First Descent from the Mountain

The Second-tier Artifact Silver Gang Shield was forged with the shed scales of a Second-tier spiritual plant, the Dragon Scale Tree, as its primary material, mixed with Second-tier spiritual material Silver Gang Stone.

Cultivation had nine major realms. The artifacts, pills, formations, and talismans used by cultivators were likewise divided into nine ranks, from first to ninth. Second-tier Artifacts corresponded precisely to Qi Refining Cultivators.

Even among Second-tier Artifacts, there were upper-, middle-, and lower-grade distinctions. The Silver Gang Shield had been painstakingly forged by Zhou Minghan, a Third-Rank Artifact Forger, so it was naturally of the highest upper grade.

Before being refined, this artifact looked no bigger than a palm. Yet once Zhou Yang refined it, he could release it in battle and transform it into a massive shield the size of a door, protecting his entire body. He could also adjust its position at will.

Moreover, because Silver Gang Stone had been incorporated during its forging, this artifact could not only easily block flying swords, flying sabers, and similar artifacts of the same tier, but it was also remarkably effective against spell attacks from cultivators and demonic beasts, greatly reducing the damage caused by spells below the third tier.

"Our Zhou Lineage has a Second-tier Dragon Scale Tree. Every ten years, we can harvest several mature tree scales, so that part counts as self-produced. But a spell-breaking spiritual material like Silver Gang Stone is rarely seen. Even a small fist-sized piece costs at least five hundred low-grade spirit stones. This gift from the Old Clan Leader truly isn't light!"

Inside his room, Zhou Yang looked at the palm-sized silver shield in his hand and suddenly felt that the artifact had grown much heavier.

As a Cultivation Family, every Zhou family member whose cultivation reached the Qi Refining Stage could receive an annual spirit stone stipend from the Lineage until they passed sixty years of age.

According to the current clan rules, a Zhou family member at Qi Refining Layer One could receive ten low-grade spirit stones per year, while one at Qi Refining Layer Two could receive twenty. So it continued all the way to Qi Refining Layer Nine, where things changed.

Barring accidents, Qi Refining Layer Nine was the limit for ordinary Qi Refining Cultivators. Under the Zhou Lineage's current rules, any Family Cultivator who advanced to Qi Refining Layer Nine would be promoted to a Lineage elder. Each elder could receive one hundred and fifty low-grade spirit stones each year. This stipend was not restricted by age; as long as the elder did not perish in meditation, he could receive the full amount.

Zhou Yang had previously remained at Qi Refining Layer Five for two years, receiving only fifty low-grade spirit stones each year. By that calculation, even if he saved every spirit stone without spending any, it would take ten years of stipends to exchange for a fist-sized piece of Silver Gang Stone.

In reality, because he had only entered the Qi Refining Stage at the age of seven, after ten years, not counting the treasures his parents had given him as gifts and rewards, his entire fortune amounted to just over three hundred low-grade spirit stones.

This showed just how weighty a gift it was for Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan to give him the Silver Gang Shield as a reward for descending the mountain early.

"The Old Clan Leader thinks so highly of me. I absolutely cannot disappoint him. Whether it is learning Artifact Forging Art or guarding Qingping Mountain, I must handle it all beautifully!"

Warmth filled Zhou Yang's heart. He could not help tightening his grip around the artifact in his hand, silently resolving to work hard and repay his elders' trust.

Over the next few days, Zhou Yang shut himself away, devoting himself wholly to refining the Silver Gang Shield in his room. Only after he could wield the artifact as easily as an extension of his arm did he leave his room to prepare for his descent from the mountain.

He first went to another important place of the Zhou Lineage, the Scripture Depository Cave, where he learned the Qi Refining Layer Six portion of the Blazing Sun Fiery Art. Then, from the many spells stored within the cave, he selected five spells suited for combat.

Those five spells were the Second-tier offensive spells Golden Saber Technique and Fire Serpent Technique, the Second-tier defensive spell Golden Light Body Protection Art, and the Second-tier support spells Heavenly Eye Technique and Earth Evasion Technique.

The Qi Refining Stage cultivation arts and spells in the Zhou Lineage's Scripture Depository Cave were open for all clan members to study, but they could not be taken out of the cave, nor could they be privately taught to outsiders.

