Chương 2: Spiritual Root Testing

"Start according to the list!" Li Deng said from the sky in a serious voice, looking down at the elders standing near the gate. Ken Tua nodded without even glancing back at her. He turned to the elders holding the scrolls and gave a brief wave of his hand. Seeing the gesture, the elder in charge of the list bowed to him and turned to the crowd with burning, expectant eyes.

"I will now call you by name!" he began.

"As soon as you hear your name, approach the gate and touch the base where I am standing." Pointing to a plaque on the wooden foundation of the gate, he continued, "This will allow us to determine your potential and where you will be assigned." The elder coughed a few times, adjusted the sheets in his hands, and began the roll call.

"Li Uan!" he announced in a loud, booming voice. From the crowd, a child jumped up with an outstretched hand.

"Me!" he cried and quickly ran toward the elder. Li Uan was dressed in a luxurious robe, but it was clearly worn and frayed, hanging at least two sizes too big for him. It was obvious that this robe had once belonged to an older brother or someone else in his family. Still, the fact that he owned such a garment at all told An that Li Uan likely came from a middle-class background, certainly not a peasant family. Approaching the elder, Li Uan received his instructions.

"Place your hand on it and relax! Don't resist the tingling you will feel. Open the path for it and let it flow through your entire body!"

"Yes, Elder!" Li Uan shouted, quickly pressing his hand onto the plaque. The stone immediately began to glow, soft blue tones swirling into a pure white light.

"Fifth rank roots! With a dominant water element! Good job, Li Uan!" Seeing the result, the elder nodded approvingly.

"Thank you for your kind words, Elder!" Li Uan bowed deeply and hopped joyfully through the massive gate as the elder directed. As soon as he passed through, one of the cultivators in blue robes called him over. He said something to the boy and pointed toward a waiting area. An couldn't hear the exact words from this distance, especially with the surrounding children whispering and talking over one another.' Fifth rank? Is that good or bad?' An wondered.

"The elder nodded when he saw Uan's rank, so fifth rank must be a decent start," he whispered to himself, carefully analyzing the situation.

"Duan Tomus!" the elder called the next name.

"Here, Elder!" From the front rows, a boy stepped forward, practically dripping with jewelry made of precious stones, his chin held high. He walked slowly, as if taking a casual stroll rather than facing a moment that would decide his entire future.

"Duan? The Duan Clan?" To An's side, a group of children from noble families began whispering excitedly.

"That's Young Master Tomus. They say he started walking within the first week after birth and could read and speak at three weeks old!"

"And I heard his parents already arranged a marriage contract with the Third Prince's youngest daughter!"

"Wow, he's even more handsome than in his portraits!" The crowd around An began to buzz with praise for Tomus. He hadn't heard so much flattery directed at one person in a long time. For a moment, he even felt a bit sick from the sheer amount of sycophancy.

"He can't hear you anyway, so what's the point of all this thick flattery?" An muttered, but then his brow furrowed.

"The Duan Clan... Duan Tomus... Again, it feels like I've heard these names somewhere before, just like Elder Li Deng." It was getting strange. An couldn't figure out where he might have heard them, but he was certain he had seen or heard these names in his previous life.

"Second rank?.. Second rank! Fire element, dominant!" The elder announcing the results actually choked a little when he saw the rank of Tomus's spiritual roots.

"Oh my god!"

"Did he say second rank?" Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"That's our Young Master Tomus!" Everyone around stood with mouths open in shock, immediately redoubling their praise. The entire square buzzed with astonishment. Tomus, still standing at the base of the gate, took his hand off the plaque and turned to the crowd. He tilted his nose up, his expression clearly saying, ' Go on, keep praising me'. The crowd took the hint, flattering him even more intensely, almost swearing eternal loyalty on the spot. An looked around at this circus and noticed something interesting.

Only the children whose robes were at or below Tomus's status were sucking up to him. The children dressed even more arrogantly simply stood quiet, watching the gate with neutral faces. Their small circles were silent, focused entirely on their leaders' reactions.

"Silence! Duan Tomus, pass through the sect gate!" Li Deng, still hovering above, yelled down at the crowd, unable to tolerate the disruption any longer. Tomus glanced up at Li Deng, let out a short snort, and walked slowly through the gate. Inside, the cultivator in blue robes gave him a slight bow of the head. It was a sharp contrast to Li Uan, whom the same cultivator hadn't even looked at.

"Eh, so that's what status gets you..." An sighed. Over the next forty minutes, the elder called children one by one. The highest rank revealed so far was third. No one had managed to reach Tomus's heights.

