“My name is Little Yu.” Nangong Yu’s expression was solemn. “I don’t have a home anymore. One day, two cultivators flew over our village, and half the villagers died.”
Everyone was stunned by this.
“You’re lying!” Wang Hezheng sneered instinctively. His eyes were still hurting, and anger was boiling inside him. He didn’t believe a single word she said.
“Don’t listen to this little swindler’s nonsense!”
But he was the only one who reacted so vehemently. Everyone else, including Chen Zhi, wore solemn expressions.
“Cultivators?” Elder Lu asked slowly. “Did cultivators slaughter your village?”
Nangong Yu nodded, then shook her head. “They were fighting. Sword-light fell into the village from above. People died, houses collapsed, and the livestock died too.”
It wasn’t that the cultivators had deliberately slaughtered the village. They hadn’t. They had merely passed by by chance and caused casualties in the process.
It was an absurd thing to happen, yet no one present could refute it.
Elder Lu’s brows drew together.
The others looked grim as well. Someone cursed, “Which bastard did that?”
“I had nowhere else to go.” Nangong Yu pursed her lips. “Isn’t the Ziyang Sect the closest? So I thought I’d come and try to become a disciple.”
She declared solemnly, “I’m not determined to join the Ziyang Sect. You’re choosing disciples, and I’m choosing a sect too.”
“The main thing is that you’re close by!” she emphasized. “If you won’t accept me, I’ll just go somewhere else.”
A moment ago, she had said that she was choosing a sect. The next moment, she was saying, “If you don’t accept me, I’ll do something else.”
Her childish attempt to hide her feelings—while failing to hide them completely—made the others feel a little sympathetic toward her.
A person with a tragic life could inspire pity, but once that pity passed, it was over. There were simply too many unfortunate people in this world.
But someone who had suffered and still fought stubbornly to survive could inspire admiration and respect.
As for her shameless boasting… Who could truly hold it against a child?
“Hand me the formation disk.” Elder Lu held out his hand toward Chen Zhi.
With his lips pressed together, Chen Zhi took out the spirit-testing formation disk and handed it to Elder Lu.
Nangong Yu glanced at it. It looked similar to the Lin family’s formation disk, though more refined. Its patterns were more intricate, the embedded gemstones more numerous, and the whole disk was slightly larger.
“Place your hand on it.” Elder Lu gestured.
Nangong Yu readily extended her hand and placed it on the gemstone in the center of the disk.
In the next instant, the formation disk lit up with three pillars of light: green, blue, and yellow.
Green represented a wood spirit root, blue represented water, and yellow represented earth.
The values displayed were 6, 7, and 9 respectively.
Nangong Yu excitedly pointed at them. “Look! I told you I have lots of spirit roots!”
“…”
Everyone fell silent.
Wang Hezheng let out a derisive laugh. “Do you think having more spirit roots is a good thing?”
“If not, then what?” Nangong Yu asked in puzzlement. “I can cultivate spiritual power of three different elements and learn techniques of three different elements. Isn’t that impressive?”
When Wang Hezheng met her clear, delighted eyes, he felt as if he had been scalded for some reason.
He looked away and said coolly, “Let me put it this way: Is it easier to raise one child, or three?”
His words were crude, but easy enough to understand. The other disciples couldn’t help nodding.
Nangong Yu said, “You mean three spirit roots are difficult to cultivate? But whether something is difficult to cultivate and whether it becomes more powerful once cultivated are two different things!”
She argued with great conviction, “My family has three children, and your family has one. Three against one—which side do you think would win?”
Wang Hezheng was speechless.
He felt that she was twisting words and making a specious argument.
Yet when it came time to refute her, he couldn’t find the words, leaving him stifling with frustration. He turned to Elder Lu and called, “Elder!”
Elder Lu said, “Suppose you have to raise three children. They need time to grow up. If you work yourself to death before they reach adulthood, all three of them will starve to death.”
Elder Lu had never imagined that he would one day be debating principles with an ordinary mortal child. It was quite a novel experience for him.
