With a “bang,” she collided directly with the person, and the number plate in her hand slipped and fell to the ground.
Gu Er was so startled that her eyes widened, and she hastily bowed in apology: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” When she looked up, she found it was a very pretty young girl.
The girl was about her age, dressed in fiery red clothes that made her look radiant and striking.
Her hair was tied up high with an exquisite ribbon, swaying gently with her movements. Between her brows and eyes, there was a hint of pride and vitality, as if everything in the world sparkled brilliantly in her gaze.
Compared to her own half-dead appearance, it was like night and day.
Gu Er’s first impression of the other girl: a great beauty.
The girl slightly raised her eyes, calmly looking at Gu Er, her voice cool and brief, like a mountain spring: “It’s fine, here you go.” With that, she bent down, picked up the number plate from the ground, dusted it off, and handed it to Gu Er.
Gu Er took the number plate with both hands, staring at the girl without blinking, her eyes full of infatuation, as if she had been cast under a freezing spell. It wasn’t until the girl’s figure gradually disappeared into the crowd that she snapped back to reality.
She couldn’t help but sigh inwardly: “Still an ice-cold beauty. Not only is she good-looking, but she’s also so polite. I wonder which sect she’s planning to join, and whether I’ll ever see her again.”
Just then, the system’s familiar voice rang in her mind: [Host dear, stop daydreaming first, hurry to the testing point.]
Only then did Gu Er wake up as if from a dream. She patted her head and quickened her pace.
The enrollment process was exactly as written in the book, divided into three parts: testing the spirit root, ascending the cloud ladder, and braving the illusion realm.
Only by passing these three tests could one officially become a disciple of Lingyun Sect.
Spirit root testing stations were set up in every major town. Children who passed the test would be directly teleported to the foot of Lingyun Mountain for the second test, ascending the cloud ladder.
If one failed the cloud ladder, dedicated disciples would send the children back home. Conversely, if they passed, they would proceed to the third test, braving the illusion realm.
The testing point was set up at the central square of the city.
Looking from afar, starting from the city center, an area of two li in radius was completely packed with people.
Among the crowd were parents bringing their children for testing; passersby purely there to watch the excitement, pointing and discussing; and some small vendors pushing carts, loudly hawking boxed meals, adding a touch of lively everyday atmosphere to the bustling scene.
“Hey, hey, you old man, stop shoving!” A sharp female voice rang out from the crowd.
“What? Me shoving? Clearly, it’s you woman pushing hard over here!” A gruff male voice immediately shot back.
“Mom, Mom, I lost my mom…” A young child’s crying was mixed in.
“You!”
Looking at the chaotic scene before her, Gu Er secretly felt grateful for her petite figure.
She took a deep breath, and like an agile fish weaving through water, she dodged left and right, and in no time managed to squeeze her way to the center.
There, many children around her age were already standing.
Every child was carefully dressed, neatly groomed.
They clutched their own number plates tightly in their hands, faces filled with nervousness and anticipation, quietly waiting.
On the martial arts stage were the children preparing for the test.
Following the instructions of the Lingyun Sect recruiting disciples, they lined up one by one.
On one side of the stage stood several disciples specifically in charge of testing spirit roots. Their faces were stern, their gazes focused, and before them lay a massive spirit-identifying stone.
“The test begins!”
With a resounding announcement, the entire testing point fell silent in an instant. Everyone held their breath, their eyes fixed intently on the martial arts stage.
A young man stood tall on the stage.
He cleared his throat, his voice crisp and clear, reciting the official words he had repeated countless times:
“This test is divided into three parts. The first part tests your aptitude.
Anyone with a spirit root can cultivate, but spirit roots are also graded into different levels. The lowest are five-spirit roots and four-spirit roots. Most people have three-spirit roots or two-spirit roots.
Only the extremely rare are the top-grade single spirit roots, and the elusive mutated spirit roots.
…”
Gu Er furrowed her brows slightly. She had read several cultivation novels before and was already familiar with this content, so she lost interest in listening further.
She stood on her tiptoes and looked around, her gaze sweeping over faces filled with excitement or anxiety.
Among the crowd, aside from the one man and two women from yesterday’s carriage, there were only two others who might be related to the original novel’s male and female leads.
On the left, a young man in a green robe had brows like painted strokes and an elegant bearing. A jade-inlaid short sword hung at his waist, and every gesture exuded the manner of a noble family;
In front on the right, a girl in orange-floral clothing was about thirteen or fourteen years old, with silver bells hanging from her forehead jingling as she moved. Her lively glances radiated spiritual energy.
