1 The Young Zhou Yang

The far west, within the Boundless Sand Sea.

The Boundless Sand Sea was just like its name, a vast, endless, and boundless sea of sand.

Its environment was harsh with very few suitable places for humans to live in. Only a few desert oases could accommodate humans. One of them was Yuquan Lake.

Yuquan Lake was an oasis strategically located at the foot of Yuquan Peak, a mountain on the east side of the lake standing hundreds of meters high, dotted with trees, and surrounded by clouds. As such, the east side of the lake was higher in elevation than its west side.

The entire lake covered an area of more than ten square kilometers. The water in the lake originated from an underground river that supplied large amounts of clear and sweet water. Its quality was good enough to be drunk directly.

More than a hundred thousand humans and countless animals that live within a twenty-kilometer radius of Yuquan Lake Oasis depended on it to survive.

Like all precious resources with human presence, Yuquan Lake was owned by the Yuquan Zhou clan, or otherwise known as the Zhou clan.

The first person to discover Yuquan Lake Oasis was the ancestor of the Yuquan Zhou clan, Zhou Yuquan. Now, the more-than-a-hundred-thousand humans that lived on this oasis were members of his clan.

The Yuquan Zhou clan practiced immortal cultivation. Its ancestor, Zhou Yuquan, was a disciple of the immortal cultivation sect, Yellow Sand School. He had resigned from the sect over two hundred years ago and established the Yuquan Zhou clan in Yuquan Lake Oasis. Since then, seven generations had passed.

Zhou Yuquan had long passed away but the amount of time that had spanned since he established the clan had allowed it to develop into a powerful immortal cultivation clan with a Foundation Establishment cultivator, dozens of Qi Refinement cultivators, and more than one hundred thousand ordinary members.

Ordinary members of the Zhou clan mainly lived a carefree, self-sustaining life in three small towns in the oasis, either cultivating the land or herding livestock.

The cultivators of the Zhou clan lived on Yuquan Peak, which was rich in spiritual Qi.

The spiritual Qi of Yuquan Peak was contained in Advanced Grade 2 natural veins. After more than two hundred years of cultivation by the Zhou clan, the veins had now evolved to Intermediate Grade 3 which could be used for cultivation by several Foundation Establishment cultivators and hundreds of Qi Refinement cultivators.

Zhou Yang was the Yuan (sixth) generation cultivator of the Yuquan Zhou clan.

Zhou Yuquan had drafted up twelve generation titles - Yu, Hua, Ming, Guang, Xuan, Yuan, Guang, Tong, Fu Ze, Rong, and Sheng - when he established the clan.

The members of the Zhou clan could only be listed in the family tree after their spiritual roots had been tested for cultivation potential. If they have been deemed worthy, their spirit tablet will be placed in the ancestral hall and worshipped by descendants.

There were a total of fifteen members of the Yuquan Zhou clan's Yuan generation. Zhou Yang was ranked ninth, but he was the best of the fifteen in terms of cultivation.

At this moment, he - a rather famous 'little genius' of the Zhou clan - was sitting cross-legged in a natural cave on the mountainside of Yuquan Peak with his eyes closed. He made an incantation gesture and used all his strength to circulate his cultivation method to absorb and refine the mist of spiritual Qi of earth veins in the cave.

The Spiritual Qi of Earth Veins was a kind of Qi essence formed from the combination of nurtured spiritual and earth veins. The absorption and refinement of it were very beneficial for low-level immortal cultivators to break through to the next level.

However, it was difficult to obtain the Spiritual Qi of Earth Veins as it could only form in certain places where the earth and spiritual veins intersected. In the entire Yuquan Peak, such spiritual Qi could only be found in Yuyang Cave, Zhou Yang's current location.

The amount of Spiritual Qi of Earth Veins formed in Yuyang Cave was only enough for Qi Refinement cultivators to break through every ten years. Moreover, it was only effective for cultivators of Qi Refinement Level 7 and below.

Therefore, among the dozens of Qi Refinement cultivators of the Zhou clan, only a few particularly outstanding clansmen were able to use the Spiritual Qi of Earth Veins to break through to the next level.

