In Jun Xiaomo’s past life, when she was twenty years-old, she had also entered the Limitless Sect in her capacity as “Qin Lingyu’s cultivation companion”. But because her cultivation level stagnated at the eighth level of Qi Cultivation, she frequently received supercilious looks from the other disciples there.

Therefore, she was determined not to repeat the same mistake in this life. Qin Lingyu was free to like or love whoever he wished, and it was no longer any of her concern. So long as he did not provoke her, she was even willing to pass up her original intention to take his life.

Besides, Qin Lingyu had countless backers, and taking his life would also invite trouble upon herself. Of course, this did not mean that she was going to forgo any opportunity make Qin Lingyu suffer in what little ways she could. 

In hindsight, things were quite ludicrous indeed. If the former Qin Lingyu had truly cared for her, how could he have left her in such as helpless and sorry state in the Limitless Sect? What was even more exasperating was the fact that Jun Xiaomo had realized this only at the end of her previous life.

Jun Xiaomo’s profound gaze and determined tone left Liu Qingmei momentarily dazed, as though she had missed out an important detail. Her daughter seemed to have matured overnight! The Jun Xiaomo today was certainly no longer that little girl who would throw a tantrum or cry at the earliest sign of trouble. Instead, she had finally learnt to think for herself and plan for her own future.

However…

“Mo-Mo,” Liu Qingmei sighed, “it’s great that you’re learning to think for yourself. However, do you understand that joining an upper-tier sect means that you can also tap into their wealth of cultivation knowledge and learn from amazing people? Dad and Mum will not be able to accompany you for your whole life. If anything is to happen to us, the people that we are most worried about would be you.”

The cultivation world was not as peaceful and safe as it seemed. Even a cultivator approaching the Transcendence level of cultivation could not guarantee that he would not meet with any disaster. Liu Qingmei thought that this daughter of hers who had always been sheltered and protected within the Sect might not have taken this fact into consideration.

“Mum…” Jun Xiaomo’s heart once again ached sorely. She swallowed the words that she initially wanted to say, and instead suggested, “How about this. The upper-tier sects would visit us to scout for potential talents in three years’ time. Give me three years of time. If I can recover my cultivation level and achieve the ninth level of Qi Mastery, then I will think of a way to rescind the marriage agreement with Qin Lingyu, and you are not allowed to stop me then; but if I fail to achieve the ninth level of Qi Mastery by then, then I will obediently marry Qin Lingyu when I reach the age of twenty. How’s this suggestion?”

“This…” Liu Qingmei furrowed her brows, saying, “Mo-Mo, are you certain you can no longer accept Qin Lingyu anymore? After all, the marriage arrangement was presided over by the Sect Leader – it’s not something that can be easily rescinded.”

If there were no marriage arrangement, then everything would be on the table for consideration. But now that her daughter had entered into a marriage arrangement, presided over by the Sect Leader no less, how difficult would it be to rescind this?

And besides, Qin Lingyu was even He Zhang’s disciple…

“Mum, don’t you worry about this. I will take care of that part. You just need to say whether you agree with my suggestion or not.”

Jun Xiaomo’s gradually hardened her attitude here. She knew that only by doing so her mother would willingly compromise.

As for the method to rescind the marriage agreement, Jun Xiaomo did not think there would be any issue here. Once she found evidence of Qin Lingyu’s secret rendezvous with Yu Wanrou, then rescinding this marriage arrangement would not be a problem. At that time, no matter how thick He Zhang’s skin was, he would no longer be able to forcibly maintain the marriage arrangement of the two-timing Qin Lingyu.

Just as Liu Qingmei was deliberating over this, Ye Xiuwen, who had been silently observing their interaction all this while, suddenly spoke up, “Ma’am, why not wait for Master to come out of his closed-door cultivation before deciding all of these matters? Besides, junior martial sister is right, joining an upper-tier sect as a cultivation companion may not necessarily be a good thing.”

