Xiuxian: But It's Not a Game

Chapter 77 Refusal and Persuasion
Ding Lingyu said:

"A slight deficiency in innate talent isn't a big problem. You have other advantages that can make up for it. Your talent in combat and swordsmanship is too strong. You must have a powerful spiritual root. I suspect your spiritual root can reach the top grade. These can lower the requirements."

"Is it possible that I don't have any powerful spiritual roots?"

However, despite saying that, Su Yu turned around and sent a message to Chu Xinyue, relaying Ding Lingyu's words.

It took Chu Xinyue quite a while to respond:

“He’s right. Senior Brother Xixing is indeed outstanding in cultivation and has the potential to advance further. If you can really become his disciple, or become a disciple of one of the other masters who have the potential to advance further, it would indeed be better than becoming a disciple of True Lord Youlong.”

Su Yu remained silent, but asked:
"Has the commander found out the specific situation on Lord Youlong's side?"

She answered quickly:
“I have learned more about the situation of True Lord Youlong in the past few days. It is not much different from what is being said outside. True Lord Youlong is indeed nearing the end of his life. His lineage does not yet have a master who is expected to advance to the Earth Immortal level. Therefore, he wants to make a final push in his last few decades and recruit elite geniuses.”

“He not only selects from within his own faction, but also recruits geniuses from outside. I heard that he has already found several top geniuses and is preparing to cultivate them intensively.”

"They are all top geniuses with innate talent and comprehension of over 40 points in the six senses, one of whom even possesses a superior spiritual root."

She paused here, carefully organizing her thoughts:

"To be honest, I don't think you have a good chance of winning against them. Your innate comprehension and six senses are too low, which is a huge disadvantage. Even if you perform the same or are even better than them, they will still choose the one with better talent."

Even if you become his disciple, you'll most likely only get the bare minimum: learn a refined cultivation technique and one or two seventh-tier magic treasures.

"Unless you outperform them by a huge margin, which is practically impossible."

"Instead of just getting a guaranteed spot, why not change your master? Although a Loose Immortal is not as good as a True Immortal, the internal competition is relatively less. If you can become his top disciple, you will also be qualified to compete for the sect's sect-level inheritance. It's actually better than True Immortal Youlong's side."

"emmm"

They actually tried to persuade me to switch sides; how little do they think I am?

Su Yu pinched the bridge of her nose and asked again:
"If I become an apprentice myself, what will happen to the guild's spot? Wouldn't that be a waste? Besides, the Thousand Feather Guild is under the Suspended Sky lineage. Would it be considered betrayal if I joined another lineage?"

"So what if it's a waste? Is the spot more important or my future?"

"As for the other point, you don't need to worry. The guild is not a family. You can join any lineage, or even other sects without any problem. For example, Wei Xia and He Shoucheng have already joined the Danxia Sect."

"let me consider it."

After closing the communication, Su Yu said to Ding Lingyu:
"wait for me."

Turning around, he entered the pavilion he had just entered and bowed respectfully to the middle-aged man.
"Senior, I'd like to sign up."

The man glanced at him, took out a piece of paper, and pushed it towards him, saying:
"Name, innate attributes, cultivation method, whether or not one has spiritual roots, special abilities, and where one comes from."

"Su Yu, from the Thousand Feathers Guild in the lower reaches of the Yuan River, possesses an innate talent of 30, innate comprehension of 16, innate six senses of 15, and innate fortune of 11. She has no spiritual root and is skilled in..."

Before he could finish speaking, the middle-aged man looked up and raised his hand to stop him.
"You should register with a different guru."

Su Yu was stunned. The man shook his head and said:

“Your innate attributes are too low; Master Xixing will not accept you.”

苏瑜
His face flushed slightly, and he cupped his hands in a respectful gesture before turning and leaving.

Turning around, Ding Lingyu also looked surprised and said:

"Your innate comprehension and six senses are so low? Don't you have spiritual roots?"

"No."

"Then how did you develop such strong swordsmanship?"

"That's how you trained."

Su Yu was in a bad mood. She didn't expect to be looked down upon for trying to become an apprentice, and they wouldn't even let her register.

However, Ding Lingyu still murmured to himself, completely puzzled:

"No reason!"

"Everything in the world has a source. With your strong swordsmanship talent, it's impossible that you don't have a spiritual root."

He suddenly thought of something, looked up, and said seriously:

“I’m wondering if your spiritual root is a latent spiritual root, which is not usually noticeable but is definitely working.”

"I do not know."

"Of course, otherwise there's no way to explain your current swordsmanship."

"You might want to find an opportunity to get it checked out."

"How is it checked? Does the sect have a special place for testing spiritual roots?"

"Yes, we can check. If not, we can only check normal spiritual roots. Hidden spiritual roots are generally not detectable and require a powerful expert at the Earth Immortal level or above to check in person."

Su Yu shook her head upon hearing this:
"Forget it then, where am I supposed to find a powerful Earth Immortal to examine me?"

