CHAPTER 605: CHAPTER 590: THE FIRST PERSON IN 5000 YEARS!

Wang Botong and his Dao Companion both perished on Cuiyun Mountain. This incident enraged the higher-ups of the Six Paths Alliance. As the local power, the Valley of Ten Thousand Flowers immediately dispatched a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator to investigate.

However, Zhouyang had the Illusory Cloak to simulate and transform others’ auras, alongside the Stinging Dragon Avoiding Tribulation Technique to conceal his aura, and the Disguise Mask gifted by Lu Xuanji. As long as he didn’t face a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator directly, he didn’t worry much about his true identity being discovered.

Thus, the grand display by the Six Paths Alliance ultimately turned into nothing more than a show for others’ sake, without a single hair on Zhouyang being harmed.

He took a long detour, spending over two months to return to the territory of the Yuqing Daoist Sect, handing over the bodies of Wang Botong and his wife to Master Jade Dragon, while also returning the Illusory Cloak.

By this time, the second battlefield out of the three between the Profound Purity Dao Alliance and the Six Paths Alliance had already concluded.

The result was still that the Profound Purity Dao Alliance held onto their original territory without allowing the cultivators of the Six Paths Alliance to gain much advantage. However, demanding war reparations like on the Chang Country battlefield was impossible.

Therefore, after completing his mission, Zhouyang was quickly assigned to support the final battlefield.

Half a year later, through mediation by external forces, the war between the Six Paths Alliance and the Profound Purity Dao Alliance temporarily came to an end.

This war had no victor!

Because the war occurred within the territory of the Profound Purity Dao Alliance, even though they defended those important places and reclaimed the lost lands post-war, their losses in personnel and resources would take untold years to recover.

As invaders, the Six Paths Alliance not only failed to meet their war objectives of occupying large areas of the Profound Purity Dao Alliance’s land but also suffered severe losses, including over thirty Golden Core Stage Cultivators, over two hundred Purple Mansion Cultivators, and more than seven thousand Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Not to mention, on the Chang Country battlefield, to save the lives of over ten thousand cultivators there, they agreed to a war compensation amounting to two hundred million Spirit Stones.

These losses would also take the Six Paths Alliance untold years to fully replenish.

After the ceasefire between the Six Paths Alliance and the Profound Purity Dao Alliance, factions like the Beast Taming Sect, Nine Yang Sect, and Yin Profound Sect, which sought to take advantage of the chaos, also pulled back their ambitions, not daring to continue fighting the Profound Purity Dao Alliance.

Of course, with the constraint of the Six Paths Alliance and an alliance agreement among these opportunists for mutual offense and defense, the Profound Purity Dao Alliance couldn’t counterattack after just experiencing a major war. They could only record this grievance for future revenge.

The end of the war marked the time for officially discussing merits and rewards.

This was the part Zhouyang anticipated the most.

In this relatively short-duration war, the achievements he made were unmatched among Golden Core Stage Cultivators.

Of the over thirty Golden Core Stage cultivators who fell from the Six Paths Alliance, one-third were related to him, whether directly killed by him or he was involved in their demise.

"In this war, you killed ten Golden Core Stage Cultivators of the Six Paths Alliance in succession, including two Seventh-Layer Golden Core Cultivators, one Sixth-Layer Golden Core Cultivator, three Fifth-Layer Golden Core Cultivators, two Fourth-Layer Golden Core Cultivators, and two Third-Layer Golden Core Cultivators."

"According to Dao Alliance regulations, killing a Third-Layer Golden Core Cultivator of the enemy grants 250,000 Merit Points, a Fourth-Layer grants 400,000, a Fifth-Layer grants 450,000, a Sixth-Layer grants 500,000, and a Seventh-Layer grants 800,000!"

"In this way, just from killing enemies, your total Merit Points reached 4.55 million!"

In the Qiantian Sect mountain gate within Chang Country, Master Jade Dragon, responsible for registering merit rewards for cultivators in Chang Country, was slightly taken aback by the number as he calculated the Merit Points right in front of Zhouyang.

4.55 million Merit Points, this was an astronomical figure for Merit Points, at least for a Golden Core Stage Cultivator.

And Zhouyang’s combat merits hadn’t even factored in the killing of Wang Botong and his wife; otherwise, there would be even more!