He was different from Liu Qingmei. Liu Qingmei was perplexed because of her existing concerns for Jun Xiaomo. But Ye Xiuwen had the objectivity of a neutral third-party observer and could therefore clearly discern the advantages and disadvantages of awkwardly joining a sect as a cultivation companion.

Liu Qingmei also thought that Ye Xiuwen’s suggestion was reasonable. At this instant, she merely sighed and patted Jun Xiaomo’s hand in exasperation.

Perhaps this is the best way forward. Dear, I hope you come out of your closed-door cultivation quickly! Liu Qingmei thought to herself.

Jun Xiaomo felt slightly aggrieved at her mother’s reaction. After all, she had attempted to convince her mother with lengthy discourse, yet her words seemed hardly as effective as that single statement from Brother Ye! That said, the silver lining was that her mother had agreed to shelf her intention to marry her to Qin Lingyu.

As she thought about this, Jun Xiaomo smiled radiantly to Ye Xiuwen, even revealing two small dimples on her face.

Ye Xiuwen was stunned, promptly turning his head slightly and unobtrusively shifting his gaze away.

He truly did not know how to respond to Jun Xiaomo’s radiant smile that looked almost like a blossoming flower. 

Disparaged at Ye Xiuwen’s response, Jun Xiaomo pouted. It suddenly dawned on her that the present Ye Xiuwen seemed to be even colder to her than the Ye Xiuwen in her previous life.

But this was not entirely Ye Xiuwen’s fault either. In her previous life before her parents met with tragedy, Ye Xiuwen had never shown much care and concern for Jun Xiaomo. It was only after her parents had been murdered that Ye Xiuwen had no choice but to bear the burden of looking after Jun Xiaomo.

After all, Ye Xiuwen understood that these were his master’s final wishes. If he did not look after Jun Xiaomo, then Jun Linxuan and Liu Qingmei would not be able to rest peacefully on their deathbed. And, in order to look after Jun Xiaomo properly, Ye Xiuwen naturally could no longer be cold to her.

But in this life, Ye Xiuwen had no reason to look after his junior martial sister. On top of that, he had experienced a previous run-in with Jun Xiaomo that left a sour taste in his mouth. Naturally, Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen would not warm up to each other.

Jun Xiaomo also knew that at this moment, it would be wishful thinking if she had hoped for Ye Xiuwen to take the initiative to warm up to her. Therefore, she had to be the one taking the initiative in this regard, in order to win over this big brother who had bestowed her with many warm memories in the past. 

Ai, it seems that it would be a grueling task to get brother Ye to open his heart again. Jun Xiaomo stroked her chin as she thought bitterly to herself.

Forget it. Perhaps I should focus on practicing my Nineform Spirituo-Demonic Refinement Technique instead. If I cannot get my cultivation levels up to speed, then I would really have no choice but to marry that scumbag Qin Lingyu.

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It was night-time. Jun Xiaomo sat cross-legged on her bed, recalling the contents of the Nineform Spirituo-Demonic Refinement Technique.

Nineform Spirituo-Demonic Refinement Technique has a total of nine chapters. Each chapter corresponds with the nine different stages of spiritual and demonic cultivation. These stages are divided into Qi Mastery, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Immortal Ascension, Void Formation, Coalescence, Dharmic Enlightenment, and finally Transcendence.

In this cultivation world, the techniques that remained relevant and applicable across all nine stages of cultivation are all known as the “Heavenly Arts”. Most other techniques would only be relevant or applicable to two or three stages of cultivation. Therefore, cultivators who practiced non-Heavenly Art techniques would invariably have to look for a suitable cultivation technique every time they ascended to the next stage of cultivation.

According to Jun Xiaomo’s knowledge from her previous life, there were no more than twenty Heavenly Arts known to this cultivation world, and these were all priceless treasures that were securely hidden in caches or vaults of upper-tier sects and supreme sects. Ordinary cultivators would never be able to gain access to these Heavenly Arts manuscripts.

