Two carriages slowly approached from the left, their drivers yawning, seemingly “fatigue driving.”
It was already past six, and though the sun set late in the mountains, it was almost dusk.
The drivers were probably tired.
Next to one of the drivers sat a person dressed in white, holding a long sword. This person was quite alert, their gaze sweeping back and forth across the surrounding mountains and forests.
Watching the two carriages draw closer, An Chen hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided against stopping them to ask questions, instead crouching behind a bush, waiting for them to pass.
He wasn't sure of the identity of the people inside the carriages, so he dared not act rashly.
He still had a stack of Talisman given to him by Su Xiaojiu in his pocket, but these were for saving his life, and he preferred not to use them unless absolutely necessary.
However, before the carriages even reached his exact position, An Chen suddenly felt something cold press against his neck.
“Don’t move.”
The cold object seemed somewhat sharp; An Chen felt a stinging sensation on his neck.
It was a blade, or perhaps a sword, now held against his throat.
Perhaps if he moved even slightly, his throat would be slit by this sharp weapon.
“I mean no harm; I’m just passing through.”
“Turn around!”
The person behind him didn't listen to his words, merely barking an order.
An Chen slowly turned around, only to discover that there wasn't just one person behind him, but two.
These two people were dressed in white, looking exactly like the person sitting with the driver in the carriage, with cloud patterns on their cuffs and hems.
An Chen wasn't sure if the person in the carriage had them.
The sword-wielding person behind him kept the sword at his neck, while the other ran out of the forest, onto the road, and stopped the carriages.
“Who are you? What is your purpose here?”
“I told you, I mean no harm, I’m just passing through. Who are you…”
“We are Qingfeng Sect Disciple, currently escorting the children selected this year up the mountain!”
This person spoke without hesitation, revealing everything.
Qingfeng Sect…
Su Xiaojiu and he had chatted all night, and she had also mentioned the location near where she had Transmigration before.
She had encountered mountain bandits in the wilderness outside a large city, and this city was Qingfeng City. Besides the endless wilderness and forests outside the city, there was also a Cultivation School, also named Qingfeng.
This Qingfeng Sect was a very small Cultivation School, perhaps not even considered third-rate, but it controlled Qingfeng City down the mountain and many surrounding villages.
The Qingfeng Sect opened its immortal School every three years, recruiting children with good Aptitude from the city and villages to become Disciple on the mountain.
So, is it their time to recruit Disciple now?
An Chen was secretly delighted.
Fortunately, he and Su Xiaojiu had talked about many things, otherwise, he would have been completely clueless upon arriving here.
“Are you a scout for the mountain bandits?”
To be honest, An Chen felt like laughing.
When you ask someone that, who would ever admit it?
This person in front of him was truly amusing.
If he were truly a mountain bandit scout, he would probably just shake his head repeatedly and deny it.
“I am a Mortal. How could I have the strength to be a mountain bandit?”
An Chen knew from Su Xiaojiu that being a mountain bandit also had a threshold.
After all, in this era, who transports goods without finding a Cultivator to guard them? These mountain bandits are also Cultivator. Even though most of them use artificial Spiritual Root, and their Cultivation Peak is Qi Refining Peak or Spirit Nurturing Peak, they are still not comparable to a Mortal.
If someone really just carried a steel knife and called himself a mountain bandit, the people being robbed would probably laugh for half an hour first.
“I suppose you don’t have that strength either.”
The white-clad man withdrew his long sword, returning it to its scabbard.
“If you missed it, you missed it. What’s all this talk about passing through? Our Qingfeng Sect is not an unreasonable School. Since you’ve caught up with the carriage, let’s test your Spiritual Root. If you truly qualify, then come up the mountain with us!”
An Chen: ???
An Chen was stunned.
But fortunately, his mind worked quickly, and he immediately understood what the person meant.
The Qingfeng Sect recruits children once every three years. These “children” are age-appropriate Disciple. Here, one can only Cultivation at 16, so the age limit would be between 16 and 19.
An Chen was seventeen, almost eighteen, which just fit this age range.
And this Qingfeng Sect Disciple probably mistook him for someone who had missed the carriage for recruitment and was chasing after it.
“Yes… Thank you!”
“Haha, what’s with the thanks? Our Qingfeng Sect is short on Disciple; we’re eager for new blood to join. If you can become my Junior Brother, that would be a wonderful thing!”
The man laughed and clapped An Chen on the shoulder.
“But you, too, the commotion in the city yesterday was so great, why didn’t you make it?”
“My mother was seriously ill, and I stayed by her bedside to take care of her, unable to leave for a moment. Only today, with my Elder brother returning home, was I able to come.”
Anyway, this person probably didn't know who he was or which family he belonged to, so An Chen simply made up a lie to get by.
The person in front of him probably wouldn't guess that he was a Transmigration from another world.
“Good, it’s good that you made it! Go! In the second carriage, someone will test your Spiritual Root.”
An Chen bowed and ran towards the second carriage.
“Tsk, still a child from a hard-luck family. It would be good if he really gets selected.”
Watching An Chen run off, the man smiled and shook his head.
“It’s difficult. Most people don’t have the good fortune to Cultivation. I think, he’s probably just another Low Grade Spiritual Root.”
The other Disciple, who had gone to stop the carriage earlier, had returned and poured cold water on his hopes.
“Besides, how many people sign up to go up the mountain each time, and how many of them are from hard-luck families? Some families have to sell their egg-laying chickens to save money to send their children to the city, only to return with a Low Grade Spiritual Root result. There are too many! Jiang Cheng, if you pity every one of these people, how tired would you be?!”
“Sigh.”
He sighed.
“Chen Sheng, you haven’t been rained on, so you don’t know what it feels like to have rain on your body.”
“I have been rained on! Who hasn’t been rained on?”
“This is a metaphor!”
Even saying that, Jiang Cheng actually knew that what Chen Sheng said was right.
In an entire city, there were thousands of age-appropriate people, but after a round of testing, only a dozen or so were acceptable, and they didn't even fill two large carriages.
Most of these people had Low Grade Spiritual Root, and it was uncertain if they could truly enter the School. There was one with a Medium Grade Spiritual Root, and even he was almost carried up the mountain by the Elder himself.
For a small School like theirs, having a Medium Grade Spiritual Root was not easy. With a Medium Grade Spiritual Root, with effort, there was a chance to reach Soul Transformation.
Both of them had Low Grade Spiritual Root; their Cultivation, most likely, would end at Spirit Nurturing Stage.
“Holy crap!”
At this moment, the melancholic Jiang Cheng suddenly heard a surprised cry, and turning his head, he saw a burst of light erupt from the second carriage.
What’s going on?