The secret room was silent.
Senior apprentice Xu Rui stood frozen, staring at his own strands of hair drifting to the ground.
“Three… strands…”
Zhou Xuanwu hesitated, turning his head away.
Right now, senior apprentice, you really shouldn’t be focusing on how many hairs you’ve lost!
“Senior apprentice, I was right…”
Zhao Keran suddenly felt enlightened, as if she had received divine wisdom.
Her eyes sparkled with a mixture of joy and sorrow as she looked at Lin Shuang.
“I should have known earlier, I should have known! Senior apprentice Lin’s ‘Fastest Cultivation Method’… couldn’t possibly be weak!”
Zhou Xuanwu turned his head from left to right again.
Fastest cultivation?
“Junior apprentice… you win.”
Xu Rui finally shifted his gaze from his broken strands of hair.
A sword aura flashed past in an instant.
Three strands of fallen hair, cut in half at the waist, became six!
Only then did he show a comfortable expression.
Regaining his ability to think, his gaze moved to Lin Shuang.
Although the duel had only reached the third move, his hair had already been severed. He couldn’t react in time, so the match was already lost.
“Why did you hide your cultivation level—”
Xu Rui didn’t understand, but his gaze paused.
He saw Lin Shuang’s eyelids droop, her left hand pressing by her left ear, taking step after step backward.
With each step back, the spiritual energy within her body became more subdued.
With each step back, her thunderous aura weakened another level.
When she retreated to the secret room wall, the energy in her dantian settled again, returning to calm.
Once again appearing small and helpless, at the third stage of Qi Condensation.
“…”
“I didn’t hide anything, senior apprentice,” Lin Shuang smiled, patting the No.1 dantian that was on duty today. “Third stage of Qi Condensation, genuine and authentic.”
Xu Rui: “…”
Zhou Xuanwu: “…”
Only Zhao Keran clapped her forehead in excitement. “I understand now, senior apprentice! This is what you meant earlier when you said that every bit of cultivated spiritual energy is precious and shouldn’t be consumed unless absolutely necessary, right?”
“And as mentioned in ‘Energy Management for Fastest Cultivation’ Part II, develop habits that allow you to quickly switch freely between peak and lowest states at will.”
“When necessary, you can use certain habitual actions or objects as switches to awaken or put your body to sleep. This way, you can save energy in daily life and burst forth faster in times of crisis, surpassing your limits.”
Hearing this, Lin Shuang gave her younger apprentice a satisfied smile, the kind that said, “You finally understood, your senior apprentice’s years of teaching weren’t in vain.”
Then, she lowered her hand that had been lightly touching her left earpiece.
As the lingering echoes of the high-energy BGM in her ear faded, she examined every corner of her body.
Good, besides today’s on-duty No.1 dantian, all other odd-numbered dantians on the left side of her body were in hibernation.
Feeling extremely pleased, Lin Shuang formed a hand seal and retrieved the reinforcement talismans on the ground that still had several uses left.
“Senior apprentice Xu, don’t forget about the ten-year exemption from exams. Please inform the teachers at the Transmission Hall that I won’t be attending the disciple assessment the day after tomorrow.”
“…”
“Oh, and regarding my score, you can refer to last year’s. No need to trouble the teachers with difficult decisions.”
“………………”
Lin Shuang left leisurely, not forgetting to remind her younger apprentice who had just experienced an epiphany before leaving.
“You can spar with your senior apprentice while I won’t stay to watch. If you have any questions, compile them and your senior apprentice will review them together the day after tomorrow.”
Zhao Keran nodded repeatedly, earnestly agreeing.
Her eyes were filled with admiration and astonishment.
Compared to her senior apprentice, she was just a junior!
In an instant, she thought of all kinds of past experiences—touching her senior apprentice’s aura and counterattack, getting a grade below B on talismans… Now she understood everything.
She originally thought she had already memorized the ‘Fastest Cultivation Method’ inside out.
But she never expected that she hadn’t grasped its essence at all!
“Junior apprentice Zhao, as a roommate, you also didn’t know her true strength?” Senior apprentice Xu frowned.
Zhao Keran’s round face flashed with a bit of shyness and regret, quickly followed by an obvious realization. “The ‘Fastest Cultivation Method’ mentions many times about conserving energy. Alas, it’s all my fault for being too foolish to understand its true meaning.”
“…”
“It’s also because I’m too weak. Senior apprentice only needs to display her third-stage Qi Condensation power in front of such a weak me.”