Following the teachings of his parents and elders, Zhou Yang had previously only learned a few simple first-tier support spells. He had not scattered his efforts by learning combat spells, instead focusing all his energy on improving his cultivation.

But now, since he was going down the mountain to guard a place, he could not guarantee that he would never encounter a battle between cultivators. If he did not know combat spells then, relying only on the few artifacts in his possession would make his methods too limited, leaving him easily restrained and targeted.

Spells were easy to learn but difficult to master. Merely learning to use them at a basic level did not take much time. With Zhou Yang's Qi Refining Layer Six cultivation, he took only about half a month to learn all five spells.

By then, the one-month deadline set by the Old Clan Leader was drawing near. Zhou Yang wrote a letter explaining the situation and asked an elder of the clan to deliver it to his parents, who were stationed at a cultivator market several thousand li away. Then, after bidding farewell to the familiar elders and fellow cultivators on the mountain, he descended alone.

After going down the mountain, Zhou Yang took a camel, essential for desert travel, from the clan members at the foot of the mountain and plunged straight into the Boundless Sea of Sand.

This was his first time leaving Jade Spring Lake Oasis in seventeen years, and also his first time setting foot in a desert across both lifetimes.

The sea of sand stretched boundlessly in every direction. Anyone traveling through it could easily lose their way.

Once someone lost their bearings in the sea of sand, even a cultivator carrying ample water and food in a Storage Bag would ultimately starve or die of thirst if they could not reach an oasis before their supplies ran out.

Cultivators were far stronger than mortals, but unless they reached the Golden Core Stage, they could not completely abstain from food. Even Purple Mansion Stage Cultivators needed to periodically eat meals made from spiritual grain or the spiritual flesh of demonic beasts to sustain their bodies.

In fact, even Golden Core Stage Cultivators, who could abstain from food, did not dare fly about recklessly in the Boundless Sea of Sand.

Golden Core Stage Cultivators need not fear losing their way, but the sea of sand held more than the danger of getting lost. It also contained all manner of terrifying natural disasters and powerful demonic beasts capable of killing even Golden Core Stage Cultivators.

For example, the renowned Black Sand Storm. Once a Golden Core Stage Cultivator was trapped within it, the strange power contained in the storm would cut off spiritual sense and blind all five senses. In the end, the endless force of the storm would exhaust his magic power and grind him to death alive.

Then there was the most famous Tier 5 Demonic Beast in the Boundless Sea of Sand: the Sand Worm. Its body stretched for a thousand zhang, and its mouth was filled with terrifying sharp teeth capable of crushing Tier 5 defensive artifacts through brute force. If a Golden Core Stage Cultivator made one misstep and fell into a Sand Worm's mouth, he would lose his life in a muddle.

With such risks present, unless they had a reason they absolutely had to go, those Golden Core Stage Cultivators would never lightly venture deep into the sea of sand.

Fortunately, neither the terrifying Black Sand Storm nor the Tier 5 Demonic Beast Sand Worm, which slept only in certain underground spiritual veins deep within the desert, would appear near an oasis. Otherwise, Zhou Yang might not have dared set foot in the desert alone.

Traveling alone with one camel and strictly following the map issued by the Lineage, Zhou Yang journeyed through the desert for roughly five days before arriving safely at his destination—Qingping Mountain.

Qingping Mountain was also an oasis, though it was an artificial one.

This oasis was very small, covering only a dozen or so square kilometers. It had been formed solely because the Zhou Lineage had spared no expense, investing over ten thousand low-grade spirit stones to forcibly create a lower-grade Second-tier spiritual vein here.

The reason the Zhou Lineage had spent such an enormous price to create an oasis here was that more than fifty years ago, a Zhou family member lost in the desert had discovered a medium-sized Fine Iron Ore Vein at this location.

Fine Iron Ore was a spiritual ore containing a trace of spiritual energy. After smelting and processing, it could be refined into the First-tier spiritual material Fine Iron and the Second-tier spiritual material Dark Iron. These two materials were the primary materials used by Cultivation Families and sects to construct important buildings such as ancestral halls, Scripture Pavilions, and treasure vaults. They were also the main materials Artifact Forgers used to craft most First-tier and Second-tier Artifacts, and demand for them was immense.

