Meanwhile, Lin Xiao, who was standing to the side, uncharacteristically stayed silent instead of joking around with everyone else.
He was observing the three cultivators on the platform intently.
At first, he only noticed their cultivation levels.
But gradually, he suddenly realized that the auras exuding from these three cultivators seemed somewhat different from his own, Jiang Youfu's, and the others'.
Lin Xiao sensed it carefully.
Then he discovered that the spiritual energy on these three cultivators seemed to have a very strong elemental nature.
For example, the cultivator surnamed Feng who had just handed an umbrella to Niu Xiaoxue.
His entire body emanated a rich water elemental aura, along with some earth and wood auras.
Lin Xiao guessed, could this cultivator surnamed Feng have a tri-elemental spiritual root of water, wood, and earth?
He really wanted to just go up and ask him to verify it.
Unfortunately, there was no good opportunity.
Moreover, asking about someone else's spiritual roots might not be considered very friendly.
But Lin Xiao didn't quite understand.
Why was it that, despite all being Qi Condensation cultivators, neither he nor the others from the Lingxian Sect had this kind of elemental aura, whereas these cultivators were brimming with it?
Lin Xiao suddenly thought of the aptitudes displayed in everyone's profiles within the System.
That was it.
The aptitudes displayed for all of them were not spiritual roots or anything of the sort.
Instead, they were evaluations based on something akin to each person's comprehension ability.
Furthermore, the mental cultivation method they practiced, the Myriad Voids of the Peach Blossom Spring Art, made absolutely no mention of concepts related to the five elemental spiritual roots.
Lin Xiao silently summoned the System in his mind.
He had thought the System wouldn't respond, but unexpectedly, it popped up an explanation.
[Explanation: This System is the Myriad Realms System, forged from the collective wisdom of myriad realms. The cultivation methods it produces naturally encompass all rivers flowing into the sea.]
Could it be...
There were actually many methods and paths for cultivation.
And cultivating based on spiritual roots was merely one of them?
Lin Xiao felt he had probably uncovered the truth.
The Shangyang Sect's disciple recruitment was said to last for three days.
Lin Xiao and the other six watched for the entire morning, but including Niu Xiaoxue, they only saw five children with spiritual roots appear.
And three of them had four or five-element spiritual roots.
The group found it extremely boring and didn't continue watching in the afternoon.
They also planned not to go for the next two days.
They had already experienced it and seen the stone glow anyway; it didn't feel particularly special.
It wasn't even as interesting as a building suddenly popping up in their sect every now and then.
Moreover, the uniformly styled clothes worn by those three cultivators were clearly their sect's uniforms, yet they didn't look nearly as gorgeous as the uniforms of their small Lingxian Sect.
Thus, for the next two days, everyone obediently stayed within the sect to cultivate.
Brother Xiao had said that the three people on the high platform were only at the third or fourth level of Qi Condensation.
As long as they seized the time and cultivated to the third or fourth level of Qi Condensation as quickly as possible, they would be on par with the disciples of a major sect!
Although the logic was a bit flawed, Lin Xiao and Sun Yigao didn't correct them at all.
More than a dozen households from Xiushui Village had also taken their children to the town to participate in the Shangyang Sect's disciple recruitment.
However, not a single one was selected.
Because of this, everyone was even more certain that Lin Xiao and his friends were not actually cultivating immortals on the mountain.
None of the children from the dozen or so households in the village had the aptitude to cultivate immortality. On what grounds could these ignorant rascals who grew up together, always teasing cats and walking dogs in the village, all cultivate immortality?
Impossible!
They were definitely just playing in the mud up on the mountain.
On the afternoon of the third day, the Shangyang Sect's grand disciple recruitment was finally coming to an end.
On this day, many people from Xiushui Village ran over to watch again.
Because they had heard the officials say earlier that the recruited disciples would eventually be made to fly onto an immortal ship using immortal arts by the immortals, and then depart through the air.
Everyone really wanted to witness the so-called immortal arts and immortal ship with their own eyes.
The members of the Lingxian Sect, however, suddenly seemed to have lost their curiosity. They all stated that they didn't want to go and only wanted to hole up in the cultivation room to cultivate diligently.
Lin Xiao still planned to go take a look.
Seeing that no one else wanted to go, Lin Xiao went alone.
Arriving outside Cuifeng Town, Lin Xiao saw from afar a group of people in flowing green robes standing at the city gate.
To the side, the selected disciples were saying their goodbyes one by one to their family and friends who had come to see them off.
Among the group in green robes, there was an uncle who looked to be in his forties, whose green robe was somewhat different.
His clothes seemed to be a darker shade, and compared to the other clothes around him that had no distinguishing features other than being green, his were much more exquisite.
The aura around him was incredibly dense, but Lin Xiao couldn't perceive what his cultivation level was.
He figured it must be far higher than his own.
Lin Xiao mingled with the crowd, observing them as he approached.
Suddenly, the middle-aged man in the more exquisite clothing turned his head and looked in Lin Xiao's direction.
[Ding—Detected that the host is being swept by the divine sense of a high-level cultivator. The System has automatically activated the Anti-Divine Sense Probing Function. This function is a permanent passive ability. It will automatically activate whenever probed by divine sense. If you wish to disable it, the host can proceed to the personal page to turn it off.]
Lin Xiao opened his personal panel and, sure enough, at the very bottom of the original information column, he saw an additional [Anti-Probing Function (Activated)].
Heh, this function was simply a must-have for those walking the path of staying low-profile!
Lin Xiao felt that he had gained another layer of security on his path to cultivating immortality.
On the other side, beside the middle-aged man, his personal disciple saw him suddenly looking toward the nearby crowd of onlookers and asked in confusion:
Master, what's wrong?
The middle-aged man frowned strangely. He had clearly sensed a fifth-level Qi Condensation cultivator over in that direction just now... and the aura had been quite peculiar.
Unbelievably, that aura suddenly vanished as if it had never existed.
But if it really was just a fifth-level Qi Condensation cultivator, it would be absolutely impossible for them to escape his divine sense probe in such a short amount of time...
The middle-aged man shook his head at his personal disciple and said,
It's nothing. Perhaps I've just been too tired lately.
Following that, with a wave of his hand, a moderately sized spirit ship was tossed into the air.
Looking up, one could see that the spirit ship featured carved beams and painted pillars, looking extremely exquisite.
Waves of gasps immediately rippled through the crowd!
Immediately afterward, someone prostrated themselves on the ground and began to kowtow to the middle-aged man, constantly muttering phrases like Immortals bless us.
Seeing this, the surrounding people quickly followed suit.
As a result, in no time at all, more than half of the people at the originally noisy city gate had dropped to their knees.
The scene quieted down for a moment, leaving only the faint sounds of people muttering prayers for the immortals' blessings.
Lin Xiao stood perfectly straight amidst the crowd of kneeling people, looking somewhat conspicuous.
Fortunately, he wasn't the only one who hadn't knelt.
There were also several scholars who hadn't kowtowed, merely offering a deep bow toward the middle-aged man.
Lin Xiao followed their example and bowed toward the cultivators of the Shangyang Sect.
The spirit ship floating in midair wasn't particularly large. Once the fifteen people from the Shangyang Sect and their twenty newly recruited disciples boarded, the entire spirit ship was packed to the brim.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
