64 Chapter 63: Tushan (1/2)
One of the biggest landmarks that drew my view to it was the gigantic volcano at the back of the castle.
No, to be more accurate, the Tushan fortress was built around the volcano. Even as acrid smoke billowed out of its ravenous mouth, a miniature city was nestled at the foot of the gigantic mountain, slotted neatly into smaller hills that dotted the landscape. The buildings of the city were varied – way more advanced, modern and affluent than the town near the bus stop I alighted at a few hours ago. I almost couldn't believe there was a city within the fortress.
Why do they need those high, fortified walls for?
I half-imagined a colossal Titan rearing its head over those walls and peering down on the insect-like residents scampering within the Tushan Fortress. Maybe it was to keep out the Titans…ahem, I mean magical beasts and demonic creatures.
”What are you looking at?” Tang Qi Hong sounded amused as she dragged me along. ”Never seen a city before?”
”Not inside a fortress, at least.”
Tang Qi Hong merely giggled. ”You haven't seen anything yet.”
She then explained to me that the Nine-tailed Fox Sect was divided into inner sect and outer sect. I had no clue why a sect bothered to divide itself into inner and outer, but their organization was none of my business. Anyway, the inner sect resided within the buildings clustered atop the Flame Volcano, and was thus able to make use of the natural heat and flames from within its depths.
Each of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect's inner disciples were granted a single house atop the volcano, which contained a forge. Within these forges were furnaces, which were naturally powered by the flames emanated from the volcano's lava.
At the foot of the volcano, Tushan City was divided into nine districts. Within each of these districts, the outer sect disciples dwelled. But they were not alone. While Nine-Tailed Fox Sect governed the city, the residents within were not necessarily sect members. Merchants, artisans, clerks and a whole host of other Great Zhou Empire citizens had settled down in the city, providing secondary and tertiary services such as selling spirit herbs, spirit medicine, spirit materials, enchanted artifacts, spirit engraved gear and various other cultivation and forging materials.
”A lot of the inner sect members are considered dual martial artists and blacksmiths,” Tang Qi Hong told me proudly. ”That's why the status of the inner sect disciples is very high, and there aren't many of them. Each one is an authentic blacksmith of prestigious rank.”
”Heh…so are you an inner sect disciple?” I asked, impressed. Tang Qi Hong placed her hands on her hips and puffed her well-endowed chest out proudly.
”Of course! Who do you think I am?”
I think you are Tang Qi Hong, of course. But obviously I didn't say that out loud. Instead, I had an inquiry.
”So what does the outer sect do?”
”The outer sect is mainly responsible for selling enchanted artifacts and spirit engraved gear, as well as manage the various branches of Nine-Tailed Fox armament shops scattered throughout many major cities in the Great Zhou Empire. They also assist us inner sect disciples with menial labor and simple tasks. You know, such as grinding and cutting up spirit materials so that we inner sect disciples can more efficiently forge spirit engraved gear. But we're the ones who inscribe spirit engravings and infuse spirits into the engraved armaments in order to turn it into a spirit engraved gear.”
Before we could reach Tang Qi Hong's residence, however, an adult over thirty popped his head out of one of the shops and waved at her.
”Qi Hong! What are you doing here?”
”Elder Zhao! Are you selling stuff again?”
”Yeah, depositing my Spirit Engraved Gear at a shop. I'm hoping to make some money off them.” Elder Zhao was rubbing his hands in glee. He then turned toward me curiously. ”You brought a friend with you? Is he your boyfriend or something?”
”N…no! Geez!” Tang Qi Hong reddened. ”I'm just showing him around Tushan City! Introducing him to the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and all that.”
”Cool.” Elder Zhao nodded as he studied me. Then he brightened up. ”Hey, why don't we recruit him? The recruitment exam is tomorrow, right?”
”Eh?” I was taken aback by the straightforward suggestion. Elder Zhao nodded enthusiastically as he deepened his scrutiny.
”Every year, the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect will recruit new disciples. We get a few from visiting academies such as Wu Ling Academy – that's how we recruited you, right? Qi Hong? But it's not nearly enough to maintain the running of the sect. as long as you possess the basic knowledge of forging armaments or have a certain level of martial arts, and you pass the recruitment exam, you will qualify to become an outer sect disciple in the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect.”
