Lin Donglai felt as if he had become merely a backdrop for the geniuses. Normally, in spirit root testing like this, finding one or two people was already quite good—even if there were more, they would appear much later, after sifting through another hundred or two hundred people...
The odds of testing two people with spirit roots in a row were simply too small.
But the moment he closed his eyes, the verdant seed floating in his mind appeared before him, proof that his fortuitous encounter was no illusion.
"Even without a spirit root... I could still cultivate immortality! As long as I find a way to condense essence blood, I can surely defy heaven and change my fate!"
Lin Donglai silently encouraged and reassured himself.
"Eh? Another one with a spirit root?"
As Lin Donglai extended his hand, a golden needle pricked his finger, and he pressed it against the center of the Eight Trigrams Spirit Testing Plate. The instant it made contact, a faint wisp of cool air burrowed in from the wound, and the next moment the plate emitted a pale green glow.
"Five spirit roots, prosperous Wood among the Five Elements, lower-grade spirit root, spirit root length one cun and two fen, meridian width and resilience ordinary—eh, such poor spirit root aptitude? Yet you also have a Dao body qualification?"
"Green in color yet firm—it should be the Jia Wood Dao Body among the Five Elemental Spirit Bodies. But the body's strength is ordinary, a lower-grade Jia Wood Body, comparable to an ordinary four-spirit-root lower grade, only marginally stronger! Bing-lower aptitude."
Li Zeyun did not ask Lin Donglai's name. In his heart, he judged that while it was a pity for this boy to end up as a menial laborer, his achievements would still be limited. Without some fortuitous opportunity, for the rest of his life he would only ever deal with spirit fields—a farmer's fate, through and through.
The heart Lin Donglai had kept suspended finally settled! Having a spirit root was enough! Having a spirit root was enough! Who cared whether the spirit root was good or bad—having one was better than not.
Lin Kai, waiting in line behind, saw that Lin Donglai had a spirit root and cast an extremely envious gaze.
Li Zeyun did not ask Lin Donglai's name, but Jiang Biling, recording the results beside him, had to ask: "What's your name? How old are you this year? What's your birth date and hour? Where are you from?"
Lin Donglai answered each question one by one, then gathered his courage and asked, "Fairy, if I become an immortal sect disciple, can I bring my father and mother along?"
"No need to call me Fairy. Just call me Senior Sister. According to sect rules, ordinary disciples may not bring their parents or siblings along to cultivate."
"Only by becoming an inner sect disciple does the sect permit direct family members to enter as menial laborers, so that you may meet from time to time."
"Then how does one become an inner sect disciple?" Lin Donglai pressed.
Even immortals were once human. He did not want, for the sake of cultivation, to spout nonsense about immortals and mortals being worlds apart, like in the storybooks.
"There is only one condition for becoming an inner sect disciple: having the potential to reach Foundation Establishment."
"That means cultivating to the late Qi Refinement stage before the age of thirty, so you have enough time to break through to Foundation Establishment before sixty."
Jiang Biling answered patiently. This was her task—explaining the sect rules to new disciples and leaving a good impression, increasing their sense of belonging to the sect while also accumulating goodwill for herself.
But Li Yunze grew a little impatient: "Why are you telling him all this? Whether he can even break through the late Qi Refinement bottleneck in this lifetime is unknown. Becoming an outer sect disciple would already be a stroke of great luck, and he still wants to become an inner sect disciple?"
Hearing this, Lin Donglai felt somewhat indignant, and a goal suddenly formed in his heart: he would definitely become an inner sect disciple, and then bring his parents over.
If the Dao seed was truly as marvelous as in the memories from his dream, achieving this condition should not be difficult.
Xue Hong, off to the side, also pricked up his ears to listen, thinking to himself: "So inner sect disciples are the core of the sect. I wonder—if I become an inner sect disciple, will my father move up a position, from outer sect steward to outer sect elder?"
So he asked, "Senior Sister, how many outer sect disciples does our Qingmu Sect have, and how many inner sect disciples?"
