Chapter 2

Le Li could never have imagined the situation would turn out like this!

Her fiery spiritual root was crimson and intact, yet beside it, a pale blue, extreme cold ice spiritual root had suddenly sprouted.

If it had been any other spiritual root, it might have been tolerable, but she possessed a fire spiritual root—water and fire are inherently incompatible, let alone fire and ice.

In an instant, she had transformed from having a single fire spiritual root into possessing dual spiritual roots, and they were of conflicting attributes.

Her aptitude had plummeted significantly; no True Immortal within the sect would likely be willing to accept a disciple with such a troublesome spiritual root.

Le Li’s heart ached painfully as she collapsed to the ground, but soon her dazed gaze cleared, replaced by a newfound resolve.

Is it so easy for spiritual roots to manifest like this? She was a fire spiritual root, yet an opposing ice spiritual root had emerged!

Perhaps the saying was true: defying fate always exacts a price.

She had resolved to break free from the destiny of her past life, even if her spiritual root suffered damage. She had succeeded—that was enough.

Adding a segment of ice spiritual root was essentially no different from her spiritual root being impaired; what was there that she could not accept?

An inexplicable strength surged within Le Li as she abruptly sat up. Having been reborn, she should not waste this life in self-pity.

The path of cultivation was never smooth; thorns and obstacles lay everywhere.

She would draw from her past life’s experience to find the most suitable path, harnessing her greatest strengths to make her immortal journey soar higher and farther.

Drawing a deep breath to steady her mind, Le Li carefully examined the condition within her dantian once more.

Her fire spiritual root remained unharmed, with a sect-tested root value of ninety-two. The ice spiritual root was short, with a root value no greater than fifty. Calculating roughly, even if the fire and ice spiritual energies completely neutralized each other during cultivation, forty percent of the fire spiritual power would remain.

In reality, it could never be so perfectly clean-cut. The mutual generation and restriction among the Five Elements were relative, not absolute.

Compared to other elemental oppositions, water and fire were far more antagonistic. Both fire and ice spiritual energies would remain in the dantian; naturally, the ice spiritual energy would also persist.

Originally, the dantian was filled with pure red fire spiritual energy, without a trace of other colors. Now, a corner of that red was missing, replaced by pale blue ice spiritual energy.

The fire spiritual energy did not consume the ice spiritual energy; rather, between them, a seemingly insurmountable chasm had formed, preventing their collision and mutual erosion.

Perhaps the cold mist that had seeped into the dantian was abundant enough for the ice spiritual energy to claim its territory.

If the ice spiritual root had been innate, this would be the natural balance of fire and ice spiritual power stored within the dantian.

However, this was merely the state of spiritual energy transformed into spiritual power stored in the dantian. Such a condition was common among cultivators with multiple spiritual roots and signified nothing definitive.

During cultivation, the mutual erosion between fire and ice spiritual energies was the greatest hindrance to progress.

Lowering her gaze, Le Li immediately began circulating her cultivation method.

Within moments, dense fire spiritual energy surrounded her, interspersed with traces of ice spiritual energy.

In the air, fire and ice spiritual energies did not interfere with each other, maintaining a considerable distance.

Yet, as both energies were drawn into her meridians by her cultivation technique, they reacted—fire and ice collided and mutually dissolved, diminishing as they traveled. By the time the energies were transformed into spiritual power by the roots, a significant portion had already dissipated.

In her previous cultivation without interference from other elements, she could convert ninety percent of absorbed fire spiritual energy into fire spiritual power with minimal loss. Now, after erosion, only sixty percent of fire spiritual energy was converted—one-third lost—while over half of the ice spiritual energy was transformed into ice spiritual power.

The ice spiritual root was a heterodox root, possessing a stronger attribute than water spiritual roots. Evidently, the ice spiritual energy affected the fire spiritual energy more than vice versa.

“This will directly cause a noticeable decline in cultivation speed, but it’s still better than I feared. If I cultivate fire-element techniques, I can suppress the absorption of ice spiritual energy, improving the conversion rate of fire spiritual energy. The better the technique, the greater the improvement. With the Vermilion Bird Sutra, I might reach seventy-five percent conversion, while other techniques might yield around seventy percent, which is still quite good.”

Currently, she was practicing the sect’s Life-Extension Qi Refining Technique, an elemental-neutral method suitable for all spiritual root types. It was designed for beginners to refine qi into the body, nurture meridians and dantian, laying the foundation for future cultivation methods. However, by the late qi refinement stage, it became a hindrance rather than a help.

Logically, if she found a good master, he would grant her a high-level cultivation method suited to her spiritual roots, which would be ideal. But now, such hope seemed slim.

In her previous life, she had focused solely on the Vermilion Bird Sutra and knew little of other fire-element techniques.

Changing her cultivation method was imperative. Without a master, she would have to spend her own contribution points at the sect’s library to exchange for a suitable set of techniques.

Le Li ceased her cultivation and scanned her identity jade token, noting the pitiful tally of 246 contribution points. She pressed her lips in helplessness.