Master Jade Dragon couldn’t help but recall the recent wars between the Profound Purity Dao Alliance and the Six Paths Alliance. He was astounded to discover that even tracing back five thousand years, there hadn’t been a single Golden Core Stage Cultivator who achieved such Battle Merits as Zhouyang had in one war.

The first in five thousand years!

This was the record Zhouyang created in this war!

Master Jade Dragon’s eyebrows twitched as he gave Zhouyang a deep look before continuing:

"Originally, besides the Golden Core Stage Cultivators you personally killed, there were also five instances where you assisted other cultivators in killing enemy Golden Core Stage Cultivators. However, because when you killed those Golden Core Stage individuals, other cultivators were also present to help, the assists were negated, and no additional Merit Points were calculated for the assists."

"Lastly, your rescue of the Suyun Sect and reinforcement of the Beixuan Country battlefield each earned you an additional 200,000 and 100,000 Merit Points respectively, and your Dao Companion Xiao Ying, by treating numerous wounded and saving the lives of hundreds of Dao Alliance cultivators, earned 350,000 Merit Points. As per her wish, these Merit Points have been transferred to you for calculation."

"So, the total merit points you’ve earned in this war is five million two hundred thousand!"

After announcing the final tally of merit points, Master Jade Dragon couldn’t help but bow his head in deep thought.

He was pondering what treasures could be exchanged with such a significant amount of merit points.

To encourage cultivators within the Dao Alliance to fight bravely on the battlefield, after every war, the Profound Sun Immortal Sect and the Yuqing Daoist Sect, the two top major sects, would open their sect treasure vaults, offering some truly valuable rewards to those with contributions.

Master Jade Dragon now held a comprehensive treasure list in his hand. As he recalled the items on the list, he realized that Zhouyang’s merit points could exchange for Foundation Establishment Pills. With each pill calculated at twelve thousand merit points, he could get at least four hundred Foundation Establishment Pills.

If he were to exchange for the "Purple Heart Jade Marrow," calculated at fifteen hundred thousand merit points per portion, he could exchange for thirty-four portions of "Purple Heart Jade Marrow," with a hundred thousand merit points remaining.

If he chose to exchange for "Jade Liquid Golden Pill," calculated at eight hundred thousand merit points per portion, he could just exchange for six portions and have fifty thousand merit points left.

Thinking of this, Master Jade Dragon began to feel a bit troubled.

The reason for his anxiety was simple: if Zhouyang decided to exchange for such items, given his merit points, he feared that a large portion of the rewards prepared by the Dao Alliance would be taken by him, leaving little for others. What would others exchange then?

Considering this, to avoid awkwardness, he decided to give Zhouyang a heads-up before asking what treasures he wanted to exchange: "Zhou Xiaoyou, let me be frank with you. Many items, such as the ’Jade Liquid Golden Pill’ offered by the Dao Alliance this time, have limited quantities. If you choose to exchange for these treasures, you can be approved for only half the amount your merit points could cover. Do you understand my point?"

Zhouyang certainly understood Master Jade Dragon’s point, but that didn’t mean he would concede easily.

He looked troubled and said, "I understand your intention, Senior, but others’ sacrifices are sacrifices, and the merit points I earned came at a life risk. Now, imposing such a restriction seems a bit irregular, doesn’t it?"

"Stop trying to fool me. I know your abilities. Moreover, not imposing this restriction would truly break the rules and stir public outrage!"

Master Jade Dragon gave him a glance, visibly displeased, blocking Zhouyang from taking advantage of the situation.

Zhouyang saw this, smiled wryly, and realized he couldn’t force it, so he nodded and replied, "Since Senior Jade Dragon said so, I won’t disregard your wishes. We’ll follow your terms."

"Alright, let’s settle it then. Here’s a list of treasures you can exchange for. Take a look to see which ones you want."

Master Jade Dragon said, waving his hand to toss a jade scroll to Zhouyang.

Zhouyang took the jade scroll and infused it with his divine sense, finding various treasures available for exchange, indeed covering every aspect.

From basic pill, artifact, talisman, and array, to spirit beast eggs, spiritual materials, spirit mountain spiritual veins, high-level techniques, tier five pill formulas, divine power cultivation methods, and more.