"An... Hmm, just An?.. Ahem! An!" The elder read the name but looked surprised by the lack of a surname. Such cases were exceptionally rare in all his years of service.

"An!" the elder called again.

"I... I'm here!" An almost missed his turn. He quickly pushed his way through the crowd, feeling his heart race and his nerves tighten with every step. Surprisingly, everyone moved out of his way as he approached. Some smirked at the sight of him, while others simply turned away, as if even glancing at him was beneath them. Seeing the attitude of those around him, An lowered his gaze, trying to emotionally distance himself from the crowd. He focused entirely on the gate and the elder.'

I hope I don't have the lowest rank of roots... After all, in stories, the talent for those who are reborn is usually as low as it gets.' An desperately hoped that such a fate would pass him by, repeating the thought like a mantra as he walked toward the gate with his head down.' So far, the lowest rank I've heard is seventh rank.' Approaching the elder, An stole a quick glance at the plaque on the base of the gate.

"Don't listen to them, and don't take their words to heart," the elder said. Seeing An's lowered head, he assumed the boy was embarrassed by the other children's remarks. In truth, An wasn't taking the insults to heart, even though they were unpleasant. His reaction was caused more by confusion and the sheer struggle to comprehend everything happening around him.

"Huh? Did you say something… Elder?" An realized the man had spoken, but he had completely missed the words.

"Never mind. Put your hand on the plaque!" The elder sighed, raising his voice slightly to hurry An along. An nodded and approached the plaque, examining it more closely. It resembled a tray, like the kind used in a cafeteria, but it was made of a material that looked like shimmering metal. When the light hit it, the surface glowed with shifting colors, as if something alive was swimming inside and creating strange, iridescent waves. An took a deep breath, " Phew... just a normal rank of roots.

Please, just not the worst possible," he continued muttering to himself. Finally pulling himself together, An extended his palm and placed it on the plaque. Immediately, he felt something from inside the device enter his hand and begin wandering through his body as if it owned the place. It traveled from his palm to the top of his head, then to his other hand, back to his head, and down to each foot, passing through every organ and vein along the way. As the energy touched his vitals, An's eyes widened in shock.

He couldn't believe that he could actually feel and understand exactly what this energy was doing inside him. It was as if he could see the process with his own internal eyes. The sensation lasted only a few seconds, though it felt much longer. Finally, the energy exited back through his palm and into the plaque. The metal immediately erupted with a bright, vibrant green light. An even smelled the scent of fresh grass and heard the faint rustle of leaves.

The sensations were so strange and yet so pleasant that he almost forgot where he was.

"Third rank of spiritual roots! Only wood? Ahem! A single-element wood root!" The elder looked puzzled by the sight of only one element, but he quickly composed himself, nodding and lightly patting An on the shoulder. As soon as An heard the rank, an involuntary smile spread across his face. His entire body relaxed, and the heavy tension of worry vanished instantly.' I'm not worthless! Third rank! That means it's good, right?' An screamed in his head.

He turned to the elder, looking for confirmation in his eyes, but the man gave him a gentle push toward the gate so he wouldn't hold up the line. As An walked toward the entrance, he heard the children behind him whispering again, and as expected, their words were sharp.

"Huh! A scrawny carp is still just a carp, even in a puddle!"

"Heh! A single element? I've never heard of such a thing. That clearly won't do him any good!"

"Born a slave, die a slave. It doesn't matter if it's a sect or the fields, haha!" An's smile faded into a frown ' But I'm third rank, that's great, isn't it? What's wrong now? Is it really because of the single element?' Approaching the gate, An stopped. He suddenly felt a powerful pulse, like a heartbeat, but without any sound. The sensation radiated directly from the massive structure. An stepped closer, slowing his pace.

The nearer he got, the stronger the feeling became, something so thick it could almost be touched, though not with hands. As soon as he stepped under the arch of the gate, he felt the heartbeat stop. A massive wave of energy washed over him from head to toe. Frightened, he squeezed his eyes shut and stood perfectly still, bracing for something terrible. But a second later, realizing nothing had happened, he opened his eyes. He quickly walked through to the other side.

When he turned back, the strange heartbeat was gone. Taking a deep breath to calm his racing heart, An turned and saw a cultivator in blue robes waiting there. Before An could speak, the man addressed him.

"I am Shen Uan, an inner disciple. Since your element is wood, you need to go over there." Shen Uan gestured with his chin toward a specific area. An looked in that direction and started walking, but he immediately stopped and turned back.

"Thank you, Shen Uan."

"Not Shen Uan. It's Senior Brother Shen," the cultivator said with a smirk, waving his hand as if shooing a fly. An nodded respectfully, turned, and quickly walked in the direction he had been shown.