Beyond the Divine States

Chapter 72 The Innate Spirit

The shattered snow and the cold mist seemed to be still.

Her petite figure was dressed in the sword clothes with her hair swept back in a ponytail, holding an empty sheath. Her appearance of chin up and chest out looked somewhat proud.

Lu Jiajia stared at her with delight. The corner of her mouth was raised for a moment and back down soon. She said meaningfully, "Xiaoling, your talent is beyond my expectation indeed but your performance today greatly depends on your innate spirit. It is a good thing that your innate spirit is strong but you've only reached the initial stage of the Profound Realm. You must know that on the road of cultivation, in a true life-and-death struggle, if you alone are defeated, your innate spirit won't be able to fight again no matter how strong it is. At the crucial moment, what you can truly count on is yourself so you mustn't be complacent. You should work hard on cultivation."

Lu Jiajia's voice was soft and cold, which passed through the cold mist around her like a green river. It was so refreshing to the spiritual terrace.

Amidst talking, she had flicked her fingers, causing the sword to turn into silver light and go back to the sheath.

Ning Xiaoling held the sword with both hands, her thumbs gripping the sword. "Yes, Master," she said respectfully.

The other disciples gradually recovered from the shock and stared at Ning Xiaoling with astonishment. A few disciples who finally made it to the inner peak after cultivating for years were jealous upon seeing the scene. Their Taoist minds were almost swayed.

Luckily, what Lu Jiajia said was warm and mind-clearing, which eased the annoyance of many disciples.

When they heard the words--the initial stage of Profound Realm, lots of disciples who were bitterly frustrated felt much better... It was not her own power but the strong enough innate spirit that led to her good performance...

However, despite that, such an exceptional advantage was still enviable but most people were calm now. As Lu Jiajia said before, in the actual battle, as long as one could take the initiative to attack the opponent's gate of vitality with one strike, what could a strong innate spirit do?

It was rootless duckweed.

...

...

"I feel Master shows partiality to Ning Xiaoling deliberately!"

After leaving the sword field of the Cloud Tower, all the disciples could cultivate in various places of the Tianku Peak at will. On a rock by the cliff, Lerou who had put on a soft dress looked so resentful with her arms around her chest.

The two young men staying with her also stared at her with a helpless face. They were Xu Weiran and Yunze, who were the first place and second place in the exercise of sword flying.

Xu Weiran stood by her and tapped her shoulder lightly, saying with comfort, "Xiaoling only took advantage of her innate spirit. As Master said, she is only at the initial stage of the Profound Realm, a level lower than you. You don't need to be sulky for her."

Yunze sat aside casually, tossing around several stones and saying sinisterly, "What shall we do? Shall we teach her a lesson and make her understand who the eldest sister fellow disciple of Tianku Peak is?"

Lerou rolled her eyes at him and said, "Ning Xiaoling cultivates with us in the morning and spends the afternoon with her stupid fellow disciple. How could we have a chance of doing a number on her? Besides, if it is found out by Master, I will probably be made to face the wall and ponder."

Yunze chuckled and said banteringly, "Opportunities can be created. Xiaoling has just shown her talent and you feel such a strong sense of crisis. It seems that your disposition as the eldest sister fellow disciple is a bit..."

Lerou shouted, "Shut up! You just can't do everything right. No wonder you were beaten that badly in the Sword Fighting Tournament of Four Peaks. Shame on you!"

Yunze said with a sigh, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You are so awesome. Back then, you made it through two rounds."

Lerou snorted, "I'm a fragile girl. It is your business to beat and kill!"

Xu Weiran aside said with a smile, "Why do you have to be so aggressive?"

Lerou rested her chin on her hand, saying, "I'm just upset."

Yunze looked as if taking a tumble, saying, "Does her silly fellow disciple take your fancy? I saw you peep at him a lot during the morning class."

Lerou glared at him and said fiercely, "Get lost! I guess he must take your fancy!"

Yunze said with a faint smile, "Fair enough. Weiran is second only to Nancheng. He must be stronger than a deadbeat..."

Then, he found that Lerou's gaze at him was full of fierceness.

Yunze immediately shut up and said, "How about going down the mountain for relaxation? The outer disciples envy us a lot, especially those girls. They are so sweet."

Lerou said coldly, "What a vain man!"

Then, she raised her head to look at Xu Weiran, saying, "Weiran, what do you say?"

Xu Weiran said with a smile, "Fine by me."

...

Shortly after Ning Changjiu returned to his room, the door was pushed open and Ning Xiaoling walked inside with a common look.

"Why do you look so happy?" Ning Changjiu asked.

Feeling surprised, Ning Xiaoling touched her cheeks and said, "No, nothing."

Ning Changjiu said with a smile, "Did you break through your realm?"

Ning Xiaoling widened her eyes, her face full of puzzlement. "Changjiu, how do you know that?"

Ning Changjiu asked, "You reached the middle stage of the Profound Realm?"

Ning Xiaoling replied honestly, "Upper stage."

