83: Chapter 83 Spirit Testing Stone

"Right! He also said he'd take the grain to exorcise evil for us, but in the end, he bolted after carrying off two sacks of millet without us even catching a glimpse of what evil Qi looked like!"

"Little Stone from the neighboring Stone Village was taken away by this kind of Immortal wearing white clothes, and he still hasn't come back to this day!"

The last person to speak was a little girl with braided pigtails. She was blowing a massive snot bubble while shouting, and only realized she had exposed her position after she finished, getting so scared that she dove headfirst into the nearby hay bale.

Daniu poked half his head out from behind the wall again, mustered up his courage, and added, "You claim you're from the Wang Family, but what proof do you have? The Wang Family's Immortal Masters don't come around for several years at a time, so why did you suddenly show up today? If you ask me, you guys are clearly—"

Before he could figure out how to make up the second half of his sentence, the back of his head was slapped by a rough, oversized hand, sending him staggering.

"You little brat, your mouth has no gatekeeper!"

An old man with a full head of white hair and a white beard leaned on a jujube-wood cane, walking tremblingly out from the village path, followed by seven or eight villagers who had rushed over upon hearing the news.

The old man squinted and peered for a moment at the two figures hovering above the willow tree. When his gaze landed on the green lotus emblem on Wang Shouren's lapel, his cloudy old eyes suddenly lit up, and tossing his cane aside, he dropped to his knees with a thud.

"The Green Lotus Emblem! It's the Immortal Masters of the Wang Family! The Wang Family of Lotus Pier!" The old man's voice trembled with excitement as he slammed his forehead heavily against the ground three times.

"This humble old man is the village chief of Daliu Village, and I kowtow to the Immortal Masters! Hurry, everyone kowtow to the Immortal Masters!" The few villagers behind him panicked and hastily knelt down, pulling their own children down with them.

Daniu clutched the back of his head, poked half his body out from behind the wall, looked at the elders kneeling all over the ground, and then looked at the two figures with fluttering robes in midair. His mouth opened wide enough to stuff an egg into as he stammered, "Re… really the Wang Family's Immortal Masters? Then the things I said just now… the Immortal Masters won't hold a grudge, right?"

The old man turned around and glared fiercely at him, then hurriedly curried favor with a smile toward Wang Shouren, saying, "Immortal Master, please calm your anger. The children in the village are ignorant and have offended the Immortal Master. Once we return, this humble old man will definitely discipline him severely!"

"It is fine; naturally, I will not blame the words of a child." Wang Shouren lowered his escaping light, stood firmly under the willow tree, casually pulled Wang Qingcheng down as well, and then cupped his fists toward the old man with a gentle tone.

"Elder, please rise. We are people of the Wang Family from Lotus Pier, and we have come here today to test the Spiritual Roots of the children aged six to twelve in the village.

If there are any with a Spiritual Root, the Wang Family will guide them back to the Family for cultivation, with food, clothing, and Cultivation all provided by the Family, and they can return home to visit once every two years."

Supported by the villagers behind him, the old man stood up, his lips still trembling and his eye sockets already reddened.

"Good, good! The Wang Family's Immortal Masters have finally come to Daliu Village! This humble old man has waited for so many years and thought the Wang Family had forgotten about us. Hurry, quickly invite the Immortal Masters into the village—"

"Elder, there is no need to make a fuss; right here under the willow tree will do. Have the children of the appropriate age line up and come one by one. In addition, I need the elder to send people to surrounding villages to summon other children of the appropriate age."

"This old man will definitely comply!"

Leaning on his cane, the village chief turned around and roared at the group of cowering children hiding behind the mud wall at the top of his lungs.

"Brats, stop hiding! It's a good thing, a huge good thing! If any Family produces an Immortal Cultivator, that's a supreme blessing that brings honor to your ancestors! Hurry, call all the children aged six to twelve in the village, and have a few people run over to the next few villages to say that the Immortal Masters of the Wang Family from Lotus Pier have personally come to test for Spiritual Roots, telling every household to bring their kids over. Once you miss this village, there's no such shop!"

