Chapter 17: Essence Flames

The sparkling stars hugged the deep midnight flavored sky, with towering minarets dotting the shadowy Godly Supreme Hall ground. All is quiet, save the faint whispers of mother wind and the occasional howls of beasts in the surrounding dark forests.

*Ssssss…*

At this late hour, a soft tearing noise resounded in the air. A slit could be seen zipping down in the middle of the cool sky, spanning nearly a meter and half long before it stopped and began to ‘open’ up. A swirling black void could seen within the rift, as a young man in black robe leisurely stepped out from within. A pure white kabuki mask was fittingly donned on his face.

The moment the youth exited the rift, a violet light shot down from afar the ground and stopped a few feets away from the former, transforming into a beautiful graying haired woman in a golden dragon dress. An oppressive aura was constantly being emitting from her, as she stood guard against the other individual.

Looking at the unknown youth, Yue Jing had a faint sense of nervousness. She had hurriedly arrived over when she felt a strange undulation of Qi in the air. At first, she thought it was her Master returning so she had excitedly flew towards the Head Martial Tower, calling off the other elders to remain stationed. But as Yue Jing got nearer, she felt that the aura was not the same as her master. The sudden thought of a powerful intruder immediately flashed across her mind!

And from the distance, upon seeing the white-haired youth step out from a dimensional gap in the sky, Yue Jing could feel her heart tighten. To travel through a piece of dimensional space was a defining ability of Saint Overlords...it was not something a peak Divine Zhu practitioner like her could handle.

However, Yue Jing was not any normal practitioner. She was the Sect Master of the Godly Supreme Hall, and one of the direct disciples of the famed Song Huang Xue! She had a dignity, not just her own, to protect. So, Yue Jing fearlessly and cautiously went forward. Amidst her panic at the powerful stranger, Yue Jing failed to take notice that the Hall’s sealing formation was not activated. Unlike the Sacred Demon Sect’s formation, the Godly Supreme Hall’s sealing formation would immediately activate when it detects a foreign existence, whom has not been approved, by the Hall itself!

Yue Jing stared at the kabuki mask on the youth, which was being slightly overshadowed by the moon reflecting from the back of the latter. Along with the person’s flowing white hair dancing under the moonlight, it gave the youth a enigmatic atmosphere.

The black clothes of the youth also gave off a familiar smell, but the foreign aura the person was giving off said otherwise. The floating youth did not say a word, as he reached up with his jade hand and quietly took off his mask, revealing a smooth and elegant appearance beneath. For a brief moment, Yue Jing felt her heart race. She almost thought she was looking at an ancient painting of a celestial, before she snapped away from her daze. While the person in front of her may look young, Yue Jing was well aware he was anything but that...

Cupping her hands to the youth in front of her, Yue Jing slightly bowed and asked respectfully: “Honored senior, may I inquire why you have come to our Godly Supreme Hall? If elder wanted to visit, you could have come through our front gate...we would have properly received an esteemed guest such as you.”

When Yue Jing finished speaking, she waited for the other person to reply. But a response never came. At this, Yue Jing began to worry that the other party may have come with ill intentions. If that was true, then without her master and senior brothers here...it would be definitely end up becoming a tough battle, though certainly not an ‘impossible’ one.

Lifting up her head slowly, Yue Jing saw that the the black robed youth in front of her had an amused expression on his face, which puzzled her. Why was he smiling like that? It is as if he knows me…

A second later, the youth finally opened his mouth as a vigorous voice sounded out: “Silly disciple, what esteemed senior are you speaking of? It is I, your master!”

“Huh?” Yue Jing looked on in confusion, before she saw the youth flick his sleeves as the aura around him began to change. Soon, a Qi aura that Yue Jing was more than familiar with pulsated around the youth’s body.

Yue Jing stared with wide eyes as she exclaimed: “Mas...master? You...this...eh?”

There was bewilderment written all over her face as she stared her master. While Huang Xue’s appearance had greatly changed over the past seven days, upon closer inspection, Yue Jing realized that there was faint resemblance of her master’s old looks. Though, she was still a little hesitant..

But as if Huang Xue had expected Yue Jing’s suspicion, he promptly flashed a golden medallion inscribed with complex symbols in front of Yue Jing. This was the Supreme Medallion, which only the Ancestor possessed! The medallion also gave off a unique undulation, making it impossible for anyone to fabricate it! Seeing the golden proof and feeling the familiar aura from the medallion, all of Yue Jing’s doubts vanished like mist.

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Now that it was clear the person before Yue Jing was her master, she quickly gave a deep bow as she saluted: “Yue Jing pays respect to Master!”

“Mn. You may rise.” Huang Xue nodded as he smiled at her.

Straightening herself, Yue Jing said politely: “Master, since you have just returned, we should go inside the Head Martial Tower for a rest! Yue’er also have news about the materials you wanted!”

Huang Xue’s eyes glowed a little when he heard Yue Jing’s words, as he gave a faint nod and calmly floated towards the top level of the Head Martial Tower. Beneath him, there was only a ground void of presence, with all the disciples either at rest or hard at training within their living quarters. The Hall ground was in peaceful silence.

Yue Jing quietly followed right behind her master. Although she was curious about her master’s strange change in aura and his new appearance, Yue Jing knew that as a disciple, it was not her place to probe into the secrets and affairs of her master. After all, everyone had a secret or two that they keep from others --including herself.

