Donghua Cultivation Realm, Qin Country.
The Qianzhu Mountain Range is located at the border between Qingzhou and Jingzhou, stretching tens of thousands of miles. A large number of Green Cloud Bamboo grows here, hence the name.
In the southwest part of the Qianzhu Mountain Range, there is a valley surrounded by mountains on three sides. Outside the valley, there is a blue stone tablet more than ten zhang high, inscribed with three golden characters, "Qianzhu Valley."
There is a clamor coming from the valley. The streets inside are wide and clean, with shops lined up, and a large number of cultivators can be seen walking around.
The Qianzhu Mountain Range once had a third-order Green Wind Wolf, which caused harm to many cultivators. Later, it was the Green Python True Person from the Spirit Control Sect who took action to eliminate this monster.
The Chen, Han, and Li families jointly manage Qianzhu Valley. Foundation Establishment cultivators are stationed here all year round, with a broad range of businesses, and many loose cultivators earn their living here.
The marketplace is built along the mountainside. At the foot of a steep peak, there is a five zhang high blue stone tablet inscribed with three large characters, "Qianzhu Peak." There are many buildings on the mountain, which is a residential area, providing accommodation for cultivators.
The buildings on Qianzhu Peak are abundant, including simple stone houses, magnificent palaces, and standalone blue attics. These structures extend from the foot of the mountain to the top.
At the base of the mountain, there is a blue stone house that is two zhang in size. The stone house was constructed from large blue stones, with the gaps filled with seashells, and the front door is tightly closed.
Inside the stone house, there is a green stone bed about a zhang long. In the corner, there is a blue array, and on the array, there are five indentations of equal size, each containing a grey-white Spirit Stone. It looks like the Spiritual Energy within the Spirit Stones is about to be exhausted.
A tall young man in blue robes sits cross-legged on the stone bed. The youth has a handsome face, a prominent nose, and his eyes are slightly closed. His body is enveloped in a blue halo, and strands of water Spiritual Energy gather upon him, rushing into his mouth and nose.
After a while, the youth in blue robes opens his eyes, which faintly flash a trace of sharp brilliance.
"Finally reached the fifth level of Qi Refinement."
The youth in blue robes murmured to himself, his face full of joy.
The youth's name is Shen Long, and his parents were both loose cultivators who made a living by hunting monster beasts.
When Shen Long was ten, his parents went out with friends to search for treasures and left most of their possessions with him, instructing him not to leave the marketplace on his own.
His parents did not return, and it has already been seven years.
The possessions left by his parents were not much, and Shen Long was well aware that no matter how much he saved, they would eventually run out. He wanted to find a job, but his age was too young, and shopkeepers didn't want him. Some even tried to lure him out of the marketplace.
His parents used to frequent Soldier Hall, an Artifact Refining shop that sold magic artifacts and also repaired them.
Perhaps feeling sorry for him, the shopkeeper Sun Huowang hired Shen Long as an assistant, paying him two Spirit Stones each month, and helped Shen Long through the most difficult times.
Seven years have passed, and Shen Long's parents are yet to return, their fate unknown.
Shen Long devoted himself to cultivation, as finding his parents first required him to have sufficient strength.
He worked at Soldier Hall for five hours a day, spent another five on cultivation, one hour on practicing Art Techniques, and one hour doing other things, like guiding visiting Cultivators or strolling around the marketplace where Loose Cultivators set up their stalls, listening to shopkeepers recount their experiences hunting Monster Beasts or interesting tales from the Cultivation Realm. If he was lucky, he could buy some decent Artifact Refining materials at a low price and resell them to make a small profit.
Sun Huowang taught Shen Long how to identify Artifact Refining materials, from their characteristics to their purchase price. Shen Long learned diligently, becoming familiar with the characteristics and purchase prices of many Grade One Artifact Refining materials and worked diligently.
