21 Sofie is stealing!s (1/2)

The hallway into the volcano known as the fire hall continued for the next 5 minutes, before a giant opening showed up in front of Sofie and the other new disciples.

Walking in through the opening, while following behind elder Mei Yue.

Sofie and the other new disciples soon found themselves walking on a bridge, towards what Sofie presumed was the centre of the fire hall.

Leaning over the side of the bridge, Sofie could see what looked like a small lake entirely made out of lava. The temperature in here was way hotter than the hallway, making Sofie and the other new disciples start sweating profusely.

Sofie moved herself into the middle of the bridge again and started to inspect the opening they arrived at.

The platform at the centre of the lava lake was suspended mid-air, with several large chains holding up the platform. The bridge leading to the platform at the centre of the lava lake already had the new disciples sighing in amazement. Now with the simple platform held up by several giant chains of unknown metal in front of them, Sofie and the others looked both surprised and amazed.

”This here can be called the fire hall and the platform in front of you is where you will be spending the next 4 hours absorbing fire qi and cultivating.” Elder Mei Yue's voice came in from the front, making several disciples swallow their own salvia, as they looked towards the platform.

Sofie, contrary to what most of the new disciples did, just looked at the lava lake with fiery eyes. Completely ignoring the platform, they were going to start cultivating fire qi at.

…

The group of new disciples walked a little further, finally making their way onto the platform hanging above the lava lake.

”All of you, find a place to sit and start cultivating. The first time you cultivate will be different, as this is your first time taking in any form of qi, you will be able to absorb it much easier. This is also the reason why you are allowed to stay at the fire hall for 4 hours. Normally, you will not be able to absorb more fire qi after that time and would have reached your limit. Any questions?” Elder Mei Yue said, as the disciples slowly sat down all over the platform.

A few senior disciples were also present, but they ignored the newcomers and continued to cultivate in silence.

”W-what is the benefit of absorbing a lot of fire qi here?” A boy who was a little older than Sofie asked shyly, as he looked at elder Mei Yue.

”The benefit is that you will be able to start off with a stronger and purer fire qi. Not needing as much time to refine it like normal lower-level fire qi. The qi gathering cultivation realm is only about that. Gathering qi inside the dantian, until you have enough to start condensing the qi, preparing to breakthrough to the meridian opening. The first major realm is simple to the extreme and only requires time to go through, if you manage to absorb enough fire qi today, you could even reach stage 6 qi gathering.” Elder Mei Yue explained, as the new disciples, Sofie included, looked shocked at the information they just got.

You can reach the 6 stage of qi gathering just by cultivating 4 hours? T-this… So simple… Well it is only the first major realm. My goal is higher than that! I should aim to reach the 6 stage of qi gathering today!

Sofie thought to herself, as she sat down with determination and a goal in mind.

”Okay, you kids can start cultivating now, I will need to get the kids waiting outside to the next elemental hall. Good luck~” Elder Mei Yue cheerfully told them to start cultivating, before she left the platform. Leaving the new disciples and Sofie alone.

She would definitely reach the 6 stage of qi gathering! Sofie thought to herself, as she started cultivating according to the cultivation manual called ”Fire Lord Qi”.

…

Sitting down on the platform, Sofie closed her eyes and tried to feel the fire qi surrounding her according to the cultivation manual.

In the start, all she could see was darkness, but with the passage of time, a few red dots appeared in the darkness. Lighting it up.

Sofie assumed that the red dots floating around in the darkness was the fire qi surrounding her. One of the reasons for this, was that she could almost feel the heat radiating off the small floating red dots.

Other than that, the number of red dots visible in the air grew more and more, until all of Sofie's surroundings was filled with both big and small red dots.

This confused Sofie to an extreme degree and she quickly opened her eyes. Only to see the red dots disappear, to be replaced with the platform and a few new disciples and senior disciples.

Sofie ended up becoming confused.