Immortal Cultivation: Starting as a Fortune Cultivator - Chapter 2

The next day, Ye Qingxuan woke up bright and early.

As soon as he stepped out of his room, he found his parents already waiting for him in the courtyard.

Ye Qingxuan was taken aback and asked:
“Father, Mother, why are you both up so early?”

Seeing his son standing there stunned, Father Ye stepped forward and gave him a light tap on the head.
“Brat, today is your spirit root test day. How could your mother and I not get up early? Let’s go! It’s going to be crowded today!”

With that, he led Mother Ye out of the house.
Although he claimed not to care whether his son had a spirit root, this concerned his son’s future—how could Father Ye not take it seriously?

Looking at his parents, Ye Qingxuan felt a wave of gratitude and quickly hurried after them.

The Ye Immortal City’s annual Spirit Root Test Assembly was a grand event for the entire Ye clan, and naturally, it was extremely lively.

By now, the city’s wide streets were already packed with a sea of people.

With over ten million people in the Ye family, the number of twelve-year-old clansmen eligible for the test each year easily exceeded a hundred thousand.

To improve efficiency, there wasn’t just a single testing location.

Throughout Ye Immortal City, there were over a hundred testing points.

For this purpose, the Ye family directly assigned two hundred cultivating clansmen, with two responsible for each testing point.

By the time the testing began, Ye Qingxuan was already in line at one of the points.

His father and mother waited outside the testing area!

On a large square, a group of boys and girls had formed a long, snaking queue. They chattered incessantly, their faces flushed with excitement.

At the front stood two young men wearing the Ye clan uniform, its collar embroidered with green leaves.

Ye Qingxuan stood in the middle of the line. Hearing the noisy environment around him, he frowned slightly.

Just then, one of the two men at the front spoke up:

“Silence.”

His voice instantly suppressed all the chatter in the area.

Seeing the crowd quiet down, the man continued:
“My name is Ye Yonglun. I will be conducting your spirit root tests today. Form an orderly line, one by one. Anyone who disrupts the order will be severely punished.”

His final words carried a stern tone.

The crowd shrank back a little, offering scattered replies.

Hearing the name Ye Yonglun, Ye Qingxuan understood:
“The ‘Yong’ generation? A clansman from the previous generation?”

The Ye family had been passed down for ten thousand years. To maintain order and facilitate management, they had always used a twelve-character generational cycle: Yu, Wen, Huan, Jing, Rui, Yong, Qing, Zhao, Xi, Shi, Xu, Chang.

However, this didn’t strictly denote familial generations, but simply divided time into hundred-year cohorts.

The twelve characters rotated every hundred years, forming a complete cycle.

Ye Qingxuan, along with his father and mother, all belonged to the ‘Qing’ generation. The Ye Yonglun who had just spoken was from the previous generation, the ‘Yong’ generation.

As Ye Qingxuan was lost in thought, the Ye Yonglun at the front ignored the scattered responses from the crowd. He took out a multicolored, lustrous pearl and spoke again:
“The spirit root test begins now. First one, step forward.”

Immediately, a nimble, slightly chubby boy stepped up, looking very nervous as he stared at Ye Yonglun.

Seeing the nervous boy before him, Ye Yonglun’s cold face remained expressionless. He said:
“Place your hand on this pearl. Just relax your body.”

Hearing this, the boy cautiously reached out and placed his hand on the pearl in Ye Yonglun’s hand.

But after a long while, the pearl showed no reaction whatsoever.

Thus, Ye Yonglun declared:
“No spirit root. Next.”

The boy was stunned for a moment, then left the line with a crestfallen expression.

Time passed. The testing wasn’t slow, and soon a hundred people had been tested. But so far, not a single person had been found to possess a spirit root.

Seeing this scene, even Ye Qingxuan, who had initially been full of confidence, couldn’t help but feel uneasy now.

“No spirit root. Next.”

Ye Yonglun’s cold voice rang out again. The remaining boys and girls in the area were beginning to tremble with nervousness.

One after another, it was almost Ye Qingxuan’s turn when suddenly, a dazzling five-colored light erupted from the front.

Looking at the Spirit Testing Pearl in his hand, which now glowed with five colors, a look of excited surprise flashed in Ye Yonglun’s eyes. He hadn’t expected such a harvest; the contribution points he would get from this were enough for him to cultivate in peace for a long time.

Thinking this, a faint smile forced its way onto his stern face. He looked at the anxious boy before him with a slightly gentler expression and asked softly:
“Child, what is your name?”

The boy who had just been tested, upon hearing the question, hesitated for a moment before replying quietly:
“My name is Ye Qingxiao.”

