Chapter 1 Talent
Bai Mengmeng dragged her suitcase and stopped in front of the small building in front of her.
The small, two-story building was unremarkable. The walls, eroded by years of wind and frost, were gray and mottled, and the roof tiles were broken and tattered. The gate stood open, a brass lock hanging crookedly from the knocker. In the vast courtyard, weeds grew wildly, nearly covering the path.
Her eyes fell on the main gate - there were three wooden boards of different sizes nailed crookedly, pieced together to form a door plaque, on which were written the three big characters "Qiong Ye School" in thick ink and flamboyant strokes.
At that moment, a gust of wind swept through the hallway, and the already shaky sign in the middle fell to the ground with a clang, raising a few specks of dust.
On the door lintel, only the two words "Qiong School" were left, looking particularly desolate in the wind.
"What a poor guy..." Bai Mengmeng's mouth twitched slightly, and her expression froze on her face for a moment.
Xu Bo, standing by, chuckled dryly, as if he was already accustomed to this. He bent down skillfully, fetched an old hammer from the corner, walked forward, and with two "cracks," he nailed the fallen board back in place. Then, he diligently pushed open the creaking door and stepped aside to make way.
"Hey, let's go in, Master."
.......
A month ago, Bai Mengmeng was a struggling doctor in the emergency department of a top-tier hospital, repeatedly beaten down by life. As the saying goes, "If you persuade someone to study medicine, you'll be struck by lightning," emergency doctors are like a lone boat in a sea of suffering.
Under the relentless night shifts, the piercing alarms of the monitors, and the anxious shoving of family members, Bai Mengmeng finally stood up and said, "This shift is worth it! Money is worth making, but you have to live to spend it, right?"
She had originally planned to find a beautiful rural B&B, turn off her phone, and rejuvenate herself for a while, recharging her energy. But just as she was about to doze off, a pillow appeared before her. An elderly man calling himself "Uncle Xu," accompanied by a lawyer in a suit and tie, arrived at her door.
It was only then that Bai Mengmeng learned that she actually had a grandfather whom she had never met. When the old man passed away, he actually left her a legacy - an old house in the countryside, and half of the lush forest behind it.
After quickly verifying the authenticity of the lawyer's letter and the documents, ruling out any fraudulent activity, Bai Mengmeng signed the acceptance documents without hesitation. Her idyllic yearning for "picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, leisurely gazing at the southern mountains" was now growing wildly.
Become a doctor? Haha, even if she starves to death on the streets, she will never touch that white coat again!
However, at the end of the thin will, there was a hot potato-like condition: she must also inherit the "immortal cultivation sect" left by her grandfather - the Qiongye Sect.
As a staunch materialist who had spent years under the microscope and believed that "science is the only true god," Bai Mengmeng scoffed at the term "cultivation." She stared at the words "successor to the Qionghua Sect's leader," and a truly treasonous thought emerged uncontrollably:
Old man grandpa...could it be that he has been staying in the countryside for too long and has developed Alzheimer's disease?
........
As soon as she entered the old house with her suitcase, Uncle Xu dug out an old wooden box from some dusty corner and handed it to her solemnly: "Master, this is a relic of the previous master."
Bai Mengmeng quickly took it with both hands. The box was very light. When she opened it, she saw only a few items inside: a few yellowed old photos, a grid exercise book used by elementary school students, a gray, unremarkable wooden box, and a few thin property ownership certificates.
She pulled out some photos. Several showed her parents with a spirited old man. One photo was particularly striking—the old man was holding a little girl with pigtails. Bai Mengmeng's heart trembled; that little girl was clearly her younger self!
A sigh welled up in her heart. It turned out that she had seen her grandfather, but time had blurred her memory and her parents had never mentioned it.
Putting the photo down, Bai Mengmeng took out the out-of-place exercise book. On the cover, there were a few large, crooked words written in pen: "Qiong Ye Sect Diary."
Bai Mengmeng: "..."
She was almost laughing out of anger.
Have even "immortal cultivation sects" become so unrefined these days? A prestigious sect's inheritance log is actually written in a mere exercise book that costs only a few cents? Even if it's just a made-up story, this is too perfunctory!
With the mentality of "I want to see what you can come up with", Bai Mengmeng casually opened the notebook and glanced at it.
It records that more than a thousand years ago, the spiritual energy in the world of cultivation was gradually depleted, the competition for resources became more and more brutal, and the situation of the helpless independent cultivators was particularly difficult.
At that time, the four best cultivators among the independent cultivators - the medical cultivator Bai Ming, the sword cultivator Liang Yu, the female cultivator Hua Qianyu who was proficient in divination, and the weapon cultivator master Fang Tian, worked together to establish the Qiongye Sect and elected the medical cultivator Bai Ming as the first leader, aiming to build a tower out of small things and overcome difficulties together.
