Chapter 2: Spiritual Root

The next day, Ye Qingxuan got up early in the morning.

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

Ye Qingxuan was stunned and said:

"Father, Mother, why did you get up so early?"

Seeing his son standing there in a daze, Ye's father stepped forward and slapped Ye Qingxuan on the head:

"You brat, today is the day you test for your spiritual root. Can your mother and I not get up early? Let's go! There will be a huge crowd today!"

Having spoken, he led Ye's mother, who was standing nearby, and walked out of the house first.

Although he had said he didn't care whether his son possessed a spiritual root, since it concerned his son's future, how could Ye's father not take it seriously?

Looking at his parents before him, Ye Qingxuan felt a surge of emotion in his heart and hurriedly followed in their footsteps.

The annual spiritual root testing ceremony of the Ye Immortal City was a grand event for the entire Ye clan, naturally bustling with activity.

Now, the wide streets of the city were already packed with a sea of people.

With tens of millions of people in the Ye family, the number of clan members around twelve years old testing for spiritual roots each year basically exceeded one hundred thousand.

To improve efficiency, the testing locations for spiritual roots naturally would not be limited to just one.

Throughout the Ye Immortal City, there were fully over a hundred testing sites.

For this reason, the Ye family directly deployed two hundred cultivators from the clan, with two people responsible for each testing point.

By the time the testing began, Ye Qingxuan was already queued up at one of the points.

Meanwhile, Ye's father and mother waited outside the venue!

On a vast square, a group of young men and young women formed a long line, chattering nonstop, their faces flushed with excitement.

At the front stood two young men wearing the Ye clan robes, with patterns of green leaves embroidered on the collars of their garments.

Ye Qingxuan stood in the middle of the line, frowning slightly as he listened to the noisy environment around him.

At this moment, the two leaders at the front spoke; one of them said:

"Silence."

Immediately, his voice suppressed the murmurs of everyone in the square.

Seeing the scene quiet down, that person continued speaking:

"My name is Ye Yonglun. Today, I will test everyone's spiritual roots. Come one by one; do not disrupt the order. Violators will be severely punished."

The final words carried a stern tone.

Everyone in the square shrank back, responding with scattered murmurs.

Hearing the name Ye Yonglun, Ye Qingxuan understood immediately:

"The 'Yong' generation? A member of the previous generation?"

The Ye family had inherited its lineage for ten thousand years; to ensure orderly succession and facilitate management,

they had always used the twelve characters Yu, Wen, Huan, Jing, Rui, Yong, Qing, Zhao, Xi, Shi, Xu, and Chang to designate generations.

However, these were not strictly generational ranks, but simply a division marking one generation per hundred years.

Twelve characters, changing every hundred years, forming one cycle of twelve.

Ye Qingxuan, along with his father and mother, were members of the 'Qing' generation, while the speaker Ye Yonglun belonged to the previous generation, the 'Yong' generation.

While Ye Qingxuan was pondering this, the Ye Yonglun at the front ignored the scattered responses in the square, took out a multicolored bead, and spoke again:

"The spiritual root testing officially begins. The first one, come forward."

Immediately, a chubby boy moved forward nimbly, looking at Ye Yonglun with great nervousness.

Seeing the nervous chubby boy before him, Ye Yonglun's cold face remained expressionless as he said:

"Place your hand on this bead and simply relax your body."

Upon hearing this, the chubby boy cautiously extended his hand and placed it on the bead held by Ye Yonglun.

However, after a long while, the bead showed no reaction whatsoever.

Thus, Ye Yonglun spoke:

"No spiritual root. Next."

The chubby boy was stunned; the next moment, he left the line with a tear-streaked face.

Time passed; the testing speed was not slow, and soon one hundred people had been tested, but up to that point, not a single person possessed a spiritual root.

Seeing this scene, Ye Qingxuan, who had originally been full of confidence, now felt uneasy.

"No spiritual root. Next."

Ye Yonglun's cold voice rang out again, and the remaining young men and young women in the square began to tremble.

One after another, just as it was about to be Ye Qingxuan's turn, a dazzling five-colored light suddenly radiated from the front.

Looking at the spiritual root testing bead in his hand emitting five-colored light, Ye Yonglun's eyes revealed an expression of excitement and joy. He hadn't expected such a gain; the contribution points obtained this time would be enough for him to cultivate peacefully for a long time.

Thinking of this, a smile forced its way onto Ye Yonglun's stern face. He looked at the uneasy youth before him with slightly gentleness and asked softly:

"Child, what is your name?"

