33: Chapter 33: The First Foundation Establishment Cultivator

After burning the corpse of the rugged man, Chen Changqing returned to his Formation, glanced at the two black bear cubs, fed them some wolf meat, and only then began to tally up his spoils of war.

Aside from his own three Storage Pouches, this harvest was massive; just from the initial encirclement and killing at the Zhang Family's place, he had obtained another nine Storage Pouches—two from the Late Qi Refining Stage and seven from the Middle Qi Refining Stage.

As for that Middle-aged Scholar, aside from his own, there was also a Storage Pouch from the Middle Qi Refining Stage, and the blue-clothed woman was the same.

On the other hand, the rugged man had obtained more Storage Pouches, totaling five.

Therefore, he now had five Late Qi Refining Stage Storage Pouches and thirteen Middle Qi Refining Stage Storage Pouches in his hands.

He first emptied all of the Middle Qi Refining Stage Storage Pouches to inspect the items inside.

Unfortunately, the Spirit Stones added up to five or six hundred in total, and there were also seven or eight Tier 1 Low Grade Magical Artifacts and three Tier 1 Medium Grade Magical Artifacts.

Calculated at market price, these Magical Artifacts were worth over three hundred Spirit Stones.

As for Medicinal Pills, aside from some Bigu Pills, there were none others. After all, a Loose Cultivator did not have many Spirit Stones to buy Medicinal Pills; even if they bought them, they would quickly use them up and it was completely impossible to have any left over.

However, there were a few decades-old medicinal herbs, priced at around one hundred Spirit Stones.

When he opened the Late Qi Refining Stage Storage Pouches, it gave him a pleasant surprise: just the Spirit Stones from these five Storage Pouches added up to two thousand.

Other items like Talismans and some Medicinal Pills were worth another three or four hundred Spirit Stones combined.

Furthermore, there were over a dozen Tier 1 Medium Grade Magical Artifacts inside, with each piece averaging a value of forty to sixty Spirit Stones, totaling seven hundred Spirit Stones.

The rest seemed to include more than twenty stalks of ten-year Spirit Medicine, priced at around three to four hundred Spirit Stones.

Calculated altogether, Chen Changqing's harvest this time was a full four thousand plus Spirit Stones.

Aside from these, this month he had also obtained quite a few Yao Beast Materials and three stalks of Moon Spirit Flowers, totaling a value of seven thousand Spirit Stones.

Coupled with his own original Spirit Stones and other items, it reached eight thousand Spirit Stones.

This net worth was even richer than some impoverished Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

After Chen Changqing finished tallying everything up and categorized the items, he finally took a short rest.

During this period, he did not plan to go out to hunt Yao Beasts again.

Firstly, his Storage Pouch could no longer hold too many Yao Beast Materials; secondly, he needed to digest the resources he had harvested to improve his cultivation.

...

The next day, Chen Changqing pinched a Message Talisman, notifying the Family's Cultivators to come and take away the two black bear cubs.

After a few more days, the Family's Cultivators finally arrived, and the person who came was Chen Yuanzhan.

"You brat, you actually sneaked out to hunt Yao Beasts."

As soon as Chen Yuanzhan appeared, he helplessly reprimanded Chen Changqing.

Hearing within the Family that Chen Changqing was in the Monster Mountain Range, his heart had leaped into his throat; these past few days, he hadn't even rested and had spent all his time hurrying on the road.

"Hehe, Dad."

Chen Changqing gave an awkward smile and explained to him what had happened during this period, naturally omitting some important parts.

"Sigh, you need to report when you come out in the future."

"Look at you, if you hadn't sent a message back to the Family, no one in the Family would have discovered that you sneaked out to hunt Yao Beasts until now."

"If you suddenly went missing or something happened, the Family wouldn't even know where to look for you."

"Dad, I know, I definitely will next time," Chen Changqing said softly and sincerely.

"Alright, I won't dawdle with you on this. Are these the two black bear cubs?"

Chen Yuanzhan turned his head to glance at the two black bears on the side.

