His Talent Was Truly Abysmal

The strength of a cultivator's talent depended not only on the strength of his spiritual roots, but also on his meridians.

Some people had strong meridians with few barriers or bottlenecks. Even with poor spiritual roots, their cultivation would not progress too slowly.

Unfortunately, such people were exceedingly rare.

Talent and meridian strength usually went hand in hand, both present from birth.

Lin Mo, who possessed a five-spirit root, was now facing his first barrier.

Damn it, already? I've heard that when other cultivators with five-spirit roots advance to Qi Refining, their spiritual qi usually has to circulate three full circuits before hitting a barrier. Why have I run into one on just the second circuit? Could my talent... be the worst even among those trash five-spirit roots?

Lin Mo cursed inwardly, but his refusal to admit defeat flared up. Steeling himself, he drove a mass of spiritual qi straight at the barrier.

This was, in fact, an extremely dangerous move.

Ultimately, Lin Mo's body was still mortal flesh and blood. It could not withstand such a powerful impact. One careless mistake could destroy his meridians and leave him crippled.

Fortunately, his luck held. More precisely, the spirit spring water he had drunk over the past few days had strengthened his meridians. He broke through the barrier smoothly, then swept through nine circuits like a blade splitting bamboo before encountering the most difficult barrier of all.

By then, Lin Mo had barely any spiritual qi left in his body.

For anyone else, this would have all but spelled failure.

But Lin Mo had come prepared. He gulped down another mouthful of spirit spring water, instantly replenishing his strength, and his spiritual qi roared as it crashed into the barrier.

Crack, crack!

A wave of excruciating pain followed.

The untamed spiritual qi in the spring water was too wild and somewhat beyond his control. It nearly tore his meridians apart.

This is bad!

Lin Mo's heart lurched.

This barrier was far too thick for him to break through.

He still had not accumulated enough spiritual qi.

He instinctively tightened his grip on the gourd, his thoughts racing.

Although the gourd could currently hold only water, he could mash up the spirit fruits and stuff them inside. With its ability to turn trash into treasure, perhaps it could help him.

The idea was something of a flight of fancy, but right now, Lin Mo could only treat a dead horse as though it were still alive.

With that thought, he laboriously mashed up two spirit fruits and stuffed them into the Little Gourd. He mixed them with the spirit spring water remaining inside, hesitated briefly, then poured the mixture into his mouth in one gulp.

If his idea proved wrong, the raging spiritual qi would mercilessly destroy his already damaged meridians.

At that point, even an immortal descending from heaven would struggle to save his life.

But Lin Mo had no choice but to gamble.

After all, if he failed to break through to Qi Refining, he would have no way to try again anytime soon.

He would inevitably fail the assessment and be expelled from the sect.

The moment the spirit spring water mixed with spirit fruit entered his mouth, the raging spiritual qi arrived as expected, worsening his injuries and bringing even more intense pain.

Yet an unknown power emerged from nowhere, actually causing Lin Mo's injuries to heal rapidly.

Grimacing in pain, Lin Mo seized the opportunity to charge at the barrier again and finally smashed open a breach.

The spiritual qi behind it surged forward, eventually flowing into the spiritual qi vortex and completing the tenth greater celestial circuit.

Rumble.

Everything fell quiet.

He had reached Qi Refining!

Lin Mo dropped onto his backside. His dantian still ached where that final barrier had stood.

Even now, blood continued to seep from his mouth, but it could not dampen the wild joy in his heart.

After three years of bitter cultivation, he had finally become a true cultivator.

"I really am a good-for-nothing. Just reaching Qi Refining nearly killed me."

Without that final flash of inspiration, he probably would never have succeeded.

Lin Mo curled his lip in self-mockery and tightened his grip on his precious gourd.

Without it, success would have been utterly impossible.

Having entered the Qi Refining Realm and become a cultivator, Lin Mo had effectively passed the assessment automatically.

Imagining how he had finally stepped onto the path of immortal cultivation and become an immortal, Lin Mo could not help chuckling foolishly.

"I still have one spirit fruit left. Selling it might give me enough to buy a drop of genuine spirit spring water."

Lin Mo bounced the last fiery-red spirit fruit in his hand, brimming with dreams of the wonderful life ahead.

"Once it's light, I'll go to the Sect Affairs Hall and register as an outer sect disciple."

At last, he would no longer have to empty other people's chamber pots.

He spent four hours stabilizing his cultivation. Only after daylight had fully broken did Lin Mo get up and go looking for Steward Cui.

As the steward of the Servant Disciples' Courtyard, Steward Cui had already reached the limit of his cultivation. Barring any surprises, he would remain here for the rest of his days, bullying servant disciples whenever he had nothing better to do. It was quite a comfortable life.

"Why are you here instead of collecting chamber pots?"

"We don't have enough people to replace you right now. Besides, the sect assessment is only a few days away. If you can't become a cultivator, you'll have to leave anyway. A few more days won't make a difference, so just keep doing it for now."

Steward Cui's manner was neither warm nor cold.

He assumed Lin Mo had come to ask again for someone to take over his chamber-pot collection duties.

Lin Mo chuckled twice and said, "Steward Cui, I've become a cultivator!"

He was still a boy at heart, and he could not suppress the smile on his face.

"Oh?!"

Somewhat surprised, Steward Cui reached out and caught Lin Mo's wrist. After a brief examination, he discovered that Lin Mo had indeed entered the Qi Refining Realm, and a smile appeared on his own face as well.

"You really are at the first level of Qi Refining."

"I never thought you'd be so lucky, kid. You actually passed your final assessment and became a cultivator. Tsk, tsk. What dumb luck."

"You came today because you want to become an outer sect disciple?"

"Come with me."

Reaching only the first level of Qi Refining after three years put him on a par with these servant disciples, and no one else.

Without some great stroke of fortune, he would probably never advance to Foundation Establishment in his lifetime, nor accomplish anything significant.

Still, he had at least risen above the crowd.

As steward of the Servant Disciples' Courtyard, having a few more of his charges become outer sect disciples counted as an achievement, one for which the sect would reward him.

He immediately led Lin Mo away to see his uncle, Outer Elder Cui Zhong.

On the way, they encountered several outer sect disciples. Seeing Lin Mo following Steward Cui, one asked bluntly, "Hey, you there, why didn't you come collect the chamber pots today?"

Steward Cui glanced at them, his tone betraying no emotion.

"Lin Mo won't be collecting chamber pots anymore. He's entered the Qi Refining Realm. From today onward, he's an outer sect disciple."