Clan Cultivation: Starting from Beast Taming

However, since these Demon Monkeys were the property of the Zhou Family, Zhou Zhengyong naturally would not let them suffer losses for no reason.

Therefore, under Zhou Zhengyong's intervention, the Redflame Vajra Ape ultimately did not drive these Demon Monkeys away but merely relegated them to the lowest status. They had to do the most labor in the troop and had no right to mate.

"Brother Yong, when can this Redflame Vajra Ape mate with a female after becoming the Monkey King?"

From a distance, Zhou Chun, while watching the celebration banquet for the new king from afar, took the opportunity to ask Zhou Zhengyong, who was beside him, about the troop's reproduction.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhengyong immediately replied, "It should be very soon. Look, it's letting the females sit by its side and groom its fur, which shows it has taken an interest in them."

After he finished speaking, he added, "I'll observe for a few more days. If it still doesn't take action, I'll try using some medicine."

"It's best to let it mate with the female naturally. We've waited so many years. We're not in a hurry for this last stretch."

Zhou Chun shook his head slightly, indicating that there was no need for medicinal intervention.

Using medicine to incite lust in Demon Beasts is generally used on mature beasts that are not in heat.

As for the Redflame Vajra Ape, no one knows whether it has reached maturity yet. If one were to force it into heat with a female using medicine, even if it did impregnate the female, it might cause some defects in the offspring's bloodline.

If such a thing were to occur, it would mean causing losses to the family.

"Alright, I understand," Zhou Zhengyong answered, taking note of the matter.

At that moment, Zhou Chun seemed to remember something and suddenly said, "By the way, Xinlan should be starting his cultivation practice now, right? You should pay more attention to this, Brother Yong. It's best to have my sister-in-law guide him a bit more so that he can enter the path as soon as possible."

When he heard this, Zhou Zhengyong immediately replied with a smile, "You don't need to tell me this, thirteen. His mother is more attentive than anyone!"

Then, out of curiosity, he looked at Zhou Chun and asked, "But you're busy every day, thirteen. Why would you suddenly bring this up?"

"If the Redflame Vajra Ape really manages to breed a population and Xinlan starts his cultivation before the birth of the second Redflame Vajra Ape, Brother Yong, you just need to offer some family merits. I'm confident I can help you make him the first to form a spirit pet contract with it!"

Zhou Chun did not hesitate to reveal his plans straightforwardly.

"You, thirteen..." Zhou Zhengyong looked at Zhou Chun, his mouth slightly agape, his eyes full of moved emotion.

As a father, and in charge of the Monkey Garden, he had not dared to contemplate such a matter.

The fact that Zhou Chun had taken the initiative to care about this matter moved him beyond words.

"Don't say too much, Brother Yong. Though our friendship is part of why I am doing this, it is also because Xinlan himself has good aptitude and conditions, completely fitting the requirements to form a contract with the Redflame Vajra Ape," Zhou Chun waved his hand to stop Zhou Zhengyong's words of gratitude and instead explained the reasons outright.

He then gestured with his hand again, saying, "Anyway, whether or not this can be achieved depends on if the Redflame Vajra Ape can successfully breed a population, and whether Xinlan himself can muster the effort to start his cultivation path quickly!"

"I understand. I will oversee both matters with my full effort and ensure that your painstaking efforts, thirteen, will not be in vain," Zhou Zhengyong emphatically nodded, etching this gratitude deep in his heart.

After parting ways with Zhou Zhengyong, Zhou Chun also made a special visit to see the Fragrant Musk Deer that he had brought back.

As the Beast Garden's, and indeed the most precious free-ranging Demon Beast of the Zhou Family, the Fragrant Musk Deer had a separate habitat designated for it, with assigned personal monitoring.

Its habitat not only had many of the snakes and insects that it liked to eat, but it was also populated with several female deer captured from various places by the Zhou Family.

However, even though drugs had been used to induce mating between the Fragrant Musk Deer and those ordinary deer many times, to date, none of the females had yet become pregnant with young.

But breeding a Demon Beast with an ordinary wild animal is fundamentally a matter of luck; one can only keep trying.

One thing was for sure, there was no reproductive isolation between Demon Beasts and their wild counterparts of the same species!

After inspecting and seeing that the Fragrant Musk Deer was in good living condition, Zhou Chun left with peace of mind.

