Yun Jin once again turned her gaze toward the River of Enlightenment.
She looked at that woman. Aside from appearing more mature than her peers and possessing exceptional talent for enlightenment, there was nothing outwardly special about her.
"Do you all see anything unusual about this mortal woman?" Yun Jin asked the others.
Qin Ping and the rest all shook their heads in confusion.
The woman's talent was indeed shocking.
But frightening? Hardly.
"During the Heart-Testing Staircase, did anything unusual occur?" Yun Jin asked again.
An Tong shook his head. "Nothing out of the ordinary. This woman's heart in seeking the Dao is resolute, not easily swayed."
He paused, then added, "Her hatred for the Demon Race runs unimaginably deep. I suspect she may have suffered persecution from them in her past."
That was perfectly normal.
The Demon Race had spread their heretical forces throughout the Human Realm, committing countless atrocities. In this world of cultivation, mortals were always the most vulnerable. The slightest upheaval could annihilate their entire families.
The Yun Clan of those years had been like that.
Countless Yun Clans across the world had met the same fate.
"Then what are you afraid of?" the Tian Po Sword chuckled. "I think you were just born timid, so timid it makes you cowardly."
An Tong pulled a bitter face. "You don't understand."
If it was about strength, he had nothing to fear.
The woman before him was still a mortal!
Yet whenever he looked at her, an inexplicable tightness seized his chest, as if he might need to run eight hundred laps to shake it off.
Even An Tong himself had no idea why.
"She is about to come ashore," Hong Ye reminded them.
Sure enough.
Moments later, the woman was the first to step onto the bank.
Although she had been swimming within the river for so long, not a trace of wetness clung to her body. Instead, fragments of Laws swirled around her, attracted but unable to merge into her for the time being.
They were fragments of insight, drawn to her presence.
Yun Jin lifted her hand, compressing those fragments into a small sphere.
With a wave, she sent the sphere into the woman's body.
The woman only showed shock for a heartbeat before regaining composure. "Li Xiaoran greets the Sect Master."
"Li Xiaoran, you are the first to pass through the River of Enlightenment," Yun Jin nodded. "Stay and wait with us."
"Yes." Li Xiaoran obeyed and stepped aside.
She stood quietly for a while, but soon her expression betrayed her restlessness.
Yun Jin, who had been watching her, could not help asking curiously, "Is something wrong?"
Li Xiaoran hesitated, then said, "Sect Master, are we simply going to wait here?"
She knew that as a new disciple, she was not supposed to ask such a question.
But she could not hold back!
Yun Jin blinked. "Then… is there something we should be doing instead?"
Li Xiaoran wrestled within herself, then bit her lip. "The path of cultivation demands diligence above all. If we use this waiting time to cultivate, even one extra wisp of spiritual energy could prove decisive in a crucial moment!"
She blurted it all in one breath, only to see Yun Jin and the others looking stunned.
Li Xiaoran panicked. "Forgive me, I spoke out of turn."
Yet watching the time slip by wasted, her heart grew increasingly anxious.
Yun Jin coughed lightly. "Xiao Ran, relax. Once you formally enter the sect, you will have all the time you need for cultivation."
Li Xiaoran lowered her head. "Yes."
A moment later, she added cautiously, "Sect Master, perhaps I could run a few laps around the River of Enlightenment? Strengthening the body is also a way of cultivation, and it would keep me from wasting time."
Yun Jin was momentarily dumbfounded.
This Li Xiaoran…
She was a cultivation fanatic!
No wonder An Tong, lazy as he was, felt fearful in her presence. He had been suppressed by her aura alone.
Yun Jin glanced at An Tong.
His expression suddenly changed, as though he had remembered something. A look of shock spread across his face.
"You…" An Tong's voice trembled as he floated to Li Xiaoran. "On your arm, do you have a round birthmark?"
Li Xiaoran froze, then asked, "How do you know that?"
"May I see it?" An Tong asked anxiously.
Yun Jin, catching on, intervened. "Xiao Ran, he only spoke casually. You may refuse."
Li Xiaoran hesitated. "It is only on my arm, nothing shameful."
She pulled back her sleeve. On her pale arm, a round birthmark stood out distinctly.
"This…" The Tian Po Sword was stunned, his gaze filled with disbelief.
That birthmark…
It was identical.
Coupled with her temperament…
"Is there something wrong?" Li Xiaoran asked in confusion.
"I… you…" An Tong stammered for half a day, then retreated straight back into the red cord on Yun Jin's wrist.
Wuwuwu.
So that was why he felt so much fear.
At last, An Tong understood.
Why Li Xiaoran had been so at ease within the River of Enlightenment, he understood that too. But whether to rejoice or despair, he could not say.
The Tian Po Sword stared at that mark for a long while before finally tearing his eyes away.
"Sect Master, is… is there something wrong with my birthmark?" Li Xiaoran asked uneasily.
Yun Jin had her guesses, but she only sighed. "Nothing."
Li Xiaoran was still confused when An Tong popped back out again. He handed her a manual, his muffled voice saying, "You need not go to the Scripture Pavilion. Just cultivate this."
Li Xiaoran glanced at the cover.
Golden Flame Codex.
A dual-attribute manual of fire and gold, precisely her own dual spiritual roots.
"This was created by a senior of the Wushuang Sect. It should suit you well," An Tong muttered before burrowing away again, unwilling to show his face.
Li Xiaoran: "???"
Was she truly so terrifying?
Wasn't it supposed to be her, the new disciple, who feared An Tong?
Why was it the reverse?
Seeing the manual, Yun Jin grew even more certain. Smiling, she said, "If An Tong says it suits you, then it must. Try cultivating it first."
Even with her mature demeanor, Li Xiaoran's eyes could not hide a flash of joy. This was her first true cultivation method. In the days to come…
Would she also have the chance to stand as strong as the Sect Master?
Li Xiaoran's heart surged with determination. She could not waste even a moment. Sitting cross-legged, she immediately began her cultivation.
Yun Jin, at first concerned she might stumble, kept a wisp of her mind focused on the girl.
The result…
In just two hours, Li Xiaoran smoothly entered the first stage of the manual. She cultivated as though it were second nature.
Even she herself was astonished.
It felt as if this technique had been crafted for her alone.
"As expected, it was true." The Tian Po Sword's expression grew distant, almost dazed.