"Alright, it's time. Tianwu Emperor, begin. I hope there will be a few good seedlings this time."
Elder Qu's gaze lingered on the Ling family's position, his eyes narrowing.
Strange, he couldn't see through their cultivation. This was impossible. Could something be hidden?
The Tianwu Emperor stepped forward, channeling his spiritual energy, and announced, "Welcome everyone to this grand event. The rules for this talent selection are the same as before, so I won't elaborate. I now declare that the talent selection officially begins!"
A cheer erupted from below.
Thirty stone pillars suddenly rose on the competition grounds. Ten of the largest were gray, used for testing cultivation; ten of the smallest were light green, used for testing spiritual power; and ten of medium size were pure white, used for testing spiritual roots.
Every three stone pillars formed a group, with a judge positioned in front of each group to record the results.
Among the common folk, the talent selection also had another name: the Family Ranking Tournament. Essentially, every family participated, and families were ranked based on their disciples' talent, cultivation, strength, the prosperity of the family, and the subsequent Patriarch Grand Competition.
Currently, the leading families in the Tianwu Kingdom were the Imperial family, the Wei family, and the Kong family.
However, while this was the case on the surface, everyone understood the reality of the situation.
The first day of the talent selection was for testing talent. Anyone over five years old could be tested. This test was conducted according to family rankings. After the families were tested, it would be the turn of the participants competing as individuals.
Since the Ling family was last in the family rankings, they were also the last family to be tested.
As there were ten groups of stone pillars available for testing, ten families were tested simultaneously.
The first group of ten families comprised the Imperial family, the five great aristocratic families, and four first-class families.
Ling Luoyi was not interested in this kind of test. She propped her head up, closed her eyes to rest, and shut out the external noise.
"Nangong Suwan, eighteen years old, cultivation: Houtian Eighth Star, attribute: Water, Mid-grade Spiritual Root, Spiritual Power Level: Junior Intermediate."
Cultivation levels were divided into Xiantian Realm and Houtian Realm, each further divided into nine stars. Following these were the Spirit Apprentice Realm, Spirit Master Realm, Spirit Scholar Realm, Spirit Grandmaster Realm, Great Spirit Master Realm, Spirit King Realm, and so on, with each realm further divided into nine stages.
Currently, the strongest person in the Tianwu Kingdom was the Wei family's Old Ancestor. He was currently a Second Stage Spirit Scholar, and had just celebrated his hundredth birthday a few days prior.
Spirit cultivators only had their lifespan increased upon reaching the Spirit King Realm. Therefore, if Wei Wensong had not obtained that Azure Nether Longevity Pill previously, the Wei family would have had to hold a funeral for their Old Ancestor.
Spiritual power levels were divided into Junior, Intermediate, and Senior, with each level further divided into Lower, Middle, and Upper grades. Only when spiritual power reached the Intermediate level could one engage in alchemy, artifact refining, and other such professions. However, increasing spiritual power was extremely difficult, which was why these specialized professionals were rare and more esteemed.
Ling Luochen looked at the dozing Ling Luoyi and sighed. It was difficult for her to rest in such a noisy environment.
The surrounding audience let out bursts of exclamations, which generally followed the judges' announcements without pause.
Due to the large number of participants, it was not until the second quarter of the Shen hour that it was the Ling family's turn to be tested.
Seeing that it was almost time for the Ling family, Ling Luochen patted the still dozing Ling Luoyi. He was met with Ling Luoyi's vigilant gaze, and his heart skipped a beat. How could she have such fierce eyes?
Although it only lasted for a moment, Ling Luochen still felt a chill.
Ling Luoyi recognized the person in front of her and instantly returned to her calm demeanor. She stretched and asked lazily, "Brother, is it our turn?"
Ling Luochen concealed his emotions, affectionately patted Ling Luoyi's head, and said, "Yes, it's almost time, but we need to go queue up now."
To avoid wasting time, the next family would usually queue up directly behind the previous one before their test was even finished.
"Then let's go." Ling Luoyi glanced behind her. Although everyone was tired and resting, they maintained their etiquette and sat upright.
"Alright, everyone get up, it's almost our turn. When we're tested later, there's no need to hide anything. See what level you can reach. I will compare today's test results with your cultivation when you first entered the cultivation tower and give you corresponding rewards based on your progress. Also, there is a ranking for the talent selection, and I will give rewards based on your ranking at the end. I won't tell you what the rewards are yet, but you all know that what I give can't be anything bad. Alright, let's go."
"Yes!"
Ling Luochen and Ling Luoyi led the queued team onto the competition arena. As they appeared, all eyes fell on Ling Luoyi. Everyone was curious about Ling Luoyi's cultivation, after all, she was a Fourth-grade alchemist.
Ling Luochen and Ling Luoyi led their team to queue behind the testing platform belonging to Judge Number Eight. Currently, there were ten people ahead of them.
After Ling Luoyi stood in place, she yawned again.
The crowd saw this, their faces filled with black lines. What kind of occasion was this, to be so ill-mannered!
While Ling Luoyi was dozing in the back, Ling Luochen, Ling Luofan, and Ling Luoyu had blocked her from view, so none of them realized that Ling Luoyi was actually sleeping.
The testing time passed quickly. The people ahead were collateral disciples of the previous family. Their talent was not particularly good, and they did not elicit any cheers from the audience.
According to the order, the first to be tested was Ling Luochen.
At this moment, Ling Luochen stepped forward and placed his hand on the middle gray stone pillar, channeling his spiritual energy. Red spiritual energy instantly filled the stone pillar.
After four characters faintly appeared on the stone pillar, Ling Luochen placed his hand on the left light green stone pillar. After two characters faintly appeared on it, he placed his hand on the right stone pillar.
The judge beside them saw the characters on the stone pillars become clear and announced, "Ling Luochen, twenty-four years old, cultivation: Second Stage Spirit Master, attribute: Fire, Upper-grade Spiritual Root, Spiritual Power Level: Junior Upper!"
After the judge finished announcing, his gaze towards Ling Luochen was filled with clear admiration.
Upon hearing the judge's announcement, the scene fell silent. Everyone's hearts and eyes were filled with disbelief, as if they had heard something incredible.
This was because they all remembered that at the talent selection ten years ago, Ling Luochen's spiritual root test result was Mid-grade! And now, it had become Upper-grade!
The quality of spiritual roots could decrease due to various reasons, but they would never improve. This was something everyone knew.
Although the spiritual root had only changed from Mid-grade to Upper-grade, which seemed like a small change, for spirit cultivators, the cultivation speed of an Upper-grade spiritual root was incomparable to that of a Mid-grade spiritual root.
So, why had Ling Luochen's spiritual root improved from Mid-grade to Upper-grade?!
Everyone's gaze involuntarily fell on Ling Luoyi.
Could it be because of her?
Ling Luoyi glanced around and rolled her eyes in her mind.
No matter how you thought about it, she was the one who did it.
Ling Luochen was also very shocked. His cultivation speed had indeed been faster in recent days, but he had attributed it to the cultivation tower that Ling Luoyi had placed, and had not realized that his spiritual root had actually improved.
On the viewing platform, in the Ling family's section, Ling Huayu and the others were also stunned. They knew what quality Ling Luochen's spiritual root was, so now, like everyone else present, they did not understand when Ling Luochen's Mid-grade spiritual root had become Upper-grade.
Others might not know, but Ling Luoyi did.
The tea they had been drinking for the past month was the Five Elements Spiritual Tea she had provided. The Five Elements Spiritual Tea not only nourished spiritual roots but also improved their quality with increased consumption.
Although the Ling family disciples had only drunk it for a little over a month, it was not supposed to improve their quality. However, Ling Luochen was a great tea lover, almost never without tea. The Five Elements Spiritual Tea tasted slightly better than ordinary tea, so he drank even more of it, which was why his spiritual root had improved.