The so-called talent should not be narrowly understood as an innate ability formed in the womb. Oftentimes, what people exhibit as talent is actually the result of later influences.

For instance, Wang Jiu’s talent in Sword Dao is unprecedented, but this talent actually comes from the tempering of the Sword Pool during his infancy, not from his parents whose whereabouts are unknown.

In fact, after encountering the Jiu Immortal Venerables, Wang Jiu was urged to search for his biological parents. With the resources at the disposal of the Jiu Immortal Venerables at the time, despite the vastness of Jiuzhou, there was absolutely no way anyone could avoid detection, so the couple was soon discovered.

To be accurate, their graves were discovered.

It turns out that shortly after abandoning Wang Jiu, the two encountered misfortune during a cultivation breakthrough and both perished.

Their attempted breakthrough was barely at the Rain Cover Realm.

During the Jiuzhou Era, the so-called Rain Cover Realm was almost the entry threshold for cultivators; those who couldn’t reach the Rain Cover Realm weren’t even qualified to call themselves cultivators. Wang Jiu’s parents, who were supposedly the failures on the doorstep of the cultivation world, certainly couldn’t account for giving birth to the unprecedented Nameless Sword God.

Thus, the overwhelming majority of Wang Jiu’s talent came from the Celestial Pool Sword Sect’s Sword Pool, which seizes heavenly creation and transformation.

Only the immense power of the Sword Pool could have granted him such talent far surpassing the era’s norms. The human flesh has too many limitations, and even with the highly developed human modification technology of the Jiuzhou Era, creating a peerless talent purely out of thin air was impossible. Truly prominent talents in the Jiuzhou Era were invariably those continuously nurtured and modified after birth.

This environment influenced nearly all Jiu Immortal Venerables. Their talent in the Immortal Dao was at most half from parental and family bloodline inheritance, with the remaining half influenced by the environment. Some found Heavenly and Earthly Treasures during their trials on the wilderness, while others refined Exotic Beasts.

In contrast, during the Xiangzhou Era, cultivators’ talents practically stemmed from parental bloodline inheritance. One reason is the change in the Laws of Heaven and Earth, which weakened the influence of external objects on the human body. Additionally, the Xiangzhou Immortal Dao civilization is still too weak compared to the bloodline powers passed down from the Jiuzhou Era; the strength in their bloodline alone sufficed to support lifelong cultivation.

So the question arises: from which deity did Xiao Bai inherit her talent?

If she was from a sect of Three Academies and Seven Families, the explanation would be easy: perhaps some family or sect found the secret techniques of the Jiuzhou Era and, by coincidence, nurtured such a Sword Dao genius transcending the era.

But since Xiao Bai is not a descendant of the sect of Three Academies and Seven Families, but rather a child of a couple who encountered disaster at the Nether Sea, her talent becomes quite strange.

After hearing Wang Jiu’s analysis, the Sect Leader of the Saint Sect fell silent, then furrowed his brows deeply.

Shen Qingming asked curiously, "Your suspicion makes no sense. Can’t it be natural? With so many people on the Xiangzhou Continent, occasionally birthing one or two prodigious talents is quite normal."

Wang Jiu replied, "Natural talent has its limits, akin to humans mating and birthing billions of times, they can never produce pigs or dogs. Xiao Bai’s talent has long exceeded the human realm and couldn’t possibly be purely from her parents."

Compared to pigs and dogs, Xiao Bai wrinkled her nose, then smiled and said, "I told you, I’m so smart, how could it be that unlucky parents gave birth to me."

Upon hearing this, Wang Xiao immediately blew his beard and glared, "Can’t you watch your mouth?! Those are your biological parents!"

Xiao Bai replied, "I don’t even remember them! By the time I had memories, the Sect Leader old man had hidden me in a fancy house..."

The Sect Leader quickly explained, "Your understanding of language is poor, don’t misuse expressions like ’hidden in a fancy house’! I merely found a room to temporarily settle you, even had a female attendant specifically take care of your bathing and clothing..."

Xiao Bai proudly said, "I was only five or six years old back then. Why be so careful with a little girl if you didn’t have ulterior motives?"

"You truly are assigning blame without reason..."

Aside from this, Shen Qingming keenly picked up the oddity in the conversation, "Wait, you were five or six years old when Sect Leader saved you from the Nether Sea? So you only started forming memories at five or six? Is there something wrong with your intellect?"

At these words, a group of senior elders from Wuxiang Sword Academy immediately restrained their laughter.

