Early the next morning...
Chen Beiwu opened his eyes, got up, and drew back the curtains, letting the morning light spill into the bedroom.
He sat cross-legged on the bed and began his daily morning cultivation, meditating on the basic visualization diagram [Great Mystery Guarding the One], which the Immortal Alliance vigorously promoted.
This visualization diagram seemed basic, and all Immortal Alliance students could cultivate it, but in truth, it had an extraordinary origin: it came from the Pure Yang Grotto-Heaven, one of the Five Great Grotto-Heavens.
It was no exaggeration to say that if one comprehended this Visualization Method deeply enough, it could even let a cultivator transform from a worm into a dragon and defy fate!
The principal of Shouhe No. 2 Middle School was a renowned Golden Core True Person in Far Sky County. At the freshman assembly, he had once said that the Great Mystery Guarding the One Visualization Method was the Immortal Alliance's foremost wondrous method for laying the foundation of Spiritual Roots.
This wondrous method could help cultivators preserve the Pure Yang Qi within them. Even simple beginner-level cultivation could subtly improve the quality of their Spiritual Roots through daily practice.
If a cultivator managed to cultivate this Visualization Method to minor mastery, they could be admitted to the Pure Yang Grotto-Heaven as an exception, regardless of their age or whether they had achieved anything in Qi Refining, and leap over the Dragon Gate.
But this method was difficult to cultivate. Chen Beiwu had practiced the Great Mystery Guarding the One Visualization Method for eleven whole years and still hadn't even managed to get started.
Even so, years of cultivation had raised the purity of all his Five Phases Spiritual Roots by one point.
No wonder it's so hard to improve one's Spiritual Roots without finding the way in.
After finishing his routine morning cultivation, Chen Beiwu went downstairs, ate the breakfast his mom had prepared, and left for school.
"Morning."
Seeing Chen Beiwu enter the classroom, Xu Lingling waved to him. "The results are out this time. Your ranking dropped quite a bit. You didn't even make the top five."
Chen Beiwu smiled, sat down, and said, "Do you think I'd believe that?"
"If you don't, look." Xu Lingling handed him her phone.
Without even looking up, Chen Beiwu said, "Xu Ziqing, keep your best friend in check. She's been spouting nonsense first thing in the morning."
"Lingling, a bet is a bet." Xu Ziqing held out her palm toward her deskmate.
"Damn it, why can't I ever fool you!" Xu Lingling glared fiercely at Chen Beiwu.
"That's because you can't even lie." Chen Beiwu's expression remained calm. "Xu Ziqing is the only person in the entire second year who can beat my grades, and you dare say I can't even make the top five in the year?"
Xu Ziqing was not only the top student in their class, but also a top scholar who had held the year's top spot for years.
Her naturally youthful face and graceful figure made her extremely popular at school.
But Chen Beiwu had never chosen his friends based on family background, cultivation, or looks. He only cared about their personalities and Fortune.
Xu Ziqing and Xu Lingling were the cultivators in the class with the best character and the highest Fortune.
The former had a light orange Fortune that was suspected to be Third Tier, while the latter had a dark, murky blue-black Fortune of Second Tier, suggesting that she might face a Calamity.
The mention of grades piqued Chen Beiwu's interest. He pulled out his phone, opened the Shouhe No. 2 Middle School website, and entered his student ID to check his results.
Name: Chen Beiwu [Spiritual Root Aptitude (100 points maximum)] Five Phases Spiritual Roots: 79+ (Water and Wood Earth Spiritual Roots) [Beast Taming Department (150 points maximum)] Exotic Beasts: 145 Beast Rearing: 139 Beast Taming: 135 [Hundred Arts of Immortal Cultivation-Electives (100 points maximum)] Alchemy: 89 Artifact Refining: 93 Formation Arts: 95 Talismans: 92 [Qi Refining Cultivation: Sixth Layer] Total Score: 867 (Second place in the second year)
What a pity. Even if my total score in the academic subjects exceeds the threshold for the Five Great Grotto-Heavens, I still can't apply to any of them. Chen Beiwu thought to himself.
There were many Cultivation Sects in the Immortal Alliance, but only the Five Great Grotto-Heavens were overlords that countless cultivators remembered and talked about with relish. They were the rulers of the Immortal Alliance, possessing absolute strength that could suppress all the world's Sects.
