Chapter 12: The Hundred-Day Assessment

Initially, the seed only breathed when Lin Donglai practiced the Peiyuan Breathing Technique. Now, with this aerial root, the seed has begun to breathe autonomously.

The rhythm and frequency of its breathing are derived from the Peiyuan Breathing Technique, but the efficiency is higher—at least ten times greater than when Lin Donglai practices it himself.

Furthermore, with every breath, a faint trace of energy washes over Lin Donglai’s body. Even when he is not consciously practicing the Peiyuan Breathing Technique, the seed is helping him cultivate.

This is exactly what is recorded in the *Compendium of Cultivation*: the role of a Heavenly Spiritual Root replacing the human spiritual root!

Lin Donglai suddenly felt a sense of relief, a pent-up pressure released; he even felt the urge to let out a long shout.

But he held it back!

This matter is his greatest secret and must never be discovered by others, or it would surely invite a lethal disaster!

With the seed’s root helping him practice the Peiyuan Breathing Technique, Lin Donglai only needs to focus on practicing the Tendon-Changing and Marrow-Cleansing Stance! He no longer needs to fear injuring, crippling, or depleting himself through overexertion.

Train!

Train!

Within three days, the Tendon-Changing stage will surely reach completion!

Early the next morning, Lin Donglai was in high spirits.

This root is too powerful!

It is circulating the Peiyuan Breathing Technique every single moment, drawing spiritual energy from the void to inhale and exhale.

Previously, every time Lin Donglai practiced the Tendon-Changing and Marrow-Cleansing Stance, the damage caused to his body required the Peiyuan Breathing Technique to repair, but it could not always fully heal him; he still needed nutritional supplements from the cafeteria and sleep to recover.

But now, this aerial root is constantly breathing and exhaling, providing continuous nourishment to his body.

Eating the spiritual food from the cafeteria is meant to better absorb the spiritual energy within the food.

However, the efficiency of this root in retaining spiritual energy is far superior to eating the cafeteria’s spiritual meals!

After practicing the stance all night, he felt not a hint of fatigue or soreness. That sensation of slow progress had intensified, and he could clearly feel himself advancing rapidly.

As of now, in less than a single night, he has reached the minor completion of Tendon-Changing!

The major tendons, dragon tendons, and all the large and small tendons throughout his body had been strengthened through the constant tearing and repairing that occurred during his three-plus hours of continuous stance practice.

Even the Marrow-Cleansing portion was quietly beginning.

As the saying goes, "For every inch the tendons lengthen, life extends by ten years." Tendons and marrow are the external manifestations of the "Essence" in the "Refining Essence into Qi" stage of cultivation.

The process of Tendon-Changing and Marrow-Cleansing is essentially repairing the essence lost since birth, achieving the soft tendons and bones of an infant, the powerful blood-producing capabilities of an infant, and sensing that "fetal breath" that an infant experiences in the womb.

"It truly lives up to the name of a Heavenly Spiritual Root," Lin Donglai thought to himself. "Just growing one aerial root has brought me so many benefits. Once I refine it with my own essence and blood, there will surely be even more!"

"Donglai!"

At this moment, Ding Zhen’s voice came from outside the door.

Lin Donglai hurriedly swept the withered herbs out the door.

"Yesterday, I only took two Tendon-Refining Pills and practiced the stance for an extra hour and a half, and I reached the minor completion of Tendon-Refining!"

"Congratulations!" Lin Donglai offered a sincere smile. "I boiled some medicinal soup last night and practiced all night; I also broke through to the minor completion of Tendon-Refining."

"It really does require medicine!" Ding Zhen sighed. "If I had known, I would have gone to borrow spirit stones sooner; I wasted so much time! The sooner one draws Qi into the body, the sooner one can go to Lingxi Peak to learn knowledge."

All the outer sect peaks have lecture halls on Lingxi Peak, specifically for teaching the hundred arts of cultivation.

There are lessons on how to make talisman paper, how to plant spiritual herbs, and how to refine them.

There are lessons on how to identify ores and refine them.

There is also Feng Shui and geomancy, array theory, puppet spiritual power circuits, and even spiritual beast husbandry.

Learning just one craft is enough to establish a foothold in the outer sect.

Over the next three days, Lin Donglai practiced daily without pause, sleeping only two hours a day, spending all other time training, just to prepare for the first round of the Immortal Seed assessment.

On the morning of the hundred-day assessment, Elder Qin of the outer sect gathered everyone from Immortal Seed Peak together.

