That voice sounded impatient: “You should worry about yourself first before wondering about my identity. I remind you, you are currently dreaming with your Divine Soul—don’t die here.”
Chi Yu: “Holy crap, seriously?”
As soon as she finished speaking, the peach tree branches whipped toward her again, much faster than before, striking her waist directly.
Chi Yu trembled all over, the pain nearly making her lose her footing.
Originally, she had thought that since she was sleeping, this might be a dream. If worst came to worst, she could simply give up struggling; perhaps if she were beaten to death by the peach tree, she would wake up.
After all, in many cases, when people dream and find themselves in danger, once they die in the dream, they wake up frightened.
But that voice reminded her: she was dreaming with her Divine Soul.
For a Cultivator, the Divine Soul is crucial. Even if all the Meridians in the body are severed, they can be repaired with Spirit Pills and Miraculous Medicines. However, if the Divine Soul is seriously injured, death follows.
Chi Yu dared not gamble, so she swung her sword again and again.
That voice sighed mockingly: “Your sword technique is chaotic and disorderly, your steps are unsteady, and your movements are slow—you’re truly useless.”
“With skills like this, you still managed to enter the Taixu Sect. Looks like the sect’s selection process isn’t that great either.”
Chi Yu gritted her teeth, an inexplicable anger rising in her heart.
She exerted force in her wrist, cutting down a large area of peach branches, finally creating a space to stand. While adjusting her breathing, she pondered how to resolve the predicament before her.
That old man said: solve the problem fundamentally.
Her gaze sharpened—a tree cannot live without roots.
Chopping off the branches was useless; cutting the roots was key.
Sure enough, although the peach tree branches appeared scattered, most of them tightly protected the roots on the ground.
She had no understanding of sword techniques, but she could rely on the burst of Spiritual Power to unleash Sword Qi sweeping across the ground, definitely capable of severing the roots.
Chi Yu took a deep breath, gripped her sword tightly, accelerated her steps, enveloped the blade with Spiritual Power, then lowered her stance and swiftly charged forward.
The sword blade formed a crescent-shaped Sword Qi, almost instantly cutting through the roots of the peach tree before her.
As she turned, all the peach trees behind her fell down.
Chi Yu snapped her fingers: “Such petty tricks, trying to stump me? Ha.”
Earlier, she had just been confused by the unfamiliar environment. Once she realized, dealing with these things was simply easy.
She roughly guessed: that voice earlier should be Chen Beiting’s teacher.
That voice spoke again, carrying a hint of mockery: “Really?”
Just as Chi Yu wanted to say yes, suddenly a chill ran down her back—she sensed a killing intent.
She quickly turned around and saw the peach trees she had cut down standing up again.
“Holy crap.”
As soon as she spoke, the peach tree branches struck her dozens of times with lightning speed.
“Ow! So painful!”
She scurried around like a monkey in pain, followed by the old, mocking laughter: “Ha ha ha, I told you, you’re foolish.”
Chi Yu gritted her teeth fiercely.
Damn peach tree, treating her like a spinning top—whipping her endlessly!
Seeing her state, the System said: “Host, this is a dream. I can’t give you cheat codes; you have to rely on yourself.”
She tightened her grip on the sword: “I know.”
She hadn’t planned to use cheat codes anyway.
She would rely on herself to destroy all these peach trees, then beat up that old man.
Chi Yu fought the peach branches while thinking of a solution.
Since the roots weren’t their fatal weakness either.
Where could it be?
Her sharp gaze swept over the peach trees, and then her heart jolted.
“I know—it’s the ground!”
When the peach trees moved, they were dragged.
From beginning to end, they never left the ground.
Right.
Plants can survive being uprooted and replanted.
But if the ground is no good, it will only become barren.
However, this peach forest is simply too vast.
With her current ability, she couldn’t possibly level the entire land.
Chi Yu took a moment to wipe the sweat from her forehead.
She recalled the soul gathering array beneath the mass burial ground.
This peach forest actually resembled some kind of array, and it likely had an array eye as well.
Since there were too many trees to see clearly from the ground…
Then she would go into the air!
