Chapter Ten Celebration

  After the ceremony, Xu Ziyuan and others officially entered the outer hall. The next day, they packed up their luggage and gathered on the playground, leaving the college and entering the outer hall.

  Everyone was allocated a small courtyard, and Xu Ziyuan quickly cleaned up her own house and sat on the bed in the room, thinking to herself that although her cultivation might be higher than those of the outer sect disciples who had entered this time, her foundation might not necessarily be better than theirs. In fact, they had been studying systematically since they were three years old, while she had only been practicing for a few months now.

  She thought for a moment with her head down, then found some rouge and powder she had bought herself from her bag, wrapped them in paper, and walked out of the courtyard. She remembered that there was also a girl living next door, thinking that she would go to visit her, so that they could communicate with each other later on.

  Who would have thought that what made Xu Ziyuan cry and laugh was that the girl next door was very cold, Xu Ziyuan brought rouge and powder were taken down without hesitation, and also chatted with Xu Ziyuan for a few words, but as soon as they talked about cultivation, they dodged the topic and refused to communicate with Xu Ziyuan. Under helplessness, Xu Ziyuan had no choice but to bid farewell and returned to her own room in a depressed mood.

  *sigh*

  Back in her room, thinking about what had just happened, Xu Ziyuan let out a deep sigh and shook her head.

  "It seems that people in this world are also very closed-minded and unwilling to communicate with others! If I had known, those cosmetics would have been better left for my own use!"

  Take out the talisman paper, talisman brush and cinnabar from the package, lay the talisman paper flat on the table, grind the cinnabar well, pick up the talisman brush, calm your mind, quietly circulate your true energy, and bring your second-layer cultivation in the refining period to its peak. The spiritual energy inside your body is evenly revealed through the talisman brush, the strokes are like a dragon and snake, and it is completed with one breath.

  She put down her brush, took the talisman paper in hand and examined it carefully. The colorful patterns on the talisman paper flowed smoothly. Xu Ziyuan was overjoyed in her heart, her talisman-making skills had finally broken through to a new level, reaching mid-second-grade. She carefully stored this second-grade Water Thunder Talisman away, then thought about making a few more first-grade talismans to give to the family as her own task.

  Xu Ziyuan would not inform her family that she could create second-grade talismans. As the saying goes, it's not a good thing for a weak and small person to be too rich. Similarly, for someone with low cultivation to possess exceptional symbol-making skills is also not a good thing for Xu Ziyuan.

  But just then, Xu Ziyuan heard the knock on the door. Who could it be outside? She quickly gathered up the things on the table and tidied her clothes before heading towards the door.

  As soon as the gate was opened, it turned out that the four people who came were none other than her classmates from the same class in the family academy. The three men and one woman had looked down on Xu Ziyuan before. Xu Ziyuan was taken aback, not knowing why they had come to her place, but since they had arrived, she treated them as guests and politely invited the four of them into the house. However, the other party smiled and shook their heads, with a girl named Xu Li saying in a clear voice:

  "Zi Yan, we're classmates who just graduated from our class. Why don't we go out and find a restaurant to celebrate together today?"

  At this time, the four people's faces had already lost their arrogance and instead showed anticipation. Xu Ziyuan was taken aback at first, but immediately became excited. Originally, she wasn't familiar with her family's situation, and just now she wanted to chat with the girl next door, but the other side didn't pay attention to her. Now that someone had come to invite her, how could Xu Ziyuan not agree?

  A few people knew each other's names, the three men were Xu Tie Niu, Xu Ling and Xu De Zhi. They all came from the same college and class, so they quickly became familiar with each other and walked out chattering and laughing.

  "Zi Yan, you're incredibly powerful! Ten days ago, I saw you were still at the 4th layer of the Post-Heaven realm, but yesterday's test revealed that you've actually reached the 6th layer. How on earth did you cultivate to such a level?"

  Xu Li couldn't help but ask the question that had been on her mind for the past two days. Xu Ziyuan smiled wryly, she had also been thinking about how to get out of this situation, but no matter how long she thought about it, she couldn't come up with a good solution. Now that someone was asking her directly, she could only stammer and say:

  "It's probably because I've been accumulating it for a long time and suddenly broke through to the sixth level."

  Xu Li and the others secretly rolled their eyes, thinking: "One carelessness? How come I've never had such a carelessness?"

  Seeing the four people's obvious disbelieving expressions, Xu Ziyuan could only smile wryly again: "I know this matter is a bit strange, but I don't know why either. This is my first time encountering it, and I was startled myself."

  Several people looked at Xu Ziyuan's expression, which didn't seem like a lie, and exchanged glances with each other. Xu Tienniu said in a calm tone:

  "Since Ziyuan said so, it must be true, everyone should stop guessing randomly."

  The remaining three people looked a bit awkward, and for a while they all fell silent. But after all, these people were only fifteen years old, and soon forgot about what had just happened, and started fooling around again.

