On the back mountain of Xinfeng Peak, there was an open clearing surrounded by ancient trees that touched the sky.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground.
On normal days, Lu Zhu would occasionally come here to space out, but today it served a different purpose.
In the center of the clearing, two people stood facing each other.
Su Wantang held the longsword gifted by the Sixth Elder in her hand.
The blade was crystal clear, with red lines like blood vessels running through it.
With the sword at her side, her pink hair gently swayed in the breeze.
Her originally cute and lively face now bore an expression of maturity and seriousness beyond her years.
“We finally came to this step…”
Her voice was as cold as ice.
Across from her, Lu Zhu stood with her hands behind her back, her green robes slightly billowing in the wind.
She wasn’t holding a sword; she simply kept her hands behind her, trying to strike the pose of a martial arts hero from the movies—the kind that projected the loneliness of a master, looking down on the world.
Unfortunately, with her overly delicate face and that posture, she didn’t look like a hero.
Instead, she looked like a kid wearing adult clothes, trying to act cool.
“Hmph.”
Lu Zhu tried to lower her voice, making it sound deeper.
“Beat me, and you can go down the mountain.”
The corner of Su Wantang’s mouth twitched slightly.
***
Rewind to an hour earlier.
Lu Zhu lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
The Grand Elder’s words were still spinning in her head.
“You’re the master now. You have to set an example for your disciple. Teach what needs to be taught, train what needs to be trained. That child has great talent, but the greater the talent, the more guidance is needed.”
Teach what needs to be taught…
Train what needs to be trained…
Lu Zhu rolled over.
Teach what?
How could she teach?
In her past life, she was a programmer.
In this life, she was a magic cultivator.
Her swordsmanship was terrible, she didn’t understand elixirs, and she only knew the most basic formations.
With this level of ability, how could she teach a genius with dual ice and fire spirit roots?
She couldn’t exactly teach her to write code.
She rolled over again, and an image gradually formed in her mind: the teachers standing at the podium giving lessons back when she was a student in her previous life.
Suddenly, she slapped her thigh.
Practice is the only criterion for testing truth!
The best way to understand someone is through combat!
Fight a real battle, and their level, habits, and weaknesses would all be clear!
She sprang up from the bed like a carp, rushed out excitedly, and ran to find Su Wantang.
“Master, didn’t we say we were going to the Scripture Pavilion?”
Su Wantang was still a bit confused when she was dragged to the back mountain.
“The Scripture Pavilion isn’t going to run away. We can go anytime!”
Lu Zhu waved her hand, putting on an experienced air.
“Before we go to the Scripture Pavilion, I need to take your measure first.”
“Take my measure?”
“Right!”
Lu Zhu nodded.
“I remember you said you’ve been cultivating on your own before, but it’s hard to know exactly how far you’ve mastered things. So I need to gather information during the upcoming battle, then formulate a corresponding cultivation guide for you.”
Su Wantang paused for a moment, then understood her intention.
“I have to attack Master?”
“Yes.”
Lu Zhu took a few steps back to create distance.
“Raise your sword, attack me. Don’t hold back. Let me see your true level.”
Su Wantang held her sword but didn’t move.
She looked at the person standing across from her with hands behind her back, her eyes complex.
Attack her master?
How could she bring herself to do that?
“What are you spacing out for?”
Lu Zhu urged.
“Come on.”
After a moment of silence, Su Wantang finally moved.
She gripped the sword hilt tightly, her body flickered, and she thrust straight at Lu Zhu.
Her sword momentum was fierce, and her speed was astonishingly fast.
Lu Zhu’s eyes lit up.
She sidestepped to dodge, and at the same time, she swung her right hand, sending an ice blade condensed from cold energy flying toward Su Wantang.
She suppressed her cultivation to the same Golden Core realm as Su Wantang.
Su Wantang turned her blade, deflecting the ice blade away.
At the same time, she raised her left hand, and a ball of fire roared out, heading straight for Lu Zhu’s feet.
Lu Zhu was prepared.
Ice instantly spread from under her feet, sealing off the path of the fire.
But Su Wantang reacted quickly; she withdrew the fire and replaced it with a water pillar that splashed directly onto the ice.
That made the ice even slicker.
Lu Zhu raised an eyebrow.
This girl… her mind works fast.
She no longer held back.
She fully released her internal energy, accompanied by the fluctuations of her Ice Spirit Root.
The cold energy surged out like a tide, condensing into countless fine ice crystals in the air that swept toward Su Wantang.
Su Wantang fought while retreating.
Her swordsmanship was standard, but her body movement and reactions were outstanding.
While using fire to melt the approaching ice crystals, she also used water to block Lu Zhu’s offensive paths, occasionally seizing opportunities to counterattack once or twice.
The more Lu Zhu fought, the more alarmed she became.
How does this girl have such rich combat experience?
Those reactions, those judgments, those timing grabs—they couldn’t have been developed by training on her own.
Even a genius would need countless actual battles to cultivate such instincts.
If she were really only at the Golden Core stage right now, she would probably have lost by now.
But for some reason, during the duel with Su Wantang, she always felt a sense of incongruity.
She summoned her wooden sword, then charged toward Su Wantang.
Su Wantang clearly hadn’t expected Lu Zhu to switch fighting styles.
In a short time, she was overwhelmed by Lu Zhu’s swift attacks, forced to slowly defend and retreat.
I can’t… that will hurt Master.
She seized an opening in Lu Zhu’s attack, leaped four or five meters away, and created distance again.
But Lu Zhu didn’t press forward.
She frowned slightly.
“I deliberately exposed a weakness just now. Why didn’t you attack?”
Su Wantang gripped her sword tightly, lowering her head, not daring to meet Lu Zhu’s eyes.
Although she knew Su Wantang didn’t attack because she was afraid of hurting her, Lu Zhu was still a little annoyed.
Did she think that if she got serious, she could take down her master?
That was underestimating her.
So she simply threw down her wooden sword and said, “If you don’t get serious and go all out, I’ll arrange for you to live on the neighboring peak.”
Su Wantang’s head snapped up, her blue eyes full of resistance.
She didn’t want to be separated from her master!
“Master, watch out.”
She paused for a breath, then sheathed her sword.
The longsword gifted by the Sixth Elder was stuck into the ground.
Empty-handed, she looked back at Lu Zhu.
The next moment, ice and fire surged out from her at the same time.
This was a true full-powered burst of her dual spirit roots.
In her left hand was scorching flame, in her right hand was biting ice.
Two opposing forces coexisted in her body, intertwining with each other yet not interfering.
Lu Zhu’s pupils dilated slightly.
This girl…
She didn’t have time to think further, because Su Wantang had already attacked.
Flame and ice wove together into a massive net, descending from the sky.
Lu Zhu had to respond with full force.
The ice crystals that had been suspended in the air wildly absorbed the internal energy Lu Zhu released, turning into walls of ice that stood upright, only to be dismantled layer by layer by the intertwined power of ice and fire.
The two exchanged blows, locked in a fierce stalemate.
Although Lu Zhu had suppressed her cultivation, her Nascent Soul stage combat experience remained.
While dealing with Su Wantang’s offense, she slowly used her own cold energy to erode the other’s spells.
The source of water was gradually frozen by her, and the temperature of the fire was gradually lowered by her.
Su Wantang’s attacks slowed down little by little, but her eyes grew brighter and brighter.
It was a light of extreme focus, as if the whole world no longer existed, leaving only her and the person across from her.
Lu Zhu didn’t notice that light.
She only devoted sixty percent of her attention to the battle; the remaining energy went entirely to recording Su Wantang’s attack patterns, methods, and the flow of spiritual power during her movements.
With this information, she could choose the right techniques and secret manuals for Su Wantang.
The final ice wall rose up, completely sealing off all Su Wantang’s retreat paths.
The cold surged like a tide, and just as it was about to fully suppress the opponent, Lu Zhu broke through the ice wall, intending to flick Su Wantang on the forehead to end the battle.
As she took that step, Lu Zhu’s foot slipped.
Her body lost balance, and she fell backward.
What?!
She looked down and found she had stepped on a smooth patch of ice.
But when did this ice appear?
In the blink of an eye, she suddenly recalled an earlier scene—
This was the water that Su Wantang had scattered during her attack.
There were many such puddles, and she had seen them but not paid attention because they were far from her current position at the time.
But during the fight, she had been unconsciously led by Su Wantang, gradually moving to that spot.
And when she had fully released her cold energy earlier, the water had quickly frozen into ice, and then she stepped on it.
All of this was within Su Wantang’s calculations.
As Lu Zhu fell backward, only one thought ran through her mind: How is this girl’s brain wired?
The anticipated fall never came.
A hand reached out from behind her and steadily caught her waist.
Lu Zhu was pulled into a warm embrace.