Seeing Garrett Lance looking lost and dejected, Joe Di patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, there are plenty of sects here. Wait for me—I’ll finish my test, then I’ll go with you to check out the other sects."
Garrett Lance finally snapped out of it and could only nod, lacking any opinion of his own.
Joe Di sighed, but before he could speak, the Trueblade Sect cultivator in charge of the test barked, "Hurry up! You should worry about yourself."
Joe Di knew the other party was annoyed—not just because he was a bit slow, but more so because he dared to mention checking out other sects at the Trueblade Sect.
Regardless of his spiritual root aptitude, Joe Di naturally had to try first. He stepped onto the testing instrument, placing his hands into the grooves.
A distinct black pillar of light shot straight into the sky, reaching the very top. The testing cultivator suspected that if the instrument weren’t only about two zhang tall, the black pillar would have gone even higher.
Although the pillar of light behind Joe Di was vivid and unmistakable, the testing cultivator was still baffled.
A black pillar of light? What kind of spiritual root is this?
Not just in the Trueblade Sect—even across the entire Yalen Continent—no one had ever heard of a spiritual root manifesting as a black pillar of light.
Just as the testing cultivator was about to call for an elder, the black pillar of light began to fade. As time passed, it completely vanished.
"That's the Dissolute Root," cried out one of the cultivators in charge of recruiting disciples.
"What is the Dissolute Root?" someone asked.
A deep voice explained, "The Dissolute Root absorbs spiritual energy, but the energy quickly disperses. It can't be gathered or converted into cultivation."
As the voice faded, a middle-aged man in a gray cultivator’s robe walked over.
"Steward Ming." Several recruiting cultivators hurriedly bowed in greeting.
The middle-aged man said to Joe Di, "Step down, then come up and test again."
Joe Di was a bit confused himself—his aptitude was excellent. He'd reached the seventh level of Qi Refinement in no time at all. According to the timeline described in the Cultivator’s Jade Scroll, his progress was definitely fast. Clearly, his aptitude was good, so what did Dissolute Root mean?
"Alright." Hearing the Trueblade Sect steward ask him to test again, Joe Di didn’t hesitate and stepped onto the testing instrument once more.
Again, a black pillar of light shot skyward. Joe Di kept his eyes fixed on the steward. With just one word from Steward Ming, he could enter the top-tier Trueblade Sect. If Steward Ming refused, he might not get into any sect at all.
It really was a black pillar of light—what kind of spiritual root was this? Steward Ming was just as baffled.
He’d cultivated for over a hundred years and had seen spiritual roots of every color—except black. The five elemental roots—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—were gold, green, pale white, red, and yellow. The mutated roots—wind, thunder, ice—were gray, blue, and snowy white...
Today was truly eye-opening; he’d witnessed a black pillar of light in the spiritual root test.
Soon enough, he saw the black pillar of light behind Joe Di begin to dissipate, just like in the first test.
Normally, as long as the tester remained in the instrument, the pillar wouldn’t fade. If it did, it meant Dissolute Root. No matter how quickly Dissolute Root absorbed spiritual energy, it always dispersed in the end and couldn’t be converted into cultivation. No matter how hard you tried, progress was slow, since ninety percent of the absorbed energy would dissipate.
After Joe Di stepped off the instrument, Steward Ming said, “Your spiritual root probably has too many mixed colors, which resulted in black. That’s one thing—but you also have Dissolute Root, so you failed the test.”
Joe Di stepped down without arguing. If his root wasn’t black, he’d have wanted to tell the steward he could cultivate—and quickly, too.
But if black roots could cultivate, what if the steward investigated his sea of consciousness? There were secrets hidden there. Even Joe Di himself was puzzled—why was his spiritual root black?
“Ninth Brother, let’s try another place.” Garrett Lance, who had calmed down considerably, came over.
“Alright, I’ll go with you and give it a try.” Joe Di had no intention of testing further; he wanted to join an Immortal Sect, but only after figuring out why his spiritual root was black.
As for Dissolute Root, he didn’t care at all. He knew he wasn’t Dissolute Root—he could absorb spiritual energy and cultivate without any waste.
Joe Di accompanied Garrett Lance as they left the Trueblade Sect, visiting Rainbowspire Sect, Thunderwing Sect, Stormsea School, Grand Hall of Law, Spiritweb Sect...
