Born with immortal seed

Chapter 47 There's a lot to learn about farming

Each group of independent cultivators had a Qingfeng Sect deacon leading several disciples, explaining the assessment requirements and precautions.

Bai Zichen stayed in the back and overheard the gist of it.

In short, anyone who harbors ulterior motives and attempts to conceal their identity to infiltrate the Qingfeng Sect will be annihilated, soul and body, once discovered.

With the deacon's command, the assessment officially began.

The first to be assessed are a large number of miscellaneous disciples. As for the outer disciples, many have already been selected internally, including top-quality immortal seedlings recommended by disciples of the Qingfeng Sect from various places, or young disciples sent by various immortal cultivation families.

For these people, the outer disciple assessment is merely a formality.

As for rogue cultivators becoming outer disciples, in previous years they still had a chance, but this year the number of applicants has doubled, and the average level of the new cultivators is not low. It will probably not be so easy for rogue cultivators from Black Mountain to become outer disciples.

The first person to step forward was a short, stout young man. He walked nervously to a bronze mirror used to test one's cultivation level, stood there, and as the Qingfeng Sect's deacon channeled his magic power, the bronze mirror quickly displayed the man's information.

"Twenty-six years old, four spiritual roots, third level of Qi Refining... Among the various arts of cultivation, is there any you are proficient in?"

This bronze mirror was crafted by an elder of the Qingfeng Sect's Refining Hall. It is a low-grade spiritual artifact, but it has no effect whatsoever in killing enemies or protecting oneself. Its only function is to quickly determine age, cultivation level, and spiritual root, but it is only effective against Qi Refining stage cultivators.

"Replying to you, sir, I have been diligently practicing my martial arts, but have never studied any other arts..."

When the short, stout young man was questioned by the Qingfeng Sect deacon, he broke out in a cold sweat and stammered.

"Okay, let's go down."

The middle-aged deacon waved his hand, indicating he had no intention of saying more, and gestured for the next person to step forward.

Before the mountain gates opened, Elder Ni had instructed the stewards that the standards for recruiting disciples this year should be significantly raised.

There were only 120 spots for outer disciples anyway. The middle-aged deacon glanced at the densely packed group of rogue cultivators in the distance and took a sip of spiritual tea with a relaxed expression.

Several rogue cultivators were eliminated in the first stage, the Bronze Mirror Body Observation, causing Lu Song to nervously clasp his hands together and rub them back and forth.

"Young friend Lu, there's no need to be nervous. I'll go up and scout ahead for you."

Old Man Tong patted Lu Song on the shoulder and walked out first.

"Age 59, Five Spiritual Roots, Qi Refining Level 3..."

The middle-aged deacon looked at the information displayed on the bronze mirror artifact and sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"At your age, you're still taking the entrance exam... Never mind, tell me about your other skills."

"Sir, this old man has only ever known farming... In my youth, I grew mortal rice in the countryside. After cultivating immortality, I wandered around doing spiritual farming for others. I've grown three kinds of spiritual herbs—Yangyan Grass, Xuanyin Grass, and Bitter Lotus Leaf—as well as two kinds of rice—Blood Ginseng Rice and Crimson Light Rice. The harvest of spiritual herbs can reach the normal market level, and the harvest of spiritual rice can exceed the market level by 20%..."

"I also took care of ten acres of spirit fields on my own. What to plant and how to manage the spirit fields were all entrusted to me... Over the past ten years, I have earned several hundred spirit stones for the family."

The more Old Man Tong spoke, the more confident he became. He had spent his entire life farming, and without any formal training, he had become a certified spiritual plant master through his own dedicated study.

His face, which had originally been obsequious and lewd, was now speaking eloquently, and he even seemed to have the air of a highly enlightened cultivator.

"A spirit plant master, with experience in cultivating various spirit herbs and spirit rice, and even able to distinguish spiritual energy and manipulate spirit fields..."

The middle-aged deacon went from feeling helpless to being very serious. If everything Old Man Tong said was true, this person could already be considered a first-grade high-level spirit plant master, and might even have touched the edge of a second-grade spirit plant master.

