Chapter 13: Chapter 13: 3 Reforms

Jiufeng Ridge, inside the Zhou Family Ancestral Hall.

In front of most of the Zhou Family members, Zhou Wende, the Supreme Elder of the Zhou Family, solemnly announced the various reform regulations of the Zhou Family.

According to his words, since the Zhou Family was now officially continuing as a Cultivation family, it should continue its lineage like all the major Cultivation families.

Therefore, the first reform was the arrangement of generational names and the changing of titles.

Sky, Earth, Clarity, Prosper, Uphold, Household, Righteous, Heart, Source—these twelve generational names were decided upon after discussion between Zhou Wende, the Clan Leader, and the Elders.

From now on, starting from Zhou Wende, to the newly born children, everyone’s name would follow this twelve-character generational naming system.

And because the ages of the Zhou Family Cultivators varied, the specific generation they belonged to would be determined from the generation of Zhou Wende’s ancestors, with each generation spanning fifty years.

According to this division, there were two members of the “Ming” generational name within the Zhou Family: the Supreme Elder Zhou Mingde and the Great Elder Zhou Mingshan.

There was one member of the “Chong” generational name, the second Elder Zhou Chongshan.

There were two members of the “Dao” generational name, the third Elder Zhou Daoquan and the Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi.

There were three members of the “Shou” generational name, all of whom were Zhou Family members over a hundred years old.

The “Jia” generational name was the most numerous, with sixty-seven people.

There were also thirty-three Cultivators of the “Zheng” generational name, which would be used for over a decade more.

Following this order, Cultivators of the same age as Zhou Chun and Zhou Yong, along with the thirty-five-year-old Zhou Jingwen were classified as the “Zheng” generational name.

As for Zhou Chun’s previously acquainted Zhou Fei, he was ranked in the “Jia” generational name.

Zhou He, the Peak Master of Baozhi Peak, was also classified as the “Jia” generational name.

After the generational names were arranged, when addressing each other, family members within three generations must use titles like grandparents, uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters.

Among those of the same generation, seniority would be determined by age.

This way, Zhou Chun was ranked thirteenth among the Cultivators of his “Zheng” generational name, slightly older than most of his contemporaries.

For the convenience of every Zhou Family Cultivator to know the rankings within the generational names, a manual was specifically distributed to every Cultivator present, detailing the generational names and ranks among contemporaries of all current Zhou Family Cultivators.

Those Zhou Family Cultivators who were not present would receive the manual subsequently.

Clearly, the purpose of arranging generational names and changing titles was to unite all Zhou Family Cultivators, both internally and externally, and to enhance their sense of belonging to the family and to other family members.

By using kinship as a bond and the titles among family members as buttons, all Zhou Family Cultivators were united together, cementing their recognition of the Zhou Family as one big family.

Zhou Mingde and the other high-level members of the Zhou Family had truly poured their hearts into this.

And because Zhou Mingde and the other senior officials were leading by example in changing their names, even if some Zhou Family Cultivators felt uncomfortable suddenly having more elder relatives of an older generation, they had to suppress their feelings and were unable to object.

Of course, in order to alleviate these Cultivators’ discomfort, Zhou Mingde also made a serious statement on the spot, firmly prohibiting any Zhou Family Cultivator from bullying other family members of a lower generation by taking advantage of their higher generational name and older age.

Furthermore, considering that some people’s names might not sound pleasant with the addition of the generational name, it was permitted for the present Zhou Family Cultivators to still use their original names when introducing themselves to outsiders.

In summary, the generational names were created to unite Zhou Family Cultivators, and they must absolutely not become an obstacle to their unity.

After the generational names, Zhou Mingde quickly announced the second reform.

That was to classify the current Zhou Family Cultivators according to three factors: cultivation level, merit, and aptitude, and to rank their identities accordingly.

The highest category was the Supreme Elder, followed by the Clan Leader, and then the Elders.

Beyond the Elders, there were three tiers: core family members, elite family members, and ordinary family members.

In the future, whether it was the annual distribution of welfare offerings, the right to exchange and use certain family resources, or the right to cultivate secret techniques, everything would be graded according to the identity tier of each Zhou Family member.

Even when clan members later have conflicts with one another, and it is difficult to distinguish right from wrong, the Clan Leader and the Elders will tend to favor the side with the higher-status identity during their judgment.

