95: Chapter 95, Prison Six: Was I Deceived?

"High Grade Profound Spiritual Root?" You frowned upon seeing this result, confirming you hadn't misread it.

Mu Xue also couldn't help but take the lollipop out of her mouth, her brows furrowed.

This shouldn't be right. In her view, your talent should be far higher than hers. She is already a Saint Grade Heavenly Spiritual Root; shouldn't you at least be some kind of Super Saint Grade Heavenly Spiritual Root?

Why would it be a mere Profound Spiritual Root?

The surrounding Tribulation Transcendence Great Emperors also couldn't help but shake their heads upon seeing this result. A High Grade Profound Spiritual Root could be an Inner Sect Disciple in those small Sects, but in front of their super powers, it didn't even qualify to enter the Sect.

One Tribulation Transcendence Great Emperor looked at you and shook his head: "This child likely obtained some Opportunity, gaining a cultivation Legacy or some Medicinal Pill that boosts cultivation to reach the Nascent Soul." He sighed: "However, the Foundation is unstable, and the further one goes, the more difficult it becomes. Reaching the Soul Transformation Realm in this lifetime would be the absolute limit."

The other Tribulation Transcendence Great Emperors looked at you with the same expression. They looked at Mu Xue again. If True Immortal Qinglan were not here, they certainly wouldn't let the Sword Sect accept this Disciple so easily.

Mu Xue looked at you, her kitten-like eyes filled with questions, as if asking what kind of mischief you were up to.

You didn't know either. Logically, with your 600+ talent points, you should at least be a Heavenly Spiritual Root. Why was it a Profound Spiritual Root?

"Alright, Mu Xue!" True Immortal Qinglan spoke, looking at Mu Xue: "I can see that you and this little friend have a deep bond, but you possess a Heavenly Spiritual Root, and a Saint Grade Heavenly Spiritual Root at that. The gap between you is like that between the bright moon and a mayfly."

As she spoke, True Immortal Qinglan looked at you: "I also hope you can recognize this fact. From today on, you will no longer be people of the same world!"

Mu Xue didn't speak but walked to your side. She looked at True Immortal Qinglan: "I appreciate the Senior's kindness in taking me as a Disciple, but I would rather be with him." As she said this, Mu Xue grabbed your hand and showed it to True Immortal Qinglan.

True Immortal Qinglan remained unangered. She looked at you both with a calm expression: "If I wanted to, I could let you both join the Sword Sect. Mu Xue, with your talent, you can receive the highest level of resource cultivation in the Sword Sect, and these resources wouldn't even amount to one ten-thousandth of what your boyfriend would get."

"Moreover, it seems impossible for your boyfriend to go back to my Sword Sect to be a slave, so Mu Xue, you must see the facts clearly!"

Mu Xue wanted to say something more, but you shook your head and asked True Immortal Qinglan: "Then Senior, I wonder if Mu Xue will be bullied in the Sword Sect."

True Immortal Qinglan said: "She is my Disciple. It will be good enough if she doesn't bully others!" As she spoke, she looked at the Tribulation Transcendence Great Emperors of the Sword Sect nearby: "After today, even if Mu Xue rides on the heads of those few, they won't dare to say a thing."

As she spoke, True Immortal Qinglan gave them a look, scaring those Tribulation Transcendence Great Emperors into waving their hands repeatedly: "We wouldn't dare, we wouldn't dare!"

"That's good." You looked at Mu Xue.

Mu Xue didn't say anything, but simply shoved the lollipop from her mouth into yours: "Mr. Lin Heng, if you can't beat me when we meet next time, just wait to be bitten to death by me!!!"

Saying this, Mu Xue left with True Immortal Qinglan.

You watched the direction Mu Xue left in, feeling for the first time that the candy in your mouth tasted bitter.

Since you became lovers, this was the first time you had been separated. You looked around, and with that familiar figure missing, you felt an emptiness in your heart.

You bit the candy in your mouth to pieces and swallowed it.

It was truly awful, so awful. The strawberry flavor made you feel cloying.

The Spiritual Root test was over. Naturally, you wouldn't choose to be a slave for Wanbao Pavilion, so you headed to the teleportation Formation to travel to a nearby Human Race territory.

Qingfeng City, this was a city in the Anyang Dynasty. At this moment, the teleportation Formation in the North City flickered a few times, and a group of people appeared within the Formation.

The surrounding people looked over one after another. Those who could use the teleportation Formation in the city were at least Cultivators, or if not, they were wealthy tycoons, as the cost of using the Formation once was enough for an ordinary person to live for a lifetime.

"Well then, Fellow Daoist Lin, and everyone, we shall meet again!" A Martial Saint Martial Artist looked at you and said with cupped hands. Oh, that's not right, he should be called a Foundation Establishment Cultivator now.

The others also cupped their hands in return, as they were about to explore this vast world of immortal cultivation.

A group of Foundation Establishment Cultivators flew into the sky, about to begin their journey across the Tianheng Continent.

Then, after flying for a while, they all landed.

"In Qingfeng City, flying is prohibited for Cultivators below the Golden Core! Hurry up and pay the Spirit Stone fine!"

Of course, you didn't know about this. After all, you were at the Nascent Soul, and no one stopped you. Besides, Venerable Li Kun was still by your side.

You really hadn't expected Venerable Li Kun to follow you.

He said he wanted to follow you, and since you had just arrived at the Tianheng Continent, you indeed needed someone to guide you, so after thinking it over, you kept him by your side.

Venerable Li Kun was gambling. He always had a premonition that you were a peerless Prodigy. Although you were only a Profound Spiritual Root in the Spiritual Root test, so what? Could a Nascent Soul Cultivator with a Profound Spiritual Root unleash an attack that made Soul Transformation Cultivators feel fear?

In Venerable Li Kun's eyes, you were a young Dragon. He believed you would definitely soar into the sky, and when that time came, he would also benefit from your success.

Venerable Li Kun opened a room in a restaurant.

"Fellow Daoist Lin, please wait here for a moment. I'm going to Wanbao Pavilion!" Before leaving, Venerable Li Kun gave you a Storage Ring: "If Fellow Daoist Lin wants to buy anything, don't be polite with me. Wanbao Pavilion gave me quite a few rewards."

You nodded and accepted the Storage Ring without being polite.

You didn't care what Venerable Li Kun went to do, but sat cross-legged in the room.

Why were you a Profound Spiritual Root? You had thought about this question for a long time but couldn't figure it out.

You felt the surrounding Spiritual Qi; it was indeed much denser than in the Saint Realm.

"Is this a Spirit Stone?" You took a piece of Spirit Stone out of the Storage Ring. You applied force gently, and the Spiritual Qi inside the Spirit Stone entered your body: "It's not much different from cultivating on my own." You thought to yourself.

You prepared to have a Breakthrough. You felt the surrounding Spiritual Qi; it should be enough for you to reach the so-called Soul Transformation.

Then, nothing happened.

Was there a Formation?

You suddenly discovered that you couldn't absorb the surrounding Spiritual Qi on a large scale like you did on Earth. An inexplicable Formation prevented you from doing so.

What was this Formation?

Although you could absorb Spiritual Qi on a small scale, it was too little. At this rate, you didn't know when you would reach a Breakthrough.

You felt the Formation, but your cultivation was too low to see anything.

You tried many ways to bypass this cultivation Formation to absorb Spiritual Qi, but all failed. Helplessly, you absorbed the surrounding Spiritual Qi under the restrictions of this Formation.

You didn't even need to actively do this; you were absorbing it subconsciously at every moment. However, according to your calculations, at this speed, it would take you at least two years to reach a Breakthrough to the Middle Stage of the Nascent Soul.

You walked down from the hotel and looked at this city, which resembled the ancient times of the Dragon Kingdom. Although it was said to be ancient, that wasn't entirely accurate, because with the existence of Cultivators and the assistance of Formations, the technology tree had developed in a mode different from Earth.

For example, the AI in this hotel room, though in the Tianheng Continent, it was called a Formation Spirit.

You walked on the street, where Mortals were still the majority, and there were also some Qi Refining Cultivators, but it took you a long time to see one Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

You secretly followed this Foundation Establishment Cultivator, and then the number of Cultivators around you started to increase. It seemed you had arrived at a market for immortal cultivators.

"Young man, come and take a look. Top-notch Cultivation Techniques." An old man squatted on the ground setting up a stall and said, with various immortal Cultivation Techniques laid out in front of him.

By the side of the street, an old man with white hair and beard was squatting in front of a small stall. His clothes had several patches on them. In front of him was a piece of tattered cloth of an unrecognizable color, and on the cloth, a few yellowed thread-bound books were placed crookedly.

When you squatted down to browse the Cultivation Techniques on the stall, the old man's eyes immediately lit up like two lanterns, and he leaned in to ramble on incessantly. "Young man, good eye! This is a treasure I picked up after squatting outside the Hunyuan Emperor Sect for three months back in the day! Look at this paper quality, look at this handwriting; at a glance, it's a secret manual transcribed by a great expert! I see you have excellent bone structure and are a person of destiny. Today, I'll make an exception and give you a 20% discount—"

A passing Loose Cultivator nearby couldn't stand it anymore and reminded: "Little brother, don't look anymore. This old man is a scammer. He has scammed more than one person on this street."

