Chapter 1 001 Entering the Sect
The autumn air is crisp and clear, and the forests are ablaze with color; it is truly the golden season of autumn.
Today is the day the Azure Sword Sect accepts new disciples. Disciples lined up from the mountain gate to the foot of the mountain, creating an exceptionally lively scene.
Song Chi arrived at the Azure Sword Sect before dawn, queued for two hours, and finally arrived at the Immortal Examination Platform in front of the mountain gate when the sun was high in the sky.
It's not that the Qingjian Sect is slow at testing aptitude, but rather that there are simply too many disciples coming to take the test.
This is the only chance in the lives of ordinary disciples aged fourteen and above within a radius of ten thousand miles to completely change their destiny.
Once one's spiritual root aptitude is detected, they step into the immortal realm. From that moment on, their lives undergo a dramatic transformation. Even becoming a menial disciple of the Azure Sword Sect is a coveted stepping stone for many. Mortals in the cultivation world are undoubtedly at the very bottom.
Therefore, whenever a sect accepts disciples, long queues form in front of its gates.
But not everyone has the opportunity to change their fate; in fact, this first hurdle at the mountain gate eliminates seven or eight out of ten.
At least seven of the ten people ahead of Song Chi have already been eliminated. None of these seven even had their spiritual roots detected.
"Your body is a mess of five spiritual roots, and your roots are all below fifty. Brother, please go back."
The eighth one also failed. The minimum standard for the Azure Sword Sect to accept disciples, even for menial disciples, is that they must have at least four spiritual roots, and two of them must have roots exceeding sixty.
"You have four spiritual roots: sixty-five points for the metal and wood roots, and fifty points for the fire and earth roots. Junior sister, please enter through the west gate."
"Thank you, senior brother."
The west gate behind the Examination Platform led to the menial disciples. The girl in the blue dress happily received her token and went through the west gate, attracting many envious glances.
Song Chi was actually a little nervous. It wasn't that she was worried about whether she had spiritual roots; she had tested them at home before coming. Her spiritual roots were a bit special, falling somewhere between inner and outer sect disciples. If she was lucky, for example, if there weren't many disciples with good spiritual roots this year, then she might have a chance to enter the inner sect.
Otherwise, they would most likely only be able to enter the outer sect. And the gap between inner and outer sect disciples is like an insurmountable chasm; the resources that the sect allocates to inner sect disciples are incomparable to those of outer sect disciples.
Song Chi was gambling on luck.
For this reason, they traveled thousands of miles, abandoning the Changyun Sect near their family, to come to the Qingjian Sect.
The reason is that Changyun Sect has no sound cultivators, while Qingjian Sect is famous for both sound and sword cultivation. Sound cultivators have a unique requirement for their disciples' aptitude: their spiritual roots should ideally be in the metal, water, or wood elements, and these elements should be relatively similar.
As for Song Chi's spiritual roots... it's more than just "not much different".
Just as she was getting nervous, two beams of light, one white and one black, suddenly shot up from the testing platform in front of her. The beams of light suddenly changed as they shot into the sky, and then a large green sword plummeted down. The chilling sword energy suddenly spread out, causing the disciples present to feel a chill run down their spines and shivers down their bodies.
"A dual spiritual root of metal and water, a heavenly spiritual root, wow! And the illusion of the Azure Sword, a genius that appears only once in a thousand years."
"Junior brother, this way please!"
The disciple who had tested the immortal roots spoke with a mixture of shock and obsequiousness, and quickly led the white-robed disciple to the east gate.
Upon seeing this, the several blue-robed stewards sitting on the east side of the Immortal Examination Platform all stood up. They exchanged glances and couldn't help but smile and nod. They all seemed very pleased to have such a genius.
This was the ninth person ahead of Song Chi. Like her, the young man had been queuing up early that morning, remaining silent and not looking around—almost excessively quiet. In that quietude, his handsome back seemed to carry a hint of world-weariness.
