Demoness, Stop! - Chapter 17 - Chapter 17 – Because They Are Good-Looking

Baiyun Temple.

Li Yu was lying on Elder Sun’s rocking chair. Elder Sun had been away for three days, and during these three days, Li Yu had been managing all the sect’s affairs in his stead.

Two other figures stood nearby.

Zhou Zixuan was silent for a long moment before speaking, “Junior Brother Jiang is really a girl?”

Li Yu, feeling exhausted, replied, “Senior Sister Zhou, you’ve already asked that question nine times in these three days.”

Although she had asked nine times, Zhou Zixuan still couldn’t believe it—or rather, couldn’t accept it. How did the good Junior Brother Jiang suddenly become Junior Sister Jiang?

She wondered how Jiang Li managed to hide her chest because she had tried many times herself but could never pull it off.

Chen Ming’s face was pale as he asked, “Jiang Li, is Jiang Li really a Heavenly Spiritual Vein?”

This was the twenty-seventh time Chen Ming had asked this question. Li Yu didn’t want to explain anymore and shook his head: “Wait for Elder Sun to come back, then ask him yourself.”

Chen Ming’s body trembled slightly. Had he offended a future Nascent Soul stage powerhouse?

At that moment, a silver light suddenly appeared on the horizon.

The silver light approached rapidly and soon flew above the three of them. Elder Sun jumped down from the flying boat, folded it back to its small size. Li Yu looked around and asked, “Elder Sun, where is Jiang Li?”

Elder Sun looked in a great mood, smiling widely. He said, “She was accepted as a disciple by a late-stage Nascent Soul ancestor of the sect. The Heavenly Spiritual Vein is truly something—after living more than two hundred years, it’s the first time I’ve seen several Nascent Soul ancestors quarrel so fiercely over one disciple…”

“A Nascent Soul stage master!”

Upon hearing this, Chen Ming’s vision went black and he fainted.

Zhou Zixuan looked a little envious and asked, “Elder Sun, will Junior Sister Jiang come back?”

Elder Sun smiled and said, “Why would she come back? She’s already on a different level from you all. If you can enter Kunlun Sect, you might have a chance to see her again. If you can’t, then this lifetime, you probably won’t have that chance…”

An ordinary person’s life lasts only a few decades. Even if they gather Qi successfully but fail to establish a foundation, they can only drag out a century or so. But a Nascent Soul cultivator’s lifespan can reach a thousand years. Just a month ago, they were all doing missions together earning spirit coins; in the blink of an eye, the gap between immortal and mortal was immense.

Jiang Li’s case caused quite a stir in Baiyun Temple, but as time passed, few disciples mentioned it anymore.

Firstly, they weren’t very close to Jiang Li. Secondly, the biennial Kunlun Sect disciple election was approaching, and everyone was focused on cultivation with no extra time to think about other matters.

…

Two months later, somewhere by a stream in the Baiyun Mountains.

Perhaps because he fed it every day, the little tiger in Li Yu’s arms had grown bigger, chubbier, and cuter.

Holding the little tiger after finishing a week-long cultivation cycle, Li Yu opened his eyes and sighed softly.

In the two months since Jiang Li left, he hadn’t opened another acupuncture point. His cultivation was the same as two months ago, only his spiritual power had increased slightly. Though this was perfectly normal, Li Yu couldn’t help feeling disappointed.

The path of cultivation is extremely difficult. Generally, without external help, it takes several months or even over a year to open one acupuncture point.

The shorter the time to open a point, the better the talent, and the greater the future achievements.

Aside from the Heavenly Spiritual Vein, without taking pills and relying solely on one’s own cultivation, opening one acupuncture point every two months would already qualify as genius. Opening one every four months means the talent is not bad either, and there is a possibility of reaching the Golden Core stage in this lifetime.

Li Yu once inquired and learned that Elder Sun, during his Qi Refining stage, could only open one acupuncture point every four months. Now, he is in the late Foundation Establishment stage, with a lifespan of over 250 years.

This only shows that Li Yu’s talent isn’t very good—but it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s bad.

Of course, if three months pass without opening a single point, then his achievements won’t be very high—at most, he could only reach the Golden Core stage.

However, this is without using external aids. Li Yu looked down at his chest and thought that, theoretically, if he had enough spirit herbs, his limit could be even higher.

Patting the little white tiger’s head, Li Yu sprang up and flew toward Baiyun Temple.

Tomorrow was the disciple selection day. When Li Yu returned to Baiyun Temple, the usually bustling sect was now almost deserted.

A strict requirement for Kunlun Sect’s disciple selection is two years of Qi gathering. If a disciple has stayed in the sect for two years, learned the basic cultivation methods, but cannot open even a single acupuncture point, they do not qualify for selection.

Those disciples who couldn’t gather Qi within two years had already packed up and left early. These disciples accounted for about 90% of all the disciples.

This outcome was no surprise. Li Yu had heard Elder Sun say that true cultivation geniuses were discovered from a young age. Most came from major cultivation sects or cultivation families; their parents were cultivators as well. Places like Baiyun Temple’s outer gate were like panning for gold in sand—just trying not to miss geniuses like Jiang Li. The vast majority of disciples had no outstanding cultivation talent.

