The cyan-clothed stewards, with their faces slightly changed, rushed down to save several seriously injured children who would be trampled to death, including Chen Hu. At the moment, his face was covered with blood and he was crying. Even if he survived, he would suffer facial mutilations.
Wang Ci got some minor injuries, but he was much better compared to Chen Hu.
Yang Chunbo’s heart still fluttered with fear, as he watched what happened there. He felt lucky to hear Su Li’s advice, otherwise he could be the one lying down there like Chen Hu.
Thinking about this, he subconsciously glanced at Su Li beside him, but found that she didn’t show any expression on her face when she saw such a bloody scene.
Yang Chunbo became more and more confused. Was this the same girl he used to know, the one who didn’t even dare to kill a chicken?
At this moment, the old man in black landed finally. He looked around sternly. All the children were frightened and became quiet immediately.
The old man coughed lightly and said loudly, “Little guys, I am the elder of Waimen Branch, and responsible for testing your spiritual roots. Now come over, line up and accept the test one by one. Yingke, keep an eye on them. Expel whoever is noisy from the sect.”
“Yes, sir.”
The middle-aged man in cyan, who had brought Su Li and the others to the square before, came forward and then began to line up the group in order with the help of other stewards behind him.
Su Li and Yang Chunbo were placed in the middle of the line. Su Li looked around the line and immediately found that the boy in gold was at the foremost position.
But now, the golden-robed boy stood there with his hair disheveled, and he looked very unpleasant, for he almost got injured in the mess just before.
In contrast, the golden-robed girl remained the same. Her gaze was still timid and without the arrogant look of the boy in gold.
The black-clothed old man walked up to the stone stele, with his palm pressed onto the surface of the stone. The entire surface of the stone faintly lit up and dulled down again.
He nodded after seeing this. He turned around and said in a cold voice, “The first one, come to me.”
The golden-robed boy’s manner carried a hint of respect, but not much of nervousness. His royal family was related to the cultivation world, so it was not difficult for him to find an inferior testing stone in advance to have a test.
“Place your hands on the stone, relax yourself and feel it with all your heart.”
Under the guidance of the black-clothed old man, the boy in gold gradually got relaxed, and at the same time the stone surface was flooded with a golden glow. The color was very dull to be seen, if a man did not look very carefully. The old man quickly became gentle and praised,
“Sixty percent of gold-typed spiritual root, not bad. It is enough for you to become a disciple of Neimen Branch. What’s your name?”
The golden-clothed boy became slightly pleased after hearing this and hastily made a bow with his hands folded in front. He replied, “My name is Jin Wei!”
The old man in black nodded and smiled lightly, “Jincheng Royal Family sent a good candidate.”
Hearing the praise from the elder, Jin Wei showed his arrogance again, which he just hid before the test. He stood beside the stewards and looked at the children still in the queue, having no try to hide his pride at all.
The second one is Jin Wei’s sister, Jin Ying.
She obviously did not have a high status in the royal family, so she certainly had not tested her spiritual root in advance. She looked rather apprehensive. The reason why she could come with Jin Wei was just that Jin Wei liked her very much.
Following the instruction of the elder, she put her tender palm on the stone. The testing stone was instantly lit up with a layer of golden light. The light was surprisingly a little bit higher than Jin Wei’s.
“Eighty percent of gold-typed spiritual root, excellent!”
The elder’s gaze shone brightly, and he even didn’t hide his excitement, looking at Jin Ying as if he had found a treasure. He asked, “Little girl, what is your name?”
His tone, was clearly gentler than that before when he spoke to Jin Wei.
“My… my name is Jin Ying.”
Jin Ying said timidly, but her bright, big eyes could not hide her joy. She was not a fool, although she did not understand what eighty percent of gold-typed spiritual root meant, one thing was certain, which is that her future in Huajian Sect was bound to be more splendid than that of her brother!
“Jin Ying… a great name! Ying, just stay right next to me.”
Said the old man. Then he turned to a steward and instructed, “Inform the heads quickly!”
The elder had a reckoning in his heart. A disciple with eighty percent of spiritual root was worthy the fight among the elders of Neimen Branch. Their Qinghua Mount was called Waimen Mount, just because they had not enough geniuses in the young generation.
Decades ago, Li Guang’s Fujian Mount was called Waimen Mount, but that old boy was lucky enough to get a child with immortal latency and the acquired physique of sword. Now, that disciple had joined Yuxu Sect and was no longer in Huajian Sect. But as long as that person was still alive, Fujian Mount would never be the Waimen Mount!
This history naturally made all the heads in Huajian Sect pay more attention to recruit children with immortal latency. Whenever an outstanding child with immortal latency appeared, there would certainly be a scramble!
Just as the elder instructed, a few disciples of Waimen Branch, who were watching the test outside, retreated quietly. But they were leaving for the other two mounts of Neimen Branch!
“Well, the test continues.”
The elder calmed down for a moment. He realized that the test had just begun, so he set about restoring the order.