"Too."

Ding Lingyu shook her head and said nothing more.

Su Yu didn't ask anyone else. If Master Xixing wouldn't accept it, then the other masters certainly wouldn't either.

He might accept an ordinary wandering immortal, but he wouldn't be interested in such a person.

Instead of taking an ordinary wandering immortal as his master, he might as well become a disciple of the Wandering Dragon Ancestor; at least he could compete for a share of the inheritance.

Having realized there was no hope, Su Yu lost interest in what was to come, bid farewell to Ding Lingyu, and returned straight away.

Back at his lodgings, with nothing to do, he hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign outside the door, opened the Zhenhai Pearl gate, and plunged inside.

It appeared directly in the center of the Zhenhai Pearl, and the location of the Innate Goddess had transformed into a huge ball of light, emitting an aura far greater than before.

The innate pure energy continuously spread out, constantly expanding the space of the Zhenhai Pearl.

As of now, the internal space of Zhenhaizhu has a radius of nearly six kilometers, which is much wider than before.

The rich spiritual water was teeming with colorful spirit fish, and Ao Run was swimming happily among them, chasing after the fish.

Su Yu routinely interacted with the innate water spirit to cultivate their relationship before arriving at the waterless base she had previously established.

One day outside is equivalent to ten days inside Zhenhai Pearl. In just over a month, a year has passed inside, and the ecosystem within the base has gradually taken shape.

Many of the medicinal herbs have already taken root, sprouted, and grown vigorously.

The plants are growing very well, and their growth rate far exceeds his expectations.

Although only one year has passed inside Zhenhai Pearl, these medicinal herbs have been in the growth stage for five or six years.

Su Yu understood the reason: the Zhenhai Pearl contained innate essence, which continuously emitted innate energy. This essence was a great tonic for acquired spiritual herbs, causing the spiritual herbs planted inside to grow at a rate far exceeding the normal level.

The growth rate has now increased by more than five times, approaching six times.

That is, it takes one year to grow to the level of a drug with nearly six years of efficacy.

Moreover, this is not the limit. As the internal space of the Zhenhai Pearl continues to expand and its origin is continuously activated by the innate goddess, this increase will continue.

Combined with the fact that the flow rate of Zhenhai Pearl is one to ten times that of the natural flow, one year is equivalent to about fifty or sixty years.

In just over a month and a half, even the most difficult-to-grow thousand-year-old Zhuguo trees have begun to take root and sprout, and their branches have already turned into fruit trees.

There are no results yet; it's just a tree that's formed and hasn't fully grown.

Only when the branches have fully matured into fruit trees will they blossom and bear fruit. Su Yu estimated in her mind that it would take several more months for the trees to fully mature and then blossom and bear fruit.

The thousand-year-old Vermilion Fruit Tree blossoms every thirty-three years, bears fruit every thirty-three years, and matures every thirty-three years. In less than a hundred years, one can obtain 36 thousand-year-old Vermilion Fruits.

If the time spent inside the Zhenhai Pearl is combined with the nourishment of innate energy, it should only take about two years.

If the innate resources increase further and the growth rate is further enhanced, the time will be even shorter.

Imagine being able to harvest 36 Millennium Vermilion Fruits every year, gaining +1 to your innate physical constitution, +500 to your maximum mana, and +10 to your maximum lifespan—that's an extremely enviable fortune.

They can be sold for 500 taels of gold each, and 36 fruits for a total of 18000 taels of gold.

It can also be used as a gift, to exchange resources, or to win people's hearts. No one can refuse such a rare and precious material that can increase innate attributes.

After inspecting the spirit field, Su Yu arrived at the living area designated by the waterless base. She summoned her flying sword and leveled the waist-high weeds at the roots, then with a flick of her sleeve, she burned them all to ashes.

Arriving at the wooden house built earlier, I quickly cleaned off the dust, opened the wine cellar, took out a bottle of coconut wine, and started drinking.

This wine is brewed casually; I just come in occasionally when I have nothing to do and brew a little wine for myself.

Of the several wines that come with the brewing technique, his favorite is coconut wine, which is sweet, refreshing, and doesn't cause a hangover.

Of course, this isn't considered a very good wine, but he couldn't brew many of the better wines anyway. He was just practicing casually and had only just begun to learn. Moreover, he couldn't brew wine without a good recipe.

Su Yu treats this job as a way to pass the time in her spare moments.

We don't usually brew wine; we only brew some when we're relaxing in Zhenhaizhu.

Fortunately, Zhenhai Pearl has a tenfold time flow rate compared to the outside world. One day of free time outside can last ten days here, so I can practice properly for a while.

It is worth mentioning that the flow of time within the Zhenhai Pearl will not affect Su Yu. Even if he stays in the Zhenhai Pearl for a hundred years, his lifespan will only decrease by ten years.

Moreover, as the owner of the Zhenhai Pearl, he can freely decide who is affected and who is not.

