Only in this mountain, the clouds are so deep one knows not where they are.
Irrational things happened every day.
Ji Shiyu had received a Top Grade in all three subjects of her Entry Exam and had cleared the Illusion Pavilion in seconds.
The Sweep Old Man remembered it vividly.
Now, however, this child had fallen into a predicament for no apparent reason, and he was stuck here “in prison” right along with her.
Although he did not know what had happened during her recent trip down the mountain, it seemed her once pure heart had been stained by the red dust of the mortal world.
From then on, she had developed attachments.
The old man and the young girl sat facing each other.
The blonde-haired girl looked fierce, while the old man looked miserable.
“Senior, please stop this. I give up! Is it not enough that I give up!?”
“You still do not understand. It is you who has trapped me here, not I who has trapped you.”
Shen Zhong shook his head and laughed in spite of himself.
He did not know who was wearing out whom; this child had truly presented him with a difficult problem.
The eerie illusion was actually Ji Shiyu’s Sea of Consciousness.
The fallen leaves covering the ground were all obsessions—too tangled to be cut, too messy to be sorted.
“Me?”
A withered leaf slid quietly from the old man’s palm.
He then looked at Ji Shiyu. she pinched the leaf between two fingers; the word “Sword” was carved upon it.
She thought for a moment, picked up a fallen leaf herself, and used Spirit Control to begin carving.
The young girl’s imitation was very accurate and extremely serious.
Not a single stroke or line deviated from the original.
However, after she carved dozens of leaves in a row, the old man continued to shake his head.
The characters on every single leaf were identical, as if they had been mass-produced.
This was impressive, but they possessed only the form of the sword without any Sword Intent.
“I don’t believe this!”
Ji Shiyu scooped up a handful of fallen leaves and began writing rapidly.
The more she wrote “Sword,” the thicker the pile of leaves became.
Eventually, she was buried in a sea of withered leaves.
The young girl simply closed her eyes and lay back on the ground.
At the same time, the image of a certain white-robed youth surfaced in her mind.
In the past, whenever she encountered a difficult problem, Master would always appear in time to wake her up.
But he was not here.
He was probably still accompanying Senior Sister Qin?
Ji Shiyu lay spread-eagled with her mouth pouting, feeling even more frustrated.
Now was not the time to be idling.
‘So, am I the one who can’t leave Master?’
She had never disappointed the Oily Boy before.
She wouldn’t now, and she wouldn’t in the future.
The blonde-haired girl crawled up and picked up a fallen leaf.
Recalling the youth’s focused and single-minded demeanor, her expression became increasingly concentrated, and her writing became slower and slower.
She went from scribbling a character in a single breath to spending ten breaths and still feeling the intent was unfinished.
Leaves fluttered all around.
“Hmm?”
The old man’s cloudy eyes gradually cleared.
He could clearly sense the fledgling form of the girl’s Divine Sense carving out a sword shape with every stroke, shining like brilliant starlight.
After an unknown number of “Sword” characters were written, Ji Shiyu finally finished one that took the duration of a cup of tea to complete.
Then, she tossed it aside casually.
Strangely, that fallen leaf vanished before it even hit the ground.
When she looked down again, the piles of leaves at her feet had all disappeared.
When the heart is pure, the intent is realized.
Ji Shiyu opened her Starmoon Eyes.
A brilliant starry sky opened up within her chaotic Sea of Consciousness, and the Third Tier Sword Formula that she previously could not understand suddenly became clear.
The sounds of people and birds reached her ears.
Not only had the fallen leaves disappeared, but the dead old man guarding the library was gone as well.
Ji Shiyu was about to say thank you, but when she turned her head, she realized she was back at the entrance of the Illusion Pavilion.
People were coming and going from the Outer Sect academy of Sighing Peak; it felt like a lifetime had passed.
“My god, I’m finally out!”
The Yellow Chicken, which had been dazing on the roof of the Shanhai Pavilion, suddenly raised its head.
Like a bolt of yellow lightning, it reached Sighing Peak and slammed straight into its master’s head.
“Ow!”
Ji Shiyu was knocked dizzy and fell to the ground.
Ao Tian breathed a sigh of relief.
