Chapter One: Heaven's First Floor

  Shen Shi was the first to walk up and hand over his Ling crystals. Su He, on the other hand, sat down at the table, took out a pen and paper, and wrote down "Shen Shi, two Ling crystals". Looking at him with a smile, he said: "You can all rest assured that the Ling crystals collected for now are only temporarily kept for you. Once you reach the Condensation Realm or after five years, we will naturally return what belongs to you today."

  Shen Shi naturally had nothing to worry about, and after placing the two Ling crystals on the table, he was just thinking of retreating when the crystal-eating toad in the cage on the table suddenly croaked twice. Su He furrowed his brow slightly and said, "This junior brother, it seems that the crystal-eating toad thinks you still have Ling crystals on you. Why don't you search yourself more carefully?"

  Shen Shi was taken aback, this time it was really beyond his expectations. After careful consideration, he indeed had no other spiritual crystals on him. For a moment, he couldn't help but be stunned, and the toad-like creature, although motionless, had its eyes fixed intently on him.

  At that moment, everyone's eyes in the room fell on Shen Shi, each with a complex meaning. Shen Shi didn't want to be seen as someone who cheated his senior brother and broke the sect rules just after joining the sect. He was somewhat anxious now, hurriedly digging into his clothes while saying: "Su senior brother, I really don't have any spiritual crystals on me, don't believe me? Take a look."

  As he took out one thing after another, there weren't many, just some small personal items, including the small hourglass his father had given him. Until finally, he reached into his chest and suddenly stopped for a moment, because the last item was the remnants of the seven-leaf golden sunflower patterned yin-yang curse scroll.

  "Terrible..." This was the first thought that flashed through Shen Shi's mind. Could it be that this thing, which had some connection to the demon tribe, actually had some kind of eerie aura that allowed the crystal toad to sense it? But this was clearly just a scroll, so how could it possibly have anything in common with a spirit crystal?

  If this were to come out, wouldn't it be a public embarrassment? If word got out that he possessed the demonic tribe's secret method, would Ling Xiao Sect still tolerate him? It must be known that the hatred between humans and demons runs as deep as the ocean. The founder of Ling Xiao Sect, Gan Jingcheng, was one of the six saints of the human tribe back in the day, and personally slew countless demon tribe ability users. How could his inherited sect possibly have a good impression of demonic methods?

  At this point, Shen Shi felt a pang of regret in his heart, but the situation forced him to be unable to escape. He was about to take out the black scroll when Su He, who was sitting at the table, suddenly said "What's this?"

  Shen Shi's heart sank, thinking that this senior brother had indeed sharp eyes and discovered his secret. Just as he was about to explain and plead with a sad face, he suddenly saw Su He looking at the table instead of him, who was secretly taking out the yin-yang curse scroll. From among those small objects, he picked up something - it was the small jade hourglass that Shen Shi's father had given him.

  The fine sand in the hourglass slid silently, Su He looked at the hourglass twice, then placed his hand next to the cage, and the crystal frog croaked again. Su He nodded and smiled: "It seems that it's this hourglass, although it doesn't look like a spiritual crystal, but perhaps there is some spiritual energy or impurities similar to spiritual crystals mixed in the jade quality, the crystal frog has the most sensitive feeling towards spiritual crystals, so it reacted." He paused for a moment, looking at Shen Shi with a hint of apology, "So I misunderstood my junior brother."

  Shen Shi let out a long sigh of relief in his heart at this moment, and there was no longer any resentment. He hastily said, "It's nothing, it's nothing."

  Su He smiled slightly, gently putting down the hourglass. Apart from this, Tong Jingyan didn't react to anything else, which also made Shen Shi completely put his mind at ease. He walked forward and gathered the things on the table into his arms. When his fingers came into contact with the small jade hourglass, a faint warmth spread from his fingertips, and he inexplicably thought of his father again, feeling a warmth in his heart.