However, the old man drove him away unluckily: "Go away, go away. If you're not buying, don't interfere with my business."

You didn't pay attention to their dispute. Because these Cultivation Techniques were all real! Not just "real" in that sense; among the few you flipped through, the lowest could be cultivated to the Tribulation Transcendence Realm. The scroll tucked in between, which didn't even have a cover and was tied haphazardly with grass rope, was actually a complete Cultivation Technique that could be cultivated to the Mahayana stage.

Who was this old man?

You opened your eyes wide and looked at this old man. With a cultivation of the Late Stage of Qi Refining, could it be that he was hiding his strength?

"Boss, I want all of these. How much?"

The old man's face blossomed with a smile. The few Loose Cultivators nearby who hadn't left shook their heads, looking at you as if they were looking at a sucker who had been scammed out of his travel money just after entering the city.

"Not much, not much! Since little brother wants all of them, I'll consider it making a friend—just one hundred Spirit Stones!"

You subconsciously frowned, not knowing if you had one hundred Spirit Stones in your Storage Ring.

Seeing you frown, the old man thought you found it expensive, so he quickly slashed his own price: "Then how about this, I'll take a loss—eighty... fifty! I can't go any lower!" You checked the Spirit Stones in your Storage Ring; there were over four hundred. You took out one hundred Spirit Stones and handed them over: "One hundred is fine."

The old man took the Spirit Stones, packed all the Cultivation Techniques into your arms with the fastest speed a Qi Refining Cultivator could achieve, and then ran away with the same astonishing speed, shouting "It's a deal, no returns or exchanges," fearing you would change your mind in the next second.

You looked at him, somewhat puzzled, but it seemed you had picked up a great bargain.

When you put the Cultivation Techniques into your Storage Ring and returned to the hotel, Venerable Li Kun was already waiting in the room. He saw the bundle of tattered books in your hand that you hadn't had time to put away, and the smile on his face slowly solidified. "Fellow Daoist Lin, did you... go to buy Cultivation Techniques?"

"Yes."

"Oh my! My fault!" Venerable Li Kun slapped his thigh, his face full of regret, "My fault, my fault, I forgot to tell Fellow Daoist Lin! Fellow Daoist Lin, you've been scammed!"

You were somewhat puzzled: "No, I've checked these Cultivation Techniques; they are all real."

Venerable Li Kun's expression switched from regret to helplessness, and then from helplessness to a sense of exhaustion.

"Of course they are real—that's exactly the problem." He reached into his robes, pulled out a jade card, and pressed it against the Formation Spirit in the room. With a flash of light, a translucent screen unfolded before you. He tapped his finger twice, and the screen was instantly filled with countless entries, each being a Cultivation Technique, with the corresponding Realm range marked next to it.

From Qi Refining to Mahayana, everything was there, from Alchemy to Formations, a wide variety.

"Are these all real?" You asked.

Venerable Li Kun smiled bitterly and nodded: "Absolutely true. Wanbao Pavilion puts all Cultivation Techniques from Qi Refining to Mahayana on the Spirit Net. Any legitimate Cultivator with a Spirit Card can browse them for free."

"The kind that Fellow Daoist Lin just bought at the street stall are all downloaded from the Spirit Net and printed on tattered paper specifically to scam newcomers like you who come from small places. My fault, I forgot to tell you about this."

You weren't angry; instead, you clicked on those entries and flipped through them one by one. They were indeed all real, from the most basic Qi Refining breathing methods to top-tier Cultivation Techniques pointing directly to the Mahayana stage, a wide variety, everything one could expect to find. Since Cultivation Techniques were so easy to obtain, what limited how far a Cultivator could go was not the Cultivation Technique itself, but the Spiritual Root and resources.

Besides that, there was that thing called a Spiritual Root.

You suddenly asked, "What level of Cultivation Technique do you Cultivate?"

"It's a set of Void Return level Cultivation Technique."

"Why not Cultivate a Mahayana level Cultivation Technique?" You asked, looking at those Mahayana Cultivation Techniques.

Since there were Mahayana level Cultivation Techniques here, why Cultivate those Void Return level ones? You didn't quite understand. You clicked on a Void Return level Cultivation Technique and spotted three errors at a glance. You didn't see any errors in the Mahayana level ones, but you felt that the set of Mahayana Cultivation Techniques you clicked on was a bit tedious; it used so many words to explain something that was easy to understand.

Venerable Li Kun was speechless, looking at you with a face full of questions, and then replied: "I... I don't understand it..."

Venerable Li Kun indicated that you thought he didn't want to, but he couldn't understand it. He knew all the characters, but when put together, he couldn't understand it at all.

"I see." You blinked, somewhat puzzled. Such a simple thing, why couldn't he understand it?