Roots

The fish's mouth opened and closed, making the pillar-thick barbels beside it sway up and down and churn up waves.

"Martial uncle, this is Master's newly accepted twelfth disciple, Jiang Yan. Master asked you to establish a Daoist Arena for Twelfth Junior Brother."

"Jiang Yan?"

Flame Carp thoughtfully looked Jiang Yan up and down, especially curious about Jinbao on his shoulder.

He even gently curled a barbel around Jinbao and brought him before his eyes for a closer look.

"Martial uncle..."

Dragonflame Daoist was utterly helpless. Although Flame Carp was called his martial uncle, he was actually Blowing Fire High Person's Spirit Beast, guarding his cultivation here.

Long Yan naturally could not order him around. Fortunately, Flame Carp was merely curious and did nothing out of line.

"Long Yan, boy, what's the hurry? Can't this old fellow take a look?"

He turned his fish eyes toward Jiang Yan and continued:

"Jiang Yan, was it? This toad of yours is quite good. Make sure you nurture it properly."

With that, Flame Carp leaped straight into the sky.

After circling once, he picked a slightly larger vacant patch amid the eleven volcanoes in the center.

Without any apparent action beyond a flick of his tail, a staggeringly vast quantity of fire-element Spiritual Qi surged.

The ground in that vacant patch immediately began to quake.

An opening was forcibly thrust through the earth, and Spiritual Qi wrapped around magma gushed straight out, only to be restrained by Flame Carp and prevented from scattering.

It could only surge upward from below, then flow down from the top.

Seemingly endless magma rushed forth, and in just a quarter of an hour,

a volcano roughly a thousand meters tall rose into place. Its shape was no different from the other eleven, except that it consisted entirely of magma.

Presumably, those eleven volcanoes were the Daoist Arenas where Jiang Yan's senior brothers and Senior Sisters lived.

The commotion here naturally drew the attention of the entire Blowing Fire Daoist Arena.

Leaving aside the unaffiliated Daoists cultivating the Fire Dao in the surrounding smaller volcanoes,

three more figures flew out of those eleven volcanoes and landed beside Jiang Yan and the others.

None of them spoke. Jiang Yan included, everyone fixed their eyes on the magma volcano rising from the ground.

A magma volcano over a thousand meters tall gave off astonishing heat.

Besides, the Blowing Fire Daoist Arena was already hot to begin with. Jiang Yan felt the heat baking the skin of his face taut.

The magma kept flowing, yet who knew what Divine Ability Flame Carp had used.

He actually held it firmly in place and forcibly constrained it into shape.

But if they waited for this magma volcano to cool on its own, who knew how long that would take? Surely they could not have Martial Uncle Flame Carp keep controlling it all that time.

Just as this thought arose in Jiang Yan's mind, he saw Flame Carp open his mouth toward the volcano from the sky and inhale fiercely.

The enormous fish head opened its mouth, somehow looking rather comical.

Yet a solemn air also showed on that fish face, making it look exceedingly awkward.

With just that one inhalation from the fish face, the magma on the surface of the constantly flowing magma volcano actually solidified at once.

It was as though the heat within had been sucked away. Before long, not a trace of magma remained visible on the entire volcano, replaced by a pale red rock structure.

It looked as though it had been cast from the same mold as the volcanoes beside it.

"All done, all done. Long Yan, boy, remember to work harder at your cultivation. Don't trouble this old fellow again next time!"

Having finished, Flame Carp offered no farewell. He grumbled those words through his fish mouth, then plunged into the lake again, throwing up a great splash.

Singled out by name, Dragonflame Daoist could only shake his head helplessly.

Flame Carp was a Sixth-Rank Realm Spirit Beast, at the same realm as his master, Blowing Fire High Person. Creating a volcano from nothing was no great matter for him.

But for someone in the Seventh-Rank Realm like Dragonflame, doing that would take considerable effort. Blasting one apart would be somewhat easier.

Putting those thoughts aside, he turned around with Jiang Yan and began introducing the people who had just flown over.