Seizing the opportunity, when the peach branches lashed out again, she stepped directly onto them, using the force of countless branches to propel herself into the air.
Only then did she truly see that the peach forest was arranged according to the Eight Trigrams.
So, the center at the junction of black and white was the fatal point.
Sure enough, the peach tree in the middle had never moved.
It was only because she was within the forest, her vision obscured by the branches, that she hadn’t noticed it.
Stepping out of the local view to see the whole picture—that was how to discover the key.
Chi Yu swiftly adjusted her posture in mid-air, descending like a diving falcon. She swung her sword, cutting down all the peach trees in the central area. Before they could recover, she exerted force, driving the tip of her sword through the ground where the centermost tree stood!
In an instant, peach blossoms bloomed on the branches, and the peach trees quickly quieted down, retreating to both sides to leave a path for her.
Only at this moment had Chi Yu truly won.
She struggled to her feet, staggering forward. Passing through the peach forest, she arrived at an open area.
Under the shade of a tree not far away sat an old man.
His hair and beard were completely white, and he carried a sword on his back while drinking wine in large gulps.
Hearing the commotion, he turned to look at Chi Yu. “Oh, you made it? Not too stupid after all.”
As he spoke, he conjured a chair out of thin air. “Come, sit.”
Chi Yu frowned but walked over and sat down.
Instantly, the chair shattered into pieces, and she fell flat on her back, her buttocks and legs aching even more.
“Hahaha, as expected, new students are so gullible—much easier to fool than that brat.”
He laughed until tears nearly came to his eyes, adding, “I am Ji Xuan, an elder of the Taixu Sect and your teacher.”
He conjured another chair. “Little girl, sit.”
Chi Yu snorted, climbing up from the ground, this time much more cautious.
She first poked the chair with her sword to confirm it was sturdy before sitting down. This time, nothing went wrong.
Ji Xuan smiled and placed a plate of Spirit Fruits on the table. “Tired from earlier, aren’t you? Have some.”
Chi Yu eyed the plate of Spirit Fruits suspiciously, not moving.
Seeing this, Ji Xuan picked one up and ate it himself. “Don’t worry, it’s your first day. I won’t make things too difficult for you.”
Only then did Chi Yu slowly reach out, take a Spirit Fruit, and eat it.
Abundant Spiritual Power instantly eased the pain in her body, and she no longer felt as exhausted as before.
She looked at Ji Xuan, already guessing the gist of it.
So-called Dream Cultivation was actually cultivating the Divine Soul within dreams—a method far harsher than mere physical training.
In short, she had been tricked by Chen Beiting’s simple phrase “sleep and cultivate” into choosing the most grueling path.
She felt like slapping herself.
Chi Yu was just thinking that after today ended, she would go ask Senior Sister Xing Zhao if she could change majors.
She now felt that Alchemy Cultivators and sword cultivators were all quite good.
As soon as this thought crossed her mind, Ji Xuan spoke up: “Silly girl, come sit closer, watch the show.”
“Huh?”
She was stunned for a moment, instinctively moving closer and following the direction he pointed.
Not far away, completely different from the peace here, the peach grove stirred once again, its branches whipping at Chen Beiting in the woods, much faster than when they had whipped her earlier.
In the grove were a full eighteen wooden puppets, each holding a long sword in their left hands, thrusting toward him.
Those on the right engaged in close combat, throwing punches at him.
At the same time, giant birds circled overhead, pecking at him from time to time, tearing his skin open.
Chen Beiting dodged swiftly, avoiding most of the attacks, but was still knocked to the ground by a peach branch. As soon as he stood up, he was punched by a wooden puppet, sent flying several meters away, and spat out a mouthful of old blood.
Finally, he lay on the ground, picked up by a giant bird, and dropped in front of Ji Xuan.
Chen Beiting clutched his chest: “Teacher… cough, cough, cough, I think my ribs are broken again.”
Ji Xuan: “Oh? How many this time?”
“All of them.”
Chi Yu: “…”
Senior Brother, too pitiful.
She seemed to see her own future in him.
She must change majors!