605: The elders' discussion

Jiang Lu was holding her breath and concentrating when she suddenly felt a blur before her eyes. A figure appeared in front of her without any warning, moving so fast that she didn't capture even a trace of Spiritual Qi fluctuation.

Startled, she subconsciously took half a step back and looked up, finally seeing the appearance of the Sect Master.

The person before her looked to be about middle-aged, wearing an ordinary plain long robe. His face was unremarkable, and his features were so bland they looked like a simple sketch drawn at random; he would likely vanish instantly if lost in a crowd.

What surprised Jiang Lu even more was that she couldn't sense the slightest hint of Spiritual Qi fluctuation from him. His entire being exuded the simple aura of an ordinary Mortal. Had she not been in Lingxiao Hall and witnessed that soul-shaking questioning firsthand, she might have truly believed he was just a mountain villager who had wandered into the Sect by mistake.

"Stretch out your hand."

The Sect Master's voice remained calm and indifferent. At some point, a translucent white Spirit Testing Stone had appeared in his palm, its surface faintly flowing with a soft glow.

Jiang Lu's heart stirred, instantly understanding the Sect Master's intention.

This encounter was too bizarre, and words alone carried no weight. To distinguish truth from falsehood, the most direct method was to examine her Spiritual Root.

After all, in her previous account, she had mentioned drinking a potion given by a mysterious power in the Forbidden Ground to enhance her Spiritual Root—and a Heavenly Spiritual Root wasn't something that could be improved by just any random object.

Of course, with the Sect Master's cultivation, probing her Divine Sense memories would be a matter of a mere flick of his fingers.

However, since its founding, the Lingxiao Immortal Sect had always prided itself as part of the Righteous Path. They most abhorred underhanded methods like spying on a Disciple's Divine Sense and would never damage a Disciple's cultivation Foundation just to verify a single matter.

Jiang Lu did not dare to hesitate for a moment and quickly placed her palm on the surface of the Spirit Testing Stone.

As soon as her fingertips touched the cool stone surface, the translucent white Spirit Stone suddenly erupted with a burst of dazzling blue light. The light grew brighter and brighter, almost burning the eyes. On the stone's body, fine patterns moved like flowing water, emitting a humming vibration.

Amidst the blue light, a line of clear characters slowly emerged—Water Heavenly Spiritual Root, 53 points.

"53 points?!"

Elder Lin Jing, standing to the side, suddenly lost her composure. No longer able to maintain her usual steadiness, she stepped forward quickly, her gaze fixed intently on the words on the Spirit Testing Stone, her tone filled with disbelief.

"Sect Master, when Jiang Lu entered the Sect years ago, I was the one responsible for checking her Spiritual Root Aptitude! At that time, her Water Heavenly Spiritual Root was clearly only 41 points. In the Sect's Aptitude Records, there is still a clear entry to this day!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the air in the hall seemed to vibrate.

Everyone knew that as a top-tier Sect in the cultivation world, the threshold for the Lingxiao Immortal Sect was extremely high; a Heavenly Spiritual Root was merely the baseline for becoming an Inner Sect Disciple.

Furthermore, the score of this Heavenly Spiritual Root directly determined a Disciple's future. Only when the score broke past 50 points could one join the ranks of Core Disciples, becoming eligible to be taken as a Personal Disciple by a Core Elder and receive the Sect's most elite resources.

Jiang Lu's Spiritual Root score had actually surged by 12 points in just a short period of training, directly crossing the threshold for Core Disciples! Such a speed of improvement was simply unheard of.

The unremarkable figure nodded slightly, an imperceptible ripple flashing in his eyes.

He raised his hand to put away the Spirit Testing Stone. His voice remained flat, yet it carried an unquestionable authority.

"Pass down my command: immediately summon all Core Elders and Inner Sect Elders to gather in Lingxiao Hall for discussion."

"By your command!"

From outside the hall, the voice of a duty Disciple immediately responded, respectful and loud. This was followed by the sound of hurried footsteps rushing away.

In just half a stick of incense's time, the originally empty and solemn Lingxiao Hall was crowded with people.

As robes fluttered, various spiritual lights faintly circulated. Hundreds of figures stood in scattered positions, all of them Core Elders and Inner Sect Elders who governed various parts of the Lingxiao Immortal Sect.

Some looked solemn while others looked confused, their gazes unanimously falling upon the somewhat slight figure of the Disciple in the center of the hall. The sound of whispering was kept extremely low.

An Elder dressed in a black dharma robe stepped forward quickly, bowing with hands cupped. His voice was as resonant as a bell.

"Reporting to the Sect Master: excluding those colleagues out traveling or in secluded cultivation, all Core Elders and Inner Sect Elders within the Sect have arrived!"

The Sect Master nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over the crowd. Without any unnecessary pleasantries, he went straight to recounting Jiang Lu's encounter in its entirety.

From her being attacked during her training down the mountain and accidentally entering the Forbidden Ground, to being rescued by a mysterious power, and then to her Spiritual Root score significantly increasing—every word fell clearly into everyone's ears.

"What? A mysterious power is actually hidden within the Forbidden Ground?"

Before he had even finished speaking, the hall erupted into a commotion.

"Absurd! That Forbidden Ground is clearly recorded in the Sect's archives as a spiritual desert where not even a blade of grass grows. Even the lowest-grade Spiritual Plant cannot survive there. How could anyone take root in such a place?"

"What's even more bizarre is the Heavenly Spiritual Root score! Surging from 41 to 53 points—this kind of improvement speed might not even be achieved by the Spirit Quenching Holy Pill treasured by our Sect! Such a treasure is a rarity even across the entire cultivation world!"

Discussions rose one after another, filled with shock, skepticism, and undeniable eagerness. The atmosphere in the hall instantly became heated.

At that moment, the Sect Master finally spoke slowly. His low voice was like a stone dropped into a lake, instantly suppressing all the noise.

"Be silent, everyone."

The hall fell silent in an instant. Everyone held their breath, waiting for what came next.

"I have summoned you all here to discuss one matter: how our Lingxiao Immortal Sect should respond to this mysterious power in the Forbidden Ground."

The Sect Master's gaze fell on Jiang Lu, his tone calm and steady.

"According to Jiang Lu, that power seems to have the intention of befriending our Sect."

As his voice fell, he lightly waved his hand.

In an instant, a pile of potions appeared out of thin air on the smooth white jade floor of the hall.

The bottles were lustrous and sealed with soft stoppers; these were exactly the potions Jiang Lu had brought back from the Forbidden Ground.

"Are these the treasures that can improve Aptitude? There are actually twenty-three bottles..."

Someone was the first to let out a low cry of surprise, their eyes glued to the row of lustrous jade bottles, their voice full of undeniable wonder.

Immediately after, a white-haired and white-bearded Elder stepped forward slowly. His withered fingers brushed against the cool surface of a potion bottle, his eyes flashing with sharp light as he began to calculate carefully.

"Based on what the Sect Master just said, that Disciple drank twenty-three bottles of potion and was able to forcibly raise a 41-point Water Heavenly Spiritual Root to 53 points—a full 12-point increase! By that calculation, roughly two bottles can raise Aptitude by one point. And this is only for a Heavenly Spiritual Root; if it were replaced with an Earthly Spiritual Root or even a lower-grade Spiritual Root, wouldn't the magnitude of the increase be even more staggering?"