Chapter 98: Hidden Spirit Root

  "I, Yun Gu Valley, have made a name for myself in North Hua State! All of my disciples will be rewarded! Those who were injured can go to the Reward and Punishment Hall to receive a top-grade Xuan-level technique after they recover. Ordinary disciples can receive 50 pieces of low-grade spirit stones. In the future, you must continue to work hard and bring glory to our sect!"

  "We obey the order of our master!" The disciples' faces were excited, and they knelt down on the ground in unison, shouting loudly.

  "Xiao Chen Zhang Lao stays behind, the rest of you disciples can withdraw." Qing Yun Zi nodded in satisfaction, his eyes filled with joy.

  A crowd of disciples retreated one after another, but every time they passed by Xiao Chen's side, they would bow deeply. The young disciple's eyes shone with fanatical adoration, and many female disciples even blushed slightly, secretly casting flirtatious glances at him, making Xiao Chen feel extremely embarrassed.

  "Xiao Chen, my junior brother, is indeed not a mediocre person. In the future, he will soar to great heights. Don't forget about me, okay?" Ji Yuewu bowed her head and spoke, her face flushing with redness as she quickly walked away.

  Xiao Chen heard this and was slightly stunned, his heart also felt a bit unusual, he took a deep breath before slowly calming down.

  "Xiao Chenlao, since there are no outsiders here, can you explain some things to us two old men?" In the secret room behind Luoyun Valley, Qingyunzi and Yaodaozi sat cross-legged on a mat, their eyes flashing slightly as the former spoke up.

  Xiao Chen Gong stood under the two, heard the words slightly paused, and replied: "Even if the sect master and the master do not ask, the disciple will tell everything."

  Yao Daozi's eyes flickered slightly as he stared intently at Xiao Chen, saying slowly: "When I first accepted you as a disciple, I personally checked that there was no spiritual root in your body. However, within the short span of one year, your cultivation has not weakened in the slightest compared to a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. Is there some reason behind this?"

  "This matter, I was also unaware of. On the day Master passed down the 'Small Wood Decision', I practiced diligently to avoid embarrassing you. At first, progress was slow and my spiritual power absorption speed was not satisfactory. However, after a period of time, for some reason, my cultivation suddenly accelerated, and my spiritual power absorption speed increased several times. The more I cultivated, the faster the speed became. This matter left me perplexed and uneasy, fearing that there was something wrong with myself, so I kept it hidden in my heart and didn't dare tell anyone."

  At this point, Xiao Chen's face showed a hint of shame, and he quickly knelt down on the ground, "If it weren't for the urgent situation today...I would have continued to hide it. Please forgive me, Master and Sect Leader."

  At the time of Xiao Chen's narration, Qing Yunzi and Yao Daozi both showed a look of shock on their faces. Until this moment, the two looked at each other and said in unison: "Yin Ling Gen!" The voices of the two were slightly trembling, obviously with extremely intense emotional fluctuations in their hearts.

  Xiao Chen heard this and a hint of relaxation flashed in his eyes, but on his face, he intentionally revealed a few hints of confusion and asked: "Yin Ling Gen? What is this thing?"

  Qingyunzi gazed at Xiao Chen with eyes that seemed to be beholding a rare treasure, and after a long while, he suddenly stroked his beard and burst into loud laughter, "The ancestors are blessed, heaven has helped me to revive the prosperity of Luoyun Valley!"

  Yao Daozi was also excited with a red face, and it took him a long time to calm down slowly. "Brother, you know more about this matter than I do, so let you explain it to him."

  Qingyunzi did not decline and after a slight pause, he slowly began to recount the events.

  Originally, ordinary people are born with a very small chance of having a spiritual root in their body, but most of them have poor quality. Middle-grade spiritual root cultivators, if they don't encounter anything unusual, may only reach the foundation-building boundary in this life. Those with high-grade spiritual roots have the opportunity to achieve golden elixir cultivation. As for those who want to form an embryo and advance to the yuanxiao great dao, they need a heavenly spiritual root that appears once in tens of millions of people!

  Lower grade, middle grade, upper grade, and heavenly grade are the spiritual root classification widely known in the minds of Xiuzhen practitioners. However, in ancient times, there was another type of spiritual root that existed - the hidden spiritual root! Practitioners with this type of spiritual root cannot be detected through regular testing and appear to be no different from ordinary people. But once they embark on the path of Xiuzhen, if they cultivate diligently enough, they will soar to great heights, with a cultivation speed that is extremely astonishing, even surpassing those with legendary heavenly spiritual roots! Moreover, ancient records show that anyone who possesses a hidden spiritual root is often favored by heaven and will surely achieve great accomplishments in the future.

  So Qingyunzi and the other person would be so out of sorts, in their hearts they had already taken Xiao Chen as a hidden Linggen cultivator.

  "Ah-ha!" Xiao Chen's face showed a hint of surprise and relief.

  "It's still hard to say for now, we'll know soon enough." Yao Daozi showed a hint of impatience, "Brother, don't be modest, quickly take out that thing and test it."

  "Heh heh, good!" Qingyunzi stroked his beard, a few hints of delight on his face. "Back then when I obtained this treasure from the ancient immortal's cave mansion, I knew that one day it would come in handy. Who would have thought that today would be the day?"

  At this moment, Qingyunzi held in his hand a crystal ball the size of an adult's fist, transparent throughout, and placed it on the stone pedestal.

  "Xiao Chen, you come up and pour all the internal power into this test jade bead. Then we can know whether you are really a hidden spirit root or not." Qingyunzi spoke with expectation in his eyes.

  Xiao Chen's face stiffened slightly upon hearing this, but fortunately he quickly covered it up and didn't draw the attention of the two people.

  "Is this thing capable of testing whether someone is a Hidden Spirit Root cultivator? Isn't it recorded in the classics that Hidden Spirit Roots can't be detected by cultivators?"

  "Haha, it seems you understand this as well." Qingyunzi smiled and nodded in approval, clearly very satisfied with Xiao Chen's extensive knowledge. "Indeed, the ordinary methods cannot detect the Hidden Spirit Root, but this Testing Pearl was obtained by me from an ancient cultivator's cave, and after years of experimentation, using it to test should be able to determine whether you are a Hidden Spirit Root cultivator."

  Xiao Chen nodded slightly, although he secretly smiled bitterly in his heart, but his face didn't show any of it. After all, under the eyes of two Golden Dan cultivators, whatever tricks he tried to play would likely not escape their notice. Xiao Chen decided to be honest and walked slowly to the edge of the stone platform, stretched out his hand to press down on the testing jade bead, and with a turn of his mind, began to pour the spiritual energy within his body into it.

  As the mana infusion took place, the crystal-like testing bead was like a bottomless pit, frantically devouring the mana within Xiao Chen's body until his face turned slightly pale. Only then did it tremble slightly and knock Xiao Chen's hand aside.

  "It's about to come out." Qingyunzi and Yaodaozi were full of expectation, their eyes fixed tightly on the testing bead.

  Xiao Chen secretly smiled bitterly in his heart, thinking to himself that he was no match for the two of them, and they would likely be disappointed soon.

  But at this moment, there were two surprised voices coming from beside her ears.

  "As expected, no color appeared, Xiao Chen is indeed a Hiding Spirit Root cultivator without a doubt!"

  Xiao Chen: ...