“Eighth Brother didn’t come,” Ye Wei answered.

Actually, Ye Wei hadn’t noticed at first either. After all, Ye Kong never used to appear at crowded occasions like this. Everyone was so used to the absence of Number Eight that they didn’t even think about him.

More importantly, Ye Wei had been dreaming his own immortal dreams back then – who had time to think about others?

But after learning he had no spiritual roots, he felt an indescribable sadness. However, as the Ye family’s eldest son, he looked at things from his father’s perspective, so he very much hoped spiritual roots would appear among the others.

So he looked back and forth at those below, hoping to spot some spiritual roots.

But in the end he was still disappointed. However, looking back and forth, looking and looking, he spotted a problem – someone seemed to be missing.

Who was missing? He couldn’t think of it right away. Ye Wei simply used the dumb method and counted one by one. “I’m the eldest, below me is Second Brother, Third Brother, Fourth Brother… Eighth Brother didn’t come!”

As soon as Ye Wei said this, Ye Haoran also looked over. Sure enough, he didn’t see Ye Kong. He felt angry – how could that idiot not come to such an important matter? Really too much!

Although he inwardly cursed the boy for being hateful, this was his last hope. He’d already been disappointed so many times, he didn’t mind being disappointed one more time!

“True Man, my apologies. I have one more son who for some reason hasn’t arrived yet. Please wait a moment, True Man. I’ll have someone fetch him immediately.”

True Man Wanxuan had already examined dozens of people, so one more didn’t matter. He sat back down properly and waved his hand impatiently. “Then go quickly, go and return quickly.”

“Thank you, True Man.” Ye Haoran reached out to call over Ye Cai, about [visit our site]to have him summon Ye Kong, but someone was unhappy.

Second Wife was displeased. She could let others become immortal disciples, but she couldn’t let Ye Kong become one. Why? What if Ye Kong became an immortal? Then Chen Jiuniang’s status would rise! How could she let an ugly-faced, poverty-stricken woman step on her head?

Moreover, Ye Kong had beaten her son and molested her maid – she still held grudges about that. She absolutely had to prevent this possibility.

“General, this cannot be.” Second Wife stood and said, “This child Ye Kong is arrogant and unruly, obstinate and unenlightened. His temperament is cruel and excessive, and he takes revenge for the smallest slight. If he cultivates immortal arts, it will be disaster, not fortune for our Ye family…”

Second Wife was truly vicious enough, saying such things in front of True Man Wanxuan, making the True Man think he was practically a devil incarnate. Even if he had spiritual roots, she wouldn’t accept him.

Ye Haoran now understood why Ye Kong hadn’t appeared – it turned out Second Wife had been interfering. Now she was even publicly spouting nonsense. Even Ye Haoran was angry.

“Outrageous!” Ye Haoran roared. “You woman are ruining my important matter! Though Ye Kong has a bad temper, he’s only twelve years old. How can he be as terrible as you say!” Ye Haoran feared True Man Wanxuan would really be influenced by Second Wife’s words, and quickly said to True Man Wanxuan, “I’ve made True Man laugh. I haven’t managed my household well. My eighth son had a muddled mind and unclear speech since childhood, and only recently gained understanding. He may have spoken inappropriately to those who mocked him, making others think he…”

“Enough, enough. Have someone call him.” True Man Wanxuan’s expression didn’t change.

“Yes.” Ye Haoran glared at Second Wife again. Worried Ye Cai might pull some trick, he decided to have Ye Wei go fetch him instead – that was more reliable.

Ye Kong was reading when Ye Wei called him. He quickly followed along. On the road, hearing it was an immortal accepting disciples, his heart filled with great joy.

Ye Kong hadn’t expected that after searching for immortals so long, one would actually appear on his own. Truly, after wearing out iron shoes in fruitless search, it takes no effort at all to obtain.

As for whether he had spiritual roots, he wasn’t too worried about this question. First, he could sense spiritual energy. Second, he could enter his own Purple Mansion. Could others do that? Obviously he was different from the rest.

Under the scorching sun, those youths who’d been examined and found lacking spiritual roots didn’t dare leave. Having not felt the sun before, they now wondered why it was so blazing. Their backs felt like ants crawling – unbearably uncomfortable. Since they Read on Jormuntlcouldn’t become immortals, they just hoped to be dismissed soon.

