Floating Immortal Order

Chapter 41: Controlling Fire?

TL: Changed the term Holy Lord → Saint Lord.

The Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy in this place was so concentrated that it could be considered a priceless location for cultivating. It was even better of a location than Emperor Chu’s Heavenly Heart Palace. Xu Disheng began to multitask. On one side, he was cultivating, purifying and compressing his profound qi, and on the other side, he was working on learning the Controlling Fire Cultivation Method.

In the center of Nourishing Heart Hall, everyone’s gaze was focused on one light screen, their faces showing looks of surprise. In that screen, a youth in black clothes already managed to successfully cultivate the technique. He stood up and made a hand seal, causing profound qi to circulate around his fingertips, which transformed into a fireball about the size of a head. Then, he threw it with force at the curtain of water behind the stone stele, where it exploded and caused the entire massive curtain of water to shake and tremble. A multicolored vortex slowly appeared in the middle of the air as a cold voice spoke. “Time taken was 1 hour. Satisfactory fireball strength.”

The black-clothed youth looked up at the multicolored vortex that appeared, then walked in.

In the hall, a Daoist Lord from the Ding’an Province had a cheerful look on his face. “Wang Ziyu not only has Grade 1 Profound Meridians, but he also managed to show a tremendous comprehension ability. He cultivated it successfully in just 1 hour!”

The flow of time inside the Mirror World was different from the outside. Several hours inside of the Mirror World was only several incense sticks worth of time on the outside. After all, this Magic Treasure was refined by an almighty Saint Lord, so it was truly an extraordinary and magical item.

Since the first part of the test took a varying amount of time for everyone, each person would be starting the second part of the test at a different time. That meant that the person who finished the second part of the test first wasn’t necessarily the fastest. It would all depend on the time that they started the test. There were two from the Chu Clan who were also very noteworthy. Chu Qing’er finished in a little over an hour, while Chu Tianhe finished in 1 hour. The power of their fireballs was about the same as Wang Ziyu.

Although this second part of the test was called the comprehension test, it was influenced to a certain degree by each person’s aptitude. The initial part of the Controlling Fire Cultivation Method was very demanding in terms of comprehension, so it was undeniable that the faster one could cultivate it, the better their powers of comprehension were. 𝚋𝚎𝚍𝚗𝚘𝚟𝚎ｌ.𝚘ｒｇ

Xu Disheng had entered a little later than the others, and he was currently sitting cross-legged on the ground in cultivation, absorbing the surrounding Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy at a crazy rate.

Gradually, a strand of extremely condensed, pure Shangqing Profound Qi appeared in his lower dantian. This single strand of Shangqing Profound Qi was over a thousand times more refined than the profound qi currently in his Jianggong meridian point. Once this refined profound qi filled up his Jianggong, it would form a continuous cycle. At that point, he would be considered to have attained the Jianggong Sea of Qi, and would gain access to boundless magic power.

As for the first scripture of Controlling Fire, Xu Disheng was only distractedly cultivating it on the side. However, he had once cultivated the first scripture of Azure Ocean, Amassing Water, which was passed on to him in the past by Daoist Lord Qingxin for his protection. He realized just now that the first scriptures of both cultivation methods were just two similar methods of reaching a somewhat differing result. However, the fundamental method of transforming the profound qi into a fireball which was recorded in the first scripture of Controlling Fire was nowhere near as refined as Amassing Water, the first scripture of Azure Ocean.

As a result, it was much quicker for him to comprehend this cultivation method. In the time it takes an incense stick to burn, he had already managed to make a fireball. It might have seemed like a lucky, opportune shortcut, but in the Sacred Sect in the Human Realm, this was extremely common. The content of the sect test would hardly change each time, only differing on a few points. As such, there were always Deacons or Elders who would learn of the contents of the test in advance and relay this information to their relatives to make it easier for them to pass.

Taking the Controlling Fire Cultivation Method as an example, instead of giving them the Amassing Water, which was merely analogous to the first scripture of Controlling Fire, these people would directly give their relatives the first scripture of Controlling Fire for them to cultivate in advance. Then, when they got to the actual test, they would already be able to make a fireball, making it an even cheaper workaround.

