The Immortal Ascension Gathering

Several months have passed in the blink of an eye. Every year on the fifteenth of September, the founder of the sect, Patriarch Zhang, sets the day for testing the Spirit Root of children who have reached the age of six under the Chongming Sect.

This was a big day. Apart from Pei Yi staying behind to guard the sect and Zhou Xinran continuing to manage the Chongming Small Pavilion, all the other Double Brightness disciples came to Chongming City to be divided into groups to test their Spirit Root.

"Yuan Changsheng." Yuan Changsheng, who was first in line, walked past Pei Que, who was calling out names, and came to Han Yundao, who was holding a Spirit-Testing Ruler. He smiled and greeted Han Household brother.

The latter also smiled, but as he extended the Spirit-Testing Ruler, a sense of unease arose in his heart. He wasn't the only one in the Chongming Sect who felt this way; everyone cared about this child they had watched grow up.

As the father, Yuan Jin directly requested that Yuan Changsheng be placed first, so as not to worry for too long.

"Five Spirit Roots." Han Yundao looked at the spiritual light on the Spirit-Testing Ruler, his expression complex. He took the Spirit-Testing Ruler, patted Yuan Changsheng's head, and softly told him to go find his elders.

Upon hearing this result, the Chongming Sect members present were unsure whether to be happy or worried.

Even the lowest level of Five Spirit Roots is much better than having no Spirit Root at all, but if one truly seeks immortality through cultivation, then one should look at Mo'er as an example.

Four years have passed since she started her training, and Kang Dabao hasn't shortchanged her on cultivation resources like other families have, but she hasn't even touched the threshold of Drawing Spirit into the Body.

"Good boy." Among the crowd, only Kang Dabao showed an indifferent expression.

At this moment, he looked at Yuan Changsheng, whose little face was flustered, with a gentle expression. As the son of a cultivator, even though he was only a six-year-old child, he already knew a lot of things.

Kang Dabao gently comforted her, "Go tell your two mothers not to worry them, it's a good thing."

Yuan Jin also put on a smile and said a few words to his eldest son, sending him to find the Second Dong, before approaching Kang Dabao and saying, "Senior Brother," but then paused halfway through, unsure of what to say next.

Kang Dabao sat alone on the grand master's chair, not answering a word. The two brothers remained silent for a while, as the sounds of tests coming from both the stage and the audience reached their ears.

"Kang Rongping, none."

"Zhang Erniu, none."

"Jia Musheng, none."

"He Niaoniao, Wu."

After listening for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, not a single fairy seedling's voice came.

Kang Dabao then spoke, offering words of comfort.

"Many Foundation Establishment True Cultivator don't even have immortal offspring, isn't that already quite good? What's there to be afraid of? Even the founding emperor of the Great Wei Immortal Dynasty only had Five Spirit Roots."

"What Senior Brother says is true." Yuan Jin's mood improved slightly, his expression softened, and he echoed in agreement.

"Only when you raise children do you realize the kindness of your parents; the love of parents is as deep as the sea." Yuan Jin's worries are perfectly normal. How many normal parents in the world don't worry about their children?

"Neither of us may even reach the Foundation Establishment, why are you worrying about things so far in the future?" Kang Dabao spoke again. Yuan Jin hummed in response, feeling much more at ease, but he was no longer in the mood to speak.

Seeing his state, Jiang Qing and Zhou Yixiu, who were standing nearby, didn't know how to comfort him, so they also remained silent.

Several younger children were not proficient in using the Spirit-Testing Ruler, and it took until late afternoon for the more than two thousand eligible children to be tested.

This time, besides Yuan Changsheng, a boy named Song Hui and a little girl named Dong Liu'er were also found to have Four Spirit Roots. The latter is also a distant relative of the Second Dong family. Thus, two of the three immortal seedlings this year are actually from Yuan Jin's family.

The problem lies in the small number of mortals under his rule. Even when Patriarch Zhang was alive, and he was Foundation Establishment True Cultivator, there were fewer mortals in Chongming City than there are now. Every time he ascended to immortality, only two or three promising immortals were discovered.

However, there are several ways to enrich a sect, besides testing for potential immortals among the mortals under its jurisdiction.

One approach is to send more disciples out on journeys and trials, and have them carry Spirit-Testing Ruler so they can randomly select a few children to test their luck whenever they feel like it.

However, the Chongming Sect currently lacks manpower, so even if they find a good immortal seedling, there will inevitably be some disputes if it is located on the territory of another force.

Recruiting low-level Rogue Cultivator is one method, and many small forces do indeed do this.

However, these kinds of disciples are often the most selfish and ignorant of the sect's true nature. Many of them are lone wolves who use the sect as a stepping stone. Even if you treat them with sincerity, you may not be able to win them over.

Moreover, how could the sects not harbor some suspicion towards these Rogue Cultivators?

Only those disciples who have been raised and educated from childhood are the pillars most worthy of the sect's trust.

Since the death of the old sect leader Kang Dabao has been in charge of the sect for many years, and he has only accepted one Ji Wuwu old, as a disciple. Not long ago, when Lu Xun's caravan was short of manpower, he squeezed in that Du Qing, a rogue Rogue Cultivator surnamed Du from Xuping County.

There are really only two of them, and they're both incompetent and lack connections. Their advantage is that they're safe and easy to control.

Even so, their close relatives all had to move to Chongming City to "enjoy their lives." Despite Ji Wuwu's advanced age, they still arranged for him to have a pair of beautiful women, who have had quite a few children in the past few years.