Arriving inside the sixth floor of the Head Martial Tower, Huang Xue walked over to a nearby black table and sat down on the hazel colored throne beside it. Yue Jing was right behind him as she served a cup of lukewarm tea to her master.

While Huang Xue took a sip from the tea, Yue Jing stood obediently on the side. After a few moments of peace, Huang Xue first spoke:

“The ‘matter’ has been dealt with. If everything went accordingly, my identity should still be hidden and the other two grand sects should not be working together for a while…”

Yue Jing’s face lit up with joy when she heard her master’s words. She had seen her master’s disguise a moment ago, so as an intelligent person, Yue Jing could naturally guess that her master must have used some secret techniques to hide himself!

She immediately bowed and said with a voice laced with excitement and reverence: “Yue’er thanks honored master for his help!”

Her master had always been someone whom she had placed her greatest trust on. Since the day she was taken in as Huang Xue’s disciple, Yue Jing had grown to heavily rely on her master. This was not to say that she was weak or useless, but rather her master’s constant doting and benevolent nature. The previous Huang Xue had never gotten mad at her, and his usual demeanor was laced with an unusual calmness. Because of that, Yue Jing had truly revered her master from the age of ten when she left her family clan to study under the wings of her master. This was several years before her master had founded the Godly Supreme Hall.

And as time passed, her family members and clan had slowly given into the test of time. By the time Yue Jing had become powerful and could finally return to her land, she had painfully discovered that she was the only one left. From that day forth, besides her elder brothers, Yue Jing had viewed Huang Xue partially as a fatherly figure and partially as her grand master. Only towards her master, the one who continued to comfort and teach her when her own world had perished, would Yue Jing let down her guard.

Huang Xue waved his hands as he said: “There is no need to be courteous between master and disciple. Oh, right, Yue’er you said that you have the ingredients I’ve asked you to collect?”

Yue Jing stood up as she took out from her dress a purple colored cosmic ring. She replied with a smile: “Yes, master. While we are still searching for the things you’ve requested on the second scroll, we’ve managed to gather the materials you wanted on the first list.”

Passing the purple ring to Huang Xue, Yue Jing then stood patiently on the side. When Huang Xue received the ring, his eyes glowed with excitement and hope. He promptly exclaimed: “Good! Good! Yue’er, you have done well this time!”

Yue Jing blushed as she stood beside her seated master. This was an unusual reaction from Huang Xue. She had never seen her master praise her so openly and so loudly either. Before, it was either a gentle smile or a stroke on her head that conveyed her master’s happiness. But...it was not like she disliked her master being so open like these either…

“Mmn, I shall begin refining this immediately. Yue’er, since it is so late already, you may go rest now.” Huang Xue said as he contained his excitement from leaking out.

Yue Jing, sensing the subtle agitation and impatience coming from her master, quickly assented and left the room in a streak of violet light. Now, there was only Huang Xue and the purple cosmic ring in his hand left.

Sending his divine sense into the ring to survey its content, Huang Xue smiled when he saw that all thirty ingredients that he’d asked for was inside. Not a single one was missing, and being down to the exact kilograms and size!

With a flick of his wrist, all the materials within the purple ring flashed out and landed on the carpet floor. Huang Xue lifted his hands as black colored flames appeared in the air, surrounding the various herbs and special stones on the floor. The power that Huang Xue used was not Qi energy, but rather than Essence Flames.

These were special fires that alchemists use to refine both objects and medicines. Across the Feng Shui continent, besides Array Spiritualists, another highly received group of cultivators are the Essence Alchemists. This was precisely derived from the essence flames in which they often use to create their work.

There was surmised to be around one billion kinds of different Essence Flames, and possibly even more undiscovered ones. These were flames that held varying degrees of hints from the Dao of Pyre, one of the Zhen Daos. As such, only cultivators with an affinity to either fire or earth could possibly practice alchemy.

But other than this restriction, there were no cultivation limits on whether a person could use Essence flames or not. Meaning, even a Temporary Di realm cultivator could become a famed Essence Alchemist should they have great control over this art.

However, while there may seem to be many Essence Flames, not everyone could get ahold of one. One issue is the difficulty of finding one, as many of such flames dwell within either secretive or extremely dangerous areas.  

And another issue is one’s compatibility with the flame type. With these two challenges present, they would also mean that becoming an Essence Alchemist was highly difficult, due to the variables of luck and affinity. It was such, that the population of such cultivators was much less than that of Array Spiritualists.  

As Huang Xue controlled his Essence Flames to swallow up the entire batch of ingredients, he began to carefully mold the materials within. The flames continued to swirl in the air, however it did not off a sense of intense heat, nor did it set the nearby furnitures on fire upon contact. It was as if the black flame was an illusion, yet one could vaguely feel pressure coming from the flame itself!

With the large amount of essence flames discovered across the continent, there would naturally be a difference in quality and power between them. As such, Essence Flames were categorized into four classes according to the powerful alchemists across the continent:

Natural Class, Rare Class, Ancient Class, and Primordial Class.

Natural class were the lowest and weakest type of essence flames a user could get. However, the difficulty of obtaining even a Natural-class essence flame is still high.

A rare-class one was regarded extremely highly across regions; and an Ancient-class was considered heavenly treasures in the elite sects and major powers across the world.

As for Primordial-class? That was level of flame which could be considered legendary even within the Three Absolute Grand Sects!