Proofreader & Editor: Lotas
Li Guanqi, through his Insight, witnessed the scene and felt that punishing Zhao Yuanlin was pointless.
But he didn't intervene. Whether it was meaningful or not, he didn't care; as long as Zhao Yuanlin got a beating, that was enough.
The thunder whip struck, and instantly Zhao Yuanlin's skin split and flesh burst open, turning charred black and even emitting wisps of green smoke.
"Ah!!! Stop it!! Don't…"
"Why!!! Why are you hitting me?!"
"Ah!! Help, stop… stop hitting me."
Screams pierced the sky as Xu Zhengjie lashed him seven or eight times.
"Zhao Yuanlin! What does it matter if you have a Heavenly Spirit Root! With such conduct, the Great Xia Sword Sect will never accept you!"
Lying on the ground, Zhao Yuanlin's breathing grew shallow, but his eyes were fixed on Li Guanqi.
Sensing his gaze, Li Guanqi suddenly spoke up, "If that's the case, why don't the Elders let me test my Spirit Root."
After speaking, the youth didn't forget to look at Zhao Yuanlin, who lay on the ground like a dead dog, and said, "Aren't you curious to see if me，a beggar， has a Spirit Root or not?"
The reason he did this was to completely crush Zhao Yuanlin's pitiful pride.
As for calling himself a beggar…
Li Guanqi didn't care about exposing such so-called 'weaknesses'. If he exposed his own weaknesses, they were no longer weaknesses.
As long as I insult myself, you have nothing to insult.
Besides, in the Cultivation World, strength is paramount!
Meng Linhai was silent at this moment, as Heavenly Gold Peak had lost a disciple with a Heavenly Spirit Root.
Recalling the sect's teachings, his expression grew solemn.
"With such a temperament, it's better not to have him!"
Xu Zhengjie looked at the youth who stood firm before everyone and said solemnly, "Fine! Test!"
"Even if today you have a Triple-Element Mixed Spirit Root, my Heavenly Thunder Peak will take you!"
The youth smiled faintly and slowly ascended the Spirit Testing Platform under the watchful eyes of the crowd.
Li Guanqi took a deep breath; he didn't know what his Spirit Root was.
Over the years, he could feel that his grandfather, Su Xuan, was very powerful, extremely so.
If his Spirit Root was poor, his grandfather wouldn't have gone to such lengths to gather so many herbs.
Many times, he had seen the heavenly treasures in his grandfather's hands emitting a fluorescent glow.
As his palm grasped the crystal ball, the entire plaza fell silent.
Zhao Yuanlin clenched his lips, his eyes fixed on the transparent crystal ball.
The light on the crystal ball flowed, changing through eight colors.
This was the process of testing which type of Spirit Root one had; the final color and the intensity of the light would indicate the talent of the person's Spirit Root.
As everyone waited, the light on the crystal ball began to flicker rapidly.
Bang!
A bursting sound suddenly erupted!
The crystal ball shattered!
For a moment, everyone on the plaza looked at each other in bewilderment.
Zhao Yuanlin immediately pointed at Li Guanqi with a crazed expression and mocked.
"Hahaha!! Trash!! You're just trash!!"
"The Spirit Testing Orb shattered; you're probably not even worthy of a Triple-Element Mixed Spirit Root!!"
His words immediately stirred up public outrage, as many in the crowd had Triple-Element Mixed Spirit Roots.
But still, many of them would be selected into the sect based on their Spirit Root's performance.
Meng Linhai frowned, his impression of Zhao Yuanlin plummeting to rock bottom.
With a wave of his hand, a streak of golden light flew out, instantly sealing Zhao Yuanlin's mouth.
"Silence!"
The Spirit Testing Orb had exploded, and Li Guanqi stood frozen in place, awkwardly scratching his head.
"Uh… I don't know how this thing exploded."
"I don't have to pay for it, right?"
Suddenly, the Elders looked at each other as if they had remembered something, their eyes filled with disbelief.
Meng Linhai was also taken aback, his throat moving slightly.
With a dry voice, he said, "You… you're not thinking of that, are you?"
Lan He immediately flew into the air and shouted, "Quick! Fetch the Spirit Testing Stele from Heavenly Pillar Peak!"
As the Peak Masters were thrown into disarray, everyone was clueless about what had happened.
At that moment, the Outer Sect Senior Brother, Zhou Zhi, murmured, "Could it be a Royal-Grade Spirit Root above the Heavenly Spirit Root?"
Jiang Su also showed a look of shock and whispered, "Could it be true? Hasn't it been only once in the past twelve years that a Royal-Grade Spirit Root appeared?"
Zhou Zhi nodded solemnly and said, "That's right, that person is now the Senior Brother, a disciple under the Sect Master, Wu Bing."
