After the elder finished his lecture, he coughed a few times. "Well? Isn't it profound? Go back and study it carefully. Maybe someday you'll be able to perform the first layer of Ninety-Ninefold Purefire."
"It really is difficult." The so-called geniuses muttered, troubled, but they didn't give up. They had the confidence to persevere. As for the outer disciples, most were confused and only understood bits and pieces. Only Evan Yang memorized every word and phrase, etching them deep into his mind.
"Alright, that's it for today. Tomorrow I'll continue with more about the path of cultivation." The elder said, then turned around and stepped onto a banana-leaf fan, leaving the cliff.
"Someday I'll be able to do that too." The geniuses exclaimed in awe, then walked down the steps one by one. The outer disciples waited until they left before slowly following behind—Tiger Sun explained that it was to avoid conflict with the inner disciples.
"Too much bullying." Seeing the geniuses strut around arrogantly, Evan Yang muttered to himself.
Tiger Sun and the others were already used to it and didn't react like Evan Yang did.
Fortunately, those self-proclaimed geniuses ignored the outer disciples behind them, so no one noticed Evan Yang blending in with the crowd. This made it easy for Evan to slip away unnoticed.
After leaving, Evan Yang didn't return to his quarters like the others. Instead, he found an excuse to leave the crowd and headed to the cliff's edge—his usual spot for secret cultivation.
Luckily, this place was deserted except for herb gatherers, and the herb work had been Evan's responsibility for over two years. It had become his personal 'garden,' so he wasn't worried about other disciples coming here.
"Third level of Qi-Refining... I wonder if I can cultivate the first layer of Ninety-Ninefold Purefire." Evan Yang muttered, but he was eager to try. He skillfully reorganized the mnemonic, closed his eyes, and quietly began to cultivate.
Ninety-Ninefold Purefire is a mysterious technique. Since ancient times, few have broken through the sixth layer; only a single genius once reached the fifth layer, but even he couldn't advance further. Most people stagnate at the third or fourth layer. Because of this, the technique is considered abandoned, treasured only by small sects like the Rising Sun Sect. If it were shown to the great sects, they'd probably just laugh it off.
At this moment, Evan Yang, sitting and cultivating, had no idea that outsiders saw this technique as a 'waste book.' Instead, he treated it as a treasure and kept trying to produce true fire.
The so-called true fire is a flame produced by the cultivator—what Ninety-Ninefold Purefire calls Sparkfire.
"Sparkfire is an independent flame. Once a cultivator succeeds, they can use their own spiritual power to summon it for attacks. Although Sparkfire is powerful, it's extremely difficult to cultivate. By the time someone manages to form Sparkfire, others will have mastered higher-level techniques, making Sparkfire seem useless—just an auxiliary art to practice on the side. Unless you can do what that genius did fifty thousand years ago and cultivate Ninety-Ninefold Purefire to the fifth layer, dominating all rivals." As Evan Yang cultivated, he recalled the elder's words.
"Others treat it as a side art, but I'll make it my main offensive technique. If others can master it, so can I." Evan Yang encouraged himself as he cultivated. Maybe others saw this as childish, but in Evan's heart, a spark had already been planted, ready to shine at any moment.
Time passed bit by bit. The next day, Evan Yang arrived early at Lecture Cliff with Tiger Sun and the others to listen to the elder again. Although he hadn't produced a flame on the first day, Evan didn't give up—after all, the elder had said it took him years to succeed.
"Yesterday I explained Ninety-Ninefold Purefire—a mysterious technique. If you master it, you can look down on the world. But if you can't see results soon, you'd better give up and practice other arts instead." The elder knew many would try to cultivate Sparkfire, but he didn't want inner disciples to ruin their futures by fixating on this technique.
"Elder Wu, is Ninety-Ninefold Purefire really that hard to cultivate? Should we really switch to other techniques?" someone asked, unwilling to accept it.
According to Tiger Sun, the elder was a senior member of the Rising Sun Sect named Elder Victor Wu.
Elder Victor Wu saw an inner disciple ask, nodded slightly, and replied, "Yes, it's extremely difficult. The highest in our sect is an elder who reached the third layer, but his cultivation has been stuck for over ten years with no progress."
"Phew." As soon as he said this, it immediately caused doubts among the disciples.
"He spent more than ten years cultivating this technique. Others have spent over a hundred years, and their outcomes are unknown. Some even died without advancing, and many unwillingly switched to other arts in the end." Elder Victor Wu explained the failures to everyone.
