The tenth day of the ninth month, year 20,022 of the Heavenly Calendar.
Jianyun City, in the outer mountains of Jianyun Gate.
Lin Fan, all of ten years old, was clad in the simple Heavenly robe of an Outer Gate disciple. He squatted behind a great rock at the foot of the mountain, a blade of grass held listlessly in his hand. With it, he traced complex patterns in the dirt, his focus absolute.
Around six in the morning, disciples began making their way up the mountain for their lessons, walking in groups of twos and threes, their chatter and laughter echoing in the crisp air.
A chubby boy found him there, tucked away behind the stone. Dressed in the same standard robes but adorned with a pricey jade pendant, he was round-faced with small eyes and trailed by two or three attendants.
The chubby boy glanced left and right, ensuring no instructors were in sight, before calling out timidly.
Lin Fan looked up, his young face delicate and well-defined, his eyes as clear as a pool of still water.
The chubby boy lowered his voice. “Is it done?”
Lin Fan patted his chest like a little adult. “You can always count on me.” He retrieved several Formation Diagrams from the storage bag at his waist—black ink on white paper—and handed them to the boy.
“Check them over. See if anything’s wrong.”
The chubby boy accepted the papers with grave solemnity. He flipped through the copied pages, squinting at them with a look of intense concentration that soon melted into a pained expression.
“I can’t understand it…”
Lin Fan explained patiently, “The instructor’s assignment was the basic Five Elements Formation Patterns. I've drawn them all, but I put in six mistakes on purpose. That way, he won't get suspicious that you didn't draw them yourself…”
“Six mistakes… isn’t that a few too many?”
Lin Fan just stared at him in silence.
The chubby boy quickly saw his error and began to muse aloud.
“Right, can’t be too greedy. I should just be happy I can hand in the assignment. If it was too perfect, it would just raise suspicion. If the instructor finds out, my father will hear about it, and then he'll definitely give me a beating. Not worth the risk…”
Lin Fan nodded, offering a compliment. “Just as I'd expect from Young Master Guo. You catch on quick!”
The chubby boy pressed two Spirit Stones into Lin Fan’s hand. “Brother Lin, you really get me! Here are the Spirit Stones. I’ll be back next time the instructor gives us Formation homework!”
He tucked the Formation Diagrams into the front of his robes and scampered up the mountain.
Lin Fan carefully pocketed the two Spirit Stones, then picked another blade of grass and resumed his drawing in the dirt.
A moment later, another youth approached, this one snapping open a gold-spattered paper fan. He was lean, with a sour expression etched onto his narrow face, and wore even more jade pendants than the first boy.
Lin Fan handed him a set of Formation Diagrams as well. The slender young master glanced at them before nodding to his servant, who stepped forward to take the diagrams and place two Spirit Stones in Lin Fan’s palm.
But the slender young master didn’t leave. He snapped his fan shut with a flourish. “This Young Master is also extremely skilled in Formations,” he declared arrogantly. “I simply don’t have time for such basic patterns. That’s the only reason I had you do them for me.”
Lin Fan didn’t bother to respond, merely picking up his blade of grass and continuing his work on the ground.
Annoyed by the silence, the slender young master scoffed, “They say that among the Qi-refining disciples of Jianyun Gate, you draw the best Formations. I wonder how you’d measure up against me. We should have a contest sometime.”
You’re paying me to do your homework, Lin Fan thought. What does that tell you about your own skill level?
But adhering to the principle that harmony brought wealth, he looked up and chose his words carefully.
“Naturally, the young master’s mastery of Formations is far superior. The Jin Family is the number one clan in Jianyun City; your heritage in the art is incomparable.”
The slender young master’s expression softened slightly. “Then tell me,” he demanded, “among all the Qi-refining cultivators in Jianyun Gate, is there anyone whose skills can possibly surpass mine?”
“There are indeed a few…”
The slender youth’s face darkened. “Who?”
Me, for one, Lin Fan thought, though he would never be foolish enough to say it.
“There are quite a few, actually. It would be hard to list them all.”
The slender young master was now visibly angry.
“And that’s a good thing!” Lin Fan added, lying through his teeth.
The youth sneered. “You’re saying there are many people with less status and fewer Spirit Stones than me whose Formation skills are better than mine? Are you calling me stupid? How is that a good thing?”
Lin Fan replied smoothly, “Think about it. The cultivators of Jianyun City, no matter how talented they are, once they master their skills, where do they end up? They join your Jin Family's Thousand Jade Pavilion, refining artifacts, concocting pills, and drawing Formations for you.”
“You are only in the Qi-refining stage, yet you already have Foundation Establishment cultivators working for you. You’re a First Rank Formation Master with Second Rank Formation Masters at your beck and call—imagine the prestige! The stronger your subordinates are, the more it reflects your own power!”
