Chapter One: Heaven's First Floor

  Sitting in the middle of the stone steps, the two young men chatted intermittently, calming their nerves after narrowly escaping death. As they talked, they surprisingly found that they had a lot to talk about. Sun You, who came from one of the most prominent families in Ling Xiang Sect, seemed casual and warm in his speech and demeanor, without any hint of arrogance or condescension due to his family background. Shen Shi shared some stories about his past life, which made Sun You's eyes light up, especially when Shen Shi mentioned his experiences identifying spiritual materials while working in a shop.

  As they talked, the two of them felt a sense of closeness that they hadn't expected. Shen Shi had traveled alone to Ling Xiao Sect, a place where he knew no one and was unfamiliar with the surroundings. He had been feeling a bit lonely and out of place, but after chatting with Sun You for a while, he learned some gossip about the sect's internal affairs and the trivial matters of the subordinate families outside the sect. His mood improved significantly, and before he knew it, he was feeling quite cheerful.

  As they spoke, Sun You leaned in close to Shen Shi and whispered with a smile: "According to what you're saying, ordinary spiritual grasses, spiritual mineral pellets, spiritual medicines, and spiritual materials, you pretty much recognize them all?"

  Shen Shi shook his head and said, "You're saying too much, I don't deserve it. In the past, I was just helping out in that shop, getting familiar with some common spiritual materials."

  Sun You's face revealed a hint of mystery, and after glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pouch made of azure silk, handing it to Shen Shi, saying: "In that case, help me take a look at this thing."

  Shen Shi glanced at him and Sun You chuckled, with a hint of embarrassment, saying: "Take a look, take a look, help me see what this thing is?"

  Shen Shi opened the knot on the small pouch, shook open the cloth bag, and a yellow object was revealed inside. However, upon closer inspection, it looked quite ordinary, with a dull yellow color that resembled a lump of yellow mud. The only unusual thing about it was that after taking it out of the bag, it seemed to emit a faint, subtle fragrance.

  "Hmm?" Shen Shi looked at it carefully, then turned his head to look at Sun You, and his eyes were already different. He said, "Not bad, indeed worthy of being a big family's child, actually carrying this 'Fire Ant Incense' on him."

  Sun Youhaha smiled and said, "Ah, you really have a good eye, to be able to recognize this thing... uh," Suddenly, his smile paused for a moment, and his eyebrows slightly furrowed, but then returned to normal. He glanced at the yellowish-brown lump in Shen Shi's hand and said, "You just said that this is fire ant incense?"

  Shen Shi nodded and said, "Hu Yan Xiang is a rare fragrance produced from the abdomen of the demon beast 'Lihuo Wugong'. It's very difficult to obtain, judging by its size and color, it's probably from a hundred-year-old demon beast. This thing is most beneficial for cultivators in the Condensing Yuan realm. When cultivating and absorbing spiritual crystals, placing one piece on their body can effectively reduce mental fatigue and increase the cultivation effect by about 10%. It's a rare spiritual material that can enhance cultivation."

  He said, handing the piece of Huo Qian Xiang back to Sun You, with a hint of envy, and continued: "It seems that your family values you highly. However, this Huo Qian Xiang is probably only effective in the Condensed Yuan realm. Once you reach the Divine Intent realm, it will almost lose its effect on cultivators. And if you start using it from the Refining Qi realm, the fragrance's effect will be too strong and violent, making it easy to absorb too much spiritual energy into your body, which would ruin your Jade Furnace foundation. Not to mention that in the future, you'll have no hope of breaking through. What's more, after a long time, I'm afraid your body will be ruined."

  Sun You seemed to have suddenly become much quieter, not making a sound as he took the fire incense from him, lowering his head to gaze at it for a long time before lightly putting it back into his small bag. When he lifted his head again, there were already several more smiles on his face, and when looking at Shen Shi, his eyes seemed to have become somewhat different from before.

  "Let's go." He patted Shen Shi's shoulder lightly and said, "Although this stone step is difficult to walk on, the fairy fate is above, and we can't not go."

  Shen Shi burst out laughing and said, "Exactly."

  Two youths stood up at the same time and returned to this steep stone step, continuing to climb upwards.

  The two of them had already walked halfway up the stone steps, but because of this unexpected delay, they didn't continue on their way until now. As they set off again, they found that walking on the stone steps seemed to be much easier than before. Thus, after another short while, the two of them finally completed the difficult Immortal Fate Road and reached the top of the Worshiping Immortals' Rock.

  Unlike the steep and rugged stone steps, the top of this giant rock is flat, as if it was cut out by a divine sword. At this time, many people had already climbed up here before them. Shen Shi looked around and saw that at the edge of Bai Xian Rock, there were people wearing Ling Xiao Sect disciple robes standing at intervals, forming a circle around the boys who had climbed up.

