Rebuilding the Immortal Cultivator Clan

Chapter 28: Testing the Spirit

”What did you say?!” Patriarch Qin roared angrily, ”You canʼt even handle this trivial matter, what use are you to me!”

”Patriarch, even if the Li family knows it was us who made the move, they would not dare to confront the family...”

Without mentioning it, it would have been fine, but as soon as Manager Qin opened his mouth, he completely set off Patriarch Qin, ”You fool! Does it matter now whether the Li family will take action or not? After this incident, do you think Welcoming Immortals Inn will still have customers!”

Everybody knows that the Qin Family has a close relationship with the Yuanming Sect, but in this incident, itʼs the Li family who are the victims. If the Yuanming Sect forcibly intervenes, what would the other vassal clans think?

Moreover, itʼs clear that the Li family is also aware of the Qin Familyʼs relationship with the Yuanming Sect, and they donʼt plan to take action themselves, but this kind of heart-scouring tactic is even more terrifying!

As for the Golden Core cultivator of the Yuanming Sect, the Qin Family is not willing to wear out their relationship over this affair.

”You go to the marketplace right now, take down the signboard of the Welcoming Immortals Inn, then close it down until things have blown over, after which you can reopen under a new name!” Patriarch Qin looked at the worthless person before him and felt agitated.

”And then what?” Manager Qin asked a very foolish question.

Patriarch Qin used all his strength to suppress the rage in his heart, and just roared loudly, ”Then you roll back here! Stay honestly at home within the family!”

If it wasnʼt for the fact that the other person was his actual blood relative, he would have seriously considered chopping him down!

But before the matter of Welcoming Immortals Inn was resolved, Patriarch Qin heard another piece of news, a very frightening piece of news!

Zheng, Zhang, He, the three major families, had all lost a Foundation Establishment cultivator!

”This...” Patriarch Qin immediately realized that these three Foundation Establishment cultivators likely died at the hands of the Li family.

”Do you know what happened?”

Elder Qin shook his head and said, ”Unclear, the news is incomplete, and yet oddly, those three families havenʼt come forward to explain.”

”This is probably a message deliberately released by the Li family, aimed at deterring us and other forces targeting them,” Patriarch Qin said. He couldnʼt help but sigh, ”Enough is enough, the Li family is not someone we can provoke; letʼs just keep to ourselves.”

The hustle and bustle of the outside world did not disturb the peace and serenity on Da Rong Island — the Li family seemed unaffected, as if it were any other day.

However, today, the entire Da Rong Island became lively whether it was cultivators or secular clansmen, all of them were very excited and full of anticipation.

Because today is the annual Spirit Testing Assembly of the family!

Spirit Testing is the process of testing whether children who have reached the age of five have a Spiritual Root; if they do, they can become cultivators seeking the Dao; if not, they can only be ordinary mortals.

”Zhirui, why have you come?” The one presiding over the Spirit Testing was Li Shiren; he couldnʼt help showing a hint of surprise when he saw Li Zhirui suddenly appear at the testing site.

Back in Bailang County, Li Zhirui seldom participated in such events, and after arriving at Da Rong Island and learning Alchemy, he was even more reluctant to go out, so Li Shiren really didnʼt expect to see him here.

”Just stepping out for a breath of fresh air,” Li Zhirui replied with a smile.

He was currently attempting to concoct a Spirit Pill of fairly high difficulty called the Strong Vein Pill, which, as the name suggests, strengthens the meridians and makes them more resilient.

However, because he hadnʼt succeeded so far, Li Zhirui was feeling quite irritable, so he decided to come out to relax. Little did he expect to stumble upon the important event of the Spirit Testing Assembly.

”Uncle Ren, last year there were only three children with spiritual roots; Iʼm afraid there will be even fewer this year, right?” Li Zhirui, although not fond of bustling events, still paid attention to the results of each Spirit Testing Conference.

After all, whether a family could continue on depended not only on its ability to ensure the safety and strength of the family but also on whether there was a future for the family!

And the Spirit Testing Conference was a glimpse of the familyʼs future hope and the chance they had, although it was not entirely accurate. After all, no one could be certain what achievements these children with detected spiritual roots would accomplish in the future.

”Thereʼs no helping it; there are too few secular clansmen on Da Rong Island. This year, there arenʼt even a thousand people who meet the criteria,” Li Shiren had no great expectations for this yearʼs Spirit Testing Conference either.

You should know, last year in Bailang County alone, tens of thousands of children met the criteria, but out of all those, only three children with spiritual roots emerged! Saying it was ʼone in ten thousandʼ was not an exaggeration at all.

Therefore, Li Shiren felt that if they could find even one child with spiritual roots this year, they would be very lucky indeed!

”Since there are so few secular clansmen, why not encourage them to have more children?”

At the very least, Da Rong Island could accommodate a million mortals, but now it is still far from reaching its limit.

And even if Da Rong Island cannot hold more people, there are several deserted islands nearby that can be developed and made habitable for the secular clansmen.

”In the past, the family only considered Da Rong Island as a place to continue the bloodline, mainly focusing their efforts on Bailang County.” After all, who could have predicted that the White Jade Sect would suddenly give rise to a Nascent Soul cultivator, causing the Beast Taming Sect to collapse?

”Weʼll take it slow, now everything in the family is developing in a good direction.”

Since the children to be tested had all arrived, Li Shiren stopped chatting with Li Zhirui and quickly walked to the Spirit Testing Array, ready to activate the formation and begin the testing.

The Spirit Testing Array could test a hundred people at once, not like the Spirit Testing Stone which was more troublesome and had to be used one by one, slowly.

But if it werenʼt for Li Shiren being a second-tier array master, they wouldnʼt have been able to use the Spirit Testing Array because it was a second-tier formation!

”Enter the formation!” As Li Shiren spoke, a hundred bewildered children, under the expectant gaze of their parents, stepped into the formation.

Li Shiren activated the formation, and instantly, eight different colors of spirit light emerged and then dispersed, each settling into the formation.

As time passed, gradually, one of the children had three pillars of light rise above their head, representing the white light pillar of the Metal Spirit Root, the green light pillar of the Wood Spirit Root, and the yellow light pillar of the Earth Spirit Root.

The Spirit Testing Array could only detect if there were any spiritual roots; as for the purity of the spiritual roots, a more accurate testing would be needed. But no matter what, this year the Li family was going to have a new clan member.

”What a great start!” Li Zhihao said joyfully, ”It looks like this Spirit Testing Conference is going to have a good outcome.”

”Indeed!” Li Zhirui was also very hopeful.

Li Shiren shut down the formation, and then another elder took the child with spiritual roots to one side, waiting for the testing to end and then taking everyone to test for the purity of their spiritual roots.

The other children, understanding what this meant, couldnʼt help but burst into tears, causing many others to start crying as well, and suddenly the place was full of crying and wailing.

Watching this scene, Li Zhirui suddenly remembered the day thirteen years ago, when he stood within the Spirit Testing Array.

At that time, he had just realized he had transversed to a world of cultivation and was full of hope for a good outcome!

And when the result appeared, before Li Zhirui could react, he saw all the cultivators around him smiling broadly and gathering around him. At that moment, he couldnʼt help but think that he must have spiritual roots, and it seemed like his aptitude was quite good.

Then, Li Zhirui was tested again, and although many showed disappointment after the results, he didnʼt mind. He only knew that he had spiritual roots and was qualified to enter the mysterious and unpredictable world of cultivation!