The Tier Two Spiritual Artifact [Silver Gang Shield] is crafted mainly from the tree scales fallen from the Tier Two Spiritual Object [Dragon Scale Tree], combined with the Tier Two Spiritual Object [Silver Gang Stone].
Cultivation is divided into nine great realms, and the magical artifacts, elixirs, formations, and talismans used by cultivators are thus divided into nine levels from Tier One to Tier Nine, with Tier Two artifacts corresponding to Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators.
Similarly, Tier Two artifacts can be divided into upper, middle, and lower grades, and the [Silver Gang Shield] is a Tier Two artifact meticulously crafted by Zhou Minghan, a Tier Three Refiner, naturally of the highest upper grade.
Before this artifact is refined, it appears only palm-sized, but once Zhouyang refines it and unleashes it in battle, it can transform into a giant shield the size of a door that protects his entire body and can be oriented as desired.
Moreover, because the [Silver Gang Stone] was fused during crafting, this artifact can easily block attacks from flying swords or flying sabers of the same tier and has remarkable effects against the magical attacks of cultivators or demon beasts, greatly mitigating damage from Tier Three and below spells.
"My Zhou Family has a Tier Two [Dragon Scale Tree], and its matured scales can be harvested every ten years, considered self-produced, but the [Silver Gang Stone], a breaking spiritual object, is not commonly seen. Even a small fist-sized piece costs at least over five hundred lower-grade spirit stones. This gift from the old clan leader is indeed substantial!"
In the room, Zhouyang looked at the silver small shield in his hand, suddenly feeling that this artifact had become much heavier.
As a cultivation clan, every Zhou clan member, as long as they reach the Qi Cultivation Stage, can receive a yearly tribute of spirit stones from the clan until they are over sixty years old.
According to the current clan rules, a Zhou clan member at the First-Layer Qi Cultivation can receive 10 pieces of lower-grade spirit stones a year, and at the Second-Layer, 20 pieces, and so on, with a change occurring only at the Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation.
Because, barring any accidents, the Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation is the limit for most Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators. The current Zhou family rules state that clan cultivators who advance to the Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation will be promoted to clan elders, with each elder receiving 150 pieces of lower-grade spirit stones annually, a tribute unaffected by age, as long as they do not pass away, they can receive it in full.
Zhouyang had previously been stuck at the Fifth-Layer Qi Cultivation for two years, receiving only 50 pieces of lower-grade spirit stones annually, so even if he saved all his spirit stones, it would take ten years of tributes to exchange for a fist-sized piece of [Silver Gang Stone].
In reality, due to starting cultivation at the age of seven, after ten years, excluding the treasures given to him as gifts by his parents, his entire fortune amounted to only a little over three hundred lower-grade spirit stones.
This makes it clear how significant a gift the old clan leader Zhou Minghan has given by offering the [Silver Gang Shield] as a reward for his early departure from the mountain!
"The old clan leader holds me in such high regard. I surely cannot let him down. Whether it's learning the art of refining or guarding Cyan Ping Mountain, I must excel in all my endeavors!"
Zhouyang felt a warmth in his heart and couldn't help but grasp the artifact tightly, resolving to work diligently to repay the trust of his elders.
In the following days, Zhouyang closed himself off, focusing his entire mind on refining the newly acquired [Silver Gang Shield] artifact in his room, only leaving after he had cultivated it to operate as if on command, to prepare for descending the mountain.
He first went to the Zhou family's other important site, the Scripture Cave, to learn the Sixth-Layer Qi Cultivation technique from [Golden Sun Fiery Flame Technique], and then selected five spells beneficial for magical combat from the numerous spells stored within the cave.
These five spells included the Tier Two attack spells "Golden Saber Technique" and "Fire Snake Technique," the Tier Two defensive spell "Golden Light Body-Protecting Technique," and the Tier Two auxiliary spells "Celestial Eye Technique" and "Earth Escape Technique."