The people in charge of recording the results never paid this any mind. After all, nepotism was an inherent part of things in the sect, and especially when they were related, they would watch out for one another, so they couldn’t be disturbed lightly. Moreover, in the Sacred Sect, out of the three parts of the test, the first two parts were only there for the record. The most important part of the test was still the third part, which tested aptitude, and it was also the most simple. It wasn’t tolerated to mess with this part in the slightest.

Xu Disheng casually tossed the fireball he had conjured in his hand towards the water curtain where it exploded, causing the entire surface to shake violently, clearly demonstrating the power of the fireball. He didn’t use his full force, since he was only using about half of his mind to conjure the fireball. Most of his attention was on the concentrated Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy around him, and the compression and refinement of the Shangqing Profound Qi in his body. After all, this kind of cultivation environment was far too difficult for him to come by.

The expression of Zhou Xin, who was still in charge of recording the results, changed again, but he didn’t make a fuss about it because of the reprimanding he received earlier. He just silently recorded, “Xu Disheng, time for one incense stick to burn, very strong fireball power.”

The last test was the easiest test. Wang Ziyu, Chu Tianhe and such had already reached the 3rd part of the test, where there was a jade obelisk. All one had to do was drip a drop of blood onto it, and the jade obelisk would directly display the person’s aptitude.

The Daoist Lords in the hall already knew of their aptitudes, since they had to have at least Grade 3 Profound Meridians in order to be brought here. Because of that, the atmosphere in the hall lightened a lot after the comprehension part of the test passed.

The requirements that the sect had for the disciples coming from the Mortal Secret Realms weren’t as high as the requirements for those coming from the Human Realm. If they were subjected to the same harsh requirements as those from the Human Realm, only 2 or 3 out of the 17 disciples here would end up passing. It was enough as long as they successfully conjured a fireball within 4 hours with an adequate level of power.

As for their aptitude, as long as they were on the Spiritual Root Sequence then it was fine. Even if they had Grade 3 Profound Meridians, which was the lowest on the Spiritual Root Sequence, they would still be able to pass. This simple sect admission test played a big role in deciding the proportion of resources allocated to them, and which peak or miscellaneous tasks they were assigned. As a result, people still treated the test very carefully.

In the Nourishing Heart Hall, the multicolored vortex once again flashed with a halo of light, and Wang Ziyu, who was the first to finish the aptitude test, walked out from it. Gradually, everyone appeared one by one in the hall, and the light screens faded away one by one. In the end, there was only one light screen left.

Sixteen people had already come out. Four of them turned pale, as these were the ones who had exceeded the 4 hours given to conjure a fireball, which meant that their powers of comprehension were too lacking. There was no way the Sacred Sect would want these people. They weren’t able to conjure a fireball in 4 hours and thus weren’t able to pass this test which already had such loose requirements.

The look in everyone’s eyes became somewhat strange as they looked towards the final light screen and saw Xu Disheng with his eyes closed, cultivating. The multicolored vortex had appeared by his side a long time ago, but he seemed to be totally unaware as he sat there cross-legged, continuing to cultivate.

Even though the time flow in the Mirror World was different from the outside, he was still the last person within. He didn’t come out, and instead chose to just sit there and begin cultivating, which made people totally speechless.

When those like Chu Qing’er and Chu Tianhe were in the comprehension part of the test, they were only thinking about completing the test as soon as possible. Even though the Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy in that place was unexpectedly concentrated, it never crossed their mind to stay behind. When they saw Xu Disheng sitting there, cultivating without a single regard for other people or his circumstances, they all had varying expressions. But they didn’t say anything, and they each silently went back to their places behind their respective Daoist Lords.

Emperor Chu gazed at the light screen and asked the people in the hall, “Which Dao Palace does this child belong to?”

Daoist Lord Qingyu stepped forward. “Martial Uncle, this is a disciple from my You Province Dao Palace.”

He nodded in response, then looked towards Secret Realm Envoy Liu and said, “Junior Martial Brother Liu, I’ll have to inconvenience you.”

“Not at all, Senior Martial Brother. I see that this child is pretty good, never forgetting about his cultivation at any time. This is exactly the fundamental way of thinking that people like us should have,” Secret Realm Envoy Liu replied with a smile. He sent a strand of magic into the mirror and said quietly, “Enter the vortex immediately and continue with the third part of the test.”

These words were directly transmitted into the Mirror World, right into Xu Disheng’s ears. This Magic Treasure was temporarily in his possession for safekeeping after all, so he was connected to it with a strand of consciousness.