"Senior Brother Lin Hao has broken through!"

Inside the wooden house, Li Feilong sensed the aura of the breakthrough. He temporarily ended his cultivation and opened his eyes, with a look of surprise on his face.

After all, Lin Hao had the five-element spiritual root, which was known for its extremely slow cultivation speed and was even called a useless spiritual root. To be able to cultivate to the second level of Qi Refining within half a year after joining the sect, this speed was comparable to that of a fourth-grade dual-attribute spiritual root.

It was simply against common sense!

However, when Li Feilong thought of the rumor that Lin Hao had eaten a supreme spirit fruit that even startled the sect leader, he understood it and couldn't help showing an envious look on his face.

That supreme spirit fruit could enable a useless spiritual root to cultivate to the second level of Qi Refining in half a year. If he could eat such a fruit, how fast his cultivation speed would be!

"It's also thanks to Junior Brother Li's low-grade spirit stone," Lin Hao, who was sitting cross-legged in meditation, exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, with an excited look on his face. Reaching the second level of Qi Refining meant that he was one step closer to meeting the requirement of becoming an outer sect disciple at the third level of Qi Refining.

...

On a clear morning a few days later.

In the tenth team's new miscellaneous disciple area, a long-faced young man wearing the clothing of an outer sect disciple walked towards Lin Hao with a cold expression and said, "Lin Hao, it's been half a year, and you're no longer a new disciple. Follow me to the old miscellaneous disciple area."

"Yes, senior brother," Lin Hao nodded and replied calmly.

The long-faced young man couldn't help but feel a bit puzzled in his heart. Usually, when new miscellaneous disciples were transferred to the old miscellaneous disciple area, they would look as sad as if they had lost their parents. But Lin Hao was so calm and relaxed.

"Eh, no wonder you're so calm. You've already broken through to the second level of Qi Refining. Among miscellaneous disciples, your cultivation speed is quite fast," the long-faced young man looked at Lin Hao. A look of surprise suddenly appeared on his cold face. For someone with a five-element spiritual root to be able to cultivate to the second level of Qi Refining in such a short time was simply a miracle. Lin Hao had just broken through to the second level of Qi Refining and hadn't fully mastered the skill of concealing his aura, so it was easy for others to see his current cultivation level.

"Senior brother, I was just lucky to break through a few days ago," Lin Hao said with a humble smile on his face.

"Junior Brother Lin is really a person with great opportunities. If I could get a spirit fruit like the one Junior Brother Lin ate, I'm afraid I would have hope of cultivating to the sixth level of Qi Refining and becoming an inner sect disciple," the long-faced young man looked at Lin Hao, and his expression wasn't as cold as before. Instead, his tone was full of envy.

In cultivating immortals, although spiritual roots were important, opportunities sometimes mattered more than spiritual roots and could even change one's fate against the heavens.

Lin Hao, with his five-element spiritual root, under normal circumstances, would be lucky to reach the second level of Qi Refining after cultivating for twenty or thirty years. But now, he had achieved it in just half a year.

The long-faced young man could already imagine how heaven-defying the effect of that "spirit fruit" was.

If it weren't for the sect leader saying that the spirit fruit had been absorbed by Lin Hao's body and become his potential, and also because the Xuanyue Sect was a decent sect and its sect rules encouraged competition but prohibited disciples from killing each other or harming lives, perhaps someone wouldn't be able to resist the temptation and would kill Lin Hao and even eat his flesh to see if they could obtain some of the remaining medicinal power of the spirit fruit.

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"Senior brother is joking. Although I ate the spirit fruit, I still have a useless five-element spiritual root. The slower my cultivation will be as I progress further. It would be good enough if I could become an outer sect disciple in the future," Lin Hao knew that he should keep a low profile and said.

The long-faced young man, who was now interested, put aside his aloofness as an outer sect disciple and started chatting with Lin Hao, opening up the conversation.

"After leaving the new miscellaneous disciple area, you need to dig ten catties of spirit iron to get a meal," the long-faced young man introduced, "Although there's twice as much work, there's also an advantage. You can receive two low-grade spirit stones every year."

