The fire hall was located close to the middle of the sect grounds and it would therefore take some time for the new disciples to reach, as the martial hall pagoda was located close to the entrance of the scorching sun sect.
*****
Sofie kept looking around in all directions, as she closely inspected all the different buildings they walked by.
Some of the buildings they walked by were small and humble, while others were big and shiny.
The building Sofie found most memorable was a giant building that looked like a palace made of some sort of red rocks and gold. Asking around with a few of the new disciples, who had been there for a longer time, Sofie heard from Yang Meng that it was where the sect leader and his family lived.
Indeed impressive! But considering the sect leader is the one controlling the entire sect, I understand a little that it is the biggest and most shiny place around here…
Thought Sofie to herself, as she could only stare in amazement at the giant palace in front of them for a short moment before elder Mei Yue led them further into the sect grounds.
…
Walking further into the sect grounds, Sofie and the group of new disciples soon arrived in front of the fire hall.
Like the other halls Sofie had seen so far, the fire hall was unique in its own way.
The entrance to the fire hall was a giant gate at the side of a mountain, or more like an active volcano, as lava could be seen flowing out of cracks or other small holes on different places of the volcano.
Sofie was speechless, like the other new disciples, as she could feel the heat from the volcano in front of her hitting full force.
"W-where is t-the fire hall?" A nervous student asked, as he looked at the gate etched into the side of the volcano with a little fear present inside of his eyes.
"Can't you see? It's right in front of you! Haha!" Elder Mei Yue answered full of delight, as she pointed at the gate clearly leading into the active volcano in front of them.
The new disciple asking the earlier question looked pale, as he staggered a bit before another new disciple besides him managed to help stabilise him before he fell to the ground.
Most of the new disciples also had some fear in their eyes, as all of them turned and looked at the giant gate, which suddenly seemed to be much more frightening compared to before.
Sofie on the other hand, just turned her attention to the lava slowly flowing down the side of the volcano, as it slowly hardened on the way down.
Maybe I can control lava as well?
Sofie wondered, as a scene of her creating volcano eruptions everywhere appeared inside her mind. The lava overflowing the entire world inside her mind looked exceptionally beautiful in her eyes.
…
Mei Yue felt a cold chill run down her spine all of a sudden and quickly looked around herself filled with caution.
Maybe it was a cold wind that passed by?
Thinking this to herself, Mei Yue looked at the new disciples with a smile and slowly began explaining about the fire hall.
…
"New disciples listen up! The fire hall is the best place to cultivate fire qi in the entire scorching sun sect and is therefore the best place for the ones who have decided to practice fire qi to stay and cultivate. Sadly, you can not stay in there forever, as the fire qi is too strong for someone at your cultivation level. 4 hours is the most you can stay in there for now. Any questions?"
Sofie woke up from her wonderful daydream, as Mei Yue started talking about the fire hall.
Listing to it, Sofie grew excited, as she excitedly looked at the giant gate making up the entrance of the fire hall.
"What are we going to do if we don't practice fire qi?" a girl who had the same body shape as the little dumpling Yang Meng asked in a slightly panicked tone.
"Good question little dumpling the second. The scorching sun sect have different halls, suited for the different kinds of elemental qi. For example, the fire hall has dense and high-quality fire qi inside it, while the earth hall has dense and high-quality earth qi inside it and so on. These halls are together called the elemental halls." Mei Yue answered, as little dumpling the second nodded her little head up and down in acknowledgment.
That was, until she figured out what elder Mei Yue called her, as little dumpling the second blushed bashfully, while trying to hide her figure behind another new disciple besides her. Sadly, it was to no avail, as she just made her body stand out even more.
Sofie felt like she was about to start laughing at any given point but managed to barely hold herself back.
Little dumpling the second was just way too pitiful at the moment…
"Those who picked a cultivation manual for fire qi follow me inside, the rest of you can wait outside." Elder Mei Yue completely ignored the little girl who was about to tear up, as she walked towards the gate for the fire hall.
Soon arriving in front of the gate for the fire hall, elder Mei Yue waved her hand in front of the giant gate and a few wisps of what Sofie presumed to be fire qi, flew into the fire halls gate.
The fire qi gently flew around in all kinds of weird patterns on the surface of the gate. Sometimes splitting up into several dozen different streams of fire qi, other times several streams of fire qi merged together to form one giant pattern on the gate.
…
Time flowed by and elder Mei Yue stood in front of the gate, as the fire qi gathered together in the middle of the gate forming a giant shining sun.
Looking closer, Sofie felt the giant sun in the middle of the gate looked similar to the sun embroidered into the back of the robes worn by the disciples of the scorching sun sect.
Creak
A creaking sound could be heard, as the giant sun in the middle of the gate slowly started swaying a little growing less and less visible and ultimately disappearing out of view after a few seconds of swaying.
With the disappearance of the sun, the gate slowly started to open up.
…
The inside of the gate could be clearly seen, as a hallway appeared before the new disciples. Lava slowly flowed through a canal at the side of the hallway, lighting up the entire place.
Sofie and a few of the other new disciples looked on with admiration and amazement, as they could feel the heat hitting them.
"We will enter the fire hall now, follow me!" Mei Yue said, as the disciples who picked a fire qi cultivation manual followed after her.
Sofie looked around the hallway, as her eyes could not stop wandering from one place to another.
The hallway was so close to the lava, but she still felt it was no hotter than the outside, making her wonder and as if to answer her doubts, elder Mei Yue started explaining a little about the fire hall.
"The fire hall has a giant array formation surrounding it, the array formation was set up by the former sect leader and is also what keeps the heat so low right now. Other than that, it also helps keep the volcano calm." Elder Mei Yue said in a proud tone, as they continued further into the fire hall.