That night, in the Ninth Princess's bedchamber.
Xiao Ya dismissed the palace maids and sat alone by the window, gazing at the moon in the night sky—which was starkly different from her "previous life"—and fell into deep thought.
It had been seventeen years since she arrived in this world.
From a Senior researcher at the Galactic Federation Academy of Sciences, she had become the Ninth Princess of the Great Yan Dynasty.
Initially, she thought this was just an ordinary ancient world.
But she soon discovered that there were Cultivators who could live for hundreds or thousands of years, Yao Beasts, and Divine Abilities that allowed one to fly and burrow through the earth.
This made her scientist Soul boil with excitement!
How is energy converted?
How does life evolve?
How do the rules of space operate?
These mysteries, which required countless experiments and theoretical deductions to even touch in her previous life, seemed to have traceable paths in this world.
For seventeen years, she hungrily studied the knowledge of this world.
At the same time, she secretly attempted to analyze "spiritual energy," "Formations," and "Medicinal Pills" using scientific thinking.
The results were bountiful.
For instance, she discovered that low-level lighting Formations were essentially an orderly guidance of light-attribute energy, sharing a similar principle with how LEDs emit light.
For example, the ingredients of certain Medicinal Pills bore similarities to some cell-activity-promoting agents she had researched in her previous life.
But limited by resources, her research had always remained at a shallow level.
Now, the Opportunity had come.
Yaochi Immortal Palace... "To be able to subdue a Mahayana Yao King, it must be extraordinary."
Xiao Ya murmured to herself,
"Perhaps there..."
Her eyes sparkled with a light of excitement.
In her previous life, her greatest regret was not being able to witness humanity breaking the speed of light and exploring the stars.
In this life, she would go even further!
Not just exploring the stars; she wanted to explore the essence of life and the source of the rules!
A smile curled at the corners of Xiao Ya's lips.
She stood up, walked to her desk, and picked up a brush to record her thoughts for the day.
What flowed from the tip of her brush was a peculiar set of notes, a mix of this world's characters and mathematical symbols and physical formulas from her previous life.
Outside the window, the moonlight was like water.
No one knew that this seemingly gentle princess was brewing such a shocking revolution in her heart... Meanwhile, at the Yaochi Immortal Palace.
Gu Han withdrew her gaze from the water mirror, a playful smile appearing on her face.
"This Xiao Ya is quite interesting."
[Host, Xiao Ya's potential rating is out—Special Nine-Star! Although her cultivation talent is average, the knowledge she possesses is very interesting.]
"Special Nine-Star?"
Gu Han raised an eyebrow,
"Doesn't that mean it's as rare as Luoli's Hidden Ten-Star?"
[The nature is different. Gu Luoli's Dual Pupils are a combat-type peerless talent, while Xiao Ya's is a wisdom-type.]
Gu Han became thoughtful.
"It seems I really need to pay close attention to this Ninth Princess during this recruitment."
[In addition, a reminder for the Host: as the reputation of the Yaochi Immortal Palace spreads, people will soon take notice of this place.]
"Soldiers will be blocked by generals, and floods will be dammed by earth."
Gu Han said indifferently,
"As long as one's strength is sufficient, everything is fine."
"By the way, System,"
Gu Han suddenly remembered something,
"Do you think it's possible for Xiao Ya to create communication equipment similar to the cell phones from my previous life?"
[Theoretically, it is possible.]
Gu Han nodded.
She looked forward to what kind of surprise this Xiao Ya would bring her.
The next day, Qingyang City.
The spirit testing had reached its third day, and the number of people had not decreased; instead, there were even more.
Many Cultivators and Mortals from surrounding cities and even further away rushed over overnight after hearing the news, all wanting to try their luck.
The square in front of the Liu Residence had already been expanded three times, yet it was still packed with people.
Liu Ruyan stood beside the spirit testing platform, looking at the dense crowd below with a calm heart.
After the intimidation of the previous two days, no one dared to cause trouble.
Everyone queued up properly, and everything was in good order.
"Next, Wang Teng."
An eight or nine-year-old boy stepped onto the spirit testing platform, looking sturdy and headstrong, with a resilient glint in his eyes.
He reached out and pressed his hand onto the heaven-observing stone—
Buzz!
Seven stars lit up, stable and bright.
"Seven stars, inner sect standard."
Liu Ruyan recorded.
Wang Teng scratched his head and stepped down, somewhat disappointed.
His grandfather always said he had the "posture of a Great Emperor"; it seemed his grandfather's eye wasn't very accurate.
The testing continued.
Near noon, the crowd suddenly became restless again.
"The Imperial Family is here!"
"It's the Ninth Princess!"
A ceremonial procession slowly approached, led by none other than Xiao Ya.
Xiao Ya did not put on imperial airs; instead, like a visitor, she was guided by the Liu family guards to the high platform.
"Clan Leader Liu."
Xiao Ya cupped her fists. "By my father's decree, I have come specifically to observe the Immortal Palace's spirit testing event. I hope you can grant me this convenience."
Liu Beihai quickly returned the gesture: "Your Highness is too polite. Please, take a seat of honor."
He ordered an additional seat to be set up, inviting the Ninth Princess to sit below Yun Yun.
