Chapter 102

What is “Heaven Grade”?

Mu Chongxi and Ye Qiao exchanged glances, both looking surprised.

During the third secret realm, they vaguely heard Si Miaoyan mention it once, seeming to suggest it was above the supreme grade.

Regarding Ye Qiao’s spiritual root, there were various rumors outside, guessing it was either superior or supreme. If the Changming Sect people knew someone with a Heaven Grade had arrived, they would probably laugh hysterically with glee.

Some elders from the five sects only recognized the value of spiritual roots and not the person, like that old fellow Yun Hen. Faced with Ye Qiao’s unique ability to cultivate three paths, he still only talked about the grade of her spiritual root, looking down from on high, showing disdain for disciples with lower-quality spiritual roots.

Just hearing about it was infuriating.

“Isn’t she of the supreme grade?” The elder and Qin Fanfan were guessing back and forth, but none of them guessed correctly.

“Not necessarily.” The old man pointed to Ye Qiao’s chest, “In theory, Heaven Grade should have very distinct traits above the natural sword bone, but your spiritual root seems very weak.”

He hadn’t considered this little girl at first; her spiritual root was too insignificant. Anyone present had a more noticeable talent than hers. If Ye Qiao couldn’t see him, he would have suspected something was wrong.

Ye Qiao touched her spiritual root within, and indeed, it had always been small.

“I have a thunder spiritual root.” Ye Qiao remembered that it seemed smaller at first. After two bolts of heavenly lightning fell, it grew a bit. Thinking of this, she pondered, “Does it have anything to do with the grade of the spiritual root?”

“Heaven Grade Thunder Spiritual Root?” The old man approached Ye Qiao, making a few appreciative sounds, “You must be from one of the five sects?”

“Such a good Heaven Spiritual Root, do your elders or sect leaders not know about your uniqueness?”

Ye Qiao looked completely puzzled about her own situation. She shook her head, “They don’t know.”

The key point is that even the testing stone couldn’t detect it.

And the old man before her was a cultivator who failed to ascend centuries or even a millennium ago, much more knowledgeable than those elders. He stroked his beard, “Or perhaps, are Heaven Spiritual Roots so rare in today’s cultivation world that no one considers it?”

Otherwise, it’s unreasonable that none of the five sects knew.

“I don’t know.” Ye Qiao felt like a fool who knew nothing.

She had only been in the cultivation world for about a year, and the sect leader never thought about Heaven Spiritual Roots. How could she understand these things? “So, senior, how can I make this spiritual root grow?”

“It will grow as your cultivation level increases. If that doesn’t work, if you can endure it, getting struck by more heavenly lightning will also help its growth.”

“Okay.” Ye Qiao felt a bit toothache at the thought of the rolling heavenly lightning falling, “I understand.”

So, she just needed to get struck by lightning more often.

–

As time passed, the external situation changed dramatically.

Xue Yu and Zhou Xingyun were guarding the unconscious people outside together. The moment they fainted, several unfamiliar auras attacked from behind. Zhou Xingyun quickly grabbed two unconscious junior brothers and sisters and flashed back.

The pitch-black ghost energy formed several skulls, interspersed with a few cold laughs, repeatedly echoing around, extremely eerie.

Zhou Xingyun squinted his eyes and said indifferently, “That laugh is really unpleasant.”

“My assessment is that it’s not as good as Ming Xuan and Ye Qiao,” Xue Yu said.

But as soon as the characteristic ghost energy attacked, Zhou Xingyun and Xue Yu exchanged a tacit glance, quickly grabbed their unconscious junior brothers and sisters, and retreated.

They weren’t joking. Ghost energy was more identifiable than spiritual energy or demonic energy. Besides that ghost cultivator, no one in the Song Mansion had this characteristic.

A scrawny woman watched this scene coldly from the shadows. She was wrapped in black clothes, exuding a sinister aura. She lowered her head and patted a boy’s head, saying indifferently, “Xiao Qi.”

“Domain.”

The ghost cultivator originally didn’t plan to show up, intending to act after these annoying cultivators left. But now, it was just perfect. With so many unconscious sword cultivators and a ghost infant in hand, she had enough confidence to deal with them.

So many Golden Core stage cultivators, if all devoured, even a late Nascent Soul stage cultivator wouldn’t be a threat…

Inside the inheritance grounds, after Ye Qiao finished inquiring about everything related to the Heaven Spiritual Root, she wisely fell silent, planning to return to the sect and have her master and others investigate further.

“Finished asking? Then I’ll give this sword technique and inheritance to this young man.” He pointed at Mu Chongxi. No matter how rare a Heaven Spiritual Root was, it couldn’t compare to a natural sword bone in the eyes of a sword cultivator.

