Before she could get a closer look, the transparent spiritual bead vanished again.
To be precise, it had hidden itself. Sensing her gaze, it went invisible with a whoosh, concealing itself completely.
Xue Mingzhao looked at the transparent spiritual bead playing dead, then at the spiritual energy blocked outside her dantian with nowhere to go, and her anger flared up.
She had actively grabbed this spiritual energy herself, yet this trash bead was actually blocking it from entering?
She suppressed her anger and waited for a long while, but there was still no reaction in her dantian. Fine, playing dead, are we?
Xue Mingzhao narrowed her eyes. Suddenly changing her tone, she muttered to herself, “Looks like this book is wrong too. Let's try another one.”
As she spoke, she pretended to pick up another book to read, but she was secretly using her Heavenly Eye to keep a close watch on her dantian.
Sure enough, thinking she had given up, the transparent spiritual bead slowly materialized again.
It floated right in the center of her dantian, cast a disdainful look at the wisp of spiritual energy nearby, and then began to spin its body repeatedly, pushing the wisp of spiritual energy away.
Its movements were so practiced and its attitude so resolute that it looked exactly like a security guard blocking a delivery driver from entering a gated community.
Xue Mingzhao laughed out of sheer exasperation.
So she didn't actually lack a spiritual root—she really did have one.
But she had no idea what was wrong with this little lord; it absolutely refused to let the spiritual energy inside.
She tried using her mind to push the wisp of spiritual energy inside again. The transparent spiritual bead stopped immediately, cast a wary “glance” in her direction, and then snapped the spiritual energy back with a pop before turning invisible once more.
Xue Mingzhao: “...Get out here.”
Her dantian remained as quiet as a church mouse.
She stacked all the remaining books on the table in front of her, sat cross-legged, and began to flip through them all night long.
She flipped from 《The Genealogy of Spiritual Roots》 to 《Dantian Internal Visualization》, and from 《A Study of Ancient Mutated Spiritual Roots》 to 《A Compilation of Cultivation Difficulties and Ailments》. She didn't even spare unverified miscellaneous records like 《Unsolved Mysteries of the Cultivation World》.
By the time the sky began to brighten, she had finished the last book.
Sporting two dark circles under her eyes, Xue Mingzhao expressionlessly stacked the books to the side.
Not a single book mentioned a transparent spiritual root, nor did any mention an invisible spiritual bead.
Nor did any of them answer a question like, “What should you do if your spiritual bead dislikes spiritual energy?”
But one thing was completely confirmed.
She was no trash body without a spiritual root.
She had a spiritual root; this fellow was just refusing to cooperate.
Just as dawn was breaking, Xue Mingzhao rushed into Su Ye's courtyard and dragged him out of bed.
“What time is it even...” Su Ye rubbed his eyes, his hair looking like a bird's nest. Before he could finish, Xue Mingzhao dragged him onto the spirit boat.
“To Master's place. Hurry.”
The spirit boat wobbled as it flew to the entrance of Su Mingyuan's sleeping palace. Xue Mingzhao jumped off and ran all the way inside.
Su Mingyuan had just finished regulating his breathing and was holding a cup of spiritual tea, preparing to drink. Seeing his little disciple barge in like a whirlwind, he set it down before even lifting the lid.
“What is it? Why are you in such a rush?”
Xue Mingzhao got straight to the point. “Master, is there a spiritual root that doesn't belong to any of the five elements—gold, wood, water, fire, or earth—and is formless, shadowless, and transparent?”
Su Mingyuan's hand holding the teacup paused slightly.
He pondered for a moment, then slowly said, “Mutated spiritual roots that do not belong to the five elements indeed exist. Ice, lightning, and wind are all recorded. But a formless, shadowless, transparent spiritual root... Your master has never seen such a thing in any ancient texts, nor have I ever heard of it.”
Refusing to give up, Xue Mingzhao asked again, “Then is there any situation where a spiritual root would dislike spiritual energy? Like, repelling it and pushing it away.”