Wang Hezheng was inspired. His eyes lit up. “I have one child, and I raise him until he’s big and strong. You may have three children, but every one of them is sickly and scrawny. If my child throws one punch, all three of yours will go flying!”
Seeing him continue arguing with a mortal child, the disciples could only shake their heads helplessly.
“This Junior Brother Wang is simple-minded, as innocent as a child.”
“That’s why he advances so quickly.”
“He reached Foundation Establishment after only three years in the sect. If nothing unexpected happens, he’ll certainly form his core within twenty years.”
Nangong Yu didn’t hear what the others were saying. She swept a glance over Wang Hezheng and said, “I understand now. You’re afraid that if I join the sect, I’ll cultivate faster than you and make you lose face.”
Wang Hezheng was speechless.
A moment ago, his eyes had been shining with inspiration. Now, he was completely stifled. “You! Who would be jealous of you? Your aptitude—”
His mouth moved, but he couldn’t bring himself to say the rest.
The other cultivators fell silent as well, their expressions tinged with pity.
“What’s wrong with my aptitude? Isn’t it pretty good?” Nangong Yu asked in confusion. “My earth spirit root is even a 9! It’s almost a perfect score!”
Everyone knew that she had been deceived. Spirit-root values were measured on a scale of one hundred.
Her aptitude couldn’t be called poor. It was simply dreadful.
With talent like hers, embarking on the path of cultivation meant she wouldn’t even be able to reach Foundation Establishment.
Her circumstances were so bleak that even Wang Hezheng couldn’t bear to say it aloud. His overwhelming sympathy made him forgive her for all her earlier disrespect.
“Little Yu.” Xie Jinyue rose and took hold of her wrist. “Come with me.”
Nangong Yu went with her.
At several tables, the Ziyang Sect disciples were silent for a while before continuing their discussion of the Lin family’s affairs.
“The Shen bird, which had vanished for a hundred thousand years, actually appeared in the Lin family?”
“Didn’t the Shen bird race go extinct during the Demon-Sealing War a hundred thousand years ago?”
“Speaking of which, the Shen birds were great heroes. If they hadn’t bewitched the Demon Lord, the human and demon races might not have been able to seal the demon race.”
“Why did the Lin family imprison a Shen bird?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know what a Shen bird is?”
“What is a Shen bird?” Nangong Yu, who had been led outside, asked curiously, recalling the unfinished topic from earlier.
The Demon-Sealing War of a hundred thousand years ago was a history lesson that every cultivator had to study upon entering a sect. Still, some cultivators were content merely to pass the exam and never studied it seriously.
Xie Jinyue happened to know the answer, so she explained, “Do you know what a phoenix is?”
“I do. It’s a divine bird.” Nangong Yu nodded.
Xie Jinyue said, “The Shen bird is a branch of the phoenix race.”
“What?!” Nangong Yu’s eyes widened in shock. Her mind flashed back to that breathtakingly beautiful face. “It’s actually a phoenix?”
“The phoenix belongs to the fire element. Born as the king of all birds, it is worshiped by its people and protects all living beings.”
“But one white phoenix was born who disliked cultivation. It was lazy and listless, and would entice other birds to wait upon it. The phoenixes regarded it as a disgrace and drove it out of their race.”
“Although the Shen birds were not acknowledged by the phoenixes, their bloodline was descended from the same source. Just as a phoenix could be reborn from fire, the flesh and blood of a Shen bird could bring the dead back to life.”
There was no need to think too hard about why the Lin family had imprisoned a Shen bird. They had certainly done it for its flesh and blood.
“Wow.” Nangong Yu listened to the history of the divine bird and nodded in amazement.
But inwardly, she was thinking that Yun Sheng’s bones had clearly been taken as well.
“Little Yu.” Once they reached the back courtyard, where they were alone in the quiet, Xie Jinyue’s expression grew serious. “Your talent isn’t very good.”
Nangong Yu said nothing, simply looking at her.