"There are still so many people who haven't drawn Qi into their bodies after a hundred days?"

Elder Qin had personally led everyone into the sect, but he was quite surprised to see that nearly a hundred people still hadn't drawn Qi into their bodies.

In previous years, drawing Qi into the body within a hundred days was standard; only a small portion failed to meet the mark. In fact, most disciples completed it within two months.

However, in the past, there were only about a hundred Immortal Seeds, and the worst among them were at least low-grade four-element spiritual roots. Now, there are many more with low-grade five-element spiritual roots, and this group is mostly what is holding them back.

"This batch of Immortal Seeds is the worst I have ever led! Without exception!" Elder Qin said earnestly. "If your aptitude is poor, you must strive even harder to catch up. How can you wallow in self-pity and waste your time?"

"This assessment was supposed to test your cultivation progress, but whether I test it or not makes little difference. In my eyes, not drawing Qi into the body within a hundred days is simply a failure!"

"Then I can only test your knowledge of cultivation, your understanding of techniques, meridians, and acupoints, to see if you’ve been slacking off and not listening at all!"

"If you fail this as well, then go report to the Miscellaneous Peak! Don't waste the sect's resources."

...

Hearing Elder Qin's words, Lin Donglai felt slightly relieved. At the very least, he wouldn't fear these theoretical aspects; much of the foundational knowledge of the cultivation world was already etched into his mind.

During the exam, Lin Donglai glanced at the questions and understood them immediately. They were indeed not difficult—all entry-level knowledge.

"Transcribe the Zi-Wu Flow Injection Formula."

"Outline the impact of meridian width and resilience on cultivation."

"Explain the term 'Peiyuan Breathing Technique'."

"What are the three changes of Tendon-Changing?"

...

He immediately picked up his brush and wrote, finishing and checking his work in less than an hour.

After the exam, Elder Qin used his spiritual sense to grade the papers, finishing all of them in less than ten breaths.

Those with illegible or ugly handwriting—fail!

Those with more than five errors—fail!

Those looking around—fail!

In an instant, over thirty people were judged as failing.

Elder Qin called these people out one by one. Those named turned pale, some breaking into a cold sweat.

"These three months, these hundred days—it’s one thing that you haven't drawn Qi into your body, but you haven't even mastered basic cultivation knowledge? Are you pigs? If a pig ate spiritual food for three months, its flesh would be filled with spiritual energy and become spiritual pork. How can you have made no progress at all? All of you are demoted to miscellaneous laborers!"

"Don't be unconvinced."

"To put it bluntly, with your spiritual root aptitude, even those Foundation Establishment sects rarely accept you. You can only serve as laborers, mine slaves, or breeding stock for those Qi Refining-level cultivation families."

"Being able to enter my Qingmu Sect is a blessing accumulated over several lifetimes, yet you don't cherish it!"

"Those rogue cultivators outside dream of opening a cave dwelling here; they would break their heads just to get through the door!"

"Letting you be laborers is already doing you a favor!"

After Elder Qin finished his critique, he turned to Lin Donglai and the others. "Don't gloat, and don't be happy too soon. If you haven't drawn Qi into your body and reached the first level of Qi Refining by the second hundred-day assessment, don't wait for the third—go straight to the Miscellaneous Peak to report."

"Immortal Seeds, Immortal Seeds—the point is to sift out the crooked melons and cracked dates."

Lin Donglai felt a chill in his heart, but thinking of the astonishing effect of the mysterious seed growing its root, he calmed down again. At most ten days, and he would reach the completion of Tendon-Changing and could begin the Marrow-Cleansing stage.

A hundred days is enough!

Seven or eight more days passed. With the help of the seed, Lin Donglai finally reached the completion of Tendon-Changing. His tendons and meridians were as soft as an infant's, allowing him to easily perform various stretching movements.

Furthermore, when Lin Donglai imitated the breathing rhythm of the seed itself, even without grasping the essence, he could vaguely feel as if the entire Immortal Seed Peak was breathing.

But this feeling was fleeting; when he tried to sense it carefully, it vanished.

At the same time, as Lin Donglai practiced diligently every day, this aerial root of the seed began to grow longer and longer, even sprouting many capillary root branches. With every breath, it seemed that the seed itself was also completing its own "Peiyuan."

The vitality of the seed was also growing stronger; sooner or later, it would grow more roots, accumulate enough nutrients, sprout, and grow leaves.