Mo Xiaoxing had a wonderful sleep, but when she woke up, the heat of the summer was still oppressive.
She went to check on the hundred-fruit porridge she had made at noon, only to find it had long since been finished by the guards and maids! The jar had even been washed clean.
Although she had told them to help themselves, those five had surprisingly large appetites!
“Tiedan, Tiedan, where are you?”
After a while, a large lotus leaf drifted leisurely across the pond. With a pop, the pitch-black Tiedan emerged from the water’s surface, wearing the large lotus leaf on its “head.”
Mo Xiaoxing said, “Tiedan, you certainly found a good spot to keep cool.”
As Mo Xiaoxing drank some water, she thought to herself that in such sweltering weather, it would be wonderful to enjoy a refreshing popsicle!
She acted on the thought immediately.
When making the hundred-fruit porridge at noon, many spiritual fruits were left over. Wanting a milky flavor, she had sent the guards to find milk.
It was definitely not available within the sect, so the guards had gone down the mountain, searching through many commoner households in the city before finding a cow in its lactation period and purchasing the milk in a clay pot.
By then, Mo Xiaoxing had already prepared the materials with the help of the maids. Once the milk arrived, she quickly filled the molds.
The molds were homemade; she had the guards cut fresh bamboo, then carve many small bamboo chips to serve as sticks, and finally placed them in an ice bucket to set.
“Your Highness, how long will it take to freeze?”
Mo Xiaoxing replied, “At least an hour, I suppose.”
The maid was a bit puzzled. She had tasted the mixture while preparing it, and it was quite sweet and delicious, but she didn’t understand why they didn’t just drink it instead of freezing it…
Mo Xiaoxing returned to her room and fetched Qin Yu’s books to look through them.
There were a few technique manuals here, all gifted by the senior brothers in the past, but Qin Yu had never even flipped through them; they were brand new.
Mo Xiaoxing, however, read them impatiently.
Encountering the Black-Spotted Snake and the Golden-Winged Eagle had given her a sense of crisis. Although Qin Yu’s background was formidable, in the face of raw, barbaric power, others wouldn’t care whether or not you had a background!
Mo Xiaoxing chose the Mystic Fire Manual, which contained techniques for controlling fire.
When Qin Yu entered the sect, her spiritual root was tested and found to be a “pseudo-spiritual root.”
Spiritual roots are the basis for determining whether one can cultivate, categorized into five attributes: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. Possessing two or three attributes makes for a “true spiritual root.”
Possessing four or five makes for a “pseudo-spiritual root.”
Of course, there were even rarer ones, such as a single attribute, known as a “heavenly spiritual root!”
In short, the more singular the spiritual root, the better, and the faster the cultivation speed.
There were also rarer mutated spiritual roots, derived from mutations of the five elements, such as Lightning, Ice, Darkness, and Wind. These were just as excellent as heavenly spiritual roots.
All six of Mo Xiaoxing’s senior brothers possessed either highly gifted heavenly spiritual roots or mutated spiritual roots. Even the “worst” one, the sixth senior brother, had a true spiritual root.
Only Mo Xiaoxing possessed a pseudo-spiritual root that occupied all five attributes…
The cultivation speed of a pseudo-spiritual root is extremely slow, and there is almost no talent for cultivation; at most, one stops at the third or fourth level of the Qi Refining stage, and it is impossible to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage in this lifetime.
That was why the entire Everlasting Sect was indignant when Qin Yu was accepted as a disciple, believing she was unworthy of being the sect leader’s student.
“A pseudo-spiritual root… am I still a pseudo-spiritual root now?” Mo Xiaoxing thought with some skepticism.
She had broken through to the fourth level of the Qi Refining stage within a month; this speed was already clearly quite fast.
Could it be the merit of the Yin-Saint Physique?
Was it really impossible for her to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage?
“I don’t believe it. I’ll just go slower if I have to. I don’t believe I can’t break through to Foundation Establishment.”
Mo Xiaoxing focused her mind and immediately began practicing the spells from the Mystic Fire Manual.
Although she had become quite proficient in using spiritual energy over these days, using spells was still somewhat difficult.
