"Sister Pei, why did you turn in your paper so quickly? I didn't even have time to pass you the answer."
"No need. I've finished writing."
"Ah?" Feng Yu Die looked at her full of admiration and immediately began to flatter her. "Sister Pei, you are so amazing. Can you answer such difficult questions?"
Xiao Tian, who was floating beside Feng Yu Die, said, "Yu Die, what she wrote is exactly the same as what I read to you."
"Eh?"Exactly the same?
As Feng Yu Die was wondering, two wrinkled hands suddenly landed on her and Pei Lianxue's shoulders, and Wang Shouren appeared, looking at them with a livid face.
"You two..."
"Ah, it's Elder Wang." Feng Yu Die smiled and asked, "Where are we going next?"
Wang Shouren gritted his teeth and said, "Didn't I warn you when you entered the exam hall that you must not cheat or you will be disqualified?"
"Ah?" Feng Yu Die shrank her neck. "We didn't cheat..."
"Then, why do you and Pei Lianxue have exactly the same answers?! Mr. Qi is furious and wants to use the *Interrogation Cauldron* on you!"Hearing this, Pei Lianxue was taken aback.
Didn't she write it according to what her brother previously taught her? Why did Feng Yu Die have the same answer as hers?
Was it possible that her brother also gave Feng Yu Die the answer? But when? Did they spend time alone together?
"Elder Wang, we really didn't cheat." Feng Yu Die anxiously defended herself and Pei Lianxue.
"*As a matter of fact, you did cheat, but Pei Lianxue did not*." Xiao Tian sighed helplessly. "*You relied on me to answer the question while she wrote it herself, although I don't know how she did it*."
Seeing Feng Yu Die's expression, Wang Shouren paused, then frowned and asked Pei Lianxue, "Miss Pei, are you sure she didn't give you the answer?"
"There is absolutely no such thing." Pei Lianxue replied after she came back to her senses.
"Let me remind you that you can't tell a lie before the *Interrogation Cauldron*." Wang Shouren frowned and asked again, "Did you cheat or not?"
"Absolutely not! I really wrote the answer myself."
"Huh..." Wang Shouren exhaled and nodded. "Alright, you two remember that you must tell the truth before the *Interrogation Cauldron*, and there should be no falsehood."
The two nodded, and Wang Shouren then took them back to Qi Baishi in the examination hall.
Meanwhile, Qi Baishi had already prepared the *Interrogation Cauldron*.
It was a cauldron big enough to stew Pei Lianxue and Feng Yu Die together, engraved with the symbol of a majestic green dragon playing with pearls, and just by getting close to it, the girls felt a burning sensation as if they were in a fire.
"You, come forward and stand in front of the cauldron." Qi Baishi glanced at them coldly and stood up, motioning for Pei Lianxue to come forward.
"Yes." Pei Lianxue swallowed nervously, then approached the cauldron.
Qi Baishi then picked up a golden pen with his right hand, and with a flick of his sleeve, a drop of ink from the tip of the pen landed on the eyeball of the green dragon on the cauldron.
In the next moment, a long cyan dragon flew out of the cauldron, circled twice in the air, and stopped in front of Pei Lianxue, its flaming dragon eyes staring straight into hers.
Pei Lianxue felt her body immobilized by a paralyzing spell, and the greenish-blue dragon gradually grew larger in her eyes, so large that it covered the sky and the sun, obscuring her sight.
At this point, the interrogation of Pei Lianxue could begin, but Qi Baishi deliberately waited for a while.
The might of the *Interrogation Cauldron*'s dragon was by no means something that anyone could withstand at will. Even some *Core Formation* stage cultivators would have their legs shaking in front of the cyan dragon while most *Foundation Building* cultivators would directly kneel down in fear and beg for mercy, even requiring a few days to recover afterward.