Even just looking at his back, you could tell he was someone extraordinary. It wasn't until an hour had passed that he finally turned around for a brief glance.
At that moment, Song Chi understood why the girls in the front row kept turning back shyly. It was because this young man had ink-black hair like satin, red lips, and a straight nose; he was extremely handsome. He possessed a rare and outstanding appearance, with a noble and elegant air, but his eyes were like cold pools, instantly chilling his handsome face to the bone.
At that time, Song Chi concluded that such a handsome and resentful man must have a distinguished background, and he wondered which fallen noble family he might be.
She had already secretly decided that this person was destined to be the protagonist. However, she would only know for sure after testing his spiritual root. And at this moment, this exceptionally talented person's spiritual root undoubtedly destined him to be the protagonist.
Of course, none of this concerned her. Once the disciple who had verified her qualifications returned, Song Chi stepped forward with a smile and cupped her hands in greeting.
He then drew his dagger, cut off a piece of blood, and fed it to the five-colored Immortal Testing Stone. Soon, three foot-high pillars of light rose up.
"Three spiritual roots: metal, water, and wood. The metal root is level 77, and both the water and wood roots are level 77. This..."
The senior student looked up at her with a hint of regret. Song Chi smiled at him with slightly pleading eyes but didn't say anything.
Her smiling, crescent-shaped eyes were especially charming and endearing; anyone who saw her would instantly feel more favorably toward her. She knew this.
This senior brother in blue robes was probably kind-hearted; he smiled at her and stood up to ask the steward on the east side what to do about her aptitude.
"The three spiritual roots of metal, water, and wood are all 77, neither good nor bad. However, they are all just a little short of reaching the root level of 80. Deacon Sun, what should we do?"
According to the rules of the Azure Sword Sect, to qualify as an inner disciple, if one is a disciple with three spiritual roots, at least one of their spiritual roots must be above 80, and the other two spiritual roots must not be below 70.
This is also why Song Chi gambled so much.
Deacon Sun glanced at the spiritual root of the Immortal-Testing Stone and then looked towards team number four. There stood a young girl in white, respectfully facing him. Her soft hair was neatly tied back, her figure slender and graceful. Her white clothes were spotless, her fair face radiant, and her eyes curved like crescent moons. She seemed intelligent, but perhaps a little nervous, her small hands slightly clenched at her sides.
Deacon Sun naturally knew that this was a pivotal moment that would determine the fate of this child's life.
There were actually quite a few disciples with excellent three spiritual roots today, and in principle, such spiritual roots should not be implanted into the inner sect. But the little girl's appearance made him feel a bit of pity, so he asked.
"Can you understand music?"
Song Chi quickly and respectfully replied, "Reporting to the Immortal Master, I have been studying music since I was four years old, and now I am somewhat proficient in the zither and pipa. I am slightly better at the pipa."
Upon hearing the title "Immortal Master," Steward Sun smiled. This child is clever; he's already taken on a master.
He then said to Zhuo Yu, "In that case, let's accept her into the inner sect."
The little girl in white immediately bowed deeply with great joy. "Thank you for your kindness, Immortal Master."
When Zhuo Yu returned and gave the young girl his inner disciple token, she stared intently at his identification token on the table. She probably wanted to remember his name.
"Thank you, Senior Brother Xie Zhuo."
Zhuo Yu smiled; this child was indeed grateful. Indeed, if he hadn't asked the steward, this child wouldn't have had the chance to enter the inner sect.
After receiving the token, Song Chi bowed to Senior Brother Zhuo again before leaving. When he arrived at the east side, he happily bowed to Steward Sun and several other stewards before heading to the east gate.
Seeing her beaming with joy, the deacons exchanged smiles. This child was clever and indeed quite likable. However, with this aptitude, even if she joined the inner sect, she'd likely be at the bottom of the class. After all, without a spiritual root of at least eighty, one lacks immortal roots, making cultivation extremely difficult later on.
However, since they found him to be so clean and pleasing to the eye, they decided to let go.
