As Chen Yu followed the white jade steps down toward the foot of the mountain, he spotted the first fork in the path.
[This way to Heavenly Flame Peak.]
"Heavenly Flame Peak. The Outer Sect disciples there all have fire-attribute Spirit Embryos."
"Fire breeds restlessness."
"Maybe I can catch someone breaking the rules."
And so Chen Yu turned toward Heavenly Flame Peak.
After walking for just under an hour, Chen Yu entered Heavenly Flame Peak's territory.
The moment he arrived, Chen Yu caught a thick medicinal odor in the air. It stank, sharp and pungent.
He continued uphill for a while.
Then the sight before him left Chen Yu dumbfounded. Countless pill furnaces stood in neat rows across an enormous, level clearing. Fierce flames burned beneath every furnace, and white smoke rose from them. This was the source of that pungent medicinal odor.
As he drew closer, the acrid smell nearly choked the tears out of him.
Were they making legitimate pills here?
In that vast clearing, he saw only one Outer Sect disciple in white robes. The disciple was neatly dressed, with a "fire" emblem on the chest of his white robe.
"Senior brother, what brings you here?"
Upon spotting Chen Yu, the disciple approached and asked with a cupped-fist salute.
Chen Yu shook his head. "Nothing. Just passing through."
"Oh."
The Heavenly Flame Peak disciple nodded.
Though the disciple had rather heavy dark circles under his eyes, there really was nothing about his attire that violated the rules. Chen Yu continued uphill.
Before long, another broad, level clearing appeared before him. This one held smelting furnaces rather than pill furnaces. Roaring fires burned beneath them, and red molten iron occasionally splashed up inside.
The temperature was much higher here, and a metallic tang hung in the air.
There was no one around.
Chen Yu kept walking uphill.
He reached the bustling district, where the dining hall, scripture library, Miscellaneous Goods Pavilion, mission board... all stood.
At last, he saw people.
Compared to the lively bustle of Emerald Cloud Peak, however, Heavenly Flame Peak was clearly much quieter. Even here, in its busiest central district, only a few scattered figures could be seen.
And everyone was properly dressed, without a single violation.
Farther uphill lay the Heavenly Flame Peak disciples' residences. Since violations only counted outdoors, there was no point going up there.
Chen Yu turned to leave.
"Strange."
"Why are there so few disciples on Heavenly Flame Peak?"
"Where has everyone gone?"
Before he knew it, Chen Yu was back at the clearing with the pill furnaces. The Heavenly Flame Peak disciple greeted him upon seeing him. "Leaving already, senior brother?"
Puzzled, Chen Yu walked over and asked, "Does Heavenly Flame Peak have very few disciples?"
"Not at all."
The Heavenly Flame Peak disciple looked bewildered.
"Apart from Ten Thousand Mountains Peak, Heavenly Flame Peak has the most disciples in the Dao Sect's Outer Sect. Why would you say that, senior brother?"
"Really?" Chen Yu asked in surprise. "Then why have I barely seen anyone along the way?"
"How could that be?!" Looking puzzled, the Heavenly Flame Peak disciple pointed behind him. "Aren't those all Heavenly Flame Peak disciples?"
"?"
Chen Yu looked in the direction he was pointing.
He saw no people, only rows of neatly arranged pill furnaces.
Turning back to the Heavenly Flame Peak disciple's haggard face and enormous dark circles, Chen Yu's heart jolted!
Was this guy a person or a ghost?
Could he see things that Chen Yu couldn't?
Wait!
Or were they inside the furnaces?
As he was thinking this, a streak of fire suddenly flew out from beneath a furnace. The fire underneath instantly dwindled a little.
Then, in the next instant-
The fire flashed.
And turned into a white-robed Dao Sect Outer Disciple.
Beside him, the Heavenly Flame Peak disciple with two dark circles under his eyes immediately cupped his fists toward Chen Yu. "Ah! We'll have to talk later, senior brother. I need to take over the shift!"
With that, the disciple hurried to the furnace, transformed into a small flame, and burrowed into the blaze beneath it.
The fire beneath the furnace burned even more fiercely.
"??!"
Chen Yu was dumbfounded.
Not inside the furnaces, but underneath them?
No wonder the disciple had said Heavenly Flame Peak disciples were everywhere. They were the fires heating the furnaces!
Judging by what he had seen, the flames beneath a single furnace amounted to roughly four Heavenly Flame Peak disciples. Looking at the densely packed, neatly arranged pill furnaces before him, then thinking of the smelting furnaces farther uphill...
"Holy shit!"
Chen Yu's eyelid twitched.
If Heavenly Flame Peak was like this, then the other places...
He hurried away from Heavenly Flame Peak, following the signs toward the nearest peak, Jadewood Peak.
An hour later, Chen Yu left Jadewood Peak.
He turned toward Ten Thousand Mountains Peak.
Another hour passed.
Chen Yu came back down with horror written all over his face.
"On a scale of ten, there's a hundred points of wrong with this Dao Sect!"
"Heavenly Flame Peak disciples are the fires heating the furnaces."
"Jadewood Peak disciples are the water in the spirit pools."
"Ten Thousand Mountains Peak disciples are the mountain-guarding formation."
"How the hell are these cultivators? Aren't they just beasts of burden?"
The only place he had yet to visit was Violet Bamboo Peak. Xu Yunnian, whom he had met when he first passed the assessment, had been a disciple there.
Soon,
He arrived at Violet Bamboo Peak.
After his previous experiences, Chen Yu had expected to encounter something incomprehensible again.
Yet... Violet Bamboo Peak was actually quite normal.
Violet Bamboo Peak had the best surroundings of the five Outer Sect peaks. Its mountains were picturesque, its waters clear, and its green trees formed groves. Plots planted with spirit herbs appeared here and there, and a faint herbal fragrance drifted through the air.
White-robed disciples walked about, most wearing relaxed expressions, neither hurried nor impatient.
He walked over to the mission board.
Several missions had been posted on it:
[Seeking someone to tend spirit herbs on my behalf, generous payment offered: one point per day. Disciples below the fourth level of Qi Refining or without a wood Spirit Embryo need not apply!] [Long-term recruitment for tending spirit herbs. 20 points per month~] [Buying "Earth Spirit Grass," five points per stalk.]
He briefly looked over these missions.
Chen Yu
Was just about to look away when one of the missions suddenly caught his attention.
[Seeking the body of "Xu Yunnian." Anyone providing a lead will receive a reward of 10 points. Anyone who finds his body and brings it back will receive one Spirit Essence! (Posted by Elder Song)]
It looked as though it had only just been pasted up.
Chen Yu froze.
"Xu Yunnian is dead?"
After the Outer Sect assessment had ended, Xu Yunnian and Wang He had been tasked with clearing away the skeletal remains on Jadewood Peak's summit.
But after just one night, when Chen Yu encountered Wang He again the next day, Wang He had already gone mad.
At the time, Chen Yu had wondered how Xu Yunnian was doing.
He had never imagined... that Xu Yunnian had died.
"Bringing back Xu Yunnian's body gets you a Spirit Essence?"
The reward for this mission was truly generous.
But...
"Xu Yunnian and Wang He most likely ran into trouble at the mass burial ground."
"That 'Elder Song' should be able to guess that. And he's probably already searched the mass burial ground himself, only to come up empty-handed."
"This mission is dangerous and full of uncertainty. I can't take it. However precious Spirit Essence might be, it isn't worth more than my life."
With little to show for the day, Chen Yu had no intention of lingering at Violet Bamboo Peak.
He prepared to return to Emerald Cloud Peak...