Nangong Yu could only say, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Zhao Ziyun cast her a sidelong glance. Nangong Yu’s calmness displeased her somewhat, while also stirring a faint desire to conquer her. “Strange. Why hasn’t anyone come yet?”
She put away the sachet and gazed into the distance. “It’s already two quarters past the Hour of the Snake.”
Class had been scheduled to begin at nine, and it was already half past nine.
“Could it be that the elders have already arrived and are testing us?” someone in the crowd guessed.
Even Zhao Ziyun and Mo Jiuyou changed color slightly at those words, glancing around them.
More than three hundred new disciples had taken the Trial of Heart Inquiry that day. No one could claim to recognize every one of them.
Could there be an elder observing them in secret? And if so, what exactly were they being tested on?
“Hmph.” Zhao Ziyun lifted her chin. “I’ve done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide.”
Xiao Junlin smiled faintly. Tall and handsome, he immediately caused the female disciples around him to blush.
“Peacock!” Mo Jiuyou spat contemptuously.
He possessed a mutated lightning spirit root. Among this batch of disciples, he could be said to be the very best.
That was what his master had told him.
Elders, tests—he paid none of them any mind.
“They’re here! They’re here!” someone suddenly cried, pointing excitedly at the sky.
A silver-white streak flashed across the heavens, trailing rippling azure light. A middle-aged male cultivator descended to the ground, a horsetail whisk in his hand.
He had a gentle, refined appearance, yet also carried a faint air of aloofness. After landing, he looked at the many disciples and announced, “Elder Fuyun has business to attend to. I’ll be taking his class today.”
With that, he turned and walked toward the main hall.
He swept his azure horsetail whisk, and the doors of the hall opened to either side, revealing a deep and shadowy interior.
The crowd stood frozen for only a moment before rushing inside.
Mo Jiuyou had short legs, but lightning crackled in his hands. He soon electrocuted anyone who tried to approach, forcing a path through the crowd as he marched through with his chin held high.
Zhao Ziyun had a special status. The inner disciples who had climbed to the summit of Qingyun Peak all recognized her and did not dare jostle her.
Xiao Junlin was a prince of the Xiao Imperial Dynasty, and his status was just as exceptional as Zhao Ziyun’s. Most of the disciples simply did not dare offend him.
The three of them walked in front, deliberately keeping a measured, unhurried pace. The others had no choice but to follow behind.
Nangong Yu walked at the very back and yawned.
She wasn’t sleepy, but she was tired.
The main hall was extremely deep. Even with more than a hundred disciples inside, it still seemed vast and empty.
“Sit,” the substitute elder instructed.
One meditation cushion after another flew over and landed neatly in place. The disciples sat down one after another.
Some knelt, while others sat cross-legged. The elder paid no attention to their postures and began speaking. “Even if you enter the Ziyang Sect, you may not necessarily become disciples of the Ziyang Sect…”
Without successfully drawing qi into the body, they would remain mortals and could only become servant disciples.
Servant disciples could not truly be considered disciples of the Ziyang Sect.
The elder probably did not teach very often. He neither guided them patiently nor offered any words of encouragement.
He simply covered three points:
First, anyone who failed to draw qi into the body within three months would not be considered a disciple of the Ziyang Sect.
Second, which peaks were open to them.
Third, classes would be held once every three days and continue for three years.
Then he asked, “Who has read the Qi-Nurturing Manual? What questions do you have?”
The Qi-Nurturing Manual was part of the new disciple gift package that everyone—including servant disciples—had received from Wanshi Peak after completing the trial.
It was an opportunity the sect had given to all its disciples. Even servant disciples could become outer disciples if they managed to draw qi into their bodies and worked hard enough.
At the elder’s question, the crowd fell silent for a moment.
“I have, Elder.” The first to answer was Xiao Junlin. “It’s rather profound. I’ve only managed to understand a small portion.”
The elder asked, “Which parts did you not understand?”
