"You're a grown man. Don't tell me... you're still afraid of pain?"
Seeing how serious Chen Juexin looked, Chen Mu started to speak, then stopped.
Then Chen Juexin continued, "Don't worry. I'll numb your dantian with a spell first, then replace your spiritual root. I guarantee you won't feel any pain."
"Sis, you've misunderstood. I'm not afraid of pain. I just don't think there's any need to replace a Heavenly Spiritual Root with an Earth Spiritual Root that's a rank lower."
"..." Hearing Chen Mu's words, Chen Juexin froze.
"Pfft!" Then she half covered her face with her delicate hand, laughing until she shook like a flowering branch in the breeze. "And you say you aren't afraid of pain? You've even made up an excuse like that. By now, there can't be many people in the entire Dawu Dynasty who don't know you awakened a Yellow-Rank Talent."
Chen Mu opened his mouth, then closed it again. He felt that no amount of talking would prove his point as well as action.
He raised his hand and opened it, palm facing the sky.
Crackle! Snap!
Endless thunder burst from his palm, rapidly spinning, coiling, and compressing into a brilliant ball of lightning.
He glanced around, then fired it at an ancient tree in the courtyard.
Bang! Rumble!
At once, a massive hole blasted clean through the towering tree, whose trunk was so thick that a grown man's outstretched arms could barely reach halfway around it. It toppled over.
"A Heaven-Rank Supreme Thunder Spirit Root!" Chen Juexin was astonished.
Only then did she realize Chen Mu hadn't been joking.
She immediately stood and moved closer to him.
Seeing this, Chen Mu hurriedly withdrew his spiritual energy, worried that the lightning's power might hurt her.
Then she clasped both his hands tightly and lifted them, unable to hide her excitement. "A heaven-rank spiritual root! And a thunder one, at that! Where did it come from? Could the Awakening Stone have made a mistake?"
In response to her string of questions, Chen Mu said, "The Awakening Stone wasn't wrong. What it showed back then was just my other talent."
Beyond that, Chen Mu couldn't think of how to explain it. He couldn't exactly tell Chen Juexin that the system had given him this supreme thunder spirit root for free, could he?
"Dual Talents?!"
Hearing those words, Chen Juexin grew even more excited.
A Heaven-Rank Supreme Thunder Spirit Root was already rare enough. She hadn't expected him to possess Dual Talents, something not found in even one out of hundreds of millions.
As far as Chen Juexin knew, not a single cultivator with Dual Talents had ever amounted to anything less than greatness!
"Of course! How could my little brother possibly be trash?" Chen Juexin easily convinced herself.
"In that case, why not replace your Yellow-Tier Spirit Root with this Earth-Rank Artificial Spiritual Root of mine? It's sure to give your cultivation speed a significant boost!"
Cultivation?
Chen Mu wanted to say that he didn't need to cultivate at all. Simply breathing kept increasing his cultivation.
"Sis, what attribute does your Artificial Spirit Root have?" Chen Mu asked.
"Fire. It isn't as domineering as your Thunder Attribute Spirit Root, but its power is still impressive!"
Chen Juexin had originally wanted to create an Artificial Spirit Root with the Thunder Attribute, but once she actually tried, she discovered it was far harder than she had imagined.
"I see..."
He opened the system panel, found the Heaven-Rank Supreme Fire Spiritual Root, and confirmed the binding!
\n[Binding Heaven-Rank Supreme Fire Spiritual Root...] [Activation successful! Binding successful!]
"Sis, actually, my other spiritual root is also Heaven Rank supreme, and it happens to be a Fire Spiritual Root," Chen Mu said.
Spiritual energy spilled forth, and flames surged fiercely, scorching like the blazing sun!
Chen Juexin and Ye Qingcheng grimaced and had to retreat several steps, unable to endure the heat.
He had chosen to bind the spiritual root rather than replace one simply because it was easier and faster.
Besides, with a Heaven Rank option available, why choose Earth Rank?
"..." Ye Qingcheng was speechless.
"..." So was Chen Juexin.
The two women wore identical expressions.
