Chapter Twenty-three: Dao Heart
Elder Wang looked at Feng Yudie with a helpless expression. “Feng Yudie, tie your hair up neatly before entering the hall. Your appearance can affect your score.”
After reminding her, Elder Wang turned his gaze to Pei Lianxue. He hadn’t met Pei Lianxue when he visited the Hundred Lotus Sect before, so he asked with some confusion, “Did you come with Feng Yudie?”
“Yes,” Pei Lianxue cupped her hands in a salute. “This junior, Pei Lianxue, was asked by Young Master Ye to come as Senior Sister Feng’s companion reader.”
“A disciple from the Hundred Lotus Sect,” Elder Wang stroked his beard and asked, “So you are the companion reader, not Young Master Ye?”
“Yes.”
Elder Wang found it a bit strange. When he went to the Hundred Lotus Sect previously, he felt that Ye Ao seemed quite eager for Ye Anping to join the Xuan Xing Sect as an Inner Disciple. Therefore, upon hearing about Feng Yudie, he naturally assumed Ye Ao would arrange for Ye Anping to be Feng Yudie’s companion reader. However, now a girl with Three Spirit Root aptitude had been sent instead. He wondered what Ye Ao was thinking.
After a moment’s hesitation, he waved his hand and said, “Never mind. The Xuan Xing Sect is not too strict about the requirements for companion readers, but it’s not without requirements either. I’ll kindly remind you that as Feng Yudie’s companion reader, you need to participate in the sect selection with her. The entry standard will be lowered, but if you fail, you still won’t be able to enter the Xuan Xing Sect.”
Pei Lianxue paused for a moment before cupping her hands in a bow again. “This junior understands.”
“Alright, follow me. The first round is a written test.” With that, Elder Wang led the way towards the side hall.
Pei Lianxue couldn’t help but swallow. Not bothering with the Feng Yudie beside her, she hurried to catch up with his footsteps. Honestly, she hadn’t felt very nervous when she arrived, thinking that the Xuan Xing Sect’s sect selection would be similar to the Hundred Lotus Sect’s, perhaps just a little more competitive. However, when Elder Wang mentioned a written test, she instantly started to panic. She was confident in sword fighting, spellcasting, and alchemy, but when it came to tests and essays, she lacked confidence. What if she failed to pass? Wouldn’t her Senior Brother have brought her here in vain?
As if sensing her nervousness, Feng Yudie, who was walking beside her, immediately leaned closer and asked, “Junior Sister Pei, are you very nervous?”
“Not nervous,” Pei Lianxue glanced at her, but then added with a lack of confidence, “I’m just not very good at things involving writing and ink. Senior Brother rarely taught me those things before…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll find a chance to pass the answers to you later.”
“…Do you know the Heavenly Scroll of the Dao?”
“Of course!” Feng Yudie pursed her lips proudly. “I know the contents of the Heavenly Scroll of the Dao by heart, humph.”
At this moment, Elder Wang, who was walking ahead, seemed to overhear their whispering. He sighed silently and reminded them, “Feng Yudie, if you help her cheat, both of you will be disqualified, and you will never be able to participate in the Xuan Xing Sect selection again.”
“Ah~ Elder Wang, I was just joking.” Feng Yudie replied awkwardly and then made a face at Elder Wang’s back.
“Sigh—”
Elder Wang sighed faintly, suddenly recalling a common saying: “Those who are not family do not enter the same door.” Although he had only met Feng Yudie twice, he inexplicably saw a shadow of her Master, Grand Void True Person, in her.
Feng Yudie winked at Pei Lianxue and said in a low voice, “Junior Sister Pei, wait for my signal later.”
“Aren’t you afraid of being caught?”
“If I get caught, I get caught. At worst, I’ll return to the Hundred Lotus Sect with you, and we can cultivate together every day.”
