Eight thousand and eight.

Song Chi rushed to the Azure Cloud Pavilion, where a crowd of task-obsessed disciples were already queuing at the twelve service windows to claim their assignments. She slipped into the line for the twelfth window, which had the fewest people, though there were still a dozen or so ahead of her.

When it was finally her turn, Song Chi gritted her teeth and asked, "Senior Sister, may I ask if there are any sound-cultivation tasks involving the watering of Dust-Transforming Grass?"

She felt she had fully mastered the piece "Flowing Spring Water" today, enough at least to ensure she wouldn't harm the spiritual plants while watering them. She wanted to earn this task, which paid forty low-grade spirit stones—double the reward of the exhausting task of merely harvesting herbs, and with double the contribution points to match.

"Watering Dust-Transforming Grass? Are you a sound cultivator?"

Senior Sister Anyu, behind the counter, looked up from her registration work. Perhaps surprised that a sound cultivator would seek such a task, she took a curious glance, then immediately broke into a smile. "Oh, it’s you."

Song Chi was bewildered. *What? What does that mean?* She didn't think she was famous; she was just a low-profile, unassuming little seedling.

Seeing her confusion, Anyu couldn't help but chuckle as she pulled out a recording jade mirror and held it up for a moment. To Song Chi's horror, the image displayed was exactly that moment when Jiang Linyue had placed his hand over hers to guide her spiritual energy. *How did this get here?* The speed at which gossip spread in the cultivation world was truly no slower than in the modern era.

Anyu watched as Song Chi saw the mirror, her face turning slightly away with a look of speechless resignation—the exact same expression of subtle, uncontrollable annoyance she had worn in the recording when her hand was touched.

The child clearly hadn't "awakened" to romance yet. Jiang Linyue was handsome, refined, and from a prestigious background; he had become the talk of the inner sect as a heartthrob by his second day. He had already attracted much admiration. Anyu enjoyed the gossip, but she held no such romantic interest, finding the little girl, Song Chi, quite endearing instead.

She smiled. "There is such a task… You can take this token and try. If it doesn't work out, come back and I’ll exchange it for you."

"Thank you, Senior Sister Anyu."

As Song Chi took the task token and turned away, she felt various gazes drift away from her like startled fish. She thought to herself that Jiang Linyue was a real menace. She just hoped she wouldn't have to deal with the typical novel tropes of people telling her to "stay away from Senior Brother Linyue."

She brushed it off for now—finishing her task was the priority.

In truth, the disciples in the hall were merely amused. Most had seen the "heroic" sight of this new recruit, only at the first level of Qi Refining, sprinting a hundred-meter dash into the pavilion. As fellow task-grinders, they felt a natural affinity for her. Moreover, they had all seen the jade mirror content and shared the same sentiment: this kid was still oblivious, and her reflexive, eye-rolling disdain toward a renowned, jade-like prince was impossible to ignore. They could only smile at the sight.

Upon arriving at the herb garden, Song Chi found that even the basic Dust-Transforming Grass was housed within individual spirit-gathering formations. Her family had tried growing this grass before, but without a formation, it would stop growing after three leaves. To refine Dust-Transforming Pills, the grass needed at least seven leaves, with nine being the mark of full maturity.

The plants in the formation currently had only three or four leaves—they were still mere seedlings. If she messed up, the damages should be minimal.

Song Chi wiped cold sweat from her forehead. Honestly, as she began to play, her heart ached for her spirit stones. But she soon realized her worries were groundless. Thanks to her perfectly balanced spiritual roots, she played "Flowing Spring Water" without a single error.

The Dust-Transforming Grass remained unharmed. However, the watering effect was limited; she could only feel the plants swaying gently as the music played, like wheat stalks trembling in a spring breeze after being soaked by rain. The wonder of it amazed her—the cultivation world was truly extraordinary.

Yet, after playing for nearly the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, she hadn't managed to make the grass grow a single new leaf.

That was the standard for completing the task. She watched as the lush green leaves danced to the music; sometimes, she could feel them straining, a hazy mist rising as if they were on the verge of sprouting a new leaf. But it was as if they were missing a final breath of immortal energy—they simply wouldn't grow.

As Song Chi puzzled over this, a senior sister passing by with a zither smiled and offered a hint: "You aren't at the second level of Qi Refining yet; you won't be able to make the Dust-Transforming Grass grow new leaves."

*Is that so?* Song Chi recalled Senior Sister Anyu’s hesitation and her suggestion to trade tasks; she must have known all along.

