Chapter 6

The disciple keeping the records was already growing faintly impatient with the woman standing dazed on the platform. "Miss, the test is over." The implication was clear: she could step down now.

Bai Su nodded blankly and walked down.

Su Jiu glanced at Bai Su. Seeing that she was no different from her previous life, she withdrew her gaze and paid her no further attention.

In this life, all she needed to do was take Su Mianmian far away from Bai Su and her pack of madmen. Of course, there was also Gong Hao, who had to die. Killing intent flashed through Su Jiu's eyes before swiftly fading back into calm. She could not rush. Gong Hao was more than three hundred years older than her and had begun cultivating long ago. When he first appeared, he was already at the golden core stage, and a hundred years later, he would break through to nascent soul.

She would have to deal with Gong Hao slowly and carefully.

Looking at the two little girls who were about to leave, the Su Family Head and Madam Su handed their bundles to Su Jiu and Su Mianmian, their faces filled with reluctance to part.

"Mianmian, don't be willful once you're at the sect. Whenever something comes up, try to discuss it with A Jiu." Madam Su straightened Su Mianmian's clothes, her eyes reddening.

The Su Family Head sighed softly beside her.

Su Qingqing hid quietly in a corner, watching Su Jiu bid farewell to the other members of the Su Family, her eyes brimming with tears. If the Azure Tide Sect had not recruited disciples ahead of schedule, she could have left with Su Jiu. Now, they would have to wait ten years to meet again.

As though sensing something, Su Jiu glanced back and caught a glimpse of a pale green figure disappearing from sight. She sighed.

"I have something to take care of." With that, she walked toward Su Qingqing.

When Su Jiu found Su Qingqing, the girl had her back to her and was frantically wiping her eyes. Su Jiu gently patted her head. "Third Sister, we won't see each other again for ten years. Aren't you going to say a proper goodbye?"

Su Qingqing spun around, her eyes as red as a rabbit's. "Second Sister, I'll study swordsmanship hard. In ten years-in ten years, we'll see each other again." The little girl spoke through hiccuping sobs.

Su Jiu felt both heartache and amusement.

Su Jiu stroked the top of Su Qingqing's head and promised, "In ten years. In ten years, I'll do my best to come and fetch you myself."

"Yes!" Su Qingqing nodded firmly.

Finally, Su Jiu and Su Mianmian bowed with their hands clasped, leading the departing Su Household Disciples in bidding farewell to the other disciples and elders of the Su Family.

Many eyes reddened. The Azure Tide Sect had an unwritten rule: disciples could not return to their lineage before reaching foundation establishment. For some, this bow would be their final farewell, as the limitations of their aptitude might keep them from ever reaching foundation establishment.

Of course, quite a few people with Fourfold Spirit Roots or Five Spirit Roots chose to accept the Spirit Guiding Art and remain at home to cultivate. But cultivating within their lineage also meant they would not travel far along the path of cultivation. The concentration of spiritual energy, resources—there were far too many restrictions in every direction.

Before leaving, Su Mianmian looked at her parents' reddened eyes and could not help smiling. "The green mountains remain, the clear waters flow on. We'll meet again!" Many of those steeped in sorrow immediately laughed through their tears.

Yet once they boarded the Spirit Vessel, Su Mianmian was the first to burst into tears. Several younger children, swept along by her, also lost control of their emotions and began sobbing.

Caught between laughter and tears, Su Jiu patted her back. "With your aptitude, are you really afraid you'll never reach foundation establishment? Once you do, you can come home."

"I know all that, but I-I just can't help it."

Su Jiu coaxed her for quite a while longer before finally making Su Mianmian smile through her tears.

"Tsk, children are such a nuisance. The moment they leave home, they cry endlessly as if their parents have died. If you're so unwilling to leave, why bother cultivating toward immortality?"

Su Jiu's expression chilled visibly. This world never lacked people who harbored inexplicable malice toward others. In her previous life, she had seen plenty of them.

Su Jiu sized up the newcomer, a woman in her twenties. Entering a cultivation sect at this age, she was most likely a rogue cultivator. Cultivating lineages generally sent their children into sects before they turned sixteen; entering after sixteen was already somewhat late.

