Divine Radiance, Moon Sprite

The Earth Cavern was three hundred zhang high, its length and width immeasurable.

Viewed from above, it was not difficult to see.

At the center of the Earth Cavern stood four Stone Pagodas, each ten li apart, each corresponding to a broad region. The center itself was shrouded in dense mist, impossible to see clearly.

The Sutra Lecture Tower corresponded to the area for newly advanced disciples.

The nearby Stone Pagoda was the Affairs Hall, and the area it corresponded to was precisely the Disciple Market that Zhu Yu had visited earlier.

Zhu Yu stepped onto the starlit corridor once more. Yet unlike before, when the scenery had left him awestruck, his mind was now focused on the strange spiritual qi contained within the Starry Corridor.

There was not much of it. It was a pale silver, like moonlight, several times larger than the five-element spiritual qi. To his senses, it seemed like an elf wandering through the world, neither intimate nor distant.

The instant his Divine Sense came into contact with it, all the cluttered thoughts in his mind were swept away, leaving only tranquility.

After quietly experiencing it for a long while, Zhu Yu opened his eyes and murmured, "What peculiar spiritual qi. What attribute does it belong to...?"

He searched through all his memories, yet found no information on such strange spiritual qi.

Just then, a voice came from beside him.

"From the look of you, you're a newly advanced Qi Refining disciple, aren't you?"

Zhu Yu came back to himself and looked toward the voice. Not far away, a handsome young man in a moon-white robe was slowly approaching. A flicker of doubt rose in his heart, but he cupped his hands in greeting.

"I am Zhu Yu. Greetings, Senior Brother."

The young man stopped before him with his hands behind his back and said with a smile, "My name is Mu Ruo. Junior Brother Zhu, are you marveling at the Divine Radiance gathered by this Starry Wood?"

"Greetings, Senior Brother Mu."

Zhu Yu cupped his hands again. Then confusion filled his eyes. "Divine Radiance?" This was the first time he had heard the term.

Seeing how well-mannered he was, Mu Ruo found himself even more pleased and more inclined to chat. Smiling, he said, "Divine Radiance is, in a sense, spiritual qi differentiated from yin-yang attributes. But unlike ordinary yin-yang spiritual qi, it slowly forms from the life aura released by a second-order Moon Sprite."

"Hm? A Moon Sprite?"

Zhu Yu was stunned upon hearing that.

Mu Ruo raised his head toward the canopy. Specks of starlight reflected off his jade-like face, adding a touch of mysterious, ethereal grace.

This senior brother seemed rather fond of putting on airs...

Coming back to himself, Zhu Yu looked at Mu Ruo, who appeared as though he stood apart from the world, with a strange look in his eyes.

His calm voice drifted over from the side.

"Divine Radiance can sweep away one's worries, but you must not remain in contact with it for too long. Otherwise, after sensing it for long enough, your thoughts will become like this Divine Radiance itself—pure and devoid of thought."

Put simply, he would become an idiot!

Zhu Yu understood at once and cupped his hands. "Thank you for Senior Brother Mu's guidance."

Mu Ruo lowered his head slightly and nodded with the air of one pleased that a child could be taught. With a flick of his hand, he tossed Zhu Yu a jade token, then said as if casually, "You seem somewhat pleasing to the eye. Take my Mark and seek out Steward Liu at the Affairs Hall. He will arrange a quiet assignment for you."

With that, he turned and took a step forward, vanishing like a dream bubble or phantom.

"A quiet assignment?"

Zhu Yu lowered his head to look at the jade token in his hand, his expression inscrutable.

Pleasing to the eye? A chance encounter?

Zhu Yu did not believe it. He was neither born with exceptional spiritual beauty nor possessed sixth-grade aptitude. How could someone offer him benefits for no reason?

Had Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan not only gradually begun investing goodwill in him after spending some time together, even though they had already profited from him?

After turning it over in his mind.