She had never considered she would need to prepare cultivation methods herself. She had spent most of her contribution points on cultivation over the past three years, leaving too few remaining to buy a decent technique.

Counting the items in her storage pouch, she had a seven-year-old Purple Ginseng, three five-year-old Zhuyu Herbs, and six Red-Tail Centipedes—all gathered during her journey in the trial ground—worth barely over a hundred contribution points, still far from enough.

The trial ground was designed for disciples in their first three years. It contained no high-grade or rare spiritual herbs, and the beasts were all low-level, low in value.

Suddenly, an idea flashed through her mind. The top ten in this trial received rewards, including contribution points; first place earned a thousand, decreasing incrementally down to one hundred for tenth place.

Moreover, first to third places were awarded spirit implements, while fourth through tenth received pills.

With contribution points, spirit implements, and pills on the line, she resolved to fight for a top-ten position to claim better rewards.

Le Li racked her brain, recalling her past experience and what she had heard about the trial ground’s layout. Starting from the Ice Cave to the endpoint, she reconstructed the locations of traps, obstacles, illusions, beast ambushes, and opportunities, piece by piece.

Soon, she mapped out the fastest route, avoiding risks, ignoring insignificant opportunities, aiming to reach the endpoint as swiftly as possible.

After confirming her path, Le Li lifted the restriction, left the cave, extended her divine sense to scout ahead, gripped her spirit sword, and swiftly moved with the Flying Mist Step.

At the start, she frowned involuntarily. Her divine sense’s viewing range was too limited, and her footwork too slow.

In her previous life, she had cultivated to the late Foundation Establishment stage, nearly breaking through to Golden Core—not comparable to her current mid-Qi Refinement level. At first, she struggled to adapt to her present body and cultivation.

Le Li worked hard to adjust her mindset and adapt quickly. This was her own body, and she had traversed this stage before. Within less than fifteen minutes, she felt much more comfortable.

She also noticed her divine sense now extended much farther than before—over a hundred meters, whereas in her past life it was only sixty or seventy.

This was surely related to her rebirth; her soul had strengthened, naturally broadening her divine sense.

Without further hesitation, Le Li dashed into the labyrinth of shattered stones like a gale.

High above the trial ground, Cao Qixing’s drifting figure suddenly paused. “How is this possible? That disciple named Le Li—her aura has changed. There is an added chill.”

Ro Renqing, accompanying him, glanced over with sharp light in his eyes. “Could it be someone has usurped her body?”

“In broad daylight, under our watchful eyes—who dares to usurp her?” Cao Qixing’s face darkened. “Junior Brother Luo, let’s investigate what has happened.”

Cao Qixing and Luo Renqing were responsible for overseeing this trial, hidden in the shadows to supervise, ensuring no rule violations or infighting among disciples, and protecting their safety. After all, unforeseen accidents could happen, and the sect could not afford to lose disciples within its own grounds.

They especially focused on disciples with single or dual spiritual roots. Le Li, with her single fire spiritual root, was under close scrutiny; any change was immediately noticed.

The two swiftly descended and infiltrated the trial ground, arriving before Le Li in moments, blocking her path.

Startled by the sudden appearance of Cao Qixing and Luo Renqing, Le Li immediately understood her transformation had been detected. She stopped, bowed respectfully, and said, “Disciple greets the two True Immortals!”

Cao Qixing’s divine sense probed her third eye, sensing her soul—solid and stable, with no signs of usurpation. Then he examined her dantian and instantly detected the anomaly. His tone was stern yet composed: “What happened? How did you develop an ice spiritual root?”

Le Li’s expression shifted to one of tearful distress, though she struggled to maintain composure. “Respectfully to the two True Immortals, I discovered an ice cave ten miles away underground. I sensed an unusual heat inside. Upon entering, I found a flicker of flame, identical to the Southern Bright Flame described by the elders. As a fire spiritual root disciple, I tried to refine it, but... but...”

Her voice broke, tears streaming freely. Now just a thirteen-year-old girl facing such upheaval, crying was a natural response.

Sniffling, she continued, “Just as I was about to refine the flame, the ice cave suddenly trembled and cracked open. I didn’t react in time. My dantian ached, and I fainted. When I awoke, the Southern Bright Flame was gone, replaced by an ice spiritual root. I don’t understand why this happened. I only wanted to refine the Southern Bright Flame. How could an ice spiritual root have appeared?”

Watching her sobbing, both Cao Qixing and Luo Renqing exchanged strange looks.

They had thoroughly inspected the trial ground earlier and found nothing unusual. How could something like this have occurred?

To cause a spiritual root to form was an exceedingly rare event; not only had it been wasted, her promising single fire spiritual root seedling had been ruined.

This was a serious matter. They would certainly report it to the sect leader, but first, they needed to clarify what had transpired.

Exchanging a glance, they asked Le Li for the exact location of the ice cave, then swiftly took flight to investigate.

Le Li wiped away her tears, watched their retreating backs, and turned to continue her journey.