CH 238

Feng Baixiao couldn’t help but look at the young man a few more times. Then, he saw a group of people stumbling and rushing in the distance.

A total of 145 people who passed the mountain trial standing in rows of five were finally gathered. They were taken to rest, but that was also a part of the trial.

The place where these initiates lived was extremely far from Taiji Square, and it took more than an hour to run back and forth.

As long as as the set time passes and the initiates do not arrive on time, it would be regarded as a failure, and they would be sent to the foot of the mountain.

This was the case with the annual entrance examinations of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect. This one test has brushed off an unknown number of people, but it was unprecedented to see a person like Bai Lixin, who chose to spend the night meditating in Taiji Square instead of going to his residence.

The new disciples were arriving one by one, and the hour was drawing near. Feng Baixiao swept his eyes over the crowd, seemingly at random, but he was counting the number of people. He then made a gesture to the crane circling in the sky.

The crane cried out, then gathered its wings and swooped down. When it reached the huge bronze bell, it paused and turned its body to kick on the wooden mallet with its claws.

The huge bronze bell instantly shook with a sound vibrating out of its centre, rushing straight into people’s ears.

“Dong!” The crane flipped itself around and kicked the mallet again and again until it had struck the mallet seven times. With a long cry, it flapped its wings and circled over the bell before swooping down and diving into the bronze bell.

The crane disappeared, but a crane emerged on the bronze bell. Its wings were spread out and its beak was slightly open as if it was chirping.

The initiated looked at the scene in front of them with their jaws dropped in disbelief.

Some of these people were from cultivation families, while many others were ordinary people in the mundane world. Such a scene that only appeared in books and articles happened in front of them, and they could not help but be a little surprised. Their eyes were filled with a yearning for the cultivation world.

Feng Baixiao saw the longing in the eyes of these innocent people, and a hint of disdain appeared in his eyes.

It was only when the seven bells had ended that Bai Lixin slowly opened his eyes and stood up after gently patting his shirt. He looked up at the high platform with a calm expression, no joy or sorrow in his eyes. Although he did not fit in with the people around him, he looked extremely inconspicuous.

Feng Baixiao sensed this unusual feeling and could not help but look at the young man a few more times.

Only when the hour was up did Daoist Yixiao arrive late with his wine gourd.

Several other examinees arrived after Daoist Yixiao. He did not say much, only flicking his sleeve with the wine gourd. The wine gourd flew in front of those dozen people and sucked them all in.

“They have failed the first trial. Send them down the mountain. ” Daoist Yixiao bellowed at the wine gourd, which then took off as if it had life and flew down the immortal mountain.

After sending the losers away, Daoist Yixiao looked at the crowd and said, “Very well, congratulations to all of you. You have passed the preliminary examination of my Ten Thousand Sword Sect. All of you will be disciples of my Ten Thousand Sword Sect in the future. ”

The crowd was baffled by Daoist Yixiao’s words. Wasn’t this the day of the trial? How did they pass the trial when they just got here?

Daoist Yixiao burst out laughing and said to the crowd, “If I say you have passed, you have passed. However, becoming a disciple of the Ten Thousand Sword Sect is not the end. We are the second-largest sect and have stood for thousands of years without declining. Our sect has produced two great cultivators during these years, one of whom has already attained immortality, but the other has unfortunately recently fallen. However, he is still a prominent figure in the cultivation world. For a sect like ours, the selection of disciples must be carefully considered. There are twelve immortal peaks in the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, each with a peak master. Every three years, each peak master will recruit as many as four or as few as one inner disciple. The inner disciples may not be good, and the outer disciples may not be bad either.”

As he spoke, Daoist Yixiao took out a jade slip from his sleeve pocket. He squeezed it hard and said in a loud voice, “All Peak Masters, the assessment of new disciples have been completed. A total of 1543 registered and only 135 have successfully passed the trial. Please come to Taiji Square to select your disciples. ”

Daoist Yixiao looked down at the crowd with a smile. With a gentle wave of his hand in the sky, the wine gourd, which had just left a short while ago, flew back again.

He poured a mouthful of wine from the gourd into his mouth and said with a loud laugh, “The peak masters will come to select their preferred disciples, so behave yourselves and don’t become insignificant.”

