A Small Battle in the Wilderness

Inside the ancestral hall.

Ling Yunxi, the Fifth Elder of the Ling Clan and First Rank Middle Grade Array Formation Master who was in charge of this Spirit Root Testing Array, saw Ling Qiu enter the ancestral hall, raised a smile on his face, and greeted him.

"Child, I am Ling Clan Ling Yunxi, the Fifth Elder of the Ling family, and the fifteenth in the Yun Generation. You may call me Fifteenth Ancestral Grandmother. Please enter the formation quickly."

After saying this, Ling Yunxi pointed to the ground in front of her.

There was a white circle about ten feet wide on the ground. The circle was filled with dense array patterns. In the center of the circle, in five different directions, there were five White Jade pillars, each one foot long.

Young Ling Qiu looked curiously at the red circle in front of her that was said to be an array, and slowly stepped into it.

As soon as Ling Qiu entered the formation, Ling Yunxi took out a special array plate made of jade from her Storage Bag and poured spiritual power into it.

"The formation begins." Ling Yunxi murmured.

Suddenly, all the array patterns within the white circle where Ling Qiu stood flashed with spiritual light, floated out from the ground, and passed through Ling Qiu's body.

Three breaths later, in the center of the formation, two of the five jade pillars emitted bright red and earthen yellow spiritual light from their bases, respectively, with the lengths of the flashing spiritual light differing.

"Nine inches of fire spirit, three inches of earth spirit, Dual Spirit Root, excellent!"

"Including this child, my Ling Clan now has three Dual Spirit Root Cultivator, two of whom are the youngest members of the Peng Generation. Add to that the exceptionally talented Peng Yun, and my Ling Clan is truly on the verge of prosperity."

Ling Yunxi looked at the length of the spiritual light flashing on the two jade pillars within the Spirit Root Testing Array, and laughed to herself with delight.

Ling Qiu, who was inside the Spirit Root Testing Array, was extremely excited upon hearing Ling Yunxi's words.

Having Dual Spirit Root makes one a genius among ordinary cultivators. Not only does one's cultivation progress extremely quickly, but one also has a 10% chance of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment.

As for the most outstanding geniuses in the Cultivation World who possess a single "Heavenly Spirit Root," they are extremely rare, and they are only born in those great Golden Core clans or sects.

During Ling Qiu's brief moment of joy, Ling Yunxi calmed down, her expression turning slightly solemn as she admonished Ling Qiu, "From now on, you must not tell anyone that you possess Dual Spirit Root, not even your parents, understand?"

Ling Qiu, who was only eight years old, did not understand why Ling Yunxi wanted him to do this, but seeing Ling Yunxi's solemn expression, he guessed that the matter of Dual Spirit Root was probably not entirely a good thing, so he quickly nodded in agreement.

"Good."

Upon hearing the response, Ling Yunxi relaxed and a smile returned to her face as she asked.

"You must be Ling Qiu, the only mortal among the clan with Spirit Root this year."

"Yes, Fifteenth Ancestral Grandmother." Upon hearing this, Ling Qiu's expression dimmed slightly, and she slowly lowered her head.

After he entered the Clan School Clan School yesterday, many of the children whose parents were monks and who were studying with him didn't look down on him much and even called him a "country bumpkin." Only a few monks who were born ordinary like him would have a casual conversation with him, which could be considered as sticking together for warmth.

Under these circumstances, young Ling Qiu also developed some self-consciousness about her mortal birth.

Seeing Ling Qiu's expression when he answered, Ling Yunxi immediately understood. A ruthless glint flashed in her eyes as she thought to herself, "It's time to discipline those children in the clan who have problematic ideas."

"Now that you have determined your Spirit Root, you should be given a generation name. You belong to the Peng Generation among the four generations of the Lineage: Ru, Yun, Xiao, and Peng. From now on, you will be named Ling Pengqiu, and you will be the twenty-seventh in the Peng Generation," Ling Yunxi said.

Upon hearing that he had been granted a generation name, Ling Pengqiu's smile widened even further. Among the nearly 100,000 mortals in the entire Ling Clan, only a few mortals who had made great contributions to the clan possessed a generation name.

As members of the Ling Clan clan, they also take pride in acquiring a generational name.

"Thank you for bestowing this name upon me, Fifteenth Ancestral Grandmother." Ling Pengqiu bowed to Ling Yunxi, following the etiquette he had learned in the Clan School school.

Ling Yunxi waved her hand, released a burst of spiritual energy, opened the ancestral hall door, and said, "You possess Spirit Root, so you should have a generation name. There is no such thing as bestowing one. Alright, go out now. If you encounter any difficulties in the future, you can come to me."

Ling Pengqiu nodded slightly, and without lingering, obediently walked out of the ancestral hall.

