Although the spirit boat was fast, it still took several days to reach the Purple Sun Sect.
Nangong Yu sat on the deck, admiring the scenery and gnawing on dried meat, her eyes darting about.
“Senior Brother Zhao You really is dead?” She wandered over to Chen Zhi and leaned close to his face, her expression full of curiosity. “Are you sure?”
She thought they probably hadn’t left behind any evidence. But what if the formation at the Lin family ruins had failed?
If they had any evidence at all, she would immediately jump off the spirit boat!
She wasn’t going!
Chen Zhi leaned back slightly and looked at her. “Aren’t you the one who knows best?”
“Senior Brother Chen, you don’t need to fish for information.” Nangong Yu pouted. “Even if I said I killed Senior Brother Zhao You, I’d only be saying it in a fit of pique.”
“I’m just a mortal. How could I possibly have the ability?” she said with a light snort.
Chen Zhi couldn’t agree with that at all. “Junior Sister Little Yu’s methods are unfathomable.”
“My methods are all just child’s play. They can’t kill anyone.” Nangong Yu waved both hands. “If I really had that kind of ability, I’d have long since been flying through the heavens and burrowing into the earth.”
The infinite-flow game was extremely sly. None of the items or titles it provided could directly kill an apparition.
Otherwise, how would the players continue struggling desperately to survive?
Whenever she thought about it, Nangong Yu found it terribly boring. “Forget it. Whether he’s dead or not has nothing to do with me.”
She leaned back leisurely, enjoying the breeze, completely at ease.
She looked nothing like someone who had killed a person.
“What did you go out to do that night?” Chen Zhi asked slowly, watching her.
Ling Xue, who was beside him, also looked over, her expression faintly surprised.
For a moment, the air aboard the spirit boat grew tense. The next instant, Nangong Yu puffed out her cheeks.
“I’m angry!”
Ling Xue felt somewhat embarrassed and hurriedly said, “Senior Brother Chen didn’t mean it that way…”
“Then what did he mean?” Nangong Yu planted both hands on her hips, cutting her off. “You’re clearly suspicious of me and interrogating me!”
She puffed up her cheeks. “You have to coax me until I’m no longer angry, or I’m not saying anything!”
Ling Xue hastily took spiritual fruit after spiritual fruit from her storage pouch. “Here, have some. Don’t be angry.”
It was only spiritual fruit. She had no idea how much she had fed Nangong Yu along the way. Nangong Yu wasn’t actually angry with her; she was just taking advantage of the opportunity.
But toward Chen Zhi, her little face darkened. “Senior Brother Chen, I don’t want to use force against you, but you’d better give me something precious that you love.”
Chen Zhi had already been reaching into his storage pouch.
In almost the blink of an eye, he covered the pouch and shot backward—
Nangong Yu had a method that could make people reveal everything they owned. Meng Yanqing had already fallen victim to it.
“Senior Brother Chen, why are you running?” Ling Xue asked in astonishment.
Chen Zhi pressed his lips together without answering. It concerned Meng Yanqing’s secret, and he couldn’t reveal it.
He looked toward Nangong Yu and met her bright, smiling eyes, which held a hint of innocence.
Her hair wasn’t very long, but Ling Xue had tidied it up and braided it into a playful, adorable style, decorating it with ribbons, pearls, and other ornaments. She looked lively and spirited, like a young girl untouched by the ways of the world.
Chen Zhi slowly relaxed his grip on his storage pouch and said, “Newly admitted disciples have no sect contribution points. I can give you two hundred sect contribution points to exchange for whatever you need in your daily life, including cultivation techniques, pills, and so on.”
Ling Xue’s eyes widened. “Senior Brother Chen?!”
That was far too valuable!
From her astonished reaction, Nangong Yu could tell how important sect contribution points were. She asked curiously, “Are two hundred sect contribution points a lot?”
Ling Xue then explained, “Sect contribution points are very difficult to earn. New disciples have shallow cultivation and can’t take on many tasks. For example, helping senior brothers and sisters tend the spiritual fields, maintain their cave dwellings, or look after spirit beasts. It takes five to ten days to earn ten contribution points.”
