Qingping Mountain Oasis.
Since the day the old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan adopted Zhouyang's plan and began implementing it, to prevent the Tier Three [Poison Fire Scorpion King] from retaliating, over a dozen Late-Stage Qi Cultivation cultivators of the Zhou Family retreated to this oasis.
The spiritual vein on Qingping Mountain Oasis is only a Tier Two Lower Grade, and the spiritual qi it generates daily can only support the cultivation of one Late-Stage Qi Cultivation cultivator and seven or eight Early and Middle-Stage Qi Cultivation cultivators. Now, with over a dozen Late-Stage Qi Cultivation cultivators gathered here, the spiritual qi of the spiritual vein is simply not enough.
The importance of spiritual veins and spiritual qi to a cultivator is beyond doubt.
For a cultivator to normally enhance their cultivation, they must practice on a spiritual vein that corresponds to their cultivation level.
Take a Qi Cultivation Stage cultivator as an example, if they do not practice on a Tier Two spiritual vein like Qingping Mountain but instead practice in an outside oasis or desert wilderness, their cultivation speed will slow by tenfold. Conversely, if they practice on a Tier Three Middle Grade spiritual vein like Jade Spring Peak, their cultivation speed will be slightly above normal levels.
For cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Stage and above, leaving a spiritual vein would make it nearly impossible to progress in cultivation using the thin Heaven and Earth spiritual qi outside.
Therefore, in the cultivation realm, any cultivator who hopes to improve their cultivation realm will try every means to occupy a spiritual vein for cultivation.
The spiritual qi generated daily by a spiritual vein is limited according to its rank. Once the number of cultivators on the vein exceeds this limit, and the daily consumption of spiritual qi surpasses it, the spiritual vein might downgrade in rank or even drain completely.
The Qingping Mountain spiritual vein is developed by the clan at a great cost of spirit stones, so the cultivators of the Zhou Family certainly will not engage in such folly as drinking poison to quench thirst.
So after discussion, they unanimously decided to allow Zhouyang, the hope of the Zhou Family's future, to use the spiritual vein for cultivation. The rest, including his parents, retreated to the oasis outside the mountain, refining the spiritual qi within the spirit stones for cultivation themselves.
Spirit stones, formed from the highly condensed and concentrated Heaven and Earth spiritual qi, contain an amount of spiritual qi comparable to what a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator would require in a day's breathing practices, enough for a Seventh-Layer Qi Cultivation cultivator's ten days of practice.
Therefore, many low-tier loose cultivators who cannot occupy a spiritual vein for cultivation can only enhance their cultivation by absorbing the spiritual qi from spirit stones daily.
Such a practice naturally consumes spirit stones rapidly, and few loose cultivators have wealth enough to consistently use this method for long-term improvement in cultivation.
The reason why low-tier loose cultivators have lower cultivation levels than their peers in sects or family clans, and are often poorer, is primarily due to this.
The Zhou Family's Late-Stage Qi Cultivation cultivators are not short of wealth, and refining spirit stones for cultivation in the short term is a trivial matter for them, and no one had any objections to it.
Zhouyang also understood the heavy responsibility on his shoulders, accepting the elders' goodwill silently, without saying any unnecessary words of refusal.
Meanwhile, after Zhouyang and others had left, the old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan immediately flew above the sand slope and set it on fire.
There's no need to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut; for merely burning some ordinary desert plants, Zhou Minghan did not need to waste magical power to unleash the Foundation Establishment True Flame. He just released a simple Tier Two High-grade Technique "Sea of Fire Technique" along with a small Tier Two Lower Grade Technique "Gale Technique", and a towering fire ignited the sand slope.
Crackle!
The fire spread everywhere, instantly igniting the fur of desert animals hiding on the sand slope, producing popping sounds like bursting beans and a fragrant meaty smell.
For a moment, various beast roars, snake hisses, and bird cries sounded in unison, exceedingly miserable and filled with despair.
Zhou Minghan, standing hundreds of meters high in the air, looked down, seeing frantic desert animals, engulfed in flames, running for their lives. At this moment, the thick fur they had to resist the desert's cold nights and the scorching daytime heat had instead become a deadly curse.
Except for a few fast-digging animals like sand rats and sand foxes, who managed to swiftly dig and burrow into the thick yellow sand to extinguish the flames on their bodies, seventy to eighty percent of the desert animals turned into charred corpses amid the raging flames.
Even the Poisonous Fire Scorpions hiding in the sand, many were burned alive by the soaring fire.
This sudden change on the sand slope quickly alerted the Tier Three demon beast [Poison Fire Scorpion King], cultivating in the deep cavern beneath the sand slope.
Upon hearing the hissing cries of its kin, the Tier Three Demon Beast swiftly emerged from its hiding cave. The raging fires burning on the sand slope posed no threat to its formidable demonic beast body.