A few days later, Zhou Chun received a message from Zhou Zhengyong that the Redflame Vajra Ape had started mating with a female. The Hundred Beasts Hall was also following up on this matter and would report the relevant information promptly.

The planning report on capturing female wild deer from the Deer Garden was also submitted quickly. After Zhou Chun saw no problems with it, he posted it to the External Affairs Hall for Zhou Family clan members or some authorized Loose Cultivators to undertake.

Indeed, the Zhou Family had started allowing some trustworthy Loose Cultivators to take on tasks from the External Affairs Hall.

This mainly involved some low-paid tasks that Zhou Family Cultivators might not want to take on; forcefully assigning them would easily lead to complaints from clan members.

Therefore, Zhou Chun created a "white list" of Loose Cultivators, allowing any Loose Cultivator on the list to take on certain tasks from the External Affairs Hall of the Zhou Family.

For those Loose Cultivators, as long as they could earn Spirit Coins without much danger, a bit of toil wasn't considered a big deal at all.

Tasks like capturing ordinary wild beasts, which required a lot of time but offered low rewards, were looked down upon by Zhou Family Cultivators; yet to these Loose Cultivators, they were seen as very desirable tasks.

Time was worthless to them, while cultivating actually cost money!

Thus, they were most willing to undertake these extremely low-difficulty tasks that could earn them Spirit Coins.

After all the various reforms within the Zhou Family had unfolded in an orderly manner, Zhou Chun began to busy himself with another important matter.

That was the secret trade negotiations with Lin Hongyu, the Red Dragon Protector of the Dragon Transformation Sect.

The matter was highly confidential, and ordinary clan members could not be involved. Many aspects of it had to be handled by Zhou Chun himself.

For example, finding a location for the trade, determining the approximate time of the trade, as well as the target of the capture, and more.

For about one or two months, Zhou Chun was busy with this matter.

After this period of busyness, once he felt it was about right, he personally sent the trade time and location to the other party using the contact method left by Lin Hongyu.

Then, when the time was almost upon them, Zhou Daoquan, the third elder of the Zhou Family, secretly set off from Jiufeng Ridge with the "Green Wood Spirit Ape" without anyone noticing.
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Hongyan Mountain Range.

One hundred miles northwest of Hongya Marketplace atop a mountain, three Bandit Cultivators hid amongst the treetops and underbrush, awaiting the "fortunate" ones to pass by this place.

Being a Bandit Cultivator, they were able to endure solitude.

Sometimes, they could continuously stake out in the wild for ten days to half a month at a time.

"Not opening shop for three years, but once open, good for three years." That was the most typical description of the Bandit Cultivator's life.

Sometimes, one good score meant they could peacefully cultivate for a year or two without going out.

At this moment, the three Bandit Cultivators on the mountain had been staking out for four or five days and hadn't encountered anyone passing by the mountain.

But they were all quite patient and didn't complain about it.

However, just as they were patiently waiting for their prey to appear, they hadn't realized that they had become prey in someone else's eyes.

Hmm?

Suddenly, a Bandit Cultivator in a tree seemed to detect some movement and quickly opened his eyes to look in the direction of the noise.

Soon, he saw a Green-Haired Giant Ape walking up from the bottom of the mountain.

Disappointed to see a Demon Beast, the Bandit Cultivator's eyes flashed with a hint of disappointment, but he still alerted his comrades lying in wait nearby to stay vigilant.

Yet, just as the few Bandit Cultivators were hesitating about whether to attack a Demon Beast, several blue spiritual lights suddenly shot out from not far away. They swiftly transformed into thorny vines and bound them up.

"It's a second-order Demon Beast!"

A Bandit Cultivator let out an incredulous cry of shock.

Then, before they could struggle, they had already become drowsy from the toxins in the thorns piercing their skins and started to fall asleep.

Right before they closed their eyes, all they saw was a Green-Haired Giant Ape with a cold gaze walking up to them and lifting them up.

In this way, Zhou Daoquan, with a late Foundation Establishment cultivation, scouted for the targets and then marked the location for the Green Wood Spirit Ape to capture them.

In less than three days, all ten Bandit Cultivators were captured and sent to a special location for imprisonment.

For safety reasons, the final trade was to be conducted by Zhou Mingde, the Supreme Elder of the Zhou Family, who would personally go and make the exchange.