"Ahem, now we invite Guest Number One to speak!"
"..."
"Right, that's you, elder over there, please give your campaign speech!" Lu Qingning held her left hand in a vague gesture while pointing her right hand at the grey-robed old man on the far left.
The old man had white hair, sported a wisp of a goat-like beard, and only his upper body floated in mid-air.
"Hm? Wh-what?" The old man seemed not to have heard clearly.
"It's what I just said! All of you want to win me over, so! There has to be a competition! That is, you need to state your specialties, and then I'll pick the one among you who satisfies me the most." Lu Qingning crossed her arms, convinced her idea was brilliant.
Upon hearing this, the old man chuckled and said, "Hahaha, that's not necessarily a bad method after all. A young person's thoughts are truly interesting."
Seeing the old man smiling so brightly, Lu Qingning deliberately gave two coughs and said, "Ahem, can you state your features now then? My time is quite limited, you know."
As she spoke, she purposefully glanced at her empty wrist.
The old man nodded and said, "There is no need for such tediousness. You only need to close your eyes and sense our auras, after which you will understand our life stories and our respective specialties."
Lu Qingning froze for a moment, then dawned on her with an "Oh."
With that, she followed the old man's instructions, closing her eyes to sense the auras of the surrounding sword spirits.
Ethereal and nimble, restrained yet bursting with potential, supreme skill disguised as clumsiness...
Gentle auras surrounded her one by one, allowing Lu Qingning to catch a glimpse of the true forms of these sword spirits.
Hm...
Lu Qingning looked at these swords one by one, without seeing a single one that she liked.
When she first transmigrated into this world, she had been clever since childhood and loved observing the people around her. She was born into a large family and originally thought an ancient, clichéd romantic drama would play out in such a household.
Yet she never expected this world to be capable of Immortal Cultivation!
Well, then excuse me, romance or whatever, I choose Immortal Cultivation!
When the day of my longevity arrives, to traverse mountains and rivers and taste all the food under heaven—would that not be sheer delight?
However, Lu Qingning also knew that Immortal Cultivation inherently goes against the heavens, and the path ahead would surely be fraught with rough bumps; therefore, caution should be her utmost priority.
Because of this, she wanted a sword capable of thoroughly protecting her safety.
Yet after picking and choosing, these swords were without exception tools for slaughtering enemies, vastly different from what she had in mind.
Lu Qingning opened her eyes. Having finished sensing the respective traits of these sword spirits, and looking at the dozen or so people surrounding her and staring intently at her, she suddenly understood what a crematorium of relationships truly meant...
Lu Qingning cautiously spoke up, "Um... do any of you happen to be a shield? Preferably the kind that can fly by itself and protect me from all directions, uh... the bigger, the better."
When Lu Qingning spoke, all the sword spirits looked at each other in blank dismay.
As Lu Qingning continued, her voice grew softer and softer, while the sword spirits wore expressions of utter perplexity.
"Fine, let's just treat it as me making a wish," Lu Qingning sighed, shrugging her shoulders.
"Then it'll be you, I suppose," Lu Qingning randomly pointed at the leftmost old man from earlier. "If there's no shield, a companionable old man isn't bad either."
The sword spirits: "..."
Seeing that all the sword spirits before her showed no reaction whatsoever, Lu Qingning paused again and said, "Uh... or how about..."
Before Lu Qingning could finish, the old man she had chosen stepped forward and said, "You junior, you'd better stop talking. I might not mind, but that doesn't mean they don't. Everyone, leave this child born with a sword seed to me."
When the old man finished speaking, the sword spirits revealed relieved smiles, seeming to trust this old man implicitly.
Then Lu Qingning's vision went black. Her consciousness returned to her physical body, and upon opening her eyes, she saw that fairy-like senior sister.
Before Lu Qingning could recover her wits from everything that had just happened, she heard Xiao Hongyu say, "You stayed in the Spirit Sword Pool for twenty days. The longer one spends meditating in the Spirit Sword Pool, the better their cultivation aptitude, and yours is the best in this Immortal Ascension Assembly. The Sect Leader is willing to personally instruct you."
As the largest sect in Cangzhou, the Tianjian Sect had extremely strict requirements for taking in disciples. They only accepted youths under the age of sixteen as disciples, and furthermore only took those with dual spirit roots or higher, completely turning a nose up at ordinary mixed spirit roots.
Little Lu Qingning hugged Xiao Hongyu's waist and asked, "Is Senior Sister the Sect Leader's disciple?"
Xiao Hongyu shook her head and said, "When I entered the sect, the Sect Leader was still in seclusion, so I didn't have that kind of luck."
Lu Qingning nodded obediently. "Oh, then who is Senior Sister's master?"
Xiao Hongyu suddenly fell silent for a moment. Lu Qingning only felt the surroundings suddenly turn chilly for a fraction of a second as Xiao Hongyu said indifferently, "The Ninth Elder of the Tianjian Sect."
Even if Lu Qingning were foolish, she would know that this Senior Sister didn't seem to like her master very much.
Yet the Senior Sister before her was both beautiful and kind-hearted. Anyway, she had long known she possessed a heavenly spirit root; learning from any master was the same, so she might as well learn from the fairy-like senior sister.
And what was that about her being born with a sword seed? To be honest, when Lu Qingning first heard that old man say it, she thought he was cursing her.
