Aside: Iris Xin's Sect Exam

The following tale is the conclusion to Iris Xin and Song Lin exam on how they entered the silver daylight sect. It was one of the many tales that Iris spun in her time in the duchy.

"Final testing and then presenting to the elders are the last two parts of sect admissions test." Song Lin stated relaxing against one of the boulders that were in the clearing. Iris had stopped listen over an hour ago and was instead working on recovering her spirt. Song Lin scowled at her but said nothing.

Silver daylight sect did not have any of the large sect features, like illusionary realms, colosseums, cultivation arrays, or five-star restaurants. Truly a shame, as Iris nibbled on cold bun rations, tears in her eyes over the disparity of it all.

"Next time listen to me!" Dropping a small, wrapped bundle on her lap before Lin stumbled off.

"I wonder what her problem is. I will need to thank her latter." Considering the smell, it had to be something warm and tasty. Iris never had enough before venturing out, and even than travel supplies were inconsistent.

Munching on the wrapped meal, she observed the others as they filled up the field. Several covered areas made of braided wood, as well as several picnic tables and chairs occupied one conner of the area. A few outer disciples went around selling street foods for reasonable rates. It seemed that there would be more time.

Grateful to not have to spend money, she daydreamed about being rich and famous. Her parents had loved her at least. Her life had been a hard but rewarding existence. Each days work always bore fruit.

No one decide to bother her as she occupied a small spot on the grass, having finished her small meal. The sun nudged along before one of the elders stood and announced the last test was to begin. Brushing herself off she rejoined Song Lin in the crowed that formed around the elder.

"You will all be entering the sacred forest behind me. There in the naturaly dense qi, you will be required to complete a task." Gravely as his voice was, he projected so well that there was no doubt everyone could hear.

"You will acquire spirt bead and be teleported into the forest. There you will refine your spirt bead into a base spirt well. To do this you must empower your beads with qi that matches its type. Maps are also provided with locations of rich elemental qi locations. If one perhaps has the roots or talents, one could simply cultivate the bead itself. Monsters and spirt beast also make fine food for transforming your beads."

There was a pause as the elder stood majestically, a light breeze caught their clothes, carrying them in the wind gently adding to his presence. Ticking time passed as the elder didn't speak anymore.

"Hmm you were supposed to teleport by now." Turning slightly, he looked down, before humming loudly.

Kicking it a few times, it seemed to do the trick. Circles of neon formed around the participants tossing them deep into the sacred forest.

Song Lin had no trouble landing on her feet use to teleportation, given that it was her second time, Iris had collapsed in a heap on the forest floor. Unbothered, she straitened herself out and stood, feeling a strange weight on her hip. There attached to her belt was a sparkly babble.

"Mines fire what's yours?" Song Lin found herself scowling more.

"No greetings? You just come up and talk to me?" Iris guessed that they did things differently in high class families.

"Greeting most esteemed and noble lady, this lowly scum dares do not intercede thee without lest honoring thy most noble and ancient customs." With a sarcastic sweeping bow, Song Lin was left befuddled.

"That's not what I meant; I'm just not use to people being so casual around me." She looked uncomfortable at this, so Iris let it be.

"I see, Miss Lin which type did you get?"

"Fire as well."

Wind blew across, and a single leaf made a few lazy loops before disappearing somewhere.

"I have a wooden stone base." Iris said after the tumble leaf passed by.

"If I could cultivate fire, I wouldn't be here." Lin family was rather famous for their fire based offensive techniques. If Iris paid more attention, she would have realized this was why they referred to Song Lin as trash. Despite her excellence in making talismans her lack of fire nature was seen as a disgrace.

"Well let's go to this big fiery scull here marked on the map." With no other objections they set off in the completely wrong direction.

Behind them was a specific group of four people. These four hated that the trash they looked down upon was still in the running to be in the same sect as they. Even more, some outsider looked down on the Lin family that they coveted for their own selfish power.

Three were non-descript males, generic and average in appearance. The last was the girl who was attractive, yet far inferior to the curvaceous bomb shell that was Song Lin. She hated that girl who always out shined her.

It did not help the fate of these four, that they were goons being used by another older women of the Lin family who felt threatened by Song Lin.

"They said they had fire beads, but for some reason they are heading to the grass land area." Goon A said.

Goon B wasn't as sure but checked the map.

