Beauty warming the bed is definitely not a fortune Zhouyang can enjoy; lust is a bone-scraping knife. In the Cultivation Realm, countless geniuses have failed to resist the temptation of beauty, losing their virginity too early, which obstructed their path, and eventually faded into obscurity.
To cut oneself off from the Great Dao for a night's pleasure, there is nothing more foolish; compared to the temptation of immortality, what is the meager allure of women?
Besides, the people Zhouyang usually interacts with are all cultivators. The female cultivators of the Zhou Family, even his mother Lin Yuting and Zhou Xuan Yu, who are women nearly a century old, due to the influence of magical power, their beauty and demeanor are unmatched by mortal women. After seeing so many "fairies" of the Cultivation Realm, how could he possibly fancy the plain powdery faces arranged by the Chen Family for his bed?
However, Zhouyang knows that some older cultivators, who have already lost their virginity, or loose cultivators with extremely poor spiritual root talent who know they have no hope of Foundation Establishment in this life, often visit the "Fengyue Tower" operated by various clans on Bai Sha Continent, enjoying a night of emperor-like treatment for free.
The women in the "Fengyue Tower" are secular clan members of each cultivation clan, serving guests in "Fengyue Tower" to bear children with spiritual roots through strategic reproduction.
According to statistics from predecessors in the Cultivation Realm, the chance of offspring having spiritual roots from the union between mortal women and ordinary Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators is over one percent, which is far greater than the minuscule chance of offspring from mortal unions.
Among mortals, there is a saying that "mothers gain nobility through their children." If these women in the "Fengyue Tower" bear offspring with spiritual roots, even if they possess the lowest grade, low-grade spiritual roots, they will receive rewards from their clan.
While such rewards may be insignificant to cultivators, for mortals, they may be an enormous sum that benefits them for a lifetime.
For the cultivation clan behind them, it's merely spending some resources useless to cultivators in return for a new clan member, which is an excellent deal.
The customers enjoy life's pleasures, the attendants earn substantial clan rewards, and the owners expand their business—it's a triple win!
The clan that first established "Fengyue Tower" is the Chen Family. Currently, among the thousand Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators of the Chen Family, at least thirty percent are offspring from women in the "Fengyue Tower." Even among the dozen Foundation Establishment cultivators, two are born from women of the "Fengyue Tower."
Because of the Chen Family's precedent, other cultivation clans in Baisha River Oasis have also emulated the Chen Family in setting up "Fengyue Towers," and sometimes in order to compete for "clientele," clans would even proactively offer spirit stones to attract cultivators to their own "Fengyue Towers."
Many young loose cultivators unaware of the preciousness of their Primordial Yang are foolishly lured by the dual temptations of beauty and spirit stones, squander their precious Primordial Yang.
It is said that the "Fengyue Tower" model has now expanded beyond Baisha River Oasis, successfully opening branches in several major oases in the Boundless Desert Sea that have cultivator marketplaces, imitated by numerous cultivation clans.
However, this model has its limitations; it can only thrive in open-type oases like Baisha River Oasis, where there is a large flow of cultivators.
Like Zhou Family's Yuquan Lake Oasis, even if such a model is emulated to establish "Fengyue Tower," it's unlikely for other cultivators to travel far to patronize, not to mention the Zhou Family's strength doesn't allow them to permit an influx of unidentified cultivators into Yuquan Lake Oasis.
Truth be told, when Zhouyang first heard about the "Fengyue Tower" model from a senior, he was quite astonished and even envied those visiting cultivators.
Going to pleasure places without having to pay and even being able to earn money is something he dared not even dream of in his previous life!
Especially, it is said that to increase the reception rate of their "Fengyue Towers," some clans have specially trained those mortal women.
This training is comprehensive, including etiquette, dance, singing, bedroom skills, etc., reportedly based on the standards of the mortal emperor's consorts on Liuyun Continent's Immortal Realm side, ensuring each cultivator entering the "Fengyue Tower" enjoys an emperor-like treatment.
But he merely envied because, although Zhou Family's clan rules are not many, the prohibition against clan cultivators entering "Fengyue Tower" is clearly listed, and even positioned prominently.
In fact, not only Zhou Family, almost all sizable cultivation clans around Baisha River Oasis have strictly included prohibitions against visiting "Fengyue Tower" in their clan rules.
The reason for doing so is not only to prevent young cultivators from foolishly succumbing to beauty but also to prevent the clan's bloodline from spreading outside, fearing that someone with the clan's bloodline growing up could be used by enemies against the clan.
It's well known that the Cultivation Realm has an array restriction known as "Bloodline Divine Ban." Many cultivation clans incorporate "Bloodline Divine Ban" when establishing clan treasure vaults and mountain protection arrays.
This way, even if outsiders obtain tokens or spiritual artifacts for entering and exiting array treasure vaults by killing and plundering, if their bloodline doesn't meet entry requirements, the array will activate against them within its range.
