Hong Ying

"Can you still bear it?"

"Beneath Mount Luofeng lies a volcano that has never gone out year-round, which is why the temperature is so high."

Elder Hong spoke as he looked at Song Chengan walking beside him.

Song Chengan nodded. "It's alright."

His entire body was drenched in sweat.

He had not expected Mount Luofeng to be this hot.

Even the Flaming Mountains of myth were probably no hotter than this.

Mount Luofeng was barren everywhere, without a single plant in sight. As far as the eye could see stretched nothing but monotonous, scorched-red earth.

More than thirty people had been sent up the mountain this time to serve as menial disciples.

Everyone else had been assigned elsewhere, leaving only Song Chengan behind.

"You'll get used to it."

"Did heavenly fire really fall here back then?"

Song Chengan looked at Mount Luofeng, somewhat puzzled.

Elder Hong nodded. "It truly was heavenly fire."

"At that time, heaven and earth had not yet stabilized, and the five elements were in chaos, so natural calamities were frequent."

"Fortunately, a sage later stabilized heaven and earth. Even so, natural calamities still occur from time to time."

"But there's no need to worry." Elder Hong said, "Natural calamities do not simply fall without warning. As cultivators, we can sense the chaotic spiritual energy and avoid them in advance."

Song Chengan thought of the Lightning Calamity in Luo Village.

It seemed that many people had died.

"Ordinary people can't avoid them?"

Elder Hong said, "That depends."

"Generally speaking, when a natural calamity appears, there will be omens."

"If there is enough time, ordinary people can avoid the calamity as well."

"But the danger is that they may not understand how terrifying a natural calamity is. They might think it is merely a stronger thunderstorm, or that the sky has turned red."

"When the calamity struck Mount Luofeng back then, its earliest omen was that the entire firmament turned crimson."

Song Chengan nodded.

It seemed that so many people had died in Luo Village's Lightning Calamity because the villagers must have assumed it was only a rainy night with unusually violent lightning.

They had never imagined it was a natural calamity.

Elder Hong continued, "You'll be assigned to the furnace hall."

"Your duty will be to deliver and collect artifact-refining materials for the disciples refining artifacts and concocting pills."

"The disciple you'll serve is a junior of mine, with a gentle temperament."

"You'll begin as a menial disciple under her, then cultivate diligently. If you can complete cultivation in the Dao Seed Realm within ten years, you'll have a chance to become an outer sect disciple."

Song Chengan cupped his fists. "Thank you, Elder Hong."

This Elder Hong truly was a good man.

"Grandpa Hong!"

At that moment, a girl who looked sixteen or seventeen appeared ahead of them.

Her features were exquisite.

Of course, perhaps it was simply because she was young.

In their youth,

what young man was not a graceful youth, and what woman was not a Heavenly Immortal beauty?

"Is this the menial disciple you found for me?"

"This is Hong Ying."

A trace of astonishment surfaced on Hong Ying's face.

"Is this another uncle from some household?"

she asked.

She had recently needed a disciple to assist her with artifact refining, so she had sought out Elder Hong, her elder.

She had hoped this elder would choose a sharper disciple to help her.

Yet she had never expected the one who came to be a thirty-year-old, downcast man clad in clothes washed white with age and patched twice over.

So Hong Ying's first thought was that this was another uncle from some household.

She could not be blamed for thinking so.

Elder Hong was simply too much of a softhearted do-gooder.

As long as any of the Hong family's distant relatives—ones who were not even related within eight degrees of kinship—came knocking, they could somehow wrangle a job from this elder.

And sure enough.

Last time, there had been quite a farce.

This elder had appointed an illiterate fellow, supposedly the friend of one of his nephew-descendants, as an accountant.

It had caused no small joke within the Fire Refining Sect.

Thus, the moment Hong Ying saw Song Chengan, she knew he was probably another relation brought in through family connections.

For once, Elder Hong showed a trace of embarrassment on his face.

"He is a relative from Qiao Wei's hometown."

"He has had a hard life."

"At thirty, not only was he bullied in his village, but his wife also abandoned him."

"He wishes to cultivate, to rise above the common crowd."

"He came begging to me, and I thought that no matter what, I ought to give him a chance."

"And since you needed a menial disciple, I brought him for you to take a look at."

"If you don't like him, I'll go find another."

Hong Ying was somewhat surprised by this.

She looked at the haggard-faced man.

She could not help thinking of an old story about her elder, Hong Lang.

Back then, it was because the woman he loved married into a wealthy household that this elder left home in anger to seek immortality.

It was also because this elder succeeded in seeking immortality that the Hong family later rose to prominence.

No wonder this elder had brought this man to ask for her help.

"Grandpa Hong, what are you saying?"

"Since he is one of our own, how could I possibly refuse to use him?"

"Let him stay here," Hongying said. After all, he was connected to her elder, and she only needed someone to use for a while anyway.

"Good."

"Oh, right. He has only just arrived at Mount Luofeng, so let him settle in for the next few days. After he passes the Heart-Questioning Trial ten days from now, then have him start working."

"Grandpa Hong, I understand."

Hong Ying nodded.

Naturally, she knew that every menial disciple had to first undergo the Fire Refining Sect's Heart-Questioning Trial before being entrusted with important duties.

The so-called Heart-Questioning Trial

was nominally meant to question whether one's heart toward the Great Dao was steadfast.

But in truth, it was to verify one's identity and background, to see whether one harbored ulterior motives.

"Then I'll leave this person to you."

After speaking, Elder Hong turned to Song Chengan.

"Cheer up a little."

"When a real man rises above the crowd, why worry about having no wife!"

"Back then, I too had someone I loved, but she despised me for being poor and eventually married my mortal enemy because his family had money."

"But when I returned home after becoming an outer sect disciple of the Fire Refining Sect—"

"Do you know what happened?" A smug smile appeared on his face. "She regretted it."

Yet perhaps it was only an illusion, but Song Chengan felt that a hint of desolation lingered in his eyes.

"And that mortal enemy who had always relied on his family's wealth to bully me—neither he nor his father dared stand straight before me. They kept smiling obsequiously the entire time."

"That was when I felt it was all meaningless," he said.

He looked at Song Chengan. "Cultivate diligently!"

"Once you set foot upon the path of cultivation, you will understand."

"Compared to the Great Dao and Longevity, everything else is but drifting clouds."

"This disciple understands."

Song Chengan hurriedly replied.

Elder Hong patted Song Chengan's shoulder and left.

"Elder Hong truly is an open-minded man."

Song Chengan followed Hong Ying along the road.

"If I succeed in seeking immortality, then when I return to my hometown, I'll definitely make those who bullied me pay!"

Hong Ying gave him a strange look.

"When Grandpa Hong returned home, that woman already had two children."

"Grandpa Hong cried so hard his heart and lungs were torn apart."

Hong Ying lowered her voice. "My grandmother told me in secret."

"No one else knows."

Song Chengan: "..."

As they spoke, the two arrived before a courtyard.

"You'll stay here for the next few days."

"Once you pass the Heart-Questioning Trial, you'll receive your Identity Token and be assigned specific duties."

"Yuan Fusheng."

"Coming, coming!"

"Senior Sister!"

A bronze-skinned youth of seventeen or eighteen ran out.

"This is Qiao An, a newly arrived menial disciple. He'll be staying in this courtyard."

"Take him around and help him get familiar with the place."