The system fell silent for two seconds. Suddenly, a screen she had never seen before popped up. It had a gold border on a red background, with an exquisite brocade box icon floating in the center, shimmering with brilliant light.
【Major social event in the cultivation world detected. The system has unlocked the “Perfect Ten: Novice Journey Gift Pack” ahead of schedule.】
Lin Zhiyue was taken aback. “What on earth is this?”
【The ultimate bonus gift pack, originally scheduled to be distributed after collecting ten Purple-quality sets, is now specially approved for early withdrawal. Friendly reminder: After early withdrawal of the gift pack, the host will no longer receive this bonus upon collecting ten Purple-quality sets, and all of the host's spirit stones will be deducted. Do you wish to confirm and open it?】
She stared at the line of text, her mind racing. Collect ten Purple-quality sets? She had worked her butt off just to gather the Mist-shrouded Verdure set, and Flowing Fire and Scarlet Stars was still far out of reach. Who knew how long it would take to collect ten sets?
If she didn't open this gift pack now, keeping it would just be holding onto an empty promise.
But the spirit stones she had just earned! The system was absolutely doing this on purpose.
“Open it.” Though her heart ached for the stones, she didn't hesitate. She could always earn more spirit stones, but the matter at hand could not wait.
The brocade box burst open on the screen, and five spheres of light in different colors floated out, each with gold-embossed characters underneath.
【Mutated Heavenly Spiritual Root (Random Attribute): Reborn and remolded, your spiritual root quality leaps to the Heavenly Grade. The attribute is randomly generated. Cultivation speed is increased by more than tenfold, and affinity for spiritual energy of the corresponding attribute reaches the absolute limit.】
【Innate Sword Bone: A natural sword embryo. Sword Dao comprehension is maxed out; any sword technique is instantly mastered upon contact, and every strike naturally resonates with sword intent.】
【Innate Dao Body: A constitution aligned with the Great Dao. The speed of comprehending the laws of heaven and earth is increased dozens of times over, and cultivation bottlenecks practically do not exist.】
【Innate Buddhist Bone: A clear and pure mind, immune to all evils and undisturbed by inner demons. The cultivation speed of Buddhist techniques is boosted beyond imagination.】
【Glazed Pure Body: The meridians throughout the body are as transparent as glazed glass, allowing spiritual energy to flow without obstruction. The absorption efficiency of any elixir or cultivation technique is maximized, and the body is immune to all poisons.】
Lin Zhiyue looked at the five spheres of light, her fingers trembling slightly.
Having read several cultivation novels in her past life, she naturally knew that taking any one of these items out would shake the entire Sanglan Realm.
The Innate Sword Bone was the ultimate constitution that sword cultivators dreamed of, while the Innate Dao Body was a legendary existence. Not to mention the Glazed Pure Body—if any major sect knew such a person existed on their territory, they would absolutely spare no expense to snatch them back and treasure them like a prize.
She closed her eyes, her mind quickly weighing the options.
The Innate Sword Bone sounded cool, but with her current strength, she wasn't worthy of such a great thing yet. While the Innate Dao Body and Glazed Pure Body were ridiculously powerful, one was too mysterious and the other was too passive. As for the Buddhist Bone, she hadn't completely washed away her materialist worldview from her past life yet, so becoming a nun was out of the question for now.
What she needed most urgently right now was to pass the spiritual affinity test fair and square.
She extended her index finger and tapped the first sphere of light.
【Selection Confirmed: Mutated Heavenly Spiritual Root. Randomly generating attributes... Generation complete: Mutated Dual Ice and Wind Heavenly Spiritual Root.】
The moment the selection was finalized, a scorching torrent of air suddenly exploded from her dantian, as if someone had stuffed a red-hot iron ball into her body.
Immediately following was the sound of bones shattering—she clearly heard her ribs, spine, and limbs cracking and popping. Intense pain surged from every part of her body at once. She couldn't even scream. She curled up beneath the stone table, her entire body convulsing, her fingernails clawing into the dirt.
It hurt too much. It was even more painful than the moment she had been hit and sent flying by a truck in her past life.
