Three Saints Mountain, Star Palace, Great Xia launches nationwide Spirit Root testing

"Let's watch for now. Disturbing him rashly would only do more harm than good. Even if his breakthrough fails and his foundation is damaged, there'll still be a chance to repair it. It won't have too great an impact," Ji Chang'an said. Everyone settled down, staring unblinkingly at Zhang Weiguo through the ultra-high-definition satellite surveillance feed, silently cheering him on.

Time ticked by, second after second.

With his Heavenly Spirit Root aptitude, the bottleneck between realms was comparatively thinner, unlike Lu Chenxing's, which was incomparably tenacious.

Moreover, Zhang Weiguo cultivated the more powerful Yi Wood Everlasting Spring Art, and his Spiritual Power was exceptionally deep and condensed.

As one diminished, the other grew.

Breaking through to the next realm was naturally easier for him.

Coupled with his earlier epiphany, an artistic conception arose in his heart.

This artistic conception, still only an embryonic form without any concrete shape, actually produced a force of its own, assaulting the bottleneck alongside his Spiritual Power.

The reason the cultivation world claimed that advancing from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment required a Foundation Establishment Pill...

Was that Foundation Establishment Pills contained an enormous amount of power that could help those useless fools and mediocrities break through.

True heaven's chosen...

Could break through even without relying on pills.

An entire day and night passed.

Zhang Weiguo suddenly opened his eyes. A terrifying pressure radiated from him, scattering the surrounding clouds and mist.

On the other end of the surveillance feed, an unknown distance away...

Great Xia's senior officials all felt immense pressure from him.

A cultivator of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

The Spiritual Power within his Dantian was as vast as the sea, flowing without end.

He could freely control Law Artifacts in flight.

Riding a sword upon the wind, roaming freely between heaven and earth.

The minimum requirement for reaching this level was Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation.

Zhang Weiguo had achieved it.

After rising to his feet, Zhang Weiguo spread his right hand, and a flying sword appeared out of thin air.

Made in Great Xia, guaranteed quality.

After pouring Spiritual Power into it, he let go, and the flying sword hovered before him.

He leaped up, landing firmly on the blade.

Driven by his Divine Sense and guided by his thoughts, the flying sword began moving forward, carrying him freely through heaven and earth.

At first, he flew in a straight line. Then he could turn, and finally, it followed his every whim.

He could fly wherever he wanted.

He could fly however he wanted.

Elsewhere, as Great Xia's senior officials watched this scene, smiles appeared on their faces in unison, and envy they could barely suppress filled their eyes.

Flying on a sword!

An immortal.

Even old fellows like them yearned for it.

What a pity!

They were old.

There was no need even to test their Spirit Roots.

Better to leave the opportunities to the young, rather than waste the resources Comrade Lu had risked life and limb to obtain.

Unless a day came when resources were overflowing.

Otherwise, none of those present would consider themselves.

"Hahahaha! Good, good, good! So this is what the immortals described in books are like. Having seen one with my own eyes today, I can say I haven't lived in vain!"

"Indeed. Seeing something so breathtaking before I die means I'll have something to brag about to our ancestors even when I'm down below."

"Old Ji, Comrade Weiguo has reached Foundation Establishment, and Comrade Lu has sent three spirit mountains back from the cultivation world. Isn't it time to begin the next step, nationwide testing?"

Ten billion citizens of Great Xia.

All would undergo Spirit Root testing.

They would begin recruiting those with exceptional Spirit Roots and set them on the path of cultivation.

"It's time!" Ji Chang'an agreed. "Immediately begin nationwide Spirit Root testing in Great Xia, limited to those over ten and under thirty-five. Anyone with Heavenly Spirit Root aptitude will be sent to Three Saints Mountain under the pretext of being recruited for a secret national mission. Teach them the Immortal Method and open the path to immortality!"

"Secretly register and file records on everyone whose aptitude falls below Heavenly Spirit Root, keeping them ready for recruitment at any time."

Among Great Xia's ordinary citizens...

Cultivation would still initially be opened only to those with Heavenly Spirit Root aptitude.

The odds of Spirit Root aptitude were random and would not change because of external conditions or training later in life.