The ones who left had essentially lost their chance to join a major sect. They could still choose the path of a rogue cultivator, continue their training, and perhaps join a minor sect after eventually gathering qi. Or, they could return to the mortal world and seek out an ordinary trade.

Once someone entered the world of cultivation, even if they couldn’t attain immortality, achieving great wealth and status was typically within reach.

Some of them had originally come from privileged backgrounds — members of small royal families or nobility sent to train in the Daoist way. After all, the domain of the Dao wasn’t under the central imperial dynasty. The world, rather than being ruled by countries, was effectively under the influence of the great sects. The presence of national governments was weak and mostly limited to secular matters. Here at Baiyun Temple, even the sons of nobles or princes were no different from ordinary disciples.

Still, as long as they didn’t enter the cultivation world, those disciples could return to the mortal realm and live out lives of luxury and splendor.

One month ago, Baiyun Temple had more than a hundred disciples; now, only nineteen remained.

Of these, nine had gathered Qi successfully two years ago but were not selected. They stayed an extra two years waiting for this selection. If they were not chosen this time, they too would leave.

This is because gathering Qi is highly random. Even Jiang Li, with the Heavenly Spiritual Vein, needed a Qi Gathering Pill to succeed. One cannot simply deny talent because Qi gathering is late; otherwise, Kunlun Sect would have missed a genius with a Heavenly Spiritual Vein.

Statistically, ninety-nine percent of those who failed to gather qi after two years simply didn’t have much talent for cultivation. But among those who did succeed within two years, there was no strong correlation between their talent and how quickly they had gathered qi.

Therefore, Baiyun Temple disciples who succeed in gathering Qi within two years get an additional chance.

As long as they could open four acupoints in the following two years, they would almost certainly be selected. However, as far as Li Yu knew, among this batch of disciples, not a single one had even opened two acupoints — the chances of any of them being chosen this time were slim.

This was normal. After all, true geniuses were chosen and taken away by major sects soon after birth and cultivated from young. The chance of a genius coming from the outer sect was small.

Not long after Li Yu returned to his room, Zhou Zixuan came in and immediately said, “Li Yu, Kunlun Sect’s people are coming tomorrow. We plan to go find Elder Sun to ask him some questions about the selection. Are you going?”

She had often come to Li Yu’s room over the past two months, and now they didn’t even bother knocking. Her way of addressing him had changed from “Junior Brother Li” to “Li Yu,” sometimes calling him “Xiao Yu’er” when in a good mood.

“I’ll go.”

Li Yu didn’t refuse. The experience Elder Sun shared was still worth hearing.

“Let’s go, let’s go! Elder Sun’s time is precious. We can’t be late,” Zhou Zixuan said, grabbing Li Yu’s wrist with one hand and holding up her skirt with the other as she hurriedly ran toward Elder Sun’s small courtyard.

Inside the courtyard, more than ten figures had already gathered around Elder Sun.

When Li Yu and Zhou Zixuan arrived, Elder Sun had just stepped out of his room.

In these two months, Li Yu hadn’t once seen Elder Sun go outside to enjoy the sun. Baiyun Tmple had produced someone with a Heavenly Spiritual Vein. Although it wasn’t directly related to him, he had some credit, and the sect seemed to have rewarded him with a precious pill to help him break through to the Golden Core stage. Elder Sun had been secluded in cultivation, adjusting his state, so Li Yu rarely saw him.

Among the crowd, a disciple called out, “Elder Sun, what exactly are the criteria for the sect to select official disciples? Could you tell us…”

Elder Sun usually spoke little, but in these two months, with his joyous news, he was in a good mood and didn’t mind chatting more with the young disciples.

He sat in his rocking chair, half-closing his eyes, and said, “From the day of gathering Qi, within half a year, open the second acupuncture point without external aid, or within two years, open five acupuncture points…”

Upon hearing this, many people’s faces darkened.

None here had opened five acupuncture points. Several had gathered Qi for over half a year but still hadn’t opened the second acupuncture point. Elder Sun’s words were essentially an early announcement of their elimination.

This included Chen Ming, who had been gathering Qi for nine months.

At that moment, another disciple asked, “What about those who have gathered Qi for less than half a year? Do they have a chance to be selected?”

This question struck a chord with several disciples who had just gathered Qi not long ago and hadn’t reached half a year. Li Yu and Zhou Zixuan were among them—Li Yu had gathered Qi exactly three months ago, and Zhou Zixuan a month earlier.

Elder Sun said calmly, “Depends on luck…”

“Luc…k?”

There was an uproar among the crowd.

Elder Sun opened his eyes and leisurely scanned the crowd. His gaze rested on Li Yu and Zhou Zixuan, and he said, “Speaking of which, these two are the most likely to be selected.”

The crowd was again in an uproar. Someone couldn’t help but ask, “Why?”

Everyone had gathered Qi not long ago, so why were Li Yu and Zhou Zixuan special? Could it really be just because they’re good-looking?

Elder Sun looked over the crowd and said calmly, “Because they’re good-looking…”