"Is it worth being so happy?"
Zhan Tianxiang looked at Jian Xiaolou as if she were a lunatic. She just couldn't understand it—what was so great about qualifying as an outer disciple?
Jian Xiaolou didn't head straight to the Hall of Affairs. Instead, she found a spot away from the crowd to meditate and shouted to Zhan Tianxiang, "Keep going, I'm waiting for you to join me! I believe you can make it into the outer sect too."
Zhan Tianxiang's mouth twitched at this. "Why can't I aim for the inner sect?"
Waving a finger, Jian Xiaolou smugly replied, "No, I have a feeling that you'll end up in the outer sect with me."
Zhan Tianxiang was speechless. Was this idiot even capable of saying something nice?
She almost regretted her moment of soft-heartedness when she'd cheated to give Jian Xiaolou a three-inch iron orb. She should have let her fail completely and pack up to leave.
But it turned out Jian Xiaolou's sixth sense was accurate. Zhan Tianxiang ended up retrieving only a three-inch iron orb essence as well.
Registering at the Hall of Affairs, Jian Xiaolou finally achieved her dream, becoming an official outer disciple of the Fire Refining Sect—a novice artifact refiner.
The disciples' residences were built along the mountain, but not in the primitive, cave-dwelling style she had imagined. Instead, they were rows of multi-tiered, stilted wooden buildings.
Everything was perfect.
Except, when it came time to assign lodgings, a minor conflict arose.
The current intake of outer disciples was almost twice as large as the previous one, and there weren't enough private residences to go around. Since the two of them had entered late, they had to share quarters. Only when they made it into the inner sect could they each have a private residence.
Having spent four years in a college dormitory with seven other people, Jian Xiaolou had no issue with a double room.
Zhan Tianxiang, on the other hand, refused outright. Even after offering a handful of spirit stones to nearly everyone, she couldn't find a single female disciple willing to trade for a private residence.
This upset Jian Xiaolou a bit.
She understood the strong sense of privacy these local cultivators had. Who wouldn't prefer living alone if given the option?
But why did Zhan Tianxiang look like she'd just swallowed a fly?
From their very first night sharing a room, Zhan Tianxiang sat cross-legged on her bed, meditating and facing the wall. She wouldn't lie down to sleep even when she was exhausted, and she was always on edge, ready to snap at the slightest disturbance, as if Jian Xiaolou were some dangerous beast.
Even the most patient person would get annoyed. Normally gentle, Jian Xiaolou started to grow cold and distant.
So what if Zhan Tianxiang had long legs? Jian Xiaolou had her own assets, after all.
They silently competed for about a month, and gradually, Zhan Tianxiang began to get used to their shared living situation. Jian Xiaolou, not one to hold grudges, decided to ease up too. After all, they had to see each other every day under the same roof.
Eventually, they got along reasonably well, if not warmly.
Six months passed in a flash, and Jian Xiaolou gained a solid understanding of artifact refining.
Artifact refiners are ranked from one to nine stars, advancing based on their ability to craft high-level spiritual artifacts. The Crimson Sky Continent categorizes everything into three tiers: Heaven, Earth, and Human. Each tier is further divided into low, medium, and high qualities.
This applies to cultivation techniques, pills, and spiritual artifacts.
Jian Xiaolou, still a novice artifact refiner, needed to independently create a Human-grade, low-quality spiritual artifact to advance to a one-star refiner.
On the Crimson Sky Continent, artifact refiners were just as lucrative as alchemists, since spiritual artifacts were consumable. The formations within these artifacts wear down with use and require refiners for repairs.
Repair fees are exorbitant, often making it unaffordable for many cultivators.
Why?
Because they're poor.
Resources on the Crimson Sky Continent are scarce. There are no ancient treasures or divine artifacts common in typical cultivation stories.
It's said that tens of thousands of years ago, the Crimson Sky Continent wasn't even called that. Back then, it was a land with sparse spiritual energy, devoid of cultivators. One day, an immortal descended from the World of Three Thousand Realms and planted a Spirit Gathering Tree in the Taixi Forest, birthing spiritual veins in the land.
Nearly ten thousand years later, the first generation of human cultivators appeared.
Back then, cultivators were pure-hearted. There were no intrigues, no killings over treasure. They upheld their cultivation principles, valuing righteousness, and roamed freely, slaying demons with their swords.
However, this peaceful cultivation world ended with a cataclysm ten thousand years ago.
That cataclysm is now lost to history, with no records detailing it. All anyone knows is that a massive dragon and a great phoenix broke through the barrier of the world and clashed in the skies, wounding each other grievously. Then, a blinding radiance split the heavens, and tens of thousands of beings—humans, demons, spirits, ghosts, and monsters—poured through a rift.
They waged a brutal war in the sky, staining the heavens blood-red. Countless heads rolled, and countless bodies exploded in flames. The land cracked, rivers changed course, and humanity suffered a devastating calamity.
This event is known as the "Crimson Sky Change."
From then on, this small world was renamed the Crimson Sky Continent.
