Chapter 16: Whose Spiritual Root Is the Weakest?
“A Heavenly Spirit Root has appeared—a true Heavenly Spirit Root!”
“Did you hear that? Master, Junior Brother Shi Jun said this generation has produced a Heavenly Spirit Root!”
“This Heavenly Spirit Root is of immense significance to our Great Thousand Sect!”
“The Heavenly Spirit Root is the protagonist of this world. Countless secret realms forcibly open upon its emergence—this is great fortune. Our Great Thousand Sect can leverage this individual to become a trendsetter in this Age of Decline!”
“It must be that the Heavenly Dao cannot bear to see all living beings suffer in this era, and so deliberately birthed this person!”
The allure of the Heavenly Spirit Root lies in the fact that those who possess it are like protagonists themselves. Wherever they tread, secret realms unseen for a millennium emerge, rare celestial treasures lost for ten millennia appear, and peerless divine weapons from a hundred thousand years ago manifest—as if gifts bestowed by the Heavenly Dao itself.
Following the protagonist, even if there is no meat to eat, there is still soup to drink.
Seeing Xiao Long so excited he looked ready to leap, the old man shook his head with a calm expression and said, “Xiao Long, you’re only half right. The Heavenly Spirit Root is indeed unparalleled, but it may not be able to save this Age of Decline.”
“I have lived centuries longer than you and understand more… According to those in the Arts Sect, during the last Age of Decline, the Heavenly Dao also intended to save the world, but still the heavens and earth reopened, and the cycle could not be escaped.”
“Ultimately, the Heavenly Spirit Root is but a powerful spiritual root, one that just happens to more easily give birth to strong cultivators.”
Liang Xiao Long nodded upon hearing this: “Master’s words make sense. The Heavenly Spirit Root is special, but not that special.”
Seeing his pupil’s mood gradually stabilize, the Third Elder laughed heartily. Young people are always impatient. Having lived so long, he had long since grown indifferent to the world, unshaken by chaos…
“Senior Brother! Someone is floating inside the formation!”
It was Shi Jun’s voice transmission technique; he was live-streaming the assessment to the two in real time.
The Third Elder’s smile froze instantly.
“Floating inside the formation? Junior Nephew Shi Jun, are you sure you saw clearly?”
The Third Elder immediately stood up, his beard trembling twice.
Liang Xiao Long tentatively asked, “Master, could something be wrong with the formation? First a Heavenly Spirit Root appears, now someone who can walk on air within the formation… that seems unlikely.”
“Don’t you trust your Master’s craftsmanship?” The Third Elder blew his beard and glared. “As a formation expert, setting up a mere seventh-rank formation is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. How could such an error occur?”
“Disciple, you’ve followed me for over a hundred years—do you really not believe in your Master?”
Embarrassed, Liang Xiao Long smiled awkwardly and said nothing, secretly thinking:
It’s precisely because I’ve followed you so long that I have doubts!
“In any case, the formation isn’t malfunctioning. We should consider what could surpass the Heavenly Spirit Root in power, even causing the formation’s attraction to turn into repulsion.”
The Third Elder began a brainstorming session, pulling ancient tomes from his storage ring, hoping to find a precedent for such a phenomenon.
But just as the Third Elder was at a loss, Shi Jun transmitted again to Liang Xiao Long.
After connecting, Liang Xiao Long said, “What is it? Do you know what kind of spiritual root that floating person has?”
“No, Senior Brother! Someone has taken off flying inside the formation!”
“???”
“!!!”
“Say that again?”
---
“Flying straight into the sky, they’re gone from sight!” Shi Jun said anxiously.
“Well, Junior Brother Shi Jun, hold down the scene. I’ll be there shortly.” Liang Xiao Long was about to head to the scene when the Third Elder suddenly dove out the window, transforming into a streak of light and vanishing into the horizon.
“Master, wait for me!”
...
Damn, how did I start flying?
Qin Xi felt as if the entire world had turned into a washing machine drum. He was like a thirty-day unwashed sock among bitter tea seeds, eliciting gasps from those around him.
Damn it, why?
Sure, the showing off worked, but how was he supposed to get down now?
Those nearby witnessed this astonishing spectacle. If before they could only marvel, now they were struck dumb with awe.
Everyone wondered, how could there be such a prodigious talent?
Is this… real?
Could the formation have malfunctioned?
Of course, the untrained bystanders merely marveled, but Shi Jun, having just compared with the Heavenly Spirit Root, was thoroughly convinced:
“Fellow cultivator! Please cease your divine abilities!”
Qin Xi was furious.
Was he unwilling to come down? No, it was the damn formation that launched him into the air!
His talent was so strong it crashed the formation system, huh?
Is this formation also binary?
So...
— Qin Xi said nothing and kept flying.
Shi Jun thought Qin Xi couldn’t keep flying any longer, so he tore off the robe covering his body and sprinted into the formation.
“Fellow cultivator, don’t be afraid! I’m here to help!”
He leapt into the air with a firm stomp, his clothes flapping in the wind.
With his cultivation, catching up to the flying Qin Xi should have been easy.
But he forgot one thing.
When he reached midair, he suddenly felt as if his ankles were bound by millions of pounds of stone.
He too was inside the formation.
“Boom!”
The pressure of the formation pulled at his dual spiritual roots, slamming him down into the earth headfirst.
“...”
---
Qin Xi flew higher and higher. Looking down at the figures on the ground, they looked like mere sesame seeds.
Seriously, doesn’t your Great Thousand Sect have a single person who can fly?
He clicked his tongue. The urgent matter now was to save himself.
He pulled two flying swords out from the back of his clothes—they were leftovers from the flying ship. Grabbing what he could, he had taken them.
“Return!”
“Dash, dash, dash!”
Gripping a flying sword in each hand, designed specifically for descent, the swords glide steadily downward.
At this moment, the power of the two flying swords opposed the formation’s force. The two forces were evenly matched, and Qin Xi was stuck midair.
Still couldn’t come down.
Gritting his teeth, inspiration suddenly struck.
He called out in his spiritual space:
“Jiang Bai Qiu, do you have any rope? Or something like that?”
...
Shi Jun pulled his head out of the ground and looked up. He had seen people unable to grasp scrolls because of a lack of talent, but this was the first time he’d seen someone so gifted he couldn’t take hold.
Now, unless a high-level cultivator intervened, there was no other solution.
Just as Shi Jun sighed, a graceful figure suddenly soared into the air beside him.
It was the girl who had been drifting back and forth inside the formation!
Was she going to rescue that young man?
Jiang Bai Qiu said nothing, maintaining her aloof demeanor, but her eyes swept across everyone within the formation.
She nodded and approached Shi Jun.
“You want to…”
Shi Jun was about to ask something when he saw Jiang Bai Qiu pull off her sash.
“Borrowing your belt for a moment.”
Without hesitation, Jiang Bai Qiu continued searching for the next victim.
Shi Jun did not stop her. With his cultivation level, he could have, but he was more curious about what the girl intended to do.
Next, Jiang Bai Qiu, like a belt collector, snatched all the sashes from everyone present and then tied them all together.
The cost was that everyone was left holding up their pants, watching Jiang Bai Qiu’s performance.
Once everything was ready, she cast a cold gaze upon the crowd:
“Among you, whose spiritual root is the weakest?”