Qi Sensing Pavilion

Fang Chen stood behind Xu Yi, the wind howling in his ears.

He looked down and saw a vast sea of clouds below.

Within that sea of clouds lay island after island.

Fang Chen knew those were not islands, but the summits of mountains.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

Streaks of rainbow light shot overhead, flying even faster than they were.

Fang Chen raised his head, but saw only one blurred figure after another.

Xu Yi kept his eyes ahead and deliberately slowed their flight. "Those just now were Inner Disciples. In the Glazed Sword Sect, Inner Disciples may not fly higher than a thousand zhang..."

Fang Chen listened quietly to Xu Yi. He had never known any of this before.

Within the Glazed Sword Sect, ranks were strictly divided. At the very bottom were handymen, followed by Outer Sect Disciples, then Inner Disciples, then the Direct Disciples of the various elders. At the very top were the Holy Sons and Holy Maidens.

Outer Sect Disciples had no dedicated masters, but they had their own private courtyards. Every month, they had to complete a set quota of tasks. Naturally, they also received certain benefits, such as ten Contribution Points each month.

Within the sect, Contribution Points could be exchanged for Spirit Stones, cultivation techniques, and Spirit Medicine. They could also be used to buy tickets to lectures given by elders, Inner Disciples, Direct Disciples, or even Holy Sons and Holy Maidens, to listen to their Preaching and Answering Doubts.

Though this was a cultivation sect, it was not much different from the mortal world. Here too, one had to navigate social relationships, and one had to compete in status and background. To put it bluntly, even cultivators could not rise above worldly concerns; they too placed profit above all else.

If you had value, others would draw close to you and associate with you.

If you had no value, others would distance themselves from you. They might even suppress you and scorn you.

After the time it took for an incense stick to burn, Xu Yi led Fang Chen in a headlong plunge into the sea of clouds.

After passing through the clouds, they arrived at the foot of a mountain, where clusters of buildings stretched before them.

Xu Yi brought Fang Chen down before a three-story pavilion. A thick layer of moss covered its roof tiles, while years of rain had weathered its walls, giving it the aged air of history. On the plaque above its main entrance were three large characters: Qi Sensing Pavilion.

Fang Chen asked Xu Yi, "What is this place for?"

A faint smile appeared on Xu Yi's lips. "The Qi Sensing Pavilion is specifically for testing cultivation. In a moment, you'll go inside to have your cultivation tested. Once you pass, they'll issue you a new identity plaque. From then on, you'll be an Outer Sect Disciple of our Glazed Sword Sect!"

"I see!"

Fang Chen nodded and followed Xu Yi inside.

After entering the Qi Sensing Pavilion, Fang Chen found over a dozen handymen lined up inside. Not far away, several Outer Sect Disciples sat together, chatting and laughing.

When Xu Yi saw them, he said with a smile, "Looks like we're lucky today. So many people have come to handle their paperwork!"

Although Azure Cloud Peak had more than ten thousand handymen, not many of them could break through to the Qi Refining Realm. Sometimes, no one would break through for days, or even over ten days.

Xu Yi said to Fang Chen, "Go line up as well."

"Alright!"

Fang Chen nodded and immediately went to the back of the line, while Xu Yi headed over to the group of Outer Sect Disciples and began chatting with them.

Like Xu Yi, these Outer Sect Disciples were responsible for bringing people over to complete their entry procedures.

The testing process was simple. One only needed to place a hand on the handprint of a crystal compass before the Qi Sensing Pavilion disciple, then circulate one's cultivation and pour one's True Qi into it.

Just then, two more handymen entered and immediately lined up behind Fang Chen.

Before half an incense stick's time had passed, it was Fang Chen's turn.

Following the Qi Sensing Pavilion disciple's instructions, Fang Chen placed his hand on the crystal compass and poured his True Qi into it.

Buzz!

A white ring of light immediately appeared at the center of the crystal compass, but there was nothing within that white ring.

The white ring represented one's cultivation.

In terms of cultivation, Fang Chen had already met the requirement.

Yet there was nothing inside the ring.

Before this, whenever someone met the cultivation requirement, the ring would display the attribute and grade of their spiritual root.

But Fang Chen's displayed nothing.

"What's going on? Why isn't it showing his spiritual root?"

The Qi Sensing Pavilion disciple immediately frowned.

Fang Chen said to the disciple, "Because I don't have a spiritual root!"

"Haha, kid, are you joking? How can you cultivate without a spiritual root?"

"Exactly. Do you take us for fools?"

The two handymen standing behind Fang Chen could not help laughing.

At that moment, Xu Yi walked over and asked the Qi Sensing Pavilion disciple, "What happened?"

The Qi Sensing Pavilion disciple told Xu Yi, "I just tested this Fang Chen, but the compass didn't display any information about his spiritual root. He told me he doesn't have one!"

"No spiritual root?"

Xu Yi was stunned as well. Before this, he had not known Fang Chen at all. He had merely received orders to go to Thousand Bamboo Ridge to pick someone up. He had assumed Fang Chen had spiritual roots, just like the other handymen who had broken through to the Qi Refining Realm.

At that moment, the Outer Sect Disciples chatting together nearby also walked over.

They looked at Fang Chen and said with smiles, "Kid, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't just talk nonsense. Without spiritual roots, how could you cultivate?"

"Exactly. Everyone knows that people without spiritual roots can't cultivate!"

The Outer Sect Disciples all nodded in agreement.

Xu Yi looked at Fang Chen and asked, "You really don't have spiritual roots?"

"That's right!"

Fang Chen nodded. "If you don't believe me, you can check my identity plaque!"

With that, Fang Chen immediately took out his identity plaque.

The Qi Sensing Pavilion's procedure was to test first, confirm one's identity after passing, register the information, and finally create a new identity plaque. That was why the Qi Sensing Pavilion disciple had not checked Fang Chen's identity plaque earlier.

After hearing Fang Chen's words, Xu Yi immediately picked up his identity plaque and swept it with his Spiritual Sense. The information on it instantly surfaced in his mind.

His brows furrowed slightly when he discovered that the information recorded on Fang Chen's identity plaque truly stated that he had no spiritual roots.

He handed the identity plaque to the Qi Sensing Pavilion disciple.

The Qi Sensing Pavilion disciple immediately scanned it with his Spiritual Sense as well, and his expression instantly became identical to Xu Yi's.

"How is this possible? How can someone without spiritual roots cultivate immortality?"

Frowning, the Qi Sensing Pavilion disciple asked Fang Chen, "How did you do it?"

Fang Chen shook his head. "I don't know either. After obtaining the cultivation method, I kept at my training without fail. Today, two people tried to kill me. I fought back with all my strength, and after killing them, I broke through!"

The Qi Sensing Pavilion disciple shook his head. "Impossible. Absolutely impossible. You can't possibly have no spiritual roots. Most likely, something went wrong during your previous test, and it wasn't measured accurately!"

Xu Yi also said, "It's also possible that he truly hadn't awakened his spiritual roots during the previous test, but awakened them afterward without realizing it!"

"Mm, that possibility can't be ruled out either."

The Qi Sensing Pavilion disciple nodded slightly.

"Why are you all gathered around here?"

An aged voice suddenly came from the direction of the hall entrance.

Everyone immediately looked up toward the doorway and saw an old man in a green robe walking in.