Chapter 72: Promoted to Elder! Elder Jiang!

“The Peak Master wishes to see me?!”

Jiang Ye, seated cross-legged within the Tiankui herb garden cultivating fire qi, slowly opened his eyes and looked up.

Outside the garden, a disciple clad in Tianqing Sect robes stood with respectful expression.

Jiang Ye rose to his feet, brushed nonexistent dust from his robes, and walked slowly toward the garden entrance.

“Jiang Zhishi, congratulations on successfully forming your Golden Core!”

The disciple hurried forward as he approached, face beaming with polite smiles:

“The news has reached the Peak Master’s ears, so he specifically sent me to summon you.”

Jiang Ye smiled faintly, calm and composed: “If the Peak Master calls, then let’s go at once. Please lead the way, young brother.”

Since joining the Tianyang Peak of the Tianqing Sect, he had never met this Peak Master.

He had only heard fragments from Lu Ming and Chen Lili.

Rumor had it this Tianyang Peak Master was an old man with a fiery temper.

Older than him, eccentric in conduct, his cultivation base unfathomable.

“Jiang Zhishi, this way, please.”

The disciple led the way with respectful demeanor, the two ascending the winding mountain path.

Under the disciple’s guidance, Jiang Ye reached the peak’s summit for the first time.

The view opened before him.

It was a broad, flat expanse, dozens of zhang across.

At its center stood a massive black gold cauldron.

The cauldron stood three zhang tall, entirely black as ink, yet faint golden patterns glowed within its surface.

Inside the cauldron, fierce flames burned.

The fire surged upward, over a zhang high, warping the surrounding air.

Even from afar, Jiang Ye felt the searing heat rushing toward him.

The heat was tangible, crashing against his body in waves, as if to roast him alive.

The air atop the peak was scorching; every breath felt like swallowing fire.

Fortunately, his body was protected by Great Sun Heavenly Flame true qi.

The searing heat striking him felt like a spring breeze—no threat at all.

He could even clearly sense the heat resonating faintly with his internal true qi, causing his Golden Core to stir slightly within his dantian.

But the guiding disciple suffered terribly.

He was only at the Mid-Refining stage, still unstarted in qi cultivation—how could he endure such heat?

Now he looked like he’d been placed in a steamer, face flushed, sweat pouring from his brow, clothes soaked and clinging to his skin.

“J...Jiang Zhishi...”

The disciple struggled to speak, voice trembling: “The Peak Master is behind the cauldron. My strength is too low—I can only bring you this far...”

He bowed to Jiang Ye, the motion awkward, then turned and nearly rolled down the mountain, as if staying another second would melt him entirely.

Jiang Ye watched his hasty retreat, shook his head slightly, then turned and walked calmly toward the back of the cauldron.

The closer he drew to the massive black gold cauldron, the fiercer the heat became.

He sensed the arrangement here was no accident—the temperature distribution was meticulously designed.

Clearly, this cauldron’s setup held meaning.

He circled the cauldron and finally saw the legendary Tianyang Peak Master.

An emaciated old man with sparse hair, his face deeply wrinkled like bark, sat cross-legged on the ground like a weathered, withered pine.

His eyes were closed, his breath nearly imperceptible; had his chest not risen and fallen with the faintest motion, Jiang Ye might have thought him a petrified corpse in meditation.

For a moment, even Jiang Ye couldn’t tell whether the Peak Master was cultivating fire qi—or sleeping.

He made no sound, merely stood quietly to the side, gaze fixed on the massive black gold cauldron.

He wanted to see what secret this cauldron held that made the peak’s heat so unnatural.

Moments passed, second by second.

After roughly one incense stick’s time:

“Ah... ha...”

The old man finally opened his eyes, yawning sleepily, looking like a bear just waking from hibernation.

He rubbed his eyes, then finally noticed Jiang Ye, about to speak—

His expression changed instantly!

In the next instant, two flames erupted in his cloudy old eyes!

