Spirit Cultivation (Web Novel)
chapter-279

"Really? Are we going to join Sacred Sword Sect this soon?" Wuying asked as she turned back to Xuefeng and the group. Xuefeng already talked about joining it earlier and she planned to go anywhere he did. No matter what decision he takes, she would follow.

"Nope, we are not joining them. I changed my plans." Xuefeng replied mysteriously as he shook his head, but seeing her curious expression, Xuefeng didn't keep her in suspense for too long as he added, "We will join Shan's Sect. You will be able to hang out with her every day."

Turning back to Princess Shan and seeing her nod, Wuying's eyes brightened and she couldn't help it but hug her before commenting with a grin, "That's great! It has been a long time since I beat you in a spar."

Hearing Wuying twisting the facts, Princess Shan immediately snorted before correcting her dear friend, "Pfft, you mean 'you lost'? You didn't win once against me."

"Haha! As if you won. There was always a draw. I think we need to repeat it once again to determine a winner then. Xuefeng can be our referee." Wuying also laughed, proposing a friendly duel and even pulled in Xuefeng to which he quickly rolled his eyes, saying, "Why am I always pulled into your games?"

Not waiting for their reply, Xuefeng checked Jiao out and found her staring at him intently as if deep in thought, so he took this opportunity and introduced her to the rest, "This is the Sect Master of White Lotus Sect, Jiao. She will be helping us during the enrolment."

Hearing no reply from her as she continued to gaze at him, Xuefeng thought she agreed with that so he asked, "Can you explain what the selection for tomorrow will look like?" He basically did not know anything about it, but if they are going to join anyway, it would be best if they got a tip earlier so they could prepare. If they somehow failed, Xuefeng wouldn't be surprised when Nuwa suddenly visits their Main Sect to cause trouble.

"Jiao?" When Xuefeng heard no answer once again, he called out her name, and only then did clarity return back into her eyes as she replied, "Sorry, what did you say? I was absent-minded for a second." This left Xuefeng speechless and he repeated his question, wondering what could distract her this much.

In Jiao's mind, for the last few minutes, since Wuying and Xiao Wen arrived, there was an intense battle. She has been contemplating many things, whereas most of them were regarding Xuefeng and Xiao Wen. Firstly, she was shocked to see Xiao Wen here. What was even more shocking was the fact that Xiao Wen was Xuefeng's lover.

Maybe her disciples didn't know the Xiao Family but she, as a Sect Master of a prestigious Sect had knowledge about many things. As there was only one Xiao Family in this world, it was impossible to mistake them with someone else. If anyone was impersonating Xiao Family member, there was only death awaiting them, so no one even dared to attempt it.

Knowing that Xiao Feng, the leader of Xiao Family had only two daughters, Xiao Wen had to be one of them, and judging by her Cultivation Stage, only the eldest daughter had such power. There were many rumours that the younger daughter already had someone and now the oldest one was also taken.

'Wait, there was a rumour that Xiao Family travelled to the Eastern Region a few times already and stayed here for some time. Did they meet Xuefeng during their trip? This would explain how Xiao Wen met him…' Jiao tried to figure out the connection between them all and she unknowingly started gawking at Xuefeng as a result.

'Xuefeng… What do you have that gets all those ladies crazy for you…?' Jiao wondered, finding that quite a mystery, which she really wanted to unravel. It was at that moment when Xuefeng called out to her and Jiao awakened from her trance.

"It won't be a tournament-like selection like we usually do as we don't have time for that, so instead we will be using a special crystal that measures talent in studying Water Element. Some of the Cultivators' Dantians can accommodate and absorb Water Essence much faster than others, which is what we test.

"As you may have guessed already, our White Lotus Sect specializes in Water Element techniques, so we don't accept anyone with poor Water Element Talent. It just happens that the higher Spirit Talent, the higher Element Talent, but that's not always reliable so we are using a special crystal to tell the difference." Jiao explained without thinking much, still quite troubled with her previous thoughts.

Hearing it was this simple, Xuefeng asked curiously, "Can I test myself too? Even if I won't take part in the selection, I want to know my talent too."

"Sure." Jiao squinted her eyes for a second but nodded in the end, pulling out a transparent square-shaped crystal and passed it gently to Xuefeng, explaining, "The crystal contains a highly concentrated Water Qi inside, which is ownerless, dormant and ready to absorb. Even if someone has mastered Water Element, they would still find it impossible to pull all the Qi away. The further you pull it from its core, the more bluish it will get. We base your grade on the colour. Try it."

