A new day began with the sun shining its light upon the world.
Jiu Xian woke up and checked his surroundings. Luckily the pillow stopped them from crossing over to each other's area as Yao Qing slept peacefully on her side of the bed.
Rising from the bed he entered the living room and found the old lady sitting on a wooden chair with her legs crossed.
"Good morning umm..." Only now did he realise that both him and Yao Qing forgot to ask how to address her.
"Good morning. You can just call me granny" Granny said, her voice quivering.
"So granny, can you tell me about the conditions now?"
"Well let us wait for your wife before we discuss thi.. ah! Never mind she's here."
"She's not my wife." Jiu Xian grumbled.
~YAWN~ Yao Qing walked out of the guest room tying her hair as she yawned, her clothes dishevelled.
"..."
"..."
"Morning."
Jiu Xian and granny stared at her while she still groggy from waking up didn't realise her state and she took a moment to process why they were staring at her, she looked down at her clothes and turned around dashing for the room closing the door with a thud.
'Cute' Jiu Xian thought but he quickly removed that thought from his mind.
"Hehe~ and you still say that she is not your wife. Her clothes suggest that two surely did something together." Granny crackled.
"...no!NO!NOOO!" Jiu Xian's cheeks turned red as he realised what she was implying.
Yao Qing soon returned after adjusting her clothes properly and sat down at the dining table with the other two to discuss about cultivation and her conditions.
"First I will check your character and your thought process.
"Here take this questionnaire and fill it." Granny hands a scroll to each of them.
Jiu Xian takes the paper and starts solving it.
Q1) A no name male cultivator crashes your arranged marriage ceremony and tries to take always your wife saying that they love each other. What do you do?
Let her go~
"Courting death!" and beat him to assert dominance
Tell him that he's a toad lusting over a swan.
Q2) You are walking on the street when someone accidently collides into you; How do you respond"
You apologise for having eyes but not seeing mount tai.
You check for you storage rings and pouch.
You shout- YOU DARE
Q3) You encounter a merchant in the flea market, he is selling a bunch items but a rustic sword stand out to you. What do you do?
BUY!BUY!BUY! who knows it might be a heavenly treasure.
Ignore the merchant
Beat him and take sword
Q4) You enter encounter your sect's janitor –
You respectfully bow to him, who knows if he is a strong cultivator in secret, after all he alone is responsible for cleaning the sect.
You curse at him for daring to look at you
Greet him and go about your day.
Q5)Your sect is destroyed by collusion of all other forces (righteous, evil, and even neutral) what do you do and you are the sole survivor.
Go there and fight to death
Rebuild your sect and continue its legacy, forgiving the enemy.
"Thirty years in Hedong and thirty years in Hexi, don't bully the young and poor."
Q6) You lose a fight against a cultivator who is a major real below you:
You call your daddy to fight for you.
You send your goons after him to teach him a lesson in secret
Cultivation world is full of weird people like him. You accept the loss and forgot about him.
Q7) The ultimate question: If the Dao itself had a favourite flavour of tea, would it choose:
Bitter for humility.
Sweet for joy.
All flavours equally — because the Dao is just and all encompassing.
Jiu Xian read the question more than twice before looking towards Granny.
"Is this a Joke?" He asks.
"Nope. You have to answer it seriously if you want to learn from me." She laughed hysterically.
"YOU DARE!? Who even says that?"
"Oh girl! Don't even get me started. You will see for yourself when you get to cultivator cities.
"Now don't dilly dally and answer the questions."
She turned their focus back towards the questionnaire. As Jiu Xian answered the question he couldn't help but wonder if she was pranking them. After all the woman could be senile for all they knew.
But two questions in particular looked somewhat serious to him. His instincts were telling him that somewhere in this questionnaire hid something important.
It took both Jiu Xian and Yao Qing quite some time to answer the question seriously but after they submitted the paper, Granny checked it and pointed out several mistakes to them. Overall she looked quite content with their answers. The answers she provided them showed how proud and arrogant she truly is.
" Now hold his stone and let me see your talent." Granny gave each of them a grey stone.
As they held the stone nothing happened for quite sometime.
"..."
"..."Yao Qing and Granny looked disappointed.
"I think these are defective. I met an immortal fairy once. She told me that I have earth level root."
"Humph! Boy, you dare call someone a fairy in front of me. You must have bad tastes. AND! Let me tell you there is no way my stones are defe."
~crackle~
Both stones shone with blinding red light before turning into dust.
""..."" Jiu Xian and Yao Qing stared at her with extreme judgement.
"~cough~Cough~ Both of you have fire favoured Earth level root. Not Ideal but I can elevate its level when I get the resources." Granny tried to show-off in an effort to make them forget about the defective stones.
"Now take these manuals. They are about basics of cultivation and cultivation world. Read these then I will take you to cultivate immortality." She continued as she placed a large stack of dusty books in front of them. Her voice haughty and her eyes inside her hood shining with hope.
Jiu Xian and Yao Qing looked at the stack of books that now lay in front of them.
"This will take days." Yao Qing said.
"Right" Jiu Xian agreed.
" HEHEHE~ you didn't think that cultivation is a day's matter did you." Granny laughed as she left them to read the books.