"Outer sect disciples—counting only ordinary outer sect disciples, not including those who ground out their seniority to become outer sect stewards or outer sect elders—number around twenty-seven or twenty-eight hundred."
"Inner sect disciples number only a little over two hundred. To be precise, there are currently just two hundred and fourteen."
"Hiss! Then those two senior brothers and you, Senior Sister, are all inner sect disciples—you must all have hope of reaching Foundation Establishment!"
"Foundation Establishment is hard to say." Facing Xue Hong's question, Li Yunze answered quite thoroughly: "I am twenty-seven this year, and only barely reached Qi Refinement seventh layer, meeting the threshold to become an inner sect disciple."
Xue Hong considered that his own father, with a four-spirit-root lower grade aptitude, had been an outer sect disciple for thirty years and had only cultivated to Qi Refinement sixth layer, unable to break through the late Qi Refinement bottleneck, and so had applied for an outside posting as an outer sect steward, married, and had children—thus producing Xue Hong himself.
A goal his father had never achieved in his entire life, and this senior brother had reached it at only twenty-seven. If he had entered the sect at the same age as Xue Hong, wouldn't that mean he had cultivated for only about ten years?
Terrifying!
Then, his own spirit root aptitude, valued so highly by this senior brother—didn't that mean he too had hope of reaching Foundation Establishment?
Lin Donglai listened without a trace of envy, his mind half occupied with looking for his parents. Before departing for the immortal sect, there were surely some things he wanted to say to them.
Lin Kai had been tested for spirit roots even earlier than Lin Donglai, and had none. Watching Lin Donglai standing there with aptitude, he could not help feeling a pang of sourness, and could only console himself: "Donglai and I have been close as one pair of trousers since childhood. Him cultivating immortality is the same as me cultivating. We brothers are so close—could he forget me?"
Then another thought struck him: "Right, Donglai's parents are still at the market. They don't know yet that Donglai has a spirit root! I have to go tell them!"
He ran for a while, and upon seeing Lin's father and mother, offered his congratulations: "Uncle, Auntie—Donglai's been chosen!"
Meng Qing wanted to ask for all the details, but Lin Meng pressed down his surging excitement: "Xiao Qing, Yangyang has a spirit root! Our family is going to produce an immortal!"
"Kai, lead us over!"
Immediately another round of people pushing and shoving ensued.
Li Yunze was still on the stage testing spirits. Those who came after to be tested all had no spirit roots. Though the testing continued, the number of people dwindled. This spirit testing in the town had been temporarily added by the Supreme Elder to gather fortune and destiny; afterward, they would go to the county town to test another round.
Not counting Xue Hong, there were in fact only two youths with five-spirit-root aptitude—the haul was not particularly large.
These two five-spirit-root youths had ordinary appearances, and their auras were likewise unremarkable. With spirit roots, they were only slightly better than ordinary people, showing no signs of having obtained some extraordinary opportunity.
Xue Hong had some fortune, but it was very limited; besides, as the son of an outer sect steward, he could be considered reliable.
After the testing was done, Jiang Biling no longer spoke with the three youths, instead letting them get acquainted on their own.
Xue Hong had originally not intended to befriend Lin Donglai and the other youth, confident that he would surely be an inner sect disciple, while the two of them would struggle even to make the outer sect.
But then he thought again—forming a good connection cost nothing.
After all, his own father had been an outer sect disciple of four-spirit-root lower grade origin. What if, someday, those two also managed to reach a steward's position? At the very least, it was a path worth keeping open.
"I am Xue Hong. From now on, we will most likely be fellow disciples. I ask for your kind regard."
Lin Donglai was still too excited to come up with anything clever to say, and could only repeat: "I am Lin Donglai. I ask for Brother Xue's kind regard."
"I am Ding Zhen." The first youth to be tested as having a spirit root broke into a simple, honest smile: "Brother Xue, Brother Lin, just call me Little Ding."