But then they saw Ye Wei bringing in Ye Kong.

They hadn’t heard the conversation inside the flower hall from outside. Now seeing Ye Kong, they couldn’t be more astonished.

“They brought the idiot too? Heh heh, really scraping the bottom of the barrel. We don’t have spiritual roots – would he have them?”

“Definitely not. If he has spiritual roots, my dog Ah Huang has spiritual roots too.”

“Haha, he’s not even as good as Ah Huang. At least that dog understands human nature. Ye Kong is just an idiot, a moron, like a pig in a pen. Before, he’d grunt when he was full.”

Walking in and seeing so many people, Ye Kong was somewhat surprised. At first he thought he’d arrived late, but then hearing that they’d all been examined already, his sharp mind immediately guessed that not a single one had spiritual roots, so they’d thought to call him.

“Screw his immortal ancestors! They’re bullying people too much! Even unrelated people came, and they still consider me surnamed Ye? I won’t take this master even if offered – I don’t owe the Ye family any favors!” Ye Kong’s fury surged to the heavens. He muttered a sentence and turned to leave.

Ye Wei, who’d just gone in to report, came out and saw Ye Kong about to leave. He quickly caught up. “Eighth Brother, Eighth Brother… what are you doing?”

Ye Kong was someone with clear distinctions between gratitude and grudges. He could explode at others, but he couldn’t explode at Ye Wei.

“Big Brother, I’ll go back to reading. The Ye family is about the same with or without me. So many brothers, so many… handsome young men – ah, what do they need an idiot like me for?” Ye Kong suppressed his anger and smiled bitterly.

Ye Wei immediately understood. He said quietly, “Ye Cai was behind this scheming. Father and I didn’t know. Just now Father already scolded them. You can’t leave. If you leave, you’re slapping Father’s and my face.”

Ye Kong was half-believing and half-doubting. He looked [unauthorized copy]up toward the hall. Ye Wei clamped onto him and dragged him inside. There was no help for it – he could only let Ye Wei drag him in.

True Man Wanxuan had kept his eyes closed, but his divine sense saw everything clearly. When Ye Kong stood before him, only then did he open both eyes.

“Quickly address the Immortal Master as grandfather,” Ye Haoran urged.

“Immortal Master, grandfather.” Ye Kong was in a bad mood and boldly looked at him. When their eyes met, True Man Wanxuan’s brows furrowed. “Why is your soul injured?”

Ye Kong’s heart jolted. Holy crap, he really is a damn immortal – he could tell at a glance my soul was injured.

He immediately spoke half-truthfully, saying that when meditating, he’d used the wrong method and injured himself. However, he absolutely didn’t dare mention the Complete Collection of Talismans in his head.

True Man Wanxuan didn’t doubt him and smiled. “Cultivating on your own? You’re quite bold. Come, extend your wrist. Let me see if you have spiritual roots.”

As True Man Wanxuan took hold of Ye Kong’s wrist, everyone around focused on the True Man’s face. Second Wife kept praying inwardly, “Nothing, nothing, shake your head, shake your head…”

Ye Haoran also stared at True Man Wanxuan’s face, his iron fist clenched so tight his knuckles turned pale from blood loss. Ye Kong was the last hope – how could he not be nervous?

This instant seemed endlessly long. Everyone held their breath. Second Wife prayed for the True Man to shake his head, while Ye Haoran hoped for a nod.

But who knew – True Man Wanxuan neither shook his head nor nodded. He smiled.

Of course, it wasn’t a happy smile, nor was it mockery. It was a somewhat ironic smile.

Ye Haoran didn’t understand True Man Wanxuan’s ​stolen content​meaning and quickly asked, “True Man, does my unworthy son… have hope?”

“No.” True Man Wanxuan released Ye Kong’s hand and said flatly.

Ye Haoran still wouldn’t give up and asked again, “Then why does True Man smile?”

Ye Kong was also cursing inwardly. Damn it, if there’s no hope, what the hell are you smiling about? Messing with me?

Then True Man Wanxuan laughed. “I smile because his aptitude is too poor. His spiritual roots are chaotically jumbled beyond imagination. He has the worst pseudo-spiritual roots I’ve ever seen.”

“Pseudo-spiritual roots?” Neither Ye Haoran nor Ye Wei understood what that meant.

