Suijun starts with the principle of rewarding diligence.

Before we knew it, it was time for the museum to open.

The young men, dressed in fine robes, presented their pre-booked tokens, and the young man guarding the gate glanced at them before letting them through.

After all the young masters had gone inside, the simply dressed young men stepped forward one by one.

Seeing that they had no tokens, the young gatekeeper announced loudly, "Those without tokens will each pay five taels for spirit testing."

"Five taels? That's so expensive?"

"This wasn't the case last year, so why are they suddenly charging for spirit readings this year?"

The young men were all unconvinced.

Even if you live in the county town, five taels of silver is not a small amount of money.

If it costs five taels just to test one's spiritual power, how can one cultivate the Dao?

The young gatekeeper sneered, "The envoy only has two recommendation slots. You can't even afford the spirit test fee, yet you want to compete for those two slots? If you don't have the money, hurry back. The envoy doesn't have time to waste on you."

Upon hearing this, the crowd erupted in a commotion.

However, the young goalkeeper's words, though rough, were not without merit.

The Seeker of the Dao needs promising young talents who have the potential to enter the sect, preferably those who are qualified to become core disciples.

But for these ordinary boys, their only goal was to come to the Taoist temple to have their spiritual power tested and, incidentally, learn some Taoist arts and immortal techniques. It was simply to gain another skill to earn a living and support themselves, something more than the average person.

Whether or not they can enter the righteous sect and become a true disciple is not that important to them.

Everyone dreams of instant success. But very few people actually defy fate and change their destiny through talent.

Before long, some people left cursing and swearing; the rest gritted their teeth, paid five taels of silver, and went into the dojo to try their luck.

Bu Qu had wanted to join the dojo for a long time, but Lu Xiu kept pulling him along.

"Why are you holding me back? If we don't go in now, it'll be too late."

"What's the rush? Only noobs are eager to rush into the basics. The real masters always make their grand entrance last!"

......

The two arrived at the gate. Lu Xiuzheng was preparing to watch the young gatekeeper's performance when he saw Bu Qu take out two letters from his sleeve and hand them over.

The young gatekeeper's expression changed drastically upon seeing this.

One letter of recommendation was written by Zhao Fan, a first-class Seeker of the Dao; the other was written by Zhong Su, the patriarch of the Zhong family, the most prestigious family in Heishui County.

Who exactly is this simply dressed young man? How did he manage to receive recommendation letters from two powerful figures at the same time?

The young gatekeeper bowed to Bu Qu and returned the two letters with both hands: "Please come in, young master. I will show you the way."

Upon seeing Bu Qu enter the dojo, the young gatekeeper, noticing Lu Xiu standing there in a daze, chuckled, "You must be the young master's follower, right? Hurry up and catch up, the spirit test is about to begin."

After saying that, he hurriedly led Buqu toward the main hall.

"Am I now a lackey?"

Lu Xiu's eyes widened as he stared at Bu Qu's retreating figure, thinking to himself, "Hmph, hmph, I knew it! He dares to call himself a fisherman? He's even better at pretending than me. He's definitely a formidable opponent!"

He strode after him, comforting himself: "I heard the last person to appear has a special blessing. I joined the dojo later than him, so I'll definitely have the advantage in terms of spiritual power!"

Led by the young gatekeeper, Buqu made his way to the main hall.

There were already quite a few people standing in the lobby at this moment.

The young gatekeeper dismissed the crowd, making way for them. He then led Bu Qu to the Taoist priest, respectfully saying, "Lord He."

Bu Qu looked up and sized up the Taoist priest, noticing that he was dressed similarly to Zhao Fan, also in a Taoist robe. Their faces were also somewhat similar, both having the appearance of scholars.

"Could it be that this Taoist priest and Old Master Zhong were classmates with the Taoist priest Zhao I introduced?"

Master He nodded and looked at Bu Qu.

Bu Qu understood and handed over two letters of recommendation.

Master He took the letter and frowned slightly when he saw that the first letter was written by Zhao Fan.

He opened the package, glanced at it, and cursed inwardly: 'That bitch. Sending me people she doesn't want herself.'

Master He opened Zhong Su's letter of recommendation again, his brows easing slightly. He suppressed the urge to kick the man out immediately.

He put the two letters aside and said to Bu Qu, "Since we're already here, let's have the test done."

Bu Qu observed that Master He was not in a good mood.

I wonder what those two big shots wrote in their letter.

Since the Taoist priest asked me to test my spiritual power, I'll do it first. If I'm not suited for Taoist cultivation, I can always turn back and learn martial arts at a martial arts school.

The young gatekeeper whispered to Bu Qu, "Put your hand on there."

Bu Qu nodded.

