Prologue

On the banks of the Yuan River, a boy of about thirteen or fourteen years old was looking at the river. He was dressed in sackcloth, with dark skin and a square face, slightly honest, but on the left cheek, a dark red scar added a bit of solemnity to his simple face.

At this moment, his face was full of worry, ignoring the sweat flowing into his eyes, he tried to open his eyes wide, scanning the endless river, but there was nothing else but the waves brought by the gentle breeze. The boy put his hands in front of his mouth, trying to shout loudly, but only let out a low whine, he was mute.

After a while, there was still no movement on the river, the young man became more and more anxious, stretched out a foot into the water, the water was warm, stabilized his mind, gritted his teeth, as if he had made some major decision, and was about to rush underwater, but he saw the river not far away, suddenly a storm arose, and a big water injection poured towards the young man, he couldn't avoid it, and was drenched in soup.

Immediately after, a head appeared on the surface of the river, "Hahaha, big head, are you scared? You don't dare to come down to me for so long, you are really afraid of water." The mute boy turned out to be called Big Head, which somewhat matched his image. The big head saw the person who was playing tricks on him, and his hanging heart relaxed, but he remembered that he knew that he was naturally afraid of water, and deliberately hid under the water for so long, which made him anxious, and he couldn't help but turn around and walk towards the shore angrily.

The young man in the water saw the big head's behavior, and knew that he was angry, so he hurriedly shouted, "Big head, big head, don't be angry, don't be angry, I'm here to catch a grouper for you, look at such a big grouper, I finally got it from the bottom of the water, look!", and swam to the shore as he spoke.

Hearing this, the big head stopped, turned around, and saw that the young man in the water was treading water, while trying to raise his hand across the water, and he was indeed dragging a fish bigger than his body in his hand, which was his favorite grouper, and in an instant, all the qi just now was thrown out of the clouds, and rushed over to help together...

It took a lot of effort for the two to drag the grouper ashore, and the young man in the water straightened up and patted his head and shoulders, "Your eldest brother and I, Shi Yi, said that I would get you a delicious meal today, so I will get it for you, how about it, such a big grouper, enough for you to have a full meal, right?

The big head glanced at the young man who claimed to be the eldest brother of the sao bag, and shook his head helplessly. Suddenly, he thought of something, his face fell, he pointed to the sunset, and then pointed to the young man known as Shi Yi in the distance, and patted his head, "It's not good, I caught fish just now, I forgot the hour, I went back late, and I was going to be punished by my grandfather to kneel." Hurry, hurry, big head, let's go back quickly" After that, he quickly pulled a few Qingge vines from the shore, found a thick bamboo, tied up the fish, and the two of them carried them one after the other, and rushed back...

Shi Yi and Datou are orphans, grandpa said, Shi Yi was picked up from the nearby Xuanwu Mountain, when picking up, there was a sign in the swaddling clothes, which said "Shi Yi", and now the brand is hanging around Shi Yi's neck; as for the big head, it was when the grandfather was fishing by the Yuanjiang River, a small bamboo raft floated down from the upstream, and there was a baby on it, when he was found, the scar on his face appeared, and the grandfather saw that he had a big head and a small body, so he named it "Datou".

At the foot of Xuanwu Mountain, the grandfather and grandson opened an inn, which is said to be an inn, but in fact, it is six wooden houses made of mahogany peeling and branches, a kitchen, two living rooms, two bedrooms, Shi Yi and Datou are together, grandpa himself is one, and the largest one is for guests to rest. There is such a family within a radius of 100 miles, and from time to time there will be passing caravans and rangers to rest here, and the third master will provide accommodation, food, and exchange for some daily necessities.

Walked for half an hour, turned over a dirt slope, and finally saw a flag made of unknown animal skin, is fluttering in the wind, perhaps because of the long years, the flag is mottled, need to be carefully identified to be able to vaguely see "Pengcheng Inn" a few big characters, arrived home.

At this time, there was an old man standing under the flagpole, his hair and eyebrows were snow-white, and his face was full of scars full of vicissitudes, which looked particularly hideous. He pinned his hands behind his back, looking at the two teenagers, Shi Yi's heart jumped, he didn't dare to delay any longer, and walked down the slope quickly with the big head, "Grandpa, you see that I caught such a big grouper, stew it tonight to make up for your body" Shi Yi said to his grandfather with a smile on his face, and the big head on the side also nodded flatteringly, the old man glanced at the grouper carried by the two, and said nothing.

