Zhu Weiwo's voice arrived before he did.
The whole of Maple City buzzed with it. Old men and boys swelled with pride; young women and girls dreamed.
Word was that Zhu Weiwo had gone alone, spear in hand, straight to Riverview City. Lin Zhengren had refused to face him.
So Zhu Weiwo had marched into the Riverview City Academy and taught a lesson to every name on its Merit Board.
Except Fu Baosong, who fought with his life on the line and earned a grudging "barely presentable," his verdict on everyone else was: "Chickens and dogs."
Finally the dean of the Riverview City Academy could bear it no longer and stepped in himself.
The man was a seasoned sixth-rank Soaring Dragon realm cultivator — the very peak of the realm.
Zhu Weiwo met him head-on, fighting harder as the battle wore on, and at last defeated the dean, whose strength had begun to flag!
To defeat a dean-level master while still a student of a city academy — that was an achievement no one in Clear River County had managed in a hundred years.
They said Zhu Weiwo stood with his spear across his shoulder, laughing loud enough to shake the city. He laughed that Riverview City had no one, that he could not find a single worthy opponent.
The city lord of Riverview raged and struck at him. After one exchange, Zhu Weiwo drifted away, unhurried.
And with that, his name blazed across the State of Zhuang!
If his earlier pursuit and execution of the Heart-Devouring Demon could be waved away as luck, this — defeating a peak sixth-rank Soaring Dragon master head-on and retreating clean from a fifth-rank Inner Palace powerhouse — left no room for doubt about his strength.
The deputy head of the national academy had personally signed his admission letter. General Huangfu himself had sent a special invitation to the War Ministry, offering a real general's post at the starting rank.
The Candle-Burning Spear's fame swept the realm. Zhu Weiwo had climbed one step into the clouds.
His choice aside, having such a man come out of it was more than a matter of reputation for the Maple City Academy.
At the Three-City Trial, Riverview had taken the most important five-year championship and edged out Maple City. But after Zhu Weiwo's performance, Maple City stood unmatched across all of Clear River County. This year-end's resource distribution would rightly go to them in full. That meant more Meridian-Opening Pills, better instructors...
The Maple City Academy admitted only ten inner disciples a year. Not because only ten in the whole domain were worthy — but because resources were limited. They simply could not raise more. Next year, perhaps, would be different.
As for the other lead in this affair, Lin Zhengren had not quietly swallowed his shame.
Word was he had been out on a critical mission and could not get away. That was why Zhu Weiwo had rampaged so freely.
Back in the city, Lin Zhengren burned his whip publicly and swore an oath. He admitted his strength was not yet enough, but he would gnaw on his hatred and train relentlessly. One day, he vowed, he would wash away this shame for Riverview City. It won him a measure of respect.
...
"His Emerald Python got burned?" Jiang Chen asked, curious.
Zhao Yan roared with laughter: "No! That day he didn't even bring the Emerald Python out. The whip he burned was his brother's. You can see he switched it deliberately before showing up!"
Even Ling Chuan cracked a smile.
After the three brothers chatted a while, Jiang Chen shared the Starfield Array he had used for his foundation. He had kept quiet before because he did not know how well it worked — he had feared doing more harm than good.
But now that his foundation was complete, he could feel the Starfield Array's advantages. Sharpening the axe does not delay the woodcutting. The extra time it cost over the Primordial Array counted for nothing.
For one thing, a Primordial Array vortex gave birth to only three Dao essence orbs a day. The Starfield Array's nebula vortex gave nine.
As the vortex count grew, the gap would only widen — until it erased the extra time spent early on.
But Ling Chuan only smiled bitterly: "How could my Celestial Palace hold such an intricate array?"
Zhao Yan explained for him: "That's why my elder said your meridian-opening was perfect."
Only then did Jiang Chen understand what made his Celestial Palace special.
His Dao meridian's true spirit was only an ordinary earthworm. But his Celestial Palace was vastly larger than an ordinary cultivator's!
A normal cultivator had to build three Dao vortexes and complete one small cycle before their Celestial Palace began to slowly expand.
Take Ling Chuan's palace: at most it could hold one foundation diagram of the Starfield Array. Until it expanded, a second one would never fit. That meant if he had chosen the Starfield Array, he would be stuck between the first and second vortex — unable to move forward or back.
Jiang Chen's palace had been vast and spacious from the moment he opened his meridian.
Now he truly understood why Dean Dong said the Primordial Array was the most adaptable foundation diagram. No wonder all three great traditions used it as the common one.
Zhao Yan, for his part, had no problem with palace size. But comparing the two, he found the Starfield Array only roughly even with the foundation diagram he had received just last night. So he did not bother switching.
In cultivation, to avoid conflicts or collapse in the vortex system, one generally did not change foundation diagrams once laid — short of tearing everything down.
...
Time passed quickly.
On departure day, the agreed party gathered at the south gate.
The moment he saw Jiang Chen, Li Yun's eyes lit up: "Congratulations, Junior Brother — your foundation is complete!"
Jiang Chen was embarrassed: "What's there to congratulate about a foundation? Senior Brother, don't tease me."
Beside them, Huang Azhan nodded in satisfaction, patting Zhao Yan's shoulder like an approving elder: "Congratulations, Junior Brother Zhao — your meridian opened successfully!"
"...Get lost!"
The road to Three Mountain City could not be called pleasant. The official highway snaked through hills and ravines, winding and endless.
The cost of maintaining such a road was obvious. Even with the royal court covering most road expenses across the realm, the remainder still bit deep into Three Mountain City's purse. The city was poor to begin with — few resources, no special products, nothing rich about it.
Even as transcendent cultivators, the party arrived at Three Mountain City feeling tired.
Jiang Chen had made a few friends here before, but he had not contacted them in advance.
He could not afford a sound-transmission box for long distances. His cultivation was too low for flying-sword messages. And a letter would arrive no faster than he could walk. He would simply greet them if he ran into them.
Clearing beasts was the kind of thing local cultivators like Yang Xiong and Sun Xiaoman would not miss.
Three Mountain City sat ringed by mountains, its layout utterly different from Maple City.
The city had only one gate, facing the single highway that wound in.
And the first building past the gate was the city lord's mansion — rough in style. Everyone entering had to pass around it on both sides.
Judging by the layout, the city did not exactly welcome strangers.
Yet the common folk coming and going were all warm, laughing with open hearts.
Their clothes showed they lived more humbly than the people of Maple City. But their spirits were full. In their eyes you could see confidence in life.
Though the beast plagues made the city suffer, the cries of vendors and laughter never seemed to stop.
People came. People went. This, they said, was the mortal world.