The bumps created while chasing the Gold-Eating Rat almost left a psychological shadow on Zhouyang. As a result, on his repeated requests, Elder Zhou Quan could only slow down and accompany him slowly back, taking almost two days to return to the Qingping Mountain Oasis.
By this time, the Qingping Mountain Oasis was already in chaos because the Gold-Eating Rat had gone on a killing spree, slaughtering twenty to thirty miners. Zhouyang, the stationed cultivator, was nowhere to be found, and Zhou Bao, who was temporarily substituting without any official clan appointment, couldn't hold the scene or calm the surviving miners who were scared out of their wits.
The honest and dull-minded Zhou Bao could only stand guard at Qingping Mountain in the end, watching the miners wreak havoc in the camp, venting their fears and anger, having no solution at all.
When Zhouyang and Elder Zhou Quan returned and saw this situation, they were genuinely exasperated yet amused, utterly speechless.
Helplessly, Zhouyang had to personally step in to clean up the mess.
While Zhouyang was cleaning up, Elder Zhou Quan, in a fit of rage, charged into Qingping Mountain and slapped Zhou Bao, who approached him with a delighted smile.
"What a waste you are! You are at the Fourth-Layer Qi Cultivation stage, and some mere mortals can leave you helpless, hiding within an array with wide eyes? What are the magical artifacts in your hands for? Are the magics you practice just tricks to amuse children?"
The elder looked at his grandson with eyes full of disappointment, spitting out words that drenched Zhou Bao's face, clearly furious.
Zhou Bao, an honest and dull person, being stubborn, hearing the elder's reproach, pleaded with a face full of grievance: "Grandfather, you've wronged me. The clan has a rule forbidding cultivators from harming clan mortals. I can't just kill them because they won't listen to me, can I?"
Upon hearing this, the elder's anger soared, and he couldn't help but slap his grandson on the other cheek and, with both rage and fury, scolded: "Kill, kill, do you dare to kill with your timid nature? Open your eyes wide for the old man and see how Xiao Jiu solves problems! What do you have, besides your age, that surpasses him?"
I am indeed inferior to my younger brother!
Zhou Bao thought with deep grievance but didn't dare to argue further, obediently performing the Celestial Eye Technique to view the miners' camp outside the mountain and watch how Zhouyang dealt with the miners.
Zhouyang's way of dealing with the miners was simple. He directly summoned the Crimson Flame Sword, turning it into a sword light to drive the miners to an open area, then tossed the corpse of the Gold-Eating Rat in front of them.
"Can you see this? This is the man-eating demon beast; now it's dead!"
"I know you are afraid, afraid of being eaten by the demon beast, but fear is no reason for you to recklessly destroy clan assets!"
"Now I'm giving you a chance, clean up the camp immediately and honestly await the clan's subsequent arrangements. Otherwise, I will report your deeds over the past two days truthfully to the clan and suggest the clan strip you of your surnames, exiling you and your families from the clan!"
With the help of the Tier One Magic "Pure Sound Technique," Zhouyang's cold voice was clearly transmitted to each miner's ear, reaching deep into their minds.
Under the effects of the Pure Sound Technique, the miners achieved unprecedented clarity of mind, and the clan rules they had memorized since childhood quickly surfaced in their newly awakened brains. They immediately broke out in a cold sweat, looked at the young Immortal Master standing beside the demon beast's corpse in fear and terror.
The Zhou family's rules, while forbidding clan cultivators from slaughtering clan mortals, also strictly prohibited clan mortals from destroying clan spiritual resources. If a mortal violated this rule, the consequences could range from losing their life to being stripped of their surname and the entire family being exiled.
Deprived of their surname, they would no longer be Zhou family members and wouldn't be under the protection of Zhou family cultivators. A Zhou family cultivator killing them with a sword wouldn't be considered violating clan rules.
And if the entire family was exiled, in the vast Desert Sea, without adequate food and water, in less than three days, their entire family would face death!
"Spare us, Lord Immortal Master, spare us!"
"We were wrong; we know we were wrong. Lord Immortal Master, please show mercy and spare us this once; we won't dare to do it again!"
"I'm innocent, Lord Immortal Master. I've been in the barracks for the past two days and haven't participated in the destruction of the camp. Lord Immortal Master, your Dharma Eye is sharp; I'm truly innocent!"
In an instant, miners who understood the consequences all had their knees soften simultaneously, collapsing knee-first on the ground, desperately kowtowing and pleading, having lost any hint of their previous madness reminiscent of desperate thieves.
On Qingping Mountain, Zhou Bao widened his eyes staring at this scene, directly dumbfounded.
Seeing this, Elder Zhou Quan seized the opportunity to educate his grandson: "See that? Now do you realize how foolish your previous words were? To deal with mere mortals, all you think of is fighting and killing. How is that different from sand bandits? Do you understand now why the clan taught no other magic but required you to learn from a young age those Tier One magic spells that seem unhelpful for magical combat cultivation?"
Zhou Bao was speechless, though stubborn, he wasn't a true fool. The evidence was right in front of him, leaving him unable to refute or defend.