  The remaining young people also came over one by one to undergo the inspection of Tong Jingyan, and soon two more were found to be carrying some Ling crystals. Unexpectedly, He Xiaomei voluntarily handed over a bag containing as many as fifty Ling crystals, which made Su He also tongue-tied and couldn't help but take a few more glances at He Xiaomei, shaking his head and laughing: "Sister, your family must be very rich."

  He Xiaomei's cheeks were slightly red, looking like a beautiful flower, and she smiled: "No way."

  Apart from her, another youth handed over five spiritual crystals, which wasn't much to speak of. What surprised Shen Shi was that Sun You and the Zhong sisters, who came from a prominent family affiliated with the Ling Xiao Sect, didn't have a single spiritual crystal on them. Given their family background, they should have had many more than He Xiaomei.

  But soon Shen Shi thought, these aristocratic families are closely dependent on Ling Xiang Zong, and now this new rule that prohibits bringing spiritual crystals onto the island is obviously well-known to everyone, which is why no one brought any spiritual crystals. Looking at it this way, he himself seemed a bit like a country bumpkin.

  After all the fuss, Su He finally finished everything and stretched his waist, seemingly relieved. He stood up and said: "Alright, I've told you all the basic rules and matters. If there's anything you don't understand, remember to carefully read the Ling Xiao Jianlue in the iron box when you get back. It explains some important and fundamental things. As cultivators, we value quiet practice, so I won't disturb you on ordinary days. If you need to find me, go to Fei Niao Wan's 'Yi Shi Qi' cave or, if it's a big matter, directly seek out Wang Xuan at the island center's 'Xuan Ri Tang'.

  After finishing, he was about to leave, but when he reached the door, he seemed to have thought of something again, hesitated for a moment, and turned his head to look at these ten young men, smiling: "We can meet here, it's also a fate. Let me tell you one more thing. If I were you, I would start thinking about how to earn more spiritual crystals on Qingyu Island. After all, you need spiritual crystals to cultivate."

  Having said that, he waved his hand and left without saying another word.

  The remaining young men looked at each other in dismay, half-understanding Su He's parting words. Of course, the Ling Crystal was the most important item for cultivation, and everyone understood that. But what did he mean by wanting to think of ways to earn more Ling Crystals?

  Sounds like there's something not quite right!

  After a while, the many young people came back to their senses and one by one left this cave mansion. After all, it now belongs to Sun and is Sun You's exclusive cultivation cave mansion. Everyone was also eager to see what their own residence looked like, and soon they dispersed in an instant.

  Shen Shi also planned to find a cave for himself, but under Sun You's instigation, he finally opened the Eight Trigrams lock with his own cloud symbol in the adjacent "Jia Forty-One" cave. As for others, perhaps because they disliked Sun You, Zhong Qinglu and Zhong Qingzhu left them far away and ran to the last two caves, "Jia Forty-Eight" and "Jia Forty-Nine". He Xiao Mei didn't seem to want to live alone as a girl in a circle of boys' caves either, so she occupied "Jia Forty-Seven", next to Zhong Qinglu. The remaining caves were then divided among the other young men.

  The first time he walked into his own cave, Shen Shi's heart was still a little excited. When the heavy stone door closed behind him with a loud rumble, the original noise seemed to be suddenly blocked outside the door, and when the stone room fell silent, his mood also gradually calmed down.

  The furnishings in the stone chamber were indeed just as Su He had said, and basically the same as what I saw earlier in Sun You's cave dwelling. On the table was also placed an iron box.

  He looked around here, touched there, and sometimes walked to the bedside to press the quilt, sometimes stroked the stone wall a few times, then walked to the empty three-layered stone shelf to observe for a while, and then raised his head to look at the ventilated skylight.

  Is this where I'm supposed to start cultivating and embark on the path of immortality?

  He stood in the center of the stone room, took a deep breath, and when he was finally alone with no one else around, his face revealed a hint of intoxicating joy. He slowly opened his arms as if wanting to embrace something.