Sure enough, many decided to give up on cultivating this technique after hearing that. But Elder Victor Wu added, "If you want to specialize in Ninety-Ninefold Purefire and devote your life to it, our sect can provide a place for you to train without outside interference."
Hearing this, the disciples started thinking deeply. Why did the sect set up such a rule? Elder Victor Wu saw their confusion and smiled, "This technique originated here, but now so few practice it. Its difficulty and uncertainty mean even our own disciples rarely cultivate it. The sect master fears it will be lost, so he hopes some disciples will continue the tradition."
"I see." The disciples finally understood and nodded, their hearts now clear.
Ninety-Ninefold Purefire, part of the Rising Sun Mystic Art, originated from the Rising Sun Sect. The sect master and elders fear it will be lost, but also worry disciples might ruin their futures by practicing it. So every teaching elder must be ambiguous—if some wish to continue, they'll have a dedicated place; if not, they can switch to other excellent arts and bring honor to the sect.
Evan Yang, sitting in the crowd, sighed at the fate of the technique, but he never considered giving up. He was confident he could master it.
A few inner disciples insisted on continuing, but most loudly announced they'd switch to other arts. Seeing this, the outer disciples lost even more confidence—if even inner disciples struggled for years and might get nowhere, the outer disciples were ready to give up too.
After seeing the results, Elder Victor Wu also taught everyone some other techniques, letting them choose what they wanted to learn.
Soon, after five days of Elder Victor Wu's teaching, everyone dispersed to their own duties, waiting for the next month's session.
"Five days, and still not a single spark." Evan Yang sighed.
After lying down, Evan Yang used Inner-Viewing again. As usual, the seed in his body had a crack at its top, now much larger than before. He had tried to make it absorb more herbs, but their medicinal strength wasn't enough to catalyze it, so the seed remained half-open.
"What's going on with my Flameblood? If I didn't have this seed, would I have been burned away, or just stayed an ordinary person waiting for death?" Evan Yang muttered as he observed the connection between his blood and the seed.
As he thought about the past two years, Evan Yang suddenly sat up with a surge of determination. "No, I can't keep living like that." He threw himself wholeheartedly into cultivating Ninety-Ninefold Purefire again.
One night, as he was about to return to his dorm, a small flame suddenly appeared in Evan Yang's hand. "I... I did it!" Seeing the tiny flame, Evan broke into a bright smile. From above, it looked like a firefly floating at the cliff's edge.
Overjoyed, Evan Yang tested it many times. After confirming the flame was Sparkfire, he jumped up and raced back to his quarters.
He happened to run into Logan Luo, who was furious.
"You brat, you—you've driven me mad!" Logan Luo stood at Evan Yang's door, fuming.
Tiger Sun was behind him, signaling Evan Yang with his eyes. Evan didn't understand and just smiled, "Steward Luo, what made you so angry?"
"How dare you ask! What's going on with that patch of grass?" Logan Luo stared at Evan Yang, eyes practically spitting fire.
He noticed? That was Evan Yang's first reaction, but he quickly smiled and said, "Steward Luo, it's still two days until the ten-day mark. Please wait a bit longer."
"Wait? What am I supposed to wait for? To watch that whole patch of herbs die?" Logan Luo nearly slapped Evan, then stopped himself and pretended not to know anything.
"I just gave them a special treatment. In two days, they'll all be lush and green, I promise." Evan Yang tried to stall for as long as he could.
"Fine, but if they're not revived in two days, I'll drag you down with me." Logan Luo was out of options, so he said angrily, then stormed off.
"Phew, that was close." Evan Yang sighed after Logan Luo left.
"Kid, what happened? Did you really kill all the herbs?" Tiger Sun, still in disbelief, stepped forward and asked.
"You noticed too?" Evan Yang looked at Tiger Sun helplessly.
"Of course. Logan Luo just stormed in and told me everything." Tiger Sun still couldn't believe it, staring at Evan Yang for confirmation.
Evan Yang nodded and smiled, "It's fine. Go rest first, I'll check the herb fields."
"Special treatment?" Tiger Sun had never heard of such a strange planting method and wasn't sure what to think.
Of course, Evan Yang's so-called 'special treatment' was just an excuse for Logan Luo. It wasn't real, and he couldn't explain it to Tiger Sun, so he quietly left the house for the herb fields.