Of course, Zhou Yang was able to use the Spiritual Qi of Earth Veins in Yuyang Cave to break through. He was, after all, the Yuan generation's best of fifteen. Otherwise, even his father, the sixth elder of the Yuquan Zhou clan, would not be able to get a seventeen-year-old like him access to an opportunity that only came once every ten years.

Many of the Zhou clan Qi Refinement cultivators had waited for this opportunity for ten to twenty years!

Zhou Yang sat cross-legged and made an incantation gesture as he breathed in and out evenly. With each breath he took, the milky-white Spiritual Qi of Earth Veins transformed into two misty spiritual snakes and enter through his nostrils to be refined into his own mana.

When the amount of the milky-white Spiritual Qi of Earth Veins in the cave had been reduced to less than 30%, Zhou Yang's tightly shut eyes suddenly opened. His aura had almost doubled compared to before as his shoulder-length hair fluttered behind him even though there was no wind.

He stood up and muttered to himself with a face full of joy, "I've finally broken through to Qi Refinement Level 6. The Spiritual Qi of Earth Veins really lives up to its reputation. This has saved me at least three years of cultivation!"

To be only seventeen years old and to have already reached Qi Refinement Level 6 was only something a few elite disciples with advanced spiritual roots could achieve, even in immortal cultivation sects like Yellow Sand School.

And Zhou Yang's spiritual root potential was only of intermediate tier.

"The clan leader said that it's my body, not my spiritual root, that possesses a special potential, which is why my cultivation speed far surpasses other cultivators with the same spiritual root potential. Unfortunately, the examination of it is difficult, and only large sects like Yellow Sand School can detect it through secret methods.

"Although the Zhou clan I belong to is a vassal of Yellow Sand School, it is impossible for me to ask them to help me examine my potential unless I am willing to join them!

"If I join Yellow Sand School, I will be bound by their rules. Moreover, there will suddenly be countless seniors in the sect who can order me around. How will I be able to live comfortably there as I do in my clan now?

"It's better to be the head of a dog than the tail of a lion. Yellow Sand School has a large family business with no lack of geniuses with advanced spiritual roots in every generation. Even if I have a special potential, I will only be an elite disciple when I join them. The benefits I will enjoy there might not be as good as what I have now with the Zhou clan. Here, at least the seniors hope for and support me to break through to the realm of Foundation Establishment in the future. They value me and my abilities to be equally as important to bring honor to our clan.

"Moreover, as long as I break through to the realm of Foundation Establishment, my special potential will naturally awaken and grant me some form of treasured magical ability. By then, I should already be able to tell what kind of special potential I have."

Zhou Yang was indeed not an ordinary person - he was a reincarnation of a person from Earth. Thus, he still possessed more than twenty to thirty years' worth of memories from his previous life, unlike an ordinary person who had none.

Although not much of these memories from his previous life could be used in this Xianxia world because its environment was very different from Earth's, some methods, experiences, and principles were universal and thus, could still be useful.

To others, Yellow Sand School was awe-inspiring. Its Grandmaster had already formed the Golden Core as a Core Formation cultivator and the sect had dozens of vassal desert oases like Yuquan Lake Oasis contributing to its collection of cultivation methods and treasures. Who wouldn't be eager to join such a successful sect?

However, not many realized that despite the benefits of joining Yellow Sand School, the rules governing it were strict. Ordinary Qi Refinement cultivators had to complete the sect's compulsory mission every year. If they could not complete the mission and were lucky, they would be barred from receiving the benefits of being a disciple of the sect. If they were unlucky, their cultivation will be removed and they would be expelled from the sect!

Furthermore, to appeal to the sect seniors and elders, or to obtain access to cultivate in spiritual locations, it was almost necessary for low-level disciples to form cliques and use all their strength to suppress their competitors. Since the sect was so large and widely spread, it wasn't surprising that competition among disciples was very high.

The Zhou clan's ancestor was a Yellow Sand School cultivator in the realm of Foundation Establishment. As such, the clan's ancient records had information regarding Yellow Sand School, which meant that any disciple of the Zhou clan would be able to join Yellow Sand School unless they did not have good spiritual roots or did not want to.

