When Yin Lan and Yu Jin returned, they saw Li Yijiu sleeping soundly—and couldn’t believe their eyes.
What kind of person was she?!
She didn’t read or cultivate, didn’t learn about the sect or make an effort to get to know her fellow disciples. She just stayed in her room and slept?
How could someone her age sleep so soundly?!
Yin Lan looked at Li Yijiu, who was lying on the Spirit Gathering Stone as if she had no defenses at all. She took a wolf-hair brush and cinnabar from her Qiankun Pouch, curled her lip, and whispered to Yu Jin, “She seemed pretty pleased with her score of fifty-nine. How about we write that number on her forehead?”
Yu Jin covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. “Careful.”
Yin Lan crept over to Li Yijiu’s bed and dipped the wolf-hair brush in cinnabar. Across from Li Yijiu, Lulu frowned slightly as she sat in meditation, about to speak.
Just as the brush tip was about to touch Li Yijiu’s brow, Li Yijiu’s eyes flew open.
Yin Lan’s hand jerked, and she lost her grip on the brush.
Li Yijiu caught it and, with casual ease, drew a red line across Yin Lan’s fair neck. “Little grand-disciple, I was asleep, not dead.”
The cool touch on her neck made Yin Lan shudder. It felt as though her throat were about to be slit, and the terror drained the color from her face. She stumbled backward again and again.
That’s all it takes to scare you?
Li Yijiu twirled the brush around her finger and said matter-of-factly, “A perfectly good talisman brush, wasted on mischief. I’m confiscating it.”
“…”
Yin Lan came to her senses, furious with herself for losing her composure. “That’s an Earth Grade spirit artifact! Give it back! And who are you calling your grand-disciple?!”
“Fine. You’re not.”
Li Yijiu nodded amiably. “I’ve expelled you from the sect.”
“…”
Yin Lan’s chest heaved with anger. “You’re insane!”
Even her insults were so unimaginative.
The Patriarch could only shake her head.
Seeing Li Yijiu’s unconcerned expression only fanned Yin Lan’s anger. She released the pressure of her Foundation Establishment cultivation at Li Yijiu. “Give me back my brush!”
Bang!
The door was flung open.
A Senior Sister in inner-sect robes strode in. “What are you doing?! Causing trouble on the very first day? Do you not want to stay in the sect?”
Yin Lan immediately backed down and pointed at Li Yijiu. “Senior Sister, she—”
Li Yijiu remained sprawled on the Spirit Gathering Stone without moving a muscle. “Me? What could a mere Qi Refinement cultivator like me possibly have done to you?”
“…”
The Senior Sister glared at Yin Lan. “The sect strictly forbids bullying and private fights. Anyone who breaks the rules will be expelled.”
Yin Lan’s voice grew quieter and more uncertain. “I-I… I was only joking. I didn’t actually hit her…”
The Senior Sister scolded her sternly. “Do you think passing the entrance exam means you can rest easy?”
“Outer-sect disciples can only study the most basic techniques. In a month, you’ll choose your path. If you don’t want to spend your whole life as an outer-sect disciple, focus on your cultivation!”
With that, the Senior Sister turned and left.
Yin Lan breathed a sigh of relief and glared at Li Yijiu.
Looking at the brush in Li Yijiu’s hand, she spoke condescendingly. “It’s just an Earth Grade spirit artifact. My Yin family has plenty of them. Someone from a small household like yours has probably never even touched one, has she?”
Li Yijiu nodded. “That’s true.”
The lowest grade she had used before was Heaven Grade.
“…”
Yin Lan choked on her words, then gave a cold snort and tried to humiliate her. “I’ll let you have it out of pity!”
Li Yijiu said, “Thank you. You’re very generous.”
“…”
Generous, my ass!
Why wasn’t she following the script?!
Wasn’t she supposed to feel deeply humiliated, return the talisman brush, and cry, “Don’t look down on a poor young man”?!
Instead, she just accepted it?!
And said “thank you”?!
Yin Lan was so choked up that her mouth opened and closed. For a long while, she couldn’t say a word. She didn’t want to let it go, but if she insisted on taking it back, she’d look petty and cheap for caring so much about a mere Earth Grade spirit artifact.
But she did care!
It was an Earth Grade spirit artifact!
And her favorite talisman brush!
Damn that fifty-nine!
Aaaaaah!!!
Yin Lan spent the whole night fuming.
…
The next day, it was time for a cultivation-techniques lesson. The main peak’s lecture hall was packed because the Sect Master of Qingxin Sect would be teaching the disciples in person.
It was a Qingxin Sect tradition.
During the first month after new disciples entered the sect, elders from each peak, including the Sect Master, personally taught them and introduced them to the Dao, giving them the best possible foundation and helping them find the path suited to them.
