The Sky Profound Hall was the center of power of the Sky Profound Sect, and also the place where the sect's fortune converged.
The hall was not magnificently decorated but was carved from a single piece of ancient, chaotic-hued stone of unknown origin. There were no pillars in the hall. The dome above was like a captured piece of the real starry sky, with billions of stars slowly rotating, exuding a vast and ancient aura. Stepping into this place, one would feel an invisible, mountain-like pressure, as if the wills of the past patriarchs were silently watching, causing anyone with distracting thoughts to unconsciously lower their heads in awe.
When Yue Qingqian, following behind the solemn and apprehensive Elder Liu, stepped into this legendary hall, her mind was a complete blank.
She was strictly executing the "Dao Fanatic 2.0 Upgraded Edition" script that her senior brother, Lin Fan, had tailor-made for her.
Her gaze held no trace of nervousness or fear. She did not even look at the Sect Master, who sat high on a cloud bed at the end of the hall, his figure obscured by the aura of the Great Dao. Her gaze was filled with pure curiosity, but the object of her curiosity was the hall itself.
Sometimes she would look up, curiously at the rotating stars on the dome, her small head tilted slightly as if studying their trajectory; other times she would look down, focused on the natural patterns on the chaotic-hued floor tiles, as if they contained some great truth more important than an audience with the Sect Master.
Her entire being exuded an air of pure, otherworldly dazed fanaticism that was completely out of place with the solemn environment.
"Disciple Liu Changqing, with my unworthy disciple Yue Qingqian, pays respects to the Sect Master!" Elder Liu bowed respectfully in a grand salute.
Yue Qingqian was half a beat slow, as if she had just returned from her own world. She clumsily imitated Elder Liu's bow, but did not speak, still looking as if her mind was elsewhere.
At the end of the hall, the blurry figure was silent for a moment. A gentle yet soul-penetrating gaze fell upon Yue Qingqian.
"Elder Liu," the Sect Master's majestic and ethereal voice slowly resounded in the hall, "I hear that you have made an exception and accepted a new disciple from the Ninth Peak as your personal disciple?"
"Reporting to the Sect Master!" Elder Liu immediately launched into his prepared speech. He described in detail how he had discovered Yue Qingqian's "return to simplicity" fire control talent, how he had been shocked by her "theory of alchemy harmony," and how she was specialized, how she was ignorant of worldly affairs. In his words, Yue Qingqian was a peerless prodigy born for the Dao of alchemy, with no other distractions.
The Sect Master listened quietly, noncommittally.
After Elder Liu had finished, his gaze truly, completely, locked onto Yue Qingqian.
"Yue Qingqian."
He slowly uttered the name.
Yue Qingqian seemed to have just realized that someone was calling her. She looked up blankly, her clear eyes without a single impurity, looking directly at the figure shrouded in the aura of the Great Dao.
The Sect Master's voice was calm and steady, yet it carried an unquestionable majesty, "Tell me, what exactly happened in the core medicine storehouse of Hundred Herbs Peak several hours ago?"
It's here!
The ultimate test was here!
Elder Liu's heart leaped to his throat.
However, Yue Qingqian's reaction was completely unexpected by everyone present.
She did not answer immediately. Instead, she tilted her head and, with a look of pure confusion, carefully examined the Sect Master. After a moment, she spoke, her voice crisp and carrying a hint of naive puzzlement:
"Master, who... who is this Senior Uncle?"
Her voice paused, as if she were trying hard to think of a comparison, and then, in a tone she thought was very fitting, she continued to ask:
"Does... does he look like a very ancient, very complicated... alchemy formula that I can't understand?"
At these words, the vast Sky Profound Hall instantly fell into a strange, dead silence.
The color drained from Elder Liu's face. He was on the verge of kneeling on the spot to beg for mercy for his outspoken "good disciple." Comparing the dignified Sect Master of the Sky Profound Sect to an incomprehensible alchemy formula? This is... sacrilege!
However, the Sect Master, sitting high on the cloud bed, did not fly into a rage as anyone would have expected.
The blurry figure seemed to stiffen slightly.
His Dao heart, which was as calm as an ancient well and had witnessed a thousand years of change, at this moment, actually showed a slight crack.
He had lived for a thousand years, had seen flatterers, had seen the arrogant, had seen the timid, but he had never seen, nor had he ever imagined, that someone would describe him from such... such a novel perspective.
His vast, sea-like spiritual sense once again enveloped Yue Qingqian. He carefully, repeatedly, probed her soul, her aura, her every subtle expression.
However, he found nothing.
No lies, no disguise, no fear, not even a single trace of reverence.
There was only a kind of pure-to-the-extreme, seemingly innate, unique way of perceiving the world. In her world, all things, it seemed, could really be categorized into concepts related to the "Dao of Alchemy."
The "Heart-Purifying Jade" that Lin Fan had prepared for her played a crucial role at this moment. It perfectly smoothed out any emotional fluctuations caused by Yue Qingqian's nervousness, presenting her soul in a state of absolute calm, like an ancient well without ripples.
In the Sect Master's probe, this became the most powerful, ironclad proof of her "authenticity"!
After a long while, the Sect Master's ethereal voice sounded again. But this time, the voice seemed to have lost a bit of its scrutinizing majesty and gained a hint of an indescribable, complex emotion mixed with surprise and... absurdity.
"You... tell me what you saw and felt in the medicine storehouse, exactly as it was."
Yue Qingqian blinked and immediately began her performance. She did not speak of any objective facts about the "petal falling off," but described her subjective feelings entirely from the perspective of a "Dao fanatic."
"R-Reporting to Senior Uncle Formula," she said, trying her best to use the title she had invented, "I do not know what happened. I was just... just trying very hard to listen to the 'voice' of that flower..."
"Its voice was very peculiar, like it was singing. It was singing a story about 'here' and 'there.' I was very engrossed, and I felt like... like I was about to sing along with it... and then, it seemed... to be very happy, very joyful..."
Her description was jumbled and full of childlike, whimsical fantasies.
But these words, to the Sect Master and Elder Liu, were no less than claps of thunder!
Listening to the "song" of the law of space?!
Resonating with the Dao?!
This... this was no longer some alchemy prodigy; this was clearly a natural-born, uncarved—"Child of the Great Dao"!
The hall once again fell into a long silence.
The Sect Master's eyes, which seemed to be able to see through eternity, stared deeply, deeply at the young girl before him, who seemed a bit dazed and simple, yet also seemed to contain an endless treasure trove.
All his doubts, at this moment, began to dissipate. In their place was a conjecture that shocked even himself.
Perhaps... the strange movement of the Void Spirit Flower really had nothing to do with any conspiracy.
It was merely... the Great Dao itself, giving its most direct and most generous gift... to a pure soul that was incredibly close to it?