Chapter 13

As Su Jiu headed out after class, she clearly saw the instructor give Bai Su a meaningful look. Even a blind person could have seen the malice in it.

Whatever clash might follow, Su Jiu returned to the dormitory first.

Senior Sister Han was still out.

Now, she sat cross-legged on her bed and meditated.

Before long, she saw scattered blue lights in the air. Following the book's instructions, she drew water elements into her body, then immediately used her body as a vessel and tried to convert them.

She soon discovered that it really worked. At first, she could only successfully convert one or two out of every ten water elements. As time passed, her success rate steadily rose, until her body could retain all of them.

A soft pop sounded in her mind.

In an instant, a vast amount of water spiritual qi poured into her body. Su Jiu knew she had succeeded at qi induction.

At the same time, her sea of consciousness gradually took shape. Once it stabilized, she could "see" things.

She "saw" the wardrobe in her room, her clothes piled haphazardly inside, and "saw" the unknown flowering plant on the windowsill.

She slowly extended her Divine Sense outward and discovered that it could reach over a hundred meters, far stronger than when she had first achieved qi induction in her previous life.

What she failed to notice was that the blue-green tear mole on her face had also changed noticeably. Its color had become clearer and more translucent, like a tiny piece of jade set beside the outer corner of her right eye rather than a mole.

The moment Senior Sister Han entered the courtyard, she noticed a vast amount of spiritual qi pouring into her room and was startled. It had only been two days, hadn't it? Had the little girl sharing her room already achieved qi induction?

Meanwhile, the other two cultivators in the courtyard who had already reached qi refining also sensed the strong fluctuations in spiritual qi. They likewise guessed that someone had achieved qi induction.

The girl who had previously mocked Xia Meng for being naive opened her window and looked toward Su Jiu's room. She could not help sighing. It seemed the little girl who had just moved into the courtyard possessed both talent and aptitude.

The other newcomer sharing her room saw her senior open the window and asked, "Senior Sister, what's wrong?"

Sun Wei pointed at the tightly shut window. "Qian Ling, do you know the newcomer in that room?"

The young girl called Qian Ling shook her head. "Apart from Senior Sister Han, I haven't met the other person in that room yet. Did something happen?"

Remembering that Qian Ling had yet to achieve qi induction and therefore could not sense the flow of spiritual qi, Sun Wei explained, "The girl who just moved into that room has already achieved qi induction."

Qian Ling froze, then cried out in disbelief, "How is that possible!"

Qian Ling also came from a cultivation lineage, so she naturally knew how difficult qi induction was. Even someone with a single spirit root generally needed around a week. The more spirit roots one had, the more elements one needed to communicate with, making qi induction all the more difficult.

For those with four or five spirit roots, achieving qi induction within two or three months was already considered fairly good. Some even needed half a year.

"Among your batch of newcomers, even those up above don't seem to have sent any news yet, have they?"

Qian Ling said nothing and looked toward the room opposite them, undisguised envy in her eyes. Someone who could achieve qi induction so quickly must have at least Two Spirit Roots.

Su Jiu had already "seen" Senior Sister Han before she entered the room.

"Not bad, little girl! It's only been a few days, and you've already achieved qi induction." Seeing Su Jiu open her eyes, Han Jia walked over and ruffled her hair.

"I haven't asked you yet-what spirit root do you have, exactly? You achieved qi induction so quickly that if you hadn't been assigned to the Outer Gate, I would have thought you were a genius with a single spirit root."

Su Jiu smiled bitterly. She did indeed have a single spirit root.

"But your spirit root probably isn't the only reason you achieved qi induction so quickly. Your talent and comprehension must be pretty good too." Han Jia propped up her chin and studied Su Jiu.

When Su Jiu said nothing, Han Jia resorted to pestering her. "Come on, tell me. Spirit roots aren't some private secret. Mine is a water, fire, earth, and wood fourfold spirit root. I'm currently at the third level of qi refining."

