Chapter 8
Chapter 8: The True One Yuan Sect
The old woman threw her head back and laughed, loud and sharp in the quiet cabin.
“You’re interesting,” she said, laughter fading into something colder. “But still too green.”
“Even a newborn True Dragon can tear apart a Snake Demon once it has cultivation.”
She stepped closer, her gaze heavy. “Though I’ve just awakened and recovered only a shred of spiritual sense, the shielding formation I set casually around this cabin isn’t something an early Purple Palace cultivator outside can detect.”
Her smile sharpened. “With a flick of a finger, I could destroy this spirit ship.”
Jiang Yun Jiang’s fist clenched, nails biting into her palm. She forced her expression to stay calm.
“Since Senior has such power, yet has treated me with a smile, you mean no harm,” she said carefully. “Then why frighten Junior?”
The old woman’s laughter died completely.
“Remember this,” she said.
“My Daoist name is Dan Hua. I am a True Lord of the Sixth Realm—and a Seventh-Grade great pill alchemist.”
Jiang Yun Jiang’s breath caught.
She had already noticed her jade slip was thicker than the others. Earlier, using a flimsy excuse, she’d borrowed Lu Shao Jing’s slip and compared them. Hers contained nearly half again as much information, including popular knowledge about the four cultivation arts.
That was how she understood what Dan Hua’s claim meant.
A Seventh-Grade great pill alchemist could refine spirit pills needed by Seventh Realm cultivators. Even if Dan Hua’s realm was “only” the Sixth, her skill reached higher. The height of it was hard to imagine.
Jiang Yun Jiang rose and bowed, deep and precise. “Greetings, True Lord Dan Hua.”
Dan Hua watched her, eyes narrowing with approval.
“You have High-Grade aptitude,” she said. “Once you enter the sect, a powerful cultivator will certainly take you as a true disciple.”
“But with your White Tiger True Embryo foundation, you will most likely attract cultivators of the slaughter path.”
Dan Hua’s tone shifted, almost coaxing. “I can teach you alchemy instead.”
“In exchange,” she added, “you will find a treasure for me.”
Jiang Yun Jiang didn’t hesitate. “Fine.”
Dan Hua lifted a brow. “I haven’t even told you what it is. Aren’t you afraid you won’t be able to get it?”
Jiang Yun Jiang raised her chin. Her eyes looked like deep pools, dark and still, and for an instant it seemed as if purple light flickered at their depths.
“What I want, I will get,” she said.
“Ten years, twenty years—one hundred, one thousand. Until I die, I won’t stop.”
Dan Hua caught the strange flicker immediately. Surprise flashed across her face.
“You even carry an innate divine ability.”
“A divine ability?” Jiang Yun Jiang echoed, genuinely puzzled.
Dan Hua lifted her hand and brushed the air in front of Jiang Yun Jiang’s face. Something unseen rippled.
Jiang Yun Jiang blinked—and suddenly she could see it.
A six-pointed sigil buried deep in her pupils.
Dan Hua’s voice was low, almost reverent. “And it is ranked 9,123rd on the Great Thousand Divine Ability Rankings.”
She smiled. “The Heart-Bewitching Eye.”
—
Shao Heng sat alone in her cabin, breathing in spiritual qi as easily as breathing air.
Time blurred. She didn’t measure it by hours anymore—only by the steady accumulation inside her qi sea. By the way strength gathered and settled as naturally as bone growing under skin.
By the time the light outside had brightened and the sun stood higher, the Yellow Sprout in her qi sea had already stored three furnaces of spiritual power.
[This is more like me.]
From childhood to now, whether it was music, chess, calligraphy, painting, abacus work, account books—whether it was studying classics or practicing martial skills—if Shao Heng truly wanted something, she learned quickly. She mastered fast.
The clouds beyond her window began to slide past more slowly.
[We’re close.]
Sure enough, before much time passed, the Cloud-Piercing Vessel began to descend.
Elder Zhao’s voice rang through the ship, clear and authoritative. “All disciples, gather on the deck.”