Xiao Junlin was not boasting. He had genuinely read the Qi-Nurturing Manual. He raised his questions, and the elder answered them in a back-and-forth exchange.
The elder was fairly pleased with him. After answering three of his questions, he asked the others, “Who else has read it?”
“I have, Elder.” Zhao Ziyun raised her hand.
After answering Zhao Ziyun’s three questions, Mo Jiuyou unexpectedly spoke as well. “Elder, there are some things I don’t understand either.”
From the back rows, several disciples whispered among themselves. “On the first day, they took the Trial of Heart Inquiry. They rested on the second day, then climbed the mountain before dawn on the third. Where did they find the time?”
Yet not only had those three read the manual, they had studied it seriously. It was astonishing.
Mo Jiuyou, in particular, had always struck everyone as a willful, mischievous brat. But even when he asked questions, he sounded quite capable.
More surprising still, Mo Jiuyou, Zhao Ziyun, and Xiao Junlin were not the only ones who had taken the time to read the Qi-Nurturing Manual. There were actually more than twenty such disciples.
After answering those disciples’ questions, the elder swept his cold gaze across the crowd.
“You useless fools, all of you are content to eat your fill and wait for death!”
How harsh!
A disciple immediately protested, “Elder, I was injured climbing the Stairway to Qingyun and spent all of yesterday recovering.”
There had been so little time. How could they be blamed?
Besides, hadn’t they said that cultivators lived long lives? What difference could a day or two make?
“Hmph!”
The elder swept out his sleeve. The disciple who had protested was instantly sent flying backward. His scream faded into the distance until it could no longer be heard.
The elder looked at the others. “And what about the rest of you? Why were you so lazy?”
The disciples were dissatisfied, but none of them dared answer. They all lowered their heads.
One of them said shamefully, “This disciple knows his mistake.”
The elder merely said, “Two days from now, you will be divided into separate classes.”
The announcement caused an uproar.
“Elder, we truly know our mistake!”
“Please give us another chance!”
“Elder, this is too harsh!”
“May I ask whether Elder Fuyun shares your opinion?”
Just because some people had previewed the Qi-Nurturing Manual while others had not, they were going to be divided into two classes?
Many disciples were indignant, believing that the sect should have informed them beforehand.
“You refuse to repent.”
The elder flicked his sleeve, and a fierce gust of wind arose. One figure after another was blown from their meditation cushions and sent flying out of the hall.
Nangong Yu was among them.
Drawing attention to oneself was never a good thing.
She simply went with the flow, allowing the wind to carry her outside. After dusting off her backside, she was about to leave.
“Wait!” Mo Jiuyou’s anxious voice rang out. “Elder, that girl named Nangong Yu is hiding her abilities! She—she’s concealing her true strength!”
Huh?
Nangong Yu paused mid-step.
Inside the hall, the elder also looked puzzled. “How do you know?”
Mo Jiuyou’s mind raced. “She’s scheming by nature, but today she didn’t say a single word. There must be something suspicious!”
Nangong Yu: “…”
It was an unfounded attack. Although Nangong Yu was accustomed to such things, she still felt speechless.
“Since she has nothing to say, then it doesn’t count,” the elder replied, clearly unwilling to cause more trouble. He rejected Mo Jiuyou outright.
Mo Jiuyou stamped his foot in frustration. Cultivating was already boring enough. Cultivating alongside a bunch of annoying people was even worse.
“Why not ask her, Elder?” Zhao Ziyun spoke up at this moment. “She was the last to make it up that day and was the most seriously injured. She must have had her reasons.”
That she had arrived last was true. As for being the most seriously injured, Zhao Ziyun had made it up. The elder certainly was not going to investigate.
Xiao Junlin raised his brows and said as well, “Junior Sister Little Yu is my sworn sister, a princess of the Xiao Imperial Dynasty. I hope the elder will give her another chance.”
The elder truly did not want to bother with any of this.