“………………”
“But the other day outside, when junior apprentice Lin resisted the Yuan Condensing Evil Cultivator, engaging in continuous fierce combat, she didn’t conserve spiritual energy as she does now.”
Zhou Xuanwu had been puzzled until now, hesitating for half the day before finally asking.
“Why was that?”
Senior apprentice Xu was startled. They indeed encountered the Golden Hammer!
Zhao Keran listened in shock and surprise, but quickly asked for details and immediately understood.
“Oh, three days ago was an even-numbered day. On even-numbered days, senior apprentice does fat-burning exercises, which is like her sweat schedule. But today is the ninth of the lunar month.”
The ninth is an odd-numbered day.
On odd-numbered days, she lets her body rest and doesn’t need to sweat.
Therefore, she doesn’t give her all.
The case is solved!
Senior apprentice Xu’s thin lips stiffened, trembling for half a breath.
Zhou Xuanwu, on the other hand, suddenly understood.
Transmission Hall, the elders’ private chamber.
Four transmission teachers, responsible for teaching heart techniques, sword seals, talismans, and daily hand seals respectively.
At this moment, they all stopped meditating and reading cultivation records, looking up in confusion.
“What did you say, Xu Rui? You agreed to exempt Lin Shuang from exams for ten years?”
“You’ve been an outer sect supervisor for thirteen years, why would you do something so improper! How can disciples be exempt from exams and still command respect?”
Xu Rui raised his eyes. “Master, not thirteen years, thirteen years and six months.”
“…”
The four masters had no words to respond.
This disciple was good in every way, except for a few quirks.
“Nonsense! If she’s exempted from exams, how will Lin Shuang’s outer sect performance be evaluated over the next ten years?”
Xu Rui: “…”
Taking a deep breath, he respectfully bowed.
“Esteemed masters, have any of you sparred with junior apprentice Lin?”
“??”
*
Lin Shuang took a shortcut, directly passing through the front and back doors of the cafeteria, walking along the medicinal field path, and entering the back door of the library.
“Hmm? Why do I suddenly have a bad premonition?”
She touched her left eye, which was faintly twitching, and hissed.
“Could it be that Senior apprentice Chen from next door was right, that this year I’ve offended the Grand Duke of the Year and am having a bad year?”
She quickly covered her left eyebrow and entered the unguarded library.
The corner tower of the outer sect library was located between the medicinal field and the management office.
Ordinarily, few disciples came here because all the cultivation manuals and scriptures of the Clearwater Sect were stored in the Transmission Hall, guarded by the teaching elders.
The library mainly collected books unrelated to cultivation.
At this moment, Lin Shuang passed the first floor of the corner tower, scanning the bookshelves about the sect’s development history, then went upstairs to the second floor—here, most of the books were about the elders’ biographies, travel notes, and local customs.
She sat cross-legged and took out a black-gold iron box from her spatial bag.
This was something she had sorted out this morning, taken from the pile of spirit stones in the Golden Hammer邪修’s spatial bag.
When the iron box opened, three sections of hideous adult finger bones lay on black silk cloth, with blood threads.
Cold, white, and bony, exuding a chilling aura.
Carefully sensing it, there was still a bit of spiritual energy.
Lin Shuang couldn’t help frowning, lowering her head to lift the left sleeve of her robe.
On her left little finger, from fingertip to knuckle, there was a long scar running through.
The scar had already faded to the point of being barely visible, but when compared to the iron box, it seemed to match the arc of these pale finger bones.
In the past, when deboning chicken feet, it seemed like they were cut open from the palm and between the fingers, skin and tendons, to extract the complete joints.
Lin Shuang closed her eyes, “Golden Hammer Liu Ba…”
When she was reincarnated, her memories of the original body were very vague.
She only remembered that ‘she’ was one of the ninety-nine nine-year-old girls who died in the wild, pierced through the heart by a sword.
Other than that, she couldn’t remember clearly.
When she woke up, her little finger was still there.
“There were no hammer wounds on ‘my’ body.”
The one who killed the original body and the other ninety-eight girls was likely not this evil cultivator Liu Ba.
Lin Shuang frowned and took out a charcoal pencil and diary.
[December ninth, sunny
The truth of ‘my’ death seems to have a few clues, but not many.
The original mystery remains unsolved: how did ‘I’ know there were 98 other girls who died? At nine years old, ‘I’ was about to die, I should have been panicking, why would ‘I’ pay attention to the number of people present?
