Shi Yue

On a mountain peak on the outskirts of the Great Void Mountain Range in Yuezhou, Great Tang, a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old boy leaned against the trunk of a towering tree.

The boy had delicate features, slightly dark skin, and a thin frame. He looked somewhat frail.

Sitting there, he held a tattered book in his hands and read with such avid interest that he shook his head as he recited.

"Blood Moon Fruit: oval-shaped fruit resembling a full moon, turning reddish-brown when ripe. Cold Moon Flower: entirely snow-white, growing in cold, shady places. Gold Cloud Ginseng: golden ginseng that gives off a strange fragrance..." As he read, the boy let out a long sigh.

"Pseudo Spirit Root. Basically no hope of Foundation Establishment. The sect doesn't value me. Shi Yue, all you can do is be a low-ranking disciple who gathers herbs and scrapes by on a few Spirit Stones each month. Foundation Establishment? No hope in this lifetime." The boy gave a self-mocking smile, set the book down, and stared blankly at the distant horizon.

The book recorded various low-grade medicinal herbs. It was a keepsake from his parents, and he had read it countless times. He couldn't quite recite it backward, but he came close.

The world Shi Yue lived in was called the Star Sand Continent. Everyone in this world dreamed of becoming a cultivator.

A cultivator—one who cultivated the false to seek the true, studied the Dao and practiced cultivation in pursuit of their true self. To cast off the false and preserve the true was "cultivation." The first step was Qi Refining.

Put simply, Qi Refining meant breathing in and out the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy, drawing it into one's body and refining it. Only after transforming that energy into magical power could one be considered a cultivator.

However, not everyone could become a cultivator. Only those with a Spirit Root could sense the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy and cultivate.

No one could clearly explain what a Spirit Root was. It was something people were born with. If someone had no "Spirit Root," then they could forget about cultivation: they couldn't sense spiritual energy at all, let alone cultivate magical power.

But people born with a "Spirit Root" were exceedingly rare among ordinary folk. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that one appeared in ten thousand.

Spirit Roots were classified according to their attributes: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. Most people had Spirit Roots mixed from four or five of these attributes.

Although these people could sense the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy, their cultivation results were abysmal. They could usually only reach Qi Refining Level Four or Five before their progress ground to a halt. In general, they had no hope of reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm in their lifetime.

Thus, Spirit Roots with four or even five attributes were called "Pseudo Spirit Roots" in the cultivation world, distinguishing them from "True Spirit Roots," which had only two or three attributes and allowed for faster cultivation.

The boy possessed a Five Spirit Root, a Pseudo Spirit Root. In the cultivation world, those with Five Spirit Roots were the very definition of dead weight. No sect would accept a cultivator with Five Spirit Roots as a disciple. If Shi Yue's parents hadn't been Core Formation Cultivators of Taixu Sect who had once rendered a great service to the sect, he would have been expelled long ago.

Besides True Spirit Roots and Pseudo Spirit Roots, there was also the "Variant Spirit Root." A "Variant Spirit Root" formed when two or three attributes mixed together, then changed and ascended.

Cultivators with a "Variant Spirit Root" cultivated faster than those with a True Spirit Root. If they could find a cultivation technique suited to their attributes, most would become remarkable experts, each generally able to match three or four ordinary cultivators of equal strength.

A single Spirit Root with only one attribute was called a "Heavenly Spiritual Root" in the cultivation world, meaning its owner was heaven's favorite. No matter the attribute, a cultivator with this kind of Spirit Root cultivated two or three times faster than ordinary cultivators. What's more, upon reaching the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm, they could easily form a Core without facing the bottleneck that others had to overcome.

If their astonishing cultivation speed made other cultivators green with envy, then the fact that those with a "Heavenly Spiritual Root" could form a Core without a bottleneck made everyone else so jealous they could spit blood.

After all, of ten cultivators in the Qi Refining Stage, only one might enter the Foundation Establishment Realm with the help of pills. But among a hundred cultivators in the Foundation Establishment Realm, not even one was guaranteed to successfully form a Core and enter the Core Formation Realm.

With odds of forming a Core so wildly disparate, how could other cultivators not burn with envy at the Heaven-blessed advantages of those with a "Heavenly Spiritual Root"?

Therefore, whenever someone with a Heavenly Spiritual Root appeared, the various cultivation sects would fight tooth and nail to recruit them. It was practically like reserving a Core Formation expert for their sect in advance, greatly increasing its strength.

In its several thousand years since founding, Taixu Sect had never taken on a Heavenly Spiritual Root bearer as a disciple. It did have a few disciples with Variant Spirit Roots, though. The sect kept those disciples hidden away like precious treasures, carefully nurturing them with vast resources. They rarely showed themselves in front of others.

The Four Elements of Cultivation were essential to cultivators seeking the Dao and the truth: place, techniques, companions, and resources.

"Place" meant a suitable location for cultivation. Taixu Sect, where Shi Yue lived, was one of the five great cultivation sects of Great Tang, and its headquarters was naturally built atop a Spirit Vein rich in spiritual energy.

Although Shi Yue was only a disciple in the Qi Refining Stage, his place of cultivation was also built atop a Spirit Vein. The spiritual energy there wasn't particularly dense, but it was sufficient for sitting in meditation and cultivating. Even the place he lived was enough to make Rogue Cultivators intensely envious.

