Chapter 25: Junior Sister, Senior Brother Teaches You
“Junior Sister Pei, why did you finish so quickly? I didn’t even have time to send you the answers,” Feng Yu Die said.
“No need, I’m done.”
“Ah?” Feng Yu Die looked up in admiration and quickly flattered, “Junior Sister Pei is amazing. Can you answer such difficult questions?”
At this moment, Xiao Tian, who was floating beside Feng Yu Die, quickly said, “Yu Die, what she wrote is exactly the same as what I read to you.”
“Ah?”
Exactly the same?
Feng Yu Die looked surprised. It was at this moment that two wrinkled hands suddenly landed on her and Pei Lianxue’s shoulders.
Elder Wang walked out, looking at them with a dark expression.
“You two…”
“Ah, it’s Elder Wang,” Feng Yu Die asked with a smile, “Where are we going next?”
Elder Wang twitched his lips and gritted his teeth, “Did I not remind you when you entered the examination hall not to engage in fraud? It would lead to disqualification.”
“Ah?” Feng Yu Die flinched. “We didn’t cheat~”
“Then why are your answers and Pei Lianxue’s identical?! Mr. Qi just flew into a rage and wants to use the Heart-Questioning Cauldron on you!”
Hearing this, Pei Lianxue couldn’t help but feel a little surprised.
Didn’t I just write according to what Senior Brother taught me before? How could Feng Yu Die’s answer be the same as mine?
Could it be that Senior Brother also told Feng Yu Die? When? Did they spend time alone together?
“Elder Wang, we really didn’t cheat,” Feng Yu Die quickly defended herself and Pei Lianxue.
“Actually, you did cheat, but Pei Lianxue didn’t,” Xiao Tian sighed helplessly. “You got the answers from me, but she wrote them herself. Although I don’t know why she could come up with that answer.”
Seeing Feng Yu Die’s expression, Elder Wang paused, then frowned and looked at Pei Lianxue, asking, “Pipsqueak Pei, did she really not pass you the answers?”
“Absolutely not,” Pei Lianxue snapped back to reality and cupped her fists in response.
“Let me remind you, you can’t lie before the Heart-Questioning Cauldron. You have to tell the truth,” Elder Wang confirmed again with a frown. “Did you cheat or not?”
“Absolutely not! I really wrote the answers myself.”
“Hoo—” Elder Wang exhaled lightly and nodded. “Alright then, both of you remember, you must speak the truth before the Heart-Questioning Cauldron, and you can’t add half a lie.”
The two nodded.
Afterward, Elder Wang led the two of them back to the center of the examination ground, in front of Mr. Qi.
At this moment, Mr. Qi had already prepared the “Heart-Questioning Cauldron.”
It was a cauldron large enough to stew Pei Lianxue and Feng Yu Die together. The cauldron was engraved with a pattern of a green dragon playing with a pearl, looking majestic. Just by getting close to it, Pei Lianxue and Feng Yu Die felt a scorching heat as if they were in a large fire.
“You, step forward and stand before the cauldron.”
Mr. Qi glanced coldly at the two, then stood up and gestured for Pei Lianxue to come forward.
“Yes.”
Pei Lianxue swallowed nervously and then walked to the cauldron and stopped.
Then, Mr. Qi picked up a golden brush in his right hand, waved his sleeve, and a drop of ink from the brush tip fell onto the eye of the green dragon carved on the cauldron.
The next moment, a green dragon flew out of the cauldron, circled twice in mid-air, and hovered in front of Pei Lianxue, its fiery dragon eyes staring directly into hers.
In an instant, Pei Lianxue felt as if her whole body was immobilized by a body-fixing spell. The green dragon in her eyes gradually grew larger until it blotted out the sun and sky, obscuring her vision.
At this point, Mr. Qi could have asked Pei Lianxue questions.
However, Mr. Qi deliberately waited for a moment.
The dragon’s might of the Heart-Questioning Cauldron was not something that could be easily endured. Some cultivators in the Core Formation Stage would tremble uncontrollably before the dragon of the Heart-Questioning Cauldron, and most cultivators in the Foundation Establishment Stage would be so frightened that they would kneel and beg for mercy, taking days to recover.
