Chapter One: Heaven's First Floor

  On the bustling and prosperous Horse Hoof Street, the crowd surged and the atmosphere was lively, making it seem like a world of difference from that quiet little alley just a few streets away. Countless monks walked along this street, either leisurely or in a hurry, occasionally looking up at the sky because of the presence of the mountain range, the sky above Xilu City was always overcast all year round. However, for these scattered cultivators, this was not something worth worrying about. On the main street, perhaps each person's back had their own special story, but it was never known to others.

  Inside Tianyi Building, business was still booming. On the dozens of counters, large quantities of spiritual materials were being bought away by people, exchanging for bag after bag of spirit crystals. The human cultivation of the Tao had undergone thousands of years of development and already had a nearly complete system. Among these, an important common sense was that apart from innate talent and natural endowments, the most crucial thing for cultivators to cultivate the immortal path was the consumption support of these external spiritual materials. To a certain extent, the importance of these materials was almost on par with the cultivator's own innate abilities.

  A cultivator who often takes divine elixirs and has an ample supply of spiritual crystals, and practices with peace of mind every day, will ultimately achieve more than someone with better innate talent but is impoverished and struggling.

  This is also the fundamental reason why a large number of scattered cultivators are at the bottom of the cultivation world. Because scattered cultivators are all cultivators without a sect, school or background, they have entered the path of cultivation through various opportunities, intentionally or unintentionally. Regardless of their innate talent and foundation, in terms of financial resources alone, they are naturally inferior to the existing cultivation sects by countless times. Even if you have excellent innate talent and foundation, but can't even guarantee access to basic spiritual crystals, how can you expect to achieve good results in your cultivation?

  After all, in the world of Hongmeng, humans are different from the demon tribe that was once known as the pride of heaven.

  The demon clan is the true chosen divine clan, with a natural physical body that surpasses that of humans by a hundredfold. Most importantly, the demon clan can even use their physical body as the source to directly absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to cultivate their unique divine abilities, summoning the wind and rain, moving mountains and filling seas, with all sorts of terrifying and fearful powers.

  In comparison, during the long dark era when the demon clan ruled over the Hongmeng realms, among the original hundred clans of Hongmeng, the demon clan was firmly at the top, while humans were born weak. Moreover, for some unknown reason, the physical constitution of humans was fundamentally unable to absorb even a single thread of spiritual energy from heaven and earth, so they didn't have any divine abilities to speak of.

  The only difference between humans and others is that they give birth...

  In the vast and profound world of Hongmeng, during the long dark era of Tianyao Wangting, the fragile human race was always at the bottom of all ethnic groups. Although the population of the human race was so large that it exceeded the total number of other ethnic groups by more than ten times, they were still ravaged and oppressed by the powerful ethnic groups led by the demon tribe, just like a large group of domesticated livestock.

  How can a flock of domesticated sheep and fat pigs be expected to fight against fierce tigers and wolves?

  That period of time, later generations called the Dark Ages, was not spoken lightly. At that time, humans indeed could not see any bright prospects, and any upper-class race could bully humans at will. Humans were forced to do all kinds of lowly work, serving as slaves and servants, working hard to support those high-and-mighty chosen races. Even in many cases, some powerful races led by the demon race would directly slaughter large numbers of humans during major ceremonies such as sacrifices, funerals, and expeditions, holding bloody rituals like live sacrifice or burial, and would not consider humans to be one of the hundred races of the Hongmeng, but rather just livestock.

  In such a terrifying era, the fate of humanity can be imagined. If it weren't for the fact that humans had an extremely strong reproductive capacity, persisting in their propagation with a large population, they might have been wiped out by those divine chosen ones long ago.

  Such a dark fate was suffocating and desperate, like a dark cloud that had always shrouded the human race, until in the late stage of Tianyao Wangting, a small thing that changed the fate of the entire Hongmeng world was discovered.

