Chapter 20

By the end, the grilled meat had lost its savor.

After Bai Su gave everyone a bottle of pills to thank them for coming, they all took their leave.

As soon as Yu Ying returned to the dormitory, she clung to Yu Yin and asked, "Sis, do you think Su Jiu really ate some heavenly treasure?"

Yu Yin felt terribly upset. She and Han Jia had the highest Cultivation Levels in the courtyard, but now a little girl had suddenly sprung up and surpassed them.

"How would I know!"

Seeing that Yu Yin was in a bad mood, Yu Ying said no more.

The same scene was playing out in another dormitory.

Qian Ling frowned. "I know a little about the Su family. There's practically no chance their patriarch left Su Jiu some heavenly treasure. The highest Cultivation Level in their family is only Foundation Establishment, and even that is their hidden trump card. If they really had some heavenly treasure, ha, the Su family would have become Peace City's foremost aristocratic clan long ago."

Sun Wei asked, "Could she have gotten there by stuffing herself with pills?"

Qian Ling shook her head. "Even less likely. She doesn't even have a Storage Bag. She couldn't possibly afford it. Besides, she spends all day in the sect and never goes out to gain experience, so it couldn't have been some chance encounter either."

Sun Wei frowned. "Could she really have cultivated to that level on her own?" Her voice was full of incredulity, and even more disbelief.

"Let's ask Han Jia tomorrow what sort of aptitude Su Jiu has," Qian Ling said.

Speaking of aptitude suddenly reminded her of something. When the newcomers had first joined, someone had brazenly claimed that there was an ice spiritual root among their Outer Gate disciples. Later, that person had been sharply rebuked, and the person with the ice spiritual root had never appeared. Everyone had taken the claim as a joke. Now, it seemed it might actually have been true.

Sun Wei looked through the window toward Su Jiu's door, her gaze laden with meaning.

Xia Meng was an exceedingly innocent girl.

Lively, adorable, and talkative.

Right now, however, Mu Zihan found Xia Meng's personality utterly annoying.

She simply did not let her feelings show.

"Su Jiu is just so amazing! Aaaah!"

"No, I have to start cultivating harder too. It's far too embarrassing to be overtaken by so much."

After talking to herself for a while, Xia Meng finally sat cross-legged on her bed and began cultivating.

Only then did Mu Zihan open her eyes. She glanced at Xia Meng a couple of times, her thoughts unreadable, then closed her eyes again and resumed cultivating.

Han Jia looked at the pills in her hand, her gaze exceedingly complicated. Finally, she let out a long, heavy breath and returned to her room.

The moment she entered, she saw Su Jiu deep in meditation. Perhaps it was an illusion, but she seemed to glimpse mist swirling around Su Jiu when she first came in. Yet when she tried to look more closely, there was nothing there.

I must be too tired.

Han Jia did not meditate that night and went straight to bed, so she never saw the blue-green tear-shaped mole on Su Jiu's face flickering with a faint blue-green glow.

After a night passed, Su Jiu felt wonderful. As soon as Han Jia woke, she saw Su Jiu's luminous, delicate white skin. Although her face still carried a child's baby fat, her features had grown a little more radiant.

Seeing that Han Jia was awake, Su Jiu smiled faintly. "Senior Sister Han."

Han Jia stiffened, then teased her as though nothing had happened. "Little girl, your Cultivation Level is higher than mine now. I should be calling you senior sister."

"To think someone in her twenties like me has to call a little girl senior sister. Heavens, are you some kind of monster?"

Su Jiu shook her head. "It's only a form of address. I'll still call you Senior Sister Han."

Although Han Jia felt a pang of bitterness and envy, she had to admit that Su Jiu had been raised exceptionally well. She did not share the common fault of many cultivators, becoming arrogant and conceited once their Cultivation Level surpassed their seniors'.“

From Su Jiu's eyes, Han Jia could tell that the girl truly treated her no differently than before. Gradually, she relaxed, and the two returned to their old way of getting along.

Over the following year, in addition to meditating and watering the garden on Ice Veil Peak each day, Su Jiu added another activity: practicing the minor spells she had learned from the Library Pavilion and the sword techniques she had learned in her previous life.

After all, Su Jiu had experience cultivating Water-Type Arts, so her progress in learning Ice Element techniques naturally covered a thousand miles a day. Her hands danced through seals, and in just one short year, she could use the hand seals and incantations as smoothly as drifting clouds and flowing water.

That day, Chu Mojin once again hid out of sight to watch Su Jiu practice Ice Element techniques.

The little girl's fingers flew, and in an instant, four Ice Blades shot out at tremendous speed, piercing straight through the wall opposite her.

