Fairy in the Heavenly Tome

"Who are you? Why are you in my artifact?"

After a few moments of looking at each other, the woman's lips parted slightly, and she spoke first.

As if she hadn't figured it out either, she probed for a while and said, "Are you the artifact spirit in my artifact?"

Ji You was stunned.

When he had seen someone here earlier, he had had almost the same thought. He had assumed the woman was an artifact spirit and thought, No wonder so many people desperately tried to sense the Heavenly Tome, it really contains a beauty like jade.

But now it seemed this woman had also just entered and was mistaking him for the artifact spirit.

"You're not an artifact spirit?"

Seeing his bewildered look, the woman's eyes immediately became wary.

Ji You opened his mouth, "I just arrived too."

"Where did you come from?"

"I was meditating in the mountains and suddenly saw a spiritual light. I followed it to see where it led, and finally ended up here."

Ji You didn't know the woman's identity either, so he remained cautious and didn't reveal too much information.

The reason was simple: the woman was too beautiful.

Fang Ruoyao could only be described as a delicate young lady; her features were exquisite but not grand, perhaps related to her family background since childhood.

Lu Qingqiu was a proper young lady, with a bright and beautiful appearance, but her eyes held a hint of a foxy charm.

As for the woman before him, she was almost perfect and flawless, her demeanor even more extraordinary and refined.

But Zhang Wuji's mother had said that women this beautiful were the most deceitful and needed to be guarded against.

Indeed, seeing that he knew nothing, the woman narrowed her eyes slightly. "That was just a test. In fact, I am an ascended Fairy, and this is the world I control."

"I see. Then, may I ask the Fairy's name?"

"A Fairy's name is not something you can casually ask for."

"Since this is the world the Fairy controls, I must have stumbled in accidentally. Please, Fairy, let me out of your world."

"Don't tell the Fairy what to do."

The woman's eyebrows swept dismissively. Knowing the man before her didn't believe her, she walked barefoot towards the mountain, curiously observing the heavenly light here.

As expected, beautiful women are the most deceitful.

Ji You thought to himself and watched her walk onto a patch of black stone. He paid her no further attention and instead looked up at the constantly intertwining profundities.

But in that brief moment of gazing, a powerful pressure instantly descended.

Under this overwhelming sense of destiny that made him dizzy, he instantly fell to the ground.

Only then did he realize that he was currently observing with his spiritual sense. Although his cultivation speed was extremely fast, his spiritual sense was still very weak.

Compared to Chu He and Lu Qingqiu, who could replenish their spiritual sense with pills daily, he had no advantage in this regard.

"Profound Comprehension..."

"As the name suggests, the emphasis should be on 'comprehend,' meaning to understand, to know."

"To see the evolution of the Heavenly Dao clearly, then to experience, understand, and use it with ease."

Ji You recalled what Instructor Cao had told him before, then sat down on the ground and began to observe the Heavenly Dao.

But after just a few glances, he found his spiritual sense in extreme pain, as if his flesh and bones were being gouged out.

The approach was correct, but the might of the Heavenly Dao was not to be trifled with. With his current spiritual sense strength, he couldn't withstand much.

Thus, he could only observe the Dao intermittently to grit his teeth and persevere.

It felt like receiving a timely rain in the desert, but having no vessel to hold water – powerless, with only a tiny fraction remaining and remembered.

"Three breaths..."

"Pushing to the limit, I can only last three breaths at a time..."

"This level of consumption is even greater than a spiritual sense soaring to the heavens..."

After the fourth time, Ji You was panting, kneeling at the foot of the desolate Void Mountain, the exhaustion no longer able to be alleviated.

If he forced himself further, he suspected his spiritual sense might even shatter.

Ji You couldn't help but collapse onto a rock, resting for a long time. His gaze inadvertently swept to his right rear.

The barefoot girl in the flowing immortal dress seemed to have also gained some insight. She was sitting on a flat black rock, her back to the Void Mountain, already in meditation.

If she wasn't an artifact spirit.

Could she be a senior sister from the Inner Court?

No, that didn't seem right either.

Because the girl's accent had a Southern flavor, similar to the innkeeper at Chunhua Post Station.

And as far as he knew, the Seven Great Immortal Sects placed great importance on selecting new disciples from their own territories.

Just like the Chu brothers, they could go to Xuan Yuan Immortal Mansion or the Chen family, or they could go to the Celestial Academy, because they were all Northern Immortal Sects.

But they absolutely could not go to the Mountain Sea Pavilion, the Dao Seeking Sect, or Spirit Sword Mountain.

Ji You stared at her for a long time before involuntarily leaning closer.

The other party's eyes were too beautiful; he had previously overlooked how incredibly long and curled the young lady's eyelashes were.

Her meditative state, like a gentle slumber, made her appear pure and innocent, her skin so delicate it seemed it could be broken by a single touch.

Seen up close, her exquisite nose appeared even more three-dimensional and upturned; even a runny nose would look good.

