153: Chapter 153 Spirit Testing

Two months had passed since Chen Changxuan left with the people.

On this day, it was the Chen Family's annual day for testing Spiritual Roots.

All the Mortals in Wuyue Town, as long as they were six-year-old children, headed early in the company of their parents to the Spiritual Testing Hall at the foot of Wuyue Mountain.

Outside the Spiritual Testing Hall during the annual Spiritual Testing Assembly, a large number of parents full of boundless longing for the future always gathered.

Among them, some were members of the Chen Family by blood, while others had different surnames.

However, the Chen Family made no exceptions for them; as long as they were willing to join the Chen Family, they were all members of the Chen Family, not to mention that they all flowed with the Bloodline of the Chen Family to varying degrees.

"That is an Immortal Master, the Immortal Master has appeared."

As soon as Chen Changquan appeared, a large number of Mortals in the plaza below knelt and kowtowed, muttering continuously.

"Silence!"

Several elderly men shouted from below the plaza; they were senior elders of the Chen Family among the Mortals, and every single one of them held a high status.

The moment these several elderly men spoke, all the Mortals below instantly fell silent.

Chen Changquan's expression remained as usual; he had gone down the mountain to be responsible for testing Spiritual Roots more than once and was long accustomed to such a situation.

As a Cultivator of the Chen Family with Five Spiritual Roots, he was already seventeen years old and ranked thirty-seventh among the Chang-generation, yet his cultivation base was merely at the third layer of Qi Refining.

Compared to his brothers and sisters, his cultivation base was not worth mentioning, and even quite a few among the Ling-generation had already surpassed him, which made him feel all the more ashamed.

However, after these past few years of self-realization, he no longer felt ashamed of his talent.

Anyway, the Family was very powerful now and did not need him to worry blindly; he only needed to be responsible for adding more Immortal sprouts to the Family and then enjoy life for a lifetime.

"Later, when I call your names, you may come up one by one," Chen Changquan looked at the crowd below and said in a resonant voice.

"We respectfully obey the Immortal Master's command," several senior elders spoke out first.

"We respectfully obey the Immortal Master's command," the rest also followed the several senior elders in speaking.

Chen Changquan nodded and shouted, "The first one, ..."

The child whose name was called was led to the front of the hall by his father. After the two respectfully bowed, they entered the main hall under the guidance of Chen Changquan.

"Child, pinch the spiritual testing paper with your hand," Chen Changquan smiled and said.

That young boy was somewhat dazed and remained unmoved when seeing him.

His father grew somewhat anxious, grabbed his hand, and pressed it onto the spiritual testing paper.

Chen Changquan did not say much about this scene, only inputting Qi into the spiritual testing paper.

After a while, that spiritual testing paper showed no movement whatsoever.

Although he had faced this kind of situation more than once, Chen Changquan still inevitably felt somewhat disappointed.

Seeing Chen Changquan's expression, the young boy's father couldn't help his heart sinking—could it be that his child did not have the fortune to become an Immortal Master?

"No Spiritual Root," Chen Changquan calmly spoke.

Hearing this, the father opposite wore a look of disappointment and left with his child.

He had planned that if his child possessed a Spiritual Root today and he received a reward from the Immortal Master, he would take a few more concubines after today!

Yet he had not expected that his dream would be extinguished before it could even be realized.

Inside the hall, Chen Changquan continued to call the next child.

...

After an entire morning of spiritual testing, among dozens of children, only two possessed Spiritual Roots, and the quality of their Spiritual Roots was not high either—one had Four Spiritual Roots and the other had Five Spiritual Roots.

"There is still half left," Chen Changquan estimated and said.

He no longer held much hope for this year's spiritual testing; as long as five children could test out Spiritual Roots this year, that would be fine.

However, even this alone was unpredictable, let alone wanting an Immortal sprout with Three Spiritual Roots.

"Next," Chen Changquan continued to shout mechanically.

