From the moment you became a Spiritual Monarch and the following stages of Spiritual Sovereign, Spiritual Supremacy, and Spiritual Deity, they each had the level of elementary, intermediate, advanced, and peak. Once your spiritual power was fully saturated, advancement would happen automatically. However, heaven and earth laws would not descend for the advancement to the intermediate, advanced, and peak levels. Heaven and earth laws would only descend for the advancement to Spiritual Monarch, Spiritual Sovereign, Spiritual Supremacy, and Spiritual Deity.
Although Leng Ruoxue's advancement was successful, and she had stopped absorbing spiritual energy, she did not immediately leave the secret room. Instead, she began to cultivate advanced spiritual skills. You could only cultivate heavenly spiritual skills at the Spiritual Sovereign stage, so she planned to finish cultivating the advanced fire and wind element skills before leaving. This way, she would at least have the ability to protect herself.
The advanced fire-element spiritual skill 'Prairie Blaze Spark' was one of the most powerful advanced fire-element skills. Moreover, it was a group-attack skill. It could be considered as the upgraded version of the 'Explosive Flames Art', but its power was several times stronger. 'Flame Feathers' was also one of the mightiest advanced fire-element skills, but 'Flame Feathers' was a single-target skill. The advanced wind-element skill 'Wind Chasing Art' was primarily used to increase movement speed during combat, and it was the upgraded version of the 'Quick Wind Art'. These advanced spiritual skills were the ones that piqued Leng Ruoxue's interest, so she cultivated them first. After learning these skills to a point where she was fluent, she intended to leave seclusion, lest her grandfather and the others have to wait for her anxiously. She decided to cultivate other skills at her own pace later.
When Leng Ruoxue opened the door of the secret room, a fluffy little beast jumped into her arms.
"Big Sister, Baby missed you so much!" Baby laid needily in her arms.
Leng Ruoxue looked somewhat helplessly at Baby lying in her arms, oblivious to why this little thing loved sticking to her.
"Big Sister missed you too," Leng Ruoxue coaxed. "When Big Sister wasn't around, was Baby a good boy?"
"Big Sister, Baby was a very good boy!" The little beast raised a small paw, as if he was swearing.
"Miss, Baby said he wanted to protect you and was unwilling to leave the door of the secret room," Cui Zhu said to her young miss with a look of adoration on her face.
Leng Ruoxue looked down at the shy little beast in her arms. She initially thought that this little thing just said it casually, but she didn't expect him to really not move an inch and protect her at the door of the secret room. Even without doing this, just his intention was enough to touch her heart, and the initial annoyance she felt slowly faded away. From this moment on, she decided to love Baby as her little brother.
"Where is Grandpa?" Leng Ruoxue's beautiful eyes glanced around.
"Old Master is in his study," Lü Tao answered.
"I'll go see Grandpa." Holding Baby in her arms, Leng Ruoxue walked toward the study.
"Old man, your darling granddaughter is finally clear-headed. Are you very happy?" commented the middle-aged man sitting opposite Leng Qingtian in the study.
"Of course I'm happy."
"You must be so happy that you forgot you had a grandson! Hmph." The middle-aged man snorted, a displeased look on his face.
"How could I forget? Ruohan is the grandson I'm proudest of!"
Leng Ruoxue heard the voices coming from the study and stopped in her tracks. Grandfather has a guest? While she was contemplating whether to go in or to return later, the door of the study opened.
"Xue'er! Hahaha, Grandpa's dearest is finally out. Come! Let Grandpa take a good look at you." When Leng Qingtian saw his precious granddaughter standing at the door, his face lit up, and a wide smile crept up on his face as he hugged her.
"Hmph!"
"Grandpa has a guest?" Upon hearing the snort, Leng Ruoxue turned her gaze toward the source. She saw a middle-aged man who wasn't particularly handsome but had an extraordinary presence. At first glance, she could tell that he had been in a high position for a long time. Although he was restraining his imposing manner currently, no one would doubt that he was a powerhouse. However, this person didn't seem to like her, so she began wondering if she had offended him somehow before.