Ye Yonglun nodded:
“Good. Stand beside me for now.”

Then, Ye Yonglun announced to the crowd:
“Ye Qingxiao, five-element superior spirit root: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth. Next.”

As soon as this was announced, those who hadn’t been tested yet instantly became excited:
“Wow! A five-element spirit root! Incredible! Let me get some of that luck, maybe I’m next!”
“Yeah! So envious. My requirements aren’t high, just a mid-grade three-element spirit root would be fine.”
“Hmph, stop dreaming. Three elements? Be happy if you have any spirit root at all, you think you can pick and choose?”

Even Ye Qingxuan was surprised. He never expected that after finding no one with a spirit root, they would immediately find someone with a five-element spirit root.

One must know, in this world, spirit roots weren’t like in those web novels from his previous life where more roots meant worse talent.

Quite the opposite. In the Di Xuan Realm, the more spirit roots one had, the better their talent.

In the Di Xuan Realm, there were currently twelve types of spirit roots: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Space, Yin, Yang, Light, and Dark.

What was a spirit root? The explanation in the Di Xuan Realm was:
A spirit root for a specific element is only generated when the compatibility between the inner universe of the human body and the corresponding element in heaven and earth reaches 100%!

And what was spiritual energy?

Spiritual energy was the collective entity formed by all the elemental particles in the world.

Except for some special regions, most of the spiritual energy between heaven and earth contained all the elements present in the world.

Therefore, the more spirit roots one had, the greater the pulling force one could exert on the world’s spiritual energy, and naturally, the faster the cultivation speed.

According to the Di Xuan Realm’s classification:

• 1-2 elements: Low-grade Spirit Root

• 3-4 elements: Mid-grade Spirit Root

• 5-6 elements: Superior-grade Spirit Root

• 7-8 elements: Top-grade Spirit Root

• 9-10 elements: Earth-grade Spirit Root

• 11-12 elements: Heaven-grade Spirit Root

For the Ye family, a five-element superior spirit root was already a rare and exceptional talent.

After discovering Ye Qingxiao with his five-element spirit root, Ye Yonglun tested several more people in a row, but none possessed a spirit root.

This felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over the crowd, instantly calming them down.

Those with spirit roots were one in a thousand; they didn’t appear so easily.

“No spirit root. Next.”

Soon, it was Ye Qingxuan’s turn.

Ye Qingxuan took a deep breath, slowly stepped forward, and placed his hand on the Spirit Testing Pearl.

A moment later, under Ye Qingxuan’s tense gaze, the pearl emitted a brown-colored light.

Seeing this change, Ye Qingxuan immediately felt a wave of relief.

“What is your name?”

Hearing this, Ye Qingxuan looked up at Ye Yonglun and replied respectfully:
“Reporting, Elder Clan Uncle, this junior is Ye Qingxuan.”

Seeing this, Ye Yonglun gave a slight nod:
“You stand by my side as well.”

Then, Ye Yonglun announced:
“Ye Qingxuan, single-element low-grade earth spirit root. Next.”

With the outstanding five-element spirit root of Ye Qingxiao preceding him, Ye Qingxuan’s single-element low-grade spirit root didn’t cause much of a stir.

The testing continued, but Ye Qingxuan no longer paid it any mind.

No matter how good others’ talents were, they belonged to others, not him.

Now that he had confirmed he possessed a spirit root, even if it was only a low-grade single-element earth spirit root, he had at least obtained a ticket to set foot on the path of cultivation.

With his eternal lifespan, even if he had to grind through time slowly, he was confident he could break through each realm’s bottlenecks and reach the peak of the immortal path.

“The spirit root test is concluded. You may all disperse.”

A voice pulled Ye Qingxuan’s thoughts back to the present.

It turned out the Spirit Root Test Assembly had ended. After Ye Qingxuan, no one else had tested positive for a spirit root.

Out of the over thousand people who came to this testing point, only Ye Qingxuan and Ye Qingxiao possessed spirit roots.

With the testing over, Ye Yonglun put away the Spirit Testing Pearl. He looked at Ye Qingxuan and Ye Qingxiao and said:
“You have three days. Three days from now, I will wait for you here to take you to the main family’s Cloudmist Mountain to begin your cultivation.”

Cloudmist Mountain was the spiritual mountain not far outside Ye Immortal City, the true headquarters of the Ye family.

Hearing Ye Yonglun’s words, Ye Qingxuan and Ye Qingxiao glanced at each other, then bowed in unison:
“Yes, Elder Clan Uncle.”