Zhu Yu felt that the only thing anyone could possibly have noticed about him was his teaching. Then he recalled how Xiang Sui had previously kept talking about grand lectures, yet had not mentioned them again these past few days.

Could it be related to this Senior Brother Mu...?

Zhu Yu suppressed his thoughts. Now was not the time to consider it. He looked around, then slowly headed toward the end of the Starry Corridor.

Not long after he left.

The air twisted and shifted. Mu Ruo, who had just vanished, reappeared. Looking at the figure in the distance that had become a black dot, the corners of his lips curved into a smile.

"Such talent ought to enter my association..."

Then he lifted his head toward the specks of stars dancing overhead. In his clear black-and-white eyes, a pure silver-white glow like the moon emerged. His figure faded away inch by inch, leaving behind only a slightly ethereal murmur that scattered on the wind.

"The Starry Wood is still growing a little too slowly..."

Whether in answer to his words or stirred by the Clear Breeze, the ancient trees glittering with starlight swayed faintly, their leaves rustling...

Not much time passed.

A stone building bearing the words "Affairs Hall" entered Zhu Yu's view. Watching the people coming and going, he brushed his black robe and stepped inside.

Unlike the Sutra Lecture Hall, which had only one attendant, the Affairs Hall had many windows. Behind them sat people with different appearances, speaking with others while wearing formulaic smiles.

As he walked among them.

Zhu Yu clearly sensed the auras unintentionally radiating from cultivators one after another assaulting him—some scorching and venomous, some freezing to the bone, some sharp and bloody. At the same time, he himself gave off a decayed, chilly aura unlike wood's gentleness or earth's heaviness.

Reaching a counter.

Zhu Yu cupped his hands toward the young man behind it and said politely, "Greetings, Senior Brother. I am a disciple who has newly broken through to Qi Refining, and I have come to register my entry into the sect."

The Affairs Hall disciple on duty remained expressionless and said flatly, "name."

"Zhu Yu."

The duty disciple continued, "Which steward did you follow into the Yin-Underworld Grotto?"

Zhu Yu thought back briefly before answering, "Heng Xi, Steward Heng."

"Mm."

The duty disciple gave a soft response. After doing who knew what, he took out a warm yellow jade token and placed it on the counter. "Drip a drop of essence blood into it. From this day onward, you will be an entry disciple of the Yin-Underworld Grotto."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yu used spiritual power to cut his fingertip. As a crimson drop sank into the jade token, a sensation of flesh and bone being connected rose in his heart. He stared at the jade token, surprise in his eyes.

"A magic artifact, or something else?"

The duty disciple waved a hand. "Put away your Identity Jade Token, then go to the second floor and find Steward Heng."

Before Zhu Yu needed to ask where to go, a gray-robed servant approached once he had put away the Identity Jade Token. The servant respectfully said, "Sir, please follow this lowly one."

Zhu Yu looked him over. Compared to the duty servants in the newly advanced disciples' area, this servant had more numerous and more intricate patterns branded onto his exposed skin. Zhu Yu could faintly sense that beneath his seemingly lean frame lay the power of a living volcano.

Zhu Yu nodded slightly and smiled. "Sorry to trouble you."

"You are too courteous, sir. Please follow this lowly one."

The servant bowed once more, then stepped forward to lead the way.

Very soon.

Zhu Yu followed the servant into a room with a plaque bearing the character "Heng."

An elderly man in a dark Daoist robe, his features grim and sinister, was bent over a desk writing something.

Neither Zhu Yu nor the servant dared disturb him. They stood with their hands cupped.

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, a cold, hard voice sounded.

"Rise."

The servant dropped to his knees. "This slave greets the steward, my lord."

Zhu Yu respectfully cupped his hands. "Newly advanced disciple Zhu Yu greets the steward, my lord."

Steward Heng dismissed the servant. His faintly green pupils examined Zhu Yu, while his hands were folded before his abdomen. He said flatly, "Do you have a recommendation?"