Thank you all for reading, and may you soar to the Azure Clouds!
Cangxuan Continent.
Canglan Spirit Domain.
Qingmang Continent.
A three-thousand-step long staircase leads straight into the Azure Cloud Sect atop Azure Cloud Mountain.
In the square before the mountain gate, a crowd had gathered.
"Lin Changkong, Mortal-grade Spirit Root, unqualified!"
"Step down!"
On the Talent Testing Platform, an elder of the Azure Cloud Sect spoke indifferently to a handsome young man standing beside the Talent Testing Stone.
Staring at the white light flashing from the Talent Testing Stone, Lin Changkong's face turned ashen. He clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug deep into his palms, causing sharp pain as a trickle of blood oozed from between his fingers.
After enduring countless hardships to reach this place, this was the result.
Mortal-grade Spirit Root, the lowest grade in the entire Cultivation World, barely considered a Spirit Root, offering slightly more potential than an ordinary person, just enough to practice cultivation.
Such talent might suffice to be a chivalrous hero in the mortal world, but it was far from enough to become a true Immortal Cultivator.
Despair filled Lin Changkong's heart.
He was originally a promising young man from the 21st century on Blue Star. An accident fifteen years ago brought him to this vast world of cultivation through rebirth.
When he realized this was a world where the strong could burn rivers and boil seas, his heart was filled with endless longing and excitement.
He fantasized about one day cultivating and becoming an Immortal Cultivator who could fly and escape.
However, reality dealt a cruel and merciless blow, shattering all his fantasies.
Fifteen years, without a golden finger, without an old grandpa, without an empress fiancée, nothing at all...
Lin Changkong felt the world spinning around him, his body swaying as if about to collapse, unable to hear the surrounding sounds, with only those cold words echoing in his mind.
"Mortal-grade Spirit Root, how could it be? Brother Lin..."
"Impossible, Brother Lin is so formidable, how could he have just a Mortal-grade Spirit Root?"
"Brother Lin..."
Below the platform, six pairs of eyes were fixed on Lin Changkong, filled with disbelief and varying shades of concern.
"Impossible, Elder, there must be a mistake, how could Brother Lin have just a Mortal-grade Spirit Root?"
A young girl in a light blue coarse dress stepped forward, looking at the testing elder on the platform, her face pale with disbelief.
The girl was about eleven or twelve years old, with an extremely beautiful face, a slender figure, and a fair complexion, a budding beauty who would undoubtedly grow into a stunning beauty in the future.
Her name was Luo Qinghan, and she came from the same village as Lin Changkong.
"Yes, Elder, Brother Lin is very strong, how could he have just a Mortal-grade Spirit Root? Could there be a mistake?"
Behind Luo Qinghan, another young boy stepped forward and spoke.
The boy appeared to be around eleven or twelve, with a delicate face, though he looked somewhat frail.
He also came from the same village as Lin Changkong, named Qin Hao.
The elder was initially annoyed by the questioning of the Spirit Root test, but upon seeing it was Luo Qinghan and Qin Hao, his rising anger was quickly suppressed.
"This Talent Testing Stone was passed down by the Patriarch of the Azure Cloud Sect, and has been used for thousands of years, tested countless times, always accurate, never wrong, so we cannot be mistaken," the elder explained patiently.
His attitude towards the two was due to both Luo Qinghan and Qin Hao possessing Top-grade Spirit Roots, a rarity seen only once every five hundred years, which had already alarmed the sect's higher-ups and Supreme Elders, with Golden Elixir True Persons vying to take them as disciples.
He was merely an Outer Sect Elder and dared not easily offend them.
"How could this be?"
The girl's face turned even paler upon hearing this, her eyes filled with pain and concern as she looked at Lin Changkong on the platform:
"Then doesn't this mean Brother Lin can't join the sect with us?"
"Regrettably, the sect's rules are clear. Young Lin's talent does not meet the entry requirements," the elder said softly.
At this moment, on the high platform where the sect members observed the test, a female elder, noticing Luo Qinghan's worldly attachment, spoke slowly:
"Qinghan! Such is fate, he is not suited for our sect. In the future, you will be people of two different worlds. Once you embark on the Immortal path, you must not be overly attached to worldly matters."
Luo Qinghan's face showed pain and sorrow, but she looked at the elders on the high platform with a resolute expression:
"If Brother Lin cannot enter the sect, then I will not join the Azure Cloud Sect either."
"What?"
