After transmigrating As The Sickly Junior Sister - Chapter 9

Jiang Li thought of the scene where Ye Qingruo had taken her and fled all the way in the direction of Qingxi Sect, only to change direction halfway. She could not help suspecting that Ye Qingruo had recognized the black-clothed man’s true identity.

“Didn’t you say Senior crippled the black-clothed man’s cultivation?”

“That old bastard probably used some magical artifact to hide his cultivation, which is why no one can tell that his cultivation has already been ruined,” Xiao Hu guessed.

Jiang Li still had her eyes closed. Thinking of how Elder Ye had announced that he would also enter seclusion earlier, she figured it must be because his cultivation had been destroyed, making it unsuitable for him to appear frequently in front of others, lest someone notice.

Otherwise, how could he keep his position as elder?

But why had Elder Ye gone to such lengths to make her follow Ye Qingruo down the mountain, then assassinate her?

Jiang Li thought of something and opened her eyes, rummaging through the new disciple manual. Found it.

In order to prevent malicious infighting among sect disciples, every sect had a protective sect formation. If a fight broke out within the sect, the formation would automatically activate and transmit the scene to the Sect Master’s Hall.

It seemed Elder Ye had no choice but to make her go down the mountain so he could act.

As for why he wanted to assassinate her, Jiang Li thought hard for a long time but still could not figure it out. Could it be that there was another hidden reason behind the little cannon fodder’s death in the original book? Or was it related to the original owner’s parents?

Then what about Ye Qingruo, this early-death white moonlight?

Sigh. Speaking of which, the two of them really were a pair of unfortunate cannon fodder.

At this moment, Xiao Hu transmitted her voice again. “Ah Gu, why do you always sit there without cultivating?”

Jiang Li withdrew her thoughts and very much wanted to roll her eyes with them still closed. “Wasn’t my cultivation sealed by Senior Phoenix? Can I still cultivate?”

Xiao Hu fell silent, feeling speechless.

After being speechless for a moment, she said in disappointment, “Your brain really is badly broken. Although we demons cultivate by absorbing the essence of the sun and moon and do not need to absorb spiritual energy or refine spiritual power, no one said we can’t use those methods. During the seal, although your body is weak, you can completely use the human method of cultivation to improve your cultivation. That way, whether you are pretending to be human or returning to being a demon, you will have cultivation to rely on. The cultivation from both sides can be stacked.”

Jiang Li: “!!!”

It could work like that? She had not known!

Then came the question…

“How do I use the human cultivation method to improve my cultivation?” Jiang Li asked with great expectation. As soon as she thought of herself being able to fly through the skies and dive into the earth like in television dramas, her whole spirit lifted.

Xiao Hu continued, “You just use the human cultivation method.”

Jiang Li was silent for a moment. “I know I have to use the human cultivation method. What I mean is, I don’t know how to use it. Put it this way—the first step is sensing spiritual energy, and I can’t sense it.”

She was stuck at the very first step. She could not even learn how to crawl, so how could she fly?

Xiao Hu was silent for an instant, then said awkwardly, “You just use the human cultivation method.”

“I know. The key is how to use it.”

“You just use it like that. It all depends on fortune.”

Jiang Li: “…”

Were they playing tongue twisters? If she did not know, then just say she did not know. Why talk about it depending on fortune? Jiang Li really would believe her.

One person and one demon stared blankly together.

After a while, Jiang Li got up and returned to her room, unable to help sighing. “Sigh. Is there really no hope for cultivation?”

Xiao Hu sighed along with her and came to a reliable conclusion. “Sigh. It seems your fortune is no good. Your brain really is broken.”

Jiang Li opened her mouth, pulled out her sword, and had the urge to bury it in the latrine.

Xiao Hu instinctively sensed danger and shook the sword body. “Ah Gu, I came here to help you. Don’t repay kindness with enmity. If you mess around, I’ll whoosh away.”

Jiang Li held back a smile and asked thoughtfully, “Can you sense spiritual energy? What does it feel like?”

She knew very well that, in order to survive in this cultivation world where the weak were prey to the strong, only by improving her own ability could she protect herself. Of course she would not give up on cultivation so easily.

As soon as Xiao Hu heard this, her tone became proud. “Of course I can sense spiritual energy. It feels like breathing is very comfortable. You wouldn’t understand even if I told you. It depends on fortune.”

In short, it was still the same statement: Jiang Li’s fortune was no good.

Jiang Li froze. The feeling that breathing was very comfortable? That feeling… she had it… Could it be…

She seemed to comprehend something. Immediately, she sat on the bed and began following the steps in the new disciple manual.

A moment later, with Jiang Li at the center, the air around her rapidly contracted, as if something had been drawn away from it, becoming somewhat thin.

It worked!