Ning Changjiu was not quite surprised, saying, "The residual evil power of the old fox is enough for you to accelerate your cultivation level but you shouldn't be too greedy. Otherwise, your body cannot stand it."

Ning Xiaoling nodded her head heavily, saying, "I have a sense of propriety. Today, Jiajia said I was at the initial stage of the Profound Realm in public."

Ning Changjiu said, "She did it for your own good. You've just joined the sect. It's a good thing to conceal your talent."

Ning Xiaoling said with a nod, "I know but somehow I feel a bit grieved."

Ning Changjiu rubbed her head and said with a smile, "Yeah, when you become strong enough, you can freak them out."

Ning Xiaoling nodded obediently and then asked, "Changjiu, how is everything going with you recently?"

Ning Changjiu stayed silent for a while and then said, "Cultivation may not really be for me."

Ning Xiaoling leaned over the table and said in dispirit, "Changjiu, so you can only count on me in the future?"

Ning Changjiu leaned against the back of the chair, his both hands placed in the sleeves. Staring at the mist outside the window, he heaved a sigh.

Ning Xiaoling said, "Changjiu, don't be unhappy."

Ning Changjiu was slightly dazed and then grinned, saying, "Do I really look so unhappy?"

Ning Xiaoling said with a nod, "Yeah, I can feel it..."

Ning Changjiu said, "I'm not unhappy."

He was a bit sad only.

Ning Xiaoling's tender lips were slightly puckered. She moved the chair towards him and then suddenly reached out her left hand to shake it before him. "Changjiu. Changjiu."

"Oh?" Ning Changjiu was slightly confused.

"Oh..." Ning Xiaoling cried in a low voice and then her other hand patted Ning Changjiu's right shoulder. Her hand was holding a little white fox. The fox climbed to his shoulder and got to his head with a whoosh. It scratched about and messed Ning Changjiu's hair.

That was the innate spirit summoned by Ning Xiaoling.

The little fox was finally about to have a tail, which was almost fully grown. With the incomplete tail swinging behind its back, it was squeaking nonstop.

Ning Changjiu reached his hand to catch the snow fox's neck accurately, pick it up and stuff it back to Ning Xiaoling's arms.

Ning Xiaoling slightly pouted and said with disgruntlement, "You are not scared. Boring."

Ning Changjiu said with a smile. "It requires a lot of spiritual power. Withdraw your power."

Ning Xiaoling didn't listen to him. Stroking the little fox in her arms, she said, "Changjiu, you told me before that everyone's innate spirit was disabled at first. When my fox's tail is fully grown, is it complete then?"

Ning Changjiu said, "Yeah. When the tail is fully grown, it is closer to completion."

"What? What do you mean by 'closer'?"

"It still needs eight tails."

"Oh..."

Ning Xiaoling felt that she still had a long way to go.

"By the way, the icy and fiery old fox, how many tails did it have?" Ning Xiaoling asked.

Ning Changjiu replied, "Eight."

Ning Xiaoling took a breath, grabbed the little fox and tossed it upward. The little fox turned into sparks of spiritual power and returned to her body. She mumbled, "By then, I will be old."

Ning Changjiu said, "Cultivators can live really long."

Ning Xiaoling said stubbornly, "But no matter how long I can live, I'm getting older indeed, 20 years old, 30 years old, 40 years old, 100 years old and 200 years old..."

Ning Xiaoling was counting with her fingers. The more she counted, the more desperate she got.

Ning Changjiu looked at her with soft eyes, saying, "Don't worry. As long as you look young, you are young forever."

Hearing his unreasonable statement, Ning Xiaoling was still spirited. Then, something occurred to her and she asked, "Changjiu, you said you should have had an innate spirit but it was missing afterward. What was your innate spirit?"

Ning Changjiu closed his eyes and looked as if reminiscing something, saying sadly, "I cannot remember."

Under the moon that night, his master dragged his innate spirit off his body and slew it. The innate spirit struggled heavily, glistening with the golden light, which seemed sad and painful. When it was dragged off him, it looked like the golden long river running through the red flames. Then, it was engulfed by the overwhelming moonlight.

That was the only scene he could remember... As to what his innate spirit was, he couldn't recall at all.

"Then how can you find it back?" Ning Xiaoling asked, "When you get it back, will you become very awesome?"

"I cannot find it back..." Ning Changjiu subconsciously said and then hedged.

He suddenly thought of something. Instantly, he was shivering heavily and his face turned ghastly pale.

Scared by his reaction, Ning Xiaoling said in panic, "Changjiu, what's wrong?"

Ning Changjiu didn't seem to hear her words. Instead, he only looked ahead in a daze, murmuring, "Innate spirit... Innate spirit?! Who said my innate spirit was gone?!"

It was 12 years ago.

Now, he was the self 12 years ago, who hadn't started to cultivate. Of course he hadn't fostered his innate spirit!

It was 12 years later that his master slew his innate spirit.

Everything hadn't started.

Everything had just started...