Kang Dabao had refused Kang Dahou's invitation to a banquet; his cousin's aura of death was growing stronger. The former had previously given him some pills to strengthen his body, but the latter's constant use of potent drugs seemed to have little effect.

Everyone has their own destiny, and Kang Dabao didn't take this matter too seriously.

Chongming City has done a poor job in both gathering refugees and handling newborn births in recent years. While there are objective factors such as changes in the external world and the instability, Kang Dahou's incompetence is also a contributing factor.

Unfortunately, in the Double Brightness Kang Household today, Kang Dahou is already considered the most outstanding in terms of his ability to take charge.

If we were to take the drastic step of removing him and rashly replace him with someone from another family, it would break the nearly two-hundred-year-old tradition of the Chongming Sect having the sect leader's relatives serve as mortal lords, and it might not necessarily be a good thing for the development of Chongming City.

Turning back on the way, he said to Yuan Jin, "Let Changsheng become Junior Brother Pei. If he has some talent for alchemy, he won't lack resources for cultivation in the future."

Yuan Jin readily agreed, since he and his three fellow disciples were of the same ilk, and whether or not they became disciples of Jiang Qing or Kang Dabao made no difference.

As for Zhou Yixiu, although he was also a legitimate fellow disciple on the roster, his cultivation level was not high, but he was quite old.

While First-Tier Superior-Grade are rare and quite good, if Yuan Jin were to choose a master for his son, he would still prefer Pei Yi, a young First Tier Alchemist with the potential to reach Foundation Establishment.

This is why spiritual practitioners rarely allow their descendants to become their disciples. If you were to teach your own disciples, would you be reluctant to pass on what you teach to your own blood relatives?

So-called kinship and mentorship are actually good ways to strengthen and consolidate the relationship between two parties.

"Then when I get back, I'll have to prepare a gift for Senior Brother Pei. Senior Brother, what do you think is a good gift?" Yuan Jin was a little troubled. Pei Yi was quite wealthy now, and it wouldn't be appropriate to give him a magic Law Artifact he had made himself.

"That's your business as a father, why are you asking me?" Kang Dabao replied lazily, riding his Black Blood Colt a few steps away from Yuan Jin, and began to ponder the matter of the Delusion-Breaking Golden Eyes.

With the Daoist Black Shoes's explanation, he is now only waiting for the accumulation of Spiritual Qi to break through to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, and there is no bottleneck to speak of.

However, it is much more difficult to Delusion-Breaking Golden Eyes of Truth, a skill that one relies on. Not to mention how difficult this Zhou Grade Dao technique is to learn, if one wants to advance further after reaching the Minor Accomplishment Realm, one must find the Moon Fern, a Second Tier spiritual herb.

Unfortunately, Sect Leader Kang Da had already read through all the sect's books and even asked He Dezong to have his family's merchant caravan help him search for them.

Unfortunately, many days have passed, and there has been no news to this day.

Although Kang Dabao still has room for improvement in the minor completion stage and doesn't need to be too anxious, he still wants to get information about the Moon Fern, this important spiritual object, as soon as possible to make preparations.

After thinking about it for a long time but finding it all to be wishful thinking, Sect Leader Kang Da simply abandoned the idea and rode the Black Blood Colt Steed to Jiang Qing's side. The latter first turned his head to look at the beast-drawn carriage that the Second Dong and Yuan Changsheng were riding in before speaking and expressing his concern for Yuan Changsheng's future, just like Kang Dabao.

Jiang Qing is actually cold on the outside but warm on the inside. No, when he's with people he's close to, he's actually warm-hearted and warm-faced.

He was raised by his two senior brothers since childhood. Yuan Changsheng was Yuan Jin's eldest son, and in his eyes, he was no different from his own son. Now that Changsheng has been diagnosed with only Five Spirit Roots with almost no Dao Path, he can't help but feel anxious.

Helpless, Kang Dabao had no choice but to repeat the same comforting words he had used on Yuan Jin. Seeing that Jiang Qing's complexion had improved considerably, he turned his gaze to the other two immortal cultivators who were riding a Desolate Ox with Han Yundao and Zhang Le respectively, and changed the subject, saying, "That Dong Liu'er and her two sisters-in-law are indeed from the same clan, they do resemble each other somewhat, but which Song Household descendant is this Song Hui?"

"I was just about to tell my senior brother about this when Yundao came to report that Song Hui is from the Minor Song Clan family of Pinghe Fort, and is the younger brother of Second Sister Song." Jiang Qing's expression was somewhat pleased as he mentioned this, and he didn't notice the change in Kang Dabao's expression. He then asked, "Speaking of Second Sister's shop in Linghe Market hasn't been open for quite some time. I asked Widow Ma last time, but she said she didn't know either."

"I wonder if Second Sister has met with any misfortune. I even asked He Household to lead the caravan to inquire about her. If we could find her, she would be overjoyed to know that the Song Pinghe Fort has produced another promising young Minor Song Clan." Jiang Qing sighed. A beautiful and alluring female cultivator had suddenly disappeared, and so much time had passed without any news. How likely was it that she hadn't been harmed by villains?

"Yes, if Second Sister knew, she would definitely be happy too," Kang Dabao said with emotion, looking at Song Hui, who was gazing at Han Yundao with eyes full of admiration.

At the same time, he stroked the Little Qi in his sleeve, and thought of the "turtle son" who had saved his life and the plain-clothed girl whose face was now blurred, who always smiled and handed him fruit.

The path to enlightenment is so desolate.

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(I originally wanted to post it before midnight, but after a lot of deletions and revisions, it's still late.)