“Finished.” Ye Qiao nodded. From the moment she was brought in, she had sensed that this senior’s target was her fourth senior brother all along.

Mu Chongxi leaned close to her ear and whispered mysteriously, “You have a photographic memory. Once I learn it, I’ll demonstrate it for you. Then we can practice together during class.”

They were brothers, after all. What’s wrong with learning from each other?

Ye Qiao gave a thumbs up, “If you get rich, don’t forget me.”

“What are you two whispering about?”

The old man waved his hand, signaling Mu Chongxi to come over quickly. He was here to pass on the inheritance, not to hold a meeting with a bunch of sword cultivators. “The rest of you can leave now. There’s nothing more for you here.”

With a wave of his hand, as Ye Qiao gradually woke up, she found herself flying through the air. Looking down, she realized she was being carried around by Zhou Xingyun like a little chick.

She blinked, “Senior Brother.”

Zhou Xingyun said, “You’re awake.”

Ye Qiao touched her face and sincerely said, “That wind felt like a stepmother’s slap, coldly hitting my face. It was hard not to wake up.”

Almost everyone present had woken up, except for her fourth senior brother, who was still receiving the inheritance.

“Is this a domain?” She vaguely felt it was familiar. She had entered twice in total, and with experience, she was now very familiar with it.

“How did you all get in?” Were you brought in by Xiao Qi?

In fact, many cultivators were dragged into the domain, but Xue Yu and Zhou Xingyun were the quickest to be caught. They didn’t even know what they did wrong; the ghost infant was relentlessly chasing them.

With no choice, Zhou Xingyun threw his sword, Duan Chen, but it didn’t hit the target, only angering Duan Chen. No matter how Zhou Xingyun called it, it refused to move again.

Zhou Xingyun clicked his tongue lightly and said, “If I had a sword just now, we could have…”

Xue Yu looked hopeful, “Escaped alive.”

Zhou Xingyun paused, “Delayed our deaths a bit.”

Once the domain is activated, having a sword wouldn’t help. Moreover, with a Nascent Soul stage ghost cultivator watching them like a hawk, the mother and son’s perfect coordination made it no wonder even the Song family couldn’t deal with them.

“Wasn’t it said that the ghost cultivator hides deeply and is very cautious?” Xue Yu couldn’t understand why the ghost cultivator appeared as soon as they arrived.

Chasing them like a mad dog, they couldn’t shake her off.

Ye Qiao paused, not expecting such a strong reaction from them. It was within her expectations for the ghost cultivator to appear. After all, who could stay calm if their son had a change of heart? She swallowed the words “isn’t that a good thing?”

Because she could clearly feel the anger of those around her.

A Song family cultivator resisted the urge to curse, “I really want to know, which genius managed to provoke the ghost cultivator right off the bat?”

Not just him, everyone present wanted to know.

Who the hell did this?

The culprit, Ye Qiao, “…”

Outside the domain, the woman began frantically capturing those Golden Core stage cultivators, preparing to devour them all. “Ruining my plans and still daring to appear before me.”

Just tonight, the ghost cultivator suddenly found out that the ghost infant she raised wanted to break away from her, claiming he had found a new mother. This infuriated the ghost cultivator to the point of madness, leading her to indiscriminately attack these female cultivators.

She waved her hand, spreading several black fog chains that wrapped tightly around Yun Que, gradually tightening and causing her face to flush red from suffocation. She called out for help, “Senior Brother.”

Song Hansheng turned back to see this, his eyes cold. His fingertips quickly activated attack talismans, striking like lightning and severing the chains, rescuing Yun Que.

It wasn’t out of deep care for his fellow disciples but because if they died in the mansion, the Song family would have a hard time explaining it to the outside world.

“You must be the notorious evil spirit.” Song Hansheng held a talisman between his fingers, his eyes cold, “Harming lives and still daring to show up.”

The ghost cultivator gave Song Hansheng a sinister look, initially not wanting to deal with him. Killing the legitimate young master of the Song family would anger the elders. But since he insisted on rescuing people…

“Xiao Qi.” She spoke coldly.

The boy glanced at her, and then the domain quietly extended under their feet, dropping both of them into the dark domain simultaneously.

The cries of a baby echoed, making Song Hansheng’s back shiver. He turned around only to be struck by ghost energy.

Coughing up blood, he was about to curse when he heard a familiar voice.

“Yo. You’ve come in too.”

Looking up, he saw Xue Yu and Zhou Xingyun back-to-back, holding defensive artifacts. They glanced over and casually said, “Welcome to our big family.”

