Chapter 231 — Ring Four, Again

CHAPTER 231

Ring Four, Again

Hot air poured from the Flame Cavern. The waiting disciples pressed wet cloths over their faces and shuffled forward. Shi Feng could already hear arguments about how far each of them meant to go.

Shi Feng was seventh in line. In front of him, an inner-court disciple was reciting his own funeral arrangements to a friend. Behind him, Zhu Liu was reading aloud from the cavern rules, because he had decided that someone should.

“'Rule nine,'” Zhu Liu read. “'The Hall isn't responsible for lost eyebrows.'”

“Eyebrows grow back,” Sima Lan said. She was holding a bucket of cold water and a towel, both of which she had charged to his account that morning.

“Not mine,” Zhu Liu said sadly.

A familiar voice floated over from the rocks at the cavern mouth.

“Junior Brother, over here!” Lin Langtian called. “Don’t pretend you haven’t seen me. Half the queue’s looking already!”

Shi Feng didn't turn his head. Half the queue did it for him.

Lin Langtian sat on a flat stone beside the tally keeper's table, in his chief disciple's robe, with his boots crossed and a roasted sweet potato in each hand. Soot smeared one cheek. He waved a potato in greeting and nearly hit the tally keeper in the nose.

“Chief Disciple!” Several disciples bowed at once. Some of them bowed in the wrong direction.

“Don't mind me,” Lin Langtian called. “I'm only here to watch the fire and eat. Both are free!”

The cavern warden, Mu Gang, shifted his table half an arm's length away.

“Chief Disciple, you can't eat there,” Mu Gang said. “It's the tally table.”

“Then give me a tally, and I'll eat on top of it,” Lin Langtian said.

Mu Gang sighed and went back to checking names.

“That's the one who shared potatoes with the champion,” a girl muttered to her friend.

“He's the chief disciple?”

“He's early Nascent Soul!”

“…And he's eating on the tally table.”

The queue moved. One by one, the disciples vanished into the cavern, and the heat swallowed their footsteps.

Gongsun Ce went in before Shi Feng, trailed by three cronies who carried his water, his cloth and his sleeves. He passed the first ring, then the second. Spectators at the mouth counted aloud as the glow of his robe shrank down the tunnel.

“Ring three!”

“Ring four!”

“Ring five, he's tied his own record!”

A long pause followed.

“Ring six!” someone finally shouted. “He broke it! Prince Gongsun Ce reached ring six!”

Cheers rolled out of the cavern. Gongsun Ce's cronies pounded each other on the back. “True gold fears no fire!” one of them crowed. A few outer-court disciples threw their cloths in the air, then went looking for them.

Gongsun Ce returned singed from hair to boots, with one eyebrow missing. He gripped the green tally and held his chin high. Then his foot caught a rock. He recovered quickly, pretending he hadn’t heard the gasp behind him.

“Ring six,” Gongsun Ce said. “Fifteen points, with the array. I'd advise you to hurry, Champion. The fire doesn't wait for the slow.”

“Thank you,” Shi Feng said.

“Does the sarcasm come naturally, or do you practise?” Gongsun Ce said.

“It wasn't sarcasm,” Shi Feng said.

Gongsun Ce stared at him. Then he went off to have his eyebrow examined, still carrying his jade tally like a banner.

Shi Feng entered the cavern.

Rings one and two were warm. Ring three was hot. At ring four, the air shimmered, and the jade tally on its stone shelf glowed a pale orange. His skin prickled, and the Physique drank at the heat without being asked.

[Devoured: cavern fire | Gain: small | Note: still warm]

He picked up the tally from ring four. It was the same tally he had picked up before. Deeper in, the rings opened toward a red glow that he could feel against his bones. He knew he could walk to ring five, ring six, ring seven. He was almost sure of ring eight.

Shi Feng turned around.

Shi Feng thought, They want to measure everything I can do. Four is enough for this assessment. I don’t need to show them the rest.

The walk back was hot and dull. He climbed out of the cavern mouth with a jade tally in his hand and no singed hair at all.

Mu Gang looked at the tally, then at Shi Feng's clean robe, then at the tally again.

“Ring four,” Mu Gang said. “Again.”

“Yes,” Shi Feng said.

“You aren't burned,” Mu Gang said.

“I walked quickly,” Shi Feng said.

Mu Gang wrote it down. The brush scratched across the page.

“Ring four!” someone called. “The champion got ring four!”

“Same as last time.”

“Decent, for a newcomer.”

“I thought he'd at least reach five.”

Gongsun Ce's cronies laughed. Zhu Liu looked as though he wanted to defend his master, then looked at Shi Feng's face and decided to write it down instead.

A potato landed in Shi Feng's hand.

“Ring four, again,” Lin Langtian said. He had come up beside him without anyone seeing him walk. His grin was wide enough to split his face. “You lie beautifully with your feet, Junior Brother.”

“I walked quickly,” Shi Feng said.

“Quickly, yes, and no farther than before. A tall tree catches the wind, as they say,” Lin Langtian said through a mouthful of potato. “Tell me, Junior Brother. Do you know where the tally keepers go at dusk?”

“No,” Shi Feng said.

“They go to dinner,” Lin Langtian said. “Nobody checks the deeper rings after dusk. Nobody checks anything. The fire is wide awake and lonely.”

Shi Feng looked at the potato.

“Is that an invitation?” Shi Feng asked.

“I’m only telling you when the cavern’s quiet,” Lin Langtian said innocently. “What you do with your evening is your business.”

Sima Lan stepped between them with her towel and ledger.

“Chief Disciple,” Sima Lan said coldly. “You're standing on my employer's feet.”

“Employer!” Lin Langtian cried. “Did you hear that, Junior Brother? You've been promoted!”

“Move,” Sima Lan said.