"Old man, what's your name?" Lu Qingning hugged the spirit sword in her arms and asked silently in her heart.
That aged voice came again: "Just call me Qiancang."
Lu Qingning said respectfully, "Alright, Senior Qian."
Qiancang: "..." This little girl definitely wasn't like this just now within the sea of consciousness.
Carrying the spirit sword all the way and fearing it might slip from her arms, Lu Qingning glanced down at her feet along the way and was so frightened that she tightened her grip on Xiao Hongyu's arm.
Xiao Hongyu glanced at her, seeing that Lu Qingning was merely scared, and then concentrated once more on her Sword Flight.
Before long, they arrived at the highest peak of the Tianjian Sect.
Xiao Hongyu's sword slowly landed, and Lu Qingning followed closely behind her, clutching the spirit sword step by step.
The buildings before them were not as grandiose as imagined; instead, they were exceedingly rustic, resembling the dwellings of mortals.
Xiao Hongyu cupped her fists toward the closed wooden door: "Master Uncle, I have brought Lu Qingning."
A steady voice came from within: "Come in."
A sudden gust of wind blew, pushing the wooden door open.
Only then did Lu Qingning see the true interior of the house.
Lu Qingning followed Xiao Hongyu inward. Entering the covered walkway, all sorts of immortal herbs grew in the pond alongside it, and a faint fragrance filled the air.
Passing through the corridor, Lu Qingning followed Xiao Hongyu to a room that looked rather small, yet once inside, she discovered it was exceptionally vast.
"Wow..." Just as Lu Qingning was staring in shock at her surroundings, a voice came: "Ahem."
Only then did Lu Qingning snap out of her daze amidst the surrounding glittering gold and jade. The man before her looked to be about forty years old and should be the Sect Leader mentioned by Xiao Hongyu.
"Greetings, Sect Leader." Lu Qingning bowed to the middle-aged man in front of her.
The Sect Leader waved his hand and said, "No need for formalities. Hearing that you performed excellently in the Immortal Ascension Ladder, I originally planned to wait until you obtained your spirit sword before introducing the elders one by one in the Elder Hall for you to choose from. But I never expected you to be able to stay in the Spirit Sword Pool for twenty days—when Xiao Hongyu entered the sect back then, she only managed ten days. You... how many spirit swords communicated with you?"
Lu Qingning reminisced for a moment and said casually, "About fifteen? I'm some sort of heaven-sent sword seed, so having a few more spirit swords is normal, right? I get it, I get it~"
Lu Qingning's frivolous reply caused the serious-faced Xiao Hongyu beside her to let out a light chuckle.
The Sect Leader's mouth twitched slightly. He gave two coughs and said, "Ahem, right, you have a congenital heavenly spirit root, or perhaps a variant among heavenly spirit roots—a sword spirit root. For practicing swordsmanship, this can be called transcendent natural talent. Therefore, I intend to take you as my personal disciple."
The Sect Leader's personal disciple!
To become an outer disciple of the largest sect in Cangzhou was already something many people dreamed of, let alone an inner disciple, while a personal disciple was something one wouldn't even dare to imagine!
And what did being the Sect Leader's personal disciple mean? It meant that she! Lu Qingning! Would enjoy the best cultivation resources and teachers in all of Cangzhou, instantly smoothing out her path of immortal cultivation by goodness knows how much!
Lu Qingning's small mouth parted slightly, her eyes gradually widening. The two people inside the room inadvertently glanced at Xiao Hongyu, who had remained completely silent ever since entering, just quietly standing by her side.
After listening to the Sect Leader's words, Lu Qingning slowly bowed and said, "Sect Leader, to be honest with you, actually I already have a favored elder in mind as my master. Therefore, this position of the Sect Leader's personal disciple, I'm afraid I cannot accept it."
"Oh? Little friend Qingning has encountered which elder?" The Sect Leader looked at Lu Qingning with interest.
Lu Qingning crossed her arms and said with confidence, "Like master, like disciple! Although I have not met the Ninth Elder, from Senior Sister Xiao's outstanding performance, I can tell the Ninth Elder is a fine master skilled in teaching disciples! I wish to become the personal disciple of the Ninth Elder!"
The Sect Leader's mouth twitched slightly. "Little Jiu? The Ninth Elder? Are you certain?"
Lu Qingning patted her chest and said, "My word is final, Lu Qingning naturally wishes to enter the Ninth Elder's sect!"
The Sect Leader sighed and said, "Very well, since you are so persistent, Xiao Hongyu, take her to Qingzhu Peak."
Xiao Hongyu nodded slightly and said, "Yes."
Lu Qingning rejoiced silently in her heart: Yay! I get to cultivate with a beauty!
Once Xiao Hongyu led Lu Qingning out the door, the look of worry on the Sect Leader's face did not decrease at all; instead, it grew even heavier: "I wonder what Little Jiu is doing right now. How does this fellow get such good luck? He picks up three disciples with heavenly spirit roots for free—one congenital Dao body, one natural sword seed, and one primordial Dao body. I truly don't know how many lifetimes of virtue he accumulated."
At this moment, Lu Qingning was still immersed in the joy of becoming Xiao Hongyu's junior sister, entirely unaware of what she was about to face.