Zhou Yang was of the latter as he was very tired of those office politics from his previous life. He had decided that he would never get himself involved in any similar kinds of politics in this life even if there was no hope of achieving the Great Dao or longevity.

Xiantian, Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Zifu, Core Foundation, Nascent Soul, Heavenly Tribulation, Void Reversion, and Dao Integration. These were the nine major cultivation realms. If one wanted to achieve true immortality, one had to be a Celestial Immortal in the realm of Dao Integration.

However, as far as Zhou Yang knew, despite the presence of immortal cultivators since the beginning of time in this world, no one had ever heard of true immortality. After all, the nine major cultivation realms were something that was fed to them based on legends of Celestial Immortals. The existence of Celestial Immortals or anyone who had achieved all nine realms had never been verified.

In fact, reaching the realm of Core Foundation and a lifespan of a thousand years was the most 99% of cultivators could achieve.

This was why Zhou Yang did not want to get involved in the superficial political pursuit of such legendary immortality.

The ability of one to cultivate successfully required the heart to be in sync too. Since his heart was unwilling, Zhou Yang did not bother to push himself.

Having just broken through, his mind was a little too excited to think too much. It took Zhou Yang quite a while to suppress the messy thoughts in his mind. He looked at the remaining milky-white Spiritual Qi of Earth Veins in the cave.

"Although I can absorb the Spiritual Qi of Earth Veins as much as I want every time Yuyang Cave opens, I have already broken through so absorbing anymore will only help me increase the stability of my cultivation in the realm of Qi Refinement. It won't be of much use otherwise.

"I might as well leave the remainder of this Spiritual Qi of Earth Veins to be brought forward to the next opening of the Yuyang Cave for the benefit of other clansmen."

It wasn't advisable to drain the pond of its fish. The Spiritual Qi of Earth Veins wasn't easy to produce and simply using it to raise one's mana and cultivation level was too wasteful. Since Zhou Yang was determined to stay in the clan to develop, he naturally wouldn't do such a vile thing that would harm public and private interests.

Having made up his mind, he immediately walked out of the cave and explained the situation to the elders of his family who were guarding outside.

Yuyang Cave was the Zhou clan's treasured place that was guarded all year round by the clan elders. The current guard was Xuan generation cultivator Zhou Xuanhe, Zhou Yang's fourteenth uncle.

Zhou Xuanhe was wearing a blue Taoist robe embroidered with white cranes and auspicious clouds. When he heard of what had happened and Zhou Yang's thought process, he immediately nodded with a gratified expression and said with a smile, "Not bad, not bad. Yang, you are indeed the most promising person in the Yuan generation of the Zhou family to be able to draw a big picture at such a young age. If the clan head and my older brother knew about this, they would definitely be very pleased!"

The clan leader that he mentioned was the only Foundation Establishment cultivator in the Zhou clan, Zhou Minghan. He was also the only surviving member of the clan's Ming generation. The older brother Zhou Xuanhe referred to was Zhou Yang's father, Zhou Xuanhao. He was the sixth of eight elders and at Qi Refinement Level 9 in the Zhou clan. Zhou Xuanhao was also the eldest of the Xuan generation.

Zhou clan cultivators who were of the same generation would address each other as brothers. Those of different generations would address those older as uncles or aunts, and younger as nieces and nephews.

Despite his fourteenth uncle's praises, Zhou Yang simply responded that this was his duty as a member of the Zhou clan. He did not allow his status and cultivation to prevent him from being humble.

This only made Zhou Xuanhe think much more highly of his nephew.

It was already very rare for someone at his age to achieve Qi Refinement Level 6. In addition to being able to remain humble and see the bigger picture, Zhou Yang had a combination of traits that were extremely hard to find. The hope of the next generation of the Zhou clan might just fall on the shoulders of this young man.

Zhou Xuanhe suddenly remembered something and said, "Since you have already successfully broken through, quickly go to the cave on the mountain top to pay a visit to the clan leader. He has already instructed that if you can successfully break through, you must be sent to see him."

"Oh, really? I won't hold you then, Fourteenth Uncle. Thank you for protecting me."

Zhou Yang's expression changed as he thanked Zhou Xuanhe and quickly rushed to the cave of the clan leader at the top of Yuquan Peak.