Ling Ruda, who had been guarding outside the ancestral hall, saw Ling Pengqiu walk out of the ancestral hall and immediately called down one child after another to enter the ancestral hall.

"The next person to enter the ancestral hall and use the Spirit Root Testing Array to test one's Spirit Root is Ling Ting."

About half a cup of tea later, after the last child with Spirit Root Spirit Root was identified, Ling Yunxi and the child walked out of the ancestral hall together, found Ling Ruda who was guarding outside the ancestral hall, and brought him into the ancestral hall.

Upon entering the ancestral hall, Ling Yunxi excitedly told Ling Ruda, "Eleventh Uncle, another child with Dual Spirit Root has emerged from this year's batch of children."

Upon hearing this, Ling Ruda was overjoyed and hurriedly asked, "Who is it?"

"That Ling Pengqiu is the Ling Qiu who was found to have Spirit Root by Peng Yun," Ling Yunxi said.

"So it was this person. No wonder when Peng Yun left the Clan Mountain for Cloudwater County, he told me that when Ling Qiu awakened his Spirit Root, the spiritual light flashing on the Spirit Root Testing Stone was unusually bright." Ling Ruda said with a smile, then his expression gradually became serious.

"However, the matter of Peng Qiu's Spirit Root should be kept hidden. Otherwise, if the other Lineage find out that so many talented young people have emerged from the Lingxiao Ling Clan, they might secretly take action against these clansmen."

Ling Yunxi agreed. "Eleventh Uncle, I understand. I already warned Peng Qiu just now."

On the other side.

Although Ling Pengyun had the Flying Magical Item Green Travel Leaf to help him travel more than 1,500 li a day, Cloudwater County was too far away. After five days of travel, he had only just entered the Former Qing County occupied by the Tiger's Roar Liu Clan.

That night, Ling Pengyun traveled for a long time using his Flying Magical Item, which consumed nearly 70% of his inner core's spiritual power. Considering that he might encounter danger in the outside world, in order to preserve some strength, Ling Pengyun used the Aura Observation Technique to survey his surroundings and landed on a desolate mountain range that stretched for several miles.

In this desolate wilderness, they found a relatively secluded place and carved out a small cave about ten feet long.

Before entering the cave, he first instructed the Little Wind Shadow Peng that had been flying with him to land on a tree branch near the cave and be alert to the surroundings.

Although Wind Shadow Peng is famous for its speed, the Peng bird clan has excellent eyesight. Even in the darkest night, the Peng bird's eyesight is not greatly affected.

Having finished this task, Ling Pengyun felt at ease stepping into the newly opened cave. He first absorbed the Moonlight Power a while, then took out a small jade bottle from his Storage Bag, poured out several ounces of Fruit Flower Honey, and swallowed it.

Then, he closed his eyes, circulated his Cultivation Method, and refined the Spiritual Qi contained in the Fruit Flower Honey in his abdomen to restore the spiritual power in his Dantian.

As night deepened, the surroundings became even quieter.

At the hour of Chou (1-3 AM), Wind Shadow Peng, who was standing on a tree branch outside the cave, suddenly trembled and stared sharply at a mountain hollow hundreds of feet away.

Less than half a breath later, a strange red light suddenly appeared in the mountain hollow, along with a huge booming sound.

Seeing this change happening hundreds of feet away, the Little Wind Shadow Peng's neck fur stood on end. It immediately used the Recognition of Ownership Restriction between itself and Ling Pengyun to inform Ling Pengyun, who was cultivating inside the cave, about the anomaly.

Upon receiving the signal, Ling Pengyun raised an eyebrow, immediately stopped his Cultivation Method, quickly stood up, and tried his best to gather his aura before stepping out of the cave.

Following Little Wind Shadow Peng's guidance, he turned his head to look. Because the night was deep and it was too far away, Ling Pengyun could not see clearly for a moment. So he used the Aura Observation Technique to enhance his eyes.

With the aid of the Aura Observation Technique, the pitch-black environment seemed empty, and he immediately saw what the strange movement that Little Wind Shadow Peng was referring to was.

In the mountain hollow where the strange activity originated, three cultivators dressed in black and with their faces veiled in black were each wielding a magical Law Artifact, attacking a middle-aged man dressed in Linen Daoist Robe.

Although the middle-aged man in the Linen Daoist Robe was not weak, he was still struggling under the simultaneous attack of the three magical Law Artifact wielded by the three Evil Cultivator.

However, whenever this person is at a disadvantage, he will throw out a Spirit Talisman Cave to relieve the pressure and stabilize the situation.

The sudden burst of fire in that mountain hollow was caused by the several Fire Arrow Talisman thrown by this middle-aged man.