Zhou Xuanyu taking Zhou Yang in as his foster son was just a small episode before official matters began. Today, the purpose of the Zhou family's foundation establishment cultivators gathering in the ancestral hall was still to discuss the expansion of the Red Flame Iron Ore Vein.
It had been two years since the discovery of the Red Flame Iron Ore Vein. During these two years, the old patriarch Zhou Minghan had made several visits to scout the scale and number of the Poison Fire Scorpion Swarm, and now he had basically figured out the situation.
According to what the old patriarch Zhou Minghan discovered, the number of Poison Fire Scorpions at the Red Flame Iron Ore Vein was between five hundred and seven hundred, including one Tier Three [Poison Fire Scorpion King], and thirty to forty Tier Two Poison Fire Scorpions, with the rest being all Tier One Poison Fire Scorpions.
The Tier One Poison Fire Scorpions were nothing to fear. Today, the cultivators gathered at the ancestral hall, except for Zhou Yang, who had just broken through to the seventh layer of Qi Cultivation not long ago, were all senior cultivators who had been in the late-stage Qi Cultivation for many years, each equipped with a Tier Two defensive spiritual artifact refined by the old patriarch Zhou Minghan. No matter how many Tier One Poison Fire Scorpions there were, without the ability to launch scorpion needle concentrated attacks, they couldn't cause much harm.
Therefore, the main points of the discussion were still focused on the Tier Two Poison Fire Scorpions and the Tier Three [Poison Fire Scorpion King]. These demon beasts were beings that could pose a deadly threat to them, and a specific plan had to be made in advance before taking action.
After much discussion back and forth, it was finally unanimously decided that the old patriarch Zhou Minghan would first engage the Tier Three demon beast [Poison Fire Scorpion King], while the others would exert their full efforts to kill those Tier One and Tier Two Poison Fire Scorpions, cutting their wings, and finally using the power of the array to surround and kill the [Poison Fire Scorpion King].
The plan was formulated, and eighteen late-stage Qi Cultivation cultivators of the Zhou family, including Zhou Yang, mounted the Shatuo Beasts and quietly left the Yuquan Lake Oasis, following the sword-flying old patriarch Zhou Minghan towards the Red Flame Iron Ore Vein.
With the speed of the Shatuo Beast, within just a few days, they had carried the Zhou family's group to the destination.
To avoid alerting the enemy, the camel convoy stopped more than ten kilometers away from the destination. Then, Zhou Xuantai, a Tier One high-grade array master in the group, set up a Tier One Array "Illusion Formation" to conceal the camel beasts' figures. The group abandoned their mounts, utilized the "Concealment Technique" to restrain their breaths, and marched straight towards the Poison Fire Scorpion Nest on the ore vein.
The Poison Fire Scorpion Nest was located inside a sand slope on the Red Flame Iron Ore Vein. This sand slope was covered with several meters of yellow sand on its surface, looking similar to any ordinary sand slope in the desert, the only difference being the denser and more flourishing desert plants around it.
However, in reality, according to the old patriarch Zhou Minghan's investigations, beneath the surface of this ordinary-looking sand slope, lay a vast natural underground cave. This cave not only had a dark river flowing through but also connected to an underground spirit vein, with a concentration of spiritual qi equivalent to a Tier Three lower-grade spirit vein.
The nest of the Poison Fire Scorpions was within this underground cave, and the desert plant shrubs on the sand slope's surface were their hunting ground.
It was currently dusk, the desert temperature being over ten degrees lower than at midday, making it the time when desert animals, buried within the ground or hidden in caves during the day, emerged to find their food for the day.
The Boundless Desert Sea hosted a wide variety of desert animals. In the sky, there were sand chickens, sand gulls, sand swallows, sand sparrows, vultures, ostriches, and other bird species of various sizes. On the ground, there were sand wolves, sand rabbits, camels, sand foxes, sand rats, covering three types of terrestrial animals of different sizes, as well as many types of snakes, scorpions, centipedes, lizards, and spiders, among others, in addition to numerous insects.
These desert animals, along with the diverse desert plants, formed the desert ecosystem. As long as there were many desert plants, traces of these desert animals could usually be found.
Surrounding the Poison Fire Scorpion Nest's sand slope, the dense desert plants and the dark river flowing underground naturally attracted those desert animals struggling for survival in the desert, drawing many to find homes and settle in the vicinity.
Every evening at sunset and every morning at dawn, a variety of desert animals could be seen moving and darting through the desert plants around the sand slope, searching for food to fill their bellies.
Sand rabbits and sand rats, along with insects, fed on plant stems and leaves; sand sparrows and lizards preyed on insects; snakes and sand foxes fed on sand rats, sand rabbits, lizards, and sand chickens; sand wolves preyed on all terrestrial animals, forming a complete desert food chain.
However, the pinnacle of this food chain was not the agile, sharp-clawed sand wolf, but rather the true masters of this area—the Poison Fire Scorpions.
When desert animals collectively set out to forage, it also marked the peak activity period of the Poison Fire Scorpion Swarm, with scorpions ranging from the size of human heads to barrels, scattered over nearly ten square kilometers surrounding the sand slope.
