~~~

If you were to start the journey in the capital of the Crimson Cloud Empire, you’d need to travel west for many days and many nights. Cross the Red River, traverse the Yellow Swamp, and go far beyond the Hundred Caves. Brave the sweltering heat of the Great Red Plains and survive its many dangers.

Only then will you reach the Summer Forest.

It is a beautiful place with trees of all colors and shapes that stretches for countless miles. Some trees are barely taller than a person. Others rise higher than the tallest of buildings. There is no pattern or order to them. They grow where they wish, wild and untamed.

However, there is one exception.

A series of seemingly endless steps made out of white stone runs deep into the forest. Twin red columns joined by tiled roofs appear in the path every few miles, the only decoration among endless white surrounded by dense foliage.

This is the Ash Road.

As long as one follows it, they will not be attacked by the many Spirit Beasts in the forest. However, that does not make this path safe. The Eternal Flame Clan, one of the top four Sects of the Crimson Cloud Empire, lies at the end of the Ash Road. There is no guarantee they will welcome strangers trodding upon their property.

Despite that, a crowd of outsiders has gathered outside the Summer Forest this day. They stand, not afraid, but nervous and excited. If all goes well for them, they will not be outsiders for much longer.

Today is the day of the Eternal Flame Clan’s Selection Exam.

The event only happens once every year. People from all over the Crimson Cloud Empire and beyond have come in hopes of joining the esteemed Sect. Some of them have been traveling for weeks, others for months. Some have been camping here for days. Others have been staying in the nearby Ember City until today. The ordinarily quiet Ash Road is full of noise as even whispers can be loud when there are hundreds of them.

This is the scene that welcomes a young traveler.

He looks and is fourteen-years-old. His clothes are dirty and have numerous tears and patches, evidence of his hard journey until now. Their color was once a vivid green, but time has dulled it to something swampy and pale. His hair is black and disorderly, his face angular and strong.

His eyes are blue.

He is Huang Shing from Soaring Cloud City, and he has come all the way to the Eternal Flame Clan’s Selection Exam with many feelings in his heart and just as many thoughts in his head.

Right now, he is feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

Huang Shing was not unaware of the Eternal Flame Clan’s reputation. He is not that clueless. He knew many people would show up to the Selection Exam. To be part of the Eternal Flame Clan is to be a cut above. Not a single person would be able to look down on you after joining. Instead, they would go out of their way to gain your favor.

Prestige, access to ancient techniques, cultivation secrets, and more.

That is what it means to be part of the Eternal Flame Clan.

However, there is a difference between knowing that in his head and seeing the large crowd gathered before him. It is not just their number that surprises him, either.

It is their Qi.

Certainly, Huang Shing has never once dared to think he was remotely close to being the strongest. However, he thought he had reached a fairly good level for his age. At the age of fourteen, he is already in the Ninth Level of the Nascent Realm. That is, without a doubt, a considerable achievement.

Right now, it seems mundane.

In this crowd, people in the Nascent Realm are the norm. Only fairly young children who have come accompanied by retainers are lower than that. Among the people close to his age, Huang Shing’s level is far from unique. There are many who are in the mid to late stages of the Nascent Realm.

A few are even in the Spirit Realm!

Huang Shing has gone through rigorous training before daring to come here and has overcome many difficult challenges on the way. Each trial helped him gain confidence in his strength. Yet, in front of so many aspiring candidates, that confidence can only falter. In this crowd, the power and skills he was so proud of moments ago are not that special.

In other parts of the Empire, Huang Shing’s strength might be called overwhelming.

However, everyone here is overwhelming.

Those are Huang Shing’s most sincere thoughts. Certainly, the strength of the Eternal Flame Clan is something he already experienced in the past, but time had fooled him into thinking he had grown closer to his goal. He had fooled himself into thinking the difference between him and Feng Zhi was not that big anymore.

Now, it seems like even getting through the front gate may be too much for him!

Huang Shing is so shaken by these thoughts that he is barely paying attention to where he’s going. In a crowd as large as this, that can only lead to one possible outcome.

“Oomph!”

“Watch where you’re going!”

Huang Shing cannot reply. He is momentarily stunned by being forced to come to an abrupt stop after bumping into someone. His head is ringing. It is as if he has just run into a wall. An unreasonably tough wall at that. He blinks and looks up.