Luo Qinghan's words caused a gasp from the entire square, and the elders of the Azure Cloud Sect jumped up from their seats in shock.
Each one looked at the twelve or thirteen-year-old girl with disbelief.
However, before everyone could recover, another crisp voice shook their hearts again.
"That's right, if Brother Lin can't join the Azure Cloud Sect, then I won't join either," Qin Hao said, his young face full of determination.
The crowd erupted into an uproar.
The elders of the Azure Cloud Sect were all left speechless.
Voices of discussion rose from the surrounding people.
"My God! Are these two crazy? They have Top-grade Spirit Roots and are giving up joining the sect for a waste? Are they out of their minds?"
"Fools, big fools, these two are definitely big fools!"
"The Azure Cloud Sect is one of the top cultivation sects in this region, and these two fools are giving it up for a waste, what are they thinking?"
"That boy is quite something, to have two peerless geniuses with Top-grade Spirit Roots supporting him like this."
The people participating in the entry test looked at Luo Qinghan and Qin Hao with shock and disbelief.
Some looked at Lin Changkong with envy, jealousy, and hatred.
Why does a waste deserve this?
On the high platform, the seven or eight Inner Sect Elders with profound auras exchanged glances, their expressions varied.
"Absurd!"
The beautiful elder who had previously advised Luo Qinghan's face darkened, and she let out a low shout, inadvertently releasing a trace of the pressure belonging to a Purple Palace cultivator, causing the audience below to fall silent.
She looked at Luo Qinghan's stubborn eyes, feeling both anger and a sense of talent being wasted.
"Qinghan, the path of immortality is long, and opportunities are hard to come by. How can you sacrifice your future for a moment of impulse?"
The beautiful elder's voice softened, carrying a few words of advice:
"You possess a Top-grade Spirit Root, a natural seed for cultivation, with limitless potential.
But this Lin Changkong... with a Mortal-grade Spirit Root, even reaching Foundation Establishment is as difficult as ascending to the heavens. Compared to you two, he is ultimately as different as clouds and mud."
The implication was that it wasn't worth it for such a waste.
Luo Qinghan's delicate body trembled, her teeth biting her lower lip so hard that she almost drew blood, yet she stubbornly stood her ground, unmoving.
Beside her, an elder with white hair and a childlike face, known for his fiery temper, suddenly slapped the armrest of his seat and stood up, his gaze like lightning, shooting straight at Qin Hao.
"Brat, do you know what you're saying?
Top-grade Spirit Root, a rarity in five hundred years.
You're giving up such an immortal fate for a waste with a Mortal-grade Spirit Root? Has a donkey kicked your brain?"
Qin Hao's face turned pale, and he swayed under the pressure, but he still stood straight, looking at the elders on the high platform, his voice young yet firm:
"Elder, Brother Lin is not a waste.
He saved my life and Qinghan's.
Without Brother Lin, we would have died at the mouth of a Demonic Beast long ago and never reached the Azure Cloud Sect."
These words caused the anger on the faces of several elders on the high platform to pause slightly.
Beside the testing platform, the Outer Sect Elder sighed, looking at the swaying Lin Changkong with a complex gaze.
To protect two children and traverse dangerous regions to reach the mountain gate, this young man's character, perseverance, and cleverness were indeed exceptional.
But unfortunately... the hurdle of talent in the Cultivation World is like an insurmountable chasm.
Lin Changkong finally regained a sliver of clarity from his endless despair.
He heard Luo Qinghan and Qin Hao's words of giving up their immortal fate for him, and a warm current surged in his heart, only to be replaced by greater fear.
He turned abruptly, shouting hoarsely at Luo Qinghan and Qin Hao below the platform, his voice so raspy it was almost unrecognizable:
"Qinghan! Little Hao! What are you doing? Shut up! Apologize to the elders immediately!"
He quickly turned to the high platform, bowing deeply, his posture humble to the extreme:
"Honored elders! Qinghan and Little Hao are young and ignorant, impulsive, and meant no offense to the sect.
I beg the elders to calm their anger and not take their words seriously.
Disciple... Disciple Lin Changkong, with poor talent, is willing to descend the mountain without complaint."
He couldn't let these two little ones, who had followed him through thick and thin to reach this place, lose their chance to change their fate because of him.
On the high platform, the elders looked at the young man's humble plea and desperate attempt to distance himself, then at the two children below who, despite their fear, stood their ground. For a moment, they were silent.
Cultivation Levels: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Purple Palace, Golden Elixir, Elemental Infant, Divine Transformation, Sainthood...