"Back then, it took me over three months to achieve qi induction."

Su Jiu sighed. "I have an ice spiritual root."

"An ice spiritual root. Back then, I..." Han Jia suddenly realized something, and her expression changed. She cut herself off. "Wait, what did you just say? An ice spiritual root?"

"I haven't seen much of the world, so don't fool me. Cast an Ice Element spell and let me see?"

Su Jiu shook her head. "I've only just achieved qi induction. I haven't learned any spells yet."

Han Jia paused, clearly having forgotten that detail. Still half doubtful, she asked, "You really have an ice spiritual root?"

Su Jiu smiled and nodded, though her smile was filled with helplessness.

"How did someone with an ice spiritual root end up in the Outer Gate?" Han Jia was baffled.

"I've only just joined the sect, so I don't really understand anything yet. Perhaps I have some other flaw."

The corner of Han Jia's mouth twitched. Surely any flaw could be forgiven in a young girl who had achieved qi induction on her own within two days, without anyone's guidance. Of course, Han Jia did not say that aloud.

Once a cultivator achieved qi induction, a sea of consciousness formed in their mind, and a qi sea formed in their dantian.

Now, at last, she had once again set foot on the great path of pursuing immortality.

As the saying went, wherever there were people, there would be conflict—all the more so around a Child of Destiny.

At the dining hall entrance, a group of low-level cultivators surrounded a female cultivator. Their leader was a very ordinary-looking woman, precisely the sort of face assigned to Background Extra A in a novel. The woman they surrounded was none other than Bai Su, who had taken the instructor's place and taught yesterday's class.

Bai Su stood there looking pitiful, clutching a white porcelain bottle as she explained something, seemingly on the verge of tears.

The woman leading the group had no patience for Bai Su's explanation and shoved her hard, sending her sprawling to the ground.

The onlookers seemed indignant, but none dared step forward to stop the fight.

Su Jiu and Han Jia had only just arrived at the dining hall and did not know what had happened. Su Jiu was about to enter, wanting no more involvement with the Female Protagonist than necessary, when Han Jia suddenly grabbed a young disciple watching the commotion nearby.

"Junior Brother, what happened up ahead?"

The male cultivator was a disciple from the latest intake. Seeing that both Su Jiu and Han Jia had cultivation, he cupped his hands in greeting. "Apparently, Bai Su stole Senior Sister Liu's pills, and Senior Sister Liu's, um, friends came to get them back."

Friends? Would a true disciple be friends with Outer Gate disciples? More like lackeys. Han Jia inwardly curled her lip.

Su Jiu tugged at Han Jia. "Don't meddle."

Han Jia raised an eyebrow. "Little girl, you certainly learned 'none of my business' quickly."

The two were about to enter the dining hall when a tremendous crash suddenly rang out.

All the bullies had actually been swept off their feet and hurled into the dining hall wall. As they staggered up, dazed, they immediately spotted the folding fan in Bai Su's hand. The Magic Treasure that had sent them flying was precisely that fan.

After their initial shock, greed flashed in the cultivators' eyes. They got up and rushed toward Bai Su.

Their leader shouted, "Bai Su, you've got some nerve! You didn't just steal Senior Sister Liu's pills—you stole her Magic Treasure too!"

Bai Su shook her head, looking wronged. "I didn't steal them. My companion gave me both the pills and the Magic Treasure."

Others might not believe her, but Su Jiu did. She distinctly remembered how Bai Su's men had scoured everywhere for Magic Treasures like these for her in the book.

At present, she had only hooked up with Ran Chao, so these things were probably gifts from him as well.

As for Senior Sister Liu, if Su Jiu remembered correctly, the instructor who had taught them that day was surnamed Liu. Somehow, that woman had learned that Bai Su possessed pills, then recruited several Outer Gate disciples to make trouble for her.

Su Jiu thought that even if her guess was slightly off, it was probably not far from the truth.