Creating a paradise in an ant nest

As for the upcoming Spirit Plant Peak selection, Liu He has no worries.

With his Qi Refining Level 3 cultivation and Earth Element Spirit Body, if he can't pass the selection, who can?

Although he may have the intention to "hide his talents," he must show his brilliance when the opportunity arises.

The path to immortality is like a thousand troops crossing a single-plank bridge—extremely difficult.

He was already lacking spirit stones and various resources, so how could he miss this great opportunity?

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

A few days later.

The selection process for the Spirit Plant Peak has begun.

First comes the selection of inner disciples, then outer disciples, and finally, miscellaneous disciples.

The number of people selected for the outer sect disciples was the largest, followed by the inner sect disciples.

The selection of menial disciples is the least, with only twelve spots available in total.

The mid-stage and late-stage of Qi Refining are the main stages for cultivating spiritual plants.

As for the miscellaneous disciples in the early stages of Qi Refining, they are selected from among the most outstanding individuals to join the Spirit Plant Peak early on, as the sect values ​​and cultivates talented cultivators.

Therefore, even if one is not selected for the Spirit Plant Peak during the period of being a miscellaneous disciple, there is still a chance when one reaches the middle stage of Qi Refining.

That being said, a lead at one step leads to a lead at every step.

Everyone wanted to enter the Spirit Plant Peak as soon as possible and leave their fellow cultivators behind.

Several days have passed in the blink of an eye.

The selection process for inner and outer disciples has concluded.

It was time to select the handyman disciples.

More than two thousand menial disciples signed up to participate in the selection.

There were not only laborers from the outer mountain forest farm, but also many laborers from other peaks.

After registering, Liu He was randomly selected to enter Lingzhi Peak in the third batch on the morning of the second day for the "Identifying Spiritual Plants" test.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The following morning.

Liu He followed more than forty miscellaneous disciples, led by an inner disciple at the eighth level of Qi Refining, as he set off for Lingzhi Peak.

This inner disciple, named Fu Shuai, served as the "examiner" for this examination project.

"Listen to me, everyone."

Fu Shuai hovered two zhang in the air, surrounded by spiritual energy. His expression was serious, and his gaze swept over everyone present, as if he wanted to see through them.

"Before I begin the school selection process, there are a few things I need to explain."

The test will involve identifying spiritual plants. I will randomly select spiritual plants from the Spiritual Plant Peak. You will write down all the relevant information about the spiritual plants on the answer sheet in order. If you don't know any of them, you must indicate the number.

Cheating and plagiarism are strictly prohibited; violators will bear the consequences themselves.

"Also, you must stay with me the whole time and are not allowed to wander off."

Stealing spiritual plants is strictly forbidden. I have a bad temper; if I'm caught, I'll kill you on the spot.

The chilling killing intent in his words sent a shiver down everyone's spine, and they suppressed all their bad thoughts.

"Of course, if you take the exam seriously and have no ulterior motives, I'm quite easy to talk to. I wish you all the best in passing the selection and becoming my fellow disciples."

Finally, Coach Fu said a few words to ease the tense atmosphere.

Liu He followed the examiner and entered the Spirit Plant Peak with the others.

As soon as they stepped onto the territory of Lingzhi Peak, many people showed expressions of longing and enjoyment.

Many people, including Liu He, were visiting Lingzhi Peak for the first time.

This abundant spiritual energy is far superior to that of Qixia Peak.

"The first spiritual plant is this spiritual herb. Begin answering."

Fu Shuai pointed out the first test question.

Everyone rushed forward, gathered around the herb to observe it carefully, and after identifying the herb, they immediately began writing on the answer sheets that had been handed out.

Liu He was inconspicuous in the crowd. He moved closer to observe, while recalling the contents of the spiritual plant book.

"It is a Mystic Jade Grass. Judging from its appearance, it has four mysterious leaves and is eight years old. Its main uses include..."

