Most people were under the impression that cultivation involved sitting around and doing nothing as they revolved their qi inside their bodies or some bulls.h.i.t like that. You know, like how Qin Lie would sit on top of a small glacier and meditate. Or how Xiao Yan would just sit around and meditate to cultivate his essence flames or something instead of, you know, actually executing them? While I recognized that cultivating the esoteric essence of qi and inner strength was vitally important, most authors went off to the other extreme end and totally forgot about training actual martial arts. At least Li Fu Chen went around chopping black ore rocks with his meteor sword everyday or something.

Anyway, I was pretty pleased when I saw wisps of qi taking on the forms of black dragons as I executed a swing with my ice sword. As usual, when forging an ice sword out of thin air, I made sure to practice inscribing the Heaven and Earth Spirit Engraving into the frost weapon, so as to ensure my skills didn"t grow rusty.

If this was any other xianxia or wuxia story, I would be launching into a longwinded rhetoric about what stage I had reached, what realm I had attained, or what level I broke into, but all these weird levels and numbers meant nothing to me, so you guys can be grateful if I skip all that bulls.h.i.t. Honestly, who cared what realm I was in? It meant nothing except to rank me against other people, and all the rankings in the world didn"t matter when I get into actual battle. If I was fighting in reality, then the only question that mattered wasn"t what level or realm or stage I had attained, but whether I was stronger or weaker than my opponent.

That was all.

I need to go to the training room in Wu Ling Academy…

After studying the manual from front to back, I was impatient to actually practice the techniques. It was fine and all reading and learning the theoretical principles from the text, but it was quite another thing altogether to practice those techniques in reality. I needed to do both in order to successfully master it. And my practical ability had always been worse than my theoretical skills.

Unlike Li Fu Chen, I didn"t have a G.o.dlike, cheat perception, and unlike Xiao Yan I didn"t have an actual master guiding me every step of the way. Even Qin Lie had Qin Shan leaving stuff for him…then again, I couldn"t deny that Master left some stuff with me, even if it was the most basic techniques of Heaven and Earth Formula.

He was right about one thing, though. All I needed were the basics of Heaven and Earth Formula. I had to adapt the techniques to my own style and improvised accordingly. The problem was that I still hadn"t developed my own style yet, which was why I was relying on previously learned techniques such as Shadow Steps and the Lunar Rabbit"s kicks, as well as trying to find more martial arts such as the Heavenly Draconic Meteor Swordsmanship.

Gr…

The serpentine black dragons that were coiling around my frost blade seemed to take on a life of their own, growling aggressively as I swung it forward, simultaneously carrying out the techniques and attacks as specified in the manual while taking the utmost care not to damage anything in my room. Nearby, spread open on my desk, the Heavenly Draconic Meteor Swordsmanship manual throbbed with power, dark wisps of qi swirling around it.

Thanks to the martial arts manuals being spirit artifacts, they actually helped the user to understand more innately and instinctively the content inscribed within their pages. I wasn"t sure how to describe it, but it was as if there was an intelligent ent.i.ty (or artificial intelligence) supervising me while I practiced, implanting ideas directly into my mind in the form of intuition, and influencing my movements so as to correct whatever mistakes I made while trying to learn from the manual. It might not be as straightforward or skillful as an actual human teacher, but the spiritual artificial intelligence dwelling within the manual was clearly the next best thing.

"Oi, Wu"er!" Mom shouted from downstairs. "What are you doing in your room, making such a racket?"

c.r.a.p, I was making too much noise. I immediately halted my practice.

"Sorry! Just practicing martial arts!"

"If you want to practice martial arts, go outside and do it!" she hollered from outside my room. "Don"t do it in your room! Otherwise you"ll break something!"

