She withdrew her gaze, the hint of a smile at the corner of her lips impossible to suppress.
Yin Ruozhuo leaned in. “What are you looking at, Senior Sister?”
“Nothing.” Shen Qingci stepped forward and walked toward the Dharma Academy. “Let’s go.”
The five of them swarmed forward, falling in step just behind her shoulder, keeping a steady, unhurried pace.
...
Days flew by in a blur of practicing swordplay, attending classes, and accumulating Belief Value. In the blink of an eye, three months had passed, and the quarterly assessment arrived.
The assessment site of the Dharma Academy was set in an independent spell-casting arena to the east. Surrounded by green stone walls on all sides, a spirit-suppressing bronze mirror hung overhead to prevent any disciple from accidentally throwing a spell outside.
Jiang Rui stood in the center of the arena, waving her hand toward the wooden training dummies lining the edge. “Today, we will conduct the basic spell assessment.”
“These wooden dummies have ironwood cores and are covered in spirit-gathering runes. They can withstand a full-force blow from a cultivator at the tenth level of Qi Refining without taking damage. The assessment will determine your power level based solely on the depth of the spiritual energy impact from your spell.”
“For those at the fifth level of Qi Refining and above, single spiritual root disciples will be tested on three spells of their respective element. Dual spiritual root disciples will choose one primary spiritual root to be tested on three spells.
Each person gets three strikes, and scores will be recorded based on power, accuracy, and spiritual energy control. Achieving mastery within three months is considered a pass.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a chorus of groans erupted from the sidelines.
Yin Ruozhuo shrank behind Zhao Yu, his round, chubby face full of misery. “I have dual earth and fire spiritual roots, so my focus is split to begin with. I’ve been practicing the Earth Spike Spell until now, and I can still only kick up a few bits of loose dirt. I can’t even break the spirit runes on the surface of the wooden dummy.”
Zhao Yu rolled his eyes. “Who here isn't a dual spiritual root?”
“I have wind and wood roots, and you don't see me complaining like this. You slack off in secret all the time; it’d be a miracle if you could practice it well.”
Standing at the very front with his arms crossed, Xiao Yan added a finishing blow. “You've practiced for two months and still only produce loose dirt. Senior Sister Shen has a Lightning Spiritual Root and practiced the Lightning Strike Spell—she shattered three wooden dummies in three days!”
Yin Ruozhuo groaned. “My good brother, could you please not bring that up?”
But Xiao Yan had already tilted his chin forward, indicating for him to look ahead.
Shen Qingci was walking in from the edge of the arena.
Three months had passed, and she was nearly half a head taller than when she first entered the sect. Her Moon-Grasping Flowing Celestial Dress had been swapped for a narrow-sleeved short robe used for training. Her cuffs were tied tight, the Jinglei sword hung at her waist, and the lightning-struck wood bead on the sword tassel swayed gently with her steps.
Walking to the center of the arena, she gave Jiang Rui a slight nod. “Deacon Jiang, this disciple is ready.”
Jiang Rui nodded and took three steps back.
Over a hundred pairs of eyes converged on her.
Over the past few months, the disciples in the arena had already developed a tacit understanding: whenever Senior Sister Shen took the field, they were guaranteed to witness a level of skill far exceeding ordinary standards.
Shen Qingci raised her hand.
Arcs of lightning danced between her fingers. Without any visible buildup of power, she flipped her wrist, and a bolt of violet-blue lightning surged from her palm, striking straight toward the wooden dummy ten feet away.
Boom!
The wooden dummy split in half from top to bottom, the cut charred black with tiny electric sparks crackling along the edges. The stone platform beneath the dummy cracked in three places. Dust kicked up, only to be swept away by the residual shockwave of the spell.
A dead silence fell over the sidelines.
Then, someone quietly closed their gaping mouth.
Jiang Rui walked over to inspect the dummy, then looked at the cracks on the stone platform. When she turned around, her expression was complex, filled with the helpless resignation of an older generation being surpassed by the new.
“Power: superior. Accuracy: superior. Spiritual energy control: superior.” She paused.
“Junior Sister Shen, your Lightning Strike Spell has reached mastery. Along with your previous Lightning Condensation Shield and Lightning-Guiding Finger, you have met the standards for all three of your basic lightning spells. You are exempt from the quarterly spell exam.”