“As for the Scripture Pavilion, basic cultivation manuals cost fifteen to twenty contribution points. Slightly more advanced ones, such as those useful to Foundation Establishment cultivators, cost no more than fifty points.”
She looked at Nangong Yu with some envy. “That will be enough to last you a very long time.”
Ling Xue was too embarrassed to say that she had less than a hundred sect contribution points in total. Chen Zhi had accumulated so many because he was highly cultivated, had reached the Core Formation stage, and had completed dangerous sect missions.
“Deal!” Nangong Yu agreed readily.
It was practical and useful.
Nangong Yu mentally labeled Chen Zhi as an NPC who didn’t deal in empty promises.
“Can you tell us now?” Chen Zhi asked.
Nangong Yu didn’t keep them in suspense. She answered frankly, “I was hungry, so I went out for a stroll.”
Go see Zhao You? Impossible. They didn’t have any evidence, so why would she go out of her way to offer herself up?
Chen Zhi wasn’t satisfied with that answer. After all, he had paid two hundred sect contribution points.
“Why would I kill him? I have a bright future ahead of me. Why would I throw it away?” For the sake of those two hundred contribution points, Nangong Yu continued explaining. “I’m a disciple of the Purple Sun Sect, newly accepted into the sect with boundless prospects. If I killed someone—especially a fellow disciple—wouldn’t I be throwing away my entire future?”
Chen Zhi said, “He shared a blood feud with you.”
Nangong Yu’s expression remained indifferent. “Even if I wanted to kill him, I wouldn’t do it now.” She looked over at him. “Senior Brother Chen, have you forgotten? I’m a mortal.”
A mortal? What mortal could make a Core Formation cultivator suffer?
“I’ve already explained myself.” Nangong Yu stared at him. “Whether you believe me is up to you. But you can’t renege on my two hundred contribution points.”
By this point, Chen Zhi had begun to believe her a little.
Only a little. His instincts told him that Zhao You’s death was inseparable from her.
“If you have evidence in the future, then interrogate me.” Nangong Yu ate the spiritual fruit Ling Xue had given her. “But if you interrogate me without evidence, I’ll get angry again next time.”
She didn’t get angry for nothing. Someone had to coax her afterward.
Chen Zhi clenched his hand and said coolly, “I wasn’t interrogating you. I simply had some doubts and wanted to discuss them with you.”
She really knew how to twist words. Nangong Yu gave him a sidelong glance. “I loooove discussing things with people.”
The moment she finished speaking, Chen Zhi was practically sweating bullets. “You two carry on. I’m going back to my room to meditate.”
His retreating figure looked somewhat flustered as he hurried away.
“Junior Sister Little Yu, you’re amazing.” Only after Ling Xue noticed that he was far away did she sigh in admiration. “Aren’t you afraid?”
That was a Core Formation cultivator!
She was merely a mortal, yet she actually wasn’t afraid? Ling Xue thought of herself. When she had first entered the sect, she had revered even Qi Condensation senior brothers and sisters as though they were heavenly beings.
“You get used to it,” Nangong Yu said.
When she was sixteen, she entered the infinite-flow game. Didn’t she feel afraid when she saw corpses with rotting flesh falling from their faces, or living corpses with maggots growing inside their eyeballs?
Those things weren’t like movie monsters, separated from her by a screen. They were living, breathing creatures right in front of her. If she got too close, the maggots crawling out of their mouths could even end up on her feet.
But Nangong Yu couldn’t die in there. She still had to return to the real world. She still had grandparents to support.
She endured her fear and disgust, forcing herself to approach the living corpses while brainwashing herself into thinking that the maggots were coconut meat, jelly, pearl barley, or toppings in milk tea.
She picked the maggots off their bodies one by one, dried them, ground them into powder, and sold the result as protein powder to veteran players.
Nangong Yu had only been afraid during one instance. After clearing the first living-corpse instance, she was no longer afraid.
Her entire body was filled with pride, all of it born from her own courage and cleverness.
It was only a game. She had nothing to fear. The NPCs were merely ugly. One couldn’t blame them for being born as a different species.
The suspicious monster was gone, and she was in an excellent mood. Even the scenery seemed fresher now. She immediately took out a cooking pot, a stove, and some ingredients, preparing to make a meal.
“Just get used to it?” Ling Xue asked, utterly bewildered. “Used to what? How did you get used to it?”
Was she used to fear, or to being interrogated by a Golden Core cultivator? Was this her so-called “opportunity”?
Ling Xue couldn’t make sense of it. She wanted to feel sorry for her, but watching her happily set up the stove and prepare to feast, she began to wonder if Nangong Yu even needed sympathy.
“Little Yu.” Ling Xue walked over and squatted beside the stove. “What delicious thing are you making? Can I help?”
She had long heard that Xie Jinyue had broken through after drinking a bowl of Nangong Yu’s soup. Ling Xue gazed at her with clear, innocent eyes, full of anticipation.
Nangong Yu didn’t look up. “No need. Senior Sister, just wait to eat.”
Ling Xue had taken good care of her along the way. Nangong Yu had always been willing to befriend NPCs who stood on her side.
Ling Xue felt rather embarrassed. For a while, she fiddled with the firewood, then stirred the soup with a ladle.
When the food was finally ready, she even brought out several plates of spirit fruit to serve as a fruit platter.
“Should we call Senior Brother Chen?” Ling Xue asked as she stared at the fragrant dishes and swallowed hungrily.
Without a second thought, Nangong Yu waved her off. “Senior Brother Chen is cultivating. We shouldn’t disturb him.”
Ling Xue hesitated for half a second before sitting down.
Nangong Yu had made a pot of chicken soup. The chicken was a golden pheasant she had “borrowed” from the Lin family kitchen. It had already been slaughtered and cleaned, with its innards removed and its cavity packed with spices for marinating. It had been just about ready to go into the pot when Nangong Yu took it.
She added chestnuts, goji berries, and dried shiitake slices, then simmered the whole thing in a large pot.
She stir-fried a plate of peeled, white and crisp root vegetables in light oil.
She made a fish with a sweet-and-sour sauce.
She tossed a plate of wood ear mushrooms and bitter melon.
She pan-fried a block of tender tofu.
Every ingredient had been taken from the Lin family kitchen—even the beans used to make the tofu contained spiritual energy. The flavor was beyond description.
Ling Xue immediately tossed a bag of spirit stones onto the table. “Little Yu, this is my share for the meal.”
A meal like this would cost several hundred spirit stones in a restaurant. How could she shamelessly eat someone else’s food for free?
Nangong Yu accepted the spirit stones, then brought out a small plate of pan-fried fish roe and set it on the table. “This is delicious too.”
How could it not be? Just smelling it brought tears to Ling Xue’s eyes.
“Little Yu, tell me honestly. What hidden sect or aristocratic cultivation family did you come from?”
Her wealth was far greater than that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator like Ling Xue—she didn’t even know by how many times.
Was she really an ordinary mortal from Xiaoyan Village? Ling Xue had personally accompanied her back from Xiaoyan Village, yet she couldn’t help feeling dazed.
Or had Nangong Yu stumbled upon some powerful expert’s hidden abode?
“I’m not telling you.” Nangong Yu buried her head in her food. “You’re a good senior sister, but I won’t tell you my secrets.”
So she really did have secrets?
Ling Xue sighed inwardly in amazement.
After they had eaten their fill, Ling Xue used a Dust-Cleansing Art and tidied the stove, pots, bowls, and chopsticks until they were spotless.
Nangong Yu immediately decided that this NPC was worth befriending. She took out two massage chairs, lay down in one herself, and gestured for Ling Xue to sit in the other.
“Huh?” Ling Xue was filled with wonder once she sat down. “Junior Sister, where did you get this magical artifact?”
Things that required spiritual power to activate and possessed extraordinary effects were called magical treasures.
Things that did not require spiritual power and were made through mechanical techniques were called magical artifacts.
Ling Xue had a puppet in her abode, a magical artifact she had purchased from a disciple of the Mo School. It could perform a few simple tasks, but it was rather clumsy.
“I picked it up,” Nangong Yu said.
She had picked it up in AI City. With only a tiny energy cell, it could be used until it finally broke down.
Ling Xue narrowed her eyes in comfort. “Where did you find it? I want to pick one up too.”
There was no way such a brand-new magical artifact had simply been picked up. Ling Xue assumed Nangong Yu was joking.
Nangong Yu said, “There’s one right under your backside, Senior Sister. You can take that one.”
With a sudden whoosh, Ling Xue sat bolt upright, her eyes wide.
“Little Yu, you’re giving it to me?!”
“You and I are sisters from the same sect. Why be so polite?” Nangong Yu said with a beaming smile, dimples appearing in her cheeks. “Consider it a gift from your junior sister.”
Ling Xue was deeply moved. She felt that this child was truly wonderful. How could anyone have such an adorable junior sister?
“Little Yu, your senior sister is poor, but I won’t take something from you for nothing.” She became serious. “Once you join the sect, don’t waste your contribution points on basic manuals and techniques like the Dust-Cleansing Art, the Heart-Calming Art, and the Lightness Art. I’ll give them to you.”
Those techniques were far too basic. Ling Xue had learned them long ago and had thrown away the manuals ages ago. When she returned, she would have to search her abode. She had no idea where she had tossed them—probably beneath a table.
“Thank you, Senior Sister.” Nangong Yu’s face immediately lit up with delight.
“I wonder when I’ll be able to form my Golden Core.” Lying in the massage chair, Ling Xue thought about how her cultivation had shown no movement at all, and her mood turned gloomy.
Xie Jinyue had broken through after drinking only one bowl of egg-and-vegetable soup. Ling Xue had eaten an entire tableful of food, so why hadn’t anything happened?
Was her talent really that much worse than Xie Jinyue’s?
“You’ll form your Golden Core sooner or later,” Nangong Yu consoled her. “Besides, even if you form it early, you won’t live a single day longer. Isn’t the lifespan of a Golden Core cultivator five hundred years?”
Ling Xue froze. “But forming your core early means you have better talent and a chance to reach the Nascent Soul stage.”
“And even if you reach the Nascent Soul stage, you’ll only have a lifespan of a thousand years, won’t you?” Nangong Yu said. “You still won’t live a single day longer than anyone else.”
Ling Xue opened her mouth, intending to argue, but when the words reached her lips, she found that Nangong Yu’s reasoning seemed to make sense.
“Is that really true?” she murmured with a frown.
Nangong Yu nodded. “Of course. A Foundation Establishment cultivator has a lifespan of two hundred years. If you form your Golden Core within those two hundred years, your lifespan increases to five hundred. If you reach the Nascent Soul stage within those five hundred years, your lifespan increases to a thousand. What’s there to rush about?”
It would happen sooner or later.
Forming her Golden Core or reaching the Nascent Soul stage a day earlier wouldn’t let her live a single day longer than anyone else.
Ling Xue felt that Nangong Yu’s words were wrong somehow, as though she had been led astray by some twisted argument.
Yet she also realized that there was one thing Little Yu hadn’t gotten wrong: Ling Xue really was too anxious.
She envied geniuses. She envied the glory others enjoyed. Her envy often kept her from calming her mind, and she frequently occupied herself with trivial side matters, as though doing so would somehow make up for her slow cultivation speed.
“What happened?” Chen Zhi flew out of the room. With astonishment—and the practiced ease of someone who had seen this before—he threw out a formation that enveloped Ling Xue.
His expression was complicated as he looked toward Nangong Yu. “What did you do?”
Why had Junior Sister Ling Xue broken through too?
