Looks Like an Honest Man

"Why does the common name sound more like a technical term than the actual one?" Lu Yang muttered to himself in the back.

"Because the first senior with a Pure Yang Spiritual Root called his own root a 'Single' Spiritual Root." Yun Zhi's cultivation was unfathomable; Lu Yang's whisper was no different from speaking right into her ear, and she heard it clearly.

Yun Zhi paused, then added, "The cultivation world has a tradition of respecting senior bachelors."

It seemed that adding this sentence increased the persuasiveness of her explanation.

Meng Jingzhou passed the first round as a matter of course, and Lu Yang followed him.

"Hm?! Another single spirit root?!" Dai Bufan's pupils constricted. He had just been complaining about not seeing a single spirit root all day, and now there were two in a row.

"Me, a single spirit root?" Lu Yang pointed at himself, his heart pounding. He felt like he was hallucinating, and the corners of his mouth curled up involuntarily.

"Correct, you have a Mutated Single Spirit Root, a Sword Spirit Root." Dai Bufan nodded affirmatively; he had never been wrong when testing bone structure.

A Sword Spirit Root meant a natural-born sword cultivator, sharp and unstoppable, with the most formidable offensive power!

The senior sister, Yun Zhi, glanced at Lu Yang with slight surprise. She had only agreed to ride in the carriage on a whim, never expecting that both people in the carriage would be top-tier cultivation geniuses.

The gazes of the crowd grew increasingly fervent as they began to calculate the ages of the young women they knew, wishing they could kidnap Lu Yang to marry into their respective factions.

Unlike Meng Jingzhou, who had the backing of the Meng family, Lu Yang was clearly from a commoner background with no one supporting him.

With excellent talent and no faction, he was simply the perfect candidate for a marriage alliance.

Most importantly, he could get married and have children!

Lu Yang felt that the way everyone was looking at him was strange, so he quickly entered the second round.

Behind Dai Bufan was a bamboo forest, and the second round took place within it.

"So, what is your spirit root?" Meng Jingzhou quickly moved past the shadow of the 'Single' Spiritual Root and asked Lu Yang with great interest.

What did a single spirit root matter? The path to immortality was paved with withered bones, and female beauty was nothing but skin and bone. He didn't need beautiful fairies by his side!

On the contrary, although Lu Yang had passed the first round, he assumed that in a generation, there would only be one person with transcendent talent like himself, so Lu Yang must be at the level of a dual spirit root.

As a peerless genius with a single spirit root, he felt he should care for the mediocre geniuses.

"Sword Spirit Root."

"Damn you."

"Huh?" Lu Yang was completely confused.

Another half-day passed, and the people behind them entered the second round one after another. Dai Bufan weeded out those whose bone structure did not meet the standards.

Listening to the discussions of those behind, it seemed that several people with special constitutions had appeared. Before he could inquire about the specifics, the senior sister, Yun Zhi, appeared before everyone, lightly dropped the words "The second round begins now," and then vanished, leaving everyone feeling bewildered.

Thick fog began to rise, like smoke and waves, vast and water-like, as if a giant gauze net had shrouded everything in the bamboo forest.

Everyone instinctively tried to struggle, but it was of little use; their bodies felt weak, and their consciousness gradually sank.

This was the Illusion Bamboo Forest, a part of the Sect Protection Array; how could these people possibly resist it?

Yun Zhi drew a circle with a wave of her hand, dispelling the fog to clear a space, and the disciples of the Ask Dao Sect stood behind her.

Dai Bufan chuckled, "Falling into the Illusion Bamboo Forest will make them forget their identities, forget the trial, and forget everything, forcing them to make the most authentic reactions. I just don't know how many will pass the second round this time."

"I hope more pass. There are several good seedlings in this batch; it would be a pity if they were lost in the second round."

Yun Zhi had not kicked Meng Jingzhou and Lu Yang out of the trial because the test question Meng Jingzhou had received was not from this year, but from twenty years ago.

"I wonder which elder sold it to him."

"Junior Brother Dai, who do you think will pass the second round?"

"Naturally, that Ancient Barbarian Tribe member. The Ancient Barbarian Tribe is famous for their simple hearts; their character is beyond doubt."

"I think that 'Single' Spiritual Root and the Sword Spirit Root are also good; they look like honest people."

Yun Zhi thought of the scene where Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou were discussing how to cheat in the carriage and felt that neither of them could be considered honest.

"Where am I?" The burly man from the Ancient Barbarian Tribe was named Man Gu. He looked around in confusion, having forgotten what had just happened.

He held a worn-out axe and stood by a river; the stream was sparkling and quite beautiful.

Man Gu's hand slipped, and the worn-out axe fell into the river. Just as Man Gu was about to fish it out, he saw the river bubbling. The bubbles grew more numerous and larger, and a fountain surged up. A fairy-like, divine figure appeared, with three axes of different styles floating in front of him.

"Young man, I am the River Spirit. Did you drop this worn-out axe, this spiritual Mountain-Opening Axe, or this immortal Heaven-Opening Axe?"

The spiritual Mountain-Opening Axe and the immortal Heaven-Opening Axe were two famous axes on the Central Continent. Even a commoner without talent, once obtaining these two axes, could soar to the heavens and become a giant-like figure.

Man Gu blurted out, "It is the worn-out axe."

The River Spirit revealed a faint smile, "What an honest young man. Then, all three axes are yours."

Man Gu passed the second round.

"Look, I told you Man Gu would definitely pass the second round. Let me see how the 'Single' Spiritual Root and the Sword Spirit Root choose." Dai Bufan watched on with great interest.

The second round tested honesty, and the standard for passing was to obtain all three axes.

The River Spirit was not an illusion; he was born in the river surrounding the bamboo forest, a creature nurtured by heaven and earth.

He manifested countless avatars, entered the illusion, and tested everyone.

The River Spirit likes honest people. There is only one way to pass the second trial: answer the River Spirit's question honestly so that it will gift you the three axes.

"Huh? How did my axe fall into the river?" Lu Yang felt a bit strange; he felt as if some inexplicable force had compelled him to drop the axe.

The River Spirit appeared once again, gently asking Lu Yang, "Young man, I am the River Spirit. Did you just drop this worn-out axe, this spirit-tier Mountain-Opening Axe, or perhaps this immortal-tier Heaven-Opening Axe?"

Lu Yang crouched down, his gaze sweeping across the three different axes. He looked up at the River Spirit as if looking at someone mentally challenged, his eyes filled with pity: "Two of these axes belong to you. You don't even know which two axes are yours, yet you're asking me instead?"

The River Spirit's smile stiffened. For a moment, it didn't know what to say, so it had to go along with Lu Yang's words: "I truly do not know which two axes are mine."

Lu Yang looked at the River Spirit vigilantly: "Then if I choose an axe, don't you go suddenly regaining your memory and saying you remembered which two axes were yours."

"Absolutely not," the River Spirit vowed solemnly.

"Let me take a look at all three of these axes."

The River Spirit handed all three axes to Lu Yang.

Lu Yang immediately turned around and threw all the axes into the river: "Can you ask that question again?"

The River Spirit asked reflexively: "Did you just drop the worn-out axe, the spirit-tier Mountain-Opening Axe, or perhaps the immortal-tier Heaven-Opening Axe?"

A smile spread across Lu Yang's face: "I dropped all of them."

The River Spirit: "..."

The River Spirit gritted its teeth and said: "What a truly honest young man. In that case, all three axes are yours."