“…”

Song Hansheng only wanted to curse. He didn’t understand. Everything had been calm for days; where did it all go wrong to cause the ghost cultivator to go berserk?

“Where are your Song family’s Nascent Soul stage experts?” Xue Yu lightly stepped on the breeze, dragging the unconscious Mu Chongxi, dodging the ghost energy attacks. Without looking back, he asked, “Have them come out and save us.”

Suppressing the turbulent blood in his chest, Song Hansheng replied coldly, “The message talisman has been sent, but it takes time.”

Inside the domain, the ghost cultivator had the upper hand. Continuous attacks and eerie hands occasionally emerging from the ground kept everyone on edge.

But no one dared to act rashly at this moment.

They were already struggling to hold on; provoking the ghost cultivator wouldn’t help.

“Fellow Daoists.” As everyone was trying to buy time, the sword cultivators who had previously taken Ye Qiao’s bounty and then been fooled spoke up.

“How dare a mere Nascent Soul act so arrogantly? With so many of us here, do we need to fear her?”

Dozens of Golden Core cultivators were present, including personal disciples. After speaking, the man glanced at Ming Xuan, placing great trust in him.

“What nonsense. Didn’t you notice their ghost cultivator hasn’t even spoken?”

A mere foot soldier daring to show off in front of experts. Yes, in their eyes, even a Nascent Soul stage cultivator was just a foot soldier. In the domain, the ghost infant was the real boss.

“Wait a minute,” Xue Yu muttered, “why do they dare look down on a Nascent Soul stage?”

A Nascent Soul cultivator with a domain could easily defeat dozens of Golden Core cultivators.

Ming Xuan was silent, knowing why.

Because Ye Qiao had given them that confidence.

“Hey, hey, hey,” a crisp female voice rang out as Ye Qiao, with a smile in her voice, called out, “Is everyone having fun? Include me.”

The playful tone was clear to anyone who wasn’t blind—it was provocation.

The ghost cultivator’s expression grew colder, and the oppressive force in the domain intensified. Those with lower cultivation almost kneeled, like Yun Que, who would have suffered terribly without Song Hansheng’s protection.

“She’s just joking,” Xue Yu pulled Ye Qiao back, holding her head down. “Let me have a word with her.”

Song Hansheng thought to himself, “Are you really having a meeting now?”

With so many Golden Core cultivators present, Xue Yu, as a pill cultivator, was indeed of little use.

He pulled Ye Qiao back, “Don’t mess around, little junior sister.”

“I know you want to complete the task, but don’t rush it.”

His voice was calm and gentle, “That Nascent Soul stage ghost cultivator, you know, beyond Nascent Soul, we’re not sure.”

“A mother and son duo, one with a domain, one at Nascent Soul stage, killing us is like killing chickens.”

Zhou Xingyun, though often provoking, agreed this time. Transforming into a senior brother, he advised, “The wise adapt to circumstances.”

The ghost cultivator intended to capture them all, but to Ye Qiao, the ghost cultivator was the one trapped.

During the conversation, several formations were shattered. Song Hansheng’s face turned pale; the formations he set up were crushed instantly. The gap in cultivation level was clear, and setting up formations in a domain was almost pointless.

Ye Qiao watched the flashing sword lights and sent out a few talismans herself to test the ghost cultivator’s strength. No one was sure of her exact level yet.

Even the highest cultivators present, Song Hansheng and Zhou Xingyun, at late Golden Core stage, couldn’t gauge her depth.

After exchanging a dozen moves, Ye Qiao, feeling suppressed by the Nascent Soul cultivator, asked in a low voice, “Have you figured out her cultivation level?”

She was estimating if they could fight the ghost cultivator and the ghost infant within the domain.

If not, she would have to find a way to stall and trap her in the domain.

“Mid Nascent Soul stage,” Zhou Xingyun replied, cutting through the eerie ghost hands on the ground. “In this domain, we’re no match.”

“But if we deal with the ghost infant, we might have a chance.”

Deal with him?

Saying that, Ye Qiao could feel her ghost son’s emotions darkening.

“Oh,” she looked at the tense crowd and hesitated, “it’s okay, the ghost infant isn’t a threat.”

“Just because you say so?” a frustrated cultivator snapped, “Who do you think you are?”

Ye Qiao ignored him and looked at the inconspicuous boy hiding behind the ghost cultivator. She beckoned, “Xiao Qi.”

“Come here.”

Under everyone’s gaze, the boy hesitated but then joyfully ran to her, nuzzling affectionately, “Mother~”

Everyone else: “… Dumbstruck.JPG”