Grandpa was a little angry like this, since he could remember, grandpa had very strict requirements for them, every day when the east had just revealed the white of the fish's belly, they had to get up and practice according to the method taught by their grandfather; after breakfast, they would go to the nearby mountains to chop firewood, hunt, and maintain their daily use; the rest of the time, no matter how much trouble they had, grandpa would not care about going up and down the mountain; but they had to go home at the time of unitary, and after dinner, they would practice again.

Sometimes the two of them were too greedy and delayed their practice, and the grandfather would severely punish the two of them. Today, because of catching fish, it was a little late to come back, and the sun was going to go down, the two looked at each other, stuck out their tongues, and said in their hearts that they couldn't run away from a punishment today.

The silence lasted for a while, and the grandfather finally spoke, "Go cook, come to the guests", the two of them were uneasy just now, and they didn't notice that there were more than a dozen big men sitting in the lobby, drinking tea and looking at this side, on the grass not far away, eight Fengnian beasts and a dozen jujube red horses were eating grass, and their bodies were full of burdens, this was a caravan. Shi Yi came back to his senses, answered, turned his head and grimaced at the big head, and the two of them carried the fish to the kitchen. The big head splits the wood to make a fire, Shi Yi cuts meat and stir-fries, the two are very skillful in cooperating, and after a while, more than a dozen dishes are on the table, and bursts of vegetable fragrance surround the lobby.

The big man who led the caravan picked up a bowl of wine and said to everyone, "Brothers, let's rest here for one night today, hurry early tomorrow morning, and walk for another five days, and we will be able to reach Sword Immortal City!"

After three rounds of drinking, a thin guard said, "Head, this time we have exchanged so many good things from the Wind Tribe, it is estimated that we can make a lot of money, don't you forget to give dividends to your brothers" "Divide it to you? The thin guard wanted to open his mouth to argue, but he didn't know if he was in a hurry because of the alcohol, his face was flushed, he couldn't say a word, and everyone ridiculed again.

Shi Yi watched everyone eat meat and drink wine in a big bowl, he was very envious, he and Datou have lived at the foot of this mountain with their grandfather since they were children, except for these caravans passing by, they have never seen anyone else, and they have never gone far away, everything in the perfect continent that comes out of these people's mouths is attractive to them, every time he and Datou will lean on the corner of the wall and listen carefully to their stories, while grandpa will silently smoke dry tobacco on the side, and I don't know if he listened or not.

The perfect continent is bred by the human race, the demon race, and the feather race. The human race is cowardly, but some innate spiritual veins, which can be continuously evolved through cultivation, so as to obtain powerful power, proficient in various weapons, and the art of controlling qi are called martial arts, and those who have mastered the natural meaning of water, fire, and earth, and have been immersed in metaphysical meditation for a long time, in order to comprehend the profound and mysterious spells are called mages;

The demon clan is good at changing, some have a strong body, to the steel is strong, good at changing tigers, wolves, pandas, called demon beasts, and some are pregnant with the essence of the sun and moon for thousands of years into foxes, or delicate and cute, or charming and romantic, called goblins;

As a group with the blood of the gods, the feather people are born with "god-given wings" and can fly freely, some of them are good at bows and arrows, called feathers, and some are good at auxiliary magic and spiritual power, and are proficient in the natural mysteries of wind, thunder, and lightning, called feather spirits.

In some ancient classics, it is recorded that in the Wuji Sea in the extreme east of the continent, there is also a race of half-human and half-fish who survive, and in the Wufu Sea in the extreme south, there are also people who have seen a race that can summon various spirits to assist them, as for what they are called, what they look like, there are only a few words in the classics, and no one is even sure whether they really exist.

Although each ethnic group has different characteristics, the ten thousand laws are inseparable from it, and the entire perfect continent has a set of cultivation systems, which are divided into nine realms: foundation building, spiritual void, harmony, primordial infant, emptiness, frost, tribulation, silence, and Mahayana. It is not easy to cultivate, and the ascension of every realm is extremely difficult, just talking about the foundation building realm that many people aspire to and cannot reach, and they may not be able to build the foundation successfully in their lifetime; if there is no extremely strong talent or great opportunity, it is the limit to reach the frost realm;

Throughout the ages, how many talented and capable people have finally fallen on the threshold of the Tribulation Realm, and once they cross this threshold, they will have a long lifespan and will not be troubled by birth, old age, sickness and death. At present, the strongest people of the various races in the Perfect Continent are all old monsters who have crossed the Tribulation or the Silent Realm, they are all far away from the world, concentrate on cultivation, and rarely appear in front of people. As for the Mahayana realm, in the records of the Perfect Continent, it has not appeared for five hundred years.