The slender young master froze, his eyes widening in a sudden moment of epiphany. “That… actually makes a lot of sense!”
He nodded slowly, his gaze sweeping over the other cultivators below as he puffed out his chest and held his head higher.
“Indeed! Indeed! No matter how talented you are or how hard you train, in the end, don’t you all just have to toil like beasts of burden for my Jin Family?”
With a self-satisfied smirk, Young Master Jin turned and strode away.
After sending Young Master Jin off with a belly full of flattery, Lin Fan returned to practicing formations in the dirt with his blade of grass.
Before long, a few more wealthy disciples came by, and soon all the diagrams Lin Fan had prepared were sold. By the time he was done, he had twelve Spirit Stones clutched in his hand.
For a loose cultivator, twelve Spirit Stones was not an insignificant sum. But for the path of cultivation, it was a drop in the ocean.
Lin Fan sighed, a flicker of helplessness crossing his young face.
For cultivators at the bottom, the path of the Dao was a hopeless one…
In the first year of the Heavenly Calendar, over twenty thousand years ago, the Heavenly Synod—the greatest power in the Tao Cultivation World—had unified the Seven Realms. It ennobled the great clans and sects, establishing a rigid class system and standardizing the ranks for all cultivation professions.
The Synod also promulgated the ‘Heavenly Code,’ which restricted cultivators from wanton killing and theft.
Under this law, the cultivation world had developed in peace for more than twenty millennia, thriving and growing to an unprecedented scale, with vast territories and innumerable cultivators.
But amid the prosperity of the Heavenly Synod and the luxury of the noble clans, the sects held immense power.
Only the loose cultivators at the bottom of the ladder, with no clan or sect to back them, lived in hardship with no real hope of advancing on the path of the Dao.
After twenty thousand years of proliferation, mortals without spiritual roots had been gradually bred out, leaving a world where nearly everyone could cultivate. But the more cultivators there were, the more spiritual energy they consumed, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth had begun to thin.
Now, a cultivator needed not only a strong heritage but also Spirit Stones.
The great clans occupied the spiritual mines, leaving loose cultivators with no source of Spirit Stones. The great sects monopolized the cultivation techniques, leaving them with no path to walk.
In Jianyun City, the vast majority of loose cultivators, lacking both heritage and resources, would spend their entire lives in the Qi-refining realm.
And in the face of the vast Heavenly Dao, a Qi-refining cultivator was no more than an ant.
Lin Fan was one of those countless ants.
And in all likelihood, he would remain one for the rest of his life.
A bitter look settled on Lin Fan’s tender face.
The Heavenly Dao may be impartial, but the path of cultivation most certainly was not.
Lin Fan was a loose cultivator at the second level of Qi refinement, born to parents who were also Qi-refining cultivators.
His father, Lin Feng, hunted demonic beasts for a living, his days spent in life-or-death battles that had left his body a tapestry of scars. His mother worked at the Spiritual Feast Hall, toiling over a hot stove until the searing heat afflicted her body, leaving her with a painful ache in her lungs and a dry, hacking cough.
His parents saved every Spirit Stone they earned, living frugally so that Lin Fan could study as an Outer Gate disciple at Jianyun Gate.
But no matter how hard he cultivated, his spiritual root was merely mediocre. While slightly better than a commoner's, in a world filled with geniuses, it destined him for mediocrity.
No matter how much he practiced, he might never advance beyond the Qi-refining realm.
With his family’s difficult circumstances and a constant lack of Spirit Stones, Lin Fan could only follow the path of other ordinary disciples: practice until he reached the sixth level of Qi refinement, then leave the sect to learn a trade and make a living.
But Lin Fan was naturally frail.
Trades like artifact refining and monster hunting, the lifeblood of Qi-refinement cultivators, required a robust physique. With his weak constitution, Lin Fan might not even be able to find simple work.
One day, he would marry and have children, and the burden would grow heavier still. Every Spirit Stone would go to supporting his family.
Without Spirit Stones, his cultivation would stagnate forever. He would be nothing more than a Qi-refining cultivator for his entire life.
Just like all the impoverished loose cultivators in Jianyun City.
Just like the countless cultivators at the bottom of the world.
Forever just a Qi-refining cultivator!
The ten-year-old Lin Fan sighed, then composed himself and headed up to the sect for his classes. After a day of cultivation, he returned to the Disciple’s Residence, read the Tomes of the Great Dao for a time, and then lay down in bed as the hour grew late.
As soon as Lin Fan closed his eyes, a fragmented stone stele appeared in his Sea of Consciousness.
No inscriptions were carved upon the stele, yet from the first moment Lin Fan had laid eyes on it in his mind, he had known its name: