Nangong Yu jogged over, taking five minutes.
By the time she arrived, the recruitment station had changed again. Two extra meditation cushions had appeared behind the incense table, where a male and a female cultivator were sitting in meditation.
Beside the incense table, a small stove had also been set up, with tea bubbling away in a pot. She could not tell what kind of tea leaves they were, but the fragrance was fresh and pleasant, drifting for miles.
Nangong Yu circled the tea stove, examining it closely, which caught the attention of the cultivator reading a book.
“The stove is very hot. Be careful not to burn yourself.”
His voice was exceptionally gentle. Nangong Yu lifted her head and looked at him twice. “Immortal Master, I’m here to register.”
Chen Zhi looked at her in surprise, but shook his head. “It isn’t time yet. Come back in a couple of days.”
“Why?” Nangong Yu asked, puzzled.
“In a few days, there will be more people. We’ll test everyone together then,” Chen Zhi replied patiently.
But Nangong Yu did not want to wait. “Actually, I’ve already been tested. I have spiritual roots—three of them. Will you accept me?”
As soon as she said this, Chen Zhi’s expression changed slightly.
The two cultivators meditating some distance away also opened their eyes and looked over.
“How do you know you have three spiritual roots?” the male cultivator asked. “Do you even know what spiritual roots are? You’ll be taught a lesson for making things up!”
“Junior Brother Wang,” the female cultivator said softly.
The male cultivator’s face was full of disdain, even disgust. He looked at Nangong Yu—a mortal child whose eyes darted restlessly—as though she were trash.
Restless in temperament, fond of petty tricks—what future could someone like her possibly have? Even if she did possess spiritual roots, she would be no more than an outer sect servant disciple.
Wang Hezheng knew all too well how those servant disciples, with minds full of schemes, scrambled and groveled for every small advantage. His tone grew even more hostile.
“Get lost!”
“Junior Brother Wang!” This time, it was Chen Zhi who stopped him.
Setting his book aside, Chen Zhi maintained his gentle demeanor. “Where did you have your spiritual roots tested?”
The materials and techniques needed to make spirit-testing stones were controlled by the great sects and noble clans.
Unless this child came from a noble clan, it would not have been easy for her to learn of her spiritual roots.
But if she truly were from such a clan, why would she be here alone, seeking a master?
“My mother told me,” Nangong Yu answered.
Wang Hezheng asked, “Who is your mother? How would she possess a spirit-testing stone?”
“My mother is my mother,” Nangong Yu replied.
Only a three-year-old could say something like that. She looked sixteen or seventeen; therefore, she was clearly evading the question.
Wang Hezheng disliked her even more. “Nothing but lies!”
The female cultivator, meanwhile, asked, “Then where is your mother? Why didn’t she come with you?”
“My mother is dead,” Nangong Yu said.
She had never seen her parents while growing up.
Maybe they were dead.
The female cultivator was struck speechless, unsure how to respond.
Wang Hezheng, however, laughed, his face filled with mockery. “I told you she was here to cause trouble.”
Xie Jinyue rose from her meditation cushion and walked over to Nangong Yu. “Have you been talking nonsense?”
Had she?
Of course she had.
Who would casually reveal their own identity?
“Yes,” Nangong Yu readily admitted. “Actually, I dreamed it.”
Xie Jinyue: “...”
She smiled softly and turned back. “Senior Brother Chen, this child is rather interesting.” Then she turned to Nangong Yu again. “What are you here for?”
Quite bold, running up to cultivators and acting mischievously.
Nangong Yu looked at her and answered seriously, “I heard the Ziyang Sect is recruiting disciples. I have spiritual roots, so I came to ask whether you accept people with three spiritual roots.”
“I’m not lying. I have wood, water, and earth spiritual roots.”
“My aptitude scores are quite high, too.”
She spoke with such detail that it did not sound like she was making things up—ordinary mortals would not know such things.
“Very well. Come back in two days,” Chen Zhi said. “Since you have already had your spiritual roots tested, you must know that activating the spirit-testing array requires a cultivator to supply spiritual energy.”
It did not require much spiritual energy, but activating it over and over was rather troublesome.
It would be more convenient to wait until more people had arrived and test them all at once.
“All right, then.” Nangong Yu did not press the matter. She turned and ran off.
It was not yet time for the task to begin, so she might as well find something else to do first.
The young girl did not run far. Xie Jinyue could see her sticking her rear in the air as she picked something from the grass.
She was so small that whenever she squatted down, the grass often hid her from view. When she did not emerge for a while, Xie Jinyue even began to worry that a wolf had carried her off.
There were indeed wild beasts in the area. Ordinary animals without spiritual energy posed no threat whatsoever to cultivators, so no one bothered to drive them away, and they roamed freely beyond the city walls.
“Senior Sister certainly has impressive composure,” a strange, sarcastic voice said from beside her.
Xie Jinyue knew he was mocking her. She shook out the folds of her skirt and smoothed them over her lap. “Junior Brother’s composure is impressive as well.”
If he had not been watching her, how would he know she was not cultivating?
The veiled barb darkened Wang Hezheng’s expression. He stiffened his face, then swept a glance toward the distance. Suddenly, he snorted coldly and flicked his sleeve, sending out a faint breeze.
Nangong Yu was darting through the grass.
Since she had nothing better to do, she might as well dig up some wild vegetables, gather a few wild chicken eggs, poke around a couple of rabbit holes, then make a pot of egg-and-greens soup later and roast a rabbit to eat.
All of a sudden, a gust of wind struck from behind. She whirled around and saw a red-eyed rabbit baring its teeth as it lunged at her!
Nangong Yu’s eyes lit up.
Thump!
The rabbit’s head slammed into her fist. It fell to the ground, kicked its legs twice, and went still.
Delighted, Nangong Yu opened her cloth sack and stuffed the foolish rabbit inside.
When luck came knocking, nothing could stop it!
Happily tying the sack shut, she suddenly felt another gust of wind coming from her right. She spun around at once and saw a wild chicken with its feathers bristling, flapping toward her and pecking fiercely.
“Cluck—!”
The chicken let out a miserable cry as Nangong Yu pinned it beneath her.
She twisted its neck, eagerly stuffed it into the sack, and looked left and right.
Nothing else.
She waited five minutes, but no more pies fell from the sky. A little disappointed, she soon cheered up again and returned with her sack on her back.
The little girl had not gone far. She came back carrying an old, tattered cloth sack, then eagerly burrowed into the grass again.
Xie Jinyue watched as, before long, she returned carrying a large bundle of dry firewood.
“Hmph.” Wang Hezheng snorted through his nose.
Xie Jinyue found it amusing. Junior Brother Wang was proud by nature and disliked slick-tongued behavior. He had just made a little move to teach that mortal child a lesson.
Who would have thought the child was so capable? Instead, she had captured the wild rabbits and pheasants after they were provoked into attacking, and now it looked as though she intended to cook them.
“How are your cooking skills?” Xie Jinyue could never sit still for long, so she simply got up and walked over.
Nangong Yu was still carrying firewood. She raised her head and replied, “I can cook things through.”
Xie Jinyue took out a pot and said, “I’ll provide the pot. Once you’ve cooked everything, could you give me a bowl?”
Nangong Yu did not have a pot.
At least, that was how it appeared.
“Sure!” Nangong Yu nodded. “Can you start a fire, Big Sister? I’ll give you an extra bowl afterward.”
The Fire-Controlling Art was merely a beginner-level spell. Xie Jinyue snapped her fingers, and a little flame immediately sprang up at her fingertip.
“Can you conjure clean water too? I’ll give you an extra rabbit leg.”
“Deal.” Xie Jinyue nodded without hesitation.
Wang Hezheng sat meditating with his eyes closed, a mocking smile tugging at his lips. “One dares to cook, and the other dares to eat.”
Xie Jinyue glanced over at him. “If Junior Brother Wang can’t calm his mind, perhaps you should stop making things difficult for yourself.”
The two of them did not share a master. They had merely set out together with Elder Lu because of a sect mission.
Xie Jinyue had not given him an inch of face. Wang Hezheng did not want to argue in front of a mortal, so he gave a cold snort and fell silent.
Nangong Yu had already gathered the firewood and set up the cooking stand.
Xie Jinyue took out a jade bottle and poured clear spring water into the pot. When the water reached the level Nangong Yu had specified, she stopped.
Then she rubbed her fingers together, formed a little flame, and tossed it beneath the firewood.
The tiny flame encountered the dry twigs and fallen leaves, and with a whoosh, they caught fire.
Nangong Yu made the soup first. She tore the wild greens into pieces and dropped them into the pot. Then she took several small paper packets from her waist and sprinkled in fine salt, pepper, minced scallions and ginger, and MSG.
Once the water began to boil, she cracked five wild chicken eggs into it. Three became poached eggs, while the other two turned into ribbons of egg flower.
Xie Jinyue had not expected much to begin with. She had not gone down the mountain in a long while and could not be bothered to enter the city, so she had planned to make do with some mortal food.
“What a wonderful smell!” The rich fragrance rose with the billowing steam, and she could not help feeling surprised.
Nangong Yu said, “You must be hungry, Big Sister. When someone’s hungry, everything smells good.”
The child was rather modest too. Xie Jinyue could not help laughing.
This had originally been an empty patch of ground, but Xie Jinyue had many things in her storage ring. Seeing that the little girl had nothing at all, she took out a bucket, a table, knives and other utensils, bowls, chopsticks, and plates one item at a time.
Nangong Yu had originally planned to go “home” and fetch her belongings. This saved her the trouble.
As soon as the wild-greens-and-egg soup was ready, she immediately ladled a bowl for this friendly NPC. “Big Sister, have a taste.”
The bowl contained wild greens, beautiful strands of egg flower, and plump, perfectly round poached eggs.
The rising steam stirred memories of Xie Jinyue’s days as a mortal. She stared blankly at the bowl as the aura around her gradually grew unstable.
“Junior Sister Xie is about to break through!” Chen Zhi noticed what was happening. He hurriedly set down the scroll in his hands, flew into the air, and laid out a defensive formation around Xie Jinyue.
Nangong Yu stared in astonishment. “So she wasn’t lying to me!”
The major sects really were full of geniuses.
Setting aside all the gossip, this Sister Xie had actually broken through just from drinking a bowl of soup.
After giving her another look, Nangong Yu decided it was none of her business and ran off to prepare the wild rabbit and pheasant.
Xie Jinyue had come thoroughly prepared. She even had a sharp cleaver, so dressing the game took little effort.
The wild vegetable and egg soup was already done; leaving a few sticks of firewood beneath it would keep it warm. Nangong Yu built another campfire and began roasting the pheasant and rabbit.
Meat was fragrant to begin with, and the scent of sizzling fat drifted far into the distance as Nangong Yu sprinkled the meat with cumin, sesame seeds, fine salt, and chili powder.
As time passed, the aroma of roast meat only grew richer. Even the cultivators lined up at the city gate to enter the city turned to look in their direction.
Cultivators possessed keen senses. From their perspective, Nangong Yu’s five-minute run from them made little difference—she might as well have been grilling right under their noses.
Not to mention Chen Zhi and Wang Hezheng, who were already nearby.
Wang Hezheng could no longer meditate. He had already been irritated, and after being provoked by Xie Jinyue, his mood had soured even further.
“Get lost!” He opened his eyes and shouted toward the source of the scent.