"Hey, everyone, have you heard that there are still two years to go to the ten-year family competition in Sword Immortal City to start, I heard that this time, there are a lot of great characters in the younger generation of the major families!" "I've heard it, I've heard it, the Yi family's Yi Xingtian has just turned eighteen years old, and he has reached the realm of spiritual void!" "The Yi family? Alas, people are more popular than people, these guys are reincarnated well, they have received a lot of cultivation resources since they were young, and they can be promoted to spiritual void at a young age, in my life, it would be good to be able to build a foundation!" a guard sighed, causing everyone to sigh again.

Waiting for the guests to rest, the grandfather and grandson lay side by side on the grass outside the house, the bright moon was in the sky, and the breeze passed through the redwood forest, bringing a hint of coolness. Shi Yi put his hands under his head and asked, "Grandpa, what is a family competition?" The big head on the side also came to the spirit, turned over, and stared at his grandfather with burning eyes.

"In order to ensure the purity of the bloodline, all the clans have made a blood oath from the distant ancient times, and the three clans shall not intermarry, and shall not steal the exercises of other clans, and those who violate them will be subject to the joint efforts of all clans. The three clans are based on the family unit, each united together, a family is generally headed by the most powerful clan, and there is an elders' council to assist the family in handling affairs, the strength of a family is determined by the top power, after all, this world pursues the respect of the strong. The powerful family controls a large number of cultivation resources, superior exercises, and excellent cave treasures. The family competition is specially held regularly by each family in order to motivate the clansmen to devote themselves to cultivation, and at the same time to promote the strength of the family and obtain more benefits. In addition to the family competition, the three clans of the Perfect World will also jointly hold a race competition, that is, the three clans will each select qualified powerhouses and compete with each other. Whether it is a family competition or a race competition, as long as you can stand out in it, you will be trained by the family, and various forces will also compete to hand out olive branches, which is equivalent to a fish leaping into the dragon gate!"

Shi Yi nodded when he heard this, and asked again, "Can the power of the family control everything? What about those who don't have a family?" "Hehe, in addition to the family, there are also some casual cultivators, they have joined forces to create forces such as academies, gangs, etc., although the top strength is not as good as the major families, but it is better than the large number of people, as long as you have strength, they will not pay attention to any bloodline, and they will also give you the cultivation resources you want." ”

The big head on the side pulled grandpa's sleeve and gestured a few times with his hand, "Do you want to ask Sword Immortal City?" The big head nodded vigorously, grandpa sat up cross-legged, picked up the dry tobacco, saw this, and immediately lit the fire, grandpa took a puff, and said, "Sword Immortal City starts from here, along the Yuanjiang River, with the foot strength of ordinary people, it takes four or five days to arrive, it is the most prosperous city of the human race, and there are thousands of inns as big as ours!"

The big head took a breath when he heard this, thousands of families, how big is that!" Legend has it that Sword Immortal City was originally a big mountain, facing the purgatory volcano in the far north, and later there was a powerful human sword immortal, seeing that the aura here was sufficient, so he flattened the mountain with a sword, and there were mages who moved mountains and seas, and overnight, a male city rose from the ground! People named this city Sword Immortal City in honor of them."

"Ahh "Immortal Demon Realm!" Three words spit out from Grandpa's mouth heavily..."Immortals and demons?Are they more powerful than Mahayana monks?" "Hmph, people in the world always think that Mahayana monks are the strongest, but they don't know that there are also immortals and demons, they have comprehended the law, have their own realm of power, and in this, they are the masters. "Shi Yi's eldest two people were so shocked by their grandfather's words that they couldn't speak, their minds were full of immortals and demons, immortals and demons, moving mountains and seas, what a powerful realm it was!

After a long time, Shi Yi remembered the Yi family in the mouth of the big man just now, "Grandpa, what kind of family is the Yi family?

