Junior Brother Pays Respect to You: Chapter 23 - Spiritual Root Test
Chapter 23: Spiritual Root Test
Over the next three days, the only thing Qin Zheng did after waking up was follow Qin Su around.
Every morning, he would run to wait outside Qin Su’s door, and wherever Qin Su went, Qin Zheng would follow.
However, three days were enough to show Qin Zheng just how difficult it was to rebuild goodwill.
Many times, Qin Zheng tried to talk to Qin Su, but Qin Su either brushed him off or looked at him with an expression that said, “No matter what you say, I won’t believe a word of it.”
At the moment, Qin Zheng was following behind Qin Su, fuming inside, so much so that he wanted to beat himself up.
Why was I such a jerk? Qin Su is all grown up now, why did I still bully him back then?
Qin Zheng felt that even if he had ten more time scrolls, it wouldn’t be enough to repair their relationship.
Thinking back on what happened six years ago, Qin Zheng was filled with regret.
Suddenly, he tried asking tentatively, “Junior brother, do you still remember when we trained together six years ago?”
After a long pause, Qin Su lazily replied, “I don’t remember.”
Qin Zheng stared daggers into Qin Su’s back, thinking: Must be nice to have passed out and forgotten everything!
Then, as Qin Su turned another corner, Qin Zheng noticed the route he was taking today was different from the previous days.
For the past few days, Qin Su had always gone to the plaza to practice spells, not this way.
Could he be going to the cultivation chamber instead?
Qin Zheng’s heart tightened. Even though he hadn’t really paid attention to Qin Su’s cultivation level over the years, given his talent, he was surely beyond the third tier by now.
If he insisted on following Qin Su to cultivate, would going to the Forbidden Grounds even help anymore?
However, after a few more turns, Qin Zheng realized Qin Su wasn’t heading toward the cultivation chamber at all—it looked more like he was going to the Sanqing Hall.
Qin Zheng wracked his brain, but since he’d been so focused on Qin Su these past few days, he had completely neglected everything else.
Soon, Qin Zheng followed Qin Su to the entrance of Sanqing Hall.
Peeking inside, he saw that many of their fellow disciples were already there.
Looks like something big was happening.
When Qin Zheng and Qin Su entered together, the discussions in the hall immediately died down.
Everyone still stood in the same positions as before.
Qin Su walked to his spot, and only then did Qin Zheng reluctantly step past the person in front of him to stand in his own place.
Suddenly, Qin Zheng realized something. He quickly turned his head and saw that standing behind him was none other than Qin Shuang, who usually stayed holed up in the medicine room.
What’s going on today, even he came to join the crowd?
Qin Zheng poked Qin Shuang behind him and asked, “What’s happening today? Aren’t you all about potion-making? Why are you here at Sanqing Hall?”
Qin Shuang replied innocently, “Isn’t today the most important ceremony of the Tianque Sect? Master said I’m still his second disciple after all, so I should attend. That’s why I came.”
Hearing the words “most important,” Qin Zheng turned his whole body around and asked with confusion, “What important ceremony?”
Qin Shuang replied, “The spiritual root test! How could you forget that?”
“This is the most crucial test to determine the future status of everyone in the sect!”
Qin Shuang’s words triggered a flood of memories from Qin Zheng’s past life.
Who would've thought that by some twist of fate, I’d be going through this again?
Suddenly, Qin Shuang nudged him and said, “Quick, stand properly, Master is here.”
Qin Zheng had no choice but to turn his head forward again. He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he thought he caught Qin Su glancing at him out of the corner of his eye.
To test his suspicion, Qin Zheng turned his head to look at Qin Su again, but saw that he had already lowered his head to look at the ground.
Qin Zheng raised an eyebrow, then turned his head back.
“Wow, this ceremony is so grand this time!”
“All the uncles and elders are here.”
Qin Shuang's voice of amazement came from behind.
This time, it was Qin Zheng’s turn to look calm and collected.
“How could it not be grand? This ceremony determines the status of all the disciples from now on. Of course the masters want to know if their disciples are exceptional.”
Thinking about how his own status would fall even lower after today, Qin Zheng felt a dull ache in his head. He wondered whether this would affect his goals.
The uncles and elders gradually entered and sat in their respective seats at the front of the hall.
The disciples below also quieted down.
“Then let us begin.”
With the sect leader’s command, a stone crane flew in from outside the hall and landed beside Qin Zheng.
A wave of gasps rippled through the disciples.
It was a crane carved entirely out of stone, its whole body the natural gray of the rock, without a single extra color.
Qin Zheng had never seen anything like it before.
The sect leader slowly announced: “The spiritual root test should have been conducted when you all first entered the sect. However, due to an incident, the stone crane was damaged and has only recently been repaired.”
“To ensure fairness, the test will be conducted publicly.”
“You only need to place your hand on the crane’s back to see the result.”
“Then… let us begin with—”
At this moment, the sect leader had already pointed at Qin Zheng, but a senior uncle beside him stepped in first and said, “Sect Leader, let’s start from the right side this time.”
The sect leader paused for a moment, then nodded and pointed to Qin Ke instead. “Let’s start from the right.”
Qin Zheng grinned, first glancing at the senior uncle, then at Qin Ke.
It was clear that the senior uncle's intention in letting Qin Ke go first was to show him off and demonstrate his confidence in Qin Ke.
Qin Ke, full of confidence, stepped forward and placed his right hand on the stone crane.
Very quickly, a Five Elements diagram appeared on top of the stone crane’s head.
As time passed, the previously blank diagram slowly began to fill with shadow. However, just before the ‘Wood’ element was completely filled, the diagram stopped.
Since Qin Ke was the first one to be tested and had no reference, he looked up in confusion at the elders ahead.
The senior uncle gave him a satisfied nod, and only then did Qin Ke smile and return to his place.
Because all the disciples in the hall were undergoing this test for the first time, no one thought much of the result yet.
Only Qin Zheng, apart from those seated at the top, knew how good this result actually was. Most disciples’ results would end up with the shadows not even touching any edge of the diagram. For someone like Qin Ke, with only one attribute not fully filled, it was already an excellent result.
Next in line was Qin Xuan.
Just as confident, Qin Xuan stepped forward.
But this time, the shadow in the Five Elements diagram spread out from the center and stopped before reaching any of the edges.
With a direct comparison between Qin Ke and Qin Xuan’s results, the hall finally erupted in murmurs.
Only now did everyone begin to realize how impressive Qin Ke’s result was.
All the following test results were quite ordinary, and no one surpassed Qin Ke.
After completing the test, everyone returning to their seat couldn't help but glance at Qin Ke, eyes full of admiration.
Finally, the moment came.
All the disciples on the right side had finished their tests.
At the reminder of the senior uncle, Qin Zheng reluctantly walked to the stone crane and even more reluctantly placed his hand on its back.
Qin Zheng had no desire to look at the result.
Because in his previous life, he had already taken this test — he had no spiritual root.
The Five Elements diagram would show no reaction.
Qin Zheng maintained a calm expression, watching the shocked faces of the elders and senior uncles on the dais.
When he first saw this result in his past life, his own expression had been the same as theirs.
Before that, Qin Zheng had always looked down on those who cultivated diligently, believing that his low cultivation level was only due to laziness, and that if he ever got serious, he could surpass them all.
After receiving that result, he couldn’t accept it. He locked himself away in the cultivation rooms and trained obsessively, ignoring everything else in the sect.
For seven years, like a man possessed, he cultivated tirelessly—only to reach the early stages of Second Tier cultivation.
At that moment, a senior uncle suspiciously pointed at the Five Elements diagram atop the crane and asked, “Sect Leader, could it be broken again?”
The sect leader shook his head. “It’s not broken.”
Seeing the result was final, Qin Zheng awkwardly withdrew his hand and returned to his seat.
Even Qin Shuang looked at him with a strange expression.
The disciples in the hall began to whisper and discuss.
However, Qin Zheng knew they would soon be distracted by something new.
Qin Shuang also took the test. His spiritual roots were almost on par with Qin Ke’s, except he was lacking the fire element.
The elders couldn’t help but ask, “With such roots, are you really only interested in alchemy?”
Qin Shuang nodded. “I truly have no interest in cultivation.”
The elders looked regretfully at Qin Shuang as he returned to his seat.
After Qin Shuang sat down, Qin Su quietly stepped forward for his turn.
This time, everyone was filled with curiosity.
Everyone had witnessed how much Qin Su had changed over the past few years, so they were eager to see his spiritual root result.
When Qin Su placed his hand on the stone crane, just like with the others, the gray shadow began to spread from the center of the diagram until it filled every blank space — not a sliver left untouched.
At that moment, everyone forgot about Qin Zheng’s lack of spiritual roots.
The hall exploded.
One of the senior uncles exclaimed, “Unbelievable! We never thought we’d witness a celestial spiritual root again!”
He turned to the others seated on the dais and laughed, “Do you remember the last time we saw one?”
Another senior uncle nodded, clearly never forgetting. “It was when Yu Jingchen, the Mountain God, thought the stone crane was just a toy and casually touched it — and we saw he had a celestial spiritual root!”
“To think every disciple our sect leader picks up is so extraordinary!”
“Qin Su, cultivate well and your future will be limitless.”
Qin Su bowed respectfully. “Yes, sir.”
After that, no one paid much attention to the remaining tests.
Once the spiritual root tests concluded, the sect leader and elders began to leave the hall one after another.
Qin Zheng ignored the sympathetic looks from others and made his way through the crowd, following his master.
But just as he reached the doorway, he overheard a conversation between his master and the senior uncle.
The master said in confusion, “How could he not have a spiritual root? Sure, he’s always been mischievous, but I did examine his face when I took him in. He clearly had the fate of someone destined for the path of cultivation!”
Qin Zheng paused, no longer following them. He had almost forgotten he was still in the past. Let’s hope that the idea of expelling him from the sect hadn’t yet occurred to his master.
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