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Activating the Heart-Testing Stone took some time. Liu Changfei sat beside Song Zhizhi and eagerly pulled her into conversation, chatting from how her father was henpecked by his wife to which restaurants in Myriad Sword City had the best chefs. Before long, she had successfully talked Song Zhizhi into feeling hungry.

Song Zhizhi rubbed her stomach, puzzled. That shouldn't be right. She had taken a Fasting Pill just that morning. Normally, one Fasting Pill should keep her from feeling hungry for three days, so why was she hungry so soon?

Could the Fasting Pills she bought have been counterfeit? This bottle of Fasting Pills had cost one Middle-grade Spirit Stone—one-tenth of her current fortune—yet the effect was this terrible. Didn't the Cultivation World have a food and drug administration? She wanted to report someone for selling fake medicine!

"What fake medicine?" Liu Changfei asked in confusion. Only then did Song Zhizhi realize that she had accidentally voiced her thoughts.

Song Zhizhi took out the bottle of Fasting Pills and briefly explained what had happened.

"They actually sell fake pills in Myriad Sword City? That's simply outrageous!" Liu Changfei was filled with righteous indignation. Having grown up in Medicine King City, she had dealt with all sorts of pills since childhood and hated seeing people sell fake medicine most of all. "Tell me—which shop sold them? I'll tell my father tomorrow. Medicine King City must never cooperate with such a black-hearted shop again!"

Nearly everyone in Medicine King City was an alchemist, and they monopolized almost seventy percent of the Cultivation World's pill trade. If Medicine King City announced that they would not cooperate with someone, that person would almost certainly never be able to work in any pill-related field again.

Song Zhizhi thought back. "I think it was called... Spring Radiance Workshop?"

"Spring Radiance Workshop?" Liu Changfei's eyes widened. Spring Radiance Workshop was a shop run by the Liu family, and because its goods were both affordable and high-quality, it could be found throughout nearly the entire cultivation world.

Could the owner of the Myriad Sword City branch have been passing off inferior goods as quality ones?

Liu Changfei's expression turned grave. She took the jade bottle from Song Zhizhi's hand and carefully examined the pattern on it. Sure enough, it bore Spring Radiance Workshop's mark. She poured out a fasting pill, sniffed it in her palm, then put it into her mouth and carefully tasted it.

Hm? Both the smell and taste seemed like those of the most ordinary Fasting Pill. Nothing had been skimped on, nor had anything that should not have been there been added.

Since there was nothing wrong with the pill, then the problem lay with the person.

Just as Liu Changfei was about to say something, the Heart-Testing Stone suddenly emitted a beam of light that enveloped everyone. The scene before their eyes immediately changed.

Song Zhizhi found herself in a dim

space

with no one and nothing else around her.

An ancient voice sounded from the depths of the darkness.

"Those who successfully comprehend the Heavenly Mystery Sword Art within thirty-six hours may pass."

The Heavenly Mystery Sword Art was the Sword Sect's basic sword technique, one everyone knew. Yet even though it was a basic sword art, learning a complete set within thirty-six hours was no easy task.

This trial tested comprehension and talent in the sword path.

But Song Zhizhi was not determined to enter the inner sect. If she could learn the Heavenly Mystery Sword Art, then she would learn it; if she could not, then so be it. She would never do something so foolish as forcibly learning a sword art and damaging her divine sense—losing more than she gained.

Golden motes of light outlined an illusion in the pitch-black void. The illusion held a sword and silently demonstrated the movements of the Heavenly Mystery Sword Art.

Song Zhizhi had heard that the Heavenly Mystery Sword Art was a set of sword techniques personally created by the Sword Sect's founding patriarch. It consisted of dozens of movements such as chopping, sweeping, thrusting, and lifting. At times it was like spring wind and rain, at others like a violent storm. Every strike could unfold into countless variations. As Song Zhizhi watched, she unconsciously recalled the sword strike she had seen outside Myriad Sword City half a month ago. Faintly, she could see traces of the Heavenly Mystery Sword Art within it.

Remembering how she had felt that night, a snow-white longsword unconsciously formed in her hand, and she began following the illusion's movements.

"Hm? This little girl's sword moves actually carry two parts of that brat Mingxiao's shadow." A surprised murmur sounded from deep within the void. The speaker stared at Song Zhizhi for a long while, then narrowed his eyes. "Her bloodline..."

Song Zhizhi seemed to have entered an exceedingly mysterious state. She mimicked the illusion's movements, going from clumsy to nimble. She did not know how many times she repeated the same set of sword moves, but whenever she reached the end, there was always a sense of obscure blockage in her meridians, like a rusty machine that had forgotten to remove its rust and add lubricant.

Another set of sword moves ended. At the final movement, Song Zhizhi seemed to gain some insight and pressed down the originally upward-lifting motion by a fraction. At that instant, the obstructed movement seemed to flow through. When she practiced the previous sword moves again, they felt smoother than ever, as simple as eating and drinking.

Song Zhizhi put away her sword and let out a breath.

"Song Zhizhi has comprehended the Heavenly Mystery Sword Art. Total time: twenty-four hours."

That voice sounded in Song Zhizhi's mind again. She shook herself awake. She had actually passed the second trial?

However, this time, she was not the first person to comprehend the sword art.

Song Miaomiao possessed an innate Sword Heart and a single ice spirit root. She had only needed sixteen hours to comprehend the essence of the sword art. Song Zhizhi admired her greatly. It would be stranger if the female lead did not take first place.

"Congratulations, Song Miaomiao." Song Zhizhi smiled at Song Miaomiao. When she smiled, her eyes curved into crescents, and a thin flush of excitement tinted her cheeks. She was completely different from the taciturn Song Zhizhi in Song Miaomiao's memories, the one who always wore a cold, stiff expression.

Song Miaomiao froze for a moment, then replied awkwardly, "Thank you."

After practicing swordsmanship for two days inside the Heart-Testing Stone, Song Zhizhi felt as though her body had been hollowed out. She took a fasting pill, sat off to the side, and began to doze.

Half-awake and half-asleep, she seemed to catch a familiar cold fragrance, and could not help recalling someone from a month ago.

Xie Xiuji?

No, he should be at the Heavenly Feather Sect. It was probably just an illusion.

Mm, so sleepy. Never mind. Sleep.

Song Zhizhi unconsciously found a comfortable position, curled up on the ground, and fell asleep.

"Martial Uncle Mingxiao," Meng Ping glanced at the handsome young man in flowing white robes and deliberately explained for Song Zhizhi, "Junior Sister Song may have exhausted her divine sense in the Heart-Testing Stone and fallen asleep from fatigue."

Mingxiao looked at Song Zhizhi's little face, glowing rosy as she used her arm for a pillow, and gave a derisive snort.

Rankings

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Transmigrated into a Book

Sweet Romance

Transmigration and Rebirth Romance

Tu Yanyan

Amnesia Trope