Shao Heng rose and opened her door.
The others emerged as well, faces tired and tense. Now that Shao Heng had cultivation, she could sense what had changed—and what hadn’t.
The other seven were much the same. According to the sect’s records, disciples with Lower Grade aptitude often needed half a month of hard effort to reach Qi Induction Realm entry.
Jiang Yun Jiang was different. A faint, clear aura coiled around her body, subtle but present. She was likely standing at the threshold.
Shao Heng’s brows drew together as she walked. [Then I’m High-Grade too. So why couldn’t the Source-Appraisal Jade Disc detect it?]
Ahead of her, Jiang Yun Jiang’s gaze flicked toward Shao Heng—quick, guarded, thoughtful.
Inside her own mind, Jiang Yun Jiang spoke in a low, secret voice.
[Dan Hua Senior, that ragged disciple is named Lu Shao Heng. Is she truly only Lower Grade aptitude?]
Dan Hua’s response came after a pause, edged with faint amusement.
[You seem unusually concerned about her.]
Jiang Yun Jiang didn’t deny it. [I’ve clashed with her before. If it weren’t for the Heart-Bewitching Eye, I would never have beaten her.]
There was no shame in her honesty. In Jiang Yun Jiang’s eyes, underestimating an opponent was the same as insulting herself. Facing reality was the first step to victory.
[She’s the kind of person who can learn anything, as long as she wants to.] Jiang Yun Jiang’s mind-voice remained steady. [And she has photographic memory. Like you said, that often means an innately strong spiritual sense. I don’t believe she only has Lower Grade aptitude.]
Dan Hua’s interest stirred. Though her spiritual sense had only recovered a little, she still spent some of it to sweep over Shao Heng from afar.
[The Human Clan are born with spirit and flesh fused,] Dan Hua said. [Aptitude is not only in bones and meridians. It is also in the soul’s true spirit.]
[The soul is sealed in the Mud Pellet Palace by nature. My recovery is not enough to probe it silently.] A note of annoyance crept into her tone. [If I force it, I will injure her Mud Pellet Palace.]
With the True One Yuan Sect close at hand, Dan Hua held back.
Then she spoke again, more dismissive.
[But what I can see is ordinary. She has only a faint trace of spiritual qi, no different from the other seven. It seems she tried to draw qi into her body and failed. She is not as special as you claim.]
Jiang Yun Jiang’s mental voice fell quiet.
She didn’t question a True Lord’s judgment, even if Dan Hua was only a remnant soul. She pressed down the uneasy twist in her chest.
[Thank you, Senior,] she answered.
The eight remaining recruits reached the deck and lined up in silence.
Shao Heng stood among them, back straight, chest subtly puffed. She was waiting.
Waiting for the elders’ surprise—waiting to hear, “How did you complete Qi Induction Realm entry already?”
Then she could mention what she’d seen during the test and challenge that Lower Grade verdict without looking desperate.
Just imagining it made her mouth curl.
But Elder Zhao and the other elders didn’t react at all.
They stood at the bow, hands on the railing, gazes fixed on the distance.
They had arrived.
Under the bright sun, mountain haze thinned and scattered, revealing green ridges like dragon veins stretching across the world. Three hanging peaks floated in a triad, and below them, rings of golden light shimmered like halos.
In the drifting mist, spirit ships came and went. Men and women rode artifacts through the air—swords, banners, wheels, gourds—moving with a grace that didn’t belong to mortals.
The True One Yuan Sect was built on immortal mountains and rooted in blessed land. From afar, it looked more vast and lofty than the White Jade Capital of legend. No wonder it stood among the Human Clan’s top immortal sects, one of the Upper Qian Thirteen Sects.
Yet before their ship even reached the sect barrier, several beams of white light shot out from within and landed on spirit ships across the sky.
One beam struck their Cloud-Piercing Vessel.
It fell straight onto Jiang Yun Jiang.
In the blink of an eye, she vanished.