The youth who had just been tested for his spiritual root, upon hearing the question, hesitated for a moment before saying quietly:

"My name is Ye Qingxiao."

Ye Yonglun nodded:

"Good. Stand beside me for now."

Having spoken, Ye Yonglun looked at the crowd in the square and announced:

"Ye Qingxiao, possesses a high-grade spiritual root of the five elements: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. Next."

Once announced, those in the square who had not yet been tested for their spiritual roots instantly became excited:

"Wow! A five-element spiritual root! Amazing! Let me rub some luck off him; maybe one will be mine."

"Yes! I'm envious. My requirements aren't high; a three-element mid-grade spiritual root would suffice."

"Hmph, stop dreaming. Three elements? It's already a miracle to have a spiritual root at all, let alone be selected."

Even Ye Qingxuan was surprised in his heart; he hadn't expected that either no spiritual root would appear, or a five-element spiritual root would emerge directly.

He knew that in this world, spiritual roots were not like those in the web novels of his past life, where more elements meant worse talent.

Quite the opposite; in the Earthly Profound Realm, the more spiritual roots one had, the better the talent.

In the Earthly Profound Realm, there are currently twelve types of spiritual roots: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Void, Yin, Yang, Light, and Darkness.

What is a spiritual root? In the Earthly Profound Realm, the definition is:

A spiritual root is generated only after the affinity between the elements of the universe within the human body and those between Heaven and Earth reaches 100%.

And what is spiritual energy?

Spiritual energy is the collective mass of all elemental particles in the world.

Except for some special regions, most of the spiritual energy between Heaven and Earth contains all the elements of the world.

Therefore, the more spiritual roots one has, the greater the pull on the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth, and naturally, the faster the cultivation speed.

According to the classification in the Earthly Profound Realm:

One to two elements are low-grade spiritual roots, two to four are mid-grade, five to six are high-grade, seven to eight are supreme-grade, nine to ten are Earth-grade, and eleven to twelve are Heaven-grade.

For the Ye family, a five-element high-grade spiritual root was already a rare genius.

After Ye Qingxiao, who possessed a five-element spiritual root, Ye Yonglun tested several more people consecutively, but none possessed a spiritual root.

This instantly cooled down everyone present, as if they had been splashed with a basin of cold water.

Those with spiritual roots are one in a thousand; they do not appear easily.

"No spiritual root. Next."

Soon, it was Ye Qingxuan's turn.

Ye Qingxuan took a deep breath, walked forward slowly, and placed his hand on the Spiritual Root Testing Pearl.

Moments later, under Ye Qingxuan's nervous gaze, the pearl emitted a beam of brown light.

Seeing this change, Ye Qingxuan immediately breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

"What is your name?"

Hearing this, Ye Qingxuan looked up at Ye Yonglun and respectfully said:

"Clan Uncle, this junior is Ye Qingxuan."

Seeing this, Ye Yonglun nodded slightly:

"You stand beside me as well."

Afterwards, Ye Yonglun announced:

"Ye Qingxuan, single-element low-grade Earth spiritual root. Next."

With Ye Qingxiao's five-element spiritual root shining brightly beforehand, Ye Qingxuan's single-element low-grade spiritual root did not cause much of a stir.

The testing continued, but Ye Qingxuan no longer paid attention.

No matter how good others' are, they belong to others, not to oneself.

Now that he had tested positive for a spiritual root, albeit a low-grade single-element Earth one, he had at least obtained the ticket to step onto the path of cultivation.

With his eternal lifespan, even if he had to grind through it slowly with time, he was confident he could break through every realm bottleneck and reach the peak of the Immortal Dao.

"The spiritual root testing is over; you may all disperse!"

A voice pulled Ye Qingxuan's thoughts back.

It turned out the spiritual root testing ceremony had ended; after Ye Qingxuan, no one else tested positive for a spiritual root.

Over a thousand people had come to this testing point, yet only Ye Qingxuan and Ye Qingxiao possessed spiritual roots.

With the testing concluded, Ye Yonglun retracted the Spiritual Root Testing Pearl from his hand, looked at Ye Qingxuan and Ye Qingxiao, and said:

"I give you three days. Three days from now, I will wait for you here to take you to the main branch at Mount Yunwu for cultivation."

Mount Yunwu is the sacred mountain not far outside the Ye Immortal City, the true headquarters of the Ye family.

Hearing Ye Yonglun's words, Ye Qingxuan and Ye Qingxiao exchanged a glance and bowed in unison, saying:

"Yes, Clan Uncle."