He could see the transparent cylinder on the table, which looked like a candle, as soon as he came in.

The cylinder has nine sections, dividing the entire pillar into ten segments. Presumably, the height of each segment represents a segment of spiritual energy.

In front of the cylinder was a smooth stone about the size of a wooden fish.

Buqu pressed his hand down on it.

A moment later, he saw the entire cylinder turn blue, but no liquid representing spiritual power rose from within it.

"How long do I need to press on it? Is this not the beginning, or is it over? Spiritual energy, full spiritual energy?"

Bu Qu glanced at the base of the cylinder, thinking, 'Is there liquid inside? If so, can I control it with my water manipulation technique? If so, wouldn't I be able to decide the amount of spiritual energy myself?'

While he was pondering, someone in the audience exclaimed:

"Ethereal spiritual power... it's actually innate ethereal spiritual power!"

"Is this the legendary innate spiritual power with the greatest potential? So this is what it looks like!"

"There's no mistake, it's innate spiritual energy. Miss Zhong's spiritual energy test last month showed the same result; I was there. Except her spiritual energy test pillar wasn't blue, it was gold."

The people who came to have their spirits tested were all talking at once.

Lu Xiu was so angry that he trembled when he saw the results displayed on the spirit-testing pillar.

What happened to the promise of being the grand finale with good fortune?

Bu Qu's survey has stolen all the limelight. What chance do they have?

When Master He saw this result, his expression froze for a moment.

He thought Zhao Fan had thrown away some trash, but it turned out to be a piece of gold.

"This doesn't make sense. Has that bitch changed her ways?"

He placed his hands on the table and leaned forward: "Your name is Bu Qu, right? I've never heard of any wealthy young man from the inner city like you. What did you do before?"

Seeing the Taoist priest's excited expression, Bu Qu thought to himself, "I guess I've finished the divination? His innate spiritual power, according to Lu Xiu, should be a very auspicious sign—a late-game hero?"

He withdrew his hand and replied to the Taoist priest, "I am a fisherman."

"Fishermen? Really?"

"Genuine or genuine."

Upon hearing this, everyone shook their heads.

"What a pity."

Firstly, there is the celestial spiritual power, which has the highest upper limit and the lowest lower limit.

For a prestigious family like the Zhong family, naturally the higher the potential, the better, because they have ample resources to nurture their children.

For ordinary people, the upper limit isn't really important; what matters is a high lower limit. Since there aren't enough resources to reach the upper limit anyway, it's better to have a guaranteed lower limit.

Lu Xiu scoffed, utterly disbelieving that Bu Qu was truly a fisherman: "Keep pretending! If you don't tell the truth now, how can the Daoist priest believe you have the ability to realize your potential?"

Master He sighed, thinking to himself, "I knew it would turn out like this. How could that slut Zhao Fan possibly change her ways? What good is a fisherman with no connections, even if he has a high potential? Where would he find the resources to realize that potential?"

For noble families, innate spiritual power is undoubtedly the best of luck; but for ordinary people, innate spiritual power is the worst talent, and they can give up on the path of cultivation.

However, considering that Bu Qu could obtain Zhong Su's letter of recommendation, Master He still held a glimmer of hope in his heart.

He suspended the spirit-testing ceremony and summoned Buqu to the backyard.

"To be honest with you, you have great potential. But I have a question for you, and I hope you will answer it truthfully."

"Ask away, Daoist Master; Buqu will answer all your questions without reservation."

Do you have connections?

"no."

"So how did you get Zhong Su's recommendation letter?"

"I sold him a few precious fish."

Master He thought about it and felt there was nothing wrong with it.

After all, Buqu was a fisherman, so it was reasonable for him to sell Zhongfu Baoyu fish.

Master He continued, "Buqu, you were born with innate spiritual power. To achieve mastery, you'll need a lot of resources. I can provide you with some resources, but that alone won't be enough to help you cultivate your spiritual power to perfection."

He shook his head and sighed, feeling it was a great pity: "If you could be born into a wealthy family like Zhong Ling, you would have a real chance to become a core disciple of the Righteous Path Sect and lead a generation of outstanding talents. But you are just a fisherman and don't have enough money to buy elixirs to aid your cultivation, so you won't amount to anything."

"Without the aid of elixirs..." Bu Qu hesitated for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Daoist Master, without elixirs, can I use the Crimson-Scaled Sturgeon to assist my cultivation?"

Master He shook his head and chuckled, "The effects of the Crimson-Scaled Sturgeon are naturally stronger than those of elixirs. But you can't even afford elixirs, how could you possibly afford the Crimson-Scaled Sturgeon?"

In his view, Buqu's statement was as ridiculous as "Why not eat meat porridge?"

Bu Qu replied earnestly, "But I'm a fisherman!"