Ssshh—
The faint crackling of candlelight was clear in the silence.
Yao Ranran did not rush toward the small hut. Instead, she first walked to the cliffside rock where Lu Ziqian usually liked to stand.
Because he had been lingering at the cliff's edge these past few days, the rock carried only a thin layer of snow.
She could see clearly that its surface had been polished smooth, almost glossy, as though someone had ground it down with care.
"Standing here every day… he's not afraid of falling?"
An untimely, idle thought slipped into Yao Ranran's mind as her gaze dropped over the cliff's edge.
Suddenly, she flicked her sleeve and drew out the Demon Staff. She thrust the staff beneath the cliff and hooked something up. The tip of the staff was smeared with a layer of black ash.
"What is this?"
A faint poisonous stench pricked her nose.
Yao Ranran quickly brought out the Ancient Appraisal Mirror and flashed it at the black ash. All the information surfaced at once.
[Ashes of a Flower-Patterned Venom Serpent: A highly venomous beast, often lurking between cliff rocks.]
"A serpent's remains?" Yao Ranran's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
She turned sharply toward the lamplit hut. Behind the paper windows, the shadow of a frail figure cast the image of a Buddha seated in solemn meditation.
Boom!
A sudden thunderclap lit up Yao Ranran's porcelain face.
"Don't tell me something from the Yan Fortress followed me out here…"
The thought made her complexion pale. She tightened her grip, and in an instant, the Demon Staff transformed into the upgraded Nine Lotus Ring.
Cautiously, she approached the wooden hut, her mind racing with a single question.
If Lu Ziqian had truly been taken over by some evil being, how could she slay it without harming him?
Would Lu Ziqian be willing to sacrifice his life for the village if it came to that?
Or perhaps… the simplest solution would be to strike decisively, end it all in one blow, and cut down every hidden danger…
"Fairy Ranran, why are you outside?"
Yao Ranran froze at the doorway. Snowflakes swirled past her graceful figure toward the north wind. Inside, Lu Ziqian looked at her in surprise, then suddenly dropped to his knees.
"Please, Fairy Ranran, accept me as your disciple! I have already comprehended eighty percent of the cultivation method you left behind. I hope I have not disappointed your expectations…"
Lu Ziqian pressed his forehead to the floor with sincerity.
Yao Ranran, however, felt her eyes go wide.
Cultivation method? What cultivation method?
And why was there so much dark qi around him—could he truly be possessed?
"Lu Ziqian… are you certain I left you a cultivation manual?"
Lu Ziqian respectfully raised his head. "Before leaving, Fairy only urged me to study painting diligently, and when bored, to read through the storybooks she purchased. Fairy never mentioned any cultivation manual."
It really was Lu Ziqian!
Before departing for Central Continent, that was exactly what she had told him.
"Ziqian has never forgotten Fairy's words. In every spare moment, I picked up those storybooks. Only last month did I finally understand Fairy's true intent!"
His thin chest rose and fell with excitement. "Those books were never ordinary tales—they were true methods of cultivation! Fairy concealed them there as a test of my sincerity. Even during Fairy's absence, I held to your teachings. I never left the mountain, I never missed a single day.
By relying on these manuals, I have already stepped onto the path of cultivation. I beg Fairy to take me as a disciple!"
He kowtowed heavily, his forehead bruising purple against the wooden floor.
Yao Ranran stood speechless, still processing his torrent of words.
"Wait—are you saying you learned cultivation methods from those storybooks?"
She quickly stopped his next kowtow, staring at him in shock.
A drop of blood slid from his forehead, swelling into a lump, yet he smiled with foolish devotion. "Yes! Fairy hid cultivation techniques within the stories. If I had not studied carefully, I never would have grasped your meaning, nor passed your test."
Yao Ranran's gaze swept the neat stack of books on the table, all worn soft from repeated reading. Her pupils trembled.
Could it be… those really were just ordinary storybooks?
The kind of cheap trinkets that cost only a few spirit stones for a sackful?
And he somehow pulled cultivation essence out of that pile of junk?!
"Fairy… what is this little mirror you hold?" Lu Ziqian asked with confusion, noticing the ancient mirror in her hand.
"Oh… nothing. Just a common trinket."
Yao Ranran quickly turned the mirror away, though inside she was screaming. Was this man a monster or a prodigy?
"Mirror, mirror, show me the truth!"
Target: Lu Ziqian
Aptitude: Heaven's Calamity Lone Star (Destined for solitude, a curse upon those around him. A natural genius for demon cultivation.)
Spiritual Root: Dark Root
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment, early stage
Evaluation: Nothing much to say. Demon cultivation is simply this fast.
…
What the hell?!
She hadn't even reached Foundation Establishment herself, yet this frail scholar was already in early Foundation?!
How was that even possible?
The Ancient Appraisal Mirror never lied. This was indeed Lu Ziqian.
But his cultivation speed was absurdly fast. Yao Ranran could only stare at him, dazed.
Lu Ziqian's ears turned red. "Fairy, what's wrong?"
"Nothing… from now on, you are my disciple."
Yao Ranran paused, then suddenly a thought sparked.
This man was a demon cultivator, but also a genius!
If such a talent became her disciple, wouldn't that give her hope for the future?
And in the original novel, nothing like this had ever happened. By taking Lu Ziqian under her wing, she was rewriting the plot!
Her cheap master had once taken her as a disciple to save Shu Xi Palace. If she now gathered a demon cultivation prodigy under her banner, perhaps when Pei Xianqiao eventually made her move, this disciple might save her at a crucial moment!
The more Yao Ranran thought about it, the more brilliant the idea seemed. She needed to prepare her own contingency. She could not just let the heroine drag her around by the nose.
Thus, Yao Ranran agreed to Lu Ziqian's request.
"F-Fairy… what did you just say?"
Lu Ziqian remained kneeling in the snow, completely defenseless as the cold wind whipped around him, turning his nose red.
"I said, you are now my disciple. And you even have a Senior Brother—the one who went to Central Continent to find me a few months ago, Nie Rong."
Yao Ranran answered patiently. This disciple's future was limitless!
Nie Rong, on the other hand, though already an elder of Wuxiang Sect, was far beyond her ability to guide. In the book, his aptitude was only slightly above average. He could not compare with Sect Master Han, with Pei Xianqiao's master Yue Qingsu, or with the chosen one, Shen Yuefu.
She could even understand why Nie Rong left his sect. To watch wave after wave of younger cultivators surpass him, while his own years piled on, was indeed pitiful…