Chapter 25: The Advantage is Mine!

"Abnormal! Too abnormal!"

"These data points don't make sense!"

After finishing the records related to the Ascension Meeting in Jinque City, Su Ping fell into deep thought.

He did not feel that the following two days would be any better.

The number of people tested on the first day of the Ascension Meeting is usually the highest, and the number of qualified candidates appearing is also normally the highest! By utilizing the Dharma Array, if one does not dawdle, a test can be completed every five to ten seconds.

While it seems like it would take a long time to test so many people, in reality, the function of the Dharma Array is to detect whether the qualifications of everyone standing in the inner circle have a Spirit Root reaction.

Therefore, there are also customary rules for testing Spirit Roots.

Seed candidates cultivated by noble families and powerful clans, such as the prodigy of the City Lord Mansion, daughters of the Ji Family, or other adopted foster daughters and sons who have practiced Qi in advance, can be in a group of one.

Non-core collateral descendants are in groups of ten.

Those qualified to live within Jinque City are mostly in groups of twenty.

Those from outside the city are in groups of thirty, and for those coming from even further away, it is not strange to see forty or fifty people squeezed together to form a group for testing.

That lucky farm boy was discovered during a test in a group of thirty.

Then, multiple tests were conducted by re-grouping those thirty people, thereby finding him in the final one-on-one test.

"Have evil cultivators made a move on those with Spirit Roots in advance?"

"But, without a Dharma Array, how did they determine the other party had a Spirit Root? If they were just killing indiscriminately, it would be impossible for the Immortal Sect and the City Lord Mansion not to have heard a whisper of it!"

"And those Spirit Root seeds identified in advance, discovered in outside towns, were all adopted and heavily protected by noble families and powerful clans, and the City Lord Mansion would also have them registered."

Su Ping frowned slightly; the more he pondered, the more he felt there was a problem, so he had his maidservant fetch Ji Hu.

Ji Hu could be considered half a confidant of Su Ping in Jinque City.

At the same time, he was one of the high-level figures here, belonging to the local tyrant among local tyrants.

Su Ping obtained a large number of case files from Ji Hu.

"In the last year, has the infant mortality rate been slightly too high?"

After examining them for a while, Su Ping asked his question in a low voice.

Ji Hu was slightly startled and nodded:

"Compared to before, it is indeed a bit higher, but there is a lot of underreporting in those towns every year. Perhaps the constables sent last year were a bit more diligent, so more was reported accurately?"

Su Ping did not answer upon hearing this.

He knew that Ji Hu's explanation was very normal in a place like Jinque City.

Even within the city, the City Lord Mansion might not be able to verify exactly how many people died or how many went missing this year.

Many times, the policy for missing persons cases is to hold that if they cannot be found, they cannot be found, and if there is no way, there is no way.

Asking them to investigate why the infant mortality rate outside the city is abnormal is truly making things difficult for them.

It was just that, perhaps he was being overly cautious? Looking at these files, Su Ping always felt there was a connection between them.

"Phew, let's make a bold guess!"

"Analyzing the character of those constables outside, if it weren't for the fact that the matter was too big and too serious to hide, would they have voluntarily reported these infant deaths?"

"I fear the mortality rate is even higher than what is seen in the files!"

"In the worst-case scenario, it is not evil cultivators but some other severe abnormal situation that has appeared, causing mortals with Spirit Roots to be intercepted and killed in advance!"

"Looking at the numbers, it is possible that it is not just Lower Grade Spirit Roots; Inferior Spiritual Roots are also within the target range."

"That is what led to today's situation."

"Even... the reason why the Immortal Sect suddenly held the Ascension Meeting early and in such a rush can also be explained by this!"

"And since everything is normal within the city, the good news is that these abnormal situations are still only occurring in local areas and have not extended to the urban district."

"The bad news is... this abnormality makes even the Immortal Sect feel troubled, choosing to retreat rather than confront!"

Clearing his thoughts, Su Ping waved Ji Hu away.

