Name: Chen Mobai
Age: 18
Stage: Qi Refining Level 5
Spirit Root: Gold 23, Wood 27, Water 23, Fire 17, Earth 10
In Danxia City, in a classroom of the Fifth High School of the Immortal Sect, a delicate-looking boy took out his sleek, jade-like phone and opened his personal interface data.
The semester just started, and the homeroom teacher wanted to check their cultivation progress during the vacation. Chen Mobai edited some content that needed updating.
Connecting to the educational network, he was about to click and send his personal panel to the homeroom teacher when he heard a voice beside him.
“Hey, you really practiced in seclusion during the holidays and broke through to Qi Refining Level 5.”
His deskmate, after sending his own panel, glanced at Chen Mobai’s, and seeing the Qi Refining Level 5 in the stage section, spoke in a slightly envious tone.
Although the content on the personal interface was self-reported, the school could easily verify the truth through various exams. Hence, no one would dare to fill in false data lightly, as getting caught would affect future educations or war deployment records.
The Immortal Sect had strict punishments for falsifying information.
“I’m different from you. I have a true spirit root. As long as I work hard, my cultivation will definitely progress faster than your pseudo-spirit root.”
Chen Mobai spoke with a hint of pride. Apart from visiting temples with his mom, he spent the rest of his holiday in seclusion, relying on the power of elixirs to break through the bottleneck and reach Qi Refining Level 5.
“It’s so unfair that your spirit root attributes are considered a true spirit root.”
His deskmate looked furious but could do nothing about the Immortal Sect’s rules.
If any spirit root attribute exceeded 20, it was considered a true spirit root. Unfortunately, his deskmate’s talents were distributed more evenly across four attributes, thus classified as a pseudo-spirit root.
In reality, his deskmate’s spirit root attributes were almost the same as Chen Mobai’s, just a bit more balanced.
“Quite good, many students have made progress during the holiday.”
At this point, the homeroom teacher on the podium had finished reviewing everyone’s panel and showed a rare smile on his usually stern face.
He proceeded to call out and praise each student who had made progress.
Chen Mobai found himself among them.
The homeroom teacher’s praise made two beautiful girls in front of him turn their heads, causing Chen Mobai to stand tall with a face full of pride.
Reaching Qi Refining Level 5 placed him in the top twenty of the entire class.
Now in his senior year, if he worked hard, he might advance another level before the Immortal Sect’s college entrance exams.
If he reached Qi Refining Level 6, he might not get into the top four Taoist academies, but a secondary tier one was within reach, and the local top universities, Danzhu and Chixia, were almost certain.
If he could get into a Taoist academy after the exams, he wouldn’t be conscripted by the Immortal Sect for ten years, providing a stable period for him to attempt Foundation Establishment.
“Finally, I’d like to especially commend Song Zheng and Yan Bingxuan. I never thought I would have students reaching the late Qi Refining stage in my teaching career.”
Chai Deyun, a homeroom teacher for six years, felt a wave of emotion. This was his first fully completed class, and his usually stern eyes turned gentle as everyone looked at the standing pair.
They were the class’s top students with the most outstanding spirit roots, having reached Qi Refining Level 7 before the exams, practically ensuring entry into tier-two Taoist academies, with a shot at Foundation Establishment within a decade.
Chen Mobai could not hide his envy. Unlike his borderline true spirit root, Song Zheng and Yan Bingxuan possessed a spirit root with an attribute above 40, making their cultivation much more efficient.
“Alright, today’s class ends here.”
Hearing the bell of the highest building in the school, Chai Deyun gathered the collected test papers and announced the end of the class.
All students immediately burst out.
Chen Mobai, too, grabbed his phone and leapt out of the nearby window, heading straight for the cultivation room.
Thanks to his seclusion during the holiday and improved cultivation level, his speed enchantment was three times faster, allowing him to reach the training ground ahead of most.
Without hesitation, he rushed into the first open cultivation room he saw.
With a beep, Chen Mobai scanned his electronic student card at the door, causing the “Vacant” indicator on the electronic screen to disappear as the door slowly shut.
“Damn!”
Outside, a student who was a step too late cursed and dashed towards another vacant cultivation room.
Their urgency was understandable.
It was incredibly hard to come by spiritual energy.
After six thousand years of the Immortal Sect’s development, the resources of Earth’s original star were nearly exhausted. All the spiritual veins in the territories occupied by the Thirty-Six Heavens and Seventy-Two Blessed Lands were nationalized, leaving only enough ambient spiritual energy for basic breathing exercises.
For cultivation, a practitioner needed to purchase spiritual energy from the Immortal Sect.
Delivering lower-tier first-grade spiritual energy to a dwelling cost 10 merit points per month.
To Chen Mobai at Qi Refining Level 5, lower-tier first-grade spiritual energy was no longer useful.
Mid-tier first-grade spiritual energy cost 20 merit points per month.
Upper-tier first-grade spiritual energy’s cost was 40 merit points per month.
For Chen Mobai, mid-tier first-grade spiritual energy could only stabilize his cultivation and barely progress. For quick improvement, upper-tier first-grade was needed.
Of course, second-grade or even third-grade spiritual energy would be better.
But that was only a dream.
Only those from Foundation Establishment families or those running businesses could apply for second-grade spiritual veins from the Immortal Sect.
Feeling the concentration of spiritual energy rise in the three-square-meter cultivation room, Chen Mobai opened the spiritual energy value testing app on his phone.
After nearly a minute, the value finally stabilized.
Spiritual Energy Value: 10
The grade of a spiritual vein could be measured by its spiritual energy value.
According to the Immortal Sect’s regulations, a value of 1-10 was first-grade.
A value of 10-100 was second-grade.
A value of 100-1000 was third-grade.
And so on, with the highest-grade being the sixth-grade spiritual vein, located at the celestial abode of the Immortal Sect’s two supreme ancestors.