Eldest Senior Sister's Age

"I stand by what I said: do not imitate me," Yun Zhi repeatedly cautioned, worried that Lu Yang might act foolishly and try to compete with her. "I definitely, absolutely won't imitate you!" Lu Yang promised. "Alright. I need to cultivate now. Go on and continue choosing your Core Formation method." "Yes." Having learned the exact process of Eldest Senior Sister's Core Formation, Lu Yang completely snuffed out any thought of imitation—not a single trace remained. This method of Core Formation was simply too absurd. He was merely an ordinary Sword Spiritual Root, completely unremarkable, lacking Eldest Senior Sister's astounding talent. The old children's rhyme went, "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, all across the sky are little stars." Shouldn't it now be changed to "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, all across the sky are little Golden Cores"? Reasonable, and catchy too. One question settled, another welled up in his mind: Just how old was Eldest Senior Sister? How many hundreds of years, exactly? Lu Yang felt an itch of curiosity, longing to uncover the truth of the matter. Lu Yang remembered that the first trial of the sect entrance test had been conducted by Senior Brother Dai Bufan. With just a touch, Senior Brother Dai could tell someone's root bone and age. "Fairy, do you have any spell that can see through a person's age?" "Of course I do." Lu Yang had only asked offhandedly; he hadn't expected her to actually have one! As expected of an immortal fairy. "Heh heh, this spell of mine is extraordinary! It can bypass the target's cultivation level entirely and reveal their age." "That amazing?!" "Naturally! Who do you think I am?" It was a minor spell, or rather a small trick—simple and easy to pick up. After reciting the ancient language and practicing twice, Lu Yang had mastered it. Lu Yang circulated the ancient spell, feeling his vision broaden as if enlightened by some realization. "I'll try it on myself first." Lu Yang opened his palms and saw a number appear before his eyes: sixteen. Correct. He was indeed only sixteen. "Now let's check the Fairy." Lu Yang channeled the ancient spell to look at the leisurely, self-satisfied Immortal Fairy, and a number also appeared before his eyes: sixteen. "Huh?" Although the Immortal Fairy always bragged about being a genius beautiful girl who died young and was forever sixteen... ...even if Lu Yang thought with his butt, he knew that was total nonsense. Becoming an immortal at sixteen? What, is one era equal to one year of age?! Perplexed, Lu Yang looked at a passing senior brother—it showed sixteen as well! "...Fairy, is there something wrong with your spell? Why does everyone I look at show up as sixteen?" Considering his past blunders, Lu Yang first suspected that he had practiced it wrong. The Immortal Fairy spoke with righteous conviction: "Never mind whether the age is right or not—just tell me, did it bypass their cultivation level and show you an age?!" "..." The Immortal Fairy continued, "Back in ancient times, everyone loved pulling rank based on age. That was terrible! Just because someone is older, does that make everything they say right? Just because someone is younger, does that make everything they say wrong? "To overturn that state of affairs, I specifically created this spell that makes everyone look sixteen! Alas, my ideas were too ahead of their time, and people couldn't accept them." "Your idea is pretty advanced even in this day and age." How was he supposed to figure out Eldest Senior Sister's age, then? The first method Lu Yang thought of was checking which batch of disciples she belonged to. The Dao Seeking Sect—or rather, all the Five Great Immortal Sects—recruited disciples on a regular schedule: once every three years, without interruption. He quickly dismissed this idea. The Dao Seeking Sect had dared to recruit both Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou. On the surface, the threshold seemed low, but in reality, it was absurdly high. Lu Yang's batch was actually considered quite large. Some candidates who came to the trials possessed acceptable root bones, but lacked the required willpower and character, so they could not enter the Dao Seeking Sect. As a result, in some years, the Dao Seeking Sect simply recruited no one at all. Because of this, Lu Yang couldn't calculate Eldest Senior Sister's age just by figuring out which batch she belonged to. "Then what about asking Senior Brother Dai Bufan? Senior Brother Dai was in the same batch as Eldest Senior Sister, so he definitely knows her age!" No sooner said than done. However, because of what happened during the third trial of the sect entrance test, Lu Yang always felt guilty facing Senior Brother Dai Bufan alone. He needed to find an accomplice. "Go to Senior Brother Dai to ask about Eldest Senior Sister's age?" Hearing Lu Yang's plan, Meng Jingzhou showed an eager look, itching to give it a try. "She won't find out, will she?" "No way. When I left, Eldest Senior Sister was cultivating. She won't have time to pay attention to us." "Then what are you standing around for? Let's go, let's go!" Meng Jingzhou urged Lu Yang to hurry. ... "You want to ask about Eldest Senior Sister's age?" Dai Bufan looked at Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou with an odd expression. "You two certainly have nerve, daring to pry into this kind of secret! Be careful, or you'll invite disaster upon yourselves!" Senior Brother Dai Bufan kindly warned the two. A matter like this was a top-level secret within the Dao Seeking Sect, ranked even higher in confidentiality than intelligence regarding Dao fruits, and must never be disclosed to others. "Do you have any idea what happened to the last disciple who asked that question?!" "We're just asking casually," Meng Jingzhou said, putting on a customer-service smile that looked completely fake. "Yeah, exactly! We just care about Eldest Senior Sister. We feel she works tirelessly day and night for the sect, which is terribly hard on her. Knowing her age will just make it easier for us to choose gifts for her." Lu Yang wore a smile identical to Meng Jingzhou's. Dai Bufan rolled his eyes. Only a ghost would believe those two. This was a taboo subject, absolutely off-limits. "Aren't you afraid Eldest Senior Sister will find out?" Meng Jingzhou chuckled. "Eldest Senior Sister is currently cultivating and has no time to spare a thought for what's happening here. As long as you don't say anything, Senior Brother Dai, it's impossible for her to know!" Dai Bufan shook his head slightly. "Eldest Senior Sister has earth-shattering power that reaches to the heavens; how could she not know? Take my advice and drop it. This question is exceedingly dangerous." "There won't be any danger." Meng Jingzhou thought it was no big deal. Hearing this, Dai Bufan said with a faint, half-smile, "Is that so? In that case, why don't you two just turn around and ask the person involved?" "Huh? What do you mean?" Both of them had a terrible foreboding. They felt the surrounding temperature plummeting rapidly, as if intending to freeze people into ice sculptures. The two stiffly turned their heads and saw Eldest Senior Sister standing behind them, poised and graceful, looking at Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou without any expression, giving away neither anger nor joy. Dai Bufan sighed. "See? I told you long ago not to ask this question; it would only invite disaster." Ever since the two came looking for him, Eldest Senior Sister had been standing quietly behind them. Dai Bufan had dropped hints frantically, but these two were dead set on seeking death, and nothing could hold them back. Perhaps they were simply fated to endure this calamity. Eldest Senior Sister spoke softly: "Little Junior Brother." Lu Yang jumped in fright and hurriedly responded, "Present!" "Junior Brother Meng." "Present!" "Do the two of you find cultivation boring, that you have the leisure to concern yourselves with such trivial matters?" Rarely enough, Eldest Senior Sister's voice carried a hint of gentleness, as though she were checking on Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou's cultivation progress. Cold sweat poured from Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, soaking through their collars. Shivering and trembling, neither knew what to say.