  That is the Ling Crystal, a small stone that only produces in the place where the spiritual energy of the Spiritual Mountain and Dragon Vein converges, with a crystal clear body, thumb-sized, prism-shaped, looking very beautiful. Originally, it was just considered to be a low-grade ornament with no use, but on a certain day at a certain moment, or perhaps by chance, someone discovered that humans can actually absorb spiritual energy from these Ling Crystals through some special methods...

  The spiritual energy of the universe, invisible and intangible, yet omnipresent, is the foundation of all powers and abilities in the Hongmeng world. The demonic tribe's strength and terror lie in their ability to directly absorb this energy into their bodies through physical means, making them the chosen ones. Other tribes in the Hongmeng world can also absorb this energy through various methods, but humans are the only exception, which is why they are weak and have a tragic fate, often bullied by others.

  But everything changed after that.

  All sorts of tragic past events, or magnificent legends and tragic wars, have now become distant memories from thousands of years ago. The once invincible and arrogant demon tribe, as well as other arrogant alien tribes, either escaped or died out, disappearing at the edge of the vast Hongmeng world, or dissolving into the ruthless passage of time. As of today, in this vast and boundless Hongmeng world, it is the human race that reigns supreme, the human race that is the master, which explains everything.

  And all of this, when you get down to it, is just that one small, beautiful, crystal clear and lovely little stone.

  Ling crystal is a must-have for all human cultivators. Only through this small stone can cultivators absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and as their cultivation realm improves, the number of ling crystals they need also increases.

  No spiritual crystal, no cultivation.

  This sentence is applicable throughout the world.

  Spirit crystals are so important that cultivators can't leave them for a moment, so in today's cultivation world, spirit crystals have become equivalent to currency, replacing the gold and silver of the mortal world. At present, in the Tianyi Building, scattered cultivators come and go to buy various spiritual materials needed for their cultivation, and what they pay to the Tianyi Building is also spirit crystals.

  Soft and lustrous light, accompanied by the crisp and melodious sound of crystal collisions, formed a series of scenes that enchanted the monks. In the flickering light and shadow, the faces of those pursuing their dreams of immortality were reflected. Although this path was extremely difficult and long, with most people falling along the way, there were still countless successors who threw themselves into it without hesitation.

  Perhaps, becoming an immortal and living forever is always an irresistible temptation for a mortal. What's more, once one starts practicing the Tao, even if they can't become an immortal or live forever, they can still increase their lifespan several times over while possessing powerful abilities like moving mountains and overturning seas. Who wouldn't be enchanted by this?

  After scanning the lively scene in the front hall and confirming that everything was normal as usual, Shen Tai walked slowly to the entrance of Tianyi Building and looked around.

  Everything is as usual, just like in the past, and it seems to be another peaceful day.

  At the entrance, those few Xuan Yin Gate disciples who were standing or sitting like idlers, saw Shen Tai coming over and all revealed smiles, nodding in greeting. In fact, with their cultivation levels, even the worst among them had reached the Condensing Yuan stage, which meant they had truly stepped into the path of cultivating immortality. Compared to the outer gate disciples who were still stuck at the Refining Qi stage and couldn't make any progress, there was a world of difference in status. At least within Xuan Yin Gate, ordinary outer gate disciples would always be respectful when seeing these inner gate disciples, while they usually wouldn't bother with those weaker ones.

  But Shen Tai, the big boss of Shen Da, with this Tianyi Building as capital, and the Lingshuai flowing like a river every day, just relying on this, is enough to make him stand out from the crowd.

  Shen Tai's expression was also gentle, and he nodded to these people with a smile, his eyes scanning over them, stopping for a moment on the face of the man with the whiskers who had spoken to Shen Shi earlier, before walking back calmly.

  Through the bustling and noisy shop, Shen Tai returned to the back courtyard again, sat down in a quiet pavilion in a small garden somewhere, looking at the green trees and fragrant grass around him, silent and seemingly thinking about something.

