Chapter 30: Abandoning and Taking

  Nothing happened on the first day, and early in the morning of the second day, someone came to inform them at Qingyang Gate. Therefore, all the Qi-refining stage cultivators who were going to participate in the assessment gathered at the entrance of the Grand Hall, while their accompanying seniors did not need to follow.

  No one raised any objections to the requirements for Qingyang Gate, and the seven Qi-refining disciples from the Yang family who were participating in the selection also arrived at the main hall under the repeated reminders of Yang Mu and others.

  At this time, in front of the Zhenwu Grand Hall, seven or eight bronze mirrors were arranged in a row, each with a Qīngyángmén foundation-building period cultivator leading three or four Qiánqì period disciples guarding them. The distance between the bronze mirrors was about ten zhang, and in front of the mirrors were the assembled candidate cultivators.

  In front of each copper mirror stood a crowd of people, all dressed in the same Qi refining robes, with the oldest being no more than eighteen and the youngest looking around seven or eight years old. Although they were not very old, they were all very well-behaved, quietly lining up in several long rows, waiting for the selection to begin.

  This scene immediately reminded Lin Feng of the Yang family's selection five years ago. Compared to those children who were lacking in talent and had no spiritual roots, these young talents from the cultivation world were indeed exceptional, with their abilities and intelligence being top-notch.

  Not long after, a high-ranking official of the foundation period came out and said a few opening remarks, and the Qingyangmen draft officially kicked off.

  Lin Feng and Yang's family were lined up in the queue, following the slow movement of the crowd. At first, they were too far away to see clearly, but after more than an hour, when the scene in front and the voices could be seen and heard, Lin Feng found that the selection of Qingyang Gate was similar to Yang's selection last year.

  Lin Feng now knew that the bronze mirror was a magical instrument. When someone with spiritual roots poured their mind into it, they would trigger the formation of the magical instrument's array. The type of spiritual root would trigger the corresponding array, and the corresponding array would emit a light corresponding to the attribute of the spiritual root, making it clear at a glance what kind of spiritual root one had.

  For example, a Wu Ling root like Lin Feng will trigger five elemental arrays and naturally emit the colors of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, which are golden yellow, green, red, blue, and bright yellow.

  Unlike the scene at Yang's house that year, those who came in front of the copper mirror today were all cultivators with spiritual roots, so they wouldn't have the phenomenon where dozens or hundreds of people couldn't trigger any light, and each one could make the copper mirror shine, only with varying brightness.

  Lin Feng had long known that the brighter the Linggen, the better the spiritual root and the better the qualifications. However, as he got closer, he discovered that after each cultivator took the test, Qingyang Gate would also report a value called Linggen points, and the higher the value, the better the qualifications. Several cultivators with Linggen points of 70 or 80 had already appeared in front, all of whom were left aside to wait, clearly having been selected. Most of the cultivators with only around 60 Linggen points were simply asked a few questions before being uniformly dismissed, clearly unqualified.

  Upon seeing this, Lin Feng quickly understood that this copper mirror was far superior to the one used by the Yang family. Not only could it detect the properties of various spiritual roots, but it could also measure their specific values. Originally, Lin Feng had been looking at this selection process as just a formality, but now he suddenly felt a bit apprehensive. He had always been considered to have mediocre talent, and no one had ever been able to clearly say how much worse he was compared to others. Now that this artifact could measure spiritual root points, he would also be able to know exactly how much worse he was than others. This result could also explain from another angle just how far he could go on the path of cultivating the truth, so he suddenly felt a bit tense as well.

  But the tension was useless, and the team led by Lin Feng still slowly approached the copper mirror, and soon came to the front of the copper mirror, where it was Yang's family turn to start testing.

  The first one to go up was the oldest of the senior brothers who had entered the sect, he had been here once before and was familiar with the route. He went up, focused his attention for a moment, and suddenly a red light burst forth. The Qingyang Sect's foundation-building period cultivator standing beside him loudly said: "Sixth layer of Qi Refining, Fire Attribute, 62 Spirit Root points." Beside him, a Qi Refining period cultivator was making records.

  "How old is he?" the monk asked casually.

  "Eighteen."

  "What special talents do you have?"

  What is known as a specialty refers to the auxiliary skills of alchemy, equipment refinement, talisman creation, spell arrays, and beast taming outside of regular cultivation methods. They are of great help in cultivating the truth, so generally speaking, people with poor spiritual roots who have better abilities in these areas will also be selected by Qingyang Gate for cultivation.

  Unfortunately, this senior fellow did not work hard in these aspects, and being older, was unfortunately eliminated.

  The next senior brother was also a beginner who had cultivated the sixth layer of Qi Refining, although he was one year younger, but his spiritual root points were not full sixty, and in the end, he still failed to be selected.

  It was Wu Lin's turn, he was the oldest of the five who entered with Lin Feng and also had the highest cultivation level except for Zhao Chun, having already reached the fifth layer of Qi refining. Finally, his spiritual root points were sixty-five.

  The foundation-building period disciple of the Qingyang Gate asked a few questions in a routine manner, thought for a moment, and said: "Although the spiritual root is not very high, after five years of cultivation, at the age of 16, he has reached the fifth layer of Qi Refining. This shows that he is extremely diligent. If he continues to work hard in the future, he can still achieve something. Let's keep him for now." After finishing speaking, he waved his hand and let Wu Lin Pu go to the side to register his detailed information.

