Yun Miao’s eyes lit up, and she immediately bowed deeply. “Master above, please accept your disciple’s bow.”
Sect Master Chang, having just taken in a genius disciple, was in an equally delightful mood. With a kindly smile, he reached out and lifted Yun Miao’s arm.
“Disciple, no need to be so formal. Let’s wait for the Xuantian Sect Disciple Recruitment Ceremony to pay respects properly. For now, follow me to the Great Hall. The other peak masters, elders, and disciples are all waiting for you.”
He grasped Yun Miao’s arm and stepped forward. She only felt the world blur for a moment before suddenly finding herself standing inside a grand and ancient Great Hall.
At the deepest part of the hall was a high platform, upon which sat a group of people. Her Sect Master was already seated at the head of the platform, though she hadn’t noticed when he had arrived.
Below the platform, in the open space, stood another group of people—Huaxin, Tan Xiaobai, and others among them.
Yun Miao herself stood at the center, directly between the two groups, in the very middle of the hall. In front of her was a pale crystal stone about two meters tall.
***
Next to it stood a male disciple of Xuantian Sect whom she had seen before on the Immortal Vessel.
The male disciple said, “Junior sister, please step forward and place your hand on the Ling Stone.”
This was the Ling Stone Huaxin had mentioned earlier?
Following his words, Yun Miao raised her hand and pressed it against the Ling Stone but saw no change whatsoever.
The male disciple frowned and stepped forward. “Strange, why is there no response?”
He tapped the stone a few times, but still, no change occurred.
Che Ruojin, the Jian Peak master, spoke up: “It shouldn’t be the Ling Stone’s fault……………..”
With a wave of his sleeve, the previously open doors of the hall automatically closed.
The interior immediately darkened, and in the dim light, the Ling Stone’s faint multicolored glow was finally caught by everyone’s eyes.
There was indeed nothing wrong with it. It was simply that the glow was so faint it had been drowned out by the light from outside moments ago.
Huaxin, Tan Xiaobai, and the others standing with the other new disciples stared in disbelief.
They knew the Ling Stone’s mechanism—each spiritual root would emit a colored light, and the brighter the glow, the higher the grade of the spiritual root.
From what they understood, the fewer the spiritual roots inside a cultivator and the higher their grade, the faster they could absorb Spirit Qi and the better their innate talent!
But now the Ling Stone showed five colors of light, each a mere faint glimmer. What did that mean about Yun Miao’s spiritual roots…………..?
The hall fell silent.
The male disciple rubbed his eyes, staring in disbelief for a long moment before trembling as he announced, “Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth—five spiritual roots, all of the lowest grade!”
At once, the new disciples with weaker willpower erupted in chaos.
“Five spiritual roots? I thought five spiritual roots were the legendary Wasted Spiritual Roots?!”
“So this is what the legendary speck of light looks like. When I was a kid, even reflecting sunlight off my snot was brighter than this!”
“Having five spiritual roots would be bad enough, but each one the lowest grade? Her speed of absorbing Spirit Qi must be slower than a snail’s! Wasted Spiritual Roots really are terrifying!”
“No, people just lump all five spiritual roots together as Wasted Spiritual Roots. It’s not that every five-rooted cultivator has all their roots at the lowest grade.”
“Both the lowest and the highest grades of spiritual roots are rare, and five roots are even more rare than Heavenly Spiritual Roots. Yet here they all are……………. My heavens, this girl is truly cursed.”
Yun Miao, the unlucky one who had overheard the whispered speculations behind her back, calmly withdrew her hand and turned to look at the white-bearded elder on the high platform.
“Master, are you still taking disciples?”
The high platform remained silent. Everyone quietly turned to look at the Sect Master seated at the head.
Ge Yan, Tian Laokou, and the others had genuinely wanted to accept the girl in the blue robe as their disciple. Unfortunately, Feng Yin Patriarch had gone overboard and handed over the Dengtianti to her.
This treasure was a top-tier artifact in Xuantian Sect’s hands, but in the hands of a lonely, unsupported girl, it was a dangerous hot potato.
As a treasured artifact passed down for many years, the Dengtianti had become a symbol of Xuantian Sect.
If news of this spread, it wouldn’t just attract covetous eyes but could also damage the Sect’s reputation. After much thought, the Sect Master had finally decided to accept the girl as a disciple.
This should have been good news for the Sect Master. After all, which master wouldn’t be pleased to have a genius disciple with exceptional intelligence and comprehension?
Just looking at how broadly Sect Master Chang had smiled earlier made it clear how happy he was. But now…………..
Everyone cautiously observed the Sect Master’s expression: um, a stiff face, a blank gaze, his body still present but his soul seemed to have already made a trip to the Heavenly Underworld.
Still, they could understand. After all, five lowest-grade spiritual roots were barely better than having no spiritual root at all. Objectively, she was as useless as rotten wood—how could she be taught?
Unless the girl had another sudden enlightenment, she probably wouldn’t even reach the eighth level of Qi Refining in her lifetime.
But such sudden enlightenment was no easy matter.