Most of the people in the crowd swallowed in unison and clenched their fists nervously.

Bai Lixin’s body had absorbed the essence of the sun and moon for a thousand years, and his spiritual strength had already reached an unlimited level, plus his soul level was already approaching the SS level. He quietly released his divine sense around the sect.

The 10,000-storey staircase that he had climbed a few days ago was no longer there. Countless peaks were suspended in mid-air, nestled within the clouds, looking mysterious and beautiful at the same time.

There were thirteen larger peaks in the Ten Thousand Sword Sect, and the one they were on was the largest peak.

Around each of the main peaks hovered countless smaller peaks, and on top of each peak were countless caves in which cultivators appeared to live.

As Daoist Yixiao had just said, the reason the Ten Thousand Sword Sect became the second largest sect in the Cultivation World was because of the great cultivator that had ascended to Immortality. In the entire Cultivation World, the only sects that had one ascended to immortality were the Ten Thousand Swords Sect and the Spiritual Immortal Sect, which ranked first. It was ranked second and could not be ranked first because of a demonic cultivator that had scared the whole cultivation world—the Nine Heavenly Demon Lord.

Bai Lixin’s divine sense looked down on the Ten Thousand Swords Sect and suddenly found a cave that had been set up with a hidden formation. He immediately manipulated his divine sense to head toward that place.

But just then, Bai Lixin suddenly felt a murderous aura rushing toward him. He was astonished and threw a false presence in mid-air and quietly withdrew his divine sense.

It happened only in the blink of an eye, and when he looked up again, he found many people on the originally empty high platform. They were the peak masters of the major peaks.

The masters arrived one after another, both men and women. Except for the Broken Sword Peak, which sent Feng Baixiao, all the other peaks were represented by the masters themselves.

When Daoist Yixiao saw that everyone was there, he took out a crystal ball from his storage bag and said, “This is the Spiritual Root Test Bead. Hold the Spiritual Root Test Bead with both hands and it will sense the spiritual root you have and show it through the colour. This way, you can find the most suitable master and cultivation method. ”

Daoist Yixiao gently tossed the Spiritual Root Test Bead into the air, and it came to a steady stop in the middle of the one hundred and thirty-five new disciples.

The moment the bead stopped, a young man raised his hand high in the air with only a slight hesitation, “I’ll go first!”

Bai Lixin followed the voice and looked over. He compared the man with the figure in his memory and figured out his identity in no time.

This man was named Lu Lan, a side descendant of the Lu cultivation family. The Lu family had been practising the art of controlling beasts since ancient times. His mother was a servant of the family, so Lu Lan had not been treated well since he was young.

All the sons of the Lu family would go to the Spiritual Immortal Sect, the number one sect of cultivation after they reached the age of eight, but Lu Lan was not valued and was always treated as a servant.

Not long ago, Lu Lan’s mother became seriously ill and died, so Lu Lan left the family and came to the Second Greatest Sect of Cultivation World, the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, to pursue his studies.

Seeing that someone had volunteered, Daoist Yixiao smoothed his beard and nodded gently, “Good. Then you will be first!”

Lu Lan did not dare to hesitate and walked from a short distance away from Bai Lixin to the front of the line. He took a deep breath before touching the Spiritual Root Test bead to his hand with reverence and trepidation.

The originally black Spiritual Root Test bead slowly began to change. Two rays of light rose upwards from the point where his hand touched, like wisps of fine smoke. The light was particularly dazzling in the black ball. One ray was golden and the other blue as they entwined with each other.

A female peak master lit up and said joyfully, “It’s a water-gold dual spirit root, very good, very good, just in time to practise my peak’s heavenly water-gold armour technique. What’s your name, young man? ”

Lu Lan hurriedly half-kneeled to the ground and replied respectfully, “Senior, this junior’s name is Lu Lan.”

“Lu Lan,” the woman nodded, “I am the Peak Master of Tianshui Peak. Would you like to practise under my discipline?”

“I would be honoured!”

“Very well, come forward.” The Tianshui Peak Master waved her hand towards Lu Lan, indicating he should come forward.

Lu Lan hurriedly jumped up and walked forward, not daring to hesitate for a moment.

