Senior Sister Qiao’s flowerbed looked quite ordinary; it contained no spirit items that would immediately strike one as impressive.
Perhaps it was because she was currently teaching another newcomer.
If she used high-level plants right from the start, she might shatter Xiao Qi’s confidence.
“Come here. Among these three flowers, which one do you think is in the best condition?”
Senior Sister Qiao led Hua Jian to three separately displayed pots and pointed at the flowers while asking the question.
Unlike the other flowers in the room, these three were clearly patients. All of them looked wilted and listless.
Identifying problems in flowers and solving them was a skill that disciples of Lingcai Peak needed to master proficiently.
However, Hua Jian had never undergone any systematic study, so Senior Sister Qiao only asked her to take a look and guess which flower was in the worst state.
She did not expect her to give any useful answer.
Hua Jian stepped forward and observed the three flowers one by one.
For a moment, she really couldn’t tell which was better or worse.
They were all quite wilted and looked about the same.
But when her fingers brushed against the flowers, Hua Jian’s eyes suddenly lit up.
She could feel the faint emotions emanating from these small blossoms.
Although they were small enough to be easily ignored, she truly felt them.
‘Perhaps this is some kind of mutual resonance between flowers?’
She understood the emotions these little flowers conveyed to her without any obstacle.
Two of the flowers felt low in spirits, but overall they were doing okay.
However, the last one felt like a patient on the verge of death. It was truly dying.
Senior Sister Qiao let out a small gasp of surprise. She hadn’t expected Hua Jian to find the correct answer in such a short time.
“Yingying, do you think she’s right?”
Luo Yingying, who was suddenly pulled into the conversation, wore a bitter expression.
She had also been secretly observing the three flowers, but before she could even form a thought, Hua Jian had already reached a conclusion.
Judging by Senior Sister Qiao’s reaction, Hua Jian’s answer was likely correct.
She was a dignified Direct Disciple and the person who would eventually be Hua Jian’s Senior Sister, yet she had lost to Hua Jian — someone who hadn’t even received a systematic education — in the specialized field of Lingcai Peak.
It truly made her feel like she had lost face.
“Don’t ask me; I haven’t figured it out yet,” Luo Yingying sighed.
At a time like this, she couldn’t exactly pretend to be an expert.
“Even Master has to look for a while to figure out the situation. Hua Jian’s speed is practically faster than Master’s.”
“After all, flowers cannot speak. We have to observe them carefully to know what they want to express… Hua Jian, can you tell me how you arrived at that answer?”
Senior Sister Qiao added a comment to help Luo Yingying save face.
Back then, she had also taught these things to Luo Yingying.
Among the Junior Sisters she had guided, Luo Yingying was already considered impressive.
But compared to Hua Jian, Luo Yingying was being completely outclassed in every aspect.
“Uh, because the other two flowers are still somewhat active, while this one is completely lifeless.”
Hua Jian racked her brain trying to explain what she had felt, but in the end, she couldn’t find a good way to describe her evidence.
Senior Sister Qiao, who had hoped to hear various detailed arguments from Hua Jian, was also stunned.
It was like asking a student how they solved a math problem, expecting to hear a series of interconnected steps and a brilliant logical process, only for the student to say that the math problem told them its own answer.
What in the world was that?
“Ahem, Junior Sister Hua Jian has a special Physique. Her ability to perceive plants is much stronger than ours.”
Luo Yingying gently patted Senior Sister Qiao’s shoulder, signaling her to put away her look of disbelief.
The girl was essentially using a cheat; there was no point in trying to understand her with the logic of an ordinary person.
“Then tell me, why is it like this? What method do you think can cure it?” Senior Sister Qiao took a deep breath.
She was about to ask questions that were clearly beyond the scope of a beginner.
‘Why is this flower sick? Why is this flower dead? How can I keep this flower alive?’
These were the questions that would haunt the disciples of Lingcai Peak for their entire lives.
Even someone as powerful as the Lingcai Peak Master was often tripped up by these questions.
Asking a Loose Cultivator who hadn’t even joined the sect yet was, in the eyes of others, essentially making things difficult for her.
However, Hua Jian didn’t feel that way. She also wanted to dig into her own potential to see exactly how much she could achieve.
“Senior Sister Qiao, can I get a bit closer?”
“You may.”
