A Huge Appetite!

"Good! You've got guts!"

Song Yongheng clapped his hands and laughed. His laughter echoed across the empty square.

He shot Jiang Tian a meaningful glance, his eyes gleaming with amusement and contempt.

"Then we'll meet on the Duel Platform ten days from now. Don't be late!"

With that, he put an arm around the two sisters and turned toward the main hall.

The two women pressed close to either side of him as Song Yongheng casually ran his hands over their waists.

Once Song Yongheng had gone, Jiang Tian turned to Mu Sining and asked, "Is he the descendant of some True Person? Why's he so arrogant?"

"No." Mu Sining shook her head, her expression calm. "His elder brother is one of the Heavenly Fire Sect's Ten True Disciples. In any case... he has powerful backing."

"What realm are the True Disciples at? Foundation Establishment?"

"Yes." Mu Sining nodded.

She paused, her expression turning grave. She looked at Jiang Tian with added concern. "You were too hasty. You won't be able to beat him in ten days."

She held up a hand, spreading her fingers as she counted. "Taking qi into your body is the early stage of the Qi Gathering Realm. Once enough qi has accumulated inside you, compressing it into liquid marks the middle stage. Taking [True Qi] into your body means you've reached the late stage. When you've formed a complete cycle and your qi flows without end, you've reached perfection."

"He's already taken [True Qi] into his body, so he's in the late stage of the Qi Gathering Realm. You're only in the early stage. What can you possibly do to beat him in ten days?"

Jiang Tian said nothing. His gaze was unshakably firm.

Behind him, Yuan Manzhi tightened her grip on his hand.

Mu Sining's gaze dipped slightly, landing on their hands, which had somehow ended up clasped tightly together.

She watched them for a moment, then the corner of her mouth twitched. It was hard to tell whether the expression was self-mockery or resignation.

"I'm an outsider. There's no point in me saying any more."

She turned and walked ahead, her voice drifting back to them, cool and casual. "Come on. I'll take you to collect your clothes and choose a place to stay."

Only after she said that did Jiang Tian realize that he and Yuan Manzhi were still holding hands.

He instinctively tried to let go, but Yuan Manzhi snatched her hand back as though she'd been shocked, quick as a flash.

Before long, they had collected their clothes.

Along the way, Jiang Tian also got a general sense of how the Heavenly Fire Sect's inner sect was organized.

The inner sect was built around three main institutions: the Law Enforcement Hall, the Mission Hall, and the Technique Hall.

The Law Enforcement Hall did exactly what its name implied: it maintained order and discipline in the Heavenly Fire Sect. It bent to no one and cared nothing for anyone's feelings.

The Mission Hall issued all kinds of assignments, some within the sect, such as tending the medicinal gardens or assisting with alchemy, and others beyond its walls, such as hunting down traitors or exploring ruins.

Completing assignments earned contribution points.

Every day, Foundation Establishment Immortals lectured on various techniques at the Technique Hall and answered questions about cultivation.

Besides these, there were the Library Pavilion, Artifact Pavilion, Alchemy Pavilion, medicinal gardens, Duel Platform, and more.

Everyone at Foundation Establishment or above had their own Cave Abode. If you found someone suitable, you could go and seek them as your master.

From what Mu Sining had said, however, the Heavenly Fire Sect was broadly divided into two factions.

The first was the "Descendants of the Six Monarchs."

They were the descendants of the six True Lords in the Heavenly Fire Sect's history. They represented the Aristocratic Clan tradition, placing importance on bloodline and family background.

The second was the "Master-Disciple Lineage," which emphasized the transmission of knowledge from master to disciple and the importance of understanding. What mattered to them was affinity and aptitude.

These two factions had openly fought behind the scenes for thousands of years. Their feud had begun in their founders' generation, and it still hadn't ended.

Among the Ten True Disciples, who represented the peak combat strength of the Heavenly Fire Sect's younger generation, six were Descendants of the Six Monarchs, while only four came from the Master-Disciple Lineage.

Song Yongheng was one of the Descendants of the Six Monarchs.

Jiang Tian committed all this information to memory.

Soon, Mu Sining helped Jiang Tian pick out a place to stay.

It cost five hundred and fifty contribution points a month, a little more than other lodgings.

