Clan Cultivation: Starting from Beast Taming

These intelligence reports were undoubtedly of real help to Zhou Chun in his active search for Snow Crystal Worms.

To verify the authenticity of the intelligence, Zhou Chun followed the old Snow Essence Palace cultivator's advice and continued using the stakeout method to look for Snow Crystal Worms.

Whether it was his good luck or the old cultivator's words had some truth, Zhou Chun found a Snow Crystal Worm on the mountainside of a snowy peak four days later.

A heavy snowfall had just ended, and Zhou Chun's Divine Sense suddenly detected faint sounds in the snow.

When he focused his attention on the place where the sounds came from, he soon discovered an odd-looking Demon Insect.

The insect was pure white all over, similar to an earthworm, and its body was covered with stiff bristles that were hard to see with the naked eye. It was over a foot long.

Its speed as it burrowed through the snow was extremely fast, moving several feet away in the blink of an eye, almost like flying.

At the same time, the places it burrowed through did not leave visible holes, which was also quite peculiar.

After discovering this Snow Crystal Worm, Zhou Chun wanted to observe the Demon Insect's behavior more to grasp more of its habits.

But he quickly noticed that the little creature was about to burrow deep into the snow, so he had no choice but to immediately capture it.

Capturing Snow Crystal Worms is also a technical feat because they are very fast. If you are too slow, they will burrow deep into the snow and escape the range of a cultivator's Divine Sense.

And if you are too harsh, you might kill it without meaning to, and Snow Essence Palace has no use for dead Snow Crystal Worms, which are worthless.

Luckily, Zhou Chun had his own advantages in this area.

His "Golden Cauldron Profound Light" was profoundly mysterious, capable of being both hard and soft, which was quite practical for dealing with Demon Insects like Snow Crystal Worms that did not possess much combat ability.

He lifted his hand and cast out a beam of golden light. The Snow Crystal Worm, which had already burrowed about a foot under the snow, was immediately enveloped by the golden light and restrained.

Then Zhou Chun raised his hand, and drew the immobile Snow Crystal Worm towards him.

After scrutinizing the small insect for a few moments in his hand, he stored it in a Cold Jade box set inside a stone case.

Since three Snow Crystal Worms can be exchanged for one Foundation Establishment Pill, Zhou Chun had no need to exchange this creature right away.

Having verified the correctness of the information he purchased, he began to drill into ice caves and explore ice grottoes.

The ice caves and grottoes on the snowy plains were countless, and many deep ice caves even reached hundreds of miles.

Moreover, due to the changing ice layers, new caves were frequently appearing while old ones disappeared.

Under such circumstances, even if one knows that Snow Crystal Worms exist within the ice caves and grottoes, actually finding them is still a matter of luck.

However, given Zhou Chun's personal character, he preferred trying his luck in ice caves and grottoes rather than waiting passively in a blizzard.

Because his goal was the Snow Crystal Worm King, not merely Snow Crystal Worms.

And it was almost impossible for a Demon Insect like the Snow Crystal Worm King to appear on the surface of the snow.

For half a month, Zhou Chun explored ice caves and grottoes. During that time, he encountered several collapses caused by shifting ice where he was buried under layers of ice reaching hundreds of meters deep.

Fortunately, he had a Purification Stone Pot with him. As long as he wasn't fatally injured and immobilized at the scene, he could slowly dig out an escape tunnel.

But in this half-month period, not only did he fail to capture any Snow Crystal Worms, he hadn't even seen one.

However, Zhou Chun did encounter quite a few cultivators who were also drilling through ice just like him, and even many wearing the standard robes of the Snow Essence Palace. This led him to trust the authenticity of the information he had bought, attributing his lack of findings to just bad luck.

Day after day, Zhou Chun had been on the snowy plains for three months, and he had collected two Snow Crystal Worms.

Finding a Snow Crystal Worm in an ice cave gave Zhou Chun a huge boost of confidence to persist.

And the harvest of two Snow Crystal Worms in three months was definitely not a small feat.

After all, three Snow Crystal Worms could be exchanged for one Foundation Establishment Pill.

Other Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators would probably be extremely envious if they knew of Zhou Chun's gains.

But this was not something to be envious of, as they could not do as Zhou Chun did, going for several months without visiting the cultivators' base to rest and resupply.

