Tang Xiaoxue was brought to the front hall of the Qingyun Sword Sect's master.
"Xiaoxue, wait here for a moment. I'll go report to the sect master," the female cultivator said.
"Okay, senior sister," Tang Xiaoxue replied.
As soon as the female cultivator stepped into the main hall, her demeanor completely changed.
"Master, bad news, bad news!"
The Qingyun Sword Sect's sect master and group of elders looked towards the door.
Seeing it was his disciple, the sect master scolded, "Jade Butterfly, what's with the yelling and shouting?"
Li Yudie quickly stopped and paid respects, "Greetings Master, greetings elders."
The head elder laughed, "Girl, when will you fix that rash behavior of yours?"
"Elders, please listen to me first," Li Yudie said.
"Go on then, speak," the elder replied.
Li Yudie quickly continued, "Master, elders, I've discovered an excellent cultivator seedling. You should confirm how good she is."
The sect master scolded, "Then why were you yelling bad news?"
Li Yudie mumbled while pulling at her clothes, "I was afraid other sects would find out!"
"Alright alright, Yudie was just worried," the second elder mediated.
"Call the person in first!"
"Yes! I'll bring her in immediately, Master!"
Returning to the front hall, Li Yudie resumed her previous tranquil manner.
"Xiaoxue, come in with me. The sect master wants to see you."
"Okay, senior sister."
Stepping into the hall, Xiaoxue was a little nervous and stuck close behind her senior sister.
"Tang Xiaoxue pays respects to seniors," she greeted.
Seeing the girl, the sect master immediately smiled, "Xiaoxue, don't be scared. We just want to test your aptitude."
Li Yudie thought to herself, [Master is so petty, whispering gently to Xiaoxue yet yelling at me.]
Xiaoxue nodded.
"Eldest brother, test Xiaoxue," the sect master said.
"Alright."
As the head elder inserted spirit energy into Xiaoxue's body, his expression continuously changed.
"Metal, wood, water - three attribute spiritual roots."
The other elders exclaimed in unison, "What? Three attributes simultaneously? Even disciples personally taught by the Holy Land rarely have three attributes!"
The sect master forced himself to stay composed, already plotting to take Xiaoxue as a disciple.
He transmitted to his disciple, "Whether Xiaoxue can become your junior sister depends on you."
"Understood," Li Yudie replied.
The second elder took out an artifact, "Let's test her aptitude again!"
The head elder gently told Xiaoxue, "Xiaoxue, put your hand here."
"Okay, senior."
As Xiaoxue placed her hand on the artifact, everyone craned their necks staring at it.
The artifact quickly lit up white, then rapidly cycled through colors -
Blue, yellow, green, purple, orange, red.
It stopped on red without changing further, only shining brighter.
The head elder wondered, "Why is it getting brighter without changing color?"
While the sect master and elders were confused, Xiaoxue plainly said, "Can it only test up to red?"
Everyone turned to Xiaoxue, frightening her into quickly lowering her head.
Unsure, the second elder ventured, "It seems... it should... maybe it can only test up to perfect grade."
The others were also uncertain until the sect master stamped his authority, "Then it's perfect."
Everyone readily agreed.
Blinking her large eyes, Xiaoxue thought, their arbitrary decision really shows how stupid the elders are, just like Master said.
Before anyone could react, the sect master stated, "Since her spirit roots are only perfect grade, I can reluctantly take Xiaoxue as my disciple!"
"Xiaoxue, hurry and bow as disciple."
Hearing this, Xiaoxue immediately knelt, "Disciple Tang Xiaoxue pays respects to Master."
"Good good, my well-behaved disciple, rise."
The second elder said, "Junior brother is truly our..."
He didn't finish saying "perfect" before reacting, "Junior brother, how shameless! You reluctantly accepted a perfect grade aptitude. Do you have no shame?"
The others also reacted, "This bow doesn't count. We don't agree!"
The head elder jumped up, "Our sect hasn't produced a perfect grade aptitude disciple in hundreds of years. It's rare to encounter one, yet you used such underhanded means to cheat her away. I'm the first to disagree!"
"We don't agree either!"
Unperturbed, the sect master breezily said, "It can't be helped since I'm smarter than you all. Otherwise, Master wouldn't have let me be sect master."
"You mean we're stupid?"
"I didn't say that. It was our late teacher who said it," the sect master replied.
"We'll compete with you for her!"
