Wei Yunxi's eyes lit up as she turned eagerly to Feng Jiaqing.
Her conveniently kind uncle chuckled and said, "Yunxi, place your hand on the orb in the center of the Spirit Testing Plate. Let Uncle help you test your spirit roots."
She nodded enthusiastically and pressed her small hand onto the orb. It didn't take long before three brilliant beams of light shot into the air from the plate. Feng Jiaqing immediately waved his hand, activating the Soul Lamp Hall's defensive array to shield the purple, azure, and blue lights from detection.
Wei Yunxi stared at the three beams in disbelief. If she remembered right, in the novel, her character—Wei Yunxi—had only a mutated lightning root. So what did these additional spirit roots mean?
Feng Jiaqing's face was filled with barely restrained excitement.
"Yunxi, you possess wind, lightning, and ice roots—all mutated, all maxed out. This is a top-grade spirit root configuration."
Wei Yunxi mirrored his happiness on the surface, but her heart was a storm of confusion.
What was going on?
In the novel, the original Wei Yunxi had only tested for a single lightning root, which was why she and Wei Yunqing were sent to train at Haoran Sect. The sect not only gave the Wei family a political foothold, but also provided a wider range of techniques suitable for Yunxi's lightning affinity.
But now... she had three elements?
Was it because she had transmigrated and altered the original girl's constitution? Or had the original Wei Yunxi always had triple-element roots, only for the Wei family to deliberately suppress or hide them?
That would explain a lot—like why Wei Yunqing eventually extracted her spirit roots.
Wei Yunqing was born with dual water-wood roots. With certain rare opportunities, those could evolve into ice and wind elements. If she stole Yunxi's mutated ice and wind roots, no one would suspect a thing. Her aptitude would seem to improve naturally.
A chill ran down Wei Yunxi's spine.
How many layers of schemes had been aimed at the original her? If she hadn't come to the Feng residence with her uncle this time, would she have been deceived just like the original?
Even with just a lightning root, the original Wei Yunxi had managed to keep pace with the so-called heroine's cultivation. Her talent must have been extraordinary. No wonder Wei Yunqing had always felt threatened, constantly pushing her out with passive aggression.
Looking back, the clues were everywhere. But the original Wei Yunxi was just five years old. She'd been too young to recognize the danger. All she could do was train obsessively, and it was precisely that effort that had painted her as a stepping stone—only to be trampled and used.
All of these thoughts passed through her mind in a flash.
She wasn't going to be anyone's stepping stone.
Now that she'd changed the course of things, she understood perfectly well how even the smallest difference could lead to vastly different outcomes. She would proceed carefully, step by step.
Feng Jiaqing stowed away the soul-testing disk and picked her up with a smile.
"Yunxi, could you keep this spirit root test a secret from your father for now?"
She tilted her head. "Why? Isn't this a good thing? It means I can start cultivating, right?"
Feng Jiaqing sighed softly.
How was he supposed to explain the saying, the tallest tree catches the wind, to a five-year-old child? Especially one without her mother's protection.
It wasn't like Wei Lingyue cherished this second daughter either. Otherwise, he wouldn't have secretly taken the items Feng Jiayun had left behind for Yunxi.
Thankfully, he and his sister had made prior arrangements. Everything placed openly in the courtyard could be sacrificed. The truly valuable items were hidden in that cloisonné jade box.
In fact, the box had been placed beneath a floor tile made from special minerals that blocked spiritual sense, marked with a symbol only the siblings understood. Without that, it would've already been looted by that hypocrite.
And the only way to open the box was with Yunxi's blood. If Wei Lingyue had gotten his hands on it, he would've found a way to draw her blood and take the treasure for himself.
Wei Yunxi wasn't really a child. She understood that Feng Jiaqing was doing this for her own good. So she put on a well-behaved look and said sweetly,
"Mother once told me to always listen to Uncle. You're only trying to help me."
Feng Jiaqing smiled warmly at her words. He personally took her to her temporary courtyard, reminded the servants to take good care of her, and then left to speak with the family elder.
Wei Yunxi, having been through quite the day, felt exhausted. After dinner and a proper bath under the service of four handmaids, she went to bed early.
Once under the covers, she tried again to enter the consciousness space within her wooden token. Last time, she hadn't even been able to move a step before the space forcibly ejected her.
Still, that abrupt exit had bought her enough time to deal with Wei Yunqing's sudden intrusion. She'd barely avoided exposing her secret.
Thankfully, the bloodied hairpin she'd used to prick her finger had drawn Wei Yunqing's attention. Even if that girl later managed to steal it, it would mean nothing. There was no real loss.
Her consciousness slipped back into the token. Just like before, it felt like she was stuck in thick glue. She tried to move, but the moment she did, she was expelled again.
This time, a clear message echoed in her mind—she could only enter once she started cultivating.
Wei Yunxi flipped over and faced the wall, muttering to herself for a while. Then she silently made a plan. No matter what, she had to start cultivating. Only by becoming strong could she face the countless plots around her.
Truthfully, she'd been anxious ever since the day she transmigrated. Sure, she had knowledge of the plot. But the novel hadn't been fully serialized when she crossed over. That meant the future wasn't set in stone.
In just two days, she'd already noticed how reality both aligned with and deviated from the book. Each choice she made caused the story's direction to shift.
But that wasn't a bad thing.
At least it proved this wasn't just a story anymore. She wasn't trapped in a book. This world was real, and the novel had only shown events from Wei Yunqing's perspective. The so-called "treasure boy" had barely been mentioned.
Which meant there was room for change.
In the darkness, Wei Yunxi's eyes gleamed. She liked the word "variable." Maybe her arrival was the true variable. As she moved the story forward, she was also reshaping it.
The thought gave her courage. For the first time, she felt she had a real chance of surviving in this cultivation world. Comforted by this determination, she finally fell asleep.
Elsewhere, Feng Jiaqing had made his way to visit the Feng family's elder—Feng Feng, who was at the early Golden Core stage.
Feng Feng looked like a man in his forties, with facial features similar to Feng Jiaqing.
When he saw his junior, he raised an eyebrow and asked with a chuckle, "Jiaqing, what brings you to visit this old man?"
Feng Jiaqing twitched at the nickname and replied with a groan, "Old Ancestor, I'm the head of the clan now. Can we stop using my childhood name?"
Feng Feng laughed heartily. "I'm the one who gave you that name. I think it's quite nice."
With a sigh, Feng Jiaqing gave up resisting and adopted a more serious tone.
"Old Ancestor, I brought Jiayun's daughter to stay at the residence. We visited the Soul Lamp Hall earlier and added a drop of her blood to her mother's lamp. The flame brightened noticeably. It might help Jiayun hold on a bit longer."