Every ten years, Jingdao Sect comes down to the mortal world to recruit disciples.
The scope is unimaginably vast, yet even so, good seedlings are still extremely rare.
That little princess from the royal family, with her dual water and wood spiritual roots and a pretty decent physique, is quite a promising candidate.
For cultivators, aside from spiritual roots, both the body and wisdom root are essential.
Wisdom root is hard to judge, but the first two can be tested.
“I wonder if we’ll get any good seedlings this year.” The old man sitting at the head seat, with an immortal air and long beard, stroked his beard and glanced at the woman sitting to his right.
He coughed twice and said, “It wasn’t easy convincing Junior Sister Xinyun to take a disciple this time, so everyone, do me a favor—if she takes a liking to someone, don’t fight her for it.”
“Hahaha, after all these years, we finally see Junior Sister at the disciple selection ceremony,” the man to the left of the sect leader boomed, his muscles bulging like iron lumps—he looked every bit the blacksmith.
“Sect leader, you don’t even need to say it, of course we’ll give Junior Sister Xinyun this courtesy.”
To be fair, he really was a “blacksmith”—the Baiduan Peak and Dan Peak of Jingdao Sect are responsible for weapon forging and pill refining, and he is the Baiduan Peak Lord, True Lord Kunhe.
As for the Dan Peak Lord and Qinglian Peak Lord that Wen Jiayin was so curious about, they sat to Kunhe’s left and Xinyun’s right, respectively.
The Dan Peak Lord, True Lord Shanren, had a long beard like the sect leader and a naturally kind smile, looking very approachable.
The Qinglian Peak Lord, True Lord Huanmu, was one of only two female elders, a healer with water spiritual roots, exuding a gentle aura inside and out that matched her roots.
“It’s rare for Junior Sister to come out.
The chief disciple spot at Lingjian Peak finally has hope.
No matter what, we won’t compete for it.” True Lord Huanmu nodded slightly and smiled in agreement.
The Peak Lords of Chuyun Peak and Changxiao Peak, sitting at the ends, naturally had no objections.
Lingjian Peak had been deserted for hundreds of years without a single disciple.
The sect leader was worried sick, and Xinyun probably only agreed to take a disciple because he pestered her so much.
Given her personality, she’d at most take one, so letting her have a good seedling was no big deal.
“Does Senior Brother Shanren agree too?” Xinyun, who had been silent, suddenly spoke, catching the Dan Peak Lord off guard.
True Lord Shanren, who felt like he hadn’t spoken to his junior sister in a hundred years, was flattered and said, “Of course.”
“Mm.” Xinyun responded and said nothing more.
With her mutated ice spiritual root and ice spirit body, Xinyun was already as cold as a block of ice.
On top of that, she cultivated the emotionless path.
According to the sect leader, his junior sister had already lost all human warmth—just a breath away from becoming an immortal.
The elders were used to her coldness, but if anyone looked into her eyes right now, they’d notice she seemed a bit distracted, which was very unusual for her.
But the sect leader, who knew her well, noticed something was off just from that extra sentence and kept glancing at Xinyun.
“Junior Sister Xinyun, what’s that in your hand?” Something small and round peeked out from Xinyun’s right sleeve.
She calmly tucked it away.
“Nothing, just a trinket.”
The sect leader didn’t suspect anything, but before he could ask more, the spirit boat carrying the children landed in the square.
His attention was naturally drawn to the group of kids, and he couldn’t be bothered to worry about his junior sister’s tiny oddity.
“Everyone’s here, get off one by one.” The disciples on the spirit boat lined the children up and led them off in order.
Wen Jiayin, with her bad leg, was last.
The disciples immediately noticed this obviously out-of-place child.
Didn’t you take care of this kid’s leg? One disciple kept signaling frantically to another, who looked just as shocked—clearly, they’d forgotten all about Wen Jiayin.
But now, with all the elders watching, it was too late to do anything.
They could only grit their teeth and lead the children to the center of the square, hoping the elders wouldn’t think they’d been mistreating the kid.
Naturally, the proud little princess from the royal family was first in line.
But after the bell atop the peak tolled three times, the whole place fell silent.
The immortals she’d dreamed of sat high above, looking down at her, and even the little princess started to feel nervous in the solemn atmosphere.
“Chu Mingqi, step forward.” The disciple in charge of testing spiritual roots called out the first name on the list.
Chu Mingqi, the little princess, was a bit nervous but still held her head high and walked forward like a proud little peacock.
The spiritual root testing stones the disciples brought out were fragments of the same material as the monument standing in the square.
They could test the number and type of spiritual roots, but not their quality, so another test would be done back at the sect.
Following the disciple’s instructions, Chu Mingqi placed her fair little hand on the jade-like monument.
Instantly, a dazzling green and blue light shot into the sky.
“That glow… That’s a high-grade dual water and wood spiritual root, almost as good as a single root.
Not bad at all.”
