He divided off another sliver of spiritual power, twice as substantial as the last, and guided it in again.
Just as before, there was nothing unusual at first. But when it was about to reach her dantian, it was swallowed by an unknown force.
His heart gave a start. He immediately withdrew his hand and clasped it behind his back. “Mm. You’ve reached the middle stage of Qi Refining.”
Although the purity of her constitution and the resilience of her meridians surpassed even those of Foundation Establishment cultivators, her cultivation was indeed only at the fourth level of Qi Refining.
She had already entered the middle stage of Qi Refining, placing her far ahead of all the new disciples in this year’s intake.
Chen Zhi could not hide his astonishment. “Congratulations, Little Grand Martial Aunt.”
“Mm.” Nangong Yu rose to her feet and rolled her eyes around. “Why are you here?”
Although half a month had passed, to Nangong Yu’s senses, it had been no more than a moment.
She rubbed her stomach. “Come on, Great-grandson. Take me out to eat.”
The hall was empty. It seemed there were no classes today.
This was the perfect chance to find out what had happened while she was in a state of epiphany.
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible.” Chen Zhi slowly shook his head. His expression complicated, he took out a token and sent a message into it. “Grand Martial Uncle Xu, Little Grand Martial Aunt is awake.”
Nangong Yu did not quite understand, but as her spiritual sense stirred, she took a small step back and equipped a title.
【You’ll Regret This】: When this title is equipped, any being harboring hostility toward you will think twice, then think twice again. You will gain six seconds to flee or counterattack.
Whenever this happened, Nangong Yu could not help cursing the system. Stingy, sly, treacherous— it never gave her a single genuinely useful defensive item.
Everything was just barely defensive or barely offensive. It would not let the player relax for even a moment!
In her mind, Chen Zhi’s notifying Grand Martial Uncle Xu could mean that her identity had been exposed. Had Xu Wanzhong discovered that she was the menace he hated? Was he going to deal with her?
That was why she equipped the title 【You’ll Regret This】. If Xu Wanzhong truly harbored hostile intentions, she would at least have time to think of a countermeasure.
“Junior Sister!” A clear, resonant voice came from outside the hall. A figure appeared in the doorway, briefly dimming the light inside.
Then Xu Wanzhong strode into the hall, his face filled with approval. He slapped her on the shoulder. “Well done!”
Nangong Yu’s eyes flickered. “Senior Brother.”
“How are you only at the fourth level of Qi Refining?” Like Chen Zhi, Xu Wanzhong probed her meridians, but he withdrew after only a brief examination and failed to notice anything unusual about her dantian.
“Your meridians have been cleansed quite thoroughly, though.” His brows relaxed, and he began praising her again.
That enormous vortex of spiritual power was no less impressive than what a Golden Core cultivator would produce when breaking through.
Yet so much spiritual power had only allowed her to reach the middle stage of Qi Refining. Xu Wanzhong had not expected that.
However, he did not investigate further. More importantly, the circumstances did not allow for it. His gaze deepened. “You know something happened at Elder Xuanqing’s Taixuan Peak, don’t you?”
Nangong Yu blinked and looked at him. “I know. I heard that trees rained down all over his mountain.”
“Mm.” Xu Wanzhong nodded. “He says it was you.”
The moment he finished speaking, he abruptly turned toward the outside. “He’s coming.”
While Nangong Yu had been in her epiphany, there had been other people keeping watch outside the hall.
Chen Zhi had been ordered by Xu Wanzhong to stand guard inside the hall with his sword, so no one else had been able to rush in.
But now Nangong Yu had awakened, and the vortex of spiritual energy had dissipated. Naturally, the people outside had seen it and notified Taixuan Peak long ago.
“Huh?” Nangong Yu widened her eyes, as though she had heard something utterly unbelievable. “Me?”
She pointed at the tip of her nose. “Me? I made trees rain down on his mountain?”
Xu Wanzhong said helplessly, “Yes. You were still an ordinary mortal before today. What does this have to do with you?”
He frowned, clearly displeased. But before he could say anything more, Elder Xuanqing had already arrived. He landed swiftly and strode through the door.
“Hmph!” He flicked his sleeve, sending spiritual energy surging toward Nangong Yu. “You little wretch! I should have killed you with one palm that day!”
Nangong Yu’s title had no effect on him.
Or rather, he had developed hostility toward her from the very beginning, and those six seconds had already run out.
That was the inconvenience of titles. Nangong Yu fumed inwardly and switched to another title.
【Mind Your Tongue】: Shout the title’s name aloud. If your opponent refuses to listen, you will randomly obtain one of their cherished possessions.
(Note: If your opponent is a penniless wretch, you will randomly obtain a piece of their flesh.)
So he wanted to insult her, did he?
Nangong Yu planted her hands on her hips. “You old fart, mind your tongue!”
Elder Xuanqing, who had been stopped by Xu Wanzhong and was already seething with anger, turned livid when he heard the words “old fart.”
“You insolent brat! Are you courting death?”
He was a Nascent Soul cultivator with a lifespan of a thousand years. At just over five hundred, he was still in the prime of his life!
“I’m warning you: mind your tongue and don’t insult me again!” Nangong Yu pointed at him. “I’m the Ziyang Sect’s peerless genius, the kind who achieved enlightenment the moment I joined the sect!”
Elder Xuanqing immediately laughed. He looked at her with contempt. “You? You’re nothing but a worthless good-for-nothing!”
He remembered her spiritual roots: earth, water, and wood, with an aptitude score barely in the single digits.
“In all my years, I’ve never seen a piece of trash like you!” he said disdainfully. “So what if you achieved enlightenment? Can you do that every day? With your aptitude, once you start cultivating properly, breaking through will be harder than reaching the heavens!”