”Uh, cool.”
I had no intention of joining the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, though. Not when I was already technically part of the Heaven and Earth Sect.
Then again, I was officially an Experimentalist, and not part of any sect, so…
”Why not?” Tang Qi Hong brightened at that and gave me a little push. ”Fei Wu, why don't you give it a try?”
”Uh, well…”
”After becoming an outer sect disciple of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, you will be assigned a personal teacher who will teach you both martial arts and forging spirit armaments. You'll be guided through the various forging processes so that you'll be able to better assist the inner sect disciples with simple tasks such as grinding and discarding spirit materials. After about two years of training, you'll be evaluated.”
Elder Zhao mistook the cause of my hesitation and launched into a long explanation of how the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect worked.
”The evaluation works by the inner sect arranging examiners to evaluate your performance and abilities. Once we recognize your talent, potential or achievements, then you'll naturally be brought over to the inner sect so that the authentic blacksmiths or the top martial artists in our sect can impart their experience and wisdom, and even knowledge of spirit engravings, to you. This is the only way for an outer sect disciple to become an inner sect disciple. That's why most people join the outer sect first, for this opportunity.”
”Uh…cool.”
I didn't ask, though…but I guess knowing about this was better than not knowing, so I didn't complain. Instead I merely nodded patiently.
”Becoming an inner sect disciple and becoming recognized as one of the top spirit engravers is a big deal, you know?” Tang Qi Hong informed me. ”You'll occupy a high-ranking position within the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and have a lot of connections with many of the major sects and powers. You'll have a lot of influence and gain access to vast resources.”
”R…right,” I mumbled, not knowing why they wished to recruit me of all people. I was just a One Star Constitution cultivator, after all. Then again, Tang Qi Hong probably just wanted me in the sect with her. For what reasons, I couldn't say, because I didn't want to be overly self-conscious and misunderstand anything.
But I wasn't that dense either.
”Qi Hong, how about I bring this young man to the hostel for the examinees? He can proceed to the examination straight from there tomorrow. You can drop by and watch then.”
”Eh…” Tang Qi Hong looked a little disappointed, but she swallowed it and nodded. ”Sure.” She turned to me and patted my shoulder with an encouraging smile. ”Good luck!”
”Wait, why are you guys deciding this for me? I never said I wanted to take the exam…”
My protests were in vain. Neither Elder Zhao nor Tang Qi Hong was listening to me. The former was gesturing for me to follow him, while Tang Qi Hong waved goodbye before departing. I tried to object, but Tang Qi Hong, despite keeping her eyes on me for as long as she could, merely waved and disappeared up the volcano.
”Qi Hong sure has taken a liking to you,” Elder Zhao chuckled. I couldn't help but roll my eyes and sigh.
”…I guess.”
”I'm looking forward to see how you'll perform in the exam tomorrow.”
”Don't get your hopes too high up,” I muttered under my breath. ”Prepare to be disappointed.”
Now that I was dragged into this mess, I decided to give the whole thing a go. Might as well have some fun messing up the exam and doing my best. I wanted to see how far I could go, even though I didn't hold much expectations of myself.
After all, not only were my skills rusty, I had almost no knowledge of spirit engraving or forging armaments. Now that I thought about it, this was probably why a Four Star Constitution practitioner like Tang Qi Hong joined the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect instead of the Red Phoenix Sect. no doubt she had some prior background in Spirit Engraving or artifact forging.
While my forging knowledge only stretched to the extent of shaping weapons with ice, I decided to give it a try.
*
The next morning, I woke up relatively early and proceeded toward the examination venue. As I expected, by the time I reached there, the plaza in front of the outer sect's city was already filled with countless candidates, many of them young and hopeful.
The great gate had yet to open, but many youths had already arrived early. For what reason, I did not know. Perhaps to grab their spots? Was the exam first come first serve or something? Whatever the reason was, I had no idea. Anyway, I was surprised to see that several of the youths came from the top sects. Not just Wu Ling Academy, but also Qi Mo Valley, the Snow Valley Sect, Kun Lun Sect, Heavenly Way Sect, and even from the four celestial creature sect – White Tiger Sect, Red Phoenix Sect, Black Tortoise Sect and Green Dragon Sect.