"Yes…"

To be honest, I wasn"t very enthusiastic about practicing outside where everyone could see me. We had a garden, and despite the low fence, there weren"t many visual barriers to stop people from spying on whatever I was doing. I preferred practicing in an enclosed s.p.a.ce, which was why the training rooms in Wu Ling Academy were a G.o.dsend. Not to mention, it was pretty awkward and embarra.s.sing to be swinging my sword and practicing martial arts alone in front of everyone who walked by. If it was a dojo (and even dojos had practices take place in enclosed s.p.a.ce that were barred from the view of outsiders), I wouldn"t mind blending in with the crowd and practicing with everyone else, but alone, it just felt weird.

Or maybe that was the att.i.tude and mentality I brought over from my original timeline, and no one would be as hesitant to practice in the open as I was.

Whatever the case, Mom had a point, so I stopped and went downstairs. As if he timed it perfectly, Dad returned home.

"Let"s go out for dinner!" he announced happily as he stepped through the door. "Everyone, get ready!"

"Eh? We"re going out to eat?" I asked, confused. Dad nodded with a big grin on his face.

"You"re going to Tushan City tomorrow, aren"t you? You won"t be home in a while, so I"ll treat you to a farewell dinner!"

"I won"t be long gone," I reminded him. "I"ll be back for the New Year holidays."

"That"s over a month away!" Dad replied dismissively. "We"ll have another feast then!"

"Uh…okay…"

Since I got to eat delicious food, I had no complaints. So I just looked forward to having a dinner with my family, which, now that I thought about it, was becoming quite a rare occurrence and something I had taken for granted back in my original timeline.

*

The next day arrived, which meant that my three days were up, and I brought along whatever clothing and necessities I needed to Tushan City. As always, I took a train, and then a bus to the remote part of the Great Zhou Empire. Upon reaching the gates of Tushan City, I caught sight of a familiar face standing guard outside.

The heavily muscular Shou was standing with his arms folded across his broad chest, wearing an equally wide grin on his tanned face as he watched the flow of people entering and exiting the huge gates of Tushan City.

"Oh, it"s you again! Um…"

"I"m Fei Wu," I reminded Shou. To be fair, I had actually forgotten his name at that time, having met so many people three days ago. It was only later when I spent more time in the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect that I eventually remembered his name.

"Oh, right! You"re support to report in today! I heard that you pa.s.sed the outer sect disciple exam! Congratulations!"

Chortling heartily, Shou smacked my back, almost causing me to double over and hit my face against the floor.

"Good, good. Well done, lad! As expected of the man that Qi Hong brought back!"

"Uh…" I couldn"t help but sigh. Why was everyone already a.s.suming that I was Tang Qi Hong"s boyfriend or something? Whether she liked me or not, she hadn"t actually made any move or confessed to me, so we weren"t officially going out. And that fact meant that our relationship could go either way. I wasn"t taking anything from granted, especially from previous experience…I mean, the experience of a friend of a friend.

"Oh, wait. What"s your number again?"

Shou scratched his head as he consulted his tablet. Figures. Of course they would sort us out by numbers rather than name.

"Two hundred and forty-four."

"Yeah, that"s right!"

Shou nodded fervently, and then he suddenly chuckled. Trying to suppress his mischievous grin, he gestured for me to pa.s.s through the gates.

"Go ahead. Someone will bring you to your room later."

"Yes, sir. Thank you very much!"

I bowed gratefully and stepped through the gates.

I didn"t have to wait long. Before even five minutes pa.s.sed, an outer sect disciple appeared and gestured for him to follow me. Since he was obviously the guide that Shou was referring to earlier, I followed him obediently. The outer sect disciple escorted me past grand, impressive-looking buildings that were crafted elegantly and stylishly, and toward the foot of the Flame Volcano. Wait, what? Was it really called Flame Volcano?

Whatever.

Anyway, as we reached the foot of the volcano, I noticed a beautiful sight somewhere outside the row of cl.u.s.tered buildings built further into the white rock. Rows of functional, blocky buildings ringed a huge lake that spread leisurely across the s.p.a.ce of the foot of the volcano. In the middle of the lake was a platform that was connected to solid ground only by a thin, long bridge. Surrounding the platform were nine marble pillars that sported exquisite designs and elegant patterns across their smooth surface. I couldn"t help but stop to admire the magnificent sight.