Then, taking advantage of the night, he returned to Linyue Villa. Stimulated by a sense of crisis, he spent the night in the practice room preparing materials for Thunder Fire Beads and the Nether Fire Art. He also made up his mind that after the Ascension Meeting ended, he would immediately put the self-detonating rats on the agenda to enhance his actual combat ability as much as possible!

Although a Shadow of the Abyss had been cast over his heart.

The Ascension Meeting continued as usual.

Over the following two days, the number of people tested became fewer and fewer.

By the time it reached noon on the third day, it already required waiting several minutes to gather enough people for a group to be tested.

Boom! The sound of the bronze gong once again resounded through Jinque City.

Accompanied by the moonlight.

"The Hour of the Rat has arrived! The Ascension Meeting is concluded!"

The City Lord stood up, announced the end of the meeting to the crowd below, and waved his hand to let the people below begin to clear the venue.

On the other side, the cooks began to light fires and cook, preparing a banquet to reward the people who had been busy for three days.

Su Ping also stood up, but he did not return; instead, he looked at the two Outer Sect cultivators standing behind him waiting for him.

As well as the row of qualified candidates with varying expressions behind them.

In this Ascension Meeting, after three days, there were only eight qualified candidates in total! Among them, those from within the city accounted for half! Calculated by the newly added testable population, this is clearly unscientific.

The Cultivation World is not Water Blue Star, nor does it engage in urbanization.

Most of the population is distributed among towns large and small.

Even if sometimes the nobles in the city deliberately delay those with Spirit Roots from participating in the Ascension Meeting, leading to slightly more qualified candidates in the city for a certain meeting.

There has never been one with so many, occupying half the proportion! "You... all stay in the City Lord Mansion for the time being."

Su Ping thought for a moment and decided to be safer: "Before the Immortal Boat comes to pick you up, you are not allowed to go out! Spend more time in the City Lord Mansion following the teachers to learn to read and write, and learn the rules of the Immortal Sect."

"In addition, City Lord, please strengthen the guard; be careful of evil cultivators who are tired of living and have gone mad causing trouble."

The City Lord nodded repeatedly upon hearing this; in fact, he had no experience in taking care of these qualified candidates, so he hurriedly agreed after hearing Su Ping's reminder.

By the time late night arrived, he had even transferred a battalion of soldiers with abundant blood-Qi to station themselves in the front courtyard of the City Lord Mansion.

On the city walls, all the torches were lit, and even larger oil lamps were ignited atop the high towers.

They illuminated the entire mansion as bright as day.

It was evident that to show his importance, the City Lord was also spending a fortune.

The lamp oil burning in those large oil lamps came from a certain sea beast and was not cheap at all.

Su Ping also sat cross-legged in a quiet room within the City Lord Mansion and had Spirit Mouse Xiaobai and Xiaohui take turns staying alert.

The night passed without incident.

Just as Su Ping finished his cultivation and prepared to change into his fishing gear to wait at the fishing spot for the refresh.

"Hmm?"

Su Ping suddenly discovered through Xiaobai's perception that a humanoid creature wreathed in black mist was approaching the backyard of the City Lord Mansion.

This black mist instinctively caused the spirit mice to feel aversion; one look and it was clear it was no good!

And what was surprising was that when this black mist crossed the backyard wall, not a single one of the garrison or the martial artists noticed this anomaly! It seemed this black mist contained the ability to bewilder people's minds!

"Approaching the backyard!"

"Is this an attempt to get close to those qualified candidates?"

"There really is an evil cultivator who doesn't fear death coming here?"

Su Ping pondered for a moment, sensing the gap in quality between this black mist and his current self.

The opponent was at most Qi Refining Second Layer, while he was at Qi Refining Fourth Layer and also a Body Cultivator at Body Tempering Third Layer.

This battle, the advantage is mine! Su Ping slapped on an Invisibility Talisman and dashed away, bringing Xiaobai and Xiaohui with him.

(End of chapter)