"Techniques" meant cultivation methods. Taixu Sect was, after all, one of the five great cultivation sects, and the number of cultivation methods it possessed far surpassed that of small cultivation families and Rogue Cultivators.

The Great Void Art that Shi Yue cultivated was one of Taixu Sect's several basic cultivation methods. It wasn't especially fast, but it was steady. More than half the sect's Qi Refining disciples cultivated the Great Void Art, and quite a few had reached the Foundation Establishment Realm with it. Clearly, it was a fairly decent cultivation method.

"Companions" meant like-minded friends and fellow cultivators with whom one could share cultivation insights. Dual Cultivation Partners counted, too. When Shi Yue's parents were still alive, many senior brothers and sisters had flocked around him. But after his parents died on an expedition, they all cooled toward him. Those senior brothers and sisters never spoke to him again; some even sneered at him.

And what came next was even more infuriating. Shi Yue had lived in his parents' residence, but not long after they died, the sect reclaimed their cave abode and drove him off to live on a mountain peak with scant spiritual energy.

Grief and anger left Shi Yue powerless to do anything about it. After the whole affair, he had seen every shade of human nature, every turn of warmth and coldness in the world.

Finally, "resources" meant Spirit Stones and magic treasures. In some ways, resources were even more important.

Cultivators used Spirit Stones as currency. Shi Yue's parents had died during an expedition when he was very young, with all their possessions still on them. They had left him nothing valuable. So when he was driven out of his parents' cave abode, he was truly penniless.

Without his parents to rely on, Shi Yue lived a hard life. According to Taixu Sect's rules, disciples below Qi Refining Level 10 had to complete a certain number of tasks each month. Otherwise, they couldn't get even one Spirit Stone from Deacon Hall. Anyone who failed to complete a single task in a year would be expelled. Taixu Sect wasn't going to support idlers. Of course, things were different if you had someone backing you.

With no other choice, Shi Yue could only go to Deacon Hall to take on tasks. But Steward Wang, who assigned them, was famously greedy. Shi Yue had no Spirit Stones to bribe him, so Steward Wang assigned him the hardest and most exhausting jobs.

Every month, Shi Yue had to spend more than half of it completing the tasks Steward Wang assigned him. He barely had any time to cultivate. At sixteen, he was only at Qi Refining Level Two, and had always been a cautionary example for his fellow disciples.

With his Five Spirit Roots, the sect wouldn't waste resources on him. For a disciple with his aptitude, the sect provided little more than a place to shelter. Anything beyond that? He could forget about it.

"The end of the month is only a few days away. If I don't manage to gather five ten-year-old Purple Sandalwood Flowers, I probably won't get a single Spirit Stone again. Should I head deeper into the mountain range and take a look?" Shi Yue muttered, his expression uncertain.

Steward Wang had assigned Shi Yue the task of gathering five ten-year-old Purple Sandalwood Flowers before the end of the month. Completing it on time would earn him ten Spirit Stones. If he missed the deadline, the miserly Steward Wang would dock two or three.

After weighing it over and over, Shi Yue finally decided to venture deeper into the mountain range in search of Spirit Herbs.

Over the years, all the Spirit Herbs on the outskirts of the Great Void Mountain Range had been picked clean. Not only were ten-year-old herbs nowhere to be found, even five-year-old ones were rare.

The Great Void Mountain Range lay northwest of Taixu Sect and stretched for several thousand miles. Numerous High-Grade Spirit Herbs grew deep within its depths, most guarded by Yao Beasts ranging from Level One low-grade to Level Two.

Some people had ventured into the depths and found High-Grade Spirit Herbs, exchanging them for a fortune in Spirit Stones to aid their cultivation. Others had encountered Yao Beasts while gathering herbs and suffered Death and Dao Dissipation. Whether you lived or died depended on your own strength and luck.

Shi Yue was already sixteen. The meager Spirit Stones he earned each month weren't even enough to buy a bottle of Qi Refining Powder. He didn't want to spend his whole life as a low-ranking disciple, looked down on by everyone.

For his future, for the days ahead, he decided to stake it all.

Shi Yue drew a deep breath and stood up. He slapped the Storage Bag at his waist, and a green leaf about a zhang across flew out, hovering a foot above the ground.

It was a Low-grade Flying Magic Tool issued to every Taixu Sect member. Its speed was nothing special.

Shi Yue leaped onto it and formed a Hand Seal over the Green Leaf beneath his feet.

The Green Leaf immediately blazed with green light and carried Shi Yue off into the distance.

A quarter of an hour later, Shi Yue landed in an open clearing.

A hundred meters ahead stood a dense grove, deathly quiet, without even a bird's call.

Shi Yue slapped the Storage Bag at his waist, and a Red Short Sword flew out and landed in his hand.

The Red Short Sword was called the Red Moon Sword, an Upper-grade Magic Tool.

Holding the Red Moon Sword, Shi Yue walked slowly toward the dense woods ahead.

Before long, Shi Yue seemed to sense something and stopped. He swallowed hard, staring gravely at a Cyan Giant Tiger in front of him.

The Cyan Giant Tiger stood half a zhang tall and stretched two zhang long. Cyan scales covered its entire body, and its green, eerie eyes fixed on Shi Yue.