Jing Yifei

Sanbao wasn't in a hurry to climb the mountain. He glanced casually around, and saw that his guess had been right: Jing Yifei was no ordinary person. Her peak was secluded, and with so few disciples in her care—the Master Selection Manual listed none at present—it seemed like an excellent place for quiet cultivation.

He strolled along the winding mountain path. After rounding a bend, he spotted a stone tablet beside the road. Three large characters were carved into it: Fire Cloud Peak.

He casually sensed the world around him. The spiritual energy was rich, and a faint, scorching heat lingered in the air. Fire Cloud Peak was surely an ideal place to cultivate fire-type spiritual energy.

The mountain path grew steeper. After several more turns, the view suddenly opened up. A vast, level clearing lay somewhere on the mountainside, and a magnificent stone hall had been built against the mountain, standing out starkly against its surroundings.

Just as he reached the entrance, a burly man charged out of the main hall.

"Who are you? Fire Cloud Peak is off-limits. No entry to the hall. And don't tell me you're a disciple of the Cloud Saint Sect—I know you are. It won't help. Unless you have the Sect Master's order, no one gets to see anyone here. Leave now, or you'll get the stick."

As if he knew why Sanbao had come, the man blocked every path forward in one breath.

"I'm not sure if this counts as the Sect Master's order. Take a look." Sanbao handed over the master-selection tablet, secretly amused. Right at the bottom was the Sect Master's seal.

The burly man took the tablet and studied it with great seriousness for a long while. Then he said something that nearly made Sanbao faint.

"I can't read. Leave..."

If you can't read, why stare at it for so long? Sanbao thought. Out loud, he said with a pleasant smile, "Then could you find someone who can read?"

"No one in Fire Cloud Hall can read except Elder Jing. Leave. Don't waste your time." The burly man was unmoved and seemed a little displeased. If Sanbao hadn't been so young, he might already have started a fight.

Sanbao was thoroughly exasperated. This Elder Jing was a strange one indeed. How could a cultivation holy land have not a single literate person under her command? Truly bizarre.

"Then I'll tell you. This is the Sect Master's order. I'm a newly admitted disciple of the Cloud Saint Sect, here to take Elder Jing as my master. Hurry and report it!" There was little Sanbao could do with a simple-minded man like him, so he could only pass the master-selection tablet off as the Sect Master's order.

"Oh, is that so? Let me have another look. If you dare lie to me, watch out for my stick. Wait here." The burly man took the tablet again and examined it from top to bottom several times. Apparently finding nothing amiss, he threatened Sanbao once more, then carried the tablet into the hall to report.

A full half an hour later, the burly man returned with a woman dressed in black. She looked to be around thirty, tall and strikingly stern, with a murderous air about her. Though she was still dozens of meters away, the powerful aura of a Spirit King pressed down on Sanbao.

Sanbao was slightly surprised. There's another Spirit King expert in Fire Cloud Hall besides Jing Yifei—and she can't read? How did she cultivate? Strange.

"You're Luo Sanbao? Why did you choose this place?" Seeing that Sanbao remained calm in the face of her imposing aura, the woman grew curious. This boy does have an uncommon bearing, she thought.

A Spirit King might be an extraordinary expert to an ordinary Spirit Scholar, but to Sanbao, who had been around Spirit Sovereigns and Spirit Emperors since childhood, it was nothing at all. Naturally, the Spirit King's pressure had almost no effect on him.

"Elder Jing is an extraordinary person. That's why I chose you."

Sanbao's concise reply surprised the woman again. This boy is a little different from ordinary new disciples.

"You cultivate metal-type spiritual energy?" The woman studied Sanbao with interest before asking.

"Yes."

"Then you should know that I cultivate fire-type spiritual energy. If you choose me as your master, how am I supposed to teach you?" Jing Yifei said calmly.

For new disciples, one of the first rules of choosing a master was that master and disciple should cultivate the same type of spiritual energy. Otherwise, even the best master would have little to offer their disciple. It was common knowledge.

Sanbao knew he didn't need to receive any Spirit Techniques or Spirit Skills from his master, so he'd forgotten about that rule.

"What? You're Jing Yifei?"

Only then did Sanbao realize that this woman in black was the eccentric Jing Yifei.

"What, don't I look like her?" Jing Yifei asked in return, a faint smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"Yes, no, you do—oh, no, you don't..."