“This child seems fated to be with me.” True Lord Huanmu was the first to speak.
Water and wood roots matched her cultivation best, and as a healer, she hadn’t found a disciple she liked in a long time, so she was a bit hopeful when Chu Mingqi’s results came out.
“Senior Sister Huanmu, this child’s family has some ties to me.
We’ve already agreed she’ll be my disciple, so…” The Chuyun Peak Lord smiled and cupped his hands to Huanmu.
“Ties? She’s… from the Chu family?” True Lord Huanmu suddenly realized what that surname meant to the Chuyun Peak Lord.
As expected, Chu Mingqi chose to become the Chuyun Peak Lord’s disciple.
True Lord Huanmu could only sigh.
The healer’s path was about saving lives, lacking the offensive power of other paths, and wasn’t very popular.
She had pitifully few disciples—just a bit more than Lingjian Peak.
After Chu Mingqi, the other children who came up to be tested were all pretty mediocre.
The best was a dual root, but only mid-grade, not even meeting the elders’ standards for taking disciples, though he still made it into the inner sect.
Those with even worse triple or quadruple roots were sent straight to the outer sect.
As for five roots… five roots didn’t even qualify to enter Jingdao Sect.
“Sigh, this batch of disciples is even worse than the last one ten years ago.” The Baiduan Peak Lord sighed.
Finding a disciple he liked was just too hard.
The disciples below couldn’t hear the elders’ discussion.
Wen Jiayin, last in line and with no one willing to talk to her, was happy to quietly look around.
Jingdao Sect really lived up to its reputation as one of the top three immortal sects.
The square alone stretched as far as the eye could see.
In front was a long staircase leading up to where the elders sat, but it was so far away that, as a mortal, she couldn’t see them at all.
“Wen Jiayin, step forward.” The disciple in charge of testing called the last name, thinking this year’s batch was just so-so.
Aside from the first girl, the rest were all pretty average.
Looked like it would be another lackluster year.
Wen Jiayin was still lost in thought when she was suddenly called.
Startled, she snapped back to attention, answered, and hobbled up with her cane.
“What’s going on? Didn’t anyone treat this kid’s leg when you brought her back?” The sect leader’s voice turned serious when he saw the child limping and needing a cane.
For the sake of the children’s health, every team bringing kids back from the mortal world was supposed to have a Qinglian Peak Foundation Establishment disciple along.
For a child to show up injured in front of them was clearly the team leader’s fault.
The team leader, a Golden Core disciple, had been nervously waiting for the sect leader’s question ever since he saw Wen Jiayin’s leg.
Now, as soon as the sect leader spoke, he hurried to the bottom of the hundred steps and admitted, “I’m very sorry, Sect Leader, it was my negligence.
This child was brought back by Elder Zhaolin.
I didn’t know Elder hadn’t treated her, and the child never said a word, so I carelessly overlooked it.”
“The Qinglian Peak disciple who was supposed to come had a sudden breakthrough and had to return to the sect to go into seclusion, so we didn’t have a healer with us this time.”
“The Elder brought her back?” The sect leader knew what his Elder was like—probably dead drunk, lucky not to have brought the kid to the wrong place, let alone treat her leg.
“Forget it, I won’t pursue it this time, but don’t let it happen again.”
The Golden Core disciple breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank you, Sect Leader.
I won’t let it happen again.”
With the sect leader letting it go, the matter was basically settled.
The team leader relaxed, not realizing that up on the dais, the Lingjian Peak Lord—usually the most aloof and indifferent—was now staring at him for a few seconds before looking away.
“Just put your hand on the monument.” The disciple in charge of testing didn’t rush Wen Jiayin, waiting until she was steady in front of the stone.
“Okay.” Wen Jiayin nodded.
Even though she already knew the result, standing here still made her heart race.
She took a deep breath and pressed her palm to the stone.
After a barely noticeable pause, the monument suddenly burst into a dazzling red light! Unlike Chu Mingqi’s earlier display, this light was as solid as blazing fire, setting the whole monument ablaze.
“Whoa…” “Top grade! Top grade fire attribute heavenly spiritual root!” Someone couldn’t help but shout.
Heaven knows how many years it’s been since they last saw a top grade heavenly spiritual root.
The elders on the stage could barely sit still, but they still had to force themselves to wait for the process to finish.
There were still a few more physique tests left, but with a spiritual root of this quality, who cared about physique? No matter what, they were definitely taking her!
“Ah!” Wen Jiayin was startled by the sudden burst of “flames” and took a quick step back.
Her injured foot instinctively pressed against the ground, and a sharp pain shot straight to her brain.
Losing control of one leg, she immediately lost her balance and was about to tumble down the steps in front of the spirit-testing monument.
Crap! Wen Jiayin’s heart sank.
There were only a few steps, and even if she fell, she probably wouldn’t even scrape her skin, but she’d definitely make a fool of herself in front of all these people!
But…strangely, the feeling of falling never came.
