Chapter 65: Superior Aptitude Causes Dispute
Since they had not brought any Qi Cultivation Stage disciples with them and couldn’t possibly take care of everything personally, they enlisted several "volunteers" at Tianxiang Pavilion.
Zhuge Jian from Sunset Gate had the help of the Enforcement Team, as the City Lord Ouyang Wenjian was also an Elder of Sunset Gate.
Shen Wanning then took Yu Qingtan to sign up.
Exhausted from the beast tide that lasted over a month, Shen Wanning was naturally intrigued by interesting events like this one and wanted to experience it for herself.
Hearing Shen Wanning’s words, Yu Qingtan chuckled and said, "After all, those with good Spirit Root talents are a minority; both Sunset Gate and Tianxiang Valley naturally aren’t interested in these. But as long as the Spirit Roots are passable, there will always be forces within the city that are interested. We also have people from Tianxiang Pavilion over there scouting for Reserve Disciples."
Indeed, the family members of those three children with fake Spirit Roots and two with Four Elements Spirit Roots were asked to take their children and leave the plaza first, while the other five were taken to a reserved open space where staff from various major powers in the city were waiting to negotiate with any that caught their eye.
For example, Green Wolf Gang needed to train reserve gang members, Hundred Treasures Pavilion needed to train reserve shop assistants and servants, and the Cultivator Families needed to train guards.
However, the Qis did not send anyone this time, and even if they had, they would not have been able to recruit anyone, given their now sullied reputation.
In the beast tide, the Qis had fought valiantly, losing twenty percent of their manpower. Because they failed to achieve the punishment goal of killing ten Demonic Beasts of the same rank, another twenty percent of their clan members were penalized to mine in the mines of the City Lord’s Mansion.
At this point, the Qis’ vitality was greatly damaged, and they had fallen out of the ranking of the top three families in Suichuan Immortal City.
On the plaza, another ten children entered the Spirit Testing Formation, but still, no one with better Spirit Root qualifications emerged.
It wasn’t until the fifth batch that a six-year-old girl was tested and found to have superior Metal and Water Spirit Roots.
Under the gesture from Li Xingruo, Yu Qingtan stepped forward to inquire about her and her elder’s intentions.
Coming from a background of Loose Cultivators in the slum district, they had no reason to refuse the opportunity to enter Tianxiang Valley.
Under Yu Qingtan’s registration, Tianxiang Valley received its first disciple from this recruitment assembly.
After about thirty more rounds.
Both Sunset Gate and Tianxiang Valley had recruited several disciples, among whom the one with the best qualifications was a boy with a mid-grade Single Earth Spirit Root, who was taken as a disciple by Sunset Gate.
However, Yu Qingtan always felt that one of the Enforcement Team members who was helping Sunset Gate to register disciples looked very familiar, but she couldn’t quite recall who it was.
At that moment, a striking off-white light appeared in the Spirit Testing Formation, drawing everyone’s eyes.
"It’s actually a superior Thunder Spiritual Root," said Ouyang Wuqing as he stood up.
Among the Five Elements Spirit Roots, there’s a very low probability of mutation that produces new Spirit Roots between the mutually generating elements.
Metal generates water, Metal and Water Spirit Roots mutate to produce Thunder Spirit Roots; water generates wood, Water and Wood Spirit Roots mutate to produce Ice Spirit Roots; wood generates fire, Wood and Fire Spirit Roots mutate to produce Wind Spirit Roots; fire generates earth, Fire and Earth Spirit Roots mutate to produce Light Spirit Roots; earth generates metal, Earth and Metal Spirit Roots mutate to produce Dark Spirit Roots.
If such a mutation occurs, the affinity values of the other three types of Spirit Roots are extremely low, which is why mutated Spirit Roots are almost always Single Spiritual Roots.
"Shua—"
Zhuge Jian, who had been sitting steadily, suddenly appeared with extreme speed in front of the little boy with the chubby face who had been detected as having a superior Thunder Spiritual Root.
With a rare smile squeezing onto his normally expressionless face, he said, "Little fellow, would you be willing to enter Sunset Gate and cultivate the supreme Sword Dao?"