Ao Run has this exemption; no matter how long she stays here, it won't affect her lifespan, even though dragons can live for thousands of years and don't care about this.

Su Yu spent almost a week in Zhenhai Pearl, brewing a large batch of wine and storing it in the wine cellar before finally taking a jar of coconut wine out.

Only half a day has passed in reality.

Over the next few days, Su Yu accepted reality and stopped trying her luck at Lingxiu Peak. She stayed at her residence waiting for a letter from the Old Ancestor Youlong.

Two days later, Su Yu received a message from Ding Lingyu:
“I have successfully become a disciple of a master in the Tongming lineage.”

"Congratulations!"

"I'll go learn the basics first, see you later."

"Okay, see you then."

After shutting down the communication, Su Yu smiled, turned around, and went inside Zhenhai Pearl to continue brewing wine.

In reality, one day is equivalent to ten days, and with the talent solidification effect, the professional skills level up quite quickly.

Two days later, Su Yu suddenly received a message from an unknown number and immediately left Zhenhai Pearl:

"I am Zhou Yue, a disciple of the Old Ancestor Youlong. By order of the Old Ancestor, I request that Su Yu, a candidate of the Thousand Feather Guild, go to the Youlong Boat at the top of Lingxiu Peak to assemble."

Su Yu immediately replied:

"almost there."

He shut down the communication, quickly packed his things, and took to the air, flying towards the summit.

Upon arriving at the summit garden, the first thing you see is a strange dragon-shaped flying boat suspended on the edge of the platform, which you can guess is the dragon boat.

He flew over quickly and saw two men and a woman standing on the deck. They were all dressed in exquisite robes and had an extraordinary demeanor. The woman in the middle was extremely beautiful and dignified, holding a jade scroll in her hand and looking at something.

A group of equally imposing young men were gathered around the three of them, presumably the number one players from their respective guilds and families, just like him.

He quickly approached the airship, immediately attracting many eyes.

Su Yu landed on the deck and bowed to the woman in the middle of the two men and one woman:
"Qianyu met Su Yu, paid her respects to Senior Sister Zhou, and greeted several senior brothers."

The woman glanced at the jade book and nodded, saying:
"Qianyu meets Su Yu, that's certainly a name. Wait for him."

"Yes."

He bowed and stepped aside to wait.

After waiting a while, more people arrived. About fifteen minutes later, when the last person arrived, Senior Sister Zhou closed the jade book in her hand, turned her gaze to them, and said in a deep voice:

"Before we set off, there is something I need to tell you. Not long ago, Master took a liking to several top geniuses and personally accepted them as disciples."

Su Yu's heart sank, and she was speechless.

"Damn, are they going to fire us before we even get in the door?"

Most of the others looked surprised and uneasy.

Senior Sister Zhou glanced at everyone, taking in their expressions, and continued amidst their unease:

"Now you have two choices. One option is to receive 500 taels of gold as compensation and then find another master."

"Another option is to continue to join the Youlong lineage and compete for opportunities, but let me make it clear beforehand that the people Master has chosen are exceptionally talented, and one of them even possesses a superior spiritual root. You basically have no chance; joining the lineage again would only be a waste of time."

"By the way, Master is getting old and his energy is insufficient, so he cannot personally teach everyone. After you enter the sect, you will be apprenticed under one of Master's fellow disciples."

"Make your decision now. You have fifteen minutes to consider. Choose one and you can get the money and disembark right now."

Su Yu had nothing left to say.

Are you kidding me? If you've already decided on the candidate, don't make such a big fuss.

At this point, he had completely given up hope and decided never to become a disciple of the Youlong lineage again.

Even if he continues to join the sect and is not valued by the Old Ancestor Youlong, he still has a chance to compete for the inheritance. With his talent, Su Yu is confident that he can slowly surpass those so-called geniuses and win the top spot, just like he did in the Thousand Feather Society.

But if you don't care, why bother to go out of your way to get involved?
Is it cheap or not?

Being ignored is not his loss, but rather the loss of the Old Ancestor Youlong.

Once you understand these things, a single thought can broaden your horizons.

Su Yu stepped forward and said:

"Senior Sister Zhou, I choose to become a disciple elsewhere."

Zhou Yue nodded, waved her hand, and a man behind her stepped forward to trade with Su Yu, receiving 500 taels of gold.

"Farewell!"

After saying that, he turned and left without hesitation.

Zhou Yue's gaze fell on his dashing departing figure, and whether it was just her imagination or not, she had a vague feeling that she had lost something.

However, considering that this child has extremely low innate attributes, with only a dozen or so points in innate comprehension and six senses, it would be a waste to spend a lot of money to cultivate such a low aptitude.

At the very least, they must have at least thirty points in innate attributes, or possess spiritual roots, to be worth cultivating.

Having figured this out, he quickly put the boy out of his mind and started thinking about how to persuade some more to leave.

(End of this chapter)