"Thank you, senior brother, for clearing up my doubts and telling me these things," Lin Hao clasped his hands and said.

The two walked together, and before long, they arrived at the place where the miscellaneous disciples who had joined the sect for more than half a year lived. There were wooden houses built one after another here. Looking around, it was like a small town.

The Xuanyue Sect truly deserved to be one of the four major immortal cultivation sects in the State of Zhao. Just the miscellaneous disciples in the mining area alone were so numerous, numbering in the thousands.

Adding in the miscellaneous disciples in the alchemy area, the spirit medicine area, and the weapon refining area, there were probably tens of thousands of miscellaneous disciples in total.

"The miscellaneous disciples in the old area are divided into thirty-six teams, with about a hundred people in each team," the long-faced young man walked with Lin Hao for a while longer, then pointed at a wooden house and continued, "You'll be a miscellaneous disciple in the thirty-second team from now on. You'll live in that house."

"Yes, senior brother," Lin Hao nodded.

After arranging things for him, the long-faced young man quickly left.

Lin Hao walked towards the wooden house. When he opened the door, he saw ten small wooden beds inside.

In the new disciple area, miscellaneous disciples lived in double rooms, but in the old miscellaneous disciple area, ten people lived in one room, and the conditions were much worse.

Since all the miscellaneous disciples had gone to work in the mine cave, there was no one in the house.

Lin Hao scanned the room with his eyes, found an empty bed, and temporarily put his few belongings on it.

He still had two meal vouchers for the mining area, which could be exchanged for two bowls of spirit porridge, so he wasn't in a hurry to work and instead began to familiarize himself with the environment.

The old miscellaneous disciple area spanned several large mountains, with lush forests and quite a nice scenery.

Lin Hao walked around his new residence for a while and then went back to the wooden house to meditate and cultivate.

In the afternoon, as the sun set and it was getting dark.

The door of the wooden house opened, and several miscellaneous disciples walked in.

"Fellow senior brothers, I'm Lin Hao, a newly transferred miscellaneous disciple here," Lin Hao saw that someone had come back and ended his cultivation to take the initiative to greet them.

"Newcomer? Tell us about your cultivation level," one of the rather muscular young men looked at Lin Hao and asked with a frown.

"Reply to this senior brother, my current level is at the second level of Qi Refining," Lin Hao thought for a moment and replied.

"Unexpectedly, the strength of the newcomer this time is quite good!"

Hearing that he had a cultivation level at the second level of Qi Refining, all the miscellaneous disciples who came into the wooden house couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. The rather muscular young man even showed a smile on his face and said, "Junior Brother Lin, I'm Jiang Sheng, the strongest person in this room at present. If we want to live well in the old miscellaneous disciple area, the people in our room must unite. Let me tell you about the rules here."

"Senior Brother Jiang, please go ahead," Lin Hao nodded and said.

"I'm sure you already know that after coming here, the amount of spirit iron you need to dig is twice as much as what you dug in the new disciple area," Jiang Sheng said, "We must occupy areas in the mining area with more spirit iron so that we can dig out more spirit iron."

"There are a total of four people in our room, including you, at the second level of Qi Refining, and the other six are at the first level of Qi Refining," he continued.

"Currently, the amount of spirit iron produced daily in the mining area we occupy is above average. There are quite a few people from other houses in the ore area who are eyeing this territory," he went on, "If someone comes to snatch the territory we occupy in the future, the people in our room at the second level of Qi Refining must come out to fight and drive those who want to snatch the territory away."

"Alright, Senior Brother Jiang, I understand," Lin Hao was relieved to see that Jiang Sheng was quite polite.

"Also, the other six people in our room at the first level of Qi Refining will share some of the spirit porridge they exchange with the spirit iron they dig as a reward for us protecting the mining area territory," Jiang Sheng continued.

Under his patient explanation, Lin Hao became more familiar with the situation in the ore area.

According to the regulations of the Xuanyue Sect, in the old miscellaneous disciple area, the people in each room were equivalent to a small group. To obtain good spirit ore mining resources, they had to rely on the strength of the group.