At the same time, higher grade cultivation arts did not necessarily translate to a better cultivation art, because the higher the grade, the more difficult the cultivation method. Furthermore, there was also a special relationship between the cultivation art and the cultivator themselves that was somewhat akin to the idea of “fate”. If the cultivation art were not suitable for that cultivator, then the risks of going crazy or even dying in the course of cultivation becomes much higher. Therefore, it was not uncommon for people to have familiarized themselves with a cultivation art, only to find a more suitable cultivation art at a later stage.

Heavenly Arts were exactly like this. Even though the number of people who wished to practice these arts were as many as the stars, but the actual number of people who could stand on top of the world with merely one cultivation art were exceedingly rare. 

Even though Jun Xiaomo had never heard of anyone in this cultivation world practicing the Nineform Spirituo-Demonic Refinement Technique, yet she felt that this cultivation art was the most suitable for her right now.

This was a very subtle feeling, and perhaps could even be what cultivators often considered as the “sixth sense”. In her previous life, Jun Xiaomo had on several occasions relied on such a “sixth sense” to escape certain calamity. Therefore, she trusted her senses in this regard.

However, once Jun Xiaomo had completely traversed the entire contents of the Nineform Spirituo-Demonic Refinement Technique, she could not help but smile bitterly to herself. This refinement technique was truly a Heavenly Art – exceptionally difficult to cultivate. Its requirements for the cultivator’s patience, willpower, understanding, talent and diligence were all very high. Furthermore, every time the cultivator ascended to the next stage of cultivation, they would have to overcome a tribulation of sorts. As to what exactly this tribulation entailed, the manuscript did not specify its details.

In the preamble of the Nineform Spirituo-Demonic Refinement Technique, it even mentioned an unprecedented concept – true energy.

True energy was an intermediate form of energy that is only present during the conversion of demonic energy to spiritual energy or vice versa. It was by nature not a stable form of energy, and therefore it cannot exist on its own in the natural world. However, after a period of refinement, one can store true energy within the meridians and Dantian of his own body.

This was the foundation and building block of the NineformSpirituo-Demonic Refinement Technique which enabled the cultivator to transform demonic energy to spiritual energy and vice versa.

Two parts of demonic energy or two parts of spiritual energy could be consolidated into one part of true energy, and this one part of true energy would then be stored within the meridians and Dantian of the cultivator. As and when he saw fit, this cultivator could transform that true energy to demonic energy or spiritual energy.

“Is it truly possible to refine something such as true energy?” Jun Xiaomo queried aloud.

It’s worth a shot. Jun Xiaomo entered a meditative state and begun muttering the mnemonics as directed by the NineformSpirituo-Demonic Refinement Technique’s preamble to transform demonic energy into true energy.

As it turns out, she begun to feel traces of the existence of true energy forming within her – the energy within her Dantian and meridians were gradually consolidating. Even though it was slow, it was surely congealing! The resultant energy neither bore any of the demonic energy’s harsh properties, nor any of the spiritual energy’s gentle and warm properties. It could certainly be considered as a formless, neutral, intermediate form of energy.

I hadn’t expected to actually succeed in this! Jun Xiaomo’s heart leapt with joy, and she continued to meditate in accordance with the refinement technique’s instructions.

Jun Xiaomo’s meridians and Dantian were originally considered to be abundantly filled with energy, yet now they have once again begun absorbing more demonic energy and spiritual energy.

The surrounding spiritual energy gradually entered Jun Xiaomo’s body, filling up the emptied spaces in Jun Xiaomo’s meridians and Dantian, and these were in turn subsequently converted to true energy through her meditations.

When Jun Xiaomo’s meridians and Dantian had finally been filled to the brim with true energy instead, Jun Xiaomo had already meditated for four whole hours.