Chapter 18: Testing and Selection

  After Qin Ye and Yuan Zhi had a few words in hushed tones, both of them smiled slightly. Yuan Zhi turned his head to look at the cold and handsome young man wearing brocade clothes, and nodded slightly.

  "Qin Yigong was born with divine power, and he also practiced the body-refining technique of the Qin family. At a young age, his cultivation had already reached the eighth layer of the Qi Refining stage. Hehe, such a genius, our Qianya Sect will definitely nurture him well." Yuan Zhi said so.

  Upon hearing this, Qin Ye shook his head and said in a soft voice: "I'll leave the dog to you, Yuan Zhi. Don't spoil him too much, okay? I won't keep you two any longer, I still have some things to take care of." After finishing speaking, he looked at Yuan Zhi with an unusual gaze, and the two of them nodded slightly to each other.

  After Qin Ye left, Yuan Zhi Shi said to Qin Yi: "Qin Gongzi, with your strength, you don't need to participate in this selection. At that time, you can directly return to Qian Ya Sect with me."

  "Thank you, Uncle Shi." Qin Yi finished speaking and quickly moved to one side, looking down at the people in line with a somewhat cold and proud expression.

  "Hey, having a big family behind you is just different. This is already the fourth person who can pass without testing." At this time, the self-proclaimed omniscient youth Liu Gan shook his head and sighed.

  Yefei listened, his face expression didn't change at all. At this moment, Yefei was only thinking about whether he could pass, as for others, he didn't want to care, nor could he care, at most, it was just watching the excitement, what did it have to do with him?

  Just as everyone was whispering among themselves, Yuan's expression changed and he slightly waved his hand.

  "Alright, everyone calm down for a moment. First, I'll take a look at those who have already cultivated on their own. I will decide whether you can enter the Qian Ya Sect based on your age, cultivation level, and talent."

  While ordinary people who have not cultivated can be tested by Song to see if they have a spiritual root, if they don't even have a spiritual root, it's likely that they won't be able to enter the immortal realm in this life. Even if they do have a spiritual root, it depends on the quality of the spiritual root. Some fake spiritual roots are not worth mentioning." Just as Yuan was speaking, three people walked out of the inn again.

  The first one was a man in his 40s, wearing a green long-sleeved shirt. He was not tall and had a slightly chubby build. His small eyes shone brightly, with a somewhat sly look on his face.

  The two people behind him wore red robes, about 17 or 18 years old, each holding a bamboo slip in their hands, as if preparing to record something. What was most striking was that the two had identical faces, with only a slight difference in height, and were actually twins, with an expression of utmost respect.

  At this time, the middle-aged man in green robes looked at the two young men and nodded: "Tian Yu, you go to help Yuan Zhi Shi, your younger brother Tian Qi can stay." As soon as he finished speaking, the red-robed youth with a slightly higher head nodded and walked towards Yuan Zhi Shi.

  Immediately, the middle-aged man in a green robe came to the front of the mortal team, looked at a 7 or 8-year-old child at the front of the team, reached out and grabbed the child's arm, and placed his other hand on the child's wrist, as if taking their pulse.

  A moment later, he slightly shook his head, with no hint of surprise on his face. He said softly, "Next one."

  A middle-aged man standing next to the child let out a sigh, his shoulders suddenly slumping in a helpless manner. He pulled the bewildered child around and started walking away, saying softly, "Kid, I originally thought you were clever enough to cultivate like those immortals. Alas, it seems that from now on, you'll just have to stay home with me and do some rough chores."

  The people around heard this and couldn't help but sigh. Among ordinary people, those with spiritual roots are less than one in a hundred. Spiritual roots are also a necessary condition for cultivating immortality. Only by possessing spiritual roots can one absorb the ethereal and intangible spiritual energy between heaven and earth. This has shattered the dreams of many ordinary people who aspire to become immortal. However, in some families that have been cultivating immortality for generations, the probability of having spiritual roots is much higher.

  At this moment, the young man in green suddenly lit up his eyes and looked at a 11 or 12-year-old child in front of him, softly saying: "What's your name? How old are you?"

  "My name is Tie Dan Er! I'm eleven years old this year." As soon as the child's voice fell, the people around him couldn't help but laugh, and an old man beside him also looked worried, fearing that his own child might not have a spiritual connection either.

  "Haha, Tie Dan'er, good, you're qualified. You all go wait over there. I didn't expect the second one to be a child with a spiritual root." The middle-aged man in green robes said with a smile, and then the red-robed young man Tian Qi recorded down Tie Dan'er's information.

  "Next." The middle-aged man in the green robe continued to look at others, while the eyes of the people around him looking at Tie Dan were so eager, with a hint of envy and jealousy.

  The old man brought the iron egg to the place designated by the middle-aged man in green, his face extremely excited, tightly grasping the child's hands, with a look of tears streaming down.

  "Tiě dàn er, I didn't expect that our family would also have someone who can enter the immortal's sect. From now on, you must work hard to cultivate, listen to the words of your seniors, and get along with your brothers harmoniously. In the future, you will make a name for yourself and bring glory to our ancestors." The old man finished speaking, and Tiě dàn er nodded somewhat dazedly.

  "Ah" Ye Fei saw this scene, couldn't help but think of his own parents, and made up his mind that before going to Qian Ya Sect, he must return to Peach Blossom Town once to ask about his parents' situation.