Sanbao stammered. At first, he'd imagined Jing Yifei as a weird old man with a strange temper. He hadn't expected her to be a woman—and she didn't even look that old. How interesting.

"You're still young, and your talent is decent, so I'll be frank with you. You can come to my Fire Cloud Hall, but I only need a Fire Boy. I won't teach you anything besides tending the fire. You've only just joined the sect, so choose another master while you still can, or you'll ruin your future." Jing Yifei seemed to think highly of Sanbao, and spoke regretfully.

"Then I'll be a Fire Boy." Sanbao had already made up his mind. There was no way he'd change it.

"As you wish. A-Tie, have A-Hua arrange a room for him later." Jing Yifei said no more and turned to leave.

Every year, two or three new disciples came along who wouldn't listen until they hit a brick wall. Within a few months, they'd naturally had enough. Jing Yifei didn't care, though in her heart she kept cursing the Cloud Saint Sect's rotten rule that let disciples choose their own masters.

"Yes, Master." Sanbao performed a simple bow of apprenticeship and called out respectfully.

"You're amazing. I've never seen Elder Jing speak so politely to anyone. I'm A-Tie. You're Sanbao, right?" The gatekeeper, A-Tie, had been watching in a daze. In all these years, he'd never seen Jing Yifei treat anyone so politely.

"That's right, I'm Sanbao. Nice to meet you, A-Tie. Looks like we'll be fellow disciples from now on..."

"Don't call me that. I'm just an outer-sect disciple guarding the gate. If Elder Jing hadn't taken me in, I'd have been driven off the mountain long ago!"

A-Tie had originally been an entry-level disciple of the Cloud Saint Sect. He'd had decent talent as a boy, or he wouldn't have made it into the sect. But fate had other plans: after joining, his cultivation progressed slowly, and by the age of twenty-five, he still hadn't reached the Spirit General realm.

According to the sect rules, he should have been sent down the mountain to handle mundane affairs. But Jing Yifei had seen that he was simple and honest, so she'd taken him in as Fire Cloud Hall's gatekeeper. He also helped with chores, which, to put it plainly, made him a servant of Fire Cloud Hall.

Entry-level disciples were no match for core disciples, but they still ranked above outer-sect disciples.

"You joined the sect earlier than I did, so you're my senior brother. I'll call you Senior Brother Tie from now on."

"Heh, all right. Good to meet you, Junior Brother!"

A-Tie was simple and straightforward. Seeing that Sanbao didn't look down on him, he chuckled happily.

As a newcomer, Sanbao naturally spent some time chatting with him.

By midday, Sanbao had gotten a fairly good understanding of Fire Cloud Hall.

The entire hall consisted of just three people: Jing Yifei, A-Tie, and an old woman named A-Hua who swept the grounds and cooked. Sanbao was now the fourth. No wonder A-Tie had said nobody there could read except Elder Jing.

Fire Cloud Hall covered a vast area. The main hall in the center had only three chambers—left, middle, and right—but behind it stood more than ten smaller halls, each with several side rooms. Altogether, there were dozens of rooms. The place was vast and sparsely populated.

After An Duan showed him to a side room in one of the smaller halls, Sanbao's journey to enter the Cloud Saint Sect was finally at an end. From then on, he would focus on cultivation and grow stronger as quickly as possible—strong enough that he'd never have to avoid an opponent or fear any enemy.

Early the next morning, Jing Yifei took Sanbao to a room in the central main hall of Fire Cloud Hall: Earth Fire Hall. Then she pulled out a little booklet and tossed it to him.

Earth Fire Hall wasn't large, but its ceiling soared ten meters overhead. A massive bronze cauldron stood in the center, about two meters wide and more than five meters tall. Standing beside it, Sanbao felt especially small.

Aside from the giant cauldron, the hall was completely empty.

"This is the Earth Fire Technique, a method for gathering earthfire. Since you want to stay in Fire Cloud Hall, you'll have to cultivate it. My requirements are simple: gather earthfire for me once a week. Get familiar with this for a few days, and then I'll teach you how to gather earthfire..."

After giving him a brief explanation, Jing Yifei drifted away.

Looking at the several-meter-tall bronze cauldron in the center of Earth Fire Hall, Sanbao gave a bitter smile.

No wonder Jing Yifei had no disciples under her. Coming here meant getting no guidance in cultivation, and having to gather earthfire for her on top of that. She really wasn't fit to be a master.

Fortunately, Sanbao had no such ambitions. If anything, he'd only grown more curious about Jing Yifei.