Almost every sect told Garrett Lance the same thing: his mutated thunder root was too mottled—he failed the test.
After making the rounds, Garrett Lance hung his head, knowing he didn’t stand a chance.
“There are still two left. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll think of something else.” Joe Di had made up his mind—if Garrett Lance couldn’t pass any tests, he would teach him the Great Path Sect’s teachings and they’d both become rogue cultivators. After all, Garrett Lance did have a spiritual root; it was just impure, so his cultivation would be slower.
“Shuang, did you pass the test?” Joe Di led Garrett Lance to the Starstream School’s testing area and spotted Sherry Jing standing at the back.
Sherry Jing was able to stand at the Starstream School’s site, which meant she’d passed the test.
Sherry Jing sighed inwardly, took two steps forward, and said, “Yes…”
She didn’t know what else to say. Her spiritual root wasn’t great—it was triple-element. Fortunately, one element was pure, so she was accepted as an outer disciple of Starstream School.
She was different from Joe Di and Garrett Lance. Before coming to the plaza to find a sect, she already knew she had triple-element roots, with water being the strongest. With her triple-element roots and one pure root, joining an Immortal Sect wasn’t difficult.
So, before arriving, she’d already chosen Starstream School. Many who know their spiritual root situation do what Sherry Jing did—select their sect in advance. People like Joe Di and Garrett Lance, running around like headless flies and testing wherever they ended up, were basically rookies who knew nothing about Immortal Sects.
Standing here, she’d already seen Joe Di and Garrett Lance make the rounds of the plaza, testing at every sect.
“Joe Di, should I try to put in a word for you, see if you and Garrett Lance can join Starstream School as servant disciples?” Sherry Jing was a bit uneasy; she wasn’t sure if, as an outer disciple, she could really help Joe Di and Garrett Lance become servant disciples.
No matter what, Joe Di was at least an acquaintance.
“Haha…” Before Joe Di could answer, a hearty laugh rang out. “Shuang, so you know these two? Alright, I’ll make the call… By the way, what are your names?”
The source of the hearty laughter was a refined-looking older man, who seemed more like a scholar than a cultivator.
Joe Di quickly bowed and said, “Junior Joe Di, and he’s Garrett Lance.”
“Good, good…” The refined man repeated the word twice, then turned to the recruiting cultivator and said, “Since Joe Di and Garrett Lance know our disciple Sherry Jing, bring them both in as outer disciples.”
“Yes, Elder Yu.” The recruiting cultivator, no matter how confused, could only stand up and bow in response.
Elder Yu nodded to Joe Di and Garrett Lance before turning to leave. He was secretly delighted—he’d been watching these two for quite a while. He’d worried that some other sect might recruit them before they finally came to Starstream School, after almost making the rounds of every sect in the plaza.
Other sects thought Joe Di and Garrett Lance were a Dissolute Root and an impure mutated root, but Elder Yu didn’t see it that way. He didn’t know what kind of root the black one was, but he was sure it wasn’t ordinary. Besides, he’d seen Dissolute Root dissipate before, and Joe Di’s was nothing like it.
As for Garrett Lance, his thunder root was impure, but not truly impure. Elder Yu was certain that, among everyone in the plaza, Garrett Lance’s root was actually the best.
Joe Di quickly said to Sherry Jing, “Thank you, Senior Sister Sherry. If not for you, Lance and I probably wouldn’t even have become outer disciples.”
He thanked Sherry Jing, but inside, Joe Di was puzzled. He doubted that Sherry Jing, who had just joined Starstream School, had enough influence to get an elder to personally break the rules for him and Garrett Lance.
Sherry Jing quickly waved her hand and said, “It was your sincerity that moved the elder, which is why he made an exception and let you join. It didn’t have much to do with me.”
She was clever and knew that Joe Di and Garrett Lance’s acceptance had nothing to do with her. Every spot for a disciple in an Immortal Sect was precious; there was no way two more outer disciples would be added just for her sake as a newcomer.
“Ninth Brother, we’re finally disciples of an Immortal Sect!” After registering with the Starstream School recruiter, Garrett Lance grabbed Joe Di, trembling with excitement.
An Immortal Sect—he, Garrett Lance, had actually become a disciple of one. Before this, even the village children had looked down on him. No, even his own younger brother and sister had looked down on him.
Joe Di also breathed a sigh of relief. One way or another, he’d finally joined a cultivation sect.