And up.

“Well?” The person he has just bumped into says, crossing his arms. He is tall and broad-shouldered with dark eyes and hair of a very light shade of brown. “Aren’t you going to apologize for bumping into me? Do they not have manners where you’re from?”

Huang Shing knows he is at fault here. This person is not wrong to demand an apology from him, yet the comment about his home, along with the derisive tone, makes Huang Shing bristle.

A musical laugh reaches his ears before he can say anything.

“Bei Hong, don’t concern yourself with someone like that,” a girl says, coming up from behind the now named Bei Hong. She stands close to the tall teen and places her hand on his arm.

She is beautiful.

The moment Huang Shing lays eyes on her, all his indignation seems to vanish. Blooming curves her robes do little to disguise. Pure white skin without blemish. Reddish hair falls past her shoulders in wild spikes. She has it tied in a loose ponytail as opposed to some elaborate hairstyle, yet that adds to her allure. Her amber eyes are pools of gold that invite him into their depths.

“Look at him,” the beauty continues speaking. A dainty hand is waved in his direction. “Look at his clothes. He might as well be a beggar that has stumbled here by accident. Why concern ourselves over it?”

Huang Shing blushes as Bei Hong laughs. At once, the trance the beauty of this girl had placed him into is dispelled by his rising anger.

“Yes! Yes, you’re right, Lu Mei! Today is a good day! Why should we concern ourselves with this trash!”

The two laugh without a care in the world. They laugh at him. Huang Shing gnashes his teeth. He has not gone through numerous trials just to be insulted like this!

And yet, right now, staying silent and bearing this shame is clearly the better choice.

Huang Shing is in the Ninth Level of the Nascent Realm.

The beauty, Lu Mei, is in the First Level of the Spirit Realm.

The large man he bumped into, Bei Hong, is in the Third Level of the Spirit Realm.

Huang Shing has gone through several trials and tribulations. He is not weak, yet in front of these two, he might as well be. He is only in the third realm of cultivation while they are already in the fourth.

However… if he backs down here, if he lets these two make a fool out of him, how can he be expected to face Feng Zhi? Is the Nine Dragon Slaying Palms he spent blood and effort to master so worthless that he can allow these two to mock him?

No!

“Take that back,” Huang Shing manages to get out through gritted teeth. Bei Hong, who was just about to turn away, stops and glares at Huang Shing.

“I said—”

He stops talking.

He stops moving.

In the blink of an eye, Lu Mei moves in front him, silencing him by merely placing a finger on his lips. It is soft and smells like roses. Suddenly, that is all Huang Shing can think about.

“You should stop talking,” she says, her golden eyes almost glowing. Even as she pulls back her hand, Huang Shing finds himself nodding to her words. It only makes sense. Everything she says makes sense. Why disagree?

“In fact,” Lu Mei’s lips twist into a cruel smirk, “Wouldn’t it be fun if you punched yourself?”

Yes, that sounds fun. He should do it.

Wait, no! That’s dumb.

But she’s so pretty!

What about Yi Jiao? Isn’t she the entire reason he’s here?

“Are you too entranced to even listen?” Lu Mei asks. There is a frown on her face, and it shames Huang Shing that he feels guilty for putting it there. “Hit yourself.”

He hits the ground instead.

Huang Shing was so busy paying attention to Lu Mei and fighting the feelings she is so easily evoking in him that he completely failed to notice the person coming behind him. His legs are swept out from under him. A foot plants itself firmly on his head to stop him from rising.

“Please, forgive the trouble he has caused. He knows not what he does.”

Just as Huang Shing is about to shove the foot off his head, those words reach his ears. This person is trying to help him. It is only because Huang Shing realizes it that he doesn’t move further. Trying to keep fighting would only undermine his rescuer’s effort.

Even though it hurts to admit, he definitely needed help just now.

“You’re the one responsible for this buffoon?”

“In a manner of speaking. I ask that you understand he has little fault for what he does. We trained him wrong as a joke.”

“A joke? Yes, I can see that. Bei Hong, let’s go somewhere else. I am bored already. The air here is tainted.”

As Huang Shing hears the footsteps of Bei Hong and Lu Mei grow further away, he’s yanked to his feet and dragged away from the crowd. He yelps when he’s thrown rather uncouthly to the side, his back hitting a tree.

