My Extreme Yin Sect Doesn't Take In Useless Five-Spirit Root Disciples!

"Ah—!"

A shrill scream exploded across the square, then stopped abruptly, as if someone had pinched the screamer's throat shut.

Zhao Hao saw it with his own eyes. The scrawny boy, barely over ten, had been touched on the forehead by the black-robed steward, and in that instant his whole body seemed to have its bones pulled out, slumping limply downward.

No—not slumping limply.

He was melting.

The boy's skin turned transparent at a speed visible to the naked eye. Flesh and blood, like wax melted by a raging fire, streamed from his skeleton strand by strand, until in the end even the skeleton melted away with it.

The black Soul Summoning Banner in the black-robed steward's other hand stirred though there was no wind, and a twisted human face faintly appeared on the banner's surface.

He raised his hand, and a pitch-black little bottle floated up out of thin air.

The puddle of melted flesh and blood on the ground was swept into the bottle by a force of suction. Once the stopper was sealed, he put it into the gray cloth bag at his waist.

Just moments ago, a living, breathing person had still been standing in that spot.

Now, only the bloody stench permeating the air proved that everything just now had not been an illusion.

The hundred-odd boys and girls who had been captured and brought to the square were utterly silent, like crows and sparrows had gone mute.

Some were trembling all over; water stains were spreading through others' crotches.

A yin wind poured in from every direction, carrying a sweet, cloying odor that was impossible to tell whether it was blood or rot.

Zhao Hao stood near the front of the line, his fingernails nearly digging into the flesh of his palm.

He had "woken up" half an incense stick ago. Fortunately, there had been no small number of people "collapsed" on the ground just like him.

One second, he had still been in his rented room on Earth, staying up late to rush a proposal.

The next second, he opened his eyes and found himself among this crowd.

A jumble of unfamiliar memories had exploded in his head—a ten-year-old boy with the exact same name, abducted by demonic cultivators to serve as "raw material" for the Extreme Yin Sect's disciple recruitment ceremony.

That was right. Not "candidate disciples."

Cultivation materials.

To a Demonic Sect, those with spiritual roots were accepted as disciples. Those without spiritual roots... were cultivation materials.

Zhao Hao swallowed, his gaze fixed firmly on the man-height Spirit Testing Stone ahead, and on the black-robed steward beside it.

His heart was screaming madly: Wasn't a transmigrator supposed to come with a golden finger? A system panel? An old grandpa in a ring?

Before his thoughts could even finish turning—

"Next."

The steward's voice was dry and hoarse, scraping against the eardrums until they hurt.

A dark, skinny boy was shoved by a Demonic Sect disciple nearby and staggered into the gray-white Spirit Testing Stone.

The next instant, the stone surface lit up.

Gold, green, blue, red, and yellow—five colors bloomed at the same time, all five colors complete.

The dark, skinny boy froze for an instant, then wild joy filled his face, and even his voice shook. "Five... five colors! I... I have spiritual roots! I can become an immortal!"

He turned his head, his eyes full of the relief of surviving a calamity.

But Zhao Hao's fingers clenched abruptly.

Because he saw the steward's expression.

On that withered face of skin stretched over bone, there was no sign of delight. The corners of his mouth even twitched slightly downward.

"Five-element mixed spiritual roots."

The steward spoke indifferently.

"Trash who would find it hard to break through even to mid-stage Qi Refining. Keeping you would only waste the sect's cultivation resources. Perfect timing—I still happen to be short one corpse-refining material."

The smile on the dark, skinny boy's face froze.

"No... I have spiritual roots! I can cultivate! Please—"

He did not finish speaking.

The sound of the Soul Summoning Banner unfurling was almost inaudible, light as lifting gauze.

The dark, skinny boy's body suddenly stiffened. His eyes bulged round, his mouth gaped wide, yet he could not make the slightest sound.

A wisp of nearly transparent light was forcibly torn out from the crown of his head and swept into the Soul Summoning Banner.

This time, the boy's physical body did not melt. Instead, it rapidly turned gray-white and rigid.

The steward took a black cloth bag from his waist. As the mouth of the bag opened, a nauseating corpse stench rushed out.

That husk, still wearing an expression of terror, was sucked inside by an invisible force.

Corpse Refining Bag.

No spiritual roots, extract the soul and refine the blood.

Five-element mixed spiritual roots, extract the soul and refine the corpse.