  Five people came to the main street of Zhongdu City and chose a wine house called Hongfei. They went up to the second floor elegant room, and among young people, there were not so many courtesy, they sat down around the table casually. Several people ordered several dishes separately, and then chatted with each other.

  Before long, Xiao Er brought up the dishes one by one. Everyone took a sip of wine to celebrate entering the outer hall. Xu Ling put down his cup and looked at Xu Ziyuan, saying:

  "Zi Yan, didn't you eat some heavenly genius treasure?"

  Everyone was also curiously looking at Xu Ziyuan, Xu Ziyuan knew that everyone had doubts about their own rapid progress in cultivation, and then Xu Ling asked such a question. She shook her head lightly and said calmly:

  "No."

  Everyone looked at Xu Ziyuan's clothes and didn't think she was a rich person, so they all believed what Xu Ziyuan said. You know that on this continent, elixirs are quite expensive luxury goods. Even the Lingyun Dan refined by Xu Ziyuan cannot be bought with money, but requires spirit stones to purchase. Moreover, it takes one low-grade spirit stone to buy just one grain of Lingyun Dan. The value of spirit stones cannot be measured in gold and silver. No matter how much money you want to spend, if the person is not a fool, they will absolutely not sell their spirit stones.

  "Zi Yan, how long have you been cultivating?"

  Xu De Zhi asked in a low voice. As soon as he asked, everyone's eyes focused on Xu Ziyan's face, and they all felt that Xu De Zhi had hit the nail on the head. If Xu Ziyan was like them, starting to cultivate from the age of three, then there were many suspicious places in her breakthrough this time. But if Xu Ziyan started cultivating at an older age, then it could only be that Xu Ziyan's talent was too good. In this way, she could break through continuously without anything strange.

  Looking at the gaze of the crowd, Xu Ziyuan's heart moved, thinking that if she said she had only recently started cultivating, they would probably think her talent was good and wouldn't suspect anything else about her. In fact, Xu Ziyuan knew that her talent was not bad, but it was absolutely not very good. The reason she was able to break through the second layer of the Qi Refining stage recently was largely due to the help of the Lingdan. Who in this continent could be like Xu Ziyuan, taking medicine as if eating sugar beans so casually? So, Xu Ziyuan hurriedly pretended to be a bit embarrassed and said:

  "I live in a very remote village, where no one pays attention to cultivation. It wasn't until recently that my uncle who came to my house discovered that I could cultivate, and he taught me some methods of cultivation. Unexpectedly, after cultivating for just one year, I broke through to the fourth layer of post-heaven. Two months ago, my uncle personally came to my house again, and when he found out that I had already reached the fourth layer of post-heaven, he was overjoyed and immediately took me to our clan and arranged for me to enter the academy."

  "You're not saying you've only been practicing for a year, are you?" Xu Li's eyes widened in shock as she stared at Xu Ziyuan.

  "That's right, I've been practicing for a year!" Up to this point, Xu Ziyuan still pretended to be embarrassed and said: "In the past, living in a mountain village, I didn't understand anything, I didn't know I could practice, thinking about it is really shameful."

  Xu Li and the other three people simultaneously shouted in their hearts: "What are you ashamed of! You've only cultivated for a year and already reached the sixth layer of the acquired stage, do you still let others live?"

  Looking at the four people in front of her with their eerie eyes, Xu Ziyuan stretched out her hand and waved it back and forth, asking softly with some concern:

  "Are you guys okay?"

  "What's going on! This is too much! It's too devastating, how are we supposed to live now?!" Several people shouted in unison, stamping their feet and pounding their chests.

  "It's...it can't be that serious, right?" Xǔ Zǐyān stuttered.

  "Isn't it that serious?" Xu Li's eyes widened as she stared at Xu Ziyuan, exaggeratedly grabbing her shoulders and shouting hoarsely: "Do you know when we started cultivating?"

  Xu Ziyanyan shook her head vaguely.

  "Three years old!" Xu Li stretched out three fingers, saying painfully: "Three years old! We started entering the family's cultivation at the age of three. Every day was spent cultivating, fearing that we wouldn't be able to break through to the fifth layer of the acquired stage by the time we were fifteen. We lived under pressure every day."

  Release the hand grasping Xu Ziyuan's shoulder, raise both hands to the sky, tilt his head back and scream in a hoarse voice: "My childhood! My childhood!"

  Xu Ziyuan was amused by Xu Lixue's exaggerated expression, and the others also burst out laughing. However, amidst the laughter, there was a hint of bitterness, which was unavoidable. After working hard for over a decade, they still couldn't compare to someone who had only cultivated for a year - how could they not feel bitter?

  After everyone finished laughing, Xu Ziyuan asked curiously: "Xu Li, is my cultivation speed really that surprising? Isn't there anyone else who cultivates as fast as me?"

  The room suddenly fell silent, and Xu Li said softly: "Yes!"