Further, Zhouyang saw various personal commissions, such as requesting a tier five top-grade refining master to craft a tier five magical artifact. By providing your materials, you only need to pay between fifty thousand and a hundred thousand merit points depending on the artifact’s grade.

Besides these refining and alchemy requests, talisman making, and array formation, there were commissions for help in battles.

Requesting a seventh-layer Golden Core cultivator for assistance once requires two hundred thousand merit points, a ninth-layer Golden Core cultivator costs five hundred thousand, and if requesting a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator to help once, three million merit points is the minimum requirement.

What did he want?

Zhouyang had thought about this many times before meeting Master Jade Dragon.

Therefore, he wasn’t dazzled by the myriad treasures before his eyes, and chose directly two portions of "Jade Liquid Golden Pill," then ten portions of "Purple Heart Jade Marrow," spending a total of three million one hundred thousand merit points.

Next, he selected three tier five pill formulas, intended for his Dao Companion Xiao Ying, costing a total of one million six hundred thousand merit points.

This left him with only fifty thousand merit points.

Finally, with these fifty thousand merit points, Zhouyang exchanged for a tier five top-grade spirit pill, "Purple Sun Treasure Pill," which could help him in future breakthroughs to the late stage of the Golden Core.

"I’ve made my selections, Senior. Would you verify?"

Zhouyang handed the jade scroll back to Master Jade Dragon, stating his choices.

"Alright, that’s settled. I’ll send a message to have your selected items delivered."

Master Jade Dragon pondered briefly, then nodded cheerfully in agreement.

Five days later, all the items Zhouyang requested were delivered to the Qiantian Sect by a designated person, and then personally handed over to him by Master Jade Dragon.

When handing over the items, Master Jade Dragon suddenly looked at him without preamble and said, "Five years from now, Jade Capital City will host a grand auction and various high-level cultivator exchange events. If you have time, you might as well go and take a look. Perhaps you might have some unexpected gains!"

Zhouyang was slightly startled, then thoughtfully nodded slightly and said, "I understand, elder. I will certainly attend this grand event when the time comes."

Seeing that he understood his meaning, Master Jade Dragon didn’t say much more, simply waved his hand and said, "Alright, if there’s nothing else, you should hurry back to Chongxuan Mountain. The sect has dispatched a Tier Five High-grade Array Master to help you rearrange the [Five Elements Returning to Origin Array]. They should arrive in a few days."

"Thank you, elder. I shall take my leave."

Zhouyang bowed, then took his leave immediately, and directly led his Dao companion Xiao Ying and a group of disciples back to Chongxuan Mountain.

A few days later, the Tier Five High-grade Array Master mentioned by Master Jade Dragon indeed arrived at Chongxuan Mountain with the array materials. Based on the old array and Zhouyang’s personal requirements, it took about a month to lay out the [Five Elements Returning to Origin Array], a Tier Five High-grade Mountain Protective Array.

Once the array was set up, the reconstruction work at Chongxuan Mountain officially began.

The buildings on the mountain, mostly damaged during the great battle, needed to be rebuilt by the disciples of Chongxuan Mountain.

The spirit fields and medicine fields on the mountain had also turned into barren lands, requiring re-sowing.

Compared to these, Zhouyang’s original cave residence was barely damaged, but it was now completely bare, not even a mouse would visit. It’s unclear if the cultivators from the Six Paths Alliance intentionally did it to annoy him, as they even took away the jade tables and stone benches.

Zhouyang didn’t need to handle these reconstruction tasks himself; they could be left to disciples like Ye Yunshan and others to complete.

After the protective array was rebuilt, he returned to his cave residence to organize his belongings.

His belongings were numerous and diverse; he needed to sort out the ones that were useful or could be useful for future use.

Unneeded items were set aside to be dealt with at the Immortal City Marketplace in the future.

Firstly, there were the magical artifacts. Currently, Zhouyang’s personal Tier Five artifacts included the [Qianyang Treasure Pearl], [Qianyang Golden Tower], [Heaven-Suppressing Azure Dragon Cauldron], [Flaming Dragon Shield], [Taiyin Soul-cutting Saber], [Fiery Sun Heart-Burning Spear], [Soul Capturing Treasure Pearl], [Heaven-shaking Copper Gong], [Jinghong Sword], [Thunderbolt Golden Light Divine Shuttle], [Lion Fire Ruyi], [Mountain Shifting Seal], and [C Fire Thunder Bottle].