These were not illusions—they were real, flickering, scorching flames, burning within his eye sockets without harming his eyeballs.

“This is...”

The instant Jiang Ye’s gaze met those flames, searing pain shot through his eyes, as if scorched at close range.

He instinctively shut his eyes, brow furrowed.

When he opened them again:

“Huh?!”

The flames in the old man’s eyes had vanished—but he now stood directly before Jiang Ye, mere inches away.

His speed was so swift Jiang Ye hadn’t seen a single movement.

The old man stared in disbelief, eyes wide, fixed on Jiang Ye, exclaiming:

“You cultivated Great Sun Heavenly Flame true qi?! And you succeeded in forming a Golden Core?!”

Jiang Ye wiped his stinging eyes, face calm as still water: “Yes, Peak Master. I was fortunate to break through.”

“Fortunate? Impossible!”

The old man chuckled, his smile tinged with excitement and disbelief.

He shook his head repeatedly:

“Other qi cultivation methods in the sect might allow lucky Golden Core formation—but this one...”

“The Great Sun Heavenly Flame Qi Cultivation Art can never be mastered by luck!”

“I trained this method for three years and still failed!”

“No one understands better than me how hard it is to cultivate fire qi with this art!”

Saying this, he began circling Jiang Ye, shaking his head and muttering, like an old monkey who’d found treasure.

The more he looked, the more he sighed:

“You’re a talent! Too bad you’re a bit old...”

“Ah, such is the world...”

“So many prodigies, buried by humble origins...”

Jiang Ye’s eyelid twitched slightly, barely holding back.

No!

How many years had it been since someone called him “you kid”?

Though he knew the old man was older, hearing those three words from him still filled Jiang Ye with intense dissonance.

“By the way, almost forgot to tell you.”

The old man seemed to remember something, stopped circling, and laughed heartily:

“I’m Luo Song!”

He sized up Jiang Ye, eyes full of admiration:

“Funny—I’ve heard your name more than once from Yueyao’s mouth.”

“Didn’t expect to meet you today—you’re even stronger than I imagined.”

He paused, then suddenly slapped his thigh:

“If you’d joined the Tianqing Sect fifty years ago, you’d be the Tianyang Peak Master!”

He immediately shook his head:

“No, no—I misspoke.”

“You’d be the Tianqing Sect’s Sect Master!”

Hearing this, Jiang Ye was slightly stunned.

He hadn’t expected the old man’s evaluation to be so high.

Just because he cultivated the Great Sun Heavenly Flame Qi Cultivation Art?

“Forget it, no need to depress you with such talk.”

The old man patted Jiang Ye’s shoulder, sighing: “Fate governs all—no one escapes it.”

“By the way, Xiao Jiang, let me speak plainly.”

He suddenly shifted tone, face growing serious:

“Since you’ve formed your Golden Core, I’ll promote you to Elder.”

“Tell me—what would you like to oversee on Tianyang Peak? I’ll do my best to arrange it.”

Hearing this, Jiang Ye’s eyes brightened slightly.

As he’d expected, reaching the Golden Core realm meant becoming mid-to-high tier within the sect—status would rise significantly.

He’d once heard Lu Ming and Chen Lili discuss the perks of sect Elders.

Just the monthly contribution points alone amount to six thousand, not to mention the expensive elixirs granted each month as well.

As for the authority at hand, it is astonishingly vast.

Yet Jiang Ye had no interest in power; he cared only about strengthening his own cultivation base.

After a moment’s thought, he said, “Master Luo, I’ve grown quite accustomed to staying in the herb garden...”

“Oh?!”

The old man raised an eyebrow:

“So you wish to remain in the herb garden?”

He suddenly burst into laughter:

“Perfect—Qin Lie has come to me several times already, begging to be moved elsewhere; he nearly drove me mad!”

He clapped Jiang Ye on the shoulder and declared decisively:

“Then from today onward, you shall replace Qin Lie as the Elder of the Herb Garden!”