31: Spiritual roots are rare

“Immortal, my name is Li Daniu, I am willing, Immortal, I am willing to join the Immortal Sect.”

“Good, follow me upstairs first. I will take you away after the test is complete.”

A youth with Three Spiritual Roots Aptitude could bring him considerable resources.

It is correct that Three Spiritual Roots can join the Purple Sun Sect, but Three Spiritual Roots enter the Purple Sun Sect's Inner Gate directly.

Three Spiritual Roots possess the potential for Foundation Establishment, making them excellent Immortal Fate in any power.

However, now that this world has returned to normal, even if their Purple Sun Sect gets the meat, they must leave some soup for the subordinate Immortal Sects and Immortal Families who came along.

After Li Daniu tested positive for Spiritual Roots, the common people who had previously harbored doubts became enthusiastic again.

But reality is ultimately cruel.

After most people finished testing, only a mere six possessed Spiritual Roots. Furthermore, aside from Li Daniu, everyone else had Five Spiritual Roots, making Foundation Establishment hopeless without an Opportunity.

Even Ye Wentao and the others finished their tests, and not a single one possessed Spiritual Roots.

“It seems that those with Spiritual Roots are one in ten thousand.”

As for what ultimately happened to those with Spiritual Roots, Lu Xuan had no way of knowing.

In the following days, he occasionally heard rumors that a few people in the neighboring county had tested positive for Spiritual Roots, but for Lu Xuan, who was developing West Mountain Village, these matters were irrelevant.

Ye Wentao led several youths in daily practice, while Lu Xuan brought several servants to plant qi and blood grass in West Mountain Village.

He even went to the County Town halfway through and exchanged for ten yusu fruit trees.

To exchange for these saplings, Lu Xuan had to use a blood ginseng with nearly seventy years of medicinal efficacy.

The yusu fruit bears fruit three years after maturing, and the resulting flesh is helpful for Martial Artist cultivation. This is something sold by Immortal Fate Pavilion.

Now that the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi is beginning to gather, the Purple Sun Sect has also started selling some low-grade seeds and saplings to outsiders. This not only rapidly increases the strength of this region to cope with the future border conflict with the Hundred Refinements Sect a century later, but also allows them to collect rare treasures and scattered Cultivation Technique Legacies.

The goods at Immortal Fate Pavilion are much better than those of the former Myriad Treasures Chamber of Commerce.

Moreover, as the Emperor's control over the lower regions weakened, the Myriad Treasures Chamber of Commerce, which was backed by the Imperial Family, withdrew early.

Currently, a chamber of commerce supported by the Prince of Zhennan from the Prefecture City is expanding throughout Yunzhou Prefecture and several surrounding prefectures.

However, recently, as some subordinate powers of the Purple Sun Sect continuously infiltrated the surrounding areas, Pingze now has, in addition to the Prince of Zhennan's influence, the Qi Cultivating Mu Family and the Qi Cultivating Lü Family, both of whom have established Branch Family Strongholds in Pingze County.

They seemed to have established good relations with the Prince of Zhennan, or perhaps the Purple Sun Sect issued some command, as they did not try to usurp the host. They merely occupied two mountain peaks and constructed two mansions in the county... or rather, the Prefecture City.

“Your Highness, currently no fewer than three Foundation Establishment powers, and over a dozen Qi Cultivating powers, have arrived in the three prefectures of Yunzhou Prefecture, Lanjiang Prefecture, and Dongling Prefecture.

Now, based on those three Foundation Establishment Families, a Market City has formed beside Autumn Water Lake, which is a tributary of the Green Wave River.

The central area is only accessible to Cultivators, while the outer area has no restrictions.”

“Immortals are the same as Mortals; they are just people who have mastered power. The three prefectures under my rule are all near the Green Wave River. After the monster slaying a few days ago, the river experienced some changes.”

“And Autumn Water Lake is the largest lake among the three prefectures. The ancients said: 'Where the spiritual essence gathers, there is spirit,' which seems to hold some truth.

It is reasonable that they would take control of these places.”

“However, if it weren't for Third Uncle having Early Foundation Establishment Stage strength, combined with the Purple Sun Sect watching nearby, hmph, these few prefectures might already have been renamed by now.

Why would they bother greeting us?”

Saying this, Prince of Zhennan Zhou Tianyi handed the Secret Report in his hand to his Aide.