Additionally, the Tier Four artifacts he used during the Purple Mansion Stage, such as the [Thousand Blade Disc], [Great Derivation Divine Light Sword], [Fire Separation Vermilion Bird Furnace], [Spirit Rhinoceros Jade Pendant], were still in his possession and not yet handled.

This time, Zhouyang sorted out the artifacts and decided to dispose of the [Lion Fire Ruyi], [Mountain Shifting Seal], [C Fire Thunder Bottle], and [Jinghong Sword], along with other unused artifacts.

The artifacts to be disposed of amounted to over twenty items, all of which were Tier Five artifacts.

Then there were the spirit talismans and spirit pills. Apart from those he could use himself, Zhouyang sorted out over ten Tier Five spirit talismans, dozens of Tier Four spirit talismans, and several dozen Tier Four spirit pills that were not needed for his own use.

These spirit talismans and spirit pills would not be sold; instead, they would be placed in the Zhou family’s treasure vault for the future use of the Zhou family cultivators.

Next were the various spiritual materials. Zhouyang had quite a few valuable materials, such as [True Sun Gold], [Holy Infant Fruit], Tier Six High-Grade Demon Beast Fire Phoenix Feather, Tier Six Flood Dragon Spirit Blood, [Demon Blood Ancient Lotus] seeds, Tier Five Demon Pill, Tier Five Barbaric Beast Heart, Geng Metal, Thunder Crystal, and more. These are all materials he could use himself in the future.

For some unused Tier Five and Tier Four spiritual objects, Zhouyang selected those that were not easy to preserve long-term, intending to dispose of them at the Jade Capital City auction and exchange event five years later with those artifacts.

There were also some special treasures, such as [Kunxu Order], [Great Transposition Order], [Profound Sun Order], [Spirit Plant Map], [Spiritual Treasure Token], [Immortal Spirit Jade Book], [Invisibility Ice Staff], and others, which he always carried with him, as they might prove useful at certain times.

Finally, there were the spirit stones. After organizing, Zhouyang found that he had amassed a total of 234 top-grade spirit stones, and additionally, 6.3 million low-grade spirit stones (mostly middle-grade spirit stones).

What a massive fortune this is!

After tallying everything he owned, Zhouyang was stunned, his mouth agape in silence for a long time.

He didn’t know the wealth of a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator, but he believed that within the Golden Core Stage, no one could be wealthier than him.

Many of the treasures he owned would make even Nascent Soul Stage cultivators covet them, willing to act against him regardless of decorum.

All of these were accumulated throughout his nearly four hundred years of cultivation, many acquired through life-and-death trials.

"Have I unknowingly become so wealthy already?"

"This feeling of wealth feels truly wonderful!"

Zhouyang’s wide open mouth gradually closed, and his face revealed a genuine expression of joy.

Of course, one shouldn’t flaunt one’s wealth, so Zhouyang only indulged in this happiness within the confines of his cave dwelling; he wouldn’t boldly announce to the world that he was the "wealthiest" among Golden Core Stage cultivators.

Doing so might lead him to face the wrath of higher-tier cultivators one day when he’s outside, and he might just be harvested in one go.

Nevertheless, to share his joy and reward those disciples who performed well in the war, Zhouyang generously gave out some treasures to reward these individuals.

Upon sorting through his miscellaneous items, he discovered that he had acquired quite a few demon beast eggs during his last venture in the Wilderness Jungle, thus he simply handed out a Tier Three demon beast egg to each disciple. Ye Yunshan and Zhou Shengyu, two of Xiao Ying’s official disciples, received a Tier Four demon beast egg as well.

Even after this, he still had about twenty or thirty beast eggs left.

At this moment, his Dao Companion Xiao Ying brought up the issue of insufficient manpower. Due to the recent war, more than half of the registered disciples at the Qi Cultivation Stage from Chongxuan Mountain were lost, and several Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators were also lost. The current practitioners could hardly manage all the spirit fields and medicine fields on the mountain.