When Lu Lan reached the Tianshui Peak Master, she saluted the surrounding peak masters and said with a smile, “I am not talented, so I will only accept this one disciple this year. I will be going back first. ” She took out a fan from her sleeve and flung it into the air, picking Lu Lan by the collar and jumping onto it before flying away like a puff of smoke.

As soon as the Tainshui Peak Master left, there was a small commotion in the trial crowd.

There were still 134 new disciples on the field, but only 10 peak masters. If this goes on, they will most likely become outer disciples!

The young man closest to the Spiritual Root test bead was the first to hold it in his hand, waiting excitedly for the changes in the test bead.

Four rays of light rose from the bottom of the ball. The peak masters gave it a casual glance and did not give the youngster a single glance.

Daoist Yixiao coughed lightly, “Water, wood, fire, and gold, four spiritual roots. Do you peak masters have any you need?”

There was silence on the high platform, and Daoist Yixiao smiled and said, “Alright, you first wait to one side while the next disciple comes forward.”

The young man waited to one side, his eyes still in a trance and not reacting for a long time.

There were five types of spirit roots; gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. The five types of spirit roots follow the five elements of heaven and earth. The type and quantity of one’s spiritual roots also determine how far one can go in the future and what level of cultivation one can reach. A single spirit root is considered a once-in-a-millennium spirit root in the cultivation world as it is extremely easy and convenient to practice.

The more spiritual roots there are, the longer it takes to cultivate, and the slower the progress. For example, if a cultivator with a single spiritual root wants to advance, he only needs to keep exercising his soul and refining his single spiritual root. A cultivator with dual spiritual roots, on the other hand, needs to refine both roots to reach the threshold of advancement.

And because they only have a single spiritual root, their use and mastery of spiritual energy are much lighter. It is easier to master the direction of one horse than two, right?

That is why a person with a single spiritual root was considered a natural-born cultivator, while a person with four or five spiritual roots is not considered to be destined for the path of cultivation. Even if he or she worked hard, they would only reach the foundation establishment-level at most and then stop.

Feng Baixiao, the son of the world, was born with a single spiritual root-the fire spiritual root.

Lu Lan’s double spiritual roots are already quite rare in the cultivation world. In the vast cultivation world, most people’s spiritual roots are more than three, and most cultivators that join sects have three spiritual roots.

The Spiritual Root Test went on and on. Halfway through the test, more than six peak masters had left, one after another after another, after selecting suitable disciples. The atmosphere on the field became even more gloomy. Those who had not yet taken the test were nervous and anxious, and those who had already been eliminated felt as if they had lost their lives.

In a short while, all the peak masters had left with their preferred disciples, except for Daoist Yixiao, Feng Baixiao, and Shui Kongling. There were still twenty-five people below who had not yet taken the Spiritual Root Test.

“Feng Baixiao, doesn’t your master even have the courtesy to take part in such matters as selecting disciples?” Daoist Yixiao snorted through his nostrils.

“Master Yixiao, Master has a guest today, so he has ordered this disciple to come and choose a disciple on his behalf.”

“Heh! Then why do you stay here? ” Daoist Yixiao patted his wine gourd and hummed.

“Uncle Yixiao, I haven’t found a suitable one yet. If there is still no suitable candidate among these twenty-five people, I will have to be ashamed of my master’s request. It seems that Master Yixiao has not found a suitable disciple either.”

Daoist Yixiao coughed dryly, “Aren’t there twenty-five people left? What’s the hurry? I’ve always been a student of the principle of “no shortage, no abuse”. If I don’t find a suitable one, I just won’t take one. ”

Seven and eight people were tested during this conversation, and one of them also had a double water-gold spiritual root. If this person had tested before Lu Lan, he would have become a disciple of Tianshui peak. But he had lost the chance and now stood with those to become outer disciples.

Cultivation was all about chance, and this man did not have that chance.

After seven or eight people, it was Bai Lixin’s turn to take the test. Looking at the black Spiritual Root Test bead, Bai Lixin gave it some thought and put his hands on the bead.

Two rays of light slowly rose from the bottom of the Spiritual Root Test Bead. Unlike Lu Lan’s rays of light which were like misty smoke, Bai Lixin’s rays of light were as bright as a brilliant sun, radiating out with the crystal ball as their centre.

The two powerful rays, one green and one basket spiralled and entangled tightly with each other. If one could bear the glare of the light and look closely, one would see that although they were two entangled rays, the edges of their intersection had the appearance of fusion, emitting a warm golden color.

