Chapter 3

"...Why does the common name sound more like an academic name than the academic name?" Lu Yang muttered in the back.

"Because the first Pure Yang spiritual root senior called their own spiritual root a single-status spiritual root." Yun Zhi's cultivation was unfathomable; Lu Yang's muttered complaint was no different from speaking in her ear, and she heard it clearly.

Yun Zhi paused and added: "The cultivation world has a habit of respecting single-status seniors."

It seemed that adding this sentence increased the persuasiveness.

Meng Jingzhou passed the first test as a matter of course. After Meng Jingzhou came Lu Yang.

"Huh?! Another single spiritual root?!" Dai Bufan's pupils shrank. He had just been complaining about working for half a day without seeing a single one, and now there were two in a row.

"Me, a single spiritual root?" Lu Yang pointed at himself, his heart pounding. He felt like he was having auditory hallucinations, and the corners of his mouth rose uncontrollably.

"Not bad, you are a mutated single spiritual root, a Sword spiritual root." Dai Bufan nodded affirmatively. He had never made a mistake in feeling bone structure.

A Sword spiritual root, a natural sword seed, sharp and unstoppable, with the most powerful offensive capabilities!

Senior Sister Yun Zhi looked at Lu Yang with slight surprise. She had only agreed to take the carriage on a whim; she hadn't expected both people on the carriage to be top-tier cultivation geniuses.

The crowd's eyes became even more eager, and they began to calculate the young girls of appropriate age for Lu Yang, wishing they could snatch Lu Yang away to marry into their forces.

Unlike Meng Jingzhou, who had the Meng family behind him, Lu Yang was clearly from a commoner background with no one to support him.

Excellent talent and no forces—he was simply the best candidate for marrying into a family.

The most important thing was that he could get married and have children!

Lu Yang felt that everyone's eyes on him were strange, so he quickly entered the second test.

Behind Dai Bufan was a bamboo forest, and the second test took place in this bamboo forest.

"How about it, what is your spiritual root?" Meng Jingzhou quickly walked out of the shadow of the single-status spiritual root and asked Lu Yang excitedly.

So what if it's a single-status spiritual root? There are many withered bones on the path to immortality, and female beauty is nothing but pink skulls. He didn't need beautiful fairies by his side!

On the contrary, Lu Yang, although he could pass the first test, thought that there was only one person in his generation with such transcendent talent as himself, so Lu Yang was at most at the level of dual spiritual roots.

As a peerless genius with a single spiritual root, he should care for mediocre geniuses.

"Sword spiritual root."

"Your grandmother's."

"Huh?" Lu Yang was confused.

After another half a day, the people behind entered the second test one after another, and Dai Bufan eliminated those whose bone structure did not meet the standards.

Listening to the people behind discussing, it seemed that several people with special constitutions had appeared again. Before he could inquire about the specific situation, Senior Sister Yun Zhi appeared in front of everyone, lightly dropped the sentence "The second test begins now," and then disappeared directly, leaving everyone feeling baffled.

Thick fog began to rise, like smoke and waves, vast as water, as if a huge gauze net had shrouded everything in the bamboo forest.

Everyone subconsciously wanted to struggle, but it didn't have much effect; their bodies were weak, and their consciousness gradually sank.

This was the Illusion Bamboo Forest, a part of the sect-protecting formation; how could these people resist it?

Yun Zhi casually drew a circle, dispelling the fog and clearing a space, with the Profound Heaven Sect disciples standing behind her.

Dai Bufan laughed: "Falling into the Illusion Bamboo Forest will make them forget their identities, forget the test, forget everything, and make the most authentic reactions. I just don't know how many people will pass the second test this time."

"I hope more will pass. This batch has several good seedlings; it would be a pity to lose them in the second test."

Yun Zhi had never kicked Meng Jingzhou and Lu Yang out of the test because the test question Meng Jingzhou received was not for this year, but from twenty years ago.

"I don't know which elder sold it."

"Junior Brother Dai, who do you think can pass the second test?"

"Naturally, that Ancient Barbarian. The Ancient Barbarians are famous for their simple hearts, and their character is beyond doubt."

"I think that single-status spiritual root and the Sword spiritual root are also good; they look like honest people."

Yun Zhi thought of the scene where Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou discussed how to cheat in the carriage, and felt that neither of them could be associated with honest people.

"Where am I?" The Ancient Barbarian burly man was named Man Gu. He looked around in confusion, forgetting what had just happened.

He held a worn-out axe and stood by the river. The small river was sparkling and very beautiful.

Man Gu's hand slipped, and the worn-out axe fell into the river. Just as Man Gu was about to fish it out, he saw the river bubbling. The bubbles grew more and larger, and a fountain surged up. An immortal-like figure appeared, with three axes of different styles floating in front of him.

"Young man, I am the River Spirit. Did you drop this worn-out axe, this magic treasure Mountain-Opening Axe, or this immortal treasure Heaven-Opening Axe?"

The magic treasure Mountain-Opening Axe and the immortal treasure Heaven-Opening Axe were two axes famous in the Central Continent. Even a commoner without talent, once they obtained these two axes, could soar into the sky and become a giant-like figure.

Man Gu blurted out: "It's the worn-out axe."

The River Spirit showed a smile: "What an honest young man. Then all three axes are yours."

Man Gu passed the second test.

"Look, I said Man Gu would definitely pass the second test. Let me see how the single-status spiritual root and the Sword spiritual root choose." Dai Bufan watched with great interest.

The second test examined honesty, and the standard for passing was to obtain all three axes.

The River Spirit was not an illusion; he was born in the small river surrounding the bamboo forest and was a creature nurtured by heaven and earth.

He incarnated into countless forms, entered the illusion, and tested everyone.

The River Spirit liked honest people, and there was only one way to pass the second test: answer the River Spirit's questions honestly and let the River Spirit gift the three axes.

"Huh? How did the axe fall into the river?" Lu Yang was a bit strange. He felt as if some inexplicable force had forced him to drop the axe.

The River Spirit appeared again, gently asking Lu Yang: "Young man, I am the River Spirit. Did you drop this worn-out axe, this magic treasure Mountain-Opening Axe, or this immortal treasure Heaven-Opening Axe?"

Lu Yang squatted down, scanned the three different axes, and looked up at the River Spirit as if looking at a mentally disabled person, his eyes filled with pity: "Two of these axes are yours. Don't you know which two axes are yours, and you're asking me instead?"

The River Spirit's smile stiffened. For a moment, he didn't know what to say, so he had to follow Lu Yang's words: "I really don't know which two axes are mine."

Lu Yang looked at the River Spirit vigilantly: "Then if I choose an axe, don't suddenly recover your memory and say you remembered which two axes are yours."

"Absolutely not," the River Spirit said emphatically.

"Let me see all three axes."

The River Spirit handed all three axes to Lu Yang.

Lu Yang turned around and threw all the axes into the river: "Can you ask the question again?"

The River Spirit asked reflexively: "Did you drop the worn-out axe, the magic treasure Mountain-Opening Axe, or the immortal treasure Heaven-Opening Axe?"

Lu Yang's face was filled with a smile: "I dropped all of them."

River Spirit: "..."

The River Spirit gritted his teeth and said: "What an honest young man. Then all three axes are yours."