Shen Qingming, feeling triumphant and elated, finally had a chance to question others’ intellect and got a valid response after many years! At this moment, the 15-year-old girl suddenly had the joy of transitioning from a long-suffering daughter-in-law to a wife!

However, the joy lasted just a moment and then abruptly ended.

"I suffered a shipwreck in my childhood at the Nether Sea; the entire family met unfortunate deaths, leaving me barely surviving. The severe shock caused some memory loss, why cause a spectacle? Do I have to remember my parents’ death clearly to be considered mentally sound?"

Upon hearing this, everyone present couldn’t help but feel downcast, and Shen Qingming found herself embarrassed into silence.

Only Wang Jiu remained unaffected, merely contemplating for a moment before asking, "Do you remember the specific location of the shipwreck?"

"Certainly," the Sect Leader said, "Do you think there’s a problem with the shipwreck?"

Wang Jiu replied, "Can’t confirm, but from what we know, the shipwreck is the most suspicious. Xiao Bai’s talent couldn’t be innate; it must be influenced by an external factor, and the biggest possibility is the shipwreck."

This led the Sect Leader into further contemplation.

Wang Jiu was correct—the shipwreck was the biggest point of suspicion.

Because if Xiao Bai already possessed such talent before the shipwreck, she wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. Being a five- or six-year-old girl, that overwhelmingly evident Sword Dao talent would be as substantial as physical presence, and any cultivator with vision wouldn’t miss it.

In fact, it was precisely due to that commanding talent that the Sect Leader noticed the dying Xiao Bai along the extensive coastline of the Nether Sea.

Reflecting on this, the Hainan really appears suspicious.

Prior to this, the Sect Leader never considered the after-effect of talent influences; although Xiao Bai’s talent is exceptional, the Immortal Cultivation Realm is inherently filled with brilliant minds and a blooming diversity. As Xiangzhou Immortal Dao’s leaders, the Saint Sect and the Three Academies occasionally encounter such talents and have grown immune to the word "talent." While Xiao Bai’s talent is indeed the highest the Sect Leader has seen, the world is vast; having one or two extraordinary individuals is not surprising. Moreover, Xiao Bai’s talent has always been theoretical, while her personality has kept her real achievements mediocre, which significantly affects others’ views of her talent, even leading the Sect Leader to suspect it’s somewhat inflated.

But now, with Wang Jiu’s words, the Sect Leader immediately realized, if Xiao Bai’s talent resulted from external influence, then...

"Can it be replicated?"

Wang Jiu said, "Generally, such opportunities to enhance cultivation qualifications are non-replicable. However, even if it can’t be replicated, meticulous analysis of its principles would immensely enrich the theory of Immortal Dao."

This statement stirred the Sect Leader’s heart.

At his level, one or two exceptional cultivators don’t warrant particular attention. Individual power is limited; what of one who rapidly advances to Earth Split Realm or Heaven Shattering Realm? Unless they, like the Celestial Divine Sword, break the Realm of Immortals and Mortals with personal strength, their achievements hold little significance, and in a hundred years would all be dust.

Benefitting all beings is challenging; though several individual cultivator geniuses appeared throughout Xiangzhou’s thousands of years, only a few have driven civilization forward.

What Wang Jiu now proposes is undeniably a matter that could benefit all beings. If the source of Xiao Bai’s extraordinary Sword Dao talent can be discovered from the Nether Sea wreck, even if it can’t be replicated, modest imitation would allow countless Sword Dao cultivators to reap immense rewards.

"I’ll promptly have people investigate at the Nether Sea; however, since decades have passed, finding out what happened back then may prove difficult."

Xiao Bai smirked, "Thank you for reminding me of my age, but I suggest you save your efforts. I’ve been to that place in the Nether Sea countless times... nothing to be found."

Wang Jiu said, "That’s quite normal. Typically, opportunities that implement Marrow Cleansing vanish quickly without lasting traces, seeming as if nothing occurred. Especially after decades and considering the Nether Sea’s unpredictable nature, leaving no trace is reasonable. Therefore, I suggest two strategies; while we can’t replicate Xiao Bai’s talent environment, we can replicate Xiao Bai."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Bai was horrified, "Are you proposing that breeding project again!? Let me off, it’s been difficult for me at this age!"

The Sect Leader curiously asked, "What breeding project?"

Then Wang Jiu briefly explained his idea, leading the Sect Leader to raise his eyebrows in surprise, feeling "It seems quite reasonable."

Xiao Bai was furious, "You old virgin, what do you know about reproductive logic!"