With permission granted, Hua Jian leaned in until she was almost touching the wilted flower.
As the distance closed, she finally felt clearer emotional fluctuations.
Although they were still extremely weak, Hua Jian still analyzed some useful information from them.
The meaning the Spiritual Flower wanted to express was roughly that it had a stomach ache.
It had turned out like this because it ate the wrong thing.
“It has an upset stomach,” Hua Jian provided her answer.
Immediately after, she felt that her answer sounded a bit strange.
Where would a pot of flowers get a stomach?
Besides, what a flower ate wasn’t something it could decide for itself.
“Something else must have been accidentally mixed in while it was being fertilized.”
“But as for how to solve the problem, I’m not sure.”
Hua Jian scratched her head. She could only act as a diagnostician for now; treatment was still beyond her capabilities.
When a person had an upset stomach, they just took medicine, but what should a flower do? She hadn’t studied that kind of knowledge yet.
“That’s right. A few days ago, when Xiao Qi was fertilizing, she accidentally let a piece of Poisonous Lizard skin fragment fall into the pot. By the time I noticed, the toxin had already entered the flower’s body.”
Senior Sister Qiao nodded in satisfaction and announced the reason the flower had become this way.
As for the treatment method… there wasn’t really a good one.
It was just a matter of moving the flower aside and taking good care of it.
If it was tough enough, it would survive; if not, then it was just its time.
After all, this wasn’t even considered a high-level Spiritual Flower, so treatment methods that required great effort couldn’t be wasted on it.
“Huh? A Poisonous Lizard skin fragment?” Hua Jian was stunned. How could such a thing appear here?
Noticing Hua Jian’s confusion, Senior Sister Qiao pointed to some brightly colored flowers on the other side and told her that every type of flower liked different food.
For example, those flowers over there liked eating Poisonous Lizards and could even absorb their toxins to transform them into their own power.
But for other plants, such delicacies were no different from arsenic. This poor little flower was the best proof of that.
Still, for someone to make such a mistake was quite impressive. No wonder she was still a student under Senior Sister Qiao.
“Your talent is something I have never seen before. I need to think carefully about how to teach you… How about this? For the next few days, you learn the basics with Xiao Qi. I’ll prepare some other advanced courses in the meantime.”
“Mhm, okay!”
Just like that, Hua Jian successfully joined Senior Sister Qiao’s squad and gained a new companion.
However, today Hua Jian still had to tour other parts of the Wanling Sect station with Luo Yingying, so she agreed with Senior Sister Qiao to come back the next day to begin her formal studies.
Once things here were finished, Hua Jian and Luo Yingying left Senior Sister Qiao’s place to continue their tour of the Wanling Sect station.
Luo Yingying took Hua Jian not just to Lingcai Peak, but to the stations of other peaks as well, allowing Hua Jian to see for herself what kind of sect the Wanling Sect truly was.
How to put it? Compared to other Saint Sects, the Wanling Sect felt like a “patchwork” sect.
The differences between the various peaks were quite massive.
Even here at the station in the inner city of Ascension City, the peaks lived their own separate lives, clearly demarcated from one another.
She could frequently see disciples from different peaks breaking out into fights because their respective Spirit Beasts had crossed boundaries.
For example, today Hua Jian witnessed a major battle triggered by one Spirit Beast crossing over and eating a small Spirit Beast from another peak.
It gave her a sense of déjà vu, as if a Senior Brother’s graduation thesis had been eaten by the graduation thesis of a Senior Brother from the department next door.
“Speaking of which, our Lingcai Peak used to run into these problems a lot. The Spirit Beasts those guys raise loved running over to our peak to eat the flowers and grass. Later, we specifically planted a circle of Lingcao around the outside that causes diarrhea, which finally made those guys restrain themselves a bit,” Luo Yingying murmured while rubbing her brow.
This state of “vibrant life where everything flourished” was a bit hard for Hua Jian to judge.
Well, it was quite energetic, which wasn’t a bad thing, right?
In any case, the Wanling Sect had survived for so many years; it wouldn’t fall apart just because of these minor conflicts.
“Junior Sister Hua Jian, if you want to learn combat techniques to cooperate with your Spirit Beast, I can help you find a Senior Brother or Sister from Baishou Peak to teach you.”
After thinking for a moment, Hua Jian politely declined Luo Yingying’s kind offer.