Gu Er’s gaze drifted back and forth between the two figures, silently sizing them up. Both possessed extraordinary looks and bearing, but the girl in orange seemed too young for the role.
“Could it be… the female lead is at a different testing station?” she muttered under her breath.
“Brother and sister Zhong, Zhong Daochen, Zhong Daoxue-”
The steward elder’s mellow yet commanding announcement cut through her thoughts.
She looked up and saw the sibling pair from yesterday’s carriage step onto the platform.
The elder brother, Zhong Daochen, moved with agile grace, the gold-threaded cuffs of his sleeves fluttering gently in the breeze. The moment his hand touched the Spirit-Identifying Stone, a dazzling golden light burst forth.
“Gold-element single spiritual root, top-tier aptitude.” The steward elder’s voice carried a hint of barely concealed astonishment, which stirred a small commotion among the crowd. People whispered to one another, their eyes filled with envy and wonder.
Then the younger sister, Zhong Daoxue, stepped forward, her figure as light as a swallow. When her hand gently touched the Spirit-Identifying Stone, a soft green glow slowly emanated, like a tender sprout breaking through the soil in spring, brimming with vitality.
“Wood-element single spiritual root, top-tier aptitude.” The steward elder announced once more, and this time, the waves of exclamation from the crowd ran even deeper, one after another.
…
From the front came intermittent cries of surprise at good aptitudes, and sighs of disappointment from those with no spiritual root or roots too poor to matter.
Even so, those who tested poorly did not leave. Perhaps for ordinary families, being able to cultivate at all was already a great honor.
The number of testers dwindled. Gu Er gazed at the Spirit-Identifying Stone at the center of the platform, mentally plotting how to cheat.
“Next, Gu Er.”
Hearing the immortal call her name, Gu Er stepped forward, took a deep breath to steady herself, and placed her hand on the Spirit-Identifying Stone.
As she climbed the steps, her peripheral vision inadvertently caught a white figure beneath the cypress tree on the west side of the martial arts arena.
…
The Spirit-Identifying Stone could change colors according to the different spiritual power within a cultivator. Metal, wood, water, fire, and earth corresponded to yellow, green, blue, red, and brown respectively.
Wind spiritual roots were pale green, lightning roots purple, light roots white, and ice roots light blue. The purer the spiritual root, the stronger the glow.
“Close your eyes and focus your mind. Locate your dantian, circulate your qi through your body, and sense the spiritual energy.”
Gu Er followed the instructions, slowly closing her eyes. She felt the spiritual energy of heaven and earth swirling around her, and a flicker of surprise rose within her, could she actually be a martial prodigy?
In the darkness, streams of light like fireflies drifted around her body, some green as fresh willows, others blue as the deep sea.
They brushed affectionately against her fingertips, trying to enter, yet seemed blocked by some barrier.
Cold sweat trickled down her spine, soaking her clothes.
Gu Er gritted her teeth, desperately absorbing the spiritual energy. Her small face flushed slightly from the effort, her brows furrowed, and fine beads of sweat formed on her forehead.
Just as the steward elder was about to declare her devoid of a spiritual root,
The Spirit-Identifying Stone suddenly erupted with a blinding purple light!
Lightning serpents danced wildly within the stone, casting flickering shadows across the girl’s face.
The crowd below erupted instantly: “Mutated lightning spiritual root, once in a century!”
The system, witnessing this, felt a flicker of confusion. Wasn’t the host supposed to have a wind spiritual root? But it quickly cast the thought aside, assuming the information it had been given was inaccurate, and celebrated joyfully for its host.
Beneath the cypress tree, a gentle breeze stirred the rustling leaves.
Mu Ci stood in plain white robes, his posture straight yet unable to hide his desolation.
Hidden within his sleeve, his fingernails dug fiercely into his palm. Beneath the white silk covering his eyes, they burned, and a single tear slid silently down his cheek. Memories of the past surged like a raging tide, swallowing him whole.
His thoughts drifted back over four hundred years to that heart-stopping Wuwang Sea. Ink-black waves churned and roared, wild winds howled, whipping Gu Er’s black robes into violent flapping.
She had snapped her own Liuying Sword in two, severing all ties with him, and left with the demon cult followers.
And now, Mu Ci stood alone beneath the cypress tree, that past lodged in his throat like a fishbone, every breath carrying a faint, piercing ache.
He slowly raised his hand, as if to grasp something, but only clutched empty air, his fingertips touching nothing but the cold atmosphere.
The crashing waves of the Wuwang Sea that year, and Gu Er’s resolute expression, churned endlessly in his mind, impossible to shake.
