Chapter 121

“Let’s go take a look.” After sensing the two breakthrough auras, Ye Qinghan immediately turned to his junior disciples and said.

He had a strange premonition that the person who broke through two levels was Ye Qiao.

The elders exchanged glances.

They all remarked how rare it was to see someone breaking through two levels at once in the cultivation world. Ye Qinghan was one example, and now there was a second.

Who from Changming Sect could it be?

…

Ye Qiao, having stabilized her level while meditating, casually popped another pill into her mouth. The spiritual energy wrapped in the pill dissolved instantly, requiring little time to consolidate.

When she opened her eyes, she saw several faces staring intently at her. Ye Qiao felt puzzled, “What?”

There were a few elders present as well.

One elder asked, “Did you also break through two levels?”

Ye Qiao nodded. She had just stabilized her level and planned to attempt breaking through to the Golden Core stage before the individual competition.

Seeing her nod, the elders were visibly impressed. Breaking through two levels in one go was no ordinary feat, and they suspected that her spiritual root was far superior to what was publicly known.

The elders pondered her talent. Ye Qiao was undoubtedly the first in the cultivation world to achieve multiple disciplines, but the true value lay in her proficiency. Without mastery, cultivating multiple disciplines would be pointless.

If her spiritual root was indeed top-grade, they would certainly try to recruit her.

“Ye Qiao, if you’re ever interested, consider visiting our sect.” An elder from Bishui Sect patted her shoulder kindly.

Ye Qiao replied, “…Okay.”

The elder from Wenjian Sect glanced at her, hesitated for a moment, and briefly said, “We have many male disciples in our sect.”

“Ye Qinghan and Chu Xingzhi are quite good-looking. You should take a look when you have time.”

Ye Qinghan and Chu Xingzhi, who had just arrived: “?”

Zhu You couldn’t help but chuckle.

Ye Qinghan noticed Ye Qiao’s new level and, after a moment of changing expressions, finally returned to his usual indifferent demeanor, “Congratulations.”

Ye Qiao: “Congratulations to you too.”

With two direct disciples from five sects breaking through two levels in one day, those who had been waiting to see Ye Qiao make a fool of herself partly gave up on the idea. As expected, none of these direct disciples were easy to deal with.

Most of the attention, however, was drawn to Ye Qinghan. A teenager at the Nascent Soul stage was a genius worth befriending sooner rather than later.

“You broke through, and Ye Qiao did too.” Chu Xingzhi walked out of the courtyard, “How strange.”

To be precise, it was strange from the beginning. The Changming Sect had been frequently visiting them lately, probably to help Ye Qiao break through, right? But what was the catalyst? Ye Qinghan’s breakthrough—why did she also break through?

What Chu Xingzhi said was precisely what Ye Qinghan couldn’t understand: “I didn’t mention it before, but when I was undergoing my tribulation, she was right next to me. At that time, the heavenly lightning struck repeatedly, always targeting her.”

Zhu You was slightly stunned, “Ye Qiao got affected by you?”

“It wasn’t that she got affected by me.” Ye Qinghan shook his head, “The lightning bolts were directly aimed at her, and…”

He paused, his usually cold tone carrying a hint of subtlety, “The main reason I successfully passed the tribulation was because most of the heavenly lightning struck Ye Qiao.”

Logically, heavenly lightning should only target the person undergoing the tribulation. If it couldn’t kill the person, the lightning clouds would dissipate. It was unheard of for the lightning to strike someone nearby.

“I had a strange feeling at the time that the tribulation lightning wasn’t meant for me but for her.”

Ye Qinghan had always felt that the heavens might have been wanting to strike Ye Qiao for a long time.

Chu Xingzhi dryly said, “That can’t be.” He had to admit Ye Qiao was special, but what made her significant enough for the heavens to personally strike her with a tribulation?

“Stop speculating.” Zhu You frowned, unable to figure out the connection either. She waved her hand dismissively, “We’ll know everything when she reaches the Golden Core stage. What’s the use of guessing?”

…

After the crowd of elders dispersed, Ye Qiao touched the spiritual weapon at her waist. Her sea of consciousness had expanded more than twice its size after breaking through two levels. More importantly—

“Look.”

She held a pure black rod with intricate patterns and the words “Unseen Monarch” engraved in small golden letters.

If not for the little uncle saying it was a sword, they would never have seen such an unusual spiritual weapon.

With Ye Qiao’s breakthrough, it indeed changed. It seemed Xie Chuxue was right—the spiritual weapon would change with its master.

“It used to look like a rod, but now it resembles some kind of strange staff.” The engravings on the rod were unique and quite beautiful upon closer inspection.

