The moment the door was pushed open, a dozen pairs of sparkling eyes instantly turned toward her. Shi Xia shivered slightly, sensing an odd atmosphere in the grand hall.
The people inside all rose to their feet, their expressions resembling those who had just seen a ghost as they stared at the entrance.
"Uh... did I interrupt something?" She wondered if she should just close the door.
The hall fell into dead silence for a second.
Then, disbelieving voices erupted.
"Is... is this a new disciple?!"
"How is that possible? It’s only been half an hour, hasn’t it?"
"No, not even half an hour—less than two quarters!"
"Even the Grandmaster took an hour back in the day."
"Did something go wrong with the Heart-Testing Steps?"
"There’s no way she climbed those steps."
The more they spoke, the more agitated they became, their gazes so intense it felt like their eyeballs might pop out. Shi Xia instinctively retracted the foot she had just stepped inside with, suddenly feeling like a fish on a chopping block. She quietly but firmly pulled the door shut behind her.
"Wait!" Yuan Zhao, the sect leader, finally snapped out of his stunned state. With a wave of his hand, the door Shi Xia had struggled to open even a crack swung wide open effortlessly. "Young lady, don’t be afraid. Come in, come in!"
Shi Xia stiffened. At the ripe age of 28, someone had just called her "young lady"?!
Hmph... she wasn’t secretly pleased at all! O(∩_∩)O
She promptly strode inside.
Suppressing his excitement, Yuan Zhao put on his most amiable smile. "Young lady, are you one of the new disciples?"
"Well... sort of." Shi Xia nodded. Truthfully, she was just here for help—cultivation wasn’t really her thing.
"Sect Leader, this girl..." Yuan Xia stepped forward, clearly about to say something.
"Not now." Yuan Zhao cut her off with a wave, continuing in a gentle tone, as if afraid of scaring her. "Young lady, could you tell me how you got up the mountain?"
"I walked up." Shi Xia answered honestly. It wasn’t like there was a cable car here.
"You walked up." Yuan Zhao nearly lost his composure, and the others collectively sucked in sharp breaths. "How exactly did you walk up? From where?"
"From the steps... I walked up." She timidly pointed behind her. "Is... that not allowed?"
"Allowed! Of course it’s allowed!" Yuan Zhao could practically hear his heart leaping with joy. "But... did you see anything along the way?"
"See anything..." Shi Xia pondered for a moment. Was this some kind of interview bonus question?
"Speak freely."
"Aside from mountains and trees, I saw four pigeons, two cranes... yeah, that’s about it." She left out the part about the couple making out in the woods. Workplace discretion—she got it!
Yuan Zhao blinked. "That’s all?"
"Yep."
"Good, good, good!" Stroking his beard, Yuan Zhao grinned so widely his eyes almost disappeared.
He’d had no expectations for this batch of disciples, yet the Jade Flower Sect had somehow stumbled upon such a gem. This was nothing short of divine will! Not only had she cleared the Heart-Testing Steps in record time, but from the sound of it, she hadn’t even been trapped by illusions, let alone plagued by inner demons. What did that mean? It meant her mind was unshakable, her spirit flawless, and her comprehension extraordinary.
In his five centuries of cultivation, he had never encountered a disciple with such innate talent, insight, and temperament. Even if she had the weakest five-element spiritual roots, her sheer mental fortitude would ensure she progressed no slower than the rest. It seemed the Jade Flower Sect was about to welcome another prodigy on par with their legendary ancestors.
"Sect Leader, this child and I share a karmic bond. Let her join my Alchemy Peak as my personal disciple!" Yuan Xia stepped forward, seizing the initiative.
"Yuan Xia, hold on." Her rival Yuan Xi immediately countered. "With her comprehension, wasting her on alchemy would be a crime. She belongs on my Sword Forging Peak—that’s the proper path!"
"Wasting her? How is alchemy a waste?!" Yuan Xia flared up.
"You know exactly what I mean."
"You—!"
Yuan Zhao sighed inwardly. Being sect leader was so hard.
"Both of you, calm down." Rubbing his temples as their argument teetered on the edge of violence, he interjected, "Why don’t we test her spiritual roots first, then decide?"
"No need!" Yuan Xi waved dismissively, refusing to back down. "With her temperament, she’s a born sword cultivator, regardless of her roots."
Yuan Xia scoffed. "Sword cultivators are brutish by nature, so of course you’ll take anyone. My Alchemy Peak is different. This girl is steady and composed—perfect for mastering the pill arts. If she has wood or fire roots, she’s practically destined to be an alchemist!"
