Chapter 4: The Red Sky Catastrophe (1)

A moment later, Yue Ze hesitated and slowly sat back down.Everyone here had walked across the Truth-Revealing Jade Platform—it was impossible for someone to conceal their cultivation and not be discovered.

Meanwhile, Jian Xiaolou, having withdrawn her spiritual energy in disappointment and about to move aside to meditate, was suddenly dazzled by a bright red three-inch iron essence orb.

The glowing red orb circled around her again and again, then with a whoosh, darted straight into her spiritual sea.

One of the disciples stationed at the four corners to record results immediately stepped forward, pulled off the jade token at Jian Xiaolou's waist, and announced while jotting down notes:

"Jian Xiaolou, one three-inch orb—admitted to the Outer Sect!"

For a good moment after the words were spoken, Jian Xiaolou still hadn't figured out what just happened.

"What are you standing there for? Go report to the Outer Sect Administration Hall."The recording disciple, also from the Outer Sect, smiled and pointed toward a pavilion to the west.

"Okay, Senior Brother, thank you!" she replied.

It wasn't until she saw the new inscription on her jade token that she dared believe what had happened—When she retracted her spiritual energy, she had somehow brought an iron essence orb out with it.

She didn't understand how it worked, but she couldn't help grinning with joy.

"Is it really worth getting this happy over?"Zhan Tianxiang looked at her smiling so wide she could barely see her eyes, a little baffled.Was a mere Outer Sect qualification really that big a deal?

Jian Xiaolou didn't head straight for the Administration Hall.Instead, she found a quiet place away from the crowd to meditate and waved toward Zhan Tianxiang, calling:

"Do your best! I'll wait for you—we're definitely both going to get into the Outer Sect!"

Zhan Tianxiang's lips twitched.

"What, I can't aim higher and try for the Inner Sect?"

Jian Xiaolou wagged her finger and said confidently:

"Nope, I have a feeling—you'll end up in the Outer Sect like me."

Zhan Tianxiang was speechless.Could this idiot be any worse at encouragement?

And to think she'd gone soft a moment ago and cheated by sneaking her a three-inch iron orb.Had she known, she'd have let the girl fail miserably and pack up to leave.

However, Jian Xiaolou's sixth sense proved incredibly accurate—Zhan Tianxiang really did only manage to retrieve a single three-inch iron essence orb.

Grinning from ear to ear, Jian Xiaolou registered her name at the Disciplinary Hall and finally fulfilled her wish: she officially became an outer sect disciple of the Fire Refining Sect, a prospective artifact forger.

The disciples' dwellings were built along the mountain, but they weren't the primitive caves she had imagined, like something from prehistoric times. Instead, they were rows of staggered wooden buildings, similar to stilt houses, constructed entirely from timber.

Everything seemed so perfect.

That is, until a small hiccup occurred during the assignment of housing.

This cohort of outer sect disciples was nearly twice as large as the last, and for the time being, there weren't enough private dwellings to go around. Since the two of them had entered late, they had to share a residence. Only upon promotion to the inner sect could they obtain private quarters.

Zhan Tianxiang was absolutely unwilling to agree. She went around offering piles of spirit stones, but not a single female disciple with a private room was willing to trade with her.

This left Jian Xiaolou feeling a little uncomfortable.

She completely understood that these native cultivators valued their privacy—who would want to share a room if they had a choice?

But seriously, what was with that face Zhan Tianxiang made like she'd just swallowed a fly?

From the very first night they shared a room, Zhan Tianxiang would sit cross-legged on the bed, facing the wall in meditation all night long, refusing to lie down even when she was clearly exhausted. She was also as explosive as a firecracker, constantly snapping at Jian Xiaolou as if she were some kind of terrifying monster.

Even the kindest person has their limits.Normally easygoing, Jian Xiaolou finally got a bit angry and started responding to her coldly.

So what if she had long legs? Jian had a chest.

And so, the two of them silently but stubbornly butted heads for over a month.Eventually, Zhan Tianxiang seemed to gradually adapt to the cohabitation and no longer resisted it as strongly. Jian Xiaolou wasn't the type to hold grudges either—after all, they lived under the same roof, and saw each other every day.

Slowly, while they didn't become especially close, they began to get along quite well.

Half a year flew by, and Jian Xiaolou had developed a fairly systematic understanding of artifact forging.

Artifact forgers were divided into nine star levels, with promotion determined by the highest quality level of spiritual artifacts one could create.On the Chixiao Continent, all artifacts were ranked by three major tiers: Heaven, Earth, and Human, and each of these was further subdivided into low, medium, and high quality grades.

Whether it was cultivation techniques, pills, or spiritual artifacts, all followed the same ranking system.

Currently, Jian Xiaolou was only a prospective artifact forger. As long as she could independently forge a spiritual artifact of Human-grade, low quality, she could be promoted to a one-star artifact forger.

On the Chixiao Continent, artifact forgers were no less profitable than alchemists, since spiritual artifacts were consumables—once used, the internal arrays would wear down and require repairs by artifact forgers.

Repairing them was quite expensive, to the point that many cultivators could afford to buy artifacts but not maintain them.

Why?

Because they were broke.

The Chixiao Realm was extremely resource-poor, and there were none of the ancient or mythological treasures—no primordial ages, no immortal or divine artifacts like those commonly seen in xianxia stories.

It was said that over a hundred thousand years ago, Chixiao didn't even go by that name. Back then, it was just a barren, spiritual-energy-starved land with no cultivators at all.

One day, an immortal arrived from one of the great worlds within the Three Thousand Realms and planted a spirit-gathering tree in the land of Sighing Forest. Only then did spiritual veins begin to form across the continent.

