Cultivating Immortality Begins with Acting as a Girl Chapter 168

The first day of the preliminary exam ended, and Song Ling returned to his bamboo forest courtyard behind Crane Ridge Peak.

After bathing and changing in the evening, he had just sat down on his bed in the sleeping quarters when a gentle and pleasant female voice came from outside the door: “Shaohua, I have something to discuss with you.”

“Master?”

Song Ling’s heart stirred. Bai Yafu coming to see him at this time, could it be about the preliminary exam?

He quickly got out of bed and opened the door.

“Master, your disciple was impolite.”

After opening the door, Song Ling seemed to just realize that his long hair was still wet and disheveled, and he was wearing a white inner garment, not yet having changed into his formal disciple attire. He couldn’t help but show a look of shame.

“It’s alright.”

Bai Yafu smiled slightly, “It was I who visited suddenly; you don’t need to blame yourself.”

Song Ling appeared a bit embarrassed. He quickly stepped aside and respectfully invited Bai Yafu into the room, “Master, please.”

Bai Yafu entered the room and looked around. Although the room was simple, it was neatly arranged and exuded a sense of refined elegance. She couldn’t help but nod slightly. She walked slowly to the table and sat down, her gaze soft as she looked at Song Ling, and gently parted her red lips:

“Shaohua, during today’s preliminary exam, I saw your outstanding performance and felt very pleased.”

“Thank you for your praise, Master. Your disciple merely did his best; it’s nothing worth mentioning,” Song Ling said in a low voice as he walked in front of Bai Yafu.

Bai Yafu nodded slightly, a complex look flashing in her eyes. She sighed softly and slowly said, “Do you still remember what I told you, that if you could win first place in the preliminary exam, I would grant you a great fortuitous encounter?”

“Shaohua remembers,” Song Ling nodded.

“I won’t go into the specifics, but in short, the situation you are currently facing, I believe you have already seen it. The personal disciples of the other elders have all reached the peak cultivation of the Qi Nurturing stage. With everyone possessing magical artifacts, the situation is very unfavorable for you.”

As Bai Yafu spoke, she took out a small cyan porcelain bottle from her storage bag.

“It’s also my oversight; there’s no time to find you the Dust Refining Powder now. Take this bottle of ‘Origin Returning Pill’ and consume it.”

“Although its effect is not as good as Dust Refining Powder, it’s much stronger than the Qi Condensing Pill, and it refines very quickly. Spending one night should be enough for you to refine it all.”

Bai Yafu understood in her heart that trying to close the gap for Song Ling with just this bottle of Origin Returning Pill was undoubtedly a pipe dream. But as things stood, she could only try anything to salvage the situation. Even if it only increased the chance of success by a minuscule amount, it was better than doing nothing at all.

“Thank you, Master. Shaohua will definitely do his best and absolutely not disappoint Master!” Song Ling took the pills and said earnestly.

Bai Yafu took Song Ling’s hands and gently patted them, her eyes full of encouragement and expectation, “Shaohua, remember, the path of cultivation is inherently full of challenges. What’s important is not to give up on every possibility, but… if something is truly impossible, don’t force it. Regardless of the outcome, you are still my disciple.”

“Shaohua understands,” Song Ling said, his expression moved.

“Good, then I won’t disturb your cultivation. Everything depends on your performance tomorrow.”

After Bai Yafu finished speaking, she got up and walked out.

Song Ling respectfully escorted her to the main gate of the small courtyard, watching her figure lengthen in the moonlight and gradually disappear into the depths of the bamboo forest.

Back in the room, Song Ling took out the bottle of ‘Origin Returning Pill’ he had just received. Looking at the ten round, fragrant pills inside, the corners of his mouth curved slightly.

“This is truly an unexpected surprise.”

With a thought, the system panel prompt appeared.

[ 30.16 spiritual source detected. Estimated extraction time: 4 minutes 26 seconds. Proceed with extraction?]

“Yes!”

For pills like these, extracting spiritual source was far more beneficial than simply consuming them.

Four minutes later, the ten Origin Returning Pills turned into powder. Song Ling opened the panel and saw that the value next to the ‘Spiritual Source’ entry had changed to: 36.23.

“With this, I’ve gathered enough spiritual source to cultivate those three pseudo-arts of the Blade Forging Art. As soon as I get them started, I’ll immediately reach the breakthrough limit.”

Song Ling was in a joyful mood and didn’t waste time. He sat back on the bed, mobilized the spiritual energy within his body, closed his eyes, and began cultivating the three pseudo-arts of the Blade Forging Art with focused concentration.

…

The night passed.

The next day, Song Ling arrived at the White Storehouse Hall on time.

With the number of participants halved, there was more time, and today there would be two rounds of competition.

In the first round, Song Ling’s opponent was just an ordinary disciple, whom he easily defeated. But in the second round, the thirty-two to sixteen elimination match, he surprisingly drew the same number as Elder He’s disciple, Le Ziren.

This sparked a heated discussion among the spectators.

“What a pity. I didn’t expect Princess Zhaoming to encounter Le Ziren so quickly. It seems her preliminary exam journey ends here.”

“Not necessarily. Don’t forget Princess Zhaoming is also a personal disciple. How do you know she doesn’t have other trump cards?”

“Princess Zhaoming has already put all her energy into cultivating pseudo-arts. In just three months, no matter how talented she is, her cultivation couldn’t possibly reach the same level as the other personal disciples. With everyone having magical artifacts, the one with higher cultivation will surely win.”

Besides the spectator stands, in the resting area below the arena, other personal disciples like Yi Zhiqin, Zhu Jingxuan, and He Jun were also watching the stage.

On the high platform, at the elder’s seats.

“Elder Bai, it seems your disciple’s luck isn’t very good,” He Haobei said with a smile.

Bai Yafu’s expression was calm, “Who is stronger and who is weaker, we’ll only know after the match.”

“Then I shall look forward to it,” He Haobei was noncommittal.

On the arena, Song Ling and Le Ziren stood facing each other.

Le Ziren was surprisingly dressed neatly today, unlike his slovenly appearance yesterday. He bowed to Song Ling and said:

“Your Highness Princess, I watched yesterday’s match. In terms of spell techniques, Your Highness is indeed far superior to me. However, I regret to say that with magical artifacts involved, Your Highness is not my opponent. My Le family has long received imperial favor, and as a princess of our Great Zhao, I do not wish to act presumptuously against Your Highness. Therefore… I ask Your Highness to concede.”

This surprised Song Ling a little. He hadn’t expected this Le Ziren to be a descendant of a loyal minister of the Zhao Kingdom.

However, Princess Zhaoming’s memories contained no trace of him, so it was likely their relationship with the imperial family wasn’t close.

Song Ling spoke:

“This princess is very strong; you may not win.”

Since the other party addressed him with the attitude of a subject, he would speak with the identity of a princess.

A hint of helplessness flashed across Le Ziren’s face, and he sighed, “Since that is the case, then I apologize, Your Highness.”

With that, he swept his hand over his waist storage bag, and a long spear shimmering with spiritual light appeared. He held the spear, stomped his foot forcefully, and his entire body shot towards Song Ling like a cannonball.

Le Ziren’s spiritual energy surged wildly into the long spear, instantly emitting a powerful aura!

A point of cold light arrived first, followed by the spear striking like a dragon!

…