“No Spirit Root, Spirit Blood from an unknown origin, and a Spirit Bone that has been excavated. However, he possesses such powerful Spiritual Strength, and is able to control an Earth Flame and tribulation lightning? Furthermore, his thunderforce has reached the high Heaven tier. It’s completely incomprehensible!”

Within one of the palaces of the Xuantian Dao Sect, a lean Elder carefully looked through the jade plate Mu Qingxuan had offered him.

There were over ten Elders present as well, all of them solemn. They were frowning, incapable of explaining this.

“Without a Spirit Root or a Dantian, it is still possible to nourish spiritual qi within the body’s three hundred and sixty acupuncture points. Once activated, it is possible for the acupuncture points to take the place of the Dantian to store spiritual yuan. However, this process requires an extremely powerful expert to spend countless time and attention on you to reforge your entire body. It seems that there’s no such existence within the Eastern Wasteland. Furthermore, even in this case, a person wouldn’t possess much cultivation talent or ability,” said one of them.

The first lean Elder asked, “Li Changfeng, you’re the only one to come into contact with this Long Chen. Do you have any opinion?”

Li Changfeng was the one who had gone to the Eastern Wasteland to handle Long Chen’s matter. In the end, he had been forced to capture Lu Minghan and bring him away.

“Reporting to Hall Master, your subordinate was incompetent and had no chance to talk much with him. But the Law Enforcement Hall…” said Li Changfeng.

This lean Elder was the Elder Hall’s leader and was called the Elder Hall Master. He shook his head and said, “This matter isn’t your fault. The past few years, the Law Enforcement Hall’s hands and legs have stretched further than ever, and they’re even starting to infringe on our Elder Hall’s matters. By directly capturing him and bringing him back, you’ve caused the Law Enforcement Hall to lose face, but that’s not a bad thing. There’s no need to blame yourself over that, so speak more about Long Chen.”

Li Changfeng was silent for a moment before cautiously saying, “I investigated him. He comes from poor origins, and should have obtained some opportunity to suddenly soar like a shooting star. He is intelligent but decisively kills people and dares to cause trouble for himself. He treats death indifferently, but he treats the people by his side extremely well with absolute sincerity. He possesses a great deal of charisma.

“Looking at his past, he should have obtained many lucky opportunities and is hiding many secrets. That’s why Lu Minghan would still recklessly attack him. As a result, while Lu Minghan’s guard was down, Long Chen caused him to lose in their brief battle. Furthermore, in front of countless Eastern Wasteland disciples, he tried to forcibly suppress Long Chen. That caused a worrisome impact, and that’s why I had no choice but to capture him.”

The Hall Master nodded. “Geniuses all possess karmic luck and are supported by the Heavenly Daos. But this Long Chen isn’t a Celestial. That’s strange. According to reason, we should give him special treatment and support him, but according to the sect’s rules, it seems that he hasn’t met the requirements. That puts us in a difficult spot. Although Long Chen hasn’t joined the Xuantian Dao Sect yet, if this decision of ours ends up impacting our disciple’s life, we’ll have committed a sin.”

The Elder Hall was in charge of discovering and raising geniuses. They were the department with the greatest authority in the Xuantian Dao Sect, which was why all their Elders possessed both integrity and skill. They carefully and meticulously handled things.

Whether it was Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength, flame energy, or thunderforce, any of them was enough to let him become a special elite disciple that would receive exceptional care. But he had no Spirit Blood or Spirit Root, which wasn’t in accordance with the rules. He was like a skyscraper that had no foundation and might collapse at any time. The Spirit Root and Spirit Blood were the foundation for a cultivator.

“Do not intentionally make things easier on Long Chen, and do not intentionally make things hard on him. Let everything come naturally. This matter is restricted to just the people within this room and is not to be transmitted out.”

An aged voice suddenly rang out in everyone’s ears. It was like a divine voice that penetrated to the core of their hearts, and everyone hastily jumped. Everyone, including the Hall Master, knelt on the ground.

“Understood, patriarch!”

After that, the voice didn’t say any more, and only then did everyone slowly rise. Mu Qingxuan was completely pale as that voice had deeply shaken her. In front of that voice, she felt herself to be wholly insignificant.

“I didn’t expect this matter to disturb the patriarch. Then let Long Chen go through the sect naturally. It seems the patriarch has long since sensed him and we don’t need to worry. Qingxuan, go back. Remember not to mention this to anyone,” said the hall master.

“Yes, disciple understands.” Mu Qingxuan bowed and left.

Once she was gone, an Elder sighed, “Hall Master, this Long Chen has had conflicts with the Law Enforcement Hall. Shouldn’t we…?”

The Hall Master shook his head. “The patriarch’s orders have already arrived. There’s no need for us to be worried. We can just mind our own business.”

…

The next day after the registration, all the disciples were gathered up once more. But Meng Qi and Yue Zifeng had also been taken away as they didn’t need to participate in this trial. They had their own special trial.

The only senior disciple present now was Mu Qingxuan. She announced, “The registration is over, so whether or not you can walk through the Xuantian Dao Sect’s gate is up to you.

“I’m sure you’re all clear on a few of the taboos within the trial, so I won’t waste too many words. All I’ll say is that this place is about three million miles from the Xuantian Dao Sect. The trial is to traverse these three million miles.”

Three million miles? Everyone was startled by this immense distance.

Ignoring their shock, Mu Qingxuan continued, “It is forbidden to fly in this region, and there is a special formation present to ensure it. Other than jumping through the air, you won’t be able to do anything else. You’ll need to rely on your two feet, but don’t complain. The scenery is enchanting, like a painting filled with luscious hills, crystal clear water, and thriving fauna. It’s almost like a dream. Yes, that’s how my senior disciples explained it to me back then. Whether this description is apt is something you’ll personally experience.

“Alright, I won’t say any more. The trial for becoming an outer sect disciple starts now. Junior brothers, junior sisters, I wish you good luck.”

Long Chen suddenly felt his body sink as if he had fallen into an abyss. The space around him completely changed, and he found himself by a mountain stream.

Mu Qingxuan had disappeared, and so had the surrounding people. Long Chen hastily looked around, only seeing a few isolated figures also appraising their surroundings.

It was clear they had all been transported within a formation. Although this place wasn’t the core of the Xuantian Dao Sect, just this outer region was treated importantly by the Dao Sect.

Everything that occurred within this region would be clearly seen by the sect. This was what it meant to have a foundation. This outer territory was practically boundless.

“There’s fish swimming in the water and birds flying in the sky.” Long Chen yawned and stretched his waist, feeling refreshed. He felt the same as when he had first been joining the Xuantian Monastery. At that time, he had just been a Blood Condensation rookie. Now he had set foot on the playing field of heavenly geniuses, the Central Plains.

From one world, he had stepped into another. Today everything started again, but it was no longer the same. He felt an indescribable excitement.

He continued forward. After traveling a few dozen miles, he suddenly found that something was wrong. Forming hand seals, his Spiritual Strength erupted.

“Break!” Following his low shout, the scenery changed. He was no longer walked over verdant grass, but a small brook. The water was running past his feet.

“Tch, what a con. Break again!”

Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength erupted again. He appeared in a desert with a fiery sun.

“How incessant. Break, break, break…”

Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength erupted over and over. He had realized he was in an illusion formation, and this formation was extremely immoral. It actually had several layers, making it so people couldn’t tell illusion from reality. Just as Mu Qingxuan had said, it was like a dream.

If someone were to be lost in the illusion formation, they would just constantly roam around, never able to reach the Xuantian Dao Sect.

This formation’s greatest aspect was its ability to overlap reality and illusion. After walking a bit, the illusion might fade, and then after walking some more, it might reappear without you noticing.

“That fellow Gu Yang is probably doomed. Hopefully, his head is bright enough to light up the world so others can find him. Otherwise, he’ll just be monkeying around.” Long Chen said a prayer for him. That spiritual idiot would definitely end up stuck here if he only relied on his own strength.

After traveling a bit more, Long Chen suddenly saw a man with a dagger inserted into his shoulder. He realized he was using pain to keep himself extricated from the illusions.

Once lost inside this illusion formation, a person’s senses would become slower, and pain would fade away. This fellow was quite smart. Once the pain faded, he would realize he was in an illusion.

Long Chen didn’t need to do so. Since he knew this was an illusion formation, he wouldn’t fall for it a second time.

Long Chen saw quite a few people roaming with their eyes closed, and he knew they had to be lost in formations.

“Damn, this is definitely a legendary pervert.”

Long Chen suddenly saw a man standing motionless, a lecherous light in his eyes. His hands were outstretched, and at this moment, a woman with her eyes closed walked over, sending her soft parts right into his hands.

She let out a startled cry and instantly awoke from the illusion. That man also let out a startled cry, but somehow, that cry sounded incredibly perverted.

Acting like he had awoken from an illusion, the man hastily apologized profusely to the woman. If it hadn’t been for her startled cry, he might have been forever lost in the illusions.

The woman believed him. Completely red, she left. After seeing her walk away, the man deeply smelled his hands and made two groping motions with them, as if reliving that beautiful feeling.

“This is an option? As expected, there are all kinds of geniuses,” said Long Chen with praise. “Should I try it?”

Long Chen was somewhat enticed, but then glancing at the jade plate on his waist, he awoke from that fantasy. He solemnly continued on his way.

“Long Chen, I’ve finally found you. I’ve said that I’ll crush you like a dog!”

Suddenly, a shout rang out. Up in a tree, Han Yunshan coldly looked down on Long Chen.