Clan Cultivation: Starting from Beast Taming

This Silver Lightning Python excelled in Thunder Element Spells and possessed formidable strength.

What was even more rare was that, like the Sky Azure Cloud Python owned by the Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi, the Silver Lightning Python also carried the Flood Dragon Bloodline, giving it the potential to ascend to a high-level or even top-level demon beast.

As for why the Silver Lightning Python inside the egg hadn’t developed normal life previously, Zhou Daoquan speculated that it was likely because this was a premature egg.

Some pythons do not lay their eggs directly, but rather allow the eggs to incubate into little snakes inside their bodies.

The Silver Lightning Python belonged to this category as well.

However, due to some unknown circumstances, this particular egg was prematurely expelled, and the female python did not reinsert it.

This complicated matters.

Because it required the mother’s body for incubation, this premature egg, once separated from the mother, lacked the conditions for incubation and naturally couldn’t continue to develop.

But perhaps due to the strong demon beast bloodline or some other reasons, it hadn’t lost its vital force and turned into a dead egg despite not normally developing and incubating for a long time.

As for how Zhou Daoquan managed to restart its development, he did not elaborate—likely involving confidential knowledge.

In any case, the snake egg had now fully developed normally and could be contracted for incubation by a cultivator.

After explaining the situation to Zhou Chun, Zhou Daoquan thrust the snake egg into Zhou Chun’s hands with a look of reluctance, saying, “Come, contract it in front of me. With such a treasured item, I really wouldn’t feel at ease letting you take it away without contracting!”

As he said this, his heart was truly filled with reluctance.

A mid-level demon beast like the Silver Lightning Python, with immense potential for nurturing, was exactly the kind of demon beast treasured by a Beast Taming Cultivator like himself—not to mention, this one carried the Flood Dragon Bloodline.

Had he been the one to incubate and nurture this Silver Lightning Python, he was confident that within ten years he could elevate it to a second-tier demon beast, and within fifty years, to a superior second-tier demon beast.

When he confirmed that this was indeed an egg of a Silver Lightning Python, he too was once seized by the desire to possess it and considered keeping the treasure for himself.

But in the end, he overcame the greed in his heart and refrained from committing the shameless act of usurping his junior’s precious property.

Zhou Chun was, of course, unaware of the struggle that had taken place in Zhou Daoquan’s mind, feeling nothing but gratitude and admiration for him at this moment.

Through Zhou Daoquan’s explanations, he also clearly understood just how precious the Silver Lightning Python egg in his hands was.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that if the item were auctioned, it could sell for at least several thousand Spirit Coins, and ten thousand would not necessarily be impossible.

And yet, Zhou Daoquan could hand over such an item to him without any charge, a noble personal character and morality that certainly deserved his respect and gratitude.

Zhou Chun truly made the right decision in coming to the Zhou Family!

“Yes, I will contract this item right now,” replied Zhou Chun.

Zhou Chun nodded emphatically and then began to inscribe the “Soul Controlling Blood Array” right in front of Zhou Daoquan.

It was only after completing the contract for the Silver Lightning Python egg that Zhou Daoquan’s feeling of reluctance was finally severed.

An egg could only be contracted once, so even if someone killed Zhou Chun now, he would not be able to contract this Silver Lightning Python egg again.

“All the information about the Silver Lightning Python, as well as some cultivation methods I have summarized, are contained in this jade slip. Take it back and read it carefully. If you encounter any problems or confusion during the cultivation process, feel free to come to me for advice,” said Zhou Daoquan.

As he spoke, he patted his storage pouch on his waist and took out a jade slip about one foot long and two fingers wide and handed it to Zhou Chun.

This type of jade slip was a medium for cultivators to record knowledge, which could only be accessed by cultivators through their Divine Sense.

Compared to paper books and stone tablets, it had the advantages of being convenient to carry and containing a large amount of information; the downside was that it could not be preserved for a long period.

At this point, seeing the jade slip handed over by Zhou Daoquan, Zhou Chun was also touched and from the bottom of his heart, bent deeply at the waist and offered a profound bow, saying, “Elder, your great kindness is engraved in my heart. In the future, I shall undoubtedly offer substantial repayment!”

Afterward, he extended his hands respectfully to receive the jade slip.

Zhou Daoquan, having lived for over a hundred years, had seen many people and could, of course, tell whether the words spoken were sincere or merely polite.

Therefore, a satisfied smile appeared on his face as he gently patted Zhou Chun’s shoulder, saying, “Work hard. As long as you nurture this Silver Lightning Python well, when you successfully reach Foundation Establishment, there should be no significant problem.”

“Yes, I’ll definitely remember the Elder’s teachings,” Zhou Chun replied, nodding vigorously before he thanked Zhou Daoquan profusely again. Then, he left, joyfully holding the egg, and returned to his residence on Baozhi Peak.

In the following month, Zhou Chun checked on the snake egg he had brought back every day, hoping it would hatch soon.

Forty-seven days later, while he was practicing his secret technique, the snake egg finally hatched on its own.

Upon returning to his bedroom from the quiet room, a connection deep in his heart immediately drew his gaze to beneath the bed.

There, wrapped around one of the bedposts, was a white little snake as thick as a thumb, flicking its tongue and looking towards him.