I wasn"t the only one who was awestruck by the magnificence of the exquisite marble pillars. Gathered across the circular platform were many outer sect disciples who were scattered around the pillars that ringed the platform. Their admiring gazes were focused intently on the beautiful patterns and intricate diagrams inscribed onto the stone pillars, and they were trying their best to copy such patterns into their digital tablets with their styluses.

"Do you mind if I go take a look?" without waiting for an answer, I was already wandering toward the platform, enraptured by the sight of the nine marble pillars. I swept my gaze over the symbols inscribed into the smooth, pearly surface of the pillars, trying to decipher them. It didn"t take me long to recognize them. "Whoa! Those Spirit Engravings…!"

"What are you looking at?" the outer sect disciple demanded impatiently as he caught up to me. His eyes narrowed in scorn when he saw what I was studying. "Do you even understand any of the patterns engraved on the Spirit Engraved Pillars in the Lake of Fire?"

What makes you think I don"t? I scoffed inwardly, but was too politely to say that out loud to a senior. So I stayed silent instead. Good thing I did, for the outer sect disciple lost his expression of ridicule, which was replaced by one of reverence as he gazed in the direction of the Nine Spirit Engraved Pillars.

"Those Spirit Engravings were personally inscribed by the founder and the first sect leader of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. they possess profound meaning and power behind them. Only those with the necessary talent and intelligence will truly be able to decipher the profound meaning concealed beneath those mystical diagrams."

Uh…what? Did you seriously expect me to buy that BS?

"Legend has it that the founder explored the world and learned countless Spirit Engravings. He brought them back and inscribed the deepest, most powerful patterns into these Nine Spirit Engraved Pillars, not just for himself but also for all the disciples as well as the future disciples of the sect to comprehend the true wonders of these arcane patterns."

I"m sure he did.

"Did you know that the Nine-Tailed Fox was founded over nine hundred years ago? Countless of generations have pa.s.sed and gone, and hundreds of thousands of people have visited this place as some sort of pilgrimage, so as to experience the wonders of the Spirit Engravings inscribed into these pillars. A few even remained beside the pillars for decades! But even then, throughout these nine hundred years or so, only thirty-eight people have gained insight from these Spirit Engraved Pillars."

"Heh…" I pretended to be impressed, though in all honesty I couldn"t give a f.u.c.k. The outer sect disciple obviously didn"t see through my mask, and continued to babble his little history lesson excitedly even though I never asked for it.

"All thirty-eight of them went on to becoming outstanding blacksmiths and Spirit Engravers whose achievements have been recorded in the annals of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect"s history. They are the pride of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, and the pillar of our strength and prestige, having laid the foundation for the sect to be what it is today." The outer sect disciple was nodded zealously now, almost as if he was in a religious fervor. "In fact, all the Spirit Engravings today are the products of these thirty-eight geniuses, formed as they gradually and fully deciphered the profound meanings concealed within the arcane patterns on the Spirit Engraved Pillars."

I didn"t ask.

"Every single Spirit Engravings we have today come from them, and the power of our Nine-Tailed Fox Sect also indirectly stems from all of their achievements in the past and continue on even to the present!"

Well, I wasn"t completely disinterested, but I was more curious about the patterns and Spirit Engravings inscribed onto the pillars. I focused in the arcane designs, trying to work out a single, coherent pattern among them. My qi senses were tingling, and it was almost as if I could hear spiritual voices speaking from within the Spirit Engraved Pillars. Not in voices, but…I wasn"t sure how, but it spoke to the spirit.

Just what the h.e.l.l are you guys?

There was also something that felt strangely familiar, something that seemed buried deep below the Nine Spirit Engraved Pillars, directly beneath the platform. No, that wasn"t accurate. It was extremely deep below the platform, almost as if there was a bottomless abyss that lingered unseen, covered up only by the flawless material that drifted proudly atop the lake.

