This Girl Had the Makings of a Great Sage

Shen Wan'er could never have imagined, even in her wildest dreams, that the master she had finally managed to apprentice herself to...

Would ask only one thing of her: to hone her gambling skills. He even told her to put her mind at ease, cast aside all reservations, and gamble however she pleased.

"Master, I know you mean well."

“But I joined the Cloud Cliff Sect because I wanted to cultivate under your guidance.”

"I hoped that one day, I could attain the Dao and reach Mahayana!"

Though apprehensive, Shen Wan'er could not help voicing her doubts.

"The Dao?"

"What is the Dao? What is cultivation?"

"Everything in this world is the Dao. Everything is cultivation!"

“My disciple, do you know why I refused to take the Fourth Prince as my disciple that day?”

"Because he wasn't obsessed enough. In that regard, he falls far short of you!"

Seeing that the fish had finally taken the bait, Li Shouyi's lips curled slightly upward, and he at last delivered the speech he had so carefully prepared.

“True Spiritual Root? Innate heavenly phenomena? Passing clouds, all of them!”

"You and your senior sister Shuisui, on the other hand, are truly peerless geniuses in my eyes!"

"Since you're obsessed with gambling, why not delve deeper into it and blaze a trail no one before you has ever walked?"

Li Shouyi guided her patiently, but what he truly wanted was for Shen Wan'er to play to her heart's content, without holding anything back.

As long as she became addicted to mahjong, she would inevitably neglect her cultivation and eventually become a complete and utter good-for-nothing.

Only then could he, Li Shouyi, obtain the richest system rewards and save his own skin a month from now!

What Li Shouyi did not know, however, was that his words had stirred towering waves in Shen Wan'er's heart!

In the past, when I was obsessed with gambling, everyone only insulted and scolded me, saying I was letting idle pleasures ruin my ambition!

Only Master refused to reject me. Instead, he encouraged me to immerse myself in this path and never give it up!

Could Master mean for me to take gambling as my Dao and blaze an unprecedented trail?

In that instant, Shen Wan'er felt as though enlightenment had been poured straight into her mind. Dimly, she sensed a great path leading to the heavens unfolding before her.

Yet that vague sensation seemed to contain some barrier she had yet to fully understand.

"Master, I've understood!"

"I understand now! I won't let your painstaking efforts go to waste!"

At that thought, tears welled in her eyes, and she could not help respectfully kneeling and knocking her forehead against the ground three times.

She had no way to repay the enlightenment he had granted her today. Only by proving herself could she repay Li Shouyi's kindness!

Watching Shen Wan'er turn away with such resolve, Li Shouyi felt a faint, ominous premonition rise in his heart.

"Wait, what exactly did you understand?"

At that thought, he could not help asking, but Shen Wan'er's resolve had already become as firm as iron!

She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and waved a hand, declaring with utter conviction, “Master, you needn't worry. I know the Cloud Cliff Sect will hold its first sect tournament in a month.”

"When the time comes, I'll astonish everyone and show them that your disciple is no good-for-nothing!"

He did not sleep a wink that night.

Mostly because Li Shouyi truly had no confidence. By all rights, today should have been the day the system assessed his rewards.

Yet Shen Wan'er's declarations yesterday had left him deeply uneasy!

He knew he had done everything in his power to find the two most useless disciples possible.

Still, Shen Wan'er's inexplicable burst of determination left him on tenterhooks.

Getting up early, Li Shouyi crept outside Lin Shuisui's room and secretly peered inside.

Fortunately, Lin Shuisui was still sleeping soundly with the jade pillow he had given her in her arms, though her sleeping posture was hardly elegant.

Large stretches of snow-white skin were exposed. If Endless Cliff Peak had not been so devoid of outsiders, wouldn't other disciples have gotten an eyeful?

After quietly covering her eldest disciple with a quilt, Li Shouyi felt somewhat reassured.

Good. As long as she was still sleeping, all was well!

After checking on Lin Shuisui, Li Shouyi secretly followed Shen Wan'er out. That troublesome disciple happily headed down the mountain, carrying the mahjong set he had given her.

She immediately found several disciples at the foot of Endless Cliff Peak and joined them for a game of mahjong. Only then did Li Shouyi completely relax.

Playing games was wonderful! As long as she wasn't cultivating, anything she did would make him happy!

"System, oh system, the sect's disciple selection is over now. Isn't it time you assessed the uselessness ratings of my new disciples?"

"I've sunk everything into this attempt. You should at least give me some divine weapon or top-tier cultivation technique, right?"

The disciple recruitment ceremony was finally over. Li Shouyi stared eagerly at the system interface, waiting to see what it would unlock.

"Disciple recruitment ceremony concluded. Uselessness rating assessment commencing..."

As though sensing Li Shouyi's anxiety, the system interface suddenly changed. The uselessness assessment had finally begun!

"Eldest disciple: Lin Shuisui."

"Daughter of the Zhou family. Cultivation aptitude confirmed as a Void Spiritual Root, a top-tier good-for-nothing found only once in ten thousand."

Watching the lines appear on the interface, Li Shouyi could not help feeling excitement stir within him.

Yes, exactly!

A top-tier good-for-nothing found only once in ten thousand! That was precisely what the Mediocrity System's disciple recruitment requirements called for!

Yet when he read the next line, his heart instantly turned cold. He even wondered whether his eyes were playing tricks on him.

"Rating assessment commencing. Although Lin Shuisui's aptitude is abysmal, she is devoted to the Sleeping Dao and possesses the potential to awaken Dreamscape True Understanding in the future."

"Preliminary assessment: this girl has the makings of a Great Sage, with boundless prospects. A Sleeping Emperor who will stand supreme across the ages!"

"Overall assessment: the host has failed this useless-disciple recruitment assessment. Rewards forfeited!"

???

Li Shouyi was dumbstruck!

What the hell was this?

Some useless disciple I picked up on a whim actually had the makings of a Great Sage, and might even stand supreme across the ages?

"No, no, no! System, don't screw me over. This has to be a joke, right?"

Li Shouyi was genuinely stunned. He had never imagined things would end this way.

Had he known, he would never have accepted Lin Shuisui as his disciple that day. He would have been better off randomly picking an outer disciple with average aptitude.

At that thought, he could not help barging into Lin Shuisui's room. He desperately wanted to haul that sleepyhead out of bed and demand to know what on earth was going on.

What Li Shouyi had not expected, however, was that upon entering Lin Shuisui's room, he would see something that nearly made his eyes pop out of their sockets!

Lin Shuisui was still asleep on the bed, but countless streams of spiritual energy had gathered around her, so dense they flowed like liquid.

And Lin Shuisui's cultivation realm was rising at a frantic pace!

In the Cultivation World, there were roughly seven realms.

Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, Void Refinement, and Tribulation Transcendence.

For an ordinary cultivator, reaching Qi Refining in a year and Foundation Establishment in ten already placed them among the best, marking them as someone with exceptional aptitude!

Yet Lin Shuisui was utterly terrifying at that moment.

For ordinary people, the hardest step in embarking on cultivation was sensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and entering the Qi Refining realm.

For her, however, it was as though no barrier existed at all. She crossed it almost instantly.

Then countless streams of spiritual energy circulated through Lin Shuisui's dantian, gradually stabilizing into a small vortex.

This... in practically the blink of an eye, Lin Shuisui had passed through Qi Refining, formed a vortex of spiritual power, and was advancing steadily toward Foundation Establishment!