A Chaotic World

The young inscription master Lu Tianzi accepted Grandmaster Xiqin's terms, and the two would be competing in terms of their inscriptions skills in two months' time.

This was a piece of news that took the entire Timeless Flame Sect by surprise, even more so than when Grandmaster Xiqin first issued the challenge to Lu Tianzi.

For a member of the younger generation to accept such a challenge from the Head Inscription Master of the Yellow Spark faction, many people believed that Lu Tianzi was simply taking a gamble.

The information gathering ability of the Timeless Flame Sect was pretty good. By now, even most of the ordinary sect members had already heard of Lu Tianzi's accomplishments back at Sacred Cliff City.

It was indeed rather impressive, but that was only considering the fact that he was young and still had the potential to improve.

As he was right now, Lu Tianzi could hardly compare to someone like Grandmaster Xiqin who had honed his skills through centuries of hard work and research.

However, some still admired Lu Tianzi for accepting the challenge.

In pursuit of improvement, young talents had to continuously challenge themselves to reach a greater height. On top of that, Grandmaster Xiqin was actually putting up such wondrous rewards.

It would be a shame not to try for it!

This matter quickly became the hottest topic within the sect, and even the sect leader got to know about it.

However, Sect Master Xuan Yongheng chose not to interfere. If anything, he was actually rather amused by the matter.

With his decree, the Timeless Flame Sect officially approved of this competition between Grandmaster Xiqin and Lu Tianzi, further expanding it into a full blown Inscription Meet!

An open invitation was announced to the world, welcoming every inscription master to join in the fun.

The Timeless Flame Sect promised great rewards for those who performed well in the Inscription Meet. In exceptional cases, perhaps there would even be a chance to join the ancient sect!

This announcement spread like wildfire, and inscription masters from all over the continent began to get ready for the event.

If they somehow managed to impress everyone and join the Timeless Flame Sect, they would be set for life!

Because of how big the matter had become, the elders of the Blue Ember faction could no longer sit back and watch.

On top of putting their hopes on Lu Tianzi, they started preparing their in-house inscription masters for the event as well.

After all, even if Lu Tianzi were to lose the competition against Grandmaster Xiqin, their faction would not lose face as long as another of their inscription masters ended up shining during the event!

"Here it is, the Valley of Finesse!" Young Master Xuan Hao exclaimed emotionally as he looked at the scene before him.

After obtaining the approval from the elders, Young Master Xuan Hao had brought Lu Tianzi to the Blue Ember faction's sacred land.

In fact, they were not the only ones here.

While they were busy making their preparations, other inscription masters of the Blue Ember faction had already arrived before them.

As for Ruan Ling and Nanlan Qianxue, the elders did not allow them to enter.

No matter what, the Valley of Finesse was still a sacred land of the Blue Ember faction, and not just anyone would be allowed to enter. Lu Tianzi's case was an exception made solely because of the current situation.

"So this is the Valley of Finesse," Lu Tianzi looked at the thick greenery before him.

The Valley of Finesse existed outside of Eternal Flame City, but it was still near enough that nobody would dare to try intruding into the area. After all, not many would be able to bear the wrath of the Timeless Flame Sect.

It covered a huge area, its ends stretching beyond what the eyes could see.

Even before entering, Lu Tianzi could already see that there was a plethora of rare plants within the lush greenery, perhaps due to the much denser World Origin Energy here.

"Impressive, isn't it? The Valley of Finesse is known to be able to hone a person's psyche, which makes it especially beneficial for improvement in auxiliary arts that require inspiration. Once you enter, you will be even more surprised!" Young Master Xuan Hao said with pride. "Compared to the sacred lands of other factions, our Valley of Finesse doesn't pale in comparison at all. In fact, it is even comparable to Frostguard Mountain!"

"Frostguard Mountain?" Lu Tianzi asked.

"Sigh... Brother Tianzi is excellent in most aspects, but you really need to start reading more," Young Master Xuan Hao shook his head in disapproval. "Frostguard Mountain is a famed sacred cultivation ground in the north, controlled by an influence with the same name. Regardless, Brother Tianzi doesn't have to worry about that for now. There will be chances to check it out in the future. Now, it is more important to focus on the Inscription Meet."

"Mm," Lu Tianzi nodded before turning his attention back to the greenery before them. "Shall we enter then?"

"Actually, I will pass on that," Young Master Xuan Hao shrugged. "I still have quite a few things that I need to tend to, so I will be sending you off here. But do be careful while you are in there. Because it has been kept in a pristine condition, there are also powerful beasts that roam free within the valley. With Brother Tianzi's strength, you should be fine even if you encounter most of them, but don't push yourself too hard. There is also a powerful formation set up to prevent these beasts from leaving the valley. If possible, try not to enter too deep so that you can escape from the valley if necessary."

"Understood," Lu Tianzi clasped his fists towards Young Master Xuan Hao. "If there's nothing else, I will see you in two months' time."

"Farewell," Young Master Xuan Hao returned the greeting.

After parting ways with Young Master Xuan Hao, Lu Tianzi ventured alone into the Valley of Finesse.