Even though I"ve never seen any of these patterns before, they feel so…familiar. As if they"re trying to talk to me, trying to tell me something…

I swallowed as I craned my head to look at them from bottom to top. Each pillar was towered over a dozen meters and were nine feet wide. The mystical symbols resembled pictures more than hieroglyphs or some strange, arcane alphabet. Looking carefully, I could make out pictures of magical beasts, demonic creatures, forests, mountains and rivers. There were even great displays of conflicts between monsters, with fires raging about against a h.e.l.lish landscape, while serene sceneries of peace and joy stretched out in other segments.

This kind of reminds me of an emaki from j.a.pan.

"In the last twenty years, only two people have comprehended the wonders of the Spirit Engraved Pillars, attaining enlightenment from three of the nine Spirit Engraved Pillars." The outer sect disciple glanced at me wryly. "One of them is Elder Hai Mo. About eighteen years ago, he meditated under the Spirit Engraved Pillars for three whole years and eventually deciphered a new Spirit Engraving from one of the pillars. Right now, he is the First Elder of the sect! The second is Senior Tang Qi Hong. Three years ago, she amazingly comprehended the Spirit Engravings when she looked at them, achieving enlightenment as she consecutively entered the spiritual realms contained within two different Spirit Engraved Pillars."

"Impressive," I murmured with a smile. As one would expect from Tang Qi Hong. She was a four star const.i.tution cultivator, after all, and even if she lacked the combat strength that Zhu Jiao or Bai Ning Xue possessed, she more than made up for it in Spirit Engraving and forging. I couldn"t help but respect her even more.

However, it was clear that the outer sect disciple held none of that for me. He was regarding me with scorn.

"We do not know what Senior Tang learned from that miraculous encounter. Only the current Sect Leader, his wife the Sect Mistress, and Elder Hai Mo know what Senior Tang learned from her meditation. What we do know is that, after that astounding experience, Senior Tang became the most talented disciple in the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, surpa.s.sing even the previous first disciple, Senior Hu Mei Er! She is allowed access to all the rare spirit materials in the sect, and can do whatever she wishes with them. Sect Mistress teaches her personally, and she also receives lessons from First Elder Hai Mo as well! They spare no expense and use whatever resources the sect has available to groom and nurture her."

In other words, favoritism. Though I was tactful enough not to raise that point.

"She is the greatest treasure of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, and we"ll definitely not allow anyone to monopolize her!"

I raised an eyebrow at that, not knowing whether to be amused or offended. I remained silent, of course. No sense antagonizing the senior and making more enemies than I already had.

The outer sect disciple finally dragged me away from the platform and Nine Spirit Engraved Pillars. I followed him to one of the buildings that was near the lake and nestled deep within the toe of the volcano. Evidently this was to be my new residence, or dormitory in the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, and by extension, Tushan City.

"Here"s your ID."

The outer sect disciple handed me a card with my photograph and name on it. Basically a student card, an object that I was very familiar with, having always relied on it to get access to university buildings and borrow library books back in my previous life. This sect ident.i.ty card would make my life a lot easier by allowing me access into Tushan City and the outer sect disciple district without needing to rely on Shou to open the gates for me.

"You"ll be staying in room 44," the outer sect disciple told me coldly, and then pointed at my card. "That ID is important, so don"t lose it. It"ll store all your personal information and credit, and if you lose it, a replacement will cost 5 gold."

Wow, that was f.u.c.king expensive. I had to take five herb gathering missions just to make that kind of money.

"The income you earn will depend on how much you contribute to the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. we have regular lectures on armament forging from the sect elders, but if you want to attend those lectures, you are required to pay tuition fees for them. You can also purchase books, martial arts manuals, forging textbooks and spirit materials from the outer sect."

