The Taixu Sect, Taixu Mountain, the Head Seat.
Xie Bing stood in the center of the main hall, head bowed, watching the faint light reflecting off the cold jade floor.
She had been summoned to the Head Seat on Taixu Mountain early in the morning. All nine Head Seat Perfecteds were present, all because of her cultivation issue.
They had carefully studied her book. After much discussion, the book was returned to Xie Bing.
“This book of yours is indeed somewhat strange, but it’s not a major problem.”
The most venerable of the nine Head Seats, Perfected Zang Chenghua of Starry Peak, stroked his white beard. “This can be considered a form of destiny.”
Xie Bing suppressed her inner thoughts and looked up at Perfected Zang Chenghua. “What kind of destiny would this be?”
The kind of destiny where you’re forced to study and become a top student?
Perfected Zang Chenghua gave a serene smile:
“Object Cultivator.”
Hearing these two words, Xie Bing was truly puzzled. Had the nine Head Seat Masters actually found a reason??
This could even form a consistent explanation?
So, can the power of Huaxia knowledge genuinely coexist in the cultivation world?
Seeing Xie Bing’s confusion, he explained: “Xie Bing, don’t be surprised. Perhaps because of your Trash Spiritual Root attribute, the Heavenly Dao has granted you another turn of fate, such as Object Cultivation. Although you cannot cultivate using ordinary methods, you can still achieve the Great Dao. It’s just much more difficult than the conventional path.”
He elaborated, saying that since ancient times, the traditional method of cultivation has been to train spiritual energy for realm advancement, then circulate spiritual energy internally for attack or defense. Further classification based on spiritual energy usage could be Body Cultivator or Sword Cultivator.
“Regarding your situation, after two days of discussion, we believe it is the rarely seen Object Cultivation throughout history.”
Object Cultivation, as the name implied, involved cultivation through objects. Xie Bing reciting poetry under the moon had somehow connected her to a book, even succeeding in Foundation Establishment. This indicated sincerity towards the book.
Perhaps her deep love for learning resonated with the Heavenly Dao, making her an “Object Cultivator”.
“We were momentarily shocked the day before yesterday and didn’t examine your spiritual energy usage. Try using it now.”
Xie Bing softly acknowledged and opened her Little Yellow Book, preparing to recite.
—Actually, she didn’t need to be so theatrical. But years of experience in the cultivation world taught her to feign ignorance and bide her time. If others saw how easily she could cast spells, wouldn’t it attract jealousy?
Before getting the Skill Book reward, casting spells required a “medium” and had cooldown restrictions. Now, collected in the Skill Book, the restrictions were gone. Only her spiritual energy and physical condition limited her.
Thus, she must continue learning!
“Speech Ban Spell” and “Disarming Weapon” weren’t suitable for this setting. She opened the Little Yellow Book, faced the text, and recited aloud with a serious expression: “Reeds and rushes are lush and green, white dew turns to frost”!
As her lips parted, a profound and mysterious aura faintly vibrated in the air. The expressions of several Perfecteds changed.
This was the purest spiritual energy!
“Frost Transformation Spell” shot from Xie Bing’s fingers, striking a chair in the main hall directly. Instantly, the redwood chair was enveloped in layers of ice and frost! Completely white!
Gu Monian, face icy, touched the frosted chair. “How many more times can you use this?”
Xie Bing: “I can probably use it about ten more times.”
Everyone was stunned.
“Although the spiritual energy circulation is abnormal, and Object Cultivation has many restrictions, if one persists in training, continuously unleashing various spells, will our Taixu Sect produce yet another heaven-blessed prodigy?”
Xie Bing: …Fine. So I’m this powerful.
If they hadn’t said so, she wouldn’t have known she was this formidable!
She saw Gu Monian’s gaze flicker and immediately added: “But I currently only have these three spells.”
Better show weakness quickly; she didn’t want Gu Monian to eliminate her right now.
Only then did the Perfecteds recover from their excitement. They exchanged glances and sighed.