A few nimble-footed villagers bolted toward the outside of the village, while the rest ran all over the village to herd their own children.

Only then did the children behind the mud wall cautiously poke their heads out, one by one slowly shuffling toward under the willow tree, their eyes filled with a mix of fear and curiosity.

Daniu walked at the very front, rubbing the back of his head, and dropped to his knees with a thud right in front of Wang Shouren: "Immortal Master, earlier I said you were a bad person, please definitely do not let your Life Qi flare up."

Before Wang Shouren could speak, Wang Qingcheng had already squatted down in front of him and said with a smile, "Your name is Daniu? When you were cursing my brother just now, your voice was so loud, how come now you sound like a mosquito?"

Daniu's face flushed crimson, teasing the few children nearby into bursting out into laughter.

Wang Shouren asked casually, "Do you all know why Immortal Cultivation Families regularly recruit Immortal seedlings from Mortal villages?"

The children who had just lined up looked at each other in dismay, and Daniu tentatively replied, "Because… because the Immortal Master is kind-hearted?"

Wang Shouren shook his head: "Because the probability of a Spiritual Root being born among Mortals is far too low. Out of a thousand Mortals, one with a Spiritual Root might not even necessarily appear, and these children with Spiritual Roots are scattered across countless villages within a radius of a hundred miles.

If Immortal Cultivation Families didn't go test them, they would never know in this lifetime that they could Cultivate, and their Spiritual Roots would be buried in vain. Therefore, all the major Immortal Cultivation Families of the Yue State have an unwritten rule.

Every few years, they send people to test for Spiritual Roots in the Mortal villages within their territory. For a remote village like your Daliu Village, the last time someone from the Wang Family came was over a decade ago."

He paused and looked at these ignorant and tender faces, "The reason your village's old village chief said this brings honor to your ancestors is not only because Immortal Cultivators can soar on clouds and drive mists or summon wind and rain. If a Mortal child is tested to have a Spiritual Root and enters the Immortal sect, the entire Family will benefit accordingly. The Wang Family will reduce or exempt that household's farmland rent and annually distribute silver, money, and grain. If this child achieves success in Cultivation in the future, their parents and brothers can even move into the county town and prolong their lives.

Therefore, testing for Spiritual Roots is the chance to change the destiny of your entire life."

The children listened with half-understanding, but sentences like "reduce farmland rent," "distribute silver, money, and grain," and "move into the county town" falling into the ears of the surrounding adults immediately stirred up an irrepressible commotion.

Several women instantly clenched their own children's hands tightly, and even the old village chief's hand holding his cane was trembling slightly—having lived for over seventy years, this was the first time he had ever heard an Immortal Master explain the rules of the Immortal sect to Mortals.

In ordinary times, which Immortal Cultivator would be willing to waste even half an extra word on mud-legged peasants?

"Then how do the Immortal Masters test Spiritual Roots? Can we have a chance?"

A bold boy asked the question everyone wanted to ask.

Wang Shouren also provided the answer, taking out the Spirit Stone from his ring and placing it stably on the roots of the willow tree.

That crystal stone was glossy white all over, shaped like a goose egg, emitting a warm, gentle glow under the sunlight. Compared to the pebbles seen everywhere on the river beach, it was simply more rounded and clearer.

Wang Qingcheng leaned over, curiously poked the Spirit Stone with her fingertip, and looked up to ask him, "Brother, is this the one I used for Spiritual Root testing when I was little? Why is it just like a lump of rock, completely unremarkable?"

"It's right that it's unremarkable; the better something is, the less flashy it is." Wang Shouren patted the smooth surface of the Spirit Stone and waved to the group of children still shrinking behind the mud wall and peeking out.

"Come over, everyone. Those aged six to twelve, line up and place your hands on this stone, just hold them steady. For those with a Spiritual Root, the stone will light up.

For those without, nothing will happen at all. Come one by one, don't be afraid; the Spirit Stone doesn't bite."