Cultivation Begins From The Desert

Don't judge actions, judge intentions; imperfect is the man who judges intentions.

Whether the old Clan Leader of the Zhou Family, Zhou Minghan, will become a person of unscrupulous means like Cao Wenjin and the Chen Family Ancestor, is something that cannot be concluded before the event takes place.

Being a junior, Zhouyang doesn't want to judge his elders with malicious intent either.

However, after understanding these, he finds he suddenly does not hate Cao Wenjin and the Chen Family Ancestor that much anymore.

To some extent, these two powerful cultivators are also pitiful people.

If not for the coercion of a terrible environment, these two would certainly still wish to be revered seniors looked up to by everyone, rather than tyrants despised by all.

Of course, not hating them doesn't mean he agrees with their actions, sympathizes with them, or forgives them.

Even if he had the chance, he would surely take action against them without mercy, making them pay for their actions!

You may harm me, but I also retain the right to strike back; this is the truest thought in Zhouyang's heart.

The ten days of waiting time passed quickly, and after ten days of deploying troops, Cao Wenjin finally reappeared before the eyes of Zhouyang and others.

Cao Wenjin appeared alone outside the Ministry Hall, scanned the people outside the hall with his gaze, then turned his gaze to the Chen Family Ancestor and said with a faint smile, "Sorry to keep everyone waiting. Now please join me on Fellow Daoist Chen's Void Traveling Tower Ship. I trust Fellow Daoist Chen wouldn't mind if I catch a ride?"

Catching a ride is a pretense; not trusting those here is the truth.

Zhouyang and the others are as clear as a mirror about this, so no one spoke, only their gazes turned towards the Chen Family Ancestor.

The Chen Family Ancestor, being watched by Cao Wenjin and Zhouyang and others, actually felt no sense of tension.

During the ten days of waiting, he had already made up his mind that even if he were to fall on this expedition, with Chen Ping'an stabilizing the Chen Family, it would still be a Purple Mansion Clan; the clan's heritage would not fear having its lineage severed.

Thus, at this moment, he appeared rather composed, clasped his hands to Cao Wenjin, and said, "To be able to share a ship with Elder Cao is an honor for this junior; how could this junior refuse such a reason?"

After speaking, he directly waved his sleeve and released his Void Traveling Tower Ship, then gestured to Cao Wenjin, saying, "Please, Elder, board the ship."

Cao Wenjin, without any courtesy, moved immediately into the tower ship.

Afterwards, Zhouyang and the others also silently boarded the tower ship, each finding a place to sit down inside.

Once everyone was on board, the Chen Family Ancestor, at Cao Wenjin's indication, directly piloted the tower ship to fly out of the Yellow Sand Sect's mountain gate.

At the same time, another Void Traveling Tower Ship was also under the control of Li Zhennan, a Ninth-Layer Purple Mansion Cultivator of the Yellow Sand Sect, carrying over a hundred cultivators of the Yellow Sand Sect, closely following behind Zhouyang's team, flying out of the Yellow Sand Sect.

On this expedition to Rhino Horn Continent, apart from Zhang Yunpeng and Jiang Yuyan staying to guard the mountain gate, the other four Purple Mansion Cultivators Li Zhennan, Guo Shuyun, Luo Yunqing, and Xu Kaishan all participated. Additionally, more than a hundred Foundation Establishment Cultivators participated, making up almost seventy percent of the current Foundation Establishment Cultivators of the Yellow Sand Sect!

These four Purple Mansion Cultivators, along with the five affiliated Purple Mansion Cultivators including the Chen Family Ancestor, made up nine Purple Mansion Cultivators, including Li Zhennan and the Chen Family Ancestor, these two Ninth-Layer Purple Mansion Cultivators.

Furthermore, with the addition of the seven Tier Four Puppet Beasts and those "Beast Soul Talismans" prepared by the Yellow Sand Sect for this battle, the Tier Four battle power deployed by the Yellow Sand Sect alone, totaled no less than twenty entities.

Such a force, even placed in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, would not be considered small.

"Young man of the Zhou Family, you shouldn't have come. I didn't list your name on the summoning order, already giving you an opportunity for old times' sake; why do you still want to get involved?"

On the Void Traveling Tower Ship, Zhouyang was meditating with closed eyes when a cold voice of Cao Wenjin suddenly sounded beside his ear.

This was the first time he received a separate transmission from Cao Wenjin since he was summoned to the Yellow Sand Sect.

"If this junior said he came here because he trusts Elder Cao, Elder certainly wouldn't believe it. So this junior can only say, it's all divine will; this junior, in this life, is bound to a fate of toil!"

Responding with a self-deprecating tone to Cao Wenjin's question, Zhouyang's heart was actually extremely bitter.

He must admit, he dared to come summoned here originally because he believed his relationship with Cao Wenjin wasn't ordinary, thinking Cao Wenjin wouldn't deceive him.

The result, evidently, was that he lost, and lost terribly!

That naive heart harms deeply!

At this moment, Zhouyang could only sigh thus.

But to say he regretted it - indeed, he didn't feel any regret.

If he didn't enter this pit of fire, then those who might enter would be his father Zhou Xuanhao and the old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan.

By comparison, he would rather be the one to step in.

However, after hearing his answer, Cao Wenjin said in a serious tone:

"I've looked into your record thoroughly; you repeatedly faced nine escapes from death and always managed to safely come through, gaining great benefits. You're naturally protected by great luck!"