Just as she started to tip backward, Wen Jiayin suddenly felt a cool force supporting her.
Wen Jiayin quickly steadied herself, her heart pounding wildly.
There was no one beside her, so it had to be some kind soul who saw her predicament and secretly helped her out!
Wen Jiayin looked around, but saw nothing.
She had no idea who the kind person was, but if she ever found out, she’d have to thank them properly.
That cool force didn’t disappear right away after steadying her, but lingered near her injured leg.
The chill seemed to have a numbing effect, and the stabbing pain from before eased a lot under its touch.
Wen Jiayin felt even more grateful to the mysterious benefactor.
The person in charge of testing spiritual roots finally seemed to snap out of it.
This time, he didn’t wait for Wen Jiayin to walk over slowly.
He just went up and picked up the future direct disciple of the sect’s next peak master—someone he might have to call “Shishu” in the future—and carried her to the stone monument for the physique test.
“Here, this is for testing your physique.
Just put your hand on it.” His tone and attitude were completely different now.
Wen Jiayin already knew what the result would be, so when the stone emitted a faint glow, she wasn’t discouraged.
This was the sign of a low-grade physique, and even the disciple in charge of the test let out a surprised “ah.”
That contrast…was just too much, wasn’t it?
But the elders up there probably didn’t care about that.
Physique wasn’t like spiritual roots—it was hard to change, but you didn’t need any special physique.
For elders who had all sorts of rare treasures, raising a low-grade physique to a high-grade one was no big deal.
“With such a pure fire spiritual root, she’s a natural disciple for my Bai Duan Peak!” The Bai Duan Peak master was the first to try to claim her.
“She’s just a little girl—what’s she going to do with a big hammer? And her physique isn’t good; she might not even be able to lift it.
I think she’d be better off joining my Dan Peak.” The Dan Peak master stroked his beard, thinking his peak was much more suitable for a young girl than blacksmithing.
“It’s exactly because her physique is bad that she should come to us! I guarantee we’ll train her up strong!”
The two of them immediately started arguing, and at the same time, aside from Xinyun and Huanmu, the other peaks joined in the tug-of-war.
Xinyun’s personality made it impossible for her to argue with them, and True Lord Huanmu just sighed.
Fire spiritual roots were the worst match for Qinglian Peak’s techniques, so for the child’s sake, she had to give up.
“All right, all right, let’s stop arguing.
There’s no point fighting here.
Why don’t we bring the child up and ask her which peak she wants to join?” The sect master stepped in to control the situation.
“Good idea, let’s ask the child.” The other peak masters agreed.
Wen Jiayin stood awkwardly below for a while.
Since no one said anything, she couldn’t leave.
Just as her leg was starting to ache from standing on one foot and she wanted to relax, she suddenly floated into the air!
Her poor heart! She was about to die from all these scares!
Wen Jiayin was gently set down in front of the big shots.
Even though they were all friendly to her, their presence was intimidating, and Wen Jiayin couldn’t help but feel nervous.
“Child, don’t be nervous.
We brought you up here because your talent is outstanding.
All the peak masters want to take you as a disciple, so we want to respect your wishes and see which one you’d like to join.” The sect master’s gentle tone helped Wen Jiayin relax a little.
The sect master did have his own agenda.
Even though his junior sister hadn’t said a word, he used the word “all,” hoping the child would at least consider his junior sister.
Sigh, he’d given Xinyun so many hints, but it was all for nothing—she just ignored him.
You couldn’t force fate when it came to taking disciples.
If it wasn’t meant to be, there was nothing to be done.
Then, the sect master briefly explained the features of each peak.
Wen Jiayin immediately looked excitedly at the Qinglian Peak and Dan Peak masters.
Since they both wanted her, that made things easy!
As for the female lead…in the novel, “she” had been harmed by “her” and even killed “her.” Wen Jiayin instinctively didn’t dare look at her, even though it had nothing to do with her, but she still felt guilty for no reason.
So, Qinglian Peak or Dan Peak—which should she choose? Based on her spiritual root, Dan Peak seemed like the better fit.
The big shots were all waiting for her answer, and Wen Jiayin didn’t want to hesitate too long.
She was just about to say she’d like to take the Dan Peak master as her teacher when a cool yet gentle voice suddenly sounded in her ear.
“Would you like to be my disciple?”
Wen Jiayin turned her head.
The beauty standing against the light seemed to be wrapped in a bit of sorrow, as if a heavy stone was pressing on her heart.
Maybe it was the shock of such beauty, but Wen Jiayin’s brain short-circuited for a moment.
No matter what the beauty said, she nodded instinctively.
“Mm” was always the right answer.
Seeing Wen Jiayin’s response, a hint of joy flashed in the beauty’s eyes.
The heavy, oppressive feeling that had been like ten thousand years of snow melted into a thin layer of early spring frost.
Fate had finally smiled on her, sending her “sunshine” back to her side…
After all the twists and turns, she finally had another chance to hold her again.
