Chapter 2: Spirit Testing

After finishing breakfast, the family, urged on by Lin Donglai, locked their doors and headed to town to test for spiritual roots.

Before reaching the town, they encountered Lin Kai, who had set out even earlier than them. His house was right next to Lin Donglai’s, so the two had been friends since childhood.

"Kai-zi! What are you thinking about?"

Lin Donglai patted him on the shoulder, but it gave him a start: "You walk without making a sound!"

"That’s how immortals walk," Lin Donglai laughed. "Why are you frowning?"

Lin Kai looked left and right, then whispered, "I heard the town mayor’s son found a meteorite and offered it to the immortals."

"But the mayor’s son never even went up the mountain; it must have been found by someone else who did! What blind luck!"

"I was thinking, if I don't have spiritual roots, I’ll keep going up the mountain to look. If I happen to find a meteorite, I’ll take it to the immortals and have them give me a cultivation manual!"

Lin Donglai was curious: "If you don't have spiritual roots, what do you want a manual for?"

"That’s got a huge use! Later, when I take a wife and have sons, if I have enough descendants, sooner or later one will have spiritual roots. With spiritual roots, they can practice the manual and join an immortal sect. Even if I can't cultivate, I can be the father or grandfather of an immortal, and I’ll get to enjoy the benefits regardless!"

"Even if they don't join a sect, with a manual, we could become some kind of immortal clan."

Lin Donglai chuckled, thinking his idea was whimsical, but his focus remained on the fact that the mayor’s son had found a meteorite.

"Since the mayor’s son found a meteorite, then what was the treasure that the two immortals were fighting over yesterday?"

"And does this seed in my mind count as a treasure?"

While lost in thought, he arrived in town before he knew it.

Though it was only 5:45 AM, the open grass in town was already crowded. The only bluestone-paved street in the town had been cordoned off, forming a long line. Some county yamen runners were registering names and handing out numbered tags.

Seeing this, Lin Donglai squeezed into the queue to wait for his registration and spiritual root test.

The people in line were all young boys and girls; the youngest were perhaps seven or eight, while the oldest were around seventeen or eighteen.

The Qingmu Immortal Sect tested for spiritual roots in the county every five years, so those who were older had basically already been screened once.

Presiding over the test were a man and a woman, two immortals dressed in fresh bamboo-colored Daoist robes. They were Li Yunze and Jiang Biling, inner sect disciples of the Qingmu Sect.

The testing hadn't officially begun yet. Li Yunze was fiddling with the meteorite fragment offered by the mayor, saying, "Junior Sister Jiang, although this meteor iron has some stellar spiritual resonance and was forged by heavenly fire—making it suitable for crafting magical artifacts—it is only a finger-sized fragment. It is certainly not the legendary great opportunity."

"When the meteorite fell that day, it clearly carried strange phenomena. Not to mention the heavenly fire and the celestial energy it brought, even that spatial phantom, where one could vaguely see a towering giant tree, suggests that a Golden Core cave-dwelling has emerged!"

On the day the meteorite fell, two of the Qingmu Sect’s three Supreme Elders had emerged from seclusion. Following that, the Sect Master, the elders, and even the inner sect disciples were all dispatched to search for the treasure!

The Supreme Elders seemed to have discovered something and had already gone to seize the great opportunity.

These inner sect disciples were responsible for searching for meteorite fragments in places where they might have fallen.

Yesterday, after the Supreme Elder returned injured, he ordered before entering seclusion that any place where the meteorite fell must be blessed with fortune. If anyone possessed spiritual roots, regardless of their aptitude, they were to be brought into the Qingmu Sect and not allowed to drift elsewhere.

That was the reason for today's testing.

"A great opportunity requires great fortune to obtain. Otherwise, one careless move and you'll end up with no place to be buried. Senior Brother, let's just start the testing."

Immediately, Li Yunze and Jiang Biling took out precise instruments; one was responsible for testing, the other for recording.

The instrument resembled a Bagua, with a Yin-Yang Taiji symbol inside. Written on the Bagua were: Kan, Li, Zhen, Xun, Qian, Kun, Gen, Dui.

Compared to traditional five-element testing disks, this Bagua testing disk was more precise. Besides testing for spiritual roots, it could even determine one's cultivation constitution.

"No spiritual roots, next."

"No spiritual roots, next."

...

Jiang Biling’s voice was pleasant, like the tinkling of a spring, but the boys and girls coming for the test were all deeply disappointed.