Apparently you could serve as a secondary Nine-Tailed Fox Sect member, as long as you keep your martial arts sect as your primary. Many of these youths chose to do so because they wanted to learn the finest spirit engraving techniques and forging methods from the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, which was the most prestigious sect for those sort of techniques. However, I was aware that such secondary Nine-Tailed Fox Sect members were usually regarded as outsiders and were considered not as trustworthy as primary Nine-Tailed Fox Sect members such as Tang Qi Hong. They would never attain the ranks that full primary Nine-Tailed Fox Sect members did.
Naturally, these high-ranking martial artists from prestigious sects carried an air of arrogance about themselves, and were even accompanied by servants. I wondered why. It wasn't as if the servants could take the exams for them. They would be just dead weight. Maybe they just tagged along for the sole purpose for their masters to show off their incredible statuses or something.
Well, none of my business…
”Whoa. Isn't that Tong Xue? From the Smart Shadow Sect? What is he doing here?”
There was a murmur that rumbled throughout the crowd when they caught sight of a familiar friend. I blinked when I saw Tong Xue somewhere at the front, wondering if I should wave at him. Seeing the crowd's attention riveted upon him, I decided not to. I didn't want to draw any attention to myself if possible.
”Didn't Tong Xue already break through to the Flowing Qi Stage a couple of years ago? Shouldn't he be on the verge of attaining the Qi Fusion Stage? His cultivation in the martial arts field should be going smoothly, so why would he want to participate in the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect's outer sect disciple exam?”
”Only God knows,” someone else muttered.
While they conversed, Tong Xue strode forward with a warm smile on his face. He was as friendly as ever, which allowed everyone to relax around him. I remembered that was how he befriended me a couple of years ago.
The guy was a great friend, if a little…lacking on the courage department.
”What are you doing here, Tong Xue?” I asked as I waved at him, finally deciding to ignore the attention if it came. The people around us weren't focused on Tong Xue for too long, given how their attention shifted quickly when a newcomer arrived.
”Oh? Fei Wu, you're here too?”
”Yeah…somehow.”
I sighed and shrugged. Tong Xue chuckled.
”I'm guessing it has something to do with Tang Qi Hong.”
”A little,” I admitted. ”But more like Elder Zhao from the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. I meant to stay the night after a mission, but somehow I got dragged into the exam.”
”Heh…I see.”
”So why are you here?” I asked again, refusing to be dragged away from the question. Tong Xue smiled.
”Breaking through to the Qi Fusion Stage was proving a little difficult, and I haven't gotten enough experience. So I thought it would be a refreshing change to come to the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect to learn about Spirit Engraving. It'll help me take my mind off the problem for a while. Perhaps I might find an alternative path! There's also the possibility that meeting people while forging spirit armaments will help me develop as a martial artist as well.”
Tong Xue was humble and polite, as always. I was surprised that he was so forthright, plainly giving his honest intentions without much probing. The guy had nothing to hide, or so it seemed on the surface anyway.
But if what I knew about the Smart Shadow Sect was anything to go about, I suspected there was some form of underlying motive behind Tong Xue's participation in the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect's outer sect disciple examination.
However, it didn't matter. Tong Xue was my friend, and I had no reason to doubt him, so I merely nodded in fake understanding.
I wasn't given much time to contemplate on Tong Xue's true motives, though. A shocked cry from somewhere in the crowd caught my attention.
”Isn't that Liang Shao Yang?!”
A youth was yelling in fear. The countless youths scattered across the courtyard immediately gulped and paled when they heard the name.
”Who…?”
While I remained confused, many people instinctively moved out of the way to allow a single youth to walk straight to the gate of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect's outer sect plaza. Even those people who had arrived early to occupy the front of the queue swiftly gave way to the newcomer when they saw him approaching.
Just like that, Liang Shao Yang, who despite having arrived late, took the front spot of this line in such a manner. He would therefore become the first candidate to take the outer sect examination.