Mu Chongxi rested his chin on his hand and pointed to the name engraved beneath the “Unseen Monarch,” “It implies thinking of you, missing you, not seeing you? Such an elegant sword name suits you? ‘Duo Sun’ sounds better. It doesn’t sound serious at all.”

Ye Qiao pressed his head onto the table.

“For the individual competition, little sister, try to get into the top ten.” Zhou Xingyun said calmly, “Although a sword should not serve two masters, your weapon is quite unusual.”

He looked like a third party trying to encourage a husband to cheat, and Ye Qiao keenly sensed a movement from “Duo Sun.”

Ye Qiao hugged her “Duo Sun”: “Forget it, there are so many sword cultivators in the sword cave, no sword will fancy me.” She was quite satisfied with “Duo Sun.”

Zhou Xingyun: “Not necessarily.”

“You’ll only know after you go in.” Ye Qiao’s familiarity with her weapon was not fixed, which meant she might also be able to use various other spiritual weapons.

A rod couldn’t always be used as a sword.

If possible, she had to secure a top ten spot and enter the sword cave.

With this in mind, Zhou Xingyun recalled her inexperienced swordsmanship and sighed, “Little sister.”

“Have you ever seen other direct disciples’ sword techniques?”

She didn’t seem like a proper sword cultivator at all, more like someone who had taken up the path halfway and was learning everything on the spot.

Ye Qiao reluctantly nodded, “No. I’ve only seen the ones from Wenjian Sect.”

“Oh.” Mu Chongxi, with his face pressed to the table, quickly reacted, “You’ve only seen the ones from Wenjian Sect, and you can already go fifty-fifty with Chu Xingzhi?”

“Not to that extent.” Going fifty-fifty was an exaggeration. Ye Qiao scratched her head, “I just used a little bit of cunning at the time.”

Who told Chu Xingzhi to underestimate her?

“Chu Xingzhi’s swordsmanship was just the basics then.” Zhou Xingyun said, “The sword competition includes more than just them.”

Ye Qiao’s techniques were too limited. The Changming Sect sword manual had six forms, and she and Mu Chongxi only knew the first two forms. Though not bad, it was far from enough to get into the top ten.

“Ye Qinghan also has more skills than that.” Zhou Xingyun pressed down her slightly messy hair, “Keep working hard, little sister.”

Ye Qiao could see that Ye Qinghan, as the protagonist, hadn’t even considered her as an opponent.

But she’d only been learning swordsmanship for six months. It was unrealistic to surpass all those direct disciples suddenly.

“Alright.” Zhou Xingyun, with his usual disheartened demeanor, slightly lowered his lips and tossed “Duanchen” to Ye Qiao, then signaled Mu Chongxi to take out the “Chaoxi Sword,” “Let me demonstrate.”

Woohoo.

That sounded great.

Mu Chongxi touched his chin, “Can you remember in such a short time?”

Zhou Xingyun glanced at him, “How much you remember is up to you, not me.”

Qin Huai’s sword techniques from Chengfeng Sect were quite tricky and unpredictable, while Wenjian Sect’s was about breaking all methods with one sword, which most couldn’t withstand. Yueqing Sect also had a sword cultivator, but they had no presence, so Zhou Xingyun demonstrated as well.

But demonstrating didn’t mean they could use the techniques. Zhou Xingyun’s imitation was just to give them an idea.

They shouldn’t be clueless about the techniques of other sword cultivators in the sword competition.

Zhou Xingyun had always heard his junior brother mumbling about Ye Qiao’s good memory. Seeing it for himself, he was slightly surprised.

As long as he demonstrated, she could imitate it perfectly.

Eventually, she didn’t even need him. Once Ye Qiao memorized the techniques, she and Mu Chongxi would spar directly. The two sword cultivators didn’t hold back, often causing the courtyard to almost collapse. But with the individual competition approaching, the elders didn’t intervene.

Improving cultivation was the top priority.

This led to Ye Qiao feeling a bit dizzy from the busyness.

During the day, she needed to draw talismans and make some crude pills for her own use. Then, at night, she practiced sword techniques, leaving no free time at all.

Finally catching a breath, they decided to rest. With the secret realm opening in a few days, they had just fallen asleep when—

The elders’ voices boomed from outside the courtyard, filled with energy.

“Get up. Everyone gather at the back mountain.”

Ye Qiao groggily sat up.

“What’s going on?”

A group of disciples rushed out, shivering in the cold.

“Is everyone up?”

“…”

A group of disheveled direct disciples gathered, leaning on each other in their drowsiness. Ye Qiao, exhausted from drawing talismans and making pills by day and practicing sword moves by night, fell asleep leaning against Mu Chongxi.

“What’s this about, in the middle of the night?”

