79 Such annoying people. (1/2)
After Li Yang threw away Long Jucai and Yuan Lanxia, Rivergrass and the two other servants poked their heads out from their homes. With such a large commotion taking place, how could people not have noticed? Even the other disciples in the surrounding houses had noticed the commotion, watching it from the safety of their own homes. Li Yang still looked completely calm, but one of his servants, the black-eyed and brown-haired Ji Shun, couldn't help but stutter out a few words.
”Senior Brother Yang... They...”
Ji Shun and the others were very clear on the identities of Long Jucai and Yuan Lanxia, they were the servants of one of the top five outer disciples. Li Yang beating them so easily was shocking, but it didn't really matter, what mattered more was that this would provoke the ire of the one standing behind them, Yuan Yijun. But facing the three nervous servants, Li Yang simply gave a calming wave of his hand.
”Don't worry about it, they won't be returning.”
Long Jucai and Yuan Lanxia wouldn't dare return, and if Yuan Yijun was smart, she wouldn't bother sending any more people. After all, Li Yang's strength was unknown to her, so sending more people could easily result in her simply having more of her men beat up and humiliated. The three servants didn't seem to understand this, so they still looked worried. But Li Yang simply shrugged his shoulders, casually waving his hand as he started to walk away.
”I plan on checking out some of the training grounds, you guys should focus on your cultivation.”
If Li Yang wanted to deepen his understanding of the laws of fire and ice, his best choice was to check out the training grounds set up by the clan, they would allow him to save quite a bit of time. Li Yang didn't know where the training grounds were located, so he followed Jiang Chen's advice and headed for the mission control building. Once inside, he simply walked up to the closest stall and asked the black-haired male youth behind the counter.
”I would like some directions to the training grounds, where can I get those?”
The black-haired youth put on a polite and charming smile, nodding at Li Yang and then pointing to the very back of the large hall.
”All training ground questions can be taken to Elder Zhuten, you can find him sitting at the booth located at the far back, to the east.”
The booth he pointed at was located in the far back, but it was surprisingly visible, with very few booths located around it. Liang Chen thanked the youth and then headed for the booth, giving the old man with silky black hair a quick nod.
”I would like directions to the training ground focusing on the law of fire, could you point me there?”
The black-haired Elder Zhuten opened his eyes, revealing them both to be completely white, as if he was blind. But despite seemingly being blind, his eyes were able to perfectly locate Li Yang's face, the two locking eyes. Elder Zhuten spoke up, his voice a bit hoarse.
”Head to the Ascending Carp Staircase and follow it up the mountain for about 700 steps, then enter the first house to your left, the small one-room building with the orange door. But don't forget that staying in the training ground requires contribution points. If you run out while training, you will be thrown out, so keep it in mind.”
Li Yang thanked Elder Zhuten, giving him a deep look before he left for the Ascending Carp Staircase. Elder Zhuten seemed like a frail and blind elder, but Li Yang felt that something about him was off, he just couldn't place his finger on it.
He followed the directions, quickly reaching the staircase that went from the foot of the main mountain all the way to the peak. He counted the steps as he made his way up, stopping after exactly 700 and turning to the left. There was indeed a small one-room house standing a few meters away from him, a bright orange door taking up most of the wall.
Li Yang opened the door and entered the house, arriving in a small room that was completely empty. The floor of the room was covered in lines and runes drawn using blood filled with Qi, forming a small spatial array. Once Li Yang entered the room, the formation lit up, a thin stream of energy entered his body, sinking into the piece of jade that had sunk into his body when he became a member of the Yuan clan. The formation quickly lit up, space around Li Yang distorting and twisting, a silver light blinding him as he was sent through space.
When the light vanished, Li Yang found himself standing in an incredibly hot environment. He was standing in a small clearing surrounded by a large forest, with a massive volcano spewing black smoke towering above him in the distance. But the forest around him wasn't completely normal, it was completely ablaze.
All of the trees were burning with crimson flames, even the earth was covered in flames. But strangely enough, whenever a tree was turned to ash, it would quickly grow anew from the ashes, only to catch fire again. Looking at the forest around him, Li Yang rubbed his chin slightly.
”So this is the training ground... What a peculiar place. I wonder just where on the continent, or planet, we are right now.”
Li Yang searched his memories, but he could not remember there being a volcano as massive as the one in front of him located on this planet. Had it popped up while he was gone, or did the array take him to a different planet? It wasn't completely out of the question that this was a new planet, as the Yuan clan should be strong enough to spread to some of the closer planets.
Li Yang temporarily took his eyes away from the blazing fires, inspecting the ground and some of the trees, gazing deeper into the forest, a light flickering in his eyes as he rubbed his chin in interest.
”There is an array supporting the entire area, but it seems that the density of energy is stronger the closer we get to the volcano. Is it a separated formation, or maybe a layered one? Or maybe it's a formation within a formation?”
He could tell that there seemed to be a single array covering the burning forest and the large volcano, but there were clear differences in the strength of the array based on how close to the volcano one got.
For this to be the case, the array had to either be a separated array, an array that was split up and fueled by different energy sources of varying strength, or it had to be a layered array, an array where the material used to draw it changed as you drew it, the stronger parts of the array drawn using more powerful blood. As for a formation within a formation, that was much simpler, one simply drew one array on top of part of another array, taking great care to not have the lines interfere with each other.
While Li Yang was muttering about what sort of array could be used to fuel this training ground, Jinwu and Shenlong let out a few cries, nudging Li Yang and interrupting his thought process. He glanced at the two of them, who were looking at him with imploring eyes. He let out a light chuckle, waving his hand.
”Yes yes, the two of you can run loose, but don't cause any trouble.”
Jinwu and Shenlong immediately shot out after Li Yang waved his hand. Jinwu could absorb the fire to increase his strength, and while Shenlong and Huanglong couldn't absorb the fire, they could at least use the heat to somewhat temper their bodies. Li Yang watched them vanish, a smile on his face. Once they disappeared from sight, Li Yang's eyes landed on the blazing flames.
”Alright then, let's delve into the mysteries of fire.”
He hadn't forgotten why he had come here, to deepen his understanding of the law of fire. Even if he was interested in the arrays used to support this place, he could inspect them in the future, once he had a bit more time.
Li Yang took a deep breath, stepping into the burning forest and pushing his concentration to the peak. He spread out his senses, connecting his mind to all the fire burning around him as he slowly walked through the forest, his mind almost blanking as he entered what he considered to be a standard cultivation state.