Grandpa's hand holding the pipe trembled slightly unconsciously, "The Yi family was originally the family with the longest inheritance and the most powerful people in Sword Immortal City. But fifty years ago, the Yi family had a great figure, this person was called Yi Chengfeng, he broke through the frost realm when he was thirty years old, whether it was a family competition or a race competition, he had no power to fight back against other opponents, and the scenery was infinite for a while. He is known as the person with the most hope of breaking through the Mahayana realm in the past 500 years. But the creation of people, Yi Chengfeng in the process of a trip, got acquainted with a Yu girl, the two supported each other, sympathized with each other, over time actually had feelings for each other, regardless of the blood oath of the three tribes, in a place called Sifang Village incognito, trying to avoid the world, live in peace. But the paper can't contain the fire after all, this matter still spread to the two families, one stone stirred up a thousand waves, for thousands of years no one dared to ignore the blood oath of the three clans, the two clans respectively sent a strong man to arrest the two, that battle was dark, until the two clans respectively dispatched the old monster of the Tribulation Realm, and the two were taken down. This girl of the Yu clan is willing to cut off her wings and be imprisoned at the bottom of the Yu Clan's Jiyu Lake forever, just so that everyone can spare her lover's life. And Yi Chengfeng saw that his lover was imprisoned, and he abandoned his cultivation, and since then he has been silent, and no one knows where he went. The Yi family was also jointly suppressed by other families because of this incident, and the Liu family, the Zong family, and the Lin family took advantage of this to rise to the top and become the four major families of Sword Immortal City together with the Yi family!"

Shi Yi didn't know what love was, but he was also excited when he heard it, and he deeply felt sorry for Yi Chengfeng and the two.

The grandson and grandson chatted some gossip again, and gradually fell asleep on the grass, Shi Yi lay on his side on the grass, muttering "Mahayana, Immortal Demon, Yi Chengfeng", and the frogworms around him fluttered their wings and landed on the three of them, shining brightly...

Early the next morning, seeing off the caravan, Shi Yi and Datou set up a posture on the grass, and the two sat cross-legged, closed their eyes and rested, running the breathing and breathing method taught by their grandfather. The spiritual veins of the human race are divided into four realms, turning into qi, turning into gods, refining void, and merging the way, each realm is divided into nineteen acupuncture points, and the human race is constantly breaking through the acupuncture points through cultivation, strengthening the spiritual vein, the realm of the spiritual vein corresponds to the realm of cultivation, the transformation of qi corresponds to the foundation and spiritual void, and the transformation of the god corresponds to the harmony and the primordial infant, and so on.

The higher the grade of the spiritual vein, the longer the path of cultivation can go, the greater the power obtained, the same is a monk who builds the foundation realm, and the high-grade spiritual vein can often crush the low-grade. And the first condition that determines the talent of a monk is the grade of the spiritual vein. Each family will have a spiritual vein grade test for newborn children, and generally the Xuan level is called a genius, and the earth level is even rarer, and it will be cultivated by the family, as for the heavenly level, every time it appears, it will trigger a vision of heaven and earth, shocking the world.

Shi Yi looked at his spiritual vein, he has been stuck in the Juque acupoint for a month, grandpa said that as long as he rushed through the Juque acupoint, even if the foundation was successful, he entered the door of cultivation, this month, he tried to break through the Juque every day, but in vain, today is no exception, running a few weeks of exercises, except for the aura of the Qi Sea level is a little more sufficient, there is no sign of breakthrough.

With a sigh, Shi Yi opened his eyes, and the big head on the side also opened his eyes in confusion, slightly depressed. Seeing this, Shi Yi already knew in his heart, the big head must have failed again, he has not been able to see his spiritual veins inside, the big head is a "closed vein", this kind of person is born without a spiritual vein, but he can practice martial arts, at most he can be an ordinary person's guard or something, it is really impossible to cultivate.

The big head has always been very stubborn, never gave up, insisted on cultivating with Shi Yi every day, but practiced his body to be strong, like a calf, this is due to the fact that the spiritual power of the person with closed veins cannot be condensed in the acupuncture points, and can only be attached to the body.

Shi Yi patted the big head, "It's okay, big head, take your time, one day you will be able to see your own spiritual veins inside! It's really not good, and my brother is covering you! Let's go, let's go to the mountains to chop wood, by the way, see if we can catch a horned scale snake, yesterday there were guests, the grouper hasn't eaten yet, today with a horned scale snake, stew a soup!", in the end, it is the heart of a young man, hearing the grouper stewed snake soup, the big head's eyes lit up, and Shi Yi together, with an axe, hooked shoulders and walked to Xuanwu Mountain.