Delicate and Clear-Browed

[You also thought about going to Central Province, but the jujube tree was at Liu Family Ferry. Relying on the trace of spiritual energy attracted by your Crippled Spirit Root, you simply could not continue body-tempering. For the sake of cultivation, you could only stay at Liu Family Ferry.]

[You chatted idly with the madam for a while, then dropped a few subtle hints.]

[Whether to have a child was a major matter, not something for you to call the shots on, so you could only say what should be said. As for the rest, it depended on the madam herself.]

[Possessing the strength of the Houtian Ninth Level at sixteen made whatever you said or did carry a strange air of persuasiveness.]

[The madam was a clever person. She was silent for a moment, not even asking how you knew these things, and said, "I understand."]

[You gazed at her steadily for a moment, then stood up to take your leave.]

[The madam did not see you off, remaining seated beneath the crabapple tree. Her back looked leaner than when you had arrived, but her waist and spine were held straight as a ramrod.]

[In the third year, you chopped the tree and obtained a Blue Trait!]

[Acute Sense of Smell-You can smell all unusual scents, but what these scents actually mean can only be judged by yourself.]

[You looked at this new trait and fell silent for a long while.]

[Isn't this just a dog's nose?]

Jiang Mi nodded, deeply convinced.

It truly was a dog's nose, and moreover a dog's nose that could not tell what exactly something was.

This was the first blue trait she had drawn.

At this point, traits of all colors had finally appeared.

Jiang Mi reviewed all her traits and summed up a few things:

White traits generally had no use at all, though a few occasionally played a certain role in abstract situations, such as [Thick-Skinned]. Green traits, on the other hand, could steadily come in handy in specific minor scenarios, counting as having clear supplementary effects.

The scope of application for blue traits was much broader. A trait like [Acute Sense of Smell] could smell all unusual scents, yet could not distinguish what they specifically were. If one could distinguish what they specifically were, even with specialization in the olfactory aspect, this trait would become a purple trait.

As for gold traits--

Jiang Mi's impression of it had only two words: heaven-defying!

There were no "ifs" and no "sometimes"; its effects were steady and powerful, and it never failed her.

Having finished her summary, Jiang Mi continued to view the simulation.

[In the fourth year, you are nineteen years old.]

[In the spring of this year, you heard a piece of news: Dingbei Hou was dispatched to the Northern Frontier.]

[It was not that the Emperor suddenly grew a conscience and felt that Dingbei Hou was a capable general worth utilizing, but rather that the war in the Northern Frontier had rotted to the point where it had to be managed. The iron cavalry of the Northern Rong crossed the border, successively breaching three cities. The defending generals died in battle, the commoners fled south, and if troops were not sent out again, the entire Northern Frontier would be lost.]

[You know what this means.]

[In the previous two simulations, Dingbei Hou set out on this very expedition, fought against the Northern Rong in the Northern Frontier for six years, and ultimately died on the battlefield. It was not that he was not strong enough, but rather that someone did not want him to return alive. The hidden arrows in the imperial court were harder to guard against than the open spears on the battlefield.]

[You knew all of this clearly in your mind, yet you did not mention a single word.]

[On the day of the farewell outside the Capital, you stood beside the madam, watching quietly as Dingbei Hou donned silver armor, rode atop a warhorse, and cast a parting glance in the direction of the city gate tower.]

[With just that single glance, he turned his head back, swept a mighty hand, and the great army set forth.]

[The sound of iron hooves was like thunder, dust filled the skies, and that commander's banner bearing the two characters "Dingbei" snapped fiercely in the wind, growing increasingly distant.]

[Until the great army completely vanished at the end of the official road, the madam finally spoke, "Tell me, how long can he hold out this time?"]

[You turned your head to look at her. She was not looking at you, her gaze still lingering upon that patch of yellow earth trampled by horse hooves.]

[You wore the jade clasp and were now in the guise of a white-haired, elderly crone, but it was obvious the madam still recognized you.]

[You shifted your gaze back to the madam and finally replied, "Six years."]

[The madam turned her head back, that pair of eyes carrying a faint, bitter ache. She did not ask how you knew, nor did she ask what the outcome after six years would be.]

[The two of you walked back side by side, neither speaking a single word along the way.]

[Upon reaching the entrance, you stood there and said you would not go in.]

[The madam nodded, lifted her foot, and crossed the threshold.]

[You stood outside the Marquis's Household, watching those vermilion doors slowly close, the four golden characters "Dingbei Marquis Manor" on the lintel appearing somewhat blinding in the sunlight.]

[As you turned and left, you silently calculated the time in your heart.]

[It is now the fourth year of this simulation. In the last simulation, you were sent out of the Marquis's Household by the mammy in this very year, you made inquiries about the Green Bamboo Sect, and you joined the Green Bamboo Sect!]

[The tragic events that followed need no retelling, and you have no wish to relive them once more.]

[The present you understands only one thing: circumstances alter cases, and now is just the time to exact revenge--]

[No, it is a fine opportunity to acquire the Azure Frost Sword!]

[Although you practiced the "Raging Wind Facing the Sun Spear" given by the Marquis, how long have you practiced this spear technique? When it comes to might, of course it cannot compare to the "Cold Pool Sword Technique" you practiced for many years!]

[Mundane weapons are easy to obtain, but spiritual treasures are hard to seek.]

[Even for the sake of the Azure Frost Sword, you have to make this trip.]

[Coincidentally, at the foot of the mountain, you encountered that woodcutter once again. It seemed he had met with some happy event; joy brimmed across his face, and out of curiosity you could not hold back from asking a question.]

["You don't know yet? On this Green Bamboo Mountain, there's going to be immortals from now on, and this is a great auspicious event. From now on, our little place is going to get bustling, yo!"]

[You: "--"]

[You should have known better than to ask.]

[Falling silent for an instant, you headed up the mountain.]

[Having an immortal sect was indeed a good thing, but what sort of immortal sect was that Green Bamboo Sect?]

[You had not forgotten those rumors you heard in Gathered Worthies Manor.]

[Practitioners of the "Evergreen Art" would become tender-skinned and delicate, and then vanish bizarrely-neither living people nor dead bodies, not even a scrap of bone left behind. And the "Azure Wood Art" of the Green Bamboo Sect was cut from the same cloth as the "Evergreen Art"; how could it be anything good?!]

[Moreover, at the end of the last simulation, you were already in your seventies or eighties, yet the sect master was still alive with a pair of blood-red eyes, looking at a glance like an evil cultivator.]

[You came today not only to exact revenge for yourself, but all the more to eradicate this scourge for all martial artists with spirit roots across the world!]

[Having finished patting yourself on the back in your heart, you continued up the mountain with brisk steps.]

[Green Bamboo Mountain was still that same Green Bamboo Mountain. The mountain path remained that same mountain path, trimmed neat and even, looking as though it had just been tended to.]

[You walked up along the mountain path, bamboo shadows swaying and rustling as the wind blew past, like countless people hiding in the shadows and whispering furtively.]

[After walking for roughly the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, your view suddenly broadened.]

[The mountain gate was still that same mountain gate, with two old pine trees on the left and right, and a bluestone plaque suspended horizontally in the center, carved with the three characters "Green Bamboo Sect". But the plaque was new, its paint bright and fresh, clearly having stood here only recently.]

[Guarding the gate was still Qing Yun, except this time you were the first to see him.]

[Because of that Azure Frost Sword in his hand emitting a mesmerizing luster, in your eyes, Qing Yun looked a bit more delicate and clear-browed.]