Shen Long didn't want to spend his life as a shop assistant. The meager two Spirit Stones he earned each month were barely enough to live on. He set aside an hour each day for practicing Art Techniques, and in five years, he had cultivated two Grade One Art Techniques to Great Perfection. Then, he quit his job and joined other Loose Cultivators to form a Monster Hunting Team to earn Cultivation Resources.
Art Techniques are easy to learn but hard to master and are classified into four stages: Entry, Minor Achievement, Major Achievement, and Great Perfection.
When executing an Art Technique, a Cultivator must silently recite the incantations, which takes a certain amount of time to release the technique. Entry level doesn't take long, but to cultivate a Grade One Art Technique to Great Perfection can take as little as a year and a half or as much as over a decade, varying from person to person.
Some Cultivators have a natural talent for cultivating Art Techniques and can achieve Great Perfection with a Grade One Art Technique within a year, allowing them to cast the technique instantly and with increased power. Others may spend over a decade without achieving Great Perfection and instead choose to buy Magic Artifacts or Talismans, which save time and effort.
The Magic Artifacts from Soldier Hall were of good quality and reasonably priced, attracting a regular clientele, all of whom made their living from hunting Monster Beasts.
Shen Long took advantage of his position to observe the personalities of these Loose Cultivators; some were petty, others liked to take advantage of even the smallest benefits, and some were greedy and lustful.
He befriended a powerful Qi Refining Cultivator, who was the captain of a Monster Hunting Team. Hunting Monster Beasts was fraught with risks, and casualties were common. In the worst case, the entire team could be wiped out.
Two years earlier, this Monster Hunting Team had returned from an excursion with four of its Qi Refining Cultivators having perished. Upon hearing this news, Shen Long volunteered himself.
At the time, he was at the fourth level of Qi Refinement and, with his Fireball Technique at Great Perfection, coupled with his knowledge of the purchase prices of Grade One Artifact Refining materials, he successfully joined the team.
The cave dwelling he now rented was the cheapest in the marketplace, at five Spirit Stones per year, with only a Soundproofing Array and hardly abundant Spiritual Energy.
He earned twenty-four Spirit Stones a year from Soldier Hall. After deducting the rent, he had nineteen Spirit Stones left. By buying the cheapest Golden Bead Spirit Rice, he barely managed to sustain his livelihood. A bottle of Qi Refining Powder cost ten Spirit Stones, and a better-quality Qi Nourishing Pill cost twenty Spirit Stones per bottle.
In his second year of work, Sun Huowang gave him a raise to three Spirit Stones per month and before he resigned, he was earning four Spirit Stones monthly. After deducting rent and the cost of Spirit Rice, he could only save enough Spirit Stones to buy one bottle of Qi Nourishing Pill per year. As his Cultivation improved, the need for Cultivation Resources only grew. Looking at the long term, it was necessary for him to resign.
Four Spirit Stones a month was considered a high salary at the marketplace. Sun Huowang wasn't going to give him another raise and that was another reason Shen Long resigned.
He also considered learning Artifact Refining but Sun Huowang never taught him, and self-studying was far too difficult. A set of Artifact Refining materials could cost dozens of Spirit Stones, and by saving rigorously for a year at Soldier Hall, he could only afford one set. One failure would mean a wasted year's work, not to mention the need to buy a Refining Furnace and Refining Manuals.
According to Sun Huowang, he had failed four times before succeeding in his first Artifact Refining attempt.
Shen Long did the math; by scrimping and saving for ten years, he could buy a low-grade Refining Furnace and a Refining Manual, as well as collect materials for four attempts. If he succeeded once, all was well, but if all attempts failed, it would be ten years down the drain—and that was assuming he didn't buy any Elixirs.
He quickly abandoned the idea. For someone of his lower status, the cost of trial and error was too high. He couldn't afford to gamble and lose. It was better to stick to hunting Monster Beasts.
As far as he knew, the new generations of the Chen, Han, and Li Cultivating clans received a substantial amount of Cultivation Resources every month without having to lift a finger, allowing them to focus solely on cultivation until they turned eighteen, when they would then go out and make their mark. Unfortunately, he wasn't born with such a privilege and had to rely on his own efforts.