It was only when Lin Zhiyue leaned back against the chair that she remembered she still had a card pool to draw from.
She closed her eyes and opened the system panel. The preview for the Magpie Bridge Fairy Whispers card pool lit up in the night. A skirt woven from light purple and silver-white unfurled in the center of the light screen, looking as if a whole patch of starry night had been tailored into fabric.
She flipped through the Premium Draw Tickets in her hand. There were quite a few left, more than enough for three ten-pulls.
She clicked the first ten-pull. Tiny starlight burst across the light screen, like someone throwing a handful of shattered silver into the night sky.
The first item was a crown. Delicate bead chains hung from a silver star crown, swaying slightly with the light and shadow, as if the very edges of the moonlight had been stitched onto it.
The second item was a sash. The light purple gauze draped down like flowing water, its edges pressed with a faint silver-threaded pattern that subtly revealed the path of connecting stars as it drifted.
The third item was the main dress. The skirt, woven of silver-white and light purple, was covered in delicate starlight patterns. The fabric unfurled in layers, gleaming with a soft luster under the light, looking as if the slowly flowing Milky Way from the deep night sky had been gathered into a single gown.
The fourth item was a bracelet. A fine silver chain was strung with a few amethysts the size of a pinky fingernail, gleaming with a warm luster under the light.
The fifth item was a necklace. The silver chain was adorned with a teardrop-shaped purple gemstone that rested below her collarbone, feeling slightly cool to the touch.
The sixth item was a waist chain. The fine silver chain hung loosely at her waist, swaying gently with her movements.
The seventh item was an armlet, made of silver and carved with fine cloud patterns.
The eighth item was an anklet, echoing the bracelet and similarly adorned with tiny amethysts.
The ninth item was a pair of shoes. The light purple satin embroidered shoes featured a magpie with outspread wings stitched in silver thread. The toes curled up slightly, and the edges were piped with a thin silver border.
The first ten-pull yielded nine items. The second ten-pull dropped the earrings—two fine silver chains with tiny amethyst beads that swayed gently beside her ears with her movements.
On the third to last draw of the third ten-pull, a palm-leaf fan dropped. The face of the fan was light purple satin, its edges bordered with a thin silver rim, and its handle was made of polished, warm white jade, feeling slightly cool in her hand.
A minimalist picture of the Magpie Bridge was embroidered on the fan in silver thread—a few tiny silver stars were scattered between two curved lines, outlining the Milky Way, with two magpies facing each other from a distance, as if about to fly toward one another.
All eleven standard parts were collected within three ten-pulls.
Lin Zhiyue put the set into her Wardrobe. When the notification for completing the set popped up, the skill details also displayed: 【Set Skill: Bridge of Severing Dust. Active cast. It can erect a long bridge of spiritual light between reality and illusion to guide souls with lingering attachments, severing their worries so they can cross over peacefully. It can also be used to connect the yin and yang, allowing the living and the dead to meet briefly. Cooldown: Seven days after each cast.】
After reading it, Lin Zhiyue closed the screen and leaned against the back of her chair for a while.
This skill could gather dust in storage for now; she had no use for it for the time being.
Lin Zhiyue turned off the lamp and lay down in the dark.
The moonlight outside leaked through the gap in the curtains, spreading a thin band of silver-white light across the floor.
The Grand Sect Tournament was only half a year away.
The news had spread from the main hall, saying that Tiance Palace would participate in this year's tournament.
Since Tiance Palace had not participated in the last dozen tournaments, rumors had long been flying outside that Tiance Palace had declined, that this generation of disciples suffered from a talent gap, and that their title as one of the Three Great Sects was now nothing more than an empty name.
When Xiao Sheng called the elders together to discuss the matter, he slammed his hand on the table and declared that they must participate this time, and they must win.
Qi Yan still made no comment, but the disciples under him had already begun flipping through their cultivation manuals.
After reaching mid-stage Golden Core, Lin Zhiyue was in no hurry to break through further.