“You’re telling the truth… Tell me about your background and your general life trajectory over the years.”

The steward originally wanted to press for more details about the authenticity of the spiritual plants, but after thinking about it, he realized that since the person was a rogue cultivator from Black Mountain County and had many years of experience managing spiritual lands for others, the Qingfeng Sect could easily find out the truth with a simple investigation, and there was no way to fake it.

Old Man Tong truthfully reported his place of origin and his whereabouts in recent years.

The middle-aged deacon took the detailed resume of the old man that his disciple had copied down and nodded with satisfaction: "If everything you said is true, you have already entered my sect and can be considered a menial disciple."

"However, the official identity token and accompanying items for the menial disciple can only be issued after the sect has conducted an investigation. We will have an answer in three days at most."

The middle-aged deacon's tone became much more lenient. Although he was just a menial disciple, he was much more popular than those menial disciples who only knew how to fight and were fierce, and who had little cultivation potential.

Once Old Man Tong is inside the Qingfeng Sect, he can play a much greater role than he could simply be taking care of a few acres of spiritual land outside.

Upon hearing the middle-aged deacon's confirmation, Old Man Tong's face turned bright red. He asked twice more in disbelief, and upon receiving confirmation, he burst into tears of excitement.

"It's done, I've done it... I've finally become a disciple of the sect, you can't bully me anymore..."

Old Man Tong wiped away his tears, laughing and crying at the same time.

None of the rogue cultivators in the audience mocked them; they all empathized with the situation, realizing how difficult life was for the rogue cultivators of Black Mountain!
Otherwise, how could the saying be passed down that becoming a menial disciple of the Qingfeng Sect is equivalent to leaping over the Dragon Gate?

Seeing that Old Man Tong had successfully passed the test, Jiang Shu jumped up with joy, her beautiful face flushed.

"Brother Bai, Brother Lu, Old Man Tong passed! He's become a disciple of the Qingfeng Sect! That's wonderful... Wait, where's Brother Bai?"

Jiang Shu wanted to celebrate with her two companions, but found that only Lu Song was by her side, while Bai Xiaoge, whom she had a good impression of, was nowhere to be seen.

"They were just standing there a moment ago. Did they run off to another formation to try and assess the outer disciples...?"

Looking around, Jiang Shu couldn't find any trace of Bai Xiaoge, whom she had only known for a few days. She felt a little sad and her spirits dampened.

The passage of the first menial disciple, an unassuming old man, ignited the fighting spirit of the rogue cultivators below, who crowded forward to have their bodies examined by the bronze mirror artifact.

However, after Old Man Tong, only one of the dozens of people, a Qi Refining Level 4 cultivator who had worked as a clerk in a shop in the market for many years, passed the assessment and became a menial disciple.

This middle-aged cultivator, who had worked as a ceremonial attendant, could assess the efficacy of any magical artifact, talisman, elixir, or spiritual herb at a glance, making him an expert in appraising and valuing treasures.

The middle-aged deacon thought it over and over. This skill was purely based on experience and did not count as an appraisal technique, nor was it among the various arts of cultivation.

But the sect will always need such talent, so with a stroke of the pen, he was approved as well.

When it was Lu Song's turn to perform, the results of his 31-year-old body with four spiritual roots and a Qi Refining Level 4 assessment using the Bronze Mirror were announced. After much deliberation, the middle-aged deacon gave him a "pending" result.

At this age and with this level of cultivation, Foundation Establishment is out of the question, and even the late stage of Qi Refining depends on luck.

Among the outer disciples of Qingfeng Sect, any one of them is far more valuable to cultivate than Lu Song.

He had no other skills, which was completely contrary to the direction of Qingfeng Sect's recruitment of menial disciples this year.

However, the middle-aged deacon thought that Lu Song was not too old yet, and that having cultivated to the sixth level of Qi Refining would provide an extra person to run errands. He decided to see if there were any vacancies for the miscellaneous disciple positions before making a final decision.

(End of this chapter)