1 Humble Gatherer

The air is wet and heavy with rain that refuses to fall; clouds are not part of Wu Gui's atmosphere- instead, rain is caused by the condensation of water Qi. As water Qi condenses, the air grows more and more humid, eventually forming a dense vapor, before becoming too heavy and falling to the ground. Wu Gui is a unique world; a settlement on the back of the Heavenly Immortal Earth Uplifting Turtle, hurtling through the starry sky with no control or destiny.

Heaven Shattering Pavillion is anchored amid the mountains and forests of Wu Gui's five billion acre shell; held in place by the remains of the flying sword used to ferry twenty thousand people to the initial settlement. Within Heaven Shattering Pavillion there are five main forces: Heavenly Dragon Turtle sect, Hidden Shadow sect, Wind Seeking Temple, Star Dragon Hall, and the Sky Reaching Auction House- the public face of the city lords manor.

Within the Hidden Shadow sect is the Fang family, a poor branch of the Feng family, struggling desperately to stop the Feng family from completely absorbing them to take their land, which is somewhat rich in cultivation resources. The young master of the Fang house, Fang Jian was outside the imposing city walls of the Heaven Shattering Pavilion, toiling in the hot, wet air- collecting common spirit grasses that bloom due to the excess spiritual energy of the great spirit arrays beneath the city. He traded these common herbs to Wind Seeking Temple for whatever meager silvers they offered.

The weak, the poor- the wastes of Wu Gui would often comb the flora growing within the safe range outside of the walls seeking immature spirit grasses to trade for food and drink. Those who spent their days up to their elbows in dirt were considered wastes because they were not worth the resources their house would have to dedicate to keep them in good health, so they did what they could to survive on their own.

Fang Jian, while physically healthy and morally upstanding, was a waste like the rest of them. He had still failed to open his body dantian and step onto the path of becoming an immortal cultivator. Fang Jian's inability to cultivate had cemented his household's status of dearly endangered. Cultivators within the Hidden Shadow Sect had any easy scapegoat in Fang Jian- the house lord's son who was still a waste.

Heavy beads of sweat rolled down Fang Jian's tanned features before disappearing into his well trimmed beard. The air was heavy with steam- Spirit Vapor, the final stage in the cycle before the heavily condensed water qi in the air turned liquid and bathed the surface of Wu Gui. When the air is heavily laden with spirit vapor, herbs and grasses have the low chance of mutating into spirit herbs.

There are five grades of treasure on Wu Gui: Earth, Moon, Sun, Star, and Sky; Earth and Moon grade objects are rare and valuable, but are still mundane items, whereas treasures Sun grade and above are considered magical treasures. Each grade has nine stages called stars: star 1 is black, star 2 is yellow, star 3 is cabbage green, star 4 is dark green, stage 5 is cyan, star 6 is blue, star 7 is red, star 8 is violet, star 9 is gold. Most of the grasses and herbs within the safe area outside of the walls were between Earth grade 5th star and moon grade 5th star.

As the day progressed, Fang Jian's hands and forearms turned brown from dirt and mud. He worked diligently, weighed down by the guilt of being a waste that had lost his family much face. The mid-sized wicker basket he carried on his back was less than half full when he stepped through the gates at dusk. Eight equally filthy individuals stood at the desk in front of Seeking Wind Temple, waiting to trade their findings of the day.

"Fang Jian! Were you very fortunate today?" A woman in her middle ages waved to Fang Jian as he approached, a smile on her face and a warm glow in her eye.

"Elder Sister Jia, if my luck covered Wu Gui, the turtle himself would have crashed into a nearby cultivation star by now." Fang Jian laughed as he tilted his basket to show how empty it was. When Fang Jian drew beside the woman he cupped his hands and bowed, first to her and then to those around her.

"I hope that your findings were heaven blessed today, Elder sister Jia." Fang Jian had been competing with this group of people for herbs for nearly seven years, ever since he failed to open his body dantian and he needed to find other ways to bring value to his family.

"You flirt and bless the herb field beauty, all while ignoring this one? As you can see, brother Fang, my basket is even more empty than yours!" Luo Liwei, another of the regular herb gatherers, was very old, and he possessed a haggard cough. His left arm from the elbow down was also missing, which he allegedly lost in a battle with Wu Gui himself.

"Forgive me, Uncle Luo, the last thing I would do is curse you, please accept this gift in remuneration for your lost face." Fang Jian reached into his basket and handed over half of the contents to Luo Liwei.

