Chapter 35: 35th Chapter: The Inescapable Matchmaking Gathering

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Hongyao Valley.

It was not until Zhou Chun and the others followed Clan Leader Wang Zhixiong into the Wang Family’s residence that they discovered the Zhou Family was actually the last clan to arrive.

The Mu Family from Biyun Mountain, the Sun Family from Golden Maple Ridge, and the He Family from Qingzhu Mountain had all arrived at the Wang Family’s place the day before.

Now, with the arrival of the Zhou Family, all members of the five major clans were present.

“This time, our five great families are jointly hosting a spell-fighting and martial exchange event, which is one of the rare grand occasions in recent years. My Wang Family has also invited many cultivators in the Foundation Establishment realm from inside and outside Lanzhou to attend. Now that all the Taoist friends are here and have started their exchanges, Taoist Friend Zhou, you should come with me to meet them all,” Wang Zhixiong said with a smile, extending his hand in a welcoming gesture.

After finishing, he glanced at Zhou Chun and other Qi Refinement Realm cultivators of the Zhou Family with a smile, “It’s also a good chance for these younger generation members to get to know each other and establish relationships.”

Hearing his words, Zhou Daoyi first nodded, then turned to the cultivators of the Zhou Family behind him and said, “You heard what Taoist Friend Wang said. Go with the two cultivators from the Wang Family and meet the other families’ cultivators. And remember, don’t cause trouble, understand?”

“Yes, Clan Leader,” the crowd responded in unison, then followed the two Qi Refinement Realm cultivators from the Wang Family to another courtyard.

By the time the Zhou Family members reached a courtyard called Osmanthus Courtyard, they could hear cheers and applause echoing from within.

Seeing this, everyone exchanged glances, then one after another, they entered the courtyard.

Inside the courtyard, which was planted with many osmanthus trees, dozens of male and female cultivators sat on stone benches or lay against tree trunks, all looking towards a certain spot as though they were engaged in some activity.

After leading the group of Zhou Family members into the courtyard, the leading Wang Family cultivator clapped his hands and called out, “Come, everyone, take a break and come greet the cultivators from the Zhou Family.”

Upon hearing his words, the cultivators in the courtyard shifted their gaze to the Zhou Family cultivators.

“I am Zhou Jiacheng, greetings to all Taoist friends.”

“Zhou Jiapeng, greetings to all Taoist friends.”

“Zhou Zhengkang, greetings to all Taoist friends.”

…

Facing the gazes of the cultivators in the courtyard, members of the Zhou Family bowed with hands clasped and introduced themselves, initiating conversation.

The cultivators from the other families, who had been sizing up the Zhou Family, had no choice but to introduce themselves in return to avoid any rudeness, though many of them had done this before on prior occasions.

Once everyone had introduced themselves, under the host Wang Family cultivators’ invitation, Zhou Chun and the other Zhou Family cultivators also found seats and joined in their activities.

Before the Zhou Family cultivators had arrived, the others were competing to see who could cast spells the fastest, aiming to cast the most lower-tier first-rank spells and mid-tier first-rank spells within a hundred breaths’ time.

To increase the fun of the competition, someone even set up a betting pool, attracting others to invest Spirit Coins on bets.

The person running the books would give half of the income earned to the winner.

This sparked a great deal of interest in joining the competition among the cultivators present, and many of them signed up to participate.

Upon learning about this event, many Zhou Family cultivators were also tempted and followed suit in signing up.

Of course, only those qualified to participate in such events were mostly elite cultivators like Zhou Jiapeng and his group.

Cultivators of the youth group like Zhou Chun could only watch the excitement and cheer from the sidelines.

“Thirteenth brother, aren’t you going to place a bet for fun?”

Under an osmanthus tree, Zhou Chun stood with his arms folded, watching two cultivators compete when suddenly Zhou Zhengyong approached him and quietly started talking about betting.

“The character ‘gamble’ has always led to harm; I never gamble,” Zhou Chun shook his head and replied in a low voice to Zhou Zhengyong.

Hearing this, Zhou Zhengyong couldn’t help but smile and said, “A small bet for fun, a large bet hurts. I know that principle, so I also just bet three Spirit Coins for a bit of entertainment, win or lose, let it be!”

Zhou Chun didn’t know if he really thought that way, and although they had a good relationship, it wasn’t his place to teach the other how to live.

So he simply shook his head and said, “Brother Yong, as long as you understand, I won’t participate myself.”

“Suit yourself. Did you see those girls over there? I’ve inquired, and they are all unmarried maidens. Why don’t you join me and give it a try, maybe you’ll have some luck?”

As Zhou Zhengyong spoke, he gave Zhou Chun a wink and a nudge.

Unlike Zhou Chun, most of the other cultivators of the Zhou Family did not reject the idea of finding a dual cultivation partner, in fact, they were quite proactive.

For cultivators, having a companion of the opposite sex to jointly pursue the Dual Cultivation Way was a method of boosting one’s cultivation level with external help.