“Hey!”

“You were lucky just now,” his rescuer says as he takes a seat next to him. He is carrying a long spear on his back and wears a hood that covers his face. He doesn’t sound older than him. Their height is not dissimilar either.

“Funny, I don’t feel lucky.” Huang Shing shakes his head and leans against the tree. They are at the edge of the crowd now, away from the hustle and bustle. He knows he should be thankful, but it is hard to keep the heat out of his voice.

“I was trained wrong as a joke?”

“Got you out of trouble, didn’t it?”

Huang Shing glares for a few seconds before sighing and hanging his head.

“You’re right. Thank you.”

It hurts to say it.

“You’re welcome.”

His rescuer does not say more, and neither does Huang Shing. Truth be told, he is glad his rescuer does not feel like talking. After being humiliated so easily, he can only feel mortified. To think he let a woman distract him like that! Yi Jiao would never forgive him if she knew!

“She used a technique on you.”

Huang Shing looks at his rescuer in shock. “How did you know what I was thinking?”

The hooded teen shrugs. “Your face is easy to read.”

Huang Shing blushes again. This time for different reasons.

“It was probably a technique that affected your mind to enhance how receptive you’d be to her.”

“So a Charm Technique?”

“You can call it that, I suppose.”

“I almost lost to a Charm Technique,” Huang Shing whines, burying his face in his hands. “Why is everyone here so strong?”

Even without that Charm Technique, Lu Mei is still a cultivator in the Spirit Realm. In cultivation alone, at least, Huang Shing has to admit she is his superior.

“This is the Eternal Flame Clan’s Selection Exam. Did you expect the participants would be weak?”

“Of course, not!” Huang Shing yells. “The Eternal Flame Clan is one of the top Sects of the Empire. I knew they’d be strong. It’s just...”

This balance is completely lopsided!

In other Sects, reaching the mid and late stages of the Nascent Realm while in your early teens is a big accomplishment, one usually reserved for the talented. Yet here, even those geniuses would find themselves inadequate.

“You did not stay in Ember City, did you?”

“What?” Huang Shing shakes his head. “No, I just arrived here.”

“A shame,” his rescuer says. “Ember City is the city closest to the Summer Forest. If you had stayed there, you would have been better prepared for this. You can learn a lot by just listening.”

“Like what?”

“The person you bumped into is from the Golden Fist Sect. The girl is from the Red Sky Pavilion.”

The Golden Fist Sect and the Red Sky Pavilion!

“Judging by the look on your face, I see you understand.” Although his face is hidden, Huang Shing just knows there is a sympathetic look on his rescuer’s face. “They are both famous Sects in our Crimson Cloud Empire. More importantly—”

There’s more!

“Both Sects are subordinate to the Eternal Flame Clan. Most people here are like that—second and third sons, genius-level talents, and so on. The Sects subordinate to the Eternal Flame Clan send some of their best here to make a good impression and deepen their bonds. No one wants to send someone weak. That is why the balance you see is so skewed.”

Huang Shing’s lips form a thin line.

“So it is like that.”

His rescuer hums and nods in reply. “Are you intimidated?”

“A bit,” he admits. “However, I came here for a reason. I am here to join the Eternal Flame Clan, and I will not turn back now!”

“Admirable.” Huang Shing glares at the hooded teen. He might have said that, but his voice just now sounded so bland it is hard to believe he meant those words. “Do you want help?”

Huang Shing blinks. “What?”

“As you can no doubt feel, my cultivation level is close to yours. It seems to me our odds of entering would be better if we cooperated.”

Huang Shing looks at him dubiously for a moment. It is true this guy helped him, but his life has not been so kind that he can trust the kindness of strangers.

However, the idea of having to compete against people like Bei Hong and Lu Mei without help is even more daunting.

“Very well,” he says at last. “If you deal fairly with me, I will deal fairly with you. But if not, this Huang Shing will repay you a hundredfold.”

His rescuer thinks it over and nods.

“That is agreeable.”

Red.

That is Huang Shing’s first thought once his rescuer pulls back his hood, revealing red hair and red eyes that would probably look right at home in the Eternal Flame Clan.

“I hope we’ll work well together.”

He smiles.

“You can call me Qing Jin.”

~~~