Looking at his little disciple's eager-to-learn expression, Su Mingyuan sighed silently in his heart.
This child said that “it doesn't matter if I don't have a spiritual root” with her mouth, but she actually couldn't let it go at all. She had even asked something like “what if the spiritual root dislikes spiritual energy.” She was probably thinking about it day and night to the point of obsession.
He set down his teacup and spoke as gently as possible, unable to bear crushing her spirits too directly. “Mingzhao, such a situation is impossible. As long as you can draw in spiritual energy, the spiritual root will not repel it.
“Cultivation is the instinct of a spiritual root, just like people eat when they are hungry and drink when they are thirsty. No spiritual root is born to be at odds with spiritual energy.”
Hearing this, Xue Mingzhao remained silent for a long while, then nodded, her face betraying no emotion.
She bowed to Su Mingyuan. “Your disciple understands. I will go to the Library Pavilion to return the books I borrowed yesterday.”
Su Mingyuan watched the young girl's figure disappear out the door. He picked up his teacup, set it down again, and turned to look out the window at the continuous mountain peaks of the Grand Primordium Sect.
Such a studious child, yet she lacked a spiritual root. Sometimes, the Heavenly Dao was truly unreasonable.
Leaving Su Mingyuan's quarters, Xue Mingzhao dragged Su Ye straight to the Library Pavilion again.
Su Ye steered the spirit boat, yawning constantly, with a tuft of hair still sticking up. He couldn't help but complain, “Junior Sister, you're busier than a market-goer first thing in the morning. What on earth are you researching?”
Xue Mingzhao didn't answer. The moment the spirit boat stopped, she jumped off, carrying yesterday's stack of books into the Library Pavilion.
Chen Huaizhi was dozing off against the back of his chair. Hearing the noise, he fluttered his eyelids. Seeing that it was Xue Mingzhao returning the books, he thought to himself that after tossing and turning all night, this girl had finally given up.
Good, it saved him the trouble of wasting any more breath.
Just as he was about to close his eyes again, he heard Xue Mingzhao ask, “Elder Chen, why would a spiritual root dislike spiritual energy and refuse to let it enter the dantian?”
Chen Huaizhi's mouth twitched.
A spiritual root disliking spiritual energy? You might as well just say you don't have one, he thought.
He didn't respond, turning his head to the side and closing his eyes to pretend to sleep again, making it clear he had no intention of humoring her.
Xue Mingzhao sighed helplessly.
It seemed asking anyone was useless. Could it be that only her spiritual root behaved this way?
Seeing her dejected look, Su Ye couldn't bear it. He reached out to pat her shoulder and comforted her, “Junior Sister, don't be sad. How could a spiritual root ever repel spiritual energy?
“If there really is one, I'd say it's just asking for a beating—I'd dig that kind of spiritual root out and bury it sooner or later. Having it is worse than not having one at all.”
The more he spoke, the more enthusiastic he became, slapping his chest in reassurance. “Besides, it's fine even if you can't cultivate. As long as your senior brother is around, I guarantee you'll never go hungry or thirsty.
“We are practically real siblings born of different parents. Even if the sect collapses one day, your senior brother will make sure you live in comfort.”
Xue Mingzhao didn't catch the rest of his words; her mind was completely filled with what Su Ye had just said about digging it out and burying it.
She realized—yes! Was she supposed to wait for a lifetime just because it refused to absorb spiritual energy for a lifetime?
What difference was there between this and having no spiritual root at all!
“Thank you, Senior Brother, I understand now!”
Then, she turned and ran out of the Library Pavilion. “Let's go, let's go, back to Cloud Listening Peak!”
Su Ye followed behind, looking utterly bewildered.
He had only offered a few words of comfort, so why did his junior sister suddenly look like she had been injected with chicken blood?
Chen Huaizhi opened one eye, watching the figures of the two new disciples rushing out one after the other. He muttered to the empty Library Pavilion, “These two disciples the Sect Master recently took in are probably not right in the head.”
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