You’re a true-blooded member of the imperial family, carrying the aura of a dragon. She’s a fake princess—what is there to say about her?
But with the three prodigies all speaking up for her, the elder turned toward the outside and called, “Where is Nangong Yu?”
The disciples who had yet to leave all turned to look in the same direction.
Nangong Yu…
Nangong Yu had already gone down the mountain.
By now, she had climbed down several dozen meters.
Let them say whatever they wanted. What did it have to do with her? She didn’t care.
“Whoosh!”
A rush of air coiled around her waist and abruptly yanked her upward. The next moment, Nangong Yu was flying through the air.
The scenery retreated rapidly from her field of vision. The faces of the disciples outside the hall grew smaller and smaller in the distance. Her vision darkened, and she found herself back in the lecture hall.
“What happened?” she asked in surprise, rising to her feet and looking around in confusion. “Wasn’t class over?”
The elder’s face darkened.
“Hmph, Nangong Yu, you wanted to hide your abilities, but I saw through you!” Mo Jiuyou said loudly, winking at her.
Nangong Yu asked in bewilderment, “Hide my abilities? What abilities? I didn’t hide anything.”
She shook her head repeatedly, looking as foolish and clueless as could be.
Mo Jiuyou stamped his foot in exasperation. “The Qi-Nourishing Manual! Have you read it or not?!”
Nangong Yu shook her head. “No. I haven’t read it.”
Mo Jiuyou was practically beside himself with frustration, along with a hint of disappointment. “Why not?”
What he was asking was not why she had failed to read it. He was asking why, after being given an opportunity, she had not seized it.
Even if she hadn’t read it, so many people had asked the elder questions just now. Surely she had at least listened? With her quick wits, would it really have been difficult to make up a couple of answers that sounded plausible and get through it?
Surely she didn’t think that all the people who had stayed behind had actually read it?
“Hopelessly dull!” the elder snorted.
Nangong Yu, meanwhile, regarded the strange beings in the hall cautiously.
They seemed to want her to read the Qi-Nourishing Manual.
In truth, Nangong Yu had looked through it—but not yesterday. After killing Zhou Yun, she had rummaged through the many books in his storage pouch, including the sect rules and the disciple handbook, and given them all a cursory read.
The Qi-Nourishing Manual was completely incomprehensible to her.
What was a dantian? What was a spiritual abode? What exactly was qi? It was all far too abstract.
She could understand the human meridians and acupoints to some extent. Back in the hospital dungeon, she had studied diagrams of the human body.
“Sharpening the ax doesn’t delay the work of chopping wood.” Her eyes shifted, and she began earnestly offering advice. “Whatever you do, you should do it properly and take it seriously. Recharge your energy, get plenty of rest, and do it beautifully.”
“I’m not saying you’re too eager for quick results!” She held up her palm defensively, leaning her upper body backward. “I’m only talking about myself! There’s no way I’d attempt something extremely important when I’m not in the right condition!”
Mo Jiuyou: “…”
The elder was both furious and amused. With a wave of his hand, he sent a stream of spiritual power toward her. “What a silver tongue!”
She was clearly just lazy and unwilling to work hard, yet she felt no shame about it and even dressed it up in lofty-sounding excuses!
For her two offenses, the elder decided to punish her together. No longer willing to listen to another word from her, he sent her flying out of the hall with a surge of spiritual power.
The disciples who had yet to leave outside saw the figure that had just been pulled inside fly back out at incredible speed.
“What happened?”
“No idea.”
“Why is it her again?”
Someone immediately asked, “What do you mean, ‘her again’? Who is she? What did she do?”
The person who had spoken earlier was an inner-sect disciple. He had seen Nangong Yu on Qingyun Peak and had been “taught a lesson” by Elder Fuyun at the time.
She had only just joined the sect, and already she had offended two elders?
“Nothing.” The disciple shook his head and said no more. When he saw that no further sounds came from the hall, he went down the mountain in disappointment.
