Shen Long picked the somewhat worn blue storage bag from his waist, his face showing a look of reminiscence. It was a gift from his father Shen Guang when he advanced to the first level of Qi Refinement.
"Alive, I must see you, dead, I must find your bodies. Dad, Mom, I will definitely find you,"
Shen Long murmured to himself, his gaze resolute.
He turned the storage bag upside down and gave it a gentle shake. After a sweep of blue light, some items appeared on the ground: a green cloth bag, a pottery jar, a blue flying dagger, a black shield, a Golden Armor Talisman, thirty-two spirit stones, and a bottle of Qi Nourishing Pills.
This was his entire fortune. He possessed Triple Spirit Roots of water, wood, and fire. He cultivated the "Mysterious Water Art" and could only refine qi to the ninth layer. This was his mother Liu Yun's main cultivation method, passed down for seven generations.
He had cultivated the Fireball Technique and the Xuan Water Shield to Great Perfection, the former being an offensive art technique and the latter defense, but he had never revealed his use of the Xuan Water Shield to outsiders. One must always guard against others.
Joining the Monster Hunting Team to hunt monster beasts was dangerous, and the greatest danger didn't come from the beasts, but from other cultivators. For the sake of wealth, those engaged in demon hunting would become enemies and often fight amongst themselves.
Shen Guang and Liu Yun had followed a friend on a treasure hunt and it was very possible that they had discovered valuable treasure, prompting their friend to turn greedy and murder them to seize the loot.
This was the worst scenario Shen Long could imagine. After working at Soldier Hall for five years, he had met many loose cultivators, and too often they would embark on a journey never to return, their fates unknown.
Shen Long opened the green cloth bag, which contained some golden grains of rice that were full and emitted a pleasing aroma.
This was Golden Bead Spirit Rice. It matured annually and typically yielded over three hundred pounds per mu. Rich in spiritual energy, it was suitable for Qi Refining Cultivators to consume, providing some benefit to their cultivation, though the taste was average.
The greatest advantage of Golden Bead Spirit Rice was its affordability, only ten pounds for one spirit stone.
The higher-quality spirit rice, which had longer growth cycles and contained more spiritual energy and better taste, was not cheap. A loose cultivator like Shen Long would be reluctant to buy it.
For him, as long as the food could satiate his hunger and somewhat aid his cultivation, it was sufficient. He had heard that the Chen, Han, and Li Families had cultivated a lot of Silver Marrow Spirit Rice.
It took three years for Silver Marrow Spirit Rice to mature, yielding two hundred pounds per mu, and was rich in spiritual energy with a soft and fine texture.
Members of the younger generation from the Chen, Han, and Li Families all grew up eating Silver Marrow Spirit Rice. It was distributed monthly and was free to collect until they turned eighteen.
At the age of seventeen, Shen Long had cultivated to the fifth level of Qi Refinement. At the same age and with Triple Spirit Roots, most of the younger generation from the Chen, Han, and Li Families were at the sixth level of Qi Refinement, with a few reaching the seventh level.
Besides cultivating faster, the younger generation from the Chen, Han, and Li Families lived in spirit lands abundant in spiritual energy, some aided by magic artifacts or spirit arrays in their cultivation. Those with wealth even raised spirit beasts.
Spirit beasts required more resources than cultivators, a disadvantage, but they generally had a longer lifespan than same-tier cultivators, an advantage.
Those born into cultivator families or sects might inherit spirit beasts, birds, and insects from birth, giving them a significant advantage over loose cultivators.
In Qianzhu Valley, there were many loose cultivators who hunted monster beasts, but those who owned spirit beasts could be counted on one hand, most being combat-ready spirit beasts.
Ornamental-type spirit beasts, on the other hand, were only kept by wealthy cultivators.
Shen Long had heard that the Li Family had raised quite a few Ice Beard Spirit Fish. These spirit fish had delicious meat and could be cooked into expensive spiritual meals beneficial to cultivation. However, ordinary Qi Refining Cultivators simply couldn't afford them.
Shen Long grabbed a handful of Golden Bead Spirit Rice and placed it into the pottery jar. He used the Water Orb Technique and tiny blue vapors emerged, forming a water orb the size of a bowl, which fell into the jar to wash the rice.
