High in the clouds, aboard the Flying Boat.
Yan Xiaoyi was surrounded by people like the moon among stars, basking in their flattery.
At this moment, she was the most dazzling star of all, without exception!
"Ah! Eldest Miss Yan, it was me who failed to recognize Mount Tai! Please take care of me from now on!"
"Right, right, right! I knew you could do it right from the start, and as expected, I was right!"
"Eldest Miss Yan, I bet your thighs are still missing a couple of pendants! Consider me—my family has been servants for eight generations, and my experience is top-notch! I guarantee to serve you in total comfort!"
"And me..."
"Heh~" Yan Xiaoyi chuckled softly and waved a hand. "Aren't you afraid of being reviled by others for wallowing in the mire with someone like me? I'm the public enemy, the cancer of the Cultivation World that everyone detests!"
"Slander! This is pure slander! Eldest Miss Yan is beautiful and kind-hearted, how could she be such a person?"
"Right! Someone must be jealous of you and maliciously ruining your reputation! People like that deserve heavenly retribution!"
"Spot on! If I find out who did this, I'll dig up their ancestors' graves!"
The buzzing in his ears drove Elder Hu to distraction. He glared and shouted, "Quiet, all of you! What kind of decorum is this, making all this racket?"
At the elder's command, the crowd instantly fell silent.
Before long, the Flying Boat came to a stop.
Following Elder Hu into the main hall, they saw six people—men and women—seated in a circle along the upper gallery.
The fellow right in the middle sat there with a sanctimonious and well-dressed air, wearing some kind of beaded cap on his head and sitting with his legs wide apart, possessing quite the imposing demeanor of the Jade Emperor.
He was none other than the current Sect Master of the Cold Moon Sect—Xuan Tianji.
"Sect Master, a total of fifty-eight candidates passed this assessment and have all been brought here. This is their performance ranking." With that, Elder Hu presented the small booklet in his hand.
"Mm, you've worked hard this time." Xuan Tianji gave a casual wave, and the booklet flew into his hand. He flipped it open, glanced at it, and asked, "Who is Yan Xiaoyi?"
"Me, me!" Hearing her name called, Yan Xiaoyi immediately puffed out her chest and squeezed her way out of the crowd.
Xuan Tianji narrowed his eyes to appraise the red-robed girl below, thinking to himself: So this is the cancer of the Cultivation World who turned the other sects upside down and caused such a huge uproar? Why does she feel somewhat different from the rumors?
...Well, at least appearance-wise, she certainly looked the part.
While he was sizing up Yan Xiaoyi, Yan Xiaoyi was also stealing glances at him.
This Old Man is the master of the female protagonist, Leng Qingxue? There really isn't much difference from how she was described in the book.
In the original novel, in order to clear away obstacles for the female protagonist, he fought a Great Demon with all his might, only to accidentally fall into obsession and go mad.
In the end, the female protagonist had no choice but to tearfully send him off with her own hands and give him a grand burial! The banquet feasts lasted for a full three months.
"Ahem~" Xuan Tianji gave a light cough and put on a serious expression. "The Founding Patriarch once declared that anyone who can ascend to the hundredth tier of the Cloud-Climbing Ladder may have one wish granted by the sect. Speak! What do you want?"
Yan Xiaoyi tilted her head and blinked at him. "Anything at all?"
"Naturally!" Noticing the flash of cunning in her eyes, the Old Man quickly added, "Provided it's not too outrageous, like wanting to be the Sect Master or something."
Huh? You're quite good at preemptive strikes! A look of surprise flashed across Yan Xiaoyi's eyes.
Not gonna lie, she actually *had* considered that idea.
Just imagine, if she really sat in that position, her very first act would be to expel Leng Qingxue from the sect!... Oh wait, no, better yet, just go all the way and trump up some fabricated charges to have her executed on the spot!
From then on, peace on earth! The end, cue the confetti.
Of course, that was only something to dream about.
