Bai Yuelin lightly bit her lip, suppressing the embarrassment as she stood on the sword trial platform, waiting for the next participant to take the stage.

Now she could hear the discussions from the audience below.

—”Isn’t this senior sister too weak? She was actually defeated by a junior cultivator of a lower realm.”

—”I don’t think that girl named Feng Yudie was very impressive either. I feel like I might be able to defeat that senior sister too.”

Though not everyone was questioning her, these words sounded particularly loud and grating to her ears.

Bai Yuelin even wanted to retort loudly to those people: “If you’re so confident, why don’t you come up and try?! It’s not easy until you’ve experienced it!”

Unfortunately, she couldn’t shout back, so she had to endure this frustration.

In her mind, she constantly replayed the previous sword trial of Feng Yudie, trying to find the reason why her move had been broken. No matter how she recalled it, she couldn’t understand why, when both were wooden swords, Feng Yudie had shattered her sword, while the silver haired girl’s own wooden sword was completely intact.

At this point, Bai Yuelin felt even more desolate and sorrowful.

If she could understand where she had lost, she could attribute her defeat to carelessness. But not comprehending the reason only highlighted the insurmountable gap between her and that silver-haired girl.

Decades of diligent sword training, and in the end, she couldn’t even match up to such a young girl.

Bai Yuelin’s mind was filled with doubt. What had she been working so hard for all these years?

“For geniuses like them, am I destined to always be overshadowed?” Bai Yuelin lowered her head, unable to control a bitter smile from forming. “Hehehe…”

Pei Lengxue also stepped onto the platform. Being the center of attention for the first time, she felt quite uncomfortable, standing stiffly. Following Feng Yudie’s example, she picked up a wooden sword and performed a deep bow to Bai Yuelin.

Then, she took a deep breath, mustered her courage, and shouted loudly, “Please enlighten me, senior!”

Her loud shout drew everyone’s attention, even catching Bai Yuelin off guard.

Bai Yuelin snapped out of her daze and looked at her with a puzzled expression. She asked, “Why are you shouting so loudly?”

“Ah…” Pei Lengxue maintained the bowing posture, weakly explained, “My senior brother used to say that when you bow, you should do it energetically, not passively. So…”

Bai Yuelin let out a sigh and glanced at the disciple recording the results.

The disciple quickly explained, “She possesses the water, wood, and earth spirit roots, and she is at the Peak Qi Refining stage.”

Bai Yuelin understood and nodded, then reminded Pei Lengxue according to the procedure, “You’re here as an accompanying disciple, so the standards are not as strict. I’ll go easy on you. If you can’t handle it, just throw your sword and call it quits.”

“Okay…”

“Don’t push yourself too hard for a high score. Some accompanying disciples have been seriously injured in the past by pushing themselves too much during the sword trial.”

“Thank you for the reminder, senior. I’ll be fine.”

No matter what, she should finish with the trials of her assigned group first… Bai Yuelin took a deep breath and selected a wooden sword from the nearby rack.

“Come on.”

“Be careful, senior.”

Pei Lengxue closed her eyes and lowered her body, seemingly preparing for something.

Just as Bai Yuelin was curious about the sword technique this girl practiced, she suddenly felt a bone-chilling killing intent. In the next moment, she saw Pei Lengxue swing her sword into thin air.

“Ha!”

Accompanied by a delicate shout, Bai Yuelin’s eyes widened suddenly.

In her widened, alarmed pupils, six figures appeared, each holding a wooden sword. These six figures attacked her from six different directions.

“What?!” Bai Yuelin hastily raised her sword to defend, but her two fists couldn’t compete against four hands, let alone twelve hands.

Though she managed to block three of the figures, the remaining three swords struck her shoulder, left waist, and left thigh solidly.

With a loud “boom,” Bai Yuelin was sent flying to her right side, even crashing into several disciples who were preparing to participate in the trial.

All of this happened in an instant.

The disciple recording the results was dumbfounded once again, even more so than during Feng Yudie’s trial just now.

In his eyes, that girl named Pei Lengxue had merely swung her sword into thin air towards Senior Sister Bai. Then, Senior Sister Bai was sent flying off the sword trial platform.