  On the flat and spacious empty land at the top of the giant rock, there were already hundreds of men and women standing, roughly estimated to be over two hundred people. It seemed that many early risers had climbed up here before Shen Shi arrived below Bai Xian Rock.

  After stepping onto the flat and solid stone surface, Shen Shi finally let out a sigh of relief. He turned around to glance at the stone steps he had just climbed, recalling the scene where he had slipped and fallen not long ago, and his heart still skipped a beat with lingering fear. However, Sun You, standing beside him, looked around, especially focusing on those calm and composed Ling Xiang Sect disciples for a moment before pulling Shen Shi forward and whispering, "I think if we really fell off just now and didn't manage to steady ourselves, maybe nothing would have happened."

  Shen Shi made a thoughtful noise, looking at Sun You with a hint of confusion. Sun You nodded slightly, gesturing for him to look around at the Ling Xiang Sect disciples who had formed a circle around them. "These people have high moral character," he said. "It's not good to say anything else, but if we were to die on a day like today as new disciples, wouldn't that be a great inauspicious sign? So I think that even if something really was going to happen earlier, these senior brothers would have come over and held us back."

  Shen Shi nodded thoughtfully after a moment of contemplation, and indeed found it quite reasonable.

  The space above the giant stone was quite spacious, and even though there were already over two hundred young men standing in the middle at this moment, it seemed like there was still a lot of room left. Shen Shi walked around casually with Sun You to a place where there were slightly fewer people and stopped, looking around randomly. Seeing that the Ling Xiao Sect disciples didn't show any signs, and more young men continued to walk up onto the stone steps from time to time, it seemed like they still had to wait for a while longer.

  He casually looked around for a while, his eyes scanning over the boys who had come earlier, and after some time, he gradually noticed something unusual.

  In the group of over 200 young people, with more joining in from behind, they appeared to be standing around randomly, but actually had subtly formed several small cliques. At the very center were about twenty or so youngsters, boys and girls, all dressed in bright clothing, looking familiar with each other, chatting and laughing together as if no one else was there.

  On the periphery of these twenty or so people, there were about forty or fifty others standing around, all roughly the same age. However, it was clear that these young men on the outside looked up to those at the center with a mixture of admiration and fear, some even being ordered around by the central figures and running errands for them without any sign of discontent.

  Apart from this, in a larger circle on the periphery, it is roughly where Shen Shi stood. The young people here look unfamiliar to each other and rarely talk to others. Occasionally, one or two young people seem to be open-minded and are looking for someone to chat with, but they are also very few. At the same time, this outermost circle is also the most sparse and disorderly, and it doesn't even form a circle at all.

  As his gaze swept across the room, Shen Shi suddenly saw that little fatty Hou Sheng, who had been hostile towards him earlier, standing in the middle of the second inner circle. His expression was completely different from before, and a smile covered his chubby face as he stood beside another youth not far away. He kept glancing at the other boy with the corner of his eye, and whenever that boy gave an order or made a gesture, Hou Sheng would immediately rush over to listen or run errands for him, showing great deference towards him.

  Shen Shi gazed into the distance for a while, when suddenly he heard a voice beside him. It was Sun You who had walked up to his side and stood shoulder to shoulder with him. Following Shen Shi's line of sight, he looked ahead and said calmly, "That man is named Hou Yuanliang, an outstanding young master of the main branch of the Hou family."

  Shen Shi turned his head and glanced at him, saying: "You know a lot of people, don't you?"

  Sun You shrugged and said, "No way, the vassal families under the Ling Xiao Sect are mostly within a radius of 500 miles around Liuyun City. Since childhood, the various aristocratic families have been interacting with each other, and many people have grown up together."

  Shen Shi smiled slightly, his eyes glanced at the center of the crowd again, and after a moment's thought, he said: "So, those people standing in the middle..."

  "Those twenty or so people in the middle are the direct descendants of some of the most powerful families, who have been highly valued by their families since childhood. Some of them already have a place in the Ling Xiao Sect's door register; The people surrounding them include children from branch families of these aristocratic families, who were selected for their good innate abilities, as well as distant relatives of these aristocratic families, all of whom are waiting to see the faces of these direct descendants before acting." He pointed to himself and Shen Shi's location, saying, "As for this outer circle where we're standing, I don't recognize a single person. They should all be ordinary disciples recruited by Ling Xiao Sect this time."

  Shen Shi rolled his eyes and then smiled: "You're from the Sun family, aren't you? You know a lot of people, why don't you go talk to them?"

  Sun You let out a laugh and seemed to be about to say something, when suddenly the person in the center of the crowd, wearing white clothes, with a handsome face and slender figure, glanced over here, saw Sun You, was taken aback for a moment, then broke into a smile, waved his hand and shouted loudly:

  "Second brother, when did you come up? Come over quickly."

  Sun You's expression changed in an instant.