Eve of the Competition

Once she had succeeded for the first time, drawing subsequent top-grade talismans became far less daunting.

Following the rhythm of that first success, Gu Ningyun’s success rate for top-grade talismans climbed higher and higher as she became increasingly immersed in the craft.

Two days later, her success rate for yellow-rank top-grade Swift-Walk Talismans finally reached one hundred percent.

According to the light-and-shadow tutorial, once the Swift-Walk Talisman was mastered at the yellow-rank top-grade, she could move on to other talismans.

Gu Ningyun had always been interested in other types of talismans. She flipped through the 《Compendium of Talismans》 and decided to learn the Fireball Talisman.

Wind aids fire, so the success rate should be a bit higher, she reasoned.

Focusing her divine sense, she saw that the rune for the Fireball Talisman was the ancient script for "ball." Like the previous one, it was connected from start to finish and meant to be drawn in a single stroke.

The overall shape of the rune resembled a flickering flame.

Unlike the wind-attribute Swift-Walk Talisman, Gu Ningyun spent a significant amount of time in the early stages of learning the Fireball Talisman following the tutorial's guidance to sense the fluctuations and frequency of fire spirit energy.

Once she was familiar with fire spirit energy, she experienced three times as many failures as she had with the Swift-Walk Talisman before finally finding the proper pull and balance between her internal wind spirit energy and the external fire spirit energy, successfully using the former to trigger the latter.

Time passed quickly when she was focused on drawing talismans.

In the blink of an eye, three months had passed, bringing them to the eve of the competition.

Gu Ningyun’s success rate for yellow-rank top-grade Fireball Talismans had also finally reached one hundred percent.

She took stock of the fruits of her labor during this period.

Excluding ruined papers and unranked failures, Gu Ningyun had collected a total of—

Swift-Walk Talismans: 47 yellow-rank top-grade, 62 yellow-rank high-grade, 47 yellow-rank mid-grade, and 19 yellow-rank low-grade.

Fireball Talismans: 39 yellow-rank top-grade, 85 yellow-rank high-grade, 63 yellow-rank mid-grade, and 32 yellow-rank low-grade.

After organizing the talismans and putting them into her storage bag, Gu Ningyun left the Cloud Residence and headed to the small plaza at Ruiyu Pavilion to meet up with her friends.

Tomorrow was the New Disciple Competition, and they needed to discuss their tactics.

...

When Gu Ningyun arrived, the four of them were in the middle of a sparring session.

Seeing her approach, they put away their dharma artifacts, cast a few Cleaning Techniques on themselves, and gathered around in a circle.

Wen Xuan said, "All five of us have learned one of the four arts of cultivation. As long as we perform normally tomorrow, we'll definitely have an advantage over those who haven't."

Everyone nodded in agreement, their mindsets quite peaceful.

After confirming that everyone had finished memorizing the 《Almanac of Heavenly Wonders》, they began to discuss the focus of the individual competition: the individual combat phase.

Wen Xuan handed each of them a bottle of top-grade Return-to-Spring Pills and a bottle of top-grade Spirit-Replenishing Pills. "One bottle is for healing, and the other is for replenishing spirit energy."

"I only know how to refine these two types of pills. If the competition doesn't ban pills, use them as much as you need. If you run out, just come to me for more."

"With our cultivation levels, half a top-grade pill is enough for each dose," Mu Chenze noted. "This will be plenty."

Gu Ningyun put the pills away and gave each of them one yellow-rank top-grade Swift-Walk Talisman, one yellow-rank top-grade Fireball Talisman, five high-grade versions of each, and five mid-grade versions of each.

"A yellow-rank mid-grade Fireball Talisman has an attack power comparable to Qi Refining level six; the high-grade is comparable to Qi Refining level nine, and the top-grade is comparable to Qi Refining level twelve."

"The Swift-Walk Talisman increases your speed and agility. As for the effects... if you want to catch up to my current speed, a mid-grade Swift-Walk Talisman should be enough."

