Chapter 5: 005

The rice had already been cooked, and there was no turning back now.

She could only prick her finger with a dagger and let the blood drip onto the booklet. To be honest, she had completely given up hope by then. She kept thinking that she must have been out of her mind to buy that booklet in the first place.

But who would have thought that the yellow booklet suddenly absorbed her blood, then, as if moved by an unseen force, leapt up two feet before slowly descending back down.

As it settled, the worn pages surprisingly smoothed out as if new, though they still retained a slight yellow tint.

No matter how she saw it, this was fate. Song Chi’s heart pounded wildly. By heaven’s grace, this was the only real chance she had encountered since her transmigration.

With a thrill, she opened the booklet, and suddenly, a scruffy old man with a beard leapt out, circling her head like a finger, laughing heartily.

“Destined one from the future, this is the life’s work of an immortal who fled for his life. With this divination technique, I guarantee that you, young lady, will turn misfortune into fortune, your path ahead smooth and unblocked, dangers effortlessly avoided. For us cultivators, the first priority is not to be heroes but to survive! Since you can open my manual, you must be the king of survival, hahaha!”

Then, with a blink, he vanished—likely just a lingering fragment of his divine consciousness.

As for being the king of survival, Song Chi thought wryly, if she were a genius, would she be so cautious? Living arrogantly and freely—that would be delightful.

But arrogance requires capital. With her talent, a moment of recklessness would cost her life. If she couldn't be bold, then she must survive cautiously.

That immortal’s divination technique for turning misfortune into fortune was indeed something she greatly desired.

She flipped through the booklet carefully and found that the immortal was quite a bachelor. He didn’t explain the principles of the techniques but directly presented several divination spells.

The first technique was "Killing Intent Divination," which could detect the hostility of people around her. It could be used at the first level of Qi Refinement but only within a range of three zhang (about ten meters).

Song Chi immediately formed a hand seal and activated the divination. A fist-sized five-pointed star flickered, and a red line extended at a forty-five-degree angle, intriguingly pointing toward Dai Jia’s courtyard.

It was… surprisingly accurate. Although she didn’t know what was wrong with Dai Jia, she had already embarrassed her twice that day.

Hostility was definitely detected. This immortal truly had some skill.

The second technique required at least the sixth level of Qi Refinement and was used to divinate fortune or misfortune. The immortal specifically noted that this technique could detect the escape routes from formation arrays, except for ancient great formations; other formations could not evade his divination.

If that were true, it would be of great help. Formation arrays were extremely difficult, requiring high cultivation insight—only the extraordinarily intelligent could master them. Many formation schools had gaps dating back a hundred thousand years, now only a few ancient noble cultivation families and top-tier sects possessed advanced formation techniques.

The Qingjian Sect was said to have formidable defensive formations, though Song Chi hadn’t heard much about their offensive arrays.

In any case, she was a music student with a weak science background in her previous life. Formation arrays were likely a strength of science, something she certainly could not learn.

But with this immortal’s secret cheat, Song Chi felt that the medium-grade spirit stone she spent was the most worthwhile purchase she had made so far.

No matter what happened, she now had a way to escape.

But she didn’t rejoice too soon. She decided to wait until reaching the sixth level of Qi Refinement to test whether the divination would truly work. Judging by the first technique alone, she felt fairly confident.

The next day, Song Chi grabbed two tasks harvesting low-grade spirit plants in the morning—something she’d learned working at the neighboring immortal estate back home. Under the early autumn sun, her face reddened, earning twenty lower-grade spirit stones and two task points. Fifty points could be exchanged for a Dust Transformation Pill.

This was much more profitable than pure labor work. Although tiring, Song Chi was not a delicate person and didn’t mind.

In the afternoon, she tried to grab another task but failed due to her low cultivation level, so she returned to her room to meditate and cultivate.

At dusk, disciples came to distribute inner sect robes—four sets per person, all tailored to size. Song Chi’s were noticeably shortened; she now stood about 1.55 meters tall. In her previous life, she was that height in middle school and grew slightly taller in high school, reaching about 1.62 meters—neither tall nor short, which suited her well.

But even so, Dai Jia snorted disdainfully. She was tall, slender, with a delicate face and a perfectly proportioned figure—probably a dancer in the modern world. Even Song Chi, who disliked her, had to admit Dai Jia was a rare beauty.

Cheng Yao was also quite attractive, with a silver bowl-shaped face, almond eyes, red lips, fair and delicate skin, and an average height.

Of course, Xi Ya remained the most beautiful—like a pure lotus in clear water, with a refined face and an aura of cold mystery shrouded in mist. On her second day in the inner sect, rumors already spread that Xi Ya was the most beautiful among the new disciples.

Dai Jia was evidently a little resentful, but since Xi Ya was destined to be an excellent alchemist, she didn’t dare offend her and instead smiled warmly at her.

As for comparisons of beauty, Song Chi never cared. She had always been content with her height and appearance, from her previous life until now.

After the robes were handed out, a burst of spiritual light rained down on Peach Blossom Mountain. Many cheered happily.

“I’m in Jiayin! Yun’er, you’re with me, how wonderful, hahaha!”

“Oh my, I’m in Yimao. Su Xiwu seems to be in Yimao too, aww~”

“Senior Brother Lin Yue is in Gengshen, I got it too, so happy~”

...

Song Chi had heard of Su Xiwu and Jiang Lin Yue even while busy with tasks and cultivation. Both had spiritual roots above 95, talents among the new inner sect disciples. Of course, this elite group didn’t include the heavenly pearls like Ye Qingyu and Mo Feiyun with their divine spiritual roots.

