Chapter 19

Later, Chu Mojin was taken away by the young man. As they left, the young man glanced at Su Jiu, but there was little emotion in that glance. Su Jiu kept feeling that he had wanted to convey something.

Now she was the only one left in the garden. Though it was peaceful, Chu Mojin's words had thrown her thoughts into turmoil. Especially that last, unfinished sentence-what exactly had he wanted to say?

Chu Mojin had been right about one thing: her natural gifts already surpassed those of far too many people.

Su Jiu had seen plenty of poorly gifted disciples struggling bitterly in the Outer Gate. She had never relied on medicines such as Spirit-Gathering Pills to cultivate, but those Outer Gate disciples could not do without pills.

If someone's primary spirit root was only sixty percent pure, that meant they could retain only sixty percent of all the spiritual qi they drew in. A Spirit-Gathering Pill, however, could raise that sixty percent to seventy percent or more. It undoubtedly accelerated cultivation.

Spirit-Gathering Pills helped spiritual qi accumulate in the dantian. The poorer one's aptitude, the greater the need for them. But that also meant needing more spirit stones, forcing those disciples to spend time on task after task.

Yes, her innate advantages were already so much greater, yet she remained dissatisfied, always thinking that her current circumstances were worse than in her previous life. She had failed to realize that most cultivators in this world had no one backing them.

The path of cultivation was, by its very nature, a solitary one. No one would always be there for her to lean on, and her previous life was, after all, only her previous life. She had let it become a demon in her heart, forever dwelling on it, forever assuming things would be the same. In truth, everything had changed the moment she was reborn, yet she had kept herself trapped in her own obsession.

Without knowing when it had happened, Su Jiu was already sitting cross-legged on the ice. Vast waves of ice element spiritual qi surged toward her from every direction.

Both people in the Ice Hall looked toward the source of the gathering spiritual qi.

Chu Mojin first raised an eyebrow, then laughed. "That little girl certainly got a bargain. She actually had an epiphany and broke through right here on Ice Veil Peak. All this ice spiritual qi was ready for her to use."

The young man said nothing. Seated on his meditation cushion, he closed his eyes and continued meditating.

An unknown amount of time passed. The sky had dimmed somewhat before Su Jiu finally awoke from her epiphany.

Fourth Qi Refining Layer.

Su Jiu checked her Cultivation Level and could not help secretly rejoicing. She had thought reaching the third level of qi refining would be good enough, but she had risen straight to the fourth qi refining layer before the spiritual qi stopped pouring wildly into her. She calmed the spiritual qi around her.

In the dim light, some of the spiritual plants in the Spirit Garden before her actually gave off a blue glow. Su Jiu continued watering the rest of the garden, but now her heart was utterly calm. She no longer resented being an Outer Gate disciple, nor did she cling to her previous life as the Sect Leader's disciple.

After she finished watering the Spirit Garden and was about to leave, Su Jiu turned, clasped her hands, and bowed deeply toward the Ice Palace. If her earlier bow had merely been a matter of courtesy, this one carried gratitude.

Chu Mojin's divine sense covered all of Ice Veil Peak, so he naturally knew what Su Jiu was doing. He poured another large mouthful of wine into his mouth and grinned at the young man meditating with his eyes closed. "I told you that little girl was interesting, didn't I?"

The young man slowly opened his eyes and looked toward Su Jiu. His expression unconsciously softened a little, though that faint softness was ultimately too subtle to discern with the naked eye.

"It seems she won't be the second."

Chu Mojin clearly had not expected Chu Luohen to answer him. He choked on his wine and broke into a violent coughing fit.

As soon as Su Jiu returned, she saw that a crowd of familiar and unfamiliar people had gathered in the courtyard at some point.

They were gathered around a large fire, roasting meat.

Xia Meng's eyes lit up when she saw Su Jiu return. She went over and took her hand. "Mu Zihan achieved qi induction today. Sister Su Su specially gathered everyone to celebrate for her."

Sister Su Su?