The sect master instantly cowered, "Everyone, let's talk it out. Violence won't solve anything. Most urgent now is how to teach and conceal Xiaoxue."
"You're right."
The group of people then started discussing.
Xiaoxue thought, Master really was right about the stupidity of the elders.
In the end, the sect master took Tang Xiaoxue as personal disciple with the elders all participating in teaching her and claiming to be her masters.
Of course, Xiaoxue's status as personal disciple wouldn't spread outside. Only those present knew.
Xiaoxue didn't disappoint her many masters. In just one day, she absorbed energy into her body achieving the Energy Refining Realm. In one month, she reached late Energy Refining Realm, ready to establish her foundation at any time.
The sect master and elders all became arrogantly proud, each one trying to claim credit. To build a good foundation for Xiaoxue, the old fellows took out all their treasures.
Li Yudie felt considerably vexed. Ever since Xiaoxue's arrival, she was no longer the apple in her master and seniors' eyes, reduced to some outsider. But for those heavenly treasures, Li Yudie thought - I can endure another decade.
Inside the main hall of Qingyun Sword Sect, the group was immersed in intense debate.
"Xiaoxue should focus on metal attribute arts."
"Wood attribute."
"No, it should be water attribute."
The daily headache for the sect master was his unreasonable elders acting like immature children.
"Enough arguing. Have Xiaoxue learn arts of all three attributes."
"Sect master really has the solution."
"Sect master is wise."
This was distressing for Tang Xiaoxue who had to cultivate three attributed arts daily, keeping each one evenly matched without falling behind the sect's other geniuses. It indirectly showed her astoundingly high aptitude for cultivation.
What truly gave Xiaoxue a headache wasn't cultivation itself but her meddling masters - a group of nosey old men fussing over her like nagging grandparents over a cherished granddaughter.
Xiaoxue currently only thought of reaching Golden Core Realm, so she could cultivate independently and go out adventuring by herself.
The sect master and elders believed for foundation building that Xiaoxue might not do it right without sufficient supervision.
As for Tang Xiaoyu after over a month of long-distance travel, he finally arrived at White Tiger City, the one nearest to Maple Moon City.
Tang Xiaoyu thought - I'll never willingly change locations in this vast cultivation world again, even if you beat me to death.
Entering White Tiger City, Tang Xiaoyu tangibly felt it was more dangerous than Maple Moon City.
"Uncle, let's find a spot to busk first. Otherwise, we'll have to leave the city to scrounge for food again," he said.
The man dressed like a farmer, Lu Changchun, nodded, "I'll listen to you."
After wandering the city half the day, they finally found a nice looking area.
Setting up their instruments and a signboard made beforehand, the pair prepared to work for their day's income.
Tang Xiaoyu didn't know where Lu Changchun had obtained a guqin but insisted on accompanying his singing.
Tang Xiaoyu felt an additional instrument would enhance the singing performance, but lessons on teaching Lu Changchun the accompanying melody were true torture.
After over ten days instruction, Lu Changchun was finally taught with subsequent public performances in some nearby villages to test things out. The reception felt fairly positive.
Eager for some fresh entertainment and lacking other amusements, quite a few villagers would come listen to Tang Xiaoyu's singing. In turn, the two obtained a fair number of eggs, fruits and vegetables.
"Uncle, first sing that song I taught you, 'The Ascetic Monk', to draw people in."
"No problem, I'll let my desolate and slightly mournful voice captivate everyone," Lu Changchun answered.
Tang Xiaoyu could only shake his head, thinking [Even if your singing is great, must you be so narcissistic?]
Initially rather shy with stage fright, only encouragement from the rustic common folk allowed Lu Changchun to slowly grow accustomed to singing before crowds. Now he could sing casually anywhere.
As the guqin's melody rose, Lu Changchun gradually got absorbed singing out 'The Ascetic Monk'.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
and couldn't return to the real world. Finally, I gave up and decided to go with the flow, only to discover that writing a diary could make me stronger. Since no one could read it, Su Luo wrote freely, daring to pen anything and everything. Female Lead #1: "Not bad. This diary helped me steal all the protagonist's opportunities. I just want to get stronger." Female Lead #2: "I don’t care about reaching the peak of the cultivation world. Right now, I just want to enjoy the chaos." Female Lead #3: "What? Everyone around me is a spy? I’m the Joker Demon Lord?" ... It’s so strange. Why is the plot completely off track, yet the ending remains the same? Are you all just messing with me?!
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
