In the northwest of Liangzhou, there was a place perpetually shrouded in mist. Ordinary people would become dizzy and disoriented after straying just a dozen or so yards into it. In the end, they would wander around and end up back outside, never able to penetrate the mist.

Behind the mist, a steep cliff wall could be vaguely seen. The cliff was over a hundred zhang high and stretched east and west for an unknown number of miles, looking quite magnificent.

On this day, a pitch-black carriage slowly drove into the mist. After zigzagging around inside for about half a quarter of an hour, it finally passed through the mist and came to a halt in front of a small wooden house at the foot of the cliff.

Three older men and women jumped down from the carriage first, followed by three younger teenagers.

The three teenagers each had their own characteristics. One was burly, with big eyes and thick eyebrows, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted. Even at a young age, he looked rather intimidating.

Another had a normal build. His originally rather handsome face was marred by a pair of shifty eyes and two pointed rabbit-like front teeth, making him look somewhat wretched.

Compared to the first two, the last teenager was a bit darker-skinned and thinner, but he was much more proportionate. His face was just passable in appearance on its own, but compared to the other two, he actually seemed rather handsome. His jet-black eyes would occasionally emit a glint of wisdom.

The people who had arrived were none other than Lu Li and his group who had been traveling for six consecutive days.

Chu Qing seemed afraid that Zhou Xinyi and He Jun would steal his credit, so he ordered them to return the carriage while he took the opportunity to lead Lu Li and the other two teenagers to the left of the cliff.

Lu Li was thinking that the cliff looked very smooth and there were no other buildings around. He thought to himself that this probably wasn't the Qingyang Sect. But after walking for a while, he discovered that there was actually a narrow path leading straight up the mountain on the cliff.

The path was only about three feet wide. The stone steps on it seemed to have been chiseled out roughly, and it was extremely steep.

As if worried that Lu Li and the others would fall off the stone steps, Chu Qing had the three of them walk in front.

The three of them were scrambling up with their hands and feet, struggling hard. Although they had done a lot of hunting and physical training on a daily basis, these steep stone steps still exhausted them. Especially Qin Shouren, who was in the middle. Suddenly, he turned around and saw that he was already above the clouds. A gust of cool wind blew, and his legs went weak, and he nearly rolled down.

Lu Li didn't dare to look back at all. He just kept urging Qin Shouren to hurry up.

It took them a full quarter of an hour to finally climb to the top of the cliff. In front of them, a vast bluestone square came into view first. Around the square were all kinds of ancient buildings. In the distance, there were numerous peaks, and the clouds and mists hovering over these peaks made it look rather dreamy.

And at this time, on the right front where they were standing, the three characters "Qingyang Sect" were engraved on a tall stone tablet.

All three of them were gaping, looking exactly like bumpkins entering the city.

"We can look at these things later. Junior brothers, follow me. I'll take you to have your spiritual roots tested," Chu Qing said impatiently.

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Hearing this, Lu Li and the other two quickly followed.

There was a loft on the east side of the square called the Foreign Affairs Hall. It was the place in the Qingyang Sect dedicated to handling sect trifles, including recruitment of new disciples, task distribution, and so on. Chu Qing led the three of them straight in and then went up to the second floor along the stairs.

Inside the hall on the second floor, an old man in green robes was leisurely sipping tea at this time. Seeing Chu Qing arrive, he raised his eyebrows and stood up, asking, "What's going on here?"

The old man in green robes was named Yu Tong. He was the second elder of the Qingyang Sect and also the head of the Foreign Affairs Hall. Only during the recruitment period of the Qingyang Sect in June and July each year would he come to sit in the Foreign Affairs Hall to help test the attributes of spiritual roots. Usually, he would be in seclusion in his own cave abode.

It was already the end of July now. This year's recruitment had already ended, and he was about to pack up and go back to his cave abode to cultivate. Unexpectedly, a few more youngsters had come.

However, Chu Qing wasn't from the Foreign Affairs Hall and wasn't responsible for this year's recruitment either. So he was a bit puzzled.

Chu Qing quickly walked forward, respectfully yet with a touch of smugness in his tone, and said, "Reporting to the Second Elder, when this disciple was out on a mission, by chance, I encountered these three youngsters. They have all awakened their spiritual roots. I humbly request the Second Elder to help test how many spiritual roots they have."

Only those in the Foundation Establishment stage could examine others' spiritual roots, and the Second Elder was a Foundation Establishment powerhouse.

Yu Tong was surprised when he heard this. He took a look at the nervous Lu Li and the other two, then looked at Chu Qing suspiciously and said, "You had such good fortune!"

Three at once. Such good fortune wasn't something that everyone could come across.

There was a rule in the Qingyang Sect that as long as one could bring new disciples to the sect, the sect would give rewards. The better the talent, the higher the reward. Besides the rewards from the Qingyang Sect, if the disciples one introduced were lucky enough to enter the upper sect, the rewards from the upper sect would be even more bountiful.

Therefore, many people in the Qingyang Sect were quite enthusiastic about going out to look for suitable seedlings. However, finding disciples with spiritual roots was like looking for a needle in a haystack. It all depended on fate. Some people searched for their whole lives but didn't find a single cultivator seedling. For Chu Qing to encounter three just by doing a mission, it was really like he had walked into a stroke of extremely good luck.

"Hehe, it's okay, it's okay," Chu Qing's mouth almost split to his waistband. He urged, "Second Elder, please take a look quickly. If there's a Heavenly Spiritual Root among them, we'll be rich."

"Heavenly Spiritual Root?" Yu Tong gave Chu Qing a disdainful look. "Stop daydreaming."

Then he looked at Lu Li and asked, "What's your name?"

Lu Li was already extremely nervous listening to their conversation. When he heard the other person calling him, his mind went blank for a moment. It wasn't until he heard the other person call again that he snapped back to his senses. He took a step forward and cupped his hands, saying, "I, I'm Lu Li."

"No need to be so nervous," Yu Tong smiled and beckoned to Lu Li. "Come closer."

Lu Li thought that whether he stuck his neck out or pulled it back, he had to face it. So he took a deep breath and walked over.

Yu Tong nodded and then grasped Lu Li's wrist and began to examine. Lu Li immediately had a feeling that all his internal organs were being seen through. Chu Qing stared fixedly at this scene, feeling as excited as opening a mystery box.

After a while, Yu Tong's brows furrowed, and then his face started twitching violently. He muttered, "Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Light, Darkness... Pfft!"

"I've never seen such lousy spiritual roots!"

"What?" Chu Qing was stunned. "Second Elder, are you mistaken? They only took one Awakening Spirit Pill and awakened successfully. At the very least, they should be Five Spiritual Roots, how could it be..."

"Humph, do you think I'd deceive you?" Yu Tong's smile disappeared from his face. "Next one."

"Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Darkness..."

"Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Thunder..."

Finally, after testing all three of them, Yu Tong's face had turned livid by now. He really couldn't figure out how these three oddballs had awakened their spiritual roots.

And Chu Qing's face also sank. Usually, even with False Spiritual Roots, one could get rewards, but if they were Mixed Spiritual Roots...

"Senior, can we stay?"

Although the two of them had gloomy expressions, Lu Li couldn't help but want to ask for a result. Of course, if it wasn't possible, he wouldn't force it. If he couldn't obtain cultivation techniques here, he would just have to think of other ways.

Since he had already awakened his spiritual roots, no matter how useless they were, Lu Li was determined to continue on this path.