Vermilion Bird Spirit Fire

Flames swept through the entire room in an instant. The blast of the exploding furnace in Vermilion Bird Hall shook the whole Medicine King Palace, and countless disciples rushed over from all directions.

"Quick, put out the fire!"

Someone began directing the firefighting, but the flames were too fierce. They burned down the room where the furnace had exploded and set the two neighboring rooms ablaze as well.

Feng Fei's face turned green at the sight. How had a spirit fire test turned into this?

Chu Xinghe looked as though he had been scared witless, but inside he was ready to sing about the good days ahead.

Burn... It would be even better if the whole Vermilion Bird Hall burned down. If the grand elder got so angry that he expelled me from the sect on the spot, that would be perfect.

But Chu Xinghe's hopes were soon dashed. News of the furnace explosion and fire in Vermilion Bird Hall reached the grand elder, who immediately brought people over. With the grand elder and several other elders joining forces, the flames were finally extinguished.

Although the whole Vermilion Bird Hall had not burned down, Chu Xinghe knew he had succeeded when he saw the soot-covered grand elder and everyone else.

"Who did this?!" The grand elder's voice shook the entire Vermilion Bird Hall. Whether disciples or elders, no one dared say a word.

Feng Fei looked at Chu Xinghe as though he were already a dead man. He knew Chu Xinghe was probably completely done for this time.

"Feng Fei! What happened?!" The grand elder turned his gaze on Feng Fei.

Feng Fei hurriedly scrambled to his feet. "Grand elder, it was an accident. Today..."

Feng Fei dared not conceal anything and explained how Chu Xinghe had been testing his spirit fire. When he finished, he spoke again. "Please calm your anger, grand elder. Although Junior Brother Xinghe caused today's incident, I was the senior brother in charge of supervising him, and I failed to stop it. I should bear responsibility too. Please don't put all the blame on Junior Brother Xinghe!"

What a good man!

Looking at Feng Fei beside him, Chu Xinghe felt a little regret. He had, in effect, dragged Feng Fei into this, yet Feng Fei was stepping forward to shoulder the blame for him. Chu Xinghe's heart was full of gratitude toward Senior Brother Feng.

"You?" The grand elder paid no attention to Feng Fei. Instead, he flashed directly to Chu Xinghe's side.

"Yes! Grand elder, it wasn't as Senior Brother Feng Fei said. Senior Brother Feng Fei explained every precaution to me, but I didn't listen carefully, and that's what led to this. Every bit of the blame is mine alone. Please don't punish Senior Brother Feng Fei!"

Feng Fei was startled by Chu Xinghe's words. He had not expected Chu Xinghe to take all the blame upon himself. Word of how Chu Xinghe had stepped forward to take the blame for his fellow villager had spread like wildfire, but Feng Fei had later heard that the fellow villager's arm had been broken. Rumor had it that Chu Xinghe and his fellow villager had never gotten along and that the whole thing had been an act.

But now Feng Fei wanted nothing more than to give the people spreading those stories behind Chu Xinghe's back a great slap across the face!

Just look! Even in these circumstances, Junior Brother Xinghe didn't try to shift the blame at all. Instead, he was afraid I'd be punished and shouldered everything himself. How could Junior Brother Xinghe possibly be like those rumors said he was!

But just as Feng Fei was so moved that he was almost in tears, the grand elder suddenly spoke. "Was it really you?"

"Absolutely! Xinghe has failed to live up to the grand elder's support. I know my sins are grave, so please punish me severely!" Chu Xinghe's face was full of remorse, but his heart was bursting with joy!

Expel me from the sect! Hurry up and expel me! If that really won't do, stripping me of my elite disciple status would be fine too.

If I can't get peak Martial Emperor cultivation, Third Rank Grand Martial Master will do. Going straight from a First Rank Martial Artist to a Third Rank Grand Martial Master feels good just to think about.

But instead of receiving the grand elder's punishment, Chu Xinghe was pulled straight into another spirit fire testing room. The grand elder pointed at the earth fire and said, "Come! Repeat what you just did!"

"Huh?" Chu Xinghe was dumbfounded. What was going on?