The Qi Cultivation Stage techniques and spells in the Zhou family's Scripture Cave are not forbidden for clan members to read, but they cannot be carried out of the cave or privately taught to outsiders.
Zhouyang had previously adhered to the teachings of his parents and elders, learning only simple Tier One auxiliary spells, and did not split his focus to learn combat spells beneficial for magical battles, devoted entirely to enhancing his cultivation.
However, now that he is to descend the mountain and guard a place, he might inevitably encounter magical combat. Without combat spells, relying solely on his handful of artifacts, his methods would be too singular, making it easy for others to counter him.
Spells are easy to learn yet hard to master, but merely learning the basics doesn't take long. With his Sixth-Layer Qi Cultivation, Zhouyang took roughly half a month to learn all five spells.
By this time, the month-long period given by the old clan leader was almost up, so he wrote a letter explaining the situation and entrusted it to an elder to deliver to his parents stationed at a cultivator marketplace thousands of miles away. Then, after bidding farewell to familiar elders and fellow cultivators on the mountain, he descended the mountain alone.
Upon descending, Zhouyang borrowed a camel essential for traveling through the desert from a clan member at the foot of the mountain and directly plunged into the Boundless Desert Sea.
This was the first time in his seventeen years of life that he left the Yuquan Lake Oasis, and the first time in both his lifetimes that he ventured into the desert.
The desert sea is vast and endless; people can quickly lose their way within it.
If one loses their way in the desert, even cultivators carrying ample water and food in storage bags won't survive unless they reach an oasis before their supplies run out, eventually starving or dying of thirst.
Cultivators are much stronger than mortals, but if they don't reach the Golden Core Stage, they cannot completely fast, and even Purple Mansion Stage cultivators need to periodically consume meals made from spirit grain or spiritual flesh from demon beasts to sustain their bodies.
In fact, even Golden Core Stage cultivators who can fast do not dare to wander the Boundless Desert Sea recklessly.
Golden Core Stage cultivators may not fear losing direction, but the desert contains not only the danger of getting lost but also terrifying natural disasters and powerful demon beasts capable of killing even Golden Core Stage cultivators.
For example, the infamous "Black Sand Storm," where Golden Core Stage cultivators can become trapped, isolated from their divine sense and senses by its peculiar forces, eventually exhausted and ground to death by the endless storm's power.
Or the most renowned Tier Five demon beast in the Boundless Desert Sea, the [Sand Worm], which is thousands of feet long and possesses terrifying teeth, capable of crushing Tier Five defense spiritual artifacts with immense force. If a Golden Core Stage cultivator is careless and falls into a sand worm's mouth, they would unwittingly lose their life.
Given these risks, unless compelled by an unavoidable reason, Golden Core Stage cultivators absolutely would not venture deep into the desert lightly.
Fortunately, whether it's the terrifying "Black Sand Storm" or the Tier Five Demon Beast [Sand Worm] that only slumbers in certain underground spirit veins deep in the desert, none would appear near the oasis. Otherwise, Zhouyang wouldn't dare to venture into the desert alone.
He traveled alone with a camel, strictly following the clan-issued map for about five days in the desert, smoothly reaching his destination—Cyan Ping Mountain.
Cyan Ping Mountain is also an oasis, but it's an artificial one.
This oasis is very small, only about a dozen square kilometers in size. Its formation relies entirely on the Zhou Family's investment of over ten thousand low-grade spirit stones, forcibly creating a Tier Two Lower Grade Spiritual Vein.
The reason the Zhou Family expended such a great cost to build an oasis here was that over fifty years ago, a Zhou Clan member lost in the desert discovered a medium-sized refined iron ore vein here.
Refined iron ore is a spirit ore containing a slight amount of spiritual qi. After smelting and processing, it can produce Tier One Spiritual Object refined iron and Tier Two Spiritual Object profound iron. These two spiritual objects are the main materials for cultivation clans or sects to construct important buildings like ancestral halls, scripture pavilions, and treasure vaults, and are also the primary materials for artifact refiners to craft most Tier One and Tier Two spiritual artifacts. The market demand is substantial.
