Spirit Root Test

After climbing the stone steps for half an hour, the crowd finally reached the mountaintop.

The view suddenly opened up.

A massive stone plaza lay before them, paved with smooth, hard, white-veined boulders that stretched out as far as the eye could see.

This was the welcoming plaza before the gates of the Azure Cloud Sect.

The plaza was immense, easily accommodating thousands of people, and was surrounded by dozens of ten-foot-tall white jade pillars, their tops carved with simple, solemn, and ancient cloud patterns.

Beyond the railings surrounding the plaza, milky-white clouds rolled and churned.

The mist hung low, resembling a vast white sea.

Near the cliffs in the distance, several pavilions were built into the mountainside, their upturned eaves half-hidden in the mist, quiet and solemn.

The plaza was already packed with people.

A dense crowd of boys and girls filled more than half of the open space.

Everyone stopped in their tracks, subconsciously slowing their movements, not daring to make a loud noise.

No one dared to act presumptuously before the gates of an immortal sect.

The youths widened their eyes, looking around.

Some stared up at the cloud-shrouded pavilions, some reached out to touch the cold, smooth white jade pillars, and others kept peering at the towering peaks in the distance, their eyes filled with curiosity and restraint.

"My god, is this really the Azure Cloud Sect?"

"Just this gate plaza is ten times larger than the training grounds in our county city."

"I feel like the air is much fresher than it was at the foot of the mountain."

Whispered exclamations spread softly through the crowd.

Su Yun stood toward the back of the crowd and slowly exhaled.

He raised his head, his gaze sweeping across the entire plaza.

Blue stone, white jade, and a sea of clouds encircling the mountains.

It was worthy of being an immortal cultivation sect.

Magnificent.

He had read countless descriptions of immortal sects in novels and seen them on screen in his past life, but standing here in person, the sensory experience was completely different.

Hum—

A sudden, sharp whistling sound tore through the air from the horizon.

It instantly drowned out all the noise in the plaza.

Everyone in the plaza froze, looking up at the sky in unison.

Beneath the azure sky, a streak of cyan light pierced through layers of clouds, moving at incredible speed before diving downward in an instant.

Standing atop the streak of light was a man dressed in a cyan robe.

He stood tall and straight with one hand behind his back, his feet planted on a three-foot-long cyan blade.

The sword glowed with a lustrous sheen, Sword Qi swirling around it, holding his body steady as the gale howled; his posture remained completely motionless from start to finish.

Sword flight!

The plaza instantly erupted, with gasps and cries ringing out one after another.

"My god! It's really sword flight!"

"Is this the method of an immortal cultivator? Stepping on a sword to fly!"

"So dashing... If I could achieve this in my lifetime, it would be worth dying for!"

A burning light erupted in the eyes of countless youths as they stared fixedly at the figure in the sky, their faces filled with fanaticism and envy.

Su Yun also kept his head tilted back, his gaze locked onto the cyan-robed cultivator.

His heart began to beat uncontrollably fast.

The scene of sword flight, which he had only seen in movies and novels in his past life, was now appearing before his eyes in reality.

High-altitude winds howled, the long sword cut through the air, and the cultivator stood suspended in the void, looking down at the thousands of mortals below.

It was too cool.

This was immortal cultivation.

This was the power that transcended mortals.

The cyan light slowly descended, finally landing on the high platform in the center of the plaza.

As the cyan light dissipated, the cultivator sheathed his sword and stood tall.

He was an old man.

He wore a simple, grey Taoist robe with faint Azure Cloud patterns embroidered on the cuffs.

His face was aged, his features plain, and he lacked any sharp or imposing aura, yet he naturally carried an air of detachment from the world.

The old man stood quietly atop the high platform with his hands clasped behind his back.

His simple presence was enough to instantly silence the noisy crowd.

No one dared to make a sound.

Liu Qing's gaze swept calmly over the thousands of youths below, his voice not loud, yet it carried clearly across the entire square.

"Young ones, you have traveled from afar; you have worked hard."

"I am Liu Qing, an outer sect deacon elder of the Azure Cloud Sect."

"The rules are the same as in previous years: anyone under the age of eighteen may participate in the spirit testing."

"Anyone caught cheating, falsifying their age, or forging their background will have their legs broken and be thrown off Azure Cloud Mountain."

"Without further ado, the recruitment ceremony begins now."

As his voice fell, Liu Qing flicked his wide sleeve casually.

A white jade stone, half the height of a man, appeared out of thin air on the high platform.

The surface of the jade was rough and devoid of patterns, looking entirely unremarkable, yet it faintly emanated a weak, white halo.

"This is the Spirit Testing Stone."

Liu Qing pointed toward the jade. "Place your palm firmly against the stone surface, calm your mind, and there is no need to deliberately channel your energy."

"The spirit stone will naturally sense the spiritual roots within your bodies, and the color of the light will determine your grade."

"No light: no spiritual root;"

"White light: false spiritual root;"

"Cyan light: low-grade spiritual root;"

"Blue light: mid-grade spiritual root;"

"Purple light: high-grade spiritual root;"

"Golden light: heaven-grade spiritual root."

"The higher the grade, the better your talent for cultivation."

The rules were simple, straightforward, and easy to understand.

Everyone below held their breath, firmly memorizing every word, their eyes locked intently on that Spirit Testing Stone.

