Chapter 31 The Real and Fake Heiress

Just as Lou Yuqing was enjoying the gossip, a red warning suddenly appeared on the system panel.

[Friendly Reminder: Your "Gossip Points" are insufficient. Please work hard to earn more.]

Oops!

Lou Yuqing had a bad feeling. Looking at her remaining 100 points of "eating melon points," she painfully left two lines of wide noodles.

Enjoying the melon for a moment is fun, but regretting it later is heartbreaking.

All the time she had accumulated for gossip points was gone, leaving her with nothing.

Ling Yunxiao turned his head and saw the girl's listless expression, like a cabbage that had been hit by frost. He hesitated for a few seconds and asked with concern, "Are you alright?"

Lou Yuqing rubbed her face and said, "It's alright."

You can accumulate more "gossip points," it just takes a little more time.

Ling Yunxiao felt that she didn't seem to be alright, and wanted to comfort her, but he rarely interacted with girls and was a bit tongue-tied.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Do you know how cultivators with shadow spirit roots travel?"

Lou Yuqing paused, looking at him in surprise, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

Encouraged, Ling Yunxiao said, "Watch closely."

After he finished speaking, his body turned into a phantom shadow without warning and disappeared into the air, leaving no trace of his shadow on the ground.

Not invisible?

Lou Yuqing looked up and around blankly.

The next second, the space beside her suddenly rippled, and Ling Yunxiao appeared beside her, his clear voice ringing in her ear: "I'm here."

Lou Yuqing turned her head to look at him, her face showing visible shock. She hadn't even blinked, and still hadn't noticed anything amiss: "How did you do that?"

Ling Yunxiao pointed to her shadow on the ground and explained, "As long as there is a shadow, I can use Shadow Escape Technique. In the eyes of Shadow Spirit Root cultivators, shadows are stepping stones for teleportation. Only in a completely dark place can our movements be restricted."

However, such places rarely have any life forms, so they have virtually no impact on cultivators with shadow spirit roots.

Lou Yuqing looked at him enviously: "What a practical escape technique! When you can't win, you can use your shadow to escape. No one can catch up with you, and it's hard for you to die."

Seeing that she was in a good mood, Ling Yunxiao breathed a sigh of relief and began to discuss with her: "Indeed, I've encountered danger a few times before, and then I..."

Unaware that someone was watching him from behind.

Gu Bugai snorted coldly, finding Ling Yunxiao displeasing. "Just talk, why get so close? Trying to please your little apprentice for no reason, he must have ulterior motives."

And the scope of that inner voice.

For some reason, everyone in the square seemed to be able to hear it, and there was no limitation of ten zhang in distance. Gu Bugai had no choice but to overturn his previous conclusion.

On the other side.

Finding that the voice prompts were no longer being heard, Si Nidie and the others sighed regretfully, looking with lingering dissatisfaction at the group of newcomers whose embarrassing incidents had been exposed.

It would be great if there were a few more melons.

Seeing the disciples' ravenous expressions, the man with the perky buttocks and the others were on the verge of tears. No one had told them that they would have to have their underwear pulled down before entering the Wendao Sect.

Their lifelong reputation was completely ruined.

but……

The man with the perky butt thought about it again and realized that it was indeed very enjoyable to watch other people's drama unfold. He also had a friend who had taken the mountain boar spirit as his master, so compared to that, he was doing quite well.

Thinking this through, the man with the perky butt felt relieved.

Brother: "..."

Just then.

"Cough cough."

Elder Xu coughed lightly, casually scanning the crowd with his sharp eyes that seemed to see right through people, exuding a sense of oppression.

Everyone immediately composed themselves and became respectful.

They can enjoy the gossip, but when it comes to serious matters, they can't afford to be negligent.

"You will all stand in the inner circle in the center of the plaza. I will activate the power of the magic array shortly to test your spiritual root attributes," Elder Xu said solemnly.

The plaza was about 100 zhang in diameter and was divided into an outer circle and an inner circle. The disciples all stood in the outer circle, leaving the spacious inner circle for the newcomers.

Lou Yuqing was forced to interrupt the conversation and said to Ling Yunxiao, "Go."

Although he knew that the other party was a sure thing to pass the spirit test, he could not exempt himself from this test, otherwise he would not be able to convince the public.

"Shall we continue?"

"Okay," the girl said with a bright smile.