He thought that if Pei Lianxue couldn’t withstand it, she would confess herself, saving him the trouble of using spirit stones, but Pei Lianxue’s reaction exceeded his expectations.
In the first instant, Pei Lianxue’s face showed panic and fear, but she quickly suppressed it with her will.
Such composure was extraordinary.
Mr. Qi stroked his beard, pursed his lips, and nodded. Only then did he ask, “Did you cheat?”
“No.”
Mr. Qi looked at the green dragon. Seeing that it didn’t react, he frowned and asked again, “Then did you come up with this answer yourself?”
“N-no.”
“Then did you see it in a book?”
“No.”
“Then how did you know it?”
“It… it was taught to me by my Senior Brother before.”
As she finished speaking, Pei Lianxue’s face had already turned somewhat pale.
Mr. Qi looked at the green dragon and, confirming that Pei Lianxue was not lying, stopped asking. He could tell that if he used the Heart-Questioning Cauldron on this girl again, she would faint at the next question.
Immediately, he waved his sleeve, and the green dragon immediately retreated back into the cauldron.
After the green dragon disappeared, Pei Lianxue couldn’t help but take a few steps back, covering her chest and taking several deep breaths before she recovered from the dragon’s might.
Mr. Qi walked up to her, nodded slightly, and said, “Your Senior Brother taught it to you?”
“Yes, my Senior Brother told me the answer to remember,” Pei Lianxue answered honestly. “However, I don’t quite understand this answer…”
“Who is your Senior Brother?”
“My Senior Brother’s name is Ye Anping.”
Mr. Qi was stunned: “…Who is Ye Anping?”
“He’s my Senior Brother.”
“…”
Pei Lianxue was a little too nervous, as this was her first time speaking to a cultivator in the Nascent Soul Stage. Elder Wang stepped forward to explain, “Sir, he is the Young Master of the Hundred Lotus Sect.”
“I see…” Mr. Qi nodded and silently noted the name.
Then, after pondering for a moment, he took a bottle of pills from his storage bag and handed it to Pei Lianxue.
“Consider this bottle of pills as my apology to you.”
“Senior, you don’t have to… This… that…”
“It just so happens that you are at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining. These pills will be useful for your Foundation Establishment.” Mr. Qi stroked his beard with a smile and ordered, “Take them. Or are you saying you won’t accept my kindness?”
“Ah…” Pei Lianxue stared at the pill bottle for a moment, then finally reached out and took it gingerly, nodding shyly. “Then… I thank you, Senior.”
Mr. Qi nodded, then had a sudden thought. He scanned Pei Lianxue with his spiritual sense, intending to give her some pointers on her cultivation.
However, upon seeing Pei Lianxue’s spiritual roots, he became slightly puzzled.
—This is a Three Spirit Root of Water, Wood, and Earth?
—But why do these Three Spirit Roots look so strange? Water and Wood are too strong, and Earth is suppressed.
After a pause, Mr. Qi asked again, “You have a Three Spirit Root?”
“Yes, I have a Three Spirit Root of Water, Wood, and Earth.”
“How old are you?”
“…Fourteen years old. I’ll be fifteen in a few months.”
“Fifteen years old, and you’ve already reached Qi Refining Completion?”
“Ah…” Pei Lianxue pursed her lips and shook her head, somewhat confused by Mr. Qi’s question. “Yes.”
“…”
Mr. Qi fell silent. He rarely saw a cultivator with a Three Spirit Root cultivate so quickly. This was either because they came from a wealthy family and used a large amount of expensive pills to assist their cultivation, or they were forced to cultivate through some kind of enlightenment technique.
But the Hundred Lotus Sect would not have so many resources to push a Three Spirit Root cultivator.
Therefore, if the girl didn’t have some fortuitous encounter, her spiritual root aptitude must have been problematic.
Moreover, the one named Ye Anping also seemed to be an outstanding young man.
After pondering for a while, Mr. Qi gently patted her shoulder and said kindly, “Go back and rest well. Tomorrow’s Sect Selection will be quite tiring. Shouren, arrange a better place for these two to stay.”
Upon hearing this, Elder Wang raised an eyebrow and smiled, “Sir, all the cultivators participating in the Sect Selection are staying in shared dormitories today. Isn’t this against the rules?”
Mr. Qi squinted at him and repeated, “A better, place.”
“…Yes.”
