CH 20.2

in his bewildered state, zhao ming suddenly felt a slight and cold touch on his eyes.

[little ai reminds you; level 916 provides pinpoint accuracy with 100% efficiency!]

who… was little ai?

was that the name of his junior sister?

zhao ming hadn’t figured it out yet, but everything within his field of vision suddenly became much clearer.

the entire plain, the willow leaves beside him, and the old man’s withered wrinkles all expanded several times, making everything much clearer!

he was originally at the nascent soul third layer in terms of vision, but this technique…

before he could finish his amazement, he noticed something remarkable. the black snake in front of him, with its blood-filled gaping mouth, had a faintly colored weak spot on its forehead!

moreover, its movements seemed to have slowed down!

its body, the size of a water barrel, now had a gap of four inches in the middle of its body!

zhao ming: “!”

he immediately thrust his sword at the weakened scales of the black snake, aiming for its vulnerable point!

the black snake instantly sprayed out foul-smelling blood, and countless scales fell off.

zhao ming was shocked.

“it can’t be, it can’t be… fire eyes golden gaze, this low-level useless technique!” exclaimed the emaciated old man, his eyes wide in disbelief.

why was it impossible?

lin shuang sat on the sword, her breathing already calm, but her body was still exhausted from the hell-level fat burning exercise.

she leaned weakly against the small table on the wide sword’s surface, supported her forehead, and looked at the old man with sympathy.

“you’ve been practicing for how many years… 916 levels…” the old man’s right shoulder was pierced through by zhao ming’s sword, and he stared at lin shuang in disbelief.

lin shuang sat cross-legged, leaned forward, and her eyes took on a faint glassy color.

“considering you don’t have much time left, i’ll tell you.”

she lowered her head. “well, i’ve been practicing this technique for three years and two months.”

indeed, a very long time.

no, wait!

the old man’s figure stiffened, and zhao ming also paused his incantations.

three years, practicing to 916 levels.

on average, she practiced one level a day?!

what kind of cultivation speed was this?!

lin shuang, ignoring their astonishment, saw that the outcome was decided and turned her snowboard-like wide sword, swiftly flying away.

“senior from the mountain and sea sect, i’ll take my leave. please convey my regards to xiao qi.”

“!?!”

zhao ming was momentarily panicked and touched his mask.

the snowboard-like wide sword disappeared from his sight.

“brother! i’ll help you—”

meng zi, who had finally finished dealing with two other evil cultivators, hurried over.

he saw a floral-patterned sword hilt adorned with two red ropes.

on both sides of the sword wings, yellow paper talismans fluttered, their cinnabar ink fresh and red.

hiss…

meng zi furrowed his brow. “brother, who is this?”

why did he feel like he had seen this sword hilt somewhere before?

but in an instant, he kicked something hard on the ground, and when he looked down, his eyes lit up.

“damn it, that’s a whole 5,500 spirit stones! so, you were here, after all!”

zhao ming: “…”

zhen nan mountain: “…”

the emaciated evil cultivator: “…”

—

“my plan was flawed. i took a detour specifically to do fat-burning exercises, thinking i could find clues to the finger bone, but in the end, i found nothing.”

“it made me waste time taking the detour.”

“but it’s okay; i’ve achieved today’s breakthrough goal for the fire eyes and golden vision technique in advance.”

lin shuang supported her forehead.

“xiao qi still owes me a favor; i saved a fellow disciple of his. i’ll make a note of it and tell him next time.”

1 fat burning tomato timer √

2 fire eyes and golden vision tomato timer √

3 strengthening friendship with xiao qi (additional gains) √

lin shuang took a look and, despite taking a detour, gained something from the experience. she felt happy. she quickly accelerated her sword and caught up with the main group.

ten miles away, on a tall tree, huangfu yuan stood holding a jade-carved hand warmer. he watched as she flew back, her face flushed, lying comfortably, her left hand talking to a book and her right hand holding a drawing.

floating in the air, there was even a sound stone playing music.

“…purchase those people’s mustard seed bags at a high price.”

bai yu took a deep breath. “understood.”

all the evil cultivators who had come to attack had been defeated here, and not one of them was worth tracking!

“her cultivation…” huangfu yuan’s phoenix eyes left a faint wrinkle.

bai yu’s figure shook, and after a moment of silence, he lowered his head. “foundation establishment third level. i used my spiritual sense to verify them last night.”

“oh?” huangfu yuan lightly coughed, smiling.

when they rushed over, leaving zhao keran and zhou xuanwu behind, she was already sitting on the wide sword, weak and breathless.

zhen nan mountain was unconscious on the ground.

“her temperament is excellent.”

“her eyesight is excellent.”

“her cultivation is low and weak. interesting.”

bai yu clenched his lips.

—

the outer sect management office of the clearwater sect.

lin shuang and the other two disciples arrived first to deliver the mission.

【guarding rong bao zhai’s manager in a trade mission (grade a)】

【client evaluation (prince cheng)】

【lin shuang: grade a. lin junior sister’s time management method is very effective! let’s meet again next time!】

senior brother xu rui’s eyebrows twitched.

【client evaluation (huangfu yuan, manager of rong bao zhai)】

【lin shuang: grade a, too fast.】

xu rui raised an eyebrow and couldn’t help but look at the three dusty disciples in front of him, especially lin shuang.

it was fine if it was just a prince, but even rong bao zhai’s manager gave her such a high evaluation.

but ‘too fast’—why did this evaluation from rong bao zhai feel like it had some complicated emotions behind it?

xu rui shook his head.