Song Chi didn't breathe a sigh of relief until he crossed the East Gate. Only genius disciples and inner disciples were qualified to enter the East Gate. Outer disciples went to the West Gate. The Middle Gate was tightly closed and only opened for important sect events.
Upon entering the East Gate, a council pavilion is not far away. Two young immortal masters in white robes are chatting and smiling under the eaves of the pavilion. In front of them are inner disciples who have come to welcome and settle the new disciples, all of whom are wearing light gray gauze robes.
Song Chi arrived at an inopportune time; the twelve new disciples were divided into two groups and led away by the first two gray-veiled inner disciples.
Two giant spirit turtles flew away right in front of my eyes.
It was estimated that they would have to wait until the next batch of disciples gathered before they could leave. The sun was very strong at this time, but Song Chi wasn't in a hurry to go to the council hall to bask in the sun.
He glanced left and right, then looked to seek shelter in the shade of a nearby tree. But just a few steps from the door, he saw a young man in white standing there, aloof and cool.
This is her former buddy, the peerless swordsman genius. He's probably waiting for the next batch too.
This surprised Song Chi somewhat. He had assumed that such a genius would be taken away by a sect disciple. Logically, this was the treatment a genius should receive.
Could it be that the Azure Sword Sect truly values equality for all? But according to her investigation, while the Azure Sword Sect does indeed have a more harmonious atmosphere, it is still a world with a clear hierarchy. The treatment of geniuses and ordinary inner disciples is like a chasm.
I don't know what happened.
Although Song Chi was unaware of the details, she still nodded and smiled slightly at Mo Feiyun. She had just glanced at his name in Senior Brother Zhuo's registration book.
This name screams protagonist. After all, his surname is Mo, and his given name, Fei Yun, sounds so beautiful.
Song Chi was very worried about transmigrating into a book, and quickly searched her memory. Unfortunately, she had read countless cultivation novels, and for a moment she couldn't remember which book had a protagonist or second male lead named Mo Feiyun.
As for herself, if she really was a transmigrator, she'd probably just be a minor character. Since being reborn fourteen years ago, she'd grown up peacefully, never encountering any opportunities or special privileges befitting a protagonist. Despite searching every corner of her house, including the back mountain, she found nothing; fate seemed to have spared her even the slightest bit of good fortune.
His spiritual root was still a mediocre three-elemental root, and his appearance was so-so, almost identical to his face in his previous life, and even his name was the same (this was probably the origin of his transmigration, Song Chi believed it to be so).
As for the Song family, they were just small-time wealthy merchants. The great-grandfather was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and a pill refiner at that. Although his pill refining skills were not great, he had some secret recipes for blending face powder and rouge. The family's rouge and face powder shop was doing quite well, and they had also managed to get close to an elder from the outer sect of the Changyun Sect. However, eighty percent of this business went to Elder Pan, and the family only kept twenty percent.
Fortunately, the Song family is small, consisting of the grandfather, his uncle and his wife, his cousin Song Yun, his parents, and himself. Currently, the grandfather is the most powerful in the family, only at the ninth level of Qi Refining, having not yet successfully established his foundation. He previously infiltrated the outer sect of the Changyun Sect, possessing three spiritual roots, but their cultivation is only so-so. Next, his uncle, father, aunt, and mother all possess four spiritual roots, barely managing to cultivate to the sixth level of Qi Refining, only able to fly.
My cousin Song Yun also has three spiritual roots, but his spiritual root aptitude is so-so, even worse than Song Chi's. Two of them are below 70, and one is barely 72. He is currently an outer disciple of Changyun Sect.
When Song Chi was four years old and his spiritual root aptitude was discovered, his grandfather and father were truly moved to tears. They immediately went to burn incense and pray to their ancestors, saying only that they had been blessed. Finally, their family could produce another Foundation Establishment disciple.
Because of her talent, she could achieve Foundation Establishment even within the outer sect. This way, her family's small business could at least be saved. Otherwise, if things continued like this, even if she clung to an outer sect elder of the Changyun Sect, her meager fortune would likely be devoured.