"Make sure to learn well, you're not young anymore, and you'll need to use your brain more in the future. If you encounter difficult decisions again, remember to consult Xiao Jiu and listen to his opinion before making a decision!"
In the end, it was his own grandson, and the elder could not bear to scold or hit him any longer. He could only sigh and focus on counseling, hoping to see some change in him.
At this time, Zhouyang waited until the heads of those miners were bleeding before agreeing to forgive their mistakes this time. Then he waved his hand to dismiss them, letting them clean up the mess in the oasis camp, while he picked up the corpse of the [Gold-Eating Rat] from the ground and returned to Cyan Ping Mountain.
"What a balance of reward and punishment, first intimidating them with clan rules to break their courage, then bestowing kindness to settle their hearts. Xiao Jiu, you're so young yet you understand this principle. I believe that when the clan is handed over to you, you'll do better than us old folks!"
In front of his grandson, Elder Zhou Quan did not hesitate to express his confidence in Zhouyang taking over as the next clan leader, and Zhou Bao, upon hearing this, felt not the slightest bit of jealousy.
The position of clan leader is for the capable, and although Zhou Bao is somewhat naïve, he has self-awareness. Among the 15 people of the "Yuan" generation in the Zhou Family, his talent is not the worst, but among the last few, so the position of clan leader would never fall to him.
"Third Grandpa, although we have temporarily calmed these mortal miners, it is unlikely they will return to mining in the short term. Therefore, I must ask you to report this situation to the old clan leader after returning to the clan and request that a new group of miners be gathered to replace them."
Zhouyang glanced at Zhou Bao, whose cheeks were flushed and who remained silent, wisely asking nothing and directly made his request to Elder Zhou Quan.
"Don't worry, I'll definitely handle this matter for you when I get back."
The elder nodded slightly, easily agreeing to Zhouyang's request.
After resting for another day at Cyan Ping Mountain, Elder Zhou Quan and Zhou Bao mounted the Shatuo Beast and rode back to the clan under Zhouyang's watch.
After seeing off Elder Zhou Quan and his grandson, Zhouyang finally had the time to deal with the harvest from this outing.
He first skinned and disassembled the corpse of the [Gold-Eating Rat], preserving the hide, teeth, claws, bones, and eyes that could be used for artifact refining, while the meat was cooked with [Golden Pearl Rice] to improve the meals.
Then he set up a Red Copper Tripod Furnace he had crafted and threw in the grape-sized droppings of the rat, added spring water, and firewood, and started to simmer slowly.
After simmering thousands of droppings, Zhouyang obtained several tens of pounds of metallic sand grains.
These metallic sand grains were still not the special spiritual gold Zhouyang wanted and needed further extraction. However, the next extraction would test the skills of the refiner.
To extract the special spiritual gold within these metallic sand grains, Zhouyang swapped to his Tier One High-Grade Spiritual Artifact Cauldron, then took out dozens of palm-sized, fiery red wood charcoal pieces and placed them under the cauldron, igniting them with magic.
This fiery red charcoal was made from Spirit Wood known as [Flaming Sun Wood], and ten palm-sized pieces were worth one lower grade spirit stone, extremely precious.
[Flaming Sun Wood] is Spirit Wood that grows only near active volcanoes and earth fire magma. When lit, its flame turns white, comparable to the True Flame mastered by Foundation Establishment Cultivators.
Usually, when alchemists or refiners at the Qi Cultivation Stage are refining materials that require high temperatures, and if earth fire is unavailable, they use charcoal made from [Flaming Sun Wood] to increase the flame's temperature.
The [Flaming Sun Wood] in Zhouyang's possession was brought to him by Elder Zhou Quan from the clan treasury following the old clan leader Zhou Minghan's order, after he asked his cousin Zhou Qi to return to the clan with a Tier One Magical Artifact Zhouyang had refined, to help him reach Tier Two Refiner as soon as possible.
As dozens of [Flaming Sun Wood] pieces were ignited, scorching white flames rose under the artifact cauldron. The temperature of these white flames was extremely high, and even a cultivator like Zhouyang, endowed with magical power, could not help but sweat profusely from staying beside the furnace for too long.
However, Zhouyang at this time had no time for such trivial matters as wiping sweat. He released his divine sense into the cauldron and could clearly see the metallic sand grains slowly melting. His task was to continuously cast the Artifact Refining Spell to remove impurities from the metal liquid, leaving only the special spiritual gold he needed.
This task strongly tests the refiner's vision and timing, consuming a great deal of divine sense and magical power. With Zhouyang's cultivation at the Sixth-Layer Qi Cultivation, he could only persist for less than an hour before feeling dizzy and weak, forcing him to extinguish the furnace and pause the extraction.
After spending several days, undergoing multiple extractions, Zhouyang finally extracted the special spiritual gold from all the metallic sand grains, eventually obtaining a palm-sized dark golden spiritual gold.
This palm-sized dark golden spiritual gold weighed almost the same as refined iron but was harder than Tier Two Spiritual Gold Profound Iron. In terms of grade, it would at least be a Tier Three spiritual object.
This was the first time Zhouyang had obtained such a high-level spiritual object, and it originated from his own efforts, thus he couldn't help but fondly hold and play with it in his hands, his face full of joy.