Such a monster was definitely not something an ordinary sect could produce.
Who exactly were she and her companions?
While Huo Chaoyu was lost in suspicion, she had no idea that those from the same sect as Gu Ningyun—even the Golden Core Perfected Persons sent to secretly protect them—were also stunned.
Shu Ziming and Shen Banxi were equally shocked by Gu Ningyun's relentless serial strategy.
Shen Banxi muttered, "How does that little head of hers come up with these things?"
Shu Ziming added, "How did she calculate everything so accurately?"
The two asked each other at the same time, then shook their heads in unison, looking just as bewildered.
For cultivators who lived in a world where strength was sovereign, their first instinct in a conflict was usually to fight.
Cultivators with deep foundations might use pills, arrays, talismans, artifacts, or even summon contracted spirit beasts to assist them.
If they were strong enough, they fought; if they weren't, they ran, only returning once their strength had increased.
They rarely considered using such strategies to achieve twice the result with half the effort, or to deflect a massive force with a tiny one.
In truth, the minds of most cultivators in the cultivation world were far simpler than those of mortals.
After all, daily meditation and cultivation to break through to the next realm before their lifespan expired already occupied most of their energy.
Beyond that, they had to spend time mastering side professions like alchemy, arrays, talismans, or artifact forging to earn resources.
Those without the talent or means for such professions spent even more time hunting demon beasts or exploring secret realms to trade their finds for spirit stones.
Cultivation was already so exhausting that even if some harbored ill intentions or, like the Yuebai Sect cultivators, wanted to obtain rank two demon cores...
They didn't have the time or inclination to devise as many schemes as a mortal politician would.
After all, in this world where strength was everything, the brilliant cultivators focused their minds on their cultivation, focused on mastering techniques, or obsessed over researching ancient pill recipes.
The idea that strength was sovereign was ingrained in their very bones.
This was an objective reality, but at times, it also became a limitation.
It restricted their way of thinking.
"I originally thought I'd finally have a chance to act."
Shen Banxi gave a self-deprecating laugh. His words held no trace of regret, only admiration and praise that he couldn't hide.
"Now I'm actually curious about the recordings of the New Disciple Competition." Shu Ziming pulled out his disciple jade token and used his divine sense to flip to the first row of recordings on the Fighting Peak platform.
The New Disciple Competition, held once every ten years, was a major event for many inner peaks of Xiaoyao.
It was about the injection of fresh blood and the recruitment of future disciples.
If they waited until the inner disciple promotion competition to pay attention, the best prospects would have already been snatched away.
Following in the footsteps of Daoist Lord Yi Xing, who had recorded Shen Banxi's embarrassing moments, Shu Ziming was also someone who enjoyed a good spectacle.
Unfortunately, during the last New Disciple Competition, he had been in seclusion for core formation and missed it.
By the time he emerged, the competition had been over for more than a year, and the excitement had long since passed.
He had only vaguely heard his martial nephews in the peak mention that an extraordinary group had emerged among the new disciples, surpassing the second-place team by a staggering 100,000 points in the team competition.
Within that group was a disciple who, with unquestionable strength, endless resourcefulness, and world-shaking boldness, had won the respect of all the new disciples.
She had managed to unite hundreds of new disciples, reversing a disadvantageous situation and even managing to kill an evil beast near the rank two middle stage.
The recordings of her performance were even personally highlighted by Senior Sister Chanxi in the first row of the Fighting Peak platform.
Shu Ziming had been curious when he first heard about it.
However, various matters had cropped up after he left seclusion, forcing him to postpone his plans to watch the recordings again and again.
Later, when he heard that the disciple was a music cultivator who had no interest in artifact forging, making it nearly impossible for her to join Artifact Peak, Shu Ziming's interest in her faded.
He figured that those participating in the New Disciple Competition were just seven or eight-year-old children.
No matter how impressive they were, there were limits.
He assumed his martial nephews were just exaggerating because they admired the younger generation.
Later, he received a report from a martial nephew stating that a new disciple with a gold spirit root, who frequently took missions at Artifact Peak, was extremely talented in artifact forging.
Not only was he a quick study, but he was also calm, grounded, and possessed an excellent temperament.
Shu Ziming took this very seriously. After observing the boy secretly for half a month, he had already decided on him as a future junior brother and naturally cared even less about anything else.
It wasn't until just before he drew the lot for the new disciple escort mission and faced several schemes from other peak heads that Shu Ziming realized something.
The group his future junior brother belonged to was quite famous among the inner peaks.
After asking around, he learned they were the first-place team.
It finally clicked for Shu Ziming, and in his mind, he etched the title of "Team Competition Champions" onto Jiang Yao's forehead.
He knew his future junior brother was in the top ten of the individual competition, and he knew everyone in that group was in the top ten, and that the group itself was first in the team competition.
But that was the extent of his knowledge.
It wasn't until he escorted them from Yunzhou all the way to Cangzhou, and then to the East Sea.
Through four months of daily interaction and focused observation, the images of the five children gradually became clear in Shu Ziming's mind.
He began to feel that with such strength and intellect, their first-place finish was indeed well-deserved.
But they weren't as god-like as his martial nephews had claimed.
He had thought his martial nephews were being ridiculous. Could it be they'd stayed in the Foundation Establishment stage for too long and their brains weren't clear?
No matter how much they admired these juniors, they shouldn't just blindly praise them.
If they praised these children too much, the kids might lose sight of their true strength and become arrogant. That wouldn't be good at all.
Children of this age needed proper guidance!
Fortunately, the five children seemed wholesome and showed no signs of going astray.
Otherwise, once he returned to Artifact Peak, he would have had to assign those martial nephews even more forging tasks.
Shu Ziming had carried these complex thoughts throughout the four-month journey.
But now, he was seeing with his own eyes that Gu Ningyun's mind seemed to have no limit, producing one strategy after another.
The sea spiders were falling into her traps exactly as she had calculated, one after the other.
Their Artifact Peak's future junior brother and the other three children cooperated with these schemes without a moment's hesitation. Their coordination was seamless; they were the most reliable teammates one could ask for.
The most absurd part was that the Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Yuebai Sect were actually convinced by her and were truly cooperating with five little Qi Refining cultivators.
They were even willing to consider and execute the strategy of a nine-year-old child at the Qi Refining stage.
Shu Ziming remained silent for a long while before taking a deep breath.
It seemed he had misunderstood his martial nephews.
Shen Banxi had already watched the recordings Shu Ziming was talking about.
When it came to wind spirit roots—especially top-grade wind spirit roots—Spirit-Attuning Peak never relaxed its attention.
Rate on N.U.