According to this regulation, now in Jiufeng Ridge, apart from those of Pagoda Peak, every other Spirit Peak’s Peak Master will automatically become a core clan member.

Clan members who have reached the later stages of Qi Refinement will also automatically become elite clan members, with all others being ordinary clan members.

This set of identity recognition standards will be effective for the next ten years.

That means ordinary clan members like Zhou Chun, as long as they can cultivate to the later stages of Qi Refinement within ten years, can automatically be promoted to elite clan members.

Of course, if an ordinary clan member performs exceptionally well, makes significant contributions to the family, or has outstanding talent, even if their cultivation has not reached the later stages of Qi Refinement, they can still be promoted to elite or even core clan members.

Clearly, compared to simply listening to the verbal ranking by generation, this identification of status brings tangible benefits.

This system is somewhat similar to the distinctions of elite disciples, inner sect disciples, and outer sect disciples in sects, or rather, it’s just a change of name.

With this hierarchical status system in place, ordinary clan members and elite clan members will definitely work hard to improve their cultivation and accumulate merits in order to become core clan members, thus bettering their own treatment and acquiring more resources for cultivation.

This highly motivational change was, without doubt, accepted on the spot by all Zhou Family Cultivators.

Following that, Zhou Mingde announced the third change.

This change had to do with the regulations concerning the future of Zhou Family Cultivators joining sects and getting married.

The Zhou Family would not prevent members from joining other sects in the future; on the contrary, they would offer certain assistance and subsidies.

But these are not for free.

If a Zhou Family Cultivator joins a sect and accepts the family’s subsidies but fails to achieve Foundation Establishment by the age of sixty and become an Inner Sect Disciple of the sect, they must return to the family to serve loyally, or repay the subsidies they had received.

Similarly, if a Zhou Family Cultivator wishes to leave the family for personal marriage reasons, they must compensate the family for the various resources spent on them over the years, and they must not privately divulge the family’s secret techniques or reveal any family secrets.

Conversely, if a member brings a Maternal Family Cultivator to the family through personal marriage, the family will also have a reward for them.

Looking at this third change, the Zhou Family’s family tradition is still very open-minded, at least Zhou Mingde and the other senior members are such enlightened individuals.

At least to Zhou Chun, if he were to join a sect or leave the family for a beloved woman, the family’s open-minded approach would make him grateful and remember it for a lifetime.

Of course, he certainly wouldn’t do such a thing.

Those cultivation sects, not to mention whether they are easy to enter, once inside, those without exceptional talent won’t necessarily have a better treatment than within the Zhou Family, and they might even face more exploitation and restrictions.

After announcing these three major changes, Zhou Mingde continued to announce some new family rules.

For instance, it was strictly forbidden to provoke major sects and clans like Jingguo Country’s Green Lotus Temple, which were overseen by Nascent Soul and Golden Elixir Cultivators, as well as powers presided over by Purple Mansion Cultivators. It was also strictly forbidden to deceive others in the name of the Zhou Family, to murder and plunder, and to damage the Zhou Family’s reputation, among other things.

In contrast, the restriction that prevented Zhou Family Cultivators from leaving Jiufeng Ridge was lifted.

From now on, if a Zhou Family Cultivator wanted to leave Jiufeng Ridge, they only needed a legitimate reason and to apply in advance to the Clan Leader. Upon approval, they could depart.

Thus, having stayed in the Zhou Family Ancestral Hall for more than two hours and listened to Supreme Elder Zhou Mingde announce and explain various revolutionary decisions and family rules, Zhou Chun and the other Zhou Family Cultivators were finally allowed to leave the meeting.

And the matters announced at this clan meeting within the Ancestral Hall were naturally hotly discussed by all the family cultivators.

Even while stationed at the Spirit Cleansing Pavilion, Zhou Chun could hear several of his uncles and elder clansmen discussing these matters.

He also expressed some of his own views, which were mostly in agreement and supportive.

Without rules, there is no circle. At least in Zhou Chun’s view, the changes made by Zhou Mingde and the other Zhou Family seniors had a positive effect and the benefits far outweighed the drawbacks.

The Zhou Family Cultivators were currently abuzz with discussion simply because they were still not used to these changes.

Once they got used to them, they would no longer be concerned about these matters.