Since Su Jiu usually spent her time either cultivating or in the Library Pavilion, she rarely joined their activities and did not know who they associated with.

Hearing the name "Sister Su Su" immediately gave her a bad feeling. Sure enough, the moment she looked up, she saw that woman.

Yes, Sister Su Su was Bai Su. Even someone who did not recognize Bai Su ought to recognize Lu Tianqi beside her. After all, a single water spirit root was quite eye-catching in the Outer Gate.

The corner of Su Jiu's mouth twitched. She had barely crossed paths with Bai Su in her previous life, yet they had run into each other quite often in this one.

Besides him, Ran Chao was also following Bai Su. Su Jiu had no idea how the conflict that day had ultimately been resolved, but Bai Su had somehow coaxed both men into following her. Su Jiu supposed that, too, was part of Bai Su's charm. At some point, Bai Su had also acquired a whole flock of followers, both men and women. Even several of Su Jiu's courtyard mates were gathered around the fire, roasting meat.

Mu Zihan smiled when she saw Su Jiu. "It's so hard to catch a glimpse of you these days."

Su Jiu said little, merely nodding at her and offering a "Congratulations" before heading back to her room. Han Jia caught hold of her and told her in a quick, low voice, "Don't go. There are pills to be had."

Those few words were enough for Su Jiu to guess part of what was going on.

No wonder these cultivators were neither doing tasks nor cultivating so late at night. Bai Su had promised them generous rewards. Recalling the Ring Space mentioned in the book, Su Jiu understood.

That Ring Space was indeed like a treasure pavilion. It contained many pills, from high-grade to low-grade, and could even be used to grow spiritual herbs. Later, Bai Su had learned alchemy herself, making her life even better. Surrounded by handsome men and living in seclusion, she was simply a winner in life.

But Su Jiu had long since decided not to have too much contact with Bai Su. She shook her head at Senior Sister Han and returned to her room.

The dozen or so people watched Su Jiu return to her room just like that. Xia Meng tugged at Han Jia's clothes. "Senior Sister, didn't you tell Su Jiu?"

"I did," Han Jia replied, then shook her head.

Two of Bai Su's followers were at the fifth qi refining layer, and they had naturally heard what Han Jia said. They glanced at Su Jiu's retreating back.

One of them smiled. "She probably just broke through and needs to stabilize her Cultivation Level. She looks quite young, though, so her aptitude must be excellent. From the looks of it, she must have at least two spirit roots." This disciple's Cultivation Level was higher than Su Jiu's, after all, and a single glance revealed that she had just broken through to the fourth qi refining layer and had not yet had time to stabilize her Cultivation Level or draw in the spiritual qi around her.

Han Jia froze. She knew better than anyone when Su Jiu had broken through to the second qi refining layer. A little dazed, she asked, "She's already at the third level of qi refining?"

The two disciples at the fifth qi refining layer exchanged a glance, clearly confused. Didn't they live together? Why would she say that the little girl had reached the third level of qi refining after her breakthrough?

Still, they answered honestly, "She's already broken through to the fourth qi refining layer."

Han Jia's hand shook, and her roasted meat fell to the ground. The others who lived in the courtyard reacted much the same way.

"How is that possible! She only joined the sect two months ago." Yu Yin's eyes widened, her heart sour with jealousy.

"She joined two months ago?" This time, it was Bai Su and her companions' turn to be astonished.

Han Jia gave a bitter smile. "She's only six this year. She couldn't possibly have joined ten years ago."

Bai Su took this matter in stride. "She must have encountered some opportunity or consumed some heavenly treasure." After all, she herself had quite a few Spirit Pills that increased Cultivation Level. Even so, she did not dare take them lightly. Consuming too many would cause a frightening buildup of pill toxins. If those toxins clogged her meridians, she would never be able to advance again for the rest of her life. What puzzled her was why Su Jiu would ruin herself this way when she was still so young.

At that moment, it never even occurred to her that Su Jiu had cultivated all this time without taking a single pill.