Ashes Of Heaven Book 1 : Solar Calamity

Han Xuhan could easily take an educated guess regarding Mu Ran's suspicious behavior.

Someone like him obviously had secrets that could cause trouble if revealed, the most common among them being abnormal phenomena inside their body, or soul, or cultivation base.

With how terrifying elder Kong's detection skill was, there was hardly a doubt that Mu Ran's secrets would have probably gotten exposed in a jiffy if things had gone the elder's way.

So it wasn't hard to see why Mu Ran had run away like a mouse that has seen a cat. In fact, now that Han Xuhan thought about it...the elder might have the observation method as an excuse to investigate Mu Ran's secrets. Problem was, Kong Ye hadn't considered the fact that despite being an inexperienced beginner, Mu Ran was aware of his own specialty and guarded his secrets fiercely.

Of course, Han Xuhan had bigger things to worry about at the moment. The elder was going to examine his cultivation process again after the second cycle. He could only hope that this scarily perceptive man didn't catch any signs of the zeroth layer of physique transformation realm while doing so. That could be...disastrous.

Thankfully, the lesson that day proceeded without further incidents. Elder Kong kept teaching everyone about the detailed process of cultivation, discussed every disciple's problems while cultivating while solving them on the spot, and watched over Xuhan and Yuen Zhou, the other mortal disciple's cultivation cycles quite thoroughly, explaining many intricate methods to them that didn't even seem to exist in normal cultivation techniques.

Xuhan also got quite an amount of extra attention and advice from the elder due to his cursed curriculum, something that ironically made him both happy and scared shitless.

"This elder Kong really gives off epic boss vibes..." Xuhan muttered to himself as he finally walked out of the hall after the lesson had ended.

Any decent cultivator would live on for centuries. So following the mortal world's style of cramming half a dozen lessons per day was not thankfully present in the world of cultivation.

As he was the last disciple to come out from the hall, he found the mountain peak mostly empty. At one corner, Xiao Wu seemed to have been waiting for him.

"Martial brother, your loan sure seem to be paying off."

Seeing Xiao Wu's envious look, Xuhan snorted.

"Wanna exchange our positions? You take up the loan while I take your curriculum to become a normal disciple-"

"In your dreams, brother."

"Man, I wish I had dreams that good. All I dream about these days is about flying swords taking me up in the sky and then throwing me off," Han Xuhan shook his head sorrowfully, recalling elder Mu's sadism.

"Anyway, what's your impression of elder Kong?"

"He seems to be a very good teacher. Even the respected elders in my family couldn't solve most of the problems he pointed out and gave solutions to today. If the rest of our lessons are anywhere near this level, then I'm confident enough to break through to the next two or three layers within a few months."

Han Xuhan wasn't surprised by the high evaluation coming from Xiao Wu. Even though his knowledge of cultivation was next to zero, he could feel how exceptional and effective the elder's lesson was.

Mentally marking elder Kong as a highly important target of observation and a possible hidden boss of the coming arcs, Xuhan set off for their black sheep mountain peak, accompanied by Xiao Wu.

On the way, their discussion inevitably hit the subject named 'Mu Ran's absurd feat', starred by Mu Ran the protagonist, elder Kong the uselessly powerful cultivator, Xuhan the lackey, and many many arrogant young masters who were there just to be face-slapped, both literally and figuratively.

"You know Xuhan, I recall a certain somebody warning me not to get too close to martial brother Ran. But after seeing what happened today..." Xiao Wu trailed off, fixing a narrow gaze at Xuhan.

Han Xuhan coughed awkwardly. "Brother Wu, what's with that suspicious look? Do you remember the rest of my advice that day?

I told you to help him if you can, and not get bogged down with his personal business. That's exactly what I did today!

We Black Sheep must stick together! Even though that guy is an asshole, I'm pretty sure that he isn't so stupid as to pick a fight with the elder on the first day, unprovoked. That's why I supported him!"

"Wait, wait, wait," Xiao Wu's face controted into an expression of befuddlement.

"What did you mean by that? You're saying that Mu Ran deliberately created a scene? He did all of that with a plan?"

Han Xuhan flashed him a tight smile. "I am just guessing...but I do think I might have understood his motives."

"What do you think would be the easiest way to grab the attention of every elder, every disciple of our generation? How would you plan if you wanted to climb to the top of the hierarchy among the disciples of our generation in one fell swoop?"

"...That's stupid," Xiao Wu argued. "What's the point in that? I mean, I get wanting to be well known to the elders; that's certainly beneficial. But what's the point in climbing these childish hierarchies among the disciples? Every time someone reaches a new layer, the hierarchy shifts."

"Which is why, it was absolutely necessary to beat these disciples up when they are at their weakest. From here on, everybody will steadily improve in terms of cultivation base. What better time than now to imprint your existence on their sensitive little hearts forever?" Han Xuhan answered.

