Mo Duan slowly browsed through the available information and meticulously removed those that didn’t fit his necessary criteria from his search. Removing those who didn’t have some manner of affinity for wood Qi got rid of two-thirds of the new disciples.

The Woodland Dominion Method requires a lot of pure wood Qi to use. It would be best if I choose someone who has a dual root, or a single root.

Spiritual Roots were how a cultivator converted ambient Qi into Qi that they could use to further their cultivation or to perform their magic. While a person who had a single wood Spiritual Root would not be able to easily use the other elements, they would be able to convert ambient Qi into wood Qi much faster than someone who possessed a more multifaceted root.

Narrowing down his options further revealed that there were still nearly three dozen that still fit his criteria.

That’s still more than I expected… let's start with those who got the best scores on the first exam.

Unfortunately, there was no easy metric that he could use to judge who had the most talent for cultivation, so he would have to use imperfect metrics. Mo Duan was looking for someone who would be able to both cultivate relatively quickly and comprehend the cultivation method that he intended to give them. Both of these factors were difficult to evaluate until the kid actually started cultivating, but a person's ability to comprehend cultivation techniques was at least moderately correlated to intelligence.

If I manage to find someone able to create their own techniques or improve on the method that I give them, then that would be the best-case scenario…

After sorting them by their test scores, which were already available thanks to some strange xianxia magic, Mo Duan began looking into the backgrounds of his top ten candidates.

Let's get rid of the ones with troublesome political backgrounds…

The person who had achieved the highest spot, the grandson of the Liuyang Clan’s Matriarch, seemed like they met all of his criteria but Mo Duan knew that the competition for him would be fierce among the other Elders. Plus the Matriarch of the Liuyang was not someone that he could afford to offend, and spiriting off her heir to the sect’s least important valley and then not even making him a direct disciple would certainly be an offense.

I need someone without any kind of important background or at least one that I can afford to ignore…

After taking their backgrounds into consideration, Mo Duan eventually narrowed his options down to three candidates.

The first was a young orphan boy by the name of Feng Zhi from Emerald Forest City who had managed to achieve a good score despite his lack of education. He was noted as having a Spirit Root attuned to both metal and wood Qi, which was a rather strange combination that immediately drew Mo Duan's attention and made him feel a bit curious.

Mo Duan glanced at his mirror and saw a handsome boy on the cusp of puberty running steadily down a mountain path with a look of determination on his face. Mo Duan could tell that the boy was growing tired, but the kid looked determined enough to continue for quite a while longer.

Not bad. The kid’s smart, has an interesting Spirit Root, and he’s got a healthy dose of determination.

The second was a young girl named Qing Yi who came from a small merchant family in Misty Lake City that primarily sold medical herbs. Her test scores were very high, and Mo Duan was certain that Elder Yuanlei would not let her go without an appropriately large bribe. Unlike the orphan boy who had a dual Spirit Root attuned to wood and metal, Qing Yi had a single wood root that made her well-suited to the Woodland Dominion Method.

However, when Mo Duan looked at her ongoing trial, he saw a young girl who looked to be on the verge of collapse and was close to giving up.

Although I suppose it doesn’t really matter how much talent she has for physical cultivation…

While Mo Duan had a good feeling about the first two candidates, his feelings for the last one were a little bit complicated. The one thing that he and his predecessor had in common was that they had both had bad personal experiences with the wealthy and privileged. And even if the Ling Clan couldn’t be considered the most powerful clan in Emerald Forest City, there was no doubt that his third candidate, Ling Jun, was wealthy and privileged.

Mo Duan looked through the mirrors with a slight feeling of trepidation until he found who he was looking for.

Once he found him, Mo Duan saw a kid with long black hair that was about thirteen or fourteen years old running down a mountain path with a focused expression. Unlike the orphan boy, however, Mo Duan could tell that Ling Jun already had a substantial amount of training in martial arts.

Like the merchant girl, Ling Jun also had a single wood Spirit Root that made him well-suited for Woodland Dominion Method and would be a good choice if not for the baggage that came with him. Mo Duan was already feeling tired just thinking about the amount of political nonsense he would need to deal with in the future as an Elder, and taking on Ling Jun as a disciple would definitely add to his problems at some point.

He didn’t know much about the Ling Clan, other than that they were weak enough that Mo Duan could afford to offend them if he needed to and that they were involved in some kind of power struggle in their city.

Let's put him in the last-case scenario category… it would be best if I taught the Woodland Dominion Method to one of the other ones.

“Have any of the new disciples caught your attention, Elder Mo?” asked Elder Ying as soon as he put away the jade slip.

As an Elder who specialized in alchemy and medicine, she was the only other person aside from Mo Duan who had a vested interest in taking in disciples with wood roots.

