Day after day, Pef settled into a new routine. Firstly, take a bath. Something people did quite rarely in this age.

Then, meet with his mother and grandpa and have a small breakfast and tea, and chat a little.

After that, the young boy will depart with his fly guy to the Inner Court and instruct the disciples for several hours, anything and everything he could remember, or else invent on the spot. Physical exercises, cultivation insights, some elemental control and a few sword moves, repeated a thousand times at slow speed.

In the evening, he would check all the Halls including the Outer Court, and a longer visit in the Sect Repository to study old scrolls, then a visit at the larger Icefire for an hour of meditation inside the azure-cold flames.

Surprisingly for some, though not for Pef himself, after several months he entered Earth Realm at the respectable age of 7. Perhaps by coincidence, his hostage the Xia heir reached his Spirit Realm in the same week, and was transferred to the Inner Court, as a honorary disciple.

Pef raised an eyebrow as the teenager arrived on the training field the next morning. "I'm not sure if I should congratulate you for your ascension, or berate you for wasting your youth." Pef spoke honestly while scratching his cheek in deep thought.

The Xia Clan Young Master just lowered his head. "In my clan, I would be hailed as a prodigy. But they would be wrong, Holy Son. I have seen the height of heavens now." the teenager replied in a humble voice.

"Well...it is both, I guess. Without some talent, nobody could enter Spirit Realm so young as you are. I suppose you could write a letter back home to announce them of your progress." the Holy Son allowed in a kind voice, before returning to his lessons.

However, a problem soon appeared, as the Xia heir was not selected for his water or ice affinity to become an Icefire disciple, and instead had earth as an element.

So that night, Pef remained a while longer inside the Icefire, composing a short method especially for the Xia boy.

"Here, book worm! This method isn't that good, but it should carry you to Emperor Realm and perhaps more, if you're lucky. My insights in the Dao of Earth are rather slim." Pef admitted with a careless voice, while handing over a notebook page with less than fifty lines on it.

"I am very grateful for your help, Holy Son. And, I don't believe your insights are ever 'slim'. Perhaps you never bothered to contemplate the earth element til now." the Xia Young Master replied in a low voice, while receiving the cultivation method with both hands like it was a divine gift.

Of course, what was kinda trash for Pef was a miracle for the Xia cultivator, who reached the next Star in just a week, and seemed to continue his breakthroughs without more halts.

Also unknown to Pef, Icefire itself began contemplating the element of earth, and aided by the method written by the blonde boy it began refining itself in another Dao, while its tendrils descended towards the core of the planet.

It is often said that minor changes in one place can bring huge transformations elsewhere, but the little blonde boy was the archetype of change incarnated.

---------------------

In the Scripture Room, an old man opened his eyes in wonder as he felt a breakthrough in his ossified core.

"Congratulations, Elder Bo. Or should I say Grand Elder Bo?" a powerful voice spoke from the door, making the Resource Hall Elder turn and bow. "Sect Master!"

"Two Stars in half a year. If I didn't gain the same I would have doubted this was possible." the Sect Master continued in a more jovial tone, as he took out a flask of wine to celebrate the old man's ascension.

"It has been fifty thousand years since my last ascension. I never thought I would see the day..." the new Sovereign Realm Elder mused as he drank the potent spirit wine in a single gulp.

"The boy has reached Earth realm already...it took me 200 hundred years, back then. My Master even called me a genius, back then. How fools we were..." the Sect Master reminisced with a far away look.

"Master, do you have a clue, how strong...?" the Elder asked with a curious voice.

"The Sword Skill? Heh. You might withstand a blade of grass now. But our Holy Son has a metal sword as well." the Sect Master answered with a knowing grin.

"Yeah, I made him a steel wire sword...now if feel its shadow hanging over my head." the Resource Hall Elder complained with a grim tone, as he drank another cup of wine.

The Sect Master smiled at the news, but kept quiet about the even worse weapon crafted by Icefire itself.

As they spoke, a tiny Icefire sprite emerged from the Scripture Hall's floor and glided towards an unused stone wall, then flared brightly before sinking into the ground.

In its wake, a new cultivation method remained glowing on the wall, but this time providing insights into Earth Dao.

"It seems our Holy Son has written a new method. And Icefire thinks it is worth recording in the Hall." the Sect Master concluded after reading the new text and grinning even wider.

"We can accept Earth affinity disciples now. The next recruiting term will come next year." the new Sovereign mused as he realized the implications of a new scripture, especially one vouched by Icefire.

"Uhm. As the Holy Son says, new disciples are the most valuable resource for a Sect. And you are the Resource Hall Elder, little Bo." the Sect Master answered with a cryptic smile and vanished at speed.

"Oh no! Now I have to organize recruiting too?" Grand Elder Bo complained in an unheard wail, as a new responsibility was passed onto his old shoulders.

Luckily for him, the new cultivation realm had some perks too, including an extended range for mana transmissions, able to cover even the far-flung outer posts and trade centers at the edges of the North-West Continent, and thus a stream of messages started flowing towards the Icefire Sect's Sky Heralds and Resource Hall overseers, indicating the new changes in the disciples recruiting chart.

Even the farthest spirit stone mines and beast collection centers received the new rules, and in one such mine an Overseer rose a curious eyebrow at the news.

'Earth affinity now? Oh well, I do have a thousand miners with some elemental affinity. Even if only a couple qualify for a disciple slot, my rewards...I better start preparing.' the fat overseer thought as he dreamed of even higher riches.