According to the records they found, while Object Cultivation possessed some unbelievable advantages, it was ultimately a method relying on connection with an item. The few recorded examples all plateaued after the initial resonance, with no further progress.
Essentially, they were only on par with low-level cultivators.
Xie Bing was limited to three spells and couldn’t even perform Sword Riding—likely impossible to advance further.
To seek the Great Dao, the path is long. One must be a Sword Cultivator after all.
Exiting the main hall, Lu Chu, who had been waiting outside, immediately pulled her away.
“So? What did the Shifus say?”
After Xie Bing told her, Lu Chu sighed and comforted her. “Don’t worry. My Shifu also attended the meeting. When he came back, he told me there’s even someone who cultivates with a stool!”
“A stool?”
“Yes, I heard he was an old carpenter who loved making stools. One day, he could suddenly cultivate! But when he uses spells, he has to make a stool on the spot! Compared to that, yours is normal.”
The cultivation world is truly extraordinary.
Lu Chu and Xie Bing descended the steps from Taixu Hall, talking as they walked.
“To think you’re an extremely rare ‘Object Cultivator,’ forming a connection with something in existence. I was startled when I first heard about it. But your inability to mobilize spiritual energy is still troublesome. If you need to go up or down the mountain, just find me.”
Xie Bing said sincerely, “Thank you.”
Lu Chu: “For what? We’re sisters! Right?”
Xie Bing: “Right.”
Lu Chu fidgeted for a moment. “The Eldest Senior Brother rarely returns to the sect. I keep missing him. He’s your direct lineage Senior Brother, after all. You have to keep your sister informed, right?”
Xie Bing: “…”
The two had just descended a few hundred steps when suddenly, they were blocked.
“You’re Xie Bing, right? I heard you’re an Object Cultivator. Come, let’s spar.”
Although they said “spar,” these seven or eight martial brothers, with faint fire patterns on their white robes, didn’t seem like they were here for a friendly match.
Lu Chu’s face immediately changed. She stepped forward, shielding Xie Bing.
“You want to bully Xie Bing? Let me tell you, no way!”
The Taixu Sect was one of the Three Major Sects in the cultivation world, led by Head Seat Gu Monian, divided into nine main peaks. Each peak had its own Chief Master and different cultivation directions.
To distinguish them, the Taixu Sect’s uniform white robes bore different emblems, allowing one to identify which Head Seat a disciple belonged to at a glance.
The fire patterns surging on the white robes of these seven or eight martial brothers indicated they were disciples of Crimson Flame Peak, under Head Seat Yu Yan.
Xie Bing looked at Lu Chu’s back, a soft wave of emotion welling in her heart.
Lu Chu was a Body Cultivator, and the Crimson Flame Peak members were all Sword Cultivators. Fighting them would also be taxing for Lu Chu. But her own matters, she could handle herself.
Gently but firmly moving Lu Chu’s protective arm aside, she stood before the group, her back straight. “Senior brothers, may I ask why you are suddenly seeking me out for a spar?”
Sparring was common, but seeking out Xie Bing for one was quite strange.
Firstly, her decade-long status as the sect’s waste was well-known. People usually wouldn’t deliberately humiliate her, mostly just ignoring her.
Secondly, her being an Object Cultivator should have spread throughout the Taixu Sect. Regarding a trash Object Cultivator like her, Sword Cultivators were generally too arrogant to bother sparring.
Thirdly… she had just left Taixu Hall. How convenient was it that they were waiting to corner her right here on the halfway platform?
She was usually a nobody and certainly wouldn’t offend anyone, unless…
It was because of Xuan Yao.
The leader was Yan Lixuan of Crimson Flame Peak. He frowned at Xie Bing with disdain. “I want to see what kind of cultivator you are, that you could establish a Foundation the day before yesterday!”
Xie Bing’s mind whirred. The day before yesterday?
She understood.
Her heart was clear as a mirror.
It was indeed because of Xuan Yao. Her guess was right.
