Probing the Heavenly Prodigy
Baek Cheong eyed Jinwi up and down without wiping the faint smile from her lips. He looked boyish still, dressed neatly in the robes of the Biun Sect, but the aura he exuded was undeniably beyond that of an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator.
This is the real deal—a true Heavenly Spiritual Roots.
Baek Cheong's interest piqued. Her own roots had been artificially elevated to Heavenly level through the Single Pattern Five Elements Pill, so she was curious about the actual gap between her fake version and a natural-born prodigy with pure lineage Heavenly roots.
"Senior Brother Jinwi, if it's not too rude, may I ask you something?"
As Baek Cheong approached with sparkling eyes, Jinwi startled at the sudden closeness and took a step back.
"Y-yes? Wh-what is it..."
"When you breathe normally, how much spiritual energy do your Heavenly Spiritual Roots draw in? And how big is your dantian?"
Among cultivators, asking about meridian operation or dantian size was as sensitive and rude as prying into someone's martial arts secrets.
Jinwi flushed red and hesitated, but those clear, bold eyes of hers bewitched him into spilling the honest truth without thinking.
"W-well, my intake... it's like opening your mouth underwater and water rushing in. Normally, I don't even notice as spiritual energy flows in... As for my dantian size, my senior brother said it's about ten times that of other late-stage Qi Refining disciples."
Baek Cheong's mind raced with calculations as she absorbed his answer.
An intake like gulping water underwater—similar to hers, or perhaps just a hair superior, pouring in effortlessly like breathing. If he had at least mid-grade Heavenly roots, her five lower-grade ones balanced it out to match his intake.
But the dantian size was the decisive difference. Ten times that of peers was vast enough, but hers had become an ocean the moment she achieved Five Elements Mutual Generation, then ballooned exponentially—fivefold squared—after breaking through to 5-star. His was a mere modest reservoir by comparison.
In the end, my dantian is just freakishly huge.
Baek Cheong gained an objective grasp of her own condition. Her intake barely scraped mid-grade Heavenly levels, but the vessel to fill was dozens of times larger, making natural breakthroughs painfully slow and arduous.
She felt no jealousy or inferiority toward innate Heavenly roots—not even a shred. Instead, satisfaction bloomed from understanding her limits.
"I see. Impressive."
Baek Cheong nodded, murmuring to herself. Baek Gyu, catching the conversation late, cleared his throat and spoke up.
"Cheong-ah, openly prying into another cultivator's training like that isn't proper etiquette."
Snapped from her thoughts by his gentle rebuke, Baek Cheong winced inwardly.
"Ah, Senior Brother Jinwi... I spoke without thinking and was rude. I'm sorry."
She bowed neatly in apology, but Jinwi flailed in discomfort, waving his hands frantically.
"No, no! I wasn't offended at all! Truth be told, I've heard so much about you, Miss Baek, and had questions of my own."
Baek Gyu smiled warmly at Jinwi's flushed, earnest reaction. It was refreshing to see young prodigies bonding purely, free from sect politics and schemes.
"Well, it's good for peers to get along without barriers. I'll go greet the elders over there— you two catch up."
As Baek Gyu stepped away, mischief glinted in Baek Cheong's eyes again. She wasn't about to let a prime Heavenly roots specimen slip away that easily.
"Senior Brother Jinwi, mind if I ask one more thing I'm curious about?"
"Pardon? Oh, sure. Ask away."
"How many spells can you handle at once?"
Jinwi blinked at the rude question, then a hint of pride peeked through his shyness.
"From our Biun Sect's basic spells to 1st circle supreme-grade ones... about eight in total. Even the sect elders praise my solid foundation—all eight have reached Great Accomplishment."
Mastering eight spells at late Qi Refining age was boastworthy indeed.
But that wasn't what Baek Cheong meant.
"No, not how many you've learned... how many can you deploy simultaneously?"
Jinwi looked puzzled, not grasping it fully. Baek Cheong figured showing was better than telling and raised her right hand.
Flames orb, water stream, earth wall, wind blade, light spell—five basic spells of different attributes bloomed flawlessly from her fingertips, without a hint of clash.
"......!"
Jinwi's eyes bulged. Even Biun Sect's top disciples couldn't dream of multi-spell deployment due to meridian and divine sense limits. Controlling mutually clashing Five Elements energies so smoothly was beyond his novice understanding.
"H-how... no meridian tangle? And your divine sense...?"
Baek Cheong dispersed the spells casually and answered honestly.
"How? I just empty my mind, split my divine sense wide, push energy along the meridians, and it works itself out."
Jinwi absorbed the cryptic advice as profound wisdom. Eyes widening, he focused on his dantian.
He first split his divine sense into two, deploying water-attribute spells in both hands. Sweat beaded as he forced a third, adding another water spell. His meridians swelled, energies faintly clashing, but his Heavenly roots talent barely held three steady.
"Not bad," Baek Cheong said dryly, watching with interest.
Emboldened, Jinwi pushed for a fourth.
But that was his limit.
"Urk!"
As his divine sense fractured into four, water energies surged and backlashed through his meridians. He hastily withdrew, panting raggedly, face drained pale from the strain.
"Three somehow works... but four overloads my meridians and divine sense completely."
Head bowed in shame at his failure, Jinwi slumped. Baek Cheong inwardly rejoiced, satisfied.
No matter his sect prestige or innate Heavenly roots, he couldn't casually match her divine sense split or multi-spell prowess.
"Hey, three on your first try is amazing."
Her curiosities sated, she lost interest and tossed out perfunctory praise.
"Looks like Mother's calling—I'd better go. Enjoy the banquet, Senior Brother Jinwi."
Baek Cheong turned and vanished into the crowd.
Jinwi stared blankly after her until she was gone, then glanced at his trembling hands from the three-spell exertion.
His pride as Biun Sect's top prodigy shattered, her overwhelming multi-spell display burned into his mind.
Well, precisely her figure lingered hazily in his vision.
I... will master multi-spells too...
He bit his lip and clenched his fist. The mid-grade Heavenly roots prodigy found an odd spark ignited.
Pure Heavenly roots? Not that impressive.
Meanwhile, Baek Cheong slipped to a banquet corner, yawning inwardly.
Curiosities about the prodigy resolved, major events wrapped up.
"Mother, I'm exhausted—heading back to my quarters first."
Excusing herself to her mother, she bolted without looking back, eager to hole up cozily and trade nonsense with Moomyeongbang randos.
A few days later, the tedious, drawn-out New Year's banquet schedule finally concluded.
But under Baek Mu-young's lead, one final small gathering was arranged for camaraderie between the Baek family and Biun Sect delegation.
Argh... shoulda claimed closed-door cultivation and trolled the gallery from the east wing.
Baek Cheong zoned out amid the endless itinerary. At least her uncle actively steered the mood, keeping eyes off her.
Or not.
"Miss Baek."
Jinwi spotted her and approached delightedly.
About to boast something—
"So you're the one who enchanted our little junior brother?"
"S-Senior Sister Mongyo...?"
The woman called Mongyo sauntered over with intrigued amusement, ruffling Jinwi's hair teasingly.
"No wonder he bragged about you endlessly—you're adorable."
She met Baek Cheong's eyes and curved her own into a playful smile.