Jiang Ying woke up.
The dawn was just breaking, and she was sprawled across a patch of scorched earth. She pushed herself up with her hands and looked around. The entire area was in a state of utter ruin, devastated by what had clearly been a massive explosion.
"I blew up that old geezer’s Treasury Pavilion like this, yet I’m still alive? And that sword strike he sent at me—it was clearly aimed straight at my head, wasn't it?"
Jiang Ying rubbed her eyes and stared intently. This place was not the Guanghua Sect, nor was it Zhenren Wuya’s Treasury Pavilion. However, the spiritual energy here was abundant, and the scenery looked hauntingly familiar.
Was this Yunzhou Academy, the place where she had stayed before joining the sect?
Jiang Ying channeled her internal energy. She was at the Qi Condensation 7th Layer... and her dantian remained undamaged, filled with a warm, circulating flow of spiritual power.
Had she traveled back in time?
Calculating based on her cultivation level and location, she had a rough idea of when she had returned to. After a moment of thought, she recalled the events of the previous night.
It had been a dark, windy night—not exactly the best time to cultivate by absorbing the essence of the sun and moon. Jiang Ying had secretly packed a stack of explosion talismans and snuck off to a deserted, godforsaken corner behind the academy to test the potency of the new ones she had drawn.
Since she usually maintained the image of a model disciple, naturally, she had to conduct such experiments in the shadows.
She hadn't expected the power of the talismans to far exceed her expectations. She failed to control them, and the explosion talismans began to detonate in a chain reaction that she couldn't stop.
After a series of thunderous "bangs," Jiang Ying had been sent flying. Through the haze, she had vaguely glimpsed a black silhouette zooming through the sky on a flying sword, getting caught in the blast and plummeting headfirst toward the ground.
Before she could see what that shadow actually was, everything had gone black, and she had lost consciousness.
When she woke up again, she was here, in that same godforsaken ruin behind the academy.
Jiang Ying sat cross-legged, gathering her thoughts. Her mind gradually cleared—this was the final year of her studies at Yunzhou Academy.
In her previous life, she had studied at Yunzhou Academy for five years.
The Nine Provinces Continent had eight major academies: Huangzhou, Chenzhou, Jizhou, Hanzhou, Yunzhou, Jizhou, Aozhou, and Liangzhou.
Yunzhou Academy was not the most prominent among the eight, but its geographic location was excellent, built upon a spiritual vein with picturesque mountains and clear waters.
The principal was named Fang Yitan. His cultivation was at the mid-to-late Foundation Establishment stage, and he was, as his name suggested, warm, carefree, and very talkative.
He had his own unique philosophy when it came to selecting disciples. He never asked about their backgrounds; regardless of their family status, even if their spiritual root attributes were subpar, he would admit them if he sensed potential.
Every year, Yunzhou Academy would conduct spiritual root tests on children in the province who had reached the required age. Those who met the standards would be admitted to the academy.
Years ago, when Principal Yitan tested Jiang Ying’s spiritual roots, he had shaken his head, twirling his flamboyant little mustache. "Three parts Fire, three parts Metal, four parts Wood and Earth, and a slightly higher five parts Water. Each root meets the minimum standard for cultivation—this is an incredibly rare Fivefold Spiritual Roots. It is unheard of... yet, in two thousand years, there has never been a cultivation method for such a thing. A pity, what a pity..."
Ten-year-old Jiang Ying had stared at him with wide, innocent eyes. "Principal, so can I cultivate or not?"
"You can, and yet you cannot. The path to immortality is long and fraught with peril. For a beginner, having multiple innate spiritual roots is not a good thing. Unless you encounter a great stroke of destiny, even with the greatest effort, you might barely reach Foundation Establishment in your lifetime, and forming a Golden Core would be even harder. Even so, do you still wish to set foot on the path of immortality?"
"I want to cultivate!" Jiang Ying said firmly.
She had heard that Zhang Erniu, the grandson of the village chief in the next village over, had been walking around with his nose in the air ever since he reached the Qi Condensation 3rd Layer at the academy. He even made a rule that everyone in their family had to bow to him when they saw him.
Jiang Ying didn't need others to bow to her, but she didn't want her parents and brother to have to bow to anyone else!
Besides, if she got into the academy, she would receive spirit stone subsidies, and her family could live a little better!
And so, Jiang Ying followed Principal Yitan into Yunzhou Academy to cultivate.
During her time there, Principal Yitan had taken good care of her. He never held back on talisman paper, medicinal herbs for alchemy, or her monthly allowance of spirit stones.
Jiang Ying did not let the principal down. She was intelligent and hardworking. Following the cultivation method for single spiritual roots, she discarded the Metal, Fire, Earth, and Wood attributes to focus solely on her Water root. Since the Qi Condensation stage lacked the many difficulties of the later stages, she relied on her unyielding, stubborn spirit to study and practice day and night, consistently ranking at the top of the academy.
