A Windfall

Sitting upright above the clouds, Xu Yuan looked down at the seekers below. In such a short while, their numbers had already dwindled by more than a tenth.

Yet those remaining showed no intention of stopping. Instead, they grew ever more frenzied. After roughly half a quarter-hour, a burly middle-aged man finally charged to the front and arrived at the table in the very center.

"Immortal, are you an Immortal? I've come to seek the Dao."

The middle-aged man could scarcely hide his excitement, but the Inner Mountain disciple before him merely gave him a cold glance and said flatly, "You are over thirty. Go back down."

"What did you... say?"

The middle-aged man asked blankly, but the Inner Mountain disciple had no intention of explaining. With a sweep of his sleeve, the man was immediately caught by a gust of wind and dropped back onto the clouds.

Before he could recover his senses, the surging crowd swallowed him whole. Amid shoving and jostling, he fell from the cloudbank with a scream.

As more and more people came up, quite a few were assigned to Xu Yuan's side as well.

A few breaths ago, the elder had already read out the rules. Now, these seekers were no longer rushing forward like headless flies, but obediently formed long lines.

Xu Yuan's task was simple: first register their names and ages, then test their innate spiritual roots. Those suitable would be accepted into the ranks behind him; those slightly lacking would be asked whether they wished to go to the mines.

As for whether one's spiritual roots were suitable, that naturally depended on spiritual energy affinity. One hundred was considered perfect, and anyone with any spiritual root above twenty could enter an immortal sect.

Those below twenty but above fifteen could go to the mines.

Watching the seekers who, after testing their roots on the spirit-testing stone, happily prepared to head to the mines, Xu Yuan fell silent for a moment. A year ago, he had probably felt much the same. Now, it was truly like looking into a mirror.

After processing a few more people, Xu Yuan finally saw the benefit Rong Ling had mentioned.

The newcomer appeared to be the child of a minor family. He possessed dual fire and water spiritual roots, but both were below twenty, with his fire root reaching nineteen.

By strict standards, this youth naturally could not enter the immortal sect. But after he handed over a plump little pouch, things became different.

"Go wait over there."

With a grand flourish of his brush, Xu Yuan gave him a look, then personally wrote down his name in the disciple register.

As for a spiritual root of nineteen—did anyone see nineteen? Xu Yuan had clearly seen a perfectly exact twenty.

Where there was one, there was two. Before long, Xu Yuan received quite a few more small gifts and admitted many more disciples whose affinity was "just barely" twenty.

Still, there had to be a limit to this sort of thing. The best candidates to slip through had an affinity of nineteen; eighteen was the absolute limit. Any lower, and the elder in the air might have to enforce the rules impartially.

By the end of it, the drawer beneath Xu Yuan's table was already half full.

Just then, a rather discordant voice suddenly rang out from the center.

"Not accepting me? You dare refuse me? Do you know who I am? My father is the Commandery Governor of Anyang Commandery in the Yue Kingdom, and my mother is the current Emperor's own younger sister! Your Hidden Moon Sect takes so much tribute from our Yue Kingdom every year, yet you dare turn me away now!"

Pointing at the Inner Mountain disciple before him, a man in embroidered robes and jade garments cursed wantonly. The servant beside him tried to pull him back, only to receive a savage kick to the chest.

However, just as he was cursing with gusto, he failed to notice the sudden smile on the Inner Mountain disciple's face. "Oh? I truly did not know that the young master of the Commandery Governor's household stood before me."

With a humble salute, the Inner Mountain disciple rose to his feet. Hearing this, the arrogant man proudly raised his chin. But just as he was about to speak again, he discovered that his body had suddenly slipped beyond his control.

His eyes remained wide and glaring as he watched the white-robed disciple draw closer and closer, terror rising in his gaze along with a trace of pleading.

But the other man simply kept smiling and patted his shoulder. "It's all right. Just be more careful in your next life."

As those words fell, the domineering man suddenly opened his mouth wide. Then, a black insect the size of a fingernail crawled out.

Then came two, three, hundreds, thousands—countless black insects poured from his mouth. At last, they were no longer confined to his mouth; black insects surged from every opening in his body. In no more than a breath, they engulfed him entirely.

A hair-raising sound of gnawing filled the air. The Inner Mountain disciple even had the leisure to relax the restriction slightly, allowing everyone present to clearly hear the wails of the man who had offended him, while he himself drifted lightly back to his seat.

"You. Come forward."

Pointing at the terrified and uncertain servant beside him, the Inner Mountain disciple gestured for him to step forward. The latter froze for a moment, as though unable to believe there was still a place for him here.

Trembling, he placed his hand on the spirit-testing stone. As spiritual light flashed, the words "Earth Spiritual Root: Twenty-Five" appeared clearly before him.

"Not bad. You have some aptitude. Go on over."

With a casual wave, he sent the servant behind him. Joy abruptly flooded the tall man's face, and he forcefully kowtowed several times to the Inner Mountain disciple. Even as he walked away, he glanced at the young master still screaming over there, his heart brimming with delight.

"So what if you were master and I was servant? Now I have stepped through the immortal gate, while you are nothing but a pile of bones!"

This was not the only place where such bizarre scenes played out during the Immortal Ascension Ceremony.

Some, unable to bear the blow, jumped from the clouds. Some were so overwhelmed by joy that they became witless on the spot. Some loving couples were separated forever between immortal and mortal. Other servants turned their lives around as well. Xu Yuan even saw someone attempt seduction.

Chaos and clamor continued until, three hours later, the ceremony came to an end.

Those reluctant to leave were swept away with a flick of the elder's sleeve high above. The clouds rolled back, concealing the immortal mountain.

This time, a total of one hundred seventy-six disciples were admitted, while the mines gained more than two hundred new slaves.

As for his own gains, Xu Yuan looked at the seven bulging pouches in his drawer, unable to stop a smile from appearing on his face.

Five of them had been gifted by children of families who had nearly met the qualifications, while the other two came from people wishing to enter the mines.

Xu Yuan did not even know how to describe such behavior—giving away both money and life—but they had been so insistent that he had no choice.

Perhaps this was what they meant by every drink and every peck being ordained by Heaven.

Once disciple recruitment was complete, the elder called the disciples back, and everyone knowingly handed over a small portion of their hard-earned money.

With that, the ceremony ended, and the group entered the mountain one after another.

Half an hour later, Xu Yuan returned to Biyou Market.

He shut the door tightly and locked it. Though every house had restrictions that made it difficult for others to spy within, Xu Yuan still closed all the windows before taking out the several bulging pouches.

After giving the elder two large pouches and one small one, Xu Yuan still had three large pouches and one small pouch left. After counting them, he found that in just three hours, he had actually earned two hundred and forty low-grade spirit stones!