After nearly ten thousand years of spiritual vein propagation, the first generation of human cultivators appeared.

At that time, cultivators were pure-hearted, focused on the Dao, upheld righteousness, wielded their swords to slay evil, and came and went with ease.

However, this idealistic world of Dao-seeking cultivators came to a catastrophic end around 100,000 years ago, due to a cataclysmic disaster.

Little is known about that disaster today, as there are no surviving records. All that's remembered is that a massive dragon and a giant phoenix tore through the barrier between realms and battled furiously in the clouds, nearly destroying each other.

Then, as if that wasn't enough, a blinding light tore open a gaping chasm in the sky, through which tens of thousands of cultivators from other realms descended.

What followed was an apocalyptic battle in the skies—a desperate war to the death that stained the heavens red for thousands of miles.

The result: earthquakes split the land, rivers changed course, civilizations were devastated. This catastrophe became known as the "Chixiao Sky Calamity."

From then on, this small world was given a new name—Chixiao Continent.

Most of those high-level cultivators from the Three Thousand Great Worlds perished at the hands of the dragon and phoenix, but in doing so, they left behind countless treasures—magical artifacts, pills, and cultivation techniques.

The lucky few who discovered these relics instantly gained multiple cultivation realms over their peers.

And so, even before the natural disasters had fully ended, a brutal war for resources erupted across Chixiao.

In that centuries-long war of attrition, the few cultivators who survived all possessed extraordinary luck—and gained immense fortune and opportunities.

The families and sects that inherited those legacies now stand at the very top of the cultivation world's food chain.

She wasn't familiar with the other continents, but in the Eastern Immortal Three Continents, whether it was the leader of the Tianyi Alliance or the top-tier Four Great Clans—the Li Clan, the Huo Clan, the Zhan Clan, and the Baili Clan—all of them were beneficiaries of the Chixiao Sky Calamity.

Among these four, the Li Clan was the oldest and most powerful in terms of overall strength.

Just how powerful was the Li Clan? To give one example: the entire Fire Refining Sect was essentially a family enterprise of the Lis. Its predecessor was merely the Li Clan's private artifact vault.

This brings up the unique system of the Eastern Immortal Three Continents.

Unlike the Northern Immortal Five Continents and Western Immortal Two Continents, where ancient sects stood tall and fought bloody battles against the Northern Sea's demon kingdoms; or the Southern Spirit Continent, where Buddhist nations flourished and formed the first line of defense against the demon horde from Mad Demon Island—the East was the most peaceful region, but sadly lacked any truly top-tier sects. Here, there was only the Tianyi Alliance, and the great clans.

Because of this, the Eastern Immortal Three Continents had long been looked down upon by the other continents.

Cultivation was supposed to transcend the mundane. Yet ironically, they had replicated the very hierarchy and systems of the mortal world.

Over tens of thousands of years, many sects had tried to change this game, but without exception, they were like ants trying to shake a tree. That's because the most important resources and high-level cultivators in the East had long since been concentrated in the hands of the Tianyi Alliance and the Four Great Clans.

Any sect that tried to remain independent simply couldn't survive.

"Well, not all sects. Some have held onto their pride and never joined the Tianyi Alliance. For example, the First Sword Sect. They've never bowed to the alliance.Their top disciple, Chu Fengchen, also known as 'Madman Chu,' reached mid-Foundation Establishment before the age of 100."

"Madman?"

"Yeah, he's a sword fanatic—totally single-minded. He's been known to charge into the Tianyi Alliance alone with just his sword and challenge the alliance leader. He's a real headache for the leader and the four clans."

"Foundation Establishment sounds impressive, but isn't our alliance leader already at peak Nascent Soul stage?"

"You don't understand. The First Sword Sect doesn't just have one Madman Chu. Their entire sect is full of lunatics. If you provoke even one of them, it's like kicking a hornet's nest.Chu Fengchen just happens to be the most extreme."

"Haha, I'd love to see this Senior Chu in action one day."

Inside the Smelting Pavilion, Zhan Tianxiang and Jian Xiaolou were chatting while each sat cross-legged in front of their personal furnace, smelting black iron.

The pavilion contained thirty smelting chambers, each chamber housing ten public furnaces, all fueled by earth fire.

As outer sect disciples, they received a monthly stipend of 20 low-grade spirit stones, had occasional lectures from elite disciples, and unlimited access to the sect's library.

In exchange for these benefits, they were required to complete weekly assignments, such as polishing beast bones or turning in a tael or two of Scarlet Blended Iron Essence.

Scarlet Blended Iron was a type of special iron found only in the Imprisoned Dragon Mountains within Fuguang City, and was one grade higher than ordinary iron.

First, they had to go mining in the Imprisoned Dragon Mountains, then repeatedly smelt the raw Scarlet Blended Iron ore to extract refined iron essence.

Out of a hundred catties of iron ore, they would only get one or two taels of iron essence.

At first, due to her unfamiliarity with fire control and smelting techniques, Jian Xiaolou had to spend five or six hours a day just to complete her weekly tasks. But now, from mining to smelting, she only needed two hours at most, even faster than most inner sect disciples.

Zhan Tianxiang was slightly slower—it took her around three hours.

Because of this, Jian Xiaolou intentionally slowed herself down to return together with her.

As dusk approached and the two of them had just finished refining the iron essence and were preparing to leave, a commanding, arrogant voice suddenly dropped from above:

"You two. Get all of this done before sunrise tomorrow."

Thud, thud, thud—nine storage bags were thrown down in front of them.