"If you encounter other wind spirit root users who have practiced movement techniques, use a high-grade one. However, I haven't practiced any movement techniques myself, so I'm not entirely sure about that point."

"It's fine," Jiang Yao said. "I've looked into it, and it seems you're the only wind spirit root user in this batch."

Gu Ningyun blinked. Oh? Were wind spirit roots really that rare?

She had assumed that since Xiaoyao had recruited hundreds of outer sect disciples, there would at least be a few others.

Seeing her dazed expression, Mu Chenze explained, "It's normal. Unlike the five basic single spirit roots, variant spirit roots are mutated from the five elements, so they are naturally much rarer."

"The conditions for mutation are very strict. Take your wind spirit root as an example."

"When your spirit root was first forming, your internal wood and fire attributes had to be perfectly balanced. Secondly, while your mother was pregnant with you, she had to have consumed high-grade fire, wood, or even wind-attribute spirit items."

"Finally, add a bit of luck, and there's only a ten percent chance of it mutating into a wind spirit root. If that bit of luck is missing, it would simply be a balanced fire-wood dual spirit root."

"Therefore, the world also calls those with variant spirit roots people of great fortune. The cultivation speed of a variant spirit root is the same as a single spirit root, but besides possessing the properties of the variant element itself, it is also more attuned to the two original elements."

"Ningyun, you have a top-grade wind spirit root, which means that before the mutation, your internal fire and wood spirit energy had already reached their maximum values. Because of this, your natural affinity for wind spirit energy is higher than an average high-grade wind spirit root, and it's easier for you to learn fire or wood-attribute talismans."

This was the first time Gu Ningyun had heard of this.

When she cultivated, she could see the five elements, wind, ice, and lightning spirit energy. she had assumed that these eight types of spirit energy simply existed naturally in this world.

She hadn't expected the origin of variant spirit roots to be so complex.

If she had time in the future, she would have to go to the library to brush up on this kind of general knowledge.

However, regarding the second point Mu Chenze mentioned... the original owner of her body had no memories from before the age of three, and the original book hadn't explained the background of a minor cannon fodder who died in the first chapter.

Judging by her wind spirit root, her mother couldn't have been weak. Could the Gu family have taken advantage of her mother while she was vulnerable during childbirth?

She couldn't dwell on it. She needed to be rational and calm. She was still a weakling; focusing on cultivation and improving her strength was the priority.

"Ningyun?" It was Wen Xuan's voice.

Gu Ningyun snapped back to reality and felt a warmth in her heart when she saw the four of them looking at her with concern.

"I'm fine, don't worry," she said with a smile. "Jun Luo, what two elements did your top-grade ice spirit root mutate from?"

Jun Luo carefully observed her expression. Seeing the smile in her eyes, he replied, "Earth and water. The last variant spirit root—lightning—is mutated from metal and water."

"Ningyun, if you're interested in this, you can go to the first floor of the library and borrow a jade slip called 《A Few Things About the Five Elements》. It's quite comprehensive. Aside from cultivation techniques, the reference materials in the library can be accessed for free without points."

"Okay." Gu Ningyun committed the title to memory.

After finishing the discussion about spirit roots, the group continued distributing supplies.

Mu Chenze gave everyone a yellow-rank high-grade array plate. "A yellow-rank high-grade illusion array. It can trap a cultivator up to Qi Refining level nine at most."

Jiang Yao handed Gu Ningyun and Jun Luo each a red sword tassel. "If someone attacks your wrist, the tassel will form a shield. It can block attacks up to Qi Refining level nine."

Gu Ningyun took the sword tassel and attached it directly to her peach wood sword.

She remembered that when she sparred with her friends, they loved to attack her and Jun Luo's wrists. Jiang Yao's spear work was excellent, and he had nearly succeeded in knocking the peach wood sword out of her hand several times.