"Well, you certainly aren't young." Su Jiu left it at that.

The older boys and girls nearby who understood her meaning lowered their heads and chuckled. The younger children looked bewildered, unable to understand what the older ones were laughing at.

The woman's expression gradually twisted. "You little bitch, you dare mock me?" As she spoke, she moved to strike.

Su Jiu's expression changed, and she immediately pushed Su Mianmian out of the way. Unlike the others, this woman was already a qi refining cultivator. That was precisely why the Azure Tide Sect had made an exception and accepted her.

But before the palm strike could land, the Inner Gate Disciple who had tested their spiritual roots that day stepped forward and blocked it. "Private fights are forbidden aboard the Spirit Vessel. Do it again, and get off."

His words clearly favored Su Jiu.

The woman lowered her hand indignantly, a vicious gleam lingering in her eyes.

Su Jiu knew this was probably far from over.

The Inner Gate Disciple turned back. "Come to me if anything happens. My name is Fang Hao."

Su Jiu nodded amicably. She would remember this favor.

"Fang Hao, since when did you start sticking your nose into other people's business?" The moment Fang Hao returned, his friend hooked an arm around his shoulders.

Fang Hao stretched his lips into a grin but said nothing, merely thinking, If anything happens to her, not one of you will get off lightly. Still, to think the Su Family had produced someone with an ice spiritual root. His reward for this assignment would certainly be substantial.

The disciples aboard this Spirit Vessel came from various cities. At a glance, heads filled the vessel in a dense sea—there were several thousand people at least.

A small city like Peace City had fewer than thirty recruits in total.

That was why only four cultivators had been assigned to Peace City.

But who could have imagined that among those fewer than thirty people, there would be one with an eighty-percent-purity fire spiritual root and another with a hundred-percent-purity ice spiritual root? Clearly, Peace City's feng shui was quite good.

"Hey, did you hear? That bastard Ma Jian led the team recruiting in Capital City. Over two hundred people with Spirit Roots, including one with a single Metal Spirit Root at eighty percent purity. Hua Rong's team also recruited someone with a single Water Spirit Root at seventy percent purity. I had it rough. I went to Mang City and only got one person with Two Spirit Roots."

"I didn't recruit many people in Fortune City either. There were two with Two Spirit Roots, but both had mutually opposing attributes."

"I'm the one who had it rough, all right? I recruited fewer than forty people in total. Looks like Hua Rong and Ma Jian will take the top spots again."

A young cultivator nearby finally could not stand it anymore and cursed, "Rough, my ass! I was in Li City and only recruited ten people with Spirit Roots. The Ran Lineage was wiped out, too. Who had it worse than me?"

"Nothing you could do about that, brother. You shouldn't have offended the inner sect steward."

The young cultivator grunted twice and lost the desire to speak. He would be lucky not to come in last this time.

"Huh? Fang Hao, you've been awfully quiet today."

"Shoo, shoo. What do you expect him to say? Peace City isn't even as big as Li City. You saw those twenty-odd children board just now. He doesn't want to talk, yet you insist on poking his wounds. Aren't you being annoying?"

Elsewhere, the children had clustered together by city or lineage. Those standing separately in groups of two or three were mostly rogue cultivators. Of course, there were also oddities like Bai Su.

Bai Su's relationship with her lineage was unremarkable, so instead of standing with the Bai Lineage members, she struck up a conversation with a nearby rogue cultivator. But speaking of lineages, it was unrealistic for someone born to a concubine to constantly expect the same treatment as the legitimate children. If she stirred up trouble at every perceived injustice, it would have been stranger if the lineage liked her.

Aside from Bai Chang and Bai Rong, two girls from the Bai Lineage had also been selected. Both had Fourfold Spirit Roots and mediocre aptitude, but they had remained quiet throughout the journey. The Li Lineage also had four recruits, while the Chen Lineage had six. Though none possessed outstanding aptitude, their numbers were respectable.

This was the Su Family's largest group of recruits in its history, with a full eight people. Aside from Su Jiu and her sister, the other six were boys. The oldest was already fifteen: Su Bo, the grandson of the Su Family's seventh elder. He had Three Spirit Roots—water, earth, and wood—with his Water Spirit Root at sixty percent purity, giving him middling aptitude.

