Chapter 7: Being Useless Matters Not; Other Stones May Serve to Polish Jade

Lingxi cupped her face in her hands, watching as more and more charred dishes were placed on the table. The glimmer of excitement in her eyes gradually faded.

"Does Master cook for us personally every day?"

Sui An, terrified that the junior sister he had worked so hard to bring back might run away again, quickly replied, "Not often. Only on major holidays or for special celebrations."

Lingxi sighed in relief. "And on normal days?"

Sui An answered, "We don't eat, or we go to the canteen to scrounge for steamed buns."

As the two chatted, Luo Chen brought two others over—one dressed in black, the other in white. Both appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen years old.

The one in black had cold, sharp features. Without a word, he chose a seat in the corner and stared intently at the dishes on the table, keeping his head down and refusing to even glance at Lingxi.

The one in white looked sickly, pale, and delicate. He swept a quick, dismissive gaze over the table, rolled his eyes, and chose a seat as far from Lingxi as possible. Before he could even sit down, Luo Chen shoved him into the chair right next to her.

The atmosphere turned icy; it felt less like a celebration and more like a funeral.

Luo Chen gave each of them a kick. "Are you two mutes? Introduce yourselves to your junior sister."

The one in black kept his head bowed toward his bowl. His tone was cold and low, laced with clear disdain for Lingxi. "Bing Cang."

Wen Jue was different. He let out a scoff, still not looking at her. "Your senior brother, Wen Jue." He said it with the tone of someone introducing himself as her master rather than a peer. "Move yourself to the side where the 'dead' one is sitting. I don't like women; it ruins my appetite."

Lingxi replied naturally, "You prefer men?"

"..." Wen Jue produced a set of silver needles from his sleeve. The tips glittered, coated in a dark green venom. "Heh—keep your mouth shut if you don't want to die! All women deserve to die!"

Lingxi didn't respond. Her brow furrowed; a cloud of suspicion rose in her mind. The spiritual energy fluctuations coming from Wen Jue were extremely weak, barely better than those of an ordinary person. It was impossible for someone to be a direct disciple of a peak master if they were truly that incompetent.

No one spoke for a moment; the air grew stagnant.

Misinterpreting the silence, Luo Chen glared at Wen Jue, rolled up his sleeves, and ladled a bowl of corn and pork rib soup for everyone. "Besides celebrating today..." Luo Chen looked at Lingxi, suddenly realizing he hadn't asked her name yet.

Lingxi caught on quickly and introduced herself. "Lingxi. 'Ling' as in spirit stone, 'Xi' as in tide. I hope spiritual stones come crashing toward me like the tide."

Luo Chen led the applause. "Welcome, Lingxi."

Sui An joined in, earning two eye-rolls from the others.

***

"The sect is opening a trial secret realm soon. The spots are limited, and I have decided to send Wen Jue and Lingxi. If you are lucky, you might be able to harvest a Nine-Orifice Linglong Fruit." Luo Chen looked at Wen Jue, his hand holding the soup bowl pausing slightly.

Wen Jue, who had been uninterested, felt a flash of surprise at the mention of the "Nine-Orifice Linglong Fruit," though it quickly vanished. His dantian had been damaged for a long time; even if he obtained the fruit, he would need two other rare spiritual herbs to refine a Spirit-Restoration Pill. Not to mention whether two "useless" people like them could even retrieve the fruit, even if they had all three main ingredients, there was no one capable of refining a low-grade Earth-tier pill. And even if it were refined, there was only a ten percent chance it would actually repair his spiritual roots.

Luo Chen saw his hesitation and, in a rare moment of genuine warmth, patted his shoulder. "It might have been impossible before, but not necessarily now. Your junior sister opened her spiritual sense overnight and reached the second stage of Qi Refining."

Wen Jue looked at Lingxi as instructed, his expression shifting from disgust to astonishment. A burning intensity flickered in his eyes, and he grabbed her hand.

Lingxi squinted slightly, expecting praise, but Wen Jue’s words were shocking.

"May I borrow your body? I haven't seen such a pure spiritual vessel in a very long time."

The greater one's talent, the more they were favored by the Heavenly Dao. At its peak, this could influence the fortune of others and create miracles.

