Spirit-Testing Stone

There were too many people and it was too crowded, so as the seven of them squeezed through, they got separated.

However, this didn't matter much to them.

Anyway, as long as they could squeeze to the very front, they would be able to see each other.

Through Lin Xiao's efforts, he dragged Sun Yigao and finally broke through the wall of people, arriving at the front row.

They saw a large circular clearing in the middle of the crowd.

Right in the center of the clearing stood a high platform.

Three people dressed in cyan robes stood on the platform.

Each of them held a longsword, looking down at the surrounding crowd with a solemn and somewhat arrogant expression.

Lin Xiao thought that the disciple recruitment would take a while to begin, so he looked around to find the other five.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, one of the three on the platform stepped forward and said loudly:

"Our Shangyang Sect's disciple recruitment begins now. Those under twelve years old, line up and come forward,"

Saying this, he gestured to a half-person-tall translucent stone placed beside him and said:

"Come up one by one, step up to this Spirit Measuring Stone beside me, and press your hand on it. The first one! Come up!"

Lin Xiao was a bit surprised that it started so quickly.

He was surprised entirely because the three people standing on the platform were merely Qi Condensation third or fourth level cultivators. They were about the same as him, and their cultivation levels weren't even as high as his...

He had originally thought that seniors with profound cultivation would come out to hold the fort.

At this time, a girl was seen walking up first.

Meanwhile, Lin Xiao, who had been paying attention to where the other five were, successfully saw Qin Jianghe squeezing out of the crowd not far from him.

However, before he could exchange glances with Qin Jianghe, he saw Qin Jianghe staring dumbfounded at the first young girl to take the stage.

Lin Xiao pondered for a moment and had the answer in his heart.

Could this girl be the one who had a matchmaking meeting with Jianghe?

No wonder her attitude had become a bit strange before; it turned out she planned to join an immortal sect.

However, it's human nature to seek higher ground, so Lin Xiao didn't comment on it.

He just took another look at Qin Jianghe's somewhat ashamed and indignant expression in the distance.

Lin Xiao covered his eyes.

His poor financial elder.

On the high platform, Feng Xuanbie was standing there, hugging his sword and spacing out in boredom.

In such a remote and obscure small town, it was unlikely to find any good seedlings, which was why Elder Bai had arranged for him and his two junior martial siblings, who were merely at the third level of Qi Condensation, to come over.

Sending a few Qi Condensation third or fourth level disciples was enough to show Elder Bai's disdain for such a small place.

But what he didn't understand was, since Elder Bai didn't think highly of such a small place, why didn't he just suggest to the sect not to come here to recruit people?

He heard that in previous years, the sect wouldn't come to these remote corners to recruit people, right?

He just heard from Elder Bai and Elder Mo's conversation that there seemed to be a requirement from above for the sect to expand its disciple recruitment this year... Who knew what the expansion was for...

The monthly stipends they disciples received were already pitifully small. Now that they had to expand recruitment, where would the sect get so many resources to distribute to these disciples?

As Feng Xuanbie's mind wandered and he let his imagination run wild, he caught a glimpse of a dazzling white light coming from the Spirit Measuring Stone from the corner of his eye!

"It's actually a single spirit root! And a mutated lightning spirit root at that!"

Returning to his senses, Feng Xuanbie was so shocked that he couldn't help but exclaim.

But although it was an exclamation, he managed to control his volume in time, so the onlookers below the platform naturally couldn't hear him.

But Lin Xiao heard it.

Lin Xiao was also completely shocked.

What, what?

So this cultivation world actually used spirit roots as the standard for measuring cultivation aptitude?

And it was the very traditional setting of the fewer the spirit roots, the better?

The person standing in front of the Spirit Measuring Stone on the platform was exactly the girl who had the matchmaking meeting with Qin Jianghe.

After learning that she had a mutated lightning spirit root, the other two Shangyang Sect disciples on the platform immediately announced loudly:

"Niu Xiaoxue, passed!"