"If you really survive this time, I will give you and your Zhou Family a great gift!"

Listening to his tone, it seemed that he believed the chance of Zhouyang surviving was quite high.

Zhouyang was puzzled by his words.

From Cao Wenjin's words, it wasn't hard to discern that he had no ill intentions towards Zhouyang and the Zhou Family, and was even willing to favor them, or rather, was willing to curry favor with him.

But if that were the case, why didn't he exclude Zhouyang and the Zhou Family from the expedition team? Why did he even include Zhou Yuanchen from the Yellow Sand Sect in the expedition team?

"Don't overthink it. Only the living have value in investment and connection; the dead can only be buried in the soil, waiting for reincarnation!"

As if knowing what he was thinking, Cao Wenjin's voice was cold as he unabashedly stated the reason.

This reason left Zhouyang speechless.

Obviously, in this expedition, he had already become a "test subject."

Cao Wenjin wanted to use this "experiment" to confirm whether Zhouyang was worth investing in and connecting with.

Frankly speaking, Zhouyang was not very opposed to Cao Wenjin treating him as a "test subject," because he himself agreed with what Cao Wenjin just said.

The most obvious example is that he was also "testing" Huang Yi in this way back then.

It's like making friends; sometimes, confirming whether a friend is worth investing in isn't that complicated: if you lend them money, will they repay it on time?

No one would genuinely want to connect with someone who borrows money and never pays it back.

Sometimes, using a few hundred or a few thousand Yuan to test someone's true nature isn't a bad deal.

Right now, Cao Wenjin is using this expedition to "test" if Zhouyang truly has great fortune protecting him and if he is worth the investment.

Understanding this, Zhouyang couldn't help but smile bitterly and responded, "Elder, you are so frank. This junior has learned a lot!"

"Just be more aware yourself. That's all I'm going to say. The rest depends on your own performance!"

Cao Wenjin said his final cold words and then directly cut off the communication.

Their conversation through voice transmission went unnoticed by others, as many in the Void Traveling Tower Ship were slightly moving their mouths, engaging in voice transmissions with someone.

When Zhouyang did this, others merely assumed he was conversing with a familiar cultivator, but who would have known that the one he was speaking to was a Golden Core Stage cultivator like Cao Wenjin?

And through the conversation with this Golden Core Stage cultivator, Zhouyang surprisingly developed some anticipation for the upcoming expedition.

Given that Cao Wenjin was a Golden Core Stage cultivator, and was at the critical moment of nearing the end of his lifespan, what kind of great gift could he be giving to Zhouyang and the Zhou Family? How grand would it be?

Undoubtedly, Cao Wenjin was offering this great gift to him and the Zhou Family because he valued their potential and wanted to favor them, hoping they would remember this goodwill and not oppose the Yellow Sand Sect in the future, perhaps even aid in maintaining the Yellow Sand Sect's legacy.

If that were the case, a light gift would certainly not be enough to achieve that.

Cultivators value human relations, but they are also clear about the weight of such relationships.

Expecting people to repay small favors by risking their lives is very unrealistic.

Days passed, and under the command of Cao Wenjin, the Chen Family Ancestor piloted the Void Traveling Tower Ship, flying and stopping intermittently, taking nearly twenty days to finally reach a thousand miles away from the Rhino Horn Continent.

The long travel time was because they encountered several extremely violent sandstorms along the way, forcing the Chen Family Ancestor to lower the Void Traveling Tower Ship for temporary rest.

The sandstorms, of course, posed no threat to a Ninth-Layer Purple Mansion Cultivator like the Chen Family Ancestor, but operating a large flying spiritual artifact like the Void Traveling Tower Ship in such extreme conditions would consume tenfold the usual magical power, which the Chen Family Ancestor was unwilling to do, so he had to lower the ship and wait for the sandstorms to pass before taking off again.

When the two Void Traveling Tower Ships stopped a thousand miles away from the so-called Rhino Horn Continent, Cao Wenjin ordered all the cultivators to disembark and rest, while discussing the plan to attack Rhino Horn Continent.

"In this attack on Rhino Horn Continent, Fellow Daoist Chen and Li Zhennan will contain one Golden-Horned Rhinoceros, while I will strive to kill the other as quickly as possible, then go to assist."

"Therefore, to create an opportunity for the three of us to slay the Golden-Horned Rhinoceros, the rest of you Purple Mansion cultivators, along with some Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivators, must hold off those Tier Four Demon Beasts on the oasis."

"As for the remaining Foundation Establishment cultivators, your task is to deal with those Tier Three Demon Beasts and prevent them from assisting the Tier Four Demon Beasts against our Purple Mansion cultivators."

"Finally, to prevent anyone from deserting during the battle, before starting the fight, you all must leave a few drops of blood in these jade bottles for me to keep!"

Amidst the vast Desert Sea, Cao Wenjin scanned Zhouyang and the hundreds of other cultivators with a solemn voice, laying out his battle plan.

Then, with a wave of his hand, several white jade bottles fell in front of Zhouyang and the others, waiting for everyone to offer their "oath of allegiance."

As long as he had everyone's blood, anyone who tried to desert during the battle would have to think about whether they could escape the pursuit of the "Ten Thousand Miles Soul-Chasing Technique"!