However, the decline of spiritual energy was irreversible, making cultivation increasingly difficult. Ultimately, the spiritual veins of heaven and earth were nearly severed, and the cultivators' cultivation regressed, leading to their demise. Many high-ranking cultivators, including the four founding masters of the Qiongye Sect, sealed some of their innate abilities into spiritual artifacts before their death, preserving them for future generations to awaken their bloodlines.
However, bloodline alone is not enough. The key to unlocking the magic weapon is - spiritual roots.
Obviously, not everyone possesses spiritual roots. For example, the Bai family, a medical practitioner, has not produced a single descendant with spiritual roots since my grandfather's grandfather. It's truly like guarding a treasure trove without the key to entry.
The following pages of the journal specifically note: That dusty wooden box is the Bai family's magical treasure, passed down for millennia. This box is impervious to swords and spears, water, and fire. Only those with spiritual roots can open it directly and awaken their innate talents. Without spiritual roots, even the most arduous attacks will be incapable of even a shred of damage.
Bai Mengmeng commented secretly.
Well, the background setting is quite realistic.
It’s just the shape of this magic weapon... it’s too misleading!
This wooden box in front of me probably wouldn't even sell for three dollars if it were sold on a street stall.
Seeing that she had finished flipping through the book, Xu Bo quickly pointed to the gray box, his eyes filled with cautious anticipation. "Master, the magic weapon is right here. Why don't you give it a try? Even though our family hasn't been able to open it for generations, what if...what if it works?"
Bai Mengmeng reached out to take the box without any hesitation.
Unexpectedly, just as his fingertips touched it, he didn't hold it firmly, and with a "click", the wooden box fell straight to the ground!
Unexpectedly, the wooden box, which was said to be "invulnerable to swords and guns," actually cracked! A small white porcelain bottle rolled out from the crack.
They were both stunned at the same time.
The next second, Xu Bo suddenly burst into a cry of surprise and joy: "It's open! It's really open! Master, you have spiritual roots! You really do have spiritual roots!" As he shouted, he picked up the cracked wooden box with a distressed look, his face full of confusion, "But...but why is this magic weapon cracked?"
Bai Mengmeng was complaining in her heart.
Could this spiritual root awakening method be any more hasty?!
Why is it cracked?
Nonsense! This broken wooden box is so crudely made, it has been sitting there for so many years, it would be a miracle if it didn’t crack!
Her eyes fell on the small porcelain bottle on the ground.
Hmm? This bottle is quite interesting. It's flawless white, and feels smooth and smooth to the touch, like fine mutton-fat jade. It looks like it's worth a fortune.
When the warm touch passed from her fingertips to her palm, Bai Mengmeng suddenly froze!
Depend on!
It shortens your life!!!
An irresistible suction force seemed to descend from the heavens, suddenly grabbing her crown! Her soul was like being yanked by an invisible giant hand, instantly leaving her body and rising into the air!
Help!!! She is so afraid of heights that she can’t even ride a roller coaster!!!
Just the next second when her soul flew away and she was terrified, her mind suddenly sank and returned to normal as if she had lost weight!
Bai Mengmeng was stunned when she suddenly opened her eyes.
The world...became clearer than ever before!
The one or two hundred degrees of myopia she'd acquired from typing medical records on the computer every day had vanished without a trace! Even the almost invisible crack on the wall three meters away was now crystal clear!
"No way... this thing... is it really playing a trick on me?" Bai Mengmeng murmured to herself. A chill crept up her spine and she felt unwell.
Looking back at the small, white porcelain bottle in her hand, her expression had completely changed. Her previous contempt was gone, replaced only by cautious awe. She held her breath and very slowly uncorked the bottle. At the bottom lay a few small, round, black pills.
Could it be the legendary supreme elixir in the world of immortal cultivation that cleanses the bones and marrow?! Bai Mengmeng's heart was pounding, almost jumping out of her throat. She couldn't wait to pour a pill into her palm.
The moment the black balls touched her skin, a piece of information naturally emerged in her mind:
[This is an ordinary vegetable seed, not much different from the 50-cent-a-pack sold on the market.]
"Master, what...what is this?" Xu Bo came forward, his face full of surprise.
Bai Mengmeng had a strange expression on her face, and the corner of her mouth twitched: "It seems... just an ordinary seed."
"Seeds?!" Xu Bo's eyes lit up, and his voice suddenly rose, filled with endless imagination. "Could it be ginseng? Or a thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum? As expected of a medical tradition, it must be a rare elixir!"
Bai Mengmeng looked at the dull, plain black dots on her palm and spoke the truth with difficulty:
"Uh...Uncle Xu, these seem to be the seeds of ordinary green vegetables."
…
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