The little boy shrank his neck and said, "But, I want to join Tianxiang Valley."
The little boy was none other than Shen Tinglan.
Hearing this, Zhuge Jian’s face stiffened, and he couldn’t help but ask, "Why?"
"Because Tianxiang Valley has pretty sisters."
Shen Tinglan said with her big, somewhat cute eyes.
There was silence all around.
Three breaths later, Hao Can from the crowd rushed to the edge of the Spirit Testing Formation and quickly said, "I beg your pardon, elder, my child is naive, and we wish to join Sunset Gate."
The little boy Shen Tinglan still wanted to speak but was fiercely silenced by a stern look from Hao Can.
"That’s not quite right. The child isn’t that small anymore, and when we take disciples, we should first consider the child’s opinion."
At this moment, Li Xingruo spoke up and also approached Shen Tinglan.
"Li, my friend, he is a boy, you from Tianxiang Valley want to compete for him?"
Zhuge Jian turned his head and asked.
"It’s not that we do not accept male disciples, we just accept fewer of them. Little brother, Tianxiang Valley has pretty sisters everywhere."
Li Xingruo had already walked in front of Shen Tinglan and said.
"Hmph, as far as I know, your Tianxiang Valley doesn’t have any Thunder attribute cultivation techniques, right? Don’t let a perfectly good talent be wasted."
Zhuge Jian said, glancing at Hao Can and Jiang Jinyue who had come to Hao Can’s side.
"It’s true that Tianxiang Valley doesn’t have Thunder attribute cultivation techniques, but that doesn’t mean Qunfang Pavilion doesn’t. When the time comes, we can exchange for one. Besides, after reaching Foundation Establishment, he can directly join Qunfang Pavilion, which has even more pretty sisters."
Li Xingruo said, and seeing Shen Tinglan’s eyes light up even brighter, she added.
"Also, you two are his parents, right? As long as he joins Tianxiang Valley, I can make it so that you can enter as well."
"Hmph, if he joins Sunset Gate, after reaching Foundation Establishment, he can also join Tri-Sun Sect and practice the Nine Heavens Yang Thunder Sword Manual, which is certainly not something any ordinary Thunder attribute cultivation techniques in Qunfang Pavilion can compare to."
Zhuge Jian said.
"Elders, I am only the child’s adoptive father, but I too hope that he can join Sunset Gate."
"Wuwu, I want to go to Tianxiang Valley, not Sunset Gate." Upon hearing this, Shen Tinglan immediately began to cry in distress.
At this point, Yu Qingtan and Shen Wanning had also arrived, and since they recognized acquaintances, Yu Qingtan also said a word.
"Big Brother Hao, you have to consider the child’s opinion too!"
"Qingtan girl, this... Sister-in-law, what do you think?" Hao Can, seeing Yu Qingtan, scratched his head uncertainly, not knowing how to respond, so he kicked the issue over to Jiang Jinyue.
"I think this lady makes sense. If the child isn’t happy, he certainly won’t learn well. Maybe..." Jiang Jinyue, holding her crying son, said.
But before she could finish, an Enforcement Team member who had already arrived took off her helmet, wiped her face with her hand to reveal a beautiful, refined face, squatted down in front of Shen Tinglan, and said, "Little brother, though Tianxiang Valley has many pretty sisters, Sunset Gate also has many pretty sisters, you see, I am from Sunset Gate. And there are many of my female senior and junior disciples in the sect. Would you like to come to our Sunset Gate? Please, sister is begging you!"
Yu Qingtan, seeing this, realized this was the oddly familiar Enforcement Team member she had seen earlier. Now, up close and hearing her voice,
Despite it being a woman’s voice, Yu Qingtan still recognized her as her previous guest, the faux-gentleman Yang Zhen.
She saw that this top-quality Thunder Spiritual Root child was about to join Tianxiang Valley and that her own senior brother didn’t know how to compete any further. All she could do was stand there with a cold expression, watching.
She decided to enter the fray herself, to try swaying the decision once more.
Shen Tinglan, seeing the pretty sister in front of her, immediately stopped crying.