What the f.u.c.k? What was with this capitalistic system that every sect and education inst.i.tution resorted to? Even after getting into the sect, I still had to pay? Were they trying to suck me dry of money or something? What was the point of joining the sect if I still had to pay to attend their lessons? Oh, of course the lectures were only available to sect disciples, and not to outsiders no matter how much they were willing to pay, but that was not the point. It just spoke of capitalistic greed and exploitation of the sect disciples!

Trying to suppress an exasperated sigh, I focused my attention on the more important matter at hand.

"I a.s.sume we earn income through carrying out missions?"

"That"s right." The outer sect disciple nodded. "Taking missions is one way, but you essentially have to work to earn income. Cutting spirit materials, refining spirit materials, smelting artifacts, preparing spirit herbs or sorting out mystic plants, grinding spirit stones, distilling monster cores, and a variety of other ch.o.r.es – all these provide income in the form of gold coins. You don"t have to worry. Senior Tang will plan missions for you. You"ll be rewarded the appropriate amount of gold coins according to the level of the mission. As long as you"re able to complete them in the time given and achieve your quota, there should be no problems."

"Thank you."

I bowed gratefully and watched as the outer sect senior left impatiently. Wow, what a friendly guy. It was as if he couldn"t wait to kick me out of the sect or something.

Sighing, I explored my new dormitory room. To my surprise, it was larger than I expected, bigger than the dormitory room I had in Wu Ling Academy. For one thing, it was a double-story apartment. The bedroom, obviously, was on the upper level, complete with my own personal bathroom, minimal furniture and a bed. I was glad they provided a desk and table, on which on I could set up a laptop, but I probably need a shelf for the books I planned on purchasing.

But what pleased me the most was the small training room adjacent to the bedroom. I could go in there and train, especially with the reinforced walls and even a personal training dummy that looked a little less advanced and sophisticated than the modern ones that Wu Ling Academy used. As prestigious as the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect was, even they couldn"t measure up to the wealth that Wu Ling Academy possessed.

That said, the designs were similar, so I wouldn"t be surprised if many of the blacksmiths and Spirit Engravers who worked in the Bureau of Spirit Armaments and designed the training dummies and battle puppets that we used for our daily training and regular tests were mostly from the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect.

Descending to the lower level, I found a storage room and a workshop for forging and Spirit Engraving. The workshop even provided the most basic of tools, which was awesome. It meant I didn"t need to go and purchase my own.

Phew…

Every penny saved was a gold saved.

Boom!

I almost jolted upright when I heard an explosion from next door. Scurrying out of my apartment, I stepped into the white, almost sterile corridor and wandered over to the apartment just next to mine.

Room number forty-five, huh?

"Gah!"

Coughing, someone shoved the door open and staggered outside as smoke billowed outward from inside his apartment. Astonished, my eyes widened when I saw who he was.

"Tong Xue?"

"Oh! Fei Wu! You"re finally here too!"

Suppressing his cough, Tong Xue managed a grin while waving the smoke away. I instinctively took a step back when he accidentally fanned some of the acrid fumes toward my direction, and studied him curiously.

"What were you doing?"

"Ha ha ha, sorry. I was carrying out an experiment in my new workshop." Tong Xue looked sheepish. "I think I added a little too much hydrogen sulfate to the Ruby Fire crystal and everything blew up in my face."

"Why would you do that? You know we"re supposed to be careful around hydrogen compounds and the volatile Ruby Fire Crystal?" I realized I was echoing the warning of Teacher Lian Jin Shu, our alchemy teacher, but it seemed pretty appropriate in this solution.

"Oh, well…just an a.s.signment that Lian Rou gave me." Tong Xue offered me a grin. "Don"t worry, Wu, you"ll get yours from Tang Qi Hong soon enough!"

d.a.m.n…I just couldn"t wait.

Feeling a sense of dread curling in the pit of my stomach, I took a deep breath and steeled myself for whatever mischief Tang Qi was sure to scheme up for me.