Four qualifications

  All that could be seen was a large patch of light in the distance, where a faint green glow appeared, extremely pale, as if it were an illusion, but upon closer inspection, it was indeed really there.

  The middle-aged steward hesitated for a moment and then looked at the elder of the inner hall. The elder of the inner hall pondered for a moment before saying, "Let him down."

  Xu Ziqing's heart skipped a beat as he realized that going back was hopeless. He thought about the various colored light pillars he had seen before, and how those with exceptional talent had brighter colors, while his own light was only a faint mist, far inferior.

  It's not just about staying now, but also being at the bottom of the qualification, and it can be said that the future is uncertain.

  He sighed silently and decided to make the best of it, so Xu Ziqing didn't think about it anymore.

  The remaining four or five people also checked their spiritual roots. Among them, there was one with four spiritual roots as well, but it was coarse and thin, and the talent was mediocre.

  As a result, among the 23 Xu family members who came from Fenglin City this time, six people have spiritual roots, which is quite good. Especially, there are also Xu Zishu and Xu Ziqian with four spiritual roots, both of whom are middle to lower quality, and it's even rarer in the bloodline of the branch family.

  More than a dozen sons without spiritual roots were led out by another maid to the outer hall, Jingwu Pavilion, to seek the favor of the martial artists. If they failed, they would be arranged to stay overnight and sent back to their respective homes the next morning.

  Xu Ziqing and five others followed the Inner Hall Elder out of the Ling Spirit Pavilion, entering a vast expanse of land behind. The Inner Hall Elder let out a whistle from afar, and suddenly a fierce bird descended from the high sky.

  Only its red crown and white feathers are visible, with a body length of one zhang. When it spreads its wings, they resemble a thin cloud. It raises its head and lets out a loud cry, the sound piercing through the sky, exceptionally majestic. In appearance, this bird resembles an immortal crane, but differs from ordinary cranes in that its sharp beak is a dazzling gold color.

  Xu Zishu's little daughter exclaimed: "What a beautiful white crane!"

  The old man in the inner hall did not take offense, but instead smiled and stroked his beard, saying: "This is a Golden Beak Immortal Crane, capable of flying thousands of miles in a day. Throughout all of Dengzhou, only my Xu family has the wealth to raise such a divine bird."

  The Golden Beak Crane is no ordinary bird, not only can it fly at extremely high speeds, but it's also extremely stable when carrying people. Moreover, its temperament is relatively gentle, the only downside being that it needs to consume a Spirit Pearl every year, making it impossible for ordinary families to raise one. Even wealthy families like the Xu family only have ten of them in total.

  After the crane landed, it slowly knelt down under the whistle of the Inner Hall Elder. The Inner Hall Elder raised his hand, and Xu Ziqing and others felt unsteady on their feet. As they swayed, they found themselves sitting on the back of the crane. With another whistle, the crane soared into the sky and flew straight into the clouds.

  The wind whispers in his ear, the cloud surrounds him, and the Guanling Temple has long been submerged under his feet. Xu Ziqing lowered his head to look down, but saw that the ground was still a hundred feet away from the crane, yet it didn't rise any higher.

  About half a moment later, the immortal crane floated down and landed. A pair of steel claws grasped the grass skin and stopped steadily.

  The inner hall elder suddenly jumped down, his body floating without a hint of smoke or fire. Because of their previous experience, Xu Ziqing and the other five this time came down on their own, most of them slowly climbing down, Xu Ziqing was no exception. Only Xu Zishu jumped down, landing with her knees slightly bent, reducing the impact force, just standing steadily.

  The inner hall elder looked at Xu Zishu with a few more glances, and Xu Zishu was not afraid, facing the elder with a smile. The inner hall elder's eyes also had a hint of a smile, seemingly having a very good impression of Xu Zishu. Of course, this was also related to Xu Zishu's natural appearance and talent, if it were someone with lower talent showing off in front of the inner hall elder, they would naturally be scolded as "flighty and not worthy of great use".

  Xu Ziqing now had the heart to observe his surroundings. All he saw in front of him was a layer upon layer of courtyards, too many to count, each one much larger than any he had ever seen before. Further away, there were countless fields, lakes, flower gardens and lawns, various parks and gardens. On the left side, there was even a solitary peak, with a height of thousands of feet, surrounded by clouds and mist, making it impossible to see the scenery in the mountains, and even after looking for a long time, one would feel a strong sense of fear.

  Obviously, it wasn't just Xu Ziqing who was attracted to that solitary peak; the others were also shocked, their faces pale and unable to move.

  Nei Tang's elder, Xu, often sent talented disciples to Nei Tang, so he was not surprised by the crowd's reaction. With a wave of his wide sleeve, he said proudly: "That mountain is called 'Fei Yu Shan', where our clan's excellent disciples cultivate in secret. The height of the caves in that mountain varies depending on their level of cultivation. You have just entered Nei Tang and do not yet know your potential for cultivation, so you are not qualified to go up there."

  Feiyu Mountain is so majestic and awe-inspiring that it has long been the object of people's admiration. Now, hearing that they can't go up, everyone shows a disappointed look.

  Xu Ziqing also had the same expression, but in his heart, he had other ideas. He always felt that the mountain was not so simple... There were still some unsaid things in the words of the inner hall elder. However, after all, he was an elder, and it was already condescending to receive these few young children, how could they expect him to introduce them in detail? If they wanted to know, they would have to wait until they settled down before making further inquiries.

  He briefly explained the layout of the inner hall to the crowd of young masters, and then the elder of the inner hall led them to a side hall. This side hall also had an elder sitting in it, who was one of the managers of "Fei Ling Ge" and came out to greet them.

