Taking a master

"Senior brother, this Volcanic Range looks out of place here. Could it be...?"

Dragonflame Daoist laughed when he heard this and said:

"You guessed right, junior brother. Whatever path they belong to, most of our master's disciples cultivate the Fire Dao.

"Master personally created this Volcanic Range here to give us a place to stay."

Just to create a place to stay, he had made this vast Volcanic Range that stretched beyond the eye could see?

Before this, Jiang Yan had never witnessed the strength of a Sixth Grade High Person. Most of what he knew came from hearsay.

Now, glimpsing the leopard through a bamboo tube, he could begin to understand a little.

Blowing Fire High Person was merely One of the Eighteen Heads, yet he possessed such strength.

Even if his strength equaled that of the Five Lords, that meant the Prefecture Academy had at least six people with this level of power!

Above them were the Three Capitals, including Green Fox High Person, and then the academy head.

"With strength like this, couldn't the Prefecture Academy conquer a Small Plane all on its own?"

Jiang Yan murmured to himself. Beside him, Dragonflame Daoist nodded in agreement, confirming his words.

"Indeed. In an ordinary Small Plane, the highest cultivation realm only corresponds to a Sixth Grade High Person in our Dao Realm.

"And their cultivation systems lag behind. At the same realm, they often fall considerably short of Daoists, but you still mustn't let your guard down."

Seeing Jiang Yan listening attentively, Dragonflame Daoist changed his manner. Turning his gaze toward Jiang Yan, he said earnestly, stressing every word:

"Even a Small Plane is a complete world. It will have no shortage of geniuses.

"If you go to Other Realms in the future, you must never be careless! Remember that, remember it well!"

Dragonflame Daoist was a Seventh Grade cultivator, after all. Jiang Yan naturally committed his earnest guidance firmly to memory.

"Thank you for your advice, senior brother. I'll be sure to remember it."

"Good. I hope you will. After all, only a genius who makes it to the very end counts as a true genius."

By the time he finished speaking, the Volcanic Range they had seen earlier was already beneath their feet.

On closer inspection, this Volcanic Range did indeed have a distinctly artificial layout.

At its very center stood a large volcano several li across and roughly a thousand zhang high.

Closely surrounding this large volcano was a ring of medium-sized volcanoes over a thousand meters tall. A glance revealed as many as eleven.

Beyond those, numerous smaller volcanoes a few hundred meters high dotted the outer edges of the Volcanic Range.

Dragonflame Daoist lowered his flying altitude, entering their midst and feeling the billowing waves of heat around him.

Though he had already marveled at it earlier, Jiang Yan could not help losing himself once more in wonder at a Sixth Grade High Person's power.

Single-handedly, he had created this Volcanic Range spanning over a hundred li.

To describe such strength as moving mountains and filling seas would not be the slightest exaggeration.

Dragonflame Daoist did not land directly on the central volcano, which was more clearly where Blowing Fire High Person should have lived.

Instead, he landed on one of the eleven volcanoes in the middle ring.

Once they arrived, the casual expression vanished from Dragonflame Daoist's face. With a touch of solemnity, he drew Red Glaze's soul back into his Daoist Robe.

Jiang Yan stopped looking around as well, lowering his eyes meekly and waiting for the coming audience with Blowing Fire High Person.

Long Yan had no such reservations. Taking Jiang Yan and Muling Daoist Boy in one hand each, he hurried toward the central volcano.

The two volcanoes were only a dozen or so li apart. Even flying under his own power, Long Yan covered the distance in mere moments.

They reached the foot of the volcano, where there seemed to be a hot spring vent. A lake spanning two or three li gave off faint wisps of steam.

A few bubbles occasionally rose through the lake. Apart from that, there was no movement, nor a single person in sight.

Dragonflame Daoist led the two of them in bowing toward the lake, then headed up the fiery-red stone steps built along the foot of the mountain.

The stone steps seemed seldom traveled and had never been tended to, with quite a few loose stones scattered over them.

Blowing Fire High Person did not live at the summit, but halfway up the mountain instead.

A great stone hall came into view, bearing little in the way of lavish ornamentation.

Flames of various colors enveloped the stone hall. They burned in midair, occasionally giving off a rushing sound as they flared.

Upon arriving here, Dragonflame Daoist was actually less solemn than before. A smile appeared on his face as he led the two straight into the hall.

"Master, I've brought our youngest junior brother back with the Muling lad."

Inside the hall, there were no attendants or servants, only a middle-aged Daoist seated in the place of honor.

This was Blowing Fire Daoist. His complexion was ruddy, and he too wore a fiery-red Daoist Robe. It seemed this was the standard robe of the Fire-Breathing Lineage.

He was not the old man Jiang Yan had imagined. Rather, he had a steady, handsome bearing.

There was nothing unusual about his body, except that he had no hair. Instead, a tuft of crimson flame rose from his head, its heat constantly warping the air.

With a faint smile on his face, Blowing Fire High Person was looking Jiang Yan up and down curiously.

"You're the lad Jiang Yan whom Muling chose to rely on?"

"Yes, disciple Jiang Yan pays his respects to the Fire Head."

"Hahaha, dispense with those formalities. Our lineage has no need to fuss over such things.

"Your cultivation is only at the Ninth-Rank Lower Realm, so you'll be a nominal disciple for now.

"Once you break through to Eighth Grade, I'll formally admit you as my twelfth personal disciple."

Blowing Fire High Person's bluntness left Jiang Yan momentarily stunned. He immediately recovered, knelt, and performed a full ceremonial bow.

"Disciple Jiang Yan pays his respects to Master."

"Mm, enough, enough. You can go now. Long Yan, take Twelve around and let him get familiar with the place."

"And remember to find that lazy fellow and have him build Twelve a Daoist Arena."

Leaving those words behind, Blowing Fire Daoist did not wait for their reactions. With a puff, his entire body turned into a wisp of flame and dispersed within the hall.

Judging by his words and actions, he had not treated Jiang Yan as a nominal disciple at all. Instead, it seemed he had already accepted him as a personal disciple.

"Let's go, junior brother."

As though he had expected this, Dragonflame Daoist led Jiang Yan and Muling out of the hall.

"That was only an avatar formed from a wisp of Master's Yin Spirit. Master has been in seclusion for over ten years, working toward a breakthrough to the Sixth Grade upper realm."

"The disciples of the Prefecture Academy's higher-ups are only accepted as personal disciples after reaching Eighth Grade. You could call it an unwritten rule."

Dragonflame Daoist explained to Jiang Yan as he picked the two of them up.

"This was your first time up the mountain, and you were coming to take a master, so I brought you along the mountain path.

"If you come to pay your respects to Master normally, there's no need for so much ceremony. Just ride a spirit beast here. Master has never liked those formalities."

Carrying the two of them, Dragonflame Daoist reached the foot of the mountain in a few bounds and stopped directly in front of the small lake.

"Uncle Flame Carp, please come out and meet us!"

The lake churned, as though some being had reluctantly rolled over.

Ripples spread, and an enormous carp's head emerged from the water.

Its body was golden-red, its scales crystalline and translucent. Half of the dorsal fin on its back rose out of the water like a Spirit Boat unfurling its sail.

Its eye moved freely, nothing like the vacant eyes of ordinary fish. That eye alone was nearly a zhang across.

Wasn't the whole fish a hundred meters long? To it, this little lake spanning two or three li was probably no more than a tiny room.

Yet for some unknown reason, despite its great size, this carp showed not the slightest sign of transforming into a dragon.

"Dragonflame lad? What have you called me for?"