In the same three months, Zhou Chun had traveled more places and expended far more energy than they had.

One day, as Zhou Chun was searching for ice caves on the snowy plains, he suddenly heard the sounds of an intense battle, accompanied by strange beast roars.

Driven by curiosity, he headed towards the source of the noise.

After traveling for dozens of miles and rounding a snow peak, Zhou Chun saw a person and a bear engaged in an unceasing fierce battle within a snow valley.

The cultivator was a woman dressed in the robes of the Snow Essence Palace, with a cultivation level of the mid-Foundation Establishment Stage, likely an Inner Sect Disciple of the Snow Essence Palace.

Her opponent was a second-order superior Demon Beast, specifically an Ice Armored Bear indigenous to the snowy plains.

Although her cultivation level was slightly inferior to that of the Ice Armored Bear, the woman did not seem to be much at a disadvantage in the battle.

The Magic Artifacts in her hands were all fine quality, on par with the ones Zhou Chun used, and her mastery of Ice Element Techniques was also quite impressive.

It was unclear why this person and bear were fighting in this place.

Zhou Chun, who had watched from a distance atop a mountain for a while, decided not to linger and prepared to take a detour to continue searching for Snow Crystal Worms.

Just then, the female cultivator seemed to have noticed him and suddenly called out to him.

"Fellow cultivator on the mountain, please halt. If you are willing to help me drive away this Ice Armored Bear, I am prepared to offer you a Snow Crystal Worm as a reward!"

Hearing this cool voice and as he was about to leave, Zhou Chun stopped in his tracks and turned his head to look at the woman and said, "Are your words true, fellow cultivator?"

Upon hearing this, the woman immediately responded without hesitation, "I swear by the ancestors of my sect that what I have just spoken is wholly true!"

"Very well, then Zhou will give it a try!"

As he spoke, Zhou Chun immediately took out a Magic Artifact and joined the battle.

He did not wish to reveal all his strength, so he only personally took part in the battle with his Magic Artifacts.

Even so, after his involvement, the Ice Armored Bear quickly proved no match for the combined force of the two and was reluctantly forced to flee the snow valley.

After the Ice Armored Bear was driven away, the female cultivator from the Snow Essence Palace was also very straightforward and immediately took out a porcelain bottle containing a Snow Crystal Worm and tossed it to Zhou Chun.

"This is the Snow Crystal Worm I promised you, fellow cultivator. Please take good care of it."

Then, as Zhou Chun took the porcelain bottle and was about to check it, she continued, "Furthermore, to thank you for your help just now, I should offer you another piece of advice. If you have more Snow Crystal Worms, remember to exchange them for spiritual objects soon, as my sect has already collected enough Snow Crystal Worms, and it won't be long before items like Foundation Establishment Pills will no longer be offered for exchange!"

At these words, Zhou Chun's expression changed instantly.

He no longer cared to inspect the Snow Crystal Worm and quickly faced the woman, asking, "Is what you say true? Can the Snow Crystal Worm King no longer be exchanged for the 'Snow Soul Pill' either?"

Hearing his question, the woman looked at him in surprise and then realized his intention, saying, "So you have come for the 'Snow Soul Pill'!"

After speaking, she shook her head slightly and added, "That's no problem. The exchange of a Snow Crystal Worm King for the 'Snow Soul Pill' will not change, and you may exchange at any time!"

These words allowed Zhou Chun to relax the concern he had been harboring, and he immediately bowed to the woman, saying, "Thank you for the reminder, fellow cultivator. I shall not impose any longer, farewell!"

"Take care, fellow cultivator!"

The woman returned the bow, then watched as Zhou Chun took to the skies and left.

Only when she was certain Zhou Chun was far enough away did she let out a soft sigh, speaking in a murmur loud enough only for herself to hear, "How could a Foundation Stage cultivator possibly catch a Snow Crystal Worm King, when even Purple Mansion Phase cultivators find it difficult to capture?"

She said 'capture', not 'find'.

From this, it was evident that there was more inside information about the Snow Crystal Worm King that the Snow Essence Palace had not disclosed.

At this moment, Zhou Chun was still completely unaware of these nuances. Having heard the words of the female cultivator from the Snow Essence Palace, all he wanted now was to hurry to the marketplace under the jurisdiction of the Snow Essence Palace to exchange for Foundation Establishment Pills.