Entry Test Begins!

"What was going on? That trash wasn't here—had he gone out?" Zhang Hu failed to find Chen Huai'an at his residence and could not help frowning.

"That trash isn't here, and Wang Tong hasn't returned either. Could that guy be dead?"

"Let's go." Zhang Hu did not linger at Chen Huai'an's residence. Since he could not find him, he could not possibly stay here all the time.

Qingyun Sect did not keep idle hands. Newly admitted servant disciples had seven days to cultivate, but servant disciples like them had daily assignments. If they failed to complete the tasks arranged by the sect every day, they would be punished.

Chen Huai'an entered the Spirit Gourd Space. He did not know how long Zhang Hu and the others would remain at his residence, and he did not want to expose the Spirit Gourd Space's secret.

So today, he stayed in the space a little longer.

"Looks like I still need to find a way to get a hoe. Otherwise, farming in this space simply won't work."

There were several medicinal herbs in the space, and Chen Huai'an had to tend to them carefully. At this rate, they would not be long from becoming spiritual herbs.

The things in this space were the capital he would rely on to rise within Qingyun Sect in the future.

Over the past two days, Chen Huai'an had been worried that Wang Tong's corpse would undergo some strange transformation in the space. Yet the corpse had not evolved or mutated as Chen Huai'an had imagined. It truly seemed to have become nourishment for the growth of polygonatum.

After swallowing a High-Grade Body Tempering Pill to aid his cultivation, he ignored everything else.

Whether outside or inside the space, Chen Huai'an did not want to neglect his cultivation.

After estimating that several hours had passed and that it was roughly nighttime, Chen Huai'an finally emerged from the space.

By now, Chen Huai'an had cleared several more blocked meridians. He was another step closer to breaking through to the First Stage of the Body Tempering Realm.

Upon appearing in his residence, Chen Huai'an found it exactly as it had been when he left. They had likely realized he was not home and departed.

But hiding like this forever was not a solution.

This scourge had to be dealt with.

"If I could obtain Xu Qing's protection, would Zhang Hu still come looking for trouble with me?" Chen Huai'an gazed into the distance.

Of course, this was not impossible to arrange. If handled properly, it could indeed resolve his current crisis.

But he understood the principle that wealth should not be flaunted. If he drew their attention again, it would be as easy as crushing an ant for them to crush him to death.

Xu Qing was at the Body Tempering Realm, Sixth Level. With that High-Grade Body Tempering Pill, he might even break through to the seventh level of the Body Tempering Realm.

Such an expert was not someone Chen Huai'an could scheme against.

At the end of the day, his strength was simply too weak. The weak had no right to speak.

Chen Huai'an stopped thinking about all that messy nonsense. He decided to cultivate properly. Only raising his own strength was the kingly path.

Time flew by. After cultivating for a day and a night, Chen Huai'an had opened thirty meridians within his body. With two extraordinary meridians and three channels left, he would be able to form a perfect closed loop from the sealed meridians in his body and reach the First Stage of the Body Tempering Realm.

Today was the day of the strength test for newly admitted Outer Sect Servant Disciples. All new disciples had to go to Central Plaza for testing, where they would be assigned tasks according to their strength.

"How many meridians have you opened? I only opened one in seven days. Cultivation is really too difficult."

"Exactly. Cultivation is truly too difficult. Even with cultivation resources supplied by my lineage, I only opened two meridians."

When Chen Huai'an arrived at the plaza, the thing he heard most often along the way was how difficult cultivation was.

Among them, the best result he had heard of in seven days was opening three blocked meridians.

Of course, that was only what he had heard along the way, not everyone's result.

Any one of these people, picked at random, had better aptitude than his. Many possessed Mid-grade Spiritual Roots, and their cultivation speed was several times his, yet they had only opened a few meridians.

Chen Huai'an, meanwhile, had opened thirty meridians. He was only a few pills away from breaking through to the initial First Stage of the Body Tempering Realm.

But when he thought of the cultivation resources he had consumed to open so many meridians, his head began to ache.

More than twenty High-Grade Body Tempering Pills, along with a large amount of Spirit Spring Water, had produced this result. Converted into Spirit Stones, they were worth over two hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones. Converted into mortal gold and silver, that was more than two hundred thousand taels of silver.

Chen Huai'an truly did not dare imagine consuming two hundred thousand taels of silver.

Immortals and mortals were worlds apart—truly worlds apart. Breaking through merely to the First Stage of the Body Tempering Realm required so many cultivation resources. Even an imperial lineage could not withstand such consumption.

Then he looked at the servant disciples who had opened two or three meridians. They had spent only a few Low-grade Body Tempering Pills, just several hundred taels of silver, to achieve such results. Opening all the meridians in their bodies would cost only a few thousand taels of silver. The disparity in consumption between the two was simply enormous.

You never knew how great the gap was until you compared them. Aptitude was truly far too important in the immortal cultivation world.

On the path of cultivation, Chen Huai'an was destined to expend several times, perhaps even dozens of times, the effort of ordinary people.

He had yet to break through Body Tempering, yet he was already consuming so many resources. If he were to reach the Qi Refining Realm or the Foundation Establishment Realm, the cultivation resources required would be truly terrifying.

"After seven days of introductory cultivation, it is now time to inspect everyone's cultivation results. Newly admitted servant disciples, line up in order and place your hands on the Testing Stone to test the results of your seven days of cultivation. The top three in strength will be exempt from one month of servant duties, and their benefits and stipend will match those of Outer Sect disciples. The remaining disciples will receive corresponding assignments based on their strength." The presiding deacon's voice exploded across the plaza.

Qingyun Sect did not raise useless idlers. If one wanted to remain in the sect, one had to prove one's value.

The sect's operations required enormous daily expenditures. These servant disciples had to complete various trivial tasks and manage certain enterprises to earn money and keep the sect running.

These newly admitted servant disciples were all young and could not keep things hidden.

Once the first disciple stepped onto the Testing Stone for assessment, other disciples followed one after another.

Because Chen Huai'an had arrived relatively late, he stood near the back of the line.

Several thousand people were divided into several groups. Otherwise, if they all tested together, no one knew how long it would take.

During the long wait, Chen Huai'an discovered that among the servant disciples with Mid-grade Spiritual Roots, even the better ones had only opened a little over ten blocked meridians in seven days.

Yet he had opened thirty meridians this time. That was both a good thing and a bad thing.

As the saying went, the tallest tree in the forest was the first to be battered by the wind.

If his aptitude were better—if he possessed a High-grade Single Spiritual Root—his fast cultivation speed could be explained. But he had a Five Elements Mixed Spiritual Root. With aptitude like his, he was trash among trash, yet his cultivation speed was so fast. There had to be a problem.

For a moment, Chen Huai'an hesitated over whether to complete the entry test. If he tested, he would expose his strength and draw attention. If he did not, he would have to perform servant duties and waste a month of cultivation time.

"No way! There are actually several good seedlings in this batch. It's only been a few days, yet someone has already opened twenty-eight meridians. This cultivation speed is truly impressive!" Just then, a cry of astonishment erupted from the crowd. Someone had opened twenty-eight meridians.

Upon hearing the cry, Chen Huai'an's gaze was immediately drawn over.

Twenty-eight—only two meridians fewer than him. That person was definitely a genius.