Chapter 12: The "Appropriate" Answer (Please add to favorites! Please keep reading!)

Shao Heng’s right index finger landed on the parchment scroll, tracing over that line of text as if she wanted to see it more clearly.

When the same divine ability appears in different cultivators, it varies from person to person, producing changes of varying degrees. This variation is, in fact, one of the symbols of a divine ability's potential.

The higher the ranking and the greater the potential of a divine ability, the more concise its description. For example, the [Qingdi] possessed by Shao Heng has a description of only eight characters, because its power and marvelous uses cannot be defined by words.

As for the divine abilities listed later, because their variations are limited, the introductions become increasingly detailed.

Just like this line of content.

“The 9,123rd, [Heart-Bewitching Pupils]. Its pupils are tinged with purple; when activated, they can suppress illusions and also provide a boost when practicing bewitching arts. Any living being whose soul level is not far superior to the possessor’s will be invisibly influenced by this ability, developing an uncontrollable, natural fondness for the possessor. For those whose soul level is significantly lower than the possessor’s, the possessor can even forcibly control their mind and spirit.”

Next to this line of text, a sigil was also drawn.

It was a hexagram shape, overlapping with the blurry pattern Shao Heng had once glimpsed deep within Jiang Yunjiang’s pupils when they locked eyes.

The confusion she had felt before began to clear, and answers emerged one after another.

Why did her parents and brothers, who had spent over a decade with her, gradually shift their care and love onto Jiang Yunjiang?

Why, even when coerced with the most core interests, did the people Shao Heng arranged always betray her at critical moments, stabbing her in the back?

Because Jiang Yunjiang possesses the divine ability [Heart-Bewitching Pupils]. Even without doing anything specific, she could effortlessly gain the favor and affection of Lu Yuan, Jiang Yun, Lu Shaojia... and the others.

She could even forcibly control those whose soul strength was far inferior to her own, briefly manipulating their words and actions.

As someone who also possesses an innate divine ability, Shao Heng believed her soul was by no means weaker than Jiang Yunjiang’s, which is why this ability had no effect on her—let alone causing her to feel any fondness.

When she discovered Jiang Yunjiang beginning to encroach upon her interests, she had begun to strike back without mercy...

Shao Heng’s lips pressed into a thin line. She gripped the edges of the scroll tightly; fortunately, the parchment was extremely resilient, or it would have been torn.

“It seems this is the answer.”

When her parents began to favor an adopted daughter with whom they had no blood relation, Shao Heng had even wondered if she had fallen into some ridiculous drama of "true and false heiresses."

But her own face, which combined all the best features of Lu Yuan and Jiang Yun, left no room for anyone to claim she was not the legitimate bloodline of the Pingnan Marquis Mansion.

At that time, Shao Heng could not understand why her parents had become cold toward her, why her brother had repeatedly asked her to give up good things, why her younger brother had begun to give her cold looks and act rebellious, why Yan Ning, with whom she had laughed and played since childhood, had begun to distance herself...

Everything, every single thing, could be explained by Jiang Yunjiang influencing their minds.

This was the most fitting answer imaginable.

But if a single answer could soothe all the pain of the past, why was the ball of rage in Shao Heng’s heart burning even more fiercely instead?

……

The next day, a quarter of an hour before the hour of the Dragon (7:00 AM), the morning light broke, and a gentle breeze blew.

The newly inducted outer sect disciples arrived at the entrance of the Miaofa Pavilion one after another. Though they looked weary, their expressions were excited.

Upon reaching the fourth floor, they found the hall to be incredibly spacious. At the front was a lecture desk, and behind it were hundreds of prayer mats arranged in an orderly fashion, with a small desk placed in front of each one.

Shao Heng had arrived before dawn, claiming the best spot in the first row, closest to the lecture desk.

The lecturing elder had not yet arrived, so she began to flip through the booklet placed on her desk.

It was a thin volume, no more than thirty-four pages, recording twenty-seven types of spells.