That was precisely why the requirements to apply to the Five Great Grotto-Heavens-Pure Yang, Lunar, Xuanyuan, Zhouhua, and Jade Expanse-were so high, far beyond what ordinary people could imagine.
When Chen Beiwu had first heard the application requirements for the Five Great Grotto-Heavens from his teacher, he had been shocked: only those with Heaven Spiritual Roots, or those who had broken through the Qi Refining Limit and achieved Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment, could take the Immortal Examination.
Chen Beiwu's Spiritual Root aptitude was a little lacking. He couldn't even meet the minimum requirement.
His goal for the College Entrance Examination was one of the Thirteen Immortal Sects, which ranked just below the Five Great Grotto-Heavens, or one of the Seventy-Nine Upper Sects, which were slightly inferior to the Immortal Sects.
"What's wrong?" Chen Beiwu suddenly looked up.
"Once you reach the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining, you can buy a Spirit Beast from the Immortal Alliance. Have you decided on one?" Xu Ziqing asked.
"For now, I'm thinking of an Azure Spirit Newt," Chen Beiwu replied casually.
Cultivators who cultivated the True through Borrowed Beasts needed to choose a demon beast compatible with their own Spiritual Roots. The greater the compatibility between them, the greater the benefits the cultivator received from cultivating the True through Borrowed Beasts, and the faster their cultivation would advance.
Conversely, if a cultivator's compatibility with their Companion Beast was too low, cultivation would be half as effective, and their Spiritual Roots might even be eroded by the Companion Beast, or worse, suffer a backlash.
The Azure Spirit Newt was gentle by nature and had a pair of transparent fin-like wings on its back. It excelled at strengthening the vitality of plants and healing. It was a quite rare Water- and Wood-type Spirit Beast. Even outside the water, it could glide through the air for a short time, making it quite compatible with his Spiritual Root attributes.
Besides, gentle Spirit Beasts rarely turned on their owners.
"An Azure Spirit Newt, huh?" Xu Ziqing's eyes lit up. "That's a pretty good choice."
"What about you? What Companion Beast are you planning to choose?" Chen Beiwu took a book titled [Ten Years of Formation Studies] out of his desk.
Xu Ziqing had a Fire-Attribute Earth Spiritual Root. Her Spiritual Root Purity was 79, the same as his Water Spiritual Root, just one point short of a Heaven Spiritual Root. She had broken through to the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining half a month ago and was also eligible to buy a Spirit Beast from the Immortal Alliance.
"Hey, hey, don't ignore me, you two," Xu Lingling cut in.
Of the three of them, she had the lowest cultivation, only at the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining, but she was the only Middle-Grade First Tier Alchemist in the class.
Chen Beiwu looked up at her. "Sure. Then, Lingling, stop turning your back on us all the time, too."
At that, Lingling flew into a rage. She glanced down at her ample washboard and gave Chen Beiwu a reproachful shove.
"Get lost! When did I turn my back on you?"
Just then, the class bell rang. An old man dressed in a Daoist robe walked into the classroom, and the noisy class fell silent at once.
As the class representative for the Alchemy course, Xu Lingling hurriedly stood up and led the class in greeting the teacher.
Teacher Li nodded slightly, handed the exam papers to the students in the first row, and motioned for them to pass them back.
"The first three questions are very simple, so we won't go over them."
"The next three aren't too difficult. If you can't do them, you can ask a classmate."
"As for the last three major questions, they're quite classic. You should all make sure to take notes. The difference between Water Arts alchemy and Fire Arts alchemy is..."
Listening to Teacher Li drone on like a lullaby, Chen Beiwu started to feel sleepy. He focused his attention on pondering the Great Mystery Guarding the One.
Alchemy required hands-on practice and consumed a great deal of resources. It was very expensive, and he had no intention of studying it in depth.
He only needed to memorize the knowledge in the textbook by rote, so that his Alchemy score wouldn't fall too far behind on the College Entrance Examination. He could use the time he saved to contemplate the visualization diagram.
If he could be lucky enough to master the Great Mystery Guarding the One Visualization Diagram, or even reach minor mastery, the purity of his Water Spiritual Root might increase by one point, and it could transform into a Heaven Spiritual Root.
However, Teacher Li's next words instantly made Chen Beiwu perk up.
Before you continue