Who Says a Trash Spirit Root Can't Become an Immortal

"Zhou Xuan, don't come looking for me anymore."

"I'm afraid my senior brothers and master might misunderstand!"

Heavenly Profound Continent.

Western Desolate Region.

Spirit Sword Pavilion.

Outside a dilapidated woodshed in the servant quarters.

The woman speaking wore a moon-white inner sect disciple robe, the hem embroidered with exquisite spirit patterns, giving her an ethereal, fairy-like appearance.

Liu Ruyan, the closing disciple of the current Spirit Sword Pavilion sect master and the designated next Saintess.

But she was also the childhood sweetheart of the former outer sect servant disciple, Zhou Xuan.

When Zhou Xuan greeted Liu Ruyan with a heart full of joy, hearing these words felt like being struck by lightning.

Wearing that faded, gray servant's uniform, he stood rooted to the spot like a piece of deadwood.

"So love just disappears, right?"

Zhou Xuan's voice was very soft, as if he were asking her, or perhaps asking himself.

He gazed at the beautiful face before him, both familiar and strange, as his thoughts drifted back twenty years.

That year, he was transmigrated into this world as an infant.

At first, he thought this was just a parallel space-time similar to ancient China.

Relying on a mind and capability that transcended the era, he quickly built a fortune with his ten-year-old prodigy status, becoming the young master of the wealthy Zhou family.

It was also at that time that he met Liu Ruyan, who was shivering in a street corner after her family fell into ruin.

He brought her home and gave her the best life possible.

He thought he would be like every protagonist in a transmigration novel, living a life of wealth and divine romance.

It wasn't until an immortal flying on a sword descended and severed a river with a single finger that he suddenly realized.

So this was a world of cultivation.

And as a transmigrator, he must be the one-in-a-million child of destiny; he had to cultivate, he absolutely had to cultivate.

Liu Ruyan was simply brought up the mountain along with him as his dependent.

But fate seemed to play a massive joke on him.

He didn't become the child of destiny; instead, he became a piece of trash known throughout the entire sect!

On the day of the sect's spiritual root test, he, the transmigrator, was found to have the most impure five-element spiritual root.

A trash root universally recognized in the cultivation world as incapable of building a foundation.

And Liu Ruyan, whom he had spent all his family wealth to bring up the mountain, traveling over mountains and through rivers while caring for her meticulously, had been tested.

She was found to have the one-in-a-million Heavenly Grade Water Spirit Root.

The potential of a Great Emperor.

The sect master appeared on the spot, took her as a closing disciple, and bestowed upon her countless heavenly treasures.

For this, Zhou Xuan had been genuinely happy for her.

Even if he were trash, he could at least rely on her.

But she had only been in the inner sect for a few short days.

He never expected that the first thing she would say to him upon returning was this.

A light, airy mention of a misunderstanding was enough to completely erase everything they had shared in the past.

He, Zhou Xuan, had become a complete and utter clown.

Liu Ruyan's eyes flickered, as if she were unwilling to meet his gaze.

"I'm sorry, Zhou Xuan."

"You are a good person, but you are not a genius. The cultivation world needs geniuses, not good people."

Her voice lacked the gentleness of the past, leaving only cold reality.

"You and I are now like mayflies meeting the blue sky; we are as different as clouds and mud, no longer on the same level."

She took a small cloth bag from her storage pouch and held it out.

"Here are twenty low-grade spirit stones as compensation for you taking care of me all these years."

Zhou Xuan looked at the bag and suddenly laughed with disdain.

His laughter carried a hint of self-mockery.

"You think I took care of you just for these things?"

"Liu Ruyan, you have misjudged me, Zhou Xuan!"

He swung his hand violently, knocking the bag heavily to the ground.

Clang, clang.

Twenty crystalline spirit stones rolled out, scattering across the ground and losing their luster amidst the dust.

He did not even spare Liu Ruyan another glance.

A flicker of imperceptible pity flashed through Liu Ruyan's eyes.

It was immediately replaced by cold resolve.

She turned around, her back to him.

"Just because you won't accept them doesn't mean I didn't offer."

"The debt of gratitude is repaid; from this moment on, there is no longer any connection between us."

"In the future, within the sect, I do not wish to hear any rumors regarding our past."

"Rest assured."

Zhou Xuan's voice came from behind her, terrifyingly calm.

"Future Saintess Liu, a heaven-favored daughter like you is far beyond the reach of a piece of trash like me, Zhou Xuan!"

Liu Ruyan's footsteps faltered for a moment.

"Zhou Xuan, let me give you one last piece of advice: take the spirit stones and leave the Spirit Sword Pavilion."

"This place is not for you."

Zhou Xuan laughed.

"On what grounds?"

"Why is it that you can cultivate immortality, but I cannot?"

"I'm not leaving today!"

"I refuse to believe that a trash spirit root can't become an immortal!"

With her back to him, Liu Ruyan sighed helplessly.

"Fine."

"I intended to help you escape this sea of suffering, but since you are unwilling, then suit yourself."

As her voice faded, she took a step, her figure transforming into a streak of light that vanished into the horizon.

Without a shred of lingering attachment.

Outside the woodshed, a deathly silence returned.

Zhou Xuan stood where he was, motionless for a long time.

Not until he could no longer sense Liu Ruyan's presence.

"Damn it!"

He cursed under his breath, the cold expression on his face instantly collapsing as his eyes narrowed involuntarily at the spirit stones.