Alarm bells blared in Zhao Hao's heart as he mechanically counted how many people were still ahead of him.

Seven.

Only seven people left.

His legs were shaking.

It was not fear. It was his muscles spasming out of control. His body had moved one step ahead of his brain, foreseeing the ending that was about to come.

Any fellow Daoist who transmigrated often knew—how could you possibly transmigrate without bringing a golden finger?

Just then, a layer of pale golden light suddenly floated up before Zhao Hao's eyes.

It was extremely faint, almost transparent, and even flickered a few times like an old television.

At the center of the light screen, a line of small words appeared.

[All-Things Enhancement System activated...]

Zhao Hao's pupils shrank slightly, but his heart was screaming, I knew it!!!

No one around him noticed anything strange about him.

A young girl in the front row was pushed forward. The Spirit Testing Stone lit up with four colors, and the deacon's attitude remained cold as he waved for the disciples to take her away.

Four spiritual roots. Barely qualified.

Zhao Hao desperately forced down his breathing and his violently pounding heart, then swept his gaze rapidly over the contents on the panel.

[Name: Zhao Hao]

[Cultivation Realm: None]

[Spiritual Roots: Metal (low grade), Wood (low grade), Water (low grade), Fire (low grade), Earth (low grade)]

Those five words smashed into Zhao Hao's mind, making his ears begin to buzz.

Five-element mixed spiritual roots!

The fate of that dark, skinny youth before him was still vivid in his mind.

When his soul had been dragged out, his mouth had opened so wide, yet he had not been able to squeeze out even a single scream.

Six. There were still six people ahead of him.

What should he do? Save me!

Like a madman, Zhao Hao checked the system panel, his will fiddling with the translucent interface as he searched for a thin thread of survival.

[Enhancement Function]

[Please place the main item into the enhancement slot...]

[Please place the consumable materials into the material slot...]

[Tip: Enhancement successful → main item increases by one small grade. Enhancement failed → main item's grade remains unchanged. Whether enhancement succeeds or fails, consumable materials are destroyed.]

Zhao Hao's gaze nailed itself to the final line of words.

Whether enhancement succeeded or failed, consumable materials were destroyed!

A crazed thought exploded in his mind.

Five spiritual roots meant certain death.

Then what if... he treated the extra spiritual roots as consumable materials and destroyed them?

His hands were shaking.

No, his whole body was shaking.

He locked his will onto the [main item slot], and sure enough, spiritual root attributes appeared among the available options.

Metal, wood, water, fire, earth.

Five spiritual roots lay before him. Whichever one he chose as the main item, the remaining four would be materials.

There was no time to agonize over it. Zhao Hao chose the fire spiritual root.

The Demonic Sect valued slaughter. A fire spiritual root probably had a higher chance of surviving.

He chose fire.

A wave of faint heat rose from the depths of his dantian.

On the system panel, a dark-red glimmer fell into the [main item slot].

It could be placed!

He hesitated no longer and immediately placed "metal spiritual root" into the [material slot].

[Enhancement success rate +20%]

It really worked!

A 20% enhancement success rate was too low!

His heart hardened, and he placed the wood spiritual root, water spiritual root, and earth spiritual root into the material slots one by one.

Four beams of different-colored light swayed unsteadily in the material slots.

A new prompt popped up on the panel:

[Main item: Fire Spiritual Root (low grade) strengthening to (mid grade)]

[Materials consumed: Low-grade Spiritual Roots (metal, wood, water, earth)]

[Strengthening success rate: 80%]

[Begin strengthening?]

80%.

Zhao Hao stared at that number, the root of his tongue turning bitter.

If it succeeded, the quality of his fire spiritual root would rise, and his little life would be saved.

If it failed, the quality of his fire spiritual root would remain unchanged, the other four spiritual roots would be destroyed, and he would be left with only one fire spiritual root—except that because this fire spiritual root was only one-fifth the size of a normal spiritual root, it displayed low-grade quality.

What fate awaited someone with a low-grade fire spiritual root?

Soul extraction? Or being refined into a corpse?

Zhao Hao did not dare imagine what would come after.

In the brief moment he spent thinking, two more people ahead had already passed.

One with four spiritual roots was reluctantly accepted.

One with no spiritual root was refined into bloody water on the spot.

The stench of blood was so thick it choked the nose.

Four. There were still four people ahead.

He could not wait any longer!

He would gamble!!!

Zhao Hao closed his eyes.

Confirm strengthening!