Daoist Yixiao smiled happily and was about to speak when he heard Feng Baixiao, who had been silent, suddenly say, “We’ll take this man to Broken Sword Peak.”

Daoist Yixiao’s laughter stopped abruptly and he looked at Feng Baixiao with the look of having eaten a fly, “Water and wood dual spirit roots, it is obvious that he should be my Xuanyuan Peak’s disciple. What has your Broken Sword Peak’s involvement in this?”

Xuanyuan Peak wasn’t called that before. It was formerly known as Medicine Peak. However, after Xuanyuan Yixiao became the peak master of Medicine Peak hundreds of years ago, he thought that the name was not domineering enough and subsequently changed it to Xuanyuan Peak. Although the name was changed, Medicine Peak was s more appropriate name.

Xuanyuan Peak was filled with spiritual herbs, and the path of cultivation was also the art of medicine refining, which was one of the more sought-after professions in the cultivation world.

To become a medicine cultivator, one must first learn to master the all-round nature of medicinal herbs and understand their good and bad qualities, and this was something that cultivators with wood spirit roots had a better understanding of, so most medicine practitioners were wood cultivators.

However, as an extremely rare element, the wood attribute rarely appeared. And even when it did, because the path of medicine cultivation was lonely and long, practitioners often chose to use a cultivation method that suited another spiritual root attribute. Therefore, medicine cultivators were extremely rare in the cultivation world.

Xuanyuan Yixiao had not recruited any disciples for the past twenty years, so when he saw Bai Lixin, who had strong water and wood dual spirit roots, he could not stop himself from smiling. However, he did not expect Feng Biaxiao to interfere.

Feng Baixiao pointed to the dazzling ball of light and said, “Martial Uncle, although this young man is now a water and wood spirit root, the two-spirit roots are closely united, and there is a fusion of mutation. Look at the colour of the mutated spirit root. It is a different spirit root—a light spirit root. It is the light of gold and iron and the light of a burning fire. It is a variation of metal and fire attributes. But whether it is metallic or fire-attributed, it is suitable for my Broken Sword Peak’s cultivation techniques. ”

“What a load of nonsense!” Daoist Yixiao fiercely slapped his wine gourd and said, “I tell you, I want this person for Xuanyuan Peak.”

Feng Baixiao just smiled gently, indescribably dashing and calm, “I dare not insult Master’s expectations, but this is a once-in-a-thousand-year rare spirit root. We at Broken Sword Peak want it too.”

The dozen people below who had not been tested also stopped and looked at each other at a loss for words.

Daoist Yixiao and Feng Baixiao were at a standstill. Daoist Yixiao tapped his wine gourd and roared, “I am your senior uncle, the Xuanyuan Peak Master. How dare you disobey me?”

Feng Baixiao bowed calmly, “I dare not. If Master Yixiao feels that I do not have the right to speak, I will have to disturb Master and ask him to come. ”

Heh, using the senior brother of the Sect to pressure me? Daoist Yixiao rubbed his head in annoyance, his eyes erratic. But if the Master came, this child would definitely be taken. What should I do?

The young man with a dual spirit root of gold and water looked at Bai Lixin, who was being fought for, and then at himself, who also had a dual spirit root but was not being asked for, and gritted his teeth, saying angrily, “Master Yixiao, I have a question for you.”

Daoist Yixiao took the time to glance at the youngster and said casually, “Since the Tianshui peak master did not see your spiritual roots, it means that you are not destined for each other.”

The youngster bit his lip, his face torn for a moment, “I am not talking about that. What I want to say is that, early in the morning, you said that today’s gathering was a trial. Does that mean that from last night when we went to the designated rest area to practice, to today when we came here to gather, they were all trials? But I didn’t see this green-clothed boy when I was in the rest area yesterday.”

Daoist Yixiao smiled and his eyes lit up. He pointed at Bai Lixin with a raised eyebrow and said angrily, “How could such a thing happen? This is outrageous! How dare you be opportunistic? I will punish you by starting as an outer disciple, and you will not be allowed to enter the inner sect until you have served ten years!”

Bai Lixin’s mouth was slightly open, his face dumbfounded.

Hey, is that even right?