  The steward was short and stout. When he saw the old master of the inner hall coming over, he smiled warmly: "Master Zhang, you've come to assign quarters for the new disciples?"

  The elder in the inner hall didn't show any courtesy to this newcomer, merely nodding and saying: "There are six people in total. Two have mediocre innate talents, one has lower innate talent, and three have extremely low innate talents. You can register them first."

  The manager hastily took out a palm-sized booklet with nearly ten years of annual marks on it. He opened the booklet, wrote down Xu Ziqing's six names and qualifications, then took out a thumb-length jade symbol, pressed one on each name, before putting it away.

  The crowd of young masters saw that when Yu Fu passed by, their names emitted a faint white light, and they were all shocked, feeling even more that the Zong family had the means to have a fairy-like person.

  "The clerk smiled and said, 'It's written.'"

  Zhang Changlao took Xu Zishu and the slightly better Four Spirit Root with him, and said to Guan Shi: "I will take these two people to the Third Institute for training. You take the one with lower qualifications to the Fourth Institute and hand them over to Fu Qing. As for the remaining three, we'll assign tasks according to the situation."

  The manager pulled the four Ling roots of inferior quality to his side and repeatedly said to Zhang Changlao, "Please rest assured, Zhang Changlao, I will definitely get this done."

  Xu Ziqing and the other two Wu Ling Gen were left on the spot, while Guan Shi directly handed them over to a yellow-faced young man who came out from behind, and he himself took the four Wu Ling Gen into the courtyard.

  The remaining three were all inferior, Xu Ziqing was a natural person with a good attitude, so he was better off, just pretending to be tense on his face. The other two were only in their early teens, and when they saw the manager's attitude become so cold, they felt intimidated. Moreover, the future was uncertain, and besides fear, there was more sadness.

  That young man with a yellow face, although not good-looking, unexpectedly had a good temperament. Seeing that several people's faces were very unsightly, he smiled and said: "Don't worry too much, you're new here, the task won't be too heavy."

  "What is it? What's the mission?"

  The young man with a yellow face spoke in a gentle tone: "I'll introduce you to the basic layout of our Xu family's ancestral hall first, and then we can discuss it in detail. You must listen carefully to what I'm about to say."

  The three of them nodded in agreement one after another.

  Originally, as long as one had spiritual roots, they were qualified to enter the inner hall, but this was also divided into three six nine grades. The most special one is naturally that Flying Swallow Mountain, usually only cultivators who have reached the third layer of Qi Refining or above are allowed to enter the mountain for cultivation. And when entering the door, those with superior qualifications can make an exception and enter. The Xu family has existed for tens of thousands of years, and there have been no more than ten cases of people with superior qualifications, which shows how rare good qualifications are!

  Apart from Fei Yu Shan, there are several courtyards available for others to cultivate.

  In the main courtyard on the east side, the courtyards are further divided into four levels. Among them, the first level is called "First Courtyard", where middle to upper-level disciples can enter and cultivate after entering the gate. The resources provided inside the gate, such as spiritual medicine, martial arts, freedom, and guidance from seniors, are all superior to those of other courtyards. The "Second Courtyard" is next, where middle-level disciples can enter, with slightly inferior resources in all aspects compared to the First Courtyard. Following this pattern, the Third Courtyard is for lower-middle level disciples, and the Fourth Courtyard is for lower-level disciples.

  But the lower-born sons, they can only live in the South Wing, mixed with the servants. They can also learn some skills, but only the most superficial ones, and their status is lower than others. Although they are not nominally called servants, their actual status is almost the same.

  These young masters either receive tasks to complete every month, winning by being able to grasp their own destiny; or they stay in one place for a long time doing miscellaneous chores, receiving fixed resources, winning at stability, but perhaps it's hard to be remembered; or they suppress their self-esteem and choose to serve some young masters who can enter the East Wing Main Hall - if they learn something from the gaps between their fingers, with good luck, maybe they can improve their strength to above the third layer of Qi Refining, and then get a certain elder's favor, becoming an inner hall manager, which is also considered making a name for themselves.

  If it is said that children with good qualifications are supported by their families, then children with poor qualifications have to support themselves.

  But don't look at those talented young masters who are now in the limelight, their pressure is also very great. After a cultivator enters the Qi Refining stage, his lifespan will increase to two hundred years, but if he cannot build his foundation within these two hundred years, when his lifespan is exhausted, it's just death.

  The Xu family clan has a rule for long-term development. In the main hall on the east side, as long as you are under 50 years old and can pass the third layer of Qi refinement, you can enter Fei Xue Mountain to practice in secret. However, when the disciples reach 150 years old, those who have refined their Qi below the fifth layer will be transferred to higher management, with a status equivalent to that of a Pingdiao; Those who have refined their Qi below the eighth layer and above the fifth layer will be transferred to the inner hall elder, serving the family; And those who have refined their Qi above the eighth layer but below the foundation establishment will be transferred to the Supreme Elder, on the one hand, as a powerful deterrent to other families, occasionally exerting force for the family, and on the other hand, continuing to strive for breaking through the foundation.

  Generally, if one hasn't made a breakthrough by the time they reach a certain age, it becomes even harder to progress with more mundane tasks weighing them down. Therefore, no one wants to become an elder or something similar, everyone wants to obtain more resources to intensify their cultivation. Hence, the competition among the disciples is also extremely fierce.

  Now placed in front of three inferior new juniors, there are just these three roads.

  The young man with a yellow face smiled and asked them: "What is your choice?"

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