Lingxi pulled her hand away, shrinking back in fear.

Realizing he had lost his composure, Wen Jue turned his head away haughtily. "Don't overthink it, shorty. I just want to study your spiritual meridians and dantian. I promise to stitch you back up." If he could study them thoroughly, his chances of repairing his own dantian and meridians should he obtain the pill would be much higher.

Lingxi refused outright, deciding to stay away from the lunatic. "No. I'm afraid of pain."

Wen Jue stared at her longingly, his thirst for knowledge evident. Under Luo Chen’s warning glare, he sighed and turned his head away. An outsider might have thought he was just sulking and refusing to drink his soup. *It's fine,* he thought, *I'll just find a time tonight to sneak over and dissect her quietly, then stitch her back up.*

Lingxi felt she should show some care for her senior brother. She scooped up a spoonful of soup and held it to his lips. "Don't be angry, Senior Brother. It's just a dissection, right? I'm a talentless person with messy spiritual roots, but the spiritual roots of Ningjing Peak are excellent, aren't they?"

Sui An, still reeling from the shock of Lingxi’s rapid progress, was startled by this and jumped onto his chair. "Holy sh—" He stopped himself when he realized it was Lingxi, and quickly clamped his mouth shut. Though his own aptitude had declined, he figured if he worked hard enough, he might see some results.

Sui An finally reacted. "Just because Ningjing Peak’s roots are good, that doesn't mean you can let her run wild!"

Lingxi curled her lips. "As the saying goes, 'Stones from other hills may serve to polish the jade of this one.' They will be willing."

Wen Jue had considered using other fellow disciples for experiments in the past, but after his dantian was damaged, he couldn't defeat anyone he was interested in. In truth, he couldn't even defeat the ones he didn't like. Once reported for harming a fellow disciple, even Luo Chen couldn't protect him.

***

Wen Jue was incredibly tempted, and Lingxi suddenly seemed much more pleasant in his eyes. He gulped down the soup, but his expression changed drastically—turning purple, then green, then purple again.

Since Lingxi had mixed spiritual roots, she needed spiritual herbs to assist in purifying them. Some of those herbs were priceless and unavailable on the market, so being able to scavenge them in the secret realm was a good opportunity, especially since Luo Chen had promised extra rewards.

Because Luo Chen found things troublesome, there were no other formalities for Lingxi besides that one meal, leaving her quite idle.

That night, Lingxi visited the Divine Fruit Orchard again. A list of mental energy contributions appeared on the fan-shaped guide board:

[Luo Chen: Trust level 100% (currently the main source of mental energy)]
[Sui An: Trust level 65% (already at the level of an acquaintance, keep it up!)]

Over the next few days, Lingxi practiced martial arts with Sui An and made sure to show her face in front of the other senior brothers. The first step to making others believe in you wholeheartedly is to make them know you.

Lin Rou had come to harass her several times, but she couldn't even get past the mountain gate.

The time to open the Maze Secret Realm had arrived.

Luo Chen handed Lingxi an illustrated manual detailing the Nine-Orifice Linglong Fruit at various stages. While other peak masters were stuffing their disciples with magical artifacts, he leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Make sure you stay safe. If you die, you won't be able to see my new work: 'The Haughty Senior Brother's Pampered Pet: Where Are You Running, Witty Junior Sister?'"

Glancing at Wen Jue, Luo Chen scribbled something else in his notebook.

Lingxi covered her face, her lips twitching uncontrollably. "Am I the 'witty junior sister'?!"

Luo Chen nodded excitedly. "Surprised? Is it unexpected? During the secret realm, get along well with your second senior brother. Try to create some good material to help my novel shine."

*Thanks for nothing.*

Secret realms were always places where danger and opportunity coexisted. This guy had sent her there just to get new material for his stories.

Lingxi was dissatisfied. "Aside from that, does Master have nothing else to give me?!" She was still a rookie; one more magical artifact meant one less bit of danger.

Luo Chen realized his oversight and rummaged through his storage bag. "Right, right, I have a treasure prepared for you."

He dangled a blood-red cord between his fingers. It shimmered with a golden light, though its rank was impossible to discern.

Gu Jiuyuan walked past Luo Chen, swept a glance at Lingxi, and huffed, "Disgraceful."