According to the female lead’s script, it must be because she, the supporting character, deliberately chose to break through on the same day as the female lead, ruining her evening banquet and causing a rift in the Shifu-disciple relationship, making her feel depressed and unhappy.
When a heartthrob is upset, naturally, someone will step up for her. These people were here to stand up for Xuan Yao.
Xie Bing sneered inwardly. She wondered how this supposedly gentle and kind female lead let so many people know she was upset?
Xie Bing wasn’t in the mood to play guessing games with them. She still had to go back to the Scripture Library to study!
She decided to just say it outright: “Senior brothers, my Foundation Establishment the day before yesterday was merely accidental. I hadn’t expected to have the same Foundation Establishment day as Junior Sister Xuan Yao. It was absolutely not intentional on my part.”
These words were like pouring oil on a fire.
The Crimson Flame Peak’s senior brothers, all possessing Fire Spiritual Roots and notoriously explosive tempers, erupted. “You still dare say that?”
“What status does the Junior Sister hold? And what are you? You dare establish your Foundation on the same day as her?”
“Five-Waste Spiritual Root! Achieving Foundation Establishment through some crooked path by sheer luck, and you have the face to sit at the head seat?”
They had all seen Xuan Yao’s tear-filled eyes at the banquet, her uneasy glances towards Xie Bing! They had all seen the Junior Sister’s low spirits and secret weeping over the past two days!
The Junior Sister was so kind. How could they let her suffer this grievance?
“I think you did it on purpose! A waste like you, just trying to leech off Junior Sister Xuan Yao’s good fortune!”
Xie Bing’s face turned cold. “Senior brothers, mind your words.”
Lu Chu, being a body refiner, had a temper just as fiery as the fire element cultivators. She rolled up her sleeves, ready to fight!
“Let this old lady teach you pigs a lesson!”
Xie Bing stopped her again.
Lu Chu: “Xie Bing!”
Xie Bing gave Lu Chu a reassuring look, then turned to face the senior brothers directly, calmly: “Since you believe I am a waste, let’s spar then. We’ll see who the real waste is.”
These words stalled the situation, then laughter roared out.
“Just you?”
“You don’t even have spiritual energy. What will you use to fight us?”
Xie Bing, having grown so thin these days, stood in her cyan robes, her tied-up long hair swaying slightly in the mountain breeze, giving her an air of a resilient white poplar under a biting wind.
Her words were cool and clear, firm and decisive. “Yes, just me.”
…
Yan Lixuan gave a cold laugh. “Then I’ll teach a lesson to a blind fool like you.”
His fingers spread, and a spirit sword shimmering with surging flames appeared in his palm!
He was Yu Yan’s third disciple, having apprenticed for over thirty years and already mastering the fire spells to perfection. By Yan Lixuan’s estimate, one move would cleave this vicious Eldest Senior Sister in two!
But then, thinking of that delicate Junior Sister, his heart warmed. He couldn’t cut her in two; it would scare the Junior Sister.
As he swung his sword down, he decided inwardly: He’d just chop off one arm!
Xie Bing didn’t move.
She raised her head, squinting at the crimson spirit sword descending upon her.
Over the years, though she couldn’t cultivate, she had observed the training of the martial brothers. Yan Lixuan’s move showed he was out for blood.
She sneered coldly and calmly flipped open the Little Yellow Book in her hand.
She skipped the first page and turned directly to the second page.
The crowd from Crimson Flame Peak: ???
You’ve got to be kidding me! A fight’s starting, she’s about to be killed, and she’s reading a book first?
Is she checking the Book of Life and Death from the Palace of the Dead?
Yu Deyi of Crimson Flame Peak: “I shouldn’t have come. A kind person like me can’t bear to see a girl’s blood splatter on the spot.”
“I think Xie Bing might be mentally challenged. I overestimated her.”
Xie Bing: “…”
Lu Chu nervously shielded Xie Bing, ready to intervene at any moment.
Calmly, she recited the sentence on the opened page: —“Speechless, we gaze at each other, only a thousand lines of tears.”
