Chapter 404: Chapter 389: Joy and Sorrow!
The news of Liu Xuanxuan’s success in Foundation Establishment quickly spread throughout the Zhou family, along with the fact that she needed to consume two Foundation Establishment Pills to succeed in establishing her foundation.
Regarding this matter, not only the Zhou family’s outsider cultivators and honored guest elders, but most of the Zhou family members were both envious and jealous.
In the Zhou family, Liu Xuanxuan was the first person to use two Foundation Establishment Pills consecutively to achieve Foundation Establishment.
However, no matter how much jealousy or envy, no one dared to openly discuss this matter.
Because after Liu Xuanxuan’s successful Foundation Establishment, Zhouyang, with her consent, took her as his second disciple, deciding to pass down his artifact refining skills to her.
With Liu Xuanxuan’s talent for artifact refining, having refined a Tier Three Magical Artifact while still at the Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation, it’s certain that she will at least be able to continue the legacy of his refining skills, if not further propagate them.
Having succeeded in Foundation Establishment and becoming a disciple of Zhouyang, Liu Xuanxuan’s life had reached its peak.
Her exemplary case inspired many of Zhou family’s outsider cultivators, honored guest elders, and those still hesitant about joining the Zhou family, giving them what seemed like a guiding light, strengthening their determination to pledge allegiance to the Zhou family.
Since the Zhou family could spend two Foundation Establishment Pills for someone like Liu Xuanxuan, they could certainly do the same for a second person, provided you are excellent enough!
However, the joyous news of Liu Xuanxuan’s Foundation Establishment was soon overshadowed by the news that Zhou Guangxiang failed in opening his Purple Mansion.
After six months in seclusion, Zhou Guangxiang’s attempt to open his Purple Mansion ultimately ended in failure.
This failure caused significant damage to his divine soul, and even with the spirit pills refined by Xiao Ying to heal his soul, he won’t be able to attempt opening the Purple Mansion again for at least ten years, nor can he easily engage in magical combat with others.
"Learn from your mistakes. This failure should have taught you that a Top-grade Spiritual Root talent is not a rare existence among High-Tier Cultivators!"
"Having confidence is good, but blind confidence will only lead to harm for yourself and others!"
When Zhou Guangxiang came out of seclusion to visit Zhouyang, he did not receive comforting words from a caring elder, but rather cold admonishments from Zhouyang.
No one sympathizes with failures, not even Zhouyang.
Before this, everything had been smooth sailing for Zhou Guangxiang, and because he was under the care of elders like Zhouyang, he had hardly experienced life-and-death battles.
When everything goes smoothly for a person, their confidence can quickly swell, making them deaf to others’ advice.
In Zhouyang’s eyes, Zhou Guangxiang was exactly like this before he went into seclusion.
However, as an elder, he didn’t want to dampen his confidence at the time.
Because doing so would not only affect their relationship but might also lead to his failure in attempting a breakthrough.
But now that Zhou Guangxiang had failed, Zhouyang wouldn’t tolerate him any longer.
"Uncle Nine’s teachings are correct. Nephew knows where he was wrong and has let Uncle Nine down and failed to live up to your trust!"
Zhou Guangxiang acknowledged his mistakes with a dejected expression, not daring to refute Zhouyang’s admonitions, and honestly admitted his errors.
Being a smart person, he understood where he failed after the setback and why Zhouyang, who had always loved him dearly, suddenly became so cold toward him.
At this time, honestly admitting mistakes was more effective than saying anything else.
Indeed, seeing his good attitude in admitting mistakes, Zhouyang didn’t say much further about the matter and only waved his hand, saying, "Since you’re fine, you should quietly manage family affairs at home in the coming years. Come to me again when you’re ready."
Since his cultivation had reached the unascendable Ninth-Layer of Foundation Establishment, and he couldn’t attempt to open the Purple Mansion or engage in magical combat within the next ten years, Zhou Guangxiang could only spend the coming years handling clan affairs and studying arrays.
After returning the clan affairs to Zhou Guangxiang, Zhouyang resumed his seclusion.
After a year and a half in seclusion, his cultivation level reached the Fifth-Layer of the Purple Mansion as expected.
In that year, he was 163 years old.
A Fifth-Layer Purple Mansion Cultivator at 163 years old is rare even in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm. Apart from Spirit Body Cultivators, there are basically no Purple Mansion Cultivators of this age with such a cultivation level.
Therefore, Zhouyang was quite satisfied with his cultivation progress.
At this rate, if he continues to cultivate step by step, reaching the Ninth-Layer of the Purple Mansion before 250 years old shouldn’t be a problem, and then he would still have half a lifetime to achieve the Golden Core Stage.
Good things come in pairs. Not long after Zhouyang’s breakthrough, Xu Song, who was researching methods for breaking the array in the underground ruins, brought him good news.
Upon receiving the news, he immediately took his Dao Companion Xiao Ying and rode the Eagle Lion Beast to the underground ruins.
"After nearly ten years of comprehending, I have grasped the operating principles of this array. Next, as long as you follow my instructions and attack the points I indicate when I initiate the array break, we will surely break through this array!"
Outside the underground ruins, Xu Song explained his research results to the couple after they arrived.
Of course, the knowledge Xu Song spoke of about the array was beyond the comprehension of the Zhouyang couple. They could only act as his muscle, following his instructions to attack the array.