“I told her that I was a spy sent by the Demon Realm,” Nangong Yu said solemnly. “I planned to infiltrate the Ziyang Sect and slaughter everyone at the first opportunity. The entire cultivation world would be buried with me. Senior Sister Ling Xue felt ashamed of her low cultivation and swore that she could not allow the cultivation world to be destroyed, so she broke through.”
Chen Zhi’s expression became even more complicated. “Do you have something against me?”
You never talk to me properly.
Nangong Yu gave him a look that said, You figure it out yourself. Then she pulled her massage chair to the other side of the spirit boat.
Several days passed in the blink of an eye.
“We’re here.” Ling Xue excitedly straightened up and pointed ahead.
A vast sea of mist billowed like clouds. Through it, verdant peaks and mountain ranges appeared and disappeared, stretching endlessly into the distance until their boundaries could no longer be seen.
“That’s our Ziyang Sect.” Ling Xue’s face lit up with a genuine smile, like a traveler finally returning home. “The sect is covered by a formation, so you can’t see it clearly yet.”
Nangong Yu nodded, then turned around and called out, “Senior Brother Chen.”
Ever since Ling Xue had successfully broken through two days ago, Chen Zhi had returned to his room.
Now that the sect was just ahead, he had come out as well. Walking to the front of the spirit boat, he moved his hands, drawing upon his spiritual energy like a nimble serpent and forming hand seals into talismans.
As he moved, the thick fog before them was swept aside, revealing a magnificent range of beautiful peaks.
Mountain after mountain rose in staggered heights, stretching endlessly into the distance—majestic, rugged, and graceful.
It was said that every Nascent Soul cultivator had a mountain of their own. With so many peaks, just how many Bosses must be living here?
Nangong Yu’s blood surged with excitement. She felt as though she had entered the Bosses’ home base.
Everyone knew that the more Bosses there were, the more treasures there would be.
Even the junk they casually discarded could make an ordinary player rich.
“We’re about to land,” Chen Zhi warned.
Clearly, he was warning Nangong Yu rather than Ling Xue. After all, she was the only mortal on the spirit boat.
Ling Xue, however, immediately put an arm around Nangong Yu and gently reassured her, “It’s fine. It’ll only be a little unsteady. I’ll hold on to you, so you won’t fall.”
Because of Nangong Yu, Ling Xue had broken through to the late Foundation Establishment stage. More importantly, she would never again allow vanity to hinder her cultivation. She had developed a sincere fondness for Nangong Yu.
“Thank you, Senior Sister,” Nangong Yu said sweetly.
At the front of the boat, Chen Zhi was controlling its descent. His heart tightened inexplicably.
They had all arrived later, yet he had been the first to speak with her. But Xie Jinyue, Meng Yanqing, and now even Ling Xue had all broken through.
“Boom.”
The spirit boat touched down with a heavy thud.
It had landed in a vast plaza situated at the front of the sect. This was where the sect’s disciples entered and exited, attended lectures, arranged meetings, and held competitions.
Countless figures dressed in white and purple moved about, both men and women. Some descended on spiritual cranes, while others summoned cranes and flew off in every direction.
Someone passing by the spirit boat called out, “Senior Brother Chen.”
Chen Zhi nodded in acknowledgment.
Nangong Yu stayed close to Ling Xue, looking obedient while making no effort to hide her curiosity. She gazed around in every direction.
Standing in the enormous plaza, she could feel even more clearly just how vast the Ziyang Sect was. If she had to travel everywhere on foot, she probably wouldn’t be able to reach the edges even after a lifetime.
Nangong Yu firmly reminded herself: Be careful when provoking a Boss. Otherwise, you won’t be able to escape.
“We’re going to the Azure Cloud Stairs.” After putting away his token, Chen Zhi explained to them, “We arrived at just the right time. Junior Brother Wang and the others have returned as well. All the disciples have gathered at the foot of the Azure Cloud Stairs for the Heart-Seeking Trial.”
This time, the Ziyang Sect had recruited new disciples not only from the areas near Sunset Glow City. Other disciples had also gone to various cities and traveled throughout Taihua Prefecture.