"There might be passage to this, Salamander cave of burning rock, there doesn't appear to be any other place to get fire qi in the area."

"Let's ambush that uppity bimbo at the cave than, after they engage the spirt beast there or are distracted cultivating the beads." Girl goon said flipping her hair behind her shoulder.

Song Lin on the other hand had taking the map from Iris, scolded her than promised to help get to where she needed to be, forever. The last word was an internal thoughts of Miss Lin.

Now they were proceeding in the right direction, it was just there was no where to proceed to very well. Since they hadn't charted the path, rather travel by compass point. It was no surprise when they stumbled into a small inheritance, lost, and forgotten to time.

"I've never seen anything like this before." Holding a small sect background, they had two low tier gold orbs and one mid-tier, in the entire beast alliance. Boobsalot on the other hand did know.

"Its an Inheritance. Each time a cultivator advances a realm after building their foundation they leave an inheritance of some kind. Most families write books to their siblings or leave some of the small treasure they found or weapons and the like, which they have outgrown."

"Sects do something similar since most of the stuff belongs to the sect anyways."

"This is either someone who left the sect or one of the more successful disciples."

"Are they always this small?" Iris asked? It was just a small stone well, with a small wood cover and a small circular stand that held a few scrolls. Moss creped along the stone, but there was no other foliage growing into it.

"Golden orbs aren't a dime a dozen, but most people make it that far by the end of their life's, so it's not often that large. Nascent soul stages are often treasure troves for those who can find them."

"This is a treatise on essccens fires." Iris said as she opened one of the scrolls. Jiggly smacked her over the head.

"Idiot! You are supposed to offer something first and say a prayer for the one who left this for others." Rubbing her head for a moment Iris pulled a small, braided bracelet out of her pocket. Placing it on the stand. She closed her eyes and bowed her head for a moment. Song Lin followed suit, placing an artsy version of one of her talismans on the other side.

"I don't think these will help me at all. Do you need them, Miss Lin?" Glancing at the two scrolls there wasn't any real need from Iris side. Song on t he other hand found the last scroll interesting.

"I'll take this, it has a set of lightning qi abilities that are idea for small delicate work that I use when I make talismans."

Nodding without understanding, they left the last scroll there, hoping someone would find it useful.

Progress to the flaming skull on the map was slow but sure, stopping to rest in a tree for some tasteless rations. The two made light conversation before there was a notable increase in surrounding warmth.

The terrain had become rougher, rockery as well. The cave itself was less foreboding than Iris imagined. Rather than a jaw from some abyssal creature, it was a normal rocky cave entrance.

"Somehow I expected better." Iris muttered disappointed in the common nature of the cave, to which Song Lin just rolled her eyes.

"It is a place where we could find fire qi. So, lets head in carefully, it does have a strange name."

"It was named?" Iris asked as she received another eye roll. The two slowly wondered into the cave, the four goons counted to sixty before slowly skulking after them.

There was an odd hush as the rocks muted yet still echoed noise about. What surprised the pair most was the wind. Its source became obvious soon enough. Handicaped by the sound, the two still noticed some noise behind them, yet when they looked, they saw nothing, so they continued along their way.

The four goons on the other hand had been forced to contort and conform their bodies to the various nooks and crannies in the rock formations. It took time and eventual chiropractic care to recover.

Geysers had been the source of the winds it turned out. The cave branched out from a main room that was once a water reservoir an eon ago. There was off shoot caves and scattered across pillars and overhangs were jets of steam and water. The rock was smooth and polished as the water cleanly surfaced the stone. If one looked near the back of the cavernous space, one could see bule water-fire salamanders basking gently in the heat from the steam.

"They don't seem to notice or care about us." Iris muttered not wanting to attract attention.

"Small ledge over there. We can just chill and filter the fire energy from the mixed earthen water."

"Small compared to you indeed." Iris muttered with great jealousy.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you over the steam jets." Iris quickly shook her head, not wanting to get into it with her new…friend? Complex human relations were not the girl's strong point, as long as she didn't throw her lethal weapons around Iris could live with her.

"Let's try that." Climbing over rough terrain that was constantly trying to kill you was less than ideal. Ribbons of steam and mist hung in the air, illuminated by a few light talismans from Song Lin. Despite the light the salamanders seemed content so there was no issue.