The Aide took the Secret Report and looked at it, his expression changing drastically in surprise.

“This... Your Highness, does the world still belong to the Zhou Family now?”

“Haha, naturally it doesn't. Several other princes were not as fortunate as I am. Now that the central power has collapsed, the obedient ones are fine, but the disobedient ones probably have three-meter-high grass growing on their graves by now.”

“Aren't the Immortals of the Purple Sun Sect...”

“The Purple Sun Sect is nothing but birds of a feather, merely relying on their superior strength. They don't care who rules this land, as long as these people still obey them, it makes no difference to them.

If we didn't happen to have a strong expert with Early Foundation Establishment Stage strength, I'm afraid those Families wouldn't have politely come to negotiate with us a few days ago.”

“Also, the obtained Cultivation Resources, Secret Techniques, and Secret Treasures should be prioritized for Third Uncle's use. He is our stabilizing force now. As long as he is here for one day, no one dares to touch us.

Third Uncle possesses Spiritual Roots and currently practices Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation. If he achieves success in the Immortal Dao, he could rival a Cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.”

“What about Young Lord Lichuan?”

“From now on, Lichuan will be the heir of my Prince Zhennans Estate. As for Gaoyuan, send him back to his mother's Family.”

Even an upright official finds it difficult to settle Family disputes; even Zhou Tianyi couldn't help but feel a headache.

Zhou Lichuan, who was Born of a Concubine, possessed Four Spiritual Roots, while Zhou Gaoyuan, the Legitimate Eldest Son, was just an ordinary person.

Now he could only groom Zhou Lichuan as the heir. Zhou Gaoyuan had always been on bad terms with him, so sending him away now was in hopes that he could survive in the future.

He knew just how ruthless his son Born of a Concubine was, although this was quite similar to how he himself was in his youth.

“Forget it, let's leave it at that for now. You may withdraw.”

...The world has ultimately changed.

But for ordinary people, the world was the same as before; they still had to pay every single cent of the required taxes.

It was just that there were now more Immortals from storybooks, and occasionally they heard rumors of someone obtaining Immortal Fate, bringing their entire Family to prominence.

But for the upper class, the world had undergone a massive transformation.

Yue Kingdom, and even the surrounding nations, could now be said to no longer be nations.

As the three major Golden Core Powers took control of Yue Kingdom and three surrounding nations, this vast territory is now ruled by the Purple Sun Sect, which sits high above the Nine Heavens. They generally do not interfere unless it involves betrayal, only recruiting Disciples once every three years.

Next are the three major Golden Core Families, who form the second tier and have divided this vast territory.

The Golden Core Liang Family occupied the former Qi State.

The Golden Core Yan Family occupied Wei State.

The Golden Core Sect, Qingxu Sect, occupied Yue Kingdom.

The three powers form a tripartite balance of power.

Purple Mansion Families and Foundation Establishment Families established strongholds under their respective powers.

The Qi Cultivating Mu Family and the Qi Cultivating Lü Family are the Cultivator Families of Pingze County. One is backed by the Foundation Establishment Huo Family, and the other has a Peak First-Grade Alchemist in the Family who is about to Breakthrough to a Second-Grade Alchemist.

The County Magistrate Lu Family had long ago pledged allegiance to Zhou Tianling. Relying on the pressure exerted by that Martial Saint with Foundation Establishment strength, the representatives of those two Families here did not make things difficult for him.

Moreover, they occupy the advantageous position of 'the pavilion closest to the water gets the moon first.'

Not just him, but people from other prefectures and counties, under the instruction of the Prince of Zhennan, accepted five or six children with Spiritual Roots during that round of Spiritual Root Aptitude testing.

If everything goes smoothly, decades or a century from now, perhaps this Zhou Tianling could truly develop into a Foundation Establishment Family... Meanwhile, Lu Xuan was staring at the yusu fruit saplings he had transplanted from his Space.

If letting them grow in the Space for a period before planting them outside could improve the survival rate, then he could utilize this effect to plant difficult-to-survive herbs and spiritual fruits this way.

In the future, even if he took out large quantities of these items from the Space, no one would suspect anything.

“Patriarch, they have all been planted according to your instructions.”

“Good, San'er, you don't need to do anything these next few days except keep a constant watch on it. Report anything unusual to me immediately.”

“Don't worry, Patriarch, I'll even watch it when I sleep.”