"Look at you, Luo Liwei, you give little brother no face and he still treats you with honor every day." Jia Huifang watched Fang Jian support Luo Liwei on a daily basis, and the gruff old man's attitude never changed. The old man's cheeks showed a hint of pink as he rubbed his finger under his nose.

"Shameless girl, this one goes easy on the boy in the fields everyday so that Fang Jian has the chance to stop and flirt with you, a great beauty, every day, he is being so gracious out of gratitude for this one's peerless foresight." Jia Huifang blushed at being called a beauty twice- even by the gruff old man. Jia Huifang was undoubtedly a beauty, her hair was long and lustrous- even after working in the field all day. Her face was symmetrical; she was curvaceous and long legged. She wore a short skirt and jacket, designed to beat the tyrannical humidity that marched hand in hand with the Spirit Vapor- but it also served to reveal the tension in her midriff and the curve of her thigh.

"Stop it, old fart, I am at least one generation out of reach for Fang Jian, and flirting with me would do no good. Rather he should be flirting with my Fraternal Niece- Su Xifeng." Jia Huifang's blush did not recede as she chastised Luo Liwei, rather, it deepened as she crossed her arms to hide her modest bosom.

"Elder sister Jia, your radiance is indeed far beyond my reach, I am certain it is centuries too early for me to be put in your eyes; Uncle Luo, thank you for the advice." Fang Jian cupped his hand once more before continuing on to the traders booth. Luo Liwei berated Jia Huifang in the background for insulting Fang by suggesting a talented cultivator as his match, which only served as a reminder that he could not open his body dantian.

Fang Jian had taken no offence to Jia Huifang's suggesting, knowing that she meant no offense, but rather she was trying to give him face. His body dantian may refuse to open, but that did not limit Fang Jians diligence to stepping onto the path of cultivation. His daily routine started with gathering herbs, and ended with cultivation- the more time he spent socializing, the less time he would have to build his own future.

Fang Jian stepped up to the booth to complete the familiar routine of trading his herbs. He quickly dumped the remaining herbs in his basket onto the table and waited for the clerk to sort and weigh them for evaluation. Fang Jian spent the brief moments waiting considering what he would buy for dinner, it was his only meal most days.

"3 silver." The clerk looked up sharply at the sound of Fang Jian's basket clattering to the ground.

"3 Silver? So little?" The clerk sighed and wiped the sweat from his face before answering.

"Seeking Wind temple has better things to do with the silver than being charitable, if you want more money you will need to bring better herbs." Fang Jian knew he did not have any right to argue, it was well known that Seeking Wind temple had been overpaying for low grade herbs.

"How do I find better herbs, I do not even know how to identify them. Can you help me?" The clerk withdrew a scroll from within his sleeve and set it on the table for Fang Jian.

"This scroll has all of the special orders and requests for herbs, do your best to seek the herbs from the list if you need more silver."

Fang Jian cupped his hands and bowed to the clerk before taking the scroll into his sleeve and walking away. By the time he got back to his ancestral home within the Hidden Shadow sect, it was already after darkness had besieged Wu Gui. As he did the day before, and the day before that, Fang Jian sat on his thread bare mat, crossed his legs, and focused on his breathing as he attempted to open his body dantian.

Prenatal Qi flowed through his meridians slowly, as if they were filled with sand, obstructing the flow of energy and increasing the difficulty of his cultivation. Fang Jian cultivated until the moon hit it's twelfth hour- when the moon reaches it's zenith a sinister cold yin Qi pervades the atmosphere, making cultivation dangerous for yang cultivators. His body dantian still sealed, Fang Jian closed his eyes and surrendered to slumber.

The following day, Fang Jian awakened before cock and crow and left to perform his filial duty to his father, Fang MingKuan. Each morning, as light began to brighten the sky, Fang Jian got on his knees and cupped his hands before his father, wishing him good fortune and thanking him for his benevolence. Fang Jian's father had always been supportive and kind to Fang Jian, despite the fact that he was a cripple.

Bowing to the few neighbors that he met on the street, Fang Jian once more set out beyond the city walls. He quickly disappeared into the heavily condensed Spirit Vapor- which was nearly ready to form droplets and fall. The vapor was so thick that Fang Jian did not have an opportunity to greet his senior herb gatherers, he could barely read his newly acquired herb scroll right in front of his face! He let out a frustrated sigh and tucked the scroll back into his sleeve.

"I will be blessed to find even simple herbs in this vapor, I'll take whatever herbs I can find and worry about the value later." Fang Jian's life had been so filled with disappointment that something as simple as spirit vapor could not affect his mood. He had to crawl in the dirt and use his hands as his eyes to seek herbs, while rooting around for herbs every day was never clean- being forced to crawl about for the day forced him to feel more like a beggar than ever before; especially as he could feel the dirt rub into his face as he tried to wipe away his sweat.

