Following the same path he had taken before, Zhou Chun did not take long to return to the tranquil pond deep within the forest.
He looked at the clear, deep green pond before him and, satisfied, embarked on his journey home.
The trip was uneventful.
When Zhou Chun arrived within the gates of Jiufeng Ridge, he suddenly heard a burst of cheers and encouragement coming from somewhere nearby.
Driven by curiosity, he went to have a look and saw a Zhou Family youth riding on the back of the leading Octagonal Aquatic Deer, letting the huge deer carry him as they dashed wildly through the woods.
It seemed that he was taming the deer.
Among the crowd cheering on, Zhou Chun also spotted Zhou Zhengyong's figure.
He immediately walked over, greeted Zhou Zhengyong first, and then curiously asked, "Why would the Third Elder allow Fifth Brother to tame the lead deer? With only the eighth level of Qi Refinement Realm, can he really subdue it?"
The "Fifth Brother" he spoke of was indeed the youth taming the deer, his name was Zhou Zhengxun, ranked fifth in strength among his peers, and had recently become in charge of the newly established Deer Garden within the Beast Garden.
Hearing Zhou Chun's question, Zhou Zhengyong immediately answered with a laugh, "It was Fifth Brother who requested it himself. He said that since he took charge of the Deer Garden, it would not do if he couldn't even manage the Octagonal Aquatic Deer under his care. Therefore, the Elder admired his spirit and gave him this opportunity."
"It's impressive that Fifth Brother has such ambition, truly worthy of a man of the Zhou Family!"
Zhou Chun praised, then looked at Zhou Zhengyong and said, "How about you, Brother Yong? Last time you mentioned that you were trying hard to crossbreed Vajra Monkeys with Red-Tailed Monkeys to cultivate a new Redflame Vajra Ape. Any success yet?"
"So soon? Not at all!"
Zhou Zhengyong rolled his eyes in exasperation and looked at him with a bit of speechlessness, complaining, "Do you think cultivating a new breed of Demon Beast is something that can easily show results in just three to five years? If it were that easy, our Zhou Family would have bred a multitude of new Demon Beast species by now!"
Zhou Chun wasn't offended by his words, but instead advised him, "If it's not something that can yield results quickly, Brother Yong, you might want to focus more on your own cultivation. With your talent, a bit of effort could possibly lead to a future in Foundation Establishment."
Zhou Chun was thirty-four this year, and Zhou Zhengyong was four years his senior, nearly hitting his forties.
But his cultivation level was still stalled at the ninth layer of Qi Refinement.
As a good brother, Zhou Chun naturally did not want his clansman to waste his potential.
At this point, Zhou Zhengyong understood his true intentions and, touched, nodded and said, "I appreciate your kindness, Thirteenth Brother. However, breeding new species of Demon Beast is something I do in addition to my cultivation."
"Besides, if I really manage to breed a second Redflame Vajra Ape, the family will surely give a generous reward."
At a loss for further persuasion, Zhou Chun could only sigh softly and said, "Ah, since you understand, Brother Yong, I won't say more. I have matters to report to the Clan Leader, so I will take my leave first."
With that, he left the scene.
Next, Zhou Chun went to Hundred Medicines Peak and delivered several Poison Thorn Fish corpses to his Fourteenth Uncle Zhou Jiawei for disposal.
After returning from Hundred Medicines Peak to Pagoda Peak, he gathered his thoughts and entered the Central Peace Hall, where he began to report his astonishing discoveries from his trip to Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi.
Having relayed all his findings in one go, he did not wait for Zhou Daoyi to express any emotions and reached for his storage pouch at his waist, taking out all the items he had acquired.
"Clan Leader, please look, these are the items that the younger generation has brought back."
Looking at the pile of items that Zhou Chun took out, Zhou Daoyi swallowed the words he had initially intended to say.
He immediately perked up and began to inspect the classics and manuscripts.
During this time, Zhou Family Cultivators came into the Central Peace Hall to report on family matters, but Zhou Chun took care of them, avoiding disturbing Zhou Daoyi as he perused the classics.
After ten or so hours had passed, Zhou Daoyi finally put down the Cultivation Notes of the Dragon Transformation Sect cultivator, his face beaming with surprise and delight.
"What a great opportunity! Zhengchun, your findings this time truly represent a huge fortune for us!"
"These classics, especially those on the inheritance techniques of Artifact Refining and Formation skills, have arrived at a most opportune time for our Zhou Family."
"With these to complement and fill in the gaps, our Zhou Family can consider a more diversified development and start training our own Artifact Refiners and Array Masters!"
Both Artifact Refiners and Array Masters had always been the greatest weaknesses of the Zhou Family.
Until now, not one member of the Zhou Family could forge high-grade Magic Artifacts of even the first rank.
And as for the Array Masters, although the Zhou Family's Second Elder, Zhou Chongshan, was quite skilled.
The problem was that most of Zhou Chongshan's formation knowledge came from the Array Master of the You Family.
Now that the Sanjue Sect was divided into four houses, if the Zhou Family did not want to offend the You Family and provoke them to come seeking justice.
The formations Zhou Chongshan had learned from the You Family certainly could not be taught and passed down within the Zhou Family.
Therefore, the lineage of Array Masters was also something urgently lacking in the Zhou Family.
But among the classics that Zhou Chun had brought back, those on Artifact Refining were the most comprehensive, including no fewer than four volumes dedicated to the inheritance of Artifact Refining techniques.
Additionally, there were two classics on formations, which documented more than a dozen first and second-rank formations, which could also serve as foundational teaching materials for Zhou Family Array Masters.
How could Zhou Daoyi not be thrilled and excited about this?