"Xue'er, he is Grandpa's old friend. Just call him Grandpa Lin," Leng Qingtian introduced simply.
"Hello, Grandpa Lin," Leng Ruoxue greeted politely.
"Well, old man, no wonder you dote on this granddaughter so much. Unexpectedly, your granddaughter is such a rare genius. She's already a Spiritual Monarch at such a tender age." Lin Liang's sharp eyes sized up Leng Ruoxue with an intense gaze.
"Grandpa Lin, Xue'er is flattered. I was only able to advance so smoothly because of a spiritual essence pill," Leng Ruoxue explained with the reason she had discussed with her grandfather beforehand.
"Spiritual essence pill? No wonder. With a spiritual essence pill, you can become a Spiritual Monarch even with poor aptitude! Old man, you're so biased. When Ruohan advanced, you were unwilling to give him a spiritual essence pill!" Lin Liang shouted in discontent.
"Ruohan is a genius. Even without a spiritual essence pill, he still advanced smoothly. Furthermore, with you, his master, beside him, how could he have been in any danger? It's not like you don't know that using a spiritual essence pill to advance is the last resort. Which genius do you know that has used a spiritual essence pill?" Leng Qingtian roared back, unwilling to be outdone. Those who reached Spiritual Monarch using a spiritual essence pill would cultivate much slower than those that reached Spiritual Monarch by themselves. Even so, spiritual essence pills were extremely rare and precious.
Not only could spiritual essences pills help with advancement, but they could also reduce the risk. However, only Great Spiritualists could use them. Since ancient times, countless spiritualists had hit a wall and were unable to advance to Spiritual Monarch. The Great Spiritualist stage was a considerably important obstacle that spiritualists had to face. The status of 'Great Spiritualist' was only marginally more prestigious than ordinary people, but the moment you advanced to Spiritual Monarch, your status and standing would rise significantly. This was why spiritual essence pills were priceless and couldn't be found on the market.
"Anyway, you're too biased!" Lin Liang hollered.
"Grandpa, since you have a guest, Xue'er will visit you later," Leng Ruoxue said. At times like this, she should steer clear to prevent herself from becoming a target.
After returning to Listening Snow Pavilion, Leng Ruoxue immediately called for Lü Tao and directly asked, "Lü Tao, do I have an elder brother?"
"Miss, did you recall Young Master?" Lü Tao asked, a little unsure.
"Nope. I really have an elder brother? Why hasn't anyone raised him with me?" Leng Ruoxue said with displeasure.
"Miss, you were angry with Young Master and didn't allow anyone to mention him," Lü Tao explained.
Leng Ruoxue closed her eyes and slowly searched through the memories of the Silly Ruoxue.
And… it turned out to have something to do with the seventh prince again. In addition to a grandfather who loved her, she also had a very protective elder brother who loved her. Because she was always bullied by the seventh prince, her brother sought revenge and beat him up. But somehow, the Silly Ruoxue found out and refused to recognize this brother anymore.
"Xue'er, Xue'er."
While Leng Ruoxue was looking through her memories, she heard her grandfather calling her. She immediately opened her eyes and saw him walking in.
"Grandpa, my big brother…" Leng Ruoxue looked at her grandfather without blinking.
"Xue'er, are you still mad at Ruohan? He has always been good to you," Leng Qingtian probed her tentatively since she asked. Although he loved both grandchildren, he adored Ruoxue more. Moreover, his granddaughter had lost part of her memory because of her injury, so he felt even more concern for her.
"Grandpa, Xue'er used to be ignorant and couldn't appreciate Big Brother's painstaking care. But now I am clear-headed, so how could I be angry with him anymore!" Leng Ruoxue was touched. Although foolish, the Silly Ruoxue was really fortunate to have these loving family members! This was probably a blessing for someone unfortunate. After becoming this Ruoxue, she was also blessed and could finally feel the love that she had always desired, so she would definitely cherish it.
"Grandpa, Xue'er can't remember many things. Please tell me about my big brother," Leng Ruoxue pleaded.
