Chapter 5: The Seed
Outer Hall or Outer Court, is where Outer Disciples resided. They are the Meridian Opening disciples except the hundred children that the Sect acquired.
To be promoted into an Outer Court to a Trial disciple, cultivators need to become a Meridian Opening Stage 2 cultivator in a year. To become an Inner Court, they need to advance in the Qi Sea for 10 years.
Outer Disciples can choose which hall they wanted. Aside from 9 Great Halls, countless halls supporting the sect. If they cannot be promoted in that short amount of time, they were expelled with all the techniques about the sect erased.
There are also Core Disciples but those are Grotto Heaven and have made a name for themselves. Qi Sea Cultivators are encouraged to become Grotto Heaven in 20 years or else they are also expelled. The techniques of the sect erased and their sealed.
Only Grotto Heaven had no time limit because it is the stage that is about honing the mind and the Divine Ability. It also about letting the Meridian, Dantian and Grotto Heaven become one.
They are taught by Great Elders but have no master-disciple relationship. They own their own fief outside the sect. It was encouraged they protect a kingdom or an Empire for luck and by then have a faster cultivation.
There are deacons, Outer Elders, Inner Elders, and Great Elders. Some Ancestors are buried underneath, only to be awoken when something bad like extinction happened to the sect. Great Elder Gold Sword can be regarded as an Ancestor but he was against it. He will be called that when he was in his coffin.
Those that have a talent can jump around through it like the Inner Disciples without any cultivation and the Personal Disciples who are personally taught by Elders. Having a high grade spiritual roots are the talent that were nurtured by the Sect. They are guaranteed to have talent but they would be expelled if they cannot comply with the time limit. If they cannot become stronger, resources and teachings are useless to them.
Yun Haoran stood at a tree top with black robe covering his body. There are also shadow and black mist that makes him mysterious. He uses the Shadow skill of a long-gone sect, which the Nine Halls have a copy.
He was scanning the area to find someone worthy enough to receive something groundbreaking. Like his Wood cultivation manual, it was his extensive knowledge about the known Spiritual Root.
Like trees in the surrounding, their roots are something that absorbs nutrients in the soil. Likewise, Spiritual Roots absorb the Spiritual qi of Heaven and Earth. It is also part of their being and has the future to become stronger than mortal humans without Spiritual roots.
The complex thing about Spiritual Root is the connection of it to the body, mind, and soul of a cultivator. He has searched through every manual of ancient sages about their thoughts of Spiritual root and he came to a conclusion…
"It was the fragment of the Great Dao, received through bloodline, luck, or any phenomenon in this world."
With that in mind, he crafted an object that can be cultivated. It had the power to change someone from a trash spiritual root to a good spiritual root and can someday evolve into an Acquired physique if taken with care.
Sadly, it cannot change a mortal without spiritual roots because he needed to become stronger in order to do that. The Great Dao chooses and if he tried interfering in its work, he will be blast by a tribulation. It is equivalent on defying the Heavens which he was not afraid of doing. He was not afraid but it is not the time to defy it even if the Order is a mess and the Heavens is not yet around.
While the difference of giving it to a Cultivator is immense that he was doing some favor that makes Heaven grateful for him. He was doing a favor by letting the people become stronger. By then having strong people is also the blooming of luck and the destiny of the World. If he was successful, there is a luck, merit and the calling of Heaven faster. If he call forth the true Heaven faster, he will have a chance to see the ancient times going back.
Whilw thinking about it, he saw a boy running lap after lap. He has stones on him. He looked tired but in his eyes was dedication that wanted to become stronger. He has sadness in his eyes and self-pity but overall, it was only about his perseverance that matters most.
"Hmm. Interesting." He remembered that kid who had the tenacity but lacked Spiritual Roots in the Assessment earlier. If he has a good Spiritual root, he would become an Inner Disciple of one of the Great Halls or even the Inner Hall.
There are 5 assessments to know their talent. Their bone age, spiritual root, comprehension, dao heart, and martial skill.
He has a great Dao heart but inferior talent in all fields except his bone age which is 15 years, not great but also not bad. He started cultivating at the age of 10, opened his 10th Meridian and suppresses a Qi Sea at age 13, and gained the 13th Meridian at age 20.
"Listen Haoran, people with tenacity and unbreakable Dao Heart are sometimes the ones who succeed instead of those great talents who didn't know setbacks and tribulations." He heard a voice in his head but it was an illusion that his Master had instilled in him.
"Yes, Master." He nodded his head then jumping from the tree, he appeared in front of the young man. He wanted to imitate those Great Elders who could appear and disappear wherever they wanted.
