Clan Cultivation: Starting from Beast Taming

"Of the spiritual medicines, there are a total of 354 plants that are more than a hundred years old yet less than four hundred years old!"

"As for the demon beasts, the family has harvested a total of nine Red-Eyed Dragon Sparrows, fifteen Dragon Claw Giant Lizards, thirty-three Dragon Scale Horses, and in addition, one intermediate level Bloodflame Dragon Python egg, and twenty-six low level demon beast eggs."

"The other harvested items include eighteen types of Spirit Gold ores and such, comprising rare items like Iron Essence and third-order demon cores."

"Additionally, the family has harvested a total of twenty-three types of cultivation techniques, fourteen kinds of secret technique cultivation methods, five classics on artifact refining, three on alchemy, six on talisman making, two on formation classics, six alchemy recipes, and three formation diagrams."

"Moreover, the family has also gained over thirty-seven thousand five hundred Spirit Coins that can be used in Jingguo Country's cultivation realm."

"Lastly, the various types of demon beast materials the family has gained this time amount to over three thousand two hundred pieces, as well as over two thousand three hundred demon beast carcasses."

"However, these gains are only what the family currently has in hand. As for the battle merits established by the family cultivators during the war, they still need to be tallied by the three major sects before rewards are distributed."

Zhou Chun held the ledger and recited the listed gains one by one.

As he recited each part, save for Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi, who had previously seen the ledger, the eyes of the other Zhou Family elders widened a bit more with each report.

By the time he finished listing all the gains, the Zhou Family elders present had their eyes as wide as they could be, looking in shock at the ledger in his hand.

Although the several Zhou Family elders who participated in the southern campaign knew the family's gains wouldn't be small,

they certainly hadn't anticipated that the gains could be to such an extent!

They were all Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators. Even if they might not be clear on the market prices, they generally knew how much money those magic artifacts, talismans, and elixirs that Zhou Chun mentioned could fetch.

And that was absolutely a sum so vast that even Golden Core Stage cultivators would drool over it!

"Is this all real? Are the gains really that big?"

Zhou Zhengyuan, who had always been inside the family and had neither participated in the southern campaign nor been at the forefront of the beast tide defense, murmured in shock and disbelief.

He did see the demon beasts and spiritual medicines.

Even with his alchemy skills, he wouldn't really have reason to use those spiritual medicines over five hundred years old, but he indeed knew the Zhou Family had acquired a large batch of them.

However, the gains from magic artifacts and the like that Zhou Chun spoke of were unknown to him.

"Of course it's real. Everything here has been personally verified by me and the two Supreme Elders without any falsehood,"

Zhou Chun replied with a calm demeanor to Zhou Zhengyuan's question.

Then he continued, "Of course, while the family's gains were indeed huge, the losses were not minor either. Now, let me talk about the losses."

"In total, the family lost twenty-seven cultivators before and after the war, of which twenty-three were from our own clan, and four were from the maternal families!"

"The family also lost as many as thirty-eight spirit pets, including the Earth Armored Bear belonging to the third elder!" Enjoy exclusive content from My Virtual Library Empire

"Additionally, the family's material losses were also extremely great. Most of the talismans and elixirs reserved for the war were consumed, totaling thirty-five second-order talismans, over one thousand six hundred first-order talismans, and more than five hundred elixirs. The Mountain Protection Array also suffered severe damage during the war!"

"At the same time, the family spent thirty-two thousand Spirit Coins in compensation for the clansmen who perished, and more than nine thousand six hundred Spirit Coins to recruit loose cultivators!"

"And this does not include the expenses for the second elder, fourth elder, and others who were injured."

Upon hearing this, the elders, who had smiles on their faces, also had their smiles fade considerably.

While the victory of the war was indeed worth celebrating and the huge gains were definitely heartening, the clan members who had fallen in battle needed to be remembered and mourned even more so.

At this moment, when Zhou Chun brought up the clan members who had fallen in battle, how could these elders still manage to smile?

Zhou Mingde then slowly spoke, "The deceased have passed on, and those who have fallen for the clan are the heroes of our Zhou Family. We will remember their sacrifices and contributions; we also cannot allow their sacrifices to have been in vain!"