  Wu Lin was overjoyed, he had been working so hard to cultivate because he knew that the conditions for cultivating in Qingyangmen were a hundred times better than those of the Yang family. To achieve success in cultivation and go further on this path, one must try every means to enter the great sect of Qingyangmen. Now his dream had finally come true, he was so excited that he almost jumped up.

  Perhaps too excited, Wu Lin rushed towards the Qingyangmen disciple who was in charge of recording data, without even noticing the scene where Lin Feng and several others behind him were celebrating and cheering for him.

  "No cheering allowed, next one up front." The monk in charge of the test stopped Lin Feng and the others' cheers with a single sentence, continuing the dry and simple selection process.

  Next up were Zhou Lan and Wang Lei, unfortunately their cultivation was only at the fourth level, and their spiritual roots weren't high either, one was sixty-two and the other sixty-three, and they didn't have any special talents, so they were naturally and ruthlessly eliminated. However, the two had long known that their qualifications were average, and being eliminated didn't make them too disappointed, instead they came over to cheer on Lin Feng, because at this time it was Lin Feng's turn to go up and take the test.

  Lin Feng nodded to them, with a hint of tension and anticipation, and walked forward. He came in front of the mirror, looking at this obviously much more intricate bronze mirror than the one used by the Yang family back then, Lin Feng calmed his mind, composed himself, and focused on taking a look inside.

  "Boom!" A sudden burst of light, like a rainbow, shot out from the copper mirror, releasing a kaleidoscope of colors. Even Lin Feng, who was prepared, was shocked and closed his eyes, not daring to look directly at it.

  A burst of exclamations erupted from all around, clearly this radiance was far more intense than anyone had ever seen before. Even the usually unflappable testing cultivator's face revealed a look of astonishment. However, this expression lasted for less than a breath before disappearing without a trace under his heavy sigh.

  Without him explaining, Lin Feng already knew it was because he had a Five Spirits Root. As expected, the Foundation Establishment cultivator opened his mouth and said: "Fourth layer of Qi Refining, Five Elements Spirit Root, 95 points."

  "How old is he?" The question was the same as the person in front of him.

  "Fifteen." Lin Feng replied.

  "What special talents do you have?"

  "I will refine the elixir."

  "Oh, then how many years have you been cultivating, and how long have you been studying alchemy? What kind of pills can you make?" The testing monk suddenly became interested. Although the five elements spiritual root was abandoned, it was also a firewood spiritual root at the same time, so if he studied alchemy, he would indeed be much better than ordinary firewood single spiritual roots.

  "I've been practicing for five years and have learned the art of alchemy for nearly five years. I can now refine most first-grade elixirs." Lin Feng replied honestly, but in fact, he had actually spent less than half a year truly hands-on refining elixirs, as most of his previous time was wasted due to lack of materials.

  "Five years!" The testing master muttered to himself before saying, "With your Five Elements Mixed Spirit Root talent, you can cultivate to the fourth layer of Qi Refining in five years, which is quite diligent. However, cultivating alchemy for five years and only knowing one rank of pill is a bit lacking, alas! The testing master didn't know about the difficulties of ordinary loose cultivators and small family clans learning alchemy. If they provided sufficient materials like the Qingyang Sect does when cultivating promising alchemists, with Lin Feng's Five Elements Subtle Method, he could probably refine third-rank pills by now."

  Moreover, due to Yang Ze's previous reminders, Lin Feng had his own plans, so he didn't speak very clearly. The testing monks didn't ask him further about his success rate in refining elixirs, and they treated Lin Feng as an ordinary elixir apprentice. In fact, being able to refine a first-grade elixir and being able to raise the success rate of a first-grade elixir above 40% are worlds apart. In the Cultivation Realm, most elixir apprentices only need to study for three to five years to be able to refine a first-grade elixir, but to increase the success rate to over 40%, it's difficult to achieve without practicing for about ten years.

  Because of this, the testing master made a mistake due to his habitual thinking. Without asking clearly, he thought Lin Feng was just an ordinary alchemy apprentice, so now he is hesitant. In his original intention, he wanted to take Lin Feng in, but it's hard to explain to his superiors without good reason. It should be known that these selected qualified candidates are only temporary, and the specific arrangement, whether to go to the outer or inner door, still needs to undergo internal selection. If one selects too many outer door disciples, it will also be difficult to explain to their superiors.

  The cultivation of Lin Feng's fourth layer of refining qi is indeed too low. If he wants to be selected, he must have outstanding performance in other aspects. Who knows that he can only refine alchemy with great difficulty and it's not impressive at all. There are at least 8,000 alchemists of this level in Qingyang Gate, which really can't be the basis for selection.

  But he was also a little reluctant to give up, one is that Lin Feng's ninety-five-point spiritual root is a rare talent level, although it's miscellaneous, but like a pearl in the dust, it's hard to say that there won't be a time when it will shine brightly in the future, which makes him a bit hesitant to abandon. Another reason is that Lin Feng has five attributes, which should have high qualifications for alchemy, equipment refinement and array methods, with great potential for development. It was precisely these two reasons that made it difficult for him to make a decision at this time, resulting in a brief stagnation of the test.