To break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, a mental method was essential. A mental method was a cultivation technique designed specifically for advancing one’s realm, and compared to swordsmanship, fist techniques, and other martial skills, it was far more fundamental, and far more precious.
Every major power guarded its mental methods like priceless treasures, forbidding outsiders from ever laying eyes on them.
The Spirit Appraisal Pagoda was the only place an ordinary person could earn a mental method as a reward, but the difficulty was immense.
Chen Feng wasn’t confident he could obtain it. After all, he had no idea what grade a transparent spirit root even was.
The crowd filed into the Spirit Appraisal Pagoda.
The interior was divided into many separate rooms. The Tower Master arranged for Chen Feng and the Lin Family’s Lu Wei to enter adjacent chambers.
Lu Wei, brimming with confidence, shot a sideways glance at Chen Feng. “Try not to be too intimidated when you see the true grade of my spirit root,” he said with a sly smirk.
He was certain that this time, he would test as a third-grade, top-level spirit root. His status in the Lin Family would soar. Snatching Lin Shuyue away would become that much easier.
Chen Feng just shrugged, writing on a piece of paper, “We’ll see.”
He had a spirit root, too. Even if it was a transparent one.
At the Tower Master's signal, everyone entered their assigned detection chambers.
This was Chen Feng’s fourth time here.
After sealing the stone door, he couldn't stop the familiar knot of nervousness from tightening in his stomach as he faced the crystal ruler floating in the center of the room. It was etched with nine colored markings, each representing a grade from one to nine.
When a martial artist placed their hand upon it, their spirit root would cause the corresponding color to light up, revealing its grade. The detection was unfailingly accurate; it never made a mistake.
Taking a deep breath, Chen Feng stepped forward and laid his hand on the crystal ruler.
The ruler immediately gave a slight tremble.
An iridescent ripple rose from the base, reaching the red marking before shooting instantly to the orange one without pause.
A bit of the tension in Chen Feng’s chest loosened. He had always worried his transparent spirit root might be some kind of useless, ungraded anomaly.
The ripple quickly reached the yellow marking, then surged toward the green with startling force.
Chen Feng’s heart began to race. Green represented a fourth-grade spirit root. That was already higher than Lu Wei’s grade, a rarity in Willow Creek City.
But the ripple showed no sign of stopping.
It blazed past the blue marking and reached the azure one.
Chen Feng clenched his fist, his heart pounding against his ribs. A sixth-grade spirit root—he was already on par with Lin Mengyao.
But still, the ripple didn’t stop.
Purple. Seventh-grade.
Chen Feng’s heart leaped into his throat. His mouth went dry. It had just passed the black marking. Eighth-grade. He had actually broken the highest record in Willow Creek City’s history.
The indicator’s momentum was still immense as it surged to the highest marking of all: white.
Ninth-grade! It was a ninth-grade spirit root!
Chen Feng’s pupils contracted, his eyes flooding with an uncontrollable, brilliant joy. He possessed an unprecedented, ninth-grade spirit root—a level that existed only in legends.
But the ripple still didn't stop. It continued to rise.
Past the final marking, the end of the crystal ruler was a blank, unmarked space. The ripple surged into it, kept rising, and finally shot out of the top of the ruler itself, flying right out of the chamber.
The sight left Chen Feng utterly dumbfounded.
What in the world was his spirit root? The test was over, but he had no answer.
At almost the exact moment the ripple burst from Chen Feng’s crystal ruler, Lu Wei was in the adjacent chamber, his expression souring. He watched the indicator in his own ruler crawl upward like a snail, finally sputtering to a halt at the razor’s edge between mid and upper third-grade.
“Rise! Come on, rise! Damn it!” Lu Wei slammed his fist against the crystal ruler, shouting in frustration.
He had been so sure he’d reach third-grade top-level, but he had missed it by a hair’s breadth. That sliver of difference meant he would be denied access to the Lin Family’s resources, and Zhao Lirong’s promised “Lin’s Sword Technique.”
Just then, the ripple from Chen Feng’s ruler shot out of his chamber and streaked past Lu Wei’s. The sheer power of its passage seemed to pull at the indicator in Lu Wei’s ruler, dragging it upward once more.
It surged past green, azure, blue, purple, and black.
Finally, it climbed slowly to the very top and settled on the white marking. The white band began to glow, the light growing brighter and more intense with every passing second.