Hiss hiss!
The moment the dark red giant scorpion, as large as a calf, appeared, it waved its massive scorpion claws and roared angrily at Zhou Minghan in the sky. The powerful aura emanating from Zhou Minghan made this highly intelligent demon beast feel an immense threat.
However, Zhou Minghan did not even bother to pay attention to it. He simply released a brilliantly shining Tier Three Flying Sword, harvesting the low-tier Poisonous Fire Scorpions right before its eyes.
This provocative act greatly enraged the Poison Fire Scorpion King. It slammed its dual claws onto the ground, causing the whole sand slope to shake like an earthquake, instantly raising a massive sandstorm.
Yellow sands flew everywhere, not only blocking Zhou Minghan's view in the sky but also swiftly extinguishing most of the spreading fire.
Just like the astronomical difference between the Foundation Establishment Stage and the Qi Cultivation Stage, the power gap between Tier Three and Tier Two Demon Beasts is vast and profound.
Every move of a Tier Three Demon Beast can tear mountains and crack the earth, triggering small-scale natural disasters. Without cultivators of the same level to confront it, a Tier Three Demon Beast alone can destroy a small oasis like the Qingping Mountain Oasis.
Seeing the Poison Fire Scorpion King rage, Zhou Minghan, though not afraid, did not hastily engage. Instead, he quickly retracted his sword and retreated from the battlefield via sword flight.
Demon beasts, unlike cultivators, cannot learn sword flight just by reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage. Except for certain flying beasts and a few others with special divine techniques, most land and aquatic demon beasts can't grasp flight before Tier Four.
Thus, when Foundation Establishment Cultivators face a land-based Tier Three Demon Beast like the Poison Fire Scorpion King, unless they engage within its underground lair, they can easily control the battlefield.
Conversely, although the Poison Fire Scorpion King cannot fly, if it chooses to burrow away, Foundation Establishment Cultivators, unless they pre-arrange an array to block it, would find it difficult to keep it above ground.
After discovering that Zhou Minghan had left on the sand slope, the Poison Fire Scorpion King presumptuously believed that its display of power had scared the other party away. It hissed arrogantly, waving its large scorpion pincers to show off to its underlings, then turned its deadly claws on a barely-alive Tier One Poisonous Fire Scorpion nearby.
This poor Poisonous Fire Scorpion had barely escaped the blaze and hadn't had time to feel relieved before being devoured completely by its own "King" as a meal.
After consuming an injured clan member, the Poison Fire Scorpion King's eyes flickered with ferocity as it scanned the remaining trembling ordinary Poisonous Fire Scorpions. It hissed out several commands before returning to the underground cave for slumber.
With the Poison Fire Scorpion King gone, the entire Poisonous Fire Scorpion swarm erupted into a frenzy. The desert animals burned to death by Zhou Minghan's fire became the main course of this revelry, even including the corpses of the dead Poisonous Fire Scorpions.
None of the Poisonous Fire Scorpions, including the Poison Fire Scorpion King, realized the destruction of desert vegetation around the sand slope would bring significant harm to their clan.
In the eyes of these demon beasts, today's battle was no different from previous encounters with formidable beasts. Although some members of the scorpion swarm were killed by the intruder, he was ultimately driven away by their mighty "King." As for those fallen comrades, as long as the swarm persisted, new members would soon be born to join.
It wasn't until half a month later, when the Poison Fire Scorpion King awoke from its slumber and found the scorpion swarm greatly reduced, engaged in cannibalism due to food scarcity, that it realized the malice of that single fire.
The consequences had emerged by then. Despite its formidable power, the Poison Fire Scorpion King couldn't conjure food out of thin air to save the scorpion swarm.
Left with no option, the Poison Fire Scorpion King had to proactively eliminate the elderly, weak, sick, and small ones from the swarm for the robust to consume, then drove all the surviving Poisonous Fire Scorpions out of the underground cave, forcing them to search for food and hunt in the deep desert.
However, the Poison Fire Scorpion King didn't anticipate that the moment it drove the swarm out of the cave, Zhou Minghan, the old clan leader who had been monitoring the sand slope, seized the opportunity to kill dozens of the departing Poisonous Fire Scorpions before leisurely flying away on his sword as it heard the alarm.
After this lesson, the Poison Fire Scorpion King understood that it and the swarm were being targeted. As an intelligent demon beast, it immediately changed orders, instructing the swarm to avoid moving on the surface while hunting. It also secretly followed behind during their hunts, awaiting the chance to ambush.
The Poisonous Fire Scorpions moved by digging through the sand, making it difficult for Zhou Minghan to detect them. The Poison Fire Scorpion King's ambush nearly caused him to lose control.
After attempting a few more sorties without gaining any advantage, Zhou Minghan finally turned back to the Qingping Mountain Oasis.