Whenever prey passed by, these hunters, concealed beneath the sands, would suddenly spring up, clamping down with their scorpion claws; if the prey was larger, they would switch to stinging with their scorpion needles.
A human head-sized Tier One Poison Fire Scorpion needed to consume about a pound of fresh meat each time and, once full, could go up to ten days without eating, while a barrel-sized Tier Two Poison Fire Scorpion needed more than ten pounds of fresh meat each time and, when full, could last up to seven days without food.
As for the Tier Three , it no longer consumes the meat of ordinary beasts, but rather preys on the old, weak, sick, and disabled within its own scorpion swarm, devouring a Tier One fellow Poisonous Fire Scorpion every half month.
It is precisely because the has the habit of feeding on its own kind that the desert food chain here on the sand slope has not collapsed. Otherwise, if the scorpion swarm was allowed to infinitely grow in number, the ultimate result would be that all Tier One and Tier Two Poisonous Fire Scorpions would exhaust all ordinary animals, losing their food source, and die of starvation or cannibalize each other.
Of course, in this world, except for Zhouyang, the transmigrator, no one understands what a "food chain" is.
Although he understands the terrible consequences of a food chain collapse, unfortunately, living in a cultivation world and being a cultivator himself possessing great power, his habitual thinking has already changed significantly. When encountering problems, he is more inclined to view and solve them from a cultivator's perspective.
Cultivators attribute their great power to themselves and can resolve issues using magical techniques, so they naturally wouldn't waste their brains thinking of other methods.
Thus, even when Zhouyang realized that the overall strength of the poisonous fire scorpion swarm was weaker than the Zhou Family, his first thought was to gather the family's experts to eradicate them.
It wasn't until he followed the family elders to the outside of the destination, and using the "Celestial Eye Technique," observed the hunting situation of the Poisonous Fire Scorpions from afar, discovering the fragile desert food chain on the sand slope, that he suddenly awoke to the realization that there were other ways besides using force to weaken and eradicate the scorpion swarm.
"How stupid am I! Why didn't I think of this earlier? If I had come up with this method sooner, there wouldn't have been any need for the old clan leader to take risks gathering the elders back. Just having the old clan leader go alone to set a few fires to burn the desert plants on the sand slope would starve most of the Poisonous Fire Scorpions to death!"
Zhouyang regretfully slapped his forehead and quickly found the old clan leader Zhou Minghan to share his discovery and idea.
Of course, he certainly didn't use the term "ecological food chain," but instead expressed what he wanted to convey in terms comprehensible to the cultivators of this world.
"Brilliant! This plan is truly brilliant!"
The old clan leader Zhou Minghan, who had lived for over a hundred years as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, quickly grasped the subtlety upon hearing Zhouyang mention it just once and was lavish in his praise for the idea.
"Xiao Jiu, you truly are the blessing bestowed upon the Zhou Family by heaven. To think of such a marvelous plan, it's truly unheard of, unheard of!"
After speaking, he directly communicated covertly to others, calling out: "Come, come, Quan'Er, Xuan Hao, you all come and listen to Xiao Jiu's marvelous plan and see if it's feasible?"
"Indeed, a wonderful plan. This strategy is interlinked and starts from the subtle, not to mention those demon beasts with barely opened spiritual wisdom, but even us cultivators wouldn't realize until the disaster unfolds before us that they've fallen into a scheme. Good strategy, good strategy!" Elder Zhou Quan of the Zhou Family's second elder exclaimed heartily after quickly comprehending the plan relayed by the old clan leader.
"The plan is sound and easy to implement, so much so that it could be used not only here but in dealing with other dwelling demon beast groups in the future. However, the plan harms the heavenly order, and if it can be avoided, better not to use it!" Fourth Elder Zhou Yun also nodded approvingly at Zhouyang's plan, but as a Spirit Plant Cultivator, harbored a natural aversion to such actions that utterly destroy the plant ecosystem and remained cautious.
However, the one who truly hit the nail on the head was Zhouyang's father, Zhou Xuanhao: "I'll add one thing: this plan must never be implemented on an oasis and must be strictly confidential. Otherwise, we will surely be opposed by all cultivators in the Boundless Desert Sea, leading the clan to annihilation!"
In the Boundless Desert Sea, oases are the most important strategic resources. With the existence of oases, mortals can be sustained, and with more mortals, more cultivators with spiritual roots can be produced.
Therefore, anyone who dares to destroy an oasis in the Boundless Desert Sea will inevitably be opposed and hunted by all cultivators, even the Yellow Sand Sect, a major sect, would not dare to do such a thing that angers the masses.
Cultivators of the Zhou Family, having grown up in the desert, are well aware of the importance of oases. Upon hearing Zhou Xuanhao's words, including Zhouyang, who proposed the "ecological chain" warfare method, all felt a chill inside, and their exuberant expressions quickly restrained considerably.
The old clan leader Zhou Minghan also nodded solemnly: "Very well, Xuanhao has spoken well. This kind of strategy indeed requires cautious use, and if it can be avoided, that is naturally best. If used, it must be confidential, not letting news leak and be known by outsiders!"
After speaking, he narrowed his eyes, looked at the sand slope under the setting sun, and whispered: "You all return to Cyan Ping Mountain first, leave this place to the old man. Whether Xiao Jiu's plan is effective can be known with a try!"