Chapter One: Heaven's First Floor

  The black-striped turtle retreated into its shell for a while, and when it found that the outside had gradually calmed down, it seemed that there was no danger. This large but gentle and timid low-level spiritual beast slowly poked its head out of the shell, looked around, and found itself in a familiar beast cage. In front of it, not far from the outside of the beast cage, stood two boys with somewhat similar faces.

  One face is full of warm and friendly smiles, another face is expressionless with hands grasping a beast cage.

  Sun You gazed at his own hand grasping the beast cage, and for some reason, the joints on top had turned slightly pale. After a moment, he suddenly smiled faintly, then turned around to look at his big brother Sun Heng, nodded, and said:

  "I know, I'm using it now. Speaking of which, I've heard that this 'Hongxiu Chenxiang' is also a rare good thing. Thank you so much to the elder for finding this thing and not being stingy with me."

  Sun Heng chuckled and walked up to pat Sun You's shoulder, saying: "We're all family, what's with the thanks? By the way, how did you feel after using that Red Sleeve Sinking Fragrance?"

  Sun You fell silent for a moment before saying, "I've used it every time after cultivating, and it does have some effect. However, it doesn't seem to be as effective as the legends say."

  Sun Heng hesitated for a moment, imperceptibly furrowing his brow, and his gaze swept over the obvious fatigue on Sun You's face before he suddenly clapped his hands and laughed: "I know, there must be some mistake."

  Sun You's body trembled slightly, and he looked up at Sun Heng with a hint of hopeful light in his eyes, saying: "Big brother, what went wrong?"

  Sun Heng smiled and said, "Your usage is incorrect."

  Sun You furrowed his brow and said, "The method is wrong? What are you talking about, big brother?"

  Hong Xiu said: "The Red Sleeve Sinking Fragrance is a rare and precious item, you should have used it from the start of your cultivation, so that you can absorb its fragrance throughout your entire cultivation process. The longer you absorb its fragrance, the more obvious its effects will be, and it will also be more effective in relieving your fatigue after cultivating."

  Sun You quietly looked at Sun Heng, after a while, then lowered his head and said in a low voice: "So that's how it is, I was wrong."

  Sun Heng burst out laughing and stepped forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Sun You, saying: "Second Brother, you must cultivate diligently every day without pause. Our Sun family now has Grandfather presiding over it from above and Father in charge of the household below, but eventually, we will still have to rely on us two brothers. As long as our cultivation is successful and we join forces, it's not impossible that we can make our Sun family's reputation shine even brighter, building upon the foundation we have now!"

  Sun You was silent, only raising his head to look at him, and saw that Sun Heng was in high spirits, facing the sea, with a distant gaze, and at a young age, he already had a broad mind and a grand vision.

  Sun family again?

  The Sun family is now the most renowned of the four major families among hundreds of vassal families under the Ling Xiao Sect, with a Yuan Dan realm Great True Man named Sun Mingyang at its helm. The current head of the family, Sun Hong, is Sun You's great uncle and Sun Heng's father, who also worships under the Ling Xiao Sect. He has exceptional innate talent in cultivation, far surpassing Sun You's father, Sun Feng. Currently, he has reached the peak of the Divine Intent realm, just one step away from the Yuan Dan realm.

  With two such outstanding figures in succession, the power and influence of the Sun family had already reached unprecedented heights; what more could be achieved?

  Is there anything more powerful, higher and more eye-catching than the Sun family among the vassal families under the Ling Xiao Sect?

  Unless it's... the Gan family!

  Sun You's body suddenly shook violently, and his eyes already had a few points of unbelievable shock color, but just after a moment, the cold smile that floated to the corner of his mouth was hidden, replaced by a calm color.

  The two brothers stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the beast cage, gazing out at the vast and boundless expanse of the ocean, watching as a shadow gradually spread across the azure sky. The originally calm sea surface began to stir with waves rising higher and more urgent.

  Dark clouds gather, wind and rain are coming!

  Shen Shi raised his head and looked at the sky, slowly furrowing his brow.

  This road has been walked, and it's unknown when it started, the sky color has changed from the original clear blue to somewhat gloomy. From the depths of the ocean, the originally faint haze, at this moment, like a galloping horse, quickly spread across half of the sky, looking as if the entire sky curtain had been lowered, giving people a feeling of oppression.

  On the sea surface, a sea breeze gradually blew up, and the sound of waves seemed to have increased a bit. However, apart from this, everything else seems still very calm.

  The road in front of him was almost finished, and ahead was a sparse forest, vaguely visible behind the trees was a beach. Shen Shi remembered that Ling Xuan Jian wrote briefly that the Beast Arena of the Spiritual Beast Temple was at the foot of a mountain on the west side of Qingyu Island, near the sea, and it should be just ahead not far away.

  After hesitating for a moment, Shen Shi still decided to continue walking forward. Having come so far, it seemed that just one more forest was separating them, and it would be a bit of an overreaction to turn back just because of a few dark clouds gathering in the sky.

  No big deal, just take a look around and if you can't find Sun You, then head back.

  With his mind made up, he walked forward, and at this time, the road was already empty and deserted. It was also the first time Shen Shi had been here in these days, otherwise he would have noticed that the road leading to the main task hall was always bustling with people coming and going. Today's situation was already very unusual.

  The small forest in front wasn't very big, and although Shen Shi didn't pay much attention to it, he still unconsciously quickened his pace a bit. As a result, he soon passed through the forest, and after a moment, a white and slender beach appeared before his eyes.