After all, with her mere Qi Refining Stage cultivation, she'd probably become Sect Master today only for someone else to usurp the throne tomorrow, offering zero gaming experience.
She flicked her sleeve, lifted her chin, and gave a knowing smile. "Rest assured, I am a well-read young lady from a good family! I won't make things difficult for you."
"In that case... I'll just take a little loss, and you can casually hand over thirty or fifty billion Spirit Stones just to show sincerity."
As soon as those words left her mouth, the room fell dead silent.
Has she lost her mind?!
Demanding thirty or fifty billion Spirit Stones right off the bat! Do you have any idea what kind of concept that is?
How could she even say that out of her mouth!
Does she think Spirit Stones grow on trees?
Talk about a glutton opening her maw without leaving a single hair behind! Xuan Tianji's mouth twitched violently, and it took him a long while to speak. "Is there any chance that you're *already* making things very difficult for me?"
Yan Xiaoyi looked at him in utter astonishment. "You don't say? Such a huge sect, and you can't even cough up a mere thirty or fifty billion?"
A *mere* thirty or fifty billion? Xuan Tianji was so angry he laughed. "Why don't you just have me hand the entire sect over to you?!"
"Can you do that?" Yan Xiaoyi looked pleasantly surprised, clearly willing to accept if he dared to give!
"What do you think?" Xuan Tianji asked back with a cold face.
Clearly that wasn't going to fly, so she had to take a step back. "Then I want the sect's Sect-Protecting Divine Beast!"
"I've only got this one old life of mine—do you want that too?"
"..." Finding herself under someone else's roof, she had no choice but to bow her head and retreat another step. "Then I want the Sect-Protecting Divine Beast to be my mount!"
"If you feel you have too much life left, go right ahead and try. Let me warn you, its temper is notoriously foul, and the grass on the grave of the last person who tried to ride it is already two meters deep. Do you want me to take you there to pay your respects?"
At this point, the Old Man was growing impatient and struck the table heavily. "Could you please snap out of it? Say something practical, would you? Stop acting so unreasonable here!"
"Sigh~ Then I suppose I'll reluctantly settle for being a Direct Disciple. That shouldn't make things difficult for you, right?" Yan Xiaoyi stopped beating around the bush and stated her true objective.
Since Leng Qingxue was a Direct Disciple, she herself needed to be on equal footing with her no matter what.
Having ascended to the top tier of the Cloud-Climbing Ladder, she certainly had the qualifications. After a moment of silent contemplation, Xuan Tianji slowly nodded. "Very well, then let me test your aptitude first!"
With that, he released a wisp of divine sense, intending to probe Yan Xiaoyi's Spirit Root attributes.
To his surprise, however, the area around the other party's Spirit Root was hazy and obscured, making it completely impossible to discern.
What was going on here?
Xuan Tianji was somewhat bewildered. Refusing to believe it, he released another wisp, but the result remained the same.
He frowned and asked, "Are you carrying something on you that can interfere with divine sense detection?"
"Not that I know of~" Yan Xiaoyi gave him an ambiguous reply.
She quietly communicated with the system: "Hey, are you the one tampering with things? At a time like this, don't pull these fancy tricks! Turn it off right now!"
The system replied: "Dear user, this is an automatic defense feature~ It cannot be turned off, you see!"
What a useless piece of junk!
Yan Xiaoyi gave her internal assessment, lifted her chin, and gave an awkward laugh. "Shall we just move on to the props directly, then?"
"Mm~" Xuan Tianji didn't want to bicker with her any longer either. With a wave of his sleeve, a crystal ball used for testing appeared before her.
Without needing a reminder, Yan Xiaoyi very consciously placed her hand upon it.
"Whoosh~" Instantly, a dazzling golden light burst forth, filling the entire main hall.
Every single person present was enveloped in the golden glow.
"Ah! It's a Heavenly Gold Spirit Root!"
A certain elder cried out in alarm. He stood up unsteadily, tears streaming down his face as if he had just found a long-lost daughter.