Chapter 9: The First Floor

Manager Wang activated his identity bracelet and performed a series of operations through the retinal display.

“Winged Wood, a second-tier low-grade artificing material!” he exclaimed in astonishment.

His shock was understandable; within Yunxi County’s prestigious jurisdiction, only one individual openly acknowledged as a Foundation Establishment cultivator existed—the county chief himself.

Second-tier artificing materials were those used by Foundation Establishment cultivators. Acquiring such an item could bring immense benefits, whether submitted to the group or traded privately.

“Access the usage logs!” he commanded.

“It’s a stealth visit, but they used the free identification service. Could it be a new middle school student this year?” He made another discovery.

While the security level of the cultivator network far exceeded his hacking capabilities, these clues allowed him to initially narrow down the owner of the fire phosphorus ore.

Yunxi County had five middle schools in total, and only freshmen who successfully completed Qi Channeling could access the cultivator network.

However, no veteran from the cultivation classes would skip logging into the network during their first semester. Moreover, given Nine Heavens Group’s standing in Yunxi County, the older students had long since utilized the opportunity for free identification.

Most crucially, yesterday marked the day when freshmen undergo Qi Channeling. Manager Wang was highly confident that the person using the free identification service was indeed a newly initiated freshman.

Otherwise, such a remarkable coincidence—occurring precisely on this day—could not be explained.

Manager Wang couldn’t fathom how a freshman might obtain a mid-grade second-rank spirit material. Yet, extraordinary encounters truly defied logic; history was replete with successful individuals who had experienced astonishing serendipities.

This year’s cohort of cultivator freshmen numbered no more than two hundred combined, significantly narrowing down the pool for investigation.

The boy must not have disclosed his acquisition to anyone at home, Manager Wang surmised. Otherwise, he wouldn’t risk identifying it late at night through the cultivator network!

His eyes flashed with greed; faced with such immense wealth, how could he remain indifferent?

Little did Li Zhen know that he’d left behind a trail of trouble. At that moment, he was exhilarated by the prospect of selling the Winged Wood and amassing great riches.

But reality soon set in. He wasn’t truly twelve years old, and he understood all too well the treachery of human nature and the unpredictability of life. If he were to reveal the Winged Wood now, it might bring him not fortune but colossal strife.

Nor did he consider entrusting it to his parents. They weren’t powerful enough to handle such matters, and revealing the wood could endanger them instead. Thus, he needed to bide his time.

On the ninth day of school, no new courses were introduced. As before, Teacher Zhang continued her daily lectures on the “Foundation Qi Refining Technique, Seventeenth Edition.”

Although the students had already grasped the ‘Seventeenth Edition of Foundation Qi Refining Technique,’ Teacher Zhang’s continuous explanations still proved beneficial for refining their practice.

During the last lesson, Li Zhen’s mind wandered slightly; his spiritual energy had reached 0.9, and with everything going smoothly, he could potentially become a cultivator at the first layer of Qi Refinement today.

The moment class ended, he bolted out of the classroom.

Several classmates followed suit, having chosen to cultivate during lunchtime. This decision was not mandated but based on individual needs.

Despite Li Zhen’s modest stature, he moved with remarkable speed—though he held back from giving it his all, merely jogging casually. The proximity of the cultivation rooms to the First-Year Cultivators’ Classroom also favored him. Under normal circumstances, he’d be the first to reach the cultivation room after class dismissal.

Quickly selecting one, he entered and began cultivating.

After about half an hour, Li Zhen felt a slight vibration in his dantian—the area just below his navel where spiritual energy is stored. His spiritual energy, once scattered, now started rotating within his dantian.

He sensed that this spiritual energy had become an integral part of himself, ready to be summoned at will.

Realizing he had officially entered the first layer of Qi Refinement, Li Zhen knew he had become a true cultivator.

Suddenly, a stream of information surged from his heart.

This revelation clarified the origin of his mysterious abilities: his capacity to sense spiritual objects, his power to disorient enemies in moments of peril, and the storage space within his body—all were explained by this newfound knowledge.

The information stemmed from the bloodline legacy of the Chaos Divine Dragons. Given his current cultivation at the first layer of Qi Refinement, he had access only to the most fundamental aspects of this dragon lineage.

The storage space in his heart was one such innate ability, shared among many powerful races.

As his cultivation advanced, so too would this storage space expand. However, these enhancements would occur only with significant breakthroughs in his overall cultivation realm; thus, no changes could be expected during the Qi Refinement stage.