  "Knock knock knock, knock knock knock..."

  Suddenly, a loud noise like a drumbeat came from the entrance, which startled Shen Shi who was in a daze. After standing still for a moment, he quickly walked over and opened the stone door with his cloud symbol. There stood Sun You, laughing and saying: "Shen Shi, it's no fun being cooped up in the house all day, let's go out and take a stroll on the island."

  Shen Shi hesitated for a moment, but Su He didn't have any specific instructions on this matter. Apparently, the Ling Xiao Sect didn't have any particular restrictions on the daily lives of new disciples. However, on his first day, Shen Shi thought for a moment and said: "Sun You, I still think it's better to take a look at that Ling Xiao primer first. I'll finish reading it before going out, or else we can do it tomorrow. We're going to the Chen Xing Hall to listen to Wang Hang Shixiong teach us the Star Luo Gong Fa Jue, and then we can take a good look around the island's scenery, how about that?

  Sun You grunted, thought for a moment, nodded and said: "Alright, you rest then. I'll go take a look at that Ling Xiao's notes." He turned to leave, but suddenly turned back, smiled and said: "Shen Shi, in the future we'll start cultivating together, let's see who cultivates faster!"

  Shen Shi burst out laughing and nodded silently.

  After Sun You left, Shen Shi closed the stone gate again, and the cave mansion became quiet once more. He took another look around the stone room, then sat down at the table and opened the iron box.

  Two sets of clothes, a crystal orb, a paper scroll with the Star Luo technique, and a notebook. Shen Shi's gaze swept over these simple items before picking up the Star Luo technique scroll, reading it from start to finish. After a moment of contemplation, he then picked up the Ling Xiao notebook and began flipping through it casually.

  This brief introduction section is about some of the rules and regulations of Ling Xiao Sect, which are not particularly special, such as not being allowed to disobey one's superiors. Following that is a simple introduction to the current situation of Ling Xiao Sect, allowing new disciples to have a basic understanding of the sect. Those who are like Sun You, from wealthy families, may already know a lot about it, but for Shen Shi, this is a precious source of information, making his eyes gradually light up with wonder and amazement. It's as if he has truly understood, from one side, what it means to be one of the "Four Orthodox" sects in the world, known as the top-notch sect in the Xuan Ming cultivation realm.

  Under the leadership of Zhenren Huiyuan, there are four other elder members: Jin, Sun, Yun and Mu. These five people form the 'Council of Elders', which is the highest decision-making body in the Ling Xiao Sect.

  "This sect only accepts disciples who have cultivated to the Condensed Origin Realm as direct disciples, allowing them to enter the Golden Rainbow Immortal Mountain. Elder disciples without a mission from the sect are not allowed to interfere with the cultivation of new disciples on Qingyu Island..."

  "My god... In the Ling Xiao Sect, there are actually 22 True Immortals in the Guang Yuan Dan realm!" At this point, Shen Shi couldn't help but widen his eyes, and for a moment, his brain almost couldn't keep up. Back then in Xiluo City, Yinzhou Province, he had thought that the Xuanyin Gate was already a powerful cultivation sect, but there was only one Yuan Dan realm cultivator, Li Lao Guai, whereas now, compared to the Ling Xiao Sect, it was really too much of a difference.

  Among these twenty-two Yuan Dan realm great true immortals, from the leader of the sect to the five elders of the Council of Elders, all have cultivated to the peak of the Yuan Dan realm, only one step away from breaking through the legendary Yuan Dan realm's Great Death Barrier, and are just a single step away from the Tian Gang realm that is said to be within sight of true immortality.

  "Awesome......" As the pages turned, the sound of admiration echoed continuously in the stone room, and the young man's heart was completely immersed in his reverence for this magnificent and powerful sect.

  The sky has darkened imperceptibly, and the first day on this island is about to pass quietly.