If ‘I’ didn’t count them, how did ‘I’ know there were ninety-nine?
Was it the person who killed ‘me’ who revealed this information at that time? Ninety-nine sounds like some evil ritual?]
Lin Shuang paused at this line, frowned, and put down the pen and paper.
She took out the v3 noise-canceling talisman, inserted it into both ears, and closed her eyes.
A soft white noise, like flipping through book pages, instantly sounded.
She formed a hand seal, and the entire three rows of books on the shelf in front of her flew into the air.
One hundred and eight spiritual senses poured out!
One hundred and eight books flipped rapidly!
“Not this book.”
“This one is useless too.”
“Next one.”
“Skip.”
“…Useless.”
“Finished, nothing found.”
One hundred and eight spiritual senses quickly flipped through the pages, soon rushing to another book!
“Is anyone there? The library needs cleaning…”
The on-duty disciple carried a straw broom, came upstairs, and was stunned.
He stumbled down the stairs.
“Monster! Monster!”
Lin Shuang was completely buried under piles of books and bamboo slips.
Half a stick of incense later, she opened her eyes in the white noise.
Several books fell into her hands.
“Evil cultivators kill righteous people, absorbing others’ blood and qi to benefit themselves. They must be destroyed.”
“On the road, I encountered an evil cultivator dismembering ordinary people, seemingly venting anger. How hateful! I beheaded him on the street.”
“It is said that this evil cultivator killed eighteen great demons and was wanted.”
Lin Shuang raised her eyebrows.
[December ninth, sunny
In the outer sect library, there are only three relevant entries, excerpted as follows…
Righteous, ordinary people, great demons. The evil cultivator’s business scope is quite broad.
But I still don’t know if ‘my’ death was caused by an evil cultivator.
Alas, the outer sect’s collection is still too limited. All the evil cultivators’ cultivation methods and true cultivation records are missing. Like this, it’s difficult to find the cause and effect of ‘my’ death and identify the perpetrator.
I can’t possibly spend my whole life opposing all evil cultivators. When will this endless entanglement end?
Could it really be necessary to go to the inner sect, gain the sect leader’s favor, become a direct disciple, and obtain the fifth-tier treasure, the Retrospective Talisman, to uncover the truth of ‘my’ death?
Well, I’ll stop thinking for today. There are other things to do.
— Clue 1 to ‘death truth’: finger bone.
— Clue 2 to ‘death truth’: excerpts.]
Lin Shuang closed the scroll of records and sighed lightly.
For years, only two clues.
She quickly restored the flipped books and bamboo slips, then went downstairs.
“Senior apprentice Lin, is that you, you you…” The on-duty disciple stood at the door, his face pale.
Lin Shuang smiled, “Thank you, junior apprentice, for cleaning.”
With that, she rode away on her wide sword like skiing.
The on-duty disciple slid to the ground, covering his eyes, “Senior apprentice… what kind of cultivation method is this? To come here flipping through books?”
There’s no way she could have read all those books one by one at that flipping speed!
Impossible!
Lin Shuang went straight from the library, stopping by the management office to replenish first-tier talisman paper and cinnabar ink, then picking up the duty schedule for next week.
Finally, she took a detour to the inner sect.
As usual, she showed the inner sect senior apprentice on guard duty that she was here to complete a task.
“Here to deliver items again?” The guard apprentice was almost familiar with her now.
After all, Lin Shuang’s appearance was quite outstanding, and her skiing on a wide sword was eye-catching.
Lin Shuang smiled and nodded, continuing forward, turning right to the Rongbao Studio near the inner sect’s dog hole.
She took out a newly made third-tier swift talisman from her spatial bag—a plain wooden table, even newer than the last one—and carried it with one hand, placing it among the treasures in Rongbao Studio.
Completed checklist
1. Research death-related materials √
2. Replenish talisman paper √
3. Pick up duty schedule √
4. Rongbao Studio transaction √
In less than half a candle’s time, she completed all four tasks in one go.
That’s her!
[“The Girl Who Is the Fastest Cultivator”]: Swift Talisman (mutated) has been sent, only one, same place for pickup.
Inside Rongbao Studio, a pale-faced man leaning against a bamboo chair, his phoenix eyes half-closed, seemed half-asleep.
His slender hand, with a few veins clinging to it, lightly covered his forehead, shielding it from sunlight.
When a somewhat familiar square wooden table floated to Rongbao Studio, his drowsy eyes fluttered open, his coughing stopping abruptly.
