In the stillness of the night, almost every room on Qing Huizong's mountain was dark. There was a morning class the next day, so most of the disciples would rest early to avoid making mistakes and being scolded during the class.
However, next to the sect leader's residence on the mountaintop, there was a room where candles had been burning all night for the past few days.
Lu Zhaozhao was sitting cross-legged on the bed, her forehead covered in fine sweat, and she was surrounded by an invisible force.
"Phew." Lu Zhaozhao let out a long breath and slowly opened her eyes.
This is the ninth day she has been trying to refine the power given to her by Wei Zhanjie.
Although she hadn't expected the refining process to be easy, it took her several days to realize that she had underestimated this power.
For nine whole days, apart from Emperor Huizong's lessons, she almost always secluded herself to cultivate. Her diligence was even demonized by the outer disciples, and rumors circulated in the sect that the second senior sister was so obsessed with cultivation that she was almost going mad.
Although Lu Zhaozhao dismissed the rumor, Ying Che seemed to take it seriously, trying every day to find ways to get her to rest, with each reason more outrageous than the last. Yesterday she was cleaning the shell of the old tortoise on the back mountain, today she was comforting her junior brother who had been abandoned and whose Dao heart was broken, and tomorrow she will be helping the library organize its records.
Lu Zhaozhao sneered at this, gritted her teeth and cruelly ignored the sadness in Ying Che's eyes, throwing out a sentence, "Senior brother, don't bother me unless it's important," and then closed the door.
After that, rumors spread even more among the outer sect members, saying that the Second Senior Sister was obsessed with the Path of Ruthlessness and wanted to sever all romantic ties, even treating her coldly by her closest childhood friend, the Eldest Senior Brother.
However, Lu Zhaozhao was not very clear about these rumors, because she was almost driven crazy by them.
She prided herself on her exceptional talent for cultivation, but after so many days of giving it her all, her progress in refining the techniques was only one or two-tenths of what she had learned. This greatly frustrated her, and she vowed to work even harder.
However, even this small amount of time has greatly benefited her. During this period, her cultivation level has broken through to the late stage of the Golden Core realm, which is undoubtedly an astonishing speed in the cultivation world.
But this was far from enough for Lu Zhaozhao.
As a result, the Second Senior Sister's frantic infighting spirit was highly praised by the elders, and spread throughout the entire sect, causing the disciples to suffer greatly and harbor great resentment, even alarming the sect leader, Yun Xian.
On the fifteenth day of the refining process, Yunxian knocked on her door.
"I am very pleased with your diligence, but you must remember that cultivation should proceed in accordance with the times and you should not be too demanding," Yunxian instructed.
Lu Zhaozhao nodded earnestly and replied, "This disciple will follow Master's teachings."
Yun Xian looked at his disciple standing respectfully before him, feeling somewhat dazed. In his memory, Lu Zhaozhao was still a porcelain doll who clung to his sleeve, acting spoiled and enduring the hardships of cultivation. He also remembered how Lu Zhaozhao loved to cry and whine when she was young. He hadn't expected her to grow up so quickly, leaving him unsure how to connect with this disciple. In a daze, the gap between them, master and disciple, seemed to be widening.
Yunxian sighed, patted her shoulder, and said nothing more.
After that, Lu Zhaozhao became even more diligent, even practicing swordplay while holding a book during morning classes.
The results of such arduous practice are also remarkable.
Emperor Huizong of Qing held an assessment meeting at the end of each month, similar to the monthly exams he took in high school before transmigrating into the book, ostensibly to check his disciples' progress in their cultivation during that period.
At this end-of-month assessment conference, Lu Zhaozhao, who had just entered the Golden Core realm two months ago, displayed the powerful strength of the late Golden Core stage, leaving everyone present in disbelief and prompting the elders to adopt their own testing methods.
The final conclusion was that Lu Zhaozhao was a genuine late-stage Golden Core cultivator. Even more astonishingly, her physical attributes far surpassed those of her peers in the Golden Core stage, excluding those who practiced body cultivation.
This conclusion even shocked the cultivation world, to a degree no less than the grand occasion when she established her foundation at the age of five.
After many years, Lu Zhaozhao returned to the public eye with a cultivation speed that shocked the world.
However, the other members of Emperor Huizong's family were not so lucky.
With Lu Zhaozhao's outstanding achievements as a precedent, the progress of the other disciples seemed insignificant. Among them was Lu Zhaozhao's newly joined junior sister, Nian Zhi. Her talent for cultivation was not high, and she had always lived the life of an ordinary person until she was brought back to the sect and gained sentience.
As expected, when it was announced that Nian Zhi's cultivation level was at the early stage of Qi Refining, many whispers arose among the disciples below.
"Tsk tsk, I thought she was some kind of unparalleled genius, but I didn't expect her to be so mediocre."
"That's right! She's only a few months younger than Second Senior Sister, but their cultivation levels are worlds apart!"
"I don't know why the sect leader took her in."
...
Nian Zhi is a person with a very strong sense of self-respect, and hearing these conversations, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed, and her eyes became slightly moist.
Lu Zhaozhao watched her flee off the stage, feeling somewhat strange.
Logically speaking, Nian Zhi in the book, while not a genius, is still quite decent. However, as the personal disciple of the sect leader, with Ying Che who once ascended the Golden Terrace and Lu Zhaozhao who was hailed as a prodigy since childhood, she appears rather ordinary.
The conversation among the audience gradually became more unrestrained. Lu Zhaozhao bit her lip and stepped forward, saying coldly, "You're having such a good time chatting, you must have made considerable progress. In that case, why don't you have a friendly spar with me, so you don't waste your energy gossiping behind my back?"
When the group saw that the person who came was Lu Zhaozhao, they immediately fell silent, called out "Second Senior Sister", and hurriedly left.
Nian Zhi looked at Lu Zhaozhao with some surprise and timidly said, "Thank you, Senior Sister."
"It was no trouble at all." Lu Zhaozhao nodded to her as a greeting, and then hurriedly left. She didn't want to waste any more time here. Every time she finished the test, she was stared at by countless people like she was a monkey. She would rather go back and cultivate for a while.
Nian Zhi stared blankly at Lu Zhaozhao's departing figure until Ying Che gently reminded her, bringing her back to her senses.
Nian Zhi had a good impression of this gentle senior brother, so she asked him, "Senior brother, has senior sister always been so solitary?"
"No, that's not true." Ying Che denied with a smile, then fell into deep reminiscence. "Zhao Zhao used to be a spoiled brat who loved to act cute, but she was sincere to everyone, and everyone in the sect liked her. However, as she grew older, her personality became more mature, and only things related to cultivation could distract her. I really miss how she was when she was little."
"I see." Nian Zhi seemed to be thinking, lowered her head and murmured a few words, then looked up with her eyes full of light.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com