“Gu Wan.” he murmured the name, his voice as light as a sigh carried on the wind, steeped in boundless longing and bitter hatred.
Gu Er stepped down from the platform and instinctively looked toward the cypress tree. But she found no trace of anyone there.
After the testing concluded, some were elated, others sighed in despair.
“Those who pass the first round will be automatically teleported to Lingyun Sect,” the recruitment disciple’s clear voice echoed across the square. “You may feel slight dizziness the first time you use the teleportation array, this is normal, so don’t be alarmed.”
As he spoke, the teleportation array carved beneath the square finished activating. Countless intricate, elaborate patterns floated into the air, gradually merging together.
One by one, the people on the left vanished from where they stood, and the square emptied in an instant.
Gu Er felt her body suddenly grow light, as if she had boarded a roller coaster plunging from a great height, a powerful sensation of weightlessness swept over her entirely.
The space folded and shifted at lightning speed, everything around her becoming distorted and blurred. By the time it all settled, her mind was spinning like a bowl of mush.
[Host, are you alright?] 0086’s concerned voice echoed in her mind.
Gu Er opened her mouth and nearly vomited, her stomach churning violently.
She suppressed the discomfort, calmed herself, slowly let out a breath, and tried to empty her mind. After a long moment, she waved her hand weakly and said, “I’m fine.”
…
Inside the Lingyun Sect’s main hall, nine giant cauldrons stood in two rows, emitting wisps of elegant smoke whose faint fragrance lingered without dispersing, filling the entire hall and clearing the mind and sharpening the senses.
Several Xuan Water Mirrors floated above the hall, clearly recording every move of the disciples participating in the selection.
Several elders sat within the hall, observing the disciples’ performances through the mirrors.
“So many promising talents this year, I’ve spotted quite a few single-spirit-root and dual-spirit-root disciples,” Jiang Luowen said, holding a fan and gently waving it, a leisurely smile on his face, utterly at ease.
“I’m calling dibs on that young man from the Yan family. Yan Honghuai and I go way back, he owes me a favor,” said Flame Hua True Lord Xiao Zhenyu.
“I’ve got my eye on that girl from the Zhong family. She looks clever and mischievous, she’d be a delight under my tutelage. Fellow uncles and senior brothers, don’t you dare compete with me,” said the youngest elder, Ye Qingyue.
When everyone saw Gu Er’s spirit root test reveal a lightning spirit root, Jiang Luowen, who had been drinking tea, spat it out directly. He quickly shielded himself with his fan and exclaimed, “A lightning spirit root, once in a century!”
“The last one was Gu…” Song Bojian trailed off mid-sentence, suddenly realizing the atmosphere around him had shifted. Everyone wore strange expressions, so he quickly shut his mouth and went back to drinking his tea.
Bai He took a sip of tea, her gaze unreadable.
She set down her teacup and slowly spoke: “Since everyone is so curious, why not have the disciples send over the roster? She seems to be number eighteen.”
The roster was quickly sent over, and when it was opened, everyone’s eyes found number eighteen. Written there was, Gu Er.
“Gu… Gu Er?” Jiang Luowen read the name aloud, his fan forgotten mid-wave. The remnants of his smile faded completely, replaced by a look of shock mixed with something complex and hard to decipher.
He murmured, “She’s surnamed Gu as well… What a coincidence.”
This time, no one responded.
Some names, some memories, even after three hundred years, remained taboo, untouchable. And to cultivators, the word “coincidence” often signified something far deeper: karma and destined bonds.
But until concrete evidence or clear guidance appeared, no one would, or could, easily pierce that veil of ambiguity.
The outer peak of Lingyun Sect.
Amidst swirling clouds and mist, it felt like stepping into a celestial realm. Immortal cranes occasionally flew across the sky, their elegant postures and crisp calls breaking the tranquility of this world.
What a sight of immortal grandeur!
The mountain gate had not yet opened, and youths from all corners of the land stood at the foot of the mountain, craning their necks in anticipation.
Their eyes held both nervousness and excitement, their youthful faces brimming with longing and hope.
Finally, a crane’s cry pierced the sky, instantly igniting all the emotions of the youths.
A line of white cranes descended through the clouds, upon which cultivators in blue-and-white robes stood against the wind, jade crowns atop their heads and long swords at their waists, their bearing and demeanor effortlessly elegant and refined.
Leading them was a female disciple. She leaped down from the crane with a light, graceful motion, her water-blue robes rippling like waves, radiating an effortless charm that captured everyone’s gaze.
The youths gaped, watching the bearing of their senior brothers and sisters, their eyes brimming with boundless longing.