He stood in bewilderment for quite some time, then turned to look at the seats of the elders above. Upon receiving a nod from one of the elders, he raised his voice to announce, “Pei Lengxue, win by successful move!”

With this proclamation, the sword trial arena fell silent once again.

The disciples at the other sword trial platforms once again turned their attention to the sword trial platform of their Sky Cloud Peak. Unlike earlier, at least Senior Sister Bai was still standing on the platform then, but this time, she was nowhere to be seen.

After pondering for a while, they finally realized that Senior Sister Bai should have been knocked off the platform.

Normally, after being knocked off the platform, the disciple should immediately jump back on and continue the next round of the trial. However, Senior Sister Bai was lying motionless on the ground.

It wasn’t because Pei Lengxue had knocked her unconscious with that strike.

They were using wooden swords, and the blow hadn’t struck any vital areas. With her Foundation Establishment cultivation, she definitely couldn’t have been knocked unconscious by it.

She didn’t return to the platform because she didn’t want to.

She was exhausted…

Being defeated by that junior cultivator named Feng Yudie was uncomfortable, but she could still bear it, considering Feng Yudie’s exceptional talent.

However, this time, the person who knocked her off the platform wasn’t a genius, but a junior cultivator with Trinary spiritual roots whose qualifications were even inferior to hers.

If Feng Yudie’s appearance had led her to question her decades of effort, Pei Lengxue’s appearance made it clear that all her sweat and hard work over the years were in vain.

She felt that if she returned to the platform, it would only further shame her master, her senior brothers and sisters, and Sky Cloud Peak.

“Sob…”

—”After all, I’m just a useless waste! Sob…”

The noise of the sword trial arena seemed to discuss her, but Bai Yuelin couldn’t hear it anymore.

At this moment, several disciples from Sky Cloud Peak rushed over to check on her condition. Seeing her vacant eyes, they didn’t know how to console her and ended up bringing a stretcher to carry her back to the disciples’ quarters on Sky Cloud Peak.

Several senior sisters who had just completed their trials hurried over as well.

They knew that Bai Yuelin wasn’t very strong-willed. After the blow she had received today, they were afraid she might take drastic measures, so they brought her favorite candied fruits and comforted her with words of sympathy and encouragement.

However, Bai Yuelin lay on her bed, her gaze dull as she stared in the direction of the window.

“Senior Sister Bai, it’s okay. I just asked Master. That Feng Yudie has Heavenly Spirit Root aptitude and is True Immortal Tai Xu’s direct disciple. It’s not a disgrace if you can’t defeat her.”

“… …”

“Senior Sister Bai, I brought your favorite candied fruits for you. Rest for a while and eat. They’re really sweet…”

“… …”

“Let Senior Sister Bai rest well.” Another senior sister advised, “Senior Sister Bai, just sleep for a while. We, your senior sisters, will help you. Don’t worry about Master’s side.”

…

The sun set behind the mountains, and the sky gradually darkened.

Night cicadas in the mountains began to chirp.

The senior sisters who had come to visit her had left by now.

It was unclear how much time had passed when a trace of vitality slowly returned to Bai Yuelin’s vacant eyes.

She moved away from the bed, gazing at the offerings her senior sisters had brought. Her nose tingled, and after taking a deep breath, she wiped her eyes and walked to the desk in the room, where she picked up an inkstick and moistened her brush.

With tears streaming down her face, she wrote a letter.

“Master, and senior brothers and sisters,

Looking back on the past, Bai Yuelin is but a humble scholar, with shallow knowledge and modest abilities, unable to repay the kindness of the sect.

Therefore, I beg to resign and seek a different path.

— Bai Yuelin”

“Deep breath…”

After finishing the letter, Bai Yuelin took off the disciple attire of Sky Cloud Peak that she was wearing, neatly folded it, and placed it on the bed. At the same time, she removed her disciple badge and hanging sword, laying them on top of the letter she had written.

Stepping back two paces, she bowed respectfully to the clothing.

“… …”

Wiping her tears, she packed her belongings, slung the bundle over her shoulder, and summoned the flying sword she had saved for two years to purchase. Using it, she left Profound Star Sect.