“A genius?” he sneered. “Born useless!”
Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
…
Nangong Yu’s ears filled with the sounds of items being credited to her account.
She could barely contain her smile. She simply planted her hands on her hips and lifted her chin. “You old fart! I think you’re just jealous of me!”
“Would I be jealous of a mere good-for-nothing?” Elder Xuanqing laughed angrily. He was about to say more, but a sudden chill rose from the depths of his heart.
In an instant, his mind cleared, and the words at the tip of his tongue froze.
He had no idea where the premonition had come from. Since that was the case, however, he said, “Xu Wanzhong, you’ve seen the evidence yourself. Hand her over to me at once!”
Curious, Nangong Yu asked the person beside her, “Great-grandson, what evidence is that old fart talking about?”
She had not bothered to lower her voice. Elder Xuanqing was a Nascent Soul cultivator, so he naturally heard her insulting him. Yet even he could not understand why he had managed to hold himself back from lashing out.
“Someone played a prank on Tai Xuan Peak. Elder Xuanqing searched the entire mountain for traces, spending several days collecting every wisp of aura left behind,” Chen Zhi replied in a low voice.
He could barely conceal his worry. “Everyone else has already been questioned. Only the Little Grand Martial Aunt remains.”
Nangong Yu understood.
Tai Xuan Peak was no small inn in Luoxia City, where a single sweep of the Retrospection Mirror could uncover the evidence.
But Elder Xuanqing held grudges. He was willing to go to any length, searching the entire Tai Xuan Peak from top to bottom.
Anyone who had been there would leave traces behind, just as Elder Lu and the others had found the secret chamber in the Lin residence by following a trace of demonic aura.
Nangong Yu had appeared on Tai Xuan Peak, so she would naturally have left behind a trace of her aura. Elder Xuanqing had found it.
“He really knows how to frame someone.” She nodded, not particularly worried. “If you have a problem with me, just say so. Why go to all this trouble?”
Xu Wanzhong asked in a deep voice, “Junior Sister, when did you offend him?”
Elder Xuanqing would not have gone to such lengths to target a new disciple unless she had seriously offended him.
Nangong Yu immediately replied, “Wasn’t it that day? Senior Brother asked him to apologize to Chen Zhi, and he pretended to feel unwell and tried to run away. I called out to him, that’s all.”
Her face was full of disdain. “He’s lived all these years, yet hasn’t cultivated an ounce of magnanimity. He holds a grudge over such a trivial matter.”
“Brat! It was clearly you—” Elder Xuanqing blurted out angrily.
How could Nangong Yu let him finish? “You’re cursing at me again! You really want to keep this up? I suggest you watch your mouth!”
Her senior brother NPC still did not know that she was the menace responsible for everything. With an enemy before them, she could not let him turn against her now.
“I’ve never seen an old man as narrow-minded as you!” Nangong Yu planted her hands on her hips, radiating arrogance. “I only became a cultivator today. Before that, I was a mortal. And you’re accusing me of wrecking your Tai Xuan Peak? How do you have the nerve?”
Exactly!
Xu Wanzhong also snapped angrily, “Do you have some kind of problem with Hengxu Peak?!”
His junior sister was only a mortal!
Elder Xuanqing was rendered speechless. He withdrew and stepped back. “I’m not fighting you!”
The beating must have scrambled his brains.
He had a faint sense that something was wrong, though he could not put his finger on it. After steadying himself, he looked at Nangong Yu and said, “You appeared on Tai Xuan Peak that night!”
He had gathered a trace of Nangong Yu’s aura from Tai Xuan Peak, but he could not determine when it had been left there.
Still, the moment he discovered that trace, his instincts told him it was her.
“Why did you go to my Tai Xuan Peak?” he demanded.
Nangong Yu was instantly speechless. “Tai Xuan Peak was so lively that night. Everyone went to see what was happening. Was I not allowed to take a look too?”
Elder Xuanqing could not help pausing at that.
Most of the people he had questioned had given the same reason. He would not have suspected anyone else for saying it. But hearing it from Nangong Yu made him deeply uncomfortable.
“It was you!” he shouted furiously. “Stop trying to wriggle out of it!”
Xu Wanzhong could not listen any longer and struck him with a palm. “What exactly is wrong with what my junior sister said?”
Forced back by Xu Wanzhong’s relentless attacks, Elder Xuanqing was anxious, furious, and beginning to doubt himself. Was he truly being petty?
Yet his instincts told him that even if Nangong Yu was not the culprit, she could not possibly be unrelated.
Cultivators had a mysterious premonition when it came to matters closely connected to them. He soon grew certain of his suspicion. “Then do you dare face the Heart-Questioning Stone?”
A test of the heart? Again?
First there had been the Heart-Questioning Trial, and now there was the Heart-Questioning Stone.
Nangong Yu’s heart tightened. She suspected that she had actually failed the Heart-Questioning Trial, which was why these subsequent complications had arisen.
“Why don’t you use Soul-Searching instead?” Nangong Yu remained outwardly calm. “Wouldn’t that be simpler?”
“Little Yu! Don’t talk nonsense!” Xu Wanzhong shouted.
Soul-Searching was not something that could be used casually. Although she had gained a cultivation level, she had no idea how to use it and was still scarcely different from an ordinary mortal. If a Soul-Searching technique were cast on her, she would either die or become an idiot!
“Xuanqing, this matter ends here!” Xu Wanzhong pulled her to his side and shielded her with spiritual power. “My junior sister has just broken through and needs to consolidate her cultivation. I’m taking her with me.”
With that, he flew out of the main hall and soon disappeared into the distance.
Chen Zhi cupped his hands in salute before following him out.
“Changing the subject…” Watching them leave, Elder Xuanqing’s gaze darkened. “It’s you!”
