Clan Cultivation: Starting from Beast Taming

Chapter 565: Chapter 294: Offering Strategies and Medicines [Please Subscribe]

When Zhou Chun learned of Han Yuan’s matters from Zhou Mingde, he was also full of astonishment.

He simply couldn’t have imagined that the owner of the Underground Mausoleum was very likely the perpetrator of this insect calamity.

A Cultivator at the Golden Core Stage created a massive insect calamity that affected many nations, such a revelation would surely cause a tremendous uproar if spread.

And when he had finished reading Han Yuan’s research notes and the insecticidal prescriptions left behind, he quickly understood why Zhou Mingde had called him here.

Zhou Chun directly looked at Zhou Mingde and asked, “Is the Supreme Elder worried that offering these prescriptions directly would make it difficult to explain their origin?”

“Yes, if the prescriptions truly work, and we present them, it will surely invite inquiries from those senior cultivators.”

“And if we tell the truth, I’m afraid all the Insect Expelling Techniques left by Han Yuan will be confiscated, and we, the Zhou Family, will be strictly forbidden from practicing them!”

“In that case, our gains from exploring the Underground Mausoleum would be greatly diminished!”

Zhou Mingde nodded slightly, speaking his concerns in a low tone.

His worries were not unfounded.

Now that it was known the insect calamity was very likely Han Yuan’s doing, those Insect Expelling Techniques left behind, along with the Taboo Arts of the Thousand Spirit Sect that Mingde greatly coveted, would surely be confiscated by those Nascent Soul Stage cultivators and not permitted to spread any further.

If they encountered some more ruthless Nascent Soul Stage cultivators, it wouldn’t be surprising if they decided to eliminate both Zhou Mingde and Zhou Chun.

Under such circumstances, telling the truth was definitely not an option.

Therefore, after hearing Zhou Mingde’s words, Zhou Chun nodded repeatedly in agreement, saying, “The Supreme Elder makes a good point. It’s definitely not wise to tell the truth; we can’t take that risk!”

After speaking, he pondered for a moment before suggesting, “I believe the most reliable method is for us to first test the veracity of the prescriptions. If they are truly effective, we can then adjust the ingredients to weaken the potency a bit before offering the new prescriptions!”

“Those senior cultivators are all exceptionally experienced individuals, and there will definitely be experts in alchemy among them. Once our modified prescription is in their hands, they’ll only need a few more trials to likely restore the original potent formula.”

The insect calamity is currently rampant, and countless cultivators are seeking methods to completely eradicate it.

An effective insect eradication prescription, even if not particularly potent, will surely be taken seriously, thus spurring some higher-level cultivators to further refine and study it.

With the right research direction, coupled with the abilities of those high-level cultivators, restoring the Zhou Family’s original formula before modification wouldn’t be difficult at all.

This way, absolutely no one would suspect that the Zhou Family intentionally complicated the formula.

However, if they proceeded in this manner, the Zhou Family’s contribution wouldn’t be as significant as it would be had they offered the original formula directly.

Thus, after hearing Zhou Chun’s advice, Zhou Mingde did not immediately decide but began to contemplate deeply.

He needed to weigh the trade-offs of interest.

After pondering for a long time, he eventually nodded and said, “Zhengchun, your suggestion is good. Our Zhou Family has already gained enough this time, it truly is not suitable to appear too conspicuous!”

Once they had agreed upon their approach, the two began to collect related materials and set about creating the poison as described in the prescriptions.

Because they had detailed prescriptions, even without outside help, the two could follow the formula to concoct the poison.

Seven days later, the first batch of poison targeted at the bloodline traits of the Thousand Variations Grub was successfully prepared, after which they tested it on a captured Demon Insect.

The outcome of this trial was a mixture of excitement and concern for Zhou Chun and Zhou Mingde.

What pleased them was that the poison truly had a remarkable effect, far better than the poisons that Zhou Jiawei had researched.

What worried them was that the effect was not as strong as they had anticipated.

Subsequently, they also prepared the poison targeted at the bloodline traits of the Devouring Spirit Ant.

Compared to the poison for the Thousand Variations Grub, this one was somewhat peculiar, requiring an additional medium.

Zhou Chun and his colleagues had to first have a wild beast or Demon Beast ingest the poison and die from it, then let the Demon Insects consume the dead body of the wild beast or Demon Beast.

According to Han Yuan’s notes in the formula, once “Devouring Spirit Ants” consumed the corpses of dead wild beasts or Demon Beasts, they would slowly perish within a day, and other “Devouring Spirit Ants” that ate their corpses would also be poisoned to death.

However, during the trial with the Demon Insect, the insect developed strong resistance to this poison.

Although the Demon Insects that consumed the poisoned flesh showed various discomforts and appeared quite lethargic, after a day, they gradually recovered completely.

Clearly, the Demon Insects now rampaging through Yang Kingdom had evolved during the process and compensated for certain bloodline weaknesses, rendering the poison that targeted their bloodline traits less effective.

Thus, Zhou Mingde and Zhou Chun found themselves in a difficult spot.

If the original formula was already less effective than expected, going ahead with the plan to add ingredients and further reduce potency could very well result in a poison that might not even kill the Demon Insects.

In that situation, how could they expect to gain merit by offering medicine?

“At this point, there are only two options left. One is to ask Uncle Fourteen to conduct in-depth research into the earlier formula to see if a more effective new prescription against the Demon Insect can be developed. The other is to offer the original formula directly, saying it’s an old prescription against Thousand Variations Grubs that the family had on record, and we discovered its effectiveness through actual tests!”