A useless person with five spiritual roots? I sacrificed the proud daughter of heaven.

Sheng He carefully held the ring in her hand, looked up at the immortal with envy, and asked, "Will I be as powerful as you in the future?"

"of course."

Yuan Chen smiled and stroked her hair: "Ten days from now, the Qingyun Sect will be recruiting disciples in Qingshan City. If you set off today, you can still make it in time."

"Thank you, immortal! Thank you, immortal!"

Her mother pulled Shenghe down to kneel. Shenghe looked at the ring in her hand in a daze. When she looked up again, the immortal was no longer there.

The spiritual energy within his body was restless, showing signs of breaking through at any moment. Perhaps feeling that he had lost his last ties in the world, Yuan Chen went to the Qingyun Sect before undergoing the tribulation.

As usual, Chu Heng respectfully called her "Shishu" (a term of respect for a senior martial arts master) before going to practice his sword. When Xuanxiao saw Yuan Chen, his usually calm eyes finally showed a hint of joy.

"Yuan Chen, you're here. Have you come to a decision?"

Yuan Chen shook his head: "I'm going to ascend, Xuan Xiao. You know I've never been interested in romantic relationships. You're quite talented, and you're already in the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Even without dual cultivation, you'll ascend sooner or later."

"But we've been together for hundreds of years! Yuan Chen, we've faced life and death together so many times, do you really have no feelings for me at all?"

Xuanxiao stepped forward and grabbed Yuanchen's shoulder tightly. He looked into Yuanchen's eyes, as if trying to see a trace of longing and affection in them.

No.

Nothing.

Yuan Chen's eyes remained calm as she took a bottle of pills from her sleeve and placed it on the table.

“We have been together for hundreds of years, and I thought you already knew that there is only the Great Way in my heart.”

"Your injuries from last time haven't fully healed yet. This is the last time I'll refine pills for you, Xuanxiao. Don't go to the Eastern Sea again. Forcibly increasing your cultivation by eating mermaid flesh is not something a righteous sect would do."

Xuanxiao gritted his teeth, clutching Yuan Chen's clothes tightly, his heart filled with resentment: "But Yuan Chen, you can't, you can't just abandon me and go to the Upper Realm alone!"

"For so many years, I've been protecting you. If it weren't for me, you would have died at someone else's hands long ago!"

"Yuan Chen, I've helped you so many times, you should help me just once! Just once!"

Xuanxiao stared frantically at Yuanchen, gripping Yuanchen's shoulders with increasing force. Yuanchen frowned, a gentle yet irresistible force stopping Xuanxiao's next move.

Xuanxiao was pushed back by this force, but he was still unwilling to give up and wanted to draw his sword and step forward.

Yuan Chen sighed slightly. She came to Qingyun Sect with the intention of having Sheng He become a disciple there. Now it seems that forcing Xuan Xiao to accept a disciple at this time would only backfire.

Well, by then she will have already ascended to heaven. When Xuanxiao sees that ring, he will understand everything. Even if he is still angry with her and refuses to take her as a disciple, the other elders will not let go of such a good prospect.

Thinking of this, she glanced at Xuanxiao and said softly, "I will ascend to heaven after undergoing the tribulation of lightning in the next two days. Xuanxiao, you must not remain so stubborn."

"Who's so stubborn! Yuan Chen, you can't just abandon me like this! You can't just leave me like this!"

Yuan Chen had already left, and the gentle power emanating from him had dissipated. Xuan Xiao leaned weakly against the wall, murmuring softly, "You can't abandon me."

He had been stuck at the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm for decades, and his cultivation had not progressed at all. He had finally watched Yuan Chen rise from the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm to the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul realm, and was about to ascend.

At this point, as long as Yuan Chen is willing to engage in dual cultivation, he can use a secret technique to convert Yuan Chen's cultivation into his own. Yuan Chen is already at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage, so what does it matter if his cultivation regresses a little?

Yuan Chen can still cultivate again and find an opportunity to ascend, but what about him?

How many more years will he have to endure in the Qingyun Sect?

You can't abandon me.

How could you abandon me?

He was thinking about his sincere heart, and even more so about his path to ascension.

The day Sheng He arrived in Qingshan City happened to be the last day that the Qingyun Sect came to Qingshan City to recruit disciples.

Seventeen-year-old Sheng He watched as her mother was murdered and her spiritual root was replaced, like a bystander. As for the ring that she had long forgotten, it was also taken away by Zhao Yanran.

A sigh reached her ears, but Sheng He didn't speak. She simply glanced at her past self struggling in the Qingyun Sect.

Her spiritual root was not good, and she was almost the last of the new disciples to complete the Qi Induction process. As a result, she was assigned to the menial disciple class.

Disciples who perform menial tasks have to do a lot of manual labor every day, but they receive very few spirit stones each month and have almost no time to cultivate.

It took her a full sixty years to go from Qi Induction to Foundation Establishment. During this time, Zhao Yanran mentioned her countless times, seemingly unintentionally. Zhao Yanran didn't need to do anything herself; she only needed to subtly indicate that she didn't like the new five-elemental-root servant disciple, and naturally, countless people would serve her faithfully.

Those sixty years were the most difficult sixty years for Sheng He. She wanted to change her fate every moment, but the mountain of fate was pressed firmly on her head by Zhao Yanran, making it impossible for her to break free for even a moment.

After reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, Sheng Hesheng became an outer disciple. Outer disciples are required to take turns guarding the mountain's protective formation on a regular basis.

This was originally an easy task. The mountain-protecting formation was jointly set up by the founders of the Qingyun Sect. Apart from Qingyun Sect disciples, it was almost impossible for evil cultivators and demonic beasts to force their way in.

However, whenever it was Shenghe's turn to be on duty, all sorts of problems would occur with the mountain-protecting formation, such as monsters breaking in or disciples going missing.

She was punished by the disciples of the Discipline Department time and time again, and the skin on her back was often beaten open again before it had fully healed.

At that moment, Sheng He finally realized that it was Xuanxiao Sword Master's exceptionally talented junior disciple who was targeting her.

But why?

At that time, Sheng He repeatedly asked herself at night, "I'm just an outer disciple who has just established my foundation, while Zhao Yanran has already broken through to the Nascent Soul stage and become the number one among the younger generation of Qingyun Sect."

Sheng He couldn't understand it. She desperately wanted to become stronger, and after becoming an outer disciple, she finally had the opportunity to enter the library.

The library had six floors. She spent thirty years reading all the books in the library, and finally on that day, she saw "A View of Spiritual Objects".

That was her only remaining hope, and also the beginning of her nightmare.

As if she had foreseen the future, Zhao Yanran knew that Sheng He wanted to go to the Jingyue Secret Realm to retrieve the Green Wood Vine, and the next day, her qualification to go to the secret realm was taken away.

She wanted to go to the Boundless Sea to get the Azure Flame True Fire. In the end, she managed to get it despite her near-death experience and amazing perseverance. However, the moment she got it, she was asked to give it to Zhao Yanran.

The reason is that the Grand Competition of Ten Thousand Sects is about to begin, Zhao Yanran is about to break through, she has a top-grade fire spirit root and can bring glory to the sect, but what about Sheng He?