“Let’s see how it goes first…” Fang Qingyao was unable to make up her mind.
Her maid anxiously whispered, “Young miss, go for it! Even Imperial Duke Fang has joined a cultivator sect. If you become a cultivator too, you might just have a shot with Imperial Duke Fang…”
Fang Qingyao’s face turned red. She coyly exclaimed, “What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Young miss, it’s not that I want to lecture you, but I have seen you sitting in a daze when Imperial Duke Fang doesn’t visit the Compassion Hall. I wonder who you are thinking about,” her maid teased.
“Hush, Jade Fairy is about to undergo her spirit assessment,” Fang Qingyao quickly changed the topic.
Everyone’s attention fell on Jade Fairy.
She was as famous as Fang Chen in the capital; it would be hard to find anyone here who hadn’t heard about her. Even the officials knew about her. She was the number one beauty of the Great Xia River’s Jade Fairy Boat, after all.
Jade Fairy stood in front of the Spirit Gauging Bell. She glanced at Fang Chen before she raised her slender arm, clenched her fist, and hurled it forth.
The Spirit Gauging Bell tolled.
Jade Fairy continued striking the bell.
The Spirit Gauging Bell continued to toll.
The crowd was excited. This showed that Jade Fairy was sufficiently talented to at least join one of the cultivation sects here. At this rate, she might become a real fairy in the future!
A few women with similar backgrounds as Jade Fairy looked at her in envy.
The crowd’s eyes slowly widened in shock.
Elder Jinnan and the others took another look at Jade Fairy. Six tolls represented medium-upper cultivation talent, which was rather decent.
The Sixth Princess standing behind Immortal Aunt Firecloud clenched her fists as she glared at Jade Fairy with a livid face. How can a secular woman’s cultivation talent be higher than mine?!
Seven tolls—this represented superior cultivation talent!
The crowd fell utterly silent. This was the third superior cultivation talent thus far, but no one thought that it would appear on Jade Fairy!
“Our South Heaven Sect will be taking her,” Elder Jinnan declared.
Right after he said those words, the bell tolled once more.
The crowd was dumbstruck. This was the first time the crowd had seen anyone achieving a result of eight tolls.
The farm lady’s eyes heated up “Jinnan, she’s mine. I lack a personal disciple. I’ll fight you if you dare compete with me over her!”
Daoist Crow and the others exchanged pitiful looks. They didn’t have the means to compete with the South Heaven Sect and the Beast Spirit Valley, so they could only watch helplessly as this piece of fine jade fell into someone else’s hand.
Elder Jinnan was still coming to terms with the situation. With a cultivation talent of eight tolls, Jade Fairy was on par with the two top prodigies who appeared in Infernoblaze back then.
“She’s talented,” Fang Chen murmured under his breath.
“That won’t do. Our South Heaven Sect will be taking her!” Knowing he couldn’t let such a talent slip past his fingers, Elder Jinnan immediately competed with the farm lady despite her threat.
While the two of them were in a heated argument, yet another toll echoed.
Everyone was dumbstruck. Even the arguing Elder Jinnan and farm lady shut their mouths and stared at Jade Fairy with dazed eyes.
“N-nine tolls? I have never seen anyone with a cultivation talent of nine tolls before. How long has it been since such an individual appeared in Infernoblaze? 300 years? 500 years?” Daoist Crow exclaimed in shock.
There was a moment of silence before deafening cheers broke out.
The common populace didn’t understand the true significance of nine tolls; all they knew was that Jade Fairy had achieved something incredible and brought honor to their Great Xia.
“C-continue…” Xia Yun stuttered.
“I didn’t expect myself to be so talented,” Jade Fairy muttered. She tried striking the Spirit Gauging Bell once more, but it didn’t produce any more reverberation.
“Nine tolls is the peak. A person who can evoke nine tolls has one of the best cultivation talents in the world.” Elder Jinnan excitedly rose from his seat. “Young miss, are you willing to join our South Heaven Sect?”
