Ten Thousand Years in Seclusion
Chapter 24:The First Test: Spiritual Root Assessment

Chapter 24: Chapter 24:The First Test: Spiritual Root Assessment

While Qi Tian was still hesitating, figures began pushing their way out of the crowd. They were mostly the older cultivators who had been standing alone at the edges earlier, along with two youthful-looking boys.

Eighteen people in total stood in a line across the open space.

Qi Tian swept his gaze over them.

Sixteen of them looked to be in their thirties or forties. The spiritual energy within their dantians was as mixed and tangled as loose threads. At their age, unless they encountered some extraordinary opportunity, they would likely have little hope of ever reaching Foundation Establishment.

The two younger boys were different.

One was dressed in fine robes and a jade crown, his clothes clearly expensive, with a piece of white jade hanging from his waist. Yet his face was unnaturally flushed, his aura was noticeably shallow and unstable.

One glance was enough to tell that his cultivation had been forced up through pills. Impressive on the surface, but hollow underneath.

The other wore coarse cloth and short hemp garments, with flecks of mud still clinging to his trouser legs. He looked like some country boy who had just run straight out of a field.

Yet the moment he stood there, his back was straight as a pine.

His aura was deep and restrained. The spiritual energy in his dantian was solid and vigorous, faintly showing signs of circulating on its own.

The stability of his foundation was actually far greater than that of all sixteen older cultivators combined.

The burly elder glanced over the group and nodded before speaking again, his voice booming like a great bell.

"Those who have yet to reach the second layer of Qi Condensation may leave."

The plaza fell silent for a moment, but no one moved.

Everyone who had come had already inquired about the rules beforehand. No one at the first layer of Qi Condensation would be foolish enough to come all this way just to join in the excitement.

"Anyone over eighteen who has yet to reach the third layer of Qi Condensation—"

The burly elder paused.

"May leave."

The moment the words fell, a wave of cries and wails erupted across the plaza.

"Wasn’t it twenty last time? Why did they change it?!"

"I came all this way for nothing... It’s over! It’s all over!"

The lean elder frowned and barked sharply, "Enough whining. Get down the mountain!"

Those who failed to meet the requirements lowered their heads in dejection and could only force their way out of the crowd and head back down the mountain.

Several Falling Cloud Sect disciples stood guard at the exit. A few were responsible for collecting the wooden tokens, while another held a booklet in hand. Each time a token was returned, he used a vermilion brush to draw a hard line through the number on it.

Cries and sighs mingled together. With those strokes, more than two hundred numbers were crossed out.

Qi Tian remained where he was, silently adjusting his aura until it settled at the third layer of Qi Condensation.

Not too high, not too low.

Right on the line.

Once the crowd had quieted down again, the burly elder stepped forward and spoke in a deep voice.

"The first test—spiritual root assessment."

The tall, lean elder added coldly, "Those who already know they possess a useless spiritual root, don’t waste everyone’s time. You may leave."

Once again, no one moved.

Everyone knew this rule just as well.

The Falling Cloud Sect did not accept cultivators with useless spiritual roots.

A so-called useless spiritual root was one possessing all five elemental attributes—a Five-Element Spiritual Root.

The more mixed the spiritual root’s attributes, the less efficiently one could absorb spiritual energy from heaven and earth. Those with all five elements cultivated at an exceptionally slow pace and often spent their entire lives unable to break through to Foundation Establishment.

That was why such a spiritual root was called "useless."

Slightly better than a useless spiritual root was a False Spiritual Root—the Four-Element Spiritual Root. Such cultivators could still cultivate, but their progress was similarly arduous.

Above that was the True Spiritual Root, possessing three elemental attributes.

Two attributes constituted an Earth Spiritual Root.

As for the single-attribute Heaven Spiritual Root and the mutated Variant Spiritual Root, those were the immortal seedlings every major sect dreamed of obtaining.

For cultivators with such spiritual roots, cultivation could advance by leaps and bounds, with almost no bottlenecks before the Core Formation realm.

Yet most of the people present wore uneasy expressions.

Unless they came from prestigious clans with their own spiritual-root testing artifacts, what ordinary rogue cultivator would have any chance of knowing their spiritual-root aptitude in advance?

Qi Tian was genuinely in an awkward position now.

And as it happened, he himself had precisely that—a useless spiritual root: a Five-Element Spiritual Root.

But so what if he had a useless spiritual root?

Hadn’t his master recognized him at a single glance back then and taken him as his disciple?

His master had told him before—

"The true path to the Great Dao has never cared about the quality of one’s spiritual root. Comprehension, temperament, and opportunity. Those three are the foundations of seeking immortality and pursuing the Dao.

