Shen Long

East Hua Cultivation World, Qin Kingdom.

The Thousand Bamboo Mountain Range is located at the border between Qing Prefecture and Jing Prefecture, stretching for tens of thousands of miles. It is named for the vast quantities of Azure Cloud Bamboo that grow there.

In the southwestern part of the Thousand Bamboo Mountain Range lies a valley surrounded by mountains on three sides. Outside the valley stands a cyan stone stele over ten feet tall, inscribed with the three golden characters: "Thousand Bamboo Valley."

A clamor of noise drifts from within the valley. The streets inside are wide and clean, lined with shops, and a large number of cultivators can be seen moving about.

The Thousand Bamboo Mountain Range was once plagued by a third-tier demonic beast, an Azure Wind Wolf, which harmed many cultivators. It was only after Master Azure Python of the Spirit Control Sect intervened that the beast was finally dealt with.

The Chen, Han, and Li clans jointly manage Thousand Bamboo Valley. Foundation Establishment cultivators are stationed there year-round, and the scope of business is vast, with many rogue cultivators making a living there.

The marketplace is built against the mountain. At the foot of a steep, towering peak stands a five-foot-tall cyan stone stele engraved with the three characters "Thousand Bamboo Peak." There are many buildings on the mountain; this is the residential area, providing lodging for cultivators.

Thousand Bamboo Peak features many structures, ranging from simple stone huts to magnificent palaces and standalone cyan pavilions, all extending from the foot of the mountain to its summit.

At the foot of the mountain sits a two-zhang-wide cyan stone hut. The hut is constructed from large cyan boulders, with the gaps filled with seashells. The door is tightly shut.

Inside the stone hut is a cyan stone bed about a zhang in length. In the corner, there is a cyan formation with five identical grooves, each containing a grayish-white spirit stone. It appears the spiritual energy within the stones is nearly exhausted.

A tall, blue-robed youth sits cross-legged on the stone bed. The youth has a face as handsome as jade and a high-bridged nose. His eyes are slightly closed, and his body is shrouded in a layer of blue mist. Wisps of water-attribute spiritual energy gather toward the youth, flowing into his nose and mouth.

After a while, the blue-robed youth opens his eyes, a faint glimmer of brilliance flashing within them.

"Finally, the fifth level of Qi Refining."

The blue-robed youth mutters to himself, his face full of joy.

The blue-robed youth is named Shen Long. His parents were both rogue cultivators who made a living by hunting demonic beasts.

When he was ten years old, Shen Long's parents went out to search for treasure with some friends. Before leaving, they left most of their wealth to Shen Long and instructed him not to leave the marketplace on his own.

His parents never returned, and it has been seven years since then.

The wealth his parents left behind was not much. Shen Long knew very well that no matter how frugal he was, it would eventually run out. He wanted to find a job, but he was too young; shopkeepers wouldn't hire him, and some even tried to trick him into leaving the marketplace.

His parents often frequented the Craftsman Hall, a weapon-refining shop that sold magical tools and offered repair services.

Perhaps seeing that he was pitiful, the shopkeeper of the Craftsman Hall, Sun Huowang, hired Shen Long as an assistant for two spirit stones a month, helping Shen Long survive his most difficult period.

Seven years have passed, and Shen Long's parents have yet to return; their fate remains unknown.

Shen Long focuses on his cultivation, wanting to find his parents, but he must first possess sufficiently powerful strength.

He works five hours a day at the Craftsman Hall, spends five hours cultivating, one hour practicing techniques, and one hour doing other things—such as acting as a guide for visiting cultivators or wandering the square where rogue cultivators set up stalls. He listens to stall owners recount their experiences hunting demonic beasts or share strange tales from the cultivation world. If he is lucky, he can buy decent refining materials at a low price and resell them for a small profit.

Sun Huowang taught Shen Long how to identify refining materials, covering everything from the properties of the materials to their acquisition prices. Shen Long learned diligently, becoming well-versed in the characteristics and prices of various first-tier refining materials, and he was always hardworking.

Shen Long did not want to be a shop assistant for his entire life. Two spirit stones a month could barely sustain him. He spent one hour every day practicing techniques, and over five years, he brought two first-tier techniques to the Great Perfection stage before resigning to join other rogue cultivators in hunting demonic beasts to earn cultivation resources.

Techniques are easy to learn but difficult to master. They are divided into four stages: Entry, Minor Accomplishment, Major Accomplishment, and Great Perfection.

When casting a technique, a cultivator must recite a mantra silently, requiring time to release the spell. Entry takes little time, but bringing a first-tier technique to Great Perfection can take anywhere from half a year to over a decade, depending on the individual.

Some cultivators are highly gifted in practicing techniques and can reach Great Perfection in a year, allowing them to cast spells instantly with significantly increased power. Others spend over a decade without reaching Great Perfection; they choose to buy magical tools or talismans to save time and effort.

The magical tools at the Craftsman Hall are of good quality and fairly priced, earning them a group of repeat customers who all make their living by hunting demonic beasts.

Using his position, Shen Long observed the character and conduct of these rogue cultivators. Some were petty, some liked to take advantage of others, and some were greedy or lecherous.

He built a good relationship with a powerful Qi Refining cultivator who was the captain of a hunting team. Hunting teams face great risks when going out to hunt demonic beasts, and losing members is common; if luck is bad, the entire team can be wiped out.

Two years ago, when this hunting team returned from an outing, four Qi Refining cultivators had perished. Upon hearing the news, Shen Long volunteered himself.

He was at the fourth level of Qi Refining at the time, and relying on his Great Perfection Fireball Technique, combined with his knowledge of the acquisition prices of first-tier refining materials, he successfully joined the team.

The cave dwelling he currently rents is the cheapest in the marketplace, costing five spirit stones a year. It only has a sound-insulation formation, and the spiritual energy can hardly be called abundant.

He earned twenty-four spirit stones a year at the Craftsman Hall. After deducting rent, he had nineteen left, which he used to buy the cheapest Golden Pearl Spirit Rice to barely maintain his life. A bottle of Qi Refining Powder costs ten spirit stones, and a better bottle of Qi Nourishing Pill costs twenty.

In his second year of work, Sun Huowang raised his wages to three spirit stones a month. Before he resigned, he was earning four spirit stones a month. After deducting rent and the cost of spirit rice, the spirit stones he saved in a year were only enough to buy one bottle of Qi Nourishing Pill. As his cultivation level increased, the resources required grew, so in the long run, he had to resign.

Four spirit stones a month was considered a high wage in the marketplace, and Sun Huowang could not raise his pay further, which was the reason for Shen Long's resignation.

He had considered learning weapon refining, but Sun Huowang refused to teach him. Exploring it on his own was too difficult; a single set of refining materials cost dozens of spirit stones. He could only afford one set after working at the Craftsman Hall for a year, living frugally. If he failed once, a year of work would be wasted, not to mention the need to purchase a refining furnace and manuals.

According to Sun Huowang, he had failed four times when he first started refining before he finally succeeded.

Shen Long did the math: if he lived frugally for ten years, he could buy a low-grade refining furnace, a manual, and gather four sets of materials. If he succeeded once, it would be fine, but if he failed every time, ten years of work would be for nothing—and that was assuming he didn't buy any medicinal pills.

He quickly dismissed the idea. For someone at the bottom like him, the cost of trial and error was too high; he couldn't afford to lose. It was better to go hunt demonic beasts.

As far as he knew, the younger generation of the Chen, Han, and Li clans didn't have to do anything each month and could still receive a supply of cultivation resources to focus on their training, only having to start working at eighteen. Alas, he did not have that fate and could only rely on his own efforts.