Given the natural darkness of the cave it was slow navigating, but before they could clamper on to the ridge itself, a brilliant tongue of fire launched itself across the cave. Said lack of lighting made it stand out and miss the intend targets completely.

Panicked, the goon squad leapt out, goon three trying to reach the salamanders to antagonize them.

"We will settle our score today, Song Lin! And you too boobless wonder!" Girl Goon sharing a similar body structure to iris knew of the pain that her chest brought about. It was a very effective dig. Iris didn't hesitate to throw every pointy thing she carried at the girl, who epped as she dove for cover.

There wasn't time to do much else as the echo of dozens of now angry spirt beast who were used to quite afternoons in their personal cave sauna. Iris now had an epiphany about both the flaming skull on the map and the why the obviously blue lizards had fire qi.

They had ignited into a watery blue flame that looked deceptively cool, as evidence the cave rock changed ashen.

"Hey, my beads charging all the way from here!" It was an airheaded moment that Song Lin spent days living down.

The only other way out was now blocked by a few goons, who knew they just had to outrun two girls not a hoard of disturbed quadrupeds.

Unfortunately, goon three was the first to fail as he attempted to climb over a geyser it erupted, knocking him down. His fate was…hollowed. Unable to navigate the two ladies rushed to their ledge.

"Now what do we do?" Despite her disciplined upbring hordes of lizards was not something one planed for.

"Crazy idea no idea if this will work." Her recently accrued scroll indicated that essence flames had something special to them. There was very little on the fires themselves since those who knew didn't want others to know and make it harder for them to counter or defend against.

"Go fire!" Predictably nothing happened, so it seemed she would have to manipulate fire. Forming fire out of her soul scape was something she never did before but since fiery doom was on either side, Iris didn't think it could hurt.

Twisting around a bit, she focused inward and gently coaxed a bit of it out. A lance of pink bisected the closest lizard.

It was at this time the Song Lin jumped behind her scared of being hit and rested her mountains on Iris head. For a brief instant, Iris felt she could see the secrets of the universe laid bare in the neat package of two perfect pillows. It had been enough.

Calling up a small tracer flame, she launched it into the center of the salamander group. Vine tendrils blossomed as it ate on the salamanders' flames, slowly growing larger. The goon squad decide it was better to flee out right and didn't hesitate to sprint out of the cave as fast as they could.

Hiding behind her, Song Lin couldn't help but see the slow growing pink bubble gum monstrosity devour its way through the entire salamander pack.

"We should run too. I don't think it will listen."

"What does that mean?"

"Run." Taking off down a different path, the two duck and dipped their way around the mad flame that had come to occupy the cave. Barling into darkness, flash of pink and crimson lit the way as they scrambled down a large passage that narrowed rapidly. Slowing to not become part of the cave structure, they felt they're way into the darkness. It was a complicated process, as the creatures that could navigate simply didn't have to clamper over rocks and shimmy along gaps and hope that things worked out. It was fortunate for them however that the ravenous flames did not pursue them. In absents of it they managed to calm down and felt great relief when the passage widened.

"That's big." There was a lot of better things that could be said but the two of them managed to produce big.

Understatement, the largest of the blue fire salamanders was lounging in natural bath. At fifty years they gained a Damascus steel pattern in their scales, which helped the pair age the lizard. This trial turned south really fast the pair felt indigently.

Large beast like this were even more desirable, when one had a much stronger foundation, and a large set of skills for use on spirt beast rather than two normal regular cultivators.

"Any plans." There was a pause as both stared at the monster resting peacefully, before they looked at the cave in the soft blue firelight.

"Do you have anything that makes a large explosion?" Iris asked. It seemed that they had come to the same conclusion. After exchanging some hushed words, the two put a plan into action.

Song Lin crept into the cave as slowly as possible. Working her way around the pool, and towards the large cave face just to the right of the blue torchlight. Iris for her part was focusing on how to get a single clean hit from her own flame. Their plan was simple. Hit the big guy with everything she had to distract it. While Song Lin used every talisman in her inventory to drop the cave itself on it.

How else were two helpless girls suppose to get rid of the big bad lizard?

Unlike before there hadn't been any problems getting into position, as no goons leapt out to ruin things. So, on que Iris simply executed her plan, and did her best to lance the lizard In one go. Iris had clearly underestimated an untamed essence fire, because before the lizard could roar or react to her small poking lance of fire, the rest of it gouged its way through the rocks.