But there was a reason for the higher price. The Wooden Pavilion stood at the foot of a mountain peak, quiet and secluded, with a stream running beside it. The water was so clear that he could see the pebbles on the bottom and the little fish swimming through it.

It was also reasonably close to the inner sect's central area, only about a quarter of an hour's walk away.

The two-story wooden pavilion wasn't large, but it was big enough for two people.

Mu Sining also recommended several skilled Foundation Establishment Immortals to Jiang Tian, suggesting that he seek one of them as his master.

All of them belonged to the Master-Disciple Lineage.

If Jiang Tian's guess was right, Mu Sining was part of the Master-Disciple Lineage too.

He didn't ask. There was no need.

Before leaving, Mu Sining glanced at Jiang Tian and said meaningfully, "If you feel you can't handle the match ten days from now, you can come find me at Tianyuan Peak."

"Okay." Jiang Tian nodded.

He understood what she meant.

It was an olive branch she was offering him.

After Mu Sining left, silence fell over the two-story building.

It was so quiet they could hear each other breathing.

Jiang Tian cleaned the room in silence.

It wasn't actually dirty. The tables, chairs, and bed had already been wiped down, and the floor had been swept.

"Jiang Tian."

Yuan Manzhi suddenly spoke. Her voice was so low it was like a mosquito's buzz. If the room hadn't been so quiet, he might not have heard her at all.

"That Daoist Qingchen said that if I can't reach Qi Gathering within three months, I'll be driven out."

She paused, her voice growing even softer.

"I want to stay in the Heavenly Fire Sect."

Jiang Tian's hands stopped moving.

His thoughts were in a bit of a flurry.

"I'm going out for a walk."

He tossed out the words, then fled the Wooden Pavilion as if making a getaway.

Yuan Manzhi stood by the window, watching Jiang Tian's somewhat flustered figure recede into the distance. Her peach-blossom eyes glimmered with tears.

Then she burst into laughter.

It rang like silver bells.

Jiang Tian left the wooden building and wandered around the crowded parts of the sect like a layabout.

He wasn't curious, and he had no inclination to be.

He wanted to gather enough points as quickly as possible to upgrade his red trait to a gold one.

Ten days. He had only ten days.

The Heavenly Fire Sect's disciples didn't disappoint him.

He moved through the crowd, discreetly scanning every face, sometimes stopping, sometimes quickening his pace.

He spotted several red traits. Each time he saw one, he silently thought, "Extract."

His points climbed, little by little.

He was less than ten thousand points short of reaching one hundred thousand.

But after searching nearly every crowded spot, he still hadn't found any more red traits. There were plenty of purple ones, but each was only worth a thousand points—a far cry from a red trait.

After thinking it over, he headed for the Library Pavilion.

The Library Pavilion had nine stories. The gray, unadorned building stood deep in the inner sect.

The long-browed old man sitting behind the desk by the entrance reminded him that disciples in the Qi Gathering Realm could only choose techniques and cultivation methods from the first six floors.

Jiang Tian nodded and walked inside.

He browsed floor by floor, flipping through book after book.

Qi Gathering Methods weren't very expensive. A few hundred contribution points would buy one.

To his delight, he found Qi Gathering Methods for the four other attributes.

Evergreen Yi Wood Qi Gathering Method, Solar Heaven-Burning Qi Gathering Method, Lunar Profound Heaven Qi Gathering Method, Primordial Earth-Bearing Qi Gathering Method.

What puzzled him, though, was that all four books were covered in a thick layer of dust, as if no one had touched them in a long time.

Besides the Qi Gathering Methods, he also picked out several techniques.

The one he was most excited about was the Nine Heavens Sword Control Manual.

A sword technique.

Before long, Jiang Tian carried his stack of books over to the old man on the first floor.

"Elder, I'd like to exchange for these Qi Gathering Methods and techniques."

The long-browed old man was enjoying a drink from his wine flask.

When his eyes fell on the stack of books in Jiang Tian's arms—

"Pfft—"

A mouthful of wine sprayed out of his mouth, flying a long way.

If Jiang Tian hadn't dodged quickly, the spray of saliva and wine would have landed all over his face.

The old man's eyes widened, his long eyebrows twitching.

"Now that's a huge appetite!"

He gave Jiang Tian a once-over, as if he were some clueless young fool who didn't know his place.

"Are new disciples these days all this clueless about their own limits?"