Zhang Zhengyuan and Liu Chuansheng concluded the task handover. The latter's gaze shifted, landing on Xu Changshou. "This Junior Brother's face is unfamiliar. Is he a new Novice?"

Zhang Zhengyuan quickly replied, "Indeed, Senior Brother Liu. His name is Xu Changshou, and I am the one who guided him here."

"Changshou, quickly pay your respects to Senior Brother Liu."

"Greetings, Senior Brother Liu!" Xu Changshou respectfully cupped his hands.

"Greetings, Junior Brother Xu."

Liu Chuansheng offered a perfunctory, symbolic bow of his own, a polite smile touching his lips. "I shall process Junior Brother's Novice registration at once. But before formally entering the Sect, we must first test your Spirit Root."

With a flick of his wrist, Liu Chuansheng produced a rod of pale, glowing white jade, offering it to Xu Changshou. "Junior Brother, this is a Magical Artifact designed to test Spirit Roots. Simply channel your Spiritual Qi into your palm and grasp it."

"Yes!"

Xu Changshou obeyed, circulating the Spiritual Qi from his Dantian to his palm.

The jade rod reacted instantly. A halo of deep emerald light flared to life, coiling around the shaft. In rapid succession, four more rings manifested: pale aqua, blazing red, earthen yellow, and metallic gold.

Deep emerald represented the Wood attribute.

Pale aqua represented the Water attribute.

Red represented the Fire attribute.

Yellow represented the Earth attribute.

Gold represented the Metal attribute.

The simultaneous manifestation of these five colors proved that Xu Changshou's Spirit Root harbored all five primary attributes: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

Immediately after, the rod vibrated violently as five additional rings of light erupted: cyan, violent purple, pitch black, blinding white, and translucent crystal.

These five colors signified the mutated attributes of Wind, Thunder, Light, Darkness, and Ice.

Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Light, Darkness, Ice-the only ten attributes present between the heavens and the earth. He possessed every single one.

"Heavens!"

"A Ten-Element Mixed Spirit Root!"

Liu Chuansheng and Zhang Zhengyuan stared at each other in utter disbelief. Neither had anticipated that Xu Changshou harbored a Ten-Element Mixed Spirit Root.

They had seen their fair share of Mixed Spirit Roots, but never one this muddied. It was a cosmic anomaly.

Wait.

"Is a Ten-Element Mixed Spirit Root a good thing?" Xu Changshou asked curiously.

Zhang Zhengyuan squeezed out a bitter smile. "Let me put it this way. The fewer and purer your Spirit Root attributes, the faster you can absorb Spiritual Qi and cultivate."

"For instance, a cultivator with a pure Fire Spirit Root will cultivate much faster than someone harboring both Water and Fire attributes."

"And someone with dual Water and Fire attributes will cultivate faster than a cultivator burdened with a triple Water, Fire, and Wood Spirit Root."

"In short, the more attributes your Spirit Root contains, the slower your cultivation speed."

"Spirit Roots polluted with three or more attributes are classified as Mixed Spirit Roots. For a Qi Condensation cultivator cursed with three attributes, reaching Foundation Establishment is basically a pipe dream. As for your ten attributes.."

"This.."

Xu Changshou's heart plummeted into an icy abyss.

If even a triple-attribute Mixed Spirit Root barred the gates to Foundation Establishment, then wouldn't his Ten-Element Mixed Spirit Root..

The path to Foundation Establishment was already a brutal, near-impossible climb. Now, his own body had multiplied that difficulty a thousandfold.

In that bleak moment, he felt as if the sky had collapsed, plunging his entire future into absolute darkness.

Zhang Zhengyuan rubbed his hands together, his eyes gleaming with sudden, desperate greed. "Senior Brother Liu, according to Sect regulations, for every new disciple recommended, the guide receives a reward of five Spirit Stones. As you can see.."

Liu Chuansheng shook his head flatly. "Junior Brother Zhang, I am not trying to be difficult, but this disciple you brought in possesses a Ten-Element Mixed Spirit Root. His value to the Sect is less than a grain of sand. I can authorize a payout of three Spirit Stones, no more."

"What?!"

Zhang Zhengyuan bristled, his face flushing dark red with indignation. "Senior Brother Liu, do you have any idea the price I paid to bring Junior Brother Xu here? I exhausted myself nursing him along for months! Handing me a measly three Spirit Stones puts me deep in the red. Absolutely not. Four is my absolute bottom line."

"Three. I said three, and I mean three."

"Four."

"Three."

"Four."

"Then the Sect rejects this trash. Take him away!"

"Fine, three it is."

Zhang Zhengyuan nodded in deep aggravation, shooting Xu Changshou a resentful glare, as if the boy's muddied potential was a personal insult.

Xu Changshou's face contorted in sheer disbelief. He never could have imagined that the ethereal, worldly "Supreme Immortal" who had awed his village would end up haggling red-faced over a single rock like a cheap street peddler.

"Here are your three Spirit Stones."

Liu Chuansheng slapped three milky-white, rhombus-shaped crystals onto the counter. Zhang Zhengyuan swept his sleeve, snatching them up and instantly stowing them into his Storage Bag.

"Junior Brother Xu, I take my leave. We shall meet again."

Sparing Xu Changshou one final, dismissive glance, Zhang Zhengyuan turned and strode briskly away.

