Chapter 70 Three Questions in the Starry Sky Challenge
Before the young disciple of the Zhu family could respond, Ji Mingran had already jumped onto a small ball of light three meters away.
Then, jumping left, forward, right... Ji Mingran seemed to be jumping at will, choosing light orbs that were either dim or dazzling, varying in size, without any pattern.
Without exception, the ball of light beneath her feet neither sprang into action nor suddenly went out and disappeared.
Ji Mingran continued to jump steadily and continuously, and in no time he had jumped more than a thousand meters away.
Only when she realized that no one was following behind did she stop and ask curiously, "Why aren't you coming?"
The young disciples of the Zhu family were dumbfounded.
Even the other participants, who were struggling against various mechanisms on the other light clusters, looked over.
How did she do it?
"Is it just a coincidence? Does she really have incredible luck?" a cultivator watching from the observation platform blurted out.
Even before Ji Mingran arrived at this starry sky challenge, more than a dozen participating disciples had failed the challenge, and five or six of them even stepped into the void of the light orb and fell directly into the starry sky, thus being eliminated.
The remaining people are still struggling to stay afloat on the ball of light.
Among them were quite a few cultivators at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage and peak stage.
How come she can go anywhere as if walking on flat ground?
"Could it be that Venerable Hongyan gave her some high-grade spiritual artifact that could be used in this level?" Unable to think of any other reason, someone recalled the protection Ji Mingran received from the Mahayana attack when he was undergoing his tribulation and couldn't help but speculate.
Immediately, other practitioners responded: "Having a senior brother in the Mahayana stage is really great. Such a fortunate encounter is truly enviable."
Elder Ma of the Jingshi Sect was also sitting here. He had seen Ji Mingran's behavior all along and was furious: a year ago, she was just a little beggar.
He was dressed in rags, had a physical disability, and was ignorant of his own limitations.
He looked down on her, and the people from Xiaosu Pavilion were also present. No one wanted to recruit her into the sect.
Who would have thought that in the blink of an eye she would be able to represent the sect in the Spiritual Cultivation Competition, and even defeat the Xiaosu Pavilion disciple who had looked down on her back then. Not only that, she had also reached the Foundation Establishment stage.
Ultimately, it was all just good luck, having a good senior brother. If it weren't for Venerable Hongyan, how could she have had such a smooth journey!
Whether Ji Mingran had the ability or just luck, like most of the other cultivators present, he instantly chose the latter without a second thought, which made his resentment somewhat less intense.
After all, cultivators are judged by their strength.
He immediately chimed in and added fuel to the fire, saying, "In the last Cloud Platform competition, she was able to defeat a Foundation Establishment disciple from the Xiaosu Pavilion, which must have been thanks to Venerable Hongyan's protection."
“Yes!” Elder Ma clapped his hands for his own idea and said with certainty, “It’s the same now. There must be a spiritual artifact or secret technique of Venerable Hongyan behind her. Otherwise, how could she see the road at a glance?”
Everyone nodded.
“I can really see the road.” From within the projection stone, Ji Mingran beckoned as if it were a matter of course: “Come on, follow me.”
The young disciples of the Zhu family looked at each other, still somewhat hesitant.
The round-faced, honest young disciple of the Zhu family reminded him, "There are people who have tried to take this path, but they all eventually give up..." He pointed with his chubby finger toward Ji Mingran's side, "Right over there."
Ji Mingran then noticed a very thin ball of light about five zhang to his left.
It's not that she didn't notice anyone there at first.
Even now, a thick mass of black mud above the ball of light is still churning and rolling. Just as the young disciple of the Zhu family pointed, the black mud gradually rose, higher and higher, until it took on a human shape.
She thought it was just a cluster of light that had been triggered, and that the participating disciples had either failed and been eliminated or had successfully jumped away to another location.
I don't want people to still be in the mud.
The humanoid figure struggled in the mud for a while, with a corner of its mud-covered dress peeking out from the mud.
Ji Mingran squinted and looked closely; the dress looked so familiar...
The human-shaped figure in the mud suddenly stopped moving. In the next instant, the dirty mud solidified into dust, revealing a pretty and moving face.
The woman in pink happened to be looking directly into her eyes.
"Mingran, my little sister?"
"Shi Jinle?"
"It's me," Ji Mingran replied, and with a light leap, she jumped to a small ball of light just a foot away, barely big enough for one person to stand in. The instant she left, the ball of light beneath her feet dimmed and disappeared.
If she had been a second later, she would have been eliminated.
"Interesting." Shi Jinle's lips curled up, his eyes revealing admiration: "You've discovered the trick?"
Ji Mingran simply said, "I can see it."
“That makes sense. If we couldn’t see, we wouldn’t have gotten this far.” Shi Jinle shook the dust off her skirt and began to look around with wide eyes, but she quickly rubbed her eyes and said, “But the further we go, the harder it gets. Our eyes are starting to blur.”
Ji Mingran: "Us?" Are Shi Jinle's other companions here?
Shi Jinle raised her hand and pointed to a ball of light shrouded in clouds ten feet away from her. "Yellow Hair went ahead of me and hasn't come out yet!"
Thunder rumbled within the cloud; anyone trapped inside would surely be struck dozens of times by lightning. Shi Jinle covered his mouth, gloating, "Yellow Hair's probably going to be all limp by now. That brat doesn't talk properly; he deserves to get shocked."
"I heard it! You heartless, wicked woman, I... I... I cursed..." A series of resounding curses pierced through the clouds.