She spent a few days looking through the jade slips in the Library, picking out a stack of daily techniques ranging from low to high grades, and trying them out one by one in her courtyard whenever she had free time.
She also went through basic techniques for water, fire, and earth elements—which were not directly related to her spiritual root—aiming not for mastery but just to be able to use them.
She even went to the martial arts field to watch a few matches of inner sect disciples, memorizing their practical combos and footwork before repeatedly breaking them down back in her courtyard.
That evening, as she was crouching in a corner of the courtyard making final adjustments to a newly learned Aura-Concealing Technique, Cen Xi'er walked up the stone steps and handed her two books.
She said she had also practiced these basic techniques back then, and that flipping through them would surely be beneficial.
Lin Zhiyue took them, thanked her, and looked down to flip through a few pages.
They were annotated with Cen Xi'er's own notes. The handwriting was neat and clear, with error-prone spots circled in red ink.
Lin Zhiyue placed them on her desk, intending to read through them again before bed.
Jiang Yuezhan paused as he passed the courtyard gate. He glanced inside but said nothing. He simply left a rolled-up notebook on the stone platform by the door and walked away. The notebook was tied with a thin string, containing his own insights on sword arts compiled over the past few days. His handwriting was compact and neat, with every section capturing the most critical points.
Lin Zhiyue glanced outside the door from across the courtyard. She didn't chase after him, but brought the notebook inside. Tomorrow, she would also send her own notes on sword intent to her junior brother.
When Qi Yan practiced swordsmanship with her, he dismantled a few transition forms of her already familiar Tiance Sword Art, changing the approach and having her run through them again.
Lin Zhiyue tried it a few times. Her footwork became smoother than before, and the transition between her sword qi was also slightly more fluid.
As the days passed, the newly brought books and miscellaneous items piled up on her desk, only to be sorted and put away one by one.
The Grand Sect Tournament was like a banner hung in the distance, its blurry outline gradually becoming clear.
Lin Zhiyue felt she had more and more things to handle, but her heart became calmer and steadier instead.
When the news of Song Mu breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage arrived, Lin Zhiyue was practicing her newly learned Aura-Concealing Technique in the courtyard.
Cen Xi'er walked quickly up the mountain path, clutching a newly arrived transmission in her hand. She said that news had been sent from the Qingling Sect—Song Mu had officially stepped into the Nascent Soul Stage, only three years behind their master back then.
Lin Zhiyue stopped her technique, took the transmission to glance at it, then folded the paper and handed it back.
Song Mu was already the leader of the younger generation of the Qingling Sect. With his talent and accumulation, breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage was only a matter of time.
Now that he happened to emerge from seclusion right before the tournament, it meant there would be another opponent who could not be ignored in this year's competition.
Over the next few days, news arrived one after another, stating that the venue for this year's tournament was set in Wanxian City, to be personally hosted by the City Lord of Wanxian City.
Not only would the Three Great Sects send representatives, but even those small sects that rarely showed their faces were included in the invitations.
The scale was much larger than in previous years, and the lineups of disciples sent by each sect were also more complete.
When Liu Fengyao dropped by with her bowl, she casually mentioned that if Tiance Palace didn't get a good ranking this year, the gossip outside would probably spread even more wildly.
Lin Zhiyue didn't pick up the topic, only keeping her head down to eat her rice. In her mind, she silently calculated whether half a year would be enough to push her cultivation up another notch.
She set a goal for herself—at least the top three.
She didn't speak this thought aloud, only keeping it buried in her heart. Isn't this just an academic exchange?
During the exchange, the supervisor's—ah, no, Master's—reputation is what matters most.
After dinner, she unrolled the notebook for the Tiance Sword Art in the courtyard again. Flipping to the blank space on the last page, she wrote down the words “Top Three” with the tip of her brush, drew a faint horizontal line next to it, and then closed the notebook and placed it back on the bookshelf.
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