Harvest

Outside Jiuyuan City, the sky had not yet fully brightened, but the bustling crowd was already preparing to enter the city. Zeng Fan was naturally among them. Cultivators enjoyed privileges in this world, but Zeng Fan had yet to test the grade of his Spirit Vein and had not even begun cultivating. For now, he could not be too high-profile, or it would bring him more harm than good.

As the people outside the city chatted among themselves, a rapid, thunderous clatter of hooves suddenly came from afar. It drew closer and closer; at first it was only faintly audible, but as time passed, it became increasingly clear. Like a violent storm, the hoofbeats swept in and instantly shattered the previously noisy atmosphere.

"Move! Move! If you get trampled to death, don't blame me!" An arrogant shout rang out as more than ten tall horses galloped over from the distance, drawing everyone's attention. People stopped what they were doing and saying, turning toward the sound of hooves as they secretly wondered who had arrived.

At the front rode a youth in fitted martial clothes. One look at his attire showed that he was the son of a wealthy family. A great bow was slung across his back, and an untamed arrogance covered his face. Seeing this, the guards atop the city walls hurriedly shouted to the soldiers below, "The Young City Lord has returned from hunting! Open the gates, quickly!"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers below hastily unlocked the gates. As the massive doors slowly opened, the Young City Lord's horse charged straight toward Zeng Fan. Seeing Zeng Fan standing motionless, a flash of malice surfaced on his face, and he was about to bring down his whip. An old man beside Zeng Fan hurriedly tugged him aside. The Young City Lord snorted coldly. "Do that again, and I'll break your dog legs." By the time his words fell, he had already vanished through the city gates.

"Thank you, old sir. What is the Young City Lord's background?" Zeng Fan looked at the dust rising around him, a chill flashing through his eyes. He had not begun cultivating yet, so he would endure for now. But if the chance arose, he would surely reclaim this humiliation!

"Silly child, you don't know. He is the City Lord's youngest son, doted on since childhood. When his immortal cultivation aptitude was tested some time ago, he had a fifty-percent Yellow Vein. The City Lord was overjoyed and spared no effort in nurturing him. I heard he is already a cultivator of the First Realm. What a blessed fate." The old man sighed with deep emotion.

"Yellow Vein?" Zeng Fan murmured. Jiuyuan City was not large to begin with, and even a single Yellow Vein was rare, not to mention one who was the City Lord's son. Wealth and honor naturally came without end. Zeng Fan clenched his fists. He had to begin cultivating as soon as possible. In this world of cultivation, fists were the only hard truth. If he had already been a cultivator just now, that youth would have had to treat him politely as well.

With the city gates open, the crowd gradually entered the city. Zeng Fan returned to the inn. "You child, where did you run off to so early in the morning? Come eat first. Afterward, hurry up and get to work." Before he even saw anyone, the voice had already reached him. When the innkeeper's wife saw Zeng Fan enter, she quickly called him over to eat with her.

The innkeeper's wife's words warmed Zeng Fan's heart. Though he worked odd jobs at this inn, she was very kind. Seeing how frail he was, she never made him do heavy labor, only run errands. Zeng Fan understood that she merely pitied him and was giving him a meal to eat. During his time here, she had often given him chicken and duck as well. Though she claimed they were leftovers from customers at the front, she had actually secretly picked them straight from freshly prepared dishes. Zeng Fan naturally would not expose her, silently keeping this kindness engraved in his heart.

After a busy day, Zeng Fan sat on his bed and began meditating. Once he calmed his mind, spiritual energy appeared around him again, but compared to the stone chamber back then, the spiritual energy here was far thinner.

"So this is why cultivators all stay among famous mountains and great rivers. Places with many people have too little spiritual energy, and their cultivation speed cannot compare to others. One step behind, every step behind. But I am not cultivating for that. The most important thing now is opening this Storage Ring and seeing what else is inside." Zeng Fan muttered to himself.

Guided by his consciousness, streams of spiritual energy continuously gathered into his body. Zeng Fan carefully concentrated that spiritual energy at his fingertip.

"I wonder how much spiritual energy it takes to open this Storage Ring. Forget it, gathering more is always better than being caught unprepared." Zeng Fan settled his mind as his Profound Grade Spiritual Vein continuously absorbed the scattered spiritual energy around him. After an unknown amount of time, Zeng Fan opened his eyes. The spiritual energy on his finger had condensed into a distinct little cluster and reached its limit. Without further hesitation, a thought sent the spiritual energy rushing toward the Storage Ring.

With a movement of his mind, Zeng Fan drove the spiritual energy within his body through the meridians of his arm, finally pouring it into the ring in his hand. The Storage Ring emitted a faint glow, and joy appeared on Zeng Fan's face. He had succeeded!

As he looked at the contents inside, the smile on Zeng Fan's face grew wider and wider. He was rich! A pile of Spirit Stones lay quietly within the Storage Ring, roughly a thousand of them, along with several books that resembled cultivation techniques. Guo Ren had likely used up most of the remaining items while healing his injuries and fighting earlier. This was already more than enough for Zeng Fan. The Storage Ring alone was worth a considerable sum.

The problem of low spiritual energy in the city and slow cultivation speed could now be solved. These Spirit Stones were enough for his current cultivation. Spirit Stones were also the currency of the cultivation world, and at his current realm, more than a thousand Spirit Stones was already a massive fortune.

"There's this too." With a thought from Zeng Fan, a cultivation manual appeared in his hand. Fish Dragon Technique: A unique cultivation technique of Flying Dragon Island. Refine Spiritual Energy into Body—First Become Fish, Then Transform into Dragon. At Major Accomplishment, one could manifest a fish dragon outside the body to ward off enemies.

"What a pity. This technique only goes as far as the Spirit Control Realm."

From the technique, Zeng Fan had learned that above the Body Tempering Realm was the Spirit Assimilation Realm, above that was the Spirit Control Realm, and above the Spirit Control Realm was—Foundation Establishment. The technique contained no records beyond Foundation Establishment. Light gradually kindled in Zeng Fan's eyes. One step at a time. This technique was enough for him now. Knowing so much about higher realms was useless; when it came time to break through, there would naturally be a way.

With that thought, Zeng Fan closed his eyes and began cultivating the Fish Dragon Technique.

After a long while, Zeng Fan opened his eyes and walked into the courtyard. He assumed a strange stance and, somewhat stiffly, began performing a set of fist techniques. The Body Tempering Realm was divided into four stages: skin, tendons, bones, and blood. One used the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to temper them in gradual succession. The Body Tempering portion of the Fish Dragon Technique contained the Fish Dragon Fist, which used the momentum of one's fists to draw upon heaven and earth's spiritual energy to temper the body. The denser the spiritual energy, the faster one's progress.

As he performed the fist technique, Zeng Fan felt threads of spiritual energy continuously flowing toward his skin. At that moment, his skin seemed ravenously hungry, greedily devouring the spiritual energy. As Zeng Fan's movements became increasingly practiced, the rate at which he absorbed spiritual energy also continued to rise, and his skin gradually gave off a faint luster. As the spiritual energy continued to flow in, Zeng Fan could clearly feel that the combined speed of the Fish Dragon Fist and his Profound Grade Spiritual Vein could be even faster, but the spiritual energy around him was no longer sufficient to absorb.

"Not enough spiritual energy? At this rate, it will take me at least half a month to reach Minor Accomplishment in Body Tempering Skin. Too slow. I can only use Spirit Stones to speed up my cultivation. It hurts a little, but it is all being used on myself."

Zeng Fan stopped his fist technique, rose to his feet, and headed toward the Storage Ring in his room.