Wraiths

At the center of the Dome Hall, the male and female cultivators of the Yin-Yang Sect were leisurely playing a board game.

Both looked slightly surprised when Fang Hong and Su Yao emerged. The man set down his piece and said in astonishment, "There are some outstanding talents among this batch of disciples."

The woman's eyes shifted as she looked Fang Hong and Su Yao over. Smiling, she asked, "Junior brother, junior sister, have you successfully mastered it?"

Fang Hong nodded. "Yes."

The woman raised her chin, a hint of mischief appearing on her face, and said with interest, "Then demonstrate it for us."

Fang Hong's and Su Yao's expressions changed slightly. They frowned without speaking.

The woman giggled and cast Fang Hong a captivating glance. "I was teasing you. Look how embarrassed you both are!"

As she spoke, she took out two talisman plaques and tossed them to the pair. "These are the Yin-Yang Sect's inner disciple plaques, and they also serve as proof of identity. If you haven't mastered Dragon-Phoenix Guidance, you won't be able to refine them."

Fang Hong and Su Yao caught the plaques and each circulated their magical power. Within just a few breaths, brilliant spiritual light shone from the plaques.

The phantom of a black dragon coalesced above the plaque in Fang Hong's hand, while a white phoenix appeared above Su Yao's.

The plaques contained a wondrous spiritual essence, clearly sharing the same origin as the secret art of Dragon-Phoenix Guidance.

The woman clapped her hands and smiled. "Congratulations to you both. You are the second pair of Dao companions among this batch of disciples to master the secret art. From now on, you are inner disciples of our Yin-Yang Sect!"

Fang Hong cupped his hands in a bow. "Thank you, senior sister."

The man beside her picked up another piece and returned his gaze to the board, saying casually, "Those plaques contain our Yin-Yang Sect's rules and directions to the various places within the sect. You two can now go to the General Affairs Hall to be entered into the disciple register."

As he spoke, he waved a hand. Two doors immediately manifested in the hall's wall and slowly opened. Bright daylight came into view, accompanied by the faint sounds of waves and birdsong.

Fang Hong and Su Yao walked out of the hall to see an endless expanse of blue sea ahead. Clouds dotted the sky, dazzlingly white beneath the blazing sun.

The Dome Hall stood atop a seaside cliff, with a great island of rolling mountains behind it.

Beside the Dome Hall stood an even grander palace complex. Its magnificent halls and towers stretched in succession, resplendent in gold and jade, dominating the mountaintop in a majestic panorama.

According to the directions in their inner disciple plaques, the Yin-Yang Sect had two large islands, north and south. The island they were on was the southern island.

The southern island was where the sect's Golden Core elders and Foundation Establishment True Disciples cultivated.

The North Island was where the inner, outer, and Furnace Disciples cultivated.

The magnificent palace complex beside the Dome Hall was the Yin-Yang Palace, which oversaw the sect's daily affairs. It contained five great halls, each responsible for a different area.

Fang Hong and Su Wan arrived at the palace gates and explained their purpose to the Yin-Yang Sect disciples on guard.

One of the disciples personally led them inside to a hall with upturned eaves and interlocking brackets. With a deeply respectful expression, the disciple addressed the hall's doors. "Senior Brother Zhang, two more newly admitted disciples have come from the Dragon-Phoenix Hall."

"Mm, let them in."

A clear voice came from inside the hall.

The guard acknowledged the instruction, then turned to Fang Hong and Su Yao. "Senior Brother Zhang Jun, one of the sect's True Disciples, is on duty today. Go inside and see him."

Fang Hong and Su Yao pushed open the doors and entered. A bronze mirror over ten feet tall stood conspicuously in the middle of the hall, facing the entrance, spiritual light swirling within it.

As the bronze mirror shone upon Fang Hong, he felt an invisible fluctuation sweep through his body and soul. The sensation vanished in an instant. It was most wondrous.

A table and chair stood beside the bronze mirror. A tall, straight-backed man sat upright behind the table, his cheeks lean and his eyes slightly sunken. His gaze was bright and piercing, with a faint glint of sharp light.