  With a "whoosh", the seawater rolled up a wave, heavily pounding on the beach, the sea surface undulating unpredictably, with waves faintly visible.

  Shen Shi looked around, took two more steps forward, and slightly furrowed his brow. The beach was empty, without a single figure or building in sight, which didn't seem like the location of the Spiritual Beast Temple at all.

  "Have I taken the wrong path?"

  Shen Shi muttered to himself, trudging forward on the soft sand beneath his feet for a while, hoping to catch sight of some figures or houses. However, ahead of him, apart from some sandy beaches and a protruding stone wall, there was indeed nothing else.

  Shen Shi shook his head, just about to turn around, when suddenly he stepped out with one foot. His foot felt like it had stepped on something hard in the sand. He looked down and saw that there was a faint glimmer in the sand. He moved his foot away, squatted down, and used his hand to sweep away the sand on the surface. After a moment, he dug up a palm-sized shell with several beautiful colors from the sand.

  Five-colored shell.

  Shen Shi quickly recognized the object in his hand, looked up and glanced around, couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh. He had indeed taken a wrong turn, this wasn't the Beast Arena of the Ling Shou Temple where Sun You was, but rather a beach below the Array Hall where new disciples were picking up shells.

  The sea breeze seems to have grown stronger, and the low hum of thunder can be heard in the sky. Dark clouds have spread across the entire sky, looking even lower than before. The calm and warm ocean, which had been peaceful since arriving on the island, seemed to be getting restless for the first time under the overcast sky, with waves gradually rising and falling, and the surf crashing onto the beach one wave after another.

  Shen Shi grasped the colorless shell in his hand, shook his head, and since he had taken a wrong turn, there was no point in staying here any longer. Although he had grown up in the mountains of Yinzhou since childhood and didn't know the weather by the sea, looking at this scene of dark clouds pressing down on the city, he also remembered the warning that Hai Xing had told him earlier about a possible storm, so he didn't want to stay by the sea any longer either.

  As he turned around to leave, he suddenly caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye - a figure seemed to have flashed by under the stone wall in the distance.

  Shen Shi was taken aback and turned around to look, at this quiet and deserted time, how could there be someone over there?

  Just now, I took a rough look and saw that in front of me was a high stone wall protruding from the sea surface, dozens of feet high, with some rugged and strange small trees growing on top. The bottom is constantly washed by seawater, and there are many strange rocks exposed, while at the same time, you can see many damp mosses growing on it.

  The white sandy beach stretches down to the base of this rock wall, and further ahead are scattered large and small rocks in the sea water. The figure that suddenly appeared earlier flashed between the rocks at the base of the rock wall, but now it has disappeared again.

  Shen Shi furrowed his brow, thinking that there must be someone on the other side, or perhaps the real beast arena was on the other side of the stone wall.

  Although it didn't look like much, the island was home to many disciples of the Ling Xiao Sect, so Shen Shi had nothing to fear. He hesitated for a moment before cautiously making his way towards the stone wall.

  The seawater surged from afar and crashed against the foot of the stone wall, producing a rumbling sound, and splashing up waves as high as half a person.

  Shen Shi climbed up a large rock, stretched his neck to look at the stone wall on the other side, and suddenly another white patch entered his eyes. It turned out that behind the stone wall, there was actually still white sand?

  Wasn't the figure just now behind the stone wall?

  Shen Shi scratched his head, took a look around and saw that although the waves were bigger than before, the rocks under the stone walls were almost connected together, varying in size, but forming a natural path in the water. He simply jumped from one rock to another to get across.

  The spray splashed on him, but it didn't hinder him. He easily rounded the stone wall and saw another sandy beach behind it.

  However, here are three sides surrounded by mountains, and the length of the beach is only more than ten feet wide. At a glance, it is a natural small bay. The beach looks no different from the one outside, nothing special about it.

  The only surprising thing was that at this moment, there was indeed a slender figure in this quiet little bay, on the beach with his head down carefully searching, occasionally squatting to dig sand, and from time to time digging out a colorless shell, apparently a newcomer disciple who had taken up the task of picking shells.

  For some reason, Shen Shi stood here looking over and felt that this person's back was somewhat familiar, so he shouted loudly:

  "Hey!"

  That person seemed to have been startled as well, his body shook, he turned around and looked back, while opening his eyes wide, staring at Shen Shi.

  After a moment, both of them almost simultaneously exclaimed: "How is it you?"

  The girl who was holding several pieces of colorful shells in her hand and had some sand grains on her small face turned out to be someone Shen Shi knew, but it was Zhong Qingzhu, who almost killed Shen Shi at Bai Xian Rock back then.

  The two of them obviously didn't expect to see each other at this time, and for a moment they were both stunned. Meanwhile, under the gloomy sky, on the distant surface of the Tsangpo River, the strong wind was howling fiercely, the waves were surging, and the entire Tsangpo River seemed like an ancient giant beast that had been sleeping for a long time, slowly waking up in the whistling sound of the approaching stormy weather, roaring towards the sky, revealing its hidden fangs.

  A massive wave, like a mountain, suddenly appeared on the surface of the sea, several meters high, accompanied by a loud thunderclap from the dark clouds at the horizon, with strong winds howling all around, the entire ocean seemed to be violently stirred up, and surged forward irresistibly towards the island.