  Not long after, a figure emerged from the other side of the small garden. It was the same bearded disciple of the Xuan Yin Gate who had been secretly guarding the entrance to Tianyi Building earlier. At this moment, his face was calm and his footsteps were light. His eyes seemed to be scanning the small garden aimlessly, but then he appeared to have caught sight of Shen Tai in the pavilion by chance. He paused for a moment before walking over.

  "Boss Shen, you're so carefree." The man with the whiskers chuckled and walked into the pavilion.

  Shen Tai glanced at him, a hint of a smile also appeared on the corner of his mouth, but his eyes seemed to have a faintly cold and stern expression. However, his tone was still as gentle as usual: "Elder Brother Chen, you've worked hard, please sit down."

  In the pavilion, there was a round stone table with four stone stools beside it. After two people sat down, that Chen brother didn't speak either, but his eyes glanced at Shen Tai, as if there was deep meaning in them.

  Shen Tai didn't hesitate, seemingly casually pulling out a small ordinary wooden box from his bosom and placing it in front of him, calmly saying: "A few days ago I received a little something, perhaps it will be to Shifu's liking, please accept it."

  Chen Shixiong glanced at him, picked up the wooden box, and with a slight force of his fingers, opened the lid to a small gap. A soft blue light flickered out.

  His hand suddenly stopped in mid-air.

  "Bang!"

  With a crisp sound, the wooden box lid was forcefully closed by him.

  Chen Shixiong's breathing seemed to have become slightly heavier, and it was unclear whether he was excited or nervous, or if he had a hint of fear. However, after a moment, once he had calmed down, his complexion returned to normal, but the look in his eyes when gazing at Shen Tai was completely different from before.

  "Shen boss is quite capable." He stared at Shen Tai for a while before saying in a low voice.

  Shen Tai slightly narrowed his eyes, seemingly with a hint of self-mockery, and said: "It's nothing serious. I've been here for over a decade, single-handedly building the current state of Tianyi Building. Doing these small things doesn't count as much."

  Chen Shixiong took a deep breath, put the wooden box into his bosom, stood up and said: "Since Boss Shen has done it to this point, everything will be done as we previously agreed."

  Shen Tai nodded and after a moment of silence, said in a low voice: "I hope you can keep your promises."

  "Brother Chen raised an eyebrow and said, 'Don't worry, Mr. Shen, I may not dare to say anything else, but when it comes to keeping promises and being trustworthy, I can proudly claim to be the best in the world.'"

  Shen Tai nodded slowly, looking at him as if he somewhat believed in the promise of the person in front of him. However, this Chen Shixiong was clearly an inner disciple of the Xuan Yin Gate, yet when speaking with Shen Tai until the end, he repeatedly referred to himself as "your humble servant", subtly revealing a hint of strangeness.

  Just as Chen Shixiong was about to turn around and leave, Shen Tai's face suddenly changed, and he said: "Chen Shixiong."

  The man with the whiskers stopped in his tracks, turned around and said, "What?"

  Shen Tai looked at him and said: "There is one thing that Shen Tai does not understand, and I would like to ask for the guidance of a senior brother. However, I do not know which predecessor instructed you to deal with Li Lao Guai?"

  "Brother Chen smiled slightly and said: 'Boss Shen, you're asking too many questions.'"

  Shen Tai pursed his lips, smiled and let it go. Chen Shixiong bowed his head, turned around and left with big strides. The only one left in the pavilion was Shen Tai. This short and stout figure slowly turned around, raised his eyes to gaze into the distance, where the majestic Tianyin mountain range was shrouded in endless dark clouds.

  After a long time, he finally spoke in a barely audible voice, muttering to himself: "Who would dare to secretly plot against a great true man of the Yuan Dan realm...?"

  (Suddenly living a life of two updates a day, waking up in the morning feels stressful... but I'm still holding on, there's another chapter at 7pm tonight ^_^)