Her family originally planned to send her a generous gift to give her a chance to enter the inner sect of the Changyun Sect. However, they later received news that in recent years, for some unknown reason, many disciples with outstanding aptitude and spiritual roots have emerged among the younger generation. Her current mediocre talent might mean that even a gift wouldn't guarantee her entry into the inner sect.
So the family gritted their teeth and decided that even if it meant joining the outer sect, it would be fine. After all, they had some connections within the Changyun Sect.
It was Song Chi who insisted on persuading his family to let him try his luck at the Azure Sword Sect. The reason was simple: his excessively average spiritual root was perfectly suited for the Sound Sect, and Song Chi happened to have studied music in his previous life, with only passable skills. As for music, his parents secretly gloated—'This child grasps music instantly; he's destined to be a sound cultivator. Who knows, he might have exceptional comprehension and even achieve Golden Core status. If that happens, truly a blessing from our ancestors!'
Song Chi chuckled inwardly. What do you mean, "instant mastery"? She studied the zither for over twenty years in her previous life. If she couldn't master it instantly, she'd been a complete idiot.
At least we made the right bet!
Her parents, who had accompanied her on this journey to become an apprentice, were staying in Baijiang City at the foot of the mountain, awaiting news. Song Chi planned to settle into her inner sect dormitory soon and then immediately go to the sect's messenger office to deliver a letter to her parents.
If the couple knew she had entered the inner sect, those two good-for-nothing parents would surely be overjoyed and weep with joy, and would go home to offer incense to the ancestors and say a few words of blessing.
Seeing her nod and smile, Mo Feiyun nodded back, then glanced at the jade token she was holding in her hand.
That was a token representing the identity of an inner disciple. When Song Chi saw the token, he couldn't help but smile.
Mo Feiyun stared at her for a couple of seconds, his lips seemingly pursed slightly. It was as if he smiled, or perhaps not.
A note from the author:
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Song Xi had only been in the sect for a few days when she was already carrying a script for catching adulterers.
Her fiancé, whom she had been betrothed to since childhood but had only met a few times, would fall in love with the heroine of the book at first sight after entering the sect, and would arrange to meet her at dusk by the Fragrant Flower Stream, one of the sect's most scenic spots.
Of course, it was the original owner who was going to catch them in the act, as she still had feelings for her fiancé. Yes, she transmigrated into a book. And she'd been transmigrated from birth; as for that little fiancé, she'd met him a few times. He didn't seem like a womanizer.
But since that's how it's written in the book, I guess this kid really fell in love with his lifelong love as soon as he entered the sect.
The poor guy, he's just the second male lead. He can't win the female lead's favor.
The original owner was naturally the third female lead.
Song Xi went to catch the adulterer not to win back her philandering fiancé's love, but because, as mentioned in the book, the original owner of this body encountered her destiny while hiding among the flowers, which led to her becoming a genius in weapon crafting!
Her current aptitude is so-so; without these opportunities, she will at most reach the Golden Core stage in her cultivation journey.
It's impossible to turn down the opportunity right in front of you.
So that evening, Song Xi lay in ambush among the fairy thorns by the Fragrant Flower Stream. She waited until it was almost dark, having dug almost every inch of the area, but still hadn't found the treasure.
Her philandering fiancé did indeed arrange a meeting with the female protagonist, and strolled along the path by the stream. He happened to stop right in front of her.
A small golden cauldron suddenly emerged from the ground and appeared silently behind the two of them.
Seeing that the two seemed to have heard the noise and were about to turn around, Song Xi pounced like a tiger, using her spiritual energy to pull the small golden cauldron into her storage ring while simultaneously delivering a powerful punch.
"Xie Xuecheng, you've been meeting with someone else behind my back. Let's cut all ties from this day forward!"
After saying that, Song Xi turned and left.
Later she realized she had called the wrong person. Xie Xuecheng hadn't gone that day; the male lead and his cousin had gone instead…
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