Chapter One: Heaven's First Floor

  That day, Shen Shi slaughtered a total of seven ghost-faced prawns, and the sea bowl at the edge of the prawn cage also had seven tender white prawn meat.

  The starfish looked up at the sky, then glanced at Shen Shi, who had just returned from washing himself in the sea. He casually tossed a clean set of clothes to him and said, "Not bad, the timing is about right. You even chatted with me for a bit, and as a result, you ended up killing two more than yesterday."

  Shen Shi caught the clothes and smiled, shaking off the water droplets on his body. Through these two days of peeling shrimp and chatting, of course, there was also this sea star girl who saved his life by diving into the sea. The relationship between the two quickly became familiar.

  However, it seems that Haixing still doesn't quite understand Shen Shi's self-control, and with a hint of confusion, he said: "But I still think there's some time left, and you don't look particularly tired either, so why not kill a few more?"

  Shen Shi Dao said: "I still have something on my mind, there are some problems with my cultivation, I plan to go to Qing Yu Ji and ask a senior brother for advice."

  The sea star just "oh" a sound, did not say much, after all, even she understood that the most important thing for these new disciples of Ling Xiao Sect was still cultivation. At this time, she didn't say much either, and looked at Shen Shi wiping off the water droplets on his head and body, smiling and asking: "When do you plan to learn swimming with me?"

  "Shen Shi thought for a moment and said: 'How about starting tomorrow?'"

  The sea star nodded and suddenly thought of something, then shook its head and said: "But this can't delay you peeling shrimp, at least not less than today!"

  Shen Shi burst out laughing and said: "Alright, from now on, peel at least ten shrimps every day, and then we'll talk about other things."

  The sea star smiled and slightly narrowed her eyes, a bit like a curved small crescent moon, nodded.

  The sea breeze was cool and refreshing, and Shen Shi soon felt that his body was almost dry, so he quickly put on his clothes. Just as he was about to bid farewell to Hai Xing, a figure suddenly appeared from the direction of Hong Wan Village, looking around for a while before spotting them here, and immediately ran over at a quick pace.

  Shen Shi looked up and saw him coming, with a hint of surprise on his face. He walked up to greet him and asked in surprise, "Sun You, how did you get here?"

  Sun Youhaha smiled and said, "Today's work is done, I'll take a look at the time, it's still early, so I'll just run over to see how you're doing?" As he spoke, his eyes glanced behind him, and he lowered his voice, saying, "This job is tiring for you, if you really can't do it, then just go back to Baihutang..."

  Shen Shi smiled and shook his head, saying: "It's okay for now, there aren't any good tasks at the White Crane Hall either. I'll just do it like this for now and see about it later."

  "Alright."

  At this time, the sea star was holding the shell containing shrimp meat and walked past them, seemingly intending to return to the village. He overheard a few words of their conversation, suddenly looked up and down at Sun You, and slightly furrowed his brow.

  Sun You was made somewhat uneasy by this red-clad girl's gaze and took a step back, dryly saying: "Miss... is something wrong?"

  The sea star hummed and said, "Are you Sun You?"

  Sun You nodded, somewhat perplexed, and said: "Yes, what's wrong?"

  The sea star glared at him and said, "You don't look like a good person at all!" After speaking, he raised his chin, turned around and walked away with big strides.

  Sun You stood there stupidly for a long time, speechless. It wasn't until he finally came back to his senses that he asked Shen Shi: "What...what's going on here?"

  Shen Shi coughed twice and pulled Sun You back as they walked away, saying: "I don't know either, maybe she just doesn't like you."

  Sun You was pulled away by him, and while doing so, he couldn't help but touch his own cheek, as if wondering where he had gone wrong.

  The two of them walked for a while, leaving Hong Bang Village. Shen Shi suddenly sniffled and said: "That's strange, I've been smelling a weird smell since just now, it hasn't dissipated until now, is it coming from you?"

  Sun You let out a slight "hmm", lifted his sleeve to his nose and sniffed, looking somewhat embarrassed, saying: "It seems so."

  "What's going on? This smell is a bit stinky!"

  Sun You said with a bad temper: "Isn't it just the stench on those spirit beasts' bodies! I thought they were all full of sacred energy and clean, but when I went to take a look, 'Rainbow Cloud Chicken', 'Iron Stone Ape', 'Black-striped Turtle', these guys are really dirty and smelly. Are these really the legendary spirit beasts?"

  Shen Shi was also shocked and thought for a moment: "Is it really like this? It shouldn't be."

  Sun You pouted and said, "Who says it's not? I'm also feeling frustrated. Today, I found an opportunity to ask my little brother-in-law, and he told me that those are indeed spiritual beasts, but they're the lowest level ones. Their spiritual intelligence hasn't opened up yet, and their spiritual power isn't particularly strong either. The Spiritual Beast Temple has them raised on Qingyu Island. Apparently, it's because these low-level spiritual beasts still have some use, as there are parts of their bodies that contain spiritual energy that can be used as spiritual materials. Secondly, it's also to let new disciples practice and learn the basics of raising spiritual beasts, so they can later go to the Spiritual Beast Temple to feed more rare and precious high-level spiritual beasts."

  Shen Shi nodded slowly, seemingly deep in thought. After a while, he suddenly asked, "You took on the task of feeding this beast, and over the past two days, have you met anyone familiar?"