“There’s nothing good about the South Heaven Sect. Come to our Beast Spirit Valley. I’ll take you in as my personal disciple.” The farm lady stood up as well.
Xia Yu’s eyes became heated. He thought of something and hurriedly spoke up, “Jade Fairy, I’m at the South Heaven Sect too. Why don’t you join us so that we can look after each other?”
Jade Fairy paid no heed to Xia Yu and instead turned to Fang Chen. “Lord Imperial Duke, which sect do you think is more suited for me?”
The crowd was stunned.
Xia Yu first looked at Jade Fairy, followed by Fang Chen, and he suddenly felt as if someone had shoved dog poop down his throat. He felt disgusted all over.
“Why are you asking a mortal? What would he know? That being said, someone of your talent is qualified to become my disciple,” a cold voice suddenly echoed from the sky.
The crowd hurriedly raised their heads.
It was a purple-robed woman standing on a sword in mid-air. She was looking at Jade Fairy with glowing eyes.
She’s flying on a sword…
Once again, the crowd found themselves shocked by the means of the cultivators. They had seen many incredible sights today, but sword flying was a feat that was often associated with the strongest experts in novels.
To them, such a feat looked even more incredible than what Daoist Cloudcrane did.
Elder Jinnan’s face darkened. “Fellow daoist…”
He wasn’t intimidated by the purple-robed woman’s presence or feat. Even Ki Refinement cultivators were capable of sword flight, though they would have been much less adept at it than a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
“Who are you calling a fellow daoist?”
The purple-robed woman glared at Elder Jinnan. A powerful aura gushed forth from her, and Elder Jinnan’s knees immediately fell to the ground.
To the latter’s shock, he was unable to move at all!
The farm lady and the others gasped as they eyed the purple-robed woman with fearful eyes.
The pale-faced Elder Jinnan immediately understood what kind of entity he was up against, so he hurriedly changed his words, “E-Elder!”
“That’s more like it.” The purple-robed woman chuckled. She retracted her aura, and only then was Elder Jinnan able to return to his feet. “You’re not wrong to say that nine tolls is the peak, but your Spirit Gauging Bell doesn’t meet the mark, so the spirit assessment you conducted isn’t accurate. If you don’t get that, I suggest you step down here lest you mislead others.”
After teaching Elder Jinnan a lesson, the purple-robed woman turned to Jade Fairy and asked, “Miss, are you willing to take me as your master?”
Jade Fairy’s eyes flickered. The purple-robed woman is stronger than Elder Jinnan and the others by a huge margin, but… She looked to Fang Chen, and only when the latter nodded did she finally bow to the purple-robed woman. “Paying respect to master.”
“Good. You’ll be coming with me then.”
The purple-robed woman waved her hand, and a surge of spirit ki enveloped Jade Fairy and lifted her up onto the flying sword.
It was yet another incredible sight that evoked awe from the crowd.
“Please wait for a moment, elder.” Fang Chen clasped his fist.
“You need something?” the purple-robed woman impassively asked.
“May I know your sect name?” Fang Chen asked with a smile.
“And you think you’re qualified to know that?” The purple-robed woman chuckled under her breath before turning around, not wanting to waste any more time here.
It was then that Jade Fairy spoke up. “Elder, please answer Imperial Duke Fang’s question.”
“You and him…” The purple-robed woman cast an assessing gaze at Jade Fairy before finally shaking her head. “You’re destined to be a sword immortal. You ought to sever ties with those from the secular world.”
She then turned to Elder Jinnan and the others. “I came over to take a look after sensing the Spirit Marrow. This miss should be the greatest beneficiary of the spirit rain, so I’ll be taking her with me. You can take whoever else is left. Farewell.”
After saying her piece, the purple-robed woman departed from the scene with Jade Fairy in a flash of light, disappearing in the horizon in a matter of seconds.
Elder Jinnan and the others had awful looks on their faces. Not only had they been robbed of their disciple, but the other party even humiliated them on top of that…