"It's said that the Senior Brother is currently in seclusion, breaking through to the Golden Elixir realm!"
"If he can break through within three years, he would be a Golden Elixir realm cultivator before the age of thirty!"
The Elders' gazes towards Li Guanqi changed, and Xu Zhengjie of Heavenly Thunder Peak's eyes turned green with envy.
Soon, four Inner Sect disciples who had reached Foundation Establishment flew in, carrying a black stele that was about three meters tall to the Spirit Testing Platform.
The black stele, weighing thousands of pounds, had many names engraved on it.
Looking over them, without exception, they all had 'Royal-Grade Spirit Root!' written after their names.
The name at the very top was unfamiliar to everyone, but it was not marked as Royal-Grade.
And that name had not moved from its spot for ten thousand years.
Li Guanqi naturally walked up to the stele and placed his hands on the palm imprint.
Hum!!!
The stele trembled, and then an eight-colored halo appeared in the void hundreds of meters away.
Then, all the colors disappeared, leaving only a colorless white light!
Seeing this, the Elders frowned deeply.
"Could it really be without a Spirit Root… then why did the Spirit Testing Stone explode?"
However, the halo grew larger, eventually enveloping the entire Great Xia Sword Sect.
A giant halo, thousands of meters across, hovered above in the sky!
The black stele was now bathed in the white halo, turning milky white.
A mysterious voice echoed in Li Guanqi's mind.
【Name of the one being tested】
【Uh… Li Guanqi】
Hum!!
An invisible shockwave spread outwards in all directions.
The disturbance continued for a hundred miles!
Then, the heavens and earth changed, and countless colorful lights began to slowly revolve around the Great Xia Sword Sect.
The colorful lights, like numerous ribbons, carried a variety of mysterious auras.
This celestial phenomenon shocked everyone, and one after another, protective sect formations roared into existence to prevent covetous outsiders.
Li Guanqi's name suddenly appeared at the bottom of the stele, then began to climb, challenging the name of the person at the top!
Under the astonished gazes of the Elders, Li Guanqi's name slowly surpassed the name that had not changed for ten thousand years, appearing at the very top!
A line of shimmering golden characters suddenly appeared.
The voice of the stele's spirit thundered through the heavens!
"Li Guanqi, Saint-Grade Spirit Root! Void Spirit Root!"
This sudden turn of events left everyone at a loss, but many were also puzzled.
"What's that? Void Spirit Root? Isn't that the same as having no Spirit Root? And that's considered a Saint-Grade Spirit Root?"
"…"
Amidst the noisy discussions, Zhao Yuanlin's eyes were dull as he stared at the calm youth on the platform, his face ashen.
But disregarding the others' confusion, the Elders of the eight peaks shamelessly surrounded the youth in the middle.
They clamored, "Choose fire! Choose fire!! Its killing power is immense, and I can teach you to forge! Alchemy works too!!"
Meng Linhai became anxious, pushing aside the Elder with long eyebrows and said, "Get lost! High killing power needs our Metal Element!! Sword cultivators practicing Metal Spirit Power is like a tiger with wings!!"
"Choose water!! My Heavenly Water Peak is all female disciples!! It's easy to find a Dao companion!"
"Choose earth!! I… earth… ah, I'll take you as my personal disciple!! Monthly stipend tenfold!!"
"Come to my Heavenly Wood Peak!! I'll have the Peak Master take you as a personal disciple!!"
Suddenly!
A light cough sounded, and it was the Inner Sect's Law Enforcer, Qin Xian.
The old man spoke with a serious face, "I'm not opposed to taking disciples either."
But the eight Peak Masters didn't care if he was the Law Enforcer, directly saying, "You haven't taken a disciple in three to five hundred years, what can you teach?!"
"Uh… that Law Enforcer, no hard feelings… Don't hold a grudge against me later."
"Peak Master!! Peak Master, come quickly! What are you closing up for? A Saint-Grade Spirit Root disciple! If you're late, there'll be none left!!"
"Big brother!! Come out of seclusion!! Come to Heavenly Gate Cave to snatch him up!"
"Hey! Why insult me, hurry up and come snatch him, Saint-Grade Spirit Vein!"
Soon after, countless figures of light flew from behind Heavenly Sword Mountain.
Li Guanqi only felt his body being grabbed by countless large hands, his clothes torn to shreds.
But just then, a stern voice suddenly rang out!
Everyone stiffened and quickly stood straight.
A man in a green robe, stepping on a trail of light, approached.
The newcomer had an ethereal aura, with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, and a resolute face.
It was the Sect Master of the Great Xia Sword Sect, a cultivator at the peak of the Elemental Infant realm, Lu Kangnian!