"Yes, they were born just over a month ago," Chen Changqing said.

"It just so happens that our Family lacks a clan-protecting Spirit Beast. If these two are properly nurtured, although there isn't much chance to cultivate them to the strength of a Tier 2 Monster Beast, for us, a Tier 1 High Grade Yao Beast should be enough."

"Mhm."

Chen Yuanzhan took out a Spirit Beast Pouch and gathered them inside.

"Right, later you will also return to the Family with me."

"Huh? What about the market?"

Chen Yuanzhan revealed a smile, his entire body trembling slightly with excitement.

"You probably don't know yet, right? During the month you ran out, your Ninth Grand-uncle has already returned and successfully achieved Foundation Establishment."

"Originally, in a few days I was going to go to the market to pick you up, but look at you!"

Saying this, Chen Yuanzhan looked at Chen Changqing with an accusing expression once again.

"Ninth Grand-uncle achieved Foundation Establishment?! Really, Dad?"

Chen Changqing still wore a look of disbelief and asked again.

Chen Yuanzhan nodded and said with a serious expression: "The outside world has changed drastically this month."

"Not only our Qingyang Chen Clan, but even the Red Mist Zhou Family has become a new Foundation Establishment faction, while the originally veteran Zhang Family was completely annihilated by the joint forces of the Zhao and Zhou families."

Chen Changqing's eyes revealed surprise, and he nodded; he had already known about these things long ago.

"In another month, our Family will hold a Foundation Establishment Ceremony, and then Ninth Uncle will negotiate turf matters with several Foundation Establishment families," Chen Yuanzhan said excitedly.

"In the future, our Family's scope won't just be limited to our own Qingyang Mountain; it might even include several surrounding Qi Refining families, and even a portion of the former Zhang Family's territory might belong to our own Family."

Chen Changqing nodded.

The two of them said no more and transformed into a streak of light, departing together.

...

A month later.

Qingyang Mountain.

At this moment, Qingyang Mountain was exceptionally lively, with nearly all large and small factions in Qinghe County present.

Chen Yuanhai and the others were responsible for receiving the visits of major factions and arranging accommodations for them.

As a newly-promoted Foundation Establishment Family, although it was a bit shabby, no one jumped out to slap them in the face at this time, and the same went for the Zhao Family, who had some grudges with the Chen Family.

However, the Zhao Family was currently eager to repair the relationship between the two families, so the Cultivator they sent carried a lot of weight—it was Zhao Huaiyi.

As soon as he arrived, he headed to the Chen Family ancestral hall to offer congratulations to Chen Xuanyi and Clan Leader Chen Xuanlin, and took out several jade boxes as an apology.

Inside one of the jade boxes was not a treasure, but a human head.

"This is?"

The two were surprised; it turned out to be the head of the Wu Family's Clan Chief inside.

"Hehe! Fellow Daoist Chen, Clan Chief Chen, the Wu Family has already been wiped out by us."

"Even the Cultivators from the Xu Family who participated in the encirclement and killing of Chen Yuanping and Chen Yuanshan back then have all been slain by us. I hope Fellow Daoist will be magnanimous."

Zhao Huaiyi's tone was exceptionally sincere, but the meaning behind his words made people feel as if they had fallen into an ice cellar.

This Zhao Family was truly ruthless!

The two exclaimed inwardly; as for the surviving Cultivators of the Xu Family, both men and Zhao Huaiyi knew it clearly in their hearts, but did not continue to pursue the matter.

After all, the Zhao Family also needed face; to go on a massacre of Cultivators in their own territory just to ease the relationship between both sides would easily provoke rebellion within their own territory.

"Fellow Daoist Zhao need not be like this. Past matters are already in the past, and now our two families naturally ought to join hands and forge ahead together."

Chen Xuanyi immediately gave Zhao Huaiyi a step down, no longer pursuing past matters.

"Fellow Daoist Chen is right."

Zhao Huaiyi smiled and nodded, and the few of them continued to drink tea and exchange pleasantries in the ancestral hall.