"...Why did the common name sound more like a scientific name than the scientific name?" Lu Yang muttered quietly from behind.
"Because the first senior with a Pure Yang Spiritual Root called his own spiritual root the Single Man Spiritual Root." Yun Zhi's cultivation was unfathomably deep, so Lu Yang's quiet muttering was no different from speaking beside her ear. She heard every word clearly.
Yun Zhi paused, then added, "The cultivation world has a habit of respecting single senior men."
It seemed that adding this sentence could make her explanation more convincing.
Meng Jingzhou passed the first test as a matter of course. After Meng Jingzhou came Lu Yang.
"Hm?! Another Single Spiritual Root?!" Dai Bufan's pupils narrowed slightly. He had just been complaining that he had worked for most of the day without encountering a single Single Spiritual Root, and now two had appeared in succession.
"Me, a Single Spiritual Root?" Lu Yang pointed at himself. His heart pounded, and he felt as if he were hearing things. The corners of his mouth rose involuntarily.
"That's right. You have a Mutated Single Spirit Root—the Sword Spirit Root." Dai Bufan nodded firmly. He had never made a mistake when feeling someone's Root Bone.
The Sword Spirit Root was a sword seed born by nature, sharp and unstoppable, with the greatest offensive power!
The senior sister, Yun Zhi, looked at Lu Yang with slight surprise. She had agreed to ride in the carriage merely on a whim, never expecting both people inside to be top cultivation geniuses.
Everyone's eyes grew increasingly fervent. They began calculating which girls were of a suitable age for Lu Yang, wishing they could kidnap him and have him marry into their forces.
Unlike Meng Jingzhou, who had the Meng Household backing him, Lu Yang was clearly born a commoner, with no one supporting him from behind.
With superb talent but no backing, he was simply the best candidate for marrying into another family.
Most importantly, he could marry and have children!
Lu Yang felt that everyone's gazes were strange. He hurriedly entered the second test.
Behind Dai Bufan was a bamboo forest. The second test would take place inside it.
"How is it? What kind of spiritual root do you have?" Meng Jingzhou quickly emerged from the shadow of the Single Man Spiritual Root and asked Lu Yang eagerly.
So what if he had a Single Man Spiritual Root? The road to immortality was littered with countless dried bones. Female beauty was nothing more than a red-painted skeleton. What did he need beautiful women and fairy maidens by his side for? He did not need them!
As for Lu Yang, although he could pass the first test, there was probably only one person in each generation with talent as transcendent as his own. Lu Yang was merely at the level of a Dual Spiritual Root.
As a peerless genius with a Single Spiritual Root, he ought to show concern for mediocre geniuses.
"The Sword Spirit Root."
"Damn your grandmother."
"Hm?" Lu Yang was utterly confused.
Another half-day passed. The people lined up behind them entered the second test one after another, while Dai Bufan eliminated those whose Root Bones failed to meet the standard.
From the discussions behind them, it seemed that several people with special physiques had appeared as well. Before Dai Bufan could inquire about the details, senior sister Yun Zhi appeared before everyone and casually tossed out, "The second test begins now." She then vanished directly, leaving everyone baffled.
Dense fog gradually rose, like smoke and waves, vast as water. It seemed like a huge gauze net that shrouded everything in the bamboo forest.
Everyone instinctively tried to struggle, but it had little effect. Their bodies went limp, and their consciousness gradually sank.
This was the Illusion Bamboo Forest, one part of the Sect Protection Array. How could people like them possibly resist it?
Yun Zhi casually drew a circle, dispersing the fog and clearing out a patch of space. The disciples of the Ask Dao Sect stood behind her.
Dai Bufan chuckled. "Once they fall into the Illusion Bamboo Forest, they'll forget their identities, forget the test, forget everything, and show their truest reactions. I just wonder how many people will pass the second test this time."
"I hope more of them can pass. There are several promising seedlings in this batch. It would be a pity for them to fall at the second test."
Yun Zhi had never removed Meng Jingzhou and Lu Yang from the test because the question Meng Jingzhou received was not this year's question, but one from twenty years ago.
"I wonder which elder sold it."
"Junior Brother Dai, who do you think can pass the second test?"
"Naturally, that Ancient Barbarian Tribe fellow. The Ancient Barbarian Tribe was famous for its simple, honest nature. There was no doubt about his character."
"I think that Single Man Spiritual Root and Sword Spirit Root fellows are pretty good too. You can tell at a glance that they're honest people."
Yun Zhi recalled the scene of Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou discussing how to cheat inside the carriage and felt that neither of them had anything to do with honest people.
"Where am I?" The brawny man from the Ancient Barbarian Tribe was named Man Gu. He looked around in confusion, having forgotten what had just happened.
He held a battered axe and stood by a river. The stream glittered beneath the light, exceptionally beautiful.
Man Gu's hand slipped, and the battered axe fell into the stream. Just as Man Gu was about to retrieve it, bubbles began gurgling up from the river. More and more bubbles appeared, growing larger and larger. A fountain surged upward, and an immortal-like figure appeared, with three differently styled axes floating before him.
"Young man, I am the River Spirit. Did you drop this battered axe just now, or this Mountain-Opening Axe, a spirit artifact, or perhaps this Heaven-Opening Axe, an immortal artifact?"
The Mountain-Opening Axe and Heaven-Opening Axe were two axes renowned throughout the Central Continent. Even a talentless mortal could soar to the heavens and become a magnate-like figure upon obtaining either one.
Man Gu blurted out, "It was the battered axe."
The River Spirit revealed a faint smile. "What an honest young man. Then all three axes are yours."
Man Gu passed the second test.
"See? I told you Man Gu would definitely pass the second test. Let's see how the Single Man Spiritual Root and Sword Spirit Root choose." Dai Bufan watched with great interest.
The second test examined honesty, and the passing requirement was to obtain all three axes.
The River Spirit was not an illusion. He had been born in the small river surrounding the bamboo forest, a living spirit nurtured by Heaven and Earth.
He transformed into countless incarnations and entered the illusion to test everyone.
The River Spirit liked honest people. There was only one way to pass the second test: answer the River Spirit's questions honestly and have him gift you all three axes.
"Hm? How did the axe fall into the river?" Lu Yang found it strange. He felt as if some inexplicable force had compelled him to drop the axe.
The River Spirit appeared again and asked Lu Yang gently, "Young man, I am the River Spirit. Did you drop this battered axe just now, or this Mountain-Opening Axe, a spirit artifact, or perhaps this Heaven-Opening Axe, an immortal artifact?"
Lu Yang squatted down and swept his gaze over the three different axes. He looked up at the River Spirit as though looking at an idiot, pity in his eyes. "Two of those axes are yours. Don't you know which two axes you have? Why are you asking me instead?"
The River Spirit's smile stiffened. For a moment, he did not know what to say and could only follow Lu Yang's words. "I really don't know which two axes are mine."
Lu Yang watched the River Spirit warily. "What if I choose an axe and you suddenly regain your memory, saying that you remember which two axes are yours?"
"Absolutely not," the River Spirit declared solemnly.
"Let me take a look at all three axes."
The River Spirit handed all three axes to Lu Yang.
Lu Yang immediately turned around and threw all the axes into the river. "Ask me that question again."
The River Spirit reflexively asked, "Did you just drop the battered axe, the spirit-artifact Mountain-Opening Axe, or the immortal-artifact Heaven-Opening Axe?"
A smile spread across Lu Yang's face. "I dropped all of them."
The River Spirit: "..."
The River Spirit gritted his teeth. "What an honest young man. Then all three axes are yours."
Before you continue