Zhou Xuanhao's successful Foundation Establishment is an occasion worth grandly celebrating for the entire Zhou Family. Therefore, after the old clan leader, Zhou Minghan, personally went to the "Haoyang Cave" to confirm the situation, he returned to the clan and ordered invitations to be sent widely, inviting cultivators from all around to attend and celebrate.
In the cultivation realm surrounding the Yuquan Lake Oasis, almost every cultivation clan and prominent loose cultivator with good relations with the Zhou Family received an invitation.
Upon receiving the invitations, some sent clan elders with gifts to the celebration, while others personally brought their juniors to broaden their horizons.
The Zhou Family cultivators originally stationed outside also temporarily set aside their tasks and returned to the family to participate in this once-in-decades celebration.
A large number of cultivators gathered on Jade Spring Peak, making the usually rather quiet Jade Spring Peak suddenly lively.
The Zhou Family took this opportunity to hold a small exchange meeting on Jade Spring Peak, taking out some accumulated elixirs, magical artifacts, spirit talismans, and other treasures from their treasure vault to sell to the arriving loose cultivators, while also purchasing various alchemy and artifact refining materials from them.
As for the clan cultivators, since major cultivation clans generally train their own artifact refiners and alchemists, the Tier Two spirit pills and artifacts offered by the Zhou Family were not attractive enough to entice these people to make purchases.
Instead, some unknown spiritual objects occasionally brought by loose cultivators piqued the interest of these clan cultivators, leading them to make a few purchases.
Then, those loose cultivators would take the spirit stones they received and turn to the Zhou Family's stalls to buy magical artifacts and elixirs.
However, Zhouyang could not witness this bustling scene.
That day, after gaining some insight from the old clan leader Zhou Minghan's words, Zhouyang immediately expressed his thoughts to his parents and then followed the old clan leader back to the family.
Upon returning to the family, Zhouyang bade farewell to his foster mother, Zhou Xuan Yu, and left the Yuquan Lake Oasis alone, riding a Shatuo Beast with the reminders from the old clan leader and his foster mother.
If not counting the family mission to guard the Qingping Mountain Oasis years ago, this was Zhouyang's first time going on a long journey alone in the mysterious and vast cultivation world, thirty-two years after he arrived.
His destination was the Baisha River Oasis, a desert oasis over six thousand miles from the Yuquan Lake Oasis, home to the largest cultivator marketplace in the surrounding tens of thousands of miles of the cultivation realm—the Jinsha Marketplace.
The ruler of Baisha River Oasis is the Baituo Ridge Chen Family, a cultivation clan with a heritage of seven to eight hundred years. The founder of the clan was a cultivator of the Purple Mansion Stage, and the current Chen Family Patriarch, Chen Yaohui, surpasses his predecessor, having a higher cultivation level than the old ancestor who founded the Chen Family.
Currently, the entire Baituo Ridge Chen Family has one Purple Mansion Stage cultivator, twelve Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators, over a thousand Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators, and over a million worldly clansmen, making it the largest cultivation clan in the surrounding tens of thousands of miles of the cultivation realm.
When Chen Family disciples go out, even the disciples of the Yellow Sand Sect have to give them some face, highlighting their prominence.
The Chen Family is illustrious, and a small cultivation clan like the Yuquan Zhou Family cannot normally catch the eye of such a family. They are not on the same level at all.
However, the old ancestor of the Zhou Family, Zhou Yuquan, who founded the Yuquan Zhou Family branch, had once significantly helped the current Chen Family Patriarch Chen Yaohui when he was young, due to his background from the Yellow Sand Sect.
Thus, out of gratitude for the past help, the Chen Family ancestor not only allotted two shops in the Jinsha Marketplace created by the Chen Family to the Zhou Family as a congratulatory gift, but also included the Zhou Family in the Chen Family's allied clan circle, allowing the Zhou Family to share the benefits within this alliance.