BOOM —!
A wave rose from the flat ground!
A massive vortex of spiritual energy rose before Xie Bing and swept towards Yan Lixuan head-on!
Yan Lixuan sneered. So what if she had spiritual energy? He’d trained for over thirty years. Afraid of a girl who started two days ago?
However—
Terrifying pressure instantly locked him down! His body froze, and he heard Xie Bing coldly continue: “Disarming Weapon.”
A horrifying intuition arose in Yan Lixuan’s heart…
The next second, his Lifebound Spirit Sword flew away!!
The watching crowd: “…Holy sht!!”
How was this possible?? An Object Cultivator could actually knock Senior Brother Yan’s sword flying in one hit?
Yan Lixuan screamed: “My sword!!!”
Xie Bing glanced sideways at him. “Truly quite cheap.”
Yan Lixuan: “!!!”
[T/N: “Sword” (剑) and “cheap/despicable” (贱) are perfect homophones in Chinese (both pronounced “jiàn”). Xie Bing’s line is a pun that insults both Yan Lixuan’s character and his lost weapon.]
His Fire element Spirit Sword drew a parabolic arc and flew out of sight. Yan Lixuan should have been able to connect with his Lifebound Spirit Sword, but he couldn’t summon it back for some reason.
Red-eyed, he glared at Xie Bing. “You not only disarmed me but also insulted me? This is unbearable!”
Xie Bing hurriedly waved her hand. “You said it yourself, it’s not my fault.”
Yan Lixuan gritted his teeth. “You think I can’t beat you just because I don’t have my spirit sword?”
A large, terrifying fireball suddenly appeared in his palm, growing larger and more fearsome as he silently recited his spell!
Lu Chu was thoroughly entertained, but seeing Yan Lixuan chanting the spell, she grew worried again. “Ershui, that’s their Crimson Flame Peak’s ultimate move, Blazing Flame Fire Art. You can’t withstand it. Quit while you’re ahead!”
Xie Bing narrowed her eyes. “I wanted to let them off, but they won’t let me off.”
Strike one hard to prevent a hundred more.
She didn’t want a continuous stream of sparring matches with the Junior Sister’s admirers.
The Blazing Flame Fire Art formed into a massive fireball several dozen meters in diameter. The scorching heat almost licked at Xie Bing’s bangs. She looked calmly at Yan Lixuan.
Yan Lixuan slowly raised the giant fireball, a savage grin spreading across his face. “Take this…”
Before his words finished, Xie Bing lowered her gaze, looked at her book, and softly chanted:
—“Reeds and rushes are lush and green, white dew turns to frost.”
Blue spiritual energy exploded outwards, completely engulfing Yan Lixuan and his fireball!
Yan Lixuan laughed heartily. “You think your spiritual energy can compare to mine?”
Xie Bing said nothing, just closed her book and watched him with perfect composure.
Yan Lixuan felt a sense of foreboding.
The next second, the ten-meter flame he had painstakingly summoned was like an eggplant hit by frost, a fire doused by a rainstorm. With a sizzle, it was extinguished!!
…Gone??
Yan Lixuan couldn’t believe it. He wanted to say something but was horrified to find his body was freezing!
“You…”
Before he could say the second word, endless frost flowers condensed on his body, instantly turning him into an ice sculpture, hands raised in a comical posture!
Avant-garde performance art.
The Crimson Flame Peak crowd: “……”
“What kind of spell is this? How is it so powerful?”
Xie Bing: “This is the power of knowledge.”
The crowd: ???
They stared at Xie Bing in terror and slowly took a step back.
Xie Bing took a step forward.
They took another step back.
Such a terrifying Object Cultivator! The Object Cultivator was going to kill them!!!
Xie Bing tightened her grip on the book in her hand.
Just then, a stern, harsh shout came from atop Taixu Hall: “Xie Bing, stop!”
It was Gu Monian.
Xie Bing stood still and gave a bitter smile.