Some major clan treasure vaults will automatically trigger a self-destruct array when outsiders forcibly breach outer arrays, ensuring that treasure vaults won't be cheaply taken by the enemy.
Under these circumstances, how could major cultivation clans allow their bloodline to fall into outsider hands, how dare they let their bloodline slip away!
The Zhou Family is not a major family. Though they may not be worried about someone using this point against them now, who knows if, in the future, when the Zhou Family becomes successful, someone might use this method against them?
Therefore, to be safe, any far-sighted cultivation clan would never want to see the family's bloodline diluting. Even when the female cultivators in the family seek a Dao Companion, they often do so by inviting a husband to join the family, or have him make a "Nether Blood Oath" to never have offspring.
In short, whether constrained by family rules or pursuing the path of longevity, Zhouyang is determined not to waste his Primordial Yang before reaching Golden Core.
After he refused Chen Fangping's arrangements for a maid to spend the night, he directly closed the door and fell asleep.
This sleep was incredibly comfortable for Zhouyang, and he only woke after sleeping for more than ten hours.
Upon waking, he felt refreshed, completely shaking off his previous fatigue, and was full of energy.
He tidied himself a bit and then left the room to head toward the Reception Hall, ready to bid Chen Fangping farewell and head to "Jinsha Marketplace."
In the Reception Hall, Chen Fangping, upon seeing Zhouyang dressed in flowing white robes, narrowed his eyes and greeted him with a broad smile, laughing, "Haha, little brother, you're finally awake. How about it? Shall I arrange another farewell dinner to see you off?"
Hearing these words, Zhouyang's face instantly darkened, nearly turning around and leaving in anger.
He rolled his eyes, annoyed, and complained to this round-faced fat man, "Brother Chen, do I look like I'm easy to take advantage of? You're the descendant of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, do you really need these measly spirit stones from me?"
"Oh dear, little brother, what are you saying? We conduct fair business, with no deception, how can you describe it as taking advantage? Besides, who said Foundation Establishment Cultivators' descendants don't lack spirit stones? Look at these shiny spirit stones, they're bright and round, who wouldn't like them?"
Chen Fangping shook his head repeatedly, disagreeing with Zhouyang's complaint.
He, Chen Fangping, loved spirit stones, but always gained them through ethical means, with clear pricing, how can someone use the insulting term "taking advantage" to describe him? It insults his character! It insults his father, Chen Ping'an!
He looked seriously at Zhouyang and said, "I say, little brother, won't you reconsider? I tell you, if it weren't for our pleasant meeting, normally I wouldn't bother with anyone wanting to drink my farewell wine!"
Go on, keep bluffing, I'll quietly watch you show off!
Zhouyang looked at Chen Fangping's serious face, unmoved, his heart staying steady.
Of course, the average person couldn't afford the farewell wine of this greedy fat man, where a meal costs over a hundred spirit stones, even Foundation Establishment Cultivators aren't that extravagant, right?
Now thinking about being taken advantage of yesterday, Zhouyang felt heartache; that was over a hundred spirit stones, his annual supply was only 80 pieces of Lower Grade Spirit Stones!
A meal that cost him more than a year's supply; even considering his current wealth, it was a painful waste.
To know, a Tier Two High-Grade Spiritual Artifact in the market ranges between five hundred to a thousand Lower Grade Spirit Stones, his meal was like spending a Tier Two Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact or four Tier Two High-Grade Spirit Talismans!
After staring at each other for a while, seeing Zhouyang unmoved, Chen Fangping eased his round face, shrugged helplessly, and said, "Alright then, since you insist, little brother, I wish you a smooth journey!"
"Farewell, Brother Chen!"
Zhouyang cupped his hands in salute, turned, and left the hall without looking back.
In the Reception Hall, Chen Fangping watched Zhouyang's retreating figure, his smile gradually disappeared, replaced by a thoughtful expression as he muttered to himself, "So young, yet has Eighth-Layer Qi Cultivation, with a composed demeanor, a good seedling. It looks like, after this [Foundation Establishment Conference], the Zhou Family will gain another Foundation Establishment Cultivator!"
These individuals were sent by their respective families to greet and bid farewell to the cultivators entering and leaving the Baisha River Oasis, not only to prevent cultivators from intruding into the oasis and disturbing mortals, but also to secretly observe the potential of cultivators coming and going.
If they encounter promising loose cultivators, they would notify their family to secretly investigate their background, and if it turns out this loose cultivator's character is impeccable, they would offer an olive branch, either inviting them as a guest elder of the family or marrying them into the family as an external relative.
But when meeting cultivators from other cultivation clans like Zhouyang, they might not recruit them, but they would still collect information on them to be compiled and submitted to the family, so if the family wants to deal with or bring in such a cultivator in the future, these seemingly useless bits of information may prove valuable.