মিউটেটেড থান্ডার স্পিরিট রুট

xie lanzhen took it as a joke, not giving it a second thought.

returning to the sect from kongcui mountain, he encountered fellow cultivator yi, who had been waiting for him for quite some time at yuying peak. seeing him return from outside the mountain gate, yi yaolin was puzzled: "it is truly rare to see you returning from the outside, fellow daoist xie. usually, besides staying in the sword cemetery, you are in seclusion at yuying peak. what happened? why do you seem to be in such a good mood?"

"a good mood?" xie lanzhen did not understand. he bade farewell to yi yaolin and returned to his quarters. in the bronze mirror, the man’s lips were pressed into a straight line, with a faint glimmer of light appearing at the corners of his eyes.

since beginning his path of cultivation, he had felt joy from increasing his spiritual power and delight from perceiving grand sword intents; his heart had only ever contained the way of the sword and cultivation. yet now, simply because chu aman had flattered him, he felt inexplicable fluctuations of emotion.

the man in the mirror knitted his brows. he vaguely realized that due to spending more time with chu aman recently, his emotions were being influenced by her. he felt annoyance, happiness, irritation, and a multitude of other feelings because of her.

he tossed his communication jade slip into the room. for the next few days, he ignored the messages sent by chu aman.

unable to reach him, chu aman rested her chin in her hand and wondered, could it be that she had become too noisy for him? never mind, the day for admitting new disciples was approaching, and as the face of the heavenly sword sect, xie lanzhen would surely represent the sect on that day.

speaking of the new disciple selection, it reminded chu aman of something. on this day, two heaven-favored prodigies would emerge. one was, of course, the female lead of this small world, chu deyin, who would be fought over by elders of various sects due to her mutated spiritual root, basking in unparalleled glory. the other, slightly less impressive, was the gentle second male lead, pei xuan.

at this grand and lively selection assembly, guided by the mysterious forces of the story, xie hehua and pei xuan would both fall in love at first sight. unfortunately, their affections would not be mutual. pei xuan would develop a deep love for chu deyin and spend his life willingly by her side, with no regrets even in death. the young lady xie hehua, however, would fall deeply for the dazzling pei xuan, and unable to attain her heart's desire, she would embark on a path of self-destruction, harming others and herself until she eventually met a miserable death in a secret realm.

...

two days later, the largest plaza of kongcui mountain welcomed the heads of various immortal sects, who were responsible for overseeing the selection and recruitment of disciples. at the entrance of the plaza, cultivators from all over poured in, having their spiritual root purity measured one by one using their identity tokens.

when chu aman arrived at the entrance, she saw two long queues moving slowly like snails. suddenly, a gentle and inclusive pale yellow light erupted from the front; it was not dazzling, yet it was extraordinarily bright.

"it is the rarely seen top-grade single earth spiritual root!" someone in the crowd exclaimed, unable to contain their excitement.

for many years, they had not encountered a disciple with such high spiritual root purity. elders from major immortal sects rushed forward to lobby, attempting to lure this gifted disciple back to their own sects.

chu aman stood on tiptoe, gazing into the distance, and unexpectedly spotted xie lanzhen, who had been dragged along by his sect elders. as if sensing something, he looked toward where chu aman stood across the sea of people, nodded slightly, and then looked away. he was distant toward her.

chu aman lowered her eyes in thought. had her provocative words from the other day been too blunt and scared him?

ahead, pei xuan was the center of attention, receiving the tug-of-war from various sects, making the nearby waiting cultivators yearn to take his place. they prayed to attain good spiritual root purity while fantasizing about being fought over, nearly laughing aloud in their excitement.

but chu aman knew that pei xuan’s limelight would soon be eclipsed by another. once it was the female lead's turn to test her spiritual root, everyone else would become mere background; today was destined to be the glory of the heroine.

surely enough, a quarter of an hour later, a brilliant purple light erupted from the front, engulfing half the plaza.

"top-grade single mutated lightning spiritual root! the last time such purity appeared was with uncle-master xie of the heavenly sword sect."

after the exclamation, the elders who had just been busy promoting their own sects abandoned pei xuan and surrounded chu deyin. even though the young girl insisted she had already decided to join the heavenly sword sect, the elders were persistent: "sword cultivators are all rough and uncouth, poor, and don't know how to cherish a lady. how can they compare to us law cultivators? our luoshui sect’s female disciple uniforms are beautiful, consider us!"

"our heavenly sound pavilion excels in musical spells; our female disciples are even prettier than those of the luoshui sect. come, come!"

"please step aside. our qianyuan sect would like to join in as well. little girl, you have a lightning spiritual root; our sect has a lightning mountain, which is perfect for your cultivation."

not far away, pei xuan, who had gone from being the center of attention to being ignored, watched the scene. he did not feel lost, but rather, felt a great curiosity toward that heaven-favored girl with the mutated lightning root. perhaps this was the moment he became interested in the heroine!

fortunately, xie hehua had not met pei xuan this time. she had intended to accompany her, but having stayed up all night with her young lady, she was likely still fast asleep in bed.

chu aman had already tested her spiritual root long ago and knew her situation clearly. unlike others who held unknown expectations, she was just going through the motions. when her turn finally came, she was tested to have a low-grade four-element spiritual root of gold, wood, water, and earth.

such mottled spiritual roots were common in the plaza. however, cultivators with multiple roots were not often seen, and the cultivator measuring her root could not help but glance at her a few more times.

a neighbor hidden in the crowd cursed under his breath, angry that she had such low-grade aptitude, which had wasted his invisibility talisman. seeing chu aman finish her test and go to speak with a young sword cultivator from the heavenly sword sect—whom he had heard was a pride of the younger generation of the xie family—he felt even more bitter. he had used an invisibility talisman to improve his relationship with her, only to be met with a cold face this morning.

taking the talisman and ignoring him—his talisman had truly gone down the drain. if she had been truly talented, it would have been understandable, but to have worse aptitude than himself and still give him a cold shoulder was simply too much.

chu aman did not care what others thought. now, her eyes were only on xie lanzhen. it did not matter that he ignored her; what was important was that her elder sister would surely arrive soon.

"is it because i disturbed your cultivation that you have been ignoring me lately? i thought we were friends."

xie lanzhen said calmly, "it is not because of you. my apologies, i have been quite busy lately."

not having seen her for a few days and having less contact, chu aman's face had gradually blurred in his mind, and he could feel his emotions returning to a state of peace and tranquility. yet, the moment he heard her dejected voice, the irritation he had deliberately ignored returned.

"aman, aman! it really is you! i never expected that after you fled your marriage and left home, you would also come to kongcui city." seeing her sister, chu deyin's surprise was greater than her astonishment. her gaze shifted from her sister to the uncle-master xie beside her, and her steps forward hesitated slightly.

chu aman pulled her hand away from the one her sister reached out to take. looking at her familiar sister, who was dressed in fine robes and jewelry, just like the noble lady in her memories, while she herself wore the most fashionable clothes of the mortal world, no longer the impoverished, disheveled girl of the past, she said nothing and walked toward the direction of the luoshui sect.

chu deyin’s smile froze on her face, and her eyes revealed disappointment.

xie lanzhen pondered the phrase "fled her marriage and left home," recalling his cousin mentioning that chu aman's parents had sold their daughter for profit, sending a sixteen-year-old girl to be a concubine for the county magistrate... he despised the chu parents, and by extension, he had no affection for chu deyin.