As he got closer, Brian Carter could see clearly that the newcomer was tall and thin, with a pointed chin, a hooked nose, and narrow, elongated eyes. He wore a loose, flowing robe, embroidered with strange patterns in gold thread finer than a strand of hair.

There was no visible movement from the man, yet his sleeves fluttered gracefully, and around the edges of those golden patterns, illusory flame butterflies danced up and down—old ones constantly vanishing, new ones continuously emerging from the designs.

It seemed that it was precisely because of these fire butterflies that the man moved so swiftly, arriving at the mountain gate in the blink of an eye.

True Ryan Brooks’s face lit up with joy. He waved his hand behind him, and the disciples all knelt down with a thunderous sound, shouting in unison, “Welcome, esteemed elder!”

True Ryan Brooks and the other elders stepped forward together, cupping their fists in greeting: “Master Cooper, you must be tired from your journey!”

Daniel Cooper glanced at the crowd, his smile not reaching his eyes: “You have all been waiting for a long time. Mr. Cooper feels uneasy.”

But judging by the color of his face, he was clearly at ease—there was not the slightest hint of “unease.”

“It’s only right, only right,” True Ryan Brooks replied politely, “The Master, please come inside!”

Daniel Cooper nodded, then turned and bowed slightly. The little girl behind him called out, “Let’s go in.” Seeing the looks from the crowd, he smiled and explained, “Everyone, this is my distant niece Emily Bailey. She insisted on coming along to broaden her horizons—there’s no problem with that, is there?”

“No, not at all!” True Ryan Brooks quickly shook his head, then smiled kindly at the little girl, praising, “Miss Bailey has extraordinary talent, and with a senior like Master Cooper to guide her, her future is limitless.”

The little girl had rosy cheeks and snowy skin, her clear, large eyes tinged slightly with blue like gemstones, and her hair was neat and clean. She should have been the very picture of freshness and cuteness, yet for some reason, as soon as Ryan Brooks and the others looked at her, they felt a chill pierce straight to their hearts! All these old Daoists, with centuries of cultivation, couldn’t help but shiver.

Hearing True Ryan Brooks’s praise, Emily Bailey remained cold and indifferent, merely nodding slightly in response.

Daniel Cooper apologized, “She grew up deep in the mountains and has had little contact with people. Please be understanding.”

All the old Daoists laughed it off—no one dared to blame her for being impolite.

Daniel Cooper then asked True Ryan Brooks, “Headmaster Ryan Brooks, is the fire chamber for the Three-Wen Earthfire ready?”

True Ryan Brooks quickly nodded, “We’ve already cleared it for you, The Master. Please have some tea in the Xuanwu Hall while we make the final preparations. I’ll escort you there shortly.”

Daniel Cooper nodded in satisfaction.

True Ryan Brooks and the other elders accompanied Daniel Cooper and Emily Bailey to the Xuanwu Hall, leaving the disciples, who had been standing all morning, with nothing more to do.

Brian Carter had been waiting all along. Ever since he entered Subao Mountain, the two voices in his mind had been commenting on everything he saw and everyone he met.

When Daniel Cooper appeared, he waited for those two voices, but surprisingly, neither spoke up.

After Daniel Cooper left, David Reed finally couldn’t hold back: “Matthew Clark, say something!”

This time, Matthew Clark replied slowly, “What’s there to say? Just a half-baked amateur. That outer robe he’s wearing uses some basic artificer techniques. The gold thread is a hundred-times-tempered alloy, refined with a crude version of the Three Divine Yan Smelting Art, combining a fire array and a wind array to borrow the power of the Great Sun True Fire for flight.”

“But his technique is really poor. By my standards, to do this properly, you shouldn’t use even a trace of your own spiritual energy—just relying on the power of the Great Sun True Fire alone to fly would barely meet the lowest standard for an artificer.”

“That guy’s fire array converts the Great Sun True Fire into spiritual energy far too inefficiently. He still needs to use his own spiritual energy to drive it; the power converted from the Great Sun True Fire is just an auxiliary.”

All morning, Brian Carter had been hearing people talk about how remarkable Master Daniel Cooper was, how revered his status was in the cultivation world. He never expected that, in the mouths of these two, the man didn’t even meet the lowest standard for an artificer.

“Isn’t your standard a bit too high?”

……

Behind Subao Mountain, there was an inconspicuous gorge. Seen from above, it was nestled among towering mountains and easily overlooked.

But if you ventured deep into the gorge, pushing through layers of tangled shrubs and old vines, you’d find a narrow crack in the western cliff. Squeezing through about ten zhang, you’d be blocked by solid rock—but in fact, this rock was just an illusion created by an array.

Once the array’s restriction was opened, inside was a hewn passageway, ending in a half-natural stone cavern about ten zhang high and thirty zhang wide. In the center was a spring of fire, gurgling out to form a pool of magma the size of a tabletop. Every quarter of an hour, three rings of fiery red spiritual light would pulse out in turn, making the cave as hot as a pill furnace.

This was the famous Three-Wen Earthfire Chamber.

True Ryan Brooks only escorted them to the cave entrance before tactfully taking his leave. After Daniel Cooper and his niece Emily Bailey entered, he immediately sealed the entrance with a spell, forbidding anyone from spying.