Half the day passed quickly, when Fang Jian reached into his basket he found that less than an eighth of the basket was full. He drank from his water bag as he considered the pitiful 3 silver from the prior day.

"3 silvers yesterday, less than half of half today. This much effort has to be more than the reward." Fang Jian let out a weary sigh. The world truly was a cruel place for those who could not cultivate. Shame filled him as he was forced to ponder the end of his family line, knowing that he could never afford a dowry if he could not even afford food.

He did not rest longer than he needed; never one to wallow in self pity, Fang Jian knew that Wu Gui would only give him what he worked for. As a child, when those his age who were geniuses were opening their body dantian, Fang MingKuan had told Fang Jian that energy cannot be created or destroyed, those who were faster cultivators and geniuses had a better inheritance from their past lives. Fang Jian took that gentle advice to heart, sop he gave his all in every pursuit.

Spirit Vapor was so heavily condensed in the air that it collected on Fan Jian's clothes and dripped from his beard. Without a doubt, the heavy rains would soon dowse Wu Gui, releasing an abundance of pure water qi. Hidden Shadow sect may not have any water qi cultivators, but if the water qi was pure enough, and condensed heavily enough, it could form into water essence stones. Essence stones were very valuable for the formation of spirit arrays, artifacts, and pills; Fang Jian decided to be hopeful and seek essence stones within the nine local ponds.

Fang Jian had been travelling outside of the city walls for years- after spending his formative teenage years outside of the walls of the city he learned well how to avoid demonized beasts, find spirit herbs, and on rare occasions- survive a night alone outside the walls. No other mortal could compare to the experience Fang Jian had outside the walls, even some practitioners would sometimes recruit Fang Jian as a guide within the areas outside of Heaven Shattering Pavilion that were not too dangerous for a mortal to tread.

Every day, Fang Jian stopped at the same pond, on the edge of the cleared area outside the walls. He would stop to drink and rest at midday. He was much later to arrive than most days due to the increased diligence required to seek the few herbs he did find in the heavy spirit vapor. Evening had already taken Wu Gui hostage, but Fang Jian wanted to search for essence stones and decided he would search all nine ponds even if it meant a night under the starry sky.

The pond was octagonal and nearly 300 meters across, much the same as the other eight great ponds of Wu Gui. There was no floating spirit vapor within several paces of the pond- the water qi had already naturally joined the body of water instead of floating in the air. The pond was almost universally fifty meters deep- and was frequented by those teenaged cultivators who needed to relax. Though one would not find bathers in such dense spirit vapor.

Fang Jian removed and neatly folded his soiled jacket and hid it behind the same boulder any swimmer would, and waded directly into the pond. The water was cold, but not unbearably so, and the deeper he swam, the warmer the water became. Fang Jian was an above average swimmer, but the true depths of the pond were still beyond his mortal physique. Fortunately, water essence stones were neutrally buoyant, causing them to float precisely twenty five meters below the surface, just within his reach. He swam the length and breath of the pond innumerable times, canvassing the murky waters in search of a treasure that would make his efforts worthwhile.

The formation of essence stones was by no means guaranteed, but Fang Jian searched thoroughly before relinquishing the hunt to crawl back onto the earth that was Wu Gui's shell. Bad Fortune comes in threes, which gave Fang Jian hope that he could find an essence stone in the next pond, he did the best he could to shake the dirt from his jacket before donning it and setting off in the direction of the next pond. He still moved slowly, but he no longer crawled on the ground in search of herbs that would not be worth the effort. Darkness had long ago settled it's slow siege of Wu Gui, forcing Fang Jian to rely even more on instinct as he traveled and finding any more herbs would be virtually impossible.

Two hours passed uneventfully before Fang Jian arrived at his destination, stripped his jacket and began his aquatic investigation. He swam long enough for two sticks of incense to burn before giving up. He pulled himself out of the pond with a heavy sigh, empty handed and heavy hearted. A gentle but persistent breeze pulled his attention in the direction of Heaven Shattering Pavilion.

As Fang Jian turned away from the breeze, he realized it was more of a suction force than a natural wind. His curiosity piqued, he began to walk toward the subtle force on a side trip before he continued to the next pond. After ten paces, then twenty paces, Fang Jian realized the spirit vapor had begun to thin again, as if he was already nearing another pond. Initially confused, Fang Jian smiled as he realized that he had stumbled upon a unique encounter!