With red tomato soup staining the corners of his mouth, Shen Leyan was scraping up the last few grains of rice in his bowl when he looked up blankly.
What? What was flying over here?
The commotion outside was tremendous. It sounded as though a crowd was pouring into his courtyard.
One disciple was giving the onlookers a vivid account of what had happened.
"Today was supposed to be the day some outer disciples who'd completed their sect missions had their Spiritual Root tested.
"Senior Brother Zheng Ziheng had been waiting at the Spirit Perch Pavilion since early morning. At least a hundred disciples came for testing, and it went on from noon until sundown. But only two were found to have mixed spiritual roots. All the others still had mortal-grade constitutions."
Sometimes, even testing a thousand people failed to turn up a single Spiritual Root. Finding two Mixed Spiritual Roots today was already a pretty good result.
Someone impatient urged him on. "Get to the point! The point! What we want to know is how the Spirit-Testing Stone flew here from the Spirit Perch Pavilion all by itself!"
The so-called Spirit-Testing Stone was actually an ancient magical treasure.
It was said to have shattered into fragments of various sizes in ancient times. Later, the major sects each acquired a piece to test their disciples' Spiritual Root aptitude.
Though they were only fragments, each was as large as an ornamental rockery, and had to be infused with spiritual power before every use.
Those with weaker cultivation might start foaming at the mouth and faint on the spot after infusing it just three or four times.
So disciples couldn't have their Spiritual Root tested whenever they pleased. They had to complete sect missions first.
"I don't know how that stone flew here on its own either! But I heard from the senior brothers and sisters watching at the Spirit Perch Pavilion that, after the last outer disciple finished his test today, Senior Brother Zheng was about to leave.
"Then the stone suddenly spoke in human language, screaming in a cute little girl's voice, 'I smell a Supreme Single Spiritual Root!'"
"Before anyone could react, the stone floated up all by itself and whooshed off this way."
"Seriously? Why does that sound so far-fetched?"
"You don't believe me?! Go ask Senior Brother Zheng, then! See if that's what happened!"
"All right, all right, stop arguing—the stone has stopped!"
"In this courtyard! Does anyone live here?"
Bam!
With the crash of a massive rock hitting the ground, a huge crater appeared in the courtyard's unfortunate lawn.
The watching disciples waited a while. Once they saw that the stone was no longer flying wildly through the sky, they gradually gathered around it.
As everyone debated why a stone that had survived since ancient times sounded like a little girl rather than an old woman, the tightly shut door before them suddenly opened a crack.
Inside his room, Shen Leyan hadn't caught much of the shouting outside, only something about a "spirit stone," "flying around," and a "little girl." He opened the door and met everyone's gazes with utter bewilderment.
"Senior brothers and sisters... what brings you here?"
His gaze was involuntarily drawn to the enormous stone that had appeared in his courtyard.
He frowned in dismay. "The scallions I planted just a few days ago!!!"
They hadn't even had time to grow, and that stone had flattened them all!
The stone flashed, projecting a figure into the air: a little girl with horn-shaped pigtails and a thoroughly childish face.
In the cultivation world, stones and wood becoming spirits was nothing unusual. Like humans, spirits could be good or evil. Many acknowledged humans as their masters and cultivated alongside them.
Shen Leyan surveyed the senior brothers and sisters around him with righteous indignation. "Whose child is this? She doesn't have legal capacity yet, but that's fine. As her guardian, you ought to compensate me for my scallions!"
The senior brothers and sisters stared wide-eyed. Not one of them spoke.
So Shen Leyan walked up to the stone.
"What are your parents' names? Or your master's?"
The little girl blinked at him for a moment, then suddenly pointed at him and shouted in her babyish voice.
"I smell a Supreme Single Spiritual Root!"
Shen Leyan: "◝₍ᴑ̑ДO͝₎◞"
His instincts told him this child was not someone he could afford to provoke.
Without hesitation, he turned around and slammed the door shut.
He said magnanimously, "You don't have to pay for the scallions. I won't hold it against you for baselessly accusing me of having a Spiritual Root, either. Everyone, move along. Move along..."
[My luck really is the absolute worst! How does even some random stone know I have a Spiritual Root?!]
[According to the law of conservation of good and bad luck, since I was already so unlucky before transmigrating, I should've had better luck after coming here...]
Zheng Ziheng followed the Spirit-Testing Stone's trail on his flying sword. As he entered the courtyard, he heard his junior brother's distressed thoughts through the closed door.
[Please don't let the senior brothers and sisters believe that stone...]
The courtyard was already packed, and more disciples kept arriving to watch after hearing about the Spirit-Testing Stone's strange behavior.
Zheng Ziheng put away his sword, surveyed the crowd, and spoke gently.
"I've already reported the matter of the Spirit-Testing Stone to the sect... The stone dates back to ancient times, so it's hardly strange for it to develop sentience. The sect will handle this appropriately. Please disperse for now."
One disciple shouted, "Senior Brother Zheng, the stone says the person inside has a Supreme Single Spiritual Root!"
[Don't believe it, don't believe it, don't believe it, don't believe it, don't believe it...]
Zheng Ziheng smiled. "The stone has only just gained sentience. It may not be particularly clearheaded, so we can't believe everything it says."
The disciples murmured among themselves, but since Senior Brother Zheng had said it, most of them looked largely convinced.
Even when the little girl projected by the stone bristled with fury and protested with an indignant "Waaah!"
"I'm not lying! I'm certain! Positive! Absolutely sure! I smell a Supreme Single Spiritual Root on that person!"
Zheng Ziheng formed a hand seal, sending a silencing spell sweeping toward her. The little girl projected by the stone immediately fell silent and glared at them, her hands planted angrily on her hips.
The disciples watching nearby jostled one another as they dispersed.
Shen Leyan breathed a sigh of relief, opened the door again, and bowed to Zheng Ziheng.
"Thank you, Senior Brother Zheng."
"It's nothing. There's never been a case of a Spirit-Testing Stone suddenly developing sentience in any of the major sects before. The disciples guarding the Spirit Perch Pavilion failed to stop her in time, allowing her to run over here and disturb your rest."
Zheng Ziheng withdrew the silencing spell and replaced it with a binding spell.
Loops of pale blue cord loosely bound the Spirit-Testing Stone.
"I'll take her back to the Spirit Perch Pavilion now. However..."
Seeing a hint of awkwardness in Zheng Ziheng's eyes, Shen Leyan more or less understood.
"I know. You can't help me keep this a secret. You covered up the matter of my Spiritual Root in front of so many people just now... I'm already very grateful."
The Spirit-Testing Stone dated back to ancient times and had been testing disciples' aptitudes for the major sects for thousands of years.
How could one misidentify a Spiritual Root's grade?
Besides, the stone had flown such a long way and repeatedly mentioned a "Supreme Single Spiritual Root." The Cloud Radiance Sect's sect master and elders were bound to learn of it.
Before you continue