These two were also handsome and were called the two beauties of the new disciples, quickly becoming objects of affection among the female disciples.

On Song Chi’s roof and the token in her hand, all four dormitories showed the symbol for Guihai. So, they were assigned to the Guihai class.

Dai Jia gave her a nasty look, and Song Chi, not one to be intimidated, rolled her eyes back at her.

If you’re sick, keep it to yourself. Don’t come out to cause trouble.

Dai Jia was surprised, probably thinking Song Chi was a pushover since she hadn’t responded to her twice before.

Song Chi sighed silently and went down the mountain to eat her fill, then immediately returned to cultivation.

At midnight, she left the training room and saw that the other three courtyards also had lights on—these disciples were equally diligent.

Song Chi climbed onto the rooftop, looking around the mountain. Scattered lights shone here and there. It seemed everyone cherished this hard-earned opportunity and worked hard.

She wanted to be the top grinder, but with her poor aptitude, overexertion caused severe pain in her meridians, and forcing it would cause damage.

It was frustrating—if you want to strive hard, you need talent. How cruel.

After washing up and returning to her room, she read the Qingxue Palace rules before sleeping, because tomorrow she would attend classes at Qingxue Palace.

At dawn the next day, Song Chi joined the crowd in front of Qingxue Palace. Over three hundred new disciples had arrived—no one was foolish enough to be late on the first day.

With the clang of a bell, the mist surrounding Qingxue Palace suddenly dispersed, revealing solemn, magnificent deep-red buildings.

The new disciples gathered in several buildings west of the palace.

Song Chi quickly found the Guihai symbol in a dormitory on the first floor near the western plum grove.

Strangely, the three dormitories on the first floor were not arranged in the usual heavenly stems and earthly branches order. Guihai was next to Gengshen, with Yimao to the east.

Among the crowd, Song Chi heard some female disciples whispering about the two beauties.

Su Xiwu, with jade-like bones and graceful bearing, was not only beautiful but also handsome, with a seductive charm and a proud, aloof aura like snow on a high mountain. She was said to come from a prestigious cultivation family.

Jiang Lin Yue, as his name suggested, was like a forest flower or the moon on water—a fresh and elegant bamboo. He was skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting—a true prodigy. He also came from an ancient cultivation family.

Song Chi couldn’t understand why such well-born individuals would come to the Qingjian Sect’s inner sect. There must be some unspeakable reason she couldn’t guess.

She also learned from the whispers that both had triple-element spiritual roots of gold, water, and wood. The lowest root was 97, and the other two reached 99.

Their talent was undoubtedly genius level—just slightly behind the divine spiritual roots of Ye Qingyu. Though a small gap, it was an insurmountable chasm for ordinary disciples.

Song Chi realized these two were probably highly valued in their families and didn’t need to seek masters elsewhere. Their purpose at Qingjian Sect was likely the ancient musical inheritance—they were fellow practitioners of music cultivation.

But compared to them, her talent was like a swan versus a wild duck.

She didn’t linger, eager to rush into the dormitory and sit in the front row.

Unfortunately, everyone had the same idea. The front door was crowded, and she couldn’t squeeze in, so she hurried to the back door. There were people there too, but she managed to get inside.

By then, the front rows were almost full.

This recruitment of over three hundred inner sect disciples was divided into ten classes, each with about thirty students. Guihai was the last in the heavenly stems and earthly branches order. She was placed in Guihai, probably because she had changed the script by not going to Changyun Sect and coming to Qingjian Sect instead—and was admitted through the leniency of an official, making her a cheater.

Thus, Guihai had thirty-one members.

Inside the dormitory, the seats were arranged originally as five rows of three columns, each row sharing a long table separated by an aisle. But by the window, an extra long table had been added.

Song Chi rushed to the window side, where only the last two rows remained available. A male and female disciple sat in the front row, so she decided to sit in the back row by the window—after all, in anime, that was the protagonist’s domain.

Unexpectedly, a boy swiftly grabbed the inner seat, forcing her to sit next to him.

This freed up a spot near the back door.

Soon, with the sound of bells, a figure dressed in green appeared at the dormitory entrance. Though facing away and conversing with a nearby immortal teacher, the figure’s elegant and handsome posture suggested good looks.

The girl in front of Song Chi, who was well-informed, whispered to her companion:

“This is Immortal Teacher Mo Shubai, a disciple of Master Xueqiao and a musical prodigy. His talent is said to be on par with this year’s new disciple, Young Master Ye Qi from Meiquan, both possessing golden, water, and wood divine spiritual roots.”

“Wow! I can’t believe such a genius would bother to teach us.”

“Indeed, and this Immortal Teacher is extraordinarily handsome, one of the Four Beauties of the cultivation world.”

“I’ve heard that too. Just looking at his back makes my heart flutter, aww~”

The two giggled, biting their lips.

Song Chi understood. Master Xueqiao was also a great musical cultivator, elder brother to Master Tonghua. But Xueqiao disliked worldly affairs and loved to roam the continent’s mountains and rivers, making him a rare sight even in Qingjian Sect.

He was strict with disciples, having accepted only Mo Shubai in eight hundred years.

Song Chi had heard of Mo Shubai’s reputation as one of the Four Beauties of the cultivation world. She never imagined such a genius would be willing to teach new disciples.

She felt as if she had hit the jackpot. But thinking of her own talent, she sighed again. No matter how famous the teacher, her cultivation was limited.

Still, having a renowned master was better than none. And when Mo Shubai turned around and Song Chi saw his face, she felt she could live a few more years.

He was majestic and handsome, like a celestial prince.

The entire dormitory fell silent, deeply moved by such beauty.