Chapter 38.2

Dodging His Eyes (2)

No, she failed to reach the 8th stage. As the magic power she injected approached the 8th stage, her hand flew away from the test stone.

In the end, her rank stayed above the 7th stage of Qi Refining and near the 8th stage. What kind of person was Elder Mu Ying? At a glance, she could see that Ying Xiu still had some magic power to spare. Had she fully unleashed her magic power, her score would have reached more than half of the 8th stage — Higher than the princess she served.

However, she controlled her cultivation base so that it didn’t reach higher than the 8th stage.

“Aren’t you going to continue?” Mu Ying smiled and winked at Ying Xiu.

Ying Xiu shook her head as she hurriedly ran off the stage.

Elder Mu Ying strictly recorded her results in accordance with the test stone’s assessment, giving Ying Xiu a score of 79, just a step behind Qiu Mingxue’s 80 points.

Ji Qingzhou also noticed Ying Xiu’s special case. She remembered the conversation she overheard between Ying Xiu and Qiu Mingxue not long ago. The Princess of Ze Kingdom was trying to overpower her maid at every turn, but Ying Xiu’s cultivation aptitude and efforts were no worse than hers, even better.

— But for some unknown reason, Ying Xiu didn’t dare to show that she was more powerful than Qiu Mingxue. Was she afraid that her Princess would be angry? However, since everyone was cultivating immortality, there should be no disparity between the nobility and the commoners of the mortal world…

Ji Qingzhou was a little puzzled. These questions kept spinning in her mind. The system seemingly sensed her doubts, and so it explained, “Host, the history of immortal cultivation in this world is not very long. Thousands of years ago, spirit qi burst out, affecting the human body and giving them the ability to cultivate.”

“Before the eruption of spirit qi, the division of power in this realm was still based on kingdoms. For example, Shen Rongyu’s family, the Dongshan Royal Family, was the oldest and most glorious dynasty in the Yunze Region, and the same is true of the Ze Kingdom where Qiu Mingxue was born,” the system introduced the history of cultivation in this realm. “Sects and cultivation aristocratic families appeared after imperial powers, so the concept of superiors and commoners brought by the imperial power has not been completely eliminated.”

Only then did Ji Qingzhou understand the relationship between kingdoms and sects. With that in consideration, Ying Xiu’s actions were understandable.

While she was in a daze, Meng Yaolan behind Jiang Qianke walked up. Her silky hair was tied into a ponytail, sassy and handsome, and her entire demeanor was dazzlingly confident.

Mu Ying smiled at her, and handed her a test stone: “As expected of the family where Perfected Yuan Wu originated. If you continue to cultivate like this, your future strength will not be inferior to Perfected Yuan Wu.”

Meng Yaolan nodded to Mu Ying when she heard her words. She didn’t speak any further. She just kept injecting her magic power to the test stone in her hand.

The blue light grew brighter and brighter with no tendency of stopping, but Meng Yaolan continued to inject magic power with ease.

It didn’t stop until the brightness of the test stone reached the highest level. The small stone in Meng Yaolan’s hand turned as dazzling as a blue sun.

She unleashed her magic power to the 9th stage of Qi Refining with ease, and from the looks of it she still had a lot of magic power left to inject – this was the same as when Shen Rongyu was tested.

Such aptitude could only be described as genius, but the attitude Meng Yaolan took on was neither humble nor arrogant. After the test, she politely returned the test stone to Mu Ying.

Mu Ying gave her a perfect score, 100 points. Her name landed next to Shen Rongyu’s, which meant a tie.

The result didn’t come as a surprise to Ji Qingzhou. She continued to be in a daze until Yu Sukong in the water mirror called her, “Qingzhou, go up.”

Before the test started, everyone could roughly perceive Ji Qingzhou’s cultivation base, the 5th stage of Qi Refining, but it was just a passing grade.

But her master was Yu Sukong, who was comparable in strength to Yin Muchen, the Sect Master of Xuanyun Sect.

She had such a supreme master, but her cultivation base was not even comparable to those of ordinary disciples…

When Ji Qingzhou stepped on the stage, she felt everyone’s attention. This time, no one would shield her. She clutched the corner of her clothes and gradually became more nervous.

Shen Rongyu was standing in the middle of the crowd. His eyes did not fall on Ji Qingzhou’s face, instead his light and indifferent gaze stayed on her hands that were clutching the corner of her clothes.

Ji Qingzhou didn’t know where to look. However, when looking randomly in a certain direction in the hall, she could collide with the cultivators’ inquiring, curious, puzzled, disdainful, and expectant gazes.

She feared meeting people’s eyes the most, so her eyes wandered in the crowd until her gaze found a solitary island.

Ji Qingzhou spotted his pure white sleeves and immortal epiphyllum embroidered on the shoulders, which were incredibly familiar. Although Shen Rongyu’s eyes were on her, he wasn’t staring at her face or her eyes.

So she looked at his shoulder, her restless gaze seemed to have found a perched island, and she calmed down for a while.

The two people’s eyes dodged each other, as if they had an indescribable tacit understanding.

Mu Ying handed the test stone to Ji Qingzhou: “Qingzhou, here you go.”

Ji Qingzhou retracted her gaze and put her hand on the test stone. At this moment, she was very focused.

She knew that her cultivation base had reached the 5th stage of Qi Refining, but to what extent it had reached the 5th stage would depend on the reaction of the test stone.

Because of the extended training time that day, she reached the 5th stage of Qi Refining in advance. Anyway, her cultivation base just needed to score. If she could earn one more point…

This was a battle with herself, not with anyone else on the roster. As long as she performed better than expected… that was enough.

The test stone in Ji Qingzhou’s hand began to emit a faint light.

——————–

Afterword:

Ji Qingzhou: I know my score is 60 points or so, but I don’t know exactly how many points above 60.

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