Zhouyang greeted his Fifth Uncle, Zhou Xuanbin, and after explaining the situation, arrived on the surface of "Haoyang Cave."
Eight years have passed, and the sand slope has grown a large number of desert plants again. With the management of the Zhou Family mortals, these plants have grown even more lush than before, and the variety of plants has also increased. Some mortals even raised sand chickens, sand antelopes, and sand rabbits here.
Not far below the sand slope is the mud city where the Zhou Family mortals reside. Two thousand meters west of the mud city is the oasis under construction.
The oasis, being newly created for only a few years, only has a band of grassland of a few dozen meters wide around the desert lake formed by the underground dark river water.
Zhouyang stood on the sand slope, looking far away. Thousands of Zhou Family mortals were divided into four teams, lined up around the lake in four long lines, with the people at the front using wooden buckets to gather lake water, one by one passing it down the line to the people at the back to irrigate the sand.
One bucket of water can only seep half a meter deep into the sand, whereas the sand thickness in the chosen area for the oasis averages over five meters.
If relying solely on these thousands of people to irrigate the sand using such primitive methods, it would be difficult to create even a hundred square meters of oasis in a year, not considering the factors of desert erosion.
So this is when the cultivators step in.
Among the Tier One magics often used by cultivators, there is a small magic named "Cloud Gathering and Rain Technique." When this magic is cast, even in the hottest places of the Boundless Desert Sea, water can be gathered.
And if used by a Foundation Establishment cultivator near a humid ocean or large lake, this Tier One magic can indeed create rainfall in a radius of several miles, just like the name suggests.
The underground dark river water forming a desert lake has nothing to do with the term "large lake," and Zhou Xuanyan, a Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation cultivator, could hardly compare with Foundation Establishment cultivators.
However, as a Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation cultivator specializing in Water Element Techniques, and with the aid of a Tier Two High-Grade Spiritual Artifact "Water Cloud Banner" to enhance water magic power, casting "Cloud Gathering and Rain Technique" could still manage to bring moderate rain to an area of one square kilometer.
To quickly create an oasis, Zhou Xuanyan cast the "Cloud Gathering and Rain Technique" dozens of times at three hours every day – morning, noon, and evening – until his magical power ran out.
Thus, the sand being irrigated by the mortals that Zhouyang now sees has already been irrigated using Zhou Xuanyan's magic. The mortals are only providing slight supplementation by watering with buckets, barely compensating for the evaporation caused by the desert temperature.
"It's truly exhausting for Aunt Xuanyan. Such trivial matters should have been handled by the clan's low-tier cultivators, yet now she's been reduced to doing such tasks as an elder – it's not just a misuse of her talents, it's beneath her status!"
Zhouyang couldn't help but sigh in lament; ultimately, it is because the Zhou Family is too weak.
In the eyes of ordinary loose cultivators, a cultivation clan like the Zhou Family, occupying a medium-sized oasis with a Foundation Establishment cultivator, is beyond their reach.
But in the eyes of high-tier cultivators, a cultivation clan like the Zhou Family, with only one Foundation Establishment cultivator, is something they can trample upon.
If people knew that the Zhou Family, aside from the Yuquan Lake Oasis, also occupied a Tier Three Spirit Vein, then within a month, other Foundation Establishment cultivators would come knocking, forcing the Zhou Family to relinquish the "Haoyang Cave" Spirit Vein and Red Flame Iron Ore Vein.
If encountered by those ruthless and unscrupulous individuals, they might use this as an excuse to unite with other Foundation Establishment cultivators or clans to directly break the Jade Spring Peak Mountain Protection Array and divide the entire Zhou Family!
Such things have happened before.
To prevent such occurrences, the Zhou Family must see new Foundation Establishment cultivators emerge.
Thus, all of the Zhou Family's senior members who knew about "Haoyang Cave" secretly hope that Zhouyang, the younger generation holding the hope of the entire clan, can succeed in Foundation Establishment and lead the Zhou Family through the crisis.
Seeing Zhouyang didn't break through to Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation in one go and came out of seclusion, the Zhou Family elders Zhou Xuanyan and Zhou Xuantai felt both regret and relief.
With Zhouyang no longer in seclusion, they don't need to assign someone to protect him daily. The work of oasis creation gains an additional person to share the burden, easing their efforts, and Zhouyang occasionally helps with the work.
Creating an oasis is not something achieved overnight. What Zhouyang and the others are doing now is laying the foundation. To truly create a large oasis at "Haoyang Cave" requires the efforts of several generations and might take decades or even hundreds of years.
Therefore, after coming out of seclusion, Zhouyang's main focus was to improve his Artifact Refining Skill.
During these eight years, he had devoted himself to cultivation, rarely engaging in artifact refining, and thus his skills had dulled.
However, he still had his fundamentals, and after refining a few times to get a feel for it, he had regained his skills.
In the battle that eradicated the Poisonous Fire Scorpion Swarm, the Zhou Family obtained a large amount of Tier Two Demon Beast Materials. As a Tier Two Middle-Grade Refiner, Zhouyang also received quite a few. Now, there's no shortage of refining materials.
However, using materials from demon beasts for artifact refining was a first for him and quite a challenge.