"Dual Talents, both Heaven Rank supreme. This is unprecedented!" Ye Qingcheng said in shock.
Even she, regarded by everyone as a prodigy of her sect, couldn't help but pale in comparison to Chen Mu.
"A Thunder Spiritual Root paired with a Fire Spiritual Root... just what kind of great demon king will this little brother of mine become?!" Chen Juexin exclaimed.
Having shown enough, Chen Mu withdrew his spiritual energy, and the flames dispersed in the wind.
"Well, Sis? I wasn't lying, was I?" Chen Mu asked.
"How weren't you? If I hadn't pushed you, would you ever have told me the truth? Did you really have to be so cautious...?"
She gave him a reproachful look.
"But you've done even better than I imagined! Let's see who still dares look down on you and call the young lord of our Tianyuan Holy Land trash!"
"If I hear anyone say it, I'll chop them into pieces and feed them to the dogs!"
Seeing Chen Juexin so filled with righteous indignation, Chen Mu couldn't resist commenting, "No normal person would dare say that anyway..."
Now that she knew Chen Mu didn't need the Artificial Spirit Root, Chen Juexin simply put it into her Spatial Ring.
She kept it for some future use and gave it no further thought.
In its place, a pile of cultivation manuals appeared on the stone table.
What Thunderfire Art, Thunder-Raising Tyrant Art, Nine Blazing Flame Scroll...
At a glance, there were twenty or thirty books, all Heaven Rank!
"I was in a hurry when I came back this time, and I didn't know you had both thunder and fire talents, so I only brought these. Make do with them for now. Once I get back, I'll have someone bring you the rest."
Twenty or thirty Heaven Rank techniques, and he was supposed to make do with them?
Ye Qingcheng was overwhelmed with envy. How she wished she had a powerful elder sister like this.
If she remembered correctly, even all the Heaven Rank techniques in the Sky Sword Sect put together couldn't match what lay before her.
"These are plenty! Once I've mastered them, I'll ask you for more." In truth, Chen Mu had never intended to practice them at all.
He merely wanted to lower Chen Juexin's expectations of him.
"All right. Pretty much all the hundreds of sects, large and small, in the Dawu Dynasty owe me money. If any sect's technique catches your eye, just go take it."
"If they refuse, come to me! I'll get it for you!" Chen Juexin promised, patting her chest.
"Sure!" Chen Mu readily agreed.
[Checking in...] [Check-in successful! Congratulations, host! You have obtained the Heaven Rank supreme technique Nine Rushing Thunder Swords!] [Check-in successful! Congratulations, host! You have obtained the Heaven Rank supreme technique Profound Thunder Dragon Slaying!] [Check-in successful! Congratulations, host! You have obtained the Heaven Rank supreme technique Great Sun Flame Palm!]
"..." Chen Mu was inwardly speechless.
Why are you joining in too, system?
In the blink of an eye, thirty-two Heaven Rank supreme cultivation manuals appeared in the system inventory.
No more, no less—exactly one more than Chen Juexin had given him.
Chen Mu could no longer tell whether the system was being thin-skinned or jealous.
Did it have to treat me better than everyone else?
Afterward.
Once she finished her cup of tea, Chen Juexin rose, deciding to leave Qingyun Prefecture.
For one thing, she needed to lay a solid financial foundation for Chen Mu, the future young lord of the Tianyuan Holy Land.
For another, after leaving the Tianyuan Holy Land, Chen Juexin hadn't retraced her original route, but had instead come to the nearby Heavenly Prefecture City.
She looked up, confirmed the sign read "Heavenly Secrets Pavilion," and went inside.
"Owner!" Behind the counter, a black-robed figure wearing a white mask recognized Chen Juexin at a glance. The figure hurried out, dropped to one knee, and bowed with clasped hands to pay respects.
"The Talent Stone was wrong. The Chen family's young lord possesses dual supreme Heavenly Spiritual Roots, thunder and fire! Spread the news immediately!"
"Within one day, I want everyone to know that my little brother is no piece of trash, but a peerless genius not found in even one out of trillions!"
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