  At this moment, Yuan Zhi Shi also started to get busy, one by one the cultivators were eliminated by Yuan Zhi Shi, only a few people's information was recorded by the red-robed youth Tian Yu, and they were ordered to stand aside and wait.

  "Huh? True Spiritual Root? No wonder, at such a young age, you can already reach the 8th layer of the Qi Refining stage. You're even stronger than that 'Shi Yan' kid from before. It seems breaking through to the 9th layer isn't impossible either. What's your name?" Just then, Yuan Zhi's expression changed as he looked at a handsome young man wearing white robes in front of him, and said with some excitement.

  It's no small feat to find one or two geniuses among them.

  "Greetings senior, I am Ding Ning, eighteen years old this year." The white-robed youth said calmly.

  "Alright, Tianyu, don't forget to record this. Alright, you go wait there first." As soon as he finished speaking, another figure appeared in front of Yuan Xing, who silently held out his wrist for Yuan Xing to see.

  A moment later, Yuan Executable slightly shook his head and said in a low voice: "Two pseudo- spiritual roots of the spiritual root, this talent can cultivate to the seventh or eighth layer of the Qi Refining stage at most. Even if there are any spiritual elixirs or wonderful medicines, it is probably impossible to build a foundation."

  "It's not easy to cultivate to the current realm, and it's no longer necessary to be so hard on yourself afterwards. Just enjoy the beauty of being an ordinary person." After saying that, Yuan didn't speak again.

  Ye Fei nodded thoughtfully, having heard some things about spiritual roots from his parents. Normally, two to three spiritual roots are considered pseudo-spiritual roots, with mediocre talent and inferior quality, making it extremely difficult to build a foundation.

  And each spiritual root contains five attributes of the Five Elements, which are quite complicated, but there will always be one attribute that is most prominent. If the metal attribute is the most prominent, it can be called a metal spiritual root. If the wood attribute is the most prosperous, it is called a wood spiritual root.

  The four spiritual roots are considered to be of medium quality, but it is also not guaranteed that they will definitely succeed in building the foundation. However, their cultivation speed is slightly faster than those with pseudo-spiritual roots. Most disciples from some sects have this level of talent.

  Those who possess the Five Spirits Root in its entirety are known as True Spirits Root. With this innate talent, unless there's an accident, and with the assistance of elixirs, advancing to the Foundation Establishment stage is almost a certainty.

  But in the world, there is a kind of variant spiritual root. Originally, those who possess spiritual roots are less than one percent, and those with complete five-element spiritual roots are even harder to find, but this kind of variant spiritual root, even among tens of thousands of people, it's probably hard to find one, but under the right circumstances, it's also possible for one or two to appear in a single family.

  The variant spiritual root refers to the fact that the spiritual root in the body does not contain all five attributes of the Five Elements, but rather a very simple single attribute. This kind of talent is called "Earth Spiritual Root". If one has two or more spiritual roots with a single attribute, it is called "Heavenly Spiritual Root".

  Once someone possesses a 'Terra Spirit Root', such as a pure Fire Attribute Spirit Root, cultivating fire attribute techniques becomes effortless and twice as effective. Moreover, advancing to the Foundation Stage is smooth sailing without any bottlenecks. Such individuals with this Spirit Root are geniuses that all major and minor sects would fight over. Unfortunately, they are extremely rare.

  More than half a day later, among the vast crowd of ordinary people, only less than twenty were selected, and the remaining queue had only more than twenty people left. It's likely that one with spiritual roots was encountered in the south.

  On Ye Fei's side, nearly thirty people were selected for the training team, leaving only a little over ten people behind. It seems that even those who have cultivated before find it not as easy to enter Qian Ya Sect as Ye Fei had imagined. Unexpectedly, so many people were eliminated, and Ye Fei couldn't help but start to worry a bit.

  When Yuan Zhi tested the conversation, Ye Fei also observed those people. The most eye-catching ones were Ding Ning in white robe and Shi Yan in gray clothes. Both of them were at the eighth level of Qi training period.

  There was also a young man in yellow clothes named Wen Xu, who seemed to have some status and came here in a luxurious carriage. However, he had also undergone the test of Yuan Zhixia, and it seemed that his background was not much different from others. Otherwise, he would have been exempted from the test like Qin Yi.

  What surprised Ye Fei the most was that Wan Feng had also come to participate in this selection, and had passed the test, standing among the crowd with Shi Yan, whispering something to each other. Ye Fei remembered that Wan Feng had said that their relationship was pretty good.

  "Ah, Cultivation Eighth Layer, although your cultivation is not bad, you're too old. I'm afraid there's no potential for growth in the future either, unqualified." Just then, a middle-aged man in front of Lin Xiao was ruthlessly eliminated by Yuan Zhi.

  When it was Lin Xiao's turn, he actually became a little nervous, and the all-around Liu Qian behind him hurriedly comforted him, but in the end, he was also eliminated by Yuan Zhi because Lin Xiao had two fake spiritual roots.

  "Alright, barely passable. A pseudo-spirit root with three spirit veins. Let's see how you perform later." Yuan Zhi Shi released Wan Shi Tong Liu Qian's wrist and immediately gave Ye Fei a once-over.

  At this moment, Ye Fei also became a little nervous and raised his wrist.

  Suddenly, Yuan's eyes lit up. The palm resting on Ye Fei's wrist moved slightly. "Huh? A complete Five Elements True Spirit Root?" Seeing Yuan's excited expression, Ye Fei couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, but Yuan's next sentence made Ye Fei shake his head and smile wryly. (End of chapter)