"Wouldn't they just beat the shit out of you a week later when they have a breakthrough?" Xiao Wu scoffed.

"Exactly!" Han Xuhan's exclamation struck him speechless. "Mu Ran wanted to create a pressure, both on himself as well as his stepping stones. All of them will be attempting their best to take revenge on him directly, slapping his face in public in the same way he had slapped theirs! They'll cultivate like crazy and come back stronger, again and again! This realization, this pressure is what Mu Ran seeks! He wants to push his own drive to the limit, manipulate himself into working harder than the rest of his peers. He needs to keep getting stronger faster than them, or he'll be getting beaten up daily from today."

Xiao Wu was stunned by Xuhan's reasoning. Although what he said wasn't unreasonable, why was there a need to be so...extreme?

Meanwhile, Han Xuhan himself felt like he had really caught on to Mu Ran's reasoning. He had read some stories on earth with similar incidents caused by protagonists. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to figure out why anyone would do what Mu Ran did today unless their intelligence was...severely lacking. Mu Ran may not be the smartest guy...but that did not mean he was so retarded as to not understand the implications of his actions today.

As both of them silently walked past a curve on the road, a voice from their back made them stop on their tracks and turn around in confusion.

"Martial brothers! I'm your newest martial sister, Yuen Zhou. I umm...don't know the road to our mountain peak, the Black Sheep Mountain Peak, was it? C-could you take me along with you to where I'm supposed to live from now on?"

A nervous, stammering girl stood behind them, seemingly unsure of what their response might be. Both of them recognized her.

She was the only other mortal disciple among this year's selections.

The problem however was...

"Wait a minute, how can that be? This year, there were only five disciples who were selected for the Black Sheep Peak. We have already met all of them. So what are up to, lying to us like this?"

Xiao Wu, naturally suspicious, didn't hesitate to voice out his doubts with narrowed eyes while alarm bells went off in Xuhan's head.

"Martial brother, please don't misunderstand!" The girl panicked and tried to explain.

"I'm a...special case. I was selected by one of the elders a few years ago. But circumstances allowed me to come to the sect only now. But the elder who selected me died not long after he returned to the sect, something that I wasn't aware of till yesterday. No other elders were willing to take me in. I was asked to return home. But due to some personal reasons, I cannot return to my home any time soon. So after I pleaded to the sect master, it was decided today by the sect master that I'd become a disciple of the black sheep mountain peak. I attended the lessons straight from the meeting with the sect master after this decision was publicized. So I really don't know my way around the sect..."

Han Xuhan and Xiao Wu listened with their mouths open. This girl, she was even more pitiful than them!

The two young men exchanged a glance and saw the sympathy in each other's eyes.

"Martial sister, please don't take any offense at my previous harsh words. We'll be more than glad to accompany you to our mountain peak. I'm Xiao Wu, and this is Han Xuhan. Both of us are your martial brothers from the same peak. So you can always come and seek our help if you run into any trouble."

Xiao Wu laughed in a good natured manner and gestured at her to follow. She smiled at the warm welcome and joined the two of them.

Xuhan, meanwhile, was running his brain at full speed. Which trope is this going to follow? Was there any xianxia novel where the female leads are so pitiful yet they are helped by the side characters instead of the male lead?

He couldn't recall any at the moment. This trope didn't seem very important either. So he made some essential small talks with her on the way, especially advising her not to fall for the loan scam, the dishonest business tactics of the treasury, and to ask for others' help before making any move.

Soon, they finished her registration to the mountain peak and the master disciple ceremony where she seemed to bow to their master with much more reverence than necessary. Master Daheng was extremely pleased and he sent a dark look toward Han Xuhan while she kowtowed to him.

Han Xuhan decided to examine the beautiful and interesting sky upon noticing the resentful gaze of his master.

After sending Yuen Zhou off to her own hut in the mountain peak, Xuhan and Xiao Wu said goodbye to each other and returned to their respective huts.

Unbeknownst to them, a dark gaze was set upon their backs, the source of which was their newest martial sister, Yuen Zhou, who sat inside her hut and stared at them through the small window...

"This doesn't make sense at all. Mu Ran, Xiao Wu, and I were supposed to be the only disciples who would be selected from this year's batch. In the last timeline, Mu Ran became a high and mighty cultivator while I was deceived and harmed by that crazy elder and became unable to cultivate normally. This time I have killed the elder without anyone noticing before he could do any damage to my dao foundation. I no longer have to resort to the demonic cultivation path in this timeline.

But why...why is there another disciple here?

What changed? How did this happen? I had even never heard of any elder Kong in the last timeline...

"It doesn't matter. I'm destined to be Mu Ran's opponent. Even if I have to resort to extreme methods, I must not lose. The great cataclysm is very close. I cannot let this world be destroyed again in this timeline...not when I am on it."