Jiang Li was overjoyed. So she had been thinking of spiritual energy as too complicated. Spiritual energy had been contained within her breathing all along. She had been inhaling it constantly without knowing. It truly was, “One cannot see Mount Lu’s true face because one is standing within the mountain itself.”

“Ah Gu, you successfully drew qi into your body. You’re at early Qi Refining now.” Xiao Hu’s voice carried joy. As expected, her fortune was great. Her little companion had touched her good luck so quickly.

Jiang Li raised her lips. “Mm. I know how to cultivate now.” In the end, she still had to rely on herself.

Having just entered the path of cultivation, Jiang Li was like a student who had just started school and stepped onto a new campus, curious about everything.

She reached toward the teacup on the table, wanting to retrieve it through the air. The teacup moved at a speed visible to the naked eye, but the moment it left the table, it fell to the ground.

Although she failed, Jiang Li was still extremely excited. She could already knock a teacup down from a distance. In the future, she would definitely be able to fly through the skies and dive into the earth!

Within a few days, news that Jiang Li, the one who had accompanied the young sect master down the mountain for training, had reached the Qi Refining stage spread throughout the entire sect. After all, she was far too eye-catching. A sickly little good-for-nothing with outstanding looks but cultivation far inferior to others would always receive a bit more attention.

A beautiful waste. That was the conclusion Qingxi Sect’s disciples had collectively reached after learning that Jiang Li’s spiritual root was damaged and she could not reach Foundation Establishment.

Jiang Li, the beautiful waste in everyone’s eyes, was currently flying on her sword in midair, having the time of her life.

She could finally fly. Perhaps because Xiao Hu was hiding inside the sword and keeping the blade steady, Jiang Li did not feel dizzy at all.

It was simply too delightful! She was no longer sword-sick!

Very soon, another piece of news spread: the young sect master had come out of seclusion.

Ye Qingruo seemed to have calculated the timing of her emergence from seclusion, because the Lower Three Sects’ new disciple competition was about to begin. Today, Qingxi Sect would first hold an internal competition to rank the top five new disciples. These five people would represent Qingxi Sect in competing against the new disciples of the other two small sects.

Jiang Li looked at Ye Qingruo not far away, and that thought surfaced again. Did the white moonlight know that the black-clothed man was her biological father, Elder Ye?

Very soon, she had no time to think about this anymore, because the competition was about to begin.

Jiang Li tightened her grip on the sword in her hand. Previously, she had never succeeded in reaching Qi Refining, so she had not thought about participating in the new disciple competition. Now that she had gained the qualification, she naturally had to fight for it.

Ye Qingruo swept her gaze over the disciples. Her eyes did not pause anywhere as she calmly instructed, “Begin.”

In order to avoid casualties, the internal sect competition required everyone to stop once a winner was decided.

This time, Qingxi Sect had recruited as few new disciples as in previous years, only twenty in total.

Most of them were like Jiang Li, at early Qi Refining. Only five were at late Qi Refining. If nothing unexpected happened, the top five new disciples should be those five.

Just as everyone expected, those eliminated in the first round were all at early Qi Refining. What surprised them was that Jiang Li actually made it through the first round.

The beautiful waste had indeed succeeded in Qi Refining. Even her complexion looked a little better. Still, she was nothing more than a sickly invalid.

She was not so lucky in the second round.

To ensure that the disciples chosen were all outstanding in strength, Qingxi Sect naturally would not let the few late Qi Refining disciples fight each other. Therefore, by default, the second round had the five late Qi Refining disciples each face off against one early Qi Refining disciple.

After four consecutive matches, there were still no surprises. The late Qi Refining disciples all won.

By the fifth match, everyone looked at Jiang Li, who was still stubbornly holding on atop the platform, and could not help freezing.

As everyone knew, among disciples who were all at the Qi Refining stage, spells and combat strength were hard to separate by much. But late Qi Refining had one obvious advantage over early Qi Refining: their spiritual power was more abundant.

At this moment, on the stage, Jiang Li was stepping on her sword and darting up and down, making the disciple matched against her spin around in circles.

That disciple was not annoyed either. He swung his sword and chased after her, thinking that this little waste would soon exhaust her spiritual power. Defeating her was only a matter of time.

The disciples below the stage thought the same. Inwardly, they believed Jiang Li was already at the end of her strength.

Ye Qingruo looked at Jiang Li flying on her sword, her gaze extremely complicated. If Jiang Li could rank among the top five by relying on her own strength, that would be best.

Everyone thought that after Jiang Li had dodged on her sword for so long, she must have consumed a great deal of spiritual power. This had also caused the disciple who had been chasing her to use up half of his spiritual power. But if they fought to the end, late Qi Refining would undoubtedly have the advantage.

However, this was only the surface.

Others did not know what was strange about that sword, but Ye Qingruo had seen it before.

For example, right now, just as everyone thought Jiang Li had exhausted her spiritual power, she looked perfectly fine. Where was there any sign of insufficient spiritual power at all?