Activities like the upcoming "Foundation Establishment Conference" hosted by the Chen Family are events that only allied clans of the Chen Family are eligible to participate in.
This time, Zhouyang went to the Baisha River Oasis not only to find an opportunity to break through his bottleneck but also to bear the heavy responsibility of the family, succeeding his father Zhou Xuanhao, who has already established his foundation, to manage the family shops in the Jinsha Marketplace.
The route from the Yuquan Lake Oasis to the Baisha River Oasis is already well-established. Although there are no roads in the desert in the strictest sense, through the joint efforts of several generations of Zhou Family cultivators, dozens of "signal towers" have been established in the thousands of miles of desert between the two oases to ensure that Zhou Family cultivators traveling between the two places do not get lost halfway.
Of course, Zhouyang's understanding of "signal towers" is that Zhou Family's array masters have refined dozens of Tier One High-grade Arrays—Elemental Magnetic Traction Arrays—and had them placed throughout the thousands of miles of desert from Yuquan Lake Oasis to Baisha River Oasis.
As long as Zhou Family members or closely related cultivators hold a specially refined Tier One Spiritual Artifact—Yin Yang Magnet Needle—and walk this route, they can use the artifact to connect with any array within a hundred miles, completely eliminating the worry of getting lost.
However, although the guidance of the "signal towers" ensures one does not get lost, the perilous weather conditions in the desert still gave Zhouyang, on his first long-distance journey, a lot of trouble.
After leaving the Yuquan Lake Oasis, Zhouyang encountered three sandstorms in just half a month. Each time a sandstorm came, he could only hide under the belly of the Shatuo Beast like an ostrich, watching as countless yellow sands "buried" him alive.
And if the sandstorms only made Zhouyang dusty and somewhat miserable, the quicksand that could appear anywhere in the desert was life-threatening.
Unlike sandstorms, quicksand does not show obvious signs of its appearance. You only realize you've stepped into quicksand once you are within it.
The Shatuo Beast's innate special ability allows it always to detect anomalies before a sandstorm arrives and warn its master in time.
However, when faced with quicksand, even this demon beast accustomed to life in the desert is powerless.
Before someone or a beast steps on it, quicksand looks exactly like normal sandy ground, making it extremely difficult to detect.
Once you step on quicksand, an adult male of normal weight would completely disappear below the surface in less than ten seconds.
Zhouyang and the Shatuo Beast together weigh over three tons. Once trapped in the quicksand, it would take less than three seconds before sinking to the depths of the quicksand.
The first time Zhouyang and his camel beast plunged into quicksand, he had no time to react and sank beneath the sand along with the Shatuo Beast.
Fortunately, before he left home, the old clan leader Zhou Minghan repeatedly advised him to keep a few "Earth Escape Technique" spirit talismans in his sleeve, allowing him to activate a talisman in time, nervously bringing the Shatuo Beast out of the quicksand area.
This experience of being trapped in quicksand truly terrified Zhouyang. The terrifying feeling akin to falling into an abyss, combined with suffocation, was even more frightening than death itself.
Since then, every day, as he sat atop the Shatuo Beast and moved forward, he would release his Divine Sense to scan the ground ten meters ahead, while sticking an "Earth Escape Technique" Spirit Talisman on his arms and legs.
Doing this consumed a great deal of his mental energy but at least it gave him peace of mind.
However, as a result, Zhouyang's advancing speed was significantly reduced, being able to move less than three hundred miles a day, which was far below the normal pace of the Shatuo Beast's five hundred miles per day.
That day, after a day's journey, the exhausted group set up camp beneath a leeward sand slope.
He first set up the tent, then fed the Shatuo Beast a few Tier One Spirit Pills, "Essence Pills," refined using the blood and flesh of Demon Beasts to replenish its strength, and hung a camel bell.
After completing all these tasks, he felt assured enough to leave the Shatuo Beast outside to keep watch while he sat inside the tent to meditate and recover his depleted Divine Sense power.