“…”
He straightened up, but didn’t see anyone.
His slender hand slid from his eyebrows to his lips.
It seemed because he coughed up blood, his lips were as red as oleander.
“Master.”
A white-robed handsome young man dared not look up, quickly stepping to his side.
“The Golden Hammer Liu Ba’s spatial bag has been delivered by the Annihilation Pavilion.”
“But there was nothing we were looking for inside.”
The man’s phoenix eyes suddenly opened, reflecting a line of daylight.
His jet-black pupils turned blood-red, adding a touch of eerie charm to his pale face.
“Before Liu Ba’s death, he fled into the Great Wilderness Mountains. The last people he contacted were the Annihilation Pavilion, the Sun Clan merchant caravan passing through the Great Wilderness Mountains, and the two outer sect disciples escorting him from Clearwater Sect…”
“Zhou Xuanwu and Lin Shuang.”
*
Two days later.
The outer sect disciples’ assessment was in full swing.
Many disciples came and went from the Transmission Hall, frowning and complaining, under tremendous pressure.
Only Lin Shuang remained carefree, smiling with her hands in her sleeves every day, watching from the wooden house.
“Hey, junior apprentice, going to the assessment again? Oh, today is the sword technique assessment. Good luck.”
“Oops, are you taking the afternoon exam too? Oh, it’s the talisman assessment, so never mind.”
“I don’t have to go.”
Hehehe.
Lin Shuang wore a sly smile, making sure to personally see Zhao Keran off every morning and afternoon on her way to the Transmission Hall assessment.
“Senior apprentice—!”
By the second day of consecutive exams, Zhao Keran could hardly bear it anymore.
She wanted to hit her senior apprentice for showing off like this.
But she could only grit her teeth and endure.
What else could she do?
She hadn’t learned the essence of her senior apprentice’s fast learning method, so she couldn’t be exempt from exams and had to attend the four full assessments at the end of the year!
For two consecutive days, from morning to evening, she couldn’t even drink water…
Sigh.
“Senior apprentice, if you keep this up, I won’t go to the management office to pick up your new table anymore. Honestly, how come there’s not even one left again!”
Hehe.
Lin Shuang couldn’t hear anything now.
Her mind was only filled with the words “exempt from exams.”
These two days, she hadn’t arranged any schedule at all, completely enjoying the happiness of being exempt from exams like stolen time.
It was like swallowing an entire summer vacation of high-quality happiness!
“Junior apprentice, do well in your exam, check your answers carefully. It’s okay if you come back late tonight.”
“…”
Lin Shuang enjoyed two happy days, and finally, the four end-of-year assessments for the outer sect disciples were all completed.
She still felt somewhat reluctant, but still adjusted her mindset, preparing a sumptuous dinner to reward her poor little apprentice who had been taking exams.
At the same time, she celebrated herself, ready to return to her normal routine after the exam exemption starting tonight.
But as night fell and the sun set, a bell rang.
“The outer sect disciples’ assessment is complete. Do not leave.”
“In one incense stick’s time, the sect’s Heart Inquiry will begin immediately.”
Lin Shuang was stunned.
In an instant, supervisor senior apprentice Xu Rui hurried over. “Junior apprentice, the four exempted exams are over, but they don’t include the Heart Inquiry.”
Heart Inquiry.
To examine whether a cultivator’s path is pure in heart.
Now that evil cultivators are rampant, the sect fears disciples might stray into evil paths, and by the time it’s discovered, it’s too late.
Lin Shuang understood instantly.
This was equivalent to the ideological and moral exams from her past life.
Even if you excelled in Chinese, math, and English, your ideology might not pass.
She silently reached out, pulling down her left sleeve to cover the faded scar on her hand.
“Senior apprentice, how long will this assessment take?”
Xu Rui hesitated. “The Heart Inquiry activates the Time Array. Years may pass in the heart, but it’s just a blink in reality.”
Lin Shuang’s breath paused slightly.
What kind of divine assessment was this?
Just a blink of an eye?
“Then, starting from my eleventh year, can all my disciple assessments be completed within the Heart Inquiry trial? Four assessments, four blinks.”
“??”
Junior apprentice, are you daydreaming again!
With a dark expression, senior apprentice Xu Rui personally escorted, no, accompanied Lin Shuang, flying on a sword to the front of the Transmission Hall.
“Junior apprentice, take the Heart Inquiry seriously. Don’t joke with the masters.”
“Senior apprentice? I never joke.”
“…”
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