Chapter 12

"Wang Jiaoxi, we are to set off tomorrow, why have you not rested yet?"

Pei Ruyi left the banquet and walked to the corridor, suddenly seeing Cao Jingsong, who had left the banquet earlier, sitting at the stone table in the courtyard.

At that time, he was surrounded by broken porcelain shards.

From the faint patterns on the shards, it could be seen that this seemed to be a vase that the County Magistrate Fang treasured greatly.

And Cao Jiaoxi was currently continuously refining spiritual energy at his fingertips, gathering it into the size of a grain of rice, and muttering incantations at an intact vase on the stone table.

Judging from the sweat on his forehead, he seemed to have been trying for a long time.

"I am trying to channel spiritual energy into the vase and then keep it inside. Channeling it in is extremely easy, but keeping it there is incredibly difficult; I only succeed once or twice in ten attempts."

Pei Ruyi felt a bit confused after hearing this: "Could it be a new cultivation technique?"

Cao Jingsong trembled as he carefully approached the vase: "Ruyi, have you ever thought that if this matter is so difficult, how did Ji You manage to nourish a young girl until her spiritual light was piercingly bright?"

"This..."

"Spiritual energy is the origin of heaven and earth, harboring the power of the Heavenly Dao. The five Hall Masters of the Inner Court are like this, able to refine spiritual energy to the point of being as flexible as an arm. If Ji You didn't succeed by sheer luck, I think not to mention the Upper Five Realms, I'm afraid even the Approaching Immortal Realm wouldn't be a problem."

As his voice fell, the vase in front of Cao Jingsong suddenly could not bear the burden and shattered from the belly, splashing all over the ground, leaving only Cao Jiaoxi's solemn expression.

He had entered the Upper Five Realms many years ago, and although he had been stuck at the initial Realm of Profound Understanding without any progress, he was, after all, one realm higher than Ji You.

Moreover, the Lower Three Realms are the Realm of the Self, and the Upper Five Realms are the Realm of All Methods; the two have vastly different control over spiritual energy, yet the final result was shocking.

Either Ji You is too monstrous, or he himself is too stupid.

Cao Jingsong certainly would not admit that he was stupid, so the only explanation was that the student he had newly accepted still had more potential that had not been discovered.

"A heaven-sent fortune..."

"Ruyi, this child will definitely enter the Inner Court with ease, and perhaps he might even have the opportunity to become a personal disciple of the five Hall Masters."

Hearing this, Pei Ruyi couldn't help but give a dry laugh.

Being under twenty and at the perfection of the Lower Three Realms is indeed extraordinary, but she felt Cao Jiaoxi was still exaggerating a bit.

You must know that on the path of immortality, there are countless people who amaze the world. Just take those under twenty at the perfection of the Lower Three Realms; this year, the Seven Great Immortal Sects found ten, and the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan alone accounted for two.

But even so, counting these three people including Ji You, they still appear slightly ordinary among the younger generation.

You must know that the little Inspector of Lingjian Mountain achieved perfection at ten years old, the personal disciple of the Wen Dao Sect entered the Upper Five Realms at twelve, and the personal disciples of other immortal sects are all monsters.

Ji You is one year away from the age of twenty, reaching perfection just in time; he has merely climbed to the threshold of meeting them.

Just as she was pondering, she saw Cao Jingsong in the courtyard suddenly furrow his brows, then stand up abruptly, gazing into the south of Yuyang County.

"Wang Jiaoxi, what happened?"

"Ruyi, have you noticed that the spiritual energy here seems to be surging southward with all its might, and is even beyond my control."

"?"

Pei Ruyi was slightly stunned, then walked through the corridor, left the Yuyang County government office, and headed straight for the southern grain field where Ji You was located.

Under the night sky, everything in Yuyang County was shrouded in darkness, except for the thousands of lights in the grain field, illuminating the surroundings in a fiery red, as festive as a landlord's grand wedding.

And the grain field was surrounded by commoners, with shadows flickering as one looked from afar.

In the darkness under the lights, their faces could not be seen clearly, but one could roughly see that they were thin and poorly clothed.

Right in this brilliant light, seventy-two young children knelt on the grain field, calling him "Godfather" in clear, childish voices, and then touched their heads to the ground.

The perfection of the Lower Three Realms is not a profound realm; it is merely the initial stage of the immortal path, and there is not much one can do.

But the name of the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan is still quite useful; after all, it is the Great Xia Sacred Sect.

And the laws of Great Xia stipulate that god-kinship is also kinship, so naturally, it should be protected. He didn't know if this would be useful, but it was better than nothing.

If he were lucky enough to find a way to repair the spiritual spring and enter the Upper Five Realms, the deterrent power might be even greater.

Ji You, sitting in the front, was silent for a long while, and suddenly laughed out loud as he looked at those young children.

He might not have been able to save those children suffering from leukemia in the end, but in the end, he could still strive to save another batch of children.

As Ji You thought this, for some reason, the night sky above his head suddenly brightened a little.

Subsequently, countless rays of spiritual light appeared above the grain field, pure as white stars, drifting like fireflies, constantly floating and gradually gathering here.

A moment later, the entire grain field was as brilliant as a sea of stars, which could not help but make Ji You feel shocked.

"What is coming?"

"Whoa..."

"I don't seem to have eaten mushrooms this time... right?"

Ji You looked up, and after a few breaths, he was slightly stunned, feeling somewhat astonished.

Because he discovered that these rays of light did not appear out of thin air, nor did they come from the sky; they seemed to come from the seventy-two young children in front of him.

Each of these children had a ray of spiritual light between their brows, which flew into the sky at that very moment, and then a grain of spiritual light fell down.

Before Ji You could react, those rays began to fly toward him continuously, merging into his body.

He furrowed his brows and subconsciously began to dodge, only to find that he could not avoid them at all.

After much tossing and turning, the spiritual light in the sky had all disappeared. Only then did Ji You begin to look inward with his spiritual sense, discovering that a mass of disordered light had gathered above his shattered spiritual spring, like mist and vapor, in wisps and threads.

And at this moment, he had a kind of uncontrollable immortal intent boiling all over his body, rushing straight into the sky, constantly surging under the vast starry sky.

It was also at this time that the bloodstain spanning the sky became even more ferocious for some reason.

Pei Ruyi, who had come from the government office, was not far away, staring blankly at him.

She could not see the sea of starlight in the sky just now, nor could she see the surging aura, but she still frowned slightly, feeling that Ji You's aura at this moment was vastly different.

As the chief of the Outer Court, Pei Ruyi had seen many disciples of various immortal sects.

But she just felt that Ji You at this moment was truly a bit strange.

Is it... immortal aura?

Pei Ruyi's brows suddenly furrowed deeply.

She didn't know why this thought popped into her mind, and she couldn't help but be slightly stunned.

Mortals refer to cultivators as immortals, and even cultivators themselves call themselves immortals, as if they are not of the same race as mortals.

But in fact, if a cultivator cannot ascend after a great laugh, they cannot be considered an immortal at all.

Pei Ruyi certainly had not seen a predecessor who had ascended, so naturally, she could not know what true immortal aura was, but looking at Ji You's ethereal and uncertain aura, this thought emerged involuntarily.

No, I must be overthinking it...

Without ascending to the Immortal Realm with a great laugh, how could a mortal be filled with immortal intent?

"Ruyi, this child is definitely extraordinary."

"Perhaps, he might even become a personal disciple of the five Hall Masters."

"..."

(End of chapter)