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Li Zi wandered around the cave abode back and forth, discovering that this place had no paths for going down the mountain.

She was afraid she could only use Sword Flight to come and go freely.

She was truly down on her luck.

She hadn't started cultivating yet, but the original novel's female lead had already reached the first tier of the Qi Refining Stage.

Ever since entering the Sect, the original body had constantly been suppressed and bullied by fellow senior martial brothers and peers.

In the end, even though she had clearly awakened her Divine Bone, her Divine Bone was still forcibly gouged out by her senior martial brothers in the Golden Core and Nascent Soul stages.

In all of this, weakness was the original sin.

Since she had already entered the Sect, she was probably unable to change anything.

Li Zi only wanted to undergo body tempering and marrow cleansing as quickly as possible right now, speeding up her cultivation progress.

System, can't you exchange some martial arts techniques or cultivation methods for me? At least let me have some understanding of cultivation in this world.

The system replied helplessly, Host, you don't have enough points.

Early the next morning, Li Zi was woken up by knocking on the door outside.

Ji Zheng stood at the entrance with an honest, good-natured smile on his face, "Junior Sister, why didn't you attend the new disciple initiation celebration yesterday?"

Li Zi's eye twitched.

There was actually a celebration!

Was it that she didn't want to attend?

[You're amazing, you're so noble, you dumped me in this bird-forsaken place and ran off by yourself, and now you're still asking me why I didn't attend the celebration? You're here to provoke me, aren't you?]

The smile on Ji Zheng's face stiffened.

He suddenly slapped his forehead and apologized repeatedly, "Sorry, Junior Sister, I forgot that you still don't know how to use Sword Flight yet."

Li Zi felt a bit choked up with annoyance.

[Taunts, barefaced taunts!]

Her deer-like eyes blinked, and in an instant, moisture spread across them as crystal-clear tears rolled down.

"Senior Brother, do you think I'm too useless? I'm sorry, I still don't know how to cultivate yet, but I'll work hard in the future."

Ji Zheng had never experienced such a situation and retreated a few steps in some panic.

"No, I didn't mean that..."

Seeing Li Zi's tear-streaked appearance, Ji Zheng ignored the words of him being cursed out back and forth in Li Zi's mind several times over and hurriedly fished a star-shaped pendant out from his Heaven-and-Earth Artifact.

"This is a spatial artifact Senior Brother obtained from a Secret Realm. I'm giving it to you, so stop crying."

Li Zi blinked her eyes and said prettily, "Thank you, Senior Brother."

She put the pendant around her neck, stars appearing in her eyes, "Senior Brother is so nice."

She remembered that in the original novel's plot, Ran Zirou treasured this pendant very much.

She hadn't expected that by some twist of fate, it would actually end up in her hands.

Heaven be witness, she really hadn't meant to snatch the female lead's opportunity.

She didn't even know where things had gone wrong.

Putting aside what the situation in the book was like, this Ji Zheng was truly not bad as a senior martial brother.

All cursing in her heart vanished completely, replaced by cheers.

Ji Zheng couldn't help but chuckle.

This junior sister was really easy to satisfy.

"Let's go, Master instructed me to take you to the Main Peak."

Standing on Ji Zheng's fiery-red, dashing longsword, Li Zi arrived steadily at the Main Peak's plaza.

This plaza was the center of the entire Spirit Sword Sect.

The Tempering Pavilion, Scripture Library, Treasure Tower, Alchemy Tower... were located around the plaza respectively, situated on different mountain peaks connected only by single iron chains between the mountains.

Here, the sword in one's hand was both a weapon and a means of transportation.

At this moment, quite a few disciples were curiously looking over toward this side.

They were all curious about what kind of Heaven's Chosen the person taken in by the Fifth Elder as a direct disciple could be.

However, upon sensing that there was not the slightest bit of spiritual energy on Li Zi's body, these curious gazes turned into disdain and mockery.

Following behind Ji Zheng, Li Zi could still hear snickers drifting over.

"The close disciple taken in by the Fifth Elder is actually good-for-nothing trash? This is just too laughable."

"She hasn't even started cultivating at this age; even if she has a Spiritual Root, it must be a completely useless Mixed Spiritual Root. Is the Fifth Elder trying to challenge himself? He wants to train a piece of trash into a genius?"

Hearing these noises, Ji Zheng only furrowed his brows slightly and did not speak up to defend her.

This world had always been like this, the law of the jungle where the strong preyed on the weak.

Background and family were all fleeting clouds; if you wanted to be respected, you had to produce real skill.

He glanced sideways at Li Zi again.

Although Junior Sister had a rich inner monologue, she was timid; she was probably already scared to tears, right?

Yet he saw that Li Zi was only concentrating intently on her feet at the moment, as if she couldn't hear these noises at all.

Restraining her breath inwardly with absolute poise!

A vague feeling arose in his heart that perhaps this junior sister of his would have a bright and brilliant future.

[System, you say if I directly ask Master for a Marrow-Washing Pill, will Master give it to me? I remember that old man is quite stingy.]

The system replied, Your constitution means ordinary Marrow-Washing Pills are useless. You need spiritual springs to assist. Host, when we get back, I'll tell you some good news; I'm afraid you'll pass out from happiness here.

Li Zi said, There's good news? Hurry and tell me! Quick, quick, quick!

Listening to these complex inner thoughts, Ji Zheng thought, "..."

He had overthought it.

It wasn't that Junior Sister had absolute poise; it was that she simply hadn't heard what the people beside her were saying at all.

Suddenly at this moment, a tender voice rang out from the crowd.

"You are not allowed to insult Junior Sister Zi like this! What did Junior Sister Zi do wrong? She just has poor cultivation talent, yet you are reviling her like this. Hurry up and apologize to her!"

Li Zi's attention was attracted by that voice, and she finally stopped pestering the system.

She turned her head to look in the direction the voice came from and frowned.

Originally, these skeptical voices were normal; she planned to find an opportunity for body tempering and marrow cleansing first, and then use her strength to crush all idle gossip.

Yet being 'defended' like this by Ran Zirou just blew the matter out of proportion.

Immediately, a disciple kindly advised Ran Zirou, "Junior Sister Zirou, you are truly too kind. It's completely obvious that Li Zi used improper methods to become the Fifth Elder's direct disciple."