"Greetings, Senior Brother Zhang."

Fang Hong cupped his hands toward the Foundation Establishment disciple. Beside him, Su Yao gathered her skirts and bowed.

Senior Brother Zhang glanced at the bronze mirror. Only after seeing nothing unusual did he look at the pair and say, "Whatever your origins, from this day onward, simply put your minds at ease and cultivate within our Yin-Yang Sect. Once you establish your immortal foundations in the future, the Yin-Yang Blood Curse within you can be removed."

He then asked their names, ages, and backgrounds, recording each detail in the register.

Next, he took two green lamps from his storage pouch and had Fang Hong and Su Yao leave soul imprints within them.

These were Soul Lamps. No matter how far they were from the cultivators, once those cultivators perished and their souls were extinguished, the lamps would go out as well.

Fang Hong also had a similar Soul Lamp in the Fang household.

Once this was done, Zhang Jun unrolled a map on the table and had them choose a cave abode.

The North Island of the Yin-Yang Sect covered a vast area, densely dotted with spiritual nodes. A cave abode stood over each node, with no fewer than a thousand at a rough glance.

Twenty to thirty percent of them were marked as vacant.

"Most of the North Island's spiritual nodes are first-tier. As inner disciples, you may choose an upper-grade first-tier spiritual node for your cultivation."

Zhang Jun explained, "Any number beginning with [A] denotes an upper-grade first-tier spiritual node."

Fang Hong and Su Yao examined the map closely. Most of the numbers began with B or C, and only a dozen or so of those marked A were vacant.

"Senior brother, we'll choose this cave abode, A-6."

In the end, they selected a cave abode near the sea on the northern side.

Zhang Jun nodded and made a mark on the map with his brush. "Give me your identity plaques."

The two handed them over as instructed. Holding the plaques, Zhang Jun touched his brush to the map, and two rays of spiritual light immediately flew out, sinking into the plaques and disappearing.

"All done. The spiritual keys to the cave abode's restrictions have been entered. Take these sets of enchanted robes and copies of the Donglai Gazetteer, and you may return to your cave abode."

Zhang Jun took out two jade boxes, each roughly a foot square, and handed them to the pair along with their plaques.

He paused, then added a reminder. "The Teaching Hall opens on the first and fifteenth of every month. Remember to go there in a few days to select your cultivation-method inheritances."

"Thank you, senior brother. We'll take our leave."

Fang Hong and Su Yao thanked Zhang Jun and walked out of the hall.

The two made their way out of the Yin-Yang Palace, merged their flight lights, and flew toward cave abode [A-6] on the northern island.

Joining their flight lights required their magical power to blend and their minds to connect. It was an extremely intimate act.

After cultivating for many days in the Dragon-Phoenix Hall's quiet chamber, the two had long since become utterly intimate and shared mutual affection. Neither felt the slightest discomfort with it.

Now, riding the wind through the blue sea and azure sky, with the sea breeze brushing their faces, they felt quite carefree.

Along the way, Fang Hong recalled the bronze mirror he had seen in the hall and could not help asking, "Yao, what Dharma Treasure was that bronze mirror, and what does it do?"

He knew that Su Yao's knowledge was extensive, surpassing even his own as a "Golden Core cultivator's son by his principal wife," so he tried asking her.

Su Yao said casually, "It's a treasure specially refined by the major sects to screen for Extraterrestrial Wraiths. We were scanned by one back at the Shangqing Sect too, though their treasure mirror was a little smaller."

Fang Hong's heart tightened at her words, and he asked, "What are Extraterrestrial Wraiths?"

Su Yao glanced at him with her beautiful eyes and explained in a gentle, flowing voice, "Extraterrestrial Wraiths are a kind of mysterious spiritual entity from beyond the heavens. Cunning and sinister, they can easily possess cultivators, and they also command many strange Divine Abilities and understand numerous mysteries."

"They say that over two thousand years ago, a group of Extraterrestrial Wraiths brought tremendous harm to our world. That is why none of the major sects tolerate them."