Su Ye was standing in the desolate courtyard, inspecting the new "Spirit Stone" water heater he had jury-rigged from scrap metal and fire spirit herbs, when Disciple Number One, Princess Luo Bing, arrived for her first lesson.
She was stunning, even in the morning light. However, the sheer mismatch between her icy elegance and the squalor of the Twilight Stable was jarring. She wore a delicate silk cultivation robe, carried a scroll of ancient Taming lore, and was trailed by a faint scent of expensive snow lotus perfume.
The Ice Phoenix, which she now carried in a bare, cold marble-and-copper cage as per Su Ye's instructions, was still pitifully bald but had stopped shivering.
"Master Su Ye," the Princess greeted him, her voice perfectly controlled. "I have read the prescribed text, The Lesser Arts of Contract Forging. I have meditated on the nature of the Ice Phoenix's bloodline, and I have brought the necessary provisions."
She gestured to a large, sealed wooden crate. "Two pounds of high-grade dried chili peppers, as requested."
Su Ye nodded approvingly. "Good. Put the texts away, Princess. We're starting with the fundamentals: The Bath."
He led her to a large, cast-iron basin usually used for boiling water for the pigs' slop. The water heater was currently pumping a stream of deeply unsettling, reddish-brown liquid into the basin.
"This is the Phoenix bath?" Luo Bing frowned, her nose wrinkling slightly at the smell.
"It is," Su Ye confirmed. "I call it the Spirit Circulation Soak. It's made from aged iron shavings, wild ginger root, and concentrated essence of the very chili peppers you brought."
The bath wasn't just hot; the water was shimmering with a faint, angry heat.
"You want my Tier-4 Ice Phoenix, a creature of frozen divinity, to sit in spicy, steaming rust water?" Luo Bing asked, her cold tone betraying genuine alarm.
"She's itching, Princess. And she has the constitution of a warrior, not a doll," Su Ye said, scooping up a handful of the liquid. "The heat will boost her circulation, force the new spiritual energy from her core outward, and the capsaicin will burn away the dead, irritated skin cells. It will feel painful, but the growth afterwards will be magnificent."
He looked at the still-bald Phoenix. "Trust me. This is the only way to get her feathers back before winter."
Luo Bing hesitated for only a moment—the length of time it takes a true genius to recognize a paradigm shift. She took a deep breath, and with a decisive motion, opened the cage.
The Ice Phoenix looked at the spicy inferno bath, shrieked a sound of profound spiritual horror, and attempted to hide under her wing stub.
"No, you don't," Su Ye said, deftly snatching the small Phoenix. He plunged the bird into the basin.
The Phoenix's distress was immediate. It thrashed and cried, and a cloud of spicy steam filled the courtyard. Luo Bing watched, biting her lip, fighting the urge to intervene.
Zzzzt. Su Ye mentally checked the Ancestor Link.
"OOOOH! THAT IS THE STUFF!" boomed the voice of the Grand Ice Phoenix Matriarch in Su Ye's mind. "Tell that little fool it feels glorious! Tell her to pour a handful of salt in there! And scrub harder on the flanks! The blood is finally flowing!"
Su Ye gave the struggling bird a stern look. "It's working, Princess. The Matriarch approves. She says to scrub her flanks."
Luo Bing swallowed her doubt. If this eccentric Master was telling her the voice of her sacred ancestor was demanding a flank scrub, she would scrub. She took the tongs and carefully began scrubbing her pet in the steaming chili bath.
While Luo Bing endured the spicy trauma of her Phoenix, Su Ye prepared for his next recruitment mission. He had only three weeks to find two more disciples, and he had a very specific target profile.
"Uncle Chen," Su Ye announced, strapping a bag of Spirit-Stone grade bronze wire to his waist. "We need to find the most miserable, most bullied, most utterly failed genius in the entire Outer Disciple compound."
"Why?" Chen asked, sweeping the ashes from the fire pit. "Wouldn't a successful student be easier?"
"No," Su Ye shook his head.
"A successful student is full of bad habits taught by arrogant masters. I need someone who has been broken by the conventional system. Someone who has massive potential but is crippled by a single, simple, psychological flaw."
Su Ye looked at the gates. "I need someone who is desperate enough to come to the Twilight Stable, and whose tragedy is easy to fix with a ten-minute conversation with a ghost."
He didn't have to look far. He found his target sitting alone in the deepest corner of the Great Library of Taming Lore—the only place a truly miserable student would go to hide.
The student was Lin Fan. He was renowned as the 'Cripple Genius' of the Academy. He possessed a Tier-9 Metal Spirit Root—the strongest foundation in the entire Outer Disciple body—but he had failed every single Taming exam and was perpetually at the bottom of the rankings.
Lin Fan was thin and pale, hunched over a heavy volume, his eyes red from lack of sleep.
Su Ye approached quietly and sat across from him at the table.
Lin Fan didn't look up. "This table is taken."
"I know," Su Ye said mildly. "I need to talk to you about why you can't touch Spirit Beasts."
Lin Fan flinched violently, snapping his book shut. His eyes shot up, filled with a mixture of hatred and fear. "Get out. That's none of your business."
"It is," Su Ye said. "I'm Master Su Ye, and I specialize in fixing the unfixable. Tell me, Lin Fan. What are you reading?"
Lin Fan hesitated, then shoved the book forward. It was a technical tome on Spirit Energy Suppression.