Others merely assumed Shen Qingci was exceptionally gifted, but only Jiang Rui knew the truth.
A high-grade Lightning Spiritual Root naturally possessed armor-piercing and evil-dispelling properties. Combined with the fact that this girl's spiritual energy density far exceeded others of her level, her actual power was close to the peak of the tenth level of Qi Refining. Shattering an ironwood dummy was only to be expected.
Yin Ruozhuo pulled a long face in the crowd. “See, what did I tell you? The spells Senior Sister mastered in three months would take me two years to practice.”
Zhao Yu sighed. “You slack off and fish for compliments every day. How can you compare?”
“I'm preserving my strength!”
“You're just lacking spiritual energy.”
While the two were bickering, the second disciple took the field.
This was a disciple with dual metal and water spiritual roots. Taking a deep breath, they pinched their fingers into a hand seal and chanted an incantation. After holding their breath for a full five breaths, they finally summoned a water arrow half the height of a person, which slammed into the wooden dummy with a wet slap.
The dummy wobbled slightly, a small damp patch spreading across its surface. It didn't even trigger the spirit-gathering runes, let alone damage the ironwood core.
Jiang Rui swept a glance over. “Power: inferior. Accuracy: mediocre. Spiritual energy control: inferior. Go back and practice it two hundred more times!”
The disciple hung their head and retreated from the field, muttering, “My focus is split with dual spiritual roots. It's already not easy to train to this point...”
Someone nearby patted their shoulder. “Don't lose heart, our level is the norm.”
“But Senior Sister Shen...”
“She has a high-grade Lightning Spiritual Root. Her innate power suppresses ours right from the start. There's no comparing.”
Shen Qingci had sharp ears and heard this comment loud and clear, causing the corner of her mouth to twitch slightly.
Honestly, she didn't want to keep such a high profile either.
But the system's Belief Value mechanism was right there. Every time she showed off in spell class, the surrounding disciples' gasps, admiration, and feelings of inadequacy translated into cold, hard points.
Over the course of three months, her reputation spread from the new disciples of the Dharma Academy, first permeating the inner sect, then traveling through the mouths of miscellaneous disciples and older students to reach the forty thousand disciples of the outer sect. Even the various elders and Peak Masters of the sect tacitly accepted the weight of the Northern Region's Shen family as a hidden, great clan.
Her accumulated Belief Value had already broken through the thirty-two thousand mark, nearly sweeping clean all the recognition she could gather from the entire Azure Cloud Sect.
Thirty-two thousand points.
Enough for three hundred and twenty draws.
Although the items in the gacha pool were hit-or-miss—yielding Mystic-grade robes, high-grade spirit stones, and pill experience packages, alongside several “Thank you for playing” results—the overall returns were still highly respectable.
Moreover, her cultivation hadn't fallen behind either.
In three months, she had advanced from the sixth level of Qi Refining to the eighth level of Qi Refining, breaking through two cultivation realms in quick succession.
Her meridians had widened to more than three times the size of others at the same stage, and her spiritual energy circulated with a smoothness that shouldn't belong to the Qi Refining stage.
A few days ago, when Jinglian checked her schoolwork and glanced at her cultivation progress, she had actually given a rare nod. “Not bad. You haven't swung your sword in vain.”
At the time, Shen Qingci had respectfully replied, “Thank you for your praise, Master,” while thinking to herself...
You call that praise? At most, it's just not getting scolded.
But she did practice incredibly hard.
Waking up at the Mao hour every day, she would first practice three thousand basic sword forms, then attend classes at the Dharma Academy, and drag Yin Ruozhuo and the others to practice until dusk after class.
At first, Yin Ruozhuo wailed, “Have mercy, Senior Sister!” for two days. But after realizing that wailing was useless, he resigned himself to his fate. Later, when he found his cultivation indeed rising rapidly, he shut his mouth and even began to actively add extra training sessions.
This trend first spread from the few people around her. Seeing others progress so rapidly, none of the new disciples in the same batch were willing to stagnate, and they all followed suit, adding extra training.
Eventually, the martial arts arena grew more and more crowded, and the sound of discussing spell-casting insights in the dining hall drowned out gossip. Even the miscellaneous disciples whispered among themselves in private, “This year's batch of new disciples is working incredibly hard. They're still practicing their swords in the middle of the night.”
The deacons of the Dharma Academy, however, were more than happy to see this development.
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