Chapter 32: Wild Grass

Lost in thought, Li Zhirui was pulled back to reality by a sudden gasp. As his gaze steadied, he saw three children standing within the Spirit Testing Array, each topped by a pillar of light.

"Is this only the second time the array has been activated?" Li Zhirui—or rather, everyone present—had not expected that out of two hundred people, four children with spiritual roots would actually appear!

Although they all possessed three or four spiritual roots, for the clan to produce four members at once was a significant boost to the family's overall strength in the decades to come.

Li Zhirui and the others watched the next wave of children with high expectations, but unfortunately, no pillars of light appeared among them, nor did they appear in the subsequent waves.

Perhaps because the previous results had raised everyone's expectations too high, even when decent results did occur, people still felt a sense of disappointment.

"Let the last few dozen children enter the array," Li Shiren said, having already given up hope.

Li Zhirui's gaze swept casually through the crowd, but unexpectedly, two children caught his attention.

One was an ordinary-looking girl with a cold little face and eyes devoid of even a hint of nervousness; the other was a girl as exquisite as a carved jade, her face filled with a brilliant smile.

Once all the children had entered the array, it activated immediately. Various colors of spiritual light began to dance; the blue light symbolizing the Water Spiritual Root surged toward the exquisite little girl as if it had finally found its home.

"This..." Li Zhirui was momentarily stunned. If he remembered correctly, such a phenomenon only occurred when the purity of a spiritual root was extremely high.

However, this little girl did not possess a single spiritual root, for beside that blue pillar of light, there was also a very faint white pillar.

By the time Li Zhirui regained his senses and looked back at the array, another little girl came into view. She also had a pillar of light above her head, but it consisted of four colors—white, green, red, and yellow—meaning she possessed the relatively poor aptitude of a four-spiritual-root constitution.

She seemed to understand what this meant; her expression dimmed for a moment, but she quickly regained her original coldness, though a sense of determination now flickered in her eyes.

Seeing this, a trace of surprise appeared in Li Zhirui's eyes, but it also made him more interested in this little girl.

Moreover, compared to the dual Gold-Water spiritual root genius that the other clansmen valued, Li Zhirui actually favored this four-spiritual-root girl more.

It wasn't that Li Zhirui felt her emergence threatened his status in the clan; after all, no matter how good her aptitude was, she was currently just a mortal and could not begin cultivation for another three years.

By then, Li Zhirui would be at least at the ninth level of Qi Refinement, perhaps even attempting to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage. The age gap between them was too large for any conflict to arise.

It was simply an inexplicable, unprovoked feeling!

Perhaps Li Zhirui's gaze was too obvious, as it caught the little girl's attention. When she realized he was looking at her, she showed no sign of panic; she calmly gave a slight bow and then withdrew her gaze.

Li Zhirui had originally intended to leave after the first round of testing, but now he desperately wanted to know this little girl's name.

Thus, he followed the crowd to the main hall. As a member of the reserve high command, Li Zhirui was qualified to enter, unlike Li Zhihao and the others, who could only watch from outside the doors.

This year, a total of six clan members possessed spiritual roots, doubling last year's number. All the high-ranking members were extremely happy and satisfied with this result.

Not to mention that among these six, there was a dual-spiritual-root genius with extremely high purity!

"Let us test the purity of the spiritual roots first," Li Shiqing said, producing the Spirit Testing Ruler and calling the dual-spiritual-root girl forward.

"Extend your hand," Li Shiqing said softly.

The little girl was not shy; she gracefully extended her right hand. With lightning speed, Li Shiqing pricked a drop of blood from her fingertip, letting it fall onto the ruler.

*Buzz—*

Instantly, the Spirit Testing Ruler erupted with spiritual light. The blue light climbed rapidly, occupying the vast majority of the ruler's body.

"Water spiritual root purity: ninety-five; Gold spiritual root purity: five!" Facing such a result, even Li Shiqing, who had weathered many storms, had a trembling voice.

"Good, good, good!" Elders like Li Shilian and Li Shile had no such reservations; they were all beaming with joy, laughing loudly in extreme excitement.

"With this level of purity, one could practically call it a single spiritual root! Her cultivation speed will likely be no slower than that of a Heaven Spiritual Root!"

The so-called "Heaven Spiritual Root" was a term for a single spiritual root with a purity of one hundred. It was said that Heaven Spiritual Root cultivators faced no bottlenecks before the Nascent Soul stage.

In other words, as long as a Heaven Spiritual Root cultivator did not perish halfway, they would inevitably become a Golden Core cultivator!

"Ahem!" Li Shiqing coughed lightly to quiet the crowd so as not to frighten the children, then asked, "Do you have a name?"

The little girl replied in a crisp voice, "My name is Li Yingyue."

"Then how about you change your name to Li Zhiyue?"

Perhaps because her parents had told her before, she quickly accepted her new name.

"Zhiyue, step to the side for now." Li Shiqing called the other children forward one by one to test their purity.

Their spiritual root purities were all quite ordinary, with their primary roots hovering around forty or fifty. There were no more surprises like Li Zhiyue, but this was the norm.

"Child, come forward." Finally, only the girl who interested Li Zhirui remained.

Hearing the call, the girl stepped forward. As she watched her essence blood drip into the ruler, a trace of anticipation appeared in her habitually cold eyes.

But unfortunately, her spiritual root purity was just like her aptitude—nothing worth praising.

"Gold spiritual root purity: forty-two; Wood spiritual root purity: twelve; Fire spiritual root purity: thirty-six; Earth spiritual root purity: ten."

Li Shiqing still asked in a gentle voice, "Child, what was your name before?"

"Li Xuan."

Xuan? Li Zhirui's brow twitched slightly. Did this child's parents view her as mere wild grass?

However, perhaps it was this kind of environment that had forged her current resilient character; there was a trade-off for everything.

"Then from now on, you shall be called Li Zhixuan, alright?"

Li Zhirui suddenly spoke up, saying, "The wind blows the grass, but it does not break it; from the utmost weakness, strength is born."

Having said that, Li Zhirui stared at Li Zhixuan and asked, "Have you committed that to memory?"

"I have," Li Zhixuan replied, looking up at Li Zhirui without fear. A flash of confusion crossed her eyes as she said, "But I do not understand what that sentence means."

"Just remember it. As for the meaning, you will understand in time," Li Zhirui did not explain.

A spark appeared in the little girl's eyes as she said, "I will remember."

Li Shiqing looked at Li Zhirui in surprise. He could tell that Li Zhirui admired Li Zhixuan, though he could not fathom the reason.

The others, however, had strange expressions. They felt that Li Zhirui's sudden interaction with Li Zhixuan was because the sudden emergence of Li Zhiyue had made him feel threatened.

But they failed to consider: even if Li Zhirui felt threatened, why would he seek out this girl with such poor aptitude?

Li Zhirui took in everyone's gazes and reactions, but he did not care, nor did he need to.

"Shiren, take Zhiyue and the others to the Spirit Wisdom Courtyard," Li Shiqing said, breaking the awkward atmosphere in the hall.

The Spirit Wisdom Courtyard was a place specifically established by the Li family to nurture children who had just been tested for spiritual roots but were not yet able to cultivate. Its name was derived from the phrase "spiritual heart and wise nature," representing the clan's expectations for these children.

"Understood." Li Shiren rose and led the six children away.