The nighttime desert temperatures were cold, dropping to below zero; Zhouyang felt relatively warm inside the sealed camel skin tent, but the Shatuo Beast outside lay with limbs curled up, with its breath turning into white mist.
Tamed Shatuo Beasts like these were not only the best riding mounts in the desert but also excellent sentinels.
During the silent nights in the desert, the Shatuo Beast's excellent sensory capabilities could clearly detect the sound of mice burrowing several meters underground; with them on watch, those planning underground ambushes would find little success against the desert Demon Beasts.
The night deepened, and the temperature dropped lower. Outside the tent, the watchful Shatuo Beast had buried most of its body in the yellow sand, leaving only its head exposed.
Suddenly, the seemingly asleep Shatuo Beast snapped open its eyes, warily raising its head to look up the sand slope.
Jingle! Jingle!
The urgent jingle of the camel bell, accompanied by the Shatuo Beast's anxious neighs, quickly awakened Zhouyang, who had been meditating in the tent.
Almost instantly, without thinking, he flung out the Silver Gang Shield Spiritual Artifact that had saved his life multiple times and rushed out of the tent with it.
Whoosh!
Just as he exited the tent, Zhouyang heard a sharp whistling sound explode next to his ear, a sound he was all too familiar with—the sound of a cultivator's flying sword cutting through the air.
Sure enough, the next moment, he saw a streak of golden light collide with his Silver Gang Shield Spiritual Artifact.
"Tier Two High-Grade Defense Spiritual Artifact!"
The golden light shattered against the Silver Gang Shield, revealing a two-foot-long golden Pyramid Spiritual Artifact. Simultaneously, a voice filled with astonishment echoed from not far away.
Zhouyang looked in the direction of the sound, only to see two black-robed, masked cultivators standing on the sand slope looking toward him.
Seeing him looking over, one of the black-robed cultivators gestured with a hand and summoned the failed attacker's Pyramid Spiritual Artifact back, glaring greedily at Zhouyang's Silver Gang Shield Spiritual Artifact, growling, "Kid, I'll give you a chance to live. Hand over that Tier Two High-Grade Defense Spiritual Artifact, and I'll spare your life!"
"Sand bandits?"
Zhouyang frowned, not bothered by the black-robed cultivator's bluster. He simply looked thoughtfully at these unexpected guests and asked a question.
Hearing his blunt words, the eyes of the two black-robed cultivators turned cold. The other black-robed cultivator, who hadn't attacked yet, immediately said coldly, "Knowing we're sand bandits and still so calm, it seems little brother is not an ordinary clan cultivator. Which family might little brother be from, I wonder?"
"What? If I told you, would you then leave me alone and retreat?" Zhouyang asked, a mocking smile playing on his lips as he looked at them.
"Of course not!"
The black-robed cultivator speaking shook his head, then waved his sleeve, summoning a brilliantly glowing red banner while sneering at Zhouyang, "But if you explain your origins clearly, after we kill you, perhaps we will consider kindly delivering your corpse to your clan if our spoils are plentiful!"
"I see!"
Zhouyang nodded, suddenly waving his hand, and the four "Armor-Piercing Daggers" holstered at his waist flew out on cue, transforming into four eerie white flashes shooting into the sand beneath them not far behind.
Ah!
A harsh scream instantly sounded from below the sand behind Zhouyang.
"Third Brother!"
"Third Brother!"
On the sand slope, the eyes of the two black-robed cultivators changed, unable to help but exclaim.
It turned out they didn't come alone that night but as a trio, with one person hiding underground to launch a surprise attack at the right moment.
Unexpectedly, Zhouyang had already discovered that someone was hiding underground.
So, while stalling the two black-robed cultivators on the ground by appearing oblivious, he locked onto the enemy's position, then suddenly counterattacked with artifacts, executing a surprise reversal.