Ling Yunxiao smiled faintly and walked towards the inner circle with the crowd. His simple white clothes outlined the young man's slender figure, and his every move exuded a free and unrestrained aura.

Lou Yuqing was engrossed in watching.

Suddenly, Si Nidie's sly voice rang in her ears: "Junior sister, is it pretty?"

Lou Yuqing: "..."

"Senior sister, don't you think it looks good?" she asked back.

Si Nidie touched her nose and said sullenly, "Of course it looks good." Then she changed the subject, "But, are you two familiar with each other? You seem to be having a very pleasant conversation?"

His tone turned sarcastic again.

Gu Bugai said with a straight face: "Then we're definitely not familiar with each other."

Lou Yuqing said with a righteous expression, "I was entrusted by someone to take care of Hao Tianping's friend, and Senior Sister knows that."

"I was just kidding." Seeing that she couldn't get any information out of you, Si Nidie withdrew her teasing look. Actually, she knew the truth, but she just couldn't help being a little gossipy.

Si Nanren shook his head helplessly as he watched his sister's actions. When they were little, she would dig up every inch of a dog that passed by their house.

Even after growing up, their nature remains unchanged.

Ling Yunxiao stopped in the inner circle and looked sharply in a certain direction, where he met Elder Xu's gaze.

Elder Xu remained calm, showing no signs of being caught red-handed.

He had just received a message from the sect leader, telling him not to shy away from Ling Yunxiao's affairs and to act as he saw fit. That was also his thought. After all, Wendao Sect was a sect with a history of ten thousand years, and it had the confidence to take responsibility.

The reason why those sects went bankrupt can only be attributed to their lack of strength.

Ling Yunxiao nodded to Elder Xu with a calm expression, while the others looked more apprehensive.

They were all outstanding individuals who had passed the ladder-climbing test, but according to the sect's past practice, less than one-tenth of them could pass the spirit-testing test.

Elder Xu stopped thinking about it and raised his hands upwards. The ancient array plate flew into the sky, and a white light spread out from it, instantly covering the hundred-zhang-wide square.

Everyone closed their eyes, bathed in the soft light, feeling their bodies being cleansed by a force, all negative emotions swept away, leaving only peace and tranquility.

Elder Xu rapidly formed hand seals, sending intricate incantations into the array plate, making the light in the field even more dazzling, like a brilliant, radiant sun.

[System upgrade in progress... Current progress 1%]

Lou Yuqing was engrossed in watching when she suddenly heard the mechanical voice of the gossip-eating system.

It's been upgraded?

With a delighted expression, Lou Yuqing brought up the system panel, where the progress bar jumped at an astonishing speed, quickly going from 1% to 100%.

It's many times faster than when the system was first activated.

The system panel was instantly transformed.

Host: Lou Yuqing

Gossip Value: 100 points

The melon field's boundaries are: within a mile in radius.

List of melon enthusiasts: Qingxuzi (10,000 points)...

Module functions: audio and video, system tasks.

Everything else remains unchanged.

Lou Yuqing noticed that the system had added a new module. She pondered the words "audio-visual" and wondered if it meant what she was thinking.

Yes, host.

The mechanical sound suddenly rang out.

Lou Yuqing was startled: "You're alive?"

[...]

An ellipsis appeared on the system panel.

[The system was initially in a state of energy depletion and entered hibernation mode. However, due to the host's frequent consumption of melon seeds, it was able to replenish its energy and awaken.]

Upon hearing its explanation, Lou Yuqing suddenly realized, "I see."

Then it dawned on me: "Wait a minute, how could you have heard what I was thinking earlier?"

The lewd content stored in her mind is something that can't be exposed to the light of day. If the system were to read it, she might as well just die.

[Host instruction received: Synchronization function has been disabled]

The system is very intelligent, it said immediately.

"If you turn it off, you won't be able to hear it, right?"

【Yes】

Lou Yuqing let out a long sigh of relief before finally focusing her attention on the upgrade, asking, "Is having audio and video the same as watching a melon live?"

Yes, while you're enjoying the show, click on the audio-visual content, and the system will perfectly recreate the scene with a cinematic quality, making you feel like you're actually there.

System, you are my god!

Lou Yuqing's face flushed slightly with excitement.

"By the way, what exactly is the purpose of the system tasks?" His gaze fell on another module's function, and he wondered if the gossip system required him to complete tasks.