Nothing really could prepare someone for a giant monster made of cotton candy flame to eat its way through a few dozen feet of rock. The rolling boiling mass of rock and gum made its way after the concentrated lance of wood flower fire. Said lance of sparkly flame hadn't dissipated instantly, occupied instead the outer scales of a gigantic and roused blue salamander.

Titanically crashing together, Flame goo and lizard clawed at each other, sparks flying. Iris leapt down, finding that she was spending a depressing amount of time dodging flames and other things trying to kill her. Song Lin didn't know what her next step was so as Iris bounded towards her, she just chucked the wad of talismans at the two creatures.

Arcing gracefully across the cavern, the rack of papers paid no heed to the dispirited situation. Rather it merely fluttered slightly before igniting.

Iris and Song Lin saw the brilliant flash scorching like the sun and found that darkness had fallen outside. Neither of the girls remembered how such a thing occurred, both rendered unconscious in the explosion that had occurred. Someone had laid them on blankets and there were several sect members wandering around.

"How did we end up here?" Iris asked but didn't get any response. Her limbs had patently refused to listen, and her mouth didn't move, and no sound came out. There was a vague sense that Song Lin was next to her. Unable to determine or move, Iris felt she had one recourse, go back to sleep, this had to be a dream.

"Good to see you finally up." Eyes fluttered open at the voice, now in a bed, in some form of medical ward. Across from her was another peerless woman, big sects had it all it seemed, with a pale smock on over her sect robes.

"What's going on?" She asked her hoarse voice crackled, as her throat burned from disuse.

"The cavern exploded." Good to know? There wasn't much Iris could say to that, but as her thoughts began to settle, she started asking questions.

"Song Lin, the exam, is the salamander gone?" Chuckling the peerless lady handed her a glass. Relief was instant, the bitter aftertaste even faster. Smiling just a bit wider at the lady's reaction, she took the cup back and handed her one of water.

"Song Lin is in the next room, and she is just fine. You are safe here so there's nothing you truly need to worry about. I don't know if you passed, but whatever the two of you did was impressive enough since they called in the medical hall elder himself. Its all going to be fine, sweetie." Whoever this woman was she certainly held a calming bedside manner. After a few more drinks and light comments most of Iris worries had been assuaged enough to rest.

"Don't worry dear, rest and recover, then you can figure out what to do next." Leaving a small foil wrapped candy on the nightstand, the pretty lady left Iris to sleep.

In the coming days her and Song Lin's legends had grown. A fifty-year salamander was not easy prey. When paired with some sort of ability to blow a hole in mountains, there was little else the sect could speak of. Song Lin's impressive looks(chest) and her part in the mountain reduction act kept the two in the gossip for a long time. After their discharge certain matters were required to be resolved.

Ultimately somewhere in the explosion their spirt beads had so much fire qi they exploded when handled. In light of this there was several questions of how exactly two foundation building cultivators destroyed part of a mountain. Essence fire by nature commanded all lesser flames, in absence of her ability to control it, a semi sentient blob of fire was born. When it was added with the fifty-year salamander and a wad of high-class talismans for causing explosions and all sorts of other effects…

Cave of doom got its lid opened like a bear destroying a tin can.

There was no question that the two had become members of the silver day night sect. Direct disciples under the vice sect leader at that.

For Iris, it was the beginning of misery that came with success. At twenty-six, holding an essence flame was almost unheard of. No one except the great 5 sects would look for something like that.

Apparently, the grand sect leader or whatever the name was in this sect, had a secret technique skill that required more than one essence fire, yet the sect hadn't managed to acquire a talent with one. With her flame it wouldn't be unheard of to be scouted, had there not been one small problem for the young sage to be.

The sect was holding the destroyed mountain, lost spirt beasts and any other infraction they could think of to bury the young girl under debt.

Such things wouldn't hold miss Xin forever, but she had lived a life where every cent had counted and that if one could pay such debts, they did. Things exclusive to sect were great bait, and knowledge of the spirt flames was incredibly scarce, just as the flames themselves. The sect leadership hoped that they could hold her long enough to tempt her with such an incredible ability, that they could get a master in house with two flames, and start the ascent of their sect.

Long term it failed to work out that way but for many years Iris Xin stayed as a disciple of the sect. She regaled that story another time however.