"Who are you calling brutish?!" Sword cultivators were notoriously short-tempered, and Yuan Xi exploded at the jab. Slamming the table, he shot to his feet. "Don’t think I don’t see your game! By your logic, if she has two of the five elements, she’s automatically yours?"
"So what if she does?" Yuan Xia squared her shoulders, banking on her gender to shield her from physical retaliation. "Wood grows from earth—even an earth root could become an alchemist."
"You—that’s pure sophistry!" First it was fire and wood, now earth? Unless the girl had a rare single-element root or dual metal-water roots, Yuan Xia would never concede. His hands trembled with rage.
Unrelenting, Yuan Xia pressed, "I’m being perfectly reasonable. Besides, your peak is overcrowded. It’s my turn to take a disciple!"
"Overcrowded? You may have few personal disciples, but what about all those herb-tenders in your peak?"
"That’s completely different!" She turned to Yuan Zhao. "Sect Leader, am I wrong? Shouldn’t she be my disciple?"
Yuan Xi wasn’t about to yield either. "Sect Leader, be fair. She’s clearly suited for the sword!"
Yuan Zhao: "..." Why was this his problem? He just wanted a root test!
The others: Ah, what lovely weather. They heard nothing. Collective head-turning.
Shi Xia: Please call me "young lady" again.
"Enough, enough, let’s not strain relations." Yuan Zhao forced himself to mediate. "Whichever peak she joins, she’ll still be part of the Jade Flower Sect. How about we test her roots and let her choose?"
The incessant bickering finally came to a halt as the two exchanged glances and snorted coldly in unison, seemingly agreeing to the decision. They then turned their enthusiastic gazes toward the main figure in the hall.
Yuan Zhao let out a sigh of relief and waved at Shi Xia.
"Young lady."
"Here!" The girl responded cheerfully.
Yuan Zhao smiled approvingly and flicked his wrist, summoning a crystal-like sphere that floated effortlessly in the air before Shi Xia.
Unable to resist, Shi Xia playfully waved her hand above and below the sphere, confirming that it was indeed suspended mid-air—no strings attached, no glass pedestal beneath. She couldn’t help but imagine tossing a hoop around it just for fun.
"Young lady, place your hand on the sphere," Yuan Zhao kindly instructed, noting her curiosity. "The colors that appear inside will reveal your spiritual roots." Seeing her puzzled expression, he added reassuringly, "Don’t worry. No matter the result, we will respect your choice."
"Got it!" Shi Xia cheerfully rolled up her sleeve and slapped her palm onto the sphere with a loud smack.
Yuan Xi and Yuan Xia held their breaths, while the entire hall fell into an eerie silence. A dozen pairs of eyes fixated on the sphere, not daring to blink, as if fearing they might miss even the slightest change. Everyone waited with bated breath to witness the spiritual roots of this once-in-a-millennium prodigy.
However…
Ten seconds passed…
Thirty seconds passed…
A full quarter of an hour later…
Nothing happened.
The crystal sphere remained utterly transparent, not a speck of color or even a shadow of dust inside.
The hall was plunged into an awkward silence.
The sound of jaws hitting the floor was almost audible.
"N-no spiritual roots," Yuan Xi stammered, stepping forward to inspect the sphere again, as if unable to believe his own eyes.
"How is this possible?!" Yuan Zhao practically teleported to Shi Xia’s side, abandoning all decorum as he grabbed her hand and pressed it onto the sphere repeatedly, like stamping a seal.
Yet the sphere remained blank.
He swapped it out for several identical spheres, but the result was the same.
Finally releasing her hand, Yuan Zhao looked as if he’d been struck by lightning. His expression was so devastated he seemed on the verge of tears. "H-how can there be no spiritual roots?"
Shi Xia blinked in confusion, glancing around the hall to find everyone wearing expressions of utter disbelief.
"What’s wrong?" she couldn’t help but ask. "Is having no spiritual roots… that bad?"
Bad? It was worse than bad! Yuan Zhao wanted to weep. Without spiritual roots, she couldn’t draw in spiritual energy. Without spiritual energy, she couldn’t cultivate. No matter how exceptional her talent or temperament, it would all be for nothing. It was like spending every last coin to build the most magnificent outhouse in history, only to realize you didn’t even need to use it. Could anything be more tragic?
In that moment, the entire room collectively directed sympathetic gazes at Shi Xia. Who could have imagined that the first person in centuries to pass the Heart-Testing Stairs would turn out to be a talentless mortal, incapable of cultivation? The sheer absurdity of it was almost too much to bear.