Ming Xuan, who hadn’t slept, noted that all the direct disciples were night owls, staying up to improve their skills. Suddenly being called out left them bewildered.

“The secret realm opens in two days, but after the last crisis, we realized a problem.” The elder of Wenjian Sect’s voice was loud and clear, “You need more training at your age!”

“???”

What?

The others almost thought they were hearing things.

Ye Qiao and Mu Chongxi exchanged a startled glance, standing up straight.

“Great, you all seem energetic!” The Wenjian Sect elder clapped his hands, his voice icy, “Since that’s the case, you’ll all run around the back mountain tonight to improve your speed, so you won’t get caught easily.”

“…”

Reluctantly, they started running at a slow pace.

“Why?” Chu Xingzhi didn’t understand. He had been practicing his swordsmanship, ready to showcase his skills in the fifth match, but now they were being told to run to improve speed.

“Maybe the elder saw that Changming Sect was fast before and thought speed is also part of strength.” Zhu You shrugged. She didn’t mind this method.

However, “Step on the Breeze” was a technique unique to Changming Sect. They could only train by running.

Chu Xingzhi quickly realized who was to blame.

He ran up to Ye Qiao with a blank expression, “I curse you, Ye Qiao!”

Ye Qiao, running absent-mindedly, glanced at him, “You can curse me every day, reflect on yourself, and repeat my name over and over.”

“In the long run, you’ll find—”

Ye Qiao smiled mischievously, “Your curses are completely useless.”

“Yo, yo, yo, who is this? It’s Chu Xingzhi from Wenjian Sect. So grumpy as soon as you show up.” Mu Chongxi’s eyes sparkled with amusement, “Did the female disciples who used to like you finally see your uselessness and beat you up?”

Chu Xingzhi angrily pointed at them, “Don’t be smug. I’ll defeat you in the individual competition.”

Ye Qiao: “Oh, sure. We’ll be waiting.”

Ye Qiao, Mu Chongxi, and Chu Xingzhi, the three sword cultivators, ran while arguing. Others were running, but these three were using their mouths more than their legs.

The usually expressionless Song Hansheng, annoyed by their chatter, sprinted ahead to get away from the talkative trio.

At the front was Ye Qinghan, his speed unmatched.

Among those using “Step on the Breeze,” Zhou Xingyun was the best. Ye Qiao and the others were still a bit behind.

When Elder Duan came to observe, unsurprisingly, Zhou Xingyun was at the back, walking two steps for every bit of running. Elder Duan wanted to kick him out of frustration.

What’s he doing? Slacking off while running?

Ye Qinghan finished a lap and met Zhou Xingyun.

They exchanged glances, ignoring each other.

Ye Qinghan coldly said, “In the sword competition, Wenjian Sect will definitely take first place.”

Zhou Xingyun lazily replied, “Oh.”

He couldn’t be bothered with Ye Qinghan’s provocation.

Su Zhuo complained, “Whose idea was this? Sword cultivators running is one thing, but why do we talisman cultivators have to run?”

The Wenjian Sect elder retorted coldly, “Ye Qiao is running. Why shouldn’t you?”

They believed in well-rounded development.

Su Zhuo almost choked, “Because she’s a triple cultivator.” Not everyone was Ye Qiao.

“Stop dawdling, hurry up.”

“Everyone hurry up. If you don’t finish in half a cup of tea’s time, you’ll stay and run more.”

Half a cup of tea?

“Quick, quick, there’s no time.”

Running was Changming Sect’s specialty, but these five dawdled more than anyone. As the saying goes, why work hard when you can slack off? The consequence of not trying hard was fighting for rankings with other direct disciples.

Duan Hengdao, seeing this, tried to come up with some trick. He took out a magical tool from his mustard seed bag, and the chain automatically locked onto Ye Qinghan, who was at the front. Duan Hengdao was dragged along, suddenly surpassing Shen Ziwei beside him.

Shen Ziwei: “…”

He pursed his lips, speechless. Had he learned these bad habits from Ye Qiao?

Ye Qiao, who was running hard, saw this improper method and got inspired.

She stepped on the shoulder of the person in front of her and leaped forward, taking the lead.

No way she wanted to stay and run more.

“Ye Qiao, don’t you have any manners?!”

“Ah, ah, ah, don’t step on me! Which idiot is it?!”

“So annoying, you idiots.”

The scene descended into utter chaos.

Occasionally, there were even sounds of explosions, suggesting some people were fighting.

“Not bad.” Qin Fanfan listened to the faint sounds of fighting from the back mountain, rubbing her chin with satisfaction. “Now, every dog within a hundred miles of the cultivation world knows that these direct disciples have started running.”

—

Just writing some daily life scenes~~ will soon wrap this up and move on to the next plot.