Seeing this, Zhou Chun couldn’t help but show a happy smile and said, “Little guy, you finally decided to come out, huh!”

Then he walked over to the bed and reached out his hand.

Due to the contract, the white snake felt no aversion or fear towards his approach; instead, it quickly pressed its cool head against his palm before crawling up his hand and coiling around his wrist several times.

It looked as if Zhou Chun was wearing several silver bracelets on his left wrist.

“From now on, I’ll call you Baibai, a little Baibai,”

Zhou Chun extended his finger to gently touch the white snake’s head, smiling as he gave it a name.

Newborn pythons require careful feeding and care.

Zhou Chun strictly followed the diet plan established by Zhou Daoquan, feeding it appropriately-sized bird eggs and a special Zhou Family snake feed for hatchlings, which was essentially minced meat sausage.

After half a month of this regimen, once Baibai had grown to the thickness of two fingers, Zhou Chun added some young birds and young mice into its diet.

Like turtles, snakes also prefer stillness over movement.

Therefore, Baibai usually coiled around Zhou Chun’s wrist and slept.

The bond of their contract made Baibai innately see Zhou Chun as its parent, feeling secure and relaxed only when it could smell his scent.

After initially feeling uncomfortable, Zhou Chun gradually got used to having a snake coiled around his arm.

One day, Zhou Chun received an invitation to a full-moon celebration at Xiangmu Peak three days later.

The host of the invitation was Zhou Zhengjie, the ninth in the “Zheng” generation of the Zhou Family, who, like Zhou Chun, was also in the Qi Refinement Realm.

More than two years ago, this man had married a female cultivator from the Sun Family of Golden Maple Ridge, who had given birth to a son for him a month ago. Therefore, he invited Zhou Chun and the other clan members of the same generation to celebrate the full-moon festival.

Zhou Chun certainly couldn’t refuse such an event, so he prepared a gift and went to Xiangmu Peak with Zhou Zhengyong three days later.

Upon arriving at Xiangmu Peak, Zhou Chun discovered that Ninth Brother hadn’t just invited cultivators of their generation; many elders were invited as well, including the Clan Leader, Zhou Daoyi.

Before the banquet started, Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi personally named Ninth Brother’s child and gave a speech.

“Today is a day worth recording for our Zhou Family, as Zhengjie’s child, Zhou Xinyuan, is the first of the Zhou Family to be born since we settled in Jiufeng Ridge, and the first of our Zhou Family’s ‘Xin’ generation to possess a Spiritual Root!”

“Whether a clan can flourish and prosper does not just depend on how many high-ranking cultivators it has, but also on whether the clan population is thriving and capable of continuously producing descendants with exceptional talent!”

“The birth of Zhengjie’s child signifies that our Zhou Family has successors, that the roots of our family tree have taken hold and can now bear abundant fruit!”

“As the Clan Leader, I feel extremely gratified and happy about this and, on behalf of the clan, reward Zhengjie and his wife with a hundred family merits each. I also sincerely hope that our other Zhou Family members will contribute their own strength to the lineage and prosperity of our family!”

At the banquet, Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi expressed his happiness as he addressed the guests and clan members, delivering his procreation speech.

Indeed, Zhou Chun had realized that Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi’s presence at the full-moon celebration was intended to encourage childbearing.

Most of the current Zhou Family cultivators of the “Jia” generation were either too old and without plans to have more children, or they had already done so.

However, few members of the “Zheng” generation were married with children.

In the past during the Sanjue Sect period, this wouldn’t have been a matter of concern, as the lineage in Fengguo had been flourishing for over a thousand years, and the mundane clansmen of the Zhou Family had already grown to several hundred thousand.

Even without cultivators having children, a large number of mortals would. With so many mortals producing offspring, there was bound to be a descendant with Spirit Root Aptitude in the Zhou Family’s bloodline.

But now, it was practically impossible for the Zhou Family to relocate all those clansmen, nor could they frequently conduct large-scale Spiritual Root Aptitude tests like before.

Therefore, to supplement the family with fresh blood, they had no choice but to push their current family members to reproduce.

After all, if both parents were cultivators, the likelihood of the offspring possessing Spirit Root Aptitude was not insignificant.

Hence, encouraging cultivators to have children was a far more efficient approach than relying on the chancy prospects of mortals.

However, all of this was predicated on the willingness of these Zhou Family cultivators to have children!

Thinking this, Zhou Chun couldn’t help but to glance over at the many “Zheng” generation cultivators present, as well as some “Jia” generation cultivators under sixty years old.

To his surprise, quite a few seemed persuaded by Zhou Daoyi’s words, looking contemplative, including Zhou Zhengyong beside him.

This left him slightly startled, then suddenly somewhat ashamed as he lowered his head.

He had projected his own thoughts onto others, assuming they would feel the same as he did!

This was not the world of his previous life; even among mortals here, the sense of clan was strong, and the saying “more children, more blessings” was no empty phrase.

Even within a cultivation family like the Zhou Family, having several direct kin would likely mean one could mix better with the family than other single clan members.

Therefore, there was no aversion to bearing more children.

What might truly hinder these Zhou Family cultivators from having children was finding a suitable partner to their liking.