He had finally returned to his warm chicken nest, thank heavens.
“Where did you run off to!”
“I didn’t go anywhere.”
Ji Shiyu rubbed the red lump on her forehead.
Tears were almost falling as she grabbed Ao Tian by the neck and gave him a punch.
Outside the mountain gate, the lonely old man watched the girl’s rowdy departing figure and rubbed his brow.
He never expected that it would take this child so long to comprehend the Falling Cloud Sword Intent.
The most terrifying thing was that this accident did not affect the outcome at all…
“Go. Whoever disturbed your cause, go and bear that fruit. He is your tribulation, and he is also your destiny.”
***
The blonde-haired girl and her servant wandered through Fang Street, bickering nonsensically.
Little did she know that both Outer Sect and inner disciples were looking at her as if they had seen a ghost.
The events in the Illusion Pavilion were truly mysterious.
Ji Shiyu could not explain the details; she only knew it was a stroke of luck.
At this moment, her head was clearer than ever before.
After asking for a long time, Ao Tian muttered gloomily, “Shiyu, don’t you think everyone’s eyes look strange?”
Ji Shiyu didn’t think much of it.
She was used to being the most eye-catching person in a crowd, with a hundred percent turn-back rate.
“Is it not normal to want to look at a peerless genius beautiful girl like me a few more times?”
“…Sigh, I’d better tell you what happened this past week.”
Ji Shiyu paused, and then her hair stood on end as she reacted.
“What!?”
She had been locked away for seven whole days?
How did it feel like no time at all inside!
Ao Tian pointed at the Sword Post above their heads.
Golden light shot into the sky above the Dragon Subduing Hall, and less than one or two out of ten names remained.
The Cloud Top Go Sword had entered its white-hot phase.
Logically, Ji Shiyu should have been eliminated long ago for missing several rounds.
As it turned out, her opponents were either injured or fell ill, and every single one of them had forfeited.
The high-profile, annoying New Student had advanced into the top thirty-two without shedding a drop of blood.
Everyone across the Sea of Clouds Five Peaks knew about it; such a surge of Fortune was unprecedented.
However, during these days, Ji Shiyu had seemingly evaporated from the Sea of Clouds.
Her work at the herb garden was ignored, she hadn’t shown up for her shifts at the Rosy Fragrance Pavilion, and there had been no news from the First Peak either.
Everyone could see that the blonde-haired girl had not been in a good state lately.
They all thought she had been provoked by something and had left without saying goodbye.
Especially the delicate-minded Qin Cha; that day, Shiyu had asked very strange questions and seemed downcast.
Even Yun Liu had been somewhat anxious.
He had searched all over the Sea of Clouds Peaks Forest and had almost posted a missing person notice with a reward.
If his silly, heartbroken daughter had gone missing for no reason, it would be a huge problem.
Hearing this, Ji Shiyu’s cowlick stood straight up as she caught the key point.
“Master… was that worried about me?”
“You little brat, I was searching for you for a long time too, okay? I thought our companion bond had malfunctioned! After everything I said, is that the only thing you heard!?”
Ao Tian pecked her frantically with his sharp beak.
“Mm, I heard the other things too. My opponent in the next round is Senior Brother Zou from Sunset Peak, right? He’s definitely another unlucky guy.”
Ji Shiyu made a V-sign with her fingers and laughed quite happily, accepting this “strong luck” without any guilt.
By the way, the previous round had been even more ridiculous.
That Senior Sister of Qingxia Peak had a great-grandfather whose lifespan was coming to an end, so she hurriedly left the mountain to return home and see the old man one last time, regrettably forfeiting.
Ao Tian said crossly, “That’s why the next round is critical. If you hadn’t come back, I was prepared to secretly give that kid laxatives!”
“Eek, it wasn’t all a plot by you and Master, was it?”
Ji Shiyu’s eyes widened.
She simply could not… refuse such a handout!
“I wish it were. Don’t forget there is one other person who has held out until now. If your rank is lower than hers, your Fortune will slip away!”
Ao Tian’s attitude was very serious.
As he said, Shiyu did not need to defeat everyone, but she absolutely could not lose to one person—Xiao Xinran.
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