Then Wanxuan proceeded to explain. It turned out that spiritual roots were sensitivity to spiritual energy. If you could sense spiritual energy, you could cultivate immortality. But if you couldn’t even feel spiritual energy, how could you talk about absorbing it to nourish your inner core?

However, spiritual roots also differed. The best were called single spiritual roots, also called heavenly spiritual roots. This meant the cultivator was particularly sensitive to one attribute of spiritual energy. If these people matched with techniques of the same attribute, their cultivation speed was incredible. They had no bottlenecks before the Nascent Soul stage – the best aptitude. Only one or two appeared in a thousand years.

Some asked why single spiritual roots cultivated so fast. The answer was very simple – two words: purity. Whether gold, diamonds, pills, or spiritual roots – the purer the better. Who would call something full of impurities a good thing?

Below single spiritual roots came dual spiritual roots. Though not as good as single spiritual roots, dual spiritual roots were still pretty good. If it was wood and earth attributes mixed into lightning spiritual roots, or water and wood attributes mixed into ice spiritual roots, that was also very good – called mutated spiritual roots, extremely rare. But some dual attributes weren’t good – like fire and water attributes. These two attributes naturally conflicted and opposed each other. During cultivation, one could easily go berserk.

Next came three attributes. These were fairly common. Many Foundation Establishment cultivators had three attributes. Unless they had fortuitous encounters, they generally wouldn’t break through the Golden Core stage. True Man Wanxuan was this type.

Next were four attributes. These already counted as pseudo-spiritual roots. Generally speaking, such people could never achieve Foundation Establishment in their lifetime. Even reaching the peak of Qi Refinement was difficult. However, because major sects couldn’t recruit people with very good aptitude, they still accepted four-attribute pseudo-spiritual roots.

The worst were five spiritual roots. That was no longer just ordinary chaos. Cultivation would absolutely have no prospects – twice the effort for half the result. Such people [unauthorized copy]would have difficulty even entering the door if they cultivated their whole lives.

And according to True Man Wanxuan’s pulse examination, Ye Kong belonged to this five spiritual roots type. Moreover, the five types of spiritual energy were extremely chaotic. His aptitude belonged to inferior among the inferior. In True Man Wanxuan’s view, even if this child cultivated his entire life, he wouldn’t break through early-stage Qi Refinement. And early-stage Qi Refinement wasn’t necessarily stronger than martial arts masters in the mortal world. So he might as well stay home and learn martial arts.

Ye Haoran was utterly disappointed at this moment. However, this last life-saving straw was still too precious to let go. He pleaded again, “True Man, though my unworthy son’s aptitude is extremely poor, he still counts as having spiritual roots. He’s already too late to learn martial arts. Even if it’s just some early-stage Qi Refinement, the Ye family would still have produced an immortal.”

Ye Kong was also unwilling to let this immortal destiny slip away. He also rarely begged, “That’s right, Immortal Master above, though this junior’s aptitude is lacking, I can eat the bitterest bitterness…”

True Man Wanxuan snorted and interrupted, smiling ironically. “A cultivator’s achievements are determined by spiritual roots, not by ability to eat bitterness. Otherwise, all the major sects would just go to the docks and recruit laborers as disciples.”

Ye Kong felt depressed inside. I’m really pathetic – I missed the time for martial arts, and for immortal cultivation I have the most garbage spiritual roots. Are they really not giving me any way to live?

Seeing this matter about to fall through again, Ye Kong felt he had to seize the opportunity and perform a bit. Maybe the old immortal would change his mind?

His mind made up, Ye Kong spoke clearly, “Immortal Master’s words are mistaken! I’ve heard that a cultivator’s achievements aren’t determined by aptitude. The best spiritual roots aren’t heavenly spiritual roots!”

“Oh?” As soon as Ye Kong said this, everyone stared at him. Ye Haoran felt somewhat worried, thinking – how could an immortal master be wrong? You’re just a mortal – what do you know? However, Ye Haoran didn’t speak to stop him, hoping perhaps there’d be a turning point.

“This old man is confused then. I’d like to hear the details.” True Man Wanxuan also waited curiously for him to speak.

Ye Kong smiled and cupped his hands toward True Man Wanxuan. “Answering Immortal Master, this junior believes that the greatest determining factor in a cultivator’s future achievements isn’t aptitude – it’s immortal destiny! The best spiritual roots aren’t heavenly spiritual roots, but bitter spiritual roots!”