"I'm studying how to control it," Lin Fan hissed, his hands trembling. "My Spirit Root is too strong. When I try to form a contract, the sheer volume of metal energy in my body terrifies the beast before I even touch it. They flee. Or worse, they attack me. I am cursed to be a powerhouse who can't bond a single rat."
Lin Fan slammed his fist onto the table, his eyes burning with self-loathing. "I am a weapon that can't be used! I tried to bond with a simple Spirit Rabbit last month, and it bit my hand and ran away! I'm worthless!"
Su Ye calmly reached out and placed his hand on Lin Fan's shoulder.
Zzzzt. The contact was immediate and powerful. Lin Fan's metal root was indeed terrifying.
Su Ye's consciousness was plunged into a dizzying forge. He stood in a vast armory made of pure, shining steel. The air hummed with violent, compressed power.
The Ancestral Spirit was not an animal, but an element: The Primordial Metal Spirit, a colossal, roaring humanoid figure made of white-hot, liquid steel.
"WHO DARES AWAKEN ME?" the Metal Spirit bellowed. "AH! The boy! He is perfect! He is a god among mortals! His power is unmatched! He could crush mountains!"
"Senior," Su Ye projected his thoughts through the roaring heat. "The boy is miserable. He is terrified of his own power. He can't bond a Spirit Rabbit."
"A Spirit Rabbit?" The Metal Spirit scoffed. "Why would he want a rabbit? He needs a WEAPON! And he doesn't need to suppress his energy, he needs to HARNESS it! The boy is not too strong. He is merely misdirecting the output!"
"The problem is simple," the Ancestor said, calmer now. "His hands are constantly leaking volatile energy. He needs an insulator—a way to focus the ambient energy, not suppress the core. He needs to bind his hands with enchanted cord. That will focus the power and prevent it from frightening the delicate beasts."
"The boy is afraid of himself," the Ancestor added, with a strange note of paternal wisdom. "Tell him his power is not a curse. It is the purest gift."
Su Ye pulled his hand back, leaving Lin Fan rigid in shock.
Su Ye reached into his sack of scrap materials and pulled out the coil of bronze wire. He gently took Lin Fan's trembling hand.
"The Spirit Rabbit didn't bite you because you were too powerful, Lin Fan," Su Ye said softly, meeting his eye. "It bit you because your hand was leaking uncontrolled energy. It was like sticking your hand into a lightning socket. It wasn't frightened; it was electrocuted."
Lin Fan stared, his mouth slightly open.
Su Ye began methodically wrapping the bronze wire around Lin Fan's palm and wrist, creating a crude, but spiritually effective, gauntlet.
"You have the strongest Spirit Root in the Academy," Su Ye stated. "You don't need to suppress it. You need to direct it. You don't need to be afraid of yourself. You are not a failure, Lin Fan. You are merely a raw, unstable weapon that needs a good sheath."
He finished the knot. Lin Fan's hands immediately stopped trembling. The ambient heat around his wrists dissipated.
"Go to the bonding room now," Su Ye instructed. "Don't try to contract. Just touch the next Spirit Beast you see. Tell me what happens."
Lin Fan looked at the bronze gauntlet, then at Su Ye. Tears welled in his eyes. He didn't say a word. He simply snatched his book and ran out of the Library, heading straight toward the Beast Bonding Hall.
Su Ye smiled. Disciple Number Two secured.
Su Ye returned to the Twilight Stable to find Uncle Chen fanning the now-subdued Ice Phoenix with a small straw fan. The Phoenix was floating contentedly in the spicy bath, eyes closed, its few remaining patches of skin a healthy, vibrant crimson.
Princess Luo Bing was kneeling beside the tub, scrubbing the bird's tail feathers with a look of intense, quiet focus. Her pristine white robes were stained with chili water and rust.
"Master Su Ye," she said, looking up, her composure returned. "The irritation is receding. The Phoenix is calm."
"Good," Su Ye nodded. "But we have a long way to go. You still smell like flowers. That scent is distracting to Spirit Beasts. Tomorrow, you will wear plain hemp and you will stop bathing with rose soap."
"Understood," she replied instantly.
A few hours later, as the sun dipped, Lin Fan returned.
He didn't run this time. He walked with a purpose, a small, dark shadow following him closely.
The shadow was a Tier-3 Shadow Bat. A creature known for its extreme skittishness and phobia of human contact. The bat was currently perched on Lin Fan's shoulder, nuzzling its small head against the bronze wire gauntlet.
Lin Fan approached Su Ye. He opened his mouth to speak, but the words caught in his throat.
He simply bowed deeply—the profound, formal bow of a student to a true master.
"The bat... it didn't run," Lin Fan whispered, his voice thick with emotion. "It just... landed on my arm. I didn't contract it. It just wants to stay."
"Because you're stable now," Su Ye said, placing his hand on Lin Fan's shoulder. "Welcome to the Twilight Stable, Disciple Number Two."
"Master," Lin Fan said, looking at the bronze wire on his hand with reverence. "What is our first lesson?"
Su Ye grinned, pointing toward the basin where the spicy water was now cooling.
"Tomorrow, Lin Fan, you need to learn about humility. Your first task is to clean the Phoenix chili-bath tub. Use only cold water."
Su Ye looked at his two strange disciples: the beautiful Princess, kneeling in the dirt, and the genius powerhouse, clutching a bat, ready to scrub a spicy tub.
Two down. One to go, Su Ye thought. Now, I just need to find someone desperate, dramatic, and preferably obsessed with fame.