Chapter 1225: Chapter 517: Minor Heavenly Tribulation [Subscription Request]_2

In Tuyun Ridge, upon seeing Zhou Chun return, Lin Hongyu and Zhou Daoyi immediately began sharing the spoils of their travels with him.

Over the past ten-plus years, the couple had traveled through more than a dozen countries, covering over a million miles, each with considerable gains.

At this time, Zhou Daoyi presented Zhou Chun with a Spirit Peach to replenish his Essence Energy, a treasure they acquired during their travels from a Third Order Spirit Peach Tree in one of the countries they visited.

This kind of Spirit Peach, if consumed by a Purple Mansion Phase Cultivator, could equate to one or two years worth of cultivation.

Even for Zhou Chun, as a Golden Core Stage Cultivator, it could help restore his Lifebound Golden Core.

Upon seeing this gift, Zhou Chun didn’t stand on ceremony and accepted it directly, then said with a grin, “A gift from the elders cannot be declined, so I’ll humbly accept it.”

“Hahaha, that’s why I like your personality, Zhengchun. So sensible!”

Zhou Daoyi chuckled warmly. Zhou Chun’s straightforward acceptance didn’t bother him in the least; in fact, it made him quite happy.

Ever since Zhou Chun founded his Purple Mansion, he had often presented gifts to his elders.

While it wasn’t inappropriate for the elders to accept gifts from the younger generation, continuously receiving gifts without reciprocating would inevitably weigh on one’s conscience.

Thus, being able to offer a gift that would benefit Zhou Chun brought Zhou Daoyi tremendous joy.

Through their conversation, Zhou Chun learned that the couple’s travels over the years focused primarily on broadening their horizons, occasionally attending auctions, Underground Treasure Exchange Conventions, or sharing insights and cultivation experiences with local cultivators.

Although their cultivation levels hadn’t changed much during these travels, their vision and spiritual maturity had significantly improved, and their bond with each other deepened as well.

Now that they had returned, Zhou Daoyi was preparing to undergo Core Formation.

Zhou Chun wholeheartedly supported this decision.

Zhou Daoyi had been the first benefactor in his life, a supportive elder who had guided him along the way, and Zhou Chun sincerely wished for him to successfully form his Golden Core and accompany him for hundreds of more years.

It just so happened that decades had passed since the Zhou Family had exchanged for Nascent Soul Spirit Materials, and by now, the sect should allocate one of the three promised materials to the Zhou Family.

Moreover, Zhou Chun knew that Lin Hongyu had already prepared one Nascent Soul Spirit Material specifically for Zhou Daoyi.

Thus, when the time came for Zhou Daoyi to form his core, assembling a complete set of auxiliary Nascent Soul Spirit Materials shouldn’t pose much of a problem.

After this discussion, Zhou Chun returned to his cave abode and consumed the Spirit Peach gifted by Zhou Daoyi and Lin Hongyu.

The Spirit Peach looked incredibly enticing, glowing red and nearly the size of two or three fists.

When Zhou Chun touched it, it felt crisp like a peach, yet as soon as he bit through the skin, the flesh inside immediately liquefied into juice that he drank in one gulp, filling his mouth with the sweet fragrance of peaches.

The juice that he swallowed soon transformed into pure Essence Energy within his body.

Zhou Chun casually tossed aside the peach shell, and immediately sat down to cultivate and channel his energy.

In just two months, with the aid of two Spirit Peaches, Zhou Chun successfully restored his depleted Essence Energy to perfection, returning his state entirely to normal.

Meanwhile, a piece of news arrived that left the higher-ups of the Zhou Family on edge.

“The Green Lotus Temple has suddenly activated their Mountain Protection Array, banning all communication and restricting movement in and out? Could it be the final moment?”

Within the cave abode, Zhou Chun, Zhou Mingde, and other high-ranking family members had gathered, drawn together by this unsettling news.

Everyone present was well aware that if the Green Lotus Temple truly produced another Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, the Zhou Family’s future days would undoubtedly become dire. At the very least, their Jiufeng Ridge sect gate within Lanzhou would likely be seized!

Even if Taoist Qingchen failed to achieve Nascent Soul Formation, there was no guarantee that the Green Lotus Temple wouldn’t launch a punitive strike against the Zhou Family.

After all, two tigers cannot coexist on the same mountain. Without a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator overseeing their affairs, the Zhou Family, with its three Golden Core Stage Cultivators, would undoubtedly be perceived as a potential threat to the Green Lotus Temple.

It should be noted that among the Golden Core Stage Cultivators in the Green Lotus Temple, many were already past their eight-hundred-year lifespan, representing the highest cultivation levels of their sect at present.

If they didn’t seize the opportunity to eliminate forces threatening their sect while these cultivators were still alive,

once they all succumbed to sitting and transforming, the Green Lotus Temple’s Golden Core Stage numbers would drop to just seven or eight individuals–with not a single Golden Core Late Stage Cultivator among them!

At that point, a Zhou Family boasting three Golden Core Stage Cultivators and a Fourth Order Thunder Flood Dragon would be capable of challenging the Green Lotus Temple head-on.

Other families subordinate to the Green Lotus Temple would likely foster divergent loyalties, abandoning their absolute fealty to the sect.

This made it inevitable that the Green Lotus Temple would act–and act decisively!

Master Qingwei and the sect’s other Golden Core Stage Cultivators weren’t fools; it wasn’t that they lacked the tolerance to accommodate the Zhou Family,

but rather, they dared not gamble on the Zhou Family’s morality or sense of propriety concerning the Green Lotus Temple’s future.

If they ignored the Zhou Family’s meteoric rise and allowed them to grow unchecked, a powerful Zhou Family would inevitably seek greater territory and resources, just as Tianjing True Person did in the past.

Resources were finite; the more the Zhou Family monopolized, the less remained for the Green Lotus Temple.

Hence, upon recognizing the overly rapid ascent and immense future potential of the Zhou Family, even the previously amicable Master Qingwei quickly resolved to suppress them, ensuring their growth did not spiral further out of control.