Zhou Chun, when previously selecting secret techniques on the second floor of the Zhou Family’s Book Collection Tower, had even come across a dual cultivation technique.

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If both a man and a woman cultivate using that kind of dual cultivation technique, their cultivation speed would be faster compared to the normal situation.

So, for a cultivator like Zhou Zhengyong, who is twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, when he sees other family’s female cultivators who are not only of good background and cultivation level but also good-looking, it’s perfectly natural for him to think about seeking a dual cultivation partner.

However, he also has the mind of a thief but not the courage of one, still needing to drag Zhou Chun along to embolden himself.

As for why he needed to pull Zhou Chun into this, of course, it’s because Zhou Chun is handsome and charismatic, which makes it less likely for him to be disliked and rejected by female cultivators.

To be honest, Zhou Chun had never thought that after his transmigration, he would become a handsome guy with good looks.

Therefore, at this time, he felt somewhat amused and helpless about being used by Zhou Zhengyong as a tool.

It’s a pity that he couldn’t really refuse this kind of request.

After all, setting aside his friendship with Zhou Zhengyong, meeting other cultivators in itself wasn’t a bad thing.

More importantly, although he didn’t have any intention of looking for a dual cultivation partner at the moment, he didn’t necessarily have to avoid female cultivators when he encountered them.

If he did not agree, Zhou Zhengyong, the big-mouthed fellow, might someday spread the word around, and then people would easily suspect that he might have some issues with his sexual orientation.

At that moment, he could only cough lightly and say, “Ahem, ahem, meeting other family’s Taoist friends is, of course, okay, but whether or not you can attract the ladies’ interest will still depend on Brother Yong’s own abilities.”

When Zhou Zhengyong saw that he had agreed, he immediately nodded his head joyfully and said, “Of course, as a brother, I have prepared a secret weapon.”

Secret weapon?

Zhou Chun took a glance at him, but he didn’t notice anything extra on him.

However, his curiosity was indeed piqued by those words.

He followed Zhou Zhengyong toward the osmanthus trees where the female cultivators were.

As they approached the women within a distance of about ten feet and saw that the female cultivators had noticed them and looked over, yet Zhou Zhengyong showed no signs of speaking, Zhou Chun had no choice but to take the initiative to cup his fists in greeting and say, “Taoist friends, greetings. I am Zhou Zhengchun, and this is my clan brother, Zhou Zhengyong.”

After pausing briefly, he smiled slightly at the women and added, “May I ask if we might stay for a moment and exchange some words with you Taoist friends?”

When he said this, he was actually very nervous inside.

Honestly, Zhou Chun had some shadows in his heart regarding such situations.

Because in his previous life, he had been rejected many times, to the point that he eventually gave up.

But this time, the outcome boosted his confidence from then on.

As his words ended, the female cultivators immediately showed their smiles.

One of them, wearing a light blue dress, immediately raised her hand to gesture and said, “Of course, it’s okay, Taoist Friend Zhou, please take a seat. We sisters were just wishing to consult with the Zhou Family cultivator friends about beast taming!”

So, being handsome really does come with special treatment, huh?

Or are female cultivators in this world simply more understanding and reasonable?

As Zhou Chun took his seat, he couldn’t help but be filled with emotion.

He looked at the four female cultivators opposite him.

In terms of looks and figure, they were definitely at that first-rate standard from his previous life, the kind of beauties who could effortlessly gather a million fans with a live stream without needing any beauty filters.

Such beauties, in his previous life, were only for him to watch. To expect them to face him with a smile in reality was almost impossible.

“Taoist Friend Zhou seems quite young, may I know how old you are this year?”

“I heard that the Zhou Family of Jiufeng Ridge has tamed many types of Spirit Beasts, and I have always wanted to raise a fox-type Spirit Pet. Could Taoist Friend Zhou possibly help me out?”

“I have tamed a Fire Flame Cat as a Spirit Pet, but unfortunately, after many years, it has remained at the first stage of a middle-grade Demon Beast. Does Taoist Friend Zhou know how it could break through and advance?”

Just as Zhou Chun sat down and was reflecting inwardly, the female cultivators in front began to throw various questions at him.

This seemed to bring him back to a familiar area.

But before, it used to be questions like, have you bought a house? Have you bought a car? Is the house fully paid for? Is the car one of the BBA brands?

Compared to those soul-searching inquiries, the questions now were a bit easier to answer.

After collecting his thoughts, he smiled and replied, “I, Zhou, am twenty-four this year and have been on the path of cultivation for fourteen years.”

“As for the request of this Taoist friend, I am really not in a position to help, as the Zhou Family has not yet planned to sell Spirit Pets to outsiders. However, I can keep an eye out for you, and will inform you as soon as there is news.”

“Regarding this Taoist friend’s question, I would need to take a look at your Fire Flame Cat and learn about the process you’ve used to cultivate it before I could give you some advice.”

And so, Zhou Chun answered the female cultivators’ questions while gradually also helping Zhou Zhengyong to ask and find out more about the women.