Chapter 53: The Spiritual Plant Examination

After the duel concluded, the Supreme Elder, Zhenxia Zhenren, departed from the site.

The masters of the nine peaks each selected the inner sect disciples they favored to join their respective lineages.

The Sect Leader also chose one disciple to remain by his side for instruction—it was the formation disciple named Zhou Wuxiang.

Several inner sect elders also stepped forward to take disciples; for instance, Sang Qiao was taken in as a disciple by an Earth Master elder.

Xue Hong also joined Zidian Peak. Li Yunze, who had guided him into the sect, stood nearby, smiling and offering congratulations: "Junior Brother, your future is indeed boundless. Joining an elder's lineage is a joyous occasion. Why not head to Tiansheng Pavilion for a meal? My treat!"

Though Xue Hong was interested, he had also noticed that Lin Donglai was ranked first in the Spiritual Plant category. He had left a seed of goodwill years ago; when Ding Zhen had come to borrow spirit stones, Xue Hong had lent five without expecting repayment.

A few days ago, his subordinates had mentioned that someone had come to return the spirit stones, which had left an impression on him.

Observing the current situation, he felt this was a rare and precious connection, so he said, "Senior Brother Li, do you remember two years ago when you guided several of us into the town?"

"That Lin Donglai is currently competing for the top spot among the spiritual plant prodigies. I want to see the result and offer him my congratulations."

"That one with the Lower-grade Wood Physique?" Li Yunze recalled him. Although he had always looked down on internal affairs disciples, viewing them as merely high-level laborers, he followed the conversation: "Junior Brother Xue is indeed a man of sentiment."

He added, "Junior Sister Sang Qiao has also joined under Elder Yu's command. Why not invite her to watch as well? We can all gather at Tiansheng Pavilion afterward. It will be good to have companions on the path of cultivation so as not to be lonely."

Xue Hong thought this made sense. If one were to consider who was most worth befriending, it would certainly be Sang Qiao. The Way of the Earth Master was quite scarce within the sect; they could create and migrate spirit veins and generally practiced formation arts as well, making them the cornerstone of the sect.

He immediately met up with Sang Qiao, who was with several of her sisters, allowing him to make several new acquaintances among the junior sisters in the process.

Xue Hong's sixth-place finish in the duel was quite respectable. Although he didn't take first and was slightly inferior to the sword cultivators of Sword Peak, the gap was mainly due to a slight deficit in cultivation level and combat experience. As an inner sect disciple of Zidian Peak, he might even reach the perfection of Qi Refinement before the age of thirty. For the remaining thirty years, even if he failed at Foundation Establishment twice, he would still have three opportunities before reaching sixty.

Thus, while Sang Qiao was having fun, her companions were mostly outer sect girls, all of whom were extremely enthusiastic. They were very eager to get to know an inner sect disciple with such great potential and prospects of becoming a true disciple.

One must realize that while there were three thousand outer sect disciples, there were fewer than two hundred inner sect disciples, maintaining a delicate balance. Most were either at the late stage of Qi Refinement before age thirty, or were disciples actively taken in by inner sect elders or peak masters.

Once one reached sixty without successfully establishing a foundation, they would proactively retire to become an inner sect deacon or an outer sect elder.

However, more often than not, the final attempt at a breakthrough would fail, resulting in death and the dissipation of one's Dao.

A small number would go on to establish minor cultivation families, leaving behind descendants.

Even with this system maintaining only about two hundred inner sect disciples, the sect possessed over fifty Foundation Establishment cultivators.

This showed that as long as one became an inner sect disciple, the probability of successful Foundation Establishment was quite high—certainly much higher than the one-in-ten-thousand chance faced by rogue cultivators.

Even though the sect only selected disciples with good spiritual root aptitude, they indeed had unique methods for cultivating their disciples.

Hearing that Lin Donglai might be the top spiritual plant prodigy, Sang Qiao became interested: "To think our small place would possess such providence."

As she practiced the Way of the Feng Shui Earth Master, she needed to systematically study the theories of Feng Shui and providence.

But it was this casual remark that stirred a thought in Li Yunze's mind: The meteorite opportunity, the Supreme Elder's order to expand recruitment of disciples with spiritual roots, even not letting low-grade five-element roots pass...

"Could it be that this Lin Donglai possesses a hidden opportunity?"

Li Yunze suppressed his thoughts. After all, Xue Hong and Sang Qiao also had decent providence; they were already at the fifth and fourth layers of Qi Refinement, respectively, and he had personally guided them into the sect. He had observed their luck in the past and had seen clearly how they had prospered over the last two years.

However, he had not focused on Lin Donglai's specifics; he only thought to ask Jiang Biling later, as she was in charge of the internal affairs disciples.

As the group arrived at the site of the Spiritual Plant Examination, they attracted many gazes.

Lin Donglai naturally noticed them, seeing Sang Qiao wave to him happily with sincere blessings and concern.

Xue Hong merely gave a slight nod.

Li Yunze's gaze, however, carried a slightly aggressive sense of scrutiny and investigation.

There were also several female disciples following along, chirping away, while Huang Yue watched from a corner.

The examiner was the Grand Elder of the Spiritual Plant Hall, Zhou Huaying. She appeared to be an old woman who had lived for about two hundred years; although she had consumed some longevity spirit medicines, her time was clearly running short.

The Hall Master and Vice Hall Master were basically stationed in the third-grade spirit medicine gardens tending to third-grade plants while undergoing secluded cultivation. Consequently, the Grand Elder and several other elders handled the affairs of the Spiritual Plant Hall.

"The Spiritual Plant Hall examination consists of three stages."

"First, Identification: You must enter the illusion of the Jia-Yi Divine Mirror to identify various species and explain their effects and cultivation methods."

"Second, Spellcasting: Those with superior spell effects will rank higher."

"Third, Healing: Nine types of spiritual plants are prepared—three low-grade, three mid-grade, and three high-grade first-tier plants. All are afflicted with ailments, and you must diagnose the symptoms and treat them accordingly."

Upon hearing this, Lin Donglai felt a sudden lack of confidence. Although the Spiritual Plant Hall's library contained some notes and journals, they were mostly foundational. In terms of breadth of knowledge, he might not compare to the disciples raised directly by the spiritual plant elders.

Regarding spirit medicines, he had only ever grown two types of low-grade plants. Along his journey, he hadn't encountered any major pestilences or disasters; any minor issues had been caught in time thanks to his Spirit Eye Technique.

The only thing he had was his spells: he had achieved Great Success in the Sprouting Technique and Minor Success in the Dew Rain Incantation.

Lin Donglai felt uncertain, but in truth, no one else felt particularly confident either.

After all, no one had received "extra lessons." In terms of spiritual plant talent, one's standing was judged by either spell proficiency or how much one had read.

Spiritual root aptitude was actually not the most important factor; after all, those who chose the path of farming in the sect were mostly those with four or five spiritual roots.

Several spiritual plant elders had also turned to this path after hitting bottlenecks in their cultivation that were difficult to break through. They studied various crafts—alchemy, smithing, talisman making—all of which were quite difficult, whereas the Way of Spiritual Plants was relatively easier.

Similar to Lin Donglai, Nie Caixia, who had also mastered a major spiritual plant spell, had not been given much specialized instruction.

She had mostly performed the manual labor of plowing and digging, though she did possess some talent for the Way of Spiritual Plants, allowing her to learn by observation. However, she could not ask questions, so she often knew the "how" without understanding the "why."

Suddenly, the Jia-Yi Divine Mirror emitted a burst of green light, and all the participants in the examination were instantly plunged into an illusion.