His palm lit up with a red glow as flames emerged, enveloping the jar.
It didn't take long for the water in the jar to boil, releasing a rich aroma of rice. However, Shen Long had little appetite; in fact, he felt somewhat nauseated.
Ever since his parents went missing, he had been relying on Golden Bead Spirit Rice for sustenance and had grown tired of it. This was the daily reality for most loose cultivators. In contrast, cultivators from the Chen, Han, and Li Families, at least had one or two side dishes, and wealthier cultivators had spiritual meals for every meal.
After a while, Shen Long's flame in his palm dissipated, and he placed the clay pot on the stone bed. He took out a wooden spoon, scooped up some contents from the pot, and began to eat.
Before long, the pot of Spirit Rice Meal was finished.
His abdomen felt slightly warm, and a faint spiritual energy rose in his belly, spreading toward his limbs and bones.
He quickly sat down cross-legged and began cultivating to refine this spiritual energy.
Less than a quarter of an hour later, he had finished cultivating.
With his Qi Refinement fifth layer cultivation, the spiritual energy provided by a pot of Golden Bead Spirit Rice was very little. Its primary effect was to satiate his hunger rather than to significantly boost his spiritual energy. If he wanted the Spirit Rice to provide more spiritual energy, he would need to consume more precious types of Spirit Rice, which was, for the time being, a luxury.
He only had thirty-two Spirit Stones on hand and wished he could use each one as two. The Spirit Stones in his Storage Bag were not enough to support such a dream.
He cleaned the clay pot, packed up all his belongings in his Storage Bag, collected the five Spirit Stones from the array, and walked out the door.
Shen Long headed toward the peak. After a while, he arrived midway up the mountain and stood in front of the entrance to a vast estate. The plaque above read "Martial Training Garden" in large characters.
This was a place where cultivators practiced Art Techniques. Cultivators who rented facilities at Qianzhu Peak could practice their Art Techniques for free here, one of the benefits offered to tenants.
Beyond that, they could also exchange cultivation experiences with other cultivators.
Non-tenants, however, had to pay to practice Art Techniques at the Martial Training Garden.
A pale blue water curtain blocked the entrance. Shen Long took out a square, green token with the characters "Qianzhu" inscribed on the front.
He channeled mana into the token, and a streak of green light shot out, merging into the blue water curtain. The curtain rippled and dissolved away.
Shen Long strode in and could hear a cacophony of booming and talking sounds.
He made his way toward a side courtyard. Before long, he was standing in a bluestone passage lined with stone chambers on both sides, their doors tightly shut, each filled with cultivators practicing their Art Techniques.
Shen Long was in no hurry. He came to a stop outside a stone chamber with the character "Earth" written on its door. Different chambers had different terrains, suitable for practicing various Art Techniques.
After the time it took to brew a cup of tea, the door to one stone chamber opened, and out walked an energetic old man in a green robe and a handsome, bright-eyed boy in blue clothes.
"Taoist Friend Qin, what a coincidence!"
Shen Long greeted the man in the green robe with a smile.
The green-robed elder was named Qin Qing, and he belonged to the same Monster Hunting Team as Shen Long. The boy in blue was his grandson, Qin Tianhe.
Qin Qing's talent was not great—over seventy and yet still at Qi Refinement stage six. His son and daughter-in-law had perished while hunting Monster Beasts, leaving behind his grandson, Qin Tianhe.
The grandfather and grandson depended on each other for survival. Qin Qing hunted Monster Beasts to earn Cultivation Resources for Qin Tianhe's cultivation. Shen Long's life was full of hardship, but Qin Qing and his grandson had it even harder.
Monster Hunting required the purchase of Talismans or the repair of Magic Artifacts, all of which cost Spirit Stones.
"Taoist Friend Shen, what a coincidence! Has Taoist Friend Xu not finished his seclusion yet?"
Qin Qing asked.
The Taoist Friend Xu he mentioned was named Xu Lei, who had a Qi Refinement seventh layer cultivation and was the leader of the Monster Hunting Team.