Chapter 58: The Saintess is Jealous

Just as Yun Fei was secretly complaining, the person who seemed to be leading the team noticed her and immediately walked over.

“Hello, junior. Did you take the Qingzhou mission? I’m the designated team leader from the academy. My name is Dong Qi, a senior student at the Heaven Burning Fifth Realm. Nice to meet you!”

This team captain was a man who looked very honest and sturdy—his shoulders were almost twice as broad as hers.

She hadn’t expected to see such a burly man within the Profane Realm’s territory; Yun Fei had only seen their like in the Demon Realm.

“Hello, Senior Dong Qi. I’m Yun Fei, a first-year student at the Shattering Void Fourth Realm.”

Yun Fei didn’t say much, simply introducing herself, but she didn’t expect it to cause a wave of surprised exclamations.

“Oh wow! It’s Junior Yun Fei! Good heavens! Incredible! The two students with the top two highest cultivation levels in the first year both chose this mission! What an incredible coincidence!”

Yun Fei wanted to know too—how could there be such a coincidence?

It felt almost like it was arranged.

“Alright! The academy told me this mission was posted in the Mission Hall four times. I’m the academy’s assigned member, so I don’t count among those four. Now we have five people; looks like we’re all here. Everyone, I and this Junior Yun have introduced ourselves. Now it’s your turn.”

At Dong Qi’s call, the group introduced themselves one by one, including their names, year, realm, and specialization.

Dong Qi was a senior student at the Heaven Burning Fifth Realm.

The graduation requirement for intermediate students was reaching the Heaven Burning Realm, so this senior had likely just been promoted a year or two ago.

He was a body cultivator.

Besides him, there was another man and a woman in the team.

The man was on the thinner side, named Liu Min.

Like Dong Qi, he was a senior student, at the Heaven Burning First Realm, skilled in using talismans.

The woman also looked delicate and pretty, named Jiang Luoqi, an intermediate student at the Shattering Void Sixth Realm, skilled in formations.

As for Mu Lingxi… it was worth mentioning that she had now reached the Shattering Void Ninth Realm, just one step away from the Heaven Burning Realm.

For students like Yun Fei and Mu Lingxi, if they could break through to the Heaven Burning Realm while still junior students, after completing their four years of junior studies, they would directly advance to senior student status, skipping the intermediate student stage altogether.

Looking at it that way, it was truly something to envy.

But even so, it didn’t change the fact that Yun Fei had inexplicably become the weakest person in this team…

At least, if you only compared cultivation realms.

“Good, since all the preparations are done, let’s set off now. The situation doesn’t seem simple, so it’s better to go earlier.”

Saying this, Dong Qi took out a model of a flying boat.

After inputting spiritual power, the model suddenly enlarged, becoming big enough to accommodate all five of them.

The space on the flying boat was quite spacious—a platform of over ten square meters, with a control console at the front.

Captain Dong Qi stood there, controlling the flying boat’s operation.

Liu Min stood beside him, maintaining vigilance because the road to Qingzhou wasn’t very peaceful.

Occasionally, rogue cultivators would lie in wait by the roadside to rob people, and some rogue cultivators who could fly would even attack flying vessels.

Thus, the three girls in the team naturally became the ones with nothing to do.

Yun Fei glanced at Mu Lingxi and found that she was currently leaning against her sword with her eyes closed, resting, showing no intention of actively approaching her like she had been recently.

This actually made Yun Fei feel a bit uncomfortable all of a sudden.

Yun Fei knew that Mu Lingxi always presented this kind of aloof, detached appearance in public.

Even though she was the only one present who knew Mu Lingxi’s identity as the Saintess, she still maintained that damned Saintess image!

But Yun Fei still didn’t disturb Mu Lingxi.

After spending so much time with her these past few days, her spirit was somewhat fatigued.

Part of the reason she chose to come out on this training mission was to relieve this mental exhaustion.

Mu Lingxi not approaching her like this actually suited Yun Fei’s wishes.

Of course, there was another purpose for this trip.

Because Mu Lingxi now had a Natal Spiritual Weapon, which provided a significant boost in combat.

To be honest, Yun Fei was a bit jealous.

The birth of a Natal Weapon was a matter of probability.

After breaking through to the Shattering Void Realm and undergoing a qualitative change in the body, there was a chance to awaken a Natal Weapon.

In the Profane Realm, it was called a Natal Spiritual Weapon; in the Demon Realm, it was called a Natal Demonic Weapon.

According to Mu Lingxi herself, she had awakened her Natal Spiritual Sword right after breaking through to the Shattering Void Realm, naming it “Xiao Yun.”

This made Yun Fei extremely envious.

On this trip, she also wanted to see if she could awaken a Natal Demonic Weapon.

Her mother’s long sword, named “Luo Mo,” was said to have been awakened during a training mission.

As her daughter, perhaps with good luck, she might awaken one on this mission too?

Once she had a Natal Demonic Weapon, she would have a great chance of defeating Mu Lingxi in next month’s grand competition!

Imagining such a future with a Natal Demonic Weapon, Yun Fei was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice someone approaching her.

It was only when the person called out that Yun Fei snapped out of her daydream.

