Spirit Testing Stone

There were so many people packed together that the seven of them became separated as they squeezed through the crowd.

But that didn't matter to them.

As long as they could squeeze their way to the front and see one another, that was enough.

After some effort, Lin Xiao finally broke through the wall of people, pulling Sun Yigao with him, and reached the front row.

In the middle of the crowd was a large, circular clearing.

A tall platform stood in the very center of the clearing.

Three people dressed in blue stood on the platform.

Each held a longsword and looked down at the people gathered below with solemn, somewhat haughty expressions.

Lin Xiao thought it would be a while before the disciple recruitment began, so he looked around for the other five.

To his surprise, one of the three people on the platform stepped forward and announced in a clear voice:

"The Shangyang Sect is now recruiting disciples. Those under twelve, line up and come forward."

As he spoke, he gestured to a translucent stone beside him that stood half as tall as a person.

"Come up one at a time and press your hand against this Spirit Testing Stone beside me. First one! Come up!"

Lin Xiao was a little surprised that it had started so quickly.

He was surprised entirely because the three people on the platform were only cultivators at the Third or Fourth Layer of Qi Refining, much like him. Their cultivation wasn't even as high as his...

He had thought a senior with profound cultivation would come out to hold the fort.

Just then, a girl walked up as the first to be tested.

Lin Xiao, who had been watching for the other five, also spotted Qin Jianghe emerging from the crowd not far away.

But before he could catch Qin Jianghe's eye, he saw him staring dumbstruck at the girl who had been the first to step onto the platform.

After a moment's thought, Lin Xiao had his answer.

Could this girl be the one Jianghe met as a potential bride?

No wonder her attitude had changed and become a little strange before. So she was planning to join an immortal sect.

Still, it was only natural for people to seek higher places, and Lin Xiao had no comment on that.

He merely glanced again at Qin Jianghe's embarrassed and indignant expression in the distance.

Lin Xiao covered his eyes.

His poor, ill-fated finance elder.

On the raised platform, Feng Xuanqie stood with his sword in his arms, staring blankly into space in some boredom.

In such a remote backwater town, there couldn't be any promising seedlings, which was why Elder Bai had sent him and two junior fellow disciples who were only at the Third Layer of Qi Refining.

Sending disciples like them, at the Third and Fourth Layers of Qi Refining, showed just how much Elder Bai looked down on a little place like this.

But what he didn't understand was, since Elder Bai didn't think much of such a small place, why didn't he simply suggest that the sect stop coming here to recruit?

Hadn't he heard that the sect didn't come to these out-of-the-way places to recruit in previous years?

But when he had heard Elder Bai talking with Elder Mo, there seemed to have been mention of an order from above for the sect to recruit more disciples this year... He had no idea what they were recruiting more for...

The monthly stipends disciples like them received were already pitifully small, and now they had to recruit even more. Where would the sect get enough resources to distribute to all these disciples?

Feng Xuanqie's thoughts were wandering far and wide when, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a dazzling flash of white light from the Spirit Testing Stone!

"A single spirit root! And a mutated lightning spirit root at that!"

Feng Xuanqie came to his senses and couldn't help crying out in shock.

But though he had cried out, he had controlled his volume in time, so naturally the spectators below couldn't hear him.

Lin Xiao, however, had heard him.

Lin Xiao was utterly shocked as well.

What? What?

So this cultivation world actually used spirit roots to measure cultivation aptitude?

And it was the very traditional sort of setting where "the fewer spirit roots, the better"?

The girl standing before the Spirit Testing Stone on the platform was the very one Qin Jianghe had met as a potential bride.

After learning that she had a mutated lightning spirit root, the other two Shangyang Sect disciples on the platform immediately announced in loud voices:

"Niu Xiaoxue, passed!"

Feng Xuanqie immediately led Niu Xiaoxue to a seat in the waiting area to one side, then took an umbrella from his Storage Bag and handed it to her.

"If nothing unexpected happens, you'll be my junior sister from now on. The sun is quite strong today, Junior Sister Xiaoxue. Take this umbrella and use it for shade."

Looking at the tall, handsome young man before her, Niu Xiaoxue felt that she had indeed made the right choice.

If she had married Qin Jianghe of Xiushui Village, her whole life would have been plain to see: an ordinary life spent in the village.

But what about now?

She only had to look at these immortals' reactions after the Spirit Testing Stone tested her to know!

Her cultivation aptitude had to be exceptionally good for them to see her in a new light and treat her so kindly.

Surely, she would make a name for herself here one day!

The more Niu Xiaoxue thought about it, the more confident she became.

She took the umbrella from this future senior brother and thanked him with a smile.

"Thank you, Senior Brother. May I ask... how should I address you?"

Feng Xuanqie hurriedly said:

"Oh, look at me. Sorry, Junior Sister. My surname is Feng. You can call me Senior Brother Feng."

It wasn't that Feng Xuanqie had rushed to cling to her coattails because he saw that she had a mutated single spirit root, or that he had any improper designs on the young girl.

Though he was only at the Fourth Layer of Qi Refinement, he came from a cultivation family and had already seen far too many open and hidden struggles.

He was only showing goodwill because he wanted to form good connections far and wide.

If he formed good connections, then when something happened in the future, they could let him off when they had the chance.

He only wanted to keep his head down and cultivate in peace, all the way until he attained the Dao and became an immortal.

Though the idea might have been naive, that was truly what he thought, and he put it into practice.

He hadn't wanted to come out to recruit disciples this time in the first place, but he had been pressed into service by accident.

Meanwhile, the people waiting in line behind her were already going up to the platform for testing one after another.

Unexpectedly, after Niu Xiaoxue, never mind finding someone with a good spirit root, not another person appeared who could even make the Spirit Testing Stone light up.

The three Shangyang Sect disciples stood on the platform, quietly stifling yawns.

Lin Xiao and the others didn't find watching from below very interesting either.

Besides, there was a dejected Qin Jianghe beside them.

Yes, the seven of them in the front row of the crowd had all caught one another's eyes just now.

Then, seeing how dispirited Qin Jianghe looked, they had all gathered around him without a word.

With nothing interesting to watch on the platform, everyone began trying to comfort Qin Jianghe.

Jiang Youfu:

"Jianghe, look, what's so good about getting a wife? Once you have one, you have to share your good food with her, let her share in your fun, and put her first when it's time to make new clothes. Look at me, I don't want a wife one bit."

Qin Jianghe looked up at his plump figure and didn't feel like speaking.

Liu Yunan:

"There's really nothing good about having a wife. Look at me, I can't even support my mother and sister yet. If I got a wife on top of that, I'd have to go straight to drinking the northwest wind!"

Qin Jianghe looked up at his beanpole figure and still didn't feel like speaking.

Tietou:

"What's the use of a wife? She can't do heavy work with me, and she can't go down to the river bare-chested with me either. How boring is that?"

Qin Jianghe didn't even lift his head this time. He didn't want to talk to these fools anyway.

Lin Yun:

"Look at me. I'm fifteen and still haven't been promised in marriage."

As he spoke, apparently feeling that his own example didn't carry enough weight, he patted Sun Yigao on the chest and said to Qin Jianghe:

"Look, Yigao hasn't been promised in marriage either."

Sun Yigao, suddenly called out by name, looked rather innocent.

Seeing that, Qin Jianghe couldn't hold back a smile.

At once, everyone crowded around and began roughhousing with him.

"Well, you rascal, so that long face was all an act! You wanted us to fuss over you, didn't you?"