According to Xu Song’s method to break the array, to succeed, a Golden Core Stage Cultivator and four Purple Mansion Stage Cultivators must simultaneously attack the array’s five weak spots.
When it came time to break the array, Zhouyang and his wife, along with the Eagle Lion Beast, were counted as three Purple Mansion combatants. The demon corpse refined by Xu Song was considered another Purple Mansion combatant, and he himself was the main attacker.
Before breaking the array, Zhouyang looked at the demon corpse refined by Xu Song. He clearly remembered that this demon corpse used to be a hornless giant python, but now it had a half-foot-long dark green unicorn horn on its head.
"Is it because it swallowed that Corpse Pearl?"
He pondered secretly and shook his head, no longer paying attention to it.
The urgent task was still to break the guardian array of the underground ruins.
"Everyone is ready. Where my magical power marks, you will launch a fierce attack there. Don’t stop until I say so, and make sure not to hit the wrong location!"
Outside the grand array, Xu Song repeatedly reminded Zhouyang and his wife before he directly summoned his black Treasure Umbrella Demon Artifact and black Banner Demon Artifact to attack the array.
His black Treasure Umbrella Demon Artifact could both attack and defend. When attacking, the umbrella face shimmered with demon light, condensing into a thick black light beam that blasted at one corner of the array.
The yellowish protective shield of the ruins guardian array trembled slightly under the bombardment of the black beam.
At the same time, a turtle hiss sounded from the black Banner Demon Artifact of Xu Song, and the beast soul of the "Gen Mountain Turtle" emerged, opened its mouth wide, and also spat out a black beam at the point of attack by the Treasure Umbrella.
"Now, attack these locations."
A shout erupted from Xu Song’s mouth as he maintained the offensive, deploying three magical powers to land on three weak points of the array shield. He then directed his demon corpse to attack the fourth point.
Hearing his shout, Zhouyang and his wife, along with the Eagle Lion Beast, employed their respective skills to fiercely attack the marked points.
In this way, with the relentless assault of two people, one ghost, one beast, and one corpse for nearly an hour, the array shield protecting the ruins finally began to show signs of strain, shaking violently.
After another half-hour, the array shield finally shattered with a loud "boom."
With the destruction of the array shield, the situation inside the underground ruins was immediately exposed.
The situation inside was somewhat beyond Zhouyang’s expectations.
He initially thought there would be subterranean structures like a palace inside, but it turned out to be a massive underground plaza that had been hollowed out.
This underground plaza was square, with both its length and width extending a thousand zhang. In the center of the plaza stood a ten-zhang high circular altar, and behind the altar stood a small palace about an acre in size. The plaque over the gateway glittered with the words "Bright Hall."
Zhouyang glanced briefly at the altar and palace before fixing his gaze firmly on the two figures below the altar.
Those two figures were Zhou Xuan Yu and her daughter, who had been missing for many years.
After decades, Zhou Xuan Yu had turned into an old woman with white hair and wrinkles, seemingly at death’s door, and anyone could tell she didn’t have many years left.
As for Zhou Yuanyao, after several decades, she had succeeded in building her foundation to become a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, and her cultivation was not in the least inferior to Zhou Guangxiang, who still resided in the Zhou Clan. She also had the cultivation of the Sixth-Layer Foundation Establishment.
"Yang’Er, is it really you, Yang’Er?"
Zhou Xuan Yu struggled to open her eyes wide to look at Zhouyang’s handsome face. After not seeing him for decades, Zhouyang’s appearance hadn’t changed in the slightest; he was still so young, handsome, and full of vitality and energy.
"It’s me, Foster Mother, you’re not mistaken. It’s me, your child has come to take you home!"
Looking at the white-haired Zhou Xuan Yu, Zhouyang’s eyes turned misty, and his voice choked with emotion.
Carefully calculating, it has been nearly eighty years since Zhou Xuan Yu and her daughter went out traveling. Both sides hadn’t seen each other for nearly eighty years!
Eighty years!
Even though a Foundation Establishment Cultivator has a lifespan of up to 240 years, eighty years still accounts for one-third of it.
And for a normal mortal, they might not even live this long in their entire lifetime.
"Wu wu wu, Brother Nine, you finally came, you finally came. I knew you wouldn’t abandon us, I just knew it..."
Staring dazedly at Zhouyang’s handsome face and listening to his familiar yet unfamiliar voice, Zhou Yuanyao, who had been trapped with her mother in this underground space for nearly eighty years, could no longer hold back and threw herself into Zhouyang’s arms, bursting into tears.
During the years they were trapped, the mother and daughter’s greatest hope was to wait for the family’s rescue, to wait for Zhouyang to come rescue them.
Now that Zhouyang finally arrived, nearly eighty years of waiting had finally come to an end, no wonder Zhou Yuanyao, over a hundred years old, would break down and cry uncontrollably on the spot.
"Don’t cry, don’t cry, Yao’Er don’t cry, Brother Nine is here, Brother Nine won’t abandon you, you’re Brother Nine’s little burden, of course, Brother Nine would never leave you behind."
Zhouyang didn’t care at this moment that his Dao Companion, Xiao Ying, was standing right beside him. He just held Zhou Yuanyao tightly in his arms, gently comforting her like coaxing a child.
He knew that Zhou Yuanyao needed to vent her emotions now, and crying was one of the best ways to do so.
Only after Zhou Yuanyao and Zhou Xuan Yu’s emotions had stabilized could he ask why they were trapped and the origins of this underground ruin.