He wrote down everything he remembered.

As a Qi Refining cultivator, his memory far surpasses that of ordinary people.

Previously, he had repeatedly looked through several common spiritual plant catalogs in the Qixia Peak Cultivation Pavilion, memorizing most of their contents.

I can't memorize the entire text word for word, but I can remember at least 70% of the content.

However, identifying spiritual plants on-site not only tests their memory but also their observation skills.

Each plant is unique and cannot be exactly the same as the one in the catalog.

And so, Fu Shuai led the dozens of people to identify the spiritual plants one by one.

Along the way, they encountered several other disciples who were undergoing examinations.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Liu He finished writing the answers long ago.

Seeing that Commander Fu was still waiting for the others, his thoughts began to wander.

"More than two thousand people signed up for the menial tasks, but only twelve will be selected. The competition is fierce."

"It's more than one in a hundred."

he thought.

Of the more than two thousand people who participated in the selection, several hundred were miscellaneous disciples from the outer mountain forest farm, while the rest were miscellaneous disciples from various peaks who came to try their luck.

Not only were there miscellaneous disciples who joined the sect in the same year as Liu He, but also miscellaneous disciples who joined six or even nine years ago.

However, there are not many so-called geniuses among them.

Those with medium-level spiritual roots or special spiritual bodies are easily selected and trained on each peak, so there is no need to try their luck at the Spirit Plant Peak.

The maximum term for a menial disciple in the sect is ten years.

Most of the strong competitors participating in this Spirit Plant Peak selection are Liu He's fellow miscellaneous disciples from the same period, as well as some from the group of miscellaneous disciples from six years ago.

As for the earlier batch, those who failed to break through to the mid-stage of Qi Refining and advance to the outer sect in nine years simply lacked talent.

"As far as I know, there are four people with medium-level spiritual roots and three with special spiritual bodies among the odd jobs at the outer mountain forest farm. The rest are competing for five spots. Hiss—"

Liu He gasped as he imagined how fierce the competition would be.

He joined the sect three years ago and progressed from a trial errand boy to the third level of Qi Refining.

He was considered excellent among the menial disciples, but not particularly outstanding.

Under Wu Shao's command alone, Meng Kaizhou and Song Qian have both reached the third level of Qi Refining.

Just a few days before the selection of the menial disciples, Song Qian broke through to the third level of Qi Refining.

This was a servant who joined the clan at the same time as Liu He.

In the previous period, almost everyone broke through to the third level of Qi Refining.

Of course, the year in which the selected disciples joined the sect is taken into account when evaluating their talents.

Just as Liu He was lost in thought, Fu Shuai's light cough interrupted his reverie.

Liu He thought it was a reminder that he had been daydreaming, so he quickly regained his composure, only to find that Fu Shuai's gaze had swept over the answer sheet of a menial disciple.

The servant disciple quickly revised his answer.

"Huh? What's going on?"

Liu He had doubts.

Next, he secretly observed and indeed found some clues.

The main reason is that Coach Fu's reminder was too obvious.

"There must be some inside story. Oh well, getting good grades in the identification of spiritual plants through this method is just a negligible advantage."

Liu He did not expose them.

He didn't know the person's connections or background; what if the person had a high-level cultivator backing them up?

He didn't want to offend the examiner, since the examiner was an inner disciple of the Spirit Plant Peak.

The so-called Spirit Plant Peak Selection is, after all, just a sect selection within the Qian Yuan Holy Sect, and cannot guarantee absolute fairness and impartiality.

In fact, it was pretty much what Liu He had guessed.

The servant disciple learned that Commander Fu was his examiner and "bribed" him for only ten spirit stones, hoping that he could give him some hints when he answered the questions.

This situation is not uncommon in the selection of spiritual plants.

In order to enter the Spirit Plant Peak, they each used their own methods and displayed their unique abilities.

Cheating in the less crucial "identifying spiritual plants" test is actually the most useless thing to do.