"Quick, do it again!" The grand elder looked eager.

Unable to make sense of it, Chu Xinghe glanced at the grand elder and then at the others, who looked just as baffled. Clearly, none of them understood what the grand elder meant either.

But Chu Xinghe could not concern himself with all that. You want to see a furnace explode, right? Fine... I'll blow up another one for you!

He sat cross-legged as he had before and began pouring spiritual power into the earth fire. Just as before, the flames rose and began turning orange. This time, no one held Chu Xinghe back, so he went all in!

He poured all his spiritual power into the earth fire, and in an instant, the crimson-gold flames appeared again. As they burned the pill furnace, it began to hum—a sign that it was about to explode.

But just when Chu Xinghe thought the grand elder would stop him, he discovered that the grand elder and the other elders watching from the side were all staring at him, their expressions drastically changed.

What's going on?

As Chu Xinghe was wondering, a cry rang out, just like the one when the furnace had exploded before. Along with the cry came a tremendous boom, and the pill furnace exploded again!

The instant the furnace exploded, the grand elder shielded Chu Xinghe and carried him out of the room. Flames swept through and swallowed the entire room.

"Vermilion Bird Spirit Fire! It's Vermilion Bird Spirit Fire!"

"That's right! It really is Vermilion Bird Spirit Fire! Heaven blesses our Vast Heaven Sect! After four hundred years, our Vast Heaven Sect has finally produced Vermilion Bird Spirit Fire again!"

The sudden shouts left everyone dumbfounded. Chu Xinghe looked at the grand elder holding him. There was no trace of coldness or blame left on the grand elder's face, only shock and unconcealable delight!

At that moment, everyone finally understood why the grand elder, upon discovering that the pill furnace had exploded and the room had been burned like that, had not only refrained from getting angry but had instead told Chu Xinghe to do it again.

He had sensed something extraordinary about the flames: a faint, hidden trace of Vermilion Bird Spirit Fire. Unsure of what he had sensed, he had asked Chu Xinghe to do it again.

And this time, everyone saw it. After the flames turned crimson-gold, they erupted again, and the Vermilion Bird Spirit Fire was drawn out from the heart of the earth.

The Vast Heaven Sect's true rise could be traced back to four hundred years ago. In that era, the sect produced several peerless experts, among them Lu Changfeng, known as the Medicine Saint. He possessed Vermilion Bird Spirit Fire, and it was thanks to that fire that he became the person in this world closest to the Medicine God.

It was also thanks to Lu Changfeng's medicine-refining skills that the Vast Heaven Sect continued to rise, while the sect's medicine-refining skills became the best under heaven.

But during the four hundred years that followed, Lu Changfeng mysteriously vanished without a trace, and most of his legacy disappeared as well. Vermilion Bird Spirit Fire became a thing of the past. In those four hundred years, the Vast Heaven Sect produced many grandmaster medicine refiners, but none could reach Lu Changfeng's heights.

Yet today, an exploding furnace had brought forth Vermilion Bird Spirit Fire!

The Vermilion Bird Spirit Fire Chu Xinghe had summoned moved everyone present.

After four hundred years, the Vast Heaven Sect had finally produced another disciple capable of wielding Vermilion Bird Spirit Fire.

Vermilion Bird Hall had been named after Vermilion Bird Spirit Fire. Four hundred years ago, there was Lu Changfeng; four hundred years later, there was Chu Xinghe!

The grand elder was as excited as a child, and the other elders all looked at Chu Xinghe with excitement. Only Chu Xinghe himself... was dumbfounded...

This... isn't the result I wanted...

What happened to the punishment? What happened to exploding a furnace being a serious offense? What is all this supposed to mean?

After much hesitation, Chu Xinghe decided to speak. "Grand elder, a nation has its laws, and a household has its rules. Even if I truly gained Vermilion Bird Spirit Fire today, the offense of exploding two furnaces in a row cannot go unpunished. Please judge me impartially, grand elder."

As soon as Chu Xinghe said this, not only the grand elder but also the Spirit Crane Palace disciples around them were moved.