"Alright. Xue'er, your brother ranks second on the Genius Rankings. He's the pride of our Leng family. Now, he's studying at the Heavenly Phoenix Academy, and he is the last disciple of the principal, who is that old fellow just you saw," Leng Qingtian explained.
No wonder that old man doesn't like me. Leng Ruoxue could understand why. His genius disciple isn't as cared for at home as much as a simpleton girl. No wonder he's angry as a master.
"The Genius Rankings?" Leng Ruoxue looked at her grandfather in puzzlement.
"Erm… it's the ranking for the top fifty genius youths who are thirty years old and below on the Ling Feng Continent," Leng Qingtian explained.
"Oh." Leng Ruoxue didn't expect the rankings to be for the entire Ling Feng Continent. My brother is the second on the entire continent. He must be a stunning and exceptional genius!
"Grandpa, who's first then?" Leng Ruoxue was curious about who was even better than her brother.
"Huo Qing, the genius young master of the Huo Family, the first of the Five Great Families."
"Is his aptitude better than my brother's?"
"Both of them have superior-grade spiritual power affinity, but his spiritual power has one more attribute than Ruohan's." The Genius Rankings first compared spiritual power affinity and then spiritual power attributes. If both were the same, there would be a tie.
"Grandpa, I want to visit my brother tomorrow," Leng Ruoxue suddenly said. After hearing about him, she was very curious about this talented brother who loved his sister.
"Good! Uh… Xue'er, there's actually something else," Leng Qingtian said hesitantly.
"What is it, Grandpa?" Leng Ruoxue was puzzled. It was rare to see her grandfather hesitating.
Leng Qingtian thought for a moment, and then he took out the imperial edict, handed it Xue'er, and gestured for her to see for herself.
Leng Ruoxue opened the edict in bewilderment. "Ye Chen? Who is that?"
Leng Qingtian was relieved that his precious granddaughter didn't seem to be as angry as he thought she would.
"Ye Chen is from one of the Five Great Families. He's the second son from a side branch of the Ye family. His mother is the seventh prince's aunt, Noble Consort Fang's biological sister. But… he was born frail and sickly."
After listening to her grandfather's explanation, Leng Rouxue understood now. It's that seventh prince again. The emperor evidently has a scheme regarding Grandfather. Why is the seventh prince like a lingering ghost always haunting me? Hmph! Better not let me meet him, or else he will get it!
"Grandpa, just ignore the imperial edict. Getting married or not is up to me!" Leng Ruoxue said somewhat arrogantly. She didn't have a good impression of the imperial family, so she didn't want to get involved with them, albeit Ye Chen was not that closely related. As long as she pretended to be intellectually disabled, she was sure the emperor couldn't do much to her. She was a 'simpleton' after all!
Although this was a world that respected the strong, before becoming a powerhouse above imperial power, imperial power was still supreme. So she didn't want to cause trouble for her grandfather. Although her grandfather was at peak Spiritual Sovereign and the first person under Spiritual Supremacy, he was still not a Spiritual Supremacy-level powerhouse. In this world, only by becoming a Spiritual Supremacy would you be qualified to stand on equal footing with imperial power. And only by becoming a Spiritual Deity could you truly stand above imperial power. This was her goal.
"Of course! I will fight with my life on the line against anyone who tries to force my precious granddaughter to do anything she doesn't like!" Leng Qingtian said dotingly. He didn't really care about the imperial edict bestowing marriage. He was just worried that she would be angry. But seeing that Xue'er didn't take it seriously at all, he was relieved.
"Xue'er, this is for you." Leng Qingtian handed her a golden badge.
Leng Ruoxue took the badge in confusion. On the front, there were only the two words, 'Heavenly Phoenix', while the back was blank.
"You are now a student of the Heavenly Phoenix Academy. This badge shows your identity. Don't lose it, or the academy won't let you in!" Leng Qingtian reminded her.
"Grandpa, don't you need to pass an entrance test to enter the Heavenly Phoenix Academy?" Leng Ruoxue asked. From what she knew, the Heavenly Phoenix Academy was one of the three top academies on the Ling Feng Continent, and the entrance test was very strict. Anyone who could enroll in it was a genius or at least an elite.
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