Thus, the previous odds could serve perfectly well as a baseline.

Four heaven's chosen with Heavenly Spirit Root aptitude had been found among Great Xia's ten million soldiers.

Scaled up to ten billion citizens...

The population base was a full thousand times larger.

Even if nearly two-thirds of those ten billion failed to meet the age requirements, the remaining third still amounted to over three billion people.

Finding a few hundred people with Heavenly Spirit Root aptitude among so many should be no problem, right?

A few hundred.

That was already a considerable number.

Exactly how much Spiritual Power Three Saints Mountain held was still unknown.

Even opening cultivation to everyone had to be done one step at a time.

Great Xia's senior officials dared not keep cramming people onto the mountains, lest they drain the Spirit Veins within them dry before long.

That really would do more harm than good.

They still had to prioritize nurturing heaven's chosen with better Spirit Root aptitude. Only then could they feed more cultivation back to Lu Chenxing.

"By the way, I think we should establish a department for Great Xia's cultivators. It'd give us something convenient to call them, too. What do you think, Old Ji?"

Establishing a department.

That was indeed necessary.

"Then what should we call it? The Dragon Group?"

"What a lousy name. This is cultivation, not superpowers. The Dragon Group sounds way too lame. I say we should call it the Dragon Palace."

"...Is there any difference? We might as well call it the Spirit Palace or Immortal Palace. Those feel a little more fitting."

"Everyone has ideas to contribute," Ji Chang'an said, drawing together their suggestions. "How about Star Palace?"

"Our Great Xia's cultivators all originated with Comrade Lu. Let's name it after the last character of his name."

Star Palace!

After hearing this, everyone silently savored those two words, the light in their eyes growing brighter.

"A fine name. Star Palace it is!"

"From now on, our Great Xia has its own cultivation faction, the Star Palace!"

"What a pity there's only one cultivation faction on Blue Star. The name Starry Sky is destined to be lonely."

"What, you want battles and slaughter between factions like the ones on Comrade Lu's side? Entire clans and sects get wiped out at the drop of a hat over there!"

"Just kidding. I've been reading too many novels lately. Sometimes I can't help getting a little fired up..."

Speaking of reading novels...

There was something quite funny.

Whenever they had a spare moment, Great Xia's senior officials would pull out their phones and cram cultivation novels. They even mobilized the nation's resources to support the various domestic webnovel platforms, demanding that they vigorously support cultivation novels and pool the efforts of webnovel authors nationwide to enrich the imagined world of cultivation.

Though there was a vast gap between fantasy and reality...

Different paths still led to the same destination in some respects.

For example, some of Comrade Lu's experiences in the cultivation world had appeared in the plots of novels.

Lineage cultivation.

Rivalry between factions.

Bandit Cultivators running rampant.

Either you died, or I lived!

Three Saints Mountain, Star Palace.

A cultivation faction belonging to Great Xia.

At Ji Chang'an's command, Spirit Root testing immediately began throughout Great Xia.

Tianjing University.

Its enormous indoor stadium could accommodate over ten thousand people.

The Tianjing students summoned and gathered there were still bewildered, unsure why the university had made such a grand arrangement.

One baffled student after another was led into a small room, then emerged looking just as baffled.

"Xiaoying, what are they doing in there? Is it a medical checkup?"

"No, I don't know. After I went in, someone told me to hold a stone. Then, a few seconds later, they told me to leave. It was kind of baffling."

"A stone? What does that mean?"

"I really don't know. Your turn's coming soon. You'll understand when you experience it yourself."

Hold a stone?

What on earth was the university up to now?

Lin Xinyao felt as though a hundred claws were scratching at her heart, her curiosity overwhelming.

This scene played out not only at Tianjing University. Spirit Root testing had begun throughout Great Xia.

Spirit-Sensing Stones were not very valuable, and Lu Chenxing had sent a batch back long ago.

Jingnan City, No. 11 Middle School.

Inside a temporary testing site converted from a well-sealed warehouse, crimson light filled the entire room.

"W-what's happening? I..."

"Student Chen Feng, congratulations. You're about to become a cultivator."