Most high-ranking cultivators from the World of Three Thousand Realms who survived the dragon and phoenix's trap died on the continent. They left behind numerous artifacts, pills, and techniques. Those who seized these treasures gained immense power, surpassing other cultivators by leaps and bounds.
History has shown that disasters rarely breed equality. Before the natural catastrophe even ended, a bloody war over resources began on this very land.
Survivors of that centuries-long war, marked by extraordinary luck and opportunities, went on to establish powerful families and sects. Today, their descendants dominate the world.
In the Eastern Immortal Three Continents, for instance, no one challenges the authority of the Heavenly Alliance or the four great families: the Li, Huo, Zhan, and Baili clans. They were all beneficiaries of the Crimson Sky Change.
The Li family, in particular, is the oldest and most powerful of the four.
How powerful are they? Take the Fire Refining Sect as an example. It's essentially a branch enterprise of the Li family. The sect's founder, a Golden Core ancestor, was originally a Li family servant. The sect itself started as a private artifact vault.
This ties into the political structure of the Eastern Immortal Three Continents.
Unlike the Northern Immortal Five Continents and the Western Immortal Two Continents, where ancient sects stand tall and face the Northern Sea's demon nation in a constant battle, or the Southern Spirit Continent, where Buddhist temples guard the Frenzied Demon Isle from the central realm, the Eastern Immortal Three Continents are a land of relative peace. But they lack top-tier sects and are ruled by the Heavenly Alliance and powerful families.
Hence, the Eastern Immortal Three Continents are often ridiculed by the other regions for being overly bureaucratic. Cultivation, a pursuit meant to transcend the mundane, here seems to have devolved into mortal politics.
Over the millennia, some sects have tried to challenge this status quo but have always failed. Resources and high-level cultivators are so concentrated in the Heavenly Alliance and the four great families that independent sects can't survive.
"Still, a few sects remain defiant and refuse to join the Heavenly Alliance. For instance, the First Sword Sect has never bowed to them. Their top disciple, Chu Fengchen—known as Mad Chu—is only about a hundred years old and already at the Golden Core mid-stage."
"Mad Chu?"
"Yes, a sword fanatic. He's stubborn and relentless. He's been known to charge into the Heavenly Alliance alone, challenging the Alliance Master. He's a real headache for the Alliance and the four great families."
"Golden Core is impressive, but our Alliance Master is at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, isn't he?"
"You don't get it. The First Sword Sect is full of madmen. If you mess with one, it's like kicking a hornet's nest. Chu Fengchen is just the most famous lunatic among them."
"Ha, I'd love to see this Chu in action someday!"
In the Refining Hall, Zhan Tianxiang and Jian Xiaolou were chatting while each sat cross-legged at their respective furnaces, smelting iron ore.
The hall had thirty smelting chambers, each with ten communal furnaces fueled by earthfire.
Outer disciples received twenty low-grade spirit stones a month and occasionally attended lessons taught by elite disciples. They had free access to the library as well. But with these benefits came weekly tasks, such as grinding beast bones or submitting a couple of ounces of crimson iron essence.
Crimson iron, found only in the Prison Dragon Mountains near Floating Light City, is a grade above common iron.
First, they had to mine it from the mountains, then repeatedly smelt it to extract the essence.
It took a hundred pounds of ore to produce just one ounce of iron essence.
At first, unfamiliar with fire control and smelting techniques, Jian Xiaolou spent five to six hours completing her weekly task. Now, from mining to refining, she could finish in two hours. Her progress delighted her, but she still couldn't match the precision of Zhan Tianxiang, a talented young lady from the Zhan family.
In another smelting chamber, Zhan Tianxiang was engrossed in her own task, while Jian Xiaolou glanced at her with a hint of envy.
Meanwhile, in an adjacent chamber, Mei Ruoyu chuckled lightly, "Where are you from, Xiaolou?"
The conversation felt like casual small talk, but Jian Xiaolou sensed something off. She smiled lightly and avoided answering directly. Mei Ruoyu, noticing her reticence, narrowed his eyes with a playful, yet slightly unsettling expression.
"I'm from a place…" Mei Ruoyu began, but then stopped, as if almost revealing something he shouldn't. A slight smile spread across his lips, masking a momentary flicker of unease.
Jian Xiaolou didn't press. Everyone had stories, some better left untold. In that shared understanding, the conversation drifted off, and they focused on their work. Flames from the furnaces danced, casting flickering light and shadow across the room, warding off the cold that clung to the smelting chambers.
Mei Ruoyu tossed iron ore into the fire, expertly guiding the flames with spiritual energy, his refining techniques fluid and precise. Jian Xiaolou did her best to imitate, but she couldn't match his effortless flow. Determined, she concentrated, unwilling to waste this rare chance to learn from someone so skilled.
In her own chamber, Zhan Tianxiang had returned to her room, sitting cross-legged in meditation. Despite appearing tranquil, she still heard Jian Xiaolou's earlier relentless bargaining echoing in her mind, and her lips twitched slightly.
"That girl…" she thought with a sigh, "never one to miss an opportunity to drive a hard bargain."