Now that Jiao thought about it, she was also curious about Xuefeng's talents. If he was able to master so many elements at such a short time, his Elemental Talent was bound to be high.

"Alright. I think I know what to do." Xuefeng stopped playing with the crystal and focused on it to start absorbing the hidden Qi.

When Nuwa saw it, she smiled, already knowing the results. Xuefeng underestimated the power of the Royal Elf Bloodline, and the future events would definitely render the others speechless. If Nuwa liked Jiao then maybe she would warn her beforehand, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

It hasn't been more than a few seconds when Xuefeng started that he got some results, turning the crystal into a light blue before quickly into sky-blue colour. Jiao only smiled, expecting such effects but then her eyes widened when the crystal suddenly turned into dark blue, purple and then cracked out of nowhere.

Before Xuefeng could stop absorbing in time, Jiao's crystal exploded, leaving only a blue cloud in the air which Xuefeng absorbed into his fingers. The disciple ladies from the White Lotus Sect gaped their eyes at the scene and Jiao paled, not expecting such a situation at all. Even Princess Shan was frowning, knowing the true value of the crystal. The rest were simply happy for Xuefeng so they all cheered.

To top it off, Xuefeng commented with a confused expression, "This crystal seems to be broken. I didn't even try and it broke. Did you try to play a trick on me?"

'No one tried you trick you! This was the real treasure you just broke!' The girls wanted to shout it out but could only dare to do it in their mind.

Just then, Xuefeng acted as if he heard something in his mind and suddenly sat down on the ground, beginning meditating. In just a moment, a small tornado of Spirit Essence was created above his body and he quickly started absorbing it. He was already close to Spirit Overlord stage so when he heard Ling's call, informing him that he can use this dense Water Qi to advance, Xuefeng didn't hesitate.

Increasing his Spirit Qi capacity in the dantian, his Water Qi levels were rising as well. It was quite a waste to use Spirit Stones for cultivation in their case, but Ming still began dissolving hundreds of Spirit Stones into Spirit Essence while forcing his Spirit to absorb more. It didn't take more than ten minutes for him to suddenly advance, feeling much lighter than before. Part of his dantian was now filled with dense Water Qi, which made him quite satisfied.

Unfortunately, his actions didn't make everyone happy and Jiao was one of those people. She waited patiently until Xuefeng finished his advancement before asking with hidden anger after he was done, "Do you know what you have done? There was only one copy of it in our Sect..."

Xuefeng looked at her upset expression, and helped her look on the bright side instead of stressing herself by saying, "Are you worried that the Main Sect will hold you accountable for that? I think they will reward you instead. You found someone who can break the crystal with his talent. Isn't that quite a feat?"

Upon hearing him, her thoughts froze and she realised her thinking was really wrong. That's right. She found a great talent for the Sect. Shouldn't she be rewarded instead? Her mood improved a bit after this realisation, but that didn't stop her from taking advantage of him, "Doesn't matter. You still broke it. Now you owe me one."

"Fine. When I find one in the future, I will give it to you." Xuefeng didn't want to argue pointlessly and just offered the same value in exchange. He did after all benefit from it so he couldn't be stingy with her.

"Deal." Jiao quickly accepted it, but then she actualized her chain of thoughts and found out they no longer have a tool to perform tomorrow's selection.

With a small curse, she gathered her ladies and decided to excuse themselves, planning to think of the next idea, "Damn, we need to think of something else. Ladies, let's go back to our courtyard. We will see each other tomorrow then."

"Alright, it will be getting late soon anyway so we should all retire for now." Xuefeng didn't mind that, still having a lot of things to do with his women this evening.

When Wuying saw that Princess Shan was also trying to leave with the others, she grabbed her hand and asked while proposing, "Shan, where are you going? Can't you just stay here with us?" Princess Shan was basically one their own so there were no problems with her staying here.

When Princess Shan heard that, she looked at Xuefeng and he agreed, saying with a smile, "I don't mind. We have more than enough rooms." He didn't plan to bring her to bed with everyone else as he still wanted to live past today, but she could still use her old bedroom.

Jiao paused seeing only five disciples walking with her and called out to the missing person, "Shan, are you coming?"

There was not much to think over as Princess Shan quickly decided what she wanted, replying apologetically, "I will be staying with Xuefeng here…" If she could spend more time with the person she loved, it was obvious she would choose this option.

"Have fun then." Jiao wasn't mad as she would make the same decision if she was in her position and left with everyone else, leaving four beauties, two kids and Xuefeng alone in the garden.

Seeing all four of them staring at him alluringly, Xuefeng couldn't help but think while letting out a sigh, 'Oh boy, here we go again…'