He quickly sat down cross-legged and held his breath, focusing his mind.
The cracking sound in his ears grew more and more intense.
At first, it was as faint as a mosquitos buzz, then gradually became like a torrential downpour, and afterward like the pounding of war drums.
Finally, a thunderous roar that seemed capable of splitting mountains and rending the earth exploded as if right beside his ear, shocking Jiang Fans vision into darkness.
In the darkness, he saw a tender sprout break through the soil.
Its emergence seemed to alarm some supreme existence, which sent down bolts of world-destroying thunder, intending to force it back underground.
The tender sprout slowly opened and, with effortless ease, absorbed all the incoming thunder.
Then it grew strong at a speed visible to the naked eye.
One inch, two inches, three inches...
One zhang, two zhang, three zhang...
Ten zhang, a hundred zhang, a thousand zhang...
Jiang Fan watched helplessly as a single seed devoured the thunder of heaven and earth as nourishment, growing into a towering giant tree whose end could not be seen!
The thunder seemed to know it was powerless to stop its growth and gradually ceased.
Just as Jiang Fan thought everything was over, a furious roar filled with vast divine might reverberated out: How dare you seize the divine tree of my Taixu Ancient Clan! No matter who you are, no matter where you are, we will find you! We will find you!!!
The roar entered his ears, and he felt as though his head were about to split apart, his soul about to be shattered within that matchless divine might.
At that critical moment, this Taixu Ancient Tree scattered streaks of green speckled light that merged into Jiang Fans body.
Only then did the tearing sensation gradually disappear, and under the effect of the green speckled light, a spiritual root was nurtured within his dantian.
Having survived the ordeal, Jiang Fans face was deathly pale.
Who was that?
A roar separated by who knew how much time and space had nearly destroyed him?
Also, why had that being said this tree belonged to the Taixu Ancient Clan?
Hadnt his father given it to him?
Only after quite a while did he calm the turmoil in his heart. He subconsciously looked toward his abdomen, and his voice trembled violently.
A spiritual root! I have a spiritual root now! He cried out in incomparable delight.
The transformation he had waited eighteen years for had finally arrived!
Immediately, he knelt on the ground with eyes full of sorrow. Father, can you see this?
Your child has formed a spiritual root. From now on, I can protect myself.
Your spirit in heaven can finally rest in peace!
He kowtowed heavily, his eyes moist.
What his father had been most worried about before passing was that Jiang Fans wings had not yet fully grown, and no one would protect him as he matured.
Now, he had a spiritual root.
The child his father had protected all his life had finally grown up!
A long time later, Jiang Fan calmed his emotions and carefully examined his spiritual root. At this look, he could not help but freeze.
Transparent?
His spiritual root was actually transparent, without any color at all!
Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, black, whitetheres no transparent, is there?
Xu Yinings spiritual root was a deep blue, representing a sixth-grade spiritual root.
The highest in legend was a white spiritual root, representing ninth grade.
But he had never heard of a transparent spiritual root!
Looks like Ill have to go to the Testing Hall to confirm it, Jiang Fan muttered to himself.
On the continent, there was an ancient force called the Tianji Hall. The renowned Qingyun Sect was merely one of the nine great sects under its command.
It had established a testing tower in every city.
They tested everyones spiritual roots for free.
If an excellent spiritual root was detected, one could apply to the local Testing Tower Master to join the sect of that territory.
For example, Xu Yining had her sixth-grade spiritual root measured at the testing tower, alarming an elder of the Qingyun Sect, who made an exception and internally selected her as a true disciple.
It was said that if ones aptitude was heaven-defying, it might even alarm the people of Tianji Hall, who would accept the person as a disciple of Tianji Hall.
But that was only hearsay. Since the testing tower of Guzhou City had been established, no one had ever been directly recruited by Tianji Hall.
If one wanted to enter Tianji Hall, one had to study for three years in one of the nine great sects.
During that time, only the peerless talents with the most outstanding performance would have a chance to be chosen by Tianji Hall.
He wondered what grade this transparent spiritual root of his would be.
Just then, Jiang Fan suddenly discovered that the lush Taixu Divine Tree was covered with enormous transparent fruits.
Inside the fruit hanging lowest, a cultivation technique was actually sealed.
Mystic-grade high-level mental cultivation method, Dragon-Seeking Scripture.
Seeing the words on the cultivation technique clearly, Jiang Fan was shocked.
As an old established force in Guzhou City, the Xu familys clan-guarding cultivation technique was only a Yellow-grade mid-level sword art, yet it ranked among the top ten supreme techniques in Guzhou City.
Throughout the Xu familys history, many crises had arisen because others coveted it.
A Mystic-grade high-level technique was enough to throw the entire world into chaos!
His breath caught, and he ran to the tree, trying to jump up and grab the fruit.
But an invisible force pressed him back to the ground.
A strand of information also slowly appeared in his mind.
Lowest-level fruit. Can only be picked at the Foundation Establishment realm.
Immediately after, the dark world before his eyes gradually dispersed, and he returned to the simple room where he lived.
He was stunned for a moment. The experience just now had seemed like a dream.
But the spiritual root in his abdomen told him that it had all been real.
Dragon-Seeking Scripture, Foundation Establishment stage. Jiang Fan excitedly licked his lips, wishing he could break through to the Foundation Establishment realm right now.
He was unwilling to delay even for a moment. Leaving the Xu residence, he half walked and half ran, panting as he arrived at the testing tower.
At this time, it was still early morning, and the testing tower had not yet opened.
Young men and women waiting to be tested were gathered in front of the tower.
Zhenger, today is your retest. You mustnt be nervous. The Tower Master said that last time, because you were nervous, your test result was lower than your normal level.
Wang Yingfeng accompanied Lu Zheng, standing in front of the testing tower while waiting for the doors to open.
Originally, you were at least upper third-grade, but because you were nervous, you only tested as middle third-grade!
It was precisely that one-level difference that kept me from being able to secure more resources for you in the Xu family.
Lu Zheng nodded heavily.
The Xu familys resources were limited to begin with. Most of them were supplied to Xu Yining, and the rest had to be distributed according to talent.
Among the Xu family clansmen, quite a few had third-grade spiritual roots.
If he was one level worse than others, the resources he enjoyed would be far inferior.
Therefore, in this retest, he had to test at his true level.
If you test as upper third-grade, I, your aunt, will think of every possible way to persuade the Xu family clansmen to make an exception and let you cultivate the Xu familys Xu Sword Art.
For the sake of this nephew, Wang Yingfeng was going all out, even intending to pass the Xu familys core secret to this outsider.
What?