He thought that if Pei Lianxue couldn't withstand it, she would admit it beforehand and save him some spiritual stones he'd have to spend to ask the dragon. However, Pei Lianxue's reaction was way beyond Qi Baishi's expectations.
At first, her face showed panic and fear, but she quickly suppressed it with her will.
That kind of determination was out of the ordinary. Qi Baishi stroked his beard, nodded, then asked, "Did you cheat?"
"No."
Qi Baishi looked at the dragon, and seeing that it didn't react, he frowned and asked again, "Then, did you come up with the answer yourself?"
"No... I didn't."
"Did you read it in a book?"
"No."
"Then, how did you know the answer?"
"Well... My brother taught me."
After answering this sentence, Pei Lianxue's face turned pale.
Qi Baishi looked at the dragon, and after confirming that Pei Lianxue was not lying, he stopped asking. He could see that if he used the *Interrogation* Cauldron on this girl again, at the next question, she might faint.
With a flick of his sleeve, the cyan dragon immediately got back into the cauldron.
After the dragon disappeared, Pei Lianxue took a few steps back, covered her chest, and took several deep breaths to recover from the dragon's oppressive aura.
Qi Baishi approached her and said, "So, your brother taught you?"
"Yes, my brother asked me to memorize the answer." Pei Lianxue replied honestly, "However, I can't quite understand it..."
"Who is your brother?"
"My brother's name is Ye Anping."
Qi Baishi was stunned. "...Who is Ye Anping?"
"My brother."
"..."
Pei Lianxue was a little too nervous; after all, it was her first time talking to a *Nascent Soul* stage cultivator, so Wang Shouren stepped forward and explained, "Sir, that's the young master of the ***Hundred Lotus*** Sect."
"So that's how it is..." Qi Baishi nodded, taking note of the name.
After thinking for a while, he took out a bottle of elixir from his storage bag and handed it to Pei Lianxue.
"Take this elixir as compensation from me."
"Senior, you don't have to do this... this is... that..."
"It just so happens that you have achieved perfection in *Qi Refining*, and this elixir will be useful for your *Foundation Building* training."
Qi Baishi smiled, stroked his beard, and ordered, "Take it, or do you not appreciate my sincere intention?"
"Oh..." Pei Lianxue stared blankly at the elixir bottle for a while and finally took it cautiously with a timid nod, "Then... Thank you, Senior."
Qi Baishi nodded, then on a whim, he swept over Pei Lianxue with his spiritual sense, planning to give her some advice on her cultivation. However, seeing her spiritual root, he was a little confused.
'Is this a triple spiritual root of water, wood, and earth? But why do these three spiritual roots look so strange? Water and wood are too strong, and earth is suppressed.'
After a pause, Qi Baishi asked, "Are you a triple spiritual root?"
"Well, yes, I am a spiritual root of water, wood, and earth."
"How old are you?"
"... Fourteen years old, fifteen in a few months."
"Fifteen years old, and you've completed *Qi Refining*?"
"Err..." Pei Lianxue pursed her lips, a little puzzled by Qi Baishi's question, and said, "Yes."
"..."
Qi Baishi fell silent. It was rare to see a triple spiritual root cultivator progressing so fast. This type of practitioner was either born into a wealthy family and assisted by a large number of expensive pills or was boosted by some extreme techniques.
But the ***Hundred Lotus*** Sect could never have that many resources to boost a cultivator with three spiritual roots. So, if there was no such opportunity in this case, it must be some issue with the girl's spiritual root aptitude.
Also, that boy Ye Anping seemed to be an interesting young man as well.
After thinking for a moment, Qi Baishi patted her on the shoulder and said gently, "Go back and have a good rest. Tomorrow's entry selection will be pretty tiring. Shouren, arrange a better place for both of them to live in."
Wang Shouren raised his eyebrows and said, "Sir, isn't that against the rules? The cultivators participating in the selection are staying in the bunkhouse today ..."
Qi Baishi squinted at him and repeated, "A better place, I said."
"Alright."
