Youth Zhou Yang

In the Land of Extreme West, within the Boundless Sea of Sand.

True to its name, the Boundless Sea of Sand was a sea of sand stretching endlessly beyond sight.

The environment of the sand sea was harsh, with very few places suitable for human habitation. Only a small number of desert oases could support human life and survival.

Jade Spring Lake was one of the few desert oases in the Boundless Sea of Sand where people could live.

The oasis stretched over a hundred li from east to west and more than seventy li from north to south. It was high in the east and low in the west. To the east stood a mountain called Jade Spring Peak, several hundred meters tall, covered in dense trees and wreathed in clouds and mist. At its foot lay the source of life for the entire oasis—Jade Spring Lake.

Jade Spring Lake covered over ten square kilometers. Its waters came from an underground river, abundant in volume and clear, sweet, and fit for direct drinking.

The more than one hundred thousand humans and countless birds and beasts living across the thousand-plus square kilometers of Jade Spring Lake Oasis all depended on this single lake of clear water.

And the Jade Spring Zhou Clan was the master of Jade Spring Lake Oasis.

The first person to discover Jade Spring Lake Oasis had been Zhou Yuquan, ancestor of the Jade Spring Zhou Clan. The more than one hundred thousand people now living in the oasis were all Zhou Clan Members with ties of kinship to the Jade Spring Zhou Clan.

The Jade Spring Zhou Clan was a Cultivation Family. Its ancestor, Zhou Yuquan, had studied under the Yellow Sand Sect. More than two hundred years ago, he had requested leave from the sect and established the Jade Spring Zhou Clan at Jade Spring Lake Oasis. Seven generations had since passed.

By now, Zhou Yuquan, the Zhou Clan Ancestor, had long since passed away. Yet after over two hundred years of development, the Jade Spring Zhou Clan had become a powerful Cultivation Family with one Foundation Establishment Cultivator, dozens of Qi Refining Cultivators, and more than one hundred thousand dependent mortals.

Ordinary Zhou Clan Members mainly lived in the three small towns of Jade Spring Lake Oasis. Some tilled the fields, while others raised cattle and sheep, living self-sufficient and carefree lives.

The cultivators of the Zhou Clan, meanwhile, all resided atop Jade Spring Peak, where spiritual qi was dense.

Jade Spring Peak itself had originally been a Tier 2 High-grade natural spirit vein. After over two hundred years of cultivation by the Zhou Clan, it had now advanced to Tier 3 mid-grade, capable of supporting the cultivation of several Foundation Establishment Cultivators and over a hundred Qi Refining Cultivators.

Zhou Yang was a sixth-generation cultivator of the Jade Spring Zhou Clan's Yuan Generation.

Yuhua Mingguang, Xuanyuan Guangtong, Fuzhe Rongsheng, Wanshi Changqing—these sixteen generation-name characters had been personally chosen by Zhou Yuquan, founder of the Jade Spring Zhou Clan.

Only Zhou Clan Members found to possess spiritual roots and cultivation aptitude could be entered into the clan genealogy. After death, their spirit tablets would enter the ancestral hall to receive the incense offerings of later generations.

There were fifteen Zhou Clan Members of the Yuan Generation. Zhou Yang ranked ninth, but in terms of cultivation, he was the foremost among all fifteen.

At this moment, this renowned "little genius" of the Zhou Clan sat cross-legged with his eyes tightly shut inside a natural cave halfway up Jade Spring Peak. His fingers formed hand seals as he operated his cultivation art with all his strength, absorbing and refining the milky-white Earth Vein Spiritual Qi steaming through the cave.

Earth Vein Spiritual Qi was a refined spiritual energy born from the union of spirit veins and earth veins. It possessed extraordinary effects for low-level cultivators seeking to break through bottlenecks and advance their realms.

However, Earth Vein Spiritual Qi was difficult to produce. It could only form in special places where earth veins and spirit veins intersected. On all of Jade Spring Peak, only the Jade Sun Cave where Zhou Yang currently sat could produce it.

Moreover, the Earth Vein Spiritual Qi produced in Jade Sun Cave over ten years was only enough for one Qi Refining Stage cultivator to make a breakthrough, and it was effective only for cultivators below Qi Refining Layer Seven.

Thus, among the Zhou Clan's dozens of Qi Refining Stage members, only a handful of particularly outstanding clansmen could use Earth Vein Spiritual Qi to break through during the Qi Refining Stage.