One boy couldn't help but ask, "Fairy, is it really impossible to cultivate without spiritual roots?"

Jiang Biling scoffed: "Naturally. Even the rumored supreme treasures of heaven and earth, or manuals specifically for excavating hidden roots, or pills to awaken spiritual roots—they are all just fantasies and hearsay!"

"Only those who possess spiritual roots can step onto the path of immortality!"

After thirty or forty people without spiritual roots were tested, finally, a boy was found to have them.

"Five spiritual roots, flourishing fire element, low-grade spiritual root, one inch and two fen in length. Meridian width and resilience are average, no special constitution, Grade D aptitude."

Seeing the quality of the root, Li Yunze couldn't muster any enthusiasm. Grade D aptitude, low-grade five spiritual roots.

With this aptitude, he couldn't even serve as a servant in the Qingmu Sect.

The servants in Li Yunze’s own cave-dwelling, who performed menial tasks, were all low-grade four-root cultivators.

How could he have a good expression?

Even if someone with this low-grade five-root aptitude cultivated, their limit in this life would be the third level of Qi Refining, and very few could break through to the fourth.

Jiang Biling recorded the name and said gently, "Little brother, wait to the side. Once the testing is finished, we will take you back to the immortal sect."

After all, it was the Supreme Elder's order: anyone with spiritual roots must be brought back to the sect for screening.

The boy didn't know his fate and was full of excitement and joy.

"No spiritual roots, next!"

"No spiritual roots, next!"

After some time, when it was the turn of the person before Lin Donglai, Li Yunze raised his voice slightly.

"Wind, fire, and lightning triple spiritual roots. Wind and fire stimulating lightning, mid-grade spiritual root, two inches and seven fen in length. Meridians are wide and thick, constitution is mid-grade Xun-Wood Lightning-Fire body, Grade B-upper aptitude!"

He immediately said, "Little friend, I am Li Yunze of the Purple Lightning Peak lineage, an inner sect disciple of the Qingmu Sect. What is your name?"

Compared to his attitude toward the five-root cultivator earlier, Li Yunze now regarded the boy before him with considerable importance.

Not every immortal sect disciple could practice combat arts. Most had mediocre aptitude, or preferred peace, or were unwilling to kill, or lacked a connection to the Great Dao. Within the sect, they would be guided to learn a craft, handle logistics, or manage sect industries.

These disciples were called "Internal Affairs Disciples." They didn't need high cultivation or combat power, but they needed to be skilled in a craft or proficient in personnel management.

The other type were "Combat Disciples," trained to fight and kill, to compete with other sects for resources, to protect the sect, to garrison markets, or to strike down rogue cultivators.

Whether it was the wind-fire-lightning root or the Xun-Wood Lightning-Fire body, both were the best aptitudes for combat disciples, and they were concentrated in one person.

As long as he learned some combat arts, he would be formidable from Qi Refining all the way to Foundation Establishment! He could win more resources for the Qingmu Sect!

Li Yunze had already decided: he would snatch this junior brother for his own lineage, find a good disciple for his master, and cultivate him into the primary combat disciple of his lineage in the future.

The boy wasn't surprised, as if he had long known his own spiritual roots, but his tone remained smug: "Greetings, Senior Brother Li. My name is Xue Hong. My father is Xue Peng, a deacon of the Qingmu Sect's outer sect."

Li Yunze hadn't heard of this Xue Peng, but Jiang Biling, who had started as an internal affairs disciple, reminded him: "It is Deacon Xue of the Wash-Brush Lake Spirit Talisman Manor. There is a spiritual vein under that lake, and many spirit reeds and grasses are planted on the shore. There is a manor on an island in the lake, which is the sect's industry for making talisman paper."

"So it is Deacon Xue's son. Why didn't he recommend you to the sect himself? Why let you test here?"

"My father is at the manor outside all year round and rarely visits the sect. He doesn't know which elder's sect I should join, or if I shouldn't join any at all—he can't afford the responsibility. Hearing that the testing was moved up this year, he told me to come myself."

"I see." Li Yunze instantly understood the deacon's thinking: he was waiting for a better price, and since his own status was too low, he couldn't find a high-ranking elder, fearing he would delay his son's path.

"Junior Brother Xue, wait to the side. Once I finish testing, I will speak with you in detail. Otherwise, this testing will be delayed for too long."

The person after Xue Hong was Lin Donglai. He was slightly nervous. Seeing the person before him have spiritual roots—and appearing to be a "genius"—he felt a bit uneasy.