Without a word of nonsense, the crowd spontaneously began to form lines.

A long queue wound its way across the square, orderly and disciplined.

On both sides of the square, more than a dozen outer sect disciples of the Azure Cloud Sect, dressed in uniform blue cloth tunics, stepped forward to register them one by one.

Names, ages, and places of origin were recorded in the register.

Once the registration was complete, the testing officially began.

"First, Wang Hao!"

A dark-skinned youth stepped quickly onto the high platform, his palms sweating from nervousness as he tremblingly placed his hand on the surface of the Spirit Testing Stone.

After a few breaths.

The Spirit Testing Stone showed no reaction, remaining a dull, murky gray-white.

Liu Qing's expression remained calm as he spoke indifferently: "No spiritual root, eliminated."

The youth's face turned deathly pale, and he walked off the high platform, dejected and soul-broken.

"Next, Li Xue."

A girl in plain clothes stepped forward, her fingertips lightly touching the spirit stone.

A faint, weak white light flickered on the stone's surface for two seconds before dissipating.

"False spiritual root, weak spiritual energy sensitivity, unable to cultivate, eliminated."

More than a dozen people stepped forward to test in succession.

The results were much the same.

Either there was no light, or only a miserable, pale glimmer.

Occasionally, a faint cyan light would flash, but it was dim and murky, belonging to the lowest grade of low-grade spiritual roots.

An outer sect disciple stood at the side of the high platform, expressionlessly announcing the verdicts in a loud voice. The eliminated youths left with their heads hanging, while those who passed stood temporarily to the left of the platform to wait.

The cheers in the square gradually died down, replaced by suppressed sighs.

Test after test, disappointment after disappointment.

Over a hundred people in a row, and the best among them produced only a faint azure light—the absolute bottom-tier aptitude of a low-grade spiritual root.

It barely met the minimum standard for recruitment into the Azure Cloud Sect's outer sect.

On the high platform, Liu Qing stood with his hands behind his back, his brows slightly furrowed.

Deep within his aged eyes, disappointment was hard to conceal.

He swept his gaze over the crowd queuing below, shaking his head inwardly.

Each generation was worse than the last.

There were plenty of youths of the appropriate age in the Southern Region this year, far exceeding previous years, yet their talent was ridiculously poor.

Out of over a hundred people, not a single one had reached the middle grade.

Even the passable seedlings were few and far between.

Beside him, two young outer sect disciples responsible for registration lowered their voices, grumbling quietly.

"The Elder's expression has turned sour again."

"It's normal. The last three recruitment sessions have been worse than the one before; even low-grade is considered decent now."

"How long has it been since a middle-grade spirit root appeared? I recall there were only two in the last session."

"The Southern Region is a remote and barren place to begin with, and the spiritual energy is thin. It's good enough that they can even manifest spirit roots; where would all these good seedlings come from?"

The two kept their voices extremely low, yet they still reached the ears of those standing nearby.

The youths in line grew increasingly nervous, their palms sweating, and the sense of oppression in the queue grew heavier.

Su Yun stood in the middle of the line, watching the tests ahead one after another in silence.

He saw it clearly.

False spirit roots and low-grade spirit roots accounted for almost everyone.

The threshold for immortal cultivation was far more rigorous than he had imagined.

Out of ten thousand mortals, there might not even be one with a low-grade spirit root.

He looked down at his own thin palms, feeling uncertain.

What kind of spirit root would he have?

Would he really just be an ordinary mortal, with no fate for cultivation?

Amidst his trepidation, an abrupt exclamation suddenly exploded from the front of the high platform!

"It lit up! Blue light! It's blue light!"

"My god! It really is blue light!"

Everyone looked up instantly, staring at the high platform.

They saw a youth dressed in brocade white robes, his palm pressed tightly against the surface of the Spirit Testing Stone.

A clear, bright, pale blue halo flowed and shimmered along the veins of the jade stone; the blue light was soft and pure, its brightness far exceeding all the previous low-grade spirit roots.

The blue light remained steady and unyielding, clear and eye-catching.

"Middle-grade spirit root!"

The voice of the outer sect disciple announcing the result rose sharply.

On the high platform, Liu Qing, who had maintained a cold expression, revealed a smile.

He stepped forward, observing the white-robed youth with a gentle gaze, and nodded.

"Not bad, middle-grade aptitude."

"Enter the outer sect of my Azure Cloud Sect, cultivate with focus, and within a month, you will be able to guide energy into your body and step into the first level of Qi Refining."

As soon as these words were spoken, the plaza erupted.

Thousands of envious gazes locked firmly onto the white-robed youth.

The boys and girls in line were full of longing, their eyes filled with jealousy and yearning.

Middle-grade spirit root.

This was the difference between heaven and earth.

Low-grade spirit roots cultivated slowly and contained many impurities; it was common for them to be trapped in the early stages of Qi Refining for a lifetime.

But with a middle-grade spirit root, one started by crushing ninety percent of their peers, with faster cultivation speeds and purer absorption of spiritual energy.

As long as no accidents occurred, they would steadily step into the immortal gate, leave the mortal world behind, and leap over the dragon gate.

Within the crowd, the three brocade-clad youths who had previously mocked Su Yun stared fixedly at the high platform, their expressions complex.

"A middle-grade actually appeared..."

"What luck, with this aptitude, he's set."

"I wonder if I'll be able to test for anything above cyan light later..."