Dust-Cleansing Art, Sound-Isolation Spell, Immobilization Spell, Voice-Transmission Spell, Rejuvenation Art, Wood-Binding Spell, Water-Avoidance Spell, Light-Evasion Art, Gold-Turning Art... Shao Heng read through them carefully, and by the time she closed the book, she had already memorized the incantations and hand seals.

She had spent the night reading classics, and she could judge that these were all considered low-grade immortal arts.

When she heard the sound of the lecturing elder stepping onto the podium, Shao Heng raised her head to look.

“It’s actually Elder Zhao Tang?”

Zhao Tang wore a loose, brownish-tan robe. She held a long staff and had a stern expression. As she stood on the platform, the whispering among the disciples vanished completely.

As a third-realm cultivator, Zhao Tang had already condensed her divine sense. With a single sweep of her consciousness, she easily counted the number of people.

“Three hundred and seventy-eight outer sect disciples were recruited this year. Many come from cultivation clans and have been guiding Qi into their bodies since childhood, taught the essentials of cultivation by their elders. Now, only sixty-three of these are disciples recruited from regions where spiritual energy is barren,” she thought to herself.

It was a fact; the saying that "the land is spiritual and the people are outstanding" was never an empty phrase.

Living beings in regions rich with heaven and earth spiritual energy are invisibly nurtured by it, making it easier for them to step onto the path of cultivation.

Moreover, as human cultivators advance in realm, their physical bodies and blood essence are constantly tempered by magic power, so the infants they bear naturally have an advantage over children of ordinary backgrounds. Over time, this formed cultivation clans.

“I just didn’t expect that this time, we would actually receive a disciple with superior aptitude from the Kunfan Domain, which is particularly barren of spiritual energy. I even received a reward for it—a third-grade spirit pill.” Zhao Tang’s thoughts were unknown to others. She quickly composed herself, straightened her face, and spoke to the disciples below.

“Put away the spell booklets on your desks. They record twenty-seven common spells. You have not yet guided Qi into your bodies and lack the magic power to cast them. Therefore, during these three months of lectures, for the first half-month, I will only teach the essentials of Qi-guiding and the operational characteristics of the five elements of spiritual energy. You must seize the time to guide your Qi. After half a month, regardless of whether you have succeeded, I will begin to explain the ‘Peiyuan Yangqi Manual’ bestowed by the sect, while interspersing it with spell instruction.”

Shao Heng, sitting on her prayer mat, suddenly remembered the jade slip containing the cultivation technique in her storage ring.

Although the magic power cultivated by the “Peiyuan Yangqi Manual” is not very powerful, its strength lies in its purity. It is suitable for the root bones and aptitude of the vast majority of disciples, avoiding the danger of conflicting energies.

In some small sects, such a technique would only be accessible to core disciples, yet in the Zhenyi Yuan Sect, it could be widely distributed among outer sect disciples.

Human thought is limited after all. Last night, Shao Heng’s mind was occupied by her innate divine ability, and in her single-minded desire to obtain more relevant information, she had subconsciously overlooked this manual.

She lowered her eyelashes, thinking to herself: “After Elder Zhao finishes the lecture, I will return to the disciples’ quarters and study that ‘Peiyuan Yangqi Manual’.”

But to be honest, Shao Heng knew very well that there was another reason she had subconsciously overlooked this manual last night.

That was because cultivation techniques, like immortal arts, are divided into low, middle, and high grades, and the “Peiyuan Yangqi Manual” was only low-grade.

Disciples who entered the inner sect, like Jiang Yunjiang, would have more and better choices—middle-grade, or even high-grade.

Shao Heng never denied her own flaws; she wanted to be the best at everything, and she wanted the best of everything.

This competitive spirit was like a law of operation carved into her bones and blood. The mere thought that the technique she practiced would be inferior to others—even if she could switch later—made her feel miserable.

But Shao Heng knew even better that only by grasping every chip she could hold could she win step by step until the end.

“Cultivation techniques are crucial to a cultivator; they can purify magic power and increase cultivation speed, so this matter must not be delayed, or I will simply be sabotaging myself for nothing.” She had already made up her mind.