Stealing Luck from the Heavenly Dao's Favorite

Song Ke finally spoke, his tone calm. "She stayed inside the Heart-Mirror for too long. Her mind hasn't fully adjusted yet. I put her to sleep. She'll be fine once she wakes up."

"Thank you for your help, Senior!" The children from the Wei clan immediately bowed and offered their thanks in unison.

Song Ke was fond of polite children. With a small smile, he replied, "It's nothing. Go ahead and rest for a bit. The third trial will begin shortly."

"Yes, Senior!"

Once Song Ke left to make preparations, the Wei clan children awkwardly helped lift Wei Yunqing and carried her to their resting area. Then, one by one, they sat down and began circulating their qi.

"Yunxi, keep an eye on your sister." Wei Yunting gave the instruction in a calm voice.

Wei Yunxi nodded reluctantly.

Wei Yunting felt conflicted. As the leader of their group, she couldn't focus all her attention on one person. Wei Yuying was clearly unwilling to go near Wei Yunqing. Though Wei Yunxi's relationship with that sister wasn't close either, she was the most suitable to keep watch for now.

And "keeping watch" simply meant reminding her when she woke up that the assessment was still underway.

Moments later, Wei Yunqing slowly came to. Wei Yunxi immediately leaned in and said, "Sister, you're awake? If you stayed out any longer, you would've missed the third trial."

Wei Yunqing's gaze was still unfocused. But the moment she saw Wei Yunxi's face, her eyes sharpened with anger. She instinctively moved to strike, only to find her spiritual energy completely unresponsive. Glancing inward, she realized just how little was left.

She was no longer the famed Fairy Yunqing of the Weiyu Realm.

Wei Yunxi noticed every flicker of emotion on her sister's face. She even waved her little hand deliberately in front of her and asked sweetly, "Are you alright? You really gave everyone a fright when you came out of the mirror. What did you go through in there?"

Her words snapped Wei Yunqing back to reality. She remembered now—she had been the first to enter the Heart-Mirror and lived out an entire lifetime inside.

In that illusion, her younger sister had always been a stumbling block in her cultivation path. Right before her ascension, they had clashed violently, and she nearly perished. That was when she realized it was all a dream.

It was only because Wei Yunxi had three spiritual roots, not the lightning-element mutated root genius in the illusion, that Wei Yunqing could recognize the illusion as false.

She exhaled lightly. "I'm fine. I just stayed in the illusion too long. It gave me a headache."

Wei Yunxi made no comment on that half-baked excuse. Her job was done now that her sister was awake. She returned to sit beside Wei Zonghao and began meditating in preparation for the next round.

Wei Yunqing looked around. Everyone's expressions were indifferent. Rage twisted inside her, but she kept it hidden. The trial was a personal challenge. There was no one else to blame.

By now, Song Ke had finished recording the rankings and appeared once again in front of the fifty-two children who had passed the second trial. "You've all made it through the Heart-Mirror. I won't waste words. The next test is your final one. Only those who pass this trial will be formally admitted to Haoran Sect. Are you ready?"

"We're ready!" The group of tiny heads shouted in chorus, loud and proud.

Satisfied, Song Ke smiled and waved his sleeve. Three identical gates appeared before them.

"Each of you, choose one door to enter. If you make it through to the other side, you'll have passed. I'll be waiting for you on the other end."

With that, he turned and left.

This time, no one rushed forward. Hadn't the girl who went into the Heart-Mirror first also been the last to come out?

The Wei clan also eyed the three gates carefully. Each was identical—set in jade foundations, painted red, with a heavy bronze ring for knocking.

Everyone glanced at one another. Finally, Wei Yunting spoke, "These gates all look the same. We won't know what's inside until we enter. Choose a door, and we'll regroup on the other side."

"Got it, Big Sister Yunting!"

"See you there!"

Wei Yunting and Wei Zonghan took the left and right doors. Wei Yunxi chose the middle one. The rest followed suit, each picking a gate.

Wei Yunqing had been watching Wei Yunxi the whole time. Seeing her go through the middle door, she quietly slipped in after her. Meanwhile, Wei Zonghao pulled along the usually quiet Zongyu and entered the left gate.

Inside the doorway, Wei Yunxi found herself surrounded by fog. A single straight path of green stone slabs stretched ahead. Without hesitation, she stepped onto it.

As soon as she did, silence closed in. The only sound was her own footsteps tapping against the stone. It was strangely unsettling.

Wei Yunxi rubbed her arms against the creeping chill and kept walking at her own pace. Time passed. An hour went by, but the road showed no end.

When her legs grew tired, she simply sat on the path and rested for a quarter-hour. Then she got up and continued. She firmly believed that as long as she kept going, she would reach the end.

Every child taking the trial had a similar experience. Everyone was hurrying down their own endless path. Wei Yunqing was no exception. She couldn't shake the feeling that she had to catch up to Wei Yunxi.

Walk, rest, walk again. By the end of the day, Wei Yunxi's eyelids were drooping. She wanted so badly to sleep, but forced herself to stay awake. She slapped her cheeks and pressed forward, although her pace had slowed.

Thankfully, the items in her storage pouch were usable. As she walked, she nibbled on food and drank the stream water she had saved, maintaining her strength as best she could.

But after a full day, she could no longer hold out. She chose to meditate instead of sleep, hoping to recover more quickly. Yet as soon as she sat down, she realized something was wrong. There wasn't a trace of spiritual energy in the air.

Wei Yunxi rubbed her chin in thought. After a moment, she pulled out a low-grade spirit stone from her pouch. This had been part of the resources provided by the Wei clan. She had originally planned to save it, but now it seemed wasteful to be frugal.

She held the stone in her palm and began to cultivate.

Back when she was studying in the Feng family's academy, an elder had told them that cultivation wasn't something that could be rushed. It had to be built up slowly. Pills were only supplementary aids.

Pills could leave toxic residues in the body, which over time would clog the meridians. Only top-grade pills could fully purge this toxicity, but the chances of producing a top-grade pill were low, and not everyone could afford them.

So even though the Feng clan was known for their alchemy, few of their members used pills for cultivation. They mostly carried healing and qi-replenishing pills, to be used in emergencies.

Wei Yunxi remembered this lesson well. In her past life too, there had been the saying: "Every medicine has three parts poison." Since she began cultivating, she had avoided everything but bigu dan. Not a single nourishing pill had touched her lips.

That was why, in an environment devoid of natural energy, she chose to cultivate with a spirit stone. She didn't want her foundation to become unstable.

After absorbing about a tenth of the qi inside the low-grade spirit stone, her strength returned to full. She tucked the stone away and pressed forward.

Three days later, rain began to fall. At first, it was just a drizzle, but soon it poured with force. The drops stung as they landed on her body, yet there was nowhere to take shelter.

As a first-layer Qi Refining rookie, Wei Yunxi didn't know any spells. She could only grit her teeth and push through the storm.