Outside, the Tower Master was lounging in a bamboo chair, a pen in one hand, lazily flipping through a registry with the other.
A faint red glow emanated from the stone door of Chamber 3.
He found the corresponding entry in his book and announced indifferently, “Chamber 3, Miss Zhu of the Zhu Family, Zhu Tingting. First-grade lower spirit root.”
Soon, other chambers began to light up.
“Chamber 7, Yu Wangdong, heir of the Liu Trading House. First-grade upper spirit root.”
“Chamber 1, Young Castle Master of Cheng Clan Fortress, Wei Xiangqiu. First-grade lower spirit root.”
After recording several more results, the Tower Master shook his head. “Alas. Willow Creek City’s talent declines with each passing year. If not for Lin Mengyao and her sixth-grade spirit root, they would have dismantled this Spirit Appraisal Pagoda long ago.”
Suddenly, a brilliant white light sliced through the seam of the stone door to Lu Wei's chamber.
The Tower Master rubbed his eyes, confused. “White? On the crystal ruler, white represents…”
He shot to his feet with such force that the bamboo chair went flying several dozen feet behind him. His old face was a mask of profound shock as he stared at the blinding white light pouring from Lu Wei’s chamber.
“Ninth-grade… has appeared!” he exclaimed, his voice filled with astonishment.
No sooner had the words left his lips than the white light exploded in intensity. It became a blazing sun, washing the entire Spirit Appraisal Pagoda in its radiance. The light grew too powerful for the tower to contain, bursting from the roof in a colossal beam that pierced straight through the clouds.
Miles away, Lin Mengyao had just finished her meditation. Spiritual energy swirled around her, and her eyes were sharp and bright.
Beside her, Lin Tiancheng beamed with pride. “Mengyao, you’ve broken through to the ninth layer of Qi Cultivation! To do so at such a young age is unprecedented in the history of Willow Creek City!”
A hint of pride touched her features. “With a sixth-grade spirit root, such speed is to be expected. Once I join the Azure Misty Sect and acquire a mid or even high Yellow Level mental method, my cultivation will be faster still…”
A flash of white in the corner of her eye made her stop. She stared. “Father, what is that?”
Lin Tiancheng, equally stunned by the spectacular sight, observed it for a moment. “It’s coming from the Spirit Appraisal Pagoda,” he said, his voice tense. “Could it be that a world-class spirit root has appeared?”
“I remember your grandfather telling me that many years ago, in the neighboring Biyun City, a prodigy with an eighth-grade spirit root was discovered. During the detection, a pillar of black light shot into the sky, just like what we’re seeing now.”
Black light represented the eighth-grade. Did that mean this white beam was… ninth-grade?
Lin Mengyao could hardly believe it. She watched the beam, unconsciously biting her lip. As proud as she was, she couldn’t accept that someone in Willow Creek City possessed a spirit root superior to her own. So vastly superior.
As the light began to fade, she gritted her teeth, tossed her sword aside, and sprinted toward the Spirit Appraisal Pagoda. “I have to see who it is!”
Lin Tiancheng worried about her impulsiveness, but he was just as curious to learn the identity of this extraordinary prodigy. He quickened his pace to follow.
The entire Willow Creek City erupted into chaos. Countless martial artists flocked madly toward the Spirit Appraisal Pagoda, desperate to witness the once-in-a-century spectacle. Among them were even a few reclusive clan leaders, long thought dead, who could no longer remain hidden and burst from their seclusion to lay eyes on this world-altering talent.
While the city outside fell into turmoil, the inside of the Spirit Appraisal Pagoda was in an uproar.
The other martial artists rushed from their chambers, crowding around the stone door of Lu Wei’s room, their faces etched with unparalleled shock.
The Tower Master was practically delirious, muttering to himself.
“A legend! I’ve witnessed a legend! In my lifetime, I have actually seen the legendary ninth-grade spirit root! It’s the same grade as our Celestial Mechanism Pavilion’s Pavilion Master!”
A young man with clenched fists asked, his voice thick with jealousy, “Tower Master, is ninth-grade truly the strongest?”
The Tower Master glared at him and snorted. “Nonsense! Of course ninth-grade is the strongest…”
Then, as if recalling some forgotten legend, he trailed off, his certainty wavering. “Although… there is indeed a type of spirit root in this world said to surpass the ninth-grade.”