When she finished the hand seals and stared at her fingertips, full of expectation for fire to appear, she only saw a wisp of… white smoke rising up.
“…Every beginning is difficult. Don’t be angry, don’t be angry; try again!”
The result of the second attempt was the same!
The third time, the fourth time… the tenth time. That wisp of white smoke seemed to be mocking her!
Could it be that it was so difficult to control because of the pseudo-spiritual root!
“…Don’t be angry, don’t be angry, try ten more times!”
Ten times, then another ten times…
Mo Xiaoxing had exhausted all her spiritual energy; cold sweat broke out on her forehead. This time, she was truly on the verge of smoking with rage!
“One last time! If it doesn’t work, I’ll try again tomorrow!”
She lowered her standards for herself over and over. At first, she had thought she would surely amaze everyone, but as it turned out, she was actually quite ordinary…
Night had long since fallen.
The popsicles Mo Xiaoxing made had finished freezing.
“Her Highness is so unusual today; she has been practicing spells the whole time.”
“Perhaps after being confined to the back mountain, Her Highness is determined to make progress.”
“If only that were true, but I heard that with a pseudo-spiritual root…”
“Shh! Is that something you can say? Watch out, or Her Highness will have you punished!”
“Oh, but everyone in the sect says so, I’m just repeating what I heard. Otherwise, how would a servant girl like me know about the immortals’ affairs… Say, do you smell something?”
“No? What smell?”
“It smells like burning wood… Ah, no! It’s on fire! Quick, put out the fire!”
“It’s Her Highness’s room! Hurry, go save Her Highness!”
In the blink of an eye, flames burst out from the windows, caught onto the wooden structure, and began climbing toward the roof. Everywhere it touched, a great fire broke out!
In an instant, half of the pavilion over the water was engulfed in a sea of flames!
The three guards, all at the second or third level of Qi Refining, were the first to rush forward, intending to dash into the burning building to save her.
However, Mo Xiaoxing suddenly burst out from the flames!
“Your Highness, are you all right? Your subordinates will escort you out.”
Mo Xiaoxing caught her breath. “I’m fine! Don’t go in! All of you, leave, leave!”
She clutched the corridor railing and hurried outside.
By then, the maids had arrived and quickly helped support Mo Xiaoxing.
“You take Her Highness to a safe place first; the three of us will come once we put out the fire.”
Mo Xiaoxing immediately turned back and shouted, “No! The three of you run too! You cannot put out this fire! That is an order!”
The three were puzzled but did not dare to disobey the Princess’s order and retreated.
Mo Xiaoxing stood across the pond, gazing at the pavilion almost entirely swallowed by flames.
“If only it would rain right now! How long will this fire burn for!”
Mo Xiaoxing felt like crying.
Fortunately, the pavilion was built over the pond, so even if it burned down, the pond would isolate the fire and it would slowly extinguish itself…
The mountains were quiet, and such a massive fire lit up a large part of the night sky, which was seen by many in the sect.
“That’s the direction of Qin Yu’s cave dwelling! Is it on fire? I heard her confinement was lifted and she just returned. What kind of trouble is she stirring up now!”
“Is no one going to put out the fire?”
“Hmph, does anyone in the sect still care about her? It would be best if she burned to death in there! She colluded with the Demonic Sect; that’s a capital offense! To think they only confined her—how outrageous!”
And so, even though many noticed the fire growing larger, no one went to help extinguish it.
Nanshan Lü and Nanshan Lie were playing chess. Nanshan Lie was already about to lose and was feeling quite restless.
Although he loved chess, he had a volatile temper, which became even worse when he lost. Just as the outcome of the game was set, he suddenly saw a huge fire in the distance.
He slammed his hand against the chessboard, scrambling the game pieces.
“It’s hard to tell the winner today, let’s stop playing! There’s a fire over there, I’ll go help put it out.”
Nanshan Lü glanced at Nanshan Lie. He knew exactly what the little trick was to avoid losing the game, but he didn’t point it out.
He also looked at the spot where the flames were soaring into the sky and slightly raised an eyebrow.
“Oh? That is the Junior Sister’s dwelling. You should hurry.”