Zhou Yang's ability to use Jade Sun Cave for his breakthrough naturally had much to do with his status as the foremost member of the Yuan Generation. Otherwise, even though his father was the Sixth Elder of the Jade Spring Zhou Clan, this Jade Sun Cave, which opened only once every ten years, would never have fallen to a seventeen-year-old youth like him.

One had to know that among the Zhou Clan's dozens of Qi Refining Stage members, quite a few had waited ten or even twenty years for this opportunity!

At this moment, Zhou Yang sat cross-legged with his fingers forming hand seals. His breathing was even, each inhale and exhale steady. With every inhalation, milky-white Earth Vein Spiritual Qi transformed into two misty spirit snakes that burrowed into his nostrils, where he refined them into his own mana.

When the milky-white Earth Vein Spiritual Qi in the cave had dwindled to less than thirty percent, Zhou Yang's tightly shut eyes abruptly opened. His shoulder-length hair fluttered behind him without wind, and his aura suddenly surged to nearly double what it had been before.

He rose to his full height and muttered with delight, "I finally broke through—Qi Refining Layer Six. The Earth Vein Spiritual Qi truly lives up to its reputation. This alone has saved me at least three years!"

Seventeen years old and already at Qi Refining Layer Six—at such an age and with such cultivation, even in an Immortal Gate like the Yellow Sand Sect, only a small number of elite disciples with High-grade Spiritual Roots could attain it.

Yet Zhou Yang's spiritual root aptitude was actually only of middling quality.

The clan leader said I might possess some kind of special treasure body, which is why my cultivation speed far surpasses that of cultivators with the same aptitude. Unfortunately, treasure bodies are difficult to detect. Only major sects like the Yellow Sand Sect can identify them through secret arts.

Although the Zhou Clan is affiliated with the Yellow Sand Sect, asking them to help inspect me for a treasure body is simply impossible—unless I am willing to join the Yellow Sand Sect!

But once I join the Yellow Sand Sect, I will have to abide by its sect rules. And I will suddenly have countless elders from the sect above my head, all able to order me about at will. How could that compare to my current comfort within the clan?

Hmph. Better be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix. The Yellow Sand Sect has a vast foundation and never lacks geniuses with High-grade Spiritual Roots in any generation. Even if I possess a treasure body, I would only be an elite disciple after joining them. The benefits I receive might not even compare to what I enjoy in the Zhou Clan now. At the very least, the elders here all hope that I will Achieve Foundation Establishment one day and bring glory to the clan. They are wholeheartedly looking out for me.

Besides, as long as I Achieve Foundation Establishment, my treasure body will naturally awaken and develop its innate divine ability. Then I will naturally learn what kind of treasure body I possess.

Zhou Yang was no ordinary person. He was a reincarnator whose soul had come from Earth, possessing an additional twenty or thirty years of memories from his previous life compared to ordinary people.

Although most of those twenty or thirty years of memories from his former life were useless in this immortal cultivation world due to the vast difference in their environments, some methods, experiences, and principles for conducting oneself remained useful in any world.

Others saw only the Yellow Sand Sect's imposing prestige. A Golden Core Ancestor sat within it, while dozens of desert oases like Jade Spring Lake Oasis served it from without as dependents and Attendants. It lacked neither cultivation arts nor treasures, and people would sharpen their heads to a point just to squeeze in and become one of its members.

What they did not know was that while the sect's benefits were excellent, its rules were equally strict. Once one entered the sect, one's fate was no longer one's own. Ordinary Qi Refining Stage disciples had to complete tasks forcibly assigned by the sect each year. Failure meant, at best, the suspension of benefits; at worst, cultivation would be crippled and the offender expelled from the sect!

Furthermore, factions within the sect were deeply entrenched. Whether to impress the upper ranks of the sect or to compete for the right to use certain spiritual lands, low-level disciples exerted every ounce of their strength to suppress their rivals. The competition was exceptionally fierce.

The Zhou Clan Ancestor had once been a Foundation Establishment Cultivator of the Yellow Sand Sect. The clan's records contained information about the Yellow Sand Sect, so among the Zhou Clan Members, unless they had poor spiritual root aptitude and wished to gamble on one last chance, no one was willing to become a Yellow Sand Sect disciple.

Zhou Yang had loathed that sort of office infighting in his previous life. Now that he had finally gained an opportunity to escape such struggles in this life, he naturally would not throw himself back into them.