In Law Tempering Stage or the Void Tribulation, is a stage where they become one with Nature, their domain becoming nature. They didn't need to open it because it became one with them. They now have the power to open the Void and travel anywhere. They call forth Calamity and shake the world on their whim.
The boy became startled and a frightened look covered his face. The world crumbled on him because of how anxious he became. His muscles become stiff and he cannot muster anything to say.
"Boy, do you want to become stronger? For your information, this is not demonic, without side effects, or would affect your luck." Yun Haoran said in a deep voice. The voice that looks like it comes from the abyss itself. This is a side effect that comes from his black robe. He wanted to become mysterious and not alert anyone.
He was doing good business anyway that will let the Sect become stronger as a whole.
The boy could not muster the courage to talk because what he was hearing was not coming from a human but a devil that will eat him. He can't muster any single words and with his exhausted body, he collapses. His legs gave out and the world returned to nothingness for him.
"Hmm, this is troubling. I swear I never ate a child before." Yun Haoran mumbled, frowning and thinking about what to do best.
He used his Qi to crush the stones to make them dust. Even someone like him will not cater to the needs of some insignificant character. He was here to give a chance, not to serve a frightened human being out of his wits.
A pill then appeared floating in his palm. It shot out from the young man's mouth, he smiled sarcastically and said, "I would never have thought someone who never cultivated will have a Nine Turn Rank 1 Pill. Even myself could only eat up to 3 turns when I am a brat."
Nine Turn Pill, as the name suggested, he destroyed recast, and refined the pill Nine times in a row. It had a golden glow, full of runes, and had even the blessing of tribulations. He doesn't have a normal healing pill in him but these Rank 1 Pills while this boy cannot absorb the Rank 2 Pill. He would explode and die.
A pity he could only recast the Rank 2 Pill 5 times.
Even if that is a Nine turn, a Rank 1 pill is still a Rank 1 pill. This man can do mortal exercises without getting tired for 10 years and be the strongest Mortal in existence.
A few seconds later, the boy had awoken. He felt energized like never before. Even his hidden injuries been resolved through the pills. His bruises that were caused by beating healed and even the concussion and other injuries had closed themselves.
The young man kowtowed, bowed his head three times hard enough that blood dripped from his forehead but closed a while later. He then replied to the earlier question and said, "Elder, forgive the insolence I have shown you. I wanted to become stronger. No, I wanted the key to become stronger, not some borrowed power. Please teach me."
'Well, look at that.' Yun Haoran thought while looking at the young man. He was amazed because some guys would pick the easiest ways but he chose a road where determination also matters.
"Then what is your Spiritual Root?" He asked the boy.
"Low-Grade Earth Spiritual Root." The boy said with sadness in his eyes but he had all the courage to say it face on. If he never passed the assessment about Dao Heart with flying colors, he would now be in the Trial Disciple
There are grades in Spiritual Root. Low, Middle, High, Earth, and Heaven. A Heaven grade Spiritual root can have a faster absorption of 1000 times than a Low Graded one.
There are even Special Physiques that exist between Heaven and Earth. Those are rare in these period in time but there are people of Yun Haoran's generation that was is blessed by it.
A seed appeared floating in the palm of Yun Haoran's hand. It had the power of the Earth, Primordial gravity, and the power of defense. The boy had a yearning coming from his being when he felt the power of that seed. He looked up at the mysterious entity before him with great attention
"This is our secret. Listen carefully." Yun Haoran commanded while the boy nodded his head carefully.
"With this kind of seed, you would advance with High-Grade spiritual roots. That is not all, as long as you let it absorb the qi in the surroundings and do good deeds, it will advance. Like a tree that needed nutrients to become tall, you needed those requirements. As for how much you needed for it to advance, I don't know.
Hypothetically, it can become an Acquired Special Physique when grown into a tall tree. Did you understand?" Yun Haoran explained.
"Yes." The boy replied. His yearning became stronger but he waited for the seed.
"Then let us get started." Yun Haoran ordered while the seed floated in the head of the boy.
The seed becomes ethereal. It come down into the boy's head. It then disappeared after a seconds later, he felt that his head had been split into countless shards.
It ran down on his body and felt the tearing of his muscles. He wanted to black out from hereafter but the Qi in his body is preventing him from doing that. It may be a curse and an unexpected occurrence for Yun Haoran.
"It hurts like hell, noted." Yun Haoran nodded as he looked at the guy without doing anything. He was looking at an experiment and needed some data.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone