More than ten children in a row offered their Blood Pearls, but none could make the Compass stir.
In contrast to the nervous Bai Youfu and the Mortal Town Mayor, Bai Zichen was unconcerned. The percentage of mortals born with a Spiritual Root was what it was.
Even though the Bai Family was a Cultivation Family, and the ancestors of these mortals might have produced Cultivators several generations ago, the ratio of Spiritual Roots was still only about one in a hundred.
There had even been times when, due to bad luck, an entire town had gone several consecutive years without a single Immortal Seedling being born.
Within Black Mountain, only the Fire Phoenix Mo Family boasted of inheriting the bloodline of the Ancient Immortal Beast, the Fire Phoenix. Although they displayed no other special Divine Techniques, the proportion of Mo Family members with the aptitude for Cultivation far exceeded that of other Cultivation Families. Roughly one in every ten children possessed a Spiritual Root, with the vast majority being of the Fire Element.
On the strength of this frighteningly high ratio of Spiritual Roots, the Fire Phoenix Mo Family now firmly held the position of the number one Cultivation Family in Black Mountain.
With only two children left to undergo Spirit Testing, Bai Youfu sighed, all the energy to suck up completely gone.
The number of Immortal Seedlings directly impacted his performance review as a Guardian Immortal Master. If he failed to meet the quota, his contribution to the Clan would be greatly diminished.
The second-to-last boy was well-built and strode quickly to the Compass. His face was sallow, and his clothes had been washed so often they'd faded to white, but he had sharp features and a resolute look in his eyes.
As his Blood Pearl fell, the previously silent Compass finally let out a low hum. A faint, Five-Colored Spiritual Light rose from it, no more than an inch high.
"A Five Spiritual Roots... we finally have one. It's better than nothing, I suppose."
Bai Zichen's spirits lifted for a moment, but he sounded disappointed as he observed the phenomenon displayed by the Compass.
'Of course, if possible, I'd hope to find a few more Top-Grade Immortal Seedlings for the Clan.'
A Five Spiritual Roots talent all but sealed the boy's future path; he could only become one of the foundation stones at the very bottom of the Cultivation Realm.
Bai Youfu sighed at first, but then he felt a sense of relief. 'So what if it's a Pseudo-Spiritual Root? It still counts toward my quota.'
"Immortal Master, this boy is named Bai Shu. His mother is a woman from the Bai Family, and his father was apparently an Early-Stage Qi Refining Loose Cultivator who stayed in Hutou Town for a few months before just up and leaving. The mother and son have relied on each other ever since, so he took the Bai Family's surname."
The portly Mortal Town Mayor kept his back bowed, introducing the boy's background with a sycophantic smile.
"Since you have a Spiritual Root, come stand over to the side," Bai Ling beckoned. Now that Bai Shu was confirmed to have a Spiritual Root, his status was naturally worlds apart from what it was before.
In just a quarter of an hour, Bai Shu's fate had been turned upside down. At the edge of the square, a haggard woman began to sob with joy. It was his mother.
The last child to be tested was a cherubic little girl, as delicate as a porcelain doll. She had two pigtails tied high on her head and skipped merrily up to the Compass.
The moment the small knife pricked her finger, she let out a loud "WAAAH!" and began to cry, fat tears rolling down her cheeks in a heart-wrenching display.
The instant the Blood Pearl landed on the Compass, two crisp chimes rang out, clear as a Jade Plate being struck. The sound seemed to pierce right through to one's soul. In the next moment, red and yellow columns of Spirit Light erupted. The red light was over eight inches tall, while the yellow was nearly a foot high.
The two columns of Spirit Light intertwined as they rose, lasting for several dozen breaths before finally dimming.
"Fire and Earth Dual Spirit Root Talent!"
Bai Zichen couldn't believe it. In a flash, he appeared before the little girl and grabbed her arm, sending a thread of Spiritual Power into her as he carefully scanned her with his Divine Sense.
"It really is Dual Spirit Root Talent! The Bai Family has produced several disciples with Dual Spirit Root Talent in a row these past few years!"
Bai Zichen glanced back at Bai Ling. 'Another genius with the same level of Spiritual Root as her.'
Equally delighted, Bai Ling walked over and gathered the little girl into her arms. The child was both adorable and possessed superior Spiritual Root talent; Bai Ling looked at her as if she were her own younger sister.
"Immortal Master, this little girl... her name is Huo Feiyan. She's nine years old."
The Mortal Town Mayor stammered under the Immortal's gaze.
"Huo Feiyan... that's a nice name." Bai Zichen's expression suddenly changed. "Her surname is Huo? Why doesn't she have the surname Bai!"
Bai Zichen whirled around, an oppressive aura suddenly erupting from him, so terrifying that the Mortal Town Mayor fell right to the ground.
"T-to answer the Immortal Master, Huo Feiyan's parents were originally Mortal Martial Artists from outside the mountains. They fled into the Black Mountain Range to escape their enemies. They drifted near Hutou Town five years ago, and we took them in. They've been settled in town ever since."
The Mortal Town Mayor was trembling with fear, the fat on his face quivering. He was terrified to his very core. Under that sudden, oppressive aura, he had for a moment believed the enraged Immortal Master was about to kill him.
"What is the first ironclad rule of the Qingfeng Sect regarding the search for Immortal Seedlings? Bai Youfu, he's a Mortal, so he might not remember it. But you're a Mid-Stage Qi Refining Cultivator! Are you telling me you don't see the problem here?!"
Bai Zichen said through clenched teeth, all traces of the gentle, polite young master from before having vanished completely.
"During a Clan's Spirit-Guiding, only members of that clan may be inducted. One may not, by any means, trick or poach another's Immortal Seedlings... In any Mortal City, all who possess a Spiritual Root are considered reserve disciples for our Qingfeng Sect, and may not be inducted as a Clan's Immortal Seedling... Violators will have their lineage severed and be killed without pardon!"
Bai Youfu trembled uncontrollably, slumping bonelessly into his chair.
"You knew this, and yet you dared to let someone with absolutely no blood ties to the Bai Family into the Clan's Spirit-Guiding Ceremony... Are you trying to bring ruin upon the Bai Family?!"
A Cultivation Family could only search for individuals with a Spiritual Root among their own blood relatives. They were forbidden from overstepping their bounds and reaching into the Mortal Cities outside of Black Mountain.
The twelve cities of Black Mountain County, with their population of nearly ten million mortals, were the very asset that allowed the Qingfeng Sect to be picky about the quality of its disciples.
With such a massive population, the number of talented Cultivators born each year was not insignificant.
Therefore, the Qingfeng Sect had always issued strict and repeated orders, forbidding anyone from targeting mortals.
But there were always one or two audacious, reckless families who couldn't resist the temptation of so many Immortal Seedlings. They would not only take them in as their own Cultivators but would also frantically perform Spirit Testing to capture more, turning around and selling them to other Cultivation Families.
Of course, their end was always tragic. Besides the few children they had stolen, their entire families were slaughtered to the last person, heads rolling in the dust.
Bai Zichen's violent reaction was precisely because of these bloody lessons, paid for by one Cultivation Family after another, which served as a warning to all: poaching Immortal Seedlings was an act the Qingfeng Sect would never, ever tolerate.
To not stop it would be to dig up the very foundation of the Qingfeng Sect!
Thus, any Cultivation Family discovered engaging in such an act was met with merciless, thunderbolt-like retribution. For lesser offenses, their Spirit Vein would be confiscated and they would be exiled from the Black Mountain Range. For more serious crimes, such as the long-term, systematic poaching of Immortal Seedlings, entire clans were annihilated.
This was a declaration to all that the matter of Immortal Seedlings was the Qingfeng Sect's Reverse Scale—touch it, and you die.
A chill ran through Bai Zichen's heart. He knew full well that Huo Feiyan had not a single drop of Bai Family blood and was merely a guest residing in Hutou Town, yet they still let her participate in the Spirit-Guiding Ceremony. If someone were to report this maliciously, the Bai Family would have a hard time clearing its name and would fall under heavy suspicion.
"Brother Chenn, I think you're taking this too seriously."
Bai Ling undid Huo Feiyan's two high pigtails and quickly restyled her hair into a simple bun. The more she looked at the girl, the more she adored her.
"Huo Feiyan has been here for five years; she's no different from any other resident of Hutou Town. As long as we insist that her family came here seeking refuge with distant relatives, no outsider will ever be able to find out the truth."