Grumbling, he crouched down and began to grope around on the ground.

His mouth said no, but his body was very honest.

Good heavens.

Twenty low-grade spirit stones!

As a chore disciple, he chopped wood and carried water, doing the most grueling and exhausting labor, yet he didn't even earn half a spirit stone in monthly wages.

These twenty spirit stones were an unimaginably huge fortune to him.

To refuse them would be truly foolish.

Dignity?

In the face of resources that could keep him alive and make him stronger, dignity was worthless.

Zhou Xuan bent down, his fingers just touching the first cold spirit stone.

Suddenly.

A cold, mechanical voice sounded in his mind without warning.

[Ding!]

[Due to the host's shameless yet money-grubbing behavior, the Salted Fish Turnaround System has been activated!]

[This system is dedicated to helping the host turn their life around, make use of waste, and reach the pinnacle of life!]

Ecstasy flooded Zhou Xuan's face, his heart pounding wildly.

A system!

My system!

The golden finger essential for every transmigrator had arrived twenty years late, but it had finally come!

He suppressed the wild joy in his heart and communicated with it using his consciousness.

"Waste utilization? What does that mean?"

[Ding! Detected low-grade energy materials available for absorption in front of the host—twenty low-grade spirit stones.]

[Can be converted into sixty points of Gold-Touch Value.]

The mechanical voice rang out once more.

[By consuming Gold-Touch Value, you can transmute all things, turning waste into treasure.]

Zhou Xuan's breathing instantly grew rapid.

Turning waste into treasure!

Does that mean!

"What about my spirit root? Can my impure five-element trash spirit root be upgraded too?"

His voice was trembling.

This was the greatest inner demon he had faced until now!

[It can.]

The system's reply was crisp and decisive.

It was like the voice of the Heavenly Dao, sweeping away the gloom in Zhou Xuan's heart!

"Hahahaha!"

"Hahahahahaha!"

Zhou Xuan could no longer restrain himself and looked up to the sky, laughing wildly. His laughter sounded exceptionally abrupt outside the silent woodshed.

"Liu Ruyan!"

"You think I'm trash?"

"You think I have no hope in this life?"

"I, Zhou Xuan, am the true son of destiny!"

The long-suppressed unhappiness was swept away, but Zhou Xuan's wild laughter was interrupted by a sudden cold snort.

"Heh."

"A trash chore-servant who chops wood and carries water dares to call himself the son of destiny? It's an absolute joke!"

Zhou Xuan's laughter came to an abrupt halt.

He turned his head sharply.

He saw a young man standing under the shade of a tree not far away, though he hadn't noticed when he arrived.

The young man wore the same moon-white inner sect disciple uniform as Liu Ruyan, with a valuable jade pendant hanging from his waist. He stood with his arms crossed, looking at Zhou Xuan with a face full of disdain.

Zhou Xuan's brows furrowed.

He did not recognize this person, but he was all too familiar with that uniform.

An inner sect disciple!

The young man clearly had no interest in wasting words on Zhou Xuan.

His gaze passed over Zhou Xuan and locked firmly onto the twenty spirit stones scattered on the ground.

A trace of greed flashed in his eyes.

He lifted his chin and spoke to Zhou Xuan in a commanding tone.

"You, pick up the spirit stones on the ground and give them to me."

Then, he added with a sneer.

"Junior Sister Liu is kind-hearted, which is why she gave compensation to trash like you."

"But do you even deserve to use Junior Sister Liu's spirit stones?"

"For a piece of garbage who can't even sense spiritual energy, holding onto spirit stones is just a waste!"

Calling him trash at every turn.

Calling him garbage at every turn.

Zhou Xuan was furious inside, but he didn't make a move.

The faint, fluctuating spiritual energy on the other man was far beyond what he, a first-stage Body Tempering cultivator, could compare to.

An inner sect disciple is at least in the Spirit Qi Realm.

Rushing at him would be no different from seeking death.

Endure!

I'll endure it today!

But while I endure, don't even think about taking my things!

A humble smile instantly plastered itself onto Zhou Xuan's face.

He bent down, picking up the spirit stones from the ground while issuing a command to the system in his mind.

"System, convert all these spirit stones into Gold-Touch Points for me!"

[Ding! Command received.]

[Absorbing low-grade spirit stones!]

[Gold-Touch Points +3]

[Gold-Touch Points +3]

Every time Zhou Xuan picked up a spirit stone, a notification sound rang out in his mind.

He could clearly feel that after the spirit stones in his hand were absorbed by the system, their smooth, warm texture and the faint spiritual energy contained within them were rapidly vanishing, turning them into nothing more than ordinary, worthless rocks.

Soon, all twenty spirit stones were gathered into that small cloth bag.

He stood up and respectfully handed the bag over.

"Senior Brother is right; it is I who am unworthy."

"Consider these spirit stones a token of my respect for you."

The inner sect disciple took the bag with satisfaction and weighed it in his hand.

He glanced at Zhou Xuan, the arrogant expression on his face softening slightly.

"Not bad, you kid are quite sensible."

"If you run into any trouble at the chores department in the future, you can come to Green Bamboo Peak in the inner sect and mention my name."

"My name is Zhao Long!"

"Understood, Senior Brother Zhao Long! I have noted it down!"

Zhou Xuan nodded and bowed, his face filled with an expression of overwhelming gratitude.

Yet, inside, his heart was ice cold.

Zhao Long, is it?

Green Bamboo Peak, is it?

I, your father, have remembered you.