Yun Yun merely nodded slightly and did not say much.
Xiao Ya's gaze, however, was involuntarily drawn to Yun Yun.
In her perceptual analysis, the aura around this white-clothed woman was like a "black hole"; all detection methods would fail.
This was a manifestation of an excessive gap in energy levels!
"At least a stellar-level energy reaction..."
Xiao Ya was shocked. "No, possibly even higher..."
In the knowledge from her previous life, stellar-level energy was already enough to power an interstellar mothership for space jumps.
And the one before her clearly had far from exhausted her full power.
Yaochi Immortal Palace... just what kind of existence was it?
She suppressed the storm in her heart and turned her attention to the spirit testing platform.
Just then, it was the turn of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old youth to be tested.
The youth placed his hand on the heaven-observing stone, and the light shone—
Four stars.
The youth stepped down in disappointment.
A strange glint flashed in Xiao Ya's eyes.
She noticed that when the heaven-observing stone lit up, the fluctuations it emitted were similar to the "biological field resonance detector" she had studied in her previous life.
"Is it detecting the potential of the life Origin through resonance principles?"
She pondered secretly,
"Interesting... this kind of technology only remained in the theoretical stage in my previous life."
"Next, Xiao Ya."
Liu Ruyan's voice pulled her back from her thoughts.
It was her turn.
Xiao Ya took a deep breath and stood up, walking toward the spirit testing platform.
Countless gazes from below the platform were focused on her.
An imperial princess testing in person—this was big news!
Xiao Ya extended her slender hand and lightly pressed it onto the heaven-observing stone.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
The heaven-observing stone had no reaction.
Just as everyone thought a rare "zero-star" situation was about to occur—
Buzz!
The stone body suddenly jolted!
It wasn't stars lighting up; instead, the entire stone emitted a strange, swirling rainbow-colored halo!
Within the halo, countless tiny runes, like data streams, flashed by!
Immediately after, nine stars lit up simultaneously!
But these nine stars were not in a stable arrangement; instead, they rotated slowly like a galaxy, with invisible "force fields" connecting them!
"It's actually nine stars..."
Liu Ruyan recorded in surprise, "Potential rating: Nine-Star!"
The entire audience was in an uproar!
Nine stars!
This was the highest rating in these seven days.
On the high platform, a clear interest appeared in Yun Yun's eyes for the first time.
She looked at Xiao Ya and said gently:
"You seem... different from ordinary people."
Xiao Ya withdrew her hand and gave Yun Yun a graceful bow:
"Senior has a Wisdom Eye. This Junior indeed... has some special thoughts and understandings."
She did not hide it.
Facing such an existence, hiding was meaningless; being frank might instead lead to an Opportunity.
Yun Yun nodded slightly and didn't ask further, only saying:
"When the spirit testing ends, stay behind."
Xiao Ya's heart jolted, and she quickly replied:
"Yes!"
She knew that she might have truly grasped that Opportunity!
As the sun dipped into the west, the third day of spirit testing ended.
In the end, a total of ten people met the outer sect standard today, three met the inner sect standard, as well as the special "Nine-Star" Xiao Ya.
This result had already far exceeded expectations.
After the crowd dispersed, in the Main Hall of the Liu Residence.
Yun Yun, Liu Ruyan, and Xiao Ya sat facing each other.
"Tell me, where does your'specialness' lie?"
Yun Yun got straight to the point.
Xiao Ya pondered for a moment, organizing her words:
"Senior, in Junior's understanding, all things in the world have their laws."
"Spiritual energy is a form of energy, Formations are an orderly guidance of energy, and Medicinal Pills stimulate life potential..."
She tried her best to describe it using the language of this world, but occasionally some terms from her previous life would still slip out.
Yun Yun listened quietly, her eyes flashing with wonder.
Although she didn't understand those terms, she could grasp the core idea Xiao Ya was expressing—
She was using a brand-new way of thinking to analyze the cultivation System!
"Your thoughts are very interesting."
Xiao Ya paused, then plucked up her courage:
"Senior, Junior has a presumptuous request... Could Junior be allowed to visit the Yaochi Immortal Palace?"
"I want to... see those higher-level Formations, Medicinal Pills, and Magical Artifacts with my own eyes; perhaps they could provide some inspiration."
Yun Yun looked at the pure thirst for knowledge in her eyes and nodded gently,
"You may."
"When the seven-day period is over, you will return with us."
Xiao Ya was overjoyed and quickly bowed:
"Thank you, Senior!"
Liu Ruyan was also happy for her.
This Ninth Princess's Heart-Nature and wisdom were indeed extraordinary.
Perhaps Master would be interested in her.
The night deepened.
Xiao Ya returned to the guest room arranged by the Liu family, but she was not sleepy at all.
Sitting by the window, she took out paper and brush and began frantically recording what she had seen and thought today.
"Speculations on the principles of the heaven-observing stone..."
"Analysis of that Senior Yun's energy level..."
"Comparison between spiritual energy and known forms of energy..."
Her brush flew, quickly filling over a dozen pages.
She didn't stop writing until the moon reached its zenith, then she looked out at the starry sky.
"Yaochi Immortal Palace..."
Her eyes sparkled with a light of longing.
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