Lanzhou, Biyun Lake.
Biyun Lake is a well-known lake in Jingguo Country's Lanzhou, where the waters are clear as jade and the scenery is picturesque, a favored destination for many scholars and literati.
On the west shore of Biyun Lake, there stretches a range of rolling hills called Biyun Mountain.
In these mountains, there is an area shrouded in mist all year round. Travelers who accidentally wander into it often spend days finding their way out, and it invariably leads to a serious illness after they emerge.
Over time, no one dared to venture into it anymore.
What the mortals naturally didn't know was that the mist-covered region within Biyun Mountain was precisely the location of the Mu Family, a cultivation clan of Lanzhou.
Originating from the renowned Green Lotus Temple of Jingguo Country, the Mu Family's ancestors were among the outer disciples of the temple, boasting generations of clan members who succeeded in cultivating there.
The current Mu Family had not only three cultivators in the Foundation Establishment Stage among themselves but also two Mu Family cultivators at the same stage within Green Lotus Temple, one of whom was even the registered disciple of a Golden Core Stage cultivator of the temple.
Therefore, within the entire Lanzhou, the Mu Family was a rather famous cultivation clan.
But after all, the Mu Family was a new clan with only a history of over three hundred years. Despite being fortunate enough to have a succession of Foundation Establishment cultivators, they still couldn't compare to those long-standing clans with higher-leveled cultivators or those with thousand-year legacies in terms of accumulated depth.
The four major arts of cultivation—alchemy, tool refinement, talismans, and arrays—were not too problematic; with the Mu Family's connections to Green Lotus Temple, acquiring some basic inheritances wasn't difficult.
However, as for the art of beast taming, even the Green Lotus Temple had scant inheritance to offer.
Furthermore, this art wasn't like the others, which could easily be experimented with using materials.
So when the Zhou Family approached them with a proposition to exchange their friendship for help in cultivating talent adept in the Beast Taming Technique,
The Mu Family's Foundation Establishment cultivators only pondered for less than half a day before agreeing to the proposal.
After accepting the task five days ago, Zhou Chun prepared on Baozhi Peak for five days, and today, he was personally escort by Third Elder Zhou Daoquan of the Zhou Family to the Mu Family at Biyun Mountain.
"Taoist Friend Zhou, this is the cultivation place we have arranged for you. If you have any instructions or needs in the future, feel free to discuss them with Ziying. She lives right over there in that courtyard,"
said one Mu Family cultivator, standing outside a single-family courtyard with Zhou Chun amidst the stunning views of Biyun Mountain, showing him the place where he will reside for the next three years.
By this time, Third Elder Zhou Daoquan had already left; Zhou Chun had also met several Mu Family Foundation Establishment cultivators and some core clan members, having made his presence known among the Mu Family.
The Mu Family cultivator introducing the place to him was none other than a core member, Mu Yunshan.
Standing beside Mu Yunshan, a beautiful young girl in purple attire was the "Ziying" he mentioned, also one of the Mu Family members whom Zhou Chun was to teach the Beast Taming Technique.
After a brief survey, Zhou Chun nodded slightly towards Mu Yunshan and said, "Thank you for your efforts, Taoist Friend Mu. I am very satisfied with this place."
Hearing this, Mu Yunshan couldn't help but smile and said, "If Taoist Friend Zhou is satisfied, then we won't disturb your rest any longer. We shall take our leave."
Then, he and Mu Ziying, the female cultivator of the Mu Family, departed.
Upon seeing this, Zhou Chun immediately entered the courtyard, closed the gate, and then slapped his Spirit Beast Pouch at his waist, releasing the sleeping Rock Earth Turtle within.
"Stone, this will be your new home from now on. Remember not to wander off, or you'll be in for a spicy punishment!"
Looking at the Rock Earth Turtle on the ground, which was still timid and reluctant to show its head in the unfamiliar place, Zhou Chun issued a stern warning first.
He had to do this; back at the Zhou Family, this creature once bit through the gate of his courtyard and frolicked outside.
This wasn't the Zhou Family's territory—should this creature escape and get discovered by a Mu Family cultivator, it could very well be mistaken as a Demon Beast and slain.
Indeed, upon hearing the words "spicy punishment," the Rock Earth Turtle's head immediately withdrew completely into its shell, clearly frightened.
Although it could eat anything and digest everything, that didn't mean it wasn't susceptible to certain kinds of special food.
And a small fruit known as "Spicy Hot Fruit" had become Zhou Chun's best means of keeping the turtle in line due to its spiciness, which exceeded the hottest peppers of Zhou Chun's previous life by several folds.
Feeding this little creature a few Spicy Hot Fruits was enough to make it, which doesn't like approaching water, jump into the pool and guzzle down water to alleviate the burn.
So, by using this as a warning to them, it proved effective every time without fail.
And so, Zhou Chun quickly settled down in the Mu Family.
Compared to being in the Zhou Family, he actually felt much freer in the Mu Family.