“For you, the path of cultivation will be far too difficult.” Xie Jinyue sighed softly. “Being an ordinary mortal and living a simple life would be perfectly fine.”
Her aptitude was simply too poor.
The Ziyang Sect did accept disciples with three spiritual roots. In fact, they had even taken in disciples with four or five spiritual roots before, though most became outer disciples or servants.
But cultivation was a grueling path. Back when she had been a mortal, Xie Jinyue had thought cultivators were immortals who lived wonderful lives beyond imagination.
It was only after she set foot on the path of cultivation that she learned the truth: a cultivator’s life was filled with rivalry and slaughter. They honed themselves between life and death, crossing storms and dangers at every turn.
Little Yu was clever. If she became a mortal, she could surely live a happy life.
“No! I want to become a cultivator!” Nangong Yu gave her a firm answer.
That was just how NPCs were. They always offered confusing choices right when the player was about to clear the game.
There was not even the slightest hesitation in her resolute gaze. Xie Jinyue couldn’t help but lose herself for a moment, her state of mind faintly shaken.
She was so much like the person Xie Jinyue had once been!
Knowing nothing, yet charging forward without the slightest fear.
“All right.” Xie Jinyue’s expression was complicated as she patted Nangong Yu on the shoulder. “I hope you find the Great Dao and have a smooth journey ahead!”
Nangong Yu smiled sweetly. “Thank you, Big Sister!”
The two of them went back.
“Big Sister, does that mean I’m a disciple of the Ziyang Sect now?” she asked Xie Jinyue.
Xie Jinyue pondered for a moment. She wasn’t sure whether it counted.
If it didn’t, Elder Lu had personally tested Nangong Yu’s spiritual roots. But if it did, her aptitude was truly too poor.
“Looks like we’ll still have to wait a couple of days.” Nangong Yu was no longer in a hurry. Her spiritual roots had already been tested, and the results had been the same both times. The Ziyang Sect certainly hadn’t deceived her.
She bounced back cheerfully, looking as carefree as if she had not a single worry in the world.
Xie Jinyue was distracted several times. After returning to the main hall, she said to Elder Lu, “Elder, I gained some insights during this disciple-recruitment trip. I would like to enter seclusion for a few days.”
Elder Lu looked at her and nodded gently. “Go ahead.”
Since Xie Jinyue was going into seclusion, someone else took her place in recruiting disciples alongside Chen Zhi and Wang Hezheng.
Nangong Yu didn’t care. She slept until she was fully rested and only got out of bed after the sky had grown bright.
By the time she arrived outside the city, it was already past ten.
The clang of pots and pans immediately put Wang Hezheng in a foul mood. “Why are you here again?”
Her spiritual roots had already been tested, and she had already been told about her aptitude. She simply wasn’t suited for cultivation, and the Ziyang Sect wouldn’t accept her. Why was she still coming here? Wasn’t this just shameless persistence?
“I’ll come if I want to.” Nangong Yu set up a stove and lit the fire. She heated the pot Xie Jinyue had left behind, then poured in some oil.
She was determined to go to the Ziyang Sect.
If they refused to take her, she would go there herself. What was the big deal?
Sizzle—
The scallions, ginger, and garlic hit the hot oil, instantly releasing a mouthwatering fragrance that drilled straight into everyone’s nose.
Wang Hezheng couldn’t stand the smell. He formed a hand seal and cast a spell to block out the overpowering aroma.
The newcomer, Meng Yanqing, was much more lively. “Little Yu, are you making lunch?”
“That’s right.” Nangong Yu nodded.
The diced chicken tumbled through the hot oil and spices, glistening with grease and looking utterly delicious.
“You’re going to eat all that by yourself?” Meng Yanqing squatted down beside her and asked.
Nangong Yu nodded again. “That’s right.”
“Won’t you invite your senior brother to have some?” Meng Yanqing asked with a smile.
Nangong Yu replied, “I can invite you to eat, Senior Brother. But are you my senior brother?”
