Chapter 89: A World Within the Sect
Guo Ziming did not take Tianyu directly to his residence.
"You can find your room yourself," the senior disciple said once they stepped out of the administration building. "If I take you there now, you will put your belongings down, see something interesting outside the window, wander off, and be lost by sunset."
Tianyu looked offended.
"You have known me for less than an hour."
"That was enough."
Bingya made a quiet sound beside him.
Tianyu glanced at the Frost Wolf. "You are supposed to support me."
I support accurate observations.
Guo ignored them both and tapped the identification card Tianyu had received. "Your card contains a sect map. Activate it with Ki."
Tianyu did.
A golden projection immediately rose above the card.
His eyes widened.
The map was not flat. It was a miniature three-dimensional representation of the Heavenly Flame Sect, showing mountains, districts, floating islands, bridges, formation gates and even the enormous Heavenly Sunfire Tree at the center. Tianyu could rotate it with a finger, enlarge different regions and search for locations by name. A tiny red point showed his current position.
"That would have been useful before you made me walk halfway across the administration mountain," Tianyu said.
"You needed to learn the route."
"I have a map."
"You needed to learn that you have legs."
Tianyu decided the Disciple Council trained people specifically to become irritating.
Guo continued. "The card can also contact disciples whose communication signatures you have registered. Short-distance communication within sect territory is nearly free. Long-distance connections depend on the formations being used and where you are calling."
Tianyu's attention immediately sharpened.
"You can call outside the sect?"
"Yes."
"How far?"
"Anywhere with a compatible communication formation."
Tianyu smiled.
Guo saw the expression. "It is not cheap."
The smile weakened slightly.
"How expensive?"
"Depends how much you love your family."
Tianyu did not like that answer.
Still, it meant he could speak to them.
That alone made the card far more impressive than he had first assumed.
Guo began walking again.
"Come. I will show you the places you actually need to know before leaving you to explore."
The first destination was the hospital.
Tianyu had expected a large medical hall.
He had not expected an entire district.
The Heavenly Flame Sect's medical complex occupied several terraces carved into the side of a mountain, connected by covered bridges and formation lifts. White buildings with gold trim surrounded gardens filled with medicinal plants. Disciples in healer robes moved between wards carrying trays of pills, instruments and sealed biological samples. Several buildings had symbols above the doors indicating different species.
Human.
Beastfolk.
Elemental lifeforms.
Spirit beasts.
Aquatic species.
Even one Tianyu could not identify.
"This is all the hospital?" he asked.
"Hospital, research center, rehabilitation complex and medical academy."
Guo pointed toward one of the taller towers.
"Disease research is conducted there. Biological cultivation injuries in the western block. Bloodline instability farther uphill. Regenerative medicine in the lower district."
They passed a glass-fronted chamber where several healers stood around the preserved limb of some enormous scaled creature.
Tianyu slowed.
Guo noticed.
"Bioengineering."
"You can create body parts?"
"Repair, grow, modify and sometimes replace them."
Tianyu stared through the window.
That reminded him immediately of Yun Ren.
"Could they regrow an arm?"
"Depending on the injury, cultivation level, species and soul damage—possibly."
"Possibly?"
Guo nodded. "Medicine is not one of our greatest specialties. We are competent because an Ancient Sect cannot afford to be poor at anything essential, but compared with the Thousand-Life Celestial Pavilion, we are amateurs."
Tianyu recognized the name.
Lord Shen had mentioned it before.
The same Ancient Sect he had once recommended when discussing possible methods of restoring Yun Ren's missing arm. The Thousand-Life Celestial Pavilion specialized in biological cultivation, soul-body compatibility, bloodlines, regenerative medicine and engineered life. Their best healers were said to regrow organs that had been destroyed centuries earlier, provided enough of the original soul imprint remained.
Tianyu looked at the medical district again.
If this was considered merely competent...
The world outside Cangyun was ridiculous.
The library made the hospital look modest.
Tianyu stopped outside it and looked upward.
Then farther upward.
Then farther still.
"Is that one building?"
"No."
Guo continued walking.
Tianyu stayed where he was.
The library complex covered an entire mountain.