She didn’t have much time, and besides, she hadn’t contracted the Spiritual Civet for its combat power.
As for A Meng, she was her ultimate trump card, and A Meng’s own intelligence was very high; she didn’t need people from Baishou Peak to teach her how to cooperate.
Hua Jian figured the best cooperation she could provide A Meng was to hide in a safe place and not become a burden while A Meng was at the front lines slaughtering everyone.
“I’ll be living at the Jade Pool for a long time, so I might not have much time to learn those things.”
“I see. You should be able to use the Cultivation Chambers at the Jade Pool, right?”
Luo Yingying wasn’t too jealous this time.
She had already claimed Hua Jian’s daytime hours; as for Hua Jian returning to the Jade Pool at night, it wasn’t a big deal.
She had to let the Jade Pool have a sip of the soup too!
If she tried to hog everything and pushed the Jade Pool too far, they might come to her door to snatch Hua Jian away, and she probably wouldn’t be able to stop them.
“Mhm, I can!”
“That’s good. I was worried they would be stingy enough to refuse you even a single Cultivation Chamber.”
Hearing this, Hua Jian didn’t know how to respond. Whether she agreed or disagreed, it wouldn’t be right, so she decided it was best to keep her mouth shut.
“By the way, if you have free time, you can also wander around the Outer City. There are many interesting things there, and you can go to the Arena to compete with Cultivators of similar age to see what weaknesses you still have.”
As she spoke, Luo Yingying began to feel a bit awkward. “Though, since you’re already guaranteed to be a Direct Disciple, there doesn’t seem to be much point in fighting those people in the Outer City who are ready to break their heads just for a spot in the Outer Sect.”
“Senior Sister has too much confidence in me. Perhaps a Heavenly Talent no weaker than me will appear in this Ascension Gathering?” Although Hua Jian was very confident, she wasn’t so arrogant as to think she was invincible.
Everything seemed smooth now, but what if she was actually a stepping stone for the true Main Character of the story?
A super talent like her, pre-selected by a Saint Sect, was the perfect candidate for a protagonist’s stepping stone.
‘I won’t be careless and let everyone laugh at me at the Ascension Gathering!’
……
“Is that what you were thinking? I thought your tail had already puffed up to the sky and you felt invincible.”
“I’m not that stupid. Haven’t you been running to the Outer City every day? how are your fights going?”
Sitting in the Cultivation Chamber that Linglong had rented long-term, Hua Jian was chatting with Shiqi about what had happened over the past few days.
Yes, for the sake of convenience in Training, Linglong had used her connections to rent a Cultivation Chamber for the long term, making it a temporary residence for the three of them.
Hua Jian had teased Linglong about being a “nepotism baby,” only for Linglong to roll her eyes and tell her to use it or not.
Naturally, Hua Jian used it. After experiencing the thrill of Training in a Cultivation Chamber once, she could never go back to those miserable days of the past.
As for whether Linglong got this place through the back door, why would she care?
The girl was the Saintess of Yaochi; could a Saintess doing business be called using the back door?
No, that was exercising her legitimate power!
Besides, all the procedures had been completed, so it was perfectly legal and compliant. She and Shiqi would use it to their hearts’ content.
Now, their lives had entered a regular routine. During the day, they did their own things, and at night, they returned to the Jade Pool to train.
For Shiqi, that meant going to the Arena in the Outer City to pick fights during the day and coming back to leach off the Cultivation Chamber at night.
This girl, whose background was similar to Hua Jian’s, was finally getting a taste of the good life.
“It’s going fairly well. There are some people older than me that I have to use quite a bit of strength to beat. Plus, after winning, I don’t have much energy left to fight the people who come after,” Shiqi said, scratching her head as she reported the results of her battles.
The Cultivators who fought on the Arena in the Outer City were more or less interested in the Jian Sect.
Shiqi’s battles with them were a case of “meeting a worthy adversary.”
Her current win rate was quite high, though it wasn’t at an inhuman level yet; after fighting several rounds, she would lose due to physical exhaustion.
Once the battle maniacs in the Outer City discovered a strong opponent like Shiqi, they all got excited.
Almost every day, they came over to fight her, and Shiqi accepted them happily.
The more she fought, the richer her practical experience became, and the higher the probability of passing the Saint Sect’s assessment later.