His heightened perception of spiritual objects mirrored the natural affinity for treasures inherent in all dragons.

Dragons’ love for collecting precious items led to their development of sensing capabilities over time.

Yet, within this bloodline inheritance, there was no mention of a storage space capable of consuming or absorbing spiritual objects directly.

Li Zhen suspected that this anomaly might be linked to his transmigration. Perhaps, during this process, the divine dragon’s bloodline underwent some form of mutation, although he had yet to discern the precise nature of these alterations.

His ability to mesmerize others was the dragon might, inherent to his draconic lineage. The potency of this power directly correlated with his own strength; as the disparity between their cultivation realms widened, its effect diminished.

Consequently, against adversaries at higher cultivation stages, the dragon might’s influence would be significantly reduced.

During that incident in the hospital, when facing an opponent at the intermediate stage of Qi Refining, Li Zhen hadn’t yet become a cultivator—his body had not even achieved Qi Channeling.

It was only due to his transformation by dragon blood and the self-defense mechanism of his dragon heart that he could prematurely unleash the effects of dragon might.

Now, having officially entered the first layer of Qi Refining, Li Zhen could fully manifest and direct his dragon might to overwhelm targets.

However, being a dragon ability, given the attitudes of cultivators towards dragons as depicted in the news, it was clear that revealing such power to others could have dire consequences.

Thus, while he could employ dragon might, doing so required absolute secrecy, ensuring no witnesses were present.

Li Zhen’s ascension to the first layer of Qi Refining was marked by remarkable composure, without any fanfare or grand display.

As part of his divine dragon bloodline inheritance, he also gained the ability to sense the physical realm state of others—a capability requiring further study over time.

Just as Li Zhen concluded his practice session, in another training room nearby, faint wisps of flame began to rise from Cheng He’s body.

Overwhelmed with excitement, Cheng He let out a triumphant shout, sensing an immense surge in his power.

“Is this what it feels like to become a true cultivator?!”

His cultivation time was almost up, but he didn’t continue practicing; instead, he rushed to let everyone know that he had become the first among them all to reach the first layer of Qi Refinement.

Over these past few days, Cheng He had been treated like a prodigy. His family wasn’t poor, and after learning about his mid-grade fire spiritual roots, they had set aside a room in their home for him to practice cultivation.

That wasn’t all—many relatives of the Cheng Clan heard about Cheng He’s mid-grade fire spiritual roots and wanted to befriend him. They sent precious gifts as well.

Among those gifts was a bottle of low-grade Guiding Pill. It was by consuming one such pill that Cheng He managed to achieve the first layer of Qi Refinement today.

At just twelve years old, Cheng He knew the benefits of being seen as a genius. He desperately needed to deepen this image so he could receive even more advantages.

“I’ve reached the first layer of Qi Refinement!” Cheng He announced loudly upon exiting his training room. He looked at the students waiting outside who wished to enter the next round. At the same time, he activated the 1 point of spiritual energy within his body.

His words caused envy to flicker across most of his classmates’ faces. On only the third day of school, he’d already gained 1 point of spiritual energy and become a true cultivator in the first layer of Qi Refinement.

Among his classmates, the majority hadn’t even reached 0.1 point of spiritual energy.

These students mostly had pseudo-spiritual roots, with their lifetime limit being early stages of Qi Refinement. In contrast, Cheng He with at least mid-grade spiritual roots could easily advance to late-stage Qi Refinement, creating a stark disparity akin to the difference between clouds and mud.

Even those few with low-grade spiritual roots couldn’t match the cultivation speed of someone with mid-grade roots.

Li Zhen, having just finished his own practice, heard Cheng He’s words and couldn’t help but look at him in surprise.

Meeting Li Zhen’s gaze, Cheng He made a taunting gesture. At this moment, he was brimming with confidence; as a cultivator at the first layer of Qi Refinement, he held no fear towards Li Zhen’s combat skills.

What he didn’t realize was that Li Zhen too had reached the first layer of Qi Refinement.

Li Zhen was taken aback. Although Cheng He’s mid-grade fire elemental root surpassed his own, given Li Zhen’s innate talent for cultivation—plus an extra hour of practice each day back home—how did Cheng He manage to catch up?

Of course, Li Zhen didn’t take Cheng He seriously; if before he could thrash him effortlessly, nothing had changed now.