These people were the peak of the world’s greatest sect, peak masters and elders all, and the youngest among them was at least five hundred years old.
Yet those who had achieved sudden enlightenment could still be counted on one hand.
Sect Master Chang understood the meaning of “five lowest-grade spiritual roots” better than anyone.
That was why he had been struck dumb upon hearing those words, as if hit by lightning—frozen in place, as if he had already foreseen a future where he was disgraced in the teaching world, mocked day and night by his rivals.
Yet when he heard that sorrowful, pleading “Master” again, his heart softened. He slapped the armrest of his chair and suddenly stood.
“I will accept! Absolutely accept!”
“Since this old monk has recognized you as my disciple, there is no reason to go back on that. Even if you had the lowest, lowest, lowest, lowest grade five spiritual roots, I would still accept you!”
“If those old ghosts dare mock you, this old monk will rip their mouths open with the Cracking Earth Claw, stuff their mouths with pig dung, beat them into fish balls with the Bone Dividing Hand and Ten Fist Strike, then tie them up with the Immortal Binding Rope and throw them all into Li Lake to feed the fish!”
The white-bearded elder’s voice grew louder and louder, his aura soaring with each word. The invisible currents blew his beard and sleeves wildly as a fierce light exploded from his eyes.
It was as if, were his mortal enemies to appear before him now, he would instantly offer them a free “one-stop service” of murder and disposal.
The disciples below the platform, previously whispering, suddenly felt an overwhelming pressure sweep over the Great Hall.
Like baby rabbits caught in a tiger’s gaze, they instantly lost the ability to speak or move. They could only stand frozen in place, unable even to turn and flee.
Tian Laokou hurried forward and steadied Sect Master Chang. “Sect Master, calm down………… What you said is all just hypothetical. There’s no need to think so far ahead.”
[“Your rivals are respected figures. If you turn them into fish balls, you just boil them on the spot. Why bother hauling their bodies all the way back here? If others found out, the impact on the Sect would be terrible.”]
Shui Yaoguang spoke coldly, “The Xuantian Sect prohibits the careless disposal of waste. Violators may be punished with cleaning duties ranging from one month to ten years depending on the situation.”
Ge Yan reminded, “Sect Master, the disciples are all watching.”
Sect Master Chang paused, lowered his gaze, and met the terrified eyes of the disciples below the platform.
He cleared his throat, quickly suppressed the fierce light in his eyes, stroked his split beard, and smoothed his robes as he nonchalantly sat back down, once again the ethereal and serene Sect Master of Xuantian Sect.
“Ahem. Since you have entered Xuantian Sect, I, as your Sect Master, have the responsibility to teach and guide you. Since you do not understand the wonder of the five spiritual roots, I will say a bit more.”
“Actually, whether it’s recorded in ancient texts or the records from the Yuan Dynasty and the mid-flourishing period forty thousand years ago, the five spiritual roots have always been a rare and precious treasure.”
“Although Heavenly Spiritual Roots absorb Spirit Qi the fastest and the five spiritual roots the slowest, the five spiritual roots have an advantage that Heavenly Spiritual Roots will never have.”
“That is, the five spiritual roots correspond to the Dao of the Five Elements.”
“Once a cultivator with five spiritual roots comprehends the mutual generation and restriction of the Five Elements, the five originally separate powers within their body can merge into true Five Elements power, forming the legendary Five Elements Dao Body!”
“Its Spirit Qi absorption rate far surpasses even Heavenly Spiritual Roots. From then on, water nourishes wood, wood fuels fire, fire creates earth—life endlessly renewing!”
“Unfortunately, cultivators bearing five spiritual roots are rarer than those with Heavenly Spiritual Roots, one in ten thousand.”
“Early cultivation is extremely slow, and the Five Elements Dao Body is difficult to master, requiring great perseverance and genius. As a result, the heritage of the Five Elements Dao and Dao Body has gradually been lost.”
“This has led some uninformed people in recent millennia to misunderstand, wrongly calling five spiritual roots Wasted Spiritual Roots. Truly regrettable.”
Sect Master Chang stroked his beard and looked out at the gathered disciples, eyes full of affection. “Now that I have explained this, do you understand?”
The disciples felt his gaze and tensed up. Immediately, they shouted loudly, “Yes, we understand!”
Mistaking their response as success in redeeming his image, Sect Master Chang nodded with satisfaction. Then he turned his gaze to Yun Miao before the Ling Stone and encouraged her.
“Good disciple, don’t overthink it. Just remember, with perseverance and diligence, practicing day and night, you will surely gain much.”
Yun Miao’s face was serious. “I understand.”
The player gradually understood everything. It turned out the game had set her on a ‘wasted’ path for a comeback. Though a bit cliché, classics never go out of style.
She guessed her main quest ahead was to comprehend the power of the Five Elements, form the Five Elements Dao Body, punch the faces of these cricket NPCs behind her until they swelled, and then ascend to immortality amid the shocked, worshipful, and admiring gazes of all!
Heh heh heh!
Sect Master Chang saw her resolute, unyielding, and defiant eyes and sighed silently once again.