Long Wuqing's fiancée was named Ming Xin, and she also hailed from a cultivation lineage. Only, the Ming Household's strength fell far short of the Long Household's, so this marriage was considered a case of the Ming Household marrying above its station.
Over the years, the Ming Household had ridden the coattails of the Long Household's influence to make rapid advances, leaping to become a First-Class Aristocratic Clan.
There is a saying that men turn bad once they have money, and this saying actually applies to women as well.
The Ming Household felt that they were now a first-class power on equal footing with the Long Household, and that they no longer needed to tread with cautious care. Ming Xin in particular felt that all these years of sticking close to Long Wuqing and buttering him up had been an exercise in enduring humiliation under a heavy burden.
Now that her lineage had grown strong, she no longer needed to prevaricate with a man she did not love; her spine had finally straightened, so she went off to seek her true love.
Ingrates are common enough, but someone who was such an ingrate and shameless to boot was a first for her.
Not only had Ming Xin and her true love plotted against Long Wuqing behind his back, but they had even tried to take advantage of the opportunity to have her lineage swallow up the Long Household.
However, as one of the oldest cultivation lineages, the Long Household's foundation was clearly not something the Ming Household could compare to. The final outcome was self-evident, and the Long Household investigated the truth and smacked them right back to their original form.
At the time, Ming Xin had even put on a grand, sweeping spectacle of the prodigal returning to chase her husband, which provided the entire Cultivation Realm with plenty of gossip to chew on.
Xue Fuyao thought about it: unless she could immediately meet Long Wuqing right now, she seemed unable to insert herself into this matter.
Since it had nothing to do with her, she quickly cast the incident to the back of her mind.
Xue Fuyao stayed in Cloud City for half a month, finally waiting for the Yuanji Sect disciples who had come to test the children's spiritual roots.
Although she did not need a spiritual root test, she wanted to hitch a ride.
As a First-Class Sect, the Yuanji Sect was not a place just anyone could approach.
Those who directly sought apprenticeship were almost all aristocratic clan disciples, brought by their elders. Xue Fuyao had no elders, so did she not have to carve out an alternative path?
After arriving in Cloud City, the Yuanji Sect disciples did not immediately begin testing the children in the city. Instead, they needed to wait a few days for the children from the surrounding towns and villages to arrive so they could test them together.
During this period, they would first test the children of the Four Great Clans.
In fact, the children of these Four Great Clans were the main focus of this trip, and the remaining children were just incidental.
The reason was also very simple: because there were many cultivators among the Four Great Clans, and almost all the remaining children also possessed spiritual roots, with the only difference lying in the quality of those roots.
Just as Xue Fuyao was still worrying about how she could attract the attention of those Yuanji Sect disciples, the lead young male disciple standing atop the flying spiritual artifact... and the female disciple in red by his side locked eyes with her in an instant.
This was simply because, among everyone present, everyone else stood on the ground looking up at them while Xue Fuyao alone stood upon a rooftop, her cultivator's aura exposed without a doubt.
Only, Xue Fuyao used the Broken Jade to disguise her actual Qi Refining Stage, Sixth Layer cultivation as the third layer.
It had taken some time to travel from the Mortal Realm to the Cultivation Realm, and she had spent over half a year in the Moonview Mountain Secret Realm. By this time, Xue Fuyao was already eight years old.
Many people at her age had not even begun cultivating yet.
"Senior Brother Qing, we're likely to render a great service this time." The woman in red said mysteriously to the Green-Clad Man beside her.
"What do you mean?" The Green-Clad Man asked.
"It's not certain yet. I'm going to ask, I'll be right back."
With that, the woman in red leaped straight off the flying spiritual artifact and came hurtling toward Xue Fuyao's location.
At that moment, Xue Fuyao was still wondering how to get acquainted with these Yuanji Sect disciples, but the moment she looked up, she saw a woman dressed in red grinning from ear to ear as she flew toward her, garments fluttering.
That sight was truly, well, rather terrifying.
Fortunately, she quickly recognized this person's identity: Gu Nian, disciple of the Sect Master of Yuanji Sect. Why would she appear here?
Gu Nian arrived at Xue Fuyao's side, smiling like a cunning fox, and asked with a genial beam, "Little friend, are you all alone? Where are your grown-ups?"
"There are no grown-ups in my family," Xue Fuyao answered truthfully.
Yet these words sounded entirely different to Gu Nian's ears-no grown-ups meant no sect.
"No grown-ups, eh? Then would you be willing to come with me? I am a disciple of the Sect Master of Yuanji Sect. Come with me, and I can protect you, oh."
What a tone for coaxing a child.
Xue Fuyao suppressed the urge to laugh, blinked a pair of watery, wide eyes, and asked in pleasant surprise, "Really?"
Gu Nian nodded heavily. "Of course. Right, what's your name?"
"Fuyao, Xue Fuyao."
She hesitated, but still chose not to conceal her surname.
If the Yuanji Sect still rejected her just as it had in her past life, then she would simply have to choose to become a rogue cultivator.
"Xue Fuyao, what a lovely name. Fuyao, let me test your spiritual root first, shall we?"
Xue Fuyao obediently placed her small hand on the Spirit-Testing Stone that Gu Nian produced. Immediately, a green beam of light rose from the spirit-testing stone.
That green was exceptionally rich, clearly indicating a very high purity of spiritual root.
Looking at the talent displayed on the spirit-testing stone, Gu Nian's mouth practically split all the way to the back of her head.
A Wood Spiritual Root, and moreover a wood-element Heavenly Spiritual Root! This time, she had truly struck gold.
Excitedly, Gu Nian scooped Xue Fuyao up in her arms, planted a small kiss on her tender, fair cheek, and said with high spirits, "Fuyao, stay by my side during this time and don't run around blindly, you hear? Those people outside are very dangerous and just love little girls as cute as you."
Xue Fuyao nodded, and then Gu Nian hoisted her up by the armpits and carried her away, as if afraid she would run off.
Over at the Wang Household, Lin Qing watched as Gu Nian went out alone and returned with someone else-and that someone else was even a little girl-and could not help frowning. "What kind of mischief are you up to again?"
Gu Nian pulled Lin Qing aside and muttered something into his ear.
Lin Qing's expression shifted from initial impatience to shock, and then to incredulity.
"Is this for real? She's..."
"Of course it's for real! How could something I tested myself be fake? I've already contacted Master and asked him to send two more elders over."
Within a sect like the Yuanji Sect, single spiritual roots were common, but Heavenly Spiritual roots were extremely rare.
The so-called Heavenly Spiritual Root meant a spiritual root whose purity reached a full ten out of ten. The entire Yuanji Sect possessed only three such geniuses-no, now there were four.
Xue Fuyao sensed the change in Lin Qing's attitude. All of this fell within her expectations; if she had possessed her current talent in her past life, she wouldn't have... Never mind, the past was the past, and she refused to dwell on it.
Right now, she had already set one foot across the threshold of the Yuanji Sect.
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