The more turbulent Ai Yueli's inner thoughts became, the stiffer her expression grew.
To put it bluntly, she had gone completely blank.
Look at you. Not a single thing you did could even be considered normal.
After fully understanding Ye Ling's line of reasoning, that was the one sentence she most wanted to complain about in her heart.
Of course, she wasn't calling Ye Ling inhuman. It was simply that what he had accomplished was far beyond anything an ordinary person could ever achieve.
Just as she had said before, most cultivators today only begin to study laws and concepts after reaching the Tribulation Transcendence Stage.
But at the very beginning, when the cultivation system was first established, what the human race relied on was precisely laws and concepts. To put it more plainly, the Dao.
Only after confirming one's own Dao could one truly be considered to be cultivating.
Yet the current cultivation system, in order to allow more people to cultivate, had simplified countless steps. Not only were cultivation realms divided more crudely, even the Dao itself, the very core of cultivation, had been stripped away in favor of an easier path.
Naturally, it was precisely because of this simplified path that the cultivation world had flourished as it had. There was nothing inherently wrong with it.
But modern cultivators focused solely on advancing their realm, never once stopping to consider what their own Dao actually was. The further they progressed, the harder it became to advance, relying almost entirely on innate talent to push forward.
And in terms of combat strength, cultivators with their own Dao and those without were fundamentally different existences.
To put it in a more down-to-earth analogy, the Dao was like a Gatling gun.
One side wielded a Gatling gun, while the other fought bare-handed.
Forget one-on-one combat. As long as there was enough ammunition, no number of bare hands would ever be enough.
The higher the realm, the more terrifying cultivators with their own Dao became. Fighting one against a hundred was nothing remarkable.
Unfortunately, fewer and fewer cultivators in this era were willing to walk their own Dao.
In ancient times, everyone had a Dao. But now, aside from truly ancient hidden clans and holy lands formed by supreme sects, only the Four Great Imperial Dynasties still preserved secret methods of cultivating the Dao.
The Dao had become lonely.
In fact, even if modern cultivators learned those secret methods, very few would actually devote themselves to studying them.
After all, compared to a Dao that might take an unimaginable amount of effort to comprehend, simply absorbing Spiritual Qi and raising one's realm was far easier.
And some people were limited by their talent to begin with. They simply could not grasp the Dao and had no choice but to walk the simpler cultivation path. That was unavoidable.
Yet this very Dao, which left modern cultivators utterly helpless, was something Ye Ling could effortlessly sense and even arrange.
Faced with such terrifying talent and comprehension, Ai Yueli found herself completely at a loss for words.
He was the one that had slipped away from the Dao. No doubt about it.
Even if she found it hard to believe, Ai Yueli could only accept it. Sometimes, miracles really were that cheap.
"You did very well."
Ai Yueli's tone remained calm, but her blinking had clearly sped up. After a brief pause, she added, "You've completely surpassed my… your master's expectations."
With Ye Ling having already earned recognition from the Qiuqiu Monkey Clan's leader and displaying such horrifying talent, Ai Yueli now genuinely wanted to take him as her disciple.
Of course, the most important factor was that Ye Ling had not taken the Nine Heavens Jade Pendant Bai Yiyi had offered. And the reason he gave had also moved her.
Because of that, even if Ye Ling truly had some force backing him, she was determined to do everything she could to draw him to the Heavenly Gate Sect's side.
Once her senior and junior sisters returned, she would definitely discuss this properly with them.
The way Ai Yueli looked at Ye Ling now even carried a faint glimmer.
Ye Ling wasn't blind. He naturally noticed her reaction. Although he had no idea that he had already become a prized asset in her eyes, he could at least tell that he was safe for the moment.
When Ai Yueli had mentioned having killing intent earlier, he had genuinely been a little scared.
After all, this wasn't his original world. There was no rule of law here. Killing for treasure was commonplace, let alone someone like him, a man who had suddenly appeared within a sect.
He wasn't stupid, nor did he harbor the illusion that everyone in the Heavenly Gate Sect was a good person. Any faction that could survive in the cultivation world was never purely virtuous. Not becoming outright villains was already fortunate enough.
And to be honest, in a world without legal restraint like this, if he and Ai Yueli had switched positions, and he returned to his sect only to find that his own Sect Master had inexplicably accepted a male disciple, not killing him on the spot would already count as remarkable self-control.
The key issue was that this Sect Master of his was unreliable. Even taking in a spy was entirely possible.
Or rather, if they weren't an insider, who in their right mind would choose to become Bai Yiyi's disciple?
What?
Me? …Alright, never mind.
Ye Ling himself had only become her disciple because the System recommended it. Otherwise, what normal person would willingly take Bai Yiyi as their Master?
Without the System, with how unreliable Bai Yiyi was, would Ye Ling really dare acknowledge her as his Master?
Because of that, the possibility of an insider was actually very high.
Even if there were a chance the person was genuinely good, he simply didn't have the time to verify it.
If it truly was an insider, then by the time he finished carefully investigating, the sect's information would already have been leaked. At that point, even killing the insider would be meaningless. Situations like that called for swift and decisive action.
So the fact that Ai Yueli hadn't acted on the spot left Ye Ling with mixed feelings.
On one hand, he was relieved. Even if the Heavenly Gate Sect wasn't made up of saints, at the very least they weren't outright villains.
He hadn't fallen into the worst possible scenario. Otherwise, he would have had no choice but to hide behind Bai Yiyi and barely cling to life for a while.
On the other hand, he felt Ai Yueli was being a bit too soft-hearted. If it were him, even if he didn't kill the person outright, he would at least carry out a ruthless interrogation.
After all, this concerned the future safety of the sect. In that sense, Ai Yueli seemed a little naive and overly merciful. Of course, that might also be because she possessed absolute strength, which allowed her to tolerate letting a weakling like him remain in the sect.
Still, no matter which possibility it was, if Ye Ling really nitpicked over it, it would start to look like he was enjoying the benefits while complaining.
But having grown up as an orphan, he never had a sense of security to begin with.
Before transmigrating, he trusted no one but himself.
After transmigrating, he had only gained Bai Yiyi.
As for whether Ai Yueli could earn his trust, that would depend entirely on how things went.
"Fourth Master flatters me."
Ye Ling cupped his hands politely, then said, "This is nothing more than a trivial side path. In Fourth Master's eyes, it probably isn't even worth mentioning, right?"
He maintained a humble attitude, while at the same time subtly testing her.
He wanted to know just how far beyond expectations he had gone, to the point that even his always stone-faced Fourth Master had been shocked into giving him Emotion Points.