Materials from demon beasts are not like metal ores that can easily be melted into a liquid for shaping. When using these materials, the type of spiritual artifact must be determined based on the material's original shape.
For instance, the Scorpion Needle of a Poisonous Fire Scorpion can only be refined into a Flying Needle Spiritual Artifact.
If you melt the Scorpion Needle, the unique fire poison on it will dissipate along with the Poisonous Fire Scorpion's signature traits, rendering the material useless.
Of course, refining with demon beast materials has advantages over metal ores. The materials from demon beasts are refined by their own demon power over long years, with few impurities, making it easier for refiners to set up magic bans. Some special demon beast materials can even bestow a spiritual artifact with a divine technique the demon beast possessed in life.
Since Zhouyang had never used demon beast materials for refining before, he didn't dare use precious Tier Two materials directly. Instead, he practiced with materials from Tier One Poisonous Fire Scorpions, which were stored in large quantities within the "Haoyang Cave" warehouse, so he wouldn't feel the sting of loss if they were wasted.
The only useful materials from a Tier One Poisonous Fire Scorpion are its two Scorpion Claws and the Scorpion Needle. The Scorpion Claws are suitable for refining into an exotic weapon known as the "Iron-Arm Divine Hook," while the Scorpion Needle can be refined into the "Poison Fire Flying Needle."
Compared to the more intricate "Poison Fire Flying Needle," the large and unwieldy "Iron-Arm Divine Hook" is undeniably more suitable for beginners to refine.
This so-called "Iron-Arm Divine Hook," in scientific terms, is an "Exoskeleton Armor," essentially a mechanical arm.
Zhouyang took out a stored Scorpion Claw and first cleared all the dried meat fibers inside, then placed it in the Artifact Refining Cauldron. He poured in a specially concocted solution made from various acidic ores and plant juices, then kindled the fire and roasted the Artifact Refining Cauldron to soften the Scorpion Claw.
At this time, he infused his Divine Sense into the cauldron to monitor the Scorpion Claw's softening. Once it began to soften under the high temperature and acidic solution, he started casting artifact refining spells noted in the Artifact Refining Classics related to shaping, adjusting and molding the softened Scorpion Claw into the form of an "Iron-Arm Divine Hook."
After completing the shaping, Zhouyang maintained the temperature of the flame while casting an artifact refining spell to place a "Vibration" magic ban inside the "Iron-Arm Divine Hook."
Once the magic ban was set up, he used the "Object Capturing Technique" to lift the "Iron-Arm Divine Hook" and placed it into a quenching water pool previously prepared. After a "sizzle" sound and a burst of white steam, the spiritual artifact was successfully refined.
Tier One spiritual artifacts don't require a ritual to use; one only needs to inject True Qi Magical Power into it. Zhouyang casually cast a strand of magical power into the newly refined spiritual artifact, and the two "Iron-Arm Divine Hooks," each weighing tens of pounds, landed heavily on the iron dummy used for testing the artifact's power.
Only a "boom" was heard, and the iron dummy, made of refined iron, suddenly appeared with dozens of long, thin cracks as wide as chopsticks. Then, two pale yellow spiritual lights spread from the "Iron-Arm Divine Hook," shaking the entire Artifact Refining Chamber and nearly toppling the Artifact Refining Cauldron on the ground.
"Hmm, this power is already close to the strike of a Tier Two Lower Grade Magical Artifact. It seems my Artifact Refining Skill is now exceedingly close to Tier Two Top Grade. Very well, let's continue trying."
With a wave of his sleeve, he infused magical power to straighten the Artifact Refining Cauldron. Zhouyang took out another set of materials and continued refining.
About half a year later, after hundreds of refining attempts, Zhouyang finally broke through to become a Tier Two High-Grade Refiner, the youngest ever in the history of the Zhou Family.
Upon breaking through to Tier Two Top Grade in Artifact Refining Skill, Zhouyang immediately sent the news to the old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan and his parents. Not long after, he saw his parents arriving, travel-worn, at "Haoyang Cave."
"Father, you've decided then?"
Zhouyang, seeing his suddenly arriving parents, was momentarily stunned before he immediately understood why they had come.
"What, can't a father simply miss you and come to see you?"
With a faint smile on his face, Xuan Hao seemed not to notice Zhouyang's suddenly heavy expression.
"Alright, you two don't have to meet like enemies the moment you see each other. This is a joyful day for a father and son to reunite. Why say things that spoil the mood?" Lin Yuting, noticing the awkward atmosphere, quickly interrupted to ease the tension.
Then she grabbed Zhouyang's hand with a smile and said, "Come, come, come, Yang'Er, take your mother to your abode. This time I've brought you many specialty foods from the marketplace."
ps: I have something to tell everyone. This week the book got a recommendation. Although it's just for the computer PC web version, it's still meat even if it's small. I want to perform well and show the editor the book's potential for better subsequent recommendations.
So I'm asking everyone to vote your recommendation tickets for me, at least in the early days of this week, okay? It's very important for the next recommendation for this book. Moreover, there is a recommendation this week, and I want to make a push for the top ten on the classification new book list, as it's already dropped out. Therefore, if capable readers can reward a few dollars, I will count the total rewards when it goes on sale, and there will be additional chapters then.