Clan Cultivation: Starting from Beast Taming

At this moment, having heard his statement, Zhou Daoyi suddenly turned to Zhou Chun and asked, "Then, Zhengchun, do you have any thoughts?"

"Supreme Elders, with your insightful judgment, I indeed have some thoughts," replied Zhou Chun, nodding.

Zhou Chun nodded and immediately began sharing his own thoughts.

"I believe that in order to reverse this improper trend, first, we need to make these clan members realize the extent of the harm that such violations of family rules can bring to both themselves and the family; second, they need to understand that although the Zhou Family's power is not weak now, it is still far from being sufficient for them to behave recklessly outside. Their trivial abilities do not give them any right to be unruly in the Cultivation World!"

"For the former, we could revise and amend the family rules, increase the severity of punishments for such incidents, and also establish new family rules that clearly tell them the family will not protect them in any proactive schemes of murder and theft. They shouldn't expect to commit atrocities outside and then hide within the family, thinking that will resolve everything!"

"As for the latter, it would be best to collaborate with other forces and organize some martial arts competitions. This way, our people could witness the strength of elite individuals from other forces, which would help extinguish their arrogance!"

Saying this, he bowed with his hands clasped before the two Supreme Elders and said, "Of course, these are just my personal thoughts, merely preliminary intentions. As for what action to take, I still must ask for the insights of both Supreme Elders and all the Elders together."

"Hmm, your line of thinking is quite good, Zhengchun, but when implementing it, we must still carefully manage the extent," said Zhou Mingde, nodding in approval of Zhou Chun's ideas.

Then, as Zhou Chun had suggested, nearly ten high-ranking members of the Zhou Family began discussing strategies to rectify the family's conduct.

After a round of discussion, everyone reached a consensus.

With the approval of the two Supreme Elders, both the amendments to the family rules to increase the severity of punishments and the formulation of new family rules were permitted.

However, the new family rules were not as impersonal as Zhou Chun had suggested; for those clan members who made mistakes outside, the family would still provide them a certain degree of protection after internal punishment, as long as the family could cover for their mistakes.

Sometimes, supporting relatives rather than principles is a necessary tactic to maintain loyalty.

Zhou Chun understood this and did not have any significant objections.

Regarding the organization of martial arts competitions with other forces, although it also received the agreement of the high-ranking members,

whether this event could succeed, be well executed, and achieve the effects Zhou Chun spoke of was now uncertain.

After all, the Zhou Family was indeed an unrivaled presence among the Cultivation families in Lanzhou at present. Compared with cultivators of the same age from other families, the younger Zhou Family Cultivators were indeed stronger, which was the root of their arrogance.

Therefore, to truly humble them, it would be necessary to involve families with Golden Core cultivators or those Cultivation clans only slightly less powerful than the Zhou Family.

However, those families might not be willing to participate in such events organized by the Zhou Family, nor be willing to serve as whetstones for the Zhou Family.

After the discussion on rectifying the family's conduct was completed, Zhou Chun opened the hall's doors and let in clerks waiting outside with documents and reports to start updating the Zhou Family's current personnel and material status.

"Supreme Elders, Clan Leader, and esteemed Elders, in accordance with the Clan Leader's instructions, I will now report to you all the verified and tallied information regarding the Zhou Family's members," said a subordinate.

"Currently, our Zhou Family has a total of 285 Cultivators, among which there are 216 from the Zhou Family itself and 71 Maternal Family Cultivators, with 180 male Cultivators and 106 female Cultivators."

"Excluding Supreme Elders, Clan Leader, and Elders, our Zhou Family has a total of 33 core clan members, 80 elite clan members, and 161 ordinary clan members, including Maternal Family Cultivators."

"Among these clan members, there are 46 at the late stage of Qi Refinement, 97 at the mid-stage of Qi Refinement, and 99 at the early stage of Qi Refinement. Additionally, 33 clan members are still too young to have started Cultivation practice."

