Shi Yue

In the Great Tang, on a mountain peak on the outskirts of the Great Void Mountain Range in Yuezhou, a youth of about fifteen or sixteen years of age was leaning against the trunk of a towering tree.

The youth had delicate features, slightly tanned skin, and a thin frame, giving him a somewhat frail appearance.

He sat there, holding a tattered book in his hands, reading with great interest while shaking his head as he recited the text.

"Blood Moon Fruit, the fruit is oval-shaped, resembling a full moon, ripening to a brownish-red color; Cold Moon Flower, entirely snow-white, grows in cold and damp environments; Gold Cloud Ginseng, a golden-colored ginseng that emits a peculiar fragrance..." As the youth read on, he let out a long sigh.

"Pseudo Spirit Root, basically no hope for Foundation Establishment, the sect doesn't value me. Shi Yue, you can only be a low-level disciple who picks herbs, exchanging them for a few Spirit Stones each month to barely scrape by. Foundation Establishment? There is no hope in this life." The youth smiled at himself in self-mockery, put down the book in his hand, and stared into the distance, lost in thought.

This book recorded some low-level herbs and was a relic from his parents; he had read it so many times he could recite it backward, or close to it.

The world where Shi Yue lived was called the Star Sand Continent, and everyone in this world looked forward to becoming a cultivator.

Cultivators are those who borrow the false to cultivate the true; by studying the Dao and practicing, one seeks the true self, discarding the false to preserve the real—this is "cultivation." The first step of cultivation is Qi Refining.

Qi Refining, simply put, is the act of breathing in the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy, guiding it into the body, and refining it. Only by converting this energy into mana can one be considered a cultivator.

However, not everyone can become a cultivator; only those who possess a Spirit Root can sense the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy and embark on the path of cultivation.

No one can clearly explain what a Spirit Root is. It is innate; if a person lacks a "Spirit Root," they shouldn't even bother thinking about cultivation, because they cannot sense the spiritual energy, let alone refine it into mana!

But those born with a "Spirit Root" are extremely rare among ordinary people; one could say they are one in ten thousand.

Categorized by attributes, "Spirit Roots" are divided into the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Most people's Spirit Roots are a mixture of four or five of these attributes.

Although these people can sense the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy, the results of their cultivation are miserable; they generally reach the fourth or fifth level of Qi Refining and then come to a complete standstill. Generally speaking, they have no hope of crossing the Foundation Establishment Realm in their lifetime.

Therefore, those with four or even five attributes are known in the cultivation world as "Pseudo Spirit Roots," to distinguish them from "True Spirit Roots," which have only two or three attributes and allow for faster cultivation.

The youth was a possessor of a five-element Pseudo Spirit Root. In the cultivation world, those with five Spirit Roots are synonymous with "trash." No sect would accept such a person as a disciple. If not for the fact that Shi Yue's parents were Core Formation Cultivators of the Great Void Sect who had once performed a Great Merit, Shi Yue would have been expelled from the sect long ago.

Besides True Spirit Roots and Pseudo Spirit Roots, there is also the "Variant Spirit Root." The so-called "Variant Spirit Root" refers to a root formed by the mixing, mutation, and sublimation of two or three attributes.

Cultivators with "Variant Spirit Roots" cultivate faster than those with True Spirit Roots. If they can find a cultivation technique that matches their attributes, they often become formidable experts, usually capable of holding their own against three or four ordinary cultivators of the same strength.

As for the single-attribute Spirit Root, it is known in the cultivation world as the "Heavenly Spiritual Root," meaning they are the darlings of the heavens. Regardless of the attribute, a cultivator with this root cultivates two to three times faster than an ordinary cultivator. Furthermore, when they reach the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm, they do not need to face the bottleneck required to enter the Core Formation Realm; they can easily form their core.

If the extremely fast cultivation speed makes other cultivators envious, then the fact that those with "Heavenly Spiritual Roots" have no bottlenecks makes other cultivators jealous enough to vomit blood.

One must know that if only one out of ten Qi Refining cultivators can enter the Foundation Establishment Realm with the help of medicinal pills, then perhaps not even one out of a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators can successfully form their core and enter the Core Formation Realm.

With such a stark ratio for core formation, it is no wonder other cultivators are green with envy at the heaven-sent advantages of the "Heavenly Spiritual Root."

Therefore, whenever a person with a Heavenly Spiritual Root appears, they are often frantically fought over by various cultivation sects. After all, this is equivalent to pre-booking a powerful Core Formation expert for the sect, which can greatly increase the sect's strength.

In the thousands of years since the Great Void Sect was founded, they had never taken in a disciple with a Heavenly Spiritual Root. They did have a few disciples with variant roots, but these disciples were hidden away like treasures, cultivated with vast resources, and rarely appeared before others.

The Four Elements of Cultivation—Place, Method, Partner, and Wealth—are the four indispensable requirements for a cultivator to attain the Dao and seek the truth!

"Place" refers to the location of cultivation. The Great Void Sect, where Shi Yue resided, is one of the five major cultivation sects of the Great Tang, and its Sect Gate is naturally built upon a Spirit Vein rich in spiritual energy.

Although Shi Yue was only a Qi Refining disciple, the place where he cultivated was also built upon the Spirit Vein. While the spiritual energy was not particularly dense, it was sufficient for meditation and cultivation. Even just his living quarters were enough to make rogue cultivators extremely envious.