"Let me into the barrier," the kind senior sister said.

Song Chi quickly pressed her task token to the barrier to let her in.

"I am Wei Lingxiu. You must be one of the new disciples this year, right?"

"Indeed, Senior Sister Wei. My name is Song Chi."

Wei Lingxiu smiled, her bright, gentle eyes leaving a wonderful impression. "I know who you are."

Song Chi didn't need to guess; she knew the senior sister had seen the jade mirror. *These brothers and sisters of the Azure Sword Sect are all quite the gossips,* she thought.

Wei Lingxiu played "Flowing Spring Water," and with a series of soft, popping sounds, leaves began to sprout from the grass like bamboo shoots after rain. Song Chi’s wide-eyed expression of awe amused the senior sister, who covered her mouth and giggled before turning to leave.

Song Chi grabbed her sleeve and handed her the task token. "This is your credit, Senior Sister."

Wei Lingxiu shook her head with a smile. "Without your initial moistening, I couldn't have succeeded with a single performance. Don't worry about it; it was just a small favor." With a flicker of spiritual energy, she drifted away.

Her light, graceful demeanor reminded Song Chi of Lin Daiyu. She had never seen such natural, effortless elegance. Then it hit her—this was the top beauty among the inner sect disciples of the senior class, Senior Sister Lingxiu!

The Azure Sword Sect’s recruitment was irregular. This senior sister’s spiritual roots were special: Gold, Water, and Wood, all at 79 or 80. It was similar to her own, but at least the senior sister had one at 80, giving her a real hope for the Golden Core stage. For someone like Song Chi, the Golden Core was a lifelong dream with slim chances.

"Beautiful and kind-hearted!" Song Chi muttered, circling the grass. She had thought the watering was purely the result of water energy from the music, but she had seen disciples from the Exquisite Sect nearby using actual Water Spirit Arts—that was the proper way to manipulate water energy.

The sound cultivation method seemed to involve something else—something intangible she couldn't quite grasp. After pondering for a while, she gave up.

Seeing there was still time, Song Chi rushed to the Azure Cloud Pavilion to submit her task. Anyu was surprised to see the completed token.

"You're only at the first level of Qi Refining; you shouldn't have been able to finish it."

"Senior Sister Lingxiu helped me!"

"Wei Lingxiu? Ah, she’s a good girl," Anyu praised sincerely.

Song Chi nodded. Anyu smiled at her and said, "I thought you’d be back quickly after hitting a wall, but you’re quite stubborn. Here, I’ve saved a good task for you—forty low-grade spirit stones, and it’s very easy. Take this token and go to the Immortal Herb Garden to harvest Jade Snow Orchids. It’s a task for Fairy Xueji; she dislikes men and only likes pretty, fresh-faced girls like you."

Fairy Xueji was a master of alchemy, known for being aloof and deeply averse to men. Her garden was separate, used for cultivating beauty-enhancing herbs. Song Chi was familiar with Jade Snow Orchids—her family’s powder shop used them. It was an easy job that only required harvesting half an acre of flowers.

Song Chi thanked Anyu sincerely, planning to bring her some high-quality incense powder as a token of thanks next time.

She rushed to the Immortal Herb Garden and finished the harvest in half an hour. By the time she left the pavilion, the sky was filled with sunset clouds. Her body smelled faintly of the orchids, which was quite pleasant.

As she went to the canteen for dinner, she noticed many disciples glancing at her and whispering with smiles to their companions. She was beyond frustrated. Jiang Linyue’s charm was simply too strong; even the smallest incident involving him spread like wildfire through the sect.

After dinner, she returned to her dorm to meditate. She decided to limit herself to one task a day to focus on her cultivation. She estimated she could reach the second level of Qi Refining in two months. The Azure Sword Sect’s sound cultivation method was far superior to the half-baked techniques her family had used.

She held firm to her goal: raise her cultivation, earn spirit stones through sound cultivation tasks, and prepare for the Foundation Establishment Pill. She didn't want to think about anything else.

The next day, Song Chi arrived at the Guihai class as usual. She was determined to play a few wrong notes when Master Mo Shubai taught the new piece that afternoon. Yesterday had been a mistake—the gossip ran counter to her goal of living a quiet, low-profile life.

However, before the afternoon even arrived, as soon as she sat down, she saw two disciples move a desk and chair to the back row, filling the empty spot next to her.

"Is a new student joining our Guihai class?"