As he ventured deeper, Lu Tianzi could not help but feel more and more surprised.

Perhaps it was because the Valley of Finesse had been preserved in a pristine condition, but on top of the dense World Origin Energy, there was also a thick layer of spiritual energy in the air. This spiritual energy was extremely beneficial to spiritual plants, allowing them to grow in abundance.

Lu Tianzi might have a rather decent amount of knowledge in the field of herbalism, but there were still countless species of spiritual plants here that he had never come across before.

There was another important point though.

Spiritual energy was not just beneficial to spiritual plants, but also to martial artists who practised the Spiritual Essence cultivation system!

Lu Tianzi had to constantly resist the urge to just sit down and start cultivating as he slowly explored the valley.

He realised that the deeper he went, the denser the spiritual energy became.

Rather than settling for the outskirts of the Valley of Finesse, he might as well go as deep as possible!

However, he did not forget the main reason why he was here either.

Along the way, Lu Tianzi collected many rare spiritual herbs that could be used as inscription materials.

Many of these were materials that could not be easily obtained outside, which meant that they often had to be substituted with lesser alternatives during the course of drawing the relevant inscriptions.

With these actual spiritual plants in hand, Lu Tianzi would no longer be restricted in that manner, allowing him to draw his inscriptions at their fullest potential.

From time to time, he would also encounter wild beasts, but they were generally of the Essence Condensation rank and below.

As long as Lu Tianzi did not need parts of their body as inscription materials, he would simply scare them off by releasing a bit of his aura of the Origin Core realm.

After he ventured deep enough, Lu Tianzi came across a pleasant surprise.

It was a spiritual plant that he had never come across before, or at least, not personally.

However, he had seen it before in Lord Er's memories.

It was a Raven Vein Lily, one of the ten thousand poisonous ingredients needed to refine the Thousand Venoms Bead!

Back then, Lu Tianzi had learnt the method to refine the Thousand Venoms Bead. Unfortunately, there were many ingredients that he did not possess, and was thus unable to proceed with the refinement of the Thousand Venoms Bead.

Now that he was able to obtain one of these ingredients, he was one step closer to refining hte Thousand Venoms Bead.

How could he not be excited?

Lu Tianzi carefully harvested the Raven Vein Lily, making sure that he did not damage the plant in any manner whatsoever.

At that moment, Lu Tianzi would never have expected that in the following two months, he would be able to come across many more of such rare spiritual plants, thereby completing his collection of all the necessary ingredients for the Thousand Venoms Bead!

***

During these two months, Nanlan Qianxue did not slack off either.

Since she was unable to help Lu Tianzi for the upcoming inscription meet, she decided on focus on what she could do instead – cultivation and talisman making.

Because of that, she spent a few days visiting the markets of Eternal Flame City, procuring items necessary for talisman making before going into secluded cultivation once again.

It was only nearing the end of the two months that Nanlan Qianxue finally stepped out of her room to meet up with a fuming Ruan Ling.

"Those servants actually sent a six year old girl to the other end of Eternal Flame City on an errand, how ridiculous is that?" Ruan Ling complained. "We should never have let Bo'er return to the servants' quarters after she recovered!"

"I'm all right! It's just collecting some cooking ingredients," Bo'er anxiously said from the side. "I was the one who agreed to it, so please don't blame the others!"

"You are too nice, Bo'er! This is why they are taking advantage of you! Sometimes you just need to say no!" Ruan Ling chided.

"B-But I am really okay..." Bo'er replied timidly.

Even though she said that, Ruan Ling knew for certain that Bo'er was just afraid of trouble.

How long would it take for a six year old girl with absolutely no cultivation to traverse the entire Eternal Flame City?

She would need weeks at least, maybe even months!

Ruan Ling could not help but feel bad for the little girl.

Who knew what she experienced during her time as a slave, such that she would agree to whatever was asked of her?

"Let's just get the matter done first," Nanlan Qianxue said. "Do you know where it is?"

"Yes, it is a famous shop that has always been supplying the Timeless Flame Sect with cooking ingredients," Ruan Ling replied with a sigh. "I will lead the way."

"T-Thank you," Bo'er said.

Even though she was afraid that the two elder sisters would blow up the matter, she also understood that the two elder sisters were doing this for her sake.

Ruan Ling picked up Bo'er, and they left the headquarters of the Timeless Flame Sect.

Along the way, Nanlan Qianxue noticed that the streets of Eternal Flame City had become much more crowded than usual.

Seeing that she was looking around curiously, Ruan Ling guessed what was on her mind and said, "The competition between Brother Tianzi and that darned Grandmaster Xiqin has become such a big thing. Now that the date is near, martial artists from all around the world have arrived. Many of them are inscription masters wanting to join in the Inscription Meet, but even more are just here to join in the fun. Because of the sudden influx of martial artists, there are also a lot more conflicts within Eternal Flame City. Let's keep a low profile on the way so as to avoid any unnecessary trouble."

"Mm," Nanlan Qianxue nodded.

Even if Ruan Ling did not say so, Nanlan Qianxue had always been the type to just mind her own business anyway.