Yellow hair and insults. Those two keywords together make it easy to guess who it is.
Ji Mingran stood with a smile and crossed his arms, patiently waiting for the person in the cloud to come out.
Ji Xingyang used both hands and feet to finally break free of the cloud and free his head, which had a tuft of yellow hair. He blew a loud whistle, and the cloud that had bound half of his body was blown away.
Relieved, she looked up and saw Ji Mingran smiling, "What a coincidence!"
What is she doing here?!
Ji Xingyang instinctively shrank his neck, trying to hide back in the cloud. But the cloud had already been blown away by him, leaving him nowhere to hide. His series of movements made him look like a turtle hiding its head, showing his extreme guilt.
Ji Xingyang could only chuckle awkwardly, "Mother, what a coincidence."
Ji Mingran didn't ask anything, just waved his hand, jumped to another ball of light, and then lightly leaped several times in succession, reaching Shi Jinle in front of him.
Each selected cluster of light is stable and identical.
The young disciples of the Zhu family no longer hesitated and quickly followed, stepping on the ball of light that Ji Mingran had stepped on, and lined up behind him in twos and threes.
The young disciples looked even more immature than Ji Xingyang, with short arms and legs. They jumped to the light orb a little further away and flailed their arms and legs, which were tied with identical blue stripes, swinging back and forth in a neat and comical manner.
The five stopped at the spot where Ji Mingran had stepped down and asked reverently, "Where do we go next?"
Ji Mingran pointed to another place: "Let's go there first." The ball of light where she had been standing had disappeared, so they had to take another path.
The young disciples of the Zhu family obediently jumped in, and indeed they were unharmed.
"Mingran, please teach me too." Shi Jinle, who had watched the whole process, also asked for help, "I'm stuck here and don't know which way to go."
Ji Mingran turned his head and carefully examined the surrounding light clusters, pointing to the light cluster next to Guan Wangzhen and saying, "There it is."
"You should go too," Ji Mingran said to Ji Xingyang.
"Thank you, Mother!" Ji Xingyang jumped over without saying a word.
Shi Jinle arrived shortly after. She looked around and, after confirming that the ball of light beneath her feet was safe, said with satisfaction, "You really can see it, and you can see it much more clearly than we can."
Upon hearing Shi Jinle's words, the young disciple of the Zhu family couldn't contain his curiosity and cautiously asked, "What method did you use?"
“Spiritual energy.” Ji Mingran said, pointing to the corresponding light orbs. “Each orb has a different amount of spiritual energy. Those with little or no spiritual energy can’t support a person standing on them and will soon disappear. Those with a dense and thick spiritual energy indicate that there are other mechanisms or spells hidden inside, and people will be attacked if they go up to them. So, we just need to find the orbs with just the right amount of spiritual energy.”
“Walk on a ball of light, and a ball of light with just the right amount of spiritual energy will appear nearby. Follow it to get out. Like I said, once you find it, that’s all that matters.” With that, she jumped to another ball of light.
Before she knew it, she had walked towards the starry sky.
It's easier said than done. The five young disciples of the Zhu family stared wide-eyed, trying to see, but were dazzled by the countless orbs of light and began rubbing their eyes in unison. Why couldn't they see anything?
Shi Jinle: "Can you see that clearly?"
Ji Mingran is right. The way to judge is to identify the amount of spiritual energy in the condensed light cluster.
She and Ji Xingyang made their way here, but the journey was not easy. The two of them worked together and stepped on several traps and orbs before they barely made it halfway.
There are countless clusters of starlight in the sky. The farther one goes, the less distinct the differences in spiritual energy between the clusters become, making them difficult to distinguish.
So in the end, she and Ji Xingyang were stuck here, unable to move forward or backward.
But Ji Mingran never hesitated and walked very smoothly.
"Me?" Ji Mingran's voice drifted over as the distance increased. "Yes, I can see clearly."
The reason is simple: she has a harder time absorbing spiritual energy than ordinary cultivators. So, since she began cultivating, she has desperately trained herself to distinguish, guide, absorb, and extract spiritual energy. As a result, she is extremely sensitive to spiritual energy, or rather, her sensitivity is unmatched by others.
If she hadn't yet established her foundation, challenging this level might be a little more difficult, but only slightly. As long as she concentrated and held her breath, she could discern the differences in spiritual energy.
Now that she has established her foundation, she can see even the slightest difference in spiritual energy at a glance.
"Come on over," Ji Mingran called out.
Completely reassured, Zhu's young disciple, Shi Jinle, and Ji Xingyang followed his instructions and stepped onto the ball of light.
In just a quarter of an hour, the edge of the starry sky was already faintly visible.
Hope is just around the corner!
Shi Jinle smiled broadly: "As expected of the person I like, I like you more and more!"
The young disciples of the Zhu family were laughing foolishly with Ji Xingyang.
Ji Mingran lightly hopped ahead, stopping beneath a faint ball of light. Turning around, she saw the edge of the starry sky behind her, with countless balls of light floating and sinking.
"Now, it's my turn to ask a question."
The laughter of the crowd vanished.
"I'm asking you," Ji Mingran looked at the young disciples of the Zhu family, "why are you all wrapped up in bandages?"
Then he turned to Shi Jinle: "And you, why did you approach me?"
Finally, she calmly looked at Ji Xingyang: "Where is he?"
The gray-robed girl stood with her hands behind her back, her expression indifferent: "If you don't answer me, I won't tell you what to do next."
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