Listen to that... What a state of mind! What breadth of character!

Junior Brother Xinghe had only just been promoted to elite disciple, yet he showed no pride or impatience. Today, he had become the first person in four hundred years to possess Vermilion Bird Spirit Fire. Everyone knew Junior Brother Xinghe had a promising future.

Yet even in these circumstances, Junior Brother Xinghe had not lost his head in the slightest. He still felt deeply guilty about exploding the furnaces and wanted the grand elder to punish him. What a state of mind!

Even some of the disciples who had been jealous of Chu Xinghe moments ago could not help marveling that he truly was no ordinary person.

"Hahahaha... Good... Good... Very good..." Three more "goods." Hearing them, Chu Xinghe knew things had gone wrong.

Sure enough, the grand elder looked at Chu Xinghe with approval. "You truly are worthy of being the disciple I chose. Before cultivating martial arts, one must cultivate virtue. I have seen far too many young people of extraordinary talent whose character did not match it. Hearing you say this today comforts me, truly comforts me... The Medicine Saint has an heir!"

"Heaven blesses Vast Heaven!" the crowd called out in congratulations once more.

"Xinghe, although this furnace explosion started because of you, you are not to blame. How could an ordinary pill furnace withstand Vermilion Bird Spirit Fire? The furnace was naturally bound to explode, so you are innocent. But what you said today has opened my eyes. All this time, I should not have punished so many disciples for exploding furnaces. After all, their mistakes were unintentional too. From today onward, disciples who cause a furnace to explode through an unintentional mistake will no longer be punished!"

As soon as the grand elder said this, the disciples present were overjoyed!

"Thank you for your leniency, grand elder!" Countless disciples bowed to him. Shen Chun, whom Chu Xinghe had met in the dining hall earlier, was so moved that tears streamed down his face.

"Hehe... If you want to thank someone, you should thank your Junior Brother Xinghe. Without him, how could I have let go of my own fixation?" The grand elder stroked his beard and laughed heartily.

"Thank you, Junior Brother Xinghe..." The Spirit Crane Palace disciples bowed to Chu Xinghe again, their gazes full of goodwill.

"All right. Starting today, I and the other elders will personally teach you the art of pill refinement. Xinghe, you mustn't let that Vermilion Bird Spirit Fire of yours go to waste!"

"Ah... Thank you, grand elder..." Chu Xinghe was on the verge of tears.

I could have reached the peak if I'd just been expelled from the sect, but now a bunch of old men are going to take turns pushing me every day. Is there any damn justice left? Any law?

The grand elder left with the other elders, and Feng Fei and a group of Spirit Crane Palace disciples immediately surrounded Chu Xinghe.

"Junior Brother Xinghe, I must thank you again for today."

"Junior Brother Xinghe, from today onward, if anyone in Spirit Crane Palace dares lay a hand on you, they'll be making enemies of all of us."

"Junior Brother Xinghe, you're a righteous man. I listened to slander before and heard people say you'd ordered someone to break Chu Cheng's arm. Thinking about it now, I'm truly ashamed."

"Rumors stop with the wise! How could Junior Brother Xinghe be that kind of person? I'm going to find out who's been wagging their tongue, and I'll cripple them!"

"No need to investigate. I went to the outer sect today and heard that Chu Cheng himself said it!"

"Bullshit! Junior Brother Xinghe hasn't even seen that bastard since he was demoted to the outer sect, so how could he have ordered anyone to go after him? That bastard must have grown twisted with jealousy when Junior Brother Xinghe joined the ranks of the elite disciples. I'll cripple him!"

The crowd was so worked up that Chu Xinghe began to doubt whether he had actually done what happened that day.

"Senior brothers, you mustn't... I fear Chu Cheng may have reasons he can't speak of for slandering me. But we are fellow villagers, after all, and I already feel guilty that he was demoted to the outer sect. If you senior brothers were to hurt him now, how could I live with myself?"

After hearing Chu Xinghe's words, the senior brothers' gazes grew even more determined!

Listen to that! Now that's a state of mind!

They were two young men from Kaoshan Village, so how could there be such a huge difference in their character?