White towers climbed around its slopes, connected by bridges and floating pathways. Some sections disappeared directly into the mountain itself. Golden inscriptions covered the exterior walls in languages Tianyu did not recognize, and several giant floating books drifted above the main entrance as decorative formation constructs.
Guo looked back.
"Coming?"
"How many books are in there?"
"No idea."
"You work for the Disciple Council."
"That does not make me a librarian."
Tianyu caught up.
Guo continued. "Techniques. Cultivation theory. History. Bloodlines. Beast records. Formation research. Alchemy. Medicine. Engineering. Art. Philosophy. Records from extinct kingdoms. Sect mission reports going back thousands of years. Research produced by generations of disciples and elders."
"How long would it take to read everything?"
Guo gave him a strange look.
"Thousands of years."
Tianyu smiled.
"You say that like it is impossible."
"For you, currently, it is."
"Currently."
Guo decided not to encourage him.
"Your access depends on rank. Outer disciples can use the general archives and low-level technique sections. Higher-ranked material requires contribution points, teacher authorization or cultivation qualifications."
"So the good things cost money."
"Contribution."
"Different word."
"Very different word."
Tianyu looked toward the enormous library again.
He could easily imagine Yun Che disappearing inside for six months and returning with forty new inventions and no understanding of what month it was.
The thought made him smile.
The main training district was louder.
Much louder.
Tianyu heard the explosions before they arrived.
They crossed a bridge and entered an enormous open region covered in arenas, specialized buildings, mountain paths and training formations. Thousands of disciples were spread throughout the area.
Some sparred.
Some practiced alone.
Some fought spirit beasts inside reinforced arenas.
Others trained techniques against moving constructs.
Tianyu saw one young woman repeatedly punching a black stone wall while gravity around her distorted the ground.
"Gravity chamber," Guo explained.
Tianyu stared.
"How strong?"
"Depends what you pay for."
Nearby, another building contained different elemental environments.
One chamber burned.
Another had ice forming across its walls.
A third continuously discharged lightning.
A fourth appeared to contain nothing but violent wind.
"Elemental training facilities," Guo said. "Useful for resistance, comprehension and technique refinement."
Tianyu watched a disciple leave the lightning chamber with his hair standing upright.
He approved.
Farther ahead were speed courses, moving obstacle formations, sword halls, archery ranges, endurance tracks and enormous arenas capable of handling giant beasts.
"This is the daily training area?"
"One of them."
"One?"
Guo pointed toward several distant mountains.
"Different departments maintain specialized grounds."
Tianyu looked around again.
For the first time since arriving, he felt the urge to abandon the tour entirely.
He wanted to fight someone.
Immediately.
Bingya sensed it.
Tomorrow.
Tianyu sighed.
"Tomorrow."
Guo glanced at him. "Good. You do possess self-control."
"Occasionally."
They passed the headquarters of the Disciple Council next.
Unlike the grand library or medical district, it looked disturbingly administrative.
Several large halls surrounded a central courtyard filled with disciples carrying documents, arguing over assignments or standing in lines.
Tianyu immediately disliked it.
"This is where you work?"
"Yes."
"My condolences."
Guo ignored him.
"Come here if you have disputes with another disciple, problems with housing, questions about missions, issues involving student organizations, or anything that cannot be handled by your assigned instructors."
"What if I want to challenge someone?"
"Training arena."
"What if they refuse?"
"Then they refuse."
"What if they insult me?"
"You continue with your day."
Tianyu frowned.
"This place has strange rules."
Guo looked genuinely tired.
"You will fit in wonderfully."
The Communication Department interested Tianyu far more.
It was built around a huge formation tower, with hundreds of smaller communication rooms spreading around its base. Disciples entered and left constantly. Some carried letters. Others used voice formations. Higher-level chambers supported projection communication over enormous distances.
Guo explained that the Heavenly Flame Sect maintained communication agreements with kingdoms, sects, merchant federations and major cities throughout much of the world.
"You can communicate across continents?"
"With enough money and the correct formations."
Again.
Money.
Tianyu was beginning to discover that ancient power had a surprisingly strong relationship with administrative fees.
The main academic district occupied one of the most populated mountains.
Lecture halls stood beside research towers, teacher residences and departmental offices. Thousands of disciples moved through the courtyards carrying books, weapons, formation tablets or training equipment.
