Chapter 31: Spirit Testing

“What did you say?!” Clan Leader Qin roared in fury. “You can’t even handle a trivial matter like this! What use are you to me!”

“Clan Leader, even if the Li family knows it was our doing, they won't dare to move against the clan...”

Had he not spoken, it might have been fine, but Manager Qin’s words completely ignited Clan Leader Qin’s rage. “You idiot! Does it even matter if the Li family acts right now? After this incident, do you think anyone will ever visit the Immortal Welcoming Inn again!”

It was common knowledge that the Qin family had close ties to the Yuanming Sect. However, in this matter, the Li family was the victim. If the Yuanming Sect insisted on intervening, what would the other vassal families think?

Furthermore, it was obvious that the Li family knew of the relationship between the Qin family and the Yuanming Sect, and they had no intention of taking direct action. But this kind of psychological warfare was even more terrifying!

As for that Golden Core cultivator from the Yuanming Sect, the Qin family was unwilling to exhaust the friendship between the two parties over this matter.

“Get your ass to the market right now, take down the sign of the Immortal Welcoming Inn, and close the doors! Once the situation settles down, reopen under a new name!” Clan Leader Qin felt nothing but rage looking at the useless man before him.

“And then?” Manager Qin asked a very stupid question.

Clan Leader Qin used every ounce of his strength to suppress the fury in his heart, only shouting loudly, “And then you get your ass back here! Stay in the clan and behave yourself!”

If they weren't actual blood relatives, he would have wanted to hack him to death!

But before the matter of the Immortal Welcoming Inn could be resolved, Clan Leader Qin received another piece of news—a terrifying piece of news!

A Foundation Establishment cultivator had fallen from each of the three great families: Zheng, Zhang, and He!

“This...” Clan Leader Qin reacted immediately. These three Foundation Establishment cultivators had likely died at the hands of the Li family.

“Do you know what happened?”

Elder Qin shook his head. “It’s unclear. The news was spread without context, yet none of those three families have stepped forward to explain.”

“This is likely news deliberately leaked by the Li family, intended to intimidate forces like us that are targeting them.”

As he spoke, Clan Leader Qin couldn't help but sigh. “Forget it, forget it. The Li family is not someone we can afford to provoke. We should just stay low.”

The storms of the outside world did not disturb the peace and tranquility of Great Banyan Island. The Li family acted as if they hadn't been affected in the slightest, their days continuing as usual.

However, today, the entire Great Banyan Island became lively. Whether they were cultivators or secular clansmen, everyone appeared extremely excited and expectant.

Because today was the clan's annual Spirit Testing Assembly!

The so-called Spirit Testing was to determine whether children aged five and older possessed spiritual roots. If they had spiritual roots, they could become cultivators seeking the Dao; if not, they could only live as ordinary mortals.

“Zhirui, why are you here?” The one presiding over the testing was Li Shiren. Seeing Li Zhirui suddenly appear at the testing grounds, a trace of surprise crossed his face.

Back in Bailang County, Li Zhirui rarely participated in such activities. After arriving at Great Banyan Island and learning alchemy, he was even less inclined to go out. Li Shiren truly hadn't expected to see him here.

“Just coming out for some fresh air,” Li Zhirui said with a smile.

He was currently attempting to refine a high-difficulty spiritual pill called the Pulse Strengthening Pill. As the name suggested, this pill could strengthen the meridians, making them more resilient.

However, because he had not been successful, Li Zhirui had been feeling quite irritable. He had intended to come out to relax, but he hadn't expected to run into such an important event as the Spirit Testing Assembly.

“Uncle Ren, last year there were only three with spiritual roots in total. I'm afraid there will be even fewer this year?” Although Li Zhirui didn't like crowds, he still paid attention to the results of every Spirit Testing Assembly.

After all, whether a clan could endure depended not only on having the powerful strength to ensure the clan's safety, but also on whether the clan had a future!

And the Spirit Testing Assembly was the way to see how much hope the clan's future held, even if it wasn't perfectly accurate—after all, no one could be certain what achievements these children with spiritual roots would attain in the future.

“There's no helping it. There are too few secular clansmen on Great Banyan Island. This year, there are fewer than a thousand eligible candidates,” Li Shiren said, holding little expectation for this year's assembly.

One had to realize that last year, in the entirety of Bailang County, there were tens of thousands of eligible children, yet only three had spiritual roots! To say it was one in ten thousand was no exaggeration.

Therefore, this year, Li Shiren felt that if even one child with spiritual roots appeared, they would be very lucky!

“Since there are few secular clansmen, why not encourage them to have more children?”

Great Banyan Island could accommodate at least a million mortals, and it was still far from its limit.

Moreover, even if Great Banyan Island couldn't hold more people, weren't there several nearby deserted islands that could be developed for the secular clansmen to live on?

“Previously, the clan only treated Great Banyan Island as a place to continue the bloodline; our main focus was still on Bailang County.” After all, who could have imagined that the Baiyu Sect would suddenly produce a Nascent Soul cultivator, causing the Beast Taming Sect to collapse?

“We'll take it slow. Everything in the clan is currently moving in a positive direction.”

At this time, the children to be tested had all arrived. Li Shiren stopped chatting with Li Zhirui and walked quickly to the Spirit Testing Array to activate it and begin the testing.

The Spirit Testing Array could test one hundred people at once, unlike the troublesome method of using Spirit Testing Stones, which required testing them one by one.

But if the Li family didn't have Li Shiren, a second-order array master, they wouldn't be able to use the Spirit Testing Array, as it was a second-order array!

“Enter the array!” As Li Shiren spoke, one hundred ignorant children entered the array under the expectant gazes of their parents.

Li Shiren acted to activate the array, and instantly, eight different colors of spiritual light emerged, then dispersed and fell into the array.

As time passed, slowly, three pillars of light rose from the head of one child: a white pillar symbolizing Gold spiritual roots, a green pillar symbolizing Wood, and a yellow pillar symbolizing Earth.

The Spirit Testing Array could only detect the presence of spiritual roots; as for the purity of the roots, a more accurate test was required. But regardless, a new clansman would appear in the Li family this year.

“A great start!” Li Zhihao said joyfully. “It looks like this Spirit Testing Assembly will have a good result.”

“It will!” Li Zhirui was also looking forward to it.

Li Shiren deactivated the array, and another elder led the child with spiritual roots to the side. Once the testing was finished, they would take everyone to test the purity of their spiritual roots.

As for the other children, some who understood what this meant couldn't help but burst into loud wails, which triggered the others to start crying as well, turning the scene into a cacophony of weeping and shouting.

Looking at the scene before him, Li Zhirui suddenly remembered the day thirteen years ago when he stood within the Spirit Testing Array.

At that time, he had only just realized he had transmigrated into a world of cultivation, his heart full of anticipation for a good result!

And the moment the result appeared, before Li Zhirui could even react, he saw all the cultivators present surrounding him with smiles on their faces. At that moment, he couldn't help but think: *I must have spiritual roots, right? And my aptitude seems quite good.*

Then, Li Zhirui was taken for another test. Although many people looked disappointed after the results came out, Li Zhirui didn't care. He only knew that he possessed spiritual roots and was qualified to enter the mysterious and unpredictable world of cultivation!