After a while, a young boy walked in alone, looking around with very lively and spirited eyes.

Chen Changquan took out a piece of spiritual testing paper and slowly said, "Child, reach out your hand and pinch it."

Hearing this, the child walked up, first bowed, and said in a childish tone, "Sorry to trouble the Immortal Master."

Then he reached out and pinched the paper before him, which looked like plain white paper.

After Chen Changquan inputted Qi into the spiritual testing paper, the originally white paper glowed with three colors.

"Metal, Fire, and Earth—it is actually Three Spiritual Roots!"

Chen Changquan had originally held no hope for this testing, but he did not expect an Immortal sprout with Three Spiritual Roots to suddenly pop up; this was simply incredible!

"Child, your name is Chen Hao, right?"

He tried his best to maintain outward calmness, but inwardly he was extremely excited.

Hearing this, the child nodded, feeling somewhat apprehensive inside—could it be that he had done something wrong?

Perceiving the young boy's awkwardness, Chen Changquan softly said, "Child, do not be afraid. You have tested out a Spiritual Root, and moreover, it is Three Spiritual Roots."

"Starting from today, your name will be Chen Linghao, and you are a fifth-generation member of our Chen Family."

"What?" Chen Linghao was evidently very surprised.

"Am I now also an Immortal Master?!"

"Of course, and if you diligently Cultivate, you will definitely be even more formidable than me in the future."

"Lord Immortal Master, doesn't that mean I will have meat to eat every single meal in the future?"

"Hahaha, yes indeed, yes indeed."

"That's wonderful, many thanks, Lord Immortal Master. This junior pays his respects."

After confirming that he would have meat to eat every meal from now on, Chen Linghao instantly cheered up, completely shedding his previous shyness.

"Mn, you go home first, and tomorrow at noon I will take you up the mountain."

Hearing this, Chen Linghao's gaze suddenly turned dejected.

In truth, he had long since lost his home; his parents had died early, and all these years he had grown up eating meals from a hundred families.

Sensing that the child was somewhat upset, Chen Changquan suddenly thought of something, recalling how back then when he was brought up the mountain by an Immortal, he had also felt some fear and worry.

However, he was much better off than this child; at least his parents were still around, and even now they were still alive, and sometimes he would still sneak down the mountain to visit his parents.

Chen Linghao bowed once more before leaving the main hall.

In the subsequent spiritual tests, whether it was because Chen Linghao had consumed the entire Chen Family's Luck or not, among the dozens of children, not a single other person possessed a Spiritual Root.

That is to say, out of nearly a hundred children this time, only three possessed Spiritual Roots.

After Chen Changquan reported the spiritual testing results to the Clan Chief, this year's spiritual testing was finally concluded.

As for the children on the mountain who met the age requirement, there were five.

Aside from Chen Lingxi who had not yet been tested, the other four had all been tested, and only one had a Spiritual Root, named Chen Liqian, who had Four Spiritual Roots.

As for Chen Lingxi, Chen Changqing would personally handle it because she was Chen Changqing's eldest daughter.

Therefore, the Family was very expectant of what kind of Spiritual Root Chen Lingxi would have; after all, her parents were the two most talented individuals in the Chen Family.

Just how extraordinarily gifted the child born from the union of these two would be was one of the things the entire Family looked forward to the most.

At this time, Chen Changqing also emerged from seclusion.

Over these past few months, apart from refining Talismans, he had been engaged in Artifact Refining.

Thirty meta-magnetic flying swords had been completely refined, and their might was extremely formidable.

A Cultivator at the Perfection of the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment only needed to deploy twelve meta-magnetic flying swords, and relying on the Divine Ability of the meta-magnetic flying swords, they could suppress them.

If all thirty meta-magnetic flying swords were unleashed together, while it might not be enough to deal with the Purple Mansion Master, it could at the very least impose considerable restrictions upon them.