“huangfu senior brother and bai senior brother said they wanted to check the local shops first and went ahead, but i didn’t expect them to have already submitted the mission evaluation.”

zhao keran, hearing that her senior sister got an excellent rating, was still quite happy, even if she didn’t get one herself.

“but why did huangfu senior brother only give a grade a? it should have been grade a+.”

lin shuang waved her hand. “it’s better this way. this gives me more room for improvement next time.”

xu rui: “…”

【mission successful, 2000 contribution points awarded】

【lin shuang receives a grade a rating, with an additional 500 contribution points as a reward.】

【disciple rankings update:

zhou xuanwu 1→1

zhao keran 2→2

lin shuang 9999→8999】

xu rui pressed on his throbbing temple and turned his eyes away, not looking at this glaring ranking.

zhao keran also sighed.

“the rewards given for missions are still too few compared to the cultivation evaluations. senior sister is still not in the top hundred of the outer sect.”

zhou xuanwu pursed his lips.

far from the top hundred.

8999th place, she barely made it into the top half among the twenty thousand disciples.

“lin shuang, i have already reported your name as an elite outer sect disciple to the elder council.”

senior brother xu rui frowned,

“next year, during the spring equinox, there will be a competition among the outer sect disciples of the donghua region. the elite disciples will represent our sect in the competition.”

lin shuang hurriedly raised her hand, “i’m just a backup, senior brother.”

it seemed like xu rui hadn’t heard her. “…but you have been reluctant to make a breakthrough, and your ranking among the disciples is hard to convince others. all four masters are being cautious and want to see more.”

lin shuang was delighted.

but her joy was short-lived as xu rui bluntly stated, “i have discussed with the four masters of the art of transmission, and six days from now, we will open a secret realm at the west mountain gate for the selection of elite outer sect disciples.”

lin shuang’s eye twitched.

he chuckled, “i have already informed them that this year, you will use your strength to show everyone that you are qualified to represent the outer sect in the spring competition.”

“it’s not necessary, senior brother. don’t worry too much about me.”

“…arrive early in six days.”

“…”

she had no problem with the selection of elite outer sect disciples.

xu rui felt particularly reassured.

however, the next morning, zhao keran’s round face turned red, and she rushed into the management office in a hurry, panting.

“senior brother, senior brother!”

xu rui’s right eye twitched. “what’s wrong? did lin shuang run away?”

“of course not,” zhao keran denied, looking at him with a hint of reproach, “how could senior sister be the type to flee at the last moment?”

xu rui let out a sigh of relief.

“so, senior sister has gone to the secret realm at the west mountain gate.”

“hmm?” xu rui was stunned. “didn’t i say it was six days from now yesterday?”

zhao keran patted her chest, which was pounding. “yes, senior brother, you did. but today, the secret realm for the selection of elite inner sect disciples is opening at the west mountain gate.”

“?”

“senior sister said that since she had to participate in the elite selection, she might as well take part in both the inner and outer sect selections today.”

“??”

“if she succeeds in the inner sect selection today when she comes back to the outer sect, she might as well be an outer sect elite!”

zhao keran recounted lin shuang’s words.

“this is hitting three birds with one stone.”

senior brother xu rui’s composed expression gradually crumbled.

as he felt almost suffocated, zhao keran opened the communication stone again and played lin shuang’s original voice message.

“by the way, if i become an inner sect elite disciple, then when i advance to the foundation building stage, i won’t have to take the inner sect assessment again.”

they were all inner-sect elites, so they would be inner-sect disciples!

did they still need to go through the inner sect assessment?

in one trial, she earned three titles.

outer sect elite, inner sect disciple, inner sect elite!

“this is hitting three birds with one stone.”

“junior sister, remember when you suddenly have to do something you can’t avoid, don’t panic. we still have a way. for example, parallel multitasking. do it along with other things. it’s not a loss, and it saves you ten or even a hundred years in the future.”

xu rui: “…”

“tell senior brother xu rui for me that i’ve gone, and i should be back before the outer sect elite selection ends.”

after the transmission stone played this message, there was no follow-up.

xu rui held onto the treasure stand in the management office to prevent himself from swaying. but when he raised his head, he saw zhao keran’s brilliant round face in front of him.

“senior brother, can i go with senior sister? hitting three birds with one stone, right?”

zhou xuanwu passed by and stepped in without saying a word.

xu rui: “…!”

a group of foundation establishment cultivators acting so carefree!

—

as the sun rose in the east,

lin shuang stood silently at the entrance of the secret realm outside the western gate of the qing shui sect.

with her fire eyes and golden vision technique activated, she looked at the group of inner sect disciples. soon, she spotted some familiar faces.

emaciated and pale huangfu senior brother, beautiful and delicate bai senior brother, and the one with disheveled clothes, buying talismans brother [the most generous].

they were all her acquaintances.

she nodded seriously and walked forward.

author’s note:

“headmaster zhao’s diary 20”: “the outer sect of the clearwater sect sect is about to rise!”

—outer sect management senior brother: …

—outer sect transmission hall master: …

tl’s note: i may use some titles interchangeably, for example

little ai – little love

clearwater sect – qingshui sect etc