Besides teaching Mu Ziying and four other Mu Family Cultivators for two hours every day, he had all the rest of the time to himself, and he could even apply to be accompanied by Mu Family Cultivators to stroll in the nearby mortal cities.
It was a pity that he couldn't enter the Mu Family's Book Collection Tower; otherwise, it would have been even better.
And since he had more free time, Zhou Chun decided to spend his extra time practicing spells, aside from his daily cultivation routine.
There were many spells in the Cultivation World, but most of them revolved around the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, as well as the three exceptional aspects: wind, thunder, and ice.
However, depending on the Cultivation Realm, Spiritual Root attributes, the traits of the Cultivation Technique, and the individual's comprehension, the speed at which one can learn spells can vary greatly.
Zhou Chun, at the mid-stage of Qi Refinement, was currently only suitable for practicing low-grade and mid-grade first-level spells.
Also, because his Spiritual Root attributes leaned more towards the metal, earth, and wood elements, he found it easier to practice spells related to these elements, and the power of such spells would also be enhanced.
Now, Zhou Chun had already mastered twenty to thirty spells, but the vast majority of them were low-grade first-level spells and weak in power.
When he came to the Mu Family as a teaching assistant, Clan Leader Zhou Mingde probably guessed that he would have a lot of free time and specially gave him a hand-copied "The Insights of First-Level Spells Practice" before departure.
The book recorded over a hundred ways to cultivate first-level spells, as well as the experiential insights and understandings of previous cultivators who practiced these spells.
Now that Zhou Chun had the time, he naturally did not want to waste Clan Leader Zhou Mingde's painstaking efforts and immediately chose a few spells from the book that were not only powerful but also had excellent practical effects as his cultivation targets and devoted himself to their practice.
In the blink of an eye, Zhou Chun had spent half a year in the Mu Family at Biyun Mountain.
One day, as Zhou Chun was practicing a mid-grade first-level spell called "Wood Armor Spell" in the courtyard of his residence, suddenly someone knocked on the gate frantically from the outside, accompanied by the anxious shouts of Mu Family's female cultivator Mu Ziying.
This startled him, and he quickly ceased his practice to open the gate and let the person in.
"It's terrible, something terrible has happened, Taoist Friend Zhou, you must go and see—the Ink Scale Steeds in the Beast Garden have suddenly fallen to the ground, foaming at the mouth with blood!"
As soon as the door opened, Mu Ziying, with a face full of panic, tightly grabbed Zhou Chun's arm and pulled him to run outside.
Seeing this, Zhou Chun slightly frowned but did not say much, simply following her as they both ran towards the Mu Family's Beast Garden.
Compared to the Zhou Family's wide variety of Spirit Beasts, the Mu Family's Beast Garden had very few, only a handful of species.
The Ink Scale Steeds that Mu Ziying mentioned were, to the Mu Family, the most important Spirit Beasts.
The Ink Scale Steeds were Mount Beasts modified and domesticated from first-level Demon Beasts.
These beasts had the bodies of horses and heads of donkeys, but their size was larger than any horse, measuring one zhang and six chi in length and over seven chi tall. Their hooves were covered with black scales, making them look imposing and powerful.
The Ink Scale Steeds were ferocious and vigilant, carnivorous but also herbivorous, capable of traversing mountains and rivers, able to travel a thousand li in a day, making wolves and leopards keep their distance.
If cultivated to a high-grade first-level, they could awaken the "Wind-Riding" innate talent, allowing them to travel with the wind under their hooves and cover three thousand li in a single day.
If a Cultivator had such a Spirit Beast for travel, it would allow them to move quickly without consuming their own mana and provide a significant alert function as well.
The Zhou Family originally raised twenty to thirty Ink Scale Steeds, but during the split of the Sanjue Sect, those Ink Scale Steeds were all taken away by the Spirit Beast Manor, causing the Zhou Family members to rely solely on their own legs to travel now, which was somewhat ironic.
Now, as he followed Mu Ziying to the Beast Garden, Zhou Chun saw all eight of the Mu Family's Ink Scale Steeds collapsed inside the enclosure, their bodies spasming uncontrollably, with a ceaseless flow of bloody foam from their mouths.
A few core Mu Family members who had heard the news had rushed over, along with Mu Family members responsible for taking care of these Ink Scale Steeds, and at that moment, they were all as frantic as ants on a hot pan, sweating profusely.
When Mu Ziying brought Zhou Chun over, Mu Yunshan, a core Mu Family member who had initially received Zhou Chun, hurried forward, grabbing Zhou Chun's shoulder and said, "Taoist Friend Zhou, you've come just in time. Your Zhou Family is an expert in Beast Taming. Do you know what sickness these Ink Scale Steeds have contracted?"
"Taoist Friend Mu, don't panic. Let Zhou have a look first," Zhou Chun said as he pushed aside Mu Yunshan's arm and walked into the enclosure with a somber expression to investigate.