Thus, he decided to use these beast eggs as rewards, sending Wang Yanzhang along with Ren Fei, Zhou Shengying, and a few other disciples to the nearby Immortal City or marketplace under the Profound Purity Dao Alliance, to recruit a new batch of registered disciples for Chongxuan Mountain.

This time when recruiting disciples was different from before; he wasn’t looking for special talent channels but only recruiting young loose cultivators or small clan cultivators with exceptional qualities in character and aptitude.

Things are different now than before. The entire Chongxuan Mountain is completely under his ownership, and the Six Paths Alliance, having recently suffered greatly, wouldn’t launch another war for at least two or three hundred years.

And though his true identity was exposed during this war, because he achieved great merit in this battle, the Profound Purity Dao Alliance has officially included him and Chongxuan Mountain under its banner, making him a member of this superpower.

Additionally, the Profound Sun Immortal Sect and the Yuqing Daoist Sect simultaneously invited him to be an Honored Guest Elder, helping remove his name from the Demon Slaying List, and protecting his legacy from outside threats.

This means that even if the Beast Taming Sect has learned of Zhouyang’s identity, they can’t blatantly send someone here to kill him during non-war times, nor can they send Nascent Soul Stage cultivators against him. Doing so would break the rules and be a provocation to the entire Profound Purity Dao Alliance—an outcome that the Beast Taming Sect would absolutely not want to endure.

Even other forces thinking of confronting him due to the Beast Taming Sect’s bounty need to consider whether they can withstand the Profound Purity Dao Alliance’s retaliation first.

Therefore, backed by the Profound Purity Dao Alliance, Zhouyang can genuinely treat Chongxuan Mountain as a foundation to develop and manage. Thus, when recruiting disciples again, he prioritized long-term growth.

Moreover, for merely tending to spirit fields and managing medicine fields, there was no need to recruit registered disciples. They could simply recruit a batch of servant disciples dedicated to these tasks.

He had already discussed this with Wang Yanzhang and others tasked with recruiting disciples, and they were informed that they could also recruit low-tier cultivators with experience in these areas to serve as servant disciples during the process.

Currently, Zhouyang’s reputation was truly grand. With Wang Yanzhang and others advertising under his name to recruit registered disciples, it was hardly an exaggeration to say respondents were plentiful, even within clans competing for positions as servant disciples.

After all, Chongxuan Mountain is a Tier Five Top-Grade Spirit Mountain, and under the assurance of safety, even serving as a servant disciple on the mountain had visible benefits.

Should fortune ever favor them—perhaps drawing the attention of Zhouyang, whose reputation was already prominent—they might be taken in as official disciples, benefiting both themselves and their clans immensely.

Therefore, within a year, Chongxuan Mountain gained thirty young registered disciples and thirty servant disciples with mastery in Tier Two spirit plant cultivation techniques.

Customarily, these newly recruited disciples were led by earlier disciples like Ye Yunshan and Wang Yanzhang, while Zhouyang, as their master, would occasionally offer guidance.

For most of the time, Zhouyang was cultivating within his cave dwelling, and even his Dao Companion Xiao Ying was doing the same.

Xiao Ying had been at Core Formation for some time, and after completing her Lifebound Spiritual Artifact’s refinement, she focused on practicing an impressive healing divine technique documented in her cultivation technique, Qinghua Calamity Crossing Scripture, known as Marvelous Method Cyan Radiance Creation Profound Light.

This divine technique captures the true essence of the Power of Wood’s Vitality and Creation. Once mastered and reaching the Small Success Realm, merely illuminating with the profound light can cause limbs to regenerate, turning danger into safety—truly marvelous.

In the recent war, while tending to the injured cultivators and healing numerous wounded, Xiao Ying truly grasped the genuine intent of the advanced technique in helping and crossing calamities from Qinghua Calamity Crossing Scripture. Hence, upon returning to Chongxuan Mountain, she commenced secluded cultivation of the Marvelous Method Cyan Radiance Creation Profound Light.

In this secluded cultivation, five years elapsed swiftly.

Zhouyang, calculating the time three months before the grand auction and high-tier cultivator exchange event in Jade Capital City, emerged from seclusion, taking an array of treasures to this Immortal City directly under Yuqing Daoist Sect’s jurisdiction.