"Junior brothers and sister, this is Jiang Yan, the nominal disciple Master has just accepted. Once he breaks through to Eighth Grade, he'll be accepted as a True Disciple."

Dragonflame Daoist deliberately emphasized the latter part, afraid someone might look down on Jiang Yan.

But this was unnecessary. Having watched Flame Carp finish building Jiang Yan's volcano, how could they not know he was Master's twelfth disciple?

"Junior brother, let me introduce these senior brothers and Senior Sisters of yours."

Dragonflame Daoist turned halfway aside and began the introductions.

"This is your fifth senior sister, Ying Leng, in the lower Seventh Grade."

Daoist Ying Leng's expression was not cold. Instead, she wore a warm smile.

"Your sixth senior brother, Fenghuo, is also in the lower Seventh Grade, and your seventh senior brother, Liaoyuan, is in the upper Eighth Grade."

Wind and fire, a spreading blaze? The two looked exactly alike and were presumably twin brothers. No wonder they had taken such Daoist names.

Not only were their Daoist names linked, their expressions were equally cold and stern. Looking at Jiang Yan now, both forced smiles onto their faces.

Jiang Yan raised his hands and greeted them one by one, gaining some sense of these Senior Sisters and senior brothers.

"There are a few others who aren't here. Eldest Senior Brother has already broken through to Sixth Grade and gone to the Commandery Academy.

"Your third senior sister and tenth senior brother have both broken through to Seventh Grade and chosen to graduate. They're both cultivating in the Dao Army."

"The remaining ones, Fourth, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh... all perished on the Dao."

Jiang Yan's heart jolted, not out of grief for these Senior Sisters and senior brothers he had never met; after all, he had never seen them.

Even an expert like Blowing Fire High Person had only twelve personal disciples, including himself, yet a third of them had perished.

The survival rate for ordinary Prefecture Academy disciples was probably even lower. Even one in ten surviving would be quite good.

Thinking of it that way, the Jiang Household's disciples were rather hard to kill.

Jiang Chi had Desire Corpse Daoist looking after him, while Jiang Yunyao was affiliated with Spring Breeze Tower, where she could cultivate while also sheltering the remaining collateral-branch disciples. It had not been easy.

Now that he had apprenticed himself to a renowned master, he too had roots to stand on. He would still have to find an opportunity to bring Jiang Yunyao and the others here.

As he thought, Jiang Yan continued listening to the others talk.

"They died in pursuit of the Dao. Their deaths were worthwhile."

The speaker was Fenghuo Daoist, who was presumably the elder of the two brothers.

Those words seemed somewhat cold, yet everyone present nodded.

Even Jiang Yan, though he found the death rate among Prefecture Academy disciples alarming, would have no regrets if he could die on the road to seeking the Dao!

"All right, there's no need to say more about them. Twelfth has only just joined us. You should all offer him something."

"Of course."

"As we should."

Clearly, the atmosphere among Blowing Fire High Person's disciples was quite good.

As disciples of a Sixth Grade cultivator, with considerable cultivation of their own, none of them were stingy.

Daoist Ying Leng gave Jiang Yan a Spirit Boat.

"I used this Spirit Boat myself before reaching the Seventh-Rank Realm. It excels at speed. You'll presumably find it useful in your Yearly Examination."

Of Fenghuo and Liaoyuan, the former gave him a jade pendant with remarkable effects in calming the mind and nourishing the spirit.

The latter rummaged around, presumably truly having nothing suitable to give, and actually gave Jiang Yan a hundred Spirit Stones outright.

Jiang Yan naturally did not turn down his senior brothers' and Senior Sister's kindness, thanking them in turn and accepting everything.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, everyone dispersed, leaving only Dragonflame Daoist to fly toward Jiang Yan's new Daoist Arena with Jiang Yan and his companion.

There were no steps at the foot of the mountain. It looked as though it had formed naturally.

Setting foot halfway up the mountainside, Dragonflame Daoist smiled at Jiang Yan.

"The ground here is level. How about living here, junior brother?"

"Of course."

Jiang Yan looked around and was quite satisfied too. This spot was halfway up the mountain, neither high nor low, with the mountain wall at its back.