"A spiritual root is nothing more than a stepping stone through the door. What determines how far you can go has never been how high your starting point is, but how deeply you comprehend the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, and... whether you encounter the right opportunities."

His master had stroked his beard and continued:

"Take you, for example. The fact that I took you as my disciple is itself a stroke of fortune. Cultivate well, and in the future, you may not be inferior to those with Heaven Spiritual Roots."

Back then, he had still been young.

Sitting on a meditation cushion, he had tilted his face upward and asked earnestly,

"But what if someone with a Heaven Spiritual Root were also taken as a disciple by a great cultivator of the Void Refinement realm?"

His master’s hand paused slightly as he stroked his beard.

After a moment of silence, he slowly replied,

"Then it would still depend on their comprehension, and on what other opportunities they encounter in the future."

"What if their comprehension is the same?"

His master glanced at him but said nothing.

"What if our opportunities in the future were the same too?"

The cave dwelling fell silent.

Only the faint hum of the alchemy furnace remained.

His master was silent for a long while.

Then, all of a sudden, his eyes widened. He raised a hand and lightly tapped him on the forehead.

"Where do you get all these what-ifs?! Go cultivate!"

With that, his master kicked him straight out the door.

Qi Tian was still lost in thoughts of his master when two Falling Cloud Sect disciples came together to carry a massive object onto the square. With a heavy crash, they set it down in the center.

It was a black stone stele standing two zhang tall, its surface smooth as a mirror. Set into its top was a fist-sized transparent spirit orb, within which five-colored radiance slowly swirled. The body of the stele was covered in densely packed ancient runes, exuding an aura of age and antiquity.

The burly elder pointed toward the black stele.

"This is the Spirit-Assessment Stele. The spiritual-root assessment begins."

He first motioned for the sixteen older cultivators to step forward.

The most weathered-looking cultivator among them stepped out first. He appeared to be around forty, with frost already touching his temples. His face was rough and deeply lined, as though carved by blades and axes, while his palms were covered in thick calluses—clear signs of years spent struggling in the outside world.

He walked to the Spirit-Assessment Stele and mechanically pressed his palm against its cold surface. His eyes were as calm as a pool of dead water.

The five-colored radiance within the spirit orb immediately became murky and tangled, dimming until it was little more than the faint glow of a firefly.

"Five-Element Spiritual Root."

Without even looking up, a disciple retrieved the cultivator’s wooden token with his left hand and swiftly marked something in the register with his right, his tone as flat as if he were merely reporting the quality of a piece of merchandise.

The cultivator’s expression did not change. He silently stepped aside.

He had evidently known his own aptitude for a long time.

The remaining fifteen stepped forward one after another. Spiritual light flickered across the stele as the disciples called out the results in rapid, mechanical succession.

"Five-Element Spiritual Root."

"Four-Element Spiritual Root."

"Five-Element Spiritual Root..."

Before long, all sixteen had been tested.

Thirteen had Five-Element Spiritual Roots. Three had Four-Element Spiritual Roots. Not a single one had even reached the rank of a True Spiritual Root.

The burly elder remained expressionless, evidently having expected as much. He merely nodded and instructed a disciple beside him,

"Take them to Elder Zhang for the Heart-Questioning Stone test. If there are no problems, take them to the External Affairs Office to report for duty."

"Yes."

The disciple acknowledged the order and led the sixteen cultivators toward a secluded stone path on the left side of the mountain gate.

On the square, Qi Tian watched their backs disappear, his brows knitting almost imperceptibly.

—Didn’t they just say they didn’t accept useless spiritual roots?

He was not the only one who found it strange.

A boy beside him was also craning his neck to watch, unable to hold back any longer.

"Didn’t they say they don’t accept Five-Element Spiritual Roots? Why are they letting them in?"

"What do you know?"

A loose cultivator beside him, clearly more experienced, curled his lip and lowered his voice.

"They may be older, but all of them have reached the sixth layer of Qi Condensation. The Falling Cloud Sect has countless businesses outside the sect and always needs people to manage them. Those people are being sent out as outposted disciples."

"Outposted disciples?"

"That’s right."

The loose cultivator gave a mocking laugh.

"It sounds like they’re still disciples of the Falling Cloud Sect, but in reality, they’re just laborers sent out to watch shops, manage mines, and collect rent in the towns. They’ll be stuck in the Qi Condensation realm for the rest of their lives, with no hope of advancing on the Dao. Their status is worlds apart from that of proper disciples within the sect."

Qi Tian finally understood.

If that was the case, then the steward at Yuelai Inn was most likely an outposted disciple as well.

So that was how the Falling Cloud Sect’s system worked.

Some came to seek the path of immortality.

Others sought nothing more than a livelihood beneath the protection of the sect.