That continued until the day they chose their path, one month later.
Once the selection was over, it would be difficult to hear lessons from the Sect Master or the elders of the various peaks—or even to see them.
So the new disciples and the outer-sect disciples who had failed to enter the inner sect when they chose their paths before all gathered for the lesson.
Fortunately, the main peak’s lecture hall was spacious enough.
“Fellow Daoist Li!”
Li Yijiu had barely entered the lecture hall when she heard the naive Xie Lang call out to her.
Since Qingxin Sect actually demanded that its disciples sever all romantic ties, and enforced strict separation between men and women, the male and female disciples were seated on opposite sides. Xie Lang had to shout to reach her.
So it wasn’t just Li Yijiu who heard him.
Countless disciples turned to look at her in unison.
“…”
Well, she was famous now, at least.
Li Yijiu exchanged a glance with Xie Lang, then took her seat without changing expression.
Lulu sat beside her. “Fellow Daoist Li, have you heard? When Sect Leader Shu was young, he had a face like carved jade, and carriages were so laden with fruit thrown by admirers that he was hailed as the most handsome man in the Spirit Domain. He captivated countless female cultivators. But then he chose the Unfeeling Dao! What a waste…”
The Sect Master entered.
Lulu quickly fell silent.
Sect Master Shu Sanqing wore a plain robe, its sash loosely tied, and looked like an ordinary scholar. Yet when he stood on the lecture dais and looked down at them, his gaze carried a thousand jun of authority, making everyone straighten up.
No matter how plain he looked, it was impossible to overlook the fact that he was now the strongest person in the Spirit Domain.
The lecture hall fell utterly silent.
Late Spirit Severing stage, Li Yijiu concluded.
Normally, one couldn’t see through the cultivation level of someone stronger than oneself. But even though she had lost all her cultivation, her soul was still at Tribulation Transcendence. She could see through anyone below that stage at a glance.
Tribulation Transcendence was the highest level.
Late Spirit Severing stage. That was the strength of the strongest person in the Spirit Domain today.
To be honest, she was a little disappointed.
Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Deity Transformation, Spirit Severing. Beyond that came Body Integration, Great Ascension, and Tribulation Transcendence.
Someone at the Spirit Severing stage was still a long way from Ascension.
Perhaps this “strongest person” was simply the strongest one out in the open. There might be more powerful people hidden away, but they couldn’t be much stronger.
She knew the Spirit Domain’s spiritual energy had been gradually drying up for a long time. The calamity ten thousand years ago had made the decline even worse.
But she hadn’t expected it to have dried up this badly.
Ten thousand years later, the Spirit Domain could support only one cultivator at the Spirit Severing stage.
Now she understood why the cultivation world was so fiercely competitive.
They had to advance while the spiritual energy was still there, prolong their lives, and seek even the slimmest glimmer of hope.
Perhaps sensing her gaze, Shu Sanqing looked over and met her eyes.
All the while, he continued to speak, calmly recounting the calamity caused by the rise of the External Alchemy path ten thousand years ago, how Patriarch Mingdeng had established Internal Alchemy, and how Qingxin Sect had carried on Patriarch Mingdeng’s legacy by establishing the principles at the heart of the sect:
“Clear the heart and curb desire. Sever all romantic ties and devote yourselves wholly to the Dao.”
Li Yijiu never looked away.
This surprised Shu Sanqing.
Although he had reined in his pressure, ordinary people—young disciples, and even the elders of the various peaks—usually felt ill at ease when meeting his gaze.
But she seemed to feel nothing at all.
As though she were looking at all living beings.
When he finished speaking, Shu Sanqing asked, “Do you have a question, disciple?”
Every single person turned to look at Li Yijiu.
It was as if they were saying: What earth-shattering thing has that fifty-nine done now to catch the Sect Master’s attention?!
Li Yijiu did have a question.
A very big one.
Shu Sanqing said that he had established the principle of “clearing the heart and curbing desire, severing all romantic ties” based on her legacy. Had she left such a legacy?
How had she never heard of it?
She didn’t think she had left one at all.
Never mind. She could set aside the question of whether she had left a legacy.
She had indeed mentioned “clearing the heart and curbing desire” in her Internal Alchemy manual, but by “desire,” she meant greed—not the seven emotions and six desires.
And “clearing the heart and curbing desire” wasn’t the only principle in her Internal Alchemy manual. What had happened to “Unity of Heaven and Humanity” and “freedom and carefree ease”?
Had they eaten them?
Most absurd of all, these disciples and grand-disciples were spreading rumors that she had advocated severing all romantic ties?!
That was hilarious. Did they know how wildly their Patriarch used to fool around with her handsome cultivation partner?
A bunch of lonely old bachelors.