I guess this is the part where we start trading and selling kids like they’re pokemon cards.

Given a choice between his valley and Elder Ying’s, nobody with any sense would choose to go with Mo Duan, so he would have to bribe her with a high enough price to prevent her from sending an offer to his candidates. Thankfully, while Mo Duan didn’t have much experience with negotiations, his predecessor had plenty.

“Yes, a few of them seem to fit my criteria,” Mo Duan said calmly. “I’m particularly interested in Feng Zhi, Qing Yi, and Ling Jun, although Feng Zhi would be my preferred choice.”

While he only really needed one of them, there wasn’t any particular reason why he shouldn’t grab the rest of them if he could.

Mo Duan watched as Elder Ying and the rest of the Elders inject Qi into their jade slips, likely all curious about who he intended to take on as a disciple. They knew that if Mo Duan intended to take the teaching of his disciples more seriously, then it would likely affect the sect significantly in time.

“Hmm. A dual wood-metal Spirit Root? How interesting,” said Elder Wuxing, smirking slyly.

“Do you intend to offer Feng Zhi a place in your valley, Elder Wuxing?” asked Mo Duan, keeping his tone neutral.

Elder Wuxing tended to be fickle and a tad whimsical, so the best way to dissuade him was to simply not encourage him. After a moment of consideration, the Elder shrugged and turned his attention back to the ongoing trials.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“I suppose not. It would be more interesting to see how you train the boy than for me to do it myself,” Elder Wuxing said dismissively.

“I’m afraid there’s little you could do to convince me to not extend an offer to Qing Yi,” said Elder Ying, her tone apologetic. “The girl’s elder sister is already a member of my valley and is quite excited to be reunited with her sibling. We’ve even recently begun purchasing medicinal herbs from her family.”

Mo Duan scrutinized Elder Ying’s expression for several moments before reaching the conclusion that she wouldn’t be budging.

“I see…and the two boys?” said Mo Duan, hoping that there wouldn’t be any complications with his other candidates.

“For the other two, I’m sure we can come to an agreement. We’ve recently had some trouble sourcing several important Spiritual Herbs recently, such as the Twilight Lotus. Perhaps you could help with that, Elder Mo?”

“After I finish teaching the new disciple, they will be able to assist me in gathering Spiritual Plants from the Vanishing Mist Forest. I would think that this is something that you should support.”

“But how long will that take, Elder Mo? Twilight Lotus is quite essential to a number of important Anti-Venoms. It’s important that we resupply before disciples are sent out to deal with the Spiritual Beasts that become active during summer.”

By the time Mo Duan was finished negotiating with Elder Ying, most of the kids had either given up or collapsed from exhaustion and Mo Duan had agreed to gather enough Twilight Lotus to last for the entire summer. Elder Ying agreed to refrain from sending an offer to his candidates unless something happened during the final trial to significantly change the situation.

“A pleasure doing business with you, Elder Mo,” said Elder Ying, a self-satisfied smile on her face.

Mo Duan let out a breath of relief when they finally reached a reasonable agreement. He’d already had plans to go to the Vanishing Mist Forest, so this wasn’t too big of a deal for him, but it would still take up a decent amount of his time.

“Likewise, Elder Ying.”

I take it back. You’re not the nice one.

Thankfully, the only other Elders who had an interest in the two kids that he had chosen were Feng Ke and Yuan Lei, but both of them were able to be bribed with a few Spirit Stones.

I’m glad that’s over. I was starting to feel like a creep. At least those kids were pretty cheap.

Mo Duan turned his attention back to the trial to see how Feng Zhi and Ling Jun had done, only to see that they had both passed out from exhaustion and were only just waking up after being ejected from the Formation. Ling Jun had slightly gone further, but that was mostly owing to his previous training while Feng Zhi seemed to have a decent natural talent for physical cultivation.

Mo Duan was glad to see that they both had enough determination to push themselves past their limits.

“Well, that was a disappointment, ” said Elder Wuxing, sighing as he seemed to lose interest in the trial. “There were only a few of the brats that were worth anything. None of them even come close to my Head Disciple.”

“Your Head Disciple is a once-in-a-century talent that also happens to have a special constitution,” said Elder Yuanlei, rolling her eyes in exasperation. “If you intend to wait for another disciple like her to show up, then you’ll be waiting for a long time.”

“Historically speaking, this batch of disciples is about average,” Elder Feng said just as the last disciple finished their trial and the multitude of mirrors reformed themselves back into their original form. “That may change depending on the results of the final portion of the ceremony.”

Elder Wuxing let out a dubious scoff before replying. “I doubt it.”

Mo Duan found himself agreeing with the man. While the last portion of the ceremony had the potential to be the most interesting, it was likely to be uneventful.

The last portion of the ceremony involved putting the prospective disciples through a Formation that would thoroughly inspect the kids for anomalies. These potential anomalies included things like possession, magical disguises, seals, evidence that they practiced demonic cultivation, and special constitutions.

Obviously, the Formation was not foolproof given Mo Duan’s presence in the sect, but it was good enough to catch the vast majority of abnormalities. The only reason that his predecessor hadn’t been caught was because his demonic cultivation was nearly impossible to detect while not actively being used due to the nature of his cultivation method.

Most sects didn’t go to such great lengths given how expensive such Formations were, but thoroughly inspecting their disciples was a policy that the Verdant Valleys Sect took very seriously due to past experiences.

However, it was rather rare that the Formation actually picked up on anything unexpected. The only time it had happened during his predecessors' time in the sect was three years ago when a demonic cultivator tried to sneak into the sect and steal its precious artifacts.

Thinking about the fallout from that made Mo Duan feel more resolved than ever to make certain he was never discovered.

“I hope that there’s another demonic cultivator in this batch,” said Elder Wuxing, causing Mo Duan to reflexively stiffen in his seat. “Punching the last one to paste was the most exciting part of the ceremony last time.”

“I doubt that there will be another one this year,” said Elder Yuanlei. “But if there is, remember to leave them alive. You can ‘punch them into paste’ after I finish interrogating them.”

Mo Duan held back a shudder as he did his best to ignore his two bloodthirsty colleagues, focusing his attention instead on the ceremony. The kids were being taken to a room similar to the one that they had just come from, large and empty with nothing inside of it aside from a large Formation running across the floor.

And several powerful cultivators prepared to immediately subdue anyone that might be a threat, of course.

This time, however, the Hall Master didn’t bother explaining the purpose of the Formation before activating it. Several of the kids cried out in shock as they began to glow once the Formation began doing its work, but they calmed down once nothing untoward seemed to happen. It would take several minutes for the process to be complete, so Mo Duan decided to use that time to study his soon-to-be disciples.

Feng Zhi had a curious expression, staring at the Formation and the light emanating from his body with a boyish wonder that Mo Duan found out of place in someone who grew up an orphan. He spoke excitedly with a fat teenager by his side while gesticulating wildly. The kid seemed a tad too energetic for Mo Duan’s taste, but he looked friendly enough.

In comparison, Ling Jun looked every bit the young lord that he was as he wore a cold expression on his face and sneered disdainfully at the boy next to him. Mo Duan didn’t want to judge a kid based on their background and a few minutes of observation, but he was sorely tempted to tell the other Elders that they could have the kid.

He only really needed one of them after all. Taking in Ling Jun would be nice, but his valley was filled with disciples that nobody else wanted; throwing a privileged young brat in there with them seemed like a recipe for unnecessary drama.

Just as Mo Duan was about to ask Elder Ying if they could revise their deal, he was interrupted by excited exclamations coming from the other Elders.

“Oh? How fascinating.”

“Oh, dear…”

“At least it’s not another demonic cultivator.”

“Ha! Just when I thought this ceremony was going to be a complete waste.”

Mo Duan turned his attention back to the ceremony only to see that Feng Zhi was glowing a bright cyan color, marking him as someone with a special constitution.

Fuck…

The Hall Master in charge of the process was quick to receive the information from the Formation and place it into a jade slip, which he handed to one of the nearby cultivators who immediately disappeared in a burst of extreme speed.

Presumably, he was headed to deliver the information to Patriarch. Mo Duan’s assumption was proven correct when the same cultivator entered their room just a few moments later and politely handed the jade slip over to Patriarch Songyu, who took it without a word.

Pretty much every Elder in the room, including Mo Duan, was on the edge of their seats as the Patriarch calmly reviewed its contents. After a moment of thoughtful silence, Patriarch Songyu nodded as if he had reached a decision and turned to face Mo Duan.

“I will be taking Feng Zhi as a direct disciple,” Patriarch Songyu said firmly.

“This one understands, Patriarch Songyu,” Mo Duan said obediently, knowing that there was no way he’d be able to change the Patriarch's mind.

Patriarch Songyu nodded before standing from his seat and making his way out of the room, likely to go greet his new disciple. After a moment, the rest of the Elders followed behind him, talking amongst themselves as they went to make their offers to the disciples that had caught their eye.

As the last Elder left, Mo Duan stayed behind and allowed himself to let out a weary sigh as he turned to look back mirror. Ling Jun had a decidedly inelegant look on his face as he stared at Feng Zhi with his mouth wide open, looking like a carp that had just been dragged onto dry land.

Mo Duan couldn’t help but snort in amusement.

I guess it’s me and you, kid.