Chapter 154: Top Talent

Chen Mobai looked around and saw everyone hesitant. He was very surprised, but after putting himself in the shoes of these rogue cultivators, he suddenly understood their feelings.

From the moment they embarked on the path of cultivation, these individuals understood the importance of spirit roots. Since they could become cultivators, it meant they all possessed spirit roots, but these roots could potentially lead to either heaven or hell.

They both wanted to use the Spirit Testing Platform to discover their spirit roots and feared finding out they had a four or five-attribute pseudo spirit root, which would dim their prospects on the path of cultivation. This anxious, "gain-and-loss" mentality created an awkward silence.

Chen Mobai, however, knew his own spirit root talent. If he were in the Immortal Sect, he would have been the first to step onto the platform, eager to complete the test. But this was the Tianhe Realm, where attracting attention was strictly to be avoided. He forced himself to wait for someone else to step forward first, specifically a rogue cultivator seeking to catch the eye of the two True Disciples from the Divine Wood Sect.

Sure enough, after about an incense stick's worth of time, Yuan Chiye noticed no one had yet stepped onto the platform and frowned. "If no one comes forward, the spirit test will conclude here. Those who haven't been tested cannot participate in the next round of talisman assessment." As soon as he spoke, someone finally couldn't hold back.

A burly man with a bald head and no eyebrows stepped out. After bowing to Yuan Chiye, he cautiously walked onto the Spirit Testing Platform. He sat in meditation, breathing in spiritual energy, just as others had done before him. Subsequently, a five-colored light shone forth.

"Five-element pseudo spirit root, failed.""Immortal Yuan, I'm at the eighth level of Qi Condensation; my spirit root can't be that poor. Would you mind checking my bone structure again?" Upon seeing the light of his spirit root, the bald man's face turned pale, but he didn't give up. He rushed to Yuan Chiye and extended his right hand.

"Eighth level of Qi Condensation? Very well, proceed to the next round, the talisman assessment." Yuan Chiye didn't check his bone structure. He simply nodded, dismissed the bald man, and gestured for the next person to come forward.

Many rogue cultivators who witnessed this scene believed the rumors circulating in the market recently. The Divine Wood Sect had suffered significant losses of disciples in Yunmeng Marsh, and it seemed they truly intended to recruit more people this time. Originally, a five-element pseudo spirit root would certainly lead to disqualification, but reaching the eighth level of Qi Condensation, which enabled one to undertake numerous sect missions, had surprisingly granted a second chance.

Consequently, the remaining rogue cultivators in the late stage of Qi Condensation enthusiastically stepped onto the Spirit Testing Platform. However, the results greatly surprised Chen Mobai: all of them possessed four or five-attribute pseudo spirit roots.

"That's strange, what's going on?""Senior, these individuals have cultivated to the late stage of Qi Condensation, meaning they've been through several recruitment drives by both the Five Elements Sect and the Divine Wood Sect. Their spirit root talents were already measured long ago. Those geniuses with true spirit roots were all selected in previous recruitment cycles." Qi Er's words brought Chen Mobai to a sudden realization.

All his previous assumptions were wrong. It turned out these people weren't hesitant to step onto the platform because they feared discovering their poor spirit root talent, nor were they anxious about potential loss. Instead, they already knew they possessed four or five-attribute pseudo spirit roots, and most of them were already past the age limit for recruitment by the Five Elements Sect and Divine Wood Sect. Knowing they would be eliminated, they hadn't stepped forward initially.

However, thanks to the recent beast tide in Yunmeng Marsh, the Divine Wood Sect likely suffered significant losses, thus extending leniency to these late-stage Qi Condensation rogue cultivators. He just wondered what the subsequent talisman assessment would entail.

As Chen Mobai pondered this, nearly all the late-stage Qi Condensation rogue cultivators had been tested. As expected, they all had pseudo spirit roots, causing Yuan Chiye to shake his head repeatedly. Eventually, he didn't even bother to look, instead engaging in conversation with the disciples managing the Divine Wood Sect's shops nearby.

"If it weren't for the sect master's directive to recruit more people this time, virtually none of these individuals would qualify to join the sect.""Actually, it's not bad. After all, these rogue cultivators, having reached the late stage of Qi Condensation, all possess some special skill. While forming a foundation is impossible for them, they're perfectly suited to bolster the sect's forces in Yunmeng Marsh, making full use of their abilities," said the manager of one of the magical artifact shops with a smile.

"Oh, there's still a hidden gem!" Suddenly, the young-looking female True Disciple of the Divine Wood Sect exclaimed in surprise. Yuan Chiye, who had been chatting idly, immediately turned his head and saw a handsome young man sitting on the Spirit Testing Platform, breathing in spiritual energy.

White, green, and black lights appeared! It was actually a three-attribute true spirit root! Yuan Chiye's eyes lit up, and he stood up.

"What is the background of this rogue cultivator?" The manager of the Divine Wood Sect's pill shop immediately stepped forward to report to Yuan Chiye.

"This is a rogue cultivator who only appeared in Yun Kingdom last year. He also visited our sect's Qingguang Island market in Yunmeng Marsh recently. He was very lucky to escape after the beast tide broke through the island's defenses.""Oh, he actually escaped from the ruins of Qingguang Island."

Hearing this, Yuan Chiye couldn't help but exclaim in wonder. As a True Disciple, he naturally knew the brutality of the Qingguang Island battlefield. The Divine Wood Sect and Golden Light Cliff had lost two Foundation Establishment elders combined, just to buy enough time for most disciples to retreat through the teleportation array. To have escaped from such a battlefield, this person must possess extraordinary abilities.

"Can we thoroughly investigate this person's initial cultivation experiences?" While the Divine Wood Sect was not as strict as the Five Elements Sect regarding rogue cultivators joining, they still conducted basic background checks to prevent other sects from sending spies to steal their cultivation techniques and secrets.

"I did hear him mention it once. He said that when he was fishing as a child, he accidentally fell into a large lake and stumbled upon a water mansion, where he obtained cultivation methods." Chen Mobai's earlier groundwork with the manager of the Divine Wood Sect's spiritual medicine shop was now paying off. He had planned to legitimize the water mansion as his own after joining the Divine Wood Sect.

Since the water mansion previously belonged to the Five Elements Sect and no one had come to reclaim it yet, the Divine Wood Sect, having branched off from the Five Elements Sect, also had the right to claim ownership of it. Once he joined the Divine Wood Sect, wouldn't the water mansion legitimately become his? Besides, the Divine Wood Sect had so many spiritual lands in the Giant Wood Ridge that some were almost desolate; they certainly wouldn't care about a small water mansion, even if they knew about it.

"Understood." At that moment, Chen Mobai had just stepped down from the Spirit Testing Platform and was walking towards Yuan Chiye. After the spirit test, there would be a bone structure examination and a cultivation level check.

"Excellent, only nineteen years old, yet already at the seventh level of Qi Condensation, and a true spirit root at that." After the bone examination, Yuan Chiye was even more pleased.

"Given your cultivation progress, the attributes of this true spirit root must be exceptional. Perhaps it's a top-tier talent, close to a two-attribute spirit root. You won't need to participate in the upcoming talisman assessment." Yuan Chiye directly affirmed Chen Mobai's qualification to join the sect.

"Huh?" Chen Mobai was greatly surprised by this. He knew he possessed only the most ordinary three-attribute spirit root, just a few points away from being classified as a four-attribute one. How could Yuan Chiye's assessment be so wildly different from the spirit root certification issued by the large hospital in the Immortal Sect?