To mine the refined iron ore in the refined iron ore vein, the Zhou Family had to construct an oasis here for the miners to live in while also deploying cultivators to protect the miners from attacks by the low-tier demon beasts in the desert.
Whether building the oasis or enabling the stationed cultivators to continue their cultivation, the Zhou Family could only artificially create a spiritual vein here.
Of course, all this investment is worthwhile.
Just this one medium-sized refined iron ore vein, processed and sold annually, can bring the Zhou Family more than five hundred low-grade spirit stones in pure profit. After fifty years, the initial investment has yielded several times the return.
And judging by the ore reserves, it can be mined for at least another fifty years.
The area of Qingping Mountain Oasis is extremely small. Most of the area has become the miners' residential area, with only a hundred-meter high small hill in the center of the spiritual vein separately marked as the dwelling place for stationed cultivators and the warehouse for finished materials.
One might say the small hill is the real Qingping Mountain.
Due to the current Grand Elder of the Zhou Family being a Tier Two Array Master, a Tier Two Array "Cloud Sea Light Splitting Array" is arranged above the spiritual vein of Qingping Mountain, causing the small hill to be perpetually shrouded by clouds and mist, making it difficult to discern the arrangement within.
Zhouyang arrived outside the array, summoned his magical power, and shouted. The mist before him churned, forming a path for him to ascend the mountain and enter.
He followed the array path inside and soon saw the stationed cultivator, a slender middle-aged scholar. This person ranked sixteenth among the Zhou family cultivators of the "Xuan" generation and was named Zhou Xuanjin.
"Hmm, why is it you, Yang'Er, here to replace me? You're not even twenty yet, are you?"
Seeing Zhouyang enter, Zhou Xuanjin, in scholarly attire, couldn't help but let out a light hmm, putting down his book and asking before Zhouyang could greet him.
"In response to Sixth Uncle, this is the elder clan leader's arrangement. He said my cultivation has reached the standard for descending the mountain and made an exception for me to train early." Zhouyang answered honestly.
Zhou Xuanjin's face froze, uttering softly in confusion, "Cultivation reached the descending standard? When did our Zhou family have such a standard?"
Saying so, he suddenly remembered something, swiftly casting a "Celestial Eye Technique" on himself, looking over Zhouyang with eyes gleaming with golden light.
Such seeing was unsettling, and upon seeing, he couldn't help but gape in surprise, "Ah! You've broken through to the Sixth-Layer Qi Cultivation!"
"Last month, after secluding in [Jade Sun Cave], managed to break through."
Zhouyang smiled faintly, acknowledging without hesitation.
Actually, in the cultivation realm, directly using a "Celestial Eye Technique" to observe another's cultivation is quite a taboo often leading to fierce conflicts over such manners.
However, Zhou Xuanjin is a family elder, so Zhouyang didn't mind such a small matter.
"Tsk tsk, remarkable, remarkable, how old are you!"
"I, as an uncle, have painstakingly cultivated for forty or fifty years to reach my current Seventh-Layer Qi Cultivation, yet here you are, achieving Sixth-Layer at seventeen. In ten years, eight years, one's cultivation might surpass mine!"
"Ah, getting old, getting old, can't compare to young folks. All having middle-grade spiritual roots, why is there such a disparity!"
Zhou Xuanjin withdrew the spell, looking at this outstanding junior with complex eyes, uncertain whether to feel happy for the family's newly sprouted talent or ashamed and despondent at being about to be overtaken in cultivation by a junior several decades younger.
Zhouyang was no stranger to such situations. Since he broke through to Sixth-Layer Qi Cultivation, many peers and elders at Jade Spring Peak, while marveling at and celebrating his cultivation speed, more or less displayed the same despondency and dark expression as Zhou Xuanjin.
To this, he could only respond with silence, saying no more.