Meanwhile, Feng Xuanbie immediately guided Niu Xiaoxue to sit at the waiting area to the side, and even took out an umbrella from his storage bag and handed it to her:

"Barring any accidents, you will be my junior martial sister from now on. The sun is very strong today, Junior Sister Xiaoxue, take this umbrella to shade yourself from the sun."

Niu Xiaoxue looked at the tall and handsome young man in front of her, feeling that she had indeed made the right choice.

If she had married Qin Jianghe of Xiushui Village, her whole life from then on would have been predictable, living an ordinary life in the village.

But what about now?

Just looking at the reactions of these immortals after she was tested by the Spirit Measuring Stone was enough to tell!

Her cultivation aptitude must be exceptionally good for them to look at her with new eyes and treat her so amiably.

She thought that in the future, she would definitely be able to stand out and achieve success here!

The more Niu Xiaoxue thought about it, the more confident she became.

She took the umbrella from her future senior martial brother in front of her and smiled in thanks:

"Thank you, Senior Brother. I still don't know... how should I address you, Senior Brother?"

Feng Xuanbie hurriedly said:

"Look at me, I'm sorry Junior Sister. My surname is Feng, you can just call me Senior Brother Feng."

It wasn't that Feng Xuanbie was trying to cling to her because he saw she had a mutated single spirit root, or that he had any ulterior motives towards the little girl.

Although he was only at the fourth level of Qi Condensation, coming from a cultivation family, he had already seen too many open and secret struggles.

By showing goodwill like this, he merely wanted to form good karmic ties widely.

Forming good karmic ties meant that if something happened in the future, people might let him off the hook if they could.

He just wanted to quietly and cautiously cultivate, all the way until he attained the Dao and became an immortal.

Although this thought might be naive, he really thought this way and put it into practice.

Originally, he didn't even want to come out to recruit disciples this time, but unfortunately, he was accidentally drafted for the job.

Meanwhile, the people waiting in line behind for testing had already started going up to the stage one by one to be tested.

Unexpectedly, after Niu Xiaoxue, let alone having a good spirit root, not a single person appeared who could even make the Spirit Measuring Stone light up.

The three Shangyang Sect disciples standing on the platform quietly started yawning.

Lin Xiao and the others watching from below also found it uninteresting.

Not to mention there was a dejected Qin Jianghe beside them.

Well, the seven people who were at the very front of the crowd just now had already made eye contact.

Then, seeing Qin Jianghe's listless appearance, everyone unanimously gathered around him.

Since watching the stage was boring, everyone started comforting Qin Jianghe.

Jiang Youfu:

"Jianghe, look, what's so good about taking a wife? If you take a wife, you have to share your delicious food with her, share your fun things with her, and when making new clothes, you have to prioritize her. Look at me, I don't want to take a wife at all."

Qin Jianghe looked up at his fat figure and didn't want to speak.

Liu Yunan:

"A wife really isn't anything great. Look at me, I can't even afford to feed my mother and my sister yet. If you gave me a wife on top of that, I'd have to go drink the northwest wind!"

Qin Jianghe looked up at his stick-thin figure and still didn't want to speak.

Tietou:

"What's the use of taking a wife? She can't go do heavy labor with me, nor can she go down to the river bare-chested with me. How boring is that!"

Qin Jianghe didn't even raise his head this time; anyway, he didn't want to talk to these idiots.

Lin Yun:

"Look at me, I'm fifteen and haven't even been matched for marriage yet."

As he spoke, as if feeling his own words lacked weight, he patted Sun Yigao on the chest and said to Qin Jianghe,

"Look at Yigao, he hasn't had a marriage arranged yet either."

Suddenly singled out, Sun Yigao looked rather innocent.

Seeing this, Qin Jianghe couldn't hold back a chuckle.

At that, the group immediately surrounded him and started roughhousing.

"You little brat! So that miserable face was all an act! You just wanted us to coax you, didn't you!"