“Hello, Junior Yun Fei~”

“Ah!… It’s Senior Jiang, is there something?”

Yun Fei was startled, but seeing it was Jiang Luoqi, she relaxed slightly.

“Nothing much, really. I just saw you spacing out here and wanted to come chat.”

“Ah… okay. What would you like to talk about, senior?”

“…To be honest, I’m just a student with average talent. I heard about you and that Junior Mu over there right at the start of the semester. As first-years, your strength is enough to defeat more than half of the intermediate students. Honestly, I never thought I’d have a chance to interact with you…”

Jiang Luoqi’s tone and expression seemed somewhat downcast.

From these few sentences, Yun Fei could tell she was a very proud person, but it seemed some secret weighed on her heart, with no one to confide in.

She probably had a pressing reason for wanting to improve her strength…

“Senior, don’t put yourself down~ The academy mainly recruits from ordinary mortal backgrounds. Mu Lingxi and I are not like that. Mu Lingxi comes from a sect, and I… come from a cultivation family. Our starting point is higher than most people’s. In my case, I started training under my family’s arrangements from the age of six. By ten, my physique had already reached the level where an ordinary eighteen-year-old could undergo spiritual energy tempering, and then I started cultivating.”

“Ten years old?! That early?”

“Yes, at that age, most people’s bodies are still developing. Forced cultivation can damage one’s foundation unless they undergo various medicinal tempering and strengthening exercises.”

But there was one point Yun Fei didn’t mention, afraid it would severely discourage the person in front of her.

What she described was actually the training plan her mother had originally prepared for her.

The unfortunate thing was, Yun Fei was exceptionally talented and didn’t need those steps at all.

By the age of six, she could already autonomously absorb demonic power.

Now at twenty, she had been cultivating for fourteen years.

However, because her body slowly absorbed demonic power on its own, she never took cultivation seriously and couldn’t patiently focus on it, which was why Mu Lingxi had caught up and surpassed her.

It was said Mu Lingxi only started cultivating at fifteen.

That year, her family’s carriage had an accident and fell off a cliff.

A few days later, she was found by the passing Sect Master of the Evergreen Sect.

After notifying her family, he took her up the mountain to cultivate.

So, Mu Lingxi had only been cultivating for five years…

Goodness!

No wonder she was a cultivation maniac, catching up in just five years!

Thinking of this, Yun Fei suddenly felt she had wasted a lot of time.

If she had treated cultivation as seriously as Mu Lingxi from the moment she could cultivate, she probably would have left her far behind, right?

But the rarest thing in the world was a medicine for regret.

Even as the Young Lord of the Demon Realm, possessing untold wealth, there was no such pill to take.

“…Thank you, Junior Yun. I feel much better now… Actually, it’s mainly because Junior Mu, a first-year, has a slightly higher cultivation realm than me. I’m a bit unwilling to accept it, since I’m the senior~ Having a junior suddenly climb above you is inevitably a bit of a blow to one’s pride.”

“It’s fine, it’s only human~”

But Mu Lingxi really was a monster.

Reaching the Shattering Void Ninth Realm in five years?

Was she playing a game?

But then Yun Fei thought about her own cultivation jumping from the Shattering Void First Realm to the Fourth Realm in just the few days since coming to the academy…

She wasn’t that much worse than Mu Lingxi, was she?

No wonder Mother sent me to the academy.

It was because I wasn’t disciplined enough.

With the academy, she suddenly became much more disciplined, and her realm shot up!

Thinking of this happy matter, Yun Fei patiently chatted with Jiang Luoqi.

But they didn’t talk for long, ultimately just discussing some cultivation insights.

This senior was asking her for advice!

Halfway through, Yun Fei suddenly felt a chill down her spine.

Subconsciously, she turned her head and saw that Mu Lingxi had, at some unknown time, moved to stand behind her.

Those ice-blue eyes were fixed on her, as if countless waves of resentment were wafting from them.

“Huh? Junior Mu, what brings you here? Um… do you two have something to discuss? Should I step away?”

Jiang Luoqi, who had been speaking, was startled by Mu Lingxi’s aura.

She suddenly felt it would be better not to stay here any longer, or something terrible might happen.

So, after thinking it through, Jiang Luoqi immediately acted as if she had oiled her soles, quickly leaving the spot.

Yun Fei, however, stared blankly at Mu Lingxi’s gradually darkening expression, feeling that things were not looking good.

She was just about to step away when Mu Lingxi’s hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

A tremendous force came swiftly, pulling Yun Fei’s body forward so abruptly that she almost fell into Mu Lingxi’s embrace.

“You… what are you doing?”

Yun Fei panicked for a moment, but not knowing what she had done to provoke her this time, her tone also became defiant.

“Me? I want to ask you! You’re allowed to be jealous, but I’m not allowed to be?”

Mu Lingxi lowered her voice, threatening Yun Fei viciously in her ear.

After the threat, she quickly returned to her original appearance, as if the scene just now had never happened.

But Yun Fei suffered.

Mu Lingxi had used a lot of force just then.

It was visible—her right wrist was now bright red, and the redness showed no sign of fading for a long time.