  Sun You thought for a moment and said, "Actually, I do know some people. Generally, they are the sons of aristocratic families that I met while in Liuyun City. Having just arrived here two days ago, apart from you, I haven't made many new friends." He smiled at Shen Shi and then his eyes shifted, saying, "Oh, and Jiang Hongguang counts as one too."

  Shen Shi nodded and pondered for a moment before saying, "Do you know what task the two sisters from the Zhong family have taken on?"

  Sun You seemed to be very well-informed, and without even thinking about it, he directly replied: "Oh, those two, Zhong Qinglu took the task of refining the elixir, and Zhong Qingzhu went to pick shells."

  Shen Shi smiled slightly, his face still expressionless. He paused for a moment before continuing, "Judging from your appearance, it seems you also have a good grasp of the whereabouts of those other young masters from noble families."

  Sun Youhaha smiled and said, "The only thing that's not in this circle is a bit of blind comparison. All sorts of rumors spread quickly. I think about it, the Gan family also went to refine the elixir, my big brother on this side heard that he was feeding beasts, but I haven't seen him for two days, he must be hiding somewhere to slack off, hum; Hou's Hou Yuanliang got ten shells, Xu's eldest grandson Xu Yingyan is refining the elixir, and more than a dozen of my childhood friends from aristocratic families are all about the same. Look at this matter, it's really interesting, they actually all..."

  Before he could finish speaking, Sun You suddenly paused, furrowed his brow, as if thinking of something that had previously gone unnoticed, and for a moment, the words got stuck in his throat.

  After a while, he secretly took a glance at Shen Shi beside him, but only saw that Shen Shi's expression didn't change much, as if he was just casually asking and didn't think deeply about it after hearing the answer.

  Back at Qingyujie, Shen Shi didn't hide anything from Sun You and told him that he was going to ask Su He Shixiong about some cultivation matters. Sun You listened with a few parts concern, asked a few questions, and after learning about Shen Shi's cultivation situation last night, his face also showed a hint of worry. After thinking for a moment, he said to Shen Shi: "Your doubts in cultivation are not ordinary, I think asking Su He Shixiong doesn't seem particularly appropriate." He paused for a moment before pulling Shen Shi and saying: "Come with me then."

  "What's wrong, where are you going?"

  Sun You turned back with a mysterious smile, saying: "Since you want to ask about your doubts in cultivation, among the many seniors on this island, I happen to know one who is the most brilliant."

  Shen Shi wanted to ask a few more questions, but was pulled away by Sun You and quickly turned left and right at Qingyuji, bypassing a small road, and arrived at a secluded place, standing in front of a large courtyard house.

  The three characters "Xuan Ri Tang" are written on the door plaque.

  Shen Shi was shocked and looked at Sun You in surprise: "You're talking about Wang Huan, our senior brother?"

  Sun You smiled slightly complacently and said, "Exactly, after all, Wang Shixiong had already said that if there's any unclear or doubtful place in our daily cultivation, if even the supervising shixiong can't answer it, we can come to ask him. Isn't this exactly what we're doing now?"

  As he spoke, he pulled Shen Shi inside. Shen Shi felt a bit apprehensive in his heart. To be honest, when Wang Hou had led the new disciples that day, his demeanor was majestic and awe-inspiring without being angry, so although he didn't speak much among these disciples, his prestige was actually not low. Therefore, at first, Shen Shi really hadn't thought of coming over to ask for guidance from this Senior Brother Wang.

  But seeing Sun You's familiar appearance, Shen Shi couldn't help but ask: "How come, you also know this Wang brother?"

  He looked around and leaned in, lowering his voice: "He is a disciple of Sun Mingyang, one of the five great elders of Ling Xiang Sect. That Elder Sun is my grandfather."

  Shen Shi paused for a moment, and when he looked at Sun You again, his gaze was greatly different. Sun You felt inexplicably guilty under his gaze, and dryly laughed, saying: "I didn't tell you before because I thought this matter wasn't that important, and it wouldn't be interesting even if I said it."

  Shen Shi smiled and nodded, saying: "Thank you very much."

  Sun You laughed and continued walking forward with him.

  Xuanri Hall looked quiet, but as the two of them entered, Ling Xiao Sect disciples soon appeared to block their way. Sun You didn't mince words and stepped forward to report his identity. Apparently, the Sun family's reputation was still useful. After reporting to the child, someone quickly came out saying that Wang Shixiong had invited him.

  Two men were led into a quiet room in the back house. As soon as they entered, they saw Wang sitting cross-legged on a mat inside the room. Another incense was burning in the quiet room, and a faint fragrance wafted out, bringing with it an otherworldly scent that refreshed the mind and spirit.

  Wang opened his eyes and looked at the two of them. His gaze fell on Sun You, nodded, and said: "Sit down."

  Although Sun You appeared relaxed when talking to Shen Shi outside, he still couldn't help but feel a bit constrained in front of Wang Huan, his expression showing obvious respect. He pulled Shen Shi down to sit on the cushion in front of Wang Huan, who shifted his gaze slightly and paused for a moment on Shen Shi's face before asking, "What brings you two here?"

  Sun You poked Shen Shi, who took a deep breath and then told Wang Hou in detail about the intense pain he had encountered during his cultivation the night before. Finally, he said sincerely: "Brother Wang, I really don't know if this is a mistake in my cultivation path, so I'd like to ask for your guidance."

  At this moment, the three of them were alone, and Wang's expression seemed to be even more gentle than usual when facing a crowd. Upon hearing this, he slightly hesitated, his fingers lightly tapping on the back of his other hand several times, as if weighing his thoughts carefully.