Chu Mojin inwardly clicked his tongue. Isn't that a little too ferocious?

Over that year, Su Jiu's Cultivation Level had only risen by one level. She had not attracted as much attention as during her first two months in the Azure Tide Sect, but her progress was still quite good.

Han Jia, who shared her dormitory, had also reached the Fourth Qi Refining Layer. Su Jiu had probably spurred them all on.

The other youngsters in the courtyard had entered Qi Induction one after another.

Mu Zihan and Qian Ling had even reached the Second Qi Refining Layer. Their aptitude was quite good to begin with, though.

During that year, Su Mianmian had rarely come to see Su Jiu.

Apparently, the peak master of Blazing Flame Peak had been forcing her to cultivate. Over the course of that year, Hong Ling, the peak master of Blazing Flame Peak, seemed to have locked horns with the Golden Guard Peak Master, Long Aotian. The reason was the speed at which Jin Chen and Su Mianmian cultivated, each chasing the other's heels.

Su Mianmian and Jin Chen were both at the third level of Qi Refining now.

Once, Su Mianmian had even sneaked out, hugged Su Jiu's leg, and cried that Jin Chen was a rotten bastard.

Su Jiu had not known whether to laugh or cry.

The other disciples from the Su family had also successfully achieved Qi Induction.

During that time, Su Jiu had also met one of the disciples who had entered the Azure Tide Sect in the previous intake. From him, she learned that he was the only one left from their group, and even now, he was merely at the Sixth Qi Refining Layer.

He said his name was Su He.

The Steward Hall.

Su Jiu had come to turn in her assignment again.

Over the past year, the young boy had become well acquainted with Su Jiu.

"Why aren't you taking the garden-watering assignment anymore?" the boy asked with a smile. At first, he had never imagined that Su Jiu could withstand such bitterly cold temperatures.

From the first time she returned to turn in the assignment and accepted it again for the second month, he had known this little girl was extraordinary. Still, he had never expected her to keep doing it for an entire year.

"It's time I went out to gain some experience." Su Jiu smiled at the boy.

The boy looked Su Jiu over. "True, you should have gone out long ago. Plenty of people at the third level of Qi Refining dare to venture outside, but you've stayed tucked away in the sect all the way to the Fifth Qi Refining Layer."

"To reach the Fifth Qi Refining Layer in just a year, though-tsk, your Cultivation Level is soaring as though you were riding a Flame Bird. It's strange, too. You have an ice spiritual root, after all. Why hasn't any peak master or elder taken an interest in you?"

At that, even the boy felt indignant on her behalf.

Su Jiu smiled. She had already come to terms with that a year ago, so she felt no resentment.

"A genius must always grow amid adversity," she said jokingly.

The boy tossed her the spirit stones. "Take your spirit stones and go on, get out of here."

With the spirit stones in hand, Su Jiu did not return to her dormitory immediately. Instead, she unconsciously walked to the entrance of Ice Veil Peak.

For some reason, she felt a faint sense of loss.

She no longer had the jade token and could not enter Ice Veil Peak.

Outside the entrance, Su Jiu sighed softly and bowed deeply. "Thank you for looking after me this past year."

Su Jiu was no fool. She had long since noticed the benefits of Ice Veil Peak's ice spiritual energy. Sometimes, when she finished her work early, she would even quietly meditate off to one side. The spiritual energy on Ice Veil Peak was several times denser than in the Outer Gate, and it consisted solely of ice spiritual energy. If she could cultivate there for a long time, saying her progress would cover a thousand miles a day would be no exaggeration.

Later, Su Jiu had also vaguely realized that she was probably able to meditate in Ice Veil Peak's spirit garden because Chu Mojin and Chu Luohen permitted it. They were high-level cultivators, after all. How could they possibly not know what she had been doing in the garden?

Still holding his wine jar, Chu Mojin gazed in the direction Su Jiu had left and took a hefty gulp.

Chu Luohen, too, opened his eyes the moment Su Jiu turned away.

"Tch. Honestly, you just had to wait until she'd left before you were willing to open your eyes," Chu Mojin drawled.

Chu Luohen answered him with an icy look.

"Hey, why are you looking at me? You're the one who isn't in any hurry."

Chu Luohen coldly uttered a single word. "Noisy."

Chu Mojin's face darkened. "I'm your older cousin, no matter what you say. I raised you, cleaning up your piss and shit! You-"

"Shut up!"

Chu Mojin choked on his words, then headed outside with his wine jar. Shaking his head as he walked, he muttered, "Life is simply unbearable."

Before long, Chu Luohen closed his eyes again and resumed meditating.