His gaze shifted down. The young lady was in a cross-legged sitting posture. Her snow-white jade feet were crystal clear, and her rounded toes were as faintly pink as peach blossoms, small and exquisite, as if they could be held in one's hand.

Before Ji You, the fierce bandit, came to the Qingyun World, he had seen many beautiful young women, but none could achieve such vividness and flawlessness.

"A national beauty, perhaps that's what this is."

Just then, the young lady who called herself a fairy suddenly opened her eyes, her gaze lifting slightly.

Ji You was slightly stunned, only then realizing he had been too immersed, to the point that his inner thoughts had become spoken words in that moment.

As their eyes met, her expression remained proud and stern, but the coldness on her face quietly gave way to a blush.

Before he could react, Ji You found the fairy before him suddenly wave her sleeve, sweeping him directly away.

Spiritual sense has no weight; a gentle breeze can travel a thousand miles.

When he came to his senses again, he found his five physical senses had returned, and all he could hear was a cacophony of noise.

Ji You opened his eyes, and the heavenly light around him faded. However, two beams of mystic light appeared on his forehead; one, though not yet solidified, already showed signs of forming.

Seeing this, the surrounding disciples gasped in shock.

After all, it had taken Chu He a full ten days to condense mystic light, and that was after consuming countless pills and working day and night without rest.

Yet Ji You, in less than an hour of enlightenment, had already rivaled Chu He, causing the crowd to become even more agitated.

"Young Master Ji, what did you see?"

"Yes, Junior Brother Ji, does the Heavenly Tome contain the Great Dao? Can you tell us about it?"

"I heard from the Inner Court disciples before that in the primordial beginning of formlessness, there was ancient formlessness. The book described a void opening from nothingness, vast and boundless, deep and unfathomable, with the evolution of myriad daos. Is this true?"

Ji You remained silent for a long time before speaking softly, "I saw a fairy within it."

Upon hearing this, the surrounding crowd erupted in an uproar.

The "immortals" referred to by mortals were cultivators, while the "immortals" referred to by cultivators were naturally true Immortals after ascension.

But they did not know that "fairy" was, in a certain era, also called a "pretty girl."

However, Ban Yangshu, who had previously perused the Heavenly Tome, did not believe it at all. After entering the Inner Court, he had debated with many fellow disciples.

The Heavenly Tome contained a nascent world, a void at the beginning of the Great Dao's manifestation, which allowed for enlightenment without anything else.

He suspected Ji You was being stingy and unwilling to speak the truth publicly.

Meanwhile, the phenomenon of heavenly light began to spread through word of mouth.

"Your Highness, someone just sensed the Heavenly Tome..."

In Shengjing City, within Prince Chong's Mansion, candlelight flickered. Prince Chong sat before his desk, holding Daoist scriptures, reading them intently.

He was also a cultivator, but his talent was mediocre, and he had been stuck at the Middle Stage of Condensing Illumination for many years.

In truth, cultivation was indeed very much about talent; one in ten thousand was not an exaggeration, and this applied to royalty and nobles alike.

However, anyone with some cultivation could extend their lifespan and ward off evil and illness, which was why many members of the royal family in the capital were eager for it.

At that moment, the startled cry of a servant in the mansion instantly pricked his nerves.

"Oh?"

Prince Chong looked up at the sound and moved from behind the screen to the front hall. "Sensed the Heavenly Tome so quickly? These Chu family members are truly no ordinary folk."

The servant in the mansion was slightly taken aback. "How can Your Highness be sure it's Young Master Chu?"

"A few days ago, I sent someone to inquire. He is the only one still attempting to sense the Heavenly Tome in the Celestial Academy. The Chu surname lives up to its reputation; it truly makes me sigh in admiration!"

"That Chu He is merely fortunate in his birth, but Your Highness is the one with true discerning eyes!"

Prince Chong beamed at the flattery and ordered his servants to prepare a banquet for the next day. He then picked up his brush, ready to personally write out the invitation.

However, just as he was about to put brush to paper, Ban Yangshu arrived hastily from Mount Ni, reaching the Prince's Mansion.

"Your Highness, someone has sensed the Heavenly Tome."

"I am aware. Is it Chu He?"

"It... is Ji You."

"?"

"Who is Ji You?"

Prince Chong was taken aback for a moment, then his eyes gradually widened. "That rogue cultivator from the countryside...?"

Meanwhile, on Yong'an Street, facing the Nishan Heavenly Script Academy, countless cultivators gathered in the city had also witnessed the previous phenomenon of heavenly light.

Because the Chu family was very famous in the cultivation world, many people knew that he had refused the Xuan Yuan Immortal Mansion and joined the Celestial Academy.

Tonight, seeing the heavenly light so vast, many people were speculating that Chu He had sensed the Heavenly Tome.

But soon, some news leaked from the Celestial Academy, completely contradicting their guesses.

"It's rumored that it wasn't Chu He who sensed the Heavenly Tome."

"If not Chu He, then who could it be?"

"It was... a rogue cultivator from the countryside named Ji You."