The pain of that moment in her past life had been a brief, sudden agony, but this pain was slow, continuous, and bone-deep, as if someone were using a chisel to shatter every single bone in her body and then piece them back together.
She lay in the courtyard for two whole days and nights.
During this time, she coughed up blood three times and blacked out five or six times. Every time she was jolted awake by the pain, she watched the sky turn from ash-gray to bright white, then to dark purple. She felt as though she were being tossed back and forth between an ice cave and a furnace.
The system's notifications kept chiming in her ear, muttering something about “Spiritual root remodeling progress: 30%... 60%...” but she couldn't hear them clearly, her ears filled with a constant, buzzing roar.
In the early morning of the third day, before the sky had fully brightened, the last wave of sharp pain finally receded from the tip of her tailbone like a falling tide.
Lin Zhiyue lay face down on the ground, drenched in cold sweat. Her wet hair clung to her face, her lips were chapped, and she looked like a tattered rag doll that had just been fished out of the water. She slowly rolled over to face the pale gray sky, gasping for air.
And then, she felt it.
Something was flowing inside her body.
It was cool and clear, like a mountain stream starting from her dantian and slowly flowing through her newly reconstructed meridians to every corner of her body.
That feeling was completely different from her previous hollow, zombie-like body. She could clearly perceive two distinct forces in the air—one biting cold like a winter wind, the other sharp like polar ice. They gathered toward her body of their own accord, scrambling to seep into her skin, her meridians, and the crevices of her bones, as if they had finally found their home.
She raised her right hand and made a loose fist. A thin layer of frost condensed in her palm, the tiny ice crystals refracting miniature rainbows under the morning light.
The wind blew through her fingertips, carrying a chill that did not belong to the transition from late summer to early autumn.
Supporting herself with her arms, Lin Zhiyue sat up, leaning against the leg of the stone table. She stared at her palm for a long while before suddenly letting out a soft laugh.
“It was worth it.”
She pulled a waterskin from her earring and took a couple of gulps, then messily wiped the blood and sweat from her face. Her legs were still a bit shaky when she stood up, but the cool spiritual energy inside her felt like a hand firmly supporting her from within.
She pulled out a mirror and took a look—her face was as pale as paper, but her eyes were incredibly bright, the faint swirl of green in her pupils now even more pronounced, mingled with a subtle frosty-white luster.
She changed into clean clothes, neatly put on her Mist-shrouded Verdure set once more, pushed open the courtyard gate, and walked out.
She went to check out of her rental, stuffing her bedding and the remaining dry rations into her earring. Then, she set off for Juxian City.
Because Lin Zhiyue had vanished from sight in her courtyard for three days, those covetous eyes from the previous Sect Assembly that had been eyeing her earring couldn't find their target and eventually dispersed.
Thus, her departure from Qingxia Town went extremely smoothly, with no one tailing her. The previously triggered quest was also completed, earning her a few more gacha tickets.
The main road was packed with travelers. There were young rogue cultivators carrying sword cases, wealthy scions driving spirit beast carriages, and disciples from minor sects traveling in small groups, everyone in a desperate hurry.
Blending in with them, Lin Zhiyue was completely unremarkable. She deliberately slowed her pace to walk at the back of the crowd, taking the opportunity along the way to practice her Mist-shrouded Steps a few times. She controlled her speed to be just slightly faster than an average person, showing off no more than necessary.
Two and a half days later, she stood before the gates of Juxian City.
The city walls were taller than any ancient city she had seen in her past life, built from black stone. Three large characters in ancient seal script were written in a sweeping, powerful hand across the lintel.
Inside and outside the city gates, the crowds surged and banners fluttered. The emblems of the major sects hung all along the sides of the city gate tower—the Qingling Sect's green jade sword, the Biluo Immortal Sect's frost-snow lotus, the Piaoyin Sect's peach blossom pipa, the Sacred Sword Pavilion's gold-shattering halberd, and Luohong Valley's seven-colored cauldron. Hanging right in the center was a silver banner with black patterns. It bore no design, only a simple, ancient character for "Ce" embroidered on it, flapping loudly in the wind. No one dared to approach within ten yards of it.
Standing in the queue outside the city gates, Lin Zhiyue looked up at that banner for a moment before flowing into the city along with the crowd.
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