Leader for a discussion.

"Today, Chen Pingzhi suddenly sent me a flying sword communication using a Tier Three Top-grade communication flying sword from over four thousand miles away, asking you to go to Baisha River Oasis to help him with something. He didn’t specify what, in the letter. What do you think?"

In the mountaintop cave mansion, as Zhou Minghan explained the urgent reason why Zhouyang was called over, he handed him a gold-colored little sword over two feet long.

This gold-colored little sword was refined using a Tier Three Spiritual Object, "Crimson Profound Pure Gold." Every Foundation Establishment cultivator in the Chen Family, after achieving Foundation Establishment, would receive such a Tier Three Top-grade communication flying sword refined from "Crimson Profound Pure Gold" to communicate with the family in critical moments.

While these communication flying swords weren’t as valuable as the flying swords used for magical combat of the same tier, they were still worth thousands of spirit stones at least. This small part illustrates how deep the foundation of the Chen Family, a Purple Mansion Clan, runs.

It’s worth noting that not even major sects like the Yellow Sand Sect could equip each Foundation Establishment cultivator with a Tier Three Top-grade communication flying sword.

As he toyed with the flying sword in his hand, Zhouyang pondered for a moment before asking the former Clan Leader, "What do you think, great-grandfather? Based on your experience, what kind of matter might Chen Pingzhi need my assistance with at this time?"

Zhou Minghan apparently had thought about this, and without delay, he replied, "Based on what I’ve heard over the years, Elder Chen has not only continued to search for the traces of the sand bandits who attacked the oasis but has also dispatched Chen Family cultivators and hired loose cultivators several times to search for sand bandits in the surrounding Desert Sea. In doing so, they even discovered several new small oases and Spirit Veins."

"In my estimation, Chen Pingzhi might have heard about the location of some predecessor’s cultivator’s cave mansion, or news of a rare Spiritual Object, from one of those fortunate loose cultivators."

"He doesn’t want to share the benefit with Chen Family members, which is why he’s asking an outsider, whom he feels indebted to, like you, to accompany him on the adventure."

This explanation seemed logical, and Zhouyang understood that a family like the Chen Family, having endured for several centuries, would inevitably have its share of sordid affairs.

Being the half-brother of Chen Ping’an, and with Chen Ping’an holding a large amount of the family’s resources, Chen Pingzhi was likely being pushed aside by some of the other Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Chen Family. He probably didn’t want to share his opportunity with them.

Thinking of this, he naturally continued from the former Clan Leader’s words, murmuring to himself: "He doesn’t want to share his opportunity with the Chen Family members, yet he didn’t even call his brother Chen Ping’an. It seems the opportunity isn’t too great, meaning the risk shouldn’t exceed the Foundation Establishment level."

"That should be the case," Zhou Minghan nodded in agreement with his analysis.

"In that case, great-grandfather should reply to him using the flying sword communication, saying that I agree and will head to Baisha River Oasis to meet him soon," Zhouyang pondered briefly before making his choice.

In making this choice, he not only aimed to repay Chen Pingzhi’s favor, but also to take the opportunity to visit Baisha River Oasis and see his father, with the intention of bringing his mother along for a reunion. Additionally, he sought to gain experience and get a taste of a cultivator’s expedition adventure life.

After making his decision, he handed the communication flying sword to the former Clan Leader, watching as the elder infused a significant amount of magical power into the sword, activating it and sending it as a streak of golden light towards Baisha River Oasis, piercing through the sky.