On the second floor of an inn in northern Yushui City, Gu Ningyun leaned against a window, watching the bustling crowds below.
By the time she had left the spirit stone mine and returned to Yushui City, most of the mortal-run inns were already full. She had walked from the south of the city to the north before finding a suitable place to stay.
As expected of the number one immortal sect in the world; so many people have come here, drawn by its reputation.
Calculating the time, it had been three days since she returned to the city. The recruiters from the Xiaoyao Immortal Sect should be arriving soon.
Just as Gu Ningyun's mind began to wander, a sudden outburst of awe from the crowd interrupted her thoughts.
Following the gaze of the crowd, she looked up to see two flying boats breaking through the clouds. Amidst the churning mist, they came to a halt, hovering in the air just outside Yushui City.
Two immortals descended on flying swords, landing gracefully on a high platform in the center of the city.
Only then did the crowd react, grabbing their children and racing toward the city center.
Gu Ningyun pulled her head back from the window and ran downstairs. “Shopkeeper, check out!”
...
By the time Gu Ningyun arrived, a long queue had already formed below the high platform. The line consisted entirely of children, winding around the platform in about ten concentric circles.
Gu Ningyun found the end of the line. Not long after she stood there, another two rows of little ones joined behind her.
A massive crowd surrounded the lines—local onlookers and parents bringing their children. They moved back as the circles of the queue expanded, voluntarily clearing paths for any child trying to enter before closing ranks again.
Perhaps fearing they might offend the immortals, the people present—some with eyes full of worry, others with faces full of excitement and curiosity—all maintained a tacit silence, their gazes focused intently on the high platform.
Even if a child ran down from the platform crying, their family would quickly cover their mouth and carry them away.
The atmosphere was a mix of excitement and intense tension.
Gu Ningyun, however, remained calm. The original host possessed a top-grade wind spirit root; at least she would have no problem passing the spirit root testing phase.
If there were other trials, she would simply give them her all.
There were many children in line, but very few possessed a spirit root.
Most children ran down with tears in their eyes almost as soon as they stepped up.
The line moved quickly, and soon it was Gu Ningyun's turn.
An immortal dressed in white with a green sash stood at the front of the platform. When Gu Ningyun stepped up, he pressed a stone into her hand. “Grip it tight.”
Gu Ningyun felt a slight sting in her palm, and the stone quickly emitted a cyan light.
“Open your hand.”
Gu Ningyun instinctively opened her palm. As the stone lay there, the cyan light rose from the bottom in layers until the entire stone had turned a pure, translucent cyan.
With a flick of his finger, the immortal took the stone back. Simultaneously, a vibrant green circular jade token appeared in his hand.
The immortal pressed the jade token against Gu Ningyun's forehead. “What is your name?”
Regarding her name, Gu Ningyun had considered whether she should change it after escaping the Gu family.
However, she quickly dismissed the idea.
In her previous life, when the director found her at the orphanage gates, the name 'Gu Ningyun' had been embroidered on her collar. It was the name that had been with her since childhood; after twenty-some years, she was internally unwilling to change it.
Furthermore, Xiaoyao was the number one sect in the cultivation world. Once she joined them, she wouldn't need to fear a family from a small town like the Gu family.
Even if Gu Lianxue found someone else to transplant a spirit root from and joined the Star-Moon Sect according to the book's plot, it wouldn't matter. The Star-Moon Sect couldn't compare to the Xiaoyao Immortal Sect.
Feeling the cool sensation on her forehead, Gu Ningyun's heart steadied. She replied, “My name is Gu Ningyun. 'Ning' as in lemon, and 'Yun' as in the myriad of things.”
The immortal declared, “Gu Ningyun, top-grade wind spirit root.”
A faint current of air brushed against her forehead, and the jade token was removed.
“Keep this safe and proceed to the next trial.”
Gu Ningyun took the jade token with both hands and carefully tucked it into her tunic.
Besides the immortal testing spirit roots, there was also a man-sized Cloud Mirror on the platform, along with another immortal dressed in white with a blue sash.
As Gu Ningyun approached, a young boy was being teleported off the platform by the Cloud Mirror, and the green jade token he had been carrying flew into the hands of the blue-sashed immortal.
Gu Ningyun remembered that boy. When his spirit root was tested, the stone had shown a seventy-percent-full green and an eighty-percent-full blue.
She didn't know what was being tested behind the Cloud Mirror, but seeing that even a dual spirit root with decent grades couldn't pass, she felt a slight twinge of nervousness.
At the immortal's gesture, Gu Ningyun stepped into the Cloud Mirror.
It felt like passing through a layer of ethereal white mist. As soon as her trailing foot landed, she found herself in a familiar setting.
She was dressed like a modern university student, sitting in a library study room. Around her were students studying quietly, and before her was an open laptop.
Is this an inner demon illusion trial?
The laptop screen in front of Gu Ningyun was filled with dense lines of code.
The line count at the bottom left showed 1,892, while a small window below the code displayed 32 red error messages.
In other words, if she wanted to pass this inner demon illusion, she first had to understand what this code did, then find 32 errors within the 1,892 lines based on the error messages and debug them until the code ran normally.
Gu Ningyun was speechless.
Even in a world of cultivation, she still had to run code.
Before her transmigration, Gu Ningyun had been a senior software engineering student at the Capital Aerospace University. Her transmigration had occurred just before her graduation defense.
Facing the code she had slaved over for four years, she wasn't particularly worried.
She scrolled the mouse, reading through the code from top to bottom. She discovered that this code was for the 'Design of an AI-Based Software Defect Monitoring and Repair System.'
Good grief, this was her actual graduation project topic.
Gu Ningyun began typing away, quickly slipping back into the state of mind she had during her final semester, grinding through code in the library.
...
—Run successful.
“Phew...” Gu Ningyun watched the success notification pop up in the bottom window and let go of the mouse.
The scene before her vanished, and she appeared on a platform of white jade. Ahead of the platform was a rising jade staircase.
She looked up the stairs; they seemed to reach toward the horizon, with no end in sight.
Gu Ningyun took a deep breath. After steadying herself, she stepped toward the staircase.
Her heart was resolute. No matter how high the stairs were or what she encountered on the way, she had to climb them.
The moment she stepped onto the stairs, she felt a heavy weight settle on her, as if several dumbbells were pressing down on her body.
She maintained steady breathing, keeping her head down as she moved forward one step at a time, looking neither ahead nor to the sides.
Grotesque shadows began to appear on the polished jade steps, and the roars of various beasts echoed in her ears.
The sound of a beast's footsteps came from behind her. Gu Ningyun felt as if something was staring intently at her. She shivered, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end.
She did not look back; her pace didn't even falter for a second.
Xiaoyao was an orthodox sect; they wouldn't truly force a six-year-old mortal child to face a vicious beast alone.
The beasts appearing around her were meant to instill fear, but it was only fear.
At this thought, Gu Ningyun calmed down, slowly getting used to the chilling gaze behind her.
The roars of the beasts grew more chaotic. Gu Ningyun heard the sound of wind by her left ear, followed by the snapping of teeth right next to her head.
She gritted her teeth, forcing herself to keep breathing and continue her upward climb.
A pitch-black snake, as thick as a bucket, was coiled ahead of her. Its head was raised, tensed and pulled back slightly, poised to strike at her.
Gu Ningyun's heart pounded. She decided to focus entirely on the tips of her toes.
She drew closer and closer to the great snake, close enough to hear the slimy hissing sound. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the shadow of the snake's head on the steps.
She saw the shadow's body lunge forward, its mouth gaping wide.
Rate on N.U.