"Alright, now let me personally discuss the arrangements for these gains!"

Upon reaching this point, his gaze swept over the faces of all the elders, and he then said in a solemn voice, "As for the gains this time, since they were almost entirely secured by the senior cultivators of the family through their own strength in battle, they should be given priority in the distribution!"

"Therefore, I believe it would be appropriate to allocate seventy percent of the spoils they obtained on the battlefield to themselves, reserve ten percent to reward the cultivators who remained to protect the family, and the remaining twenty percent should be deposited into the family's public treasury!"

"What are your thoughts on this method of distribution?"

Upon hearing his words, Zhou Jiarui and other elders could not help but glance at each other before Zhou Chongshan took the lead in responding, "The more capable should receive more, and this method of distribution proposed by the Supreme Elder meets with no objection from me."

"I have no objections either!"

"We will follow the arrangement of the Supreme Elder!"

"I agree with this method of distribution."

The remaining Zhou Family elders all voiced their agreement in turn, with no one raising any objections.

In fact, apart from Zhou Jiahe and Zhou Zhengyuan, who had always stayed at home, the others had all participated in the southern campaign. According to this method of distribution, their gains would not be small.

Moreover, these two individuals were not particularly ambitious and were quite content with their current cultivation level and status. Naturally, they would not oppose the majority over such a matter.

Seeing this, Zhou Mingde also nodded in satisfaction, "Good, since none of you have any objections, once the share that each of you should receive has been calculated, you can then decide how to settle based on the actual situation."

After finishing, he turned to Zhou Chun and said, "Now, Zhengchun, please inform everyone about the current situation of the family."

Zhou Chun, hearing this, stood up again, then holding the ledger, said, "The family currently has one hundred seventy-seven Zhou Family cultivators, twenty-one maternal family cultivators, among them two are at the Purple Mansion Phase, seven at the Foundation Establishment Stage, thirty-three in the late stage of Qi Refinement, seventy-four in the mid-stage of Qi Refinement, fifty-three in the early stage of Qi Refinement, and seventeen non-cultivating clan members."

"Additionally, the family has now taken in twenty-six servant retainers, of whom eighteen have entered the early stage of Qi Refinement."

Owing to the Zhou Family's policy of encouraging childbirth in recent years, the number of Zhou Family cultivators has increased significantly over the past decade.

If it were not for the loss of over twenty clan members in the war, the number of native Zhou Family cultivators would have broken two hundred by now.

But to tell the truth, compared to the current number of mid- and high-level Zhou Family cultivators, which include two in the Purple Mansion Phase and seven in the Foundation Establishment Stage, this number of Qi Refinement cultivators is still far from sufficient.

However, increasing the population of family cultivators is not something that can be achieved overnight, and Zhou Chun has no good solution for this issue. He can only wait until he takes over as clan leader before trying to see if policies such as childbirth subsidies can be implemented to boost the desire of Zhou Family cultivators to have children.

At this point, upon hearing him first mention the population of the family's cultivators, Zhou Mingde also took the opportunity to pose a question to him.

"Although the number of family cultivators has increased over the years, it is undoubtedly falling behind compared to the development of the family, and the shortcomings of insufficient manpower within the family were thoroughly exposed in this war. In the future, there will be many places where the family will need to employ a large number of people. Zhengchun, do you have any thoughts on this?"

This question had not been discussed with Zhou Chun beforehand by Zhou Mingde, catching him somewhat off guard.

After hearing his words, Zhou Chun was momentarily taken aback.

Nevertheless, Zhou Chun quickly grasped what Zhou Mingde was getting at.

After a brief contemplation, he began to speak, "The growth in the number of family cultivators cannot be improved in just a year or two. It takes at least thirty years for one generation to mature. Even if the family adds a hundred newborns with Spirit Root Aptitude now, it will take three to five decades before they can grow up and be of use to the family!"

"Therefore, in my opinion, if we need to employ people on a large scale outside the family in the coming period, the only option is to hire outsiders!"