To mine the Fine Iron Ore from the vein, the Zhou Lineage could only establish an oasis here for the miners to live in. At the same time, to protect the miners from attacks by the low-tier demonic beasts in the desert, the Zhou Lineage had to station cultivators here.

Whether it was creating the oasis or allowing the stationed cultivators to continue cultivating, the Zhou Lineage could only artificially create a spiritual vein here.

Of course, all of this investment was worthwhile.

This single medium-sized Fine Iron Ore Vein alone brought the Zhou Lineage more than five hundred low-grade spirit stones in pure profit each year after the mined ore was processed and sold. More than fifty years had passed, and the original investment had long since been earned back several times over.

Furthermore, judging by the reserves of the Fine Iron Ore Vein, it could be mined for at least another fifty years.

Qingping Mountain Oasis was extremely small. Most of it had become residential quarters for the miners, while only a hundred-meter-tall hill at the center of the spiritual vein had been set aside as the residence of the stationed cultivators and a warehouse for finished materials.

It could be said that the small hill was the true Qingping Mountain.

Because the Zhou Lineage's current Great Elder was a Second-tier Formation Master, a Second-tier formation, the Cloud Sea Light Splitting Array, had also been set up atop Qingping Mountain's spiritual vein. The formation's power kept the small hill shrouded in clouds and mist year-round, making it difficult for anyone to see the arrangements within.

When Zhou Yang arrived outside the formation, he circulated his magic power and shouted. The clouds and mist ahead churned, opening a path for him to enter the mountain.

Following the formation passage inside, he soon saw the cultivator stationed there: a lean-faced middle-aged scholar. Among the Zhou Lineage cultivators of the "Xuan" generation, this man ranked sixteenth and was named Zhou Xuanjin.

"Eh? Why are you the one replacing me, Yang'er? You are not even twenty yet, are you?"

When the scholar-dressed Zhou Xuanjin saw Zhou Yang enter, he let out a soft cry of surprise. Before Zhou Yang could bow and greet him, he put down his book and questioned him first.

"In reply to Sixteenth Uncle, this is the Old Clan Leader's arrangement. He said that this nephew's cultivation had reached the standard for descending the mountain, so he made an exception and allowed this nephew to descend early for experience," Zhou Yang answered honestly.

Zhou Xuanjin froze, his face filled with confusion as he muttered in a low voice, "His cultivation reached the standard for descending the mountain? Since when did our Zhou Lineage have such a standard?"

After saying that, his heart stirred, as though he had remembered something. He hurriedly cast the Heavenly Eye Technique on himself and scrutinized Zhou Yang from head to toe with golden light in his eyes.

It would have been better if he had not looked. The moment he did, he could not help opening his mouth wide and crying out, "Good heavens! You broke through to Qi Refining Layer Six!"

"I entered seclusion in Jade Sun Cave a month ago and was fortunate enough to break through."

Zhou Yang smiled faintly and nodded, admitting it without concern.

In truth, directly using the Heavenly Eye Technique to examine another person's cultivation was quite taboo in the cultivation world. Cultivators often came to blows over such matters.

But Zhou Xuanjin was his own elder, so Zhou Yang did not care about such a minor matter.

"Tut, tut, tut. Incredible, truly incredible. How old are you?"

"I, your uncle, cultivated painstakingly for forty or fifty years before reaching my current Qi Refining Layer Seven cultivation. Yet you are already at Qi Refining Layer Six at seventeen. In another ten years or so, I fear your cultivation will surpass mine!"

"Ah, I am old, old indeed. I cannot compare with the young anymore. We both have mid-grade Spiritual Roots, so how can the gap be this vast?"

Zhou Xuanjin withdrew his spell and looked at this outstanding junior with a complicated expression. He did not know whether he should be happy that the Lineage had produced such a genius, or ashamed and disappointed that his cultivation would soon be surpassed by a junior dozens of years younger than himself.

This was not the first time Zhou Yang had encountered such a situation. Ever since he broke through to Qi Refining Layer Six, the peers and elders on Jade Spring Peak had all shown some measure of the same disappointment and dejection as Zhou Xuanjin, even while marveling at and rejoicing over his cultivation speed.

In response, he could only remain silent, unable to say much.