They had returned at exactly the right moment. The final group had just arrived, and all the new disciples were now gathered at the foot of the Azure Cloud Stairs.
“It’s difficult, but it’s not difficult either.” Flying through the air on her sword, Ling Xue reminded Nangong Yu, “As long as your Dao heart is firm, you’ll definitely pass the Heart-Seeking Trial.”
Nangong Yu nodded. “I understand, Senior Sister.”
The Heart-Seeking Trial—she had heard of it.
It appeared in countless novels. The protagonist had to climb a very, very tall stairway, with each step becoming more difficult than the last. Along the way, there would also be all kinds of temptations.
Before long, she joined up with the new disciples.
There were surprisingly many of them. The youngest were only five or six years old, while even the oldest were no more than fifteen or sixteen. They wore all kinds of clothing, with roughly equal numbers of boys and girls. Crowded together, there appeared to be three or four hundred people.
“You two, stay by my side later. Do you understand?” An eight- or nine-year-old boy was ordering around the two people beside him.
“You four, protect me from all sides later. Do not stray too far.” A handsome fourteen- or fifteen-year-old boy stood with his hands behind his back, issuing commands to those around him with a haughty expression.
“You six, protect me well. Otherwise…” A breathtakingly beautiful fourteen- or fifteen-year-old girl in luxurious clothing was also giving orders to those around her.
Originally, everyone had been standing in their own groups. Then a few people began to stand out.
Nangong Yu rose onto her toes and looked over. She quickly spotted that arrogant little brat, Mo Jiuyou. After giving him a brief glance, she ignored him and turned her attention to the four youths acting as guards.
“His name is Xiao Junlin.” Ling Xue’s voice reached her through a sound transmission. She had been watching Nangong Yu with concern. “He’s a prince of the Great Liang Dynasty.”
That certainly sounded like a prince’s name.
Just as Nangong Yu thought this, Ling Xue continued through the sound transmission, “He has a single fire-element spiritual root and an extremely powerful talent. He’s on par with Mo Jiuyou and has already been claimed in advance by several elders of the sect. Stay away from him later.”
Ling Xue really did care about her. Nangong Yu felt that all the affection points she had earned along the way had not been wasted. She raised both hands above her head and made a heart.
The elders and instructors were standing in the distance. With her eyesight, she couldn’t see whether they had noticed it, but Ling Xue could see her clearly.
Sure enough, the female cultivator standing in midair in the distance gave a slight smile.
She didn’t know what gesture Nangong Yu was making, but she was certain that Nangong Yu had heard her words and was responding to them.
“Little Yu is so cute,” she couldn’t help saying.
Chen Zhi had not gone far either. Standing beside her, he couldn’t help asking, “What did you say to her?”
Clearly, the two of them had been interacting, but Chen Zhi had no idea what they had been communicating about.
“I told her to be careful around Xiao Junlin,” Ling Xue answered without hiding anything. “His talent is exceptionally high, and several elders have already claimed him in secret. Little Yu can’t afford to provoke him.”
Xiao Junlin was a member of the imperial family. Although the emperor had no authority over cultivators, the imperial bloodline possessed a special kind of fortune—mysterious and difficult to explain, yet quite profound.
“Sadly…” Ling Xue sighed. “Little Yu’s talent is far too poor.”
On a scale of one hundred, her spiritual-root score was less than ten.
“I’ve never seen anyone with such an inferior spiritual root,” she said, unable to hide her worry.
Chen Zhi nodded slightly. “Neither have I. This is the first time I’ve ever seen one.”
A spiritual root either existed or it didn’t.
Although aptitude varied in strength, even the least talented disciples in the sect had mixed spiritual roots with an elemental affinity of at least thirty or forty.
“Will she even be accepted into the sect?” That was what worried Ling Xue most.
She stared at the Azure Cloud Stairs. Some disciples had already entered and begun the trial.
And Ling Xue’s gaze remained fixed on Nangong Yu, her heart quietly tightening.