Although Feng Yudie’s voice was soft, Elder Wang, walking ahead, could still hear her. However, this time he didn’t say anything. In fact, Feng Yudie’s spot had already been decided by the Sect Master and the elders. As long as she didn’t cause too much trouble, the Xuan Xing Sect would surely turn a blind eye. After all, she was not only a Heavenly Spirit Root but also a direct disciple of Grand Void True Person, and the orphaned descendant of the former Saint Emperor. If the Xuan Xing Sect expelled her, and she went to one of the other four great Immortal Family sects, it would be a loss far greater than a spirit mine or a Dao opportunity for the Xuan Xing Sect. Elder Wang now only hoped that Feng Yudie wouldn’t be too blatant. If she made small moves, he wouldn’t quibble over them.
The two followed Elder Wang through a teleportation formation next to the hall. In a flash, they arrived in a vast open space capable of holding tens of thousands of people. Red sandalwood desks were placed every ten feet, each equipped with the Four Treasures of the Study. Many disciples participating in the sect selection were already seated and answering questions.
Pei Lianxue wanted to use her eyesight to look at the answers of the other disciples, but it seemed that some kind of formation was set up around each desk, making it impossible to see their test papers, let alone their faces.
Elder Wang went to a high platform in the center of the field, where he received two wooden tokens from an old man with a white beard. After glancing at them, he crushed the tokens. Instantly, Pei Lianxue and Feng Yudie, who had been standing together, were teleported to their respective desks.
The next moment, Elder Wang’s voice directly reached their Spiritual Sense. “It’s very simple. The jade tablet on the table has the questions. Just write your answers on the paper. The time limit is one hour. If you finish early, you can say ‘Answered,’ and the formation will teleport you out.”
“Answered?” Feng Yudie questioned.
Immediately, a blue light enveloped her, and she was teleported out.
“Hiss—”
Elder Wang, standing in the center of the field, couldn’t help but take a deep breath. Then, with a sword finger in hand, he also teleported out of the examination hall.
Three breaths later, he reappeared, holding Feng Yudie by the collar of her back, teleporting in again through the formation at the entrance of the exam hall.
“…”
“Ah… Ahaha,” Feng Yudie couldn’t help but awkwardly rub the back of her head. “Oops, I said it subconsciously, ahaha—”
Elder Wang looked at her with a resentful expression, then sighed helplessly. He went to get her another new wooden token and sent her to a different seat.
Pei Lianxue was momentarily speechless. With a sigh, she stopped paying attention to Feng Yudie and picked up the jade tablet on the table to look at the questions. Upon seeing the questions, she couldn’t help but feel a little surprised. The questions only had two words written on them: “Dao Heart.”
In the past, her Senior Brother had mentioned “Dao Heart” to her more than once. Although what her Senior Brother said sounded profound and difficult to understand, and she still couldn’t fully grasp the meaning of “Dao Heart” that her Senior Brother spoke of, he had told her to memorize everything he said as much as possible. And she had indeed memorized it, clearly and accurately.
Pei Lianxue pursed her lips and immediately picked up her brush, writing on the paper before her: “So-called Dao Heart is to eradicate evil for good, to discard human desires, and to preserve heavenly principles. The return of heavenly principles, the faith of justice and reason. Uphold benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. Unify knowledge and action, and extend the innate conscience to all things…”
Meanwhile, Feng Yudie, looking at the words “Dao Heart,” pouted and thought for a moment. She whispered, “Xiao Tian, how do I write this?”
Xiao Tian, floating above her head, immediately rolled its eyes. “Who was it that just told that Pei girl she could recite the Dao teachings by heart?”
“Ah, I was just trying to gain some favor, so I bragged a little~”
“Heh~” Xiao Tian sneered. “When Grand Void True Person made you memorize texts before, you didn’t. Now you regret it, don’t you?”
“Yes, yes, yes, I regret it, so what are the answers?”
“Sigh—” Xiao Tian sighed and waved its Heavenly Scroll of the Dao out. After flipping through it for a while, it said, “I’ll only read it to you once. So-called Dao Heart is to eradicate evil for good, to discard human desires, and to preserve heavenly principles. The return of heavenly principles, the faith of justice and reason. Uphold benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. Unify knowledge and action, and extend the innate conscience to all things…”