"This is where most formal lectures happen," Guo explained. "Your schedule will depend on your evaluations."
"Teachers are here too?"
"Most of them have offices somewhere in this district."
"And the Sect Master?"
Guo pointed upward.
Tianyu followed.
At the summit stood an enormous white-and-gold palace surrounded by a ring of permanent flame.
"There."
Tianyu stared.
"That seems inconvenient if someone needs a signature."
Guo looked at him.
"You will not casually visit the Sect Master for signatures."
"Then why put his office there?"
Guo walked away.
Tianyu smiled and followed.
Not everything in the sect was devoted to cultivation.
That surprised him more than the giant hospital.
Guo eventually led him through a series of gardens built along several connected peaks.
Here the atmosphere changed completely.
There were no explosions.
No shouting instructors.
No people slamming themselves against gravity formations.
Disciples sat beside lakes beneath flowering trees.
Some painted.
Others wrote poetry.
A group played stringed instruments beside a waterfall.
Several people were practicing calligraphy beneath a pavilion while another group argued passionately about some historical play.
Tianyu slowed.
"This is part of the sect too?"
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"I expected everyone to be training."
"They are."
Guo gestured toward a woman painting a mountain.
"Cultivation is not merely hitting things."
Tianyu considered his mother.
Lady Meiying would probably love this entire district.
Guo continued, "Music, painting, poetry, philosophy, calligraphy and performance arts all have cultivation paths. Even disciples who do not pursue those paths use these areas to rest."
Tianyu watched several people boating across the lake.
"So you are allowed to relax."
"Of course."
"I was beginning to suspect relaxation required contribution points."
"It does if you want to rent the expensive boats."
Tianyu stared at him.
Guo's expression remained completely serious.
Tianyu could no longer tell when he was joking.
They were crossing another bridge when Tianyu remembered something.
"Senior Guo."
"Yes?"
"Does the sect have blacksmiths?"
Guo actually stopped.
He pointed toward the distance.
"Do you see those volcanoes?"
Tianyu followed his finger.
Far beyond the academic district rose several enormous volcanic peaks. Rivers of glowing magma descended along reinforced channels, disappearing into huge complexes built directly into the mountainsides. Smoke and golden fire filled the sky above them. Even from kilometers away, Tianyu could hear faint metallic impacts.
"That is the smithing department."
Tianyu stared.
"Of course it is."
"One of our primary affinities is fire," Guo said. "Weapon forging, artifact engineering, armor construction, furnace research and material refinement are major fields."
Tianyu smiled.
Yun Che would lose his mind.
That was now the second place Tianyu had seen today where his rival might disappear indefinitely.
Maybe refusing to join the sect really had been the correct decision for everyone else's productivity.
By late afternoon, Guo finally stopped outside a formation intersection.
"You know enough to survive."
"That sounds like a low standard."
"You would be surprised."
He pointed toward Tianyu's identity card.
"Use the map. Your residence is already marked. Your evaluation location for tomorrow will appear tonight."
Tianyu nodded.
"If you need help, contact the Disciple Council."
"Can I contact you?"
Guo hesitated.
Tianyu smiled.
The senior sighed and touched his own card against Tianyu's.
A small golden flash passed between them.
"Now you have my communication signature."
"Thank you, Senior Guo."
"Do not contact me because you are bored."
"I would never."
Guo stared.
Tianyu smiled innocently.
"Goodbye, Shen Tianyu."
He walked away.
Bingya looked after him.
He was nice.
"Yes."
You annoyed him.
"That doesn't contradict what you said."
Tianyu could have gone to his residence.
He did not.
There was something more important.
He opened his map.
"Communication Department."
A glowing route appeared.
Bingya looked toward him.
Mother?
"And Father."
A pause.
"And Lian."
Mostly Mother.
"Mostly Mother."
They arrived before sunset.
The cost almost made Tianyu reconsider his love for his family.
Almost.
The clerk examined the destination.
"Mistforge, Cangyun Kingdom?"
"Yes."
"Direct projection?"
"Yes."
The clerk told him the price.
Tianyu stared.
"For one conversation?"
"Yes."
"How much for voice only?"
The number dropped considerably.
Tianyu thought about it.