"Method" refers to the cultivation technique. The Great Void Sect is, after all, one of the five major sects, and the number of techniques they possess is naturally incomparable to those of small cultivation families or rogue cultivators.

The Great Void Art that Shi Yue practiced was one of the basic techniques of the Great Void Sect. Although the cultivation speed was not particularly fast, it had the advantage of being steady. More than half of the Qi Refining disciples in the Great Void Sect practiced the Great Void Art, and many had used it to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm, which shows that this technique is quite decent.

"Partner" refers to like-minded friends with whom one can exchange cultivation insights, including a Dual Cultivation Partner. When Shi Yue's parents were still alive, many young senior brothers and sisters hovered around him. But after his parents met with disaster while away, the warmth of human relationships faded; these senior brothers and sisters no longer paid him any mind, and some even mocked and ridiculed him.

What was even more infuriating was that the residence Shi Yue originally lived in had been his parents' home, but shortly after they met their end, the sect reclaimed the cave dwelling and drove him to a mountain peak with thin spiritual energy to live.

Regarding this, Shi Yue felt helpless in addition to his grief and indignation. Having experienced this, he saw the full spectrum of human nature and the coldness of the world.

Finally, "Wealth" refers to Spirit Stones and magic treasures. To a certain extent, the importance of wealth is even greater.

The currency used by cultivators is the Spirit Stone. Shi Yue's parents met with disaster while exploring when he was young, and they carried their wealth with them, leaving him nothing of value. Therefore, it was no exaggeration to say he was penniless when he was driven out of his parents' cave dwelling.

Without his parents to rely on, Shi Yue's life was very difficult. According to the rules of the Great Void Sect, disciples below the tenth level of Qi Refining must complete a certain amount of tasks each month; otherwise, they wouldn't get a single Spirit Stone from the Deacon Hall. Those who failed to complete a task for a year would be expelled from the sect. The Great Void Sect did not support idlers—unless, of course, you had someone backing you.

Helpless, Shi Yue could only go to the Deacon Hall to accept tasks, but Steward Wang, who assigned the tasks, was notoriously greedy. Since Shi Yue had no Spirit Stones to bribe him, the most difficult and exhausting tasks were always assigned to him.

He had to spend more than half of every month completing the tasks assigned by Steward Wang, leaving him almost no time to cultivate. At sixteen, he was only at the second level of Qi Refining and had always been the negative example among his fellow disciples.

With his five-element aptitude, the sect would never waste resources on Shi Yue. For a disciple with his aptitude, the sect merely provided a place of shelter; as for anything more? Don't even think about it.

"It's the end of the month in a few days. If I still can't pick five Purple Sandalwood Flowers with ten years of age, I probably won't get a single Spirit Stone again. Should I go into the depths of the mountain range to take a look?" Shi Yue muttered to himself, a look of hesitation on his face.

Picking five Purple Sandalwood Flowers with ten years of age by the end of the month was the task assigned to Shi Yue by Steward Wang. Completing the task on time would earn him a reward of ten Spirit Stones, but if he was late, the black-hearted Steward Wang would deduct two or three stones.

After much thought, Shi Yue finally decided to enter the depths of the mountain range to search for spirit herbs.

Over the years, the spirit herbs on the outskirts of the Great Void Mountain Range had been picked clean. Not to mention herbs with ten years of age, even those with five years were rarely seen.

The Great Void Mountain Range was located to the northwest of the Great Void Sect and spanned thousands of miles. In the depths of the range grew many high-grade spirit herbs, most of which were guarded by Yao Beasts, ranging from low-level first-tier to second-tier Yao Beasts.

Some people entered the depths of the mountain range and picked high-grade spirit herbs, exchanging them for a large amount of Spirit Stones for cultivation, while others encountered Yao Beasts while picking herbs and met their end. Whether one lived or died depended on one's personal strength and luck.

Shi Yue was already sixteen, and the few Spirit Stones he earned each month weren't even enough to buy a bottle of Qi Refining Powder. He didn't want to be a low-level disciple his whole life, looked down upon by others.

For the sake of his future, he decided to take a gamble.

Shi Yue took a deep breath and stood up. He patted the Storage Bag at his waist, and a green leaf about a zhang in size flew out, hovering a foot above the ground.

This was a low-grade Flying Magic Tool that every member of the Great Void Sect possessed; its flight speed was average.

Shi Yue jumped onto it and cast a Hand Seal onto the green leaf beneath his feet.

The Green Leaf suddenly erupted with cyan light, carrying Shi Yue as it flew toward the distance.

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

A hundred meters ahead lay a dense forest, deathly silent, without even the chirp of a bird to be heard.

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

The Red Short Sword was named the Red Moon Sword, a High-grade Magic Tool.

Gripping the Red Moon Sword, Shi Yue walked slowly toward the dense forest ahead.

Not long after, Shi Yue seemed to sense something and came to a halt; he swallowed hard, gazing with a solemn expression at a Cyan Giant Tiger in front of him.

The Cyan Giant Tiger stood half a zhang tall and was two zhang long, its entire body covered in cyan scales, its eerie green eyes locked firmly onto Shi Yue.

(The first chapter introduces the background and cultivation settings; there is nothing particularly unusual, but for the sake of the later plot, this content must be written. This book is a slow burn, and I hope everyone will give it their support.)

The new book sets sail; I beg for all kinds of support!!