After all, the elites like the two from Jincheng Royal Family were rare. The next dozens of children could not resonate with the testing stone.
Without a spiritual root, they had only two ways out. One was to keep staying in Waimen Mount as a handyman disciple to seek a glimmer of an immortal opportunity, while the other was to go back to their homes and live on as mortals.
It was easy to live on as a mortal, if a man never saw the cultivation world. Now, since these children had come to a place like Huajian Sect, and saw the immortals who could fly in the sky, no one was willing to go back to his home and live out his life as a mortal.
Therefore, those without spiritual roots, just like Huang back then, chose to start as a handyman disciple at Qinghua Mount, with a bit of luck or hope stayed in their hearts.
The elder was getting disappointed, and lost his interest to test the rest children by himself. Another steward took over, while he sat beside Jin Ying and made small talks. Jin Wei, who was standing beside alone, was embarrassed. He had ever anticipated that his sister he had brought as his concubine could have a better talent than him!
The very thought that he would not be able to hog Jin Ying for himself in the future and likely have to compete with others to win her heart, made him uncomfortable.
As the test was carried out halfway, Su Li suddenly raised her head and looked at the sky. But then she quickly lowered her head.
No one had noticed this except Yang Chunbo, who was watching Su Li all the time.
He looked up at the crystal-clear sky, too. Before he could ask her about what she was looking, suddenly…
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The fierce wind howled from the sky, which blew the children down. Yang Chunbo, who was facing the wind direction, could not even open his eyes.
After the gale disappeared, three silhouettes appeared in the square. The elder groaned inwardly when he saw them. How did these three come together?
While he was thinking about it, he went up to greet them, “Greetings, Senior Fellow Apprentice Li and Senior Sister Apprentice Wang and Mount Head!”
The middle-aged cultivator who stood on the left, called by the elder as the mount head, snorted. He only looked easy when he saw the elder was holding the hand of Jin Ying. He turned to the other two and said,
“You two, it’s not easy for my Qinghua Mount to encounter an outstanding genius. Please do not compete with me, okay?”
The middle-aged cultivator was obviously Yuan Shu, Head of Qinghua Mount.
Among the other two, the thin one, who wore a long black coat and carried a long sword on his back, was Han Feng’s master, Head of Fujian Mount. He was the one who had discovered the genius with the acquired physique of sword before.
Li Guang was his name!
The other female practitioner, wearing a light ink-colored dress, was Head of Danxia Mount, Wang Yu.
Wang Yu smiled at Jin Ying, who was as beautiful as a porcelain doll, and retorted, “Senior Fellow Apprentice, this is not right. Since Jin Ying is just a little girl, it is inconvenient for her to live with your guys. Besides, you have quite a few female disciples. If she does not come to my Danxia Mount, she will miss her best opportunity. Senior Fellow Apprentice, for her sake, let me take her back. I will personally teach her and train her to become a great practitioner!”
Yuan Shu secretly cursed in his heart, but kept smiling and shook his head,
“Impossible. Although there are many female disciples on your Qinghua Mount, male disciples there grow sturdily as well, don’t they? The sexual difference is irrelevant. In the worst case, I will send her to the main peak.”
The smile on Wang Yu’s face immediately diminished. This old fox was troublesome, but she wasn’t easy to be convinced either.
She turned to the innocent Jin Ying, “Why don’t we leave this girl to decide which peak she likes to go? What’s your opinion?”
Yuan Shu was slightly startled. He had no idea of Wang Yu’s plan, but his junior fellow apprentice had talked with Jin Ying for a while just now, so he was about to agree with her.
Just then, the stewards screamed out of surprise.
The testing stone suddenly glimmered a rather intense blue light, stronger than that of Jin Ying!
This attracted everyone’s attention. All the eyes focused on Yang Chunbo by the stone, who was bewildered by those attention.
A complete spiritual root!
The three heads were overjoyed after they realized, rushing to Yang Chunbo!
“You have a name?”
Li Guang held back his anxiety. His face that never smiled, squeezed out a gentle smile. Seeing this, Han Feng, who had arrived with Li Guang, hurriedly stepped forward and said,
“Master, his name is Yang Chunbo. I brought him up to the mountain!”
Yang Chunbo, a teenager born in a barren land, surprisingly had a complete water-typed spiritual root.
Han Feng’s heart was full of surprise, for it was completely unexpected!
So, he would certainly get a great reward from his master. Moreover, he had also forged a good bond with Yang Chunbo.
“My name is Han Feng, and you can call me Eldest Senior Fellow Apprentice in the future.”
Yang Chunbo was totally confused. Seeing that, the young man looked at him smilingly and told him his name. He didn’t even glimpse Su Li, his former favorite.
“Young man, will you join me to practice?”
Li Guang jumped at asking him. The faces of Yuan Shu and Wang Yu changed and they came up to stop him constantly, “Junior (Senior) Fellow Apprentice!”
“Senior Fellow Apprentice, it’s unkindly and unfair to do that. Although he was brought here by your disciple, it should be his call to choose where he likes to practice.”