The system detected that the host was struggling with insufficient "gossip points" and has specially enabled the task function. As long as the host completes the gossip tasks, they can obtain extra gossip points.

"No fighting or killing involved?"

【Need not】

Lou Yuqing's eyes lit up: "That's great!"

She clicked on the task, but nothing happened.

"System, what's going on?"

[Host, the mission was triggered passively.]

Lou Yuqing: I understand.

After an incense stick had burned, the light from the magic array gradually faded, revealing the people, each with their own joys and sorrows.

The presence of light emanating from one's body indicates the presence of spiritual roots. Different colors represent different attributes of these spiritual roots, with the five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—each corresponding to one of the five colors: gold, green, blue, red, and yellow.

If it is another color, it means that it is a mutated spiritual root.

Like Ling Yunxiao's Shadow Spirit Root.

Lou Yuqing looked up at the young man and saw his figure shifting between reality and illusion, surrounded by a dark light. This was the external manifestation of the Shadow Spirit Root.

It looks exceptionally unique.

Besides Ling Yunxiao, Lou Yuqing also saw two other people with mutated spiritual roots: a cyan wind spiritual root and a blood-red blood spiritual root.

With the Heavenly Spirit Root not appearing, the three of them are the most outstanding talents in this generation.

Although Elder Xu was somewhat disappointed that there were still no Heavenly Spiritual Root seedlings this year, he also knew how rare Heavenly Spiritual Roots were, so he was not discouraged.

"Those with spiritual roots shall remain; those without shall withdraw." Elder Xu solemnly announced the results, his powerful voice resounding throughout the entire square.

In no time, the square became much sparsely populated.

Those who were unwilling to accept this dared not act presumptuously in front of the immortal master, and could only leave this sorrowful place with disappointment, looking back every few steps.

Those who remained did not necessarily look relaxed, because those among them who were not talented had one last hurdle to overcome—these were people with less than three spiritual roots.

Elder Xu singled out these people and said calmly, "You still have to undergo the test of the Heart-Questioning Trial. If your aptitude is not good enough, your character must pass the test, otherwise you will not go far."

An hour later, only a few people had emerged from the trial of the heart.

Lou Yuqing did the math and found that the pass rate for the Heart-Questioning Test was an astonishing one percent.

Elder Xu was not surprised at all. Although Wendao Sect had abundant cultivation resources, it valued quality over quantity and did not accept just anyone.

Just as he was about to eliminate them.

One of the female cultivators, with delicate features, stepped out from the crowd, bowed to Elder Xu, and said, "Senior, may I see your sect leader?"

Is this some kind of unreasonable argument?

Elder Xu narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "Junior, do not be presumptuous!"

"Can't a daughter even see her father?"

The pretty female cultivator's words left everyone's heads buzzing.

Is she the sect leader's daughter?

Elder Xu looked completely bewildered, seemingly having lost all his strength and abilities, and helplessly looked at the person in the sky.

Sect Leader Qingxuzi was furious. He only had one daughter, Song Li. Where did this audacious fellow come from who dared to shamelessly use his daughter's name?

The next moment, Lou Yuqing's distressed thoughts reached everyone's ears.

How can I tell the sect leader that he found a fake daughter?

Qingxuzi's anger faltered for a moment.

Lou Yuqing looked at the task details; the system task had been triggered immediately after the pretty female cultivator finished speaking—

[The True and False Heiress: The sect leader's daughter has been separated from her family and is being impersonated by a fake heiress. Please expose her true identity and restore the real heiress to her rightful place.]

Reward: 10,000 points of gossip value

Unexpectedly, a shocking bombshell was dropped!

The disciples were shocked and looked up at the sky in unison.

A chill surged up from the soles of Qingxuzi's feet, rushing straight to the top of his head, and his whole body instantly felt completely cold.

Is Song Li really not his daughter?

"Senior Brother Sect Leader, please calm down. The most important thing now is to determine whether Yuqing's words are true or false. Don't lose your composure."

Meng Zonghan tried to comfort him, saying that he had seen how much his senior brother, the sect leader, doted on Song Li, and that if this were true, his senior brother might not be able to bear it.

Qingxuzi closed his eyes briefly: "You're right. Although Yuqing has never made a mistake, this time it might be a misunderstanding."

As I said this, I felt incredibly uneasy.