Chapter 90: A Misaligned Tale of Science and National Revival, Part 5

At the twenty testing stations, each manned by a Qi Refining cultivator, the children who were to be examined were called up in turn. Each child had to grip a strange rod-like device, and if they possessed spiritual roots, light would flare forth. The number of colors matched the number of roots.

There were eight attributes of spiritual roots: metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, thunder, and ice. The last three were all mutated roots. Beyond that, roots were classified as heavenly spiritual roots, single roots, dual roots, triple roots, quadruple roots, quintuple roots, mixed roots, and the exceedingly rare chaotic spiritual root.

A heavenly spiritual root meant a root whose purity reached at least ninety-five percent. It did not matter whether it was a single root or a dual root; as long as the purity met the standard, the number of attributes was irrelevant. When purity reached one hundred percent, it was called a spiritual physique. A single spiritual root meant one attribute with purity between sixty and ninety-five percent. The same applied to dual, triple, quadruple, and quintuple roots.

Mixed roots referred to any number of roots whose purity was below sixty percent. Even mutated roots were the same. If the purity was too low, it was not conducive to absorbing spiritual energy. Even a single mixed root cultivated more slowly than a quintuple root. A chaotic spiritual root, by contrast, was a quintuple root in which all five attributes were evenly balanced and each reached at least sixty percent.

These matters of spiritual-root attributes were explained to them by a Foundation Establishment cultivator while they stood in line. As a rule, mixed roots were not accepted by sects. They could still cultivate, of course, so long as their purity was above thirty percent. Below thirty percent, nothing could even be detected at all. But cultivation would be far too slow; they might spend their whole lives without ever reaching Foundation Establishment, wasting precious resources.

In this world, everyone was said to possess spiritual roots. It was just that for the vast majority of people, the purity of those roots was below thirty percent, too faint to detect and impossible to cultivate.

Apart from heavenly spiritual roots, the fewer the roots, the faster the cultivation. Thus the best of all were heavenly spiritual roots, followed by single and dual roots, then triple, quadruple, and quintuple roots. Chaotic spiritual roots cultivated slowly in the beginning, but their power became formidable later on.

As they absorbed these cultivation-world basics and moved forward inch by inch, the number of children gathered after ten years of accumulation was truly immense, especially since all the children from an entire province had been assembled here.

There were roughly ten thousand of them, but by the time a third had been tested, only a little over four hundred had been found to possess spiritual roots. Of those four hundred, more than half were mixed roots, and only a little over one hundred had proper spiritual roots. Among them, there was no heavenly spiritual root, only one single root, six dual roots, and the rest were triple, quadruple, or quintuple roots.

After a while, when about another third of the crowd remained, it was Mu Yin’s turn. She grabbed the testing instrument in one hand, and five lights rose up at once: gold, green, black, red, and yellow. That meant she was a quintuple root. Then she was told to grasp another device, one that looked like a round disc.

“What a pity. A five-elements mixed root, and the spiritual-root purity is only fifty-nine percent,” sighed the Qi Refining cultivator in charge of her test.

Mu Yin heard him and felt depressed. Why fifty-nine? Fifty-nine was just so awkward. Would it have killed them to give her sixty? It was only one point short of passing. Couldn’t they have spared her that single point?

“Um, Immortal Sir? Can I still enter the immortal sect?” Mu Yin felt she ought to try. They had not directly thrown out the other mixed-root children, after all.

“Go stand over there first,” the cultivator said, pointing to where the mixed-root children were gathered.

“Oh.” Mu Yin nodded and walked over to the largest cluster of children. A few of them looked at her curiously, and some of the more outgoing ones even asked her what kind of root she had. Of course, everyone there was clearly a mixed-root child.

By the time all the tests were finished, the number of people who had gathered here had not increased much, only by a few hundred, and the overwhelming majority of them were mixed roots like her.

The heroine really did deserve to be the heroine. She had the only heavenly spiritual root here, or rather, a dual root, which was still very impressive.

“All testing is complete. The mixed-root children may choose whether to come with us or stay behind. If you enter the sect as mixed roots, you can only begin as servant disciples. Only after reaching Foundation Establishment may you become outer-sect disciples. Servant disciples are responsible for all manner of tedious chores within the sect, as well as attending to both outer and inner disciples.

Think carefully before deciding. Once you become a servant disciple, you will no longer have the chance to choose.”

The Foundation Establishment cultivator addressed all the mixed-root children, along with the parents present.

The crowd erupted into an uproar at once, hushed voices rising everywhere. Mu Yin did not have any other plans, except for one thing: could she bring Madam Cao with her?

She was rather bold, and since they were still being given a choice, that meant the sect was probably decent enough. So she walked straight up and asked, “Immortal Sir, can I bring my mother?”

“No,” the man refused without even thinking.

“Really not? But I only have my mother. What will she do if something happens to me? She has no other family either.” Mu Yin refused to give up and kept pleading.

“No. You can choose not to go.” She was only a mixed-root child, after all, and the cultivator did not think much of her.

“Then can you at least tell me where the cultivation world is? I’ll go there myself.” Mu Yin actually had not expected much hope. If her spiritual roots had been better, she might still have had a chance to fight for it. But who had made her a mixed-root child?

“I can tell you. Head south for about one hundred thousand kilometers, and you will reach the boundary between the two worlds. But between the cultivation world and the mortal world lies a natural barrier, a mountain range. Mortals cannot pass through it. There are many demonic beasts inside, and although the barrier keeps them from descending the mountain into the mortal world, you still cannot cross over either. You should give up.”

A Qi Refining cultivator took pity on her and offered her a piece of advice.

Mu Yin’s face fell. She had not expected that. Still, it made sense. If such a barrier did not exist, there probably would be no distinction between the cultivation world and the mortal world at all.

Seeing that nothing bad happened when she asked questions, a few others grew bolder and came up to inquire as well. The heroine naturally joined them too. Although she was a heavenly spiritual root, she was not utterly indispensable. Taking one person with her might have been possible, but with a whole family of more than a dozen, there was no chance.

Standing to the side, Mu Yin thought for a long while before finally making up her mind. She walked over to the Golden Core cultivator in charge and said, “Immortal Sir, if I offer you a cultivation technique, can I exchange it for a place for my mother?”

“Oh? What kind of technique?” The Golden Core cultivator found it somewhat amusing. Their sect might only be second-rate in the cultivation world, but it was not so poor that it lacked a single technique. He could not help but tease her a little. He was already being exceptionally kind to her; after all, the distance between cultivators and mortals was as vast as heaven and earth.

Mu Yin then explained the characteristics of the body cultivation art, emphasizing in particular that she had already cultivated it for three years and reached the third level, and that its energy could be drawn from food. It was also a perfect fit for body refinement techniques.

The cultivation world might have all kinds of techniques, but body cultivation was something created through the combined principles of science and cultivation. It was most suitable for broad dissemination, and anyone could practice it. That alone made it rare and valuable.