Therefore, he had long made up his mind that even if the Great Dao held no hope for him, even if immortality remained beyond reach, he would absolutely not live a life of scheming against others every day again.

Innate, Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Purple Palace, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Tribulation Crossing, Return to Void, Dao Integration—these were the nine great realms of cultivation. To truly obtain eternal life and never grow old, one had to become a Dao Integration Celestial Immortal whose body united with the Great Dao.

Yet as far as Zhou Yang knew, ever since cultivators had existed in this world, no one had ever truly achieved immortality. The classification of the nine great cultivation realms had merely been passed down by the legendary Outer-Heaven Immortals and had never been verified.

Thus, for ninety-nine percent of cultivators, Golden Core Stage Cultivators with lifespans of a thousand years were the highest pursuit of their cultivation.

With that being the case, it was no wonder he was unwilling to wrong himself and participate in such scheming affairs for the sake of that illusory legend of immortality.

Cultivation was also cultivation of the heart. Since his true heart was unwilling to involve itself in such intrigues, Zhou Yang naturally chose to follow his heart.

Having just broken through, his mind was stirred, and he had thought rather too much. Only after quite a while did Zhou Yang suppress the chaotic thoughts in his heart and look toward the remaining milky-white Earth Vein Spiritual Qi in the cave.

"Though every time Jade Sun Cave opens, the Earth Vein Spiritual Qi inside can be absorbed freely, now that I have successfully advanced, absorbing it further will only help stabilize my realm. It will not do much else."

"In that case, I may as well preserve this Earth Vein Spiritual Qi and let the next opening of Jade Sun Cave come several years earlier, benefiting the other clan members."

Fishing the pond dry was not advisable. Earth Vein Spiritual Qi was not easily produced, and using it merely to raise one's mana cultivation was far too wasteful. Since Zhou Yang had resolved to remain in the clan and develop here, he naturally would not commit such a wicked act of harming the collective for private gain.

Having made his decision, he immediately opened the cave door and walked outside, explaining the situation to the clan elder guarding the entrance.

Jade Sun Cave was an important site of the Zhou Clan, guarded year-round by clan elders. The one currently stationed outside was Zhou Xuanhe, a cultivator of the Xuan Generation and Zhou Yang's Fourteenth Uncle.

When Zhou Xuanhe saw Zhou Yang emerge after successfully advancing and heard his explanation of the situation inside, he immediately nodded again and again with a gratified smile. Dressed in a blue Daoist robe embroidered with white cranes and Auspicious Clouds, he said, "Good, good! Yang'er, you truly are the most promising of our Zhou Clan's Yuan Generation. At such a young age, you already possess such a grasp of the greater picture. If the Old Clan Leader and Eldest Brother learn of this, they will surely be deeply pleased!"

The Old Clan Leader he mentioned was Zhou Minghan, the Zhou Clan's sole current Foundation Establishment Cultivator and the last remaining member of the Ming Generation. Eldest Brother referred to Zhou Yang's father, Zhou Xuanhao, who was also the Sixth Elder among the Zhou Clan's eight Qi Refining Layer Nine elders and the eldest of the Xuan Generation.

Among Zhou Clan cultivators, those of the same generation addressed one another as brothers, while those of different generations addressed one another as uncles, nephews, and the like.

Faced with the praise of Zhou Xuanhe, his Fourteenth Uncle, Zhou Yang humbly stated that this was simply what he ought to do as a Zhou Clan Member. He showed no pride whatsoever in his status or cultivation.

Seeing this, Zhou Xuanhe regarded this junior even more highly.

It was already rare enough for someone his age to possess Qi Refining Layer Six cultivation. Rarer still was remaining neither arrogant nor impetuous, while taking the overall situation into account. Perhaps the hope of the Zhou Clan's next generation would truly rest upon this youth.

Thinking of this, Zhou Xuanhe remembered something else and hurriedly said, "Since you have successfully advanced, quickly go to the cave residence at the mountaintop and pay respects to the Old Clan Leader. He gave instructions earlier that if you succeeded in breaking through, you were to go see him."

"Such a thing happened? Then this nephew will not disturb Fourteenth Uncle any longer. Thank you, Fourteenth Uncle, for guarding me during my breakthrough."

Zhou Yang's expression shifted. He immediately thanked Zhou Xuanhe, then hurried toward the Old Clan Leader's cave residence atop Jade Spring Peak.