The academy held annual written exams and combat drills, and Jiang Ying’s overall performance consistently placed her high on the combat power rankings.
In the assessment that had just concluded, Jiang Ying had ranked first overall.
In half a year, she would attend the Ascension Assembly held by the four major sects for the eight academies as a seeded player. In her past life, she had passed the written and combat trials, eventually placing in the top sixteen and entering the Guanghua Sect.
Jiang Ying looked up at the sky.
The morning sunlight was warm and soft, like a veil draped gently over her face.
Standing in the light, Jiang Ying closed her eyes, savoring the long-lost warmth.
A young life, a healthy body—it was wonderful.
She confirmed the fact that she had been reborn and quickly accepted it.
Since the Heavenly Dao had finally done something decent, it was her turn next!
—Of the fifty Great Daos, forty-nine are manifest. One escapes, and that is the variable. Only by embracing the impermanent can one defy the heavens and become a sage.
Since she had already performed an act of defying her fate, she herself was that variable.
If fate was already impermanent, why fear the Heavenly Dao?
In this life, she would walk a path of cultivation that belonged only to her!
She hadn't even reached the Golden Core stage in her past life; in this one, setting a small goal—the Nascent Soul stage—wasn't asking too much, right?
With her goal set, how would she achieve it?
Jiang Ying quickly mapped out a plan in her mind.
Plan One: Find the materials as soon as possible to craft a puppet capable of simulating the flow of meridians, which would be used to verify that thesis of Mu Yin's.
The little puppet that had been blown up in her past life had been crafted after she joined the Guanghua Sect. The crafting process was extremely complex; the principle involved using arrays to simulate human meridians and embedding these arrays into the puppet. In short, it was an advanced and intricate art of artifact refining.
When Jiang Ying first proposed making this puppet, Zhenren Wuya had been very supportive and even lent her one of his high-level puppets to study.
That puppet looked exactly like a man, with rippling muscles and a wooden mask. It handled the daily affairs of the sect, such as scheduling classes and cleaning, acting essentially as a "butler." It could communicate simply and even displayed emotions, which would manifest on its mask.
Zhenren Wuya called the puppet "Slave Mute," and sometimes he would call it "8848," likely some kind of serial number. Jiang Ying, however, called him "Uncle Mute."
Jiang Ying spent a long time studying Uncle Mute, and it was common to hear strange things coming from the library, such as, "Uncle Mute, I'm sorry, can I take your heart out and have a look?" or, "Oh, Uncle Mute, I’m sorry, I might have installed your liver and gallbladder backward, let me fix that for you."
Even though Jiang Ying was constantly "tearing his heart and lungs out," Uncle Mute always looked at her with a gentle, smiling expression. One could say that the relationship between Jiang Ying and Uncle Mute was one of "mutual trust."
Thus, using the high-level puppet Uncle Mute as a prototype, Jiang Ying refined and perfected it countless times until she finally produced that small, precise puppet capable of conducting experiments.
This technique was something not even Zhenren Wuya—nor many people in the entire sect—could master.
The materials for the little puppet had also been provided by Zhenren Wuya back then; they were rare and precious. It was a rare occasion for him to be so generous to her, but then again, he was trying to use her at the time.
Thinking of that old geezer immediately brought to mind the scene of her vomiting blood from his lightning strike in her past life. She couldn't help but feel a surge of resentment, clenching her fists.
Plan Two: After completing Plan One, find an opportunity to trip up Zhenren Wuya!
In her past life, he had stepped on her to ensure his own smooth sailing.
In this life, she would absolutely not let things go so smoothly for him; she had to mess with him!
How could she sabotage him?
Head-on confrontation was definitely out of the question. She was merely a small Qi Condensation cultivator, while he was already at the Golden Core stage. If she really clashed with him, he wouldn't just peel a layer of skin off her—he could erase her into dust with a wave of his hand.
She remembered that in about half a year, Zhenren Wuya was set to publish a thesis in the *Index of Immortal Cultivation* regarding the optimization of spiritual power circulation in the Hand Taiyin meridians.
Before publishing his paper, he had secluded himself in a place perfectly suited for experimental cultivation. That place was uniquely endowed by nature, where one could look up and see the stars filling the sky; it later became a famous scenic spot known as the "Star-Gazing Cave Abode." Countless cultivators flocked there, hoping to catch a bit of the immortal aura and realize their own cultivation techniques.
The "Star-Gazing Cave Abode" was located in Yunzhou, not far from their academy.
Judging by the timing of his paper, Zhenren Wuya was likely at the Star-Gazing Cave Abode right now.
She would have to give some serious thought to how she could cause him a bit of trouble!
Once she verified the Five Elements theory, she would go and "pay him a visit"!