Su Jian and Su Yi were both ten this year and came from collateral branches of the lineage. Su Chen was thirteen and the youngest son of the lineage's eighth elder.

As for the little friends who had played with Su Jiu and Su Mianmian for years, they had either lacked Spirit Roots or been kept in the lineage because they had Five Spirit Roots.

Looking at the two little girls from his lineage's main branch, Su Bo felt a headache coming on. He had never dealt with little girls like these before.

Su Bo tried his best to appear gentler. "If you run into trouble in the future, you can come to us."

Su Jian rolled his eyes without sparing him any dignity. "I think you should worry about yourself." He pointed at Su Mianmian in red. "Two Spirit Roots, fire and wood, with her Fire Spiritual Root at eighty percent purity." Then he pointed at Su Jiu in white. "A Single Spirit Root of the Ice Element, at a hundred percent purity." He turned back to Su Bo. "Mianmian is one thing, but are you sure this one won't be put on a pedestal the moment she enters the sect?"

Su Jian's voice was not loud, but neither was it quiet. Many cultivators had keen hearing and sharp sight, their Divine Senses covering the Spirit Vessel. Almost simultaneously, cultivators in every direction aboard the Spirit Vessel cast subtle glances their way.

The cultivator with his arm around Fang Hao's shoulders plainly froze for a moment, too. He withdrew his arm and dug at his ear, wondering whether constantly extending his Divine Sense over the years had somehow made it stop working properly.

Then he unconsciously looked toward the little girl in white whom Su Jian had pointed out. Wasn't she the very girl Fang Hao had gone to help?

"Ha! An ice spiritual root? Still dreaming, are we?" Another foundation establishment cultivator in their group had evidently gone from shock to disbelief before deciding that the little boy was boasting.

Fang Hao was silent for a moment. "It is a hundred-percent-purity ice spiritual root. The sect's grand elder tested her personally."

"..." Silence fell over the circle of inner disciples.

"Fuck! I don't believe it. Give me the register. Fang Hao, you know falsifying the register gets you sent to the Enforcement Hall, right? And the grand elder? How come I didn't know the grand elder was here?"

Fang Hao gave him a lazy sidelong glance. The man had still been recruiting in another city at the time, so naturally he had not known.

Fang Hao tossed them the register, not bothering to explain. "Believe it or don't."

They were, after all, a group of youths who would never believe it without seeing for themselves. But once they saw the register, they had no choice, because no one dared falsify a register like this.

"Fang Hao! I fucking treated you like a brother, and you kept me in the dark like some clueless idiot." The youth beside Fang Hao punched his shoulder.

"Hey, hey, hey. Do you think it's too late for me to go cling to her leg?" The youth's muttering rang in Fang Hao's ear.

Fang Hao did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Li Wang, I'm warning you, don't embarrass us Inner Gate Disciples."

The youth called Li Wang curled his lips. "Inner Gate Disciples? Believe me, that little girl will have a personal disciple position reserved for her the moment she enters the sect. The five peak masters might even come to blows over her."

Just then, a discordant voice rang out. "What good is aptitude, however great? Only someone who grows into their potential deserves to be called a genius. Someone who doesn't-heh. Don't forget what happened to the Fourth Elder's grandson, his personal disciple."

The white-robed youth who spoke had nothing but indifference in his eyes. Anyone else saying this might have been mistaken for begrudging Su Jiu's aptitude, but no one would misunderstand this youth, because he disdained such things. It was not that he was more outstanding than Su Jiu; it was simply his nature.

"Dongdong was led astray by his upbringing." The cultivator who spoke felt his throat grow painfully dry. He tried to explain, but did not know how to defend it.

"Yes, he was led astray by his upbringing. But was he alone responsible for how it all ended?" With that, the white-robed youth turned away and continued wiping his sword, as though everything around him had nothing to do with him.

At the mention of this matter, silence immediately fell over the group.

Su Jiu felt even more gazes gathering around her. Suddenly remembering that Su Jian had spoken rather audibly, she smiled helplessly. Fortunately, they would arrive soon.

Even with the flying boat's tremendous speed, it still took most of the day to reach their destination. Along the way, Su Jiu also grew familiar with the other children from her city.