A young descendant of the Zhou Family stood at the lower end of the hall, holding a book and reporting the Zhou Family's member situation with a somewhat tense voice.

After listening to his report, Zhou Zhengyuan, who was always immersed in Alchemy, couldn't help but exclaim, "Has our family already accumulated so many Cultivators?"

His impression of the Zhou Family's population was still that of a time when there were fewer than two hundred people.

To his surprise, in just over a decade, the family had undergone such significant changes.

"Thanks to the special birth subsidy policy implemented by the family, these years have seen the younger generations within the family more actively procreating. Additionally, the numbers of mundane family members have also grown substantially every year, providing the family with many more children of Spirit Root Aptitude. Hence, the growth in family numbers has indeed been quite rapid,"

"Moreover, now that the family is thriving and prosperous, more female Cultivators from both small and large families are willing to become Dao companions with our Zhou Family Cultivators. This has caused the number of maternal family Cultivators to increase quite quickly as well,"

Zhou Chun answered with a smile. This was his political achievement, and naturally, he talked about it with great satisfaction and happiness.

"No wonder the family's demand for elixirs for advancing Cultivators in the Qi Refinement Realm has increased significantly in recent years. So it turns out that the number of our family Cultivators has grown to this extent!"

Zhou Zhengyuan murmured in realization, as though he had unraveled some puzzlement.

Then, his expression changed slightly, and he couldn't help but turn to Zhou Chun and ask, "But with so many family Cultivators, there must be substantial consumption. Can our family finances support this ever-increasing expenditure?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chun couldn't help but smile lightly and said, "No worries there, sixth brother. Although our family's expenditure isn't low, our income is quite substantial as well. Maintaining the current level of expenditure isn't much of an issue."

Relieved by his words, Zhou Zhengyuan immediately smiled and said, "Then that puts my mind at ease. No matter what, an increase in the number of family members is a good thing. Only with people can there be a future!"

"Zhengyuan is quite right. Only with people can there be a future. Our Zhou Family has no need to worry about increasing numbers of Cultivators. On the contrary, we should be worried about not having enough!"

Zhou Mingde nodded repeatedly, his words filled with joy at the considerable increase in the Zhou Family Cultivator population.

Zhou Daoyi couldn't help but express his sentiments, "That's exactly the point. In the Cultivation World, the birth of children with Spiritual Root Aptitude is a matter of luck. But, if we wanted to control or reduce the number of Cultivators, there are far too many methods available!"

The growth of the Cultivator population can only rely on childbirth.

But to reduce the population of Cultivators, there are many ways indeed.

Whether due to war or accidental deaths, or female Cultivators marrying out or sending people to join sects and powers, these can all lessen the population burden of a Cultivation family.

Therefore, for the Zhou Family, when it comes time to control the growth speed of family Cultivator numbers, it will be easy to manage. Right now, there's no need to consider it.

"What's the current financial situation of the family? From what you just said, Zhengchun, it seems the family's income is quite substantial!"

Zhou Zhengyuan looked at Zhou Chun with eager anticipation, his tone full of expectation.

Even though he didn't usually involve himself in external affairs, he knew that living comfortably depended entirely on the family's financial status.

After all, since his success in Foundation Establishment, he had not truly engaged in combat with Cultivators of the same level, nor had he taken any risks outside.

This meant that he could hardly obtain any income from outside the family, and his level of dependency on the family was the highest among the Elders.

Therefore, he truly didn't want the family's finances to suffer any problems that might affect his Cultivation practice.

"Indeed, the family's income is very good, and it's expected to be even better in the future!"

Zhou Chun nodded with a smile, his tone also very proud.

This too was his achievement, his diligent governance since taking on the role of Clan Leader had taken the Zhou Family from a financial deficit to the current state of abundance.

Without keeping them in suspense, he immediately had one of the junior Zhou Family members report the current financial status of the family.