Then sighed and paid for projection.
His mother would want to see him.
The communication chamber was small and circular. Tianyu and Bingya stood upon one side while formations awakened around them.
Light gathered.
The image flickered.
Then Mistforge appeared.
His home.
Not physically.
A projection formed inside the room.
Lady Meiying appeared first.
"Tianyu!"
Her face changed instantly.
"You arrived!"
"I arrived."
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Did you eat?"
"Yes."
"Did anything attack you?"
"Several things probably considered it."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Tianyu."
"I am joking."
Shen Xuanfeng appeared behind her.
"You reached the sect?"
"Yes, Father."
"How is it?"
Tianyu tried to think of a sensible description.
"Huge."
Lord Shen waited.
"Very huge."
His father continued waiting.
"There's a tree twenty kilometers tall."
That finally earned a reaction.
Lord Shen nodded.
"The Heavenly Sunfire Tree."
"You could have mentioned its size."
"You would see it yourself."
A small figure shoved between them.
"BROTHER!"
Shen Lian practically filled the projection.
Tianyu laughed.
"Hello, little monster."
"Did you see a phoenix?!"
"Yes."
"A real one?!"
"Yes."
"Did you touch it?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I enjoy living."
Lian looked disappointed.
Lady Meiying pushed her gently aside.
"Where is your room?"
"Haven't seen it yet."
"Tianyu."
"I was touring."
"Did you unpack?"
"No."
"Did you eat dinner?"
"Not yet."
His mother's expression became increasingly dangerous.
Tianyu realized he had made several tactical errors in the order he revealed information.
"I'll eat immediately after this."
"You had better."
His father interrupted before the conversation became entirely maternal.
"What happens tomorrow?"
"Skill evaluation."
Tianyu smiled.
"And comprehension."
Lord Shen's gaze sharpened with interest.
"Good."
"I'll send you the results."
"No."
Tianyu blinked.
His father continued.
"Send me what you learned from them."
Tianyu understood immediately.
The score mattered less than the weaknesses exposed.
"I will."
Lady Meiying disagreed.
"Send both."
"Yes, Mother."
Lian raised both hands.
"And write to me!"
"I will."
"You said lots of letters!"
"I remember."
"And pictures."
"If I can."
"And phoenix feather."
"No."
"Golden Crow feather?"
"Definitely no."
"A little flame bird?"
"I am not stealing sect wildlife for you."
Lian crossed her arms.
Tianyu smiled.
For several minutes they simply talked.
Nothing important.
Food.
Travel.
The sect.
Mistforge.
His mother's complaints.
His sister's demands.
His father's short questions.
Normal things.
Tianyu had not realized how much he missed normal things until then.
Eventually the communication formation warned him that the purchased time was ending.
Lady Meiying's expression softened.
"Take care of yourself."
"I will."
"We love you."
Tianyu's smile became quieter.
"I love you too."
Lord Shen nodded once.
"Do well."
"I will."
Lian waved both arms.
"WRITE!"
"I WILL!"
The projection vanished.
The chamber became empty again.
Tianyu stood there for a few seconds.
Bingya sat beside him.
Worth the money?
Tianyu looked toward the formation.
"Yes."
Then he frowned.
"But this is ridiculous."
What?
"Letters."
Bingya tilted his head.
Tianyu held up his identity card.
"They can project my family across kingdoms, but ordinary people still have to wait weeks for letters."
Formations cost money.
"I know."
Tianyu began walking toward the exit.
"But there has to be a simpler way."
His thoughts immediately went to one person.
Yun Che.
Tianyu smiled.
"I wonder what he'd say."
Probably something annoying.
Probably something about towers, signals, transmission networks and reducing formation energy consumption.
Then he would disappear into a workshop.
Tianyu stepped outside.
The Heavenly Sunfire Tree dominated the evening horizon, its golden leaves glowing beneath the setting sun while flame birds circled among branches high above the clouds.
Somewhere very far away, Yun Che was supposed to be learning from the world.
Tianyu had no idea that his rival had spent the past weeks being chased by sects, rescuing tiger cubs, nearly dying beneath a wyvern, rebuilding his entire combat system and breaking through another cultivation stage.
He only knew one thing.
When they met again, they would both have stories to tell.