"Senior Brother Zhang, wait! If you abandon me here, what am I supposed to do?" Xu Changshou panicked. He felt exactly like a piece of livestock Zhang Zhengyuan had just sold to the Green Immortal Sect butcher.

"Junior Brother Xu, I have successfully guided you through the gates. Our karmic ties are severed. Senior Brother Liu will process your entry. Goodbye!"

Before his voice even finished echoing, Zhang Zhengyuan vanished out the grand doors of the hall, fleeing as if terrified Xu Changshou might demand a refund on his ruined life.

With Zhang Zhengyuan gone, the polite smile vanished from Liu Chuansheng's face. He adopted a cold, bureaucratic sneer and tossed a blank sheet of parchment toward Xu Changshou.

"Write down your personal details."

"Yes!"

Xu Changshou grabbed the ink brush resting on the crystal counter and scrawled a crooked, clumsy line:

Xu Changshou, twelve years old, Song Kingdom, Laiyang County, Xu Family Village.

"Xu Changshou. Male. Twelve years of age. Five-Element Mixed Spirit Root. Origin: Laiyang, Song Kingdom," Liu Chuansheng muttered dryly.

Using a specialized seal brush, Liu Chuansheng inscribed the information directly into the air. He then produced a blank yellow wooden plaque and commanded the glowing characters to brand themselves into the wood.

"Senior Brother Liu, didn't you say I possessed a Ten-Element Mixed Spirit Root? Why did you record.."

"Listen to me closely. If anyone ever asks, you have a Five-Element Mixed Spirit Root. Do not ever breathe a word about having ten attributes."

"Why?"

"Because it's a massive humiliation to the Sect."

"Uh.."

Is my innate talent seriously that shameful?! Xu Changshou was utterly speechless.

"Here. Take your identity token."

"Oh!"

Xu Changshou accepted the heavy, yellow peach wood plaque. The words "Green Immortal" were carved into the front, while the back remained completely blank.

He flipped it over and over, squinting hard, but couldn't deduce a single hidden secret.

"Stop staring at it like a fool," Liu Chuansheng reprimanded lazily. "Your records are sealed within the array. Your cultivation base is far too pathetic to read the spiritual imprint. Once you reach the seventh layer of Qi Condensation, you'll be able to view it. For now, just remember that this plaque proves you are a living, breathing Miscellaneous Disciple of the Green Immortal Sect."

Miscellaneous Disciple..

The label grated heavily against Xu Changshou's ears.

If I'm a servant doing miscellaneous chores, call me a servant. If I'm a disciple learning the Dao, call me a disciple. Why 'Miscellaneous Disciple'? Am I here to study, or am I here to scrub floors?

His cynical pragmatism quickly gave him the answer. The Sect hauled in trash like him to act as free labor. Slapping the word 'disciple' on the end was just a cheap psychological trick to keep the cattle docile.

Fine. Miscellaneous it is. He had been born with calloused hands, herding cattle for a tyrant. He could swallow his pride and carry water for immortals.

With practiced efficiency, Liu Chuansheng tossed a meager pile of supplies onto the counter.

One low-grade Storage Bag, a single Spirit Stone, an unadorned steel sword, a thin disciple's handbook, two sets of coarse Daoist robes tailored for a child, and his newly minted identity token.

After tallying the items, Liu Chuansheng leveled a stare at him. "Junior Brother Xu. I'm told the primer technique Junior Brother Zhang forced upon you was the Eternal Spring Art. That is a Wood-attribute manual. Since your Spirit Root contains Wood, you can technically use it. Do you wish to continue cultivating it? If so, I can issue you the subsequent chapters."

Xu Changshou chewed his lip, offering a bitter smile. "Senior Brother Liu, my knowledge is shallow. I honestly don't know if I should continue. What would you advise?"

"A standard Qi Condensation cultivator selects a primary technique that perfectly aligns with their dominant Spirit Root attribute," Liu Chuansheng sneered impatiently.

"I see.."

Pieces clicked together in Xu Changshou's sharp mind.

Based on the elder's impatient lecture, a manual needed to match a cultivator's root element.

That meant the fraudulent Zhang Zhengyuan was likely a Wood-attribute cultivator, which was why the broke bastard only had the Eternal Spring Art to teach.

Since Xu Changshou's chaotic Spirit Root included the Wood attribute, his body hadn't rejected the technique.

He could practice the Eternal Spring Art, but it was clearly a mismatched, suboptimal path for his bizarre constitution.

"Senior Brother Liu, does the Sect possess a technique that cultivates all ten attributes simultaneously?"

"There is."

"Then I will take that one."

"Are you certain?" Liu Chuansheng arched an eyebrow in genuine surprise, before a dismissive scoff escaped his lips. He shook his head, clearly deciding a trash root's choices were irrelevant.

"Yes."

"Catch."

Liu Chuansheng tossed a dusty, thin booklet across the crystal. Xu Changshou scrambled to catch it, his eyes devouring the cover: The Ten Daos Mantra.

He quickly thumbed